When you're little,
Elders or private school teachers will tell you that people living in this world need to be reasonable.

When you grow up,
You'll discover that,
In this world,
Many things
Can't be reasoned with.

The old man felt that what was happening before him was completely unreasonable.

The cultivation of sorcerers fluctuates greatly, and in the ordinary sense, very few people would truly regard a third-rank sorcerer as a third-rank powerhouse.

For example, Zang Fuzi,
The number one Qi refiner of Daqian,
Master of the Back Mountain,
When he went to Yanjing,
He still needed Baili Jian to accompany him.

Sorcerers can play an irreplaceable and huge role in specific places, but it also means that in some places and times that are not specific, their role will suddenly become very limited.

Previously, the old man's scheme failed to trap Shatuo Queshi because Shatuo Queshi did not have the Qi and blood of a living person in his body.

Now, the old man's formation cannot suppress Shatuo Queshi because this formation is similar to suppressing the mind, trying to turn the tables from the flaws in the mind.

Shatuo Queshi's response was very simple and straightforward.

Most of those who are easily fooled are people who think they are smart. The more sophisticated the deception, the more it targets those who think they are clever.

Shatuo Queshi sealed his own mind,
Turning himself into a zombie with only the most basic instincts left.

When I turn myself into a complete idiot,
Unable to understand even human language,
How can you deceive me?

"Cough, cough..."

The man in green coughed twice.
He looked down again at the three holes in his chest,
And said with some difficulty:

"It's not working again, is it?"

The old man felt helpless, bewildered, and bitter.
Finally,
He nodded,
And said:
"Yes, you're right."

The man in green gritted his teeth,
And said with some reluctance:

"He's, actually, not that strong."

Yes,
Shatuo Queshi was indeed not that strong at this time, at least, in their eyes, that was the case.

After all,
The person who came was not the Sword Saint of Jin.

If the one who had appeared earlier was the Sword Saint of Jin, then the two of them would not have said another word and would have turned around and ran.

For the man in green, if he hadn't suffered an unexpected loss in the initial head-on confrontation, he could have used his sword or saber to circle around and wear down Shatuo Queshi.

Coupled with the old man's blessing, the chances of winning would have been very high.

Even now,
After Shatuo Queshi sealed his mind and only had instinct left, his strength did not decline, but because he lacked the assistance of moves, experience, and "thinking," he was actually much weaker.

It can be said that the man in green at his peak could have completely defeated the current Shatuo Queshi with his own strength.

However,
He was now seriously injured.

The old man's dilemma was that his methods worked against living people and intelligent puppets, but he had no effective means against Shatuo Queshi in his current state.

After losing to Tian Wujing, the Sword Saint had specifically studied this kind of duel using "formation deployment" to deal with Jianghu fights, and he benefited greatly.

And at this moment,
Shatuo Queshi seemed to have sealed his mind,
But he was unconsciously in line with the art of war.

It was unknown whether it was intentional or unintentional,
But if analyzed with the benefit of hindsight,
The initial strong appearance and imposing aura might have just been a prelude, followed by responding to each move, and finally finding an optimal solution in the states of both sides to seek a decisive battle.

This was clearly the essence of the routine used when armies fought in battle.

Calling it a coincidence
Was really uncertain.
After all, before his death, he had commanded tens of thousands of the Wild Horde's royal court iron cavalry, and many vassal tribe cavalry were under his command as the Wild Horde's Left Guli King!

Knowing a little about the art of war
Was not surprising.
Not knowing it
Would have been truly unbelievable.

Tian Tian was still hugging Shatuo Queshi's neck, while Shatuo Queshi himself launched a charge.

He was running on all fours because, at this time, he no longer had the concept of movement techniques, and without the blessing of movement techniques, running on all fours, like a cheetah, perfectly combined the flexibility and hardness of the body, which was actually the most suitable way to charge.

The man in green thrust his saber into the ground,
And directly swept it up in the direction Shatuo Queshi was charging from,
The saber energy swept towards Shatuo Queshi.

Shatuo Queshi turned his body to the side, and his left hand and left leg quickly grabbed the ground, further accelerating his speed!

Tian Tian was completely suspended in the air, his eyes closed, and he was almost thrown out, but fortunately, he managed to hold on tightly.

This was thanks to the fact that there were many loops on Shatuo Queshi's clothes, which had no practical use and were simply there to cater to the style of the Wild Horde's clothing.

In the past,
When the princess came to the Earl's Mansion,
Shatuo Queshi handed over the jade token he had kept,
To Si Niang.

This gave Si Niang a lot of face,
Because Shatuo Queshi was, to a certain extent, the godfather of Zheng Boye, that is, the master,
The godfather's appointed first wife.

Si Niang returned the favor,
And personally wove a black robe for Shatuo Queshi.

