Nine-layer armor-breaking

Chapter 329 Nearing the end
With the bright moon hanging in the sky, its pure light made the dark night in the forest seem even more profound.

A gentle breeze stirred, causing dappled shadows of the trees to sway and dance, disturbing the thoughts of everyone in the dilapidated courtyard.

The fallen leaves piled up on the ground in the forest, swaying gently in the breeze, danced lightly on the ground a short distance away, and then drifted into the courtyard, becoming uninvited guests.

Perhaps they sensed the strange atmosphere among the people in the courtyard and wanted to see what was going on.

Swords flashed and the fighting continued.

The short sword and dagger flashed through the air with great speed and force, disrupting the "guests'" original path.

Amidst the falling leaves carried by the wind, the two faced off with their swords, their moves growing increasingly heavy with each strike.

The withered leaves, dancing to the sound of short swords slicing through the air, sometimes swayed beautifully and gracefully; at other times they tangled up in a chaotic mess, twisting and turning.

As the scene of the two fighting came into view, one of the group slightly regained his composure and began to sort out his thoughts.

Just now, that person's thoughts had drifted far away, back to the past, peering into the memories in their mind.

He was reminded of that unbearable past that he had always wanted to avoid recalling.

He is no longer young, nor as innocent as a teenager.

He once believed in human relationships and the beauty of the world, but what did reality give him in return?

Perhaps from the very beginning, he gave his own happiness to the wrong person.

It's a good thing to aspire to goodness and gradually move towards it, but he trusted the wrong person. The one who pulled him out of the abyss was a devil, and the one who led him step by step into another, even deeper, unfathomable abyss.

He mistook the devil for salvation, and devoted all his attention to it, to the so-called "home" and the group he belonged to.

However, when he was young, he never imagined that the team was neither meant to exist in this world from the very beginning.

It wreaks havoc on the world and oppresses the people; such a group should never have been allowed to exist from the very beginning.

He shouldn't have spent so much time on that team; he poured almost all his energy into a team that shouldn't exist and people he shouldn't have associated with.

Therefore, it is reasonable that the final result was not what he wanted.

Since he pursues beauty and harbors good intentions, he should spend more of his time on better people and things, rather than wasting his life and harming the world.

He was wrong from the start.

Then, one wrong step led to another.

His mistake was misjudging people, and his mistake was being indecisive.

He has a good habit of self-reflection; once he recognizes his problems, he will naturally correct them.

He is now completely different from the man he was in his youth.

As a young man, he couldn't bring himself to be ruthless, which is why he ended up homeless.

Later, because of that ridiculous "gratitude," he still couldn't bring himself to be ruthless and couldn't be so decisive, which is why he ended up being bullied by everyone in the team.

The matter has come to this point, but ultimately it all comes down to "emotion." He is still reluctant to make things decisive because of sentimental reasons.

However, it was precisely because of his thinking that things reached the edge of a precipice, a truly desperate situation, a point where there was no turning back and no way to salvage the situation.

Since others have been so ruthless towards him, since someone has been pressuring him time and time again, since it was either this person or that person who had gone to such lengths, then he could no longer care about anything else.

He has not yet experienced the true beauty in his heart, nor has he lived a good life. Therefore, even if it is just to save his own life, he will struggle and resist desperately.

Since others have wronged him, he intends to retaliate in kind, repaying all the suffering he has endured to those who have inflicted it upon them.

Therefore, after being expelled from his home, he developed the habit of self-reflection, and the purpose of self-reflection was to constantly remind himself not to forget his roots.

He's capable of doing this kind of work, so he might be inherently evil. He might not have been a bad person before, but he's able to tolerate associating with those people, which means he can't be considered a good person.

But deep down, he may still be that young man. He still pursues beauty, still yearns for a better life, and still longs for the wonderful days when he can have family and friends by his side. But after meeting his boss, he may never have truly lived.

Before meeting his boss, he was not an ungrateful person. He could see the suffering in the world. He was not talkative, but he would do his best to help others.

During that time, despite being abandoned by his family, he still tried to find work every day and did not lose heart.

Although the meager earnings he made were barely enough to feed and clothe him, they were enough to allow him to barely survive in this world.

He hadn't lost his kindness yet. Perhaps in a few years, when he's more mature, he might be able to use his cleverness to achieve some good development on the right path.

But he never had that chance again. The boy of yesteryear had died in that one operation where he no longer resisted joining the gang in robberies, marking the demise of his own kindness.

After that operation, when he looked back at the path he had walked, he was surprised even by himself.

It seems that everything turned around from that point on. The things they did got bigger and worse with each incident. The young man had completely disappeared from the world, replaced by someone who would disregard principles and everything else for the sake of livelihood and so-called "gratitude".

The truth is, on that rainy day, he had already encountered a demon who dragged him into the water, into an abyss, and from that moment on, he had no chance to resist.

The boy had no chance against a truly powerful martial artist.

He finally experienced the feeling of powerlessness that comes with being unable to control one's own destiny.

However, if he didn't want to do those things, he would still instinctively resist doing those thieving and robbery activities as he did at the beginning, but he did gradually adapt to that kind of life, which shows that his heart was not firm.

He understood the principle that you can't have everything.

