My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 67 The Black-Faced Man

The next morning, Zhang Xutuo took his leave.

Li Yuan stood atop the city wall, watching Zhang Xutuo lead his men and horses away in a frenzy.

The sun had just risen, and the light from the city wall was not dazzling. Li Yuan could see quite clearly that the massive city wall split the sunlight in two. Zhang Xutuo led his men into the shadowless darkness and disappeared into the horizon.

Li Yuan simply narrowed his eyes and stared into the distance.

Not a word.

Inside the city, in a small courtyard.

Li Xuanba's days were quite monotonous and repetitive.

Exercise and study the classics – do these two things back and forth.

He's rarely idle; he's either reading in his study or exercising outside.

San Shi held a piece of cloth in her hand. When she saw this cloth used to wipe sweat, her first thought was to steal it. It was so beautiful!

However, in the eyes of these important people, this thing was only good for wiping sweat.

Li Xuanba is currently lifting a stone.

This thing is extremely heavy, thick at both ends and thin in the middle. It is used to train strength, and many generals would undergo similar training.

Li Xuanba gritted his teeth, wearing short clothes, and exerted all his strength.

The stone pole slowly lifted off the ground and was lifted up little by little by Li Xuanba. With the effort of Li Xuanba's hands, the stone pole finally left his shoulders and was lifted up. He held on firmly with both hands and slowly put it back on his back, and then slowly lowered his body.

He repeated this over and over, his forehead already soaked with sweat, each lift a testament to the immense pain he endured.

Liu Chounu stood aside, ready to catch him at any moment, so as not to hurt his young master.

San Shi looked completely bewildered.

She really didn't understand why these important people liked to make things difficult for themselves. They didn't need to carry manure, so why were they doing this useless task?

Seeing that Li Xuanba's face was completely soaked with sweat and he could no longer open his eyes, she still hurriedly stepped forward and wiped the sweat off Li Xuanba's face.

Li Xuanba thanked him and then continued his training.

Li Xuanba's hands trembled more and more noticeably, and his expression became increasingly ferocious.

San Shi felt inexplicably sorry for her.

After practicing for a long time, Li Xuanba finally put down the heavy stone burden. He was so exhausted that he almost fell to the ground. Liu Chounu picked him up, spread out a mat for him to lie on.

San Shi quickly stepped forward to wipe his sweat.

Li Xuanba was panting heavily, but his face was full of smiles.

"Old man, I lifted it ten more times today!"

Liu Chounu nodded. "Third Young Master, don't push yourself too hard. You still need to be careful."

"It's alright, Dr. Wang just came yesterday, I'm fine."

When Liu Chounu heard what the Third Master said, he didn't say anything more.

San Shi was clearly still somewhat afraid of Liu Chounu. When Liu Chounu was around, she didn't dare to speak much. Only when Liu Chounu left would she chat with Li Xuanba.

"I don't understand, why are you holding this up? What's the use of it?"

"This is a way to build strength. My father told me about it, you know? In ancient times, there were some strongmen who could even lift a cauldron."

"So what? If you lift it up, someone will give you food?"

Li Xuanba laughed, "I'm doing this to make myself strong enough. My older brother, my father, and many others all say that I have the potential to be a fierce general, that I will become very strong in the future and be able to protect more people. So, I must train hard!"

San Shi roughly understood, and she said, "There's a guy named Zhao the One-Eyed in the dilapidated temple in the east of the city. He's very strong, and four or five thieves can't beat him. So he robbed my temple and demanded money from the thieves around him. If they didn't pay, he would beat and kick them. Qi Shi was literally smashed to death by him. It's really useful that he can eat his fill and be strong every day."

“It’s wrong to use it to bully people.”

“I train not to bully others, but to protect those thieves you just mentioned, so they will no longer be bullied by people like Zhao the One-Eyed.”

As Li Xuanba spoke, he suddenly asked, "By the way, why is your name Sanshi? You're a girl."

"What's wrong?"

"Girls' names should all sound nice."

"San Shi sounds great too."

"So what's your last name?"

"do not know."

“I was abandoned right after I was born. Nobody wanted me. It was the abbot of that small temple in the east of the city who picked me up and raised me. He picked up several children. I was the third child he picked up, so I was named Sanshi.”

"What about them? Are they still outside the city?"

"died."

