across the Quartet

Chapter Nine of Gathering and Scattering

It was night, and the two stayed in the countryside.Because it was close to the area controlled by the Qin people, Wei Zhuang didn't want to start a fire, so he picked a fairly dry open space, sprinkled a circle of snake medicine around a few camphor trees, and said, "I will keep watch at night."

Gai Nie didn't refuse, he laid Yuan Hong on his knees, leaned against the tree trunk and closed his eyes to rest.The stars above the head are light and faint, and the low roar of wild animals can be heard from time to time in the depths of the forest.A few bluish phosphorous fires can be seen faintly in the low grass, and suddenly they are swept into the shadows of the branches and leaves by a gust of cool wind, leaving only the salty dampness.

Wei Zhuang saw that his elder brother was breathing more and more evenly, and said with a soft smile: "I am also an old man from Jing Ke, so you are not afraid that I will kill you in your dream, and you will hand over the title of sword master?"

Gai Nie still closed his eyes, unmoved. "What a character the Lord of Quicksand is, how can he be worthy of such a false name."

"What kind of person am I? I'm just a reckless man who eliminates disasters and kills chickens and dogs."

"Xiao Zhuang, you don't have to be humble. After leaving the valley, I have seen many methods to deal with people overtly and covertly. Luowang is the best among them, but no matter how ingenious their plans are, people can more or less guess the clues. But if you make a plan, it is more concealed and more natural than anyone I have ever seen. People who are caught in the net don't feel it at first. gone."

Wei Zhuang laughed loudly and said, "Senior brother is worthy of being a close minister of the monarch for two years, and now he can even say flattery."

"This shouldn't be a compliment..."

"You are nothing more than saying that Wei is sinister and vicious, far superior to others; others listen to sarcasm, but I listen to it very well."

Ge Nie looked at him helplessly.Wei Zhuang changed the topic at this time, and his tone became more and more low. "Brother, there is something I have always wanted to tell you."

"What's the matter?"

"In troubled times, it's normal for relatives and siblings to take matters into their own hands. Now that we have drawn our swords, let's not say that Jing Ke didn't really die at your hands. Even if you killed him with your own hands, you don't owe him anything. What's more You don’t owe the Mo family, you owe the Yanzhao countries. Except you owe me a decisive battle, you don’t owe anyone.”

Gai Nie knew that his junior had probably heard about swordsmen from all over the world constantly challenging him, so he didn't try to defend himself, but just looked up to the north. "Things in the world are not all transactions, and how can we calculate the profit and loss of grievances so clearly. Although Jing Qing died, there are still so many people in the world who remember him and spread his reputation. Only one out of ten is enough to be gratifying."

Wei Zhuang snorted softly, "That's right, for a butcher like Wei, who can't be seen in the light, if there are two or three sons who remember him after his death, it's not in vain."

At this point, Gai Nie didn't know how to persuade him, so he could only sigh: "At least we are still alive."

Wei Zhuang smiled meaningfully. "That's right, since you're still alive, there's a lot to do if you move around."

Gai Nie closed his eyes securely again amidst his junior brother's somewhat piercing smile.Soon he was completely relaxed, and he was really fast asleep.This is really unbelievable for a swordsman who is in the wild, especially who is often attacked by surprise these days.

It is said that some people who are obsessed with martial arts often face the blood of swords and swords in their sleep; but Gai Nie is most likely to dream about trivial things around him.In a daze, he seemed to be still watering flowers and plants in the small courtyard in Xianyang. The old woman who was cooking fire in the house came over to say hello, and said to him mysteriously: "Look, sir, this child, Ah Ting, must be Which girl is he in love with... Look at him, he would stop in a daze from time to time, and sometimes he would giggle inexplicably, if he wasn't thinking about the person on his heart, how could he be so dazed—"

Suddenly, the speaker turned into a colleague traveling south with him. "The commander has no female relatives in his family, but he never wants to go out to have fun with his brothers. Could it be that he is worried that wine and beauties will consume energy and hinder his sword skills?" I don’t know who the leader is thinking about?”

Suddenly, he seemed to be standing on the street of Xinzheng again, and a gorgeous two-horse light cart drove towards him.The younger brother got off the car, still dressed in brocade, with a beautiful woman by his side; even though he was standing in a dangerous city, his expression was still calm and unhurried.That kind of easy-going demeanor made him look more like a strategist who is in control of everything, rather than a powerful bloodthirsty warrior.

