Chapter 180

"I really admire you; in the current situation, you can still be so confident."

"It's also because I met you; if I met someone else, I really wouldn't be this certain."

"Certain of what?"

"Certain that you don't dare to gamble."

"Hehehe..." Zhao Yi licked his teeth, "Do you know that what you're saying now is very dangerous? Aren't you afraid of continuing to stimulate me and making me lose my head?"

"You have always been very clear-headed."

"Thank you."

"That's not a compliment."

"You are very weak, talk less."

Zhao Yi walked back to the washbasin with the towel, washed and wrung it out with hot water, then walked back to wipe the young man's face.

"Actually, I really hope you can die."

"I feel the same about you."

"Thank you."

"Are you a parrot?"

"Sigh." Zhao Yi threw the towel back onto the rack and sat down beside the young man, "If it wasn't me who came this time, how good that would be."

"I knew long ago that if someone came, it would most likely be you."

The vow left on the Zhao Wuyang stele was that when the Old Hag committed mass killings again, Zhao descendants would naturally come to suppress her.

Zhao Yi: "You saw the words on the stele, right."

Li Zhuiyuan: "I also took the things inside the stele."

"Do you have a feeling of having snatched my things?"

"Do you think your ancestor's vow on the stele was prepared specifically for you?"

"I didn't say that."

"If it really was prepared for you, then I would have to look down on that Long Wang in your family's history."

"Don't, you should continue to look up to him; I know my ancestor's action was not to leave a legacy for future generations."

Li Zhuiyuan believed in the Long Wang's stature.

Perhaps ordinary people might suspect that Zhao Wuyang left the stele and the artifact to pave the way for future generations, even with a hint of "nurturing bandits to maintain self-importance."

But the problem is, the Old Hag is no ordinary cat or dog.

Who would leave jackals, tigers, and leopards to pave the way for their descendants?

A vow is a sacrifice, and it is also a responsibility.

Zhao Wuyang sincerely wanted to take on the mission of suppressing the Old Hag with his own family and surname.

"Can you let me see the ancestor's things?"

Li Zhuiyuan opened his right hand, and the copper coin sword slid out.

Zhao Yi reached out to lift it up, placed it in front of him, touched the verdigris with his fingertips, and sighed:

"Good stuff."

"Yeah, your ancestor gave it to me."

Zhao Yi continued to carefully support the copper coin sword with his left hand, while his right hand formed a fist and smashed the floor violently.

"Bang! Bang! Bang."

Old Man Tian opened the door and peered in, thinking something had happened.

"Get out."

"Alright, young master."

Old Man Tian immediately closed the door and left.

After venting, Zhao Yi continued to observe the copper coin sword, looking fascinated:

"The ancestor's notes recorded this sword; every copper coin on it was personally refined by the ancestor, extremely Yang and rigid, specifically countering evil."

It is difficult to have a huge gap in the material of a copper coin sword.

What truly determines the value of a copper coin sword is its previous user.

When Li Zhuiyuan faced that boy at the bottom of the lake, the boy's skin was burned off the moment his head touched the copper coins, which was enough to show the value of this sword.

"Let's discuss something; this is, after all, my family's ancestral item. Why don't you show some style and return it to its original clan?"

"Dream on."

"This copper coin sword requires corresponding techniques to cooperate to exert its maximum efficacy; otherwise, it's easy to cast pearls before swine."

"You can teach me the set of techniques from your family, and that would avoid this tragedy."

"This..."

"I learn things very quickly."

Zhao Yi: "My meaning is, you have to leave me some benefits so I can persuade myself to believe in the performance of that person downstairs."

From beginning to end, Zhao Yi only looked at Xue Liangliang once when he carried Li Zhuiyuan upstairs.

He didn't go out to observe carefully because there was no need.

It was like the heads and tails of a coin toss; there were only these two results, and as for the trajectory of the coin in the air, there was no point in observing it.

"Not a chance."

"Are you really lacking this one magic tool?"

"I am."

"No, in the ancestral homes of the Qin and Liu families, what good things don't you have?"

"Can you still go to the warehouse of Old Zhao in Jiujiang and pick things out now?"

