It doesn't matter what the lord is.

Bai Ye gasped heavily, supported his knees with his hands, and slowly stood up.

He looked up at the gray sky, his muscles were torn and his whole body was shaking, but he did not cry out in pain.

A strong wind suddenly blew up, and Bai Ye's clothes, which were soaked by the sea water, fluttered in the wind.

At this moment, he seemed to be the only one in the vast world. Bai Ye clenched his fist, took a deep breath, and swung it toward the sky again. Another purple thunderbolt fell, followed by an endless rainstorm. The dark sea surface was like a huge mouth swallowing everything. The waves rose up in an instant, covering Bai Ye's knees.

The water on Bai Ye's body was evaporated by the extremely strong electric light, and wisps of smoke emerged.

The next moment, a voice seemed to sound from above the sky, but no one could hear it except Bai Ye.

But Bai Ye opened his mouth, and his answer could be heard clearly by everyone in the world:

"I, Bai Ye, originally just wanted to live an ordinary life and die an ordinary death. I know my own strengths and weaknesses, and I know where the upper limit of my martial arts is. I also know that I am a dull person who cannot win people's hearts and minds, and I don't have many friends. So I told Xiao Er that I could give up my power to him and become an unknown eldest son."

"But if this is the only way to protect her, then so be it. You guys can take on this heavenly tribulation, but as long as it doesn't kill me, I won't retreat a single step. I'm not flexible. Once I decide on a path, I'll stick to it until the end."

"This is my way. I said it once when I was at the sixth level."

Thunder struck one after another, the sea water flooded up, and soon completely submerged the white night.

The last bolt of lightning struck the sea, and the entire sea surface was filled with strange electric light.

The people of Yunhaiwei had dull eyes.

In the next moment, a strong breath suddenly swept across the world, and the entire sea water rose up, and the surging waves turned into nine dragons hovering in the sky, roaring towards the dark sky. In the center, Bai Ye exhaled, slowly stood up, and collided his fists in front of his chest.

It’s hard to say why, but at that moment the Yunhai Guards in the distance felt panic in their hearts and knelt down together.

The dark clouds in the sky seemed to be pushed towards the center by an invisible hand, being compressed inch by inch, and finally disappearing.

The first ray of sunlight shone on Bai Ye's body. Bai Ye raised his head, looked directly into the dazzling sunlight, looked at his palms, and then slowly clenched them.

Nine dragons roared and the sea crawled.

In the Western Qin territory, a middle-aged man who was yawning and teasing his daughter suddenly drew his sword from his waist and trembled. The little girl with twin ponytails in front of him held her cheek in confusion and asked:

"Daddy, what happened?"

The middle-aged man touched the stubble on his chin and said with a smile:

"fine."

He paused, then added inexplicably:

"The Yangtze River's waves behind push the waves ahead..."

4. Old Couple

In December, Yunyang began to cool down.

He Yue got up early in the morning, washed his face with water, and combed his messy long hair. He slept on the table yesterday, and his hair was pressed into a strange shape. He didn't have time to take a shower in the morning, so he simply combed it with cold water. Then He Yue wiped the water stains on his skin and walked into the house.

Lid returned from Nanchu and brought new investment. But Nanchu and Lingwu were also very smart. As the largest investors in private enterprises, they would not hand over the management rights completely to Yunyang, and sent many people over. Yunyang needed to accommodate these businessmen, and the businessmen also needed to adapt to the rhythm of Yunyang. Although most of the related work was arranged by Griffa, He Yue still had to show up from time to time.

The reason is simple. Griffa currently has enough ability, but not enough qualifications and prestige. Some things can only be solved by He Yue. Two years of planning and using both kindness and force have made He Yue's reputation in Yunyang continue to rise. Li De is a person who doesn't like to show off his presence. In the eyes of many people, He Yue is Li De's agent.

She is still very busy.

He Yue was walking while thinking about something, and bumped into someone at the corner of the corridor.

Looking closely, Reed was rubbing his sleepy eyes, and Chocolate was lying on top of his head and pulling his hair.

The moment he saw He Yue, Lid's eyes lit up, and without saying a word, he stuffed the chocolate into his arms:

"Come on, Chocolate, go play with your sister He Yue~"

He Yue looked at Lid and said expressionlessly:

"This child calls you daddy and that woman mommy. Do you want her to call me sister? Is that appropriate?"

Lid smiled and asked:

"What do you think would be a better name?"

He Yue raised an eyebrow, feeling that Li De's words were obviously a trap. Normally, they would call each other aunt or uncle, but He Yue was only 22 years old this year, and no one at this age would want to be called that.

