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Chapter 312 News of Death
Even far from the alcohol-smelling military camp, it was far from quiet outside.

The conscripted laborers were still digging holes all night long, as if they wanted to dig through the entire world. The shouts of the overseers were incessant. Although they were quite far away, Zhou You could still hear their heart-wrenching screams thanks to the blessing of the chanting.

Ever since Old Master Yu left without saying goodbye—at least that's what the military says—these rogue soldiers have become increasingly unscrupulous. In the days leading up to Zhou You's arrival, they had already pulled several corpses out of the ditch.

—The bodies died in horrific ways, some even whipped to death.

Of course, faced with such oppression, the people did consider resisting, but no matter how depraved the soldiers were, they were still soldiers. The swords, armor, longbows, and crossbows were beyond the capabilities of these civilians who only carried hammers. After throwing away dozens more corpses, the remaining people could only accept their fate.

Zhou You was the same; he was a swordsman, not a god. No matter how fast his sword was, he could never single-handedly fight off thousands of soldiers.
He was waiting for an opportunity.

As night deepened, the overseer finally grew tired and herded the laborers to a shack in a corner of the camp. He locked the shack and then went back to drink.

He wasn't worried about the slaves running away. After all, there were high walls around the camp, so where could they possibly run to?
Only the innocent were left huddled in the stench-filled houses, wrapped in thin straw mats, unable to sleep all night.

Zhou You did not interfere.

He simply set up a tent by the edge of the woods, habitually sharpening his sword with Blood Fiend while placing his wine gourd beside him, taking sips every now and then.

And so, an unknown amount of time passed.

A strange noise suddenly came from outside the tent.

Zhou You raised his eyes but ignored him, simply spitting out a mouthful of strong liquor, then flipping it over and continuing to grind.

A short while later, with a jolt, the tent door was suddenly flung open.

However, what appeared before them was not a human face, but a roe deer.

As soon as the roe deer saw Zhou You, it nestled into his arms without any hesitation, its drool-covered tongue constantly licking his face. Its enthusiasm was so great that Zhou You had to use a lot of effort to push it away.

Hearing his roe deer's pitiful whimpers, Zhou You had no choice but to cut his own finger, feed it a few drops of blood, and then stop.

However, the person he was really waiting for never came in.

A short figure lingered at the tent entrance for a long time before finally making up his mind and entering the room.

—It's Fu Yu.

Compared to when they parted, the boy looked much more haggard now. His face was covered in black and gray dirt, his eyes were bloodshot from several sleepless nights, and there was even a deep, bone-revealing scar on his shoulder.

"Master, I—"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou You waved him over.

At first, Fu Yu was a little hesitant, seemingly unsure whether to trust Zhou You, but after looking at the brightly lit camp outside the tent, he finally gritted his teeth and went inside.

Zhou You didn't waste any words. He simply picked up the Wine Immortal Gourd, first used the wine mixed with evil energy to clean the wound, then found several rolls of clean white cloth, wrapped it around the wound layer by layer, and finally spoke.

"Your master, Brother Yu, is dead?"

Fu Yu was stunned, and the expression on his face suddenly turned extremely terrified.

"How did you know about this, Taoist priest?"

Seeing this, Zhou You simply patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't be so nervous. I'm not waiting around like this. I just know that if Brother Yu were here, he would risk his life to prevent you from getting such a serious injury."

Fu Yu's eyes reddened, and she immediately burst into tears.

"Taoist Master, my master... he's been killed!"

Zhou You sighed inwardly.

Sure enough, he was dead.

Zhou You shook his head silently, walked into the tent, patted a stool, and then said to Fu Yu.

"Don't stand there. You've just been injured. Let's sit down and talk about it."

Moreover, through Fu Yu's tearful account, the outline of the story gradually became clear.

Actually, this is very simple, really simple—it was even common in ancient times.

It's nothing more than a few words.

It's nothing more than killing innocent people and claiming credit for their crimes.

