Once I enter the pass, great Confucian scholars will surely debate the classics for me.

“Sigh…” Qu Sanjiu held the picture frame in his arms, looked up at the scarlet blood moon, and slowly revealed the secret he had kept hidden for many years.

Ma Guai's real name is Lu Chengfeng. In his youth, he was a handsome and dashing man, unlike Qu Sanjiu's effeminate beauty. Both of them were handsome men.

He and Ma Guai were not only good brothers in the eyes of outsiders, but also close buddies who went far beyond brotherhood.

When you're on a ship, it's normal to not go ashore for months. After a while, you'll have physiological needs, and even sows will look appealing. It's easy to cross that taboo door between men. But this kind of thing is easy to do but hard to talk about, and easy to talk about but hard to hear. There will always be people pointing fingers behind your back.

In order not to affect their normal lives, they maintained this abnormal relationship in private.

Qu Sanjiu and Ma Guai had done things like robbing passengers quite often, but they only did it occasionally when they were short of money. They wouldn't kill anyone; they only wanted money and wouldn't harm anyone. To be precise, almost all the fishermen who sailed on the river had robbed passengers. When they were short of money, they would take the risk and do it. Ordinary people couldn't tell whether they were fishermen who made a living by fishing or river bandits who robbed people of their property.

During a shipboard accident, Qu Sanjiu suffered severe internal injuries. Due to delayed treatment, his lungs were left with serious internal damage. The cost of complete treatment would be at least 500,000 yuan, which Qu Sanjiu simply could not afford. He could only delay treatment, and the condition worsened over time, especially this winter when his old lung injury deteriorated rapidly.

He knew that if he didn't get a complete cure, he would die.

So, in order to save himself, he suddenly had a whim and decided to pull off a big heist.

After the fishing boat set sail, it headed to the waters shrouded in the demonic fog. Qu Sanjiu had spent his whole life sailing on the river and knew which waters and at which times the demonic fog would appear. An ordinary person would definitely lose their way if they were caught in the demonic fog, but Qu Sanjiu was familiar with the area and was skilled and daring, so he was not afraid at all.

After the demonic fog enveloped the fishing boat, Qu Sanjiu decisively cut the anchor under the cover of night. The turbulent river water immediately caused the fishing boat to rock and become unstable, creating the illusion that the boat had been hit by a giant object. At this time, Qu Sanjiu said that the Dragon King of Guanjiang was just passing by to take a look, temporarily calming Zhou Qingfeng and Jin Wei down. Late at night, he brought fine wine to Ma Guai's room. The two chatted quite well at first. Ma Guai thought this was a good extra income. He could earn 10 magic coins for delivering someone, which was a rare opportunity.

At this point, Qu Sanjiu mentioned the plan to kill and steal treasure to Ma Guai, hoping that Ma Guai's cooperation would greatly increase the success rate.

Unfortunately, Ma Guai did not agree, believing that this was tantamount to courting death. He thought that once the two cultivators at the Food Fiend Realm became aware of the situation, they could crush them as easily as crushing an ant.

Moreover, if you want to get 500,000 in legal fees, you can just raise the price temporarily; there's no need to go to such lengths.

This is how they've always operated: once guests board the boat, if they want to get ashore, they're forced to pay. It's always worked, and they succeed every time.

Qu Sanjiu felt he wouldn't survive the winter and didn't have time to find the next easy target. In his desperation to save himself, he wouldn't listen to anything and insisted on taking the risk. Ma Guai couldn't bear to watch his lifelong lover die, so he tried to persuade him, hoping that Qu Sanjiu wouldn't lose his mind, because impulsiveness is the devil and will harm both himself and others.

But how strong is a person's will to survive? You can only know by experiencing it yourself.

One man wanted to kill and steal the treasure, while the other tried to dissuade him. This led to a sudden argument between the two, with them pushing and shoving each other. In the heat of the argument, hurtful words were easily uttered, and they said whatever they could find to hurt people. Ma Guai said things like he couldn't be satisfied, that he had no children, that he was old and useless, that if he wanted to die, he shouldn't drag him down with him, and that they should all break up. He also said vicious things like "black lung devil".

Those harsh words were like sharp knives, each one stabbing Qu Sanjiu until her mentality shattered and her defenses crumbled on the spot.

As Ma Guai was packing his things to leave, Qu Sanjiu, enraged and humiliated, impulsively used his martial arts skills to strike Ma Guai on the back. The full force of this blow instantly shattered Ma Guai's heart and lungs, causing him to collapse to the ground, staring wide-eyed at Qu Sanjiu, unable to believe that Qu Sanjiu would kill him so cruelly.

Qu Sanjiu's mind went blank. He stared at his hands, at a loss. When he came to his senses, he hurriedly tried to save Ma Guai. However, Ma Guai was only a mere cultivator in the Turbid Realm. His heart and lungs had burst, and there was no hope of saving him. Unless Qu Sanjiu could give him a heart transplant or repair his Turbid Heart, he would basically be beyond saving.

Ma Guai died; he died at the hands of Qu Sanjiu.

