Chapter 94: Faith and Loyalty

It is bitterly cold outside the Great Wall, with little rain and much sand.

As far as I can remember, the sky in the Great Wall was either blue or yellow, and rarely a second color.

boom--

boom--

The wind blew from outside the Great Wall, and yellow sand filled the sky. In the small yard, there was the sound of chopping wood, mixed with the occasional coughing of children.

"Two Hundred and Sixty-One"

"Two Hundred and Sixty-Two"

"Cough-cough!"

The child raised his eyes, and next to him was his father's serious and rigid face: "Dad, Shazi's eyes are narrowed, can you wait--"

"What did your father teach you? Whether you are a human being or practicing martial arts, you must be trustworthy. Do you still remember what you boasted to your father the day you took the knife?"

'Study hard and practice diligently, never giving up a day's work, I vow to revive my family's learning and become the best in the world!'

The boasts made when young may hurt others, but a man must keep his word.

boom--

boom--

Just like that, a few years passed, and it was still a normal day. The father and brother who were out escorting goods did not come back overnight as expected, but they did not bring back the escorts from the bureau.

"Those bastards of the Black Sand Gang paid the toll but still robbed our escort. Luckily, Old Deng and the others were the scapegoats. Otherwise, we... Dad, how are we going to explain to the owner of the stolen goods now that we have lost them?"

"What the hell! If the Black Sand Gang spreads the news in a few days, my whole family will be hacked to death. We can't stay outside the Great Wall anymore. I have an old friend in the Great Wall. Let's go there first."

"..."

Hearing the conversation between his father and brother in the room, the boy's heart, which had been instilled with faith and loyalty since childhood, began to waver for the first time. So he returned to his room in a daze that night and fell seriously ill the next day.

It was his mother crying at his bedside, and it was his father and brother who took turns going to his bedside to persuade him to repent. His words at that time are still vivid in my mind.

"What if I don't do that? If the bandits come around, will you let me die? My father had no choice but to do it for me. Who would feel good if a brother died?"

"..."

"Guanshan, it's Dad's fault. I'm not strong enough to do such a despicable thing. You should practice martial arts well in the future. When your martial arts skills are high and you can protect your family, you don't have to be like me."

"..."

Afterwards, the family set out for Guanzhong in a horse carriage. On the way, his illness gradually healed, and he slowly forgave his father and brother.

Maybe it was just like what my father said, he was not strong enough when he encountered the bandits, and was forced to do such an unfaithful thing in order to protect my brother.

Therefore, if he wanted to keep the faith and loyalty in his heart, he had to be strong enough. So after he recovered from his illness, he practiced martial arts diligently on the way south, and he finally memorized the sword manuals that had given him a headache in the past.

His martial arts skills improved by leaps and bounds.

Afterwards, they arrived in Guanzhong, and the young man saw the colorful world outside for the first time. There was no wind and sand, no horses, but only green mountains, green waters and beautiful flowers.

When he arrived at Yu Town, where his father's old friend lived, he walked into the high-walled courtyard and knew for the first time what a wealthy family was and felt what restraint was. Even his father and brother began to smile at everyone they met, until they met the host of the house.

Fortunately, what the young man worried about did not happen. The man whom he called Uncle Yu at first was warm and generous. After three cups of wine when the old friends met, the man waved his hand at the table, and he had a godfather from then on.

"Qing'er, this is your brother Guanshan—"

During the meal, the godfather caught a girl who had just returned from outside. She pulled his hand and came to him: "She is only one month younger than you, but she is very good at kung fu. In the future, you two siblings should visit each other more often and help each other."

"Oh?"

The girl turned her eyes to him, raised her chin and said:

"How handsome is he? Is he as handsome as me?"

"..."

The most common girls seen in the frontier areas are girls with broad shoulders, thick waists and rough yellow skin. When have they ever seen such a delicate, bright and energetic peer?

His face was burning red, and he wanted to dig his head into the ground. The boy's embarrassing behavior was not pleasing to others. The girl said with a "huh":

"What? You don't even dare to raise your head. It's obvious that there's nothing interesting about it."

