Chapter 22

"I told you to run! I told you to run! Bring out the steamed buns."

A ragged boy fell to the ground, surrounded by two skinny and pale men. Their filthy feet kept kicking him. He could only try his best to protect his head, but as he moved, a piece of white jade fell out of his arms.

"Wait, what is this thing. Bah—" The man who spoke spat and wiped the jade clean.

"Yu, Brother Li, can this be exchanged for something to eat?" Another thin man came over with a flattering smile on his face.

"Look at how much you've accomplished." Brother Li's eyes gleamed as he held the jade up to the sunlight, examining it carefully. "What's the point of exchanging it for food? I saw a gambling house a few days ago. Let's pawn this for some silver. If we win a few times, we won't have to worry about having nothing to eat."

"Brother Li is still awesome!"

As the two were talking, the boy on the ground stood up at some point, took advantage of their unpreparedness, jumped up, snatched the jade back, and was about to run away.

Unfortunately, he hadn't eaten for a long time, and the steamed bun given by the kind-hearted person was almost snatched away by this group of people before he could even take a bite.

He was now completely exhausted. He had just taken two steps when he was grabbed and thrown against the wall.

Fortunately, these two men were not very strong, and just the action of shaking him made Brother Li breathless.

"You little bastard, hand over the jade and the steamed bun!"

The boy shook his head and held the jade and the steamed bun tightly.

The two men didn't say anything more and just went straight to grab the things.

"This is what my mother left for me!"

The thin boy didn't know where he got the strength from, but he managed to prevent them from snatching his things away.

Brother Li wanted to say something else when he felt a pain in his head and a hot current passed across his forehead. He touched it and the bright red blood stimulated him and he fainted.

The other man looked back and saw a tall and thin boy holding a stick in his hand, staring at him fiercely with gritted teeth, as if the stick would hit him without hesitation if he made the slightest move.

His legs went weak and he didn't care about his companions and ran away crawling.

"Ah Xuan." The boy spoke softly, showing him the steamed bun in his arms, "We have something to eat these few days."

But the boy named Xuan didn't even look at him. He just pulled open his clothes to check his wound.

"Kong Yi! Are you stupid? Why do you care about steamed buns at this time? Just give them what they want. At worst, well..." As Ah Xuan was speaking, a steamed bun was stuffed into his mouth. He wanted to take it out, but his mouth began to chew unconsciously.

The steamed bun had fallen apart. Kong Yi ate it in big mouthfuls while carefully picking up the fallen crumbs and putting them back into his mouth.

"Tsk, don't pick up the scum." Ah Xuan brushed off the scum on himself. "Let me tell you, I found a job today that wants me, and they said there are no foul monsters where I work. When the time comes, I'll go to work and use the wages to buy you freshly steamed buns!"

"Really?" Kong Yi's eyes lit up. You know, they have found many jobs in order to have food to eat during this period, but the world is unstable now, and there are evil monsters that come out from time to time to hurt people. Most stores are unwilling to hire laborers in order to save money.

"Really! The man said it would be a bit tiring, but it would keep us fed!"

Kong Yi held the white jade tightly and thought, Mother, we will be able to have a full meal soon.

-

Heavy breathing was heard. The boy named Kong Yi seemed to have grown taller, but he was a little skinny. His ribs were clearly visible on his naked upper body, and old and new whip marks could be seen on his exposed skin.

"Ah Xuan, hold on." A faint voice reached the ears of the person on his back. The person barely pulled the corners of his mouth but could not make any sound.

"Ah Xuan, did you hear me?" Kong Yi's tone became more and more anxious, but his steps became more and more labored. "Don't sleep, we, we will find a doctor soon."

He no longer felt tired or hungry. His attention was entirely on the person on his back and the white jade sewn on his trouser legs that moved with his steps.

"Ah Xuan, the white jade is still here. Luckily you're smart. If it had been sewn into your shirt, it would have been lost somewhere by now."

Ah Xuan smiled and was about to speak when he saw a black fog floating towards them.

"Be careful." He squeezed out two words from his throat, and the next second, he fell directly to the ground and rolled down the slope.

Kong Yi originally wanted to avoid the turbid monster in front of him, but he didn't notice that there was a small ball of black mist under his feet. The black mist wrapped around his entire calf, causing him to fall heavily to the ground. The other leg of his pants was also scratched by the branches on the ground, and the white jade fell out.

But now he no longer cared about Bai Yu. He was already numb and could not feel any pain, but the turbid demon's gnawing made every vein in his body hurt so much that he couldn't help but scream.

Because he hadn't drunk water for a long time, his throat was completely hoarse, but the screams that seemed to tear his throat apart stimulated Ah Xuan's eardrums. He ignored his injuries and crawled towards Kong Yi with difficulty, but it was too late.

The pain made Kong Yi unable to pay attention to other things. He just kept struggling, trying to pull his ankle out of the black fog, and did not notice that he had reached the edge of the cliff.

When he disappeared over the cliff, Ah Xuan had just climbed up from the bottom of the slope. He stared blankly at the edge of the cliff, unable to react at all.

