The very day they arrived in Guangning City, Fang Shuwen had asked Zhou Qingmei a question.
When would the reinforcements from Zhuji Pavilion arrive?
Zhou Qingmei had said at the time that the Escort Agency needed time to deliver the message, and traveling from Zhuji Pavilion to Guangning City also took time.
All things considered, no one could say for sure when the reinforcements would arrive.
So, when Zhang Fang appeared before Fang Shuwen for the first time, a doubt had already formed in Fang Shuwen's mind.
'He seems to have arrived too early.'
That was the first flaw.
Secondly, as a disciple of Zhuji Pavilion and a member of the righteous path in the Jianghu, it was one thing to execute demonic heretics—there was nothing to be said about that.
However, the man in black who had abducted Fang Lingxin was far inferior to Zhang Fang in Martial Arts, and besides, Zhang Fang shouldn't have been fully aware of the circumstances at the time.
Yet, he killed the man in black the moment he arrived.
It reeked of an attempt to silence a witness and only made him look more suspicious.
That was the second flaw.
Fang Shuwen had experienced too much since he was young. Having lived two lives, this one and the last, he knew it was never wrong to be cautious.
So, regardless of whether these two flaws were real or imagined, whether he was overthinking things or had truly found something...
...he decided to probe further.
However, Fang Shuwen's method of testing him was rather simple and unadorned.
He simply asked Zhang Fang to stake out the Da Xuan Bank.
The known variable at the time was that the Da Xuan Bank was still operating normally. If, after Zhang Fang started his stakeout, the bank were to vanish without a trace...
...it would prove that there was definitely something wrong with Zhang Fang.
Conversely, if Zhang Fang managed to uncover clues about the Black Death Sect through this investigation...
...they could proceed with the original plan and investigate it further.
Fang Shuwen did not hide his suspicions about Zhang Fang from Zhou Qingmei.
That night, when they were staying with the Fang Family, Fang Shuwen told Zhou Qingmei he had something to discuss with her, and this was what he spoke about.
Because of this, Zhou Qingmei tossed and turned all night, restless and uneasy.
But in the end, she was persuaded by Fang Shuwen...
Zhou Qingmei was a calm and decisive person. She believed Fang Shuwen not because of the friendship they had developed on their journey, but because his words were not baseless accusations.
There were indeed inexplicable mysteries surrounding Zhang Fang.
Besides, Fang Shuwen hadn't asserted that Zhang Fang was definitely a problem at the time.
They were still in the testing phase.
If it turned out that Zhang Fang was innocent, then everyone would be happy.
If not, they would be one step closer to the truth, so why not do it?
The answer Zhang Fang finally presented was Cyan Yang Manor.
But this answer... was hard to describe in a few words.
The flaws with the Cyan Yang Manor setup were simply too numerous to count.
All signs indicated that the Black Death Sect had been entrenched in Guangning City for more than just a day or two, yet there was only Qi Zhifei at Cyan Yang Manor.
As for the so-called Young Sect Leader, there wasn't even a shadow of them to be found.
There were too many accumulated corpses. Based on the number of bodies, the number of people cultivating the Black Death Demon Technique was far greater than what they had seen that night.
And that's not to mention the Cyan Corpse Record.
That night, they didn't see a single cyan-faced, red-eyed expert from the Black Death Sect.
All the signs pointed to one thing: the so-called Demon Cave at Cyan Yang Manor was nothing more than a sacrificed 'chariot' to save the 'king'.
But the most crucial part was the death of Qi Zhifei.
Fang Shuwen had intentionally left the man alive as bait.
Because he suspected Zhang Fang and was also worried about Fang Mingxuan, Fang Shuwen's attention during the battle at Cyan Yang Manor was split between watching over Zhou Qingmei and keeping an eye on those two.
Fang Mingxuan never went near Qi Zhifei from start to finish.
But Zhang Fang had paused there briefly.
Although he didn't see Zhang Fang strike the blow himself, the man was still the prime suspect.
But he didn't confront him at the time.
Without direct evidence, it would have just alerted the enemy, and Zhang Fang could have denied everything completely.
And even if Zhang Fang had confessed, he wouldn't have told Fang Shuwen and Zhou Qingmei the things they wanted to know.
