Bi Zhen heard Zhang Shisan ordering her to leave, and couldn’t help but pout, glancing again at Mei Qing. Seeing that Mei Qing truly looked exhausted, she reluctantly agreed. She secretly squeezed Mei Qing’s hand before rising. She immediately noticed how stiff her body felt, and realized she hadn’t washed or groomed in days—feeling utterly disheveled and embarrassed, she hurriedly bid the people in the room a quick farewell and practically fled back to her own room to clean herself up.
“You rest for a while,” Zhang Shisan smiled. “Also, the old baldy has some matters to attend to back at the sect, so you probably won’t be able to see him for a few days. Your companions are all outside. We’ll let you meet them later when you feel a bit better. No matter what’s happened, it can all wait until then.”
Though Mei Qing had already regained consciousness, he still felt completely drained of strength and terribly fatigued. Hearing this, he simply nodded. Seeing that he was fine, Zhang Shisan and Shi Mengzhu took their leave first. Soon after, a servant brought a bowl of rice porridge. Mei Qing drank a few sips before drowsiness overtook him, and he drifted off to sleep once again.
“You damn kid, even doing a little work you want payment for! When the Wenshang Sect’s main force attacked the county town, I, Master Huang, calmly stayed put and didn’t make a fuss like you, making it seem like the world was ending. Just a few stray cats nearly got you killed. Heh heh, but you sure do have some good luck!”
Huang the Fat smugly patted Mei Qing’s shoulder as he spoke.
Hou Shen and others stood behind Huang, all smiling as they looked at Mei Qing.
Everyone else seemed unfazed by Huang’s remarks, but Hou Shen furrowed his brow. He knew something of Mei Qing’s cultivation secrets, understanding that although the enemies Mei Qing faced were few in number, they were definitely cultivators. That battle must have been far more dangerous than fighting a mob armed with knives and forks.
But since Mei Qing himself remained silent about it, Hou Shen naturally wouldn’t speak up either.
“Of course, Brother Huang, you’re someone of stature—your presence alone commands the entire battlefield, so of course you can remain calm and steady,” Mei Qing smiled. “As for me, I’m just a weakling with no strength, how could I possibly compare to you?”
Seeing that Huang and the others had emerged unscathed, Mei Qing felt genuinely relieved. According to what Shi Mengzhu had told him, on that night the Wenshang Sect had suddenly launched an uprising, with tens of thousands of followers storming Yifeng County town. If it hadn’t been for Huang giving an early warning and swiftly bringing his token to summon troops, decisively crushing the rebels, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Mei Qing’s brows slightly lifted—he naturally understood that although either he or Huang’s token could mobilize the Embroidered Uniform Guard, it wouldn’t be enough to launch a full-scale military campaign. The fact that Huang had managed to mobilize the garrison at that moment suggested there must be some hidden strength behind him that hadn’t yet been revealed.
But Mei Qing had no interest in digging into those matters. Restoring justice and suppressing tyranny was undoubtedly a great achievement in this peaceful era. Whether it was Huang or the local officials, they would all receive their due credit.
Still, Mei Qing pondered for a moment before asking Huang with some curiosity, “Was the leader of the sect captured?”
“You mean the sect leader?” Huang laughed heartily as he spoke. “That guy was a real coward. When I first saw him, he was wearing a ceremonial crown and dragon robe, carried around by a group of people—damn, he really looked intimidating at first. At first, when he started his ritual, claiming he’d summon heavenly fire to burn us all, I actually felt a bit uneasy. But after all that fuss, not even a single spark appeared. Haha…”
Hou Shen, listening to Huang’s tale, added with a laugh, “When we captured him, he was still shouting, insisting that he had invited the Fire Star Deity that day, but the deity just happened to be away, so the heavenly fire couldn’t burn our camp. He kept insisting that if we dared disrespect him, once the deity returned, he’d burn us all to ashes. Then when the hawk fellow pulled out a knife and rubbed it against his face, the guy shut up immediately—scared he even wet himself. Haha.”
Mei Qing couldn’t help but recall the image of Liu Wu he had seen back then. Never would he have thought that such a coward would dare lead an attack on the county town. It seemed even a fool could grow bold at times.
After some conversation, Huang mentioned that the imperial court had been greatly shaken by the rebellion, and that they needed to return immediately to report. Mei Qing smiled and said, “My body is still weak and I can’t move easily. Brother Huang, since you were there and played a significant role, why don’t you return first? I’ll rest for a few days and follow later.”
After a brief discussion, they decided to leave Hou Shen to accompany Mei Qing, while the others, led by Huang Zhongman, would return to the capital first.
As Huang left, he chuckled, “Don’t worry, Mei, the credit’s not going anywhere. When the next good opportunity comes around, don’t forget your big brother!”
Mei Qing smiled in reply, “I don’t need it anyway. But do look after the others a bit more.”
After Huang left, Hou Shen said to Mei Qing, “I didn’t expect my departure to put you in such danger.”
Mei Qing laughed, “Forget it. You didn’t see the scene that night. Even if you had been here, you might not have been much help. Actually, contacting Huang in time and allowing them to prepare was a great feat.”
Then Mei Qing turned to Bi Zhen and asked, “By the way, after I left, what happened? What happened to that skeleton?”