"..."

At that moment, a surge of emotion surged in the boy's heart. He wanted to raise his head, but his neck was as stiff as a stone, until -

The man patted his shoulder and said with a smile:
"The young man is innocent, don't bully him. Guanshan, pick up the knife and let your sister look at you with new eyes!"

"..."

This time, the boy finally had the courage to look up until he saw those smart eyes, but he was like a deflated ball, he lowered his head, holding the knife, and launched the challenge with insufficient energy.

Then came a disastrous defeat—

To use a long weapon against a short weapon, all you need is your hands. Besides, the girl's skills are one level higher than his, and she beat him so hard in just a few moves that he ran away in panic.

"Brother still needs to practice!"

"See? My Yu family's spear is the most powerful in the world!"

In the afternoon, the girl's spirited voice echoed in the courtyard from time to time.

He remembered that day for many years.

After that, they settled down in Yu Town. Uncle Yu took good care of the Yue family and often arranged work for them. Their life was not bad, but he often thought of his sister in the Yu family. His father and brother encouraged him to go out more often, but he was confident in other things, but he always acted like a coward when it came to this matter.

'Still need to practice'

With this in mind, he worked hard every day, and finally one day he mastered the Yue family swordsmanship to perfection, becoming a martial arts master. He also defeated a long weapon with a short weapon for the first time in a sparring match.

He won, he practiced it.

"good."

The sweaty girl didn't look disappointed at all. Instead, she looked at him with relief and encouragement, speaking in a sisterly tone:

"You may have mastered martial arts, but you need to change your temper. If you can't even hold your head up in front of a woman, how can you be a hero? In the future, not only will you be crowned the first champion, but you won't even be able to find a wife."

All the joy of victory and the young Mu Ai turned into bitterness at that moment. He mustered up the courage to look back:

"I can hold my head up—"

"..."

He remembered clearly that Sister Yu just looked at him and shook her head:

"You are too soft-tempered."

That day, he returned home in a daze.

What exactly is manliness? What does it take to be a hero?
When he was on a escort ship, he could be brave enough to fight dozens of pirates alone, but he was like a punctured ball in front of her, and he didn't know why.

His father saw what he was thinking.

"Do you like the girl from the Yu family?"

"Uh-huh?!"

As he was chopping the stake, his hand shook and the iron stake deviated a little. It was the first time in several years.

His father patted his shoulder and turned away without saying anything. He vaguely knew what his father was going to do and wanted to stop him, but he also had some expectations in his heart.

until night——

boom.

At the dinner table, the father and brother who had just returned were furious.

"Brother, you are such a jerk. I've sacrificed my dignity to propose marriage, but you're saying that my daughter doesn't like you! You're clearly looking down on my Yue family!"

"Guan Shan is already a master before he's 20, but he's not worthy of his Yu Qing? Dad, he's clearly on guard against our family!"

"..."

Looking at his father and brother with gloomy expressions, he panicked subconsciously and spoke instinctively: "Dad, this is something we both wanted to do, let's--"

"I know! A good man will never have trouble finding a wife. There are more than one woman in the world. Dad will choose a good one for you in two years!"

"..."

Even so, he did not feel relieved. On the contrary, he felt a pain that was not intense but lasted for a long time.

He began to wonder why Sister Yu looked down on him.

Is it because he's not heroic enough?

But what does it take to be a hero?
I thought about this question for a long time, until one day, a piece of news exploded around the world.

The dragon is always hard to find its head or tail. The leader of the three religions, Tianguan Taixuan Zhenren, who played around in the human world, passed away in Changbai. The last hexagram he calculated before his death pointed directly to the biggest devil in the future world of martial arts.

Different from the previous concise ones, the last hexagram of the "divination saint" is particularly bizarre, full of "absurd words" and tens of thousands of words, just like the absurd storybooks sold on the street.

So much so that most people in the martial arts world thought it was a joke when they first saw it, until -

On the third day, a meteorite fell from the sky outside the Great Wall, as red as blood, and it was said to be the work of an unknown demon.

