The chivalrous spirit is fickle

In the early morning, Shi Gu brought Shen Qiu to this place. This was Zong Mingfu's secret base in Dengzhou City, and it was also the place where Shen Yue and her daughter were under house arrest.

After arriving, Shi Gu killed all the people here, one hundred and thirty-one people, and no one was spared. However, among these people, Shi Gu did not see the man with rotten teeth.

The grave in the bamboo forest was an empty grave. Shen Qiu and Shen Yue's mother had been dead for many years, but not even her body was left behind, so her bones were left in an empty grave.

Shi Gu didn't know what he should do, but he felt that after a person died, there should be a tomb, not for the dead, but for the living.

For those who are still alive, leave some thoughts and also some self-deceptive nostalgia.

Chapter 39 Retribution

After a long time, when Shi Gu returned to the bamboo forest, he saw Shen Qiu kneeling in front of the empty grave with empty eyes, as if he had lost his soul, and he did not move.

Shi Gu walked to Shen Qiu's side without saying a word, just quietly looking at the poor man kneeling on the ground.

Shen Qiu's eyes dimmed, and his voice became hoarse and unpleasant, and he spoke in a low voice blankly.

"My benefactor, why...why can't I cry?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Gu sighed and asked Shen Qiu softly in a low voice.

"Why do you have to cry?"

Shen Qiu stretched out his right hand, grabbed the clothes on his chest, clenched them tightly, twisted the clothes into a knot, and spoke slowly in a daze.

"My mother told me that if I feel sad, I should cry, and it will make me feel better."

"She also said... that as long as I cry, she will be able to hear me, and she will come to save me no matter how far away we are."

Shen Qiu's body swayed, his eyebrows drooped, the fingers clenching his chest turned slightly white, and he spoke in a hoarse voice.

"So, when I was most scared, I didn't cry. I was afraid that she would come to save me, afraid that she would see my current state of being neither human nor ghost."

"But now I know she can't save me anymore, but why can't I cry?"

"Could it be that... I don't feel sad?"

Shi Gu lowered his eyelids slightly, stretched out his hand and gently placed it on Shen Qiu's head. Like an elder, he gently touched her head and sighed softly.

"Silly boy."

"You're going to cry."

Shen Qiu bit her lips tightly, pressed her hands to the ground, and kowtowed three times. Then she asked Shi Gu for a pair of scissors. While biting her lips, she used the scissors to randomly cut her long hair.

The black hair kept falling and landed in front of the grave. The fine strands of hair were picked up by the breeze, swept into the wind, and scattered bit by bit, falling into the distance.

As her black hair was cut off bit by bit, a tear slid across the corner of Shen Qiu's eye, and then tears fell like rain. Her shoulders trembled, but she tried her best to suppress her crying.

Our bodies and hair are given by our parents, and we dare not damage them.

But now, she has no parents and no reason to cherish.

After a long time, Shen Qiu's originally long hair had been cut into a messy look. She wiped away the last tears from the corners of her eyes, stood up, looked at Shi Gu deeply, and then bowed.

"My benefactor, I have done you a great favor in my lifetime, and I have no way of repaying you."

"If there is an afterlife, I would like to be a cow or a horse to repay your kindness."

Shi Gu waved his hand gently without saying much. He took out a crescent-shaped jade pendant from his arms and handed it to Shen Qiu.

"I have already notified the Demon Cult branch in Dengzhou. They will be here soon. When the time comes, you can hand this token to them and they will protect you."

"From now on, no one from Zongming Mansion will dare to come to you again."

Shen Qiu did not refuse. He reached out to take the crescent jade pendant in his hand, held it between his fingers, and smiled sadly.

"I'm in this state now, what difference does it make whether I have someone to protect me or not?"

"Buddhism says that there is karma. Maybe this is because I did something wrong in my previous life, so I have to pay for it in this life. If I were to die tomorrow, I would have nothing to fear."

“This is my fruit.”

Upon hearing this, Shi Gu frowned slightly and then spoke softly.

"Next time you see a monk saying that good deeds will be rewarded and evil deeds will be punished, remember to slap him for me."

Shen Qiu was startled when he heard that, and looked at Shi Gu in surprise. Shi Gu gently pinched his eyebrows with his fingers. After rubbing for a while, he put down his fingers, looked at Shen Qiu calmly, and spoke slowly.

