The Battle of Jinzhou...

Qi Wuhuo's heart was moved. The middle-aged Taoist priest smiled gently, which was his habitual expression when welcoming and seeing off guests.

But the look in his eyes when he looked at the young Taoist priest was full of compassion and complexity. He seemed to have guessed something from Qi Wuhuo's emotional fluctuations, but he didn't say anything. He just smiled and said, "Anyway, the young Taoist priest did a big deal for my Taoist Alliance today, and solved a problem that had been accumulating for us for such a long time."

"It should be a bonus."

"Rice vendors all say, 'No tip, no business. No tip, no business.'"

"We are a Taoist alliance, and we are also half a business alliance. This is how it should be."

When he went to get the letter and came back, Qi Wuhuo had already suppressed the excitement in his heart, at least on the surface, he seemed to have suppressed it. He just said, "I want to ask the Dao Alliance to investigate something. I wonder how many Dao Alliance transaction points I need?"

The middle-aged Taoist asked gently, "What are you investigating?"

Qi Wuhuo was silent for a moment, and said: "I have a gentleman who is lost in Jinzhou. When I saw him walking into the Demon Country, there was a flag of the Mingzhen Taoist Alliance in the crack. Since the Taoist Alliance has saved countless people, I want to ask... is it possible to find my gentleman?" What he wanted to ask was, the Mingzhen Taoist Alliance saved so many people, so is the gentleman also among these people?

The middle-aged Taoist nodded and said, "...This is not a big deal. The Taoist Alliance will handle it."

"I will inform the Taoist Alliance for you, Taoist Priest."

"We have a directory and can check it for you. As for the price."

The middle-aged man handed the file in his hand to Qi Wuhuo and said, "No need."

"Just as the leader said."

"Merchants also have moral principles. How can those who do not practice the ruthless path judge everything by money?"

"Master, if there is any news in the future, I will pass it on to the Taoist Alliance waist badge with secret methods. Then you can go to any of the Taoist Alliance's thirteen locations in Jiuzhou to get the news."

…

There is a village outside Zhongzhou City. In the village, there is a family with a person who is hated by the whole village.

It's not just his appearance that makes people disgusted -

Of course, there are reasons for that appearance.

It looks like a piece of his face has been bitten off!

Ugly! He was ugly and scary, and he never smiled. His eyes looked like iron. People said that he would be even scarier when he smiled. The muscles on his face moved like a monster. In addition to being ugly, he was also a man with a broken leg.

Both legs were broken.

When walking, he relies on his hands to support himself on the ground and move forward.

His arms were extremely strong and powerful.

So it looks more like a monster.

Of course, this is just what the children said. Adults don't judge people by their appearance, at least they claim so. They hate this man only because he is an alcoholic. Everything in the house has been replaced by alcohol. Every day when he wakes up, he props himself up with his arms and puts himself on a wooden board, dragging himself forward with his arms.

Changed the wine.

He drank the bitterest, turbidest and cheapest wine from morning to night. When he was hungry, he would just make some half-cooked meals and swallow them whole. As long as he didn't die, it was fine. Because the current saint issued the "Decree of Ascension to the Throne", there were subsidies for these lonely, widowed and disabled people. However, no matter what was sent, whether it was rice, flour, grain, oil, or utensils, this man would exchange it for turbid wine.

It seemed as if he wanted to drown himself in the alcohol!

"I heard that he was a man of military merit and had even been promoted to the rank of captain."

Some people do say so.

But I also heard that this man's distant relatives also came to look for him, and they had a big quarrel that day.

After that, no one came to look for him anymore.

When the young Taoist priest arrived at the village, the village headman led the way and told all these things in a flash. He kept leaning on the ground with his cane and cursed: "He is a rotten person. He only knows how to drink and has a terrible temper. Everyone who helps him with good intentions will be scolded by him. When we help to cook for him, he says the food is unpalatable. It is unpalatable."

"What do you want to eat? Why are you so picky?"

"This man is dead drunk!"

"I only said I killed monsters when I was drunk."

"Huh, just like that? It's more like being chopped by a monster!"

As they walked along, the old village chief complained all the way. Finally, he stopped and pointed to a house in the distance, saying, "Look, it's right there. Hey, I can smell the smell of alcohol before I even get here. This old guy might have started drinking as soon as he got here..."

