It doesn't matter what the lord is.

I wanted to take the opportunity to give her some advice while serving her tea and water, but she blocked me from the door with the cut fruit. Fileta bit her lip, her cheeks flushed, and after a long time she spoke quickly and briefly:

"If the master is around, I won't be able to learn."

"I want to rub against my master, as if it's an instinct that's ingrained in my blood."

"I can't resist, I can't calm down - oooh. Now, now I am..."

Fileta panted, suddenly hugged me, buried her face in my chest and rubbed it hard, then took a deep breath, ran back and closed the door:

"So, not for now!"

I was rejected.

I went to find Alaiya again. Alaiya was practicing sword in the yard. But when I went over, she was sitting cross-legged on the ground. The [Wandering Dragon] was not unsheathed, and the scabbard was stuck in the mud in front of her. Alaiya was motionless, as if she had become one with the sword, and turned into a great swordsman wandering in the sky.

I walked over and stood beside her.

If anyone else approached Alaiya at this time, Alaiya would have probably attacked with a sword. But I was different. After so many years of living together, Alaiya was very familiar with my aura, so when I approached and sat in front of her, Alaiya remained motionless.

I also held my face up, staring in a daze at her quiet face, which looked like it was asleep.

Alaiya is pretty and I like her, so I never get tired of looking at her.

After about half an hour, Alayya opened her eyes and called out:

"Master."

I asked her with a smile:

"What's wrong? Any insights?"

Alayya said:

"Yeah. I'm trying to understand the mystery of the Zen sword."

I asked curiously:

"Zen sword? The great swordsman who is at the tenth level of the sword art beside the king is practicing Zen sword art. It is said that he can reach the pinnacle of enlightenment in one day, but it is just an illusory legend after all. Who knows, he may be secretly taking tutoring classes behind the scenes, but on the surface, he pretends that he has not practiced at all."

Alayya looked at the sword between her and me and said:

"Everyone says that serving the world, the people, and all living beings in the vast world is the true pinnacle of swordsmanship. It is also the only way to practice Zen sword. But I think what the young master said is right. There are too few heroes in this world. We are all ordinary people. In order to survive, we have to kill those who stand in our way. So I am very curious. The Zen in Zen sword means reason. If I take the young master's theory as Zen and replace saving with killing, what will it become in the end?"

I asked:

"When you closed your eyes and rested, did you understand the answer to this question?"

Alayya lowered her head and said:

"I saw a bloody landscape. The sky was red, the earth was red, the rivers and lakes were all red. The wind smelled of blood, so sticky that it was hard to breathe. I was the only one there. I looked down and found that what I was stepping on was not soil, but countless corpses piled up together."

I lowered my eyes and said:

"That is the Shura Path, the ultimate in killing. If you can really reach the pinnacle, this will be your future."

Alaia said softly:

"For the young master, I can kill everything in the world, even Alayya."

I laughed and rubbed Alayya's head.

On this day, Alayya's swordsmanship was still at the fifth level of perfection, but her state of mind had reached a higher level. To put it in a metaphor, her foundation was more solid, which was also the result of Heji's hard pursuit of the sixth level of perfection in swordsmanship for so many years.

Should we say it was an accident or destiny?

To paraphrase Captain Li,

Hey, Alayya, you are such a genius!

I patted her shoulder and said:

"Let's go. The assassins are not going to burn the food today. Bai Huang and He Ji have already gone to prepare. Hurry up and pack up. I will take you to watch the fun."

----------------

Today, we added a character design & illustration volume between the announcement volume and the first volume, and uploaded the character design of Fang Shisan (after coming to Yuxi City). This is also a reminder for everyone. If you find an update prompt in your collection in the future, but click in but don't see the update, you might as well start from the beginning to find out if there are any new chapters.

20. Dragnet (Xiao Huang Limited Edition)

As it was getting dark, I took Alayya and headed south of the city.

