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“Master!” Juan Lian shouted, trying to bring Wu Lao Gou out of the state he had fallen into after performing the spell. He had claimed he would be able to see the future, but now, with their master kneeling motionless before the mural, Juan Lian, Ao Lie, and the others were beginning to panic.
Lao Gou looked as though he were struggling to breathe. His breaths came in short, ragged gasps, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, and his face twisted in pain. Sweat gathered on his forehead and trickled down his temples, dripping from his chin onto the floor. The essence burned away before him, but he remained unmoving.
Huo Xian Gu ordered the boys to wake him quickly.
Juan Lian shook his master's shoulders, calling his name repeatedly, but the man refused to respond. His body trembled with every uneven breath, and when Ao Lie tried to jolt him awake, Lao Gou suddenly toppled sideways, collapsing onto the floor.
“Master!”
The young men crowded around him, their voices rising in alarm. Juan Lian dropped to his knees and pressed a finger beneath Wu Lao Gou's nose. A moment later, his face drained of colour.
“Master isn't breathing!” he shouted, his voice breaking as tears welled in his eyes.
The others gasped.
“He has no heartbeat!”
For a split second, Huo Xian Gu froze. Then she threw herself beside Lao Gou and began pressing down on his chest, tilting his head back to breathe air into his parted lips. Her hands moved desperately, again and again, while the boys watched with wide, horrified eyes.
Their master couldn't be dead. He couldn't.
Tears streamed down their faces as they watched the Seventh Master fight to bring their own master back to life. Juan Lian hovered beside them, his hands trembling, his lips moving soundlessly as he called for Lao Gou to wake up.
Then, finally, after what felt like hours, Wu Lao Gou lurched forward with a violent cough.
Water and spit spilled from his mouth. His face, pale only moments ago, flushed red as he dragged air into his lungs. His breathing was still ragged, his eyes bloodshot, the veins standing out against their whites. He looked like a man who had been dragged out of deep water after drowning, only to be forced to breathe again.
Everyone stared at him, too stunned to speak.
“I understand now,” Lao Gou rasped.
He wiped the water from his face with a trembling hand, his chest rising and falling painfully. His gaze shifted towards the mural, then travelled across the walls of the tower.
“Is this what you wanted me to see?” he shouted, his strained voice echoing through the chamber. “Is this what you wanted?”
He seemed to be addressing the tower itself.
His men hurried to his side, bombarding him with questions, but Lao Gou ignored them. He pushed himself to his feet, still breathing hard, and looked towards the corridor.
“I know the way out.”
He strode from the chamber, leaving the others little choice but to follow.
They walked through countless corridors, turning at intersections that all seemed to lead to more of the same ancient stone walls. Yet Lao Gou never hesitated. He kept moving until he stopped before a section of wall and turned to Juan Lian.
“Break it open.”
Juan Lian obeyed. The others gathered around as he worked, and when the wall finally gave way, a gasp rippled through the group.
“Master, you were right!” Tian Peng exclaimed, lifting his flashlight to peer into the newly revealed passage.
His eyes widened as he looked back at Lao Gou. “You really did see the future?”
Wu Lao Gou didn't share his excitement.
His expression had become unreadable, his lips pressed into a thin line. He stared into the passage without a trace of satisfaction, as though whatever he had seen had left him with something far worse than uncertainty.
Before anyone could question him, a familiar signal sounded through the tower.
The Zhang family's signal.
Lao Gou's expression darkened. His jaw tightened, and his fingers curled at his sides.
“I'm going to kill him,” he whispered.
He started forward, but Huo Xian Gu caught his arm.
“Lao Gou, what's wrong?” she asked, searching his face. “Are you hiding something from us?”
For a moment, he said nothing.
He wanted to keep what he had seen to himself. He wanted to carry the knowledge alone, to make sense of it before anyone else could interfere. But this was Xian Gu. She was his friend, one of the few people he trusted without reservation. There was a certain safety in her presence, a quiet assurance that allowed him to lower his guard when the rest of the world demanded he keep it up.
His shoulders sagged.
“Zhang Qi Shan is going to kill the Mystic Nine,” he said at last. “I saw it myself.”
The boys exchanged bewildered looks.
Xian Gu sighed, her grip on his arm loosening slightly. “It might be the tower playing tricks on you. It knows how deep your hatred runs. What you saw could simply be your own demons taking shape.”