Qu Sanjiu was filled with regret and remorse, but what was done was done and could not be undone.

He could only use magic to change Ma Guai's face and carefully disguise it as a relapse of an old injury, causing him to die in bed.

No one would find out, because there are rules for running boats on the river: if someone dies, they must be dismembered and buried in the river immediately. The body is never left on the boat overnight, to avoid the body suddenly coming back to life or attracting the attention of some evil spirits or deities, which would cause everyone on the boat to be caught up in strange events.

After properly handling Ma Guai's body, Qu Sanjiu immediately launched the prepared small boat into the river, feigning death to escape and successfully avoid everyone's sight. He then lured the Dragon King of Guanjiang to attack the boat from the shadows, waiting to collect the body and treasure. Unfortunately, the plan failed, forcing him to take a risk.

Upon hearing Qu Sanjiu's account, Zhou Qingfeng nodded slightly: "He faked his death to escape, hid in the shadows, and set up a series of traps. His plan was perfect, with one trap leading to another. Unfortunately, he was just a little unlucky. The Dragon King of Guanjiang happened to be in labor and wanted to sneak into Qiantang City by boat, which caused your plan to fail at the last minute."

Qu Sanjiu gazed at the moon and sighed: "Alas~~~ Man proposes, God disposes, cough cough cough... Heaven's will, in this life-or-death battle, it's not that I, Qu Sanjiu, lost, but that the Five Turbid Heavenly Dao favored you, otherwise... cough cough cough, well, just give me a quick death, anyway, I have no money to treat my injuries, and I won't survive this cold winter."

Zhou Qingfeng could tell that Qu Sanjiu was determined to die. It made sense; knowing his days were numbered, he would inevitably choose to gamble everything. Winning meant survival, losing meant certain death—it made no difference. He raised his hand and calmly asked, "Any last words?"

"Cough cough cough..." Qu Sanjiu shakily pulled out the pipe he had found in the river from his robes, added tobacco with trembling hands, lit it, took a deep drag, and then, as if exhaling the last breath of pent-up frustration, smiled with relief: "Phew... Send me on my way. I hope I won't be a sailor in my next life, cough cough cough..."

Zhou Qingfeng said calmly, "One last question."

Qu Sanjiu replied wearily, "Ask away."

Zhou Qingfeng said, "Where did the pipe come from? It's not something from this world."

Qu Sanjiu chuckled: "It was salvaged from a sunken stone house at the bottom of the Guanjiang River. I had it appraised at a pawnshop, and they said it was an ancient antique, but it's just an ordinary object, not very useful but with collectible value. It might be a product of a fallen evil world from a certain ancient world."

"Thank you for clarifying things." Zhou Qingfeng nodded, his hand slowly falling: "Kill him."

Seeing this, Jin Wei flicked his finger, and the Sword of Truth pierced through his heart in an instant.

A large hole the size of a bowl appeared in Qu Sanjiu's chest. He sat there with his head down, his hands slowly and limply falling to the floor, the pipe in his palm slowly sliding onto the deck.

With a light step, Zhou Qingfeng instantly appeared in front of Qu Sanjiu with his hands behind his back. He channeled his magic power into his palm, releasing it to draw the pipe into his hand. The pipe spun in his palm, and with his hands behind his back, he slowly walked towards the stern of the ship: "I'm going to take a nap. His body will be offered to the Dragon King of Guanjiang tomorrow morning."

Upon hearing this, Jin Wei recalled his flying sword and sheathed it, bowing slightly and nodding: "Yes."

Time flies like an arrow, and morning arrived in the blink of an eye. When everyone saw Qu Sanjiu's body reappear on the ship, they almost thought something strange had happened. Fortunately, Jin Wei explained to them, which calmed everyone's panic.

With two more people available for sacrifice, the boats could now reach Qiantang City, and people's hearts were somewhat at ease.

However, an even more serious problem has emerged.

The Dragon King of Guanjiang wants to borrow a boat to sneak into Qiantang City. Do you really want to help the Dragon King of Guanjiang?

Human nature is ugly at this moment. No one would righteously declare that they would sacrifice themselves to save thousands of families. That's something only heroes in stories would do. None of the people on the ship are heroes. As long as their interests are not harmed and their families are not endangered, they don't care whether others live or die.

However, such things are something that can be thought about but not spoken of, and no one is willing to be the first to speak out, because once Qiantang City is destroyed and people die, it will inevitably attract the attention of the surrounding city lords. Sooner or later, they will send people to investigate and find out the truth. At that time, everyone present will be executed as 'traitors', and their families will also be implicated.

Inside the command center, everyone looked at Zhou Qingfeng, waiting for him to make a decision. Zhou Qingfeng was the strongest person currently in control of the situation, and with the strongest power came the most authority. Everyone had to listen to his decisions, whether they wanted to or not. So, no matter what they thought, they had to hear what Zhou Qingfeng thought first.

Strength and power never exist as isolated entities; they are interdependent and complementary.

Power requires strength as its foundation, and strength can be transformed into power.

