In the river stream, Zhao looked distorted as his body, face, and even the inside of his screaming mouth were all densely filled with those tiny red fish. They devoured his skin and flesh a tenth of an inch at a time while Zhao swung his fists in an attempt to fight them off, leaving the water unsettled. This did not change the outcome, however, and his screaming had ceased along with the sight of him altogether before long.

　　“What… what just happened?” Startled, Qian took two steps backwards. He was still trying to understand what he had just seen of Zhao.

　　“Little Shidi Fang, too… he’d rather die than come with us?” Lyu’s face was pale and his pupils were full of fear as his body shivered. It was especially bad since he remembered Fang Xing had been standing right next to him in the beginning before smiling at him and moving towards Zhao instead. It was likely that Fang Xing had wanted to take Lyu with him at first before remembering that Lyu had been the nicest to him out of the entire party. To Lyu, Zhao had become the victim to die alongside Fang Xing instead of him.

　　Even an experienced cultivator like Lyu was frightened by such a thought.

　　“Wait, that brat is not dead! Look at the ripples!” All of a sudden, a clear shout from Hou Qing focused both Qian and Lyu’s attentions. There was a clear line of ripples swimming towards the other side of the riverbank at a nimble speed.

　　“Why is he okay?” Qian cried out in disbelief.

　　Even Hou Qing could not think of an answer to Qian’s question. Instead, he turned and looked curiously at Lyu. Hou Qing was suspicious of Lyu’s softness towards Fang Xing and was worried that he might have privately informed Fang Xing on some methods of avoiding these Fanged Minnows.

　　Lyu was no less startled than everyone else. Bewildered, he locked his eyebrows in deep thought and—as if suddenly recalling something—Lyu’s face grew pale as he muttered to himself. “Such knowledge… such courage… such audacity….”

　　“What the f*ck are you talking about? Hurry and tell us how the hell he got away from those fish!” Qian impatiently cursed.

　　With bitterness, Lyu gave his response, “Remember the swamp? He was covered in its thick mud and stench. The stench was so strong that it covered up his own smell, so the Fanged Minnows didn’t attack him first. But he also knew that he would run the risk of having his mud and stench washed off before he would reach the other side, so he took Zhao along with him. The attention would then be on Zhao and he would be a lot safer from being preyed upon.”

　　“He— At his age? He had thought of this much?” Qian looked on in disbelief at Lyu’s explanation. It made sense, but Fang Xing was just a child; there could be no way….

　　On the contrary, Hou Qing believed Lyu’s words and smiled with a sigh. “There’s no other explanation for this, then. I have been wondering this whole time why he was so sensible and good like a normal child his age. It was too different from the image Shidi Liu had described to me. You have to remember that he was someone who stabbed a person twice his age within a heartbeat.”

　　Although Hou Qing had appeared to take it easy on Fang Xing throughout the entirety of the journey, he had in fact been keeping a close watch on Fang Xing at all times. Despite Hou Qing trying his best to prevent it, Fang Xing had still managed to escape from them after they’d entered Mount Miasma.

　　But then again, even if Hou Qing were given another chance, the boy might still manage to escape from him.

　　The horrors of those Fanged Minnows were evident to everyone present. Who else would dare to jump right into a body of water—knowing of their existence—with just some mud slapped on their skin? Even the knowledgeable Lyu would not, to say nothing of the others.

　　The line of ripples soon arrived at the other side of the river, a small head popping out of the water to cautiously observe the surroundings and confirm his safety. With a leap, he jumped out of the water before dusting off the remaining mud and wringing away the water from his robe. He then turned to see the rest of the party watching him and gave a smile, though the three on the other side of the river felt a sense of cruelty from that pure, innocent expression.

　　Who else could it have been other than Fang Xing?

　　Lyu’s explanation of Fang Xing’s plan was not wrong. Fang Xing did indeed take advantage of the stench and mud of the swamp as a cover before daring to dive right in. Fang Xing might be brave, but he would not casually gamble away his life. What Lyu did not take into consideration was the fact that the tree veins touching the swamp had once been struck by lightning. This meant the swamp had actually been converted into the elemental energy of Yang[1], and since the Fanged Minnows in the river were of the Yin element, smearing Yang mud all over himself would not only guarantee his own scent would be covered, but also that he would be able to repel the fish and keep them a safe distance away.

　　After all, no matter how thick the layer of mud he covered himself in was, the water could easily wash it away. Without such a double assurance, it was easy to lose his life to these dangerous creatures.

　　“Shixiong Hou, I’ve just remembered I have to do something else, so I regrettably can no longer help you with your beast-slaying business. Do take care, though!” Fang Xing sat on the riverbank across from the party, grinning as he wrung his robe one last time before waving to Hou Qing.

　　This was the widest part of the stream and both of the riverbanks were over a hundred feet away from each other. If somebody had managed to break into tier four, a basic flying skill would have overcome such a distance, but with tier three Hou Qing could at most fly with his sword for half of the distance. With this, Fang Xing was not worried at all.

　　Hou Qing gave a cold reply, “If you have to go, you do that. Why did you take Shidi Zhao with you? Did you know you’ve broken the sect rule by murdering a fellow sect disciple? We’ll see whether the sect will still keep you after all of your treacherous acts!” Hou Qing was calm. With just a few phrases, he had turned Fang Xing into a murderer of their fellow sect disciple: a traitor of the Qing-Yun Sect.

　　As Fang Xing began to grow infuriated, curses started to spill out that were creative beyond most imagination. “F*ck your mother’s balls, you b*stard! How dare you sons of b*tches tell me what’s treacherous! Do you really think I haven’t heard your plans of wanting to use me as bait? Here’s a plan B for you, then; why don’t you bring your mom and strip her naked in front of the toad cave as bait instead? If the toad is happy, he might even give you a baby sister! I’m sure she would look just like you, you goddamn toadface!”

　　Gradually, Hou Qing could be seen growing provoked by Fang Xing’s words. “Just you wait! If I get you, I’ll make sure you know how to spell ‘misery’ properly!”

　　Without sparing a second thought towards Hou Qing’s words, Fang Xing continued his verbal rampage. “Ya! And if I get you, I’ll teach you how to spell ‘pleasure’! You think I have forgotten about what happened at the Recruitment Ceremony? I remember it all too well! How dare you grab me then, I won’t ever forget it! Let’s combine your old and new debts together right now; I promise you that I will have you crying for your mommy, or your new sister will have my face instead of the toad’s!”

　　“So you’re that little monkey. I thought you looked familiar.” Hou Qing raised his eyebrow after remembering who Fang Xing was.

　　—

　　NOTES

　　[1]Yang: as in ‘Yin and Yang’, Yang means the sun, or positive/masculine energy. While Yin means the moon, or negative/feminine energy. Yin and Yang are opposing forces that would be able to restrain each other when both are present.