It doesn't matter what the lord is.

18. My Life

Yu Qingzhao never really confessed his past to Li De.

Reed's understanding of her was limited to the fragments of her being betrayed by Ji Yingtian and sleeping on straw and eating bitter food in the cold north.

How did she do it again and again?

Reed never asked about reincarnation and where this strange flame came from.

Even the most intimate friends can't really talk about everything, let alone Li De and Yu Qing Zhao. One is a lazy boy who was reincarnated into another world a few years ago, and the other is an old monster who has been working diligently for hundreds of years. But these two people know each other very well, so every time when it comes to the critical moment, they can still trust each other.

Yu Qingzhao knew clearly that Li De would consider the "big picture" in his eyes, and Li De also believed that Yu Qingzhao was the type of person who would not be willing to be inferior to others.

So Yu Qingzhao believed that Li De would definitely take risks.

There is great danger in going to Xi Qin, and Li De also believes that Yu Qingzhao will not choose to surrender to the enemy under pressure.

The country is in such a state of disarray, and Li De and Yu Qing Zhao are not of the same mind. Logically speaking, the Eternal Heaven Kingdom will most likely perish due to internal and external troubles.

But it happened that Li De and Yu Qingzhao were able to step forward and take charge of the situation at such moments.

That day in the Council Hall, Li De said he wanted to go back to defend Yunyang. Many people thought he wanted to stay in a corner and ignore the overall situation, but Yu Qingzhao agreed without thinking. Similarly, Wangdu needed an army to resist the invasion of the beast tide, and Li De only trusted Yu Qingzhao.

After all, the conditions those monsters can offer include "eternal life".

No matter how clearly Reed knew the dangers of immortality, these two simple words still had extraordinary appeal to the people of the world. For the sake of immortality, the king could give up his country, the ministers could give up fame and fortune, the nobles could give up their wealth, and the people could give up their relatives and friends... because immortality implies a promise of infinite possibilities in the future: everything you have now is nothing, and you have enough time to get something better in the future.

In this situation, both Li De and Yu Qingzhao can only trust each other who know each other well. Of course, Li De has another person he can trust, that is Huang Yan, so he leaves Huang Yan to guard the capital and help He Yue to look after the situation.

When Yuqing Zhaohe 44 was in close combat, Lid was rushing to Xiqin with Alayya at the fastest speed.

"After we get to Xi Qin, you stay on the periphery and help me do something. I will go into the Xi Qin territory alone." Alayya hesitated for a moment:

"But Master, the territory of Xiqin is still very dangerous. I am worried..." Lid replied calmly:

"In that case, you can train well while worrying outside. When you reach the tenth level, come back to find me. Just now in Tiancheng Territory, you saw that what I can do at the tenth level, you can't do at the ninth level. Do you remember the old saying? When you reach the tenth level, you can stay in the human territory as you like."

Alaia said softly:

"Yes, Master. I will stay outside...what should I do?" Lid thought for a moment and replied:

"First, spread the news and let others know you are here. Naturally, someone will contact you. If nothing unexpected happens, there should be more than one group of people contacting you. Tell them that I have entered the Western Qin territory. As for what choice they will make, you don't have to interfere, just listen. If they let you in, don't go. Concentrate on practicing sword outside. When you reach the tenth level, come back to find me."

Alaiya repeated it silently in her heart and replied: "I remember it, Master."

Lid nodded with satisfaction, and then continued:

"We agreed on a deadline of one month. If I don't come out within a month, you don't have to wait any longer. Go find the Lingwu Lord and ask her to teach you the way of the sword. If she dies or disappears, you don't have to stay in the human territory. Go to the elves to seek refuge with Delis and find a chance to avenge us. Remember, don't think of dying with me. I don't need you to die with me. You have to live well and kill my enemies for me."

A look of sadness vaguely emerged on Alaiya's face. At this time, they had just arrived near the Xiqin territory. Alaiya held the hilt of the sword at her waist and just said "yes". Before the "young master" behind her could say anything, she suddenly lost her balance. She was stunned for a moment before she realized that it was Reed who grabbed her wrist and hugged her in his arms.

Alayya asked subconsciously:

"Enemy attack...?"

Lid buried his head in her golden hair, took a deep breath, and replied: "Just hug you for a while before we say goodbye."

Alayya's stiff body relaxed for a moment, but soon became stiff again. Lid exhaled and said to her:

"When I took you in, I actually felt sorry for you and was annoyed with those servants who bullied others by taking advantage of their power. At that time, I didn't have any desire for you. I didn't care whether you were a martial arts genius or not, nor did I care what your attitude towards me was. I taught you kendo just to give you a chance to survive. Whether you grasp it or not depends entirely on you."

Alayya opened her mouth and whispered:

"Yes, Master, I know."

