"Yes. That is exactly what he attempted to do, though his reach far exceeded his grasp." Yu Qi nodded calmly, her movements slow and deliberate as she took another graceful, steady sip of her tea, seemingly unbothered by the gravity of her own words.

Lou Liwei sat in silence, his eyes narrowed as he studied the young woman sitting across from him for several long, heavy moments. With his decades of seasoned experience and his exceptionally high level of cultivation, he could clearly sense that Yu Qi was no ordinary mortal. She possessed an astonishingly powerful aura of fortune and an extraordinarily bright, almost blinding destiny. It was no longer a mystery to him why a desperate, power-hungry madman like Ma Chunwei had targeted her specifically. To a practitioner of the dark arts, her soul must have looked like a sun that he hoped to eclipse.

"It seems to me that you know this man rather well, perhaps even better than you initially cared to admit." Yu Qi remarked casually.

She placed her teacup back onto the delicate saucer with a soft, metallic click that sounded surprisingly loud in the quiet room.

"Ma Chunwei..." Lou Liwei slowly repeated the name, the syllables tasting like ash in his mouth as his expression turned bitter and weary. "Yes. I know him far too well. Better than I ever wished to."

Chang Shuchun was visibly shocked by this sudden revelation. Earlier, when she had first mentioned Ma Chunwei’s name back at the sect’s headquarters, neither her master nor her senior brother had reacted with anything more than a stony silence, offering no explanation or acknowledgement of the name.

"Master, you actually know him? If he is someone of significance, then why didn’t you say a single word earlier when I mentioned his name before?" Chang Shuchun asked, her voice laced with confusion and a hint of hurt at being kept in the dark.

"I am sorry, Shuchun... It was not a memory I wished to revisit so soon." Lou Liwei apologised quietly, his gaze lowering slightly as if weighed down by an old, lingering shame.

Seeing her usually composed, stoic, and seemingly all-knowing master react with such uncharacteristic hesitation, Chang Shuchun immediately realised that there was clearly a much deeper, darker, and more convoluted story hidden behind this entire matter.

"Chunwei..." Lou Liwei repeated the name once more, his voice dropping into a far more sombre and regretful tone that echoed with the ghosts of the past. "He was once a highly promising disciple, a rising star from one of the branch sects under the direct jurisdiction of the Heavenly Crane Pavilion. However, many years ago, he was expelled in utter disgrace after he was caught red-handed secretly delving into the very same forbidden, soul-corroding arts you just described to us."

"Oh... I see. So he became a rogue disciple, a wanderer of the dark path after that expulsion." Yu Qi nodded thoughtfully, her mind quickly working to piece together the fragmented history of her fallen enemy.

Lou Weizhe, however, still did not appear even remotely convinced by Yu Qi’s calm explanation. He leaned slightly forward, the muscles in his forearms tensing as he clasped his hands tightly together on the table, looking every bit the hunter preparing to pounce on any inconsistency or lie in her words.

"My junior sister told us that Ma Chunwei died during your encounter with him. To be able to track down a seasoned, ruthless practitioner like him, confront him directly in his own lair, and still walk away completely unharmed and without a scratch... You are far more unusual and far more dangerous than you appear to be on the surface, Miss Tang." Lou Weizhe narrowed his eyes suspiciously, his gaze trying to pierce through her calm facade.

"It was actually quite simple to track him down once I discovered the spiritual thread he had been foolish enough to use to connect himself to me. However, you are fundamentally misunderstanding one crucial thing, Mr Lou." Yu Qi replied calmly, a sharp, icy glint flashing briefly within the depths of her eyes.

"And what exactly am I misunderstanding? Please, enlighten me." Lou Weizhe immediately asked, his tone taut with suppressed tension.

"I did not kill him with my own hands. I am, first and foremost, a doctor. I prefer the act of healing people, not the business of taking lives unnecessarily." Yu Qi answered plainly, her voice as smooth as silk.

"Then explain this to me clearly. If you did not kill him, then how exactly did a man like that end up dead?" Lou Weizhe pressed once more, his stubbornness would not allow him to let the matter rest without a logical, definitive answer.

"He was not killed by me, but rather devoured by the very thing he dared to summon." Yu Qi stated with a chilling lack of emotion.

The moment those words left her lips, Lou Liwei’s expression changed drastically. A look of pure, unadulterated shock flashed openly across his face, his composure momentarily shattered. He clearly wanted to interrogate her further, his lips parting to speak, but before he could utter a sound, a sharp, rhythmic knock sounded at the door.

The waiter entered the room alongside several staff members carrying large, ornate trays of steaming food. Dish after dish of exquisite delicacies was carefully arranged across the large, round table, filling the private room with the rich, intoxicating aroma of expensive, high-class cuisine. Once everything had been served to perfection, the waiters bowed politely, excused themselves, and quietly retreated from the room, sealing the door behind them once more.

"Let us continue our earlier discussion, for I find I have lost my appetite for the food." Lou Liwei immediately asked the moment the door clicked shut.

***This novel is a contracted work with w e b n o v e l. c o m. If you do not read this novel on w e b n o v e l. c o m, that means it has been stolen. Thank you, from your shameless author, ZerahNeko***