The heavy rain of late autumn gradually intensified.

Amidst the rain, and under the strange gazes of passersby, Wu Zhu walked out of the alleyway and arrived at the small side road beside Tianhe Avenue. Wet rain trickled down his clothes and the black cloth on his face. He stopped there, slightly raising his head to look at the misty imperial palace in the distance.

Yesterday afternoon, Wu Zhu had also spent half a day looking at the imperial palace. Although he was a traveler from the Temple, subconsciously following Fan Xian to observe the human world, and the imperial palace was indeed the most worthy place to visit and the most magnificent building in Kyoto, Wu Zhu's arrival for two consecutive days must have been influenced by some other opportunity.

Under the eaves of the street, several Kyoto children wearing padded jackets were clutching their hands, resisting the cold, their little faces somewhat pale from the cold. These children went to the public schools established by the court every day to study, and they all carried umbrellas, but they didn't expect the rain to suddenly intensify when they reached the alley entrance.

"Look, it's that idiot from yesterday!" One of the little fellows was feeling bored by the rain. Although it seemed to delay class time, no one wanted to bow their heads under someone else's eaves. Just then, he spotted Wu Zhu, who was standing blankly in the rain like an idiot. He recognized him as the idiot he had abused the day before, and was as happy as if he had discovered a new continent.

There were no stones under the eaves. The mischievous children's eyes darted around, and they found some coal cinders that had not been completely burned from last night next to a coal stove. They laughed shrilly, shouted, and began to throw them at Wu Zhu.

For some reason, it seemed that humans, from a very young age, were good at proving their strength by bullying those weaker than themselves, thereby gaining some kind of spiritual satisfaction. This seemed to be an instinct, otherwise, why would the children feel joy when they heard the sound of the coal cinders hitting Wu Zhu? Why would they feel happy when they saw Wu Zhu covered in filth?

Not many people were sheltering from the rain on the street. In the eyes of these few Kyoto residents, the blind man standing in the rain in a daze was clearly an idiot and a disabled person. They couldn't help but feel some sympathy, but besides sympathy, they felt a subconscious disgust at the dirt on the blind man's body.

So, apart from an aunt-like woman who scolded the little brats harshly, no one else took any action, but just watched indifferently as the nonchalant children vented their innate violent desires in their own way.

With a "thwack," a lump of water-soaked coal slammed into Wu Zhu's motionless face, making a crisp sound, as if slapping him.

The coal cinder slightly shifted the black cloth on Wu Zhu's face. Wu Zhu's pale face also turned slightly, as if he didn't quite understand what was happening. Then he straightened the black cloth on his face, slowly turned around, and looked at the children under the eaves whose hands were not clean.

The mischievous children were not afraid, because after throwing things at him all afternoon yesterday, this blind idiot didn't resist at all. On the contrary, seeing Wu Zhu react today, they felt even more excited. The coal cinders thrown into the rain in the street suddenly became denser.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack. Finally, someone found stones. Mixed with coal cinders, they were thrown all at once towards Wu Zhu's head and face, leaving dirty marks and traces of blood. Washed by the rain, they flowed down Wu Zhu's pale face, like a flood after a drought, carrying thousands of years of garbage, washing out startling marks on the vicissitudes of the earth.

Wu Zhu still didn't dodge. So Wu Zhu could also be injured. Through the layer of black cloth, he stared blankly at the children who were constantly laughing shrilly and waving their little hands. He didn't understand why they were attacking him, and he didn't understand why these children's innocent faces were smiling so ferociously. He didn't understand why those stones, whether sharp or round, hit his head and face, yet his heart felt a little strange?

What kind of emotion was that? Sadness? Disappointment? Anger? Resentment? Or just the word "emotion" itself? Wu Zhu looked at the children, letting them throw things at him. In his chaotic mind, something suddenly seemed to appear.

The rain suddenly became extremely heavy. The sky above Kyoto in late autumn was as if someone had pierced a large hole in it, and countless rivers, lakes, and seas poured down from that unfathomable hole, turning into a sky of torrential rain, scattered over the streets and houses.

It was as if a large hole had suddenly opened in Wu Zhu's mind as well. Clear heavenly light shone down, enveloping him in a strange emotion.

There were emotions, what did that prove? Was it the same proof as the curiosity that young man named Fan Xian had talked about? Wu Zhu began to think again, silently thinking in the pouring rain.

