Time seemed to slow down, but the howling cold wind outside the house could not hide the two heavy gasps inside.

Xiang Wu, who was seriously injured and newly injured, was now dying. But in the end, because of the appearance of Fengzhan, he escaped the sword of Xiao Qianye's end. Xiang Wu survived, and if such an injury was exchanged for other martial artists, even a martial artist at the peak of the Nine Leaves realm, he should have died a long time ago. But he is Xiang Wu, the strongest person today. At this moment, Xiang Wu wanted to laugh very much, and he also laughed out loud against the severe pain of the broken meridians and viscera.

The meaning of the smile is very complicated, he laughed to avoid the worst situation, the catastrophe is not dead, it is for joy.

He also laughed at his dignified imperial dragon general, and the one who finally saved his life was the number one thief today, and at the same time the royal family of Chu State, for irony.

"You should know...... Even if I'm hurt like this, I can still kill you. Xiang Wu's voice is weak, and it is always full of killing.

Feng Zhan's legs were in burning pain, and the skin of his whole body was red from the surging blood of the Wind God in his body. After Xiang Wu spoke, he thought he had misheard.

"Even if Uncle Ben is a thief, he knows what to say and what not to say in the first sentence after being rescued." Feng Zhan said.

Xiang Wu was silent for a moment and said, "I'm just curious, why did you save me." ”

Feng Zhan bared his teeth, feeling the intense pain after unlocking all the prohibitions, and said angrily: "Do you think Uncle Ben wants to save you?" Save you, just because this war needs you. ”

Xiang Wu didn't know what to say.

"Uncle Ben and Li Nianyun came to Shuangchuan together, Ah Xiu and Li Nianyun saved you and treated you, naturally to save your life, but although the two of them can appear in front of you, Uncle Ben can't, I have been wanted by the empire for a long time, especially since you, the general, also counted the theft of the palace performance map on Lao Tzu's head." Feng Zhan seemed to be more and more angry the more he thought about it, and he didn't care about Xiang Wu's thoughts at all.

Of course, Xiang Wu knew the reason for the theft of the palace performance map. It was a plan he used to kill two birds with one stone. If it weren't for Feng Zhan's real bloodline being too taboo for the empire, in Xiang Wu's opinion, no matter what kind of thief he was, it wouldn't be worth his attention.

"But since they all want to save you, although you are very dangerous, especially hostile to me, Uncle Ben will still save you." Feng Zhan said.

"Because they're your friends?"

"Although you, the general, don't look down on a thief like Uncle Ben, but you were saved by a thief today after all, I said, can you change your expression, you will make me regret saving you like this." Feng Zhan did not answer Xiang Wu's question, but was a little afraid of Xiang Wu's momentum as an iron-blooded general.

Xiang Wu really didn't know what expression to use to face Feng Zhan, so he was still like this, and the atmosphere in the room was a little awkward. But after a while, Xiang Wu spoke:

"I thank you for the Empire."

Feng Zhan smiled, looking at Xiang Wulai with some ruffianism, he knew that he would not die.

"But you don't need to thank Uncle Ben, to save you, it's the meaning of the scholar and the shopkeeper and the other people in the inn, unfortunately, Uncle Ben owes the shopkeeper thousands of lives, don't let me save you, even if he asks me to kneel you...... That uncle must not kneel. In short, you have to repay the favor, even if it is on the head of the shopkeeper. ”

After the incident of the martial arts conference, there were more people who paid attention to the inn, Feng Zhan, Ding Qiliang, these two people are the right-hand men of the innkeeper, and it is not too deep a secret. Xiang Wu naturally knew. Xiang Wu promised the scholar not to be embarrassed by the inn and his party. But such a promise was ultimately intended to ensure the longevity of the empire.

So he is not a Jianghu person, he believes in morality, but he has a higher faith than morality in his heart. For the sake of the empire's safety, he can break the agreement with the scholars, such as killing the royal family of the Chu State. Especially the royal family of Chu who has awakened the bloodline of the wind god.

But at this moment, Xiang Wu finally gave up doing so. Even if the thief who used to make the empire helpless with his speed in the past is unable to move at the moment, it is the best time to kill.

"The shopkeeper of your mouth...... What kind of person is it? Xiang Wu couldn't help but be a little curious, who was this shopkeeper who could kidnap his own advisers and recruit the world's number one thief.

"If you survive this time, maybe you'll see him soon. In short, you owe him a favor, maybe two. Feng Zhan laughed.

