Fire Monster

Chapter 330 Fighting
It was late autumn, and it was cloudy and rainy.

The red sun with imperial seal has not been seen for many days. There are only heavy dark clouds in the sky, looking down coldly at the world, as if something ominous is coveting it.

Grayish-white fog filled the streets and alleys; even the red and green lanterns at the intersections that separated traffic had a sinister quality.

But for ordinary people in Zhenhai Dao Palace, this is just a seasonal change that occurs for a period of time every year. They have long been accustomed to it. Some people with refined tastes even gave it the name of Zhenhai Cold Fog, and even derived the Cold Fog Festival.

On this day, people would not light a fire, only eat cold food, not make loud noises, not drink alcohol, and were not allowed to have sex.

Even the officials of Zhenhaidao Palace were ordered to take a day off.

All public transportation, coaches, trains, and shipping have stopped, and shops have closed. Try not to go out on the streets. Even if you do go out, go and come back quickly.

At night, don’t go out. Just eat dinner early and go to bed as soon as possible.

The Cold Fog Festival is like this every year, and this year is no exception.

But at this moment on the street, there is still an exception.

A wandering man did not intend to go out today, but he had not stopped for the past three years, just walking and walking, as if he did not know hunger or fullness, cold or heat.

Like a zombie.

This person was Zhao Guanshan. Although he looked very downcast at the moment, he was in a good mood.

This was already the third Cold Fog Festival that he had spent here. He had been wandering the streets from beginning to end all three times, but he hadn't encountered anything ominous, nor had he discovered any clues. Perhaps, it was just that relatives from the Zhenhai Dao Palace had come to visit.

At this moment, Zhao Guanshan suddenly stopped. This was the first time he stopped in three years, but there didn't seem to be anything unusual.

Except that he seemed very tired, with messy hair, a beard, and wet all over, like a down-and-out traveler.

Walking to a shop on the street with its doors and windows closed and no movement at all, he carefully reached out and tried to smooth out a piece of paper on the wall that was almost wet from the rain and had almost no visible words. It seemed that the paper was recruiting chefs.

It was like an accident.

It also seems to be a coincidence.

Zhao Guanshan smiled slightly under his thick beard and knocked on the door slowly.

The shop was still dead silent, with a cold atmosphere spreading, as if this was not an ordinary restaurant, but a charity cemetery next to a mass grave.

Then he continued to knock slowly, knocking thirty-six times in total. Finally, in this quiet shop, the sound of heavy yet light footsteps could be heard, even a little staggering.

"Who is it? Isn't the Cold Mist Festival going to stop?"

An old and hoarse voice was heard, but the door did not open.

"Old shopkeeper, please open the door, aren't you hiring?"

"No, no, nothing!"

The old and hoarse voice seemed a little annoyed. What the hell? It is a big taboo to go out on the streets during the Cold Fog Festival. Yet you still come to apply in the middle of the night. Who knows if you are a human or a ghost?
"Old shopkeeper, don't worry. I just came back from the front, but I'm homeless. I see you're hiring workers. How about this: you take me in, provide me with food and shelter, and I don't want any wages?"

Zhao Guanshan still spoke slowly, and even his eyes looked much more mature. At the same time, he looked up at the sky meaningfully, as if he was provoking him.

Or, this is also called a declaration of war.

Because, if he didn't knock on the door today, the shop owner and his wife would die today. As the saying goes, if the King of Hell tells you to leave at three o'clock in the morning, he dare not keep you until five o'clock.

I don’t know if there is a King of Hell here, but there is destiny.

"Back from the front?"

"No wages?"

Inside the room, the old shopkeeper muttered, as if he was finally touched by something. After hesitating for a moment, he still opened the door a little, looked Zhao Guanshan up and down through the gap for a long time, and then asked doubtfully: "I don't think you are retired from the front line, but you look like a deserter."

"The old shopkeeper has a keen eye. I am a deserter, but I have been sentenced to three years in prison for being a deserter. Now they released me the day before the Cold Fog Festival. I have been walking outside for a long time, homeless and with no one to turn to. To be honest, I have knocked on all the shops on this street, and only you, the old shopkeeper, are kind-hearted and opened this door for me."

"How about this, if the old shopkeeper doesn't want to hire anyone, it's okay, let me stay here for half a night, and I'll leave early tomorrow morning."

"Is this -- is there any identification?"

"Naturally there is."

Zhao Guanshan smiled slightly, rummaged in his arms for a while, and then handed over the wooden certificate, which had been kept quite safely and was still warm. He had stolen it a day ago.

At this point, not only can his identity be proved, but also it can be proved that he is a living person.

"Okay, you can stay for half a night, but you have to leave tomorrow morning."

"Of course, thank you, old shopkeeper."

Zhao Guanshan thanked him again and then squeezed in through the crack in the door. The autumn rain and wind also poured in with cold fog. The old shopkeeper was already wearing two layers of cotton clothes, but he was still shivering from the cold.

