Ling Zhang, after his talk with Yuwen Tong, said no more. During the first half of the night, all those supposed to be sleeping were fast asleep, and those still awake were sitting or lying in repose with their eyes closed.

Ji Yanlai had stopped gazing into the depths of the dark. Ji Yin, along with the couple of elders, were meditating, their eyes closed. For the moment there was no telling whether or not any of them was also being affected.

Most people were sound asleep, and in their dreams many of them forgot about the terrible things they had witnessed during the day.

However, as Zi Hour (23:00-00:59) neared, something in the dark seemed to be closing in on them. What with this weird, subdued atmosphere, all the unsleeping ones opened their eyes, and almost all of them sensed the approaching danger.

Ling Zhang sat up from Yuwen Tong's embrace and looked off into the darkness.

At first it was just a perception of a looming crisis, but gradually they began to hear some strange sounds of breathing, which were shallow but very fast. Those people seemed to be in intense excitement. Some of them were leaping from rooftop to rooftop, others streaking along the streets, all of them threateningly advancing towards this camp.

"Form up!" yelled the couple of elders of the Millennium Pavilion. The guards immediately formed up into a defensive formation in front of the others.

The soldiers on night duty, whose hearing was not as good as the others', were all unaware of what was going on, but they still promptly woke up their companions. Everybody was on the alert and combat-ready.

The first pair of eyes came into sight because of the reflection of firelight off them. Those eyes were crimson and bloodshot. And then a man leapt up high, fiercely coming at them like a beast at its prey, his eyes terrifying, the aura of murderousness around him almost palpable, his teeth bared.

The sudden appearance of the first man was closely followed by that of the second, the third ...

All the others, like the first one, were crimson-eyed and weird-looking, their clothes bloodstained, baring their teeth, appearing more like wild beasts than humans.

"Holy shit! What's wrong with these people? Are they insane? They look much scarier than those pirates!" shouted Yuwen Jin in confusion, staring at those eccentric men and whipping out his saber after scrambling to his feet.

"They suffered Chi-Disorder," said an officer standing beside him.

"Chi-Disorder my ass! Did you not hear what the Clan Leader said during the day? They're under some kind of encampment, which means they're jinxed," demurred Yuwen Jin.

"All these people are under a spell," said Ji Yanlai, "one that's very difficult to undo. They can be stopped by nothing but death. Even if we knew the countercurse, we wouldn't have enough time to save all of them. Unlike those pirates, all these people have kung fu skills."

"Then we kill them," said Yuwen Tong.

Given the strong smell of blood these people were giving off, they probably had taken a lot of lives.

The soldiers bent their bows, took aim and fired arrows at those peculiar-looking men approaching from the distance, while guards of the Millennium Pavilion had engaged the enemies at the front.

Ling Zhang and the others were not just watching either. Since the enemies were in large numbers and seemed to be pretty good at kung fu, the guards and soldiers wouldn't be able to wipe them out anytime soon, so Ling Zhang and the others all made their move.

Ling Zhang and some others engaged the couple of odd-looking men that appeared to have the best kung fu skills.

It was after getting in a fight with them that Ling Zhang found that these people, though jinxed, indeed looked as if they were suffering from Chi-Disorder, for every one of them was shielded in his own Chi which was leaking out continuously, their clothes bulging, and they were attacking with no consideration of their own safety whatsoever. They were fighting purely out of instincts and were not afraid of getting hurt at all. Ling Zhang hit his target hard with a palm strike, causing the man to spit out several mouthfuls of blood. Were the man a normal person, he would have sunk to the ground already, but surprisingly, that weird-looking man was still charging at Ling Zhang, as though trying to get himself killed.

Ling Zhang, not inclined to waste any more time, directly finished the target off.

Although these queer men had kung fu skills and appeared rather creepy, it didn't take long to wipe them out, because many of their opponents were kung fu masters.

It was after these people were exterminated that Mr. Mu found an opportunity to examine their bodies.

"Their symptoms are indeed like those pirates'," said Mr. Mu after performing an examination.

Yuwen Jin took some soldiers to count the number of those maniacs' bodies. Before long, he returned and informed the others, "Thirty-four."

