Qingzhou. Upper Cloud City.

The cold wind howled in the city, and the pedestrians' faces were yellow and skinny, and their expressions were dull.

Occasionally, crouched figures could be seen on both sides of the street. It was unknown whether they had fallen asleep or had lost their vitality.

This year's winter was truly too cold. It was even harder to endure than when Yuwen Luo was in power. However, luckily, the people who had consumed the holy medicine believed that as long as they believed in the Saint King sitting high in Chang'an City, even their dead souls would be able to rest in peace in the Heavenly Kingdom.

Of course, no one knew whether this was true or false, or whether the person who knew the answer had long since died.

Qian Liu scoffed at the sacred medicines and the various theories that the government had publicized.

Qian Liu was in his early forties this year, and his father died of illness earlier this year. Qian Liu took over his father's shift and worked as a gravekeeper at a graveyard outside Shangyun City called the Mausoleum of Looking Fortune.

The Mausoleum of Looking Fortune was also considered one of the best places around Shangyun City in terms of geomancy. It was rumored that a certain satrap of Shangyun City was buried nearby after his death for several hundred years, and then his son stepped into the clouds all the way to become a prefecture shepherd. Therefore, the Mausoleum of Looking Fortune became famous. Anyone with some status wanted to place their ancestors' tombs here.

However, the owner of this piece of land was very clever. Seeing the momentum of this strange item, he sat on the ground and began to bid. Even the sesame-sized land in the mausoleum was asking for ten taels. It was still in the years of famine that Yuwen Luo had experienced in the past few years.

One had to know that at that time, these ten taels of silver would be enough for an ordinary family of three to live comfortably for a year or two. Naturally, such a price would make many people shy away. Of course, this had nothing to do with Qian Liu, who was also working under the tomb owner. Qian Liu was only responsible for looking at the tomb, sweeping the mausoleum, or helping those large families who had left their homeland but still buried their relatives here to pay their respects during the New Year holidays. They didn't earn much, but it wasn't a small amount of extra money.

However, over the past few years, the emperor's son had changed hands one after another in the Great Zhou. The famine and snow had never stopped. Even those once wealthy families had their income exceeded their income, or even their wives and cousins had scattered. His salary for tomb sweeping had decreased again and again, and there were very few businesses that helped people worship him.

But today, Qian Liu left the house early. He was wrapped in a tattered cotton-padded jacket that had been sewn and mended. He stared at the snowy sky and slowly walked out of Shangyun City with a pot of yellow wine and some wine money. He walked towards the Mausoleum of Fortune.

Take money and calamity.

Qian Liu was not a hero, but he was also a man who cared about people.

Even now, he would still occasionally hear the heavy snow on his face. A ragged little beggar knocked on his door.

The beggar was skinny, barefoot, standing in front of his door, with a corpse wrapped in a rotten straw mat behind him. He took out a meal of white silver from his bosom and lost to Qian Liu. He carefully divided him into two piles.

A pile of ten taels was the money he was looking forward to buying land in the Mausoleum, and a pile of five taels was the money he had Qian Liu sweep the ground and worship for the tomb in the next ten years.

At that time, it was rare for an ordinary family to bring out so much money. Of course, even if they did, they had to carefully plan how to spend the next year. How could anyone spend so much money for a dead person, let alone a beggar whose clothes were in tatters?

Qian Liuxin was suspicious, but the little beggar seemed to have seen through his thoughts. He took out a piece of white paper filled with handwriting from his bosom and handed it to him. "Don't worry, I sold the money."

Qian Liu knew, but things weren't as simple as the little beggar thought. It was true to buy ten taels of land, but coffins and steles were all costly. The little beggar who knew this was very distressed. Perhaps Qian Liu was touched by Little Beggar's situation of selling himself to bury his father, or perhaps it was just because of the shock in his heart. He had done nothing for so many years, so he knew more or less the way.

So he helped the little beggar spend another tael of silver to make a cheap coffin and a cheap tombstone. There were only four taels of silver left. According to the rules, he had to help the little beggar worship the tomb for eight years.

This year was the last year.

Along the way, Qian Liu finally arrived at the Mausoleum of Looking Fortune. When he raised his head to look at the destination of his trip, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

In the snowstorm, a figure squatted in front of a tombstone. On his shoulder stood a black cat, and beside him squatted a black dog and a yellow monkey.