"It's a bit too cold, old shopkeeper, are you okay?"

Zhao Guanshan quickly closed the door and asked with concern.

"It's okay, it's okay, the cold fog season is like this, although it won't freeze, it's still colder than the winter when the mountains are covered with snow, cold to the bone, but I'm old, I can bear it, young man, just rest here, quietly."

The old shopkeeper was trembling and wanted to go back.

"Old shopkeeper, do you have any food? I'll pay for it."

"Yes, but I'm afraid it will make you even colder after eating. In today's weather, I don't have an appetite. However, if you pay, you can go to the kitchen and find some. I'm afraid there won't be much left." "Okay!"

Zhao Guanshan was very happy. He took off his coat and ran to the kitchen. There was indeed not much food left here. No wonder the old shopkeeper was so relieved, but this was not important.

He casually picked up a lighter and was about to start a fire, but failed to light it after pressing the button several times. Turning around, he saw the old shopkeeper standing behind him, with his body hunched over, his face buried in the darkness so that only his outline could be seen. He was shivering from head to toe, like a zombie who had just been buried but had not been able to rest.

"It's foggy today, so no fires are allowed. Don't you understand this rule?"

"I understand, but it's too cold, old shopkeeper, your lighter must be broken."

Zhao Guanshan continued to chat, as if he was making small talk, but in fact he was speaking according to an established rule.

For example, you must be invited before entering, you have to pay for the meal, or you have to set a trap first.

"Haha, if it's broken then there's nothing we can do."

The old shopkeeper laughed strangely and almost subconsciously took over the conversation.

"So as long as it's not broken, it's fine?"

This is what Zhao Guanshan was waiting for. This is the established rule.

If the master doesn't allow it, you can't do it. Although you can force it to happen, that would break the rules.

But if the master allows it, then you can do it and it doesn't count as breaking the rules.

Before he finished speaking, the old shopkeeper wanted to say something, but Zhao Guanshan had already pressed the lighter hard for a dozen times, but no fire came out. The old shopkeeper just looked at him silently, thinking, well, this is also a trap.

I said that, and you can totally refute it, but if you agree with it, then you really agree with it.

Suddenly, without any warning, when Zhao Guanshan pressed the button for the eighteenth time, a flame suddenly rose up. Although it was only a tiny bit, it was like the sun coming out after the clouds had cleared away, just like the blazing sun in the sky, the bright spring scenery, and the cold, fog, haze and gloom in the room were all dispelled in an instant.

But this was not the mysterious fire ignited by Zhao Guanshan as a Qi Refiner, but the real, genuine mortal fire ignited by a lighter.

Because, this is also the rule.

If he dares to use the mysterious fire, he will inevitably provoke a counterattack from destiny. Yes, this rule is not set by destiny, but it conforms to basic logic.

In other words, without Zhao Guanshan, the Zhenhai Dao Palace would not have to abide by this rule.

Similarly, if there was no mandate from the Zhenhai Dao Palace, Zhao Guanshan would not have to care about these rules.

But precisely because both are here, this rule becomes very important.

What is powerful is not the rules, but the two parties who use these rules to play the game.

"Why! It suddenly works! It must be Providence's will."

Zhao Guanshan was very surprised!
Shocked in capital letters.

But no one responded to him. The old shopkeeper leaned over and fainted on the spot.

“But this is really an accident.”

Zhao Guanshan chuckled, carried the old shopkeeper to the bed, his wife was also sleeping beside him, and it was only a matter of moments before their death.

But now, living another 30 years is not a problem.

In the kitchen, Zhao Guanshan lit the stove and used the existing ingredients to cook himself a steaming hot meal. He then devoured it in no time, feeling very satisfied.

I guess Tianming himself was depressed. How could a fire suddenly start? And it was ordinary fire.

In the situation just now, the appearance of mysterious fire, ghost fire, Yin fire, and even devil fire was not surprising. The thing that should least appear was ordinary fire.

But fire just happened to appear.

Maybe at other times, this wisp of ordinary fire is unimportant and means nothing, but at that moment, it represents the vision of hundreds of millions of people in Zhenhai Dao Palace to live a happy and healthy life, free from illness and disaster.

Similarly, in normal times, let alone the wishes of hundreds of millions of people, even the wishes of one billion or one hundred billion people are bullshit.

It doesn't make any sense.

Allow it to be kneaded and guided, and tossed around as you like.

But the problem is that with the destiny and Zhao Guanshan, this wish has meaning.

This is the battlefield where the two sides fight.

That destiny depends on cultivating Zhenhai Dao Palace for thousands of years.

What Zhao Guanshan relied on was the ubiquitous statue of the Lihuo Immortal.

It is worth mentioning that some of the materials used for the lighter just now are the materials of the melted ship.

This was the first battlefield that Zhao Guanshan carefully selected after three years of wandering.

Was this an accident? Yes.

But is this a coincidence? No.

(End of this chapter)