The design of Cuiliu Fort by Xiazi Bei (Blind Man Bei) was well thought out. Actually, the defensive aspect of the fort was not Xiazi Bei’s primary concern, because he never anticipated having to defend it while waiting for reinforcements. He didn’t think the Qian Kingdom would actively attack. Even if the enemy did come one day, if they were too strong, he could just run away with his subordinates and belongings.

However, Xiazi Bei put a lot of thought into certain details, including this secret passage. Xiazi had also reported it to Zheng Fan and even took him through it once.

It was originally A’ming’s room, but when he went to the Qian Kingdom, Xiazi Bei had A’ming switch rooms with Shatuo Qieshi. That was why Zheng Fan went to the wrong room and said his “heartfelt words” when he returned.

Later, Xiazi explained to Zheng Fan that, firstly, Shatuo Qieshi’s coffin could suppress the entrance to that extremely important secret passage, and secondly, it would be convenient for Shatuo Qieshi to come out.

Shatuo Qieshi’s way of appearing, like “a Lin Meimei falling from the sky”,

left a deep impression on Xiazi, who was cooperating with Xue San in Yue opera in Meijiawu at the time.

According to Xiazi Bei, if one day they needed to place their hope on Shatuo Qieshi, whether he could wake up or not, they should first make the best assumption: if he woke up and was willing to help Zheng Fan, which was helping them, then they had to make it easy for him to come out, right?

Under normal circumstances, after becoming a jiangshi (zombie), the brain would become somewhat wooden.

What if Shatuo Qieshi woke up and had to smash through a wall to come out and save people…

So, in Shatuo Qieshi’s room, there was not only a secret passage below, but also a very spacious vent above, which was connected to the chimney of Cuiliu Fort's kitchen.

This way, if Shatuo Qieshi really woke up one day, he could quickly come out whether he wanted to go to heaven or earth, without having to demolish the house first.

And Zheng Fan brought Great Hero Chen here with the intention of using a taller mountain to suppress this tall mountain that was almost crushing himself, Xiazi, and Xue San.

However, Zheng Fan didn't know whether Shatuo Qieshi would "wake up", whether he would help save him, or even whether he would sense the situation here.

Shatuo Qieshi was not his godfather, after all.

He was already dead, already a jiangshi.

No one knew if he would still be willing to smash Xu Wenzu’s carriage for a few meals, or cooperate with him to act and "save" the Sixth Prince, like before.

But this was really the only way at the moment. Great Hero Chen was a bit of a simpleton, but he wasn't an idiot.

Zheng Fan believed that if he tried to fool him into going to Nanwang City, Great Hero Chen would definitely chop him down with a single sword strike without a second thought.

Even when Zheng Fan asked Great Hero Chen to stick willow branches above the secret passage exit, he didn’t know if Shatuo Qieshi was down there. When Zheng Fan shouted, “...Please accept this!”

He was mentally prepared to be killed for failing to put on a convincing act.

But,

as soon as he finished speaking,

when that roar came from below,

Zheng Fan knew

he had bet correctly.

A warm current immediately surged through Zheng Fan's heart. In this world, even including relationships like husband and wife, parents, how many people were willing to protect you wholeheartedly, even after death?

However, this feeling of gratitude didn't last long before it was interrupted; Great Hero Chen's sword was coming.

Great Hero Chen's sword was fast, very, very fast;

he had told Zheng Fan before that no matter what tricks Zheng Fan played, he could instantly cut off Zheng Fan's head.

He was indeed qualified to say such a thing, and he indeed had the ability to say such a thing.

However,

just as his sword was about to pierce Zheng Fan,

beneath his feet,

a violent baleful aura erupted directly.

Great Hero Chen's sword could certainly kill Zheng Fan, but without any defense, he would be torn to shreds by the existence below in the next moment.

It wasn’t cowardice; facing Great Hero Chen, who could remain calm even after losing a leg, he didn’t understand what cowardice meant.

He just felt that he couldn't die yet, because he still held onto the fantasy that Little Flower and the others were waiting for him to save them.

So, Great Hero Chen withdrew his sword, and at the same time, Great Hero Chen retreated.

When Great Hero Chen's figure retreated more than ten zhang and stopped,

he found that there was a deep pit where he had been standing, next to the carriage.

Beside the deep pit stood a middle-aged man wearing an animal skin robe.

The middle-aged man was large and looked majestic, especially his eyes, which only had pure black swirling within them, and a strong baleful aura was permeating around him.