Xiang Wu didn't speak, just looked at Feng Zhan.

"Gotta get it, you are tired, don't look at me, although I know that you won't kill me, but after being stared at by you for a long time, Uncle Ben is really uncomfortable. As for the shopkeeper, I haven't thought about what kind of person that guy is, but if there is someone in this world who can create miracles, I believe it is the shopkeeper. ”

This answer was not what Xiang Wu wanted to hear, he was indeed very interested in the shopkeeper in the mouth of the scholar and Feng Zhan at the moment. But it seems that we can only hope for the opportunity to contact in the future.

Xiang Wu tried to heal his wounds, but he couldn't gather internal strength.

"Don't think about it, Uncle Ben didn't expect you to be assassinated, if you didn't notice that the black cloud was strange, you wouldn't come over to take a look, now that you and I are too seriously injured, and the people in Yunci Valley don't know where you and I are, don't think about recovering from your injuries in a short time, but Uncle, my leg is getting better quickly, and when I can run, I will let the people from Yunci Valley come to pick you up." But now, I can't move. Feng Zhan said.

An imperial general and a thief collapsed in a ruined temple in the city of Frost River, unable to do anything.

After being silent for a long time, Feng Zhan seemed to be bored, expecting that life was really full of excitement, and if he was killed, he would not have thought that one day the most dangerous person in the world would be saved by him, and the two would be able to stay together without incident.

He laughed. The meaning of this laughter is not so complicated, it is just that it is simply funny, and it laughs when it wants to laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Xiang Wu asked.

"I'm laughing, a big man like you sometimes makes stupid mistakes. Obviously, in the imperial camp, you can wait for reinforcements to support you as soon as possible, but you have to leave the camp, if it weren't for Uncle Ben who has been secretly watching, I'm afraid you would have died. "The more I think about it, the funnier it gets.

"Speaking of which, who the hell is that guy, he can't even beat you."

"His name is Xiao Qianye, and he is the master of Tianji Pavilion." Xiang Wu mentioned this name, and a trace of remorse flashed in his expression again.

After the martial arts conference, under the guidance of the scholars, Feng Zhan and the rest of the inn understood the existence of Tianji Pavilion, but at this moment, Feng Zhan still didn't expect that this Tianji Pavilion master was so strong.

"Then you shouldn't choose to face him alone. Such a person, even if he pays a big price, he should be killed, Uncle Ben doesn't understand very well, why don't you choose to use the strength of other people in the barracks, although there will definitely be a lot of casualties, but it will not be like now, although that guy is seriously injured, he will definitely get better much faster than you, won't it be more difficult when the time comes? Feng Zhan said. Although he didn't know what Xiao Qianye had done, in Feng Zhan's consciousness, even if Tianji Pavilion didn't do anything, he felt extremely dangerous when such a bunch of people gathered together.

He still remembered the feeling of being chased by the black jade nether. In the end, it was Akasi who let him get rid of the black jade, and Akasi was the white jade of Tianji Pavilion.

Xiang Wu shook his head and said, "There are some things in this world that seem to be the same, but in fact they are very different. ”

"Pick up the paragraph and say it understands." Feng Zhan was not polite to the general at all.

"What would you do if one day you faced an opponent who you couldn't defeat even if you fought to the death, knowing that he would endanger more people if he was alive, and knowing that you could kill this opponent if you only had to sacrifice some people?" Xiang Wu asked.

"Uncle Ben won't face such a choice." Feng Zhan refused to answer.

"In the future, if one day, you are pushed onto the road of the restoration of Chu by those people of the Demon Sect by those Chu people, maybe you will face such a choice, maybe that day, the person who will make you face the dilemma will be me."

Xiang Wu's expression also became serious, although he had always been very serious.

"If you lose some of the soldiers of the Chu State or the people of the Chu State, you can kill me, if you don't kill me, they can live for a while, but in the near future, your followers will face a greater crisis, how will you choose." Xiang Wu said.

"Haha......" Feng Zhan laughed dryly, thinking that Xiang Wu was telling an impossible joke, but he instantly felt that this joke was not funny at all, so he immediately stopped again.

He was suddenly a little bored, and he didn't know why, he said: "Uncle Ben doesn't care about the affairs of Qin and Chu, what my bastard dad didn't finish, I won't go and don't bother to finish, I'm just an inn running hall now." ”

Xiang Wu looked directly at Feng Zhan and said, "How will you choose." ”

In a flat tone without the slightest doubt, Xiang Wu simply repeated the question. This question Feng Zhan has never thought about, whether it is the situation in this hypothesis or his position in this hypothesis. But inexplicably, Fengzhan was a little afraid.