General Zuo was already cornered by the Ghost Village and didn't know if Zhou You could resolve the situation. However, he was familiar with the Prince's character and knew that if he failed, his best outcome would be death. So, this man, who hadn't used his brain in years, suddenly came up with an "extremely clever" solution.

Since they can't find the remaining rebels themselves, why not just create some rebels artificially?
So he led his troops to several nearby small mountain villages—most of which were devout worshippers of the Three Saints who refused to join the Houtu Sect—and the first thing he did upon meeting them was to demand grain and taxes.

Of course, these villagers had lived in this chaotic world for quite some time and knew that the flesh could never defeat swords. So they pieced together what they could and finally managed to gather enough grain to hand over.

But little did they know, that wasn't the end of it.

After receiving the grain, the soldiers then demanded money. The villagers had no choice but to comply, no matter how unwilling they were. They went home and searched every corner, eventually even taking out the money they had saved for next year's grain seeds to barely make up the difference.

I thought these soldiers would finally leave after taking the money, but who would have thought that they would start some kind of "anti-bandit tax" after taking the money.

But every household had run out of food and money, so what could they possibly have to pay for donations?
Then the obese General Zuo suddenly grinned savagely.

—Okay, so you don't want to pay taxes, right?

Since you're not paying taxes, you're in cahoots with those rebels. And if you're in cahoots, don't blame me for being ruthless.

Then, the butcher's knife was raised high, but it never fell.

"My master thought that because of his Maoshan background, General Zuo would give him some face. So he tried his best to stop the massacre, but who would have thought that they would attack him directly? My master was caught off guard and was seriously injured. He could only lead a group of soldiers away alone. I didn't even get to see him one last time."

Seeing Fu Yu finally break down in tears, Zhou You remained silent.

No matter how much this kid complains, this is, after all, his master who raised him and treated him like his own son.

It's just a pity that such a good person was so rare in this chaotic world.

After a long pause, Zhou You finally spoke.

"Did Brother Yu leave anything behind?"

Fu Yu's eyes reddened again, and he trembled as he pulled a bead from his pocket.

"When I found my master using the Maoshan method of finding people, those soldiers were about to hang his tattered body on the wall. I fought tooth and nail to snatch the package from them. Besides my master's will, all that was left was this... this image-remembering bead for you, Daoist Master." "Have you seen it?"

"No, my master said in his will that this must be shown to you, Daoist Master."

Zhou You shook his head, took the bead, and tapped it with his fingers.

The mirror-like ripples spread out, forming a blurry scene—Yu Laodao's thin body was visible in it, his face still bearing that slick smile, but his complexion was as pale as a dead man.

The tattered Taoist robe was covered in wounds, with blood soaking through the fabric in many places, but Old Taoist Yu seemed oblivious, simply smiling calmly as he spoke.

"Fellow?"

Even though he knew it was just a photo opportunity, Zhou You still subconsciously gave a reply.

"I'm here."

On the other side, Old Master Yu breathed heavily for a few moments, then laughed.

"I'm sorry, I'll have to trouble you again this time, fellow Daoist—alas, this old man is truly incompetent, no wonder Fu Yu calls me a piece of trash every day."

Fu Yu, standing next to her, bit her lip hard to keep herself from crying out again.

After making a self-deprecating remark, the old Taoist priest Yu, seemingly trying to make the most of the moment, continued speaking.

"I won't go into anything else, I botched this whole thing, a complete disaster—but at least my old bones are still somewhat useful. I lured away a bunch of that bastard Zuo's men, hopefully some of them can escape from the village while we're waiting."

unfortunately
Thinking of the mound of corpses piled up like that, Zhou You couldn't bear to speak.

But Master Yu continued speaking.

As if in a final burst of energy before death, the slick old man's speech became increasingly rapid.

"I believe in your abilities, fellow Daoist, and I also believe that with your destiny as a person of destiny, a mere ghost village is certainly no challenge for you. I have been indebted to you all this way, and I can't say anything about repaying you. But at the end, I still hope to make two requests."