Leaning against the carriage, Zheng Fan, who had just experienced a moment of life and death, looked at Shatuo Qieshi's back standing in front of him, and his heart was filled with mixed feelings.

If he could, how much he wished that Shatuo Qieshi was still that slovenly man, who was more punctual than a dog at meal times, waiting to be served food.

But some things could never go back, and Zheng Fan also knew in his heart that Shatuo Qieshi after becoming a jiangshi was no longer strictly speaking Shatuo Qieshi himself, but more like a... beast with some of his pre-mortem thoughts and consciousness.

It wasn't that there was absolutely no way to make Shatuo Qieshi a jiangshi with his own thoughts, capable of thinking and inheriting his previous memories, but that difficulty was really too great.

The only hope lay in Liang Cheng restoring his full strength, and then using his identity as the ancestor of jiangshis to change Shatuo Qieshi's jiangshi destiny, but that was really too far away.

Great Hero Chen held his sword horizontally in front of him,

and said:

"You deceived me."

For some reason, when Zheng Fan heard this sentence, he really felt a sense of shame in his heart.

An honest man, a nice guy, was really easy to feel sorry for.

But Zheng Fan really had no choice; if he didn't deceive him, if he didn't fool him, he, Xiazi, and Xue San would all die by his sword.

"Leave, I don't want to kill you,"

Zheng Fan said.

Since awakening in this world, Zheng Fan had been constantly becoming darker. He had killed people, incited the soldiers of Tiger Head City to wipe out entire families, and led troops into the Qian Kingdom.

But at this moment, Zheng Fan wanted to soften his heart a little, not because he had no confidence in Shatuo Qieshi, but purely because he really hoped that this swordsman could leave here alive.

"I won't leave."

Great Hero Chen was still stubborn.

Zheng Fan sighed and said:

"Alright, I'll dig a very spacious pit for you, and I'll even put up a tombstone for you. On this day next year, I'll bring wine and chat with you."

This was the treatment that Great Hero Chen had promised Zheng Fan after death, and Zheng Fan was returning it in its entirety.

"Hehe, good."

Great Hero Chen moved, he raised his sword towards Shatuo Qieshi.

Before, Zheng Fan was the one being "abused". To be honest, he was so focused on being abused that he really didn't have the energy to appreciate the other person's swordsmanship.

Great Hero Chen's sword was entwined with sword flowers, like streaks of light dissipating. That was terrifying sword qi, capable of shattering several pieces of fine armor in an instant!

Shatuo Qieshi did not retreat; in fact, he took a step forward.

"Boom!"

With one step, the ground in the willow forest trembled.

Raging baleful aura began to condense in front of Shatuo Qieshi, and even the line of sight was forcibly dragged in and distorted when it passed through here.

Great Hero Chen's sword qi surged, and streaks of sword罡 were like silver snakes dancing wildly, but despite their seemingly fierce momentum, the sword qi they released was annihilated in the vortex of baleful aura in front of Shatuo Qieshi.

Shatuo Qieshi raised his hand and clenched his fist.

Zheng Fan had seen Shatuo Qieshi knocking on the door in front of the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion, and he had also seen Shatuo Qieshi charging through thousands of Zhenbei Army iron cavalry. At that time, Shatuo Qieshi's fighting style was very simple and crude. Now, Shatuo Qieshi, who had become a jiangshi, had an even more direct fighting style than before!

The ground beneath his feet began to boil, and when Shatuo Qieshi swung his fist and began to charge, it seemed that even the surrounding wind was giving way to him.

This was a fist that was faster than a sword!

Great Hero Chen, who had been actively launching attacks before, began to retreat involuntarily. His life and principles did not allow him to retreat in the slightest, but that did not mean that he had to be reckless when fighting.

As he retreated, Great Hero Chen instantly deployed thirteen sword qi defenses in front of him, which was enough to show how much Great Hero Chen valued this evil spirit that had suddenly appeared.

However,

Shatuo Qieshi, who was charging, did not use his fist to penetrate the opponent's defense at all,

but instead, he straightened his chest, raised his head,

and forcibly used his own body to clear a path in a domineering manner!

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"

Streaks of sword qi defense struck Shatuo Qieshi's body.

Si Niang was a perfectionist. Not only did she weave a golden silk soft armor for Zheng Fan, but she also wove one for each of the other Demon Kings, and even wove a layer inside Shatuo Qieshi's animal skin robe.

However,

the robe on Shatuo Qieshi's upper body was completely torn apart at this moment, and his upper body was repeatedly subjected to the baptism of sword qi, like a fierce collision of metal, emitting harsh rubbing sounds.