That young man named Fan Xian had said many things to him, but he didn't understand, couldn't comprehend, couldn't understand, but he just remembered them in his heart.

What was that young man named Fan Xian doing? It seemed he had gone to that imperial palace, it seemed it was for revenge. Why revenge, for whom revenge? It seemed someone had died, so that person named Fan Xian was unwilling, unhappy. It was a woman named Ye Qingmei, and an old cripple named Chen Pingping?

These two unfamiliar names seemed to become gradually clearer and more familiar in Wu Zhu's mind along with the torrential rain and the clear light that poured down from that large hole. However, what made him feel a headache was that he still couldn't remember who they were. Wasn't he supposed to have been in the Temple all his life?

Wu Zhu still didn't remember anything, but he possessed something he shouldn't have possessed, and that was emotion. In fact, that emotion had been filling his heart since yesterday afternoon, making his eyes just quietly look at that imperial palace through the black cloth.

This emotion was called disgust. Wu Zhu himself couldn't explain why, but he hated that tallest building in Kyoto. Perhaps it was just because he instinctively hated the people in that building?

When leaving the Snow Temple, that young man named Fan Xian, while coughing up blood, told himself to follow his heart. But... what was the heart? Could it be the vivid, unfamiliar... emotions he was feeling at this moment?

Wu Zhu decided to go to the imperial palace to take a look, to find the true source of his emotions, to see if there was anyone he wanted to see inside, someone destined to be seen. So he steadily placed his hand on the iron skewer at his waist, and at the same time, slightly lowered his head, re-wearing the bamboo hat on his back, blocking the rain from the sky, blocking the black cloth that covered his eyes.

However, the children were still happily throwing stones and coal cinders. After a moment of silence, Wu Zhu released the iron skewer in his hand, squatted down, and swept his palm through the sewage flowing on the ground, grabbing a handful of not-so-hard coal cinders.

He couldn't harm humans, unless it was for the overall interests of humanity. However, the biggest difference between Wu Zhu and that old man in the Temple was that he didn't understand what the hell the overall interests were, and what they had to do with him.

Those young humans were probably just playing games, Wu Zhu thought so, and that was how he reacted. At least towards these young humans who were bullying him, he didn't have feelings of disgust or anger in his heart.

Since it was a game, he would play a game with them once, and perhaps they would no longer pester him so much. Wu Zhu directly threw the handful of coal cinders mixed with rainwater towards the children under the eaves of the street.

A burst of terrified screams, a flurry of hurried footsteps, countless cries, someone collapsing in the rain, a series of chaotic sounds rang out following Wu Zhu's action.

A handful of coal cinders mixed with sewage, accurately divided into four portions, accurately hit the bodies of those mischievous children. One of the children who laughed the loudest was directly hit in the head with blood gushing out, and he fainted silently in the rain.

After a deathly silence at the street entrance, a furious roar suddenly erupted: "The idiot has killed someone!"

The previously indifferent Kyoto residents suddenly became outstanding citizens, eager to help others. Some reported to the authorities, some notified the parents, and some middle-aged men took out wooden sticks and mops, preparing to knock the muddleheaded idiot to the ground.

They were all neighbors, so naturally, they couldn't just watch their children suffer so much. The mother of the child who had collapsed on the ground pounced on her child, crying loudly, and cursing Wu Zhu venomously.

Wu Zhu coldly watched all of this, still not understanding. If it was a game, why was that woman crying? If it wasn't a game, why hadn't they stopped those children earlier? He knew that he wouldn't really be injured, did these humans also know that he wasn't a normal person? When those children were hitting him earlier, weren't they worried about his safety?

In the rain, the silent Wu Zhu vaguely learned something, and slightly understood that human emotions and choices had nothing to do with reason, but were divided based on closeness and preference.

In this world today, Wu Zhu believed that the person most closely related to him should be that young man named Fan Xian. He hated that imperial palace the most, so he ignored those people who were acting like madmen, and very seriously smoothed out the wrinkles on the black cloth on his face, placed his hand on the iron skewer at his waist, and stepped towards the imperial palace in the distance.

Someone tried to beat this idiot, blind man, madman to death, and then collapsed on the ground, the wooden stick broken in two. In the heavy rain, Wu Zhu, dressed in cloth clothes and wearing a bamboo hat, easily walked out of the angry encirclement of the Kyoto residents, leaving behind a ground full of people groaning in pain.