Bi Zhen suddenly giggled, “That big skeleton? Hehe, that was quite interesting. Guess how we got rid of it?”
Mei Qing recalled that night—Zhang Shisan’s powerful strike hadn’t even damaged the evil spirit. He shivered involuntarily and asked, “That thing was really tough. Come on, don’t tell me that right after I left, Master suddenly unleashed some ultimate treasure, a flash of lightning, and it was reduced to ashes?”
Bi Zhen laughed, “No way! At that time, Master Ku came to help me, which made Master really angry, hahaha… Master, don’t glare at me like that, wasn’t that exactly what happened?”
Zhang Shisan rolled his eyes, grunted, and then turned away, busily pouring himself more wine from his gourd without glancing at them again.
Mei Qing asked, puzzled, “Then what happened? Don’t tell me Master Shi got angry and unleashed his righteous energy and destroyed it?”
Shi Mengzhu smiled, “An old bookworm like me, with no strength to tie up a chicken, how could I have any battlefield skills?”
Mei Qing turned to Bi Zhen, his face full of curiosity. Bi Zhen chuckled, “Can’t guess, right? That day, we all surrounded that thing, bombarding and beating it, but couldn’t kill it. Then, the creature was making a huge commotion, scaring the son of Master Shi into crying. In a fit of rage, Master Shi grabbed an axe and charged forward, smashing its leg in one blow.”
“Huh?” Mei Qing was stunned, “That simple?”
“Exactly that simple. When he charged forward, everyone was shouting at him not to throw his life away. But he just swung his axe, first breaking its leg, then swinging repeatedly. Soon enough, the big skeleton was smashed into pieces. A few final blows crushed its skull, and it was completely destroyed,” Bi Zhen explained with a grin.
“Then what’s the point of cultivation?” Mei Qing muttered unhappily. “After all this cultivation, we can’t even match a few swings of an axe—of course, I’m not talking about you, Master…”
Seeing Zhang Shisan rolling his eyes even more dramatically, Mei Qing realized his spontaneous remark might have been easily misunderstood and quickly tried to explain.
Bi Zhen giggled, “Still, Master is amazing—he knew Master Shi would be useful, so he brought his whole family here. Later I asked Master how he knew that the foolish master could defeat the skeleton, and Master said solemnly…”
“What did Master say?” Mei Qing looked at Zhang Shisan, who wore an expression of profound wisdom, then turned back to Bi Zhen.
“Master said, ‘The secrets of heaven cannot be revealed.’”
After Bi Zhen briefly recounted how Zhang Shisan and Master Ku had swept away the evil spirits and finally chased them to the Fishbone Temple, breaking the stone tablet’s seal, Mei Qing asked a few more questions.
“No wonder the Wenshang Sect was making all these rituals and building altars around the harbor,” Mei Qing murmured.
“There were seven altars in total. We destroyed six of them. Master said the seventh wasn’t fully completed—it was the one in the harbor,” Bi Zhen explained.
“Destroyed six?” Mei Qing thought for a moment. “I bet it wasn’t just simple destruction. Was it by forcefully activating the altar’s power, causing all seven to rotate together, finally unlocking the stone tablet formation’s entrance?”
“Not bad, kid—you’re getting a bit sharper,” Zhang Shisan said, somewhat surprised. “But you’re still not completely right…”
“Could it be that these seven stars aren’t merely the key to entering Qianjin Foundry, but also have a deeper connection? Perhaps Master hadn’t thought deeply enough at that time, and by aligning the seven stars, he unlocked the entrance to Qianjin Foundry and entered the formation?” Mei Qing smiled.
“How did you know… Ah, I get it! I was completely wrong!” Zhang Shisan suddenly jumped up.
“What did Master get wrong?” Bi Zhen, puzzled, asked Zhang Shisan. However, seeing him deep in thought, she shifted her gaze to Mei Qing, clearly expecting an explanation. Mei Qing smiled bitterly and said, “Actually, those seven-star altars were the key to breaking the Jieshi Formation inside Qianjin冶. But you were too focused on finding a way into Qianjin冶 and forgot that reversing the seven stars from the outside was the real method to dismantle the formation.”
“Exactly! That’s exactly right!” Zhang Shisan jumped up, his left hand continuously counting something as he muttered, “Truly impressive! Actually, there was no need for such a grand gesture to enter Qianjin Gate. Reversing the seven stars was clearly a method to break the formation inside—what a grand scheme! Hmm? You brat…”
Zhang Shisan paused, suddenly realizing something, and looked at Mei Qing with a startled expression.
“How did you know?” Bi Zhen asked in surprise. “If that’s the formation-breaking method, what was the Wenshang Sect’s intention?”
“I don’t know why I know either—I just do,” Mei Qing replied, somewhat surprised himself. Then, after a moment’s thought, he continued, “It wasn’t the Wenshang Sect—it was Liu Liu, the second sect leader. It was… it was Zhang Liusun who made Liu Liu do it. Zhang Liusun wanted to escape, so he devised a plan. He took advantage of one of Liu Liu’s visits to Qianjin冶 when the formation was weaker, using magic to manipulate Liu Liu into serving him… oh no…”
Before Mei Qing could finish, a sudden headache struck him, followed by dizziness and blurred vision, and he collapsed unconscious.
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