“The demonic sect disciples have grumbled endlessly about you, but I have relentlessly been suppressing their murmurs. I will torture to death whoever dares to badmouth you. You said that you’ll be holding a ‘Nether Demon Assembly,’ so I have been sending invitations all over! Only a handful of the demonic sect disciples know who you are. I will surely be there to back you up when you reveal yourself during the event! Don’t worry, no one would dare to look down on you while I’m around!” Zhu Hongyi took another step forward.

“I… I don’t want to become a demon! I don’t want to be a demon!” She Miejue was about to break down; the sword fell from her hand as her face was awash with tears.

“I know, I know!” Zhu Hongyi pulled She Miejue into his arms, letting her weep her heart out.

----------------

The next day—Wang Ke and Zhang Zhengdao left the Qing Capital and rushed their horses to their next destination.

“Quick, we must return to the Zhu Cultivation Town as fast as we can!” Wang Ke shouted.

Zhang Zhengdao stared at Wang Ke with resentful eyes while he rode alongside him; his face was swollen like a pig’s head, and so was his entire body.

“Wang Ke, is my face still swollen?” Zhang Zhengdao cried out. He could no longer hold it back.

Wang Ke glanced at Zhang Zhengdao and said, “It’s much, much better than last night. Your panda eyes look quite cute! Of course, you still look annoying as usual!”

Cute your a**! Annoying your grandma! Zhang Zhengdao was still holding his searing face.

“You... Can you stop sabotaging me like this? Do you know how miserable I was? Do you know how fiercely She Miejue beat me up?” Zhang Zhengdao complained angrily.

“You chose this path yourself. I gave you the options yesterday; one of us was going to enter the palace to save the princess while the other would settle the matters outside the palace. You chose to stay outside!” Wang Ke threw the blame back to Zhang Zhengdao.

“I thought you meant that I just needed to prepare the rendezvous. But I was bashed by She Miejue instead! Look at my swollen face! Such a disgrace! This won’t do, you have to compensate me!” Zhang Zhengdao insisted.

“You’re asking me for money?” Wang Ke asked with staring eyes, as if Zhang Zhengdao were telling a joke.

The latter’s face reddened. There’s no way I can get money from Wang Ke, the iron rooster!

“Yes, you have to compensate me this time! Ten thousand pounds of spirit stones!” The piled-up resentment in his heart was about to explode.

“Fine. I have yet to settle scores with you, now that you mentioned it. Humph. You wanted to be in charge of all the matters outside the palace, and you knew that you needed to keep She Miejue distracted. Still, did you manage to do this? She Miejue returned! You failed! I was almost caught by her. Do you know how dangerous it was inside the palace? Not only did I need to face the Qing Emperor, even Zhu Hongyi was there! And you allowed She Miejue to return, just like that. Do you know how much I lost? You only suffered some physical injuries and a swollen face. What about me? I almost died there!” Wang Ke glared as he spoke.

“I!” Zhang Zhengdao’s face froze.

“Do you know how frightened I was? Do you know what it cost me to retrieve the beaded bracelet? I used all my connections and even turned an old friend into an enemy. What was it all for? Didn’t I do that so that you wouldn’t be punished by your senior? I’ve done so much for you. I’ve sacrificed so much. And now you have the face to demand money from me? You should be the one to compensate me!” Wang Ke vilified Zhang Zhengdao with angry eyes.

Zhang Zhengdao: “.................!”

Why did I end up needing to compensate Wang Ke?Was I beaten up for nothing?

“Come, let’s go over every detail, one by one!” Wang Ke rolled his sleeves.

“Hahaha, Brother Wang, I was just joking with you. Haha, this physical pain is nothing! We are brothers, let’s not talk about money! Come, let’s continue our journey; it’s more important to reach the Zhu Cultivation Town, hahaha!” Zhang Zhengdao urged his horse and sped ahead.

“Don’t run, my dear brother! We need to settle all matters clearly, don’t run!” Wang Ke made his horse pick up the pace as he gave chase.

The two bantered as they hurried toward the Zhu Cultivation Town.

Unfortunately, they didn't realize that two cranes had locked onto them, high above the clouds.

They squealed softly toward each other as though they were conversing.

Then, one of them nodded. It extended its wings and flew toward a different direction.

One crane flew amidst the clouds, tracking Wang Ke and Zhang Zhengdao, while the other returned to notify its master.

------------

Two days later, the messenger crane landed on the peak of a mountain. Zhang Shenxu and a group of Golden Crow Sect disciples were waiting for it.

“You found them? Hahaha, you found them! Wang Ke and Zhang Zhengdao? There’s nowhere to run this time!” Zhang Shenxu shouted savagely.

The Golden Core stage disciple who had been stripped naked by Wang Ke snarled and said,“Senior apprentice-brother, let’s move out now. What those two did to me was truly humiliating; I’m going to tear them into pieces!” 

“Yes, yes. Senior apprentice-brother, we were almost killed by Wang Ke’s lies in the Wolf Cultivation Town. We want revenge!”

“Revenge!”

..................................

......................

......

All the people in the group rubbed their hands and clamored.

“Sure! Let’s go now! No one has ever dared to deceive me, Zhang Shenxu. I’m going to let them have a taste of the consequences for offending us!” Zhang Shenxu said with a chilling tone.

“Let’s do it!” his juniors responded.

And so, Zhang Shenxu and his juniors soared into the sky riding their cranes.

“Lead the way!” Zhang Shenxu ordered the messenger crane.

“Squeak!”

With a loud squeal, the crane complied and flew away; a big group of cranes followed behind it, heading toward Wang Ke’s location.