Chapter 960

Her heart stirred, and she pulled the reins to stop the Ma Pi.

After the carriage halted, Shangguan Haitang bowed to the hillside and the thickets, then said,

"I am Shangguan Haitang, lord of the First Manor under Heaven.

I wonder which friend of the Wu Lin is conducting business here?"

She had actually sensed something amiss from Zhou Zhiruo's expression and the absence of insect and bird sounds in the dense forest.

She truly did not know whether those hidden in the shadows were from some Hemenhe Sect or mere bandits of the green woods.

So she simply announced her own name and called them bandits.

The dense forest and hillside remained silent for a long while.

Just as Shangguan Haitang was growing impatient and preparing to turn her horse and retreat from the hollow,

"Hah! I never thought you'd be so alert, Haitang."

At that moment, banners appeared atop the hillside.

A large group of officials in brocade robes and black boots surrounded a pale, beardless, somewhat effeminate man named Tian Fugui.

"Cao Zhengchun?"

Shangguan Haitang, upon seeing the man, immediately recognized their identity.

"How dare you speak the Director's name directly!"

Her address did not anger the main target, Cao Zhengchun, but enraged one of his men dressed in tight-fitting attire.

The man roared, leapt forward, and swung his blade at her.

Cao Zhengchun merely wore a gentle smile and made no move to stop him.

The distance from the hillside to this hollow was surely over a hundred steps.

Yet the man leapt into the air, took a few swift steps midair, and in the blink of an eye, he was upon them.

Shangguan Haitang was about to counterattack when the man's blade halted halfway—his face turned ashen, as if he'd seen a ghost, and he retracted his weapon.

"Zhou, Zhou..."

The man stood his blade at a distance, his face a mix of terror and a fleeting, hidden delight.

He stared unblinkingly at Zhou Zhiruo.

"Huh? He knows me? Which Zong Sect of the Great Ming is he from?"

His reaction was so obvious that Zhou Zhiruo could not fail to see he recognized her.

Yet she herself was an obscure disciple of Mount Emei; though she had reached the Heavenly Being Realm, she rarely traveled the Jianghu.

Even if he, too, came from the Great Ming, why did he recognize her?

And why did he look at her with such terror?

As these thoughts flashed through her mind, Zhou Zhiruo chose not to react—she simply pretended not to know him.

Of course, Zhou Zhiruo did not know him either.

"Chi Zu, what are you doing?"

His bizarre behavior angered Cao Zhengchun and his court eunuch guards.

Before Cao Zhengchun could speak, one of his men in white robes immediately rebuked him.

This man was one of Cao Zhengchun's Eight Great Experts, named Luo Jusheng.

753 I don't understand what you're saying

"I I I..."

Chi Zu, with his full, bristling beard, clearly was not a man who could lie.

After struggling for a long moment, he suddenly had an idea and said,

"Shangguan Haitang must have used Lian Wuhen Young Master's secret technique and just ambushed me.

My entire left side now feels numb and unwell.

I beg the Director's forgiveness."

To prove he had truly been ambushed, Chi Zu deliberately stiffened half his body and called back toward the hillside.

"Puh-chi..."

His exaggerated expression and movements were hilariously absurd.

Even Shangguan Haitang, who had been deeply worried, couldn't help laughing.

"You useless waste!"

Luo Jusheng was furious, cursed once, and was about to curse again.

But Cao Zhengchun spoke calmly,

"Enough. Lian Wuhen Young Master is one of the Wu Lin's greatest pillars.

One of the few in all the world who can match me in battle.

His techniques are truly not to be underestimated.

Little Chi, return and rest."

"Eunuch..."

Luo Jusheng did not understand why Cao Zhengchun was covering for Chi Zu and feared he was being deceived—he was about to advise him.

Cao Zhengchun did not turn around; he merely waved a finger lightly toward Luo Jusheng.

Luo Jusheng understood at once and fell silent.

"Yes! Thank you, Director, for your understanding."

Chi Zu, seeing his utterly flawed lie had fooled Cao Zhengchun, finally relaxed.

He deliberately limped back toward the hillside.

"Cao Zhengchun, you brought the running dogs of your Eastern Depot here just to embarrass yourselves before me?"

Shangguan Haitang paid no heed to Cao Zhengchun's numerical superiority and called him a running dog to his face.

The usually arrogant and domineering Depot guards were so enraged that they each gnashed their teeth.

But with the Depot Chief present, none of them dared to truly do anything rash without his word.

"Haitang, you really do jest."

Cao Zhengchun did not pick up that thread, merely smiling faintly as he said,

"The reason this one brought people here is that the people of your Shanzhuang have truly gone too far."

At these words, Shangguan Haitang's heart gave a sudden lurch.

"What are you saying? I don't understand.

If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way."

In her fluster, Shangguan Haitang prepared to flick the reins and drive away.

She knew that without an imperial edict, Cao Zhengchun would not dare to lay a hand on her.

"Amitabha! Benefactor Shangguan, where might you be off to?"

Just then, from the dense woods ahead, a few human silhouettes emerged one after another.

The leader was a tall, imposing monk whose beard and brows were both stark white.

He wore a great crimson kasaya, and behind him followed martial artists from various sects.

"Master Liaofan?"

Shangguan Haitang recognized the newcomer and was first delighted, then immediately knitted her brows.

The delight was because before Master Liangkong entered Nirvana, he had always told Shangguan Haitang to take Guihai Yidao and seek out Liaofan.

For Liaofan had a way to help Guihai Yidao break free from Ouyang Batian's control through his evil Qi.

The frown was because the timing and place of meeting Liaofan were truly inappropriate.

This time Liaofan had brought so many martial artists and appeared at the same time as Cao Zhengchun.

Clearly, they had come with ill intent — the well-intentioned do not come.

"It is this poor monk indeed."

Liaofan replied,

"Benefactor Shangguan, where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?"

"Back to the capital."

Shangguan Haitang immediately told a lie.

In any case, she was the Master of the World's Number One Manor, a person of Zhuge Shenhou.