Lao Gou turned to her. For a moment, something flickered across his face, but his anger remained.
“Whether it's true or not, I'm not going to ask him about it.”
He pulled free of her hold and marched towards the signal.
Xian Gu watched him go before motioning for the others to follow.
By the time they reached the chamber where they had entered the tower, Lao Gou was already several steps ahead. His pace quickened as he crossed the room towards the door at the opposite end, his men struggling to keep up.
Whatever the tower had shown him, he had no intention of waiting around to find out whether it would come true.
...
“Master Zhang! That's Lao Gou's signal!”
Qi Tie Zui turned towards the deep sound echoing from outside the chamber. The group had been trying to make sense of their situation when the familiar signal reached them.
Zhang Qi Shan's lips curved into a faint smile.
“Stay here and keep looking,” he instructed his team before heading towards the exit.
He had barely stepped outside when he spotted silhouettes approaching through the dim passage.
“Master Wu!” he called.
The easy expression on his face faded as Lao Gou came into view. The man marched towards him and stopped barely a step away, his eyes fixed on Zhang Qi Shan with a glare that would have made most men reconsider their next words.
Zhang Qi Shan was accustomed to that look. He had seen it often enough to know the particular brand of hostility Lao Gou reserved for him.
But this time, something was different.
There was a sharpness to his gaze that went beyond their usual quarrels, something raw and almost desperate beneath the anger. Lao Gou looked as though he had come to deliver a sentence rather than start another argument.
“Zhang Qi Shan, I'm going to ask you something.” His voice was low and hard. “You'd better answer truthfully.”
Zhang Qi Shan studied him for a moment before nodding.
“Have you ever thought about killing the Mystic Nine?”
The question caught him off guard.
For the briefest moment, the tower around them seemed to fall away, and another voice surfaced in his memory.
'The Mystic Nine have become too powerful. They know too much. You must put an end to them, and you must do it yourself.'
The words of his superior came back with unwelcome clarity.
Zhang Qi Shan said nothing.
Lao Gou watched him, and the silence seemed to answer the question for him.
A short, bitter laugh escaped Lao Gou. His lips curved into a smirk, but there was nothing of his usual arrogance in it. The expression looked painful, as though he were forcing himself to accept something he had desperately wanted to be wrong about.
“I knew it.”
“Lao Gou—”
“I'm going to kill you!”
He moved before Zhang Qi Shan could say another word.
A knife flashed from his sleeve, its blade cutting through the air towards Zhang Qi Shan's throat.
Zhang Qi Shan dodged with practiced ease, stepping aside as the blade passed close enough to graze his collar.
But Lao Gou didn't stop.
He attacked again, his movements harsh and erratic, driven by the fury of what he had seen and the conviction that Zhang Qi Shan had just confirmed his worst suspicions.
Zhang Qi Shan was a trained warrior, but Lao Gou's relentless assault left him little room to do anything but defend himself.
The blade caught the side of his neck as he moved back, leaving a thin red line against his skin.
Before Lao Gou could strike again, his men drew their weapons and moved in. They caught Zhang Qi Shan from either side, ropes quickly securing his arms and restricting his movements.
“Lao Gou!” Zhang Qi Shan snapped, struggling against their hold.
The commotion drew Zhang Xiao Yi and the others from the chamber. They rushed towards the scene, but before anyone could intervene, Zhang Qi Shan twisted free of the men restraining him and bolted down the corridor.
Lao Gou followed without hesitation.
He chased him into the adjoining room, and the door slammed shut behind them.
For a moment, neither man moved.
Then Lao Gou spun around, his hair swinging with the abruptness of the movement. He raised his knife and lunged, aiming straight for Zhang Qi Shan's neck.
Zhang Qi Shan caught his wrist just before the blade could reach him.
He twisted Lao Gou's arm, turned him around, and drove him back against the door. The impact rattled the wood behind them, but Lao Gou barely seemed to notice. He strained against Zhang Qi Shan's grip, his breathing heavy, his eyes blazing with hatred.
“Lao Gou!” Zhang Qi Shan shouted.
Lao Gou cursed and tried to wrench his wrist free.
“Goddammit, Zhang Qi Shan!”
“What's gotten into you?”
“Let go of me!”
Instead, Zhang Qi Shan caught his other wrist and pinned it against the door, holding both hands above and to either side of Lao Gou's head. He stepped closer, forcing Lao Gou back against the wood until there was hardly any space left between them.
