Each of the nine dragon maidens possesses extraordinary abilities.

The system knows this, so it will deliberately do things with Lu Yueyuan to leave an impression on him.

While they were putting out fires, they would stop somewhere and the system would say, "Wow, there's a place selling candied hawthorns." Then Lu Yueyuan would buy two skewers, and they would share the joy of eating candied hawthorns by the river where willow catkins were floating.

Lu Yueyuan didn't like candied hawthorns; he would even be preoccupied with his own tasks while doing so. The system understood, but it still pleaded with Lu Yueyuan to accompany it.

After all, regardless of the outcome, the system will eventually disappear once the number of simulated futures is used up.

It knew this was a sad thing, but there was nothing it could do. Perhaps many years later, Lu Yueyuan would forget it, just like he forgot Sister Yanzi, leaving only a vague impression. But it didn't want to be left with only bad impressions, even if it was just a slightly bittersweet memory of candied hawthorns. If it could be left behind, that would be good too.

So when the system disappeared, Lu Yueyuan remembered it and, besides the bad impressions, he also had some bittersweet memories. Although they were just a thin layer of impressions, Lu Yueyuan understood that they were related to candied hawthorn.

In the end, all memories will only become impressions, and by then, even the deepest love will cease to exist.

Perhaps love at first sight buds love; perhaps a sudden realization makes love blossom; perhaps separation by life and death makes love eternal. But after being worn away by time, all that remains for people are impressions.

"I believe in love, you know. In my opinion, love can exist. Two strangers, from all corners of the world, with different personalities, backgrounds, customs, and even languages. But because of love at first sight, they quickly grow closer to each other, and then they suddenly understand each other's personalities. In the end, they accompany each other until one of them dies, and only then does the remaining one realize how important the other was to them," Jealousy said, chattering away.

“I’m all grown up now, you can leave the storybooks to the kids.” Lu Yueyuan’s tone was inexplicably fierce.

"Hey, they even sell storybooks for adults now..." The jealous tone softened. "And, Agent, haven't you ever experienced love at first sight?"

"Yes, so I think I'm an idiot."

"Why do you say that?" Jealousy scratched his head.

Lu Yueyuan remained silent, clearly indicating that he genuinely believed this.

"But now, I've fallen in love with the Agent at first sight! Am I a fool too?" Jealousy suddenly came straight to the point.

Lu Yueyuan's face immediately showed an expression of looking at an idiot.

"No, don't look at me like that! Do you know how much courage it took for me to say this? I had to be careful not to get beaten up by the boss, and I also had to worry about those Mo family guys overhearing me. They're perverted and abstinent, you know that?" Jealousy waved his hands frantically. They were currently on their way to the Mo family camp.

Lu Yueyuan understood the Mohist school; those people were incredibly ascetic. During the simulation of the future, he had interacted with the Mohist leader more than once. The leader was a respectable senior, but possessed an extreme and entrenched ideology of eradicating desire. Actually, the Mohist school wasn't like this long ago; it was only because of Fairy Miaoyin that they were forced to become what they were.

When faced with such a deity, the only path left is abstinence. Lu Yueyuan recalled the terror the other party possessed; even such a path seemed hopeless in the face of a god.

"However, I'm telling the truth, Lord Agent. I did fall in love with you at first sight, and I don't want to lie to you. I'm so glad you're willing to take me with you. I was thinking, this might be my only chance, so I had to tell you." Jealousy swung her feet, and at that moment, clouds obscured the sun, casting a shadow on her beautiful feet, as dark and unfathomable as her black eyes.

Chapter 80: Jealousy, Jealousy

"Is that so?" Lu Yueyuan naturally didn't believe that statement; he was pondering the girl's intention in saying it.

"You don't believe me? Hahaha, that's normal." Jealousy laughed and looked into the distance. "No one has ever believed me since I was little. When I was little, my parents were going to do business in the next village. I said I wanted to go with them, but they wouldn't listen. They thought I didn't need them and that I could be happy on my own. Maybe it's because I was carefree when I was little. Who cares about a child's crying and laughing? It's good enough if you just coax them."

"Are you an only child?" Lu Yueyuan asked.

"No, I have many older brothers and sisters. I'm the youngest in the family. Does the Agent think I'm the kind of person who would take care of my younger siblings?" Jealousy said.

Lu Yueyuan was speechless. Indeed, jealousy and pride were different. She seemed to have been spoiled since childhood, so she acted without restraint. Moreover, she was cute, so it was only natural that she was pampered. In fact, this could be seen from the interactions among the Seven Deadly Sins. Jealousy was quirky and liked to imitate robot speech, but Pride still indulged her and even personally helped her regulate her meridians.