Right now,
Tian Tian's hands and feet were actually stuck in these loops, which was equivalent to locking himself onto Shatuo Queshi.

His hands and feet were aching from being strangled, but Tian Tian gritted his teeth and didn't cry out.

He only knew that his godfather was Zheng Fan,
He didn't even know what the Earl of Pingye of Great Yan meant,
And he didn't know even more,
What kind of existence his biological father was that could make the four great powers fear him.

But some things in the bones were indeed hereditary, especially this tenacity, which far exceeded the endurance of children of the same age.

The man in green pulled out his saber,
And danced out seven saber energies horizontally in front of him.

However,
After Shatuo Queshi arrived in front of him,
His whole body suddenly soared into the air.

The man in green was not shocked by the loss of his defensive position in front of him, but instead raised his saber and danced out saber energies again above his head.

He thought Shatuo Queshi wanted to launch a surprise attack from above,

Who knew,
Shatuo Queshi jumped very high,
Jumped over him,
And went straight to the old man's front.

The old man didn't panic,
Instead, he pinched the jade pendant on his wrist,
A blue light enveloped his whole body,
And then,
His figure retreated,
Dissipating in the process of retreating.

This was a kind of escape technique,
If the environment here was a desert, with sand as support and the light of the desert as cover, the effect of this escape technique would be at its best.

But right now,
It was enough.

Temporarily extricating himself, allowing himself to leave the other party's line of sight,
Next,
Whether to leave or continue to stalemate,
Depended on how much strength the guy who came down from Wenming Mountain had left after being injured.

However,
After seeing this scene, the man in green
Cursed directly:
"Idiot!"

The man in green came down from Wenming Mountain, but he was not actually a person from the Jianghu. His fighting style and fighting habits were meticulous, which were clearly honed from surviving countless life-and-death situations on the battlefield.

Therefore, he could choose the optimal solution that best suited his current situation in any emergency.

But the old man was not.
The old man was a Jianghu person,
A Jianghu person from Beifeng County.

Jianghu people inevitably carried some casualness, some naivety, and some assumptions.

Most importantly,
The old man was not a martial artist nor a swordsman,
He was a sorcerer who was extremely useless and awkward in fighting.

If a martial artist made a wrong move, they could still rely on their physical body to withstand it and start over.
If a swordsman made a wrong move, they could directly unleash a killing move and forcefully挽回 (wǎnhuí, remedy) the situation.

What could a sorcerer,
With thin skin and fragile flesh,
Rely on to remedy the situation once they made a mistake?

The Jianghu has always rumored that Zang Fuzi entered Yanjing to斩龙脉 (zhǎn lóng mài, sever the dragon vein), but did his real body really enter Yanjing City?

Wasn't he still staying in a small house in the suburbs of Yanjing,
With Baili Jian guarding the door?

Zang Fuzi's level still needed to be cautious and careful, let alone a big rat that蹦跶 (bèng da, bounced) out of a sand dune?

The man in green was helpless,
He was already too late to help with the battle on the other side,
Because he knew,
It was no longer necessary.

The old man had made another mistake.
These stupid Jianghu people always habitually placed great importance on experience.

He was using an escape technique to extricate himself,
But he didn't know,
That in the eyes of this corpse puppet,
This world
Was not colorful at all,
But rather,
Blood food,
Blood food,
Blood food!

You want to confuse a colorblind person with bright colors?
Will it be useful?

This escape technique,
Seemed to have a good effect, but in reality, it was just deceiving himself, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.

The truth was indeed so.

Shatuo Queshi's figure suddenly darted to the west,
And then,
Using his hands and feet,
Opening his mouth,
He pounced towards the emptiness in front of him.

"Crack, crack!!!!!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"

The old man let out a shrill scream, and his figure was revealed.

Now,
Without the man in green needing to explain, the old man could clearly see what kind of mistake he had made.

If the man in green was seriously injured and in decline due to bad luck and unfamiliarity with the existence of zombies like Shatuo Queshi,

Then the old man himself
Had done nothing right all day, and just kept making mistakes here.

In such a high-end life-and-death duel, any差池 (chāchí, mishap) could be fatal. He was extremely lucky to have been able to make three mistakes in a row before dying.

The man in green put down his saber,
He knew,
He had lost.

Shatuo Queshi was tearing at the old man's corpse,
The old man had already died,
And his blood
Kept splashing out.

Splattering all over Tian Tian's face,
Tian Tian's eyes widened,
His face didn't show any fear,
But,
It didn't show any excitement or joy either.

Because Zheng Boye liked cleanliness, Si Niang liked cleanliness, and Mo Wan also liked cleanliness,

Therefore,
Tian Tian also liked cleanliness.

The chubby kid only felt that his face was covered in blood,
Which was very sticky,
And very uncomfortable.