“Good and evil have no consequences.”

"Although I hate to say this, there is no such thing as retribution in this world."

"Why must a good ending be preceded by suffering? Or, what kind of ending can offset the suffering?"

"It is right to persuade people to be good, but it is foolish to persuade them to endure suffering."

As he spoke, Shi Gu once again placed his hand on Shen Qiu's head like an elder and spoke softly.

"That is not the ending you deserve, nor is it the retribution you deserve. Your mother did not give birth to you to suffer in this world."

"Live well, and you will eventually find something worth living for. Just think of yourself as having lived a lifetime and starting over again."

"Understand?"

Shen Qiu nodded as if he understood, and the sadness in his eyes finally faded away. Seeing this, Shi Gu gently exhaled from his mouth, turned around and left.

"The people from the Demon Cult are coming, and it's time for me to leave."

"It won't be long before you see your sister Shen Yue. You are not alone. There are people in this world who care about you."

Shen Qiu looked at Shi Gu's back with mixed feelings. Although the man in front of her looked young, she felt like an elder who she could rely on.

Shi Gu's ears moved slightly, and he heard many footsteps approaching. He no longer hesitated, and clenched his hand. A purple demonic energy surged out from the soles of his feet and coiled up all the way.

The next moment, Shi Gu's figure turned into a purple smoke, drew an arc in the air, and disappeared.

……

At night that day, the Tsutenkaku was brightly lit.

Several figures shuttled between the pavilions, stuffing pieces of paper into bamboo tubes. In the middle of the busy crowd, Wang Tianlai sat on a chair, listening to the sound of the waterfall falling outside the window, and tapping the armrest of the chair with his fingers.

Under the night sky, a white carrier pigeon flew through the dark clouds and landed by the window. A man walked up, took the bamboo tube from the pigeon's feet, and poured out a piece of paper.

After taking a look, the man quickly walked to Wang Tianlai's side, leaned over slightly, and spoke to Wang Tianlai in a low voice.

"Deputy Pavilion Master, news of Shi Gu has arrived."

“That thing was done.”

Wang Tianlai, who had originally closed his eyes to rest, slowly opened his eyes after hearing this, and spoke lightly while looking over the high window.

"In that case, let's get started."

"Tell those sects that what they want is hidden in Zongming Mansion."

Upon hearing this, the servant nodded slightly, then turned around and waved his hand gently towards the busy crowd behind him, making a downward chopping motion from top to bottom.

The next moment, several figures moved at the same time, and the window on the fifth floor of Tsutenkaku opened with a bang. Then countless white carrier pigeons flew out from the window one after another. The number was so large that it looked like a white cloud.

Wang Tianlai closed his eyes again and whispered to himself.

"Alas, Zong Mingfu is going to become a third-rate sect."

……

The next morning, in a secret room in Zongming Mansion in Huiyin City.

Shen Zhongyi was sitting cross-legged with his upper body naked in a pool of red blood, holding his breath and concentrating. A white-haired man was holding a pen and drawing strange patterns on Shen Zhongyi's body one after another.

Those strange patterns looked like blood, flickering on and off with Shen Zhongyi's breathing.

After the white-haired man drew the last stroke, he casually threw the pen in his hand into the pool of blood and whispered to Shen Zhongyi.

"Your injuries are serious. You need to rest for half a year before you can recover to the peak eighth-grade martial realm."

"Give orders to your men to find more pregnant women. The blood and essence of those unborn fetuses can stabilize your realm."

Hearing this, Shen Zhongyi slowly opened his eyes, bloodshot and full of anger, and he spoke through gritted teeth.

"Master, I am unwilling to accept this."

"If I don't kill Qingcheng Shigu, I won't be able to relieve the hatred in my heart!"

The white-haired man frowned slightly, but scolded sternly.

"Nonsense!"

"Your realm has now fallen to the fourth level of martial arts. The most important thing is to recover. You cannot take action in the next six months, otherwise your blood and qi will be disordered. Not to mention recovering your realm, I'm afraid you won't even be able to maintain this fourth level of martial arts."

"In the next six months, you should behave yourself and not cause any more trouble!"

After saying that, the white-haired man waved his sleeves and left without even looking at Shen Zhongyi. The moment he turned around, a hint of disdain appeared in his eyes.