It's as if in the unknowable future, there is suddenly a road to hell under your feet, but ...... You don't know if you're on the right path or not. He didn't believe what Xiang Wu said, but he couldn't absolutely refute the existence of this possibility.

The identity of the royal family of Chu was something he couldn't get rid of, and he didn't know what the meaning of this identity was given to him by fate, but in the end, he accepted such an identity.

"I said, Uncle Ben won't ......"

"How will you choose." Feng Zhan's words were interrupted by Xiang Wu. Again, I asked him this question directly. Obviously, the general has also followed the trend and become more serious.

Neither of them can move, and this topic is like a sword competition between the two.

Feng Zhan was a little wilted, he still didn't think this situation would happen, but now, he began to think about it seriously.

Xiang Wu didn't urge anymore, Feng Zhan asked him a question, he threw the question back to Feng Zhan, in fact, he didn't care about the answer, he was just confirming the ambition of this Chu royal family. The actions of the Demon Sect became more and more high-profile, and after the Chu people of Tiankeng City were disbanded, the Imperial Intelligence Network sensed that in addition to the Demon Sect, there should be a force secretly planning something. After Feng Ti left that year, no one knew where he went. Xiang Wu wanted to know if the royal family of the Chu State in front of him was involved.

But he could feel that the young man in front of him did not have the ambition and strength that the royal family of Chu should have, and was more like a prodigal son of the rivers and lakes. Feng Zhan's actions did not have any disguise in Xiang Wu's opinion, and it was indeed out of instinctive disgust for this problem.

"If there really is such a day, I will choose to let them live." Still, the wind show gave the answer.

"Why?" Xiang Wu asked.

Feng Zhan suddenly sensed that something was wrong, and said, "This question was obviously asked by Uncle Ben not long ago, but you didn't answer it." Why is it now that you ask me? ”

Xiang Wu said, "But now you know the answer to the question,"

Feng Zhan suddenly smiled.

"I always thought that a character like you was a martial artist, but I didn't expect you to be very similar to the bookkeeper."

Feng Zhan asked Xiang Wu why he didn't choose to fight in the barracks, even if he sacrificed some people, as long as he could get rid of the more threatening existence, in Feng Zhan's opinion, or in the eyes of all onlookers, this should be the best choice. But when Feng Zhan himself went in, he suddenly found that it was not like this.

He hadn't experienced the feeling of commanding all the armies with one call, nor had he been followed, as if everyone thought that he just thought that if Xiang Wu wanted to kill the people in the inn and the people in Tiankeng City, he would be able to save the other part of the people by sacrificing some of the people in the Tiankeng, otherwise even if he was protected for a while, he would not be able to protect him for a lifetime. Or sacrifice any one of the chef Ah Xiu's shopkeepers in the account room, and you can save the life of the whole inn, so how will you choose?

When he really realized the crux of this question, he already understood his answer and why Xiang Wu made such a choice.

"I'm not expecting you to make the same choice as me." Xiang Wu's expression softened a little.

"Uncle Ben won't face such a situation, I'll say it again!" The wind show doesn't want to have such a day.

"I can't say what will happen in the future, I have fought against the Tieli people all my life, the shortest soldiers who followed me were only a few months, the longest was eight years, and some generals followed me for more than ten years, even if the friendship is not as heavy as the thousands of lives you owe your treasurer, but if I say that I want them to die for me, my soldiers will not frown."

Xiang Wu rarely talks about this, the image of this great general to the world is absolute iron-blooded, indifferent and ruthless, but those who really know Xiang Wu know that a ruthless and ignorant commander cannot be recognized by all the soldiers just by virtue of his strength.

The so-called iron blood, the so-called ruthlessness, is just the habit of seeing too many fights and life and death.