"I wonder who these people were. It seems–"

Ling Zhang abruptly raised his hand, interrupting Yuwen Jin, the look on his face instantly becoming cold and grave.

Startled, Yuwen Jin immediately shut his mouth and then he saw Ling Zhang swoosh into the darkness without warning and disappear from view in a flicker of his figure.

"Brother Zhang?!" Yuwen Jin yelled involuntarily.

Yuwen Tong looked this way just in time to glimpse Ling Zhang's back rapidly vanishing into the dark. His countenance changed and he streaked in that direction without a second thought.

Yuwen Jin was astounded. "Cousin?!"

All the others shifted their gaze to him. "What's the matter?"

Yuwen Jin's face was somewhat pale. "Brother Zhang and my cousin both went that way. I don't know if they sensed anything."

Ji Yin and Ling Zhaowu both looked apprehensive. The former was just about to go that way to find out what it was about when Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong walked out of the shadows shoulder to shoulder, Yuwen Tong carrying a half-dead man in his hand, who was pleading, "Mercy, Your Majesty! This is really just a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!"

At the sight of them returning, all the others were relieved, but when their eyes fell on the man Yuwen Tong was carrying, they were all baffled. "Who's that guy?"

Yuwen Jin walked up, cocked an eye at the man and was amused. "Ha, you're that captain of the guards working for the King of the South Ocean, aren't you? What's your name again? And why are you here?"

The man carried by Yuwen Tong was none other than the captain of the guards of the Fangcun monarch, otherwise known as the King of the South Ocean. He was of middle height and average-looking. Nobody except for those who knew him could tell he was the captain of royal guards. However, this man was pretty good at kung fu and, because of his consummate lightness skills, was not a person to be trifled with. But at this moment, he was carried by Yuwen Tong and seemed to have been beaten within an inch of his life, his face severely swollen.

"Oh, you're General Yuwen, aren't you? Long time no see. I'm Wei Dong. We met before. You're a noble and busy man, and I'm not surprised you forgot my name." Wei Dong let out a pained groan after Yuwen Tong tossed him to the ground, then pulled himself up and quickly started cottoning up to Yuwen Jin.

"Get your hands off me. You're staining my clothes." Yuwen Jin stopped Wei Dong from holding his arm and then said, "What are you doing here? Have you been spying on us? When did you come to this island? And why didn't you seek me out and say hi? One moment the King of the South Ocean was fawning on us, but the next, he was trying to distance himself from us."

With an apologetic smile on his face, Wei Dong said, "We've only just arrived, and I didn't know it was you that entered the city. Had I known about it, I would definitely have come here to say hi some time ago. You may rest assured that our king will come here immediately after I return and inform him of it. Our countries have always been very close to each other. We'd never try to distance ourselves from you."

Yuwen Jin snorted and looked at Ling Zhang. "Brother Zhang, was it because you spotted this guy that you rushed out? You can do whatever you want with him."

Ling Zhang glanced at Yuwen Tong standing beside him, who had an ugly look on his face.

Ling Zhang, feeling somewhat guilty, said, "I'm letting you handle him. Ask him when the King of the South Ocean arrived here, where he's hiding at the moment, and what he knows about all the oddities in this city. Let him go if he answers these questions with honesty; bury him with those bodies if he doesn't."

"Oh, please don't, Your Highness. I promise I'll tell you everything you want to know. Please don't be mad at me," Wei Dong hastily said.

Yuwen Jin grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and took him away for interrogation.

After they went far away, Ling Zhang hastened to apologize to Yuwen Tong. "Just now I sensed that man's Chi and immediately went to catch him for fear of him escaping. I didn't have the time to tell you. Please stop sulking."

All the others were somewhat confused at these words, looking at the two of them in bewilderment, wondering why Ling Zhang was apologizing for such a trivial matter.

Beneath the others' gaze, Ling Zhang was somewhat embarrassed, but the sight of Yuwen Tong's sulky look made him rather shamefaced.

He knew that it must be because Yuwen Tong had been affected by his previous words that Yuwen Tong had got alarmed and, mistakenly believing that he was heading for that palace, immediately followed in his wake.

But he was not that impulsive and still had his sanity. He would never do that kind of reckless thing.

