I'm caught in the cycle of endless competition, you're waiting for me in the apocalypse.

The summer morning breeze is cool and carries the fragrance of earth, but the lively sounds of insects and birds in the countryside are not present in Fulin Village.

An Xin brandished her long-handled broadsword in the side courtyard, and a bloodthirsty aura wafted over, as if drawn by a powerful figure. When she stopped, the bloodthirsty aura slowly dissipated.

"Xiao Jiu, have you noticed that this Mo Dao is attracting blood and evil energy?"

"I can sense it, but it hasn't absorbed any of the foreign blood and evil energy."

"Can this still be absorbed?"

“Yes, it’s possible. When this knife itself is a deadly weapon and possesses a spirit, and is imbued with blood and evil for many years, it becomes the leader of the blood and evil, absorbing the blood and evil to strengthen itself, and may eventually give birth to a spirit of blood and evil. Just think of this thing as having its own thoughts, having a weapon spirit, only the kind of evil spirit that needs to drink blood and is bloodthirsty.” Di Ting circled around the Mo Dao, smelled it, shook his head, and looked disdainful.

Upon hearing this, An Xin picked up the Mo Dao (陌刀), pondered for a moment, and then bent down to tell Di Ting, "Xiao Jiu, I believe the Fortune Scroll wouldn't include such a vicious and bloodthirsty weapon, much less allow such a weapon that could influence others' behavior to exist. This Mo Dao is a relic of a great general who protected the people and the country's territory. Even if it possesses a bloodthirsty aura, it would be a killing aura that suppresses evil thoughts. If the user has a righteous heart and a strong sense of justice, he will not succumb to it."

Di Ting glanced sideways at An Xin: "Are you indirectly praising yourself for being righteous and awe-inspiring? Possessing great integrity? I didn't expect you to be so shameless!"

"Hehe~ Hehe~ Isn't that right! Oh dear, blaming the tool you're using when you have wicked thoughts, isn't that like trying to be virtuous while pretending to be innocent? Right, right? Just like those incompetent men in this world, when their country falls or they can't stand seeing men lose power, they always find various excuses to shift the blame to women, falsely accusing them of bringing disaster to the country and its people. How many such things have happened in history? Look at Su Daji, look at Lin Huiyin, both were heroines, yet they were falsely accused by men who couldn't have what they wanted or who were incompetent. How can such men compare to this great general who wields the Mo Dao, fights on the battlefield, and protects the country!" As soon as these words were spoken, the Mo Dao trembled!

"This Mo Dao already possesses sentience! It's just that it hasn't yet developed a true weapon spirit."

"Good Mo Dao, you must be moved by my words~"

"Yes, yes, you're the best!"

"That compliment is too perfunctory... But I'm in a good mood so I won't hold it against you. Xiao Jiu, let's name it together. How about A Mo?"

"You're terrible at naming things!"

"It's better than Ah Dao, otherwise, why not call him Dao Lang?"

"Ah! If General Li finds out, he'll probably turn to madness!"

"Sigh, you never told me what the original owner of this knife was called!"

"Li Siye, General Li!"

"Then let's call this sword Aye. Hmm, we can't favor one over the other. The Miao sword also needs a name, so let's call it Aguang."

"Buzz—" A sound like a knife ringing out.

"It likes it, it likes this name! Xiao Jiu, Xiao Jiu, can you hear me?" An Xin was extremely excited, feeling that she had gained another friend, a partner who could fight alongside her and share life and death.

"Well then, congratulations! Ah, stop fooling around, Aunt Tian and Uncle Dong are up. I'll be going now."

After putting away Ah Ye, An Xin returned to the main courtyard and saw that Aunt Tian was already busy.

"Sister~ You got up so early?"

"Hey? Why are you up so early, little girl? Don't young people these days love to sleep in?"

"Well... I'm sensitive to sleeping in unfamiliar beds, so if I can't sleep, I get up and exercise! Once I'm tired, I can go back to sleep."

"Being unable to sleep in a new bed? Oh my, how come you city kids still have this habit? You need to run around more and get more exercise."

"Sister Tian, ​​is there anything I can help you with? I don't have anything to do anyway."

Do you know how to start a fire?

"Yes, yes!" An Xin used firewood to start fires plenty of times during the apocalypse!

"Okay, then come to the kitchen with me. I'll cook breakfast for you, and you can start the fire!"

"Okay~"

The kitchen is large, with many pots, pans, and even a gas cylinder, but many of them clearly haven't been used in a long time.

"Here, take this stove. A wood-fired stove is best for cooking porridge. We're using this one stove now. We used it more often when there were more people in the family..." Aunt Tian's face darkened again. It seemed she was missing her family.

"Sister, tell me about this village, so I can write a report." An Xin quickly changed the subject.

"This village...hehe, okay, then I'll chat with you about it." Aunt Tian seemed to be reminiscing, her thoughts drifting away.

Seeing that the aunt's thoughts were about to drift off again, An Xin immediately asked, "Sister? You must have married into this family from another village, right?"

"Yes, I married into Fulin Village when I was 16. Back then, many families in our village were envious that I was able to marry into this village."

"Why?"