But looking at how energetically Shatuo Queshi was gnawing,
He was too embarrassed to cry and refuse,
So he could only slightly lean his head back,
To prevent the blood from splashing on himself,
His expression
Showing slight resistance.

From time to time,
He would also stretch out his chubby little hands to block himself.

But Shatuo Queshi really didn't seem like he knew how to take care of children.
The previous him,
Might still have the育儿经 (yù'érjīng, parenting experience) of "How can a wolf be made without experiencing a sandstorm?"

But the current him, who only had instinctive reactions left,
Had no idea whether he was educating him or not.

Moreover,
He also handed a finger of the old man to Tian Tian.

Tian Tian's eyes widened as he looked at the finger, which had a green ring on it.

"Umm..."

Tian Tian hesitated.

"Roar!"
Shatuo Queshi turned his head and roared at Tian Tian.

Tian Tian pouted, but still took the finger.

"Roar!"

Shatuo Queshi roared again, then lowered his head and continued to eat.

The stronger the person, the richer the blood food in their body.

A'ming, the wine taster at Xuehai Pass, had the most say in this.

Shatuo Queshi's current state was that
He was injured,
So he needed to replenish himself.

Tian Tian reached out, wanting to take off the ring on the finger, but no matter whether he pulled it up or down, the ring just wouldn't come off.

It was human nature to like shiny things.

Tian Tian was no exception, and he also knew that his godfather liked to use these shiny things to decorate his home the most.

After Shatuo Queshi finished eating,
He looked up,
And saw Tian Tian was still struggling with that finger.

Shatuo Queshi reached out
And snatched the finger back from Tian Tian,
Put it in his mouth,
Took it out again,
The finger,
And handed it to Tian Tian again,
While the ring,
Was left in Shatuo Queshi's mouth,
And spat out
Onto the ground.

"Umm..."

Tian Tian took back the greasy finger again, his expression… somewhat resistant.

"Roar! Roar! Roar!"

Shatuo Queshi roared three times in a row.

Seemingly urging Tian Tian to eat.

Tian Tian understood, at least, he understood what he meant.

Then,
The chubby kid's mouth pouted,
And in his eyes,
Tears began to shimmer.

The last time Tian Tian cried was when the Sword Saint was holding him in his swaddling clothes and going to Shengle City.

After settling down,
Tian Tian never cried again.

Even if no one paid attention to him, he could play by himself.

But this time,
He was being taken care of by his dry-grandfather,
And he was actually made to cry.

In fact,
It's really not the child's fault.
Even an adult would have to cry if they were suddenly forced to eat this.

Tian Tian looked at Shatuo Queshi again with tears in his eyes.

"Roar!"

Shatuo Queshi roared again, as if urging him.

Tian Tian tried hard not to cry,
But he still choked a few times.

Even the heavens pitied him.
The dry son of the dignified Great Yan Earl of Pingye and the嫡子 (dízǐ, son of the first wife) of the Great Yan Prince of Jingnan
Had actually been reduced to a state of drinking blood.

And at this time,
The man in green, who had been paying attention to the situation here, drew his saber,
And casually飙 (biāo, unleashed) a saber energy to sweep over.

Shatuo Queshi dodged it with one hand holding Tian Tian.

Immediately,
Shatuo Queshi's gaze was attracted by the man in green.

The man in green rolled his eyes,
Looked down again,
At the three holes in his chest that had already turned black and糜烂 (mí làn, festering),
Feeling somewhat helpless.

However,
Just then,
The sound of hooves came from afar,
A team of cavalry galloped over and surrounded the place.

Shatuo Queshi ignored the cavalry or anything else and was about to pounce on the man in green.

"Buzzing~~~~~"

The sound of an erhu sounded.

The blind man was riding on horseback, holding an erhu in his hand.

His mental power was transmitted through the erhu to Shatuo Queshi's side, like throwing a stone to test the waters, using his mental power to create ripples in Shatuo Queshi's own sanity.

In an instant,
Shatuo Queshi stood there, unmoving.

His eyes
Slowly closed, then slowly opened,
The intense red color from before had faded.

Immediately,
Shatuo Queshi turned his head to look at Tian Tian sitting on his shoulders.
Tian Tian was covered in blood, and in his hand, he was still holding that finger.

Shatuo Queshi reached out and snatched the finger from Tian Tian's hand and threw it on the ground.

Tian Tian blinked,
And sniffled.

"Need to leave one alive." The blind man shouted.

Shatuo Queshi lowered his head, checked his injuries,
And then,
With his left hand supporting Tian Tian,
He turned around,
And walked towards Xuehai Pass.

"Looks like you'll have to go back to sleep for a while."
The blind man said.

