Chapter Forty-Three: The Duel

Page 1 of 3

Her eerie smile sent chills down my spine, and I couldn’t help but wonder how she could possibly move so fast. Even if she’d jumped down from upstairs and run here, it shouldn’t have been this quick.

“Uh… nothing, just stepping out to buy something,” I mumbled.

Mengya hesitated for a moment, then let out a cold, sinister chuckle without saying a word, simply standing in front of me, blocking my way.

Summoning my courage, I took a step forward. “Mengya, I…”

Click.

Suddenly, the elevator lights went out. A shiver ran through me, but just as quickly, the lights flickered back on. Mengya was nowhere in sight.

A sharp pain shot through my head. Everything that had just happened was far too strange, beyond the comprehension of any normal person.

Trembling, I walked out of the elevator, my head spinning. I crossed the street and entered the café opposite, where I saw Xiao Shao sitting alone on one side, while Yu Xianzhi and Xiao Xue sat together on the other, leisurely chatting over fruit smoothies.

“What took you so long?” Yu Xianzhi asked as I came in.

I let out a long sigh. “Master Yu, do we have any ‘Fox Clan’ activity around here?”

Yu Xianzhi was taken aback, shaking his head. “Impossible.” He frowned, noticing how pale I looked. “What’s wrong, did something happen?”

I sat down beside Xiao Shao, ordered a coffee, took a light sip, and with another deep sigh, recounted everything that had just happened in a low voice to Yu Xianzhi.

Yu Xianzhi was just as surprised, his face filled with confusion as he muttered, “Could she have some abilities too?” He pondered a moment more. “Impossible. If she were ‘one of them,’ I would have noticed.”

All of us fell silent, unable to come up with any convincing explanation.

“So, now that things have been exposed, are we still going tonight?” I asked.

Yu Xianzhi was silent for a while, then replied resolutely, “Yes. Since the traitor must be kept close, no matter when we go, she’ll find out.”

Hearing him call Mengya a traitor stung deeply. She was, after all, my woman—we had already shared a bed. Now he called her a traitor, and I couldn’t deny my own responsibility.

Yu Xianzhi seemed to sense my pain and said with a smile, “Don’t take it so hard. She’s just a shop assistant. Fire her when you get back.”

Page 2 of 3

“But she’s Brother Qiu’s…”

Xiao Shao had just started to mention my relationship with Mengya when I stomped hard on his foot. He grunted and quickly corrected himself, “…classmate.”

We sat in the café for half an hour, asking the staff about the location and directions to the haunted building. The four of us then left the café.

Despite the darkness, the streets were still bustling. We wove through the neon-lit avenues. Xiao Xue, forgetting our actual destination, was delighting in buying snacks from street vendors. Yu Xianzhi, for all his usual severity—like the King of the Underworld himself—became utterly docile and obedient before this cool, little fairy of a woman. It took us half an hour just to cross the pedestrian street before we finally arrived at a residential complex.

As we walked, Yu Xianzhi suddenly stopped, frowned, and let out a cold laugh. “Alright, you’ve been following us for quite a while. Must be exhausting. Why don’t you come out and meet us?”

No sooner had he spoken than a black figure dropped down from the trees lining the boulevard beside the complex. It was the man in the black trench coat from the ‘Seventh Investigation Division.’

He still wore those “Tiger Fist” gloves, and his oversized hood concealed his face. He stood at a distance, unmoving, like a statue.

“If you’ve got nothing to do, stop following us—or you might get yourself killed,” Yu Xianzhi teased, turning to leave.

The black coat said nothing and suddenly rushed at Yu Xianzhi from behind, throwing a punch that whistled through the air with tremendous force.

“Get back!” Yu Xianzhi shouted. We hurriedly retreated as Yu Xianzhi turned, blocked the punch with his right hand, and struck at the man’s chest with his left palm.

The black coat was remarkably quick, darting aside like a shadow and landing an elbow strike.