There are some people who become the darling of the group wherever they go, and jealousy is one of those people.

"I couldn't really help with anything because I was too young. My older siblings helped my parents, and I just ate and did nothing. Later, they went to do business next door, and the villagers took care of me. Although my parents gave them money, I was too naughty, so no one wanted to take me in. Later, my older sister stepped in, and everyone agreed to take turns looking after me." She laughed shyly, "Now that I think about it, haha... it was actually my fault. Only the older sister next door could put up with me."

Lu Yueyuan remained silent. He recalled his time in the village, when he was practically a demon. Aside from Ming Huaiwei and the other kids, only Sister Yanzi truly believed in him. In some ways, he was similar to Jealousy, except one was the older brother and the other the younger sister.

"Yes, in the end, only the girl next door cared about me. She sold oranges, and her family had so many orange trees. When I was little, I was terrified of oranges. I would run away from the smell, and my parents thought I was a picky eater. Later, I lived with the girl next door, and maybe I got used to the smell, so I gradually stopped being afraid. Occasionally, during holidays, when my parents came home and wanted to punish me for doing something wrong, I would hide in the orange tree at the girl next door's house. If they couldn't find me, they would give up, and the girl next door would cover for me." Jealousy was also lost in memories, murmuring, "Sigh... Actually, the orange tree was quite nice. After all, it didn't really pose a threat to me. I don't know what I was afraid of back then."

"Is your neighbor sister still alive?" Lu Yueyuan asked.

"No, everyone died. I survived by hiding in a pile of oranges. My neighbor had a robot, a very crude device, that just carried oranges to a cart and then pushed it out. On the day the Demonic Cult came for the blood sacrifice, my neighbor hid me in the orange pile and had that robot push me around. It was a really bad magical artifact, and the Demonic Cult wasn't interested in it, so I escaped that way. There was a lot of smoke and fire that day, but I only smelled oranges. Hehe, I was pretty lucky." Jealousy chuckled. "So when you ask me what happened that day, the first thing I remember is the smell of oranges. Lord Agent, what else do you think of when you think back to the past?"

“I have a bad memory, and I’ve forgotten most of it,” Lu Yueyuan said. His memory was even more worn down, and apart from Ming Huaiwei, he only had vague outlines of the people in the village left, including Sister Yanzi and his parents.

"Actually, this isn't good. If a person doesn't have memories, they're almost like a robot. Don't be fooled by my robot-like speech; I don't want to be a robot at all. And every night, I have to recall everyone's appearance, especially my neighbor, Sister Orange. Sister Orange is what I call her because I don't know her name, and she's never told me. She's mute, has no parents, no siblings, no children, only some robots and lots of oranges. The villagers probably don't like her much, which is why they gave me to her. Actually, at first, I didn't like her either. Her cooking was terrible, and she couldn't speak, so I called her 'mute,' 'Mute, mute, your cooking is awful, no wonder you can't get married.' Ah... thinking about it now, I said so many hurtful things. But Sister Orange never got angry. No matter what I did, she would give me an orange. She gave me an orange when I was angry, she gave me an orange when I cursed at her, she gave me an orange when I laughed at her, and even when I was bullied outside and came home crying, she comforted me by giving me an orange. Haha... Later, I started giving her oranges too."

"You offered her an orange too? What does that mean?"

"Even Sister Orange gets angry. Once, I was playing on the mountain, and without noticing, I rolled down the slope, all over like a ball, and got hurt. Then Sister Orange got angry. Every day, besides cooking for me and applying medicine to my wounds, she ignored me and stopped smiling. I was scared then, afraid that Sister Orange would hate me like everyone else. So I picked oranges from the tree for her, hugged her leg, and threw a tantrum, begging her to forgive me. Finally, she laughed and accepted my oranges. From then on, handing out oranges became our agreement: whoever is angry has to hand out oranges."

"It sounds like you're closer to her than to your own sister and brother."

“Yeah, I guess so…” Jealousy said softly, “After all, they spoil me, but Sister Orange is different. She loves me. Spoiling and loving are different. I can feel it.”

"If she were still alive, she might not agree to me joining the Seven Deadly Sins organization?" Jealousy, tired of talking, leaned back and looked at the sky.

Lu Yueyuan stood there, jealousy. What she described was almost identical to what he could see using his Holy Emperor's Authority, which proved that the child wasn't lying. But as he said before, he sensed a strange sense of rationality in her.

For example, why did she say these things? For example, her claim of love at first sight? For example, Lu Yueyuan seeing the connecting line between them? If he hadn't seen that deep red line, Lu Yueyuan would have thought it was jealousy playing a joke.