"I led them to train in martial arts, led them to charge, and led them to return victorious, this is what the world sees, but what the world does not see is the corpses on the battlefield whose names are unknown. There are people in this world who are willing to die for you because of trust, but for the sake of such trust, every decision should be more deliberate. ”

"The lack of outstanding achievements of good fighters is our pursuit as generals, and the root of it is only to hope that those soldiers who follow me can survive and die...... Less, there are only 30,000 remaining imperial troops now, and even though there are still a lot of troops in the imperial city, those literati will never let those troops be transferred to Shuangchuan or Hongcheng, they are afraid that there will be no soldiers to protect them after the fall of Shuangchuan. ”

"In the face of Xiao Qianye, I know that I am in a catastrophe, the distance between me and him is only a stone's throw away, and my battle with him is that Li Nianyun wants to intervene, and it is extremely difficult. No matter where the battlefield is, I will not escape death, of course, I can choose to sacrifice some soldiers in the barracks, maybe thousands of people can intercept and kill a future threat of great power, this should be the most rational decision, but if you want me to kill thousands of soldiers and generals compared to the elimination of a potential threat, I choose the lives of soldiers. As for the future, it may be difficult, but I believe in them. ”

Feng Zhan laughed: "I didn't expect that you also have times when you make your uncle look pleasing to the eye." ”

If one day, the shopkeeper is faced with such a situation, Feng Zhan believes that the shopkeeper's choice should be the same, and he would rather let the future situation be more dangerous than choose to abandon the people who are still alive.

"Maybe it won't be hard in the future, maybe something good will come. In short, the general you survived, Xiao Qianye was also injured, and the imperial soldiers were not affected by this battle, it seems that my appearance is very timely. "The wind is full of complacency.

Feng Zhan's rescue was a stroke of fate in Xiang Wu's eyes, and it was also fate that the generals of the Qin State and the royal family of the Chu State collapsed together in a ruined temple on the battlefield in the Northern Regions, discussing how to deal with the Tieli people.

Fate is impermanent, and only by living can we know everything.

"I don't trust the Jianghu people very much, but I believe in the scholar, he must have his reasons for choosing you, if the empire can survive this catastrophe...... As long as you have nothing to do with the rest of the rebels in the Chu State in the future, I will try to convince Your Majesty and the others to let you go. ”

"Uncle Ben has never seen such a gratitude. But it doesn't matter, first, uncle, I have no interest in the great cause of Chu and Qin, and second, even if you don't let me go, how about Uncle Neng? ”

Xiang Wu also smiled bitterly, and suddenly realized that Feng Zhan's words could not be refuted, the empire had been chasing Feng Zhan for a long time, and the bureau set up at the beginning was about to capture Feng Zhan, but in the end he was still escaped by Feng Zhan.

Xiao Qianye's frightening wind and moon footwork is already considered to be the world's first-class, but it is far from the power of the bloodline of the wind exhibition. In the battle of the dark sea, this clan had to flee with exhaustion, and now it should have been a time to worry about the Tieli people, but now, the general can't do anything in the broken temple, and when he sees the royal family of Chu State, the worries of the past come up again.

Feng Zhan didn't speak anymore, he had just discussed a question with Xiang Wu about choice, which was not wrong, but for some reason, Xiang Wu's assumption was obviously impossible to happen, but he felt a little uneasy.

He has no national hatred and family hatred. It is true that he hates the empire, but it is not because he is the royal family of the Chu State, he has not even seen the famous general of the Chu State, but he is the royal family of the Chu State after all.

The replacement of a dynasty, many courtiers of the previous dynasty could not escape death, especially as a royal family. Xiang Wu wanted to know how a royal family from a previous dynasty felt in the present dynasty.

Feng Zhan didn't feel anything, but he was aroused by Xiang Wu's fear. There is nothing like royalty in his whole body. He is a notorious thief in the rivers and lakes, a complete ruffian. But at this moment, in the ruined temple, an unprecedented uneasiness enveloped Feng Zhan's heart.

He had also heard the legend that in the Dark Sea, he had a cousin who was taken by a man who had crossed the Dark Sea at birth. The people spread the legend more vividly, saying that one day in the future, that person would bring a large army from the other side of the dark sea to restore the Chu State.

This theory was widely spread in the year or two after the meteorite of the sinkhole, but later, the empire began to investigate and deal with it. Slowly, no one dared to say this anymore.

"You say, are all the people of my clan dead?" Feng Zhan said.

"I'm tired." Xiang Wu stopped talking.

He had outlived Feng Zhan by more than twenty years, and he knew that the child had fallen into a kind of panic because of the hypothesis he had proposed. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. But he also knew that perhaps he had inadvertently planted a seed.

He didn't want Feng Zhan to continue to think about this, and he didn't want this kid to get back the sense of belonging to the royal family that he had long lost. Because although this kid hasn't been with him for long and has no respect for himself, the general doesn't want to count Feng Zhan as an enemy anymore.

Feng Zhan shook his head and smiled with a ruffian.