A leader who lacks sufficient knowledge, skills, strength, and group support will find it difficult to exercise power effectively. When a person possesses sufficient power, they can use that power to gain more control or influence. Conversely, power can also help accumulate more power.

This is why Zhou Qingfeng pursues power and strength.

Being a carefree, unrestrained lone traveler is certainly wonderful, but it's far too slow to reach the summit. However, becoming a person in power allows one to use power to acquire many benefits, enjoy the best resources, and have a large number of disciples. Power nourishes and accumulates strength. When a lone traveler and a person in power compete in terms of progress, who progresses faster and reaches the summit more easily, smoothly, and safely is obvious.

Now that the crisis has arrived, Zhou Qingfeng has not fallen into a simple human dilemma. The lives of hundreds of thousands, millions, or tens of millions of people are not important to him. As long as he can save his own life, he can stand by and watch as many people die, at most feeling sorry and sympathetic, and then he will continue to live his life as usual.

He was neither a pure hero nor a pure saint; he didn't have the grand ambition to be a savior.

He is a man who wavers between two extremes; whether he is a demon or a saint, he will always assess the situation carefully.

Unless a savior can bring him enormous benefits and help him reach the pinnacle, he will never be so great as to sacrifice himself for the benefit of others.

The current crisis also presents considerable opportunities.

The greater the crisis, the greater the opportunity; it all depends on whether an individual has a keen enough sense of opportunity and can seize the fleeting chance.

Zhou Qingfeng is someone who is very perceptive of opportunities.

Zhou Qingfeng said calmly, "The ships are proceeding normally towards Qiantang City, awaiting my next instructions."

Upon hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They were afraid that Zhou Qingfeng would try to be a hero and insist on saving the people of Qiantang City. Now that Zhou Qingfeng had not given any instructions to change course, that was the best answer given the current situation.

Zhou Qingfeng got up and left, with Jin Wei following closely behind. The two walked to the stern of the ship and looked at the rushing river.

Jin Wei spoke first: "Young Master, are you really planning to stand idly by?"

Zhou Qingfeng said calmly, "Of course not. Immediately send a message to Qiantang City using your flying sword to establish contact first. I want to talk to the city lord of Qiantang City."

Jin Wei was taken aback: "In what capacity?"

Zhou Qingfeng gazed indifferently at the surging river: "Sword Tower City, Fourth Young Master, Zhou Qingfeng."

Jin Wei's expression changed slightly. He didn't know why the young master would take the initiative to expose his identity. If people knew that the fourth young master of Sword Tower had left Sword Tower territory and that his defenses were weak, he didn't know how many mad dogs would come to tear him apart. Sword Tower City was powerful, but it also had many enemies. Given his identity as the fourth young master of Sword Tower, would his enemies let him live?

As his thoughts raced, Jin Wei had already come up with countless ideas, but his hands didn't stop moving. He immediately took out a small notebook and a brush, quickly wrote a visiting card, signed it as Zhou Qingfeng, the fourth young master of Sword Tower City, and then tied it to his communication bracelet, and then reinforced it by tying it to the Sword of Truth.

Then Jin Wei formed a sword finger and urged the Sword of Truth to traverse space and fly towards Qiantang City.

Within a breath, the Sword of Truth was already planted in the city wall of Qiantang City.

This commotion immediately alerted the city guards. The guards, with some doubt and apprehension, took off their swords, glanced at the communication bracelet and visiting card that were tied to them, and did not dare to open them without authorization. Instead, they reported the matter step by step to the Lord of Qiantang City.

The Lord of Qiantang City opened the invitation and frowned slightly: "Zhou Qingfeng, the number one on the Heavenly Ranking, why is he running around everywhere instead of staying in the Sword Tower?"

"This is really troublesome. What if I die within my Qiantang territory?"

"Tsk...that would be a complete catastrophe."

In the corrupt and powerful circles of this world, who doesn't know the name of Zhou Qingfeng, the number one on the Heavenly Ranking? He is hailed as the leading figure of the new generation of the number one family in Sword Tower City. Anyone who kills him will be in big trouble, and even the city lord within his territory will be implicated. It's possible that a large army will be sent to invade, and he, the city lord of Qiantang, will be beaten and exiled.

The small city of Qiantang has a history of only four hundred years, which is not comparable to the first family with a history of ten thousand years. The highest level of cultivation is only a peak cultivator of the Appetite Realm. Its overall strength is about the same as that of the Frost City, and it ranks in the lower middle level in the empire's strength hierarchy.

After a moment's hesitation, the Lord of Qiantang City still channeled his magic power to activate the communication bracelet. At the same time, the Sword of Truth tore through space and returned to Jin Wei's palm.

The two parties established contact remotely using communication wristbands.

Zhou Qingfeng: "Greetings, Lord of Qiantang City. I am Zhou Qingfeng, the fourth young master of Jianta City. Due to an unexpected situation that endangers Qiantang City, I am temporarily unable to visit you in person. I can only send you this message by flying sword. I would like to express my sincerest greetings to you. I hope you will not take offense."

The Lord of Qiantang City frowned slightly: "You say you are Zhou Qingfeng, how can I believe you?"