Lid put his palm on her head, propped her up, ruffled her hair, and said with a smile:

"But you don't have to feel inferior to yourself, nor do you have to blame yourself. When I was helping you to warm up your meridians, I noticed that you are a unique sword genius in the world, and one day you will surpass everyone. I didn't tell you before because I was afraid that you would be proud and complacent, but today I can tell you. I have been injured many times in front of you in the past. It was not your fault, but because I knew those injuries would not be fatal. But I saved Huang Yan, the son of Tian Yan in Lingwu, and saved the life of Ling Lan, the god-chooser, in Yunhai, and have completely offended the old gods. The journey ahead will only be more dangerous. One day I will face an opponent that I am not sure of. If there is anyone who can save me, that person will only be you."

Lid's hand gently stroked Alayya's face and said seriously: "My life, my life, is in your hands."

Alaiya bit her lip and her eyes instantly turned red.

Reed let out a breath, patted her shoulder and said, "Remember, don't step into this territory until you reach the tenth level." Alaiya nodded.

Lide turned and walked towards the Western Qin territory. He had received reports from the Yunyang Army before and knew that there were many strange things in it. But even so, Lide still did not hesitate at all. After he realized that the woman wanted to delay time, he had no other way to go.

If no one supports the collapsing building, no eggs will remain intact.

Alaya looked at Lid's back and suddenly felt as if her heart was being torn apart. In the past, when they slept together, Lid had hugged her and said many intimate words, but Alaya always forced herself not to listen. She was thinking about the young master, but she didn't dare to let her thoughts run wild, fearing that those greedy and insatiable wishes would grow like weeds.

But this time is different, Reed said, he will take his life into his own hands.

Alayya put her hands on the armor on her chest. For some reason, at that moment she suddenly remembered what the queen had said to her in the capital.

--"If young people have the opportunity to be together, they must be together. Don't consider various external factors first, and don't worry about the storms that may arise in the future. Love is the purest thing in the world. Don't think too much, just hold hands and move forward together."

Alayya suddenly thought of the time when she first met Lid. The Lord of Yunyang withheld Lid's pocket money, and the mansion refused to give him even a thicker quilt. In winter, Alayya helped Lid warm the bed, and Lid would not chase her away. The two little people hugged each other for warmth, and Lid would hold her hand every time he fell asleep.

In fact, they have always walked hand in hand.

19. Found You

Currently, Western Qin has only displayed two armies, namely the westward-bound tide of zombies and the northward-bound tide of beasts.

However, Lid knew very well that the background of the Abyss Church was far more than that. This was not based on any intelligence, but Lid's conclusion based on universal reason: since the woman was stalling for time, it meant that the interior of the West Qin territory was the core of the plan, and those outside were just a trick.

Lid felt that if he planned this operation, he would leave at least three armies in the West Qin mainland: an ace army for defense, a mobile army for support and standby, and another army responsible for monitoring the situation of each team to prevent someone from betraying at the most critical moment. This monitoring team may also need to split the monitoring power and the execution power, so as to ensure the greatest degree of safety.

The strength of the defenders must be higher than that of the zombies and beasts, but Lid was not worried that he would encounter them as soon as he entered Xi Qin. This army would most likely be stationed under the big tree called the "Tree of Immaculateness" because Lid estimated that the number of zombies and beasts was almost the same as all the living creatures in Xi Qin and Nan Chu. Since the remaining troops were elite, there would most likely not be too many, and naturally it was impossible for them to be stationed in a dispersed manner.

Having said that, the danger of this territory does not only come from the armies that have not yet met. In Reed's eyes, the territory of Western Qin is like a huge alchemy furnace, and any creature that dares to set foot in it is like material thrown into the furnace.

When Lid first set foot in the territory of Xi Qin, he noticed a strange gaze. It was as if someone was watching his every move, but when Lid released his breath to check the surrounding information, he found that there was no one around, not even a mosquito.

This seemingly normal but incongruous environment exerted a sense of oppression on Lid all the time. Lid hoped that a few zombies would suddenly jump out in front of him, so that he could just bury these uninvited guests in the soil. But there was nothing here, and Lid could feel that the closer he walked to the tree, the faster his vitality would be lost.

Most people cannot feel this loss of vitality. It is like aging at twice the speed. No one will notice anything wrong in the short term. But Lid can feel it because Clenus taught him how to control soul power, and the soul is closely related to life.

Lid narrowed his eyes and glanced at the lush branches and leaves growing high above his head, realizing that his blood soul was being slowly absorbed by that thing. Judging from the absorption speed, the tree should be absorbing all the blood souls nearby indiscriminately, and not targeting him in particular.

The towering white jade-like tree grew on the barren land, and Lid suddenly had an absurd association in his mind. This place was like a beehive, with countless worker bees collecting nectar and supplying it to the queen bee. If the leader of the Abyss Church was really in that tree, then everything she did was not so much to help humans evolve, but rather to help herself achieve enlightenment.

