The night was deep and heavy, the forest within especially dim.

A slender figure of a long-haired woman stepped through the night, her steps breaking dry branches and dead leaves as she walked to the great tree where the two upside-down figures hung, one fat, one thin.

She lifted her head.

Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the branches and leaves, allowing one to see the strangely evil, featureless mask upon her face.

“Interesting?” she asked, her voice very gentle.

The mouths of the two figures on the tree were both bound by strips of cloth, taken from their own clothes.

The fat one made no sound.

The thin one cried out, “Wu wu wu!”

“Are you two not tired?” the woman asked again, a dangerous aura spreading.

With a light puff, Zheng Lao San sent the tightly bound cloth strips fluttering open, falling to the ground.

He let out a childish laugh and said, “Fun.”

The woman walked two steps. “Big Brother didn’t tell you to come and play.”

“Then we didn’t just play and not do anything, ah,” Zheng Lao San said with a strange laugh.

Li Lao Si then emitted a “du du du” strange sound.

The cloth strip on his mouth, section by section, automatically flipped, finally rolling into a small ball…

It fell to the ground, smashing out a small vertical pit that was deep and bottomless.

“Exactly, exactly,” he echoed.

“Who were you two playing with?” The woman wearing the featureless mask seemed somewhat helpless.

Zheng Lao San turned his head and looked at Li Lao Si, then turned back and said, “Won’t tell you!”

“Is that person interesting?” The woman acted as if she hadn’t heard his refusal. Her whole body slowly floated up, her head level with the upside-down Li Lao Si. Her eyes looked into his.

Li Lao Si shrank back, looking at Zheng Lao San for help. “Third Brother?”

Zheng Lao San closed his eyes, pretending not to see.

“Hmm?” The woman added a heavy nasal sound.

“Very reasonable,” Li Lao Si said hastily.

“How reasonable?”

“Even to people whose strength is clearly not as great as his, he is still willing to be reasonable.”

“That truly is very reasonable then.”

“Isn’t it!” Li Lao Si had a very proud expression, as if the praise was for him.

“Then how is it that you two still ended up hanging?” the woman asked.

“Because we weren’t reasonable, ah!” Li Lao Si said with a face of course, not showing the slightest shame.

“How is that person’s strength?” the woman asked again.

“Stronger than a waste!” Li Lao Si said with a grinning face.

The woman clearly didn’t want to humor his joke. “The person Big Brother personally saved, don’t always call him a waste, don’t always play with him.”

Li Lao Si gave a “hey hey” laugh, not speaking. Clearly, he didn’t take it to heart.

“Sooner or later, he’ll dig out your heart!” the woman suddenly said fiercely.

“Oh, oh.”

Li Lao Si just swung upside down like that, amusing himself greatly.

Clearly, he didn’t care at all about this level of threat. Or perhaps, even if this threat were to one day come true, he wouldn’t think it was a bad thing… or perhaps even very interesting, it was hard to say.

“Where is that person?” The woman quietly waited for him to play for a while, then asked again.

Li Lao Si stopped his strange swinging and stopped laughing. He looked straight at the woman. “Third Brother said not to tell you.”

The woman let out a charming laugh. “Hearing you say he’s so interesting, it makes me…”

She reached out and lightly pressed the featureless mask on her face. “Have the urge to reveal my face.”

A faint, subtle sound rang out, making one doubt whether the sound had even occurred.

Just after this subtle sound, Zheng Lao San had already removed the binding and stood face to face with the woman. That bright, shiny steel knife was in his hand again, though no one knew when it had appeared.

“That is my toy, you are not allowed to play with it,” he said with a serious expression.

His eyes were stubborn and pure, like a stubborn child, yet also possessing the ice cold sharpness of the steel knife in his hand.

His enormous physique gave people an extremely oppressive feeling.

The green vines on Li Lao Si’s body at this time moved like spirit snakes. His whole person turned in a circle, lightly and skillfully standing virtually behind Zheng Lao San.

“Third Brother,” he said, “I don’t really want to cut her meat. I have two reasons. First, she’s too thin, there’s not much meat. Second, we can’t beat Old Head.”

“Old Fourth, you have a point,” Zheng Lao San said.

“I am a reasonable person, after all,” Li Lao Si said proudly.

Zheng Lao San still looked at the woman wearing the featureless mask, not turning back. “But think about it, if we let Old Head chase and kill us, wouldn’t that be very fun?”

“Eh!” Li Lao Si’s eyes lit up. He seemed to have found interest.

“Alright.” The woman put down the hand she had been leaning on the mask and chose to compromise. “I know it’s your toy, I won’t touch it.”

Zheng Lao San still didn’t put down the steel knife. “You just said you wanted to reveal your face.”

The woman put her hands on her hips. “This old mother doesn’t want to anymore! Is that not allowed?”

Zheng Lao San’s eyes were very stubborn. “Not allowed.”

“Once a word is out, four horses can’t chase it, a word is nine tripods, a spit of saliva is a nail, a word spoken must be done, a thousand gold promise.” Li Lao Si helped, though not very coherently, having to think before spitting out a sentence, intermittent.

“…” The woman decided to admit defeat. She took out a gold ingot from her storage box. “I apologize, I’ll compensate with money.”

Zheng Lao San snatched up the gold. Only then did he laugh. “Alright!”

“Third Brother, Third Brother,” Li Lao Si looked at him eagerly, “This is compensation for the two of us.”

Zheng Lao San perfunctorily waved his hand. “Rest assured, Third Brother won’t treat you unfairly.”

“Foolish idiots!” the woman couldn’t help but scold.

“You cursed us!” Zheng Lao San immediately looked at her with a serious face.

The woman had no choice but to take out more gold.

For a strong cultivator like her, gold and silver basically held no value anymore. The reason she still carried so much was purely because of the two living treasures before her. They would demand compensation at the drop of a hat, otherwise threatening to kill you. It really wasn’t possible to have no silver on your person.

“Back to the main matter. How is your important task going?” The woman took the money, her face disgruntled. “Big Brother said you were too greedy for play and told me to come and help you.”

Zheng Lao San was very unconvinced. “When he came, he still said he believed we could do well this time.”

Li Lao Si chimed in, “Exactly!”

“After all, it’s our important task,” Zheng Lao San said.

Li Lao Si added, “A very important matter.”

Having said that, they both glared at the woman, wanting an explanation.

The woman slightly lifted her head and thought for a moment. “Perhaps he forgot.”

This reason seemed very absurd, but Zheng Lao San and Li Lao Si accepted it without any difficulty.

Very reasonable, indeed!

“Alright then,” Zheng Lao San said. “We are observing the situation.”

Li Lao Si added, “Progress is very smooth.”

“That’s good then…” The woman said faintly.

At this time, Jiang Wang, guarding outside the residence of Marquis Wei Ning, had no idea who he had unintentionally provoked. He wasn’t clear what kind of terrifying existences the two figures he had lightly hung on the tree were. Nor did he know that a sudden murderous intent had quietly and silently dissipated.

This world was so dangerous, no one could guarantee safety.

He just quietly guarded, not relaxing his exploration of the inner residence for a single moment, while waiting for Feng Ming’s arrival.

The night had been deep for a long time, and dawn had not yet come.