"Because everyone in the surrounding villages knows this place is rich, with all the houses being big brick and tile houses. When I was young, almost all the villages only had mud houses. I moved here right after I married into this family and now I live in a big house. How could people not be envious?" Aunt Tian was very quick and efficient. As she spoke, she had already put the sweet potatoes and corn into the steamer.

An Xin added fuel to the fire, not forgetting to continue trying to get information out of her: "That's true, and you must have been very beautiful when you were young."

"That's right, otherwise why would they have asked someone to find me a wife? You don't know, Fulin Village used to be called Dongjia Village, and it was very xenophobic. Because we came from a large clan, the children in the clan had all attended private schools, and they looked down on us peasants. So they rarely intermarried with other clans! Later, the village became less and less populated, and they had no choice but to find wives from outside, and only wives, no men were allowed to enter. Even when they found wives, they had to be good-looking and have some education."

"Ah! Doesn't that mean they were close relatives in the past...? Is it that taboo? Orthopedic literature?"

"We wouldn't know about that, but speaking of which, back in the day, those old-fashioned families all had cousins, right? I guess it was something like that." Aunt Tian said this with a very contemptuous tone.

“Yes, close relatives are not good for offspring; there are many genetic diseases.” An Xin nodded perceptively, listing the biggest drawbacks of consanguineous marriage.

“Who says otherwise? My parents-in-law are cousins, and all their children were sickly and died young, leaving only me, an old man. That’s why my parents-in-law insisted on finding him a wife in another village.”

"Sister, I don't see any particularly old people in this village. Is it because of close relatives that they are weak and cannot live long?"

"I don't know either, but there are definitely fewer and fewer people here. The older ones have all left, and the younger ones don't come back..."

"Oh dear, sister, is the porridge ready? It's bubbling all over."

"Oh, no, no, it needs to simmer on low heat for a while longer. Girl, could you remove some of the firewood?"

"Okay." An Xin noticed that whenever the topic of the young man's absence came up, the auntie would fall into deep thought... She was so lonely. Thinking of her adoptive parents in this world, still battling wits with the imposter, she really felt a pang of sympathy for them. An Xin also missed her own mother even more...

"That's about it. I'll take the bowls and chopsticks out first. Honey, go call your classmate."

"Okay!" An Xin got up, dusted herself off, and washed her hands in the pool next to her.

"Knock knock knock..." An Xin knocked on her senior brothers' doors, "Senior Qingchuan, Senior Wei Ran, are you up yet?"

"Squeak—" The door opened. "Good morning, Xinxin, we've all tidied up."

"Okay, let's go have breakfast then."

The three of them had breakfast with the uncle and aunt again, and afterwards they helped clean up. Once everything was done, they sat down under the locust tree again.

"Uncle Dong, your locust tree is really beautiful. You can collect these flowers and make tea; it can clear heat and detoxify." Li Qingchuan gathered the locust flowers on the stone table and put them in a bag.

"Yes, we can pick out some of the better ones, add honey and make a drink. It tastes good and is also good for your health. Quite a few people in the village have come to ask us for some."

“We see many locust trees in the village, can’t they pick the fruit themselves?”

"Those few trees in the village? No, those few don't bloom. Only mine does, so everyone asks us for locust flowers." Uncle Dong said with a proud look on his face.

"That's quite strange. Maybe it's because your house has good feng shui that it's blooming."

"Haha, that's possible. Look at Dong Wenyu's house. Their locust tree is the biggest and oldest here. It used to bloom, but I don't know why it hasn't bloomed in recent years."

An Xin and the others exchanged glances, each having made their own plans.

"Oh, right, it was too late yesterday, so I didn't go to see him. How about we take you to see him now since it's still early and it's not time to go to the fields yet?"

"Alright, then I'll have to trouble you, Uncle Dong."

..........................................

"Knock knock...knock knock," the group arrived at the largest courtyard in the village. Uncle Dong knocked on the large, black wooden door, then turned and pointed to the "Dong Residence" plaque hanging above the eaves. "This is the courtyard of the Dong family patriarch. It's so big that it takes a long time to come out and open the door after hearing the knock."

The three men immediately sensed something was amiss upon hearing Uncle Dong's sarcastic and mocking words. Hadn't Uncle Dong previously said the village chief was a good person? Why was he speaking like this now?

An Xin quietly activated her Heavenly Eye and Heavenly Ear. Upon opening her eyes, she was astonished to find the courtyard teeming with resentful energy.

"Ayu, it sounds like someone is knocking on the door. Go check it out."

"Who would come so early!"

"Stop looking at your phone! All you do is hold your phone and watch live streams. It's so early in the morning. You're probably the only one who knows how to watch live streams!"

"Mother, if you don't understand, don't talk nonsense..."

"Fine, fine, if you won't go, I will!"

Outside the door, Wei Ran was getting impatient. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but An Xin stopped him, saying, "Aran, don't rush. Someone's here to open the door."

No sooner had he said that than the sound of light footsteps approached from afar, and then the door was slowly pushed open.

A gaunt old woman leaned out of the door, glanced at the group with a wary look, and finally fixed her gaze on Uncle Dong's face, saying, "It's Xiao Chang, long time no see. What brings you here?"