"No, maybe you drank all night, don't throw up!"

The old headman walked over, cursing, and banged on the door with his cane: "Hey! Hey!"

"Old monster!"

"Your old friend and student are here to see you, get out!"

"Did you hear that?! Open the door!"

After knocking for a long time, the door was finally pushed open from the inside with a crash. The old headman was very experienced. He turned to the side and dodged. Although he was in his sixties, he was as agile as a young man. He avoided a man who staggered out and reeked of alcohol. He saw that the man really had no legs, his face was covered with a beard, and his eyes were cloudy.

His hair is all white and his face is full of wrinkles.

The old man sighed and said, "It's him. I know he may be different from your impression, but it is definitely him. Don't think you have made a mistake."

“This guy is only in his fifties.”

"I was 48 when I first came to the village, but I look like I'm in my 30s."

"Although he had no legs, he looked strong and had two rays of light in his eyes, but he aged very quickly."

"In seven years, the tree hasn't even grown yet, but the man has aged beyond recognition."

He was already quite old, so he could empathize with the old 'monster'. He poked the old 'monster' with his cane and said, "Get up quickly, don't sleep any more. Someone is here to see you, why don't you entertain them quickly..." He leaned closer and whispered in his ear, "Do you really want to die here alone without anyone to take care of you?"

"Hurry up and get up!"

The man then raised his head, his eyes were groggy, as if he had never regained consciousness.

His face was covered with wrinkles, scars, and bite marks, like a monster from a nightmare. He glanced at Qi Wuhuo, muttered a few words, and said, "Do you have any wine?"

The village chief cursed.

The young Taoist looked at the dazed man and said gently:

"I'll go buy it."

He went to buy wine and meat, but the man refused to eat the food and only drank the wine. He treated the delicious dishes in the village as trash, which made the old headman so angry that he gritted his teeth. After seven years of drinking like this, Qi Wuhuo saw that his house was really empty and had nothing.

Not to mention cabinets, there was not even a bed. There were just some weeds piled together. He would lie down when he was drunk, drink when he sobered up, and go buy some when he was done.

Everything in the house that could be exchanged or pawned had been pawned neatly.

Qi Wuhuo borrowed other people's houses to cook some meals.

The old, sick and disabled man only drank wine and said, "This wine is not good, and the food is even worse, but the wine is drinkable... at least it tastes good. Little guy, I don't know where you are from, but you have to know that I have nothing. If I have any other ideas, I'm making a wrong calculation."

The headman said anxiously: "You idiot!"

"Little brother, don't listen to what he says. He has something. He has something."

Then he urged the old man who was drinking, "Don't you have the iron scroll of military merit?"

The old man said expressionlessly: "Sold it."

The village head was stunned and angrily asked, "Sold it? Why did you sell it?!"

The old man took a sip of wine and burped twice: "Sell it and buy wine... That thing is only useful for this."

The old man with broken legs and hideous face had a calm expression and cloudy eyes. While talking about these, he took another sip of wine. The headman who cared about his future life was so angry that he threw away his crutches and stumbled out. The old man looked the same as before, but he was drinking, as if he wanted to get drunk to death in this turbid wine.

A jerk, a monster, a drunk.

He doesn't care.

The events of the past were always churning in his mind, and only when he drank could he forget about them for a short time. The smell of the muddy wine was pungent, and because the wine was not mellow, it felt like an iron stick piercing his brain when he was drunk. He just wanted to lie on the pile of dry grass like a corpse, close his eyes, and all that flashed through his mind were the scenes he saw in Jinzhou.

There was a great famine that year and people ate each other.

It was the monsters that ate people, and it was the arrows that pierced the flesh and blood of the people.

It was the sword that cut off the demon's head, blood splattered all over his face, and everyone's eyes were red with anger.

In front of him were demons and common people, but when he turned around, he saw that the cavalry had blocked the road and would not allow anyone to cross. The Black Armor, for which he had once sworn to be loyal and fight to the death, was now pointing its weapon in front of Jinzhou at the common people whom he had once vowed to protect at all costs - the army in a part of the area had an internal strife, and a mutiny occurred between the army that decided to follow military orders and the cavalry that decided to believe what they saw with their own eyes.

