The gluttonous little boy is four and a half years old, and even the wealthy family kneels down and

"Ah!" Xiao Jin cried out in surprise, manipulating the little paper doll's body, she picked up the big black stone and fled in a panic, narrowly avoiding the whirlwind.

Xiao Jin exclaimed in shock, "He's so big!"

"My foot isn't even as big as his big toe!"

At this moment, Da Heishi, utterly pathetic, let out a sob, "General, General, you've suffered so much..."

"Ah!" Xiao Jin cried out in despair, "We're the ones who're going to suffer soon!"

The water at the bottom of the lake surged even more violently.

A giant hand formed from black energy slammed into the silt, creating a deep crater. The mud and sand exploded, mixing with pebbles that hit the paper figure's back, causing Xiao Jin to hiss in pain.

Clutching the black stone, she dodged left and right in the whirlpool, her short, paper-made legs moving incredibly fast, the black mist brushing past her ears several times.

"General! Wake up!" Li Gandang's voice trembled, choked with sobs, as he cried from within the black stone. "You are General Yu Guangwen, the Guardian of the North! You guarded Yanmen Pass for ten years, repelling countless Xiongnu invaders. How could you have become like this..."

His response was a muffled roar that shook the water.

Yu Guangwen's tall figure stepped forward, the black armor clashing with a dull thud. With a flick of his hand, another blast of black energy crashed down upon him.

"Be careful!"

Xiao Jin, clutching the black stone, suddenly lunged to the side and rolled into the silt.

But this time the black mist came too fast, grazing the edges of the black stone.

"Click—"

A crisp sound.

The black stone cracked in response, breaking in two, and then shattered into large and small pieces, which scattered on the bottom of the lake.

Wisps of milky white smoke drifted out from the gravel, swirled by the water, and were about to dissipate into the water.

"A big rock!"

Xiao Jin screamed and, without even bothering to dodge, rushed forward and reached out her little hand to grab it.

The smoke drifted lightly; she scooped it up with her left and right hands, her fingertips still warm from the steam, as if she were holding a ball of cotton.

She gritted her teeth, made a soul-gathering incantation with her fingertips, and anxiously began to chant the spell.

"The sky is clear and the earth is spiritual; yin is turbid and yang is pure. The soul and spirit quickly gather, and the mind and spirit find peace."

"By order of the Supreme Lord Laozi, may this be done swiftly!"

Golden light spilled from the fingertips of her tiny paper doll, like a fine net, gradually gathering, collecting, and solidifying the scattered white smoke.

The smoke gathered thicker and thicker, gradually outlining a human figure.

He was an extremely young lieutenant, wearing worn silver armor, with a faint scar on his face, strong eyebrows and eyes, and red-rimmed eyes.

He staggered, looked down at his hands, then looked up at the tall figure in the distance, his lips trembling, "General..."

Li Gandang's voice was hoarse beyond recognition, "This humble general has finally met you."

Xiao Jin squatted down beside him, supporting herself on her knees and panting.

The paper figure was too weak; gathering the soul had taken a lot of her strength, and even the golden light at her fingertips had faded.

"No, no, this little body is too useless." She muttered with a frown, "I need to go back to the shore and change into my real body."

She looked up at Li Gandang, patted his back with her small hand, and a soft golden light passed over him.

Li Gandang's originally translucent body instantly solidified considerably.

"I'll give you some air now, so you can hold on for a while." Xiao Jin looked up at him earnestly and instructed, "Hold him off for a bit, don't let him swim to the shore, and don't let him break down any more doors. I'll go up and change my clothes, and I'll be right back."

Li Gandang snapped back to reality, wiped his face, and nodded emphatically: "Don't worry, little one, even if my soul is scattered to the winds, I will never let you step out of this lake!"

"Alright!" Xiao Jin replied, and she suddenly puffed out her breath and blew towards Li Gandang's soul.

The next second, Li Gandang's body began to swell like an inflating balloon, and in the blink of an eye, he was almost as tall as Yu Guangwen.

"I'll be right back!" Xiao Jin said, then turned and swam towards the surface of the water.

The paper figure swam slowly in the water, splashing its little arms and legs. It had only swum a few meters when no fighting sounds came from behind it.

She turned around in confusion.

Li Gandang, who should have rushed forward to stop him, not only didn't make a move, but instead knelt down with a thud, crawling on his knees twice. He then opened his arms and tightly hugged Yu Guangwen's waist.

He held on tightly, almost hanging on the black armor, ignoring the black energy that clung to his arms and shoulders, scorching his soul until it sizzled, but he didn't let go for a second.

Xiao Jin: "......"

She paused for two seconds, then whispered, "I guess this counts as stalling them..."

Then she turned her head and swam towards the shore as fast as she could.

At this moment, the water flow at the bottom of the lake seemed to slow down.

The moment Yu Guangwen was embraced, the surging black energy around him suddenly stopped.

He lowered his head, his dark eyes unfocused, staring blankly at the person holding his waist.

He raised his hand, his palm, formed from black energy, hovering above Li Gandang's head. With a single strike, this faint trace of his soul would vanish instantly.

But he didn't take the picture.