Qian Liu was a little surprised. Under such circumstances, it was still difficult for the living to live peacefully, and few people had come here to worship their ancestors. However, this astonishment disappeared in a flash. After all, it had nothing to do with him. He walked up the snow-covered stairs and suddenly discovered that the tomb that the figure worshipped was the destination he had come to today.

He was stunned. In his memories, no one had come to the tomb to worship other than him.

He couldn't help but feel a little dazed and quickly rubbed his eyes to look at the tombstone.

Even though eight years had passed, he could still identify Xu Gongqianrui's tomb on the tombstone that he occasionally took care of.

It was precisely here.

Qian Liu confirmed that he wasn't in the wrong place in the future. He couldn't help but feel his heart tremble. He carefully lowered his head, wanting to look at the black-clothed figure with his back facing him. Could it be that the little beggar had finally returned? Qian Liu thought to himself.

"I didn't expect you to remember this." At this moment, the black figure suddenly spoke, and his body slowly turned around.

Qian Liu looked closely. Although his face was much more mature, dark, and indifferent, perhaps the little beggar had left a deep impression on Qian Liu. Qian Liu immediately recognized the young man in front of him as the little beggar from back then.

At this moment, the young man was looking at Qian Liu with a smile. Qian Liu came back to his senses after a long while. He did not know how to face this long separation of eight years. After a while, he squeezed out a sentence from his mouth, "You're back?"

However, Qian Liu regretted it the moment he said those words. Obviously, the relationship between him and the little beggar back then could only be considered as a simple transaction, and this kind of opening remark was somewhat similar.

Fortunately, the other party did not seem to care. The young man nodded and took the pot of yellow wine prepared for the people in the tomb from Qian Liu's hand. Qian Liu was also a person with great eyesight. Naturally, there was no reason for the main body to worship him as an outsider. He put the things in his hands aside, bowed to the young man, and then retreated to the side.

..

Xu Han opened the seal on the wine jug, and the faint fragrance of yellow wine overflowed from the wine jug at that time.

Xu Han shook the wine jug and looked at the tombstone with a smile.

"I remember that you liked drinking the most, but at that time, you couldn't even eat a mouthful of food. Where did you get the wine?"

Saying this, Xu Han poured out the wine jug and the wine slowly spilled down. Then, he lifted the wine jug and bowed towards the tombstone. He raised his head and drank a mouthful of wine.

"To be honest, I always thought you were stupid." After drinking the wine, Xu Han looked at the tombstone again and said, "I can try my best to live a better life, but I always want to beg for food and live."

"But now that you think about it, your life isn't bad either."

"If you have wine to drink, then you can sleep in the ruined temple all day without wine."

"You didn't treat me well, but you gave me a mouthful of food and didn't deceive me in the end."

"You admit your fate, so you've been hungry and cold for half your life. Now you're lying here. I refuse to admit my fate, so I've been wandering around, risking my life and death."

Saying this, Xu Han smiled bitterly and said self-deprecatingly, "I don't know whether I have gained much or lost much."

After saying that, Xu Han raised the wine jug and sprinkled it on the tomb, then drank another mouthful.

'"Actually, sometimes I wonder what I would look like if I had listened to you and sold myself to a large family. Marry a wife, husband and godson, but I only need to take care of the changes in the world. It's not bad, is it?"

Xu Han narrowed his eyes and poured wine towards the tomb again. Then, he raised his head and drank the last bit of wine in the wine jug.

Then he stood up and respectfully bowed towards the tomb.

"You can continue to lie here. I can't turn back. I can only fight to the end."

"If I'm lucky enough to be back in his year, I'll drink with you again, okay?"

..

Standing at the side, Qian Liu carefully observed the little beggar from back then. His black clothes were made of extraordinary materials, and the wooden box on his back seemed to contain a lot of clothes. Adding on the cats, dogs, and yellow monkeys that followed him, it seemed that he was doing the work of an artist.

A little beggar without parents, relying on his own ability to fight to this point is not bad.

Qian Liu thought to himself in his heart. At this moment, Xu Han, who had drunk the last drop of wine, had already stood up and walked to him.

"You have the heart. After so many years, you still remember your father." Qian Liu said.

Xu Han smiled and stretched out his hand to grope in his bosom. Then, he took out a heavy silver tael and put it into Qian Liu's hand. He said, "Please take care of my big brother in the future. My father is very lonely here."

Qian Liu's heart tightened, and he felt that the amount of silver in the purse was not small, at least fifteen to sixteen taels. This young man probably wouldn't stay here for long. Based on the amount of silver taels, it was enough for him to worship for more than 30 years. This was clearly an act of not planning to return.