He Yue was silent for a moment, held the chocolate in front of her eyes, and said to her:

"Call me Auntie?"

Chocolate seemed to like He Yue very much. He kept grabbing He Yue's bangs with his chubby little hands and said incoherently:

"Auntie, have some candy."

Chocolate reached into his pocket, took out a piece of candy that he had treasured for five minutes and stuffed it into He Yue's pocket.

Lid always felt that this name was strange, but he didn't care much and said to He Yue:

"I see you're heading towards the Council Chamber. Is your work today still very heavy?"

He Yue held the chocolate, shaking it gently as Zhehua taught her, and looked up at Lid and said:

"Not too heavy. I've given some of the work to Filin and Griffa, and we can handle the rest in the evening."

Reed glanced at the water-beaded hair on top of her head. It was obvious that the hair that had been bent had not fully returned to normal.

Reed patted her on the back and said:

"Okay then. I'll come with you, let's finish the work first and then we can talk about other things."

After saying that, Lid took the initiative to walk towards the meeting room.

He Yue was stunned for a moment, but soon realized that her lie had not worked. He Yue habitually prioritized what Li De had told her to do. When Li De threw the chocolate to her, she quickly revised her work plan for today and scheduled the work that was supposed to be done during the day tonight. But she didn't want Li De to know about this, so she told Li De that the task was not important.

But in fact, if you just think about it a little, you will know that the task is not difficult, and He Yue does not need to leave the warm bed early in the morning.

If you think about it a little more, you will know that He Yue lied, but many people are unwilling to think about it. Caring for others is not only an ability, but also a habit. Li De, who is in a high position, does not need to develop this habit. He just needs to live comfortably; but Li De subconsciously still does something considerate of others, just like He Yue would do the same.

Both of them habitually think about each other.

He Yue smiled, put the candy that Chocolate gave her into her mouth, savored the sweet taste, and said to Chocolate:

"The sugar is sweet, thank you."

Chocolate immediately became happy at a speed visible to the naked eye. His eyebrows and eyes were curved like the crescent moon in the sky. He hugged He Yue's neck and refused to let go.

The two of them went to the council hall. The table was filled with piles of documents. Lid sat down without caring, took one and began to review it skillfully. He Yue sat beside him, holding Chocolate, and started with another pile of documents. She first comforted Chocolate, and then started working beside Lid.

Chocolate sat on He Yue's lap, leaning her head out to look at the documents on the table, trying to identify the words she knew. When she felt bored, she would crawl away from He Yue's lap, but not too far, and basically sleep next to Lid, like a well-behaved kitten.

The two people had some brief exchanges from time to time:

"The tax rate will remain the same next year, but the tax revenue should increase several times. According to the rules of Yuxi City, where the tax is spent must be made public. However, during this extraordinary period, it is easy for other territories to find out the truth if the information is made public now..."

"By only publishing the percentage, at least the public can understand where the money is spent, and the specific figures can be erased."

"A few days ago, an envoy from Wanze Territory came over and wanted to establish diplomatic relations with us."

"Promise."

"The Traditional Temple sent us a stern warning letter, saying that if we don't sever ties with the Abyss Church, they will consider launching a holy war."

"Four words, come if you have the guts."

"... Dealing with problems with you is really quick and easy."

“It’s not that complicated.”

Lid smiled and said to He Yue beside him:

"For you, you have to weigh the interests of all parties. As Yunyang develops better and better, more and more interests will be involved, and soon there will be minefields on all sides. But I just need to make a decision according to my own preferences, and then throw the rest of the problems to you."

He Yue sighed softly:

"You don't need to be modest with me. Your decisions are often correct. Besides, I am often indecisive, and it would be much better to get a direction from you."

Lid touched her head, combed her messy hair carefully, and said:

"You are not indecisive. You are the chief minister of internal affairs in Yunyang, and your every word and action affects the lives of countless people. Here, you should be a cold person like those ministers in the capital, but you just want everyone to be happy. It is always the most painful to be caught between idealism and realism. I can live happily with selfishness like this."

Reed's hand reached out to He Yue's ear, and He Yue placed her hand on the back of his hand.

There was a gentle smile on He Yue's face:

"I don't feel pain, Lid. I'm very happy now. At least when I close my eyes and see those tragic scenes of cannibalism, I can clench my fists and tell myself that I have the ability to prevent those tragedies from happening again in Yunyang. So I just feel tired occasionally, but I don't reject my current life."

