"Uncle, how can you do this?" Fang Yingying pulled his hand heavily and lifted her head, a pretty face full of indignation: "Now the country is in a time of turmoil, it's exactly the time for someone like you to show your abilities. If everyone were like you, encountering setbacks and immediately giving up, then who would protect this country? Me and Yajun sister, these weak women?"

  Er Dongjie's face turned red and his ears were burning, regardless of whether the words he had just spoken came from his true heart or were a tactic to retreat and advance, at this moment they were all embarrassing.

  "Ying'er, don't be reckless." Xǔ Hǎifēng gently scolded her and pulled her to his side. "Uncle, this matter is not your fault, but rather someone has planned and schemed to lure the second uncle into a trap. They are doing this because they do not take you and the Fang family seriously."

  The flush on his face gradually faded, and a strong aura of killing intent flashed across the old face of Er Dongjian. He said: "Jixiangguan? Let me go and meet them."

  "It's just a small matter, why bother Uncle to take action personally? Why not let us handle it, in any case, we will definitely give you an account." Xǔ Hǎifēng said with a smile.

  Er Dongjie hesitated for a moment before saying: "You're new here, I'm afraid..."

  "It's precisely because we're unknown faces that we can act without restraint. If it were you who took action, just showing your face would give us away."

  "Alright then, I'll have to trouble you all. " Er Dong said with a slow sigh, "If Zhang Jinzhong gets the news..."

  He stopped here and looked up at Xu Haifeng.

  Xu Haifeng smiled slightly, with an air of nonchalance that seemed to suggest he hadn't taken the matter to heart at all.

  "Since General Zhang wants to know our whereabouts so badly, Xu will naturally not disappoint him. Tomorrow at noon, let us go see him in broad daylight."

  Witnessing this figure disappear into the distance, Er Dong's heart was filled with a hundred emotions.

  Master, is this really the confidence of a master?

  He first met Xu Haifeng when Qin Yong broke the five-stone bow, and his power shook the school. At that time, Xu Haifeng was unremarkable. Unexpectedly, in just a few years, he rose to prominence, no longer the insignificant nobody who could be bullied by others as before.

  "Big brother." Er Dongchen carefully walked up to his side and called out softly.

  "Hmm..."

  Er Dong sincerely hung his head and didn't say a word.

  "What are you thinking about." Er Dongjie shook his head helplessly, he was so timid, but why did he have such a strong addiction to gambling, if not for this, he wouldn't have had to lower his head either.

  "That... Jiang Kungming." Er Dongchen replied casually.

  "Think of him? What for?" Er Dong said, never expecting this answer.

  Er Dongcheng was taken aback and replied in a servile tone: "I was just wondering, how did he know that I owed Zhang Jinzhong ten thousand taels of silver?"

  The speaker is unintentional, but the listener is intentional. Suddenly, a string in Er Dong's heart tightened.

  He subconsciously touched his chest, where there was a letter written by Mrs. Fang in her own handwriting. Jiang Kongming, what kind of person are you? Has the network of informants he set up become so terrifyingly powerful?

  "Master, why are you so insistent on going to Jixiang Hall tonight?" Jiang Gongming seemed to be walking shoulder to shoulder with Xu Haifeng, but his footsteps were always a beat slower than Xu's, keeping his body forever lagging behind by just a little distance.

  "It's nothing really, I just have a feeling that tonight's trip will be very rewarding." Xǔ Hǎifēng shrugged and replied casually.

  Jiang Kongming's eyebrows were deeply furrowed, he was a man who believed in science, such an ethereal and ambiguous answer would have invited his scolding if it were someone else, but Xu Haifeng was different, having entered the path of martial arts, he had grasped another kind of spiritual power, often making unexpected moves, perhaps tonight's sudden inspiration would bring a turning point to their journey.

  The Jixiang Hall is located in a tall building in the south of the city. From the outside, it looks magnificent and majestic, with several tall men standing at the main gate, their chests out and bellies in, looking very impressive.

  "A small casino, yet so arrogant, they must have someone backing them."

  Lyu Yangming Fangcail remained silent from start to finish, until now, he finally spoke up, because he was very clear about his current status and situation.

  Since he met Taiyi Zhenren and Xia Yajun, the two masters of the same level as him, who also joined General Xu's camp, he really gave up on Xu Haifeng.

  For these top-notch experts, there is no one in this world more worthy of respect than the Sect Masters. The three Sect Masters are enough to make any martial artist willing to devote themselves to their service.

  It was then that, after being appointed by Xu Haifeng as the martial arts director of the military academy and honorary head instructor of the Black Flag Army, his anxious heart immediately calmed down.

  With his decades of experience and insight, he naturally knew that there might be pies falling from the sky in this world, but he absolutely didn't have the luck to pick them up.

  The Black Flag Army was filled with talented individuals, and those few masters who were at the level of a Grandmaster naturally didn't bother to compete with him for this empty title. However, there were not a few masters at his level who were not inferior to him. Although he didn't know why Master Xu had especially favored him, he knew that keeping this position was currently the top priority.

