"I've told you everything I know. Now tell me, is there anything that interests you?"
Rong Zhi pondered for a moment, wrote a few words on a piece of paper, showed it to Chen An, and then immediately destroyed it.
Chen An's movements paused, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"What did you say? The Valley Master of Medicine King Valley has been found? Where? Could it be you?"
Rong Zhi shook her head and drew a map on another piece of paper, a map of the Imperial City, marking a spot on its outskirts.
It was the location of those dilapidated houses from before.
"You're saying the Valley Master of Medicine King Valley has been in the Imperial City all along? How is that possible?" he widened his eyes.
The royal family had put so much effort into finding this person, only to have them right under their noses. How ironic.
Rong Zhi nodded affirmatively, pointed to her eyes, and then to the spot on the map.
"You saw it with your own eyes? Why would she be there?"
Rong Zhi wrote a few words: The greatest recluses hide in plain sight.
A look of understanding dawned in Chen An's eyes. Indeed, it was an area with weak oversight from the city. The Valley Master of Medicine King Valley was rumored to be a formidable martial artist. If she intended to hide, it wouldn't be easy to find her.
"This is a big deal! I need to go see her. Take me there!"
He was extremely excited. If he found the person the entire Imperial City couldn't find, he would be one step ahead.
Rong Zhi tilted her head in confusion.
*The authorities are looking for her. Why aren't you reporting it?*
"Report it? Why would I want those people to know about her existence?"
Seeing Rong Zhi's stare, he cleared his throat. "What I mean is, I have something I want to ask her privately. Once I'm done, I'll report it. You'll take me there tonight."
Rong Zhi crumpled the paper into a ball and nodded.
As night fell, Rong Zhi quietly led Chen An to the vicinity of the dilapidated houses.
As they approached the entrance, Chen An put away his fan, and his footsteps became increasingly cautious.
The houses here all looked almost identical, low and small, their interiors obscured. Who knew what might emerge from within.
Rong Zhi walked behind him, watching Chen An approach the house where she was hiding. She moved her foot, and a pebble shot out, hitting the wooden door with a *pat*.
*Creak!*
The wooden door opened on its own.
"Be careful!" Chen An shielded Rong Zhi, and when he found no movement, he turned to her.
"Why is there no one here? Is it an ambush? You're not trying to kill me, are you? I've saved you several times."
Rong Zhi was speechless, the young master certainly had an overactive imagination.
She raised her hands, formed two hand seals, made a chopping motion with her fingers, and mimed the action of escaping.
"You mean the people here were arrested by the patrol guards?"
Remarkably, Chen An understood immediately.
She nodded, pointing in two different directions, left and right, signaling for them to split up.
Chen An initially wanted to refuse, opened his mouth, then finally nodded and ran towards the door from which the sound had come.
Rong Zhi didn't expect him to go so quickly. She headed in the other direction, circling around to the back of the house. She appeared to be flanking Chen An, but in reality, she was secretly observing his actions from the rooftop.
Seeing Chen An enter, she took off her outer garment and pulled some of the weeds from the roof, stuffing them into her clothes. Soon, her slender, petite figure appeared to have gained a significant amount of weight.
Without materials, she couldn't disguise herself. Fortunately, the night was thick, and she might be able to pull it off.
She flicked a stone, deliberately making a noise on the door. Before long, she saw Chen An emerge from within.
She casually took out a sleeping pill, crushed it with her internal energy, and flicked it out. The sleeping pill exploded in front of Chen An, and he inhaled it all.
He staggered a bit, shaking his head.
"Who are you?"
Rong Zhi spoke, her voice hoarse and strained.
"What business is it of yours?"
A sweet, metallic taste bloomed in her throat, and the scent of blood returned.
Having said that, she turned and used her Qinggong, leaping across the rooftops and fleeing.
Soon, she heard the sound of footsteps behind her, growing more urgent.
They were catching up.
Under the effect of the sleeping pill, he would mistake her for the person he wanted.
Rong Zhi deliberately slowed her pace. She heard a gust of wind behind her, and two flying darts whizzed past her ears.
He actually attacked, and with such intense killing intent.
She landed in an open area.
"Who exactly are you? I'm looking for a girl named Rong Zhi."
Chen An spoke.
He had been cautious, deliberately not mentioning the identity of the Valley Master of Medicine King Valley.
Rong Zhi spoke again: "It's me."
"You are the Valley Master of Medicine King Valley? Junior Chen An, I have a request for Senior."
He actually knelt on the ground, appearing very sincere.
Rong Zhi was internally surprised. She had only intended to test Chen An's attitude towards her, but his kneeling suggested he genuinely had something important.
"What is it?"
Swallowing the bitter taste in her mouth, she stepped forward and helped him up.
Just then, her wrist throbbed with pain, and an unfamiliar surge of internal energy flooded her, causing her body to convulse with agony.
Killing intent flickered in Chen An's raised eyes.
"I'm here to ask you to die!"
He suddenly grabbed Rong Zhi's wrist. At this moment, with a slight exertion of force, she would die again.
As pain wracked her, Rong Zhi painfully reached out and pulled off her veil.