His eyes turned to Gai Nie's body, as if there was substance—it was not as sharp as a sword blade, but sticky and dense, like slender catkins and spider silk.

Gai Nie suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes were facing his senior brother's, and the two separated with a slight touch.

"Why did you wake up? You are so alert, you are indeed the saint of the sword—"

Gai Nie knew that he would not be able to get rid of his junior brother's teasing of this name in this life, so he had to change the subject. "It's about time. I'll keep watch."

"Senior brother really cares about pennies and bucks. You escaped for two days and two nights before, and you must have no room for rest. The road ahead is uncertain, and it is very rare to be so peaceful tonight."

"I'm rested."

Wei Zhuang saw him like this, so he didn't insist, he put the shark's teeth behind his head, and lay on his back on the ground for a nap.Both of them knew in their hearts that what was waiting for them ahead was not an easy battle, no matter in terms of physical strength or scheming.

Early the next morning, the two brothers and sisters rode for more than a hundred miles, and arrived in Chen County around noon.From here, their route deviates from the official road, deliberately taking the wilderness, deliberately searching for the area where Lord Changping went hunting.Although the sun was shining brightly in the afternoon, the dense forest was not as bright as expected.The ground is covered with thick fallen leaves and mulch, and dead vines are tightly twisted around the tall trees.Numerous bare branches intertwine above the head, pointing to the sky like swords and halberds; they are obviously just harmless plants, but there is an aura of fighting and scrambling for no reason.

After entering the forest, Gai Nie roughly distinguished east, west, north, south, and north according to the direction of sunlight and the growth preference of trees and moss, and then explored a water vein passing through the forest, followed the stream all the way to the east, and turned southwest at the waterway left a mark at the place; then walked south for a few miles, and found the place where the incident happened three days ago.Searching in all directions around this place as the center, they found many dead people and dead horses lying on the ground.The faces of the corpses had been pecked by sparrows, but judging from the uniform robes, most of them were guards from the Qin State: some were carrying captured grouse and hares in their hands, some had their quiver slipped from their bodies, and their arrows Arrows were scattered all over the ground; someone's long sword had just been unsheathed, and it was too late to be stained with the blood of the enemy.It can be seen how quickly and suddenly they were attacked at the moment.

"Be careful, there may be organs that haven't been touched yet." Ge Nie said solemnly.He struck hard on the nearby tree trunk with the scabbard, and a flexible branch was ejected, with a short knife tied to the top.He gently clamped the blade between his fingers and put the dagger away.

"These tricks can't be said to be very clever, but they are very effective." Wei Zhuang pushed a pit covered with dead branches and leaves with his toes, and pointed stakes were inserted upside down at the bottom.In addition to dead leaves, mottled tree shadows swayed on the ground, so the traps were extremely difficult to detect.They soon discovered several potholes that had been stepped on. The bottom of the pit was bloody and bloody, and no human figure could be seen.

"I was waiting for a group to encounter an ambush near here, fighting or fleeing, and many people died in traps. I fought with the other three, and I walked roughly northwest. The places where these footprints and branches were broken , which means that some people went in the opposite direction..." Gai Nie was talking to himself while groping deep into the woods along the traces he found. "The footprints are very light and neat; there are indentations on the moss growing on the high part of the tree trunk, and the person who borrowed it is very light. There are far more than one person who walked this road, but there was no sign of a fight during the process, which shows that they It's not about being hunted down and fighting and leaving, but retreating in an orderly manner. Yes, this is the route those killers left."

When it comes to hunting, Wei Zhuang can be regarded as an expert; but when it comes to identifying directions in the forest and following the tracks of humans and animals, there are few people who can match Gai Nie.He practiced in the mountains since he was a child, so he already had some talent; in addition, he had been a scout for several years, and was taught and honed by the Zhongshan wolf, so his tracking skills were considered first-class even among the "mountain ghosts".Wei Zhuang followed him all the way to find the past, he couldn't help secretly admiring his senior brother's comprehensive eyesight and careful and accurate judgment when he focused on searching, but he refused to show it on the surface. "I wonder if Mr. Changping is also among them? If it is said that this person was really taken away, maybe he will secretly leave some marks in the hope that someone will rescue him in the future."

Ge Nie shook his head silently.The two followed the traces and continued to explore the depths of the forest.Withered vines and old trees grow more and more densely, and in some places there is no place to stand, let alone a road.Gai Nie used his sword to cut through the thorns all the way, and after walking less than half a mile, he heard the sound of rushing water.It turned out that the river meandered through the woods, but at this time it turned back in front of the two of them.But the banks of the river were slippery and muddy, and many traces were interrupted and disappeared here.Ge Nie jumped onto a rock standing by the water, looked upstream and downstream respectively, and couldn't make up his mind where to search.