One side believed that blocking the road would cause the people to die and was cruel, while the other side believed in the order and thought that there were demons mixed in with these people. Letting them out would inevitably lead to the loss of several surrounding states and countless casualties among the people. The two sides first fought, then pushed each other, and in the end had no choice but to draw their swords.

The most ironic thing is that the armies on both sides felt that they were drawing their swords for the sake of the people.

Fight to the death.

Therefore, in this internal fight, there was an astonishing casualty ratio.

Even though more than 70% of their troops were killed or wounded, they still refused to retreat.

Swords and knives had pierced his comrades' chests, and blood had flowed into their eyes. When the bearded man died, he still held his own hands tightly, saying that these people must not be allowed to pass. The order he received said that there were many demons among these people, and once this place was lost, the people of the world would suffer.

Who is right and who is wrong?

Is it those comrades, or myself...

Or maybe…

He couldn't think, couldn't remember.

"Wine, give me some wine..."

"Give me some wine!"

He became furious.

The young Taoist's voice answered, "I'm cooking, please eat some."

"I want wine, wine, and food, food, whatever!"

He crawled over, not caring about the dust and dirt on his face, and just picked up the wine and poured it into his mouth. The young Taoist was silent for a moment, and said gently: "You won't be able to hold on for long if you do this. Even if your body was once strong enough to fight monsters, it's always wrong to indulge yourself like this. It's hard for you to survive. You should be more careful."

The old man laughed out loud: "Alive?"

"I'd rather be dead than alive! I should have died there all those years ago. You know-nothing boy, you know-nothing boy..." He murmured, tilting his head back to drink, but he never said a word about what happened in the past. He just drank and cursed.

The young Taoist priest prepared the meal and brought it over. The old man was about to overturn it as he did in the past, but his movements suddenly stopped and his body froze. He lowered his head, his cloudy eyes widened, and he looked at the simple meal and soup, his mind went blank.

This kind of food is only made by farmers in Jinzhou.

He suddenly picked up the soup and ate it in big mouthfuls, muttering, "This is how it tastes, this is how it tastes..."

"You are from Jinzhou. You are from Jinzhou."

"You are from Jinzhou, right? Jinzhou, Jinzhou."

The young Taoist looked at the suddenly panicked old man and said, "Well, seven years ago, I was nine years old."

"Nine years old, only nine years old, nine years old..."

The old man stretched out his hand to touch the young Taoist in front of him, but retracted it and patted him on the shoulder. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't say it at all. The expression on his face was trembling, and he had such a fierce expression, as if he was about to cry, but he couldn't cry. He just opened his mouth and his body trembled like a fallen leaf.

Qi Wuhuo didn't know what to say, his emotions were surging, and he finally just said: "I survived."

“A lot of people died, but a lot of people survived.”

The old man with crippled legs suddenly burst into tears. He fell to the ground with tears streaming down his face.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"We failed to protect you."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

The old man with a large missing piece on his face, marks of swords and scratches was in tears. He pulled the young Taoist priest, his body trembling, and could only say the three words "I'm sorry".

In Jinzhou that year, thirteen Buddhist disciples burned the relics of their founder to open a path ahead, there were more than six hundred Taoist disciples who practiced sword meditation, and an army of cavalry disobeyed orders, chiseled a path ahead, and charged into the demon country. In the end, only twenty-seven people survived. He last saw a family, the man was dead and the woman was dead, with only one child left who was still crying. But at that time, he was distracted and was ambushed, and his leg was bitten off by a wolf demon.

The broken leg was still attached to the tendons and bones, so he drew his sword and cut it off, then rushed forward to fight with the monster, and half of his face was bitten off.

His heavy armor was shattered and his body was covered with more than thirty wounds. When he was found, he was still holding the sword and holding a dead child in his arms. He seemed to be out of his mind, but he was roaring in the direction of the capital, "Kill the bandits, kill the bandits."

The young Taoist looked at the tearful old man in front of him, and subconsciously raised his hand to make the Fearless Seal, but finally put his hand down.

He just held down the old man's trembling hand, looked at the old soldier and said:

"Thanks……"

The old man burst into tears.