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

After several months, the once outspoken young man had long been nipped in the bud.

In order to help Ye Tingxiu transform quickly, Night Owl set a limit on him that he could not speak more than three words and had to keep a blank expression at all times. Anyone who dared to violate any of these rules would be given a brutal beating.

In addition, they conducted hellish training, specifically throwing Ye Tingxiu onto the Five Hells Mountain of Knives, which was filled with knives used by masters killed by Night Owl, some real and some fake.

Ye Tingxiu could only leave this endless mountain of blades by finding a suitable turbid blade to consume on the Five Prisons Blade Mountain and cultivating the Blade-Catching Overlord Body. Countless days and nights, Ye Tingxiu had thought about giving up.

But the night owl floated beside him like a phantom: "Have you given up?"

Ye Tingxiu was barefoot and shirtless, gripping the blade in his hands and stepping on the edge of the knife. His body was covered in wounds, but then he suddenly roared, "I refuse to accept this! I'd rather die than accept this!"

Ye Tingxiu can be defeated, he can be killed, but he will never submit.

No one in the world can subdue him, not even the heavens.

Ye Tingxiu continued to wade through the Five Hells and the Mountain of Knives with his frail body.

Night Owl silently watched Ye Tingxiu's retreating figure as the black-robed phantom gradually dissipated.

Childhood.

"Father, I want new clothes too."

"Xiu'er, be good. You can wear your older brother's old clothes."

"No, no, no, I want to wear new clothes."

As a child.

"You unfilial son, I'm asking you, do you submit or not?" Ye's father hung Ye Tingxiu from the eaves and whipped him with a bamboo stick, yelling at him as he did so.

Ye Tingxiu stubbornly said, "I don't accept this. Why can my older brother study, but I can't? I want to study too."

"You unfilial son, how dare you take it from your elder brother? I'll beat you to death today!"

"I will never accept this. My elder brother and I are both Father's sons. Why is Father so biased?"

As a teenager, Ye Tingxiu fell in love with the girl next door.

The two were deeply in love, but their love was destined to be unfulfilled.

The father arranged for the eldest brother to marry the woman he loved.

Moreover, the money Ye Tingxiu earned by working for gangs was the money he risked his life for.

Ye Tingxiu's eyes were bloodshot as he stormed into his father's room: "That's my money! That's what I was supposed to use to marry Yue'er! Father, you know I love Yue'er, yet you still used my hard-earned money to let my elder brother marry her!"

Ye's father said expressionlessly, "Your eldest brother is the eldest son in the family. He needs to get married and have children to carry on the Ye family line. You are the younger brother. You should sacrifice for your brother and for our Ye family."

Ye Tingxiu roared repeatedly, "I refuse to accept this! I refuse to accept this!"

"You don't need to submit, just obey. This is your fate."

The phantom of the night owl reappeared: "Accept your fate, you can't climb the Five Hells Mountain of Blades."

"Fate!" Ye Tingxiu gripped the blade with resentment, looking up at the unreachable summit of the Mountain of Blades, his eyes filled with defiance: "What a joke! I've cultivated so hard, all for the sake of defying fate!"

This is a world of five turbidities and evils, a world tormented by eight kinds of suffering.

The eight sufferings are the suffering of birth, the suffering of old age, the suffering of sickness, the suffering of death, and so on.

The suffering of sorrow, grief, and distress; the suffering of being with those you hate; the suffering of being separated from those you love; and the suffering of not being able to get what you want.

The eight sufferings entangle and torment the human heart, making all beings feel as if they have fallen into a sea of ​​suffering, with no shore to turn back to.

……

Sword Tower City, the inner courtyard of the City Lord's Mansion, the Water Garden, the Council Hall.

The group was discussing Zhou Qingfeng's plan to suppress the bandits.

Mao Erlang's face was cold, and he said in a businesslike manner, "Mother, Commander Zhou has been ordered to suppress the bandits, but he has been hesitant to advance at Shili Grain Village. He is clearly afraid of fighting. Please order Commander Zhou to be replaced."

As soon as he said this, a number of high-level key figures followed suit.

"What the Second Young Master said is very true. I urge Madam to replace the commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression campaign."