Reed walked in Xiqin for a day, but he felt as exhausted as if he had spent a week.

He did not encounter any substantial danger, because he was observing the flow of air around him at all times.

Whenever he noticed something was wrong, he would immediately avoid it, not wanting to cause unnecessary trouble, and trying to save as much energy as possible. This was the tactic he had used in the jungle of the demon clan: hiding his aura to the limit, not taking action until it was absolutely necessary, and preferring to stay alive for a while rather than easily revealing his whereabouts.

In addition to the tree canopy above his head sucking away life force, Reed could also feel something beneath the ground.

Although this analogy is a bit strange, it seems that those things are swimming deep underground. Lid carefully sensed its breath on the ground, just like a person boating on a lake, suddenly seeing a shadow larger than his boat appearing and disappearing on the lake. He could not observe its true appearance across the lake, but instead intensified his fear.

Reed concealed his breath and walked carefully, but he was still inevitably spotted.

Because Lid suppressed his breath, his vitality was very low, and those things under the ground seemed to only sense vitality, so they ignored Lid's existence. But no matter how good the method of hiding sound is, it is inevitable that it will be slightly exposed when breathing. After two days of operation, Lid noticed that there was a shadow under the ground that was no longer wandering aimlessly, but slowly following behind him.

It was like a person walking on the road at night, and heard intermittent footsteps behind him. He mustered up the courage to look back, but saw nothing. Not seeing does not mean that there is nothing. The suffocating feeling was always there. Lid knew very well that the reason why the Yunyang soldiers who came to Xiqin before died strangely was probably because of those things underground.

But Lid did not panic. Like an experienced fisherman, he continued on his way calmly while quietly leading the shadow behind him to a place where the shadows were thinner. At the same time, he was silently communicating with the little ghost in his mind to confirm the identity of the shadow.

"I've never seen anything like this in my time." The little ghost's voice sounded in Reed's mind:

"I just went out and secretly observed for a while, and I felt that thing was very much like a collection of evil spirits. But the resentment of the people who died unjustly in the two territories of Xiqin and Nanchu alone could not make up such a scale. Perhaps someone has a way to mobilize the evil spirits of the entire Yongtian Kingdom and keep them underground as guards."

Lide remembered that Huang Yan had told him that the evil spirits of the entire Yongtian Kingdom were gathering towards the Xiqin territory. Lide thought about it and asked the little ghost: "Is there any solution?"

The little ghost was silent for a while, as if thinking. After a while, her voice resounded in Lid's mind.

"It's not clear yet. Maybe you can try to solve it with soul power, but I always feel that it is not just evil spirit, but mixed with something else. I will observe it carefully after it appears."

So Lid continued to hide his voice. In order to take the thing behind him to a relatively quiet place, he had to take a long detour. That night, after Lid carefully took a breath again, he suddenly saw the black air floating on the ground. He turned around and saw a ball of black mist slowly emerging from the ground. When the black mist gradually took shape, Lid frowned slightly.

That's a mouth.

A mouth made of black mist floated in the air. Judging from the shape of the lips, it looked like a man, but the mouth was so big that it could probably bite off half of Lid in one bite. Because Lid restrained his breath in time, it looked a little confused, floating around, as if it couldn't figure out why the target it had just discovered disappeared out of thin air.

The little ghost sneaked out of Reed's body and observed the mouth made of black mist.

After a while, when Reed was about to ask the little ghost what he had found, the mouth suddenly turned to Reed and smiled. It said:

"Got you."

20. Bottomless

Reed turned and ran.

The speed was so fast that the little ghost behind him was almost pulled away, and the evil mouth followed closely behind, almost biting the little ghost several times, frightening the little ghost so much that he didn't even raise the sign, and kept screaming:

"Hurry up! That guy is catching up!"

The teeth seemed to have no substance, but every time they collided, it was like a rivet falling, cutting off everything in front of him. Lid ran at full speed, feeling that he had no chance to breathe. If he slowed down a little, the thing behind him would bite off his head in an instant.

In times of crisis, Lid can only call the little ghost:

"Don't rush me, let's see what that thing is first!"

The little ghost forced himself to calm down, but seeing the evil spirit's mouth getting closer and closer to him, it seemed that the saliva would spray on his face in the next second. The little ghost's hand holding the sign kept shaking, and his voice gradually became distorted:

"How do I interpret this? I don't know. Anyway, it looks like an evil spirit with a brain, an evil spirit that is thinking!"

Lid turned his head and the tentacles behind him appeared instantly. They moved forward one after another and slapped the Evil Mouth mercilessly. At the same time, Lid used this force to retreat continuously, creating distance between him and the Evil Mouth. This slap clearly hit the Evil Mouth's sore spot, and it rushed forward in a rage, but Lid had already concealed his breath again.

