Chapter 268: Please Have Some Tea

Faced with Gu Ning’an’s questioning, the Golden Guard was momentarily at a loss for words.

For a rare moment, a flicker of guilt rose within him.

But that guilt quickly vanished.

After all, he was a properly registered Golden Guard, while Gu Ning’an was just an External Agent. What right did an outsider like him have to question him?

He hadn’t left because he was afraid to die—he had left to report the situation! That was the real reason!

Reaffirming his stance, the Golden Guard, in a moment of distraction, was bitten on the arm by a minor ghost. After hacking it down, he turned to Gu Ning’an with a twisted expression and shouted,

“An External Agent will always be an External Agent! You’ll forever be a lowly dog earning just five taels of silver a month!”

“No, wait—you’re even lower! You only make three taels, and the other two? Yang Wang took them to tip the brothel’s pimp!”

“Let me tell you something—I make fifty taels a month! I drink the finest wine, feast on the best food, and sleep with a different girl every night!”

“And look at you! Some pathetic, penniless scholar, daring to question me? Do you even deserve to?”

Hearing this, Gu Ning’an merely smiled and said nothing. He had no intention of arguing with this Golden Guard, who was so intoxicated with his own sense of superiority.

Zhao Li, on the other hand, darkened with displeasure.

That Golden Guard’s lewd, foul-mouthed rant was utterly disgraceful.

So, when Zhao Li loosed his next arrows, he just so happened to overlook that Golden Guard entirely.

Without Zhao Li’s cover, the loudmouthed Golden Guard was quickly overwhelmed by the cursed ghosts—not even a scrap of bone remained.

With another Golden Guard dead, the last two shivered in fear.

Desperately, they inched closer to Zhao Li, terrified that if he lost focus for even a second, they’d be next.

They had just witnessed the consequences of being left unprotected.

Meanwhile, as Zhao Li was contemplating whether he should just get rid of the disobedient External Agent Gu Ning’an altogether, three streaks of black lightning suddenly tore through the sky!

The heavens trembled with their descent.

Every cursed ghost froze in place, their heads thrown back as they howled toward the sky—an ecstatic, frenzied welcome.

A chilling wind swept through, accompanied by eerie wails and shrieks that drilled into everyone’s minds.

They couldn’t see it, but they knew.

The master behind the chang ghosts had arrived.

“It is better to resolve grievances than to deepen them. My friends, please have some tea.”

A deep, resonant voice echoed from the heavens.

“Tricks and theatrics!” Zhao Li scoffed.

He was just about to fire arrows into the sky when—

Flash!

His vision flickered, and in the next instant, his surroundings had completely changed.

Zhao Li found himself standing outside a pavilion.

Beside him stood Gu Ning’an, the Temple Keeper, and Yang Wei.

The pavilion itself had a green-tiled roof, supported by three thick red pillars—each so wide a grown man could barely wrap his arms around them.

Inside, a white jade table gleamed with a smooth, polished luster, adorned with an elegant tea set.

At the far end of the table sat a middle-aged man.

His skin was dark yet unnaturally smooth, his face wide at the top and sharply tapered at the bottom, giving him a strange, unplaceable appearance.

His complexion was like that of a farmer, his skin like that of a maiden, and his face like… well, nothing that quite made sense.

Clad in a deep blue robe, his every movement exuded the air of a scholar.

Behind him, the four chang ghosts stood in a neat row, their expressions obedient and deferential—so much so that it was hard to believe they were the same entities that had thrown Four Corners Town into chaos.

“Please, take a seat in the pavilion.”

Seeing that no one moved, the middle-aged man urged again.

Gu Ning’an stepped forward first, about to take a seat on the left when—

The man across from him clasped his hands in a respectful gesture.

“Sir, please take the center seat.”

Gu Ning’an studied him for a moment, then smiled and nodded before taking the offered seat.

“As for you two—if you don’t even have the courage to step inside and talk, you might as well leave now.”

Hearing this, Temple Keeper Huang and Zhao Li both stepped into the pavilion one after the other, taking seats to the left and right of Gu Ning’an.

Once all three were seated, the middle-aged man smiled faintly and poured tea for each of them—first for Gu Ning’an, then Temple Keeper Huang, and finally, Zhao Li.

This order of serving made Zhao Li uncomfortable.

From his perspective, anyone personally “invited” by their host to drink tea was likely considered a threat. Otherwise, why would the man have spoken of “resolving grievances rather than deepening them”?

That Temple Keeper Huang was seated at the same table as him was acceptable—but what had Gu Ning’an done to deserve such recognition?

More baffling was that their host had offered Gu Ning’an the seat of honor and had even served him tea first.

“Please, enjoy your tea.” The middle-aged man gestured invitingly.

Gu Ning’an didn’t hesitate. He lifted his teacup, first observing its color, then taking a sniff before finally sipping it. He remarked calmly,

“The tea has a strong fragrance, but it was over-roasted during processing, diminishing its lingering sweetness.”

The middle-aged man raised an eyebrow with interest. “You have quite the discerning palate, sir.”

“You actually dared to drink it? What if it was poisoned?” Zhao Li stared at Gu Ning’an in disbelief. After confirming that he had indeed taken a sip, he let out a mocking chuckle.

“I am not so dishonorable.”

“It’s just a cup of tea.”

The middle-aged man and Gu Ning’an responded almost simultaneously.

The former looked displeased, while the latter remained indifferent.

Temple Keeper Huang cast a deep glance at Gu Ning’an, then wordlessly drained his cup in one go.

Noticing the disdain in the middle-aged man’s eyes, Zhao Li immediately tilted his head back and gulped down his tea. He even flipped his empty cup over for everyone to see, making a point of proving he had finished it.

“Heh…” The middle-aged man shook his head but said nothing.

Temple Keeper Huang spoke up. “Alright, we’ve had our tea. Isn’t it time we got to the real discussion?”

The middle-aged man nodded.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am called Hei Shui, though those who deem me worthy address me as Black King.”

“The four behind me are my chang ghosts. They have caused you quite a bit of trouble these past days. For that, I have prepared this tea gathering to personally offer my apologies.”

“I regret the inconvenience we have caused.”

The four chang ghosts bowed deeply in unison.

Seeing that none of the three responded, Hei Shui continued,

“I have already taken the spiritual energy from this land. Once I leave, the corruptive energy here will dissipate along with me.”

“Would the three of you be willing to let things end here? Once this pot of tea is finished, we go our separate ways, never interfering with one another again.”

Zhao Li sneered. “Go our separate ways? You must be dreaming.”