"Look, what is that?"

Wei Zhuang could see with sharp eyes that there seemed to be something floating at the bend in the lower reaches of the river.Looking for it along the river, I saw a floating corpse with a swollen body, stuck between two reefs, and the clothes were very different from the dead ones I saw before.Gai Nie recognized that this was exactly the outfit of the killer who surrounded them that day.

"How did this killer die here? This place is far away from the place where we were attacked. Could it be that there was a second fight by the river? But since they have completed their mission, what kind of enemy will they encounter here? who?"

"Infighting?" Wei Zhuang's face was a little gloomy.Some things gradually exceeded his expectations, but he couldn't hold them like a stream of water. "Or one of the killers was injured and died, and the accomplices didn't want to reveal their whereabouts, and they didn't have time to dig a hole to bury them, so they simply threw the dead into the river."

"Hmm. If the group of assassins handled the corpses of their companions, maybe it wasn't just this one. There were other corpses taken away by the river."

Gai Nie wanted to salvage the deceased, but Wei Zhuang was worried that he would be poisoned by the corpse, so he hit the rock with his palm, breaking it into several pieces.Affected by this shock, the body floated out of the hiding place and went down the water; the two chased the river for several miles, crossed a gentle slope, and came to a low-lying land.At this point, the water flow changes from turbulent to slow, and the water surface gradually widens, forming a deep and calm lake like a bronze mirror.There is a tidal flat by the lake, and there are indeed many corpses piled up here, probably washed here by the current.Strangely, these corpses were dressed exactly the same as the previous floating corpses, except that they had lost their heads.

Gai Nie swept his gaze, and couldn't help but let out an exclamation.About fifty steps away from the corpse on the beach, there was a circular clearing formed by the felling of trees.A dozen or so heads were neatly stacked in the middle, and the muscles on the face seemed to have been eaten one by one, exposing the scorched bones underneath, which was hideous and terrifying.Before he had time to say anything, Wei Zhuang jumped up lightly, landed near the pile of skulls, and leaned over a few steps away to check.When Gai Nie caught up, he saw his junior brother's face was ashen, and his muscles were tense, as if he was desperately suppressing some extremely bad emotions.

"Could it be..." Gai Nie knew that what Wei Zhuang and he were thinking of should be the same thing at this moment - the three-prison blood-smeared battle in Yingchen four years ago.Although there are no cattle or sheep sacrifices here, the feeling of the circle is almost the same - a bone-piercing coldness, resentment, and a cruel indifference that treats human life like livestock.

He gripped the hilt of the sword tightly, and his senses' detection of the surroundings was raised to the extreme - there was silence for hundreds of steps around, which was very abnormal.Generally speaking, the corpses of humans and animals will always attract hyenas, wild dogs, crows, vultures, etc. in the forest to feast on them; but these people have been dead for more than a day, but their bodies seem to be completely untouched.But if there are no birds and beasts, then where did the flesh on these heads go?

Seeing his junior standing still, Gai Nie took the lead and said, "...how could there be sorcerers from southern Xinjiang involved. I'm getting more and more clueless about this matter."

Wei Zhuang hummed absently, as if he was in deep thought.Gai Nie knew that he would try his best to complicate even the simple things, not to mention the cloudy and misty strange things in front of him, I am afraid that he would not give up until he conceived ten or eight convoluted behind-the-scenes conspiracies.

"These people should be the killers who besieged Lord Changping. It's a pity that the oriole is behind, and they themselves have become sacrificed outcasts." Gai Nie sighed.At this time, Wei Zhuang, who had been distracted for a while, suddenly said: "Huh? What did you say?"

Ge Nie watched him carefully for a moment. "Xiao Zhuang, you seem...in a bad mood?"

"No one else, it's just something hurting the other." Wei Zhuang supported the shark's teeth with both hands, and there was a lingering sadness in his eyes. "As killers, these people are just low-level pawns, the most humble part of the plan, like the cornerstone buried in the ground. They often die for the task, but they can't see how grand the overall layout is, and they can't feel their own power. How important is location. But the grandest walls and castles cannot be built without such foundations."

It's rare for Xiaozhuang to sigh like this, Gai Nie thought.He remained silent, and he also thought of the thousands of comrades who died in the Qin-Zhao War: Where are their bones buried now, and where are their souls?The halberd with his name engraved on it, which recruit did not know which one it was in?