Yu Xianzhi ducked, the man’s arm sweeping over his head. Yu Xianzhi then lifted his leg for a sweeping kick at his opponent’s legs.

The black coat evaded with a backflip. The two of them tangled like martial artists in a film, fighting fiercely for five minutes. Finally, with a dull thud, Yu Xianzhi landed a punch to the chest, sending the black coat staggering back several steps, nearly falling. Realizing things were going badly, the man turned and bolted, his figure vanishing into the night.

Yu Xianzhi, drenched in sweat, wiped his brow and said breathlessly, “That kid’s got real skills. There can’t be many under thirty in Beijing with moves like that.”

We were all dumbstruck, staring wide-eyed at the handsome young man before us.

“Wow, I never thought you had it in you!” Xiao Xue joked.

Yu Xianzhi, a little flattered by Xiao Xue’s praise, grinned. “I’ve practiced Eight Trigrams Palm since I was a child.” He pointed at me and Xiao Shao. “With the two of them, I could take on ten at once, no problem.”

Xiao Shao, eyes shining with admiration, dashed over to clasp Yu Xianzhi’s hands, looking utterly starstruck. “Master Yu, I’ve been a kung fu fan since I was little! Does your Eight Trigrams Palm work like the Willow Leaf Demonic Silk Palm of the legendary Purple-faced Kunlun Hero in ‘The Sword Hero’s Chronicle’? You’ve got to take me as your disciple!” Tears glistened in his eyes.

Page 3 of 3

We all looked at Xiao Shao’s expression, speechless, thinking we’d never realized he was such a bookworm. I sighed and patted him on the shoulder. “Alright, enough. One day, you can go study on Mount Longhu.”

Xiao Shao snorted and assumed a Yong Chun defensive stance. I went over and gave him a playful “headlock.”

Yu Xianzhi chuckled. “Let’s get going. If you two keep messing around, it’ll be morning before we know it.”

“What? Yu Xianzhi?” An icy voice came from a phone.

“Master, that guy’s skills are incredible. I’m no match for him,” the man in the black cloak said, ashamed.

There was a moment of silence, then a long sigh over the phone. “It’s alright. Just keep tailing them. We still have cards to play. Don’t worry.”

At last, our group arrived beneath the haunted building at eleven thirty. The structure wasn’t much different from a typical old apartment block, but it was extremely dilapidated—quite out of place in a cosmopolitan city like Hong Kong.

Standing below, Xiao Shao’s legs were trembling as he stammered, “Are we really going up there?”

I was just as scared, so I forced a smile. “Aren’t you the Eight Trigrams Palm master? Chickening out now?”

Xiao Shao spat. “You ever see a swordsman who can fight ghosts?”

Yu Xianzhi, hearing our banter, quickly waved us quiet. “Enough joking. Let me check things out first.” He pulled an ancient Eight Trigrams compass from his robe. Judging from its style, it was at least from mid-Qing Dynasty—old, yet exquisitely crafted. The surface was carved from sandalwood, every pattern inlaid with silver filigree. Around the central magnet, pure gold had been sculpted into intricate, three-dimensional images of the ‘Four Symbols of the Mysterious Yin.’ The central magnet itself was carved into a “Dragon in Motion,” dazzling and ornate.

“Master Yu, this compass is no mere folk artifact,” I exclaimed in amazement.

Yu Xianzhi smiled enigmatically and, holding the compass, began to circle the building. Suddenly, the golden Four Symbols on the compass all sprang upright, like clockwork creatures baring their fangs and claws, while the dragon in the middle spun rapidly—truly remarkable.

After a few moments, the compass let out a piercing, shrill noise that lasted ten seconds before abruptly ceasing.

Click.

The dragon stopped spinning, and three of the Four Symbols—a green dragon, a white tiger, and a vermilion bird—collapsed, leaving only the Black Tortoise standing tall.