After a successful attack, Reed immediately suppressed his breathing to the limit and hid behind a dead tree.

As he expected, the Mouth of Evil Qi did not rush forward directly, but looked around like before. Obviously, although it could sense Lid's position, it would take some time. Lid's attack caught it off guard and completely enraged it, but the angrier it was, the harder it was for the Mouth of Evil Qi to recognize Lid's breath in the first place.

At this time, Lid suppressed his vitality to the limit, and was no different from a dying mosquito. To find this breath in the vast world, you need to observe very patiently. The Mouth of Evil was looking for prey while muttering quickly:

"You can't escape... You can't escape..."

"Anyone who breaks in here is our prey..."

"I found you first. I want to eat you and dominate that body. You are my prey. You belong to me.

As it muttered to itself quickly, the Evil Mouth gradually calmed down and finally found Lid's direction, but before it could act, Lid took the initiative. He wrapped his soul power around himself, first kneeling the Evil Mouth away, then grabbing its upper teeth and pressing down to the sides and pulling hard.

A scream of pain echoed across the land of Xiqin!

Lid refused to stay there for too long. He knew very well what kind of danger this scream would bring. If all the evil spirits lurking underground came out, even Lid would find it difficult to bear. A disaster of this scale would be enough to cleanse the entire West Qin again.

The ground began to tremble. Lid didn't look back. While running, he asked the little ghost: "Is that thing still following?"

The little ghost answered loudly:

"Follow, and there are more!"

Lid stomped on the ground, then kicked hard on a dead tree beside the road, and used the force to lift his whole body into the air. He looked down. Sure enough, the evil spirit was many times stronger than before. Not only was there a mouth of evil spirit, but there was also a nose and a pair of ears there.

It was as if the facial features of a person were floating in the air, sometimes forming a broken face at the right angle, and sometimes twisted and reversed, like an abstract painting carefully drawn by Picasso. However, Lid was not in the mood to analyze whether there was any hidden beauty in it. He landed behind these evil organs, slapped the ground heavily with his right hand, and the power of his soul turned into a light golden chain, tightly binding the monster in front of him.

At the same time, Lid quickly closed his eyes. Since he had been exposed, he no longer spared his perception ability and released the aura around him to explore. The aura of the Ten Great Perfections swept across the world, leaving no place for all the dark and evil things to hide.

Lid retracted his gaze, looked at the three monsters formed by evil spirits, hid his breath again, and left quickly while the soul chain was still there. The little ghost had quietly returned to Lid's body, and her voice appeared directly in Lid's mind:

"Not finishing off the enemy? I remember you said this wasn't a good habit." Lid remained silent, but responded to her question in his mind:

"It can't be fixed. I'm afraid the evil spirit of the entire Yongtian Kingdom is here. The ground is full of these things. If you cut one, another will grow. Unless Huang Yan finds a way to control them here, no one can solve this trouble."

Lid paused and continued to think. He did not deliberately hide it, so the little ghost could see what he was thinking: "But why would such a large evil spirit appear here... and appear in that posture..."

"According to Huang Yan, evil spirits are the hatred and resentment of human beings. Resentment towards the injustice of the world, hatred towards the inaction of gods, unwillingness and anger towards being used, betrayed, and destroyed... Even if life reaches the end, hatred will not disappear and will remain in the world, forming evil spirits."

"Among the many grudges, dissatisfaction with the gods is dominant. That's why Huang Yan is called the Son of Heaven's Disgust. She can mobilize this evil spirit. In this case, the evil spirit appeared in Xi Qin. Does it mean that there are people in Xi Qin who can mobilize this evil spirit now? But the Sons of Heaven's Disgust in all generations never lived past the age of eighteen. Such people should not exist..."

Seeing that Lid was becoming more and more absorbed in thinking, the little ghost had to remind him in time:

"Hey, Reed, look behind! Those guys are following us again!"

Lid looked back, but just as he turned halfway, he suddenly had a bad feeling, and he jumped sideways and fell to the ground, rolling on the ground several times before he stopped. Lid raised his head and saw a pair of evil eyes appearing not far away in the direction he was running.

If he hadn't reacted in time, he would have crashed into it.

What the little ghost said was right, the evil spirits behind had already followed him again. But the evil spirit's eyes were obviously different from them, and the two eyeballs had been staring at Lid's direction without blinking since the beginning. Lid was sure that it was not sensing his vitality, but it was actually seeing him.

Reed exhaled lightly, readjusting his breath, while glancing in the direction of the Immaculate Tree.

If there were no evil spirits chasing him, it would only take him two to three days to reach the tree. But now he couldn't go straight, otherwise Lid would immediately face the tragedy of being attacked from both sides.

Reed looked at the pair of eyes floating in the air and slowly thought about his next strategy.

21. The First Rebel