San Shi squatted down beside Li Xuanba and started counting on his fingers, “The abbot died of illness first, Da Shi went to steal something and was caught and beaten to death, Er Shi and Si Shi went into the city once and were never seen again, Wu Shi.” Li Xuanba looked at San Shi as he counted them one by one, a trace of pity flashing in his eyes.

"Alas, the people's lives are filled with hardship."

"what?"

"It's nothing, just a line from the Chu Ci."

What is "first time"?

"Well, it was in ancient times, there was a man from the State of Chu..."

Li Xuanba explained very seriously, and Sanshi became more and more fascinated as he listened. Whenever he didn't understand something, he would ask questions, and Li Xuanba would explain it again. Sanshi couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "You know so much!"

The two were chatting when a sound suddenly came from outside the door.

A moment later, Liu Chounu went back into the room. "Third Master, someone is looking for you."

Li Xuanba struggled to his feet and followed Liu Chounu outside. It turned out that a servant from the mansion had come to say that someone outside was looking for the Third Young Master.

Li Xuanba assumed it was Zhang Du and his group, and quickly walked out.

When he went out, there were three men dressed as servants standing outside the door, and a large wooden box placed to the side.

Upon seeing Li Xuanba emerge, the leader bowed to him.

"My husband asked me to deliver this. Goodbye!"

The three men uttered a vague statement and then quickly left.

Li Xuanba was surprised, and Liu Chounu then carried the wooden box into the courtyard.

The wooden box was quite heavy; even Li Xuanba might not be able to lift it.

When Li Xuanba curiously opened the wooden box, it was filled with paper.

The paper was covered with handwritten annotations of classic texts. This large box contained annotations written by someone for classic texts, and no name was missing anywhere. Yet, Li Xuanba was very familiar with the handwriting.

This is Zheng Faxian's handwriting.

Li Xuanba suddenly felt empty and inexplicably sad.

Li Xuanba understood from his elder brother's words that the conflict between his family and the Zheng family might last for a long time, at least until the Sage looked elsewhere. This also meant that Li Xuanba's studies with the Zheng family had officially come to an end.

Li Xuanba will probably never have the chance to consult Zheng Faxian again.

This is the last gift the teacher gave us.

Li Xuanba remained silent for a long time, his expression gradually becoming solemn.

He bowed in the direction of the Zheng family and said in a low voice, "I will certainly live up to Master Zheng's high expectations."

The servants who had just left turned a corner and came to a carriage parked by the roadside.

"Master, the items have been delivered."

Sure enough, the person inside the car was Zheng Faxian. He nodded slightly, his expression as usual. "There's no need to mention this to anyone else."

The servants quickly agreed.

Zheng Faxian glanced one last time in the direction of the Li residence, a hint of regret flashing in his eyes.

He then had someone drive him back to his residence.

After he returned to his residence, he had the courtyard tidied up, changed his clothes, and sat in the courtyard to wait.

After waiting for a long time, his guest finally arrived.

Four or five young men arrived, all dressed as scholars, who had come specifically to seek knowledge from Zheng Faxian.

Zheng Faxian led them into the study, where the servants outside could only hear incomprehensible debates coming from inside.

Inside the study, Zheng Faxian sat in the superior position. The young men had also shed their disguises, and their demeanor had changed drastically. They no longer resembled scholars, but rather powerful warriors.

“Lord Zheng and Lord Zhao are being watched and cannot come here. It seems that we are also being watched and dare not move easily.”

"I'm afraid Lord Zhao will not be able to meet you."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Faxian scoffed, "Isn't that great?"

"I don't want to see him at all."

The warriors didn't refute, but said in a low voice, "However, without evidence, it's really difficult to accomplish what you told us about the canal transport between the Zheng and Li families."

“I told you long ago, they wouldn’t leave any evidence. What you want to do won’t be so easy. If you continue to investigate, I’m afraid you will all fall into Li Yuan’s hands sooner or later.”

The warriors remained calm. The leader of the warriors said earnestly, "Lord Zheng, we have long decided to follow you to accomplish this important task. We have already disregarded life and death. I am not afraid of falling into the hands of Duke Tang. I am only afraid that we will fail to accomplish this task and let you down."

"Please help me!"

"Li Mi! I've helped you enough! What exactly do you want?!"

(End of this chapter)