One person: Senior brother Zhang Zhiwei, the Celestial Master begged me to descend the mountain.

Click.

With a crisp metallic clang, the bolt fell.

Gong Qing gently rubbed his fingers on the door bolt to make sure it was locked before slowly turning around.

The cautious, obsequious smile on his face vanished instantly.

Instead, there was a frenzied excitement.

He raised his hands and stretched vigorously, his joints cracking and popping.

"what……"

Gong Qing let out a long breath, as if he wanted to expel all the pent-up frustration that had accumulated in his chest over the past three years.

"It's been three years."

He stretched his neck and walked briskly toward the wheelchair in the center of the room.

"Grand Tutor, do you know how I've spent these past three years?"

Gong Qing casually pulled over a chair and sat down opposite Tian Jinzhong with an air of authority, his eyes fixed on the old man in the wheelchair:

"Every day I have to clean up your excrement, wipe your body, and listen to your endless nagging."

"I not only have to act like a grandson, I also have to act like a fool."

"Sometimes I can hardly tell whether I am the acting leader of Quanxing Sect or just a lowly Daoist boy on Longhu Mountain."

In a wheelchair.

Tian Jinzhong quietly looked at the young man in front of him, who was both familiar and unfamiliar.

There was neither fear nor anger in his cloudy old eyes.

There is only one kind of unfathomable sorrow.

"The acting leader of Quanxing?"

Tian Jinzhong's lips moved slightly, his voice hoarse:

"I see."

"No wonder..."

"No wonder you've been there for me every time I call you these past three years."

"I thought it was because you're a filial child."

"Oh."

Gong Qing chuckled and leaned forward, his young face almost touching Tian Jinzhong's nose:

"Filial piety?"

"Grand Master, we Quanxing are demons!"

"What kind of filial piety does this charlatan talk about?"

"We only talk about desires, only about goals."

As he spoke, he reached out and gently patted Tian Jinzhong's withered hand:

"For that secret, I'd be willing to pretend to be a coward for three years, or even thirty years."

Boom—!

Suddenly, a loud bang came from outside the window.

Immediately following was a burst of firelight that illuminated the paper windows in a fiery red.

Faintly, shouts of killing and screams could be heard from afar.

"Listen to this."

Gong Qing pointed out the window, his smile growing even brighter:

"It's so lively!"

"Grand Tutor, guess how many people have died outside?"

"Taoist priests from the Celestial Master's Mansion, disciples of the Quanxing Sect..."

"Tsk tsk tsk, rivers of blood."

Tian Jinzhong's pupils suddenly contracted.

He stared intently at Gong Qing:

"You're crazy..."

"Just for some vague and uncertain secret, you're sending so many people to their deaths?"

"Vague and ethereal?"

Gong Qing suddenly stood up, his previously calm face instantly filled with fanaticism:

"That's the truth about the Jia Shen Rebellion!"

"That's the path to heaven!"

"That was the core of the sworn brotherhood of the Thirty-Six Thieves!"

He paced back and forth in the room, waving his hands:

"Zhang Huaiyi, that big-eared thief, is dead. The other thirty-six thieves are either dead or in hiding."

"In this world, you are the only one who still knows the truth about what happened back then!"

"Tian Lao!"

Gong Qing suddenly stopped and braced his hands on the armrests of his wheelchair:

"What exactly did you and Zhang Huaiyi see at the foot of the mountain back then?"

Why did Zhang Huaiyi need to comprehend the origin and flow of Qi?

"Why have you become such a useless person?"

"tell me!"

"Just tell me who those people outside are, and I can make them stop immediately."

"even……"

Gong Qing's voice suddenly lowered, carrying a hint of seduction:

"I can even use all the resources of the entire sect to find you the best doctor and prolong your life."

in the room.

A suffocating silence fell over the room.

Only the sounds of explosions outside the window continued to assault my eardrums.

Tian Jinzhong looked at the young man with a ferocious face in front of him.

That was Xiaoyuzi, whom he had watched grow up.

Those were his family members who had been by his side countless days and nights over the past three years.

Now, however, it has turned into a vicious wolf that preys on people.

"Oh……"

Tian Jinzhong suddenly smiled.

That smile carried a hint of desolation and a touch of mockery.

"Little Feather..."

"You are very smart."

"You are very patient."

"But you forgot one thing."

Tian Jinzhong struggled to lift his head, looking directly into Gong Qing's greedy eyes:

"I'm a useless person."

"A cripple with all his limbs severed and his meridians destroyed."

"For decades, to keep this secret, I haven't slept, I haven't dared to talk in my sleep, I've lived like a dead man."

"What do you think...?"

"Would I tell you that secret because of this threat?"

The smile on Gong Qing's face gradually disappeared.

He straightened up, looking down at Tian Jinzhong with an icy gaze:

"Grand Tutor, why are you doing this?"

"If you won't listen to reason, you'll have to suffer the consequences?"

"Do you think I can't do anything just because you don't tell me?"

Gong Qing took out a small black porcelain bottle from his pocket and tossed it lightly in his hand:

"This is something that kid Lü Liang just refined."

"Just one drop can increase a person's nerve sensitivity tenfold."