After a very long time, until the black fog gradually enveloped him completely, a hoarse, broken whimper came from his throat.

-

Ah Xuan was not dead, but he was not alive either. He kept killing people with the white jade - the two men who had beaten the boy for the steamed buns and the white jade, the slave owner who tricked them into mining and beat them like animals, and the rebels who destroyed their families, and the emperor who directly abandoned their city.

All, all.

Kill them all.

But what about the black fog that actually caused the boy to fall down the cliff? No, it was the heavy, foul air that lingered in the world. What a powerful force that was.

That's his ally.

That was the master who signed a contract with him and asked him to sacrifice his body.

"You will die a miserable death!"

Everyone is scolding him like this.

But he is still alive. He kills people for the heavy turbid air and creates turbid monsters for the heavy turbid air.

There are more and more foul monsters, and their power is getting stronger and stronger. The princes and nobles who he once could not look directly at can only crawl at his feet.

He stood in a sea of ​​blood, the sticky blood soaking his clothes. After kicking away the corpse at his feet that was no longer in human form, he habitually took out the jade from his arms, rubbed it a few times, and prepared to put it back into his arms.

But in the next second, the jade floated up and left his palm. In his surprised eyes, the jade was held by a pair of scarred hands.

"Ah Xuan?" The owner of those hands spoke, his voice trembling slightly. "Is that you? What are you...doing?"

Ah Xuan was in a trance for a moment, and looked up at the man in front of him - his childhood appearance could still be vaguely seen in his eyes and eyebrows, and his clothes were full of patches, but his whole temperament had changed drastically.

He opened his mouth, his voice so soft that he could hardly hear it, "Kong Yi? You...you're still alive? You're not dead? I...I..."

He didn't know how to explain all this, and he didn't even know whether he should be happy or panic.

"Did you do this?" The trembling in Kong Yi's voice became more and more obvious. "Gongsun Xuan, what are you doing!"

Gongsun Xuan came back to his senses, a smile on his face. He said, "Xiao Yi, you're not dead. That's great! I'm very powerful now, and the Emperor has to listen to me now. We will never live like before again!"

But Kong Yi didn't listen to him and punched him in the face.

It had been a long time since anyone had been able to touch Gongsun Xuan. Those who wanted to kill him couldn't even touch the corner of his clothes.

He didn't fight back, but simply stepped back a few steps and said, "You know how to hit people? Why can't you just listen to me? Do you know how powerful I am now? Not only will we enjoy wealth and glory in the future, we won't even be afraid of the foul demons! Even the emperor can't do this."

He grabbed Kong Yi's fist that was swinging towards him again, "Or do you want to be the emperor? If you want, I will kill you--"

Before he could finish his words, he felt a pain in his abdomen. Kong Yi punched him in the stomach, forcing him to take a few steps back.

The smile on his face faded, and he said in a deep voice, "I treat you like this because you grew up with me. Don't be ungrateful!"

Kong Yi stopped, his eyes filled with sadness, as if he no longer recognized this childhood playmate.

He asked, "Did you do this voluntarily? Was it the heavy air that forced you?"

Gongsun Xuan wanted to ask him why he knew about the existence of heavy and turbid air, but seeing his gaze, he chose to remain silent.

The answer is self-evident.

Kong Yi clenched his hands. In fact, he already knew the answer. After all, heavy and turbid air is the same as clear and yang air. Although it can possess a body, it must sign a contract with the owner of the body. This contract must be absolutely voluntary by the original body.

The reason he asked this ridiculous question was simply that he didn't want to believe it.

"Why?" he whispered.

Gongsun Xuan suddenly laughed. He looked at Kong Yi and said, "Why? Because I don't want to be someone's slave anymore! We have such a happy life, why? Why can those people destroy everything we have so easily? Why! Do I want to kill people? They forced me to do it! Have you forgotten? They beat us like animals in the mine! If it weren't for them, how could I be like this!"

Then he changed the subject and stared at Kong Yi, "I know you hate the way I look now, but so what? I don't regret it, Xiao Yi. Now I can buy you more beautiful and precious jade."

Kong Yi felt the warmth of the white jade in his palm, and felt bitter in his heart. He knew Gongsun Xuan's hatred, and he didn't want to persuade him to forget the hatred. That would be unfair to them who had suffered in the past.

But what he couldn't accept was hurting innocent people out of hatred.

He looked at the bodies on the ground and asked, "What about them? They have no grudge against you, why did you attack them?"

Gongsun Xuan stopped talking.

Kong Yi sighed, and when he raised his hand, a long sword appeared in his hand. He looked at Gongsun Xuan, his tone becoming indifferent, "I didn't expect that we would be like this when we meet again."

After safely placing the white jade in his hand, he responded to Gongsun Xuan's words: "This piece of jade was given to me by my mother. There is no other piece more precious than it."

He had experienced many incredible things over the years, and his character was no longer the same as before. Gongsun Xuan had no possibility of repentance, so he no longer hesitated and raised his knife to chop at Gongsun Xuan.