"Of course not; I am already walking the river. Unless I light the lamp a second time and admit defeat, I cannot have deep causal contact with my family."

"Same logic."

"But who doesn't have things prepared by their family before walking the river?"

"Me."

Zhao Yi: "..."

The harshness of the river water toward Li Zhuiyuan was not limited to age.

This unexpected self-ignition of the lamp and the start of the river walk directly severed the causal connection between Li Zhuiyuan and the Qin and Liu family inheritances.

Following the normal process, after Grandma Liu accepted him as a disciple, she would definitely have given him the best things in the ancestral home. As long as he could adapt and use them smoothly, Liu Jinxia would never be stingy.

But she really didn't anticipate that such a strange event would happen in the world, a situation she had never heard of, which she bumped into.

After the river walk started, it brought its own karma, and those good things that exceeded the specifications could not be given.

A Li taking the ancestral tablet to make an instrument for him was instead a loophole, because the ancestors of the Qin and Liu families no longer had spirits. With no spirits left, their tablets were naturally not involved in causal entanglement.

In normal interactions, it was fine to eat and drink at the Liu family, and it was also reasonable for elders to make clothes for juniors.

But knowing Grandma Liu was very wealthy, his own small pickup truck was bought with money Yin Meng saved from selling old books.

This involved a degree; if the involvement was too deep, it would easily cause family members to suffer backlash.

Large monetary transactions still had to be avoided, let alone ancestral home magic tools with deeper causal entanglement.

Qin Shu taught Runsheng martial arts, but Qin Shu returned from that period with extremely serious injuries.

Aunt Liu taught Yin Meng poison arts, and she was almost poisoned to death by Yin Meng. Was this really just because Mengmeng had a natural talent for poison arts?

Runsheng and Yin Meng were only worshipping the Long Wang, and their causal backlash was much lighter than his own.

At that time, the old lady really felt guilty and couldn't bear to watch, so she gathered a large set of basic books and handed them to him.

Even so, the old lady probably vomited several mouthfuls of blood in private.

The young man was equivalent to being born into a wealthy family but coming out empty-handed to struggle.

Therefore, Li Zhuiyuan was reluctant to give away this copper coin sword.

He couldn't use the good things at home, so he had to cherish the ones he picked up outside.

"Stingy."

Zhao Yi put the copper coin sword back into the young man's hand.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Young Master Zhao, you haven't lived a hard life."

"Heh, being called young master by someone from a proper Long Wang family, my bones feel a bit soft.

However, you ate the whole pot of rice yourself; at least leave something from between your fingers. You can't let me really run for nothing. I didn't catch up with this wave, and I will definitely come very urgently for the next wave. I'm at a loss."

"I don't owe you anything."

"I could have eaten at least half of this pot of rice."

"If I delayed for another day, waiting for you and your people to arrive, even if we reached a cooperation, do you think it would be led by you? Ask yourself, do you dare?"

Zhao Yi bit his lip tightly.

He raised his fists again and hammered the floor fiercely.

Old Man Tian opened the door again.

"Get out!"

"Alright, young master."

Zhao Yi looked at his reddened fists and said:

"When you saw that stele, you should have known I might come; at that time, you were in front. I believe that with your intelligence, you could have set a trap for me in advance and waited for me to jump in."

"I did think about it."

"But you didn't do it after all, so, an eye for an eye..."

"Don't make yourself sound so noble; you just didn't dare to gamble."

"Slap!"

Zhao Yi slapped himself hard.

"Slap!"

One slap wasn't enough, so he slapped himself again to seek symmetry.

This time, Old Man Tian didn't push the door to check the situation again.

Zhao Yi, with his two red cheeks, lowered his head and stared fixedly at the young man lying in front of him.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't look at him again, but closed his eyes; the medicine made him feel warm inside, and he felt sleepy.

Zhao Yi: "I'll ask you one last time, do you regret not setting up a layout to kill me and falling into your current plight."

"What plight?"

"The current situation."

"A tiger falling on the plains being bullied by dogs?"

"You could... say that."

"I regret it.

