Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 62 In the Outer Hall, I Am the Supreme

It's not just Xuanwu Hall.

Ye Bai quickly understood the meaning behind Zhou Zhao's words.

Torches flickered in the Coffin Cave, casting long, thin shadows of everyone, like monsters emerging from the earth's cracks.

Beside the long, black, coffin-like table, the four hall masters of the outer twelve villages still sat on their respective sides.

Who could have imagined that a few hours would feel like thirty years, instantly taking us from the east bank of the river to the west bank?

Ye Bai glanced over discreetly. Zhan Guang, the yellow-faced leader of the White Tiger Hall, and Li He, the leader of the Vermilion Bird Hall, had somehow managed to survive the Gu poison. However, Zhan Guang's sallow face was now even yellower, resembling a piece of cured meat smoked with pine branches and orange peel.

The other Li He turned white overnight, as if he had been drained dry, and became exceptionally thin. From behind, he truly looked like a white crane.

The old woman from the Azure Dragon Hall, Feng Yao, did not come over. Sitting in the Azure Dragon seat was a boy of fifteen or sixteen years old who still looked childish. There was a clear bruise around his neck, and the blood splattered at the corner of his mouth had not been wiped clean. Combined with his exposed tiger teeth, there was a strange sense of incongruity.

The seat that Ye Xuan used to sit in has now been taken by Zhou Zhao.

No one spoke. The only sound in the entire cave was Zhou Zhao slowly sipping his chicken soup.

Her hair was tied up with a yellow and white new mourning cloth, and there was a bronze token on the side of the bowl, on which were engraved the two characters Xuanwu.

"Bang!" Finally, Li He, the hot-tempered leader of the Vermilion Bird Hall, could no longer bear the suffocating silence. He slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "Zhou Zhao, what are you trying to do by having Ye Bai lure us here? Ye Xuan is dead. Do you think you can make me obey you, you little brat?"

The White Tiger Hall Master, Zhan Guang, remained silent, but followed Li He's gaze to Zhou Zhao.

"Now that things have come to this, there's no need to hide anything. So what if you're following some greenhorn to take charge of the Black Tortoise and Azure Dragon?"

"We're not dead yet, Hall Master Zhan and I! We were only held back because we were accidentally poisoned by the Gu. Who do you think you are now? Hall Master Tianji has many disciples. You killed him, and instead of thinking about how to protect yourself, you're plotting against us!"

"He really is a person who looks..."

Li Hegang was about to say that the person was ugly, but his thoughts were beautiful!
But seeing Zhou Zhao's face, he simply couldn't bring himself to say those words. Even though he had no conscience, he couldn't bring himself to utter such nonsense, no matter how hard he tried.

"He may be small in stature, but his heart is bigger than the sky!"

Zhou Zhao listened, slowly finished the last drop of soup, and sighed contentedly.

Li He saw this and was furious.

In all his years, he had never seen such a pretentious person! It was truly infuriating!

He thought about it and suddenly stood up.

Zhou Zhao finally put down her chopsticks and looked up lazily at Li He. She wiped her mouth and said slowly to him, "Have you looked in the mirror? You look like this already, and you're still so irritable. Be careful you don't get too agitated and end up dying!"

"I can even kill the head of the Tianji Hall, I dare to kill him, so what's a little more than you?"

"If you're eating fish, you should be aware of what it means to eat fish."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, she shook her head at Li He, then calmly looked at Zhan Guang, the yellow-faced hall master who had remained silent, and said, "Ye Bai invited you here, and you all rushed here even though your injuries haven't healed. Why is that? Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know."

"Master Qi of Tianji Hall did not take orders from Qin Tianying to control the outer twelve villages. You know in your hearts what he asked you to do in private."

“You dare not report this, because you know perfectly well that this is a betrayal of Tianying City.”

Li He's face darkened instantly, as if water could drip from it. Zhou Zhao's words were like a bucket of ice water poured over him in the dead of winter, chilling him to the bone.

"Do you still think you can leave the Inner Seven Hall alive then?"

As Zhou Zhao spoke, his lazy gaze suddenly sharpened. "Qin Tianying massacred more than forty members of his entire clan. Compared to him, I, Zhou Zhao, am a first-rate philanthropist."

