The chivalrous spirit is fickle

The Confucian scholar hurriedly snatched the not-so-serious painting, quickly rolled it up, took out another scroll and threw it at Shi Gu.

Shi Gu smacked his lips, savoring the beauty of the painting. He couldn't help licking his tongue and said to the Confucian scholar.

"You must have some side job."

The scholar's face flushed red, and he was so angry that he slammed the table and shouted.

"Stop talking nonsense and look at the paintings!"

Shi Gu reluctantly opened the scroll and looked at it carefully. He saw that on the scroll, emerald ink outlined the green mountains and green waters, which stretched endlessly, covered by lingering clouds and the red sun hanging high in the sky.

Yes, that's what he wanted.

The Confucian scholar finally calmed down at this moment. He held the wine glass, shook it slightly, and spoke to Shigu with a little curiosity.

"This Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers is so realistic that it's hard to tell the difference. I'm curious, why did you ask me to paint this?"

Shi Gu slowly rolled up the painting again, lowered his brows, and spoke softly.

"Don't you know, I'm going to find a place to retire."

When the scholar heard this, his body swayed, a look of surprise flashed across his handsome face, and he spoke in a lost voice.

"Retire? Just you?!"

Shi Gu seemed to have anticipated the scholar's reaction. He put the scroll away, smiled at the scholar, and spoke calmly.

"Yes, it's me."

The scholar took a deep breath, completely losing his initial attitude, and muttered in confusion.

"How can someone like you who only watches the fun and cheers for others be willing to retire from society? I don't believe it!"

"Did you offend someone you can't afford to offend?"

Shi Gu frowned slightly, looked at the Confucian scholar with a curious face, and spoke slowly.

"Don't pretend, you know why."

"You are not the type to be clichéd at all."

The Confucian scholar was not embarrassed when he was exposed. Instead, he laughed, pointed his finger at his forehead and said.

"Ha, your reaction proves that the killing of all beings in the world is really in your hands."

Shi Gu looked calm, without any intention of concealing anything, and answered directly to the point.

"I was indeed the last person seen by all the gods before they were killed, but I did not take his life."

The scholar sat up straight, his expression becoming serious. Although he had blocked out all the noise from other people, he still lowered his voice and asked in a deep voice.

"What about...killing?"

"I was thrown into the abyss."

"..."

"Don't look at me like that. A weapon like that is not something a mediocre person like me can get. If I get hunted down by those monsters in the martial arts world because of that damned killing weapon, it would be too much of a loss."

Hearing this, the scholar breathed a sigh of relief, put his hand on his forehead and sighed.

"That's quite true. Your skills are at best in the top 20 of the Earth Ranking. Not to mention the monsters on the Heaven Ranking, you can't even handle the top 10 on the Earth Ranking."

"Not to mention that you have offended so many people over the years. If you really took the knife that kills, you would definitely die miserably."

Shi Gu smiled helplessly and agreed with a headache.

"Yeah, I can't stand this muddy water."

At this point, the Confucian scholar suddenly reacted, frowned suspiciously, looked at Shi Gu and asked.

"No, what does what you said have to do with this painting?"

Shi Gu looked at the Confucian scholar meaningfully and spoke slowly.

"After retiring, I need a way to make a living. I plan to open an antique shop, so I need a treasure to keep the shop."

"This "A Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers" is the best choice."

"But this painting, A Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers, is a fake of my painting. Aren't you lying?"

"Don't talk nonsense. I never intended to say that this painting was authentic. When people asked whether it was authentic, I kept it a secret and set a higher price. Who said that a fake cannot be priced high?"

"...Shigu, you are such a bastard."

Shi Gu put away the scroll and smiled.

"Okay, do you have anything else to ask? Ask them all at once."

At this moment, a gloomy look flashed across the scholar's eyes. He put down his wine glass, lowered his voice, and asked slowly.

"Wait a minute, I have one last question for you."

Shi Gu paused, frowned slightly, and looked at the Confucian scholar, but saw that the Confucian scholar had a strange expression. He hesitated for a moment before asking softly.

"Shi Gu, although you are not one of the top masters, you are definitely not an unknown person. You should be more informed than me..."

Shi Gu was a little impatient, put the scroll behind him and urged.

"If you have something to fart, just do it now and stop talking nonsense."

The corners of the scholar's mouth trembled slightly, and his hands hidden in his sleeves were a little unstable. He took a deep breath, looked up at Shi Gu, and asked in a deep voice.

"In this world, are there really...are there really monsters?"

Monsters are something that are never lacking in folk legends. They are weird, cruel, and feed on humans. They should be imaginary things, but this has always been a rumor in the world.

Monsters are real things.

Shi Gu's eyes flickered, then he grinned, reached out and patted the scholar's shoulder, laughing.

"Whether it's a demon or not, this is not something we should worry about."

"Eat when it's time to eat, sleep when it's time to sleep."

"What are you thinking about?"

The Confucian scholar obviously didn't think so. He slapped the table anxiously and asked.

"Don't talk to me about that useless stuff, just tell me now."

Upon hearing this, Shi Gu could not help but sigh, and picked up the wine pot to add another glass of wine to the Confucian scholar.

"Alas, sooner or later you will be succumbed to your curiosity."

"Yes, there are indeed monsters in this world."