Lao Gou's chest heaved with every breath. He glared at Zhang Qi Shan as though he were still searching for an opening, still determined to finish what he had started.
Zhang Qi Shan held his gaze.
Up close, he could see the tension in Lao Gou's face, the uneven rise and fall of his chest, the way his fingers strained against the grip holding him in place. This wasn't the familiar anger that flared whenever they crossed paths. It was something else, something that had driven Lao Gou to attack him without so much as a proper explanation.
Something was wrong.
“Lao Gou,” he said, his voice dropping.
Their faces were so close that he could feel the warmth of Lao Gou's breath against his skin.
“Something's wrong.”
Lao Gou glared at him and tried to shove him away, but Zhang Qi Shan barely moved.
“Something is wrong? Yes, there's something wrong, and it's you, Zhang Qi Shan!” Lao Gou shouted.
“You noblemen are all the same! You use us when you need something, and the moment you think we have nothing left to offer, you throw us away.”
A bitter snicker escaped him.
“It's true, isn't it? You were going to kill us all?” His lips twisted into a scornful smile. “You people are all disgusting!”
He shoved at Qi Shan's chest again, but the man kept him firmly pinned against the door.
“Let go!”
“No,” Qi Shan replied, his tone as low and even as ever.
“Listen to me, Lao Gou. Whatever grudge you have against me, we can deal with it later. There's too much going on down here. We need to stick together.”
“All you care about is your mission!” Lao Gou snapped. “Zhang Qi Shan, I hate you!”
Qi Shan sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. He lowered his head, but instead of pulling away, his forehead came to rest against Lao Gou's.
He stayed there.
“Lao Gou, shut it for a minute, will you?”
“Piss off, Qi Shan,” Lao Gou muttered, though his voice had lost some of its earlier volume.
Qi Shan opened his eyes and lifted his head. He eased back just enough to look Lao Gou in the face, their noses barely inches apart.
“We'll settle our score outside. We have too much to deal with down here.” His gaze remained fixed on Lao Gou's. “Will you listen to me for once?”
Lao Gou rolled his eyes and turned his face away, refusing to meet his gaze. He could feel Qi Shan's hands still holding his wrists against the door, and the man's body remained close enough that there was little room to move without brushing against him.
Qi Shan didn't release him.
Instead, he leaned in slightly, following Lao Gou's averted face. The tip of his nose brushed lightly against Lao Gou's cheek, nudging him until the latter finally turned back to glare at him.
Qi Shan smiled.
It was a small, soft smile, entirely at odds with the situation they were in.
“My dear Master Wu,” he murmured, “this entire tower is a mystery. Will you help me solve it?”
Lao Gou stared at him, unimpressed.
“Don't listen to what it tells you. And don't trust it.”
“Fuck off,” Lao Gou whispered.
Qi Shan continued staring at him, but Lao Gou's expression suddenly shifted. The anger remained, yet something sad crept into his eyes, softening the hard line of his mouth.
“You've always been like this,” he muttered. “Do you remember the mine incident?”
Zhang Qi Shan's expression changed slightly.
Lao Gou let out a humourless laugh. “I was there and watched it all. There were a hundred or more people trapped in that mine, and you left. You left them there to die!”
Qi Shan's eyes widened a fraction. “I didn't have a choice,” he replied softly.
“Didn't have a choice?” Lao Gou repeated, his voice rising. “You always have a choice, Zhang Qi Shan. You just decide where to put your effort, don't you? Your people, the higher-ups, your precious mission. You give everything to them, but the moment it's ordinary people who need you, you barely spare them a glance.”
His lips curled in disgust.
“High and mighty Buddha.” He tugged at his wrists again, his gaze burning into Qi Shan's. “Either you leave the Mystic Nine, leave Changsha, or I'll kill you myself.”
Zhang Qi Shan tried to argue, but the words seemed pointless. There was no reasoning with this dog once he'd sunk his teeth into something. Lao Gou had already made up his mind, and every attempt to explain himself only seemed to make the man's expression darker.
“Lao Gou!” Qi Shan hissed.
The warning came a moment too late. Lao Gou suddenly jerked his knee upwards, aiming for Qi Shan's groin.
Qi Shan twisted his body just enough to avoid the blow, tightening his hold on Lao Gou's wrists to keep him pinned against the door.
“Damn you—”
Qi Shan leaned closer, glaring at him.
And then, on an impulse he barely had time to recognise, he closed the remaining distance and slammed his lips against Lao Gou's.
The kiss was hard and sudden, catching Lao Gou completely off guard. The back of his head struck the wooden door with a dull thud, and a startled sound escaped him against Qi Shan's mouth.
“Mmph!”
Lao Gou's eyes flew wide open.
Lao Gou struggled against his grip, twisting his wrists in an attempt to break free, but Qi Shan held him firmly in place.
When shoving him away proved impossible, Lao Gou sank his teeth into Qi Shan's lower lip.
Qi Shan jerked back with a sharp hiss. A thin line of blood appeared on his lip, bright against the skin.
“You damn dog,” he spat, glaring at Lao Gou.
Before Lao Gou could throw another insult at him, Qi Shan leaned in again, capturing his lips in another forceful kiss.
Qi Shan released Lao Gou’s empty wrist, using his momentum to jerk the man away from the door and flush against his own body. He snared a hand into the hair at the nape of Lao Gou’s neck, pulling sharply.
Lao Gou let out a sharp hiss against Qi Shan’s lips, his eyes snapping shut as his neck was forced back into the kiss.
Reaching down, Qi Shan crushed his hand over Lao Gou’s fingers, wrenching the knife from his grip. The blade clattered uselessly against the floor.
Before Lao Gou could recover, Qi Shan wrapped a heavy arm around his waist, pinning him so close there was no air left between them.
With his hands finally free, Lao Gou pressed his palms against Qi Shan’s chest, shoving with everything he had. It was like trying to push back a stone wall. The righteous Buddha the Changsha elite worshiped and revered was unraveling right before him, consuming Lao Gou with a dark, ruthless desperation.
Zhang Qi Shan pulled away only when he could no longer hold his breath. Lao Gou, meanwhile, seemed desperate for air, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he glared at the man who still had both arms wrapped around him.
“Zhang Qi Shan!” he yelled. “What the hell is this?”
“You're a mule, Lao Gou,” Qi Shan whispered.
His grip on Lao Gou's hair tightened, pulling his head back slightly. Lao Gou hissed through his teeth, his neck stretching as he tried to ease the discomfort without giving Qi Shan the satisfaction of seeing him struggle.
“Listen to me. I never thought about killing the Mystic Nine, and I never will.”
Qi Shan leaned closer, his gaze fixed on Lao Gou's face.
“What I wish to do has nothing to do with killing.”
He watched the confusion spread across Lao Gou's features, followed by a flicker of panic when he seemed to realise that Qi Shan wasn't joking.
“Once we get out of this temple and deal with its mysteries, I'll leave the Mystic Nine, just as you want.”
His voice remained low and steady. “But in return, you have to give me yourself.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Lao Gou shouted.
“I might be, but you started this, Master Wu.”
Lao Gou shoved at his chest, trying to put some distance between them. “How the hell did I start this?”
Qi Shan leaned closer, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Who invited me to negotiate while he was bathing? Who is always trying to get under my skin? Who keeps finding excuses to touch me?”
“Zhang Qi Shan!” Lao Gou's voice cracked with indignation. “I do that to make you leave! Not— not this!”
Qi Shan's smile widened.
Lao Gou's breath caught when the hand in his hair tightened again, pulling him closer. He glared at Qi Shan, furious at the man's audacity and even more furious that he couldn't seem to make him take any of this seriously.
“You've driven me mad, Lao Gou,” Qi Shan murmured.
“You have to take responsibility.”
His eyes lingered on Lao Gou's flushed face.
“Tell me, will a dog let the Buddha have him?”
“You've gone crazy!”
Lao Gou finally wrenched himself out of Qi Shan's grasp and slapped him across the cheek.
The sharp crack echoed through the room.
He stood before Qi Shan, trembling, his breathing uneven and his cheeks flushed from their confrontation. His hand remained raised for a moment before he lowered it, glaring at the man as though he'd completely lost his mind.
And judging by the faint smile still lingering on Qi Shan's face, Lao Gou was beginning to suspect that he had.
Qi Shan stepped closer, and Lao Gou instinctively stepped back.
“You know you feel the same way I do,” Qi Shan said, his voice carrying the certainty of a man who had already decided what the answer would be.
“You're mad,” Lao Gou shot back, but the hand hanging at his side trembled, betraying him.
“You don't really want me to leave, do you?” Qi Shan continued. “You don't actually believe what you saw. You're angry because what you feel and what you saw contradict each other.”
Lao Gou opened his mouth to retort, but Qi Shan moved before he could get a word out. He lifted both hands and cupped Lao Gou's face, catching him before he could turn away.
He drew him closer, and Lao Gou stumbled forward, falling against his chest once more.
Lao Gou's hands came up to brace himself against Qi Shan's chest, his fingers curling into the leather of his jacket.
“I hate you, Qi Shan,” he muttered.
His eyes reddened, and tears slipped down his cheeks before he could stop them. His fingers tightened around Qi Shan's jacket, gripping the leather as though he needed something to hold on to.
“I hate you with my entire being,” he repeated, his voice cracking around the words.
Qi Shan smiled faintly. He leaned closer until his lips brushed Lao Gou's ear.
“Then keep hating me.”
He drew back just enough to look at him before pressing his lips against Lao Gou's again. This time, the kiss was softer, stripped of the force and defiance that had marked the others.
Lao Gou didn't bite him. He didn't try to pull away, either.
Qi Shan pulled away from Lao Gou's lips, only to lower his mouth to his cheek. He pressed a kiss there before moving further down, his lips brushing the line of Lao Gou's jaw before reaching his neck.
The sound that escaped Lao Gou caught even the Fifth Master by surprise.
His eyes widened, and his fingers curled desperately into Qi Shan's jacket, clutching the leather as though he needed something to steady himself. The man he had spent so long cursing, the Buddha everyone praised and worshipped, was now kissing his neck with an intensity that left Lao Gou struggling to gather his thoughts.
Qi Shan lingered against his skin before biting down hard enough to leave a mark. Lao Gou's grip tightened around his jacket.
“Qi Shan…” Lao Gou moaned, then immediately felt his face heat up at the sound that had escaped him.
He shoved the man away, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before pressing his palm against his neck, right where Qi Shan had left his mark.
Zhang Qi Shan, meanwhile, looked thoroughly pleased with himself.
Lao Gou glared at him.
“I'll deal with you once we get out of here,” he warned. “Now tell me what you've found, and I'll think about whether I want to help you.”
Qi Shan's smug expression faded. He straightened, his demeanour shifting back to the composed seriousness Lao Gou knew all too well.
“There are Japanese people in the temple.”
Lao Gou's brows drew together as Qi Shan explained what they had discovered, bringing him up to speed on the situation and their findings.
When he finished, Lao Gou let out a long sigh.
“I came down here to help you find your troop, not to hunt down Japanese people.” He rubbed his forehead, looking thoroughly exasperated. “But fine. I'll help you.”
He averted his gaze and turned towards the door, eager to put some distance between himself and the infuriating man behind him.
He barely managed a step before Qi Shan caught up and draped an arm around his shoulders, leaning down until his head rested against Lao Gou's.
“We'll talk about this when we get out,” he murmured.
Before Lao Gou could respond, Qi Shan pressed a kiss to his cheek.
Lao Gou leaned away, shooting him a warning look.
“Fine. We will.”
Together, they stepped out of the room.
The scene that greeted them was hardly what Lao Gou had expected. Their men were in the middle of an argument that looked dangerously close to turning into a fight, while poor Master Eight stood between them, desperately trying to keep everyone from tearing each other apart.
The moment he heard the door open, Master Eight turned.
His face lit up with a wide smile.
“You two made up? That's great!”
Lao Gou immediately turned his head away from Qi Shan and tugged at his collar, trying to pull it higher around his neck.
Beside him, Qi Shan nodded pleasantly at Master Eight, looking every bit the respectable Zhang family leader. Then, as though he couldn't help himself, he swiped a finger across his lips.
Lao Gou caught the gesture from the corner of his eye.
His ears turned bright red.
“Master Zhang,” he said, straightening and doing his best to recover his composure. “Lead the way.”
“Absolutely, Master Wu.”
Qi Shan stepped past him, his shoulder brushing Lao Gou's as he went. Their fingers touched briefly at their sides, so lightly that anyone watching might have mistaken it for an accident.
Lao Gou knew better.
And judging by the faint smile on Qi Shan's face, the bastard knew he did, too.