As she spoke, she glanced at Yan Junyu, the tiger-toothed boy sitting next to her. Yan Junyu immediately chimed in, "That's right! My great-aunt is not only beautiful and kind-hearted, but she is also highly skilled in martial arts. I'm not bragging, but no one in the entire Outer Twelve Villages can compare to even a little finger of hers!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhao nearly lost his composure.

You've blown too much, kid!

The two of them certainly wouldn't take Yan Junyu's words to heart. No matter how powerful Zhou Zhao was, he couldn't fight against so many opponents. Even ants can kill an elephant if there are enough of them.

But his use of the word "auntie" made their hearts sink.

The Azure Dragon Hall and the Black Tortoise Hall were clearly on the same side. In a one-on-one fight, they were no match for Zhou Zhao, and now, in a two-on-two fight, they had no chance of winning.

"What do you want us to do?" Baihutang Zhanguang finally spoke.

"From this day forward, the twelve outer villages will all be surnamed Zhou, and the Xuanwu Hall will be the most respected of the four halls. You two will need to follow my orders."

Upon hearing this, Li He immediately felt a pang of embarrassment.

He tried to speak, but Zhou Zhao silenced him with a look. "With the death of the Tianji Hall Master, the Seven Inner Halls cannot stand idly by. Judging from your condition, it's clear you've been poisoned by Gu and your vital energy has been severely depleted."

"As soon as you make an appearance, the people of the Seven Inner Halls will know that Hall Master Qi's death is inextricably linked to you."

"This is an external threat."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he looked from Li He's white hair to Zhan Guang's yellow face, "Let's talk about internal troubles. Now you two are severely weakened. There are no easy people in Tianying City. You know how many people in your hall are eyeing your positions."

"Under these circumstances, you have no choice but to rely on me. We are truly in the same boat."

Li Hetong and Zhan Guang both fell into deep thought.

Zhou Zhao gave them some time before speaking, "As long as the four of us reach an agreement, the internal troubles can be eliminated. Moreover, I have a plan that can also eliminate external troubles."

Li Hetong and Zhan Guang raised their heads at the same time and looked at Zhou Zhao.

The internal and external troubles she mentioned are precisely what they are most worried about right now.

It would be one thing to die, but damn it, they didn't die! It's better to live a miserable life than to die. The ancestors kowtowed until their heads were broken in the underworld to bring them back from the brink of death. How can they die again?
Zhan Guang exchanged a glance with Li He, then clasped his hands in a fist salute to Zhou Zhao, saying, "We are willing to follow Hall Master Zhou's lead!"

Seeing this, Yan Junyu quickly declared, "I'll listen to whatever you say, Grandma."

Zhou Zhao was speechless. Couldn't he just stop calling her "Grandma"?

"Our Tiandou Village discovered the Yuyang Treasure and sent one of our sons, Zhu Wen, to escort it. However, Zhu Wen betrayed Tianying City and defected to the imperial court. Not only did he hand over the Yuyang Treasure, but he also joined forces with the Dai Army to capture several of our Xuanwu Hall's junior officers."

"Firstly, because it involves the imperial court, and secondly, because among the treasures of Yuyang are fragments of the Six Heavenly Books. Hall Master Ye felt that this matter was of great importance, so he reported it to Hall Master Qi of the Inner Seven Halls, whom he knew well. Hall Master Ye was seriously ill and had been seeking medical treatment from Hall Master Qi."

"Master Qi was single-mindedly focused on Tianying City. In order to find out the whereabouts of the Six Paths Heavenly Book fragments, he led several skilled members of the outer hall to infiltrate Bei'an County in Dai County."

"Unexpectedly, he did not return at the appointed time. Master Ye sent someone to inquire, only to hear that a major case had occurred in Bei'an County last night, and that no one had survived."

"How about this story? All you have to do is cover up the changes and follow my orders. When the time comes, I will personally represent the outer twelve villages to explain to the city lord in the inner seven halls."

Standing behind Zhou Zhao, Qianmian watched as Zhou Zhao spoke eloquently, and the two hall masters of the White Tiger and Vermilion Bird Halls gradually developed a light of admiration in their eyes...

A thousand faces fell silent; who still remembers? The treasure of Yuyang—there is no such thing at all.

Did Zhou Zhao ever consider whether Zhu Wen, who already carried one heavy burden, could handle a second?