But it's not just about this one thing; not setting up a layout to kill you in advance is secondary. I shouldn't have taken the initiative to go to that evil spirit's lair; that thing's secret technique has venue usage restrictions.

I should have let that evil spirit be born, and waited until it left its lair before I made my move.

Or, let that evil spirit start killing people first, and then I would summarize the patterns from the killing samples, plan and prepare the prey in advance, and wait for it to take the bait.

Anyway, the Heavenly Dao only recognizes results; as long as no major disaster is caused, the merits and demerits will cancel each other out, and I should still be able to make a profit."

"Then why didn't you do that?"

A look of pain appeared on Li Zhuiyuan's face.

Zhao Yi panicked and hurriedly said: "Hey, the soup medicine I fed you isn't poisoned!"

He could feel that the young man wasn't pretending; deep in the other's soul, he seemed to be enduring some kind of intense pain.

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes, which were gradually filled with bloodshot veins:

"Because, I was stupid!"

He could have reduced the risk; of course, the risk wouldn't disappear out of thin air, it would only be transferred.

If his own risk was smaller, the ordinary people in the surrounding villages would have to bear this risk.

He clearly knew that when making the decision, he had avoided some things.

Facing Zhao Wuyang's stele and gift, he felt it was meaningless to design a trap for Zhao Yi in that situation.

Bringing people to that lake bottom early was to prevent the Old Hag from giving birth and starting a blood sacrifice. He certainly knew how it was possible for enough living people to remain at the bottom of that lake for the Old Hag's blood sacrifice, and she didn't want just anyone; she was very picky about killing people.

It could only be said that under the General's Tomb, the scene of the ancestors of the four families of the Old Heaven Gate bowing to him collectively, and them walking into the formation one by one to perish...

Had gouged a hole in his heart.

Since returning from Zhangjiajie, every time he went to Grandma Liu's house to see A Li, he would specifically go to the third-floor memorial hall and stand in front of the tablets for a while.

You cannot enjoy the prestige of the Long Wang's gate while letting those who have already died die again for your river walk, while simultaneously escaping the responsibilities under the Long Wang's gate.

People cannot just enjoy rights without fulfilling obligations.

Actually, someone like himself should walk the path of Wei Zhengdao; he cannot be found in history books, and even if traces of him remain in the Jianghu, no one knows who he is.

Known by no one, naturally having no worries, and acting with fewer scruples.

But the problem is, he has already embarked on this path.

Looking at it this way, at the initiation ceremony of the Qin and Liu families, the self-ignition of the lamp probably also had this meaning, fearing that he would regret it after entering the Long Wang's family, learning the techniques, and taking the magic tools, so they put shackles on him in advance.

Even though he lost the specific memories in his dreams, Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but suspect:

Is the reason the Heavenly Dao targets him so deliberately because it was scared by Wei Zhengdao in the past?

Finally, Li Zhuiyuan's expression calmed down.

"Are you okay?"

"Hmm."

Zhao Yi washed the towel again, came over to wipe the young man's face, and asked while wiping:

"Do you have some kind of problem?"

"Yes."

"Can it be cured?"

"Working on it."

"For someone like you, having a little problem is normal; if you were too healthy, it would be a bit strange."

"You talk too much, so annoying, let's just place the bet."

After wiping, Zhao Yi tied the towel around his neck and pulled it hard.

"Ugh..."

He really used force, pulling until his face turned red, and only let go when it was about to turn purple.

He got up and walked out of the room.

Old Man Tian looked at his young master's disheveled and miserable complexion and couldn't help but suspect that they had had a fight inside?

That young man was so weak, yet he could beat his young master like this; this injury was indeed faked!

Zhao Yi stood by the railing; downstairs, Xue Liangliang was having a heart-to-heart talk with the two Corpse Gu faction members.

Xue Liangliang was sharing his experience.

In order to give birth to children and ensure the family's deformed inheritance, the Bai family actually put in a lot of effort behind the scenes, which was equivalent to a secret technique.

Naturally, Xue Liangliang didn't know these things.

And fortunately, he didn't know, so he could explain things to these two from a mysterious and profound perspective.

If he really talked about specific dry goods, it would be easy to reveal the truth.

And the two Corpse Gu faction members, having preconceived notions and knowing that this matter was difficult, believed Xue Liangliang's mysterious and profound things even more.

They looked at Xue Liangliang as if they were looking at a totem manifestation, a benefactor specifically sent to bless them.

Even so, Zhao Yi, standing on the second floor, still believed Xue Liangliang was pretending.

The Emperor's New Clothes are actually not hard to expose.

He only needed to say a few words, or pretend to do a few things by accident, and then, those two Corpse Gu faction members who were now "subdued," upon discovering they had been deceived, would only be more furious and crazily retaliate against Xue Liangliang and the injured people in the room.

However, just as Li Zhuiyuan said, he didn't dare to gamble.

Even with a 99.9% certainty, he still didn't dare to gamble on that tiny bit of risk.

Back at the Zhao family's stone table, he stood on the roof, and the young man stood below.

The young man looked up at him and said: "I'm standing on the river, do you dare to come down?"

That scene left a psychological shadow on Zhao Yi.

He was really afraid that if he made a move, the young man would immediately stand up and say to him: Thank you for giving me a reasonable reason to kill you; there's no need to give your ancestor any face.

Zhao Yi's "accident" and "explanation" could only be correct, but from the young man's perspective, his behavior already constituted a cause for retaliation.

Everyone was seriously injured, leaving an ordinary person here to act and pretend to be an expert.

This is simply fishing with a straight hook!

It would be better if both sides were healthy; when teaming up to solve the evil spirit, he could then engage in schemes with him, which would make him feel much more secure.

Zhao Yi steeled his heart, turned around again, "Bang!" pushed open the door, and walked back into the room.

The young man lay on the bedding and sighed helplessly.

Zhao Yi: "There is a sentence that needs your cooperation to say; you should know what it is."

"I know, but I won't say it."

"Consider it me begging you!"

"Useless."

"On the road of walking the river, a hundred boats compete, but we also uphold the righteous path. We are opponents, but we are also guardians of the Heavenly Dao. I, Zhao Yi, will not take advantage of others' precariousness!"

"Still a coward."

"Hahahahahaha!"

Zhao Yi was going crazy.

This guy, he wouldn't even cooperate with the act to let him have a stable Dao heart!

Li Zhuiyuan raised his head with great difficulty, looked at Zhao Yi standing at the door, and said:

"Let's take it one wave at a time; accumulate as much merit as you can. When you reach the end and the road narrows, when you truly encounter me, just sensibly step aside."

Zhao Yi calmed down completely, and he said:

"The ancestor's notes once recorded a similar scene; there was once a person with astonishing talent and temperament who stood before the ancestor, making the ancestor not dare to raise his head.

The ancestor described him in writing as a mountain blocking his path.

Later, he died, and that mountain collapsed.

Do you know what the ancestor thought at the time?"

Li Zhuiyuan could treat Zhao Yi casually, but he could not be disrespectful to Zhao Wuyang.

Nor could he say "your ancestor was also a coward" like before.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Your ancestor must have been very sad."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yi's figure swayed, and he could barely stand steady.

Every generation of Long Wang's notes are forbidden items; even within the family, not many people are qualified to read them, and not many people dare to read them.

Therefore, the young man could never have peeked at the notes.

Zhao Yi supported himself with the door frame: "You understand my ancestor better than I do."

Li Zhuiyuan stopped speaking.

Zhao Yi continued: "Sometimes, having a mountain in front of you that you have to admire is not necessarily a bad thing.

But the one who laughs last is the one who laughs best.

Li Zhuiyuan,

If one day I hear the news that you are dead, I will also be sad."

"Sentimental."

Zhao Yi shrugged, turned around, walked out the door, and pointed his finger at the two Corpse Gu faction disciples below, saying:

"Either follow the agreement, continue to lead the way, and go to the next dangerous place recorded in your faction.

Or, start a war right here, and I will kill you on the spot!"

The two Corpse Gu faction disciples' expressions turned cold, and they looked back at Zhao Yi standing on the second floor.

Immediately, they stood up and bowed respectfully to Xue Liangliang, who was sitting there.

Xue Liangliang encouraged them: "Keep it up, where there's a will, there's a way."

The two cast grateful glances, one left a bag of things in front of Xue Liangliang, and then turned and walked out of the earthen building.

Xue Liangliang didn't know what was in these two bags; he felt unworthy of receiving them.

Because he knew very well that he hadn't been able to give them any practical help, only providing emotional value.

Zhao Yi: "We follow."

After a pause, Zhao Yi shouted loudly again:

"I won't let them come back; if they ever come back, it's because I deliberately let them!

If you, Li Zhuiyuan, have any accidents in the next ten days, it's all because of me.

Hey, I'm telling you, don't you dare commit suicide just to frame me!"

Li Zhuiyuan in the room rolled his eyes upon hearing this.

After saying these words, Zhao Yi took his people and left the earthen building.

Li Zhuiyuan knew that, in essence, Zhao Yi still didn't dare to gamble.

But Zhao Yi was able to settle for the next best thing and imitate his ancestor's state of mind, which could be considered losing in the east but gaining in the west.

The Jiujiang Zhao family was established because of Zhao Wuyang; Zhao Wuyang back then was probably not much different from Xiong Shan, coming from the grassroots, but he was able to walk to the end and become a Long Wang. Such a person is truly quite extraordinary.

Xiong Shan didn't have this temperament, so he was destined to fail and couldn't go far.

Xue Liangliang went upstairs, pushed open the door, and asked in a low voice: "Xiaoyuan, do we still need to keep acting?"

"No need to act anymore, thank you for your hard work, Brother Liangliang."

"It's not hard work, this is what I should do, so what do we do now..."

"Let me sleep for a while first."

"Okay, well, they left some pills in the room next door, sorted by category, with a bottle placed by each person's head, in different colors."

"Feed them to Runsheng and the others."

Since Zhao Yi decided not to gamble, he would naturally do favors along the way; smart people not wanting to take risks is an instinct, and maximizing benefits is also an instinct.

Besides, when this kid walks the river, he must have brought enough good things; the miraculous medicine of the Jiujiang Zhao family, it would be a waste not to eat it.

"Okay, then you rest well."

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes and slept for the whole night. After waking up, Li Zhuiyuan asked Xue Liangliang to heat up the remaining medicine from the dissolved pill and drank it, then fell asleep again after drinking.

That pill was dissolved into three bowls, and Li Zhuiyuan took three naps.

After waking up, although his body was still weak, he was no longer completely powerless.

He went to the room next door to visit his partners.

Runsheng and Lin Shu were both awake, but couldn't get out of bed, which was a normal phenomenon.

They would always be like this after using their trump card moves, and it should be because they had eaten the pills left by Zhao Yi that their waking time was much earlier than usual.

Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin were still in a coma.

It seemed that the pills left by Zhao Yi had no effect on Yin Meng's poison.

This... was not surprising.

Li Zhuiyuan took some medicine bottles labeled with antidote from Yin Meng's bag, opened them one by one to smell them carefully, chose the one with the mildest medicinal properties, and asked Xue Liangliang to mix it with hot water and feed it to her.

The young man didn't dare to mix it randomly either.

But not long after drinking it, Yin Meng began to vomit, vomiting out a lot of black water.

Seeing it was effective, Li Zhuiyuan asked Xue Liangliang to continue feeding her three times a day, one capful mixed with water each time.

That Gu insect was still clutched in Yin Meng's hand.

This seemed to have become her obsession.

Those two long black whiskers reminded Li Zhuiyuan of cockroaches in the south.

The young man touched the black whiskers a few times, but the whiskers didn't react this time.

Hopefully, its vitality could be as tenacious as a cockroach.

Tan Wenbin, on the other hand, had sunken eye sockets and a haggard face, and he still couldn't wake up, which was a bit strange.

Li Zhuiyuan recalled the children's graffiti covering the murals, and he suspected that the reason Tan Wenbin hadn't woken up was: the two resentful infants had swallowed too much resentment from the murals.

Originally, Tan Wenbin carrying two resentful infants on his shoulders already affected his life; now that the resentful infants were too full and fell into a deep sleep, it caused Tan Wenbin to bear too heavy a burden and be unable to wake up.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the medicine bottle Zhao Yi left for Tan Wenbin, poured a few pills into his palm, and then smelled them in front of his nose:

Dihuang Wan?

"Brother Liangliang, continue feeding this to Binbin."

"Okay."

"You don't need to feed him one at a time, you can feed him several at a time, forget it, feed him a handful at a time."

"Ah, then I fed him too little before."

Cui Hao and Li Ren were still hiding in the Zhao Jun Temple.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't be bothered to care about those two.

However, after he regained his ability to move, Xue Liangliang would take time every other day to go to the Zhao Jun Temple and throw them some supplies.

Another few days passed, and Lin Shu could get out of bed and move, which was still much faster than usual.

Besides the reason for the medicine Zhao Yi left, it was probably also because A You's body had adapted to the impact of the talisman needles; of course, it was more likely that the Tongzi adapted to the impact first.

The next one who could get out of bed was Runsheng.

Although the two couldn't do heavy physical labor, they could at least share the pressure of taking care of people.

Ran Dacheng drank too much at the Miao village last time and had a hangover for a night. The next day, he couldn't find the tractor and thought it had been stolen. He walked back to the village with tears in his eyes, and after discovering the tractor, he wept with joy.

Xue Liangliang expressed his apologies to him and promised to help arrange for him to continue to be responsible for logistics procurement after the construction team returned.

The construction team was indeed coming back; the resumption of work after the New Year was much later because they had to re-recruit workers in the nearby county.

Mainly because there were too many accidents on the construction site last year, which led to many workers not daring to come back to this construction site after receiving their wages and going home for the New Year.

Yin Meng woke up.

The first thing she did when she woke up was to look at the Gu insect she had been clutching for so long.

Seeing the Gu insect motionless, she let out a scream, thinking that this poison-proof one she had picked out from ten thousand insects had been squeezed to death by her own hands.

But when Yin Meng poured some poison to give it some stimulation, the guy immediately became spirited again.

Yin Meng was furious: "You were actually pretending to be dead!"

The two small packages gifted to Xue Liangliang by the two Corpse Gu faction members contained black things similar to Guilinggao.

After Yin Meng's inspection, this was top-notch Gu insect feed.

For a Gu master, this was indeed the most suitable gift to give; you couldn't give Xue Liangliang two Gu insects, right?

Xue Liangliang naturally gave these two packages to Yin Meng.

He would also occasionally sigh, wondering if that pair had succeeded or not.

The reality was that those two were used by Zhao Yi as tools to find clues, and it was hard to say if they could survive under Zhao Yi.

But this was fate.

The night before the construction team arrived, Tan Wenbin finally woke up.

After waking up, Tan Wenbin raised his head, his eyes dull, staring at the ceiling, and said:

"I had a long, long dream, in which I was eating all the time, and I'm worried that I'll get anorexia because of this."

Lin Shu: "Thank God, Brother Bin, you finally woke up; otherwise, if I brought you back in a coma, I really wouldn't know how to explain it to your sister-in-law."

Runsheng: "Sudden death."

After Tan Wenbin woke up, that night, Li Zhuiyuan sat with him and told him everything that happened before, including Zhao Yi's matter.

This was the special treatment that the team's second brain deserved.

After listening, Tan Wenbin asked suspiciously:

"Brother Xiaoyuan, you said that the boy forgot his Gu child brother because of your shielding, that's understandable.

But his mother, that is, that Old Hag, didn't she die right beside him? Why didn't he use that mirror secret technique to temporarily 'resurrect' his mother?

Although he killed his mother with his own hands, if he really 'resurrected' his mother, I think his mother would most likely still help him deal with you, Brother Xiaoyuan."

Li Zhuiyuan poured out all the remaining Dihuang Wan in the bottle and handed it to Tan Wenbin's mouth.

Tan Wenbin opened his mouth and ate them all like candy beans.

After putting down the bottle, Li Zhuiyuan replied:

"Because, like Zhao Yi, he didn't dare to gamble."

(End of chapter)