Leng Qing's cabin consisted of three rooms lined up straight, their doors and windows perfectly symmetrical. Han Xuhan stepped past the front door and found room number one to be empty. He placed Tun Shi Tian on a table and handed a bag to the bird.

Tun Shi Tian had been instructed on what to do when shit went down.

Somewhat hesitant, he coughed loudly to alert the prey. What he did not expect, however, was the response his cough got him.

"Come in, fellow cultivator, come in."

Leng Qing's voice floated out of the middle room. From his tone, it didn't quite seem like he was surprised.

Immediately, Han Xuhan's mind went into overdrive.

Leng Qing had addressed the intruder as a fellow cultivator, not with any titles used for one's fellow disciples. Could he perhaps be aware of what was going on?

He recalled the first time he had laid his eyes on this young man. At that time, Leng Qing had predicted some events and facts that he had no business being privy to. If a simple power of prediction could let a rookie cultivator learn of the existence hiding inside another's dao tower, powerhouses like Xuan Zi and Kong Ye would have perceived the threat long ago. There was definitely something else that this guy was relying on to pry into secrets so deeply hidden.

With such thoughts clouding his mind, Han Xuhan walked into the only bedroom of the cabin where he found Leng Qing leaning lazily on a recliner, enjoying the faint sunlight coming through the only window of the room.

Leng Qing wasn't the most impressionable fellow. Even his status as a body cultivator seemed dubious. His features were plain, with short, brown hair, straight brows, and thick lips that didn't quite complement his olive complexion.

Their eyes met, and both of them perceived the hint of anticipation and caution mixed inside their gazes.

Han Xuhan was not the only one who had planned for this meeting, it seemed.

"Fellow cultivator Han Xuhan, please take a seat."

Leng Qing's polite gesture set off a storm in his head. But he contained the chaotic flow of thoughts and took his seat, coming face to face with the young man. Between them was a low table, meant for serving tea. Two cups and a copper flask sat on it, the cups filled with a steaming green liquid.

"It isn't poison, fellow cultivator. Drink it if you want to. That cup on your end has been filled for you," Leng Qing said lightly.

Han Xuhan's eyes twitched.

It wasn't poison?

What an awfully coincidental subject matter. He couldn't help but touch himself on the waist where the tubes of the Mindkiller poison were hidden.

A shadow of a smile flashed by on Leng Qing's face at his twitchy response. Han Xuhan recovered his bearing and picked up the cup on Leng Qing's end.

"Look at this, brother Leng Qing. I just overthrew my fate by not choosing the cup of tea that was meant for me," Han Xuhan said as he took a light sip from the cup.

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Leng Qing burst out laughing. It didn't seem like a fake laugh either. There was genuine mirth in his eyes.

"Fellow cultivator Xuhan, you're as interesting as always," he said between his laugh.

Han Xuhan's brows furrowed.

"You sound like you've met me before this, but I don't quite recall-"

"I haven't, I haven't," Leng Qing said hastily. "I have watched you diffuse the situation yesterday. Maybe you didn't notice me in the crowd. I saw the whole thing and found you quite interesting."

"...Oh."

Han Xuhan placed the cup down and leaned back in his seat, mirroring Leng Qing's posture.

"And how did your observation of my magnificent self cue you into preparing for my arrival today?" he asked with impatient curiosity.

Leng Qing's smile did not fade, contrary to his expectations.

"I predicted that the Phoenix Faction would latch on to you. I also predicted that there would be nine members in your team. Anyone who remembers my impactful prediction will realize that five members of your team were missing from the equation. Most of those who realize this will treat it as a minor mistake. I am, after all, a novice stargazer. As for why the Mouth of Destiny evaluated my first prediction so highly, it could be due to many reasons. For example- perhaps there are actually nine members in total in your team, but not all of them entered our island. Perhaps five of your fellow disciples were hiding in the crowd and didn't plan to reveal themselves unless the situation grew nasty. Reality is often so complex and varied when looked at from the eyes of an oracle."

At this point, Leng Qing's smile grew wider.

"However, only you, fellow cultivator Xuhan, would not treat my first prediction as a minor mistake of details, a variant possibility."

Han Xuhan's hands slowly retreated inside the folds of his robes.

The guards he had left outside were listening right now. He couldn't exactly stop Leng Qing from speaking. He could only listen along with them, feeling shaken to his core.

"You, Han Xuhan, would be concerned. You'd come running, investigating the mystery behind that 'botched' prediction of mine. You might even bring with you a mighty force, more than enough to suppress me. More than enough to snuff out any leakage of your secrets. Because you know that my prediction is true, too true."

Han Xuhan's limbs were growing colder by the second. But he held his nerve under Leng Qing's dull gaze.

"...Fellow cultivator Qing, you have a talent for making absolutely harmless matters sound sinister. Have you considered taking up the career of a novelist?"

Leng Qing snorted, his expression turning blank.

"It's interesting how the revelation doesn't faze you at all. You've prepared very well for our meeting, haven't you?"

Han Xuhan shook his head ruefully.

"Prepared? What's there to prepare? The so-called revelation you've been toying with is actually just my cultivation technique. I create undead minions who hide in my dao tower. Even though they are undead, their existence is perceivable under the spiritual senses of any decent cultivator. The five missing cultivators you speak of are just my five undead minions. Obviously, I don't like to go around advertising that fact. You're just taking advantage of this to spout nonsense, hoping to protect your skin."

He was disappointed to see no trace of embarrassment or surprise surfacing on Leng Qing's face. Rather, Leng Qing rolled his eyes as if the explanation had annoyed him more than anything else.

What the hell did this guy know? And how?

"Fellow cultivator Xuhan, was that explanation for me? Or was it for the guard dogs you've placed outside hoping I'd admit some crime I haven't even committed?"

...Fuck.

Han Xuhan's mind came up completely blank. With every sentence had uttered, it was as if he had handed Leng Qing a weapon to use against him. No matter how he tried to snatch the momentum back and lead the conversation to a direction he had planned for, Leng Qing dragged him back to square one where he could only wonder about the depth of Leng Qing's grasp on the situation.

"You seem to be of the opinion that there's more to it...?" Xuhan spoke slowly, his mind working simultaneously on moving the qi inside his meridians.

"Yes, indeed. You claim to have five minions inside your dao tower. That would certainly clear the equation if it were true. But it's not."

"I can prove it," Han Xuhan said. "Watch me summon them one by one."

"Huh? Sure, go ahead. I'll keep count," Leng Qing said, rolling his eyes again.

Han Xuhan entered the familiar meditation cycle, but not the one for summoning his minions. He slipped inside his own mind within the infinite depths of which surfaced a vague tower surrounded by mist.

A moment later, he stood inside the tower, where Zhanxian was sitting idle and Hai Yin Zhe was zooming around the hall like a rocket, chasing after some law alphabets that had fallen from the dome above.

"Zhanxian, Little Zhe!"

Both of them responded immediately, coming to a halt in front of him as fast as they could. Little Zhe had guessed that her papa would take her out to play. And Zhanxian had guessed that he would be given an important mission.

"Zhanxian, I need you to play along with my act outside. I'll accuse you of some things. The content may vary according to the situation. You need to act like you've really done them. Act like an evil mastermind, that would be enough."

Stunned by the orders, Zhanxian scratched his skull. Han Xuhan turned to look at Hai Yin Zhe.

"Little Zhe, didn't Auntie Zhou help you get the blue colors back in your body? You haven't used them up like yesterday, right?"

Hai Yin Zhe took a moment to reply.

"I haven't! I haven't! I tried to but I couldn't do it! Do you want me to, Papa? Eeeeeeeegghhhh..!"

The snake bared her tiny fangs and tried to emulate what she had done yesterday. But she wasn't smart enough to realize that the teeth set had been attached to her real form. With her avatar here, she couldn't use its functions.

"Not here!" Han Xuhan stopped her. "I'll take you out and give you that toy from Auntie Zhou. Then I'll hold your head and point you in the right direction. That's when you need to do it."

He had to repeat himself several times for the snake to grasp the whole plan. They even acted the motions out a couple of times there to get her some practice.

"Come, let's go teach somebody a lesson," he said before disappearing from the dao tower.