Wu Zhu didn't kill anyone, not because he didn't dare to kill, but because the habits he had cultivated for hundreds of thousands of years made him unable to think of killing. He would kill when he wanted to kill.

When the yamen runners from the Kyoto Prefecture arrived at the fork next to Tianhe Avenue, the madman who had knocked down a group of people was long gone. After a brief inspection, the yamen leader gasped in cold air, secretly thinking which expert this was, acting so cleanly and neatly. How could a strong person deign to bother with these unarmed civilians? The yamen leader felt a chill in his body, not because of the injuries of these civilians, but because of that blind man who had already disappeared. If what these civilians said was true, and that person was an idiot, then without a doubt, this idiot must be the most powerful martial arts maniac in history.

Letting such a martial arts maniac run around in Kyoto, the yamen leader thought it was terrifying. He immediately had his subordinates notify the Kyoto Prefecture Yamen, and then anxiously asked a person next to him: "Where did that madman run off to?"

"It seems like he went towards the square," the person answered in a trembling voice, gritting his teeth and saying: "That person has been staring at the imperial palace for two days, I'm afraid there's a problem."

The yamen leader didn't need to ask further, and understood that this person wanted to kill that madman. Anything involving the imperial palace would never have a way out. However, hearing that the martial arts maniac was heading straight towards the imperial palace, the yamen leader felt a little relieved in his heart. After all, the imperial palace was full of experts, with a strict imperial guard. No matter how powerful a martial arts maniac was, he could only be knocked to the ground. Even if the legendary Master Fan returned and killed his way back, could he break into the imperial palace?

……

……

The rain continued to fall. Wu Zhu didn't know how eagerly the people at the street entrance far behind him wanted him dead, and he didn't know that the yamen leader had already sentenced him to death. He was just wearing his bamboo hat, holding his iron skewer, and walking towards the imperial palace square step by step, exceptionally steadily and decisively.

His new cloth shoes, bought by Fan Xian in Langya County, Northern Qi, were soaked in the water. With each step he took, it was as if a drum sounded in Wu Zhu's mind, striking his heart, striking his soul. Ye Qingmei, Chen Pingping, Fan Xian, these names that seemed distant yet extremely close, kept echoing.

With each step, he vaguely remembered something, although it wasn't clear, it felt particularly intimate. Like this icy imperial city in the rain, like this Kyoto, which was filled with a familiar scent and full of glass that he had made, it was so familiar.

And similarly, as he approached the imperial city square with each step, the feeling of disgust in Wu Zhu's heart towards this imperial palace deepened. This imperial city, which stood majestically in the rainstorm, was so unshakable, so solemn and... disgusting.

Kyoto was an old place, and the imperial palace was also an old place, Wu Zhu thought.

Walking alone in the old place in the rain, he unexpectedly encountered the road being blocked by rain. The road was quiet and people were lonely, and this lost traveler was too lazy to dodge.

……

……

Blocking Wu Zhu's path was not the rain, but a team of imperial guards in full armor, exuding a strong aura of killing intent. The rain pounded on the grey armor of these elite soldiers of the Qing Kingdom army, making a clattering sound, pounding on their solemn faces, but failing to stir up the slightest emotional change.

The emotions on Wu Zhu's face didn't change at all either. His body was still slightly leaning forward, allowing the bamboo hat on his head to shield him from the torrential rain falling from the sky. His feet didn't stop, nor did they speed up, but steadily walked towards the center of the square at the speed he was accustomed to.

Wu Zhu wanted to enter the imperial palace to take a look, so he had to go through the main gate of the imperial palace, so he had to walk through this square in the rainstorm. For him, this was an exceptionally simple logic. He didn't care whether anyone would stop him. And his exceptionally simple logic seemed exceptionally cold and bold to the imperial guards responsible for the security of the imperial palace.

The news of Fan Xian's return to Kyoto had spread from the Ye residence last night. By today, all the upper-class figures of the Qing Kingdom knew about this shocking news. And the imperial palace had begun to be under martial law since last night. All entries were checked extremely strictly, and the defense work was raised to an unprecedented level of tension.

Even on the day that the Kyoto Garrison escorted Warden Chen, the former head of the Overwatch Council, back to Kyoto, the imperial city's defense wasn't as strict as it was today. Because everyone knew what Fan Xian was back to Kyoto for. He would definitely try to assassinate the emperor again, and the Southern Qing court would never give this traitor a second chance.