Qian Liu inexplicably felt a little sad. Now, who in this world wasn't displaced?

"Aren't you coming back?" Qian Liu couldn't help but ask.

Xu Han didn't seem to have thought that Qian Liu would ask back, but he remembered that Qian Liu hadn't forgotten to worship him for the past eight years, so he nodded his head gently and said, "I can't come back."

Qian Liu sighed and looked at the tombstone not far away. He said, "Your father is actually quite lucky to have such a sensible son like you buried in the Mausoleum of Looking Fortune. Unfortunately, I have scanned the tomb for my entire life. I don't know where I can be buried in the near future. I'm afraid I won't even be able to find a corpse collector."

"Where are eldest brother's children?" Xu Han couldn't help but ask when he heard this.

"Sigh." Speaking of this topic, Qian Liu let out a long sigh and said, "Dead."

"What kind of Saint Weapon Saint Son was pulled up by those officials? The last one didn't come back. They all died there."

Perhaps it was because of the feeling of touching the scenery, Perhaps he was thinking that Xu Han would not be staying here for long, At this moment, Qian Liu's heart that had been hidden in his heart for a long time was poured out by him, "Oh, I don't understand what a Saint Weapon Saint Son is. My brother's son also died in this matter, but he is like no one else. Instead, he complains from time to time that his son is not good enough to become a Saint Weapon to open up territory for His Majesty the Saint King."

"They say that the emperor is our god, but even the real emperor can't take the life of a decent person without saying anything, right?"

'"Just take them away. These people don't think about their own children, don't complain about the injustice of the heavens, and instead blame the dead for being unfaithful. Sometimes I don't know if I'm foolish or if they're foolish."

Saying this, Qian Liu sighed again. He seemed to be a little angry, but he didn't know where to vent his anger.

Hearing this, Xu Han's eyes lit up. He seemed to have realized something and suddenly asked, "Big brother didn't eat that holy medicine, did he?"

Qian Liu was stunned when he heard this, and then he remembered that he had made a mistake.

Sacred medicine was something that everyone had to consume according to their hair. If someone really found out that they hadn't consumed it, then it would be a matter of killing their head. As for this person who had consumed the holy medicine, he decided not to say the slightest bit of dissatisfaction towards the Saint Emperor. Qian Liu's expression immediately changed as he thought about how he could rectify his mistake.

"What are you talking about? It's too late for me to be grateful for the sacred object given by His Majesty the Emperor. How could I not eat it?"

'"It's getting late. I have to go back first. I'll remember your matters. Don't worry." Qian Liu waved his hand hurriedly.

Qian Liu was really a little flustered. He couldn't think of a good explanation. He could only say this and leave on the pretext that he didn't want to lose too much of his words.

Xu Han narrowed his eyes as he watched Qian Liu leave quickly. He thought to himself, as far as he knew, the Dark Asura Palace had a perfect method to check if the civilians were taking holy medicines, but this man was able to avoid the other party's interrogation. There was obviously something fishy about this.

Thinking of this, his heart skipped a beat, and his body flashed in front of Qian Liu, who had hurriedly left, blocking his path.

How did Qian Liuyi, an ordinary commoner, see Xu Han's ability? He was immediately shocked. He subconsciously took a step back and said in a panic, "You .. What are you doing?"

Xu Han didn't say anything. Instead, he stared at Qian Liu with a calm brow. Then, he took a step towards Qian Liu.

Qian Liu's heart trembled, and he took several steps back, but just as he was about to take four or five steps back, a low roar came from behind him.

"Ao!"

Qian Liu turned around and saw that Fang Cai's seemingly docile black dog beside Xu Han seemed to have changed its appearance. It looked at him with bloodshot eyes and grins.

Qian Liu was scared out of his wits. He staggered and knelt on the ground. He began to kowtow to Xu Han and said repeatedly, "My lord, please spare my life. This little one really took the holy medicine. It's just .."

Xu Han narrowed his eyes and looked at Qian Liu, asking softly, "Just what?"

Qian Liu hesitated for a moment and remained silent for a long time.

"What? You want me to do it myself?" Xu Han noticed Qian Liu's fear. He purposely lowered his voice and asked again.

Qian Liu's body trembled and he no longer had the intention to conceal anything. At that time, he truthfully said, "The little one didn't dare. However, when he brought the medicine back home, he was accidentally taken away by the rats. Although the little one stopped him in time, half of the holy medicine was bitten by the rats. I only swallowed half of the holy medicine."