Shatuo Queshi stopped and looked at the blind man,
And said:
"Can... I recover...?"

Obviously,
This state of being neither human nor ghost, and being confused from time to time, was a torment for the former Left Guli King.

If he was a zombie who acted purely on instinct without having to use his brain, then he wouldn't have any烦恼 (fánnǎo, worries);
But he, on the contrary, had regained part of his sanity.

The Buddha said that all living beings suffer;
Living consciously is inherently a suffering.

"Don't worry, a friend of mine is completely indistinguishable from a normal person. Please endure it for a while longer, go back and catch some sleep, and it shouldn't be long before we can help you return to your original state, except that your body will still be hard and cold. This can't be changed."

Shatuo Queshi nodded slightly.

The blind man smiled again;
"Perhaps this is fate. The master磕头 (kētóu, kowtowed) to you back then, and he didn't lose out. But in reality, you didn't lose out either. Give us a few more years, and you'll find that you might have even made a profit."

"You... very like... calculate."

The blind man shook his head and said, "I just don't like owing favors. The master owes them, so I have to help repay them. You're family, so I have to repay them even more."

Shatuo Queshi handed Tian Tian to the blind man.

The blind man reached out and took him,
Using his sleeve to wipe Tian Tian's dirty face.

Immediately afterwards,
Shatuo Queshi sat down cross-legged,
Closed his eyes,
And the aura on his body quieted down,
As if he had turned back into an ordinary corpse.

The blind man continued to clean Tian Tian while turning his head to look at the man in green who was standing there with serious injuries.

"What's your name?"
The blind man asked.

"Xu Chuang."
The man in green answered.

"Where are you from?"
"Wenming Mountain, Great Liang."

"Who sent you here?"
"The Secret Intelligence Division."

Xu Chuang laughed;

The blind man heard this answer,
And laughed as well.

Xu Chuang slowly stopped laughing,
But the blind man was still laughing.

Xu Chuang asked;
"Is it that funny?"

The blind man replied:
"Yes, perhaps because I haven't experienced torture and suffering that is worse than death, so getting this answer makes me feel a little funny."

Xu Chuang nodded,
And said:
"Indeed."

The blind man raised his hand,
And in an instant,
The surrounding knights drew their bows and aimed at Xu Chuang, and another team of knights held their sabers, ready to charge at any time to prevent him from escaping.

Xu Chuang just stood there, appearing, relatively calm.

"Not running?" The blind man asked.

"You're just letting me run like this?" Xu Chuang was a little surprised.

"Are you expecting me to treat you to a meal? Tsk tsk, the entire Great Yan is short on food right now."

"Don't you want to know who sent me here?"

"Too lazy to know." The blind man paused and continued, "Winter will not care which small stream freezes first."

"You do have气魄 (qìpò, boldness, mettle). Everyone says that there are many talented people in the Earl of Pingye's manor, and it seems that it is indeed true. May I ask, sir…"

"Zheng Fanli."

"You're Zheng Fanli?"

"It seems that my reputation in the Jianghu is not small."

"Indeed, it's not small."

"You can leave. You've been poisoned by corpse poison, and it's unknown whether you'll survive. Even if you're lucky enough to survive, most of your cultivation will be wasted. You're not much of a threat."

"Alright, I owe you a favor."

Xu Chuang picked up his saber and sword, turned around, and left.

The blind man waved his hand,
And said:
"Return to the city."

The blind man was too lazy to know who was standing behind the man holding the saber and sword;

It could be that one,
Or it could be that one,
Or it could be that one even more.

It's alright.
Establish a manor, grant titles, train troops, secede, become a vassal;

No matter which one it is,
Because,
There will be many, many people who need to be picked off in the future,
That one
Will definitely be among them.

Why bother,
Rushing for a moment?

What's more, the blind man, who was good at using schemes, clearly smelled an aura of reverse scheming in this matter. The person manipulating behind the scenes seemed to want to stir up the water at this time.

He just couldn't let him have his way.

The blind man lowered his head,
"Looked" at Tian Tian sitting in his arms,
Reached out,
And pinched Tian Tian's chubby little face;

He still remembered when he first saw him, he was still in his swaddling clothes;

Now, he had grown so big.

Some people are destined to grow old and drift away with the wind;

But his side,
Was still growing;

Time
Is on my side.

The blind man reached out and took out a sachima from his arms and handed it to Tian Tian.

Tian Tian took it, took a bite,
And said:
"Thank you, Uncle Bei..."

The blind man reached out,
Touched Tian Tian's head,
And said:
"Do you still remember what I told you, what is the most delicious dessert in this world?"

Tian Tian nodded,
Took another bite of the sachima, chewed it, and swallowed it,
And said:
"The Dragon Throne."

————
I have something to do tonight and can't write, so that's all for today. Hug everyone tight!