But he knew it wasn't jealousy. Her tone of voice and expression weren't a joke. The look in her eyes held an emotion that even the gods should fear.

Chapter 81: The situation has really taken a sharp turn for the worse!

After receiving another message from the Mo family, Wen Ciji finally understood why the leader of the Mo family had not responded when she sent him a message.

he died.

With his death, the Mohist school descended into complete chaos. Members of different factions accused each other, internal strife broke out, and the Mohist disciples below completely lost control.

The situation is terrible.

Faced with pressure from Zhongzhou, Wen Ciji originally intended to reconcile the conflict between the merchant guild and the Mo family. However, the death of the Mo family leader led to the Mo family splitting up, and before the negotiations even began, they themselves fell into internal strife.

The attack on the Immortal Boat train was also carried out by one of the Mohist disciples. Wen Ciji didn't need to investigate in detail; she knew with her bare hands that someone was stirring things up.

As for the suspect, it is undoubtedly Qing Zaishan, the guardian of the Nine Peaks Sect who has now taken up residence in the earth vein.

That was her original thought, but after receiving the message from the Mo family's undercover agents, she changed her mind.

It's too chaotic here.

The undercover report states that several days ago, many fortune tellers appeared at the Mo Clan headquarters. Most of these people were followers of the Nine Transformations Heavenly Secrets Ancestor, and they lingered in the streets of the cities occupied by the Mo Clan, constantly spreading rumors to influence the Mo Clan. Then, last night, a blood-red light appeared at the site of the Grand Master's death, suspected to be an agent of the Killing-to-Prove-the-Dao Heavenly Venerable.

It's highly likely that the Nine Transformations Heavenly Mystery Ancestor's representative didn't come, but the large number of believers under his command are enough to give the Mohists a hard time. The current state of disintegration of the Mohists is 100% related to them.

How could the people of the Jiuyi Sect be so wicked? It wasn't enough for the guardians to cause trouble, so now even the believers of the gods are causing trouble.

Wen Ciji didn't get a good night's rest. She kept sending out her most elite guards in hopes of stabilizing the situation on the Mo family's side.

Unfortunately it backfired.

The sudden death of the Grand Master, internal strife within the Mohist school, and opportunistic exploitation by the merchant guilds have plunged half of Qingzhou into war.

The Langya Gang has already intervened, but faced with the prospect of profit, the merchant guilds below them are simply unable to control the situation. Moreover, Wen Ciji has discovered something terrible: the corruption in Qingzhou is already halfway complete and has long since passed the safe zone.

Like dominoes, when one falls, the others follow. Originally, the Mo family could still keep the merchant groups in check, but the Mo family's power has shrunk significantly. Other merchant groups, driven by greed, have taken advantage of the situation and even accelerated the progress of Qingzhou's return to the Void.

The superficial formalities that used to be done are long gone; now, only profit matters.

No one realized that red and blue had appeared above at least half of Qingzhou's land; they would fight to the death for what they saw as their own interests.

Conspiracy, scheming, interests, slaughter, bloodshed... The phantom images of the two gods, the Nine Transformations Heavenly Ancestor and the Killing Life Proving Dao Heavenly Venerable, appeared and disappeared in the sky above Qingzhou. The emotions of half of the people in Qingzhou were ignited, and the flames of war covered the sky. Even though the maid stopped the conversion of the earth vein energy, the progress of the merger of Guixu was still increasing.

That's terrible, absolutely terrible.

Wen Ciji counted the cards in his hand and realized that he had lost the right to sit at the table.

Her actions were still too slow. Even if she dealt with Qing Zaishan and drove him out, she couldn't stop the Four Gods' followers from infiltrating Qingzhou.

After all, the two gods of Qingzhou are really too weak.

Wen Ciji sighed deeply and slumped onto the table.

Bang bang bang, just then, someone was knocking on the door.

Before she could react, the door opened, and Jing Xingzhou poked his head in: "Still busy? Do you want to take a break?"

rest?

Wen Ciji looked up at him with a dark expression. The situation was already so bad, how could she have time to rest?

Currently, the only controllable forces in Qingzhou are the Langya Gang and the Academy. However, due to the fact that most merchant forces have broken away from the control of the Langya Gang, the Langya Gang is weak internally. Now, Wen Ciji can only rely on the Academy.

She could certainly have the reclusive hermit use his immense power to kill all these believers, or she could have used force to restrict the merchant guild, but doing so would likely turn into a battle between gods.

Once the war of gods begins, Qingzhou will be completely finished.