White lines and cracks had appeared on Shatuo Qieshi's chest, but he still went forward without hesitation!

Martial artists and jiangshis had one thing in common, and that was that their physique was their real reliance!

In war, what generals were most concerned about was not the existence of powerful mages and Qi refiners, but martial artists!

Because other types of powerhouses, although they were very scary, were actually very fragile in large-scale wars.

Sometimes, a stray arrow could take the life of a powerful mage.

But martial artists, high-level martial artists, unless you used an existence of the same level to exchange with him, you would have to mobilize troops to exhaust him.

A true high-level martial artist, with his physique as the foundation, was really too difficult to kill.

Great Hero Chen's thirteen defenses were instantly broken through nine by Shatuo Qieshi's flesh!

And Great Hero Chen, perhaps because his left leg was now just a sword sheath, making his movements and footwork inevitably greatly restricted, so after his defense was broken open one after another, he was not able to widen the distance between himself and Shatuo Qieshi. Instead, Shatuo Qieshi kept closing in.

Finally,

Shatuo Qieshi's fist, which had been raised for a long time,

smashed down

towards the front!

The remaining four defenses were like paper, and three of them melted away in an instant. Even the last remaining defense was already on the verge of collapse.

This was the extremely awkward part of sword cultivators. The path of sword cultivation was recognized as powerful and sharp, but their bodies, although definitely stronger than those of mages and Qi refiners, seemed so fragile compared to the physique of true martial artists.

When Shatuo Qieshi's fist struck out, all directions around him had already been sealed off by his Qi.

This also meant that he had sealed off Great Hero Chen's retreat.

Great Hero Chen had no choice now.

Just like when two cars collided, turning the steering wheel would only make you die even more miserably. You could only brace yourself and collide head-on!

Great Hero Chen had no way out. As a swordsman, he didn't expect that as soon as the other party appeared, in the first exchange, in the first confrontation, the other party would use a strong posture and turn it into a real decisive battle without any probing!

The long sword pointed forward, the tip pointing at Shatuo Qieshi's fist.

Great Hero Chen's blood qi was poured into the long sword, and the long sword also let out a cry. Every sword had its own soul since it was created. Although not all of them could be peerless swords like Gan Jiang and Mo Xie, in the hands of true swordsmen, they would often achieve a fusion of beliefs with their masters.

On the long sword, a white phoenix seemed to emerge, spreading its wings and roaring.

"Boom!!!"

The tip of the sword and the fist had already collided together.

"Crack..."

Cracks began to appear on Shatuo Qieshi's fist, and the body that had been repaired by Liang Cheng and Si Niang together also loosened.

However,

after the long sword let out a wail,

"Bang!"

it actually broke directly!

Why had the sword always been inferior to the saber in terms of practicality?

Because it was too brittle and easy to break.

At this moment, it still broke, even though its master was a powerful swordsman.

At the moment when the sword broke, Great Hero Chen also spat out a mouthful of blood, and his whole body trembled, and then he flew out like a kite with a broken string.

Blood beads溢出from all the pores on his body. In an instant, even before Great Hero Chen landed, his clothes had already been dyed red with his own blood.

Shatuo Qieshi was indeed not at his peak. Although he had the blessing and summoning of the great priest of the barbarian royal court and a group of priests, and although he had the repair of Liang Cheng, the ancestor of jiangshis, Shatuo Qieshi was definitely not as good as he was before he died.

But Great Hero Chen had just lost a left leg and was already seriously injured. After such a collision, and being forcibly dragged into a head-to-head confrontation by Shatuo Qieshi from the beginning, it was really not surprising that he ended up in such a miserable state.

Perhaps the only thing that Zheng Fan didn't expect was that this duel would end so quickly.

There was no back-and-forth battle of hundreds of rounds, and there was no Shatuo Qieshi's previous rampage through thousands of iron cavalry. After just one exchange, you attacked once, and I attacked once, and the victory or defeat was decided.

"Giddy up!!!"

Outside the willow forest, the sound of horses' hooves came in bursts. It was the people inside Cuiliu Fort who had sensed the situation here and were rushing over.

The sound made by Shatuo Qieshi when he appeared earlier naturally spread far away, and it was impossible not to alarm the fort.

Barbarian soldiers poured in, led by Si Niang, Liang Cheng, A’ming, and Fan Li.

When they saw Zheng Fan on the carriage, they immediately spurred their horses over.

Shatuo Qieshi walked forward, and Great Hero Chen was already lying on the ground unable to move. The victory or defeat had been decided, and now it was time for the victor to reap the rewards.

