Inside the pouch lay a piece of demon skin.

The demon skin was beautifully processed. Soaked in medicinal juice, its four corners were neat and uncurled, engraved with intricate patterns. Silver powder was embedded in the patterns, shimmering with a hazy glow under the moonlight.

Shi Jingzhi couldn't immediately identify the purpose of this demon skin, but he knew it definitely wasn't a simple "peace charm". He tiptoed back to the woodshed, carefully wiped the water from his hands, and took out Chen Qianfan's record book.

Perhaps sensing his presence, Yin Ci slept soundly without any signs of waking.

Shi Jingzhi flipped through the book for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, and grasped some understanding. The little item in his hand was precisely the "disaster-warding talisman" crafted by Chen Qianfan. Old Man Chen had made one for Shi Zhongyu back then, and this one was probably requested by Yin Ci behind his back.

If it were his past self, seeing this life-saving item might have made him overjoyed. But now, as Shi Jingzhi poked at that small piece of skin, a sourness welled up in his heart, even giving rise to a vague anger.

Yin Ci wouldn't die. Having him ward off disasters was indeed the most "practical" approach. If Yin Ci were his subordinate or collaborator, he would gladly accept it.

...But not for "his Ah Ci".

This person seemed accustomed to placing himself in a "sacrificial" position, who knows where he picked up this bad habit. But this was at least a token of affection. Directly waking Yin Ci to return it seemed quite hurtful. Yet discussing it would lead down the path of "one pain in exchange for one life, it's worth it".

Shi Jingzhi glared at the demon skin until he was tired of glaring, then shifted his glare to the soundly sleeping Yin Ci. Naturally, Yin Ci was much more pleasing to the eye than the demon skin. As Shi Jingzhi stared, more than half of the swelling anger in his heart dissipated.

He bit the tip of his finger, using a small silver knife for cutting medicine as a pen, and began modifying the patterns on the demon skin as he saw fit. His strokes were neither too light nor too heavy, steady and solid, the lines he carved indistinguishable from Chen Qianfan's handiwork. Then he ignited a wisp of Yang fire, melted some silver and ground it into powder, completely altering the technique.

He set up a small restriction on this disaster-warding talisman. Unless Shi Jingzhi himself agreed, even if Yin Ci wanted to ward off disasters for him, he wouldn't be able to activate the technique.

After modifying the demon skin, he carefully placed it back into the pouch, kissed it irritably, then returned it to his chest.

However, Sect Leader Shi, lying on the grass bed, had completely lost his sleepiness. There was still a lump stuck in his throat, choking him so much that he tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Yin Ci secretly sent the talisman, he sneakily modified the talisman. Even though they now had the most intimate relationship in the world, their interactions had taken on a flavor of the schemes and struggles from when they first reunited.

After staring blankly for half an hour, Shi Jingzhi decided to properly punish his disciple. He turned towards Yin Ci, cleared his throat, and began holding his breath. This method was quite effective - as the moon shifted slightly, Sect Leader Shi, holding his breath until a thin layer of sweat covered his forehead and his face was flushed red, even his eyes moistened considerably. It made for a perfectly anxious and pitiful look.

Yin Ci was strangled awake by Shi Jingzhi.

He had been sleeping soundly, his face buried in Shi Jingzhi's hair. With the arms around him tightening forcefully, Yin Ci finally opened his eyes in displeasure.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Shi Jingzhi's unusual complexion. Yin Ci instantly became alert. If Shi Jingzhi hadn't been holding him so tightly, he would have almost drawn his sword to deal with the non-existent "enemy attack".

Shi Jingzhi was using his internal energy, trapping Yin Ci in his embrace, who finally woke up completely.

"...Let go of me, let me take your pulse." Yin Ci said anxiously, "Where do you feel unwell?"