"I implore you, Madam, to replace the commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression campaign and severely punish Commander Zhou!"

In an instant, the tranquility of the entire council chamber was disrupted. Zhou Qingfeng, a servant born into poverty, had suddenly risen to prominence and had already affected the interests of many people.

First, the Night Patrol Division was purged, and the culprit was Zhou Qingfeng. The Road Division was destroyed, and they completely lost their influence in the Night Patrol Division. The new Director was from the Madam's personal guard.

For a short period of time afterward, no one dared to lay a finger on the Night Patrol Division.

If Lu Sifu hadn't died without leaving any evidence, probably half of the big shots present would have lost their heads as well, since they were deeply connected with Lu Sifu.

However, the Lu Sifu (the Lu Sifu government) is very meticulous and clean in its work, never harboring any侥幸 (jiao xing, a sense of luck or chance) mentality, and never leaving any handle for itself.

If it weren't for Feng and Yun, the Lu Si Mansion would never have collapsed.

With the collapse of the Lu Si Mansion, many of their lucrative ventures could no longer be carried out, and their interests were severely damaged. Of course they hated it, but they had to endure it because Zhou Qingfeng was the lady's man, and no one in the Sword Tower dared to kill him.

Going out of the city to suppress bandits is like picking up credit. If Zhou Qingfeng hadn't been there, it would have been the family members of these big shots who led the troops. But with Zhou Qingfeng, they have nothing to do.

As veterans of the Sword Tower, they naturally felt uneasy.

But now Zhou Qingfeng is hesitant, fearing for his life and afraid to fight.

Then don't blame them for taking advantage of the situation, kicking someone when they're down, and beating a dog when it's down.

As for who will replace Zhou Qingfeng, that's a problem for later. In any case, they are all veterans of the Sword Tower. Even if the meat rots in the pot, they absolutely cannot let the new generation of young talents eat it.

"Not bad, not bad..." The First Lady held the little yellow book in her hands, ignoring them, got up and walked to the bridge, barefoot in the water, nodding as she read, thinking that this love story was very well written.

The group exchanged glances, remaining in the same position, awaiting the First Lady's reply.

After an unknown amount of time, the First Lady suddenly put away the erotic book, stretched, and plunged into the water. She then began to swim freely, sometimes on her back and sometimes on her side, completely disregarding the occasion.

Steward Qiu, keeping his eyes down and seemingly lost in thought, extended his hand and said, "Gentlemen, please return."

Left with no other option, everyone had to retreat.

The First Lady didn't say a word to them, yet they were sent away empty-handed. They weren't fools; the First Lady's apparent silence was actually a statement of her disapproval of Zhou Qingfeng's removal.

They thought the matter was over, but the next day at the meeting, the old issue was brought up again, and they still demanded a change of commander at the last minute.

For several days in a row, it was the same. These elders seemed to have agreed that they would not discuss anything else, but would first drag Zhou Qingfeng out as a target to be attacked. They would not discuss anything else until they gave him an explanation.

Even so, the First Lady calmly suppressed the criticism, determined to support Zhou Qingfeng.

Although Zhou Qingfeng was outside the city, he was fully aware of what had happened in the council chamber.

Because he has a good mentor, Qiu Chengde, who has already informed him of the situation privately through letters.

"A bunch of cowards, they only dare to mess with me in secret." Zhou Qingfeng shook his head, not taking it to heart at all.

Resources are limited; if you eat an extra portion, someone else will have one less.

Even if you don't intend to offend others, your very existence is equivalent to offending some people.

This is an irreconcilable contradiction.

Either you get beaten to death or you vomit up everything you've eaten.

Either hold on and stand firm, protecting your own share of the pie.

I knew this day would come when I first came to power.

If it were anyone else, they would probably have already reluctantly led their men to suppress the bandits. Even if they couldn't wipe them out in one fell swoop, they would have to achieve some results, otherwise they would inevitably be criticized.

However, Zhou Qingfeng was not afraid because he had his master Qiu Chengde to look after him, as well as the trust and attention of the First Lady. This was the capital that allowed him to train his troops here with peace of mind without fear of being replaced.