Not to mention that they can't handle the Chosen Ones alone, don't forget that Qing Zaishan is also watching them like a hawk.

In conclusion, the situation in Qingzhou has indeed taken a sharp turn for the worse.

She got up, used her magic artifact to make sure no one was listening, then pulled Jing Xingzhou in, closed the door, and released a protective barrier.

“Let’s escape,” Wen Ciji said. “I have arrangements in other states over the years. We can live just as well without leaving here.”

Jing Xingzhou looked into her eyes and knew she was serious.

Um.......

That's a valid point of view. For the people of Qingzhou, if this place isn't suitable for doing business, they can simply move to another place.

However, this is the only thing that cannot be thought about using the logic of doing business. He understood this when he was young, the moment Jing Xingzhou became the acting agent of Lord Hengjun.

It's not that he loved his hometown; in fact, he hated Qingzhou more than anyone else. He hated its customs, its wars, its ruthlessness and greed. He hated everything about it. Qingzhou roared at him when he was a child, so he roared back angrily.

“No, Wen Ciji, we can’t escape. Once Qingzhou falls, the collapse of this world is only a matter of time. The Four Gods and their followers will lord it over the new world, but we can’t. We’re already bound to this place. Our souls are here, and our corpses will be here in the future. There’s nothing we can do. I grew up here since I was a child.”

Wen Ciji said, "But we have a chance, at worst we can still vote..."

Jing Xingzhou shook his head: "Then let's forget it. What's the point of being a slave to the Four Gods? Lord Hengjun is the God of Trade, and His trades are inherently unreliable. How can we trust the Four Gods? However, what you said makes sense. You've had a lot of hard work all these years..."

He took out a magical artifact from his robes and placed it on the table, then reached out and removed Wen Ciji's identity token as the vice leader of the Langya Gang.

Wen Ciji raised his hand and pressed it down on him.

The two looked at each other.

Finally, Wen Ciji used force to slowly press down his hand, then straightened her body, took back the deputy gang leader's identity token, and put it back on her body.

Jing Xingzhou's eyes were moved.

Jing Xingzhou had no chance; burdened by the curse, he was only a matter of time before he died. But Wen Ciji was different; she could abandon him and everyone in the Langya Gang and escape.

But she didn't.

She sat back down in her seat, reopened the intelligence reports, and pondered ways to break the deadlock.

Jing Xingzhou bowed and silently prayed to Lord Hengjun.

A single bronze scale determines the balance; words are the price of one's heart, and no one dares to take them lightly.

Golden contracts do not bind free will; the eyes of the world open wide, revealing good and evil.

Merchants and travelers all bowed their heads, while the Prefect kept his eyes closed.

Where the blue phoenix cries, its song is like a mirror, reflecting all the sounds of buying and selling in the world.

Chapter 82: Hehehehe

The communication talisman truthfully reported the current situation in Qingzhou.

Inside the academy's guest room, Arrogant listened with a serious expression to the report from the people in the talisman room.

She even used some magical artifacts to observe the situation in various parts of Qingzhou, and it was indeed very bad.

The Seven Deadly Sins infiltrated Qingzhou. Besides Envy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, there were also some subordinates who were intelligence units personally established by Pride, and they were only responsible to Pride.

Pride had originally planned to have a good time at the academy with Gluttony, waiting for Lu Yueyuan's news. Unexpectedly, instead of Lu Yueyuan's message, these people contacted her first.

Even those who weren't arrogant enough to be considered locals of Qingzhou immediately realized after hearing the report that Qingzhou was about to be engulfed in war.

The leader of the Mohist school has died, and the Mohist school is now in internal strife. The merchant guilds have also started a war. If you and Jealousy have not yet reached the Mohist territory, please take note of this immediately.

[Furthermore, my people have noticed that a drug of unknown origin is being sold in Qingzhou through merchant guilds. I suspect it's being produced by followers of the Great Virtue True Lord. Please be careful.]

Arrogance compiled the above information and sent it to Lu Yueyuan using a talisman.

In response to the arrogant report, Lu Yueyuan simply replied with three words: "Understood."

Got it, so what?

What will they do next?

Are we just going to stand by and watch?

Arrogance released her divine sense. The academy located in the bamboo forest was still very quiet. The Hermit Hermit was teaching the Way of Etiquette to his disciples by the waterfall. Who knows why they had to go to the waterfall to teach the Way of Etiquette? She saw the Hermit Hermit maliciously sealing the disciples' spiritual meridians and then kicking them into the water one by one.

This master's job is pretty unorthodox.

As for binge eating, that girl is even more doomed. She actually started cooking for the disciples of the academy, and she seemed to enjoy it immensely.