But soon, a more pressing question seized him—could Mr. Changping's head be one of these mutilated heads?

He broke off a moderately thick branch and flattened the top with a sword, intending to dig a pit next to the pile of heads, bury them nearby, and at the same time identify the appearance as much as possible.Unexpectedly, just as he poked a skull away with a branch, Wei Zhuang suddenly grabbed his arm and shouted loudly:

"retreat!"

Before he finished speaking, countless gnats, mole crickets, and centipedes crawled out of the hollows of the dozens of skulls. Their carapaces were shiny with oil, and they rushed towards them like a pool of black oil.Thousands of insect feet rubbed against the dry grass and fallen leaves and made a loud rustling noise. Just listening to the sound made people shudder.

Gai Nie was about to draw his sword, but Wei Zhuang yelled: "No!" As he tapped the ground with the scabbard, the sword energy set off a gray wall made of sand and soil.Ge Nie realized that he was saying that poisonous insects should never be killed lightly; not that they were dangerous in themselves, but that the elusive spell often had hidden traps that interlocked.

In an instant, Gai Nie and Wei Zhuang were connected with each other, and they rushed towards the surface of the water at the same time.Gai Nie threw the branch in his right hand towards the lake, and stretched out his left palm to grab into the void. A branch on a dead tree broke with a creaking sound, and flew flatly into the water as if being pulled by a rope; Wei Zhuang landed lightly on the ground When the first branch was on the ground, the second branch just reached Gaine's feet. "Controlling Crane Palm." Wei Zhuang glanced at him unexpectedly, "Senior brother has not yet mastered this skill."

When they were studying in Guigu, the two senior brothers had browsed through the classics of martial arts collected by Guiguzi in the past dynasties; after all, they were teenagers at that time, and they were very interested in many unique martial arts, such as the Crane Control Palm, which claims to be able to extract objects from the air. .But later, as the decisive battle approached, Wei Zhuang concentrated all his energy on vertical and horizontal swordsmanship, and stopped dabbling in other kung fu.Unexpectedly, this kind of palm technique that is more interesting than practical can be skillfully used by my senior brother many years later.

Like two waterfowls, the two stood in the middle of the lake leaning on only one branch, watching a large black insect swarm plunge into the water, rolling like boiling oil.After a long time, the water finally returned to calm.Wei Zhuang breathed a sigh of relief, and said: "These are not ordinary insects, but 'chickets' refined by witchcraft. Once their body is broken, the body pulp will burst out, and it will emit an extremely powerful poisonous gas." , grass and trees will die when touched, and humans and animals will not be spared."

"Xiao Zhuang, you seem to know a lot about this kind of witchcraft."

"That's right." Wei Zhuang said calmly: "Although there are many people in southern Xinjiang who believe in the art of witchcraft, as far as I know, there is only one person who has the ability to refine weeds, and his name is Wu Shen; this person claims to be the chief of the Wu clan. , voted for Chu after Kan Bo, and soon became the confidant of the king of Chu. You know that because of the attack on Guigu by the Ten Swords, three masters of the Wu family were missing, and this old account was naturally counted by the whole family to Wei On the head. When Wu Shen took refuge in Negium, he had already heard that I was the descendant of Guigu, so he asked the king of Chu to let me fight alone and separate life and death; If he is willing to offend, he can only be generously rewarded and comforted by soft words. He and I regard each other as a threat, but because of the favor of the King of Chu, it is difficult to make a move. In the past two years, we have lived in peace. Since he appears here, I am afraid Even the king of Chu has been alarmed by Lord Changping's entry into Chen."

"You mean, this sorcerer is an assassin sent by the king of Chu?" Gai Nie asked, thinking that since he is a sorcerer in southern Xinjiang and known as the patriarch, his skills are probably better than the "three witches" who entered Ghost Valley back then. ; Then it is not surprising that there are some strange methods to find the location of Lord Changping in the dense forest.

"It should be so. Although the two half-brothers of King Chu are officials in the Qin State, they are also the blood of the former king after all; and the throne of Li Chu has an improper origin, and he always feels threatened, so he has long conspired to get rid of them. This detailed work Finding out that Lord Changping was sent to Chencheng by the King of Qin, this is the perfect opportunity for the King of Chu. If Wu Shen really made the move, Lord Changping would definitely die."