If Zhang Fang really was a member of the Black Death Sect, then his purpose in doing all this was simply to go with the flow.
He wanted to make Fang Shuwen believe that the crisis facing Zhou Qingmei was over and that his mission to guard her was successfully completed.
Since that was the case, Fang Shuwen decided to play along and let him think he had achieved his goal.
When people get complacent, they tend to get careless.
When he thought the situation was settled, he would likely say everything that should and shouldn't be said.
People often say that villains die because they talk too much.
But you can't entirely blame the villains...
A sense of accomplishment needs to be shared.
If you get a perfect score on a test, are you supposed to hide it away so no one ever knows?
That would be asking too much.
So, Fang Shuwen and Zhou Qingmei devised a plan. One would be in the open, the other in the shadows. If Zhang Fang was really a traitor, Zhou Qingmei would seize the opportunity to draw the truth out of him.
If there was no issue, Fang Shuwen wouldn't have to reveal himself.
He could continue to act from the shadows as he saw fit.
This led to the whole series of events where Zhou Qingmei and Zhang Fang headed back to their sect together, while Fang Shuwen bid them farewell and supposedly returned to Julu City.
In reality, Fang Shuwen had been secretly following them the entire time.
Although he didn't know any Lightweight Techniques, he could follow their horse's tracks. Moreover, with his Muscle Strengthening Scripture at the Great Perfection stage, he could completely conceal his aura. Whether he could fool a peerless master remained to be seen, but deceiving Zhang Fang was as easy as could be.
To be honest, Zhang Fang's idea was good, but there was no way he could have ever made Fang Shuwen leave.
Fang Shuwen's mission to protect Zhou Qingmei until the crisis was resolved had never been completed, not from the very beginning.
'He hadn't even received the mission reward yet, so where could he possibly go?'
Now, the outcome was quite satisfactory.
Without Fang Shuwen's protection, Zhang Fang had indeed shown his true colors.
Through this probe, they had also learned the identity of the Young Sect Leader.
It was just that, regarding that "major event"... Zhou Qingmei's acting skills ultimately weren't up to par, and Zhang Fang had noticed a flaw.
Fang Shuwen had no choice but to reveal himself and stop him.
Zhang Fang wanted to die understanding why, so Fang Shuwen held nothing back, explaining the cause and effect of the entire affair from beginning to end.
At the end of the explanation, Zhang Fang gave a helpless smile.
"In the end, I underestimated you... But that makes sense. How could someone who has cultivated their Martial Arts to such a level be so simple?"
Fang Shuwen didn't mention that the main reason his Martial Arts were so advanced was because the system had given him a cheat.
He squatted down and looked at Zhang Fang.
"Why don't you tell me? What were you thinking?
"'Sacrificing a limb to save the body'... a tragic choice, but this was a very slender limb you sacrificed."
"Even the most clever housewife can't cook without rice."
Zhang Fang sounded rather aggrieved.
"The Young Sect Leader gave two orders. The first was to kill Junior Sister Zhou, and the second was to capture Fang Lingxin.
"But Granny Hei and the Cyan-faced Ghost both failed, one after the other. Your Martial Arts are beyond anything we can contend with.
"With the manpower we currently have in Guangning City, we couldn't hope to touch you...
"So my only choice was to find a way to make you leave on your own."
"So, where did all the manpower go?"
Fang Shuwen's tone was gentle, as if he were just chatting with an old friend.
But Zhang Fang shook his head.
"That, I cannot say.
"Alright, I know what I needed to know. I can die without regrets now. Kill me."
Zhou Qingmei looked at Zhang Fang, her eyes filled with a complex mix of emotions.
"Our Martial Uncle taught you with all his heart, passed on his Martial Arts to you, and instructed you in the path of chivalry. His grace toward you was as immense as a mountain.
"What kind of Magic Power does the Black Death Sect possess that you would give up your very life for this evil Demon Sect?"
Zhang Fang let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"Junior Sister Zhou, your family background is spotless. You would never understand. People like me... we never had a choice from the very beginning."
"In that case..."
Fang Shuwen suddenly smiled.
"Why don't we play a guessing game?"
Zhang Fang raised an eyebrow slightly.
"What do you mean?"