"At that time, even a gust of wind will feel like a knife cutting you."

"Your health..."

He bent down, leaned close to Tian Jinzhong's ear, and whispered like a devil:

"How many hits can it withstand?"

"Furthermore, I also called Lü Liang over."

"Have you heard of the Soul Clarity Technique?"

"Once he arrives, even if you sew your mouth shut, we can still rip your brain out."

Upon hearing the words "Minghun Technique".

Tian Jinzhong's body stiffened abruptly.

The Lü family's Soul-Clearing Technique!

That descendant of the Eight Extraordinary Techniques who can directly read soul memories!

If that's the case...

That secret...

The secret that Huaiyi risked his life to protect back then...

The secret his senior brother has been covering for him all these years...

Is it really going to fall apart?

Tian Jinzhong's breathing became rapid.

His chest heaved violently, and a hint of panic finally flashed in his usually calm old eyes.

"Scared?"

Gong Qing keenly noticed Tian Jinzhong's emotional changes.

He smiled smugly, toying with the porcelain vase in his hand:

"It's good that you're scared."

"Grand Tutor, I didn't want to resort to such methods against you either."

"After all, we've known each other for three years."

"If you just say the word now, I guarantee no one will dare to lay a finger on you."

"Moreover, fewer of the Celestial Master's Mansion disciples outside will die."

What do you think?

Gong Qing was very patient.

He didn't believe Tian Jinzhong could withstand it.

No one can withstand this kind of despair that strikes straight to the soul.

however.

Just then.

Tian Jinzhong suddenly fell silent.

He slowly closed his eyes.

In my mind.

It felt like I was back on that night decades ago.

That night, when it was pouring rain.

The junior brother who knelt before him, covered in blood, crying and begging him to keep the secret.

"Huaiyi..."

Tian Jinzhong murmured to himself.

"My senior brother is useless."

"My senior brother is a useless person."

"I haven't been able to do anything for you in this life."

"but……"

"I've kept my promise to you."

"I did it before."

"Now……"

"We definitely can do it."

Tian Jinzhong suddenly opened his eyes.

At this moment, an unprecedented glint of light suddenly burst forth in those cloudy old eyes.

That was resolute determination, that was a death wish.

That is the heroic spirit of "I will go even if there are thousands of people against me"!

"Xiao Yuzi."

Tian Jinzhong looked at Gong Qing, a slight smile curving his lips:

"You're right."

"I'm a useless person."

"I can't run away, and I can't beat you."

"but……"

"There's one thing you miscalculated."

Gong Qing was stunned for a moment, and a strong sense of unease suddenly welled up in his heart:

"What?"

Tian Jinzhong's smile grew even brighter; it was a smile of relief.

"You've miscalculated..."

"These are the bones of a Taoist priest from Longhu Mountain!"

Before he could finish speaking...

Tian Jinzhong's mouth suddenly opened.

Then, he used up all the strength he had left in his broken body.

He bit down hard on his tongue!

"What are you doing?!"

Gong Qing's pupils contracted instantly.

He never imagined that this old man, who had been paralyzed for decades, would be so fierce!

To protect a secret, he chose to end his own life without hesitation!

"stop!!!"

Gong Qing let out a terrified scream.

He lunged forward like a madman, reaching out to try and pry open Tian Jinzhong's chin.

If Tian Jinzhong dies.

Then he has completely lost!

Three years of infiltration, tonight's attack on the mountain by Quanxing, all the sacrifices, all the planning.

It will all become a joke!

"You're not allowed to die!"

"Give me a break!!!"

Gong Qing's fingers gripped Tian Jinzhong's cheek tightly, desperately trying to pry open his clenched teeth.

but.

late.

puff--

A stream of scarlet blood gushed from the corner of Tian Jinzhong's mouth.

It splashed all over Gong Qing's face.

The warm touch made Gong Qing feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

"Aaaaaah!!!"

Gong Qing screamed in despair.

He watched helplessly as Tian Jinzhong's eyes began to glaze over.

Watching her once rosy complexion quickly turn ashen.

Lost.

We've lost completely.

In front of this elderly man who couldn't even walk.

As the leader of the Quanxing Sect, he suffered a complete and utter defeat!

Tian Jinzhong looked at the panicked face in front of him.

His consciousness began to fade.

But he felt more relaxed than ever before.

Huaiyi, Master.

I am coming.

The secret was kept.

Just as Tian Jinzhong's consciousness was about to completely sink into darkness.

hum!

A strange fluctuation suddenly spread throughout the room.

The gushing blood suddenly and strangely froze in mid-air.

Followed by.

A slender, fair hand appeared out of thin air in front of Tian Jinzhong.

That hand gently pinched Tian Jinzhong's tightly clenched jaw.

"Click".

A soft sound.

Tian Jinzhong's jaw joint was dislocated instantly.

His clenched teeth were forced to loosen.

at the same time.

A familiar voice, filled with helplessness and languor, yet carrying a hint of something that makes you want to cry.

In this room filled with the stench of blood, a slow, resounding melody echoed:

"Odako..."

"How old are you to still be playing these games?"

"If you just die like this..."

"Senior brother, hasn't my trip been a complete waste?"