The patrolling work of the imperial guards had been extended by a third of the area compared to usual. Today, a heavy rain in the morning, along with the cold and damp feeling, made everyone heighten their vigilance, and also felt waves of palpitations, because they didn't know where Fan Xian was now, and when he would kill his way into the palace.

The small disturbance at the intersection of Tianhe Avenue had actually fallen into the eyes of the imperial guards, but the soldiers responsible for monitoring the outer perimeter didn't take the sudden incident of a martial arts maniac too seriously.

However, when this martial arts maniac wearing a bamboo hat and with completely blind eyes suddenly displayed extremely astonishing strength, and began to silently walk towards the imperial palace, the imperial guards finally discovered a trace of strangeness.

When the blind man wearing a bamboo hat stepped onto the standing water on the bluestone slabs of the imperial city square with his right foot wearing cloth shoes, the imperial guards issued the first warning, and began to gather their forces, preparing to capture this person in one fell swoop.

However, Wu Zhu seemed to not have heard that warning that could make most people in the world feel chills. He still just steadily and silently walked, step by step steadily walking in the imperial guards' wary gazes on the imperial city and in the cold and stern gazes of the imperial guard soldiers on the square.

After the warning was issued three times, the cloth-clothed blind man in the torrential rain seemed to remain unheard, and remained unseeing, heading towards the center of the square, towards the main gate of the imperial palace step by step.

Even at this time, the imperial guard soldiers still thought that this strange character was a madman, and didn't associate him with an assassin. Because in the eyes of worldly people, no matter how powerful an assassin was, even Si Gu Jian back then, it was impossible to choose such a blatant way to assassinate. In the encirclement of over ten thousand imperial guards, under the towering imperial palace walls, no one could break through the obstruction of so many people, kill their way into the imperial palace, and point their sword at His Majesty.

Unless there really was a god in this world.

So the imperial guards thought that this strange blind man was probably just an extremely unlucky madman, who had suddenly broken into the forbidden area in front of the imperial palace during such a tense situation, and all that awaited him was death.

……

……

Wu Zhu was still walking, seemingly not seeing the row of imperial guard soldiers blocking his path in front of him. At this time, the raging wind and rain were still wreaking havoc, and the endless rain was like a giant wave on the East Sea, about to swallow his lonely figure, but it could never really swallow it, because he would always emerge from the rain.

"Kill." An imperial guard officer narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling a bone-chilling chill coming from the blind man not far away. That blind man had already entered the forbidden area, and a dangerous feeling made this officer no longer hesitate, and issued the order.

With a "shua" sound, the imperial guards blocking Wu Zhu's path drew their sabers in unison, and the saber light instantly illuminated the sky in front of the imperial city, which was raining like a waterfall.

Without the sound of swords singing, Wu Zhu just steadily drew the iron skewer from his waist, and then stabbed it out. His speed didn't seem fast in the violent wind and rain, and the momentum of the stab wasn't particularly exquisite either, but... every time the iron skewer was thrust out, the tip of the skewer would accurately pierce the throat of an imperial guard.

Accurate, clean, and stable, that was the feeling Wu Zhu gave when he attacked. It was very simple, but when it was simple to the extreme, it became a certain realm.

From the moment the officer shouted the word "kill" to the moment Wu Zhu stabbed all the imperial guard soldiers in front of him to death, only a few breaths had passed. In the pouring rain, the corpses of the imperial guards lay behind Wu Zhu, and the blood that had just gushed out of the throats of those corpses was washed away by the rain.

In the process of killing people, Wu Zhu's speed didn't change at all, and the pace of his two feet moving forward in the rain was still so steady, as if he hadn't been hindered in any way, walking through the rain and killing people along the way.

This wasn't the elegance of a peerless expert, nor did it bring the feeling of a strong person strolling leisurely to all the imperial guards around the imperial palace. They just felt cold, very cold, because the blind man's attack was so stable, stable to the point of being even incomparably indifferent.

The imperial guards didn't even know how their colleagues had died under that iron skewer, because the blind man wearing a bamboo hat didn't have an aura that could break through the heavens and the earth, and his attack wasn't particularly cunning or vicious either.

It was just that the iron skewer seemed to be covered with a layer of heavenly coldness, and easily calculated all the angles and all the possibilities in the rain, and then picked the most reasonable gap in space and thrust it out.

Seemingly simple, but in reality earth-shattering, enough to make everyone who saw this scene completely lose any confidence in fighting him!