“Fellow Daoist, the thing in your hand is a calamity. Just as I said, you must not investigate its existence, otherwise you will surely be cursed. I can no longer contact the mountain. Please help me send this thing back. Our sect leader will definitely reward you handsomely.”

"Secondly, I know you don't think much of my disciple, but he is, after all, my only disciple all these years. Please put in some effort to send him back to Maoshan. I've saved up some money over the years. Aside from leaving this kid enough to eat, you can take whatever you want."

"at last."

Old Master Yu took a deep breath, listening to the roars of the pursuers behind him, and spoke earnestly to Zhou You.

"Fellow Daoist, no matter why you have come, Songzhou has now become a whirlpool. Although I am not very capable, I know that a great calamity is about to befall us. Take my advice: stop getting involved and stay far away, the farther the better. Let our sect leader handle it. If the sect leader is not capable, there is the hereditary Zhang Tianshi of Longhu Mountain. If Zhang Tianshi is not capable, there is the Zhenxie Division and the famous sects in the capital. Why do you insist on getting involved in all this by yourself?"

Finally, with the sound of an arrow piercing the air, the scene abruptly ended.

Zhou You remained silent.

This old man is indeed quite a worrywart, no wonder Fu Yu is so annoyed with him. He's said almost everything he needed to say, except for the most crucial point.

—Hey, didn't you ever think about getting someone to avenge you?
Zhou You raised his head and looked at Fu Yu, who was almost driven mad by grief and shame, and said.

"Hey Fu, what are you planning to do next? As your master said, go back to Maoshan to lay low for a while?"

Fu Yu didn't answer directly, but instead stared at those bloodshot eyes and asked a question in return.

"Master, what are your plans after this?"

Unexpectedly, the person just laughed nonchalantly.

"Me? I've already got what I wanted. I'm planning to send you out of the state and then go do my own thing. What's wrong?"

Seeing Zhou You's nonchalant expression, Fu Yu's face showed a hint of anxiety at first—but he quickly realized something and lowered his head again.

"I won't leave."

"Oh, why?"

Fu Yu sniffed and then answered in a muffled voice.

“My master is dead. Although he wasn't very capable, loved to take advantage of others, and didn't have much money, he was still my master. Now that he's been killed, how can I, as his disciple, slink back home like this? I…”

He hesitated for a few seconds before finally uttering the last sentence in a firm tone.

"I want to avenge him."

Upon hearing this, Zhou You laughed out loud, as if mocking him.

"No, I'm telling you, Fu boy, although you know a few tricks of Maoshan magic, with that level of skill, I reckon any random soldier could kill you. So how are you going to avenge your master?"

At this point, Fu Yu calmed down, tilted his head back, and looked extremely determined.

“But I have time. If one day doesn’t work, I’ll do it in two days; if two days don’t work, I’ll do it in a month; if a month doesn’t work, I’ll do it in a year. A gentleman takes revenge even after ten years. With my intentions in mind, I can catch General Zuo off guard. That will be my chance.”

".good."

"Master, what did you say?"

Zhou You suddenly laughed—but this time it wasn't a taunt.

"I mean, it's not bad, at least I've seen something worthwhile."

He stood up and patted Fu Yu's little head.

"But kid, while that's true, there's one thing you're wrong about—although it's said that a gentleman takes revenge even after ten years, the problem is that if you wait ten years, it's the same as letting your enemy live freely for another ten years—so I think that statement itself is wrong."

Fu Yu, however, was puzzled.

"Master, what do you mean?"

Seeing the bewildered look in his eyes, Zhou You smiled and said.

“It’s normal for a child not to understand these things, but as an adult, I feel it’s my responsibility to teach you these things. It just so happens that I have a request to make, after all, as a monk, I can’t do something like deceiving a little girl.”

Zhou You was still smiling, but that smile was like an ancient glacier, containing only the meaning of extreme cold.

"So you just wait here, I'll be right back."

(End of this chapter)