As he spoke, Shi Gu's face was solemn. He deliberately lowered his voice and spoke slowly.

"The demon race has a very special body skill. They don't need years of hard training. They can improve by blood sacrifice and killing people."

"Moreover, the skills are strange and unpredictable. If a warrior below the sixth rank encounters it, he can only run for his life."

"And the most terrible thing is that there are rumors that among the innate masters on the Heavenly Ranking, there are several masters from the demon race. We must be on guard."

The Confucian scholar listened very seriously, with wine in his hand constantly flowing. After listening to Shi Gu's narration, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Alas, the world is going to be in chaos again."

Suddenly, the Confucian scholar changed the subject, frowned, and asked Shi Gu with a look of distrust.

"By the way, when will you give me the price you promised me?"

"It's not that I don't believe you, but you've never been such a generous person. I doubt you have that much money."

Shi Mo chuckled and admitted it frankly without trying to hide anything.

"Yes, I can't afford to pay you for your work, and I don't even have the money for the food and wine."

The scholar's body stiffened, and he immediately glared at him, slamming the table and saying.

"Today you must..."

Before the scholar could finish his words, his face changed and he found his body becoming stiff.

Seeing this, Shi Gu immediately stood up, walked to the side of the scholar, and began to rummage through the scholar's pockets with swift hands and feet, saying.

"I put some worldly smoke in the wine. In half an hour, your body will return to normal."

"Don't worry, I've told the waiter not to bother you until dark."

"Brother, I'm short of money, so I'll lend you some money first and pay you back in the next life."

Shi Gu took out a heavy purse from the scholar, weighed it, and then smiled happily. Then he looked at the painting on the scholar's back, and remembered the erotic scene in the painting. He coughed lightly and put the painting away.

"Well, scholars should not carry such immoral things."

The Confucian scholar's body was stiff, and he glared at his long-time friend in front of him. After Shi Gu put away the painting, he glanced at the Confucian scholar, thought for a moment, then took out a medicine bottle from his arms and stuffed it into the Confucian scholar's arms.

"Keep this bottle of Chenshi Qiyan. It can save your life if you encounter a warrior below the seventh rank."

"Well, the mountains are high and the waters are long, we will meet again."

As he spoke, Shi Gu bowed slightly to the Confucian scholar, then turned and left, disappearing into the crowd.

The scholar maintained this strange posture for a full half hour before he recovered.

But after returning to normal, there was not much anger on the scholar's face. Instead, he looked at the wine glass in his hand, smiled helplessly, and sighed softly.

"This bastard is still like this."

Chapter 4 Lin'an

The storms in the world never stop.

For someone like Shi Gu, the news of his retirement no longer caused any waves after only a month of spreading in the martial arts world. Except for a few sects that still had Shi Gu's killing order hanging up, most people let Shi Gu go.

The sun and the moon rotate, and the stars change.

In the blink of an eye, five years had passed.

……

Antian City is located in the northern border, close to the frigid plains, and has nothing to do with the word prosperity.

Although the city is remote, there are more than a dozen small gangs of varying sizes. There are no masters, and the most powerful character is only at the lowest level of martial arts.

Even in such a remote city, an antique shop opened five years ago. The owner is a young man with a head full of white hair. However, in these five years, the white hair gradually turned black.

The young man had a handsome appearance, was polite to guests and had good relationships with people. The only drawback was that no one in the entire Antian City liked antiques, calligraphy and paintings.

The city of An Tian does not exist in the building.

Beep~beep~beep.

The tripe was soaked in red oil, rising and falling with the white hot steam. A pair of chopsticks gently picked up a piece of mutton and put it into the pot, followed by a long sigh.

"Alas, this is the only good hotpot in Antian City."

If you look up, you can see a young man holding bamboo chopsticks and sighing at the hot pot in front of him.

This person was naturally Shi Gu who had retired from the underworld for five years. Compared to five years ago, Shi Gu now had a sad face.

Shi Gu picked up a piece of tripe with chopsticks and dipped it in the bowl, but his brows were tightly furrowed.

Five years ago, Shi Gu carefully selected Antian City, far in the north, as his place to retire, and he put a lot of thought into it.

Antian City is a remote small town with no influence from the Demon Cult and no disciples from the Daotian League. Almost all the big and small forces in the martial arts world have never set their sights on this place.

After much thought, Shi Gu, who had offended most of the forces in the martial arts world, felt that Antian City was simply the place of retirement arranged for him by God.

However, when he arrived at Antian City, Shi Gu realized that he had overlooked one point. Why did so many underworld forces not come to interfere in this small city?

Of course it’s because this little town is so damn weird.

Everyone in Antian City loves martial arts, but they are all unskilled. There are countless martial arts halls of all sizes in the city.

The most annoying thing is that these unskilled people are mysteriously obsessed with their self-created martial arts.

It is obvious that most people cannot even achieve the most basic internal energy, yet they are still rushing to create their own techniques.

Liu Yihai, the number one master in Antian City, created a martial art by himself, known as the Red Fire Divine Art. When the Red Fire Divine Art is used to its extreme, it is almost as powerful as lighting a candle.

And you can only light one, if you light more you will die of exhaustion.

When fighting with others, the use of this skill is to suddenly burn the opponent.