The officer watched his subordinates being killed by the blind man wearing a bamboo hat without even groaning. He felt a chill all over his body, colder than the autumn rain that was constantly falling around him.

Wu Zhu walked up to him. The officer suddenly felt that the cloth clothes that were darkened in color after being wet by the rain were not ordinary clothes, and the iron skewer he was holding was not an ordinary weapon. The person wasn't... a person, but a monster that condensed all the mysteries of heaven and earth, breathing in all the coldness of heaven and earth.

The officer trembled all over, bravely drew his saber, and then saw an iron skewer pierce into under his chin, and then retract like lightning.

Too fast, why did it look so slow before? Why couldn't he dodge no matter how he dodged? The officer fell heavily into the rain with such questions, his frightened pupils about to be submerged by the accumulated water, and then he watched a pair of soaked cloth shoes walk past his head.

Even at this time, the feet wearing cloth shoes were still so steady.

……

……

The rain was still falling, and the imperial guards were still dying. The unknown fear brought by the killing god wearing a bamboo hat made the imperial guard soldiers responsible for the safety of the imperial palace become extremely angry and brave, and they killed over one after another.

However, these imperial guards couldn't stop even a trace of Wu Zhu's steady pace.

Wu Zhu lowered his head, turned around, bent his knees, and with a calm and calculation ability that was completely beyond the imagination of ordinary people, calmly dodged all the weapons that could harm his body, and then thrust out the iron skewer straight, tearing apart the autumn rain curtain in front of him, tearing apart the heavy encirclement in front of him.

He just wanted to enter the imperial palace to take a look. For this reason, people kept falling beside him, blood kept staining the rain curtain red, people kept dying, falling into the rain, and there were constant exclamations, screams, and groans.

Like a fallen angel who had accidentally fallen into the mortal world, coming to the human world, using the calmest way, which was also the most terrifying way, reaping the guards beside the emperor, reaping the humble lives of mortals.

There were fewer and fewer people in front of Wu Zhu, but there were more and more dead bodies on the ground.

……

……

Suddenly, Wu Zhu stopped at the center of the square in front of the imperial city. There wasn't a single person standing beside him anymore. Around him, hundreds of imperial guards were lying in pools of blood. No matter how violent the autumn rain was, it couldn't wash away these blood stains in an instant. He slowly raised his head and looked at the imperial city above.

The imperial guards on the city had already drawn their bows and nocked their arrows. A dense array of feathered arrows had already been aimed at Wu Zhu in front of the palace gate, ready to fire at any moment.

Wu Zhu stood in the blood, raised his head, and looked at the familiar and unfamiliar imperial city through the black cloth. He looked at those terrifying arrows. His face exposed outside the cloth was still calm, without any fear at all. He just slowly raised his right arm and stretched the iron skewer in his hand into the rainstorm, letting the rain wash away the blood stains on it.

The rain pounded on the iron skewer with a "pa pa" sound.

The imperial guards who had been frightened by that iron skewer had obeyed the order to retreat into the palace gate. At this time, the vermilion palace gate was tightly closed. The wide square, besides those corpses lying on the ground in blood, only had the storm-like wind and rain and... the blind man wearing a bamboo hat, standing alone.

Countless people up and down the imperial city saw this scene, and felt a chill from the depths of their hearts. Who was this blind man who was so powerful that it was hard to imagine?

Gong Dian, the pale-faced commander of the imperial guards, stood on the city head and watched the blind man standing alone in the rain, his body trembling slightly, thinking of that woman and her young servant many years ago, and a fear never before felt surged in his heart. He knew who the other party was, and had notified His Majesty in the palace as soon as possible, but he didn't know at all whether his ten thousand imperial guards could stop the other party.

Wu Zhu was here, Wu Zhu was finally here, he was here to avenge the young lady!

These words that made his heart tremble kept echoing in Gong Dian's mind.

Wu Zhu, standing alone in the wind and rain, challenging the entire powerful Qing Kingdom court with an iron skewer, didn't have these thoughts. He just suddenly muttered to himself: "The one living inside seems to be... Little Li Zi."

The wind and rain filled the sky, this person stood alone, though there were thousands of people, I shall go.

……

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(These are the last few days, and my feelings are very complicated. Brothers and sisters, please cast more recommendation tickets and flower tickets. Let's all work together to make the tail of this story of Qing Yu Nian as beautiful and wonderful as possible...)