"But, why bother to kill all these killers? Even if the king of Chu ordered to kill Lord Changping, that's not a great secret. Now that Qin and Chu are about to go to war, the king of Chu can completely blame Lord Changping for being the prince of Chu. But he acted as a former spy of the Qin people and killed him justifiably."

"In my opinion, this is not a silence, but a conflict between two groups of people who already have different goals." Wei Zhuang said thoughtfully. "The king of Chu thinks Lord Changping should die, but not everyone in Chu thinks so. Negative Chu has no heirs yet, and many nobles even regard Lord Changping as the orthodox heir. There are many conflicts and complicated relationships between nobles and nobles in Chu. I I think you also know that the three clans of Qu Jingzhao are all Mi surnames, with vast land and strong strength, and their status in Chu State is almost equal to that of the royal family. However, since the generation of King Huai, there have been more and more monarchs in Chu State, and due to frequent wars, Aristocrats such as the Huang family and the Xiang family who started their careers because of their military exploits have become more and more favored by the monarch. Since then, the rift between the old and new nobles has gradually widened, so that when Li Yuan punished Huang Xieman's family, the other big families all stood on the sidelines and refused. Extending a helping hand. And after taking the throne, he relied heavily on the Xiang family, which also aroused the dissatisfaction of some old nobles. The war is about to start, and the private soldiers of the kings from all over the Chu state were dispatched by Xiang Yan to enrich the country's army; In the eyes of many lords, this is a means for the Xiang clan to take the opportunity to weaken them. Therefore, there are many people in Chu who privately hope that the succession of Lord Changping can change the dominance of the Xiang clan."

"So their purpose of robbing Lord Changping was not to assassinate him, but to be loyal to him. In this way, they will be able to gain the highest position in the court by supporting him in the future." Gai Nie suddenly said, "If this is the case, Then it is very likely that Lord Changping colluded with them from the very beginning, agreed on a meeting place in the forest, and asked them to lay an ambush in advance. Although it is a great risk to leave Qin and enter Chu at this time, the temptation to become a king is too great No matter how shrewd and prudent a person is, it is difficult to refuse such a gamble."

"You think, if such a group of people met another group of people sent by King Chu to assassinate Lord Changping in the forest, what would happen?"

"...I will never die."

"Exactly. So you don't have to confirm which head belongs to Mr. Changping. If Wu Shen had already succeeded, his head would probably have been brought back to Shouchun to return to life. And Wu Shen left this formation to deal with him. The people who will come here to investigate are the employers behind the first group of killers—this group of people has not heard back for a long time, and they will definitely send people or come here to check in person; getting rid of these hidden opponents for the king of Chu is another Great job."

Gaine nodded.Thinking about it this way, it seems that all the problems can be explained... But he turned his head to look upstream of the river, and suddenly frowned, "It's still not right."

"What's wrong?" Wei Zhuang squinted at him.

"Our guess just now is that there were two groups of Chu people ambushing in the forest that day. One group attacked the hunting team and robbed Lord Changping, and the other group belonged to the king of Chu killed the first group of assassins." Gai Nie Dao, "But you still remember the corpse we saw floating in the water just now—he was whole. But all the dead here have been beheaded. They are dressed the same, and they are obviously companions. ; What is the reason for this?"

"Because only that one corpse was stuck between the rocks and was not washed up on this mudflat—ah." Wei Zhuang immediately realized the problem, and his brows tightened again. "The place where the murderer throws the body away and the place where the head is cut off are actually two different places? But why did Wu Shen need to do so?"

"That's right. If all the people were killed by Wu Shen, it would be easier to form an array at the place where they were first killed, and then throw the headless corpses into the water to wipe out the traces. But in fact, this order is exactly the opposite. First someone from The bodies were thrown into the water upstream and their heads were beheaded downstream."

Wei Zhuang changed his foot to stand on the branch, with sweat dripping from his forehead. "Unless...unless the sorcery formation must meet some harsh conditions before it can be activated, so even though Wu Shen is a hand swimming in the upper reaches, he still has to bring the head to this place after throwing the corpse; the complete corpse, Is it because the number of heads he needed to set up the formation is sufficient, so he was spared? Of course, this explanation is far-fetched, and the possibility is very small."

"Yes. And from the perspective of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, there is no difference between this place and the upper reaches: there is wood, soil, and water; all belong to the yin of water. There is nothing special about the surroundings of the formation. I just randomly touched one of the skulls with a branch, and the formation was activated."

"You're quite proud." Wei Zhuang rolled his eyes at him, and said: "So the most likely situation is that there were actually not two, but three forces hiding here that day? The first force took people away, The second force killed people and threw away the corpses; the third force found the corpses, perhaps recognized some of them, and set up a formation with their heads, trying to assassinate the mastermind behind the first force. Now we only know the identity of the last group The leader is Wu Shen, and the first group of people who attacked the hunting party and robbed Lord Changping were likely to be a certain aristocratic family who secretly harbored dissatisfaction with the King of Chu."

"The question is, between the two, who actually killed the killers."

"The answer to this question can only be found in one person."

Wei Zhuang endured the discomfort, and pulled out the first corpse that drifted down the water, and dropped it to the other side of the lake.Gai Nie also arrived.Although the body had long been swollen, some scars could still be discerned.

"What a fast sword." Wei Zhuang praised the deceased as he checked the clothes of the deceased with a branch.

Ge Nie's eyes gradually became sharper. "I recognize this kind of swordsmanship." As he spoke, he bent down, gently pulled out a thin blue needle from the dead man's eyeball, and said word by word: "Mr. Changping."

"...It's him?!" Wei Zhuang gritted his back molars, and snorted coldly, "But why did he betray those who intended to regard him as king?"

"I don't know. Maybe he still doesn't dare to be an enemy of Qin."

"Then he shouldn't have colluded with Chu people in the first place, so why repeat it?"

"It's just our guess that Mr. Changping colluded with a certain force in Chu. Maybe he really didn't know the plan of the Chu people in advance, and after he was robbed, he looked for an opportunity to kill the robbers who hijacked him and escape."

Wei Zhuang shook his head and sneered. "No. If ordinary people are hijacked, they will only think of waiting for an opportunity to escape. Why take the risk of beheading the gangsters? Why throw the corpses into the water? This really seems to be the style of killing people."

"Killing... What secret is he trying to cover up? After he killed someone, where did he go? Will he fall into Wu Shen's hands?" Ge Nieyu was thinking hard, but when he heard a plop beside him, his junior brother suddenly knelt down on one knee, Holding the shark's teeth to support the body, the face is covered with cold sweat, and the teeth are rattling.He quickly reached out to help, but Wei Zhuang held his left arm tightly with one hand, with such force that it almost broke his bones.

"...The secret technique...exploded..." Wei Zhuang tried his best, but he could only force out a few words.

Gai Nie hurriedly unwrapped the fingers wrapped around his arm, clasped the pulse gate of his junior with his backhand, and poured zhenqi into Taiyuan and Shenmen acupoints to investigate; he didn't want the zhenqi in Wei Zhuang's body to be extremely vigorous at this time, and it was moving around uncontrollably The turmoil was like a levee collapsing, and the torrent was released in one fell swoop, turning the village into a vast ocean; Ge Nie was restrained by this chaotic internal force, and was dragged to the ground, unable to escape.The two are like one body, the internal breath expands and contracts at the same time, sometimes it is hot like fire, sometimes it is as cold as snow.This toss is actually a hundred times more dangerous than any kind of sword fight.

Gai Nie felt his body's meridians tremble violently, but he didn't even have the strength to shake off Wei Zhuang's hand.After an unknown amount of time, Wei Zhuang suddenly let go of the hand holding the sword, and slammed a palm on Ge Nie's chest, sending him flying a few feet away.

Ge Nie managed to get up from the ground, only to feel that his mouth was bloody, and his internal injuries were several times worse than before.Wei Zhuang's face was pale, and he slumped on the ground and smiled, "Brother, I saved your life."

Gai Nie knew he was telling the truth.Although his cultivation has greatly improved in recent years, he is still inferior to Wei Zhuang's first stage. In Cai Cai's situation, if Wei Zhuang didn't forcibly separate the two, he would be in danger of exhausting his true qi and dying of oil. "Xiao Zhuang, what do you think?"

"It's okay." Wei Zhuang stood up with support, and patted the ashes on his clothes.

"It's okay? How can it be okay?! You just... have an internal injury caused by the secret technique. Even the master needs to rest for a few days. Don't you think there is nothing abnormal right now?"

"I've said it all, my illness is different from Master's." Wei Zhuang sneered, "This attack is different from the previous ones. Maybe it's because you forcefully helped me, Senior Brother. I don't feel any pain now. It's no different from ordinary people."

"—No difference?"

"Yeah, it's just that I lost all my internal strength."

Gai Nie's eyes went dark, like hundreds of war horses trampling past his heart.

TBC