He Yue took Li De's hand, placed it on her cheek, then leaned on it and closed her eyes.

She said softly:

"Soon, the nightmare I've been having for more than a decade will end..."

5. The wingman takes off again

The sound of iron hammering could be heard intermittently in the lord's mansion.

Liushi struck the sword blank with the last blow, brushed aside his sweat-soaked hair, and breathed a long sigh of relief. Amo handed the kettle to his father, and Liushi drank a few gulps. Amo took the opportunity to say to him:

"Everyone has arrived and is waiting outside."

Liu Shi was stunned for a moment, then nodded, as if he remembered something, and said to Amo:

"Oh... Come to think of it, today is their graduation ceremony. You go first, I'll be there soon."

Amo hummed, but still sat on the chair, staring at the sword in her father's hand. Liushi smiled, and when the sword cooled down, he handed it to Amo. Amo looked at it carefully, with a focused and pious expression, as if she was looking at a holy object. Liushi drank the water and said to Amo:

"go together?"

Amo smiled, put the sword aside, and followed her father skipping and jumping.

Considering that Yunyang will need a large number of forging talents in the future, Lide began to recruit a large number of talents from outside, and also focused on cultivating local talents. Since last year, Liushi has begun to guide some talented apprentices, and now these talents have finally borne fruit.

Looking at the apprentices standing in a row in the yard in uniform, Liu Shi stretched his sore neck and walked in front of them.

The apprentices all held their heads high and chests puffed out, unable to conceal their excitement.

In comparison, Liu Shi still looked like he was about to die suddenly. The dark circles under his eyes and pale skin hinted at his extremely abnormal lifestyle during this period.

Liu Shi stood in front of them, was silent for a while, glanced at each of them, and said:

"The fact that you were able to learn what I taught you in such a short time shows that you are very hardworking and talented... The profession of blacksmith relies a lot on talent. Although most of the time you can make up for it with hard work, if you want to forge more advanced weapons and equipment, you still have to rely on some intuition and inspiration, plus a little bit of luck."

Liu Shi looked at them and said quickly:

"So, on the road of forging, persistence and courage are not the most difficult things. The most difficult thing is to figure out your own position. This sounds cruel, but I must tell you... From now on, you will definitely encounter countless difficulties in forging. Among these difficulties, which ones can be solved after self-improvement, and which ones are the ceiling of your forging career, you have to judge for yourself. Don't blindly challenge higher-level equipment, cherish the people and things in front of you."

The excitement on the apprentices' faces eased a little.

Although most people would say something like "the sea is wide enough for fish to leap, the sky is high enough for birds to fly" at such a graduation ceremony, Liu Shi would not do that. Because he knew very well that there were bigger waves and more dangerous environments outside. Whether these apprentices were blacksmiths in the army or specialized in high-end equipment customization in the future, it would definitely not be smooth sailing.

Liu Shi shrugged his shoulders, slowed down his tone, and said to them:

"However, for a blacksmith, having a hammer in hand and materials in front of you is the simplest happiness at the moment. Forge more things while you are still old enough to hold a hammer and work hard to produce some results. You are still young and have a lot of energy and time. More than 70% of people's time is spent doing meaningless things. You are very lucky to have caught up with this era where you can do things and to be born in a place where you can do things."

After he finished speaking, Liu Shi raised one hand high, showed a weak smile, and said:

"Now, I declare you graduated. I hope that you can become the kind of person you want to be in the future."

The apprentices raised their arms above their chests and shouted:

"Thank you for your teaching!"

Liu Shi said nothing and went back to the underground forging room. However, when he arrived at the door of the forging room, he found Lid leaning against the wall, looking like he was waiting for him to come back.

Liu Shi walked over calmly and asked:

"What happened?"

Lid nodded and said:

"I do have something to trouble you with. Let's go in and talk."

The two of them came to the forging room. Lid placed the Black Flame Armor on the table and said to Liushi:

"First, I want to order another pair of gauntlets. The Black Flame Armor can only be worn on the right hand, which is not very convenient when fighting."

Liu Shi replied:

"I'll make you a matching pair. But the Black Flame Armor is still a unique piece after all these years. With the materials we have now, I can't guarantee that I can make you a gauntlet of the same level."

Lidd continued:

"As high-level as possible will do. If He Xun level is difficult, Xing Jian level can be used. Another thing is that I remembered that Lord Lingwu told me that the Black Flame Armor was a bit of a waste in my hands, which made me think that there might be some other secrets in this gauntlet. You can try to disassemble it and study it."