He understood better than anyone the importance of not being greedy. Therefore, even after becoming the "second-in-command" for so long, he hadn't saved enough money to buy pills that could enhance his strength. This demonstrated his genuine dedication and contribution to the team. He didn't take anything from the team without permission, nor did he touch a single penny of anyone's money.

However, by associating with demons, he eventually became a demon himself, which is what he deserved.

In fact, he originally had the opportunity to leave, which was after he became the "second-in-command," when he had enough time to freely come and go from the house.

He can go out alone; he doesn't need to be followed or monitored by anyone.

Although his boss had secretly sent people to follow him for a period of time, that period was before his boss realized that his limelight was gradually being taken away by the so-called "second-in-command" in the team, and that his power was being swallowed up little by little by the "second-in-command".

Thus, after tracking him for a period of time and discovering that the core member was always doing things for the team when he went out, his boss stopped sending people to follow him.

Now that the key figure had passed the test, he no longer considered how to monitor him.

The reason is that, apart from the people in the team, the only people he can use are the steward in the courtyard.

The steward had other things to do and couldn't possibly follow the leader around the clock as soon as he left the house.

Moreover, since others don't live with them and can't be available at any time, it's not an convenient or easy thing to do. At the same time, it would take up a lot of his time to do other important things.

Therefore, after his boss lowered his guard against the core leader, there was actually a period of time when the core leader was quite free.

With enough freedom, and given his intelligence, it wouldn't be a problem for him to leave the group smoothly; it wouldn't be difficult at all.

But at that time, his mistake was that he failed to understand people's hearts.

At that time, he was still immersed in the joy of becoming the "second-in-command" and the joy of being valued by his boss, who finally paid attention to him, and he himself was also being valued.

During that period, his reputation in the team was at its peak, and he was respected by everyone. That feeling of exhilaration made him lose himself.

Later, when he reflected on his actions, he realized what had happened, but it was too late.

He could handle all the team's affairs, big and small, perfectly, without overlooking any minute details. Yet, he was remarkably negligent when it came to his own affairs. He was so flamboyant yet completely unaware of his own rise to prominence within the team, failing to react in time and to consider things from his boss's perspective. This significant oversight stemmed from his unwavering trust in his boss's genuine goodwill towards him.

He knew that his relationship with the boss was special; there was a bond of gratitude between them.

Therefore, it was precisely because of what he perceived as a small favor that he felt his boss could trust him to rely on him.

He also believed that his boss genuinely wanted to give him important responsibilities and cultivate him, rather than exploiting him.

He never considered the worst-case scenario regarding his boss, not even in the slightest.

But it was precisely because of these sentiments that he neglected them so much, thus ruining his own life.

During those days when everyone pointed fingers and mocked him behind his back, he constantly regretted his slowness during that time.

Therefore, when Jiang Xian and the two guards of the Jiang family were captured by these people, it must be said that he did find a very good opportunity to leave the group.

Although he managed to kill the boss who wanted to eliminate him, he ultimately ruined his own life.

Perhaps the price of eliminating his boss is to perish together with him. His boss is no longer here, but when will that moment of annihilation come?
He clearly did not know the answer to that question.

But one thing he knew was that if he couldn't plan meticulously, it was only a matter of time before his pillar of support died in this incident.

That would be considered a mutual destruction with his boss.

Therefore, he is still desperately planning for himself and trying to break free from the shackles imposed on him by the Jiang family.

He escaped from his cage, only to be shackled again.

He tried desperately to survive, but faced with overwhelming strength, especially against a martial artist who, in his opinion, possessed a clever and cunning mind and whose overall strength far surpassed his own, he was powerless to resist no matter what he tried.

Therefore, all he can do is continue to plan for himself step by step, trying to keep the whole thing under his control and within his comfort zone.

As long as he doesn't lose hope, even if the hope is slim, he still has a chance to break free from the shackles imposed on him.

He wants to survive, and that's the biggest trump card he currently holds.

Watching the battle between the two men before him, he had no energy left to think about the past. He was instantly captivated by the fight.

His heart tightened suddenly, because the battle between the two people in front of him was probably nearing its end, and the outcome should be decided soon.

The current situation is that Guard Li is exhausted and has little strength left to continue blocking the puppet's attacks.

However, the puppet's reaction speed was becoming increasingly sluggish. It might reveal its true form at any moment, reverting to the indifferent demeanor of the former manager, though it was unclear when.

Whether it was within the core leader's speculation or within Jiang Xian's expectations, both of them were finding it difficult to hold on.

Not only was Li Huwei exhausted and unable to continue fighting the puppet on the other side, but the puppet on the other side should also have reached its limit and should soon reveal its true form.

Therefore, after the puppet reveals its true form, which is the cold-faced manager, he should fall into an extremely weak state as the effects of the medicine wear off.

At that time, no one present will help him, which means he will become a fish on a chopping board, at the mercy of others.

Therefore, the next step is to see which of these two will give up first.

……

After an unknown amount of time, the wind suddenly stopped, and withered leaves fluttered down.

In the courtyard, the withered leaves, which had been dancing involuntarily under the control of the short knives and swords, were now scattered on the ground without any order.

(End of this chapter)