"It's nothing, just had a nightmare." Shi Jingzhi's eyes were moist as he let out a long sigh. This scene, coupled with the moonlit woodshed, suddenly took on a bit more of an air of a strange tale. "

Yin Ci knew this person's ways. Even if Shi Jingzhi had a nightmare of being torn apart by evil ghosts, he wouldn't make such a big fuss showing weakness. He always felt there was a conspiratorial air around them.

Yin Ci: "We're leaving the village tomorrow, let's sleep for now."

Sure enough, Shi Jingzhi held him even tighter: "I dreamed that you died for me. The manner of death was extremely tragic, it was painful to watch."

The two were pressed close together, the peace charm on Shi Jingzhi's chest exceptionally prominent. Yin Ci, feeling guilty from being jabbed by that thing, hastily responded: "Even if I die, I can come back to life, don't be sad."

Shi Jingzhi just had to press him against that peace charm: "But my heart is still pounding... If I could also be resurrected after being torn to shreds, would Ah Ci be willing to watch me suffer?"

"Of course not."

"I feel the same." Shi Jingzhi buried his nose in the crook of Yin Ci's neck and took a deep breath.

It's not the same, Yin Ci thought. Once a piece of porcelain has a crack, a few more don't matter - with more experience comes greater resilience, enduring a bit more hardship is normal. Shi Jingzhi wasn't even thirty years old yet, he hadn't experienced all kinds of worldly suffering, it was best for him to stay as far away from death as possible.

But he wasn't sure if Shi Jingzhi had discovered the disaster-warding talisman. These words were stuck in his throat, unable to come out either way.

"In the end, you and I are different."

Hearing this, Shi Jingzhi sighed into the crook of his neck: "Is that so? I actually think we're somewhat alike. I used to firmly believe that as long as I could stay alive, no price was too high to pay. Ah Ci, on the other hand, thinks that as long as the goal is achieved, sacrificing yourself over and over is fine."

"..."

"Now that I have you, the things I have to consider have multiplied out of thin air. I not only have to stay alive, but also do my best to preserve myself, learn to get along with more people, and carefully try to please you."

"Sounds quite troublesome." Yin Ci let out a short laugh.

Shi Jingzhi bit his neck in dissatisfaction.

"But looking back, 'living by any means necessary' is more like taking the easy way out. Treating everyone around you as objects, exploiting anything that can be exploited. That way, you don't have to think too much, but end up alone in the end - if Ah Ci hadn't come back to Mount Huilian to pull me into the world, if you hadn't supported me in helping Shi Zhongyu, I definitely would have missed the opportunities of the past few days."

Yin Ci felt a series of stinging bites on his neck, this brat was in some kind of mood and bit him again.

"Just like Ah Ci, always thinking about taking the easy way out with 'immortality', and not making any further progress."

Yin Ci was stunned.

Ever since he casually used that new sword technique on Mount Zongwu, something seemed to sprout from the depths of Yin Ci's heart. But after that day, it awkwardly stagnated in place.

For martial artists, reaching a bottleneck in their state of mind was common. With Shi Jingzhi constantly on his mind, Yin Ci didn't continue to delve into it. At this moment, that thing suddenly moved, bringing forth a series of continuous stinging pains. He remained silent, only wanting to wait for the Sect Leader who was "scared awake" to finish sharing his nightmare insights. Who knew that Shi Jingzhi knew when to stop at this point. That person squinted and looked over, his eyes full of cunning.

Then that fox yawned grandly and buried his head in Yin Ci's embrace: "Let's sleep, let's sleep. We'll leave the village tomorrow. Forcing you to listen to my rambling late at night, if I keep talking, Yin Ci will get tired of me."

It turned out he was just stirring up trouble and then running away. Yin Ci felt both annoyed and amused.

In the end, Sect Leader Shi's scheme took effect. This time, the one who couldn't sleep was Yin Ci. After Shi Jingzhi fell asleep, Yin Ci quietly reached over to the other person's chest and touched the peace brocade pouch through the fabric.