  Er Dong and Xu Haifeng's relationship was complicated, he had no intention of intervening, one misstep would lead to a clumsy situation. But this Jixiang Hall was exactly the place for him to show off his skills.

  Jiang Kongming coughed lightly, and he was well aware of Lü Yangming's thoughts. He knew that Lü sought to make a show of himself and intentionally wanted to help him achieve it. Very straightforwardly, he said: "Mr. Lü has been in Wòlóng City for only a few days, and absolutely no one knows him. Why not ask Mr. Lü to take action?"

  Lü Yang's sharp eyes gleamed as he gazed at Xu Haifeng, and this was also a helpless move. He thought that his identity as a first-rate master was dignified, and if it were elsewhere, it would be revered.

  But among these five people...

  A thought flashed through Lü Yang's mind, and a faint bitterness arose.

  Xu Haifeng smiled faintly and said in a low voice: "Thanks to Mr. Lü."

  Lü Yang nodded his head and said, "This is a small matter, I'll go take care of it right away. Master, please sit down at the wine shop across the street." After speaking, he turned around and walked into the gambling house with big strides.

  Xu Haifeng and three others walked to the wine house across the street, ordered food and drinks, and waited patiently.

  Although it was late at night, the wine shop was still brightly lit like the gambling house across the street, and although not full, it was quite a sight to behold.

  "Haha, didn't expect this." Jiang Kongming looked around and suddenly spoke out.

  "What?" Fang Yingying, who was most familiar with him, asked hastily.

  Jiang Kongming habitually took a sip of tea, slightly furrowing his brow. His mouth had been spoiled by the numerous exquisite teas at home, and now drinking this inferior stuff was like chewing on vinegar, hard to swallow.

  He forced himself to swallow the tea, but found that the people at the same table had not moved their bowls and chopsticks, and his old face turned red, hurriedly saying: "Well, since ancient times, there have been night owls."

  His words were abrupt and left people at a loss for what to do.

  Xu Haifeng and others had long been accustomed to his uniqueness and knew that he must have a follow-up.

  It was indeed the case, Jiang Kongming shook his head and said: "I don't know if you have all noticed an interesting thing, the more prosperous a place is, the more lively it must be at night, while the more remote and impoverished areas, like ordinary farming families, are busy from dawn till dusk."

  Xu Haifeng nodded slightly and said, "What the Military Advisor said is not wrong. Before Xu Mou became a soldier, he was also a farmer's son who faced the yellow earth and had his back to the sky. To have achieved what I have today is truly like a dream."

  "Hmm... " Zhuge Kongming asked in a low voice with a smile, "So, my lord, do you think it was more enjoyable back then or now?"

  Is it happier before or is it happier now?

  Xu Haifeng's expression seemed to freeze in that instant. Xia Yajun and Fang Yingying almost simultaneously grasped his large hand.

  "I don't know."

  After a while, the confusion in Xu Haifeng's eyes gradually dissipated, and he regained his clarity. He looked at Jiang Kongming, but seemed to be talking to himself: "I only know that my previous fate was not mine, but now..." Xu Haifeng's hand tightly grasped the warmth in his palm: "I can already grasp and change my own destiny."

  "Congratulations, Master." Jiang Kongming smiled faintly, an expression that Xu Haifeng was all too familiar with.

  "Thank you, General." Xǔ Hǎifēng said sincerely.

  Xu Haifeng stepped into the position of Zong Shi, but his heart still had a flaw, that is, colluding with Xiongnu, leading to the fall of the capital, and many civilians were displaced, families broken, wives separated from husbands, and children scattered.

  This idea was like a poisonous snake, hidden in the deepest part of his heart, ready to strike at any moment. If it were normal times, under Haifeng's mental pressure, there wouldn't be much problem. But two months later, when Haifeng and Lizhi's duel was about to take place, going into battle with such a state would be no different from seeking death.

  Jiang Kung was no ordinary person. Although his mind-reading technique could not detect the weakness in Xu Haifeng's heart, when they met at the Wudang Castle Council Hall, he vaguely sensed something amiss. He deliberately released a dark aura, stirring up the thread of guilt and regret deep within Xu Haifeng's heart.

  Today, he again borrowed the scenery to express his feelings, indirectly inducing Xu Haifeng to introspect and ask himself about his gains and losses over the past few years.

  And Xu Haifeng finally did not disappoint him, and in the end, he successfully walked out of his own mental shackles, wiping away the flaws from the bottom of his heart. From then on, his heart was truly a state of great perfection.

  Just as Xu Haifeng said when he left Beijing before, looking at the flames in the sky, he had no way to retreat.

  Forward, forward, and forward again, whether good or bad, he has no other choice.

  Suddenly, a loud noise came from the opposite casino, and there was a faint sound of fighting.

  PS: A friend's new book, over a million words already, it's not bad after reading, "Fantasy World Rampage", everyone go support it when you have time.

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