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

The old cripple slowly got up, took two limping steps forward with his cane, and faced First Red Leaf. His cloudy eyes revealed helplessness. He slowly said, "Third Miss, he also expected that you would come to question me. So, he said that once you discover the truth, you should tell me the truth."

First Red Leaf coldly stared at the old cripple: "Speak."

If it weren't for the fact that the old cripple was still useful and I wanted to find out Xu Xiaoqiu's whereabouts from him, he should have been killed eight hundred times over just for deceiving her.

The old cripple said calmly, "Third Miss, do you know who Xu Xiaoqiu is?"

First Red Leaf: "Xu Xiaoqiu is Xu Xiaoqiu, who else could he be?"

The old cripple said calmly, "He is the junior disciple of the leader of the Jinshan Sect, the first sect of Taoism. People respectfully call him 'Wine Ten Thousand, Jun Moting.' Back then, he sensed that his love tribulation was coming, so he descended the mountain in the form of a mortal to overcome it. That's how he met you, got to know you, fell in love with you, and formed this ill-fated relationship."

He thought you were just an ordinary woman, and he planned to spend a hundred years with you, send you to your grave, and then the tribulation of love would be over.

"Who knew that one day he would discover your true identity as the First Red Leaf, and things would suddenly go beyond his expectations."

“If I continue to entangle myself with you, I will never be able to overcome this emotional tribulation, and he will be forever trapped in depravity, with no hope of reaching the pinnacle.”

"Having no other choice, he could only anonymously notify your mother to take you back and imprison you. He then withdrew to the Jinshan Sect and never came down the mountain again. Later, he came to me and asked me to find you and set up a deception for you, hoping to settle the karmic debt between you and him."

"It seems his plan has failed, so he has prepared another contingency plan. If you discover the scam, he told me to tell you the truth without hiding anything, and also told me to tell you that you and he should never see each other again, and that you should not go to him, because he will not see you."

Upon hearing this, First Red Leaf's expression turned ferocious, and she gritted her teeth: "You're a liar, you don't tell a single truth, I might as well kill you!"

The old cripple took out a wine gourd woven from straw rope from his pocket and tossed it over: "He anticipated your reaction, so he gave me a token. This is a wine gourd you wove for him yourself. You must recognize it. This was the first gift you gave him, and he has always treasured it with him. This item is enough to prove what I said."

First Red Leaf's demonic flames instantly extinguished. She raised her hand to catch the wine gourd, examined it, and then glanced at it sideways: "What is your relationship with him?"

The old cripple said calmly, "I owe him a huge favor from an old friend I've known for many years, and I have no choice but to repay it."

First Red Leaf raised her spear tip horizontally, pointing it at the old cripple's throat: "I'll spare your life because you're his friend, but this matter can't just end like this. To never see each other again in life or death is a joke. I demand an explanation no matter what!"

After saying this, the First Red Leaf soared into the sky, its formidable strength showing no fear, and transformed into a streak of fire as it charged towards the Golden Mountain Sect.

Zhou Qingfeng watched silently from the sidelines, never expecting things to develop to this point; the outcome was truly unexpected.

The old cripple glanced at Zhou Qingfeng, his expression slightly apologetic: "Fourth Brother, I did not tell you the truth about the Third Miss. I kept it from you but still asked you to help me make connections. It was really my fault that you got dragged into trouble. It was just a friend's request, and I had no choice. Please understand."

Zhou Qingfeng said earnestly, "Mr. Liao, I trust you very much. To be honest, you have helped me many times, and I owe you countless favors. I am grateful and want to repay your kindness. You are also Shuiyao's master. I regard you as an uncle or elder and have never treated you as an outsider. I am willing to risk being punished by my mother to help you make connections, also because of our years of friendship. You shouldn't hide this from me, no matter who else you are hiding it from."

"Things have gotten out of control. Third Sister went to Jinshan Sect to settle scores with Jun Moting. We have no idea how much trouble this will cause. If I am implicated in this, it is only because I misjudged people. I deserve to be punished. I accept it."

"But our friendship has come to an end today. May we each find our own happiness from now on. Farewell."

"Jin Wei, let's go!" Zhou Qingfeng respectfully clasped his hands in a salute, bidding farewell to the old cripple without saying anything more.

The old cripple leaned on his cane, his face showing guilt and sorrow. He also regarded Zhou Qingfeng as his own junior. The affection he had developed over the years was genuine. His apprentice Shuiyao's filial piety and Zhou Qingfeng's care for him made him feel secure in his old age and allowed him to enjoy the rare joy of family life.

This gave him a sense of home again.

He never intended to harm Zhou Qingfeng, nor did he ever imagine that he and Zhou Qingfeng would end up severing all ties.

Now, he's like a stray dog.

From then on, I had no home to return to, and could only drift in the world like a rootless duckweed.

The old cripple, dejected and listless, sat back down on the stone chair. He looked around, but there was no one there. His face showed a mixture of pity, confusion, and fear. His brows and eyes were filled with sorrow, and his lips were downturned. He looked neither like a cry nor a laugh, like a lonely old man with no one to rely on.

Zhou Qingfeng and Jin Wei boarded an airship and left East Sea Paradise City that same day, heading towards the unclaimed land.

One hundred hours passed, covering a distance of hundreds of millions of miles, before landing in the military air transport zone of the no-man's-land. Because war was raging in the no-man's-land, the allied forces of the northern cities, the local resistance army, and the puppet regime supported by the Sword Tower were all fighting each other in a chaotic mess. The situation of local separatism was very serious, and the original air transport zone had become a military occupation zone of the allied forces of the northern cities due to the war.

Upon arriving at the unclaimed land, Zhou Qingfeng dared not linger and immediately led Jin Wei toward the Sword Tower.

We traveled along the road, stopping frequently. The villages and towns along the way were dilapidated, and there were hardly any living people in the wilderness, nor any safe place to settle down.

They could only find shelter in dilapidated villages and towns for the night.

In the dilapidated hut, in front of the campfire, Jin Wei spread out a map and said, "Young Master, Ravenburg is just ahead. We can consider settling down there. Ravenburg is a puppet regime supported by our Sword Tower. We can go there to rest and recuperate for the night."

Zhou Qingfeng tore into a roasted rabbit leg: "If I remember correctly, Ravenburg is Hellboy's territory, right? That guy is an ambitious but incompetent good-for-nothing. Every year, our Sword Tower spends billions of dollars of resources to support him in organizing his army and occupying unclaimed lands. It's been more than ten years, and there has been very little progress."

Jin Wei said, "Young Master's trip can give this guy a little push."

Zhou Qingfeng waved his hand: "No need, this is not my responsibility. When we get to Ravenburg, we'll ask Hellboy about Ye Tingxiu."