Shen Zhongyi is short-sighted. Although he usually behaves like a master who is intimidating without even getting angry, he is actually a brave and ruthless gangster at heart.

If it wasn't for the convenience of control, the white-haired man would never teach such a person to practice the demon clan's martial arts and push him step by step to the eighth level of martial arts.

For the demon race, those talented and determined humans are difficult to control and have too many variables, so when they train puppets, they often choose despicable and short-sighted thugs like Shen Zhongyi.

After the white-haired man left, Shen Zhongyi soaked in the blood pool for another two hours. He felt that the chaotic blood in his body had stabilized a little.

Just when Shen Zhongyi was about to continue soaking in the water, a panicked voice came from outside the house, followed by someone banging on the door and shouting anxiously.

"Sect Master, it's not good!"

"Someone's knocking on the door!"

Shen Zhongyi was shocked when he heard this. He quickly stood up from the pool of blood, put on his clothes, and strode out of the room.

However, the entire Zongming Mansion was in chaos. Many people Shen Zhongyi had never seen before, with a large number of people, were unscrupulously searching for something in the Zongming Mansion.

Seeing this, Shen Zhongyi became furious. He walked over quickly and shouted loudly to one of the groups of people.

"What are you doing? Do you want to die?!"

Hearing Shen Zhongyi's angry shout, a young man in the crowd slowly turned around, looked at Shen Zhongyi coldly, and then struck out with a palm. Shen Zhongyi subconsciously raised his hand and struck out.

However, the moment the two palms touched, Shen Zhongyi flew backwards, rolled on the ground a few times in a panic, then lay on the ground and spit out a mouthful of blood. The blood and energy that had originally stabilized became disordered again, making his breath weakened a lot more.

The young man slowly closed his hands, but was too disdainful to explain anything. He turned around and gave orders to his men.

"Search carefully. People from the big sects are coming soon. We have to find the treasures before they do."

Looking at this scene, Shen Zhongyi's eyes were bloodshot. It had been a long time since he had been looked down upon like this. However, his current realm had fallen to the fourth level of martial arts, and he was completely unable to stop anything.

At the same time, Shen Zhongyi was also shocked and confused. He had no idea why these people suddenly came to him. He didn't know about the treasures that Shi Gu had hidden in Zong Ming Mansion that night, nor did he know that Shi Gu had spread the news of Shen Zhongyi's serious injury through Tongtian Pavilion.

Although there were some twists and turns, Shi Gu's plan was successful. In the following year, Zong Mingfu will not have any peaceful days, and Shen Zhongyi will no longer have the opportunity to recuperate.

Chapter 40 Obsession

In Lin'an city.

When Zongming Mansion was in chaos, Shigu had already returned to Lin'an City. He closed the antique shop that was losing money and rented out the store.

The courtyard prepared by Huang Che was located in a remote area and few people came. Although it was far away from the bustling area of ​​the city, it was also much quieter.

In the empty courtyard, an empty space was specially left. At this moment, a bathtub was placed in the yard. Shen Yue was soaked all over. She sat cross-legged in the bathtub, her lips moving constantly, reciting an obscure formula.

Shi Gu stood aside and put blue petals into the water. The petals quickly dissolved when they came into contact with the water, dyeing the clear water in the bucket blue.

The sudden chill caused ice crystals to form all over Shen Yue's body, and her lips gradually turned purple.

Seeing this, Shi Gu not only did not stop his actions, but instead sped up his movements while giving instructions to Shen Yue.

"The Yuan Mo Da Fa is an evil practice. It is twice as effective with half the effort, but the suffering is much greater than other practices."

"Don't stop chanting the formula, keep reciting it until you pass out. The Yuan Mo Dafa is the path to becoming possessed by the devil."

Hearing this, Shen Yue did not dare to slack off. Her body was trembling, but she kept reciting a formula that she could not even understand.

However, at this moment, Shi Gu frowned, looked up at the courtyard gate, his eyes flickered, and then he chuckled and whispered to himself.

"You actually came to me on your own initiative. How thoughtful of you."

At the same time, outside the courtyard gate, two inconspicuous figures happened to walk through the gate. One of them quickly glanced at the gate, then turned his head and spoke to his companion beside him in a low voice.

"This is it. The people who killed my brother are from this family."

"I want you to kill everyone here, leaving no one alive."

Hearing this, his companion grinned, revealing a mouthful of rotten teeth, and spoke slowly.