Zheng Fan hesitated for a moment,

and shouted:

"Stop!"

Shatuo Qieshi stopped.

Si Niang jumped from the horse's back onto the carriage and checked Zheng Fan's injuries first.

"Master, how did you hurt yourself like this again?"

The surrounding barbarian soldiers also surrounded them. Some of the barbarian soldiers seemed to recognize Shatuo Qieshi. When they saw their Zuo Guli King actually appearing here, there was a slight commotion in the ranks, and some people even planned to dismount and kneel.

"Here, there is only one master, and even your Zuo Guli King acts according to the master's orders!"

Liang Cheng immediately shouted in the barbarian language.

The barbarian soldiers immediately controlled their emotions.

In fact, it was no wonder that the barbarian soldiers were making such a commotion, because Shatuo Qieshi's existence had not been announced to them. All the way from the north to the south, Shatuo Qieshi had been sealed in the coffin.

"Who is he?" A'ming looked curiously at the "blood man" lying on the ground, and couldn't help but lick his lips.

This blood, it smells so delicious.

"Kill him!"

Si Niang shouted immediately.

The surrounding barbarian soldiers were immediately preparing to charge forward and cut off Great Hero Chen's head.

"Back down!"

Zheng Fan said. Because his voice was very soft, Si Niang immediately shouted again:

"The master has ordered, back down!"

The barbarian soldiers immediately retreated again.

"Carry me over."

Hearing this, Si Niang pressed down with both hands.

"Change the position."

Zheng Fan didn't want to be princess-carried by Si Niang in front of his subordinates.

A'ming next to him immediately reached out to support Zheng Fan, allowing Zheng Fan's body to lean on him, and got off the carriage.

This posture looked much better.

"Go over there."

Under Zheng Fan's command, A'ming supported Zheng Fan and walked behind Shatuo Qieshi, very close to Great Hero Chen, who was lying on the ground as a blood man.

"Tsk tsk, what a sword fanatic, this prosthetic leg is really unique," A'ming subconsciously teased.

"I... didn't kill the people of Chacha Village," Zheng Fan said.

Great Hero Chen raised his head with some difficulty,

looked at Zheng Fan standing behind Shatuo Qieshi,

opened his mouth, revealing teeth full of blood,

"You... come over... tell me..."

A'ming didn't move, and Zheng Fan didn't order him to help him over.

Great Hero Chen smiled,

and said with difficulty:

"You come over... I... won't kill you..."

A'ming was about to laugh,

but suddenly heard Zheng Fan, whom he was supporting, say:

"Help me over."

A'ming looked at his master in astonishment. Was he crazy?

"Help me... over, that's an order."

A'ming hesitated for a moment, but still gritted his teeth, supported Zheng Fan, walked past Shatuo Qieshi's side, and walked in front of Great Hero Chen.

Everyone in the audience held their breath, especially A'ming and the others. They really didn't understand why Zheng Fan would take such a risk, especially since they all knew Zheng Fan's personality. He would definitely be cowardly if he could, and he wouldn't care about face.

Looking at Great Hero Chen lying on the ground,

Zheng Fan said very solemnly:

"I really didn't kill the people of Chacha Village. You must have made a mistake."

The smile on Great Hero Chen's face faded,

and he said:

"You just... deceived me..."

Suddenly,

a wisp of blood sword formed in Great Hero Chen's palm, and immediately emitted a chilling killing intent!

Seeing this, A'ming immediately pulled Zheng Fan behind him and stood in front of Zheng Fan himself.

A look of horror also appeared in Zheng Fan's eyes,

Damn it,

this idiot has learned to be bad!

Endless regret immediately filled Zheng Fan's chest. This was probably the first time in his life that he had been so "willful", wanting to act like a hero and show off his spirit and personality charm.

But it really turned out to be a case of trying to show off and getting screwed instead!

At this moment, it was impossible for Zheng Fan to think about who Great Hero Chen had learned to be bad from, or what kind of life "beatings" Great Hero Chen had just experienced to grow up!

The air seemed to freeze at this moment.

Shatuo Qieshi began to move, Si Niang, Liang Cheng, and Fan Li also began to move, and even the surrounding horsemen raised the bows and arrows in their hands, but obviously, because of the distance, they were too late!

Completely, too late!

However,

in the next moment,

the blood sword that had just condensed in Great Hero Chen's palm,

dissipated directly again.

The crisis, the killing intent, disappeared instantly.

Great Hero Chen's head fell back to the ground again,

and he said weakly:

"You can deceive people... but... I, Great Hero Chen... keep my promises for life."