'What I mean is, how can a woman be a husband, a son, and a father all at once?'

Feng Ruoxing looked at me with disdain. 'Don't you know the art of disguise? Sorcerers can transform into anything. Didn't you know that?'

'Besides, haven't you learned "The Ballad of Mulan"? It says: The male rabbit hops and kicks, the female rabbit blinks her eyes. Two rabbits run side by side, how can you tell male from female?'

I quickly moved towards the window. 'Don't look at me like that. Your eyes are quite blurred too.'

'Bah!' Feng Ruoxing almost spat in my face. 'Have you heard of the Seven-Nine Business? Why don't you ask me about it!'

I roughly explained what I knew. Before Feng Ruoxing could speak, Ye Yang, who was driving, said, 'You've missed something.'

'The deadliest thing about the Seven-Nine Business is that if the deal isn't done within twenty-one days, either the client or the sorcerer will die. That's why there's the saying about protecting the client for the first twenty-one days. That's the death knell that tolls every seven days.'

'Later Seven-Nine Businesses are the same. Whether they're from the Seven-Nine Sect or not, anyone who takes on a Seven-Nine Business is destined to die within twenty-one days.'

'Rumor has it that this is the curse the Seven-Nine Sect placed on the martial world before its decline!'

Feng Ruoxing and I looked at each other, both sitting up straight, and asked in unison, 'There's such a saying?'

Ye Yang drove the car and said, 'I heard a legend that the Seven-Nine Sect set such rules not out of its own volition, but because of a contract between the Seven-Nine Sect and the ghosts and gods.'

'Later, the Seven-Nine Sect declined, and its members disappeared one after another, all because of the contract. Although the Seven-Nine Sect was defeated, their agreement with the ghosts and gods remained, turning into a curse that entangled the path of sorcery.'

Ye Yang continued, 'If you don't believe me, you can ask around. Haven't the people who took on the Seven-Nine Business later all followed the old path of the Seven-Nine Sect?'

Feng Ruoxing quickly made a phone call. Soon after, her expression turned somewhat ugly. 'Ye Yang is right.'

'Five percent of those who took on the Seven-Nine Business died in the deal, and two percent forced their employers to withdraw from the path of sorcery. Only three percent can truly complete the contract.'

Feng Ruoxing didn't say anything about taking on the business alone. We were already out, and we wouldn't turn back halfway. Even if she wanted to send Ye Yang and me back, neither of us would let her take on the business alone because we still owed her a favor.

Feng Ruoxing said in a low voice, 'I've put you in danger this time.'

I laughed. 'Isn't every business in the path of sorcery life-threatening? But how much does your friend know about the Seven-Nine Business?'

Feng Ruoxing shook her head slightly. 'I don't know either! If there's really another hidden story behind this business, I'll be the first to kill Zhao Ci.'

Feng Ruoxing was telling us that as the middleman in this business, if Zhao Ci's business was real, she would do her best. If Zhao Ci dared to lie, she would personally seek justice from the employer.

But I wasn't thinking about these things. Instead, I was constantly recalling what my master had told me about the Seven-Nine Sect.

When my master mentioned the Seven-Nine Sect, he once said, 'It's not necessarily a good thing to gather all the most talented people of the world into one sect.'

'A sect that monopolizes the spiritual energy of the path of sorcery will not only be envied by others, but may even be envied by the heavens.'

'The Seven-Nine Sect is the best example. If someone in the path of sorcery had offered help when the Seven-Nine Sect was in crisis, the Seven-Nine Sect wouldn't have ended up being completely wiped out.'

The Seven-Nine Sect is gone, but the seven-day curse remains.

My master also told me, 'If you encounter a Seven-Nine Business one day, be careful. Because you are very likely doing business with a dead person.'

When Feng Ruoxing took me to see the client, Zhao Ci, who was sitting in a wheelchair, he said with some embarrassment, 'Ruoxing, I'm sorry about this.'

'After I sent out the call for help, no one contacted me, and even my old brothers avoided me. I could only contact the path of sorcery in the provincial capital.'

'The Eight Gentlemen of the provincial capital's path of sorcery are all vying to take on this business, you see...'

Feng Ruoxing immediately became anxious. 'Brother Zhao, you've done this wrong! You've already sent out a call for help, why are you looking for others?'

'Besides, can you trust those people you're looking for? We've already started the mission. Those secular gentlemen are out of our league. Why didn't you wait for my news?'

Zhao Ci's face turned red from Feng Ruoxing's scolding, and he lowered his head, not daring to say a word.

I stood in the distance, looking at Zhao Ci in the wheelchair with his stubbled beard, and couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic.

A person who is used to the martial world wouldn't do such a muddled thing. Zhao Ci's mistake could only mean that he had reached the end of his rope.

Except for Feng Ruoxing, none of his former partners responded to his call for help. The "Cloud Piercing Arrow" of the past was now just an empty whistle blown to the sky.

The former sorcerer was now confined to a wheelchair. A person who can't lift a knife, how can he protect his family?