"What's going on? Something else happened?" asked Ling Zhaowu, looking from Ling Zhang to Yuwen Tong and back again.

Ling Zhang gave his father a simple explanation, saying that he had not had time to tell Yuwen Tong before leaving, which had caused Yuwen Tong to be worried.

Ling Zhaowu said, "Do not do that again. This place is quite spooky. Don't worry us."

Ling Zhang hurriedly promised he wouldn't do that again and then sneaked another glance at Yuwen Tong's countenance.

There was no longer any anger on Yuwen Tong's face, but Ling Zhang still couldn't set his mind at ease.

"Let's hear what Wei Dong has to say first. Just now he probably tailed those freaks and came here to check out the lay of the land, believing that his lightness skills were good enough for him not to be caught. I think those people from the Fangcun Kingdom are hiding somewhere nearby," said Yuwen Tong.

Since he started talking about serious matters, the others took the hint and left to watch Yuwen Jin "interrogate" Wei Dong, paying no more attention to what was going on between him and Ling Zhang.

Ling Zhang, straggling behind the others with Yuwen Tong, secretly tugged at Yuwen Tong's sleeve and said, "Stop being angry. I'll give you a heads-up the next time I decide to make my move."

Yuwen Tong came to a halt and looked at him with a serious expression in his eyes. "Promise?"

Ling Zhang, knowing that Yuwen Tong was giving him an out, immediately replied, "I promise!"

It was only then that Yuwen Tong snorted and stopped being angry with him about his suddenly venturing into the darkness.

Wei Dong was honest and cooperative. Maybe because the King of the South Ocean had given him some kind of instruction, Wei Dong answered every question Yuwen Jin asked him.

"We arrived here last night, but it was on the other side of the island that we found our way in. We encountered some cannibals and got in a fight with them. Not until they were all driven away did we gain entry into this city. On entering this place, we got into another fight, this time with a band of pirates hiding there. We lost a lot of men. At that time none of us knew about the existence of these demented people in the city. Last night I nearly got torn apart by them. We fought for a whole night and finally managed to repel them. It was daybreak when I got to sleep, but before long I was woken up by some noises coming from this area. We didn't know what was on this side and were afraid of encountering those freaks again, so we didn't dare take any action and decided to stay put and see what would happen next. It was not until night fell that our king sent me here to take a look. As you know, my kung fu is just average, but my lightness skills are pretty good; I can make my escape when things go south ... Ah, of course, I don't dare flee when faced with His Majesty and His Highness."

Wei Dong, though his face was so swollen the others were forcibly reminded of a pig's head, was still trying to ingratiate himself with his captor, looking much the worse for wear.

"Stop playing docile. There's really a tribe of cannibals inhabiting this island?" Yuwen Jin inquired of him.

"Yes, there is. We're surprised as well. Nobody knows where they originally come from. Beyond that forest of grotesque rocks were quite some bushes and a long sweep of plains. There's fresh water there, and their tribe is right on the side. Those cannibals were eating human flesh when we arrived. We were terribly repelled. They even made an attempt to catch us. There were not many of them, but they got a lot of balls. Our king was angered and we flattened that tribe and drove them away. They fled along the coast," recounted Wei Dong.

All the others were rendered speechless. It seemed that the cannibals they had encountered on the coast had been the very batch chased away by those from the Fangcun Kingdom.

"And the band of pirates?" asked Yuwen Jin.

"Oh, those guys. They encamped right at the city gates through which we entered the city later. I saw a lot of chests in their camp. Those houses ... You've searched those houses, I suppose? They moved the chests containing gold out of the city into their camp and kept a close eye on them," replied Wei Dong.

"They didn't go crazy?" inquired Yuwen Jin.

Wei Dong shook his head. "No, not a single one of them, but they were all covered in blood and seemed to have killed a lot of people. They were very vigilant too. Our guide, the one from that mini-state near the South Ocean, tried to communicate with them and make some inquiries, but they immediately drew their weapons and came at us. We had no choice but to fight. Most of them were killed, but the surviving ones fled into the city and disappeared without a trace."

Ling Zhang and the others were rendered speechless once again. He kept having this feeling that the batch of demented pirates they had killed at the city gates had been forced into the city by those people from the Fangcun Kingdom.