"Won't go further" anymore? He had never thought about such a question before. It wasn't that he didn't want to change, but even if he could "go further", in which direction should he go?

He only just remembered that he was a "living person". It's just a pity that he had lived alone for too long and never knew how to live together with another person.

Three hundred years of experience had all gone down the drain. He didn't want to expose this clumsiness in front of others. On one side were vague insights, on the other were habits that spanned hundreds of years. The two ground against each other, leaving Yin Ci restless for the entire night.

Early the next morning, he made the cakes that Shi Jingzhi liked the most as usual, but in the end forgot to add salt. Shi Jingzhi ate them all without saying a word, looking quite satisfied.

"Wu Huai is very cautious. With the enthronement ceremony approaching, he won't be running around outside for no reason." Hua Jingchun installed a wooden prosthetic for herself and used a long staff as a crutch, tapping the ground with it. "Once he is officially recorded by the Yueshui Bureau, even if the Red Hook internally despises this person, they will not assist us... There is only this one chance, everyone be careful."

After a few days, Hua Jingchun's complexion had improved a lot. With the majesty of the Protector returning, her not-so-tall figure seemed like a nine-foot body.

She swept her staff and pointed to a Red Hook disciple not far away: "Come, recite the plan once more. If there is the slightest omission, you'll taste three of my staff's moves."

That person was sweating like rain: "I... We will disguise ourselves as Shafu medicine tea merchants and infiltrate the Red Hook. The enthronement ceremony is in three days at the Chen hour. We will mix medicine into the tea two hours in advance. After knocking out the attendees, we can capture that dog thief Wu Huai..."

"Mm, not bad. Taiheng and Yueshui Bureau are honored guests, most likely staying in the Luoshen Tower. Foreign merchants stay in the Finding Immortals Residence. As long as you behave according to the rules, no one will see through it. Before the enthronement ceremony, no one should act rashly, lest we alert the snake, you hear?"

"Yes!"

Of course, there are those who heard it and pretended not to. Sect Leader Shi made a meaningful "hmm" sound and squeezed his eyes at Yin Ci, his face full of mischief, looking like he had no intention of listening.

The Finding Immortals Residence was used to receive a mix of foreign merchants and was far from the Red Hook's important areas, so the defense was not too strict. Hua Jingchun had inside help in the Red Hook, so this should have been an easy task. Unfortunately, His Highness the Prince Rong graced them with his presence, making the Red Hook guards extremely vigilant, wishing they could dig into each of their faces.

Fortunately, Protector Hua's skills had not declined. She disguised herself as a lame old man and stuck wrinkles all over everyone's faces, even concocting the unique decaying smell of the elderly. The Red Hook guards had already been tipped off by her, and had no interest in this group of old men and women selling medicinal tea, so they finally let them in.

Hua Jingchun was very patient. She didn't go anywhere and honestly led people to dry and grind medicine in the courtyard, not even bothering to get close to the guards.

"Pick the good honeysuckle over there, grind it into powder and mark it when mixing the medicine. Wu Huai is very picky, his honeysuckle tea must be brewed with the finest powder!"

She instructed in a suppressed voice, her eyes piercing like knives.

"The mint leaves shouldn't be too big, about the size of a cat's eye is just right, pick out the ones that are slightly bigger or smaller... You two young heroes, if you're not helping then don't cause trouble here, just leave that blind man for me to use."

"There's just one thing I'm curious about." Shi Jingzhi stroked his chin, feeling the hard-earned disguise beard. "I remember when Wu Huai first joined the sect, he threw you down the Three Provinces Cliff."

"That's right, so what?"

"In order to prevent villains from making a move, at the Red Hook enthronement ceremony, one must drink six bowls of wine and tea, and the new sect leader chooses one bowl himself."

"...That's right."

"Protector Hua, forgive my bluntness. Isn't your understanding of that Wu Huai a bit too detailed?"