"General, look at your humble servant." Li Gandang's face was pressed against the cold black armor, his voice muffled but each word clear, "Your humble servant is Li Gandang, a lowly soldier you dug out of a pile of corpses. That year, when there was a heavy snow at Yanmen Pass, I was freezing to death. You took off your cloak and wrapped it around me, and even shared half a wheat cake with me."

"You said, 'As long as you have a breath left, you must guard the city gate,' and I have remembered those words for the rest of my life."

Yu Guangwen's fingers twitched.

The black mist hanging overhead dissipated somewhat.

"Later, that scoundrel Mao Yun framed you, and three imperial edicts summoned you back to the capital. You knew that going back meant certain death, but you still fought off the Xiongnu first and moved all the people into the pass."

Li Gandang's voice trembled, filled with indignation and sorrow, "On the day you committed suicide, you left behind only a letter written in blood. They said you were a traitor and even wanted to drown your bones in the lake to suppress you."

"This humble general is useless; I can't help you with anything!"

The black energy began to fluctuate violently.

Yu Guangwen's tall body swayed slightly, and something seemed to be flashing in his dark eyes.

"I refuse to accept this." Li Gandang raised his head, his face covered in tears. "I secretly carved a stone tablet, inscribing your achievements and that scoundrel's evil deeds on it, word by word."

"One day, someone will see, someone will know, that you, Yu Guangwen, are not a traitor, but a hero of the Great Ning Dynasty."

"A thousand years, General." He smiled, a smile tinged with tears and bitterness. "This humble general has waited a thousand years, and finally someone has come to clear your name. Please don't let resentment cloud your judgment, okay?"

Yu Guangwen let out a low growl.

The black aura surrounding him fluctuated in intensity, and his entire body trembled slightly.

After a long while, he raised his hand, which had been hanging by his side, and hesitantly and slowly reached out towards Li Gandang's head.

This time, there was no black aura.

Only the illusory fingertips lightly touched the top of Li Gandang's head.

Just like many years ago, in the commander's tent at Yanmen Pass, he patted this young soldier on the shoulder and said, "Good lad, follow me from now on."

Li Gandang stiffened and suddenly looked up.

He saw a glimmer of clarity appear in the general's dark eyes.

Although very faint, like light in the fog, it flickers on and off.

But Li Gandang recognized it instantly; it was Yu Guangwen's gaze.

Majestic, calm, and with a gentleness that is barely perceptible.

"Dare to accept?"

Two very low words rolled out of Yu Guangwen's throat, hoarse like sandpaper scraping against a stone.

Li Gandang's tears fell instantly.

He bit his lip hard, trying not to cry out, and nodded heavily, again and again: "It's me, General! It's me, General! You remember?"

Yu Guangwen did not answer.

His eyes were sometimes clear and sometimes confused, and black energy surged around him, as if two forces were pulling each other.

He frowned, as if he was desperately suppressing something, and the veins on his forehead bulged, clearly in great pain.

"No, don't come any closer." He gritted his teeth, his voice broken, "I can't control myself... stay away from me..."

"This humble general will not leave." Li Gandang hugged her even tighter instead. "This humble general has guarded you for a thousand years, and will not go anywhere else."

"If you truly become a demon, then scatter this humble general first. Anyway, without the general, there's no point in keeping my soul."

Yu Guangwen's body trembled even more violently.

He raised his head and let out a suppressed growl. The black energy around him suddenly surged and then contracted, repeating this several times, as if he were fighting a life-or-death battle with the evil spirits within him.

The water at the bottom of the lake spun wildly, sending pebbles and mud flying everywhere.

Just as the black energy surged to its peak and was about to break through Yu Guangwen's last shred of consciousness, a small figure broke through the water, like a nimble silver fish, and rushed straight to the top of his head.

Xiao Jin puffed out her cheeks, opened her small mouth, and bit down hard on the darkest spot on Yu Guangwen's head, taking a big, forceful suck.

The thick, impenetrable blackness seemed to have found an outlet, and with a "gulp," it burrowed into her mouth.

Yu Guangwen shuddered, and the surging black energy around him suddenly stopped.

In his dark eyes, chaos rapidly dissipated, and clarity gradually returned.

First, his gaze focused on Li Gandang in his arms, then slowly swept over the ancient tombs and silt around him, and finally his eyes rolled upwards and landed on the little girl on his head who was clinging to his hair and sucking hard with her cheeks puffed out.

"This is..." His voice was still a little hoarse, but the ferocity from before was gone, leaving only confusion.

"General! You're awake!" Li Gandang looked up abruptly, and seeing the familiar calm in his eyes, his tears fell even more fiercely. "You're finally awake!"

Yu Guangwen looked down at the person in his arms, his fingertips trembling slightly as he gently placed them on the person's shoulder.

For a thousand years, his soul was trapped by malevolent energy, living in a daze. Only the young face before him pierced through layers of black mist and crashed into his remaining memories.

"I dare say that," he whispered, as if calling his name countless times in the command tent at Yanmen Pass, "It really is you."

"It's your humble servant!" Li Gandang nodded vigorously, choking back tears, "Your humble servant has finally waited for you to wake up."

Xiao Jin was clinging to Yu Guangwen's hair ornament, too busy to listen to their reminiscing.

She kept slurping, swallowing the remaining malevolent energy into her stomach.

She swallowed all the malevolent spirits, resentment, and earthly malevolent energy that had haunted Yu Guangwen for thousands of years, one bite at a time.