"What's the problem with you people? Why do you have to chase away everybody you run into? Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused the others by doing that?! Do you?!" demanded Yuwen Jin.

Wei Dong huddled on the ground in fear, perplexed. "W–Well, some of them wanted to eat us, and the others tried to kill us. We had to fight back."

He did have a point, and Yuwen Jin did not know how to contradict him.

Yuwen Jin quietly mobilized his internal energy to help suppress his rage. It was a few moments before he continued, "And those freaks?"

This time Wei Dong shook his head. "We don't know anything about them either. They came out of nowhere. Last night we were caught unprepared and lost a lot of men, so tonight we were more vigilant and decided not to spend the night in the city, and we didn't make a fire. And then they just ... ahem ... They just came to your camp. You guys are really badass. You killed them all."

However, Ling Zhang and the others were not very happy to hear this. It turned out that even these lunatics had come here to attack because those people from the Fangcun Kingdom had failed to wipe them out last night.

Yuwen Jin scowled at Wei Dong. It was a long moment before he huffed, "You Fangcun people are so fucking useless!"

Wei Dong was baffled as to why Yuwen Jin was insulting him and his country.

"Did you meet anybody suspicious apart from those lunatics on your way to this area?" Ling Zhang inquired of him.

Wei Dong shook his head. "No. Just those freaks."

Ling Zhang and the others, " ... "

This meant that they had killed all the other living people on this island except for those from the Fangcun Kingdom.

Right now they and those Fangcun men were the only ones left in this stone city.

Yuwen Jin shook his head. "It would seem we specially came here to take care of problems for the Fangcun Kingdom."

Wei Dong did not dare speak, but he had got a shrewd idea of what had happened.

"One last question. How did you navigate your way out of the fog bank?" Ling Zhang asked him.

After hearing this, Wei Dong appeared rather awkward and replied, "It was our astrologist who guided us out of it."

"Bullshit. Are you telling us that your astrologist could see stars in that dense fog? Stop with the lying!" Yuwen Jin reprimanded him.

Wei Dong flinched. "How am I supposed to know whether he could see stars or not? All I know is he led us to this island. Our astrologist is one of the most respected men in the Fangcun Kingdom. Even our king holds him in high esteem. Our astrologist has lived a very long time. He helped steer our country through many crises. He's the lucky star of the Fangcun Kingdom."

The others lapsed into silence.

"Have any of you heard about such a person in the Fangcun Kingdom before?" Yuwen Jin asked Yuwen Tong and the others in a muted voice.

Yuwen Tong exchanged a glance with Ling Zhang who then said, "I have, but I've never heard of any psychic ... ahem ... any particular deeds he did. I thought he was just like those stargazers working in the Imperial Observatory, whose work is to observe stars when necessary to provide useful information about the best time to sow the seed or to hold a sacrificial ceremony."

Yuwen Jin, " ... "

He twisted his head around and thundered at Wei Dong, "You hear that?! That's what a stargazer normally does!"

Wei Dong said, "You're talking about your stargazers, not our astrologist. Our astrologist is quite badass."

Yuwen Jin, however, was unconvinced. He inexplicably felt that he was on the losing side. "Humph. Who knows whether you're telling the truth or not?"

Wei Dong asserted, "Of course I am. You'll know when you meet him."

Yuwen Jin glared at him. This guy dared to talk back?

"Enough," said Yuwen Tong. "Release him."

On hearing this, Wei Dong smiled, "Thank you, Your Majesty. You're just as wise as they say you are."

Yuwen Jin, glowering at him, reluctantly untied the rope for him.

"Go back and tell your king to come here to meet me early tomorrow morning," instructed Yuwen Tong.

Wei Dong said, "Yes, of course, Your Majesty. I promise I'll deliver the message."

The moment Wei Dong left, Yuwen Jin said, "Why did you let him go, cousin? What if he plays tricks on us?"

"He won't dare," said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang also said, "He may flee, but the Fangcun Kingdom can't."

Yuwen Jin caught on. "Well, that's true."

Then he added, "I wonder who that astrologist of theirs is."

Ji Yanlai said, "We'll find out when we see him tomorrow."