The granary is easy to find. Even without the threat of assassins, it is one of the safest areas in the entire city. An open area is marked out around the granary, and no one is allowed to pass through it. Anyone who tries to approach the granary must show a direct token from me or He Yue.

But there are still problems. For example, due to the shortage of manpower, it is difficult to arrange the sentries in a dense manner, and they are still a certain distance away from each other. For another example, tonight is another dark and windy night with layers of dark clouds. There are no stars or moon in the sky. You have to hold a torch to see the road clearly when walking on the street.

To be honest, it would be strange if nothing happened in weather like this.

When we got to the south of the city, I immediately saw Bai Huang hiding behind a house, sticking her head out and looking around. She was still holding half a meat bun in her mouth. I quietly approached with Alayya, stood behind her, and called out sinisterly:

"Xiao Huang..."

Bai Huang jumped up with a "wow" sound, turned to me like a cat with its fur standing on end, and quickly stepped back, tripping over her legs and falling backwards. I quickly reached out and pulled her back, but because I didn't control the force well, Bai Huang fell headfirst into my arms.

Then I was pushed away mercilessly.

Bai Huang looked at the bun that fell to the ground when he was frightened with regret, and said to me angrily:

"How old are you? Why are you still playing scary tricks like this?"

I also complained:

"How old are you? Can you still be frightened by such a scary trick?"

Bai Huang snorted:

"Don't you see that my aunt is standing guard attentively?"

I also laughed out of anger and said:

"Is this useful? You can't even detect me and Alayya approaching you. If an assassin really comes, won't you just be killed?"

Bai Huang patted his thigh, put his hands on his waist and said:

"Hey! If it was someone else just now, would they be able to scare me? Heji! Come out and show them!"

I saw a pile of firewood in front of a house not far away suddenly began to move, the top few pieces of dry firewood fell down, and a head poked out from it. It was Heji. He smiled bitterly and waved at me and Alayya, then dived in again, and did not forget to find a few pieces of firewood to put on his head and bury himself.

Bai Huang rolled her almond-shaped eyes and gave me a blank look, a confident look on her face.

She patted her breasts, which were of average development but much stronger than Alayya's, showing her small canine teeth, and said to me:

"Are you stupid? I have already planned this. Do you know what this is? This is called luring the snake out of its hole. I will be stationed here as bait, and when the assassin sneaks up on me, Heji will send down his divine soldiers. The assassin will be caught off guard and will naturally be beaten and flee by the two of us. This is a way of giving someone a taste of his own medicine, and it can be called a genius strategy. If it weren't for you two just now, Heji would have already taken action. Humph, she dared to provoke me, I will beat her to a pulp today!"

I clapped my hands expressionlessly and said:

"Awesome, awesome."

But in my heart, I was thinking, it's really hard for Brother Heji, a good young man, why did he follow a fool? ?

Let's not talk about whether the assassin would come and attack you out of boredom. Even if she did, Heji's firewood pile was at least 30 meters away from you. Would he be able to save you in time?

No wonder Heji had such a bitter smile on his face just now. He probably thought there was no hope.

Bai Huang seemed to be in the mood to talk, so he pulled me aside and continued to explain:

"Besides that, I have already laid a net here. If the assassin dares to come, I will definitely beat her from all angles."

"Is it really that strong?"

Seeing the questioning look on my face, Bai Huang pulled my arm without hesitation and walked towards the sentry post. A soldier stood there, holding a spear tightly in his hand. When he saw Bai Huang bringing me and Alayya over, he straightened his chest.

Bai Huang stood in front of the soldier and said to me:

"Do you see the difference?"

I looked around and answered:

"No."

Bai Huang said to the soldiers:

"Hand out."

The soldier stretched out his hand, and I finally found, with the help of the firelight, that there was a thin line tied to the soldier's finger. The line stretched into the distance, and judging from the direction, it seemed to be the location of the next sentry post. Bai Huang said confidently:

"See? This is the Silver Thread Dragon Trapping Formation I developed myself. It can make up for our lack of numbers. Use the thread to connect everyone together. If one soldier falls or gets caught in a battle, the other soldiers can sense it immediately and come to support them. A single move can affect the entire body. Even if a god comes, he can't sneak in quietly."