On the seventh day, someone went to the Bamboo Valley and found the spirit creature, but was defeated and it escaped.

On the 11th, it was confirmed that there was a dragon blood iron mine under the Holy Elephant Temple.

……

On the 1th, the weather in Yunzhou suddenly turned cold, and there was a strange aurora ()

After the 'chronicles' and 'loading interface messages' on the hexagrams were confirmed one by one, they completely set off an uproar in the entire martial arts world.

However, he was not as excited as others, because... the name 'Yu Wang Spear' was included in the demon's hexagram.

at that time.

As pieces of news were confirmed one after another, the atmosphere in the town became increasingly weird. He felt the undercurrent, but he did not believe that the Yu family would become the devil's minions in the future.

Even if it is true, it must be that the devil forced women of good character into prostitution.

then,

He suddenly thought of a way, a good way to solve the Yu family's predicament.

He wants to go to Yunzhou and kill the future devil with his own hands. Not only will the Yu family's predicament be resolved, but he will also become a hero in the world!

Yes, hero!

His heart was filled with desire. He wanted to be a real man and a hero, so he went to his father with trepidation, but he did not expect to get the latter's support.

"My son, what a good idea! If he can really kill Dongfang Mingqi, my Yue family will be famous in the martial arts world in the future!"

"Go, my son. You don't have to worry about home. Your father will take good care of the Yu family."

"..."

So he was in high spirits and rode out of Guanzhong.

later,

He went through a lot of trouble to find Dongfang Mingqi, but the latter was protected by the person who should have killed him. He was no match for that person, but the latter spared his life.

At this point, the hero’s dream was shattered.

He returned to Guanzhong, to Yujia Town, and to the street in frustration, but the name on the door of the Yu family had been changed to Yue.

"Not long after you left, Erlang, your father brought your brother and several warriors from the town, and led a large group of people to the Yu family at night. Oh - the sound of shouting and killing."

"It rained that night and couldn't cover it. The next day I got up and went to the door to see, blood was flowing out, it was horrible, but I heard that the Yu family seemed to have taken refuge with some evil leader? It can be said that they deserved it. This town will be ruled by your Yue family from now on. Don't forget to take good care of Auntie in the future--"

"..."

hero?

Man?

Ha ha ha ha--

The faces of my father and brother appeared in front of me again.

"Faithfulness? What is faithfulness? The moment the Yu family became involved with the devil, they lost faith! I am acting on behalf of heaven—"

"Have you become stupid from practicing martial arts? I taught you loyalty and integrity so that you can tell others, not take it to heart! Now that your parents are here, if you have the guts, you can kill your relatives for the sake of justice!"

The most familiar faces are the most unfamiliar, and the closest people are the most hateful.

Therefore,
In the end, he was the stupidest one.

"Ha ha ha ha--"

Once again, he woke up from his dream with a smile on his face. Regardless of the dirty and greasy bedding, the bearded man picked up the wine jug beside the bed and took a big gulp.

He slept and woke up in the afternoon. He had long been accustomed to this kind of upside-down life.

bang bang-

"Yue Er, do you want to do business?"

When the customer came, the man lay down for a while before getting up from the bed and casually picking up the rusty long knife on the wall.

"Coming -"

The door opened, and an old farmer was outside, leading a shaky cow. He smiled at him, "Yue Er, I've asked several masters to take care of my cow, but they all said it's hard to take care of it. Do you have any ideas? Two pots of peach wine--"

The man glanced at the festering hoof that had fallen from the cow slope and nodded, "Easy to fix."

"Then I'll excuse you."

Five years passed in the blink of an eye. The man is now called Yue Guanshan and has not been involved in worldly affairs for many years.

It's comfortable to have wine to drink.

only--

The depressed eyes raised up.

It happens to be a rainy day again.

(1): It has been extremely cold in the past few days, with the northern lights floating in the sky at night. He has not eaten or drunk anything since he got up, and he is a little tired, so he plans to go to the neighbor's house to ask for firewood and rice. [Chapter in the text]

ps: There is no charge for the foreshadowing (1), it is not a waste of words.

(End of this chapter)