"Forget it, it's still interesting to be my runner, I said, man, you have to hurry up, I'll take Ah Xiu back to the inn after the fight early."

Xiang Wu pondered for a moment and said, "This war may not be long before it ends. ”

"Will you win?"

Xiang Wu did not answer. He just felt that the effect of the medicine taken by the Tieli people would not be too long.

"Speaking of which, the cold of the Northern Regions is really not for people. The Tieli people can actually adapt to it. The boiling wind god blood in Feng Zhan's body gradually cooled down, and he finally felt the cold, and he felt it.

"They can't get used to it." Xiang Wu said.

Feng Zhan was puzzled.

"Because they can't adapt, they will go south, and if this war is won, the Tieli people will all die." Xiang Wu said.

"Why, can't they go back to the Northern Regions to live?"

"Your realm is too low to feel the breath of the north, if it weren't for that monster being too powerful and making the northern region colder and colder, I believe that Heredubu would not choose to conspire with Xiao Qianye."

"So, in fact, the Tieli people are fighting for survival?" Feng Zhan's expression was a little strange.

Xiang Wu sneered and said: "I know what you want to say, in this war, the empire does not represent the side of justice, and I also have to tell you that I have been in the army for so many years, and I have not fought a battle of absolute justice." ”

Feng Zhan said: "Then your ability to convince yourself is really strong enough. ”

Xiang Wu said: "Everyone has people who want to protect, there is no justice in this world, from the standpoint, when a thing is righteous from the standpoint of everyone, that is justice in the eyes of people, but when that thing cannot meet all the positions, it is the justice of some people, and the injustice of some people." ”

"You are a thief, you stole the things of those merchants, and relieved the Chu people of Tiankeng City, if your deeds become a story in the future, those who can look at this matter from your standpoint will think that you are righteous."

"But have you ever thought that perhaps the treasures and money you stole happened to be the money that a merchant used to help other people, or the goods that happened to be an important transaction, and through your hands, they were forced to bear the charge of deception, and then their reputation was lost, and they slowly decayed, and they did not harm the world, but they also earned money through their own efforts, and in their position, your actions are unjust."

Feng Zhan scratched his head and said, "I didn't expect you to think a lot." ”

Xiang Wu said: "This is how I convince myself. My position is to defend my homeland and defend the country. ”

Feng Zhan sighed, "Although I don't like the Tieli people, it seems that if they still lose the desperate battle, it seems too ...... Isn't it possible that even a strong man like you can't solve that north of that? ”

"If it weren't for wartime, I'd be willing to go to the legendary Snow Demon Zone."

After saying this, he fell silent again.

The conversation between the thief and the general was intermittent, and Xiang Wu never seemed to have ever told anyone about this, even if it was a scholar, Ouyang Xi, Huang Shengguan Xiao, and even Lao Xu, he had never said this.

Sometimes, people will talk about the words that have been hidden in their hearts for a long time to a stranger who is far away from them. A sense of security is a strange thing that makes us instinctively trust the people closest to us, but sometimes, when we are far enough away, there is an indescribable sense of security.

Xiang Wu never explained his choice to his subordinates, nor did he talk to his subordinates about his concepts, his views on war, and his views on justice, all of which were always stuffy in his heart, and he made the decision to change the world and change the battlefield alone.

But fate made a down-and-out royal family of the Chu State go to the upper echelons of the Qin State, and let an inn run hall and the imperial general lie in a broken temple, no one will pass by such a broken temple in the winter, and two people who are absolutely irrelevant or even should be hostile to each other start chatting amicably.

I have to say, fate is magical.

The two of them don't know how many more days they will stay, but now the hope of getting out of the ruined temple and returning to the barracks is only for Feng Zhan's legs to regain consciousness. After beating from Tiankeng City, Feng Zhan took off his burden and accepted his identity as a runner, compared to the chef who has been practicing diligently, Feng Zhan seems to be more lazy.

He suddenly wanted to become stronger, perhaps because he was afraid of a certain future, or maybe it was because he was helpless to lose his ability to act after only a few breaths of prohibition.

But he thought that if one day, the inn really encountered an unprecedented crisis, as long as he could run a little longer, maybe everything would change, and at this moment, if he could run longer, maybe he could bring Li Nianyun.

After this time, you must become stronger, Feng Zhan thought.

(This chapter is a little late, because it was written after dinner.) Of course, this chapter is also a hole in disguise for the future plot. I'm sure some readers will guess some~)

(End of chapter)