"Chen An, it's me!"
"It's you?"
Chen An immediately released his grip and stepped back, his brows furrowed.
"Why are you bleeding? What happened to your neck? Why were you pretending to be the Valley Master of Medicine King Valley?"
He seemed somewhat angry, and directly scooped her up in his arms. He then leaped to a thatched hut, found a candle, and lit it. Under the light, he saw that Rong Zhi's face was as pale as paper, as if she were on the verge of death.
He quickly formed two hand seals and grabbed Rong Zhi's wrist again. Only then did Rong Zhi's complexion improve slightly.
What kind of martial art had he just used? She had been completely unable to resist.
If it were ordinary martial arts, Rong Zhi would have easily dealt with it.
"What I used was Xuan Shu, which can separate a person's three souls and seven spirits from their body. If it were someone who had borrowed a corpse to return their spirit, they would immediately scatter their souls."
Scattering their souls...
Rong Zhi suddenly felt a primal fear, yet why was she completely unharmed?
"Fortunately, you didn't borrow a corpse to return your spirit, or you would be gone by now."
He took out a pill and put it into Rong Zhi's mouth. Rong Zhi felt a coolness in her throat, and the discomfort lessened.
"This is a family heirloom medicine that heals external wounds. Why did you pretend to be the Valley Master of Medicine King Valley to test me? I thought we had already agreed on something."
Agreed on something? What agreement?
Rong Zhi looked bewildered.
"Didn't you send that doctor to find me, saying we would discuss matters of the Qianji Pavilion together?"
Doctor?
Rong Zhi was even more confused.
At that moment, the light suddenly dimmed, and Chu Qingze appeared in the room from who knew when.
Chu Qingze? How was he here? And how had he gone to find Chen An.
"I learned a few things from those two people, and I thought this young master might be able to help you."
Chu Qingze stated his purpose directly.
Those two people naturally referred to Xiao Jianli and Cheng Yichen.
Those two were tight-lipped, and in fact, not everything was learned directly from them. Much of it was overheard, and some he had gathered by asking people on the street.
Rong Zhi looked at Chu Qingze in surprise.
Initially, Chu Qingze had been so worried, she thought he was scared and had deliberately left Gushen Tang to hide here.
She hadn't expected Chu Qingze to find Chen An.
"If you encounter difficulties, how can I not help? We have gone through thick and thin together." Chu Qingze sounded somewhat reproachful. They had faced such a major incident at Yanzi Mountain together, yet now she was hiding something from him.
A warmth welled up in Rong Zhi's heart. He was indeed her grand-disciple.
She looked at Chen An and mouthed the question: *Why did you want to kill the Valley Master of Medicine King Valley?*
"What are you saying? I can't understand you at all," Chen An said, completely bewildered.
"I brought you paper and a pen." Chu Qingze took out a stack of paper and a pen from his robes.
Rong Zhi's eyes lit up.
Good grand-disciple.
She quickly wrote down what she had just said.
Chen An's expression was grim due to the deception he had just experienced.
"I just didn't want her to be discovered. A dead person should just stay dead. Why would they still be alive?"
Why?
Rong Zhi's expression showed confusion.
"Now that the border has just been pacified, if a highly respected divine doctor who has been dead for over a decade were to appear in the Heavenly Mandate Kingdom, the Emperor would undoubtedly use this reputation to rally forces and launch a war. When war breaks out, it will inevitably lead to widespread suffering. If we fail, and the enemy reaches the Imperial City, my life of luxury will be over."
He said it casually, but Rong Zhi heard the underlying meaning. The last sentence was merely an embellishment, the preceding one being the true reason.
She had always thought Chen An was unreliable, but now she realized he possessed such righteousness.
Coincidentally, this idea aligned with her own.
After understanding the Emperor's intentions, she had also abandoned the idea of acknowledging her identity. However, even if she couldn't acknowledge it, the girls of Qianji Pavilion still needed to be saved.
She wrote on the paper: *Help me with something.*
"What?"
Rong Zhi threw the packet of herbs she had gathered during the day at him: *Help me decoct this medicine and find a safe place.*
She needed to recover her voice as quickly as possible. Chen An took the herb packet, thinking it was something important, only to realize it was just about boiling medicine.
Despite this, he still put the packet away.
"All the residences related to the Chen Manor have been sealed. I know a place that is relatively safe, follow me."
He led the way, with Chu Qingze protecting Rong Zhi. He had been listening to their conversation, and though somewhat confused, he could guess most of it from the rumors on the streets and their dialogue.
He couldn't believe that a technique for bringing the dead back to life truly existed.
He was even more incredulous that the former Valley Master of Medicine King Valley might have a chance to be resurrected.
If things were as he suspected, this person before him might be his own grand-master!
Chen An led them to a separate courtyard. It looked familiar; wasn't this the same opera house from last time?
Rong Zhi had met an actor here before and almost been possessed by a ghost.
The courtyard was very quiet at the moment, yet Rong Zhi instinctively didn't want to go inside.
Invisible ghosts were far more terrifying than the corpses underground.
"Let's go in. There's nothing inside,"
Chen An reassured her with a gentle smile.