The soldier shouted very appropriately:

"Please rest assured, Lord City Lord, Lord Bai Huang!"

Seeing that he looked very confident, I patted him on the shoulder and said:

"Be on full alert! Make it through tonight and you'll get a bonus tomorrow!"

The soldier shouted:

"Yes!"

Bai Huang continued:

"Besides that, I've also set up all kinds of traps here... Hey, wait, this is a trap. Stop! Wait, don't touch the bell over there. Oh! You can't go over there, there's an ambush over there. Yes, it's safest to go this way and follow me. Oh, by the way, do you see those bushes? I split up the patrol team and distributed them in groups of three or two around, forming a dark and bright formation with the guards who were originally responsible for the security here. No matter how strong the assassin is, he can't hide from all eyes."

I looked around. It was hard to see clearly in the dark. Bai Huang used very thin wires to make many simple trigger traps nearby, which were a bit like the infrared traps I had seen before, but more primitive. Even so, it was obvious that she had put a lot of effort into it. No wonder she was eating a meat bun alone at night. I guess she didn't even have time to have a proper meal.

So are these traps useful?

I can only say that it depends on the IQ of the assassin.

But now I have another question:

"Xiao Huang, where did you get so many threads?"

Bai Huang knocked his head and said:

"Look at my memory. Isn't your quilt also made of natural silk? I thought it was tough and hard to be discovered, so I took it apart and used it. But one bed is not enough, so I took apart the sheets and quilt as well. I'll collect them and send them to you later."

I asked in confusion:

"So where should I sleep tonight?"

Bai Huang smiled meaningfully and said:

"Didn't I ask you to give my bed to Fang Shisan? She's not in Yuxi City right now, so why don't you just sleep in her room? Anyway, she doesn't mind, and neither do you, so just think of it as living together in advance."

Yes.

I glanced at Alayya, who had an expressionless face, and thought silently to myself: It's really over then, it's all over.

Looking at Bai Huang's half-smile, I scratched my head.

Women really hold grudges.

21. Figures in the Dark

After seeing the trap set by Comrade Xiao Huang, I felt no emotion at all, but wanted to laugh. But since I was here, I took a deck of playing cards from my pocket and sat on the ground to teach Alayya and Bai Huang how to play Landlord.

Maybe because of her family background, Bai Huang always tries to be the landlord, and Alayya and I play the role of civilians to compete with her. But Bai Huang also plays the role of a European traitor, and her luck is surprisingly good. She doesn't need to use her brain to play cards, and she can just crush them all the way. Alayya and I have no gaming experience at all.

So later in the game, Alayya started to exchange cards with me privately with an expressionless face, replacing whatever was missing. In addition, Baihuang would occasionally perform magical operations of four twos and two kings, so Alayya and I were able to taste the fruits of victory occasionally.

Time passed quickly when playing cards, until late at night, when everyone was asleep and there was no one on the street, Bai Huang dazedly threw out a pair of 2s and said:

"A little bit, no, a little bit sleepy."

She shook her head, slapped her face twice, tried her best to open her eyes, and said:

"Why hasn't the assassin come yet? Was she scared off by my formation? Yeah, I forgot to consider this question. What if she sees that I'm too strong and chooses to hide away? We can't just wait here every night. To be honest, you two are more than one level behind me in playing cards. I'm embarrassed to bully you like this every night."

“Is that where the focus is!!”

I complained, thought about it, and said:

"You can invite He Ji to play mahjong with you tomorrow night."

Bai Huang asked curiously:

"What's that?"

I drew a few square blocks on the ground and said:

"It looks like this. Four people are playing together. I'll show you some other day."

After chatting for a while, I started to feel sleepy. It was mainly because the weather was getting colder. It was no longer the beautiful midsummer night. The cold wind made me shiver all over. I thought about it and asked Alayya: