Chapter 361

Almost all multi-team waves had one commonality: the river water would push and set the stage from behind, causing conflicts and fierce competition among the River Walkers.

Being on the river, with a hundred boats racing, one had to compete and snatch.

However, the competition here was also divided into tiers.

Since coming to Luoyang, the youth had faced many conflicts, killed many people, and retrieved many lost items.

This was a small competition.

Ordinary multi-team waves were generally played this way: squeeze out competitors and eat the biggest peach oneself.

But placed in this wave, it was a bit unworthy of the specifications of the Long Wang's gate as a trial ground.

Li Zhuiyuan habitually viewed every wave as an examination paper, comparing the river water to the question setter.

Therefore, after the commotion at the Yu family ancestral hall erupted, Li Zhuiyuan not only guessed that the spirits of the past Yu family Dragon Kings were still present, but he also further guessed the true intention of this wave.

It was assessing who truly possessed the aura of a Long Wang.

And this was the great competition!

If one understood the river water deeply enough, one would discover that the river water was adept at labeling every existence in every circle of every wave with a functional tag.

The larger the scale of the team wave, the more obvious this phenomenon was.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that the spirits of the past Yu family Dragon Kings would "passively" become the proctors for this wave.

The youth didn't know how many River Walkers had already died in this wave, but according to convention, a group of survivors with excellent temperament and strength would eventually gather together.

Then, at the end of this wave, which was also the most difficult point, at least half would die quickly.

Heaven never closes all doors.

Who could obtain more advantages to survive at that time would depend on how many impression points the "proctors" gave you.

The people who should die died, and those who survived gained not just life, but a step further!

This was the so-called stepping on the corpses of competitors to walk to a higher place.

Therefore, what Li Zhuiyuan was doing now was farming points.

And he wasn't just farming them himself; he was bringing Chen Xiyuan along to farm them together.

Chen Xiyuan couldn't understand why the Yu family had encountered such a disaster, yet the spirits of the Yu family Dragon Kings still existed.

Li Zhuiyuan understood.

The inheritors of other Long Wang gates lived in honey pots, smelling a bit of sweetness and thinking it was everything.

But when Li Zhuiyuan entered the gate, what he saw were the broken spirit tablets in A-Li's dreams, a Long Wang gate that possessed two great Long Wang inheritances but not a single spirit.

For the sake of righteousness, the Long Wang spirits of the Qin and Liu families could all be sacrificed, without leaving even one to protect their own descendants.

Standing from A-Li's perspective, this was undoubtedly cruel, but standing from the perspective of the past Dragon Kings of the Qin and Liu families, this was a choice they had to make.

Why were the Yu family Long Wang spirits still here?

Li Zhuiyuan felt it should be because the evil spirits that the past Yu family Dragon Kings suppressed in the ancestral home... were still here.

Even if that old dog had more ability and made many promises, it wasn't qualified to make so many once-incredibly fierce evil spirits in the Yu family ancestral home still maintain their patience until now.

The reason the past Yu family Long Wang spirits sat by and watched their descendants be slaughtered and enslaved was because they had to deter these evil spirits. Once they were allowed to escape from the Yu family ancestral home, the Central Plains, which was already a densely populated area, would inevitably trigger a turbulent natural disaster.

One family crying is better than thousands of families crying.

Standing from a personal perspective, it was hard to understand, yet one had to feel deep admiration.

Therefore, Li Zhuiyuan even felt that his current behavior was a bit wrong.

What Jiang Shui wants to screen for are those who truly possess the stature of a Long Wang, and to continue pushing them upward; what the spirits of the successive Dragon Kings of the Yu family wish to see are juniors who are filled with righteous energy and dare to shoulder the cause of justice with iron shoulders.

As a result, what they saw was himself, a person whose emotions were so indifferent they were almost non-existent, "performing" here.

But he had no other way; he couldn't deliberately get the question wrong after "glimpsing" the correct answer, could he?

Li Zhuiyuan felt a warmth under his nose; a nosebleed was coming out.

The youth raised his hand, signaling to pause for a moment.

Tan Wenbin had just taken out tissues and water when they were snatched away by Chen Xiyuan. She squatted in front of the youth, carefully and gently helping the youth stop the bleeding.

Upon discovering Li Zhuiyuan looking at her intently, she spoke:

"Little brother, lift your head; don't look down."

This kind of nosebleed caused by overdrawing was inherently very difficult to stop.

After figuring out Li Zhuiyuan's purpose, she didn't try to persuade the youth to rest or slow down again.

Li Zhuiyuan: "My chest is a bit tight; don't block my wind."

Chen Xiyuan was stunned for a moment, then realized, moving her body to squat beside the youth. The youth also tilted his head back, letting Chen Xiyuan help him stop the bleeding.

The woman glanced at the direction the youth was facing; it was precisely the center point of the Yu family ancestral home, which was the location of the ancestral hall.

So, when little brother was saving these Yu family members at the beginning, he had consciously set the orientation of his sitting posture.

Li Zhuiyuan sensed that Chen Xiyuan's hand was trembling a bit.

This caused his nosebleed to fail to stop after several attempts, instead covering the lower half of his face with blood stains and even flowing onto his clothes, soaking a patch red.

There was no need to make it so exaggerated; the performance should stop at the right point. If one exerted too much force, it would fall into a lower tier.

Li Zhuiyuan shifted his gaze to look at Chen Xiyuan.

The youth discovered he had thought wrong; she wasn't helping him add to the act; she was truly afraid.

Afraid of whom?

Afraid of me?

Li Zhuiyuan simply closed his eyes.

Tan Wenbin walked over: "Miss Chen, let me do it; I have experience."

"Oh, okay."

Chen Xiyuan stood up to make room and stood to the side. She had indeed suddenly felt afraid just now.

She suddenly realized that the reason she felt little brother was cute was because little brother was still young and didn't practice martial arts.

If little brother were already an adult now and practiced martial arts, then when he stood in front of her, even if it were their first meeting... would she still think he was cute?

That person who ambushed and schemed against little brother, forcing little brother to have to light the lamp and River Walk in advance, seemed...

Chen Xiyuan shook her head vigorously: What on earth am I thinking!

Runsheng held the shovel head, looking at Chen Xiyuan, who was standing there with her gaze constantly changing, and then seeing her head-shaking action, he scratched his head. He knew why Chen Xiyuan was like this; this was:

Sequelae of growing a brain.

Tan Wenbin asked while helping Li Zhuiyuan stop the bleeding: "Brother Xiaoyuan, the Yu family is still very dangerous now. We have saved them all; do we still need to arrange to send them out safely next?"

Since they had saved them, they couldn't just leave them here to fend for themselves.

But in this way, they would have to specifically pull people out to take them away.

And one person might not be enough. Even if the nails were pulled out now and their "intelligence" was restored, they were completely outside the scope of normal life, raised as pigs since childhood, and couldn't even speak.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Let's continue saving people first."

Pausing,

The youth continued: "If no 'accidents' appear, then you and A-You take them along the path we came from, leave the Yu family from the back door, and then notify the village, letting Grandpa and the others come over to pick them up."

These Yu family members living in the village was the most appropriate. After a period of adaptation, most of them should be able to leave the village and integrate into normal society.

Tan Wenbin: "Yes."

He didn't ask if the cost of doing this was too high; he believed that Brother Xiaoyuan was willing to do this, so there must be a trade-off.

After stopping the bleeding, Li Zhuiyuan beckoned to signal to continue the rescue.

White flames flickered continuously at the youth's fingertips.

In the past, Li Zhuiyuan was only used to playing with karmic fire; now he discovered that other fires were also quite interesting.

However, he didn't plan to use this on his own soul.

The Ming family were "soul proliferation"; he was not. As a "heart demon" and "original body," they were the same existence. It looked similar to the Ming family's situation, but in reality, there was a fundamental difference.

But vaguely, the youth felt a sense of "closeness" to this white flame.

It wasn't because he had seen it before, but the side effects of this flame paired with the Ming family's main technique... seemed a bit familiar.

He had this feeling when he was learning the "Soul-Burning Heart-Clearing Technique."

To deduce and create a cultivation technique, one had to constantly try and fail, but this thing, trying and failing meant death; how was the trying and failing done?

Could it be finding a large group of experts skilled in this path, one by one willingly giving their lives to measure the data?

But regarding the soul, a thousand people have a thousand souls; how was sample control achieved?

And it could even be promoted to become the main technique of a Long Wang gate?

However, looking at what he was doing right now, the "Soul-Burning Heart-Clearing Technique" was indeed suitable for saving the Yu family members here.

So, this treatment and this performance score should have been tailor-made for that eldest young lady of the Ming family.

But the youth felt that she probably didn't have time to do these troublesome little things that wasted her state.

Small competition should be competed for, and it was necessary; otherwise, you wouldn't even be able to survive.

But if one limited one's vision to small competition, that would be picking up sesame seeds and losing the watermelon.

Grandma Liu had actually told him the correct answer to this wave long ago.

The youth glanced at Chen Xiyuan standing beside him; Chen Xiyuan's grandfather had actually told her too.

"Hmm?"

Although he had been distracted thinking, Li Zhuiyuan still maintained enough focus in terms of rescue.

He immediately discovered that this young man with relatively long hair and distinct facial features in front of him was a bit different.

When Runsheng took the nail out of his head and he was about to release the flame to help heal, he discovered that his soul had already healed.

This young man was still acting in a dazed state, drooling at the corner of his mouth, his gaze dull.

He was pretending.

It might be that when the demon beast was nailing this soul nail, a slip occurred, causing a certain Yu family member to fail to be fully nailed.

It was also possible... he was gifted, failed to be discovered in advance and transferred to another beast pen, and could resist the soul nail himself, silently seeking healing.

But regardless, this meant that for so many years, he had been playing the role of "a pig."

Eating and sleeping with these fellow clansmen in the pig pen.

Li Zhuiyuan stopped the movements in his hands, his gaze slightly condensed, looking at him.

After others around sensed this action of the youth, they also immediately focused their attention on this naked Yu family member.

The pressure of concentrated staring made this youth gradually unable to hold on.

First, his expression loosened, not knowing what expression to show, and panic was also revealed in his eyes.

Li Zhuiyuan took out a Heart-Clearing Talisman and stuck it on the youth's forehead. The youth calmed down, and then, he knelt in front of Li Zhuiyuan.

It wasn't bowing; it was because he was clear that these people were not here to torture them and were not enemies, but long-term camouflage and defense made him unable and even more afraid to let down his guard earlier.

Li Zhuiyuan: "I am not your enemy; I am here to save you, to save all of you."

The youth looked up, looking at Li Zhuiyuan, looking at the youth's lips. He couldn't understand the meaning of the words, but he could roughly feel the "emotion," so he nodded.

Li Zhuiyuan could feel that he was very smart, belonging to the fine products born in a cruel survival environment.

But the current problem was that they couldn't communicate.

Tan Wenbin: "Brother Xiaoyuan, do you want A-You to chat with him alone first?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Hmm."

Tan Wenbin patted the youth's shoulder, signaling him to follow him. The youth understood the meaning, crawled on all fours, and followed Tan Wenbin to crawl in front of Lin Shu You.

"A-You, I leave him to you."

"But Brother Bin, what should I chat with him about?"

"Whatever you want."

"There has to be a scope and guidance, right?"

Tan Wenbin waved his hand and said: "You are a genius; geniuses are most afraid of being restricted."

Lin Shu You knew Brother Bin was coaxing him, but he was indeed very happy to hear it.

The youth crawling on the ground looked at Lin Shu You with great curiosity.

Lin Shu You also bent down, crawled on all fours, and began to "communicate" with the youth.

After chatting for a little while, seeing that there were many people here, Lin Shu You planned to take the youth to a quieter corner.

Before leaving, Lin Shu You went to get his backpack, but when he lifted it, he found it very heavy; it should be Runsheng's.

Then he would take Runsheng's; he was too lazy to change it.

With a wave of his hand, Lin Shu You crawled forward, and the youth followed A-You obediently to crawl out.

Li Zhuiyuan here continued to save the remaining Yu family members.

Time passed minute by minute. During this period, some movements would occasionally come from afar, but they were all far less than the one in the ancestral hall earlier.

After the last person's nail was pulled out, Runsheng couldn't help but rub his own wrists.

Li Zhuiyuan's vision had already become slightly blurred.

Fortunately, before this wave at home, his mental consciousness had been further polished and tempered; otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to complete this major project in the beast pen.

The Yu family members who received the rescue first had already woken up. They were not accustomed to the environment outside their respective small pens and appeared very uneasy.

Some were crying, some were shouting, and some were still thinking about jumping back into the pig pen.

Runsheng could only raise his shovel in a threatening manner to slightly suppress their restlessness.

Chen Xiyuan went to fetch food. There were several large vats outside the beast pen, which contained the day's feed; it was indeed pig food.

Feeding these to them put some psychological pressure on Chen Xiyuan, but the food they brought themselves couldn't satisfy so many people at all. Furthermore, she was very clear that the things they brought had to first ensure the use of their own people next.

The first bucket was brought over, and these Yu family members swarmed up, quickly overturning the bucket. The food, which was already like paste, splashed on the ground, and they began to grab it with their hands on the ground or simply lick it off the ground.

Chen Xiyuan looked at the feeding trough over there.

Li Zhuiyuan: "They need to be full to have the strength to walk out of the Yu family, go to that village, relearn how to be human. Pour the food into the feeding trough; just treat it as their last meal as livestock."

Chen Xiyuan knew the youth was comforting her.

This little brother sometimes made her feel terrifyingly cold, and sometimes made her feel very warm and gentle.

After pouring the food into the feeding trough bucket by bucket, the Yu family members began to squat together in an orderly manner and eat.

After they were full, their emotions also stabilized. Some lay lazily there intending to sleep again, some were chasing and playing with each other, and some were picking lice off each other.

Just at this time, Lin Shu You and that Yu family youth crawled over together.

The youth had crumbs of compressed biscuits at the corner of his mouth and kept hiccuping while moving.

Obviously, Lin Shu You had given the youth a special meal, or it could be called a picnic that had just ended between two friends.

The youth was still clutching a finished can of Jianlibao in his right hand.

Runsheng's backpack was the heaviest of all, and it contained the most supplies.

The youth looked at the group of fellow clansmen in front of him, opened his mouth, and made a calling sound:

"Woo-leh woo-leh woo-leh~"

This sound was for calling pigs.

Li Zhuiyuan was very familiar with it.

In the past, when he first arrived in Nantong, every time Grandma Cui Guiying called the children home for dinner, she would call like this.

The effect of the youth's call was immediate.

All the Yu family members sat on the ground in an orderly manner, all looking at him together.

If an alien appeared in a small ethnic group, it would either be besieged and killed or expelled, or it would become the leader.

The youth was clearly the latter.

His alien performance should just be to hide from the demon beasts here; usually, among his fellow clansmen, he didn't hide too much.

Among a group of "pigs" who had been nailed with soul nails, the one most like a human appeared, and everyone tacitly agreed to listen to his words.

Immediately, the youth turned around, holding high the hand clutching the Jianlibao.

Most of the Yu family members tacitly followed. Some who were hesitant and confused, after seeing that everyone else had taken action, also followed.

Tan Wenbin was a bit surprised: "They're just leaving like this? Does he know the way?"

Lin Shu You stood up straight and answered: "He knows; I taught him how to walk."

Tan Wenbin: "I didn't see a map in his hand."

Lin Shu You: "He doesn't need a map; he is very smart, really."

Tan Wenbin: "That is undoubtedly true."

If this one were born in a normal Yu family, even if he weren't a main-line member, he could rely on his talent to obtain the status of a core member.

Tan Wenbin walked to Li Zhuiyuan's side and asked: "Brother Xiaoyuan, do you want to send someone to follow?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "I trust A-You."

Tan Wenbin nodded.

Lin Shu You gently bumped Tan Wenbin: "Brother Bin, I even gave him a name."

Tan Wenbin: "Yu Yi?"

Lin Shu You: "How could I possibly take such a simple name?"

Tan Wenbin: "Then what is it?"

Lin Shu You: "Yu Da."

Tan Wenbin: "Good name."

Everyone packed up their things and prepared to continue setting off. With enough delay on the way, the next destination for everyone was the Yu family ancestral hall.

Li Zhuiyuan got on Runsheng's back and soon closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He didn't know how long he slept specifically; Li Zhuiyuan woke up, and he was "choked" awake.

The demon resentment permeating the air directly doubled in concentration here.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his head and saw that everyone was standing in place, and Chen Xiyuan, who had originally switched to leading the charge, was also walking toward Runsheng here.

"Little brother, you're awake? I was planning to wake you up."

The youth had told her before that he hoped the demon resentment concentration could double tenfold; she had remembered it.

There was still some distance from here to the Yu family ancestral hall, but the demon resentment concentration here was obviously much higher than in other places.

Li Zhuiyuan looked toward a direction in the pitch black and asked: "Has that place been scouted?"

Chen Xiyuan: "Waiting for your order."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Scout it."

"Okay."