Chapter 137: 128 Shu, Part 2

“Personal female guards?” Zhang Rongfang was slightly taken aback, unsure when he acquired female guards.

Recalling the neurotic behavior of Celestial Maiden Tong Zhang, he speculated that perhaps he…

No!

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind, and he quickly touched his chest.

The manuscript’s silk pages… gone…

A chill surged from his tailbone, racing up his spine.

Remembering Celestial Maiden Tong Zhang’s ruthlessness, Zhang Rongfang immediately felt doomed.

However, he quickly calmed down, realizing that Tong Zhang’s final coercion indicated she likely knew his situation.

With the intelligence level of the Golden Wing Pavilion, his disguises were probably already seen through.

Thus, the final pressure was both a test and punishment.

Now the manuscript’s silk pages were lost, but he’s still alive, which was the best proof.

He gambled correctly.

His heart settled down.

After carefully considering, Zhang Rongfang felt reassured since he first handed over the original manuscript, making a great contribution.

To kill a meritorious contributor right then would mean that the Golden Wing Pavilion need not be established further.

Without a basic reward and punishment system, any organization is bound to self-destruct eventually.

When two black women approached to assist him with changing clothes and washing up, Zhang Rongfang realized these women were blind.

Not only were they blind, but they couldn’t speak; when they opened their mouths, only the remains of a severed tongue were visible.

“They are descendants of criminals, needing three generations to atone and cleanse their sins,” Weili softly explained beside him.

“Their eyes were gouged out to prevent them from leaking secrets. Their tongues were cut because the master prefers silence.”

Chilled to the core, Zhang Rongfang listened to the maiden with an innocent tender voice uttering cruel cold words, gaining a fuller understanding of Celestial Maiden Tong Zhang.

He changed into a long robe with pale silver-blue floral patterns, cinched at the waist with a silver belt.

His black hair was styled into a high bun, secured with a white jade peacock hairpin.

A silver Tai Chi Diagram medallion adorned the front of the bun.

His feet clad in white boots, paired with long pants, and wide sleeves drifting—it felt somewhat unfamiliar for Zhang Rongfang, who usually preferred form-fitting attire.

But once everything was neatly dressed, standing before a vast glass mirror, he almost failed to recognize himself.

The man in the mirror emanated a serene and pure aura, rather than a robust physique.

Yet the exposed muscles of his arms added a hint of virile strength.

There was a vague resemblance… to dandy gentlemen in movies of his past life… his father’s demeanor…

“How is it? Isn’t it splendid?” Weili smiled beside him.

“Yes, it’s nice,” Zhang Rongfang responded speechlessly, but since he was here, he would accept the customs of the master.

Of course, now with a change of clothes, his mood settled further.

Celestial Maiden Tong Zhang arranged all this for him, clearly without malintent.

Next, it’s up to her to decide how to reward or punish him.

Having switched clothes, he followed Weili and exited the bedroom, passing through the expansive outer hall.

Only then did he notice that the place seemed somewhat like a temple structure, yet devoid of any Buddhist-related signs.

Beyond the hall was an open courtyard.

In the courtyard lay a spacious circular lake.

At the center of the lake, a small island held a compact waterside pavilion.

From a distance, he saw a figure in white kneeling on a long black stone beside the pavilion—Celestial Maiden Tong Zhang.

In front of her was a dilapidated stone monument.

She carefully dipped a cloth in a wooden basin and smeared it on the monument.

Weili hopped onto a small boat near the lake, pole-vaulting it toward him.

While propelling the boat, Weili hummed an unknown melody.

The tune carried a religious undertone, like a pure maiden beseeching the deities for happiness.

Sometimes joyous, sometimes devout.

Soon, they reached the island at the lake’s center.

Zhang Rongfang disembarked, slowly approaching behind Celestial Maiden Tong Zhang, standing on the stone surface of the pavilion.

“My lady…” He suddenly hesitated, unsure how to address her.

Facing away, her white clothes clung tightly to her figure under the wind, accentuating her slender and perfect curves.

Once chosen among the Buddhist congregation as Celestial Maiden Ming Fei.

Her figure was arguably the most proportionally perfect he had seen among women.

“Look.”

She pointed a finger toward the stone monument ahead.

Diverting his gaze from her silhouette, Zhang Rongfang focused on the monument.

The gray-black stone was covered with numerous poorly scrawled names.

These names were mostly inscribed using Spiritual Text, resembling child-like handwriting, crooked and unkempt.

“What is this?” Zhang Rongfang asked softly.

“Is it a form of remembrance?” Tong Zhang replied.

She laid down the cloth, rose to her feet, stretched her body slightly, then turned to face him.

“It seems your health exceeds my expectations.”

Her face was expressionless, yet her eyes sparkled with life, revealing a hint of comfort.

“Thank you for your concern, my lady. I lost control previously.” Zhang Rongfang recalled his earlier display, feeling a bit apprehensive.

Simultaneously detonating the Fivefold Mountain Technique, wielding such explosive strength and power, generated an unknown degree of destructive force.

At that moment, he felt ready yet decided to act.

Fortunately, he succeeded; otherwise… one failed strike would mean his demise.

“That moment, was actually quite nice…” Tong Zhang’s eyes revealed a smile. She walked over lightly.

“Ye Bai said your potential has reached its limit, but I don’t believe it. But strangely, even though I personally checked you last night, it turned out to be the same result as hers.”

What the heck? Personally checked? Checked where?!!

Zhang Rongfang felt a jolt in his heart, suddenly feeling a bit awkward.

Seeing the flush on his face, Tong Zhang laughed.

The laughter was like wind chimes, drifting far away in the wind.

In the distance, Weili and the other maidens looked this way as if witnessing a ghost.

They hadn’t seen their master truly smile in a long time.

They didn’t expect Zhang Rongfang could accomplish it.

“Feeling shy?” Tong Zhang reined in her laughter, “It’s no big deal. I’m old enough to be your mother. As for the check, after you returned, I personally took care of all your injuries and cleaned your body. Do not give it another thought.”

She turned again, reached out her hand, and gently stroked the stone tablet.

Zhang Rongfang felt a chill in his heart; it was the first time in either of his lives he encountered such a situation…

For a moment, he suddenly felt unclean…

“The things you hid away, I burned them for you,” Tong Zhang’s voice continued to come through.

“The contents of the secret scroll cannot be passed to anyone, or a calamity will surely follow. You must remember this in the future.”

“Yes.” Zhang Rongfang’s heart was completely relieved.

The meaning of this sentence was: Let’s forget it this time, I helped you handle it, but do not do it again next time.

“Now, how do you feel?” Tong Zhang continued. “I applied a special fish glue to your entire body, along with the Jade Balance Dew you took; the inner and outer combination is enough to minimize your body’s bleeding at the first moment.”

“Much better now.” Zhang Rongfang replied.

“That’s good then. You used an extremely high-load overlapping Limit-Breaking Skill, causing great stress to your body, but you only suffered minimal damage—your physique is unbelievably strong.”

“Next, I’ll stay here for a month, and during this month, I’ll specially instruct you in the Golden Roc Secret Record.”

Zhang Rongfang was momentarily stunned, then he happily bowed sincerely to her.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“No need to thank me; teaching you is also selfish on my part,” Tong Zhang spoke softly.

She pressed one hand against the stone tablet.

“I can grant you Spirit Level authority treatment, can give you the military power of a house guard in a provincial city, can let you leap past numerous hardships and reach unimaginable heights for an ordinary person.

But… the prerequisite for all this is that you leave Tan Yang and transfer to another location. Are you willing?”

Leave?

Zhang Rongfang was taken aback.

“Can I know where I’ll be going?”

“To a safe place. Didn’t you have a sister? She is currently transferred along with her husband, you can go to her.

She’s been looking for you, and she’s very worried about you.” Tong Zhang smiled.

“…And what about my position and identity here?”

“They can be transferred along with you. You can focus on healing, then carefully study martial arts,” she answered.

“… May I ask a question?” Zhang Rongfang recalled everything before, couldn’t help but be curious, and still asked.

“Go ahead.” The Celestial Maiden at that moment seemed completely devoid of the previous nerve and fierceness, answering like an ordinary elder with warmth.

“Your subordinate has always had a doubt.” The first thing that emerged in Zhang Rongfang’s mind was the bizarre scene when he had tested someone after getting the god statue.

Now that Tong Zhang’s attitude was so good, his future position was already determined.

It was just right to ask about the use of the god statue.

“To be honest with you, I once pieced together a complete Daoist god statue, but then encountered a bizarre event because of it.”

“What bizarre event?” Tong Zhang asked softly.

“That god statue…” Zhang Rongfang recalled it now, still found it somewhat unbelievable.

He suddenly thought about how to explain that he knew how to activate that god statue?

Normally, if someone obtained a god statue, they wouldn’t worship it fervently without knowing anything about it or understanding it.

Moreover, he specifically found someone to test it by worshiping it.

Undoubtedly, this would reveal the secret that he knew the method of activating the god statue beforehand.

“Your subordinate, the previous statue pieced together produced an… unexplainable situation.”

“Did the statue disappear?” Tong Zhang asked.

She seemed utterly unsurprised by what might have happened.

“Yes, later it completely shattered. I watched someone turn into…”

“You saw wrong.” Suddenly, Tong Zhang interrupted him.

“It should be, you were too tired, so you experienced a hallucination.” She slowly walked to Zhang Rongfang’s front, stretched her hand, and gently stroked his face.

“You’re still young; you’ve already crossed the critical step before. Next, following the routine, you’ll soon step into a higher level.”

“But now… At least for now.” She seriously and solemnly stared at Zhang Rongfang.

“Do not investigate or think about these things.”

From her tone, Zhang Rongfang heard a certain concern, worry.

He couldn’t imagine what there was to worry about, given Celestial Maiden Tong Zhang’s terrifying skills.

But at this very moment, the worry in her eyes was pure and untainted.

“Just like all the servants here, I have gouged out their eyes and cut their tongues; it’s not because I am cruel.

It’s because I don’t want them to die.”

Her eyes reflected Zhang Rongfang’s solemn face.

“Go to your sister, heal well, don’t touch the god statue bait, and matters of the secret cult.

Look at the Silver-faced Cicada… all the people he cared about died because of him.

And now, he doesn’t even know what he’s doing… This world… This world…”

Her voice sank lower.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep