Today, The Villain Couple is Settling Scores Again

He seemed a bit off tonight.

No, this unease had started earlier.

The real yet illusory starry sky was just outside the window, within arm’s reach.

Moonlight boldly streamed through the intricately carved window, casting a soft glow on the floor.

Shen Jizhi crouched on the ground, his left foot forward and his right leg slightly bent.

He reached out, picking up the books one by one, stacking them into a small pile on his knee.

His expression was calm, his focus unwavering, seemingly no different from usual.

But no one knew that countless memories were flashing through his mind like the shadows of trees whipping past during a sword flight.

His face was slightly pale.

After a while, as if unable to bear the weight, Shen Jizhi leaned forward slightly.

The small stack of books on his knee toppled over like a row of dominoes, collapsing completely.

Shen Jizhi propped himself up with one hand on the ground, the other covering his forehead and eyes.

The moonlight gently enveloped him, and he remained in this position, almost like a stone statue.

A long time later, the statue let out a soft sigh, the sound mingling with the moonlight, carried by the wind, drifting out the window, reaching every corner of the secret realm, knocking loose every leaf about to fall, and burying itself in every grain of dust on the ground.

……

Jian Huan, who had just found another clue, hurried past but suddenly stopped and turned back, looking suspicious. "No way, Shen Jizhi, are you really that upset by me?"

Losing half a piece of spirit iron worth tens of thousands was indeed painful, but it shouldn’t lead to such despair, right?

Shen Jizhi wasn’t that kind of person.

After all, he was the man who could calmly admit to owing two million.

Hearing her voice, Shen Jizhi lowered his hand, hiding his thoughts, and denied, "No."

Jian Huan: "Then what are you doing here?" Normally, shouldn’t he be back searching for books?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Shen Jizhi glanced up at her, sidestepping the question. "Thinking about some things."

Jian Huan, curious, asked, "What things?"

Shen Jizhi silently looked at her, saying nothing.

But his meaning was clear: what he was thinking about was none of her business.

Though Jian Huan couldn’t imagine what could be so important to think about at such a critical moment in their treasure hunt, it truly wasn’t her concern, especially since she was in a hurry.

Jian Huan: "Alright then."

With those two words, she quickly left.

After Jian Huan left, Shen Jizhi let out a soft exhale.

He shook his head, about to get up and leave, but suddenly paused.

Due to his earlier movements, several books were scattered around him.

One of them had suffered a particularly unfortunate fate—its pages had flipped open during the fall, and the right half was pressed under another book, leaving a noticeable crease.

Near the crease, the character for ‘flower’ was circled meticulously.

Shen Jizhi frowned and quickly picked up the book.

Unlike other books with hidden clues, this page only had the circled ‘flower’ character, with nothing else marked.

Shen Jizhi flipped through the book from front to back but found no other useful information.

He picked up a few other books from the floor and skimmed through them, but still found nothing.

"Flower?" Shen Jizhi stood up with the book in hand, his gaze sweeping the room, then suddenly focused.

On the nearby wall was a large painting of a spring forest scene.

In the spring, under the shade of green trees, vibrant flower buds dotted the landscape, and a man practiced swordplay in the woods.

Such paintings were common throughout Fang Quan's Treasure Hall, appearing in every room, seemingly nothing special.

But this room had a book with a circled ‘flower’ character.

Fang Quan, the master of the treasure hall, loved hiding clues in books. The room where the spirit pig refused to leave must have something hidden, though the five of them hadn’t yet discovered what attracted the pig.

They had come to this room because they found a clue about spirit iron in the spirit pig’s room.

Spirit iron was the most important material for forging swords.

Sword.

Flower.

Shen Jizhi had a vague suspicion.

After a moment of contemplation, his snow sword unsheathed and soared into the air. He swung the sword, striking the flower buds on the wall painting in various sequences—left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top—but nothing happened.

Finally, he tried the sequence used to open the spirit iron compartment.

As Shen Jizhi struck the last flower bud, the spring forest painting on the wall lit up with a golden glow.

In the next moment, the book in Shen Jizhi’s hand fell to the ground, and he vanished from the room.

The clue Jian Huan had found this time wasn’t particularly valuable—a seventh-grade spirit herb.

But she still carefully placed it in her Mustard Seed Pouch and hurried back on her bamboo stick. As she passed the room where they had found the spirit iron, she instinctively glanced inside.

But there was no one there.

Shen Jizhi must have gone back.

Jian Huan didn’t think much of it and returned to where Yin Yusheng and the others were, but Shen Jizhi wasn’t there either.

She found it strange and asked, "Where’s Shen Jizhi?"

The other three shook their heads.

Yang Ye, who was feeling dizzy from reading, lowered his book to reveal a tired face. "Brother Shen went out with you earlier to look for the spirit iron, didn’t he?"

Yin Yusheng added, "And he hasn’t come back since. Did you two have a fight?"

"No," Jian Huan shook her head.

The argument over the spirit iron didn’t count as a fight or a quarrel in Jian Huan’s eyes—it was just normal competition.

Jian Huan scratched her head, her brow furrowed. She lifted her skirt and sat back down among the piles of books, picking up another one to flip through as she muttered, "He’s been acting weird tonight, and now he’s disappeared…"

Wen Jiu put down his book, a look of concern on his face, and asked softly, "You couldn’t find him?"

"Not exactly. I saw him earlier when I went, but he was gone when I came back," Jian Huan shook her head, refocusing. "Never mind, let’s not worry about him."

The other three exchanged glances but said nothing more.

Time passed as the pages turned, and Jian Huan found another clue.

She immediately stood up, found the item, and then wandered around a bit.

Jian Huan still didn’t see Shen Jizhi.

On her way, she happened to run into another cultivator and stopped them to ask, "Have you seen that male sword cultivator who’s with us? The tallest and most handsome one."

The cultivator shook their head, looking confused. "No, I haven’t."

Jian Huan frowned, feeling that something was wrong.

First, it was strange that Shen Jizhi hadn’t returned to continue searching for books after the spirit iron dispute.

Now, she had searched the entire Fang Quan's Treasure Hall and still couldn’t find him, which was even more unusual.

Based on her understanding of him, Shen Jizhi would never leave the treasure hall at such a time!

Could he have encountered some danger?

Jian Huan quickly returned to the room where she had last seen Shen Jizhi.

Half of the bookshelf had been organized by him, but the other half of the books were still scattered on the floor.

Jian Huan held her bamboo stick and wandered around the room, her eyes scanning the area.

Suddenly, she turned sharply.

Behind her was the large spring forest painting. Jian Huan had seen over a dozen such paintings in the treasure hall, and the figure practicing swordplay under the tree was none other than Fang Quan, who boasted of being the strongest sword cultivator in the Nine Provinces.

But in this room’s painting, next to Fang Quan, there was another figure.

This figure was a head taller than Fang Quan, with his hair tied up with a wooden hairpin, wearing the black-to-dark-blue gradient robe he had obtained from Shadowless Hand.

Shen Jizhi was quite vain. Though he didn’t buy his own clothes, he changed them frequently. Earlier, when they were digging, he wasn’t wearing this outfit, nor was he when they entered Fang Quan's Treasure Hall. Later, when Jian Huan saw him on the first floor of the hall, he was wearing this robe.

She had no idea when he had found the time to change in the midst of everything.

The painting only had a few strokes for the facial features, so it was impossible to recognize him by his face.

But this robe—Jian Huan knew it all too well.

Jian Huan: "!"

Oh my god, Shen Jizhi turned into a mural!

In the room where only half the bookshelf had been organized, the four of them stood before the mural, deep in thought.

The rooms in Fang Quan's Treasure Hall had no doors, and occasionally, passing cultivators would curiously peek in, only to be chased away by the spirit pig guarding the entrance.

Jian Huan stood with one hand on her waist and the other on her chin, absentmindedly biting her fingernails.

After discovering that Shen Jizhi had turned into a mural, Jian Huan had found the book that had fallen to the ground and seen the circled ‘flower’ character. She had also tried poking the flowers on the mural with her bamboo stick in various sequences, including the one used to obtain the spirit iron, but the mural remained unchanged.

Shen Jizhi hadn’t come out, and she hadn’t been able to enter.

Jian Huan turned her head, glancing at Wen Jiu on her left, who wore a look of surprise, then at Yang Ye on her right, who also seemed puzzled, and finally at Yin Yusheng, who appeared deep in thought.

Jian Huan let go, and with a thought, a bamboo stick materialized in her hand.

She held the stick, poking it lightly at the mural of Shen Jizhi, and asked Yin Yusheng with uncertainty, "Senior Brother Yin, is he... alive or dead?"

Yin Yusheng, the eldest of the five at twenty-six, wore a white robe. Hearing her question, he calmly explained, "Don’t worry, Junior Sister Jian. Brother Shen is fine, and we should congratulate him in advance. I’ve heard the elders mention this before—some powerful figures leave their legacies in this manner. Brother Shen is likely inside the mural, learning swordsmanship from Fang Quan."

"I see," Jian Huan breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Shen Jizhi couldn’t die now. If he did, what would happen to her 100,000 spirit stones?

Wen Jiu’s eyes filled with envy as she murmured softly, "How wonderful."

Yang Ye also sighed, "Such an opportunity isn’t something you can measure with spirit stones."

Hearing this, Jian Huan moved her bamboo stick to Shen Jizhi’s face, which was just a few steps away, and poked his cheek fiercely. She snorted lightly, "He’s certainly lucky."

Now she understood why he had stayed behind even after she had taken all the spirit iron.

He hadn’t been thinking about anything—he’d clearly discovered the secret of this place!

Yin Yusheng said, "Let’s go. He’s safe inside the mural and will come out once he’s finished learning."

The four of them left, continuing to search through the books.

In the following days, whenever Jian Huan came across the lowest-grade seventh-tier treasures, she would make her way to the room where Shen Jizhi was and tap his head with her bamboo stick, saying, "Study hard, Shen Jizhi. Pay off your debt soon, Shen Jizhi."