Hearing this, Xu Han's eyes narrowed as he looked straight at Qian Liu, who was kneeling on the ground. His eyes were as bright as torches. He could see that Qian Liu's entire body was indeed emitting a dark aura. This was the symptom of consuming the holy medicine. It could be seen that his mind had not been corroded by the holy medicine. Xu Han was puzzled, so he squatted down and pressed one hand on Qian Liu's chest.

Qian Liu was shocked, but because of the strange things Xu Han had shown earlier, he didn't dare to move. He could only worry about his head, but his forehead was covered in sweat.

Xu Han released his mind and carefully sensed Qian Liu's condition. He quickly frowned.

There was an indescribable force in Qian Liu's body, entrenched in his dantian and meridians, and it was precisely because of this that his entire body emitted such a gloomy and cold aura. However, that power seemed to be too weak. After occupying his meridians, it didn't have the strength to spread to his head. Xu Han thought about Zhou Yuan's deduction back then.

He once said that the pill itself did not have the effect of controlling one's heart, but was a medium that allowed secret arts to take effect. Xu Han scanned the man's body and carefully sensed the power entrenched in his body. He discovered that Qian Liu's deduction was not unfounded.

He separated a wisp of sword intent from his body and poured it into Qian Liu's body. He carefully came into contact with that power and discovered that as the sword intent poured in, the power entrenched in Qian Liu's body trembled slightly, as if it was about to fuse with the sword intent. But in the end, the sword intent rejected him, and that power surged from all over Qian Liu's body, seemingly wanting to repel the sword intent.

Xu Han hurriedly withdrew the sword intent to prevent Qian Liu's body from being damaged.

Qian Liu heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Xu Han let go of the hand on his body. He raised his head to look at Xu Han, only to see that Xu Han was still lowering his head, frowning and deep in thought. He didn't know what Xu Han was thinking, nor did he dare to act recklessly. He could only remain standing on the same spot.

His sword intent was not the power of a particular technique in his eyes, However, it could be seen from the changes in Qian Liu's power that it seemed to be able to fuse with the specific power in his eyes to achieve the effect of controlling one's heart. However, Qian Liu did not swallow the complete pill, so the power did not invade his entire body, so he could not completely control it.

Xu Han understood the crux of the matter and pressed his hand on Qian Liu's chest again. This time, he did not release any more sword intent. Instead, he slowly sucked out a small amount of power that invaded his body from Qian Liu's body.

It wasn't that he didn't have the ability to completely eradicate the evil energy in Qian Liu's body. It was just that Qian Liu was able to live in Shangyun City without being discovered by the people of Dark Asura Palace. If he absorbed all of it, he would lose this layer of protection. Therefore, he only extracted a small portion of it to observe it carefully.

Only then did he absorb that power into his palm, Just as he was about to put it in front of him, However, at that moment, that power started to riot. A tiny black object jumped in his hand, then flew into his palm like a flying fish, following his meridians. The sword intent in his body seemed to be nothing in front of that power, unable to stop that tiny power at all.

Xu Han was shocked. He had gathered all the sword intent in his body to block it, but it was also useless. He could only watch helplessly as the two sword intents flowed into the depths of his body along his meridians before disappearing.

Xu Han stood there silently for a long time, carefully sensing the changes that the power had brought him after entering his body. However, in reality, he could not sense any changes at all, and the power seemed to have completely disappeared, and he could no longer find any traces of it.

However, Xu Han felt that the power was actually the same as the power of the Fiendgod in his body.

Could it be that the so-called holy medicine was actually the power of the ancient devil?

Xu Han thought to himself, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

On the other hand, Qian Liu saw that Xu Han was stunned and didn't seem to have any intention of harming him anymore. He hesitated for a while before finally gaining the courage to look at Xu Han and ask, "My lord.. my lord.."

When Xu Han heard this, he came to his senses. He looked at the cautious Qian Liu and said, "It's fine. You can leave now. Remember to come here every year to help me take care of my father's grave."

Hearing this, Qian Liu felt as if he had been granted an amnesty. He hurriedly thanked Xu Han and then turned around to leave.

Xu Han was still standing there. As he thought about what had happened before, an idea suddenly appeared in his mind. Although Zhou Yuan's deduction was correct, the situation of these commoners was not irreversible. As long as they could extract the Ancient Devil Force from their bodies..

Thinking of this, Xu Han's expression sank. He raised his head to look at the horizon and muttered, "So the so-called holy medicine is nothing more than this."

At that time, the gray earth was a gray sky, and now it was snowing gray.

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