Xiaoxiao.

"Zheng-ge'er is awesome! He scared the enemy away with just one sentence. He's amazing!" Ying Yue exclaimed dramatically.

"Hehe...Alright, alright. It wasn't me who scared them. Maybe they had something urgent to attend to. Look how fast they ran! Hehe..." Kuang Zheng laughed at the end.

"Hmm?" Seeing Qingxian standing there dumbfounded, Yingyue looked at him with amusement.

At this moment, Qingxian wished she could disappear into a crack in the ground, silently praying to all the gods and Buddhas, "Don't see me, don't see me..."

But it seemed that all the gods and Buddhas in the sky had gone off duty today, and his prayers went unanswered.

Hearing Ying Yue's soft laughter, Qing Xian knew there was no way to avoid it.

"Hehe..." Qingxian knew how ugly his smile looked right now. But besides grinning like an idiot, he didn't know what else he could do.

The boss ran away, and he himself was nearing the end of his life.

Even without the other party making a move, a slightly stronger gust of wind could blow him over.

Even ants try to survive; if one can live, who would want to die?

So all he can do now is laugh, hoping the other party will have mercy and let him go.

"Aren't you leaving yet? Waiting for me to treat you to a meal?" Kuang Zheng looked at him with a smile.

Qingxian could hardly believe her ears: "I... I can walk?"

"What? Don't want to leave? Then stay!" Yingyue said.

Ying Yue's words plunged him into an icy abyss! 'I knew it, I knew it, how could she possibly let me go?'

They're enemies! On our side, the leader escaped, but almost everyone else is dead.

Why can't I die?

The worst part is that I even insulted them! Serves me right!

I should have pretended to be mute. Why did I have to play the hero? I'm doomed now.

It's over, it's all over!

A moment of leisure leaves one utterly despondent.

When all hope has been extinguished like a candle flickering in the wind, he is powerless to make any more futile struggles.

So he slowly closed his eyes, quietly awaiting the final moment—the arrival of death.

However, as time passed, the expected cool sensation on the neck never materialized.

Not only that, but even the intense pain that the body should be enduring is nowhere to be found.

This is how it happened?

Could it be that my injuries have become so severe that I have lost the ability to feel pain?

This is impossible!

If the injury were truly that severe, the pain should have come like a tidal wave.

But at this moment, apart from a deathly silence and the deep-seated fear and doubt within, nothing could be felt...

For a moment, Qingxian was completely disoriented, as if an eternity had passed. He opened his eyes, but what he saw before him completely broke him down.

There wasn't a soul in sight.

It turned out that the other person had left sometime earlier and had let him go.

Life is saved.

At this moment, Qingxian burst into tears...

"Zheng-ge'er is truly a great saint." On the way back to the city, Ying Yue couldn't help but tease him.

"Hehe... Let's be lenient when we can! It's not about being kind-hearted; we did trespass on their territory first. Consider this compensation, hehe..." Kuang Zheng said.

"Did Huang He know you before? Why does he act like he's seen a ghost whenever he sees you? That's strange!" Ying Yue didn't dwell on Qing Xian's question; he was just a nobody.

She didn't take him seriously at all, and didn't have the confidence to become Long Yan's de facto second-in-command.

“We shouldn’t have had any contact. As for why he ran away, I’m still a bit puzzled!” Kuang Zheng said.

"I guess he was scared by you before," Ying Yue guessed.

“That can’t be ruled out. We’ve never had any contact with Penglou before, so it’s impossible that we’ve met him. But judging from his tone, it seems like he knows me, so we can’t rule out the possibility you mentioned,” Kuang Zheng said.

Along the way, I've experienced a lot of fighting and killing.

It's normal for some people to have special memories because of certain things; I've encountered this before.

He never even considered the Wuyinpo Slope in Handan back then, which Huang He considered an unforgettable memory.

But Wuyin Slope was really insignificant to Kuang Zheng. There had been many times in recent years that were more powerful than Wuyin Slope, so he wouldn't remember so many.

Fortunately, neither of them were the type to dwell on things. Since they couldn't figure it out, they decided to leave it for now, since the matter wasn't over yet.

There was still a lot of work to be done in Xiubei Town. After instructing Yingyue to take care of Wu Ren, Kuang Zheng returned to the county government office alone.

At this time, Zhang Zhen was completely unaware of what was happening at the city gate. Firstly, things had happened too quickly, and so far, apart from Kuang Zheng and Ying Yue, no one knew the specifics of the situation at the city gate.

Huang He has already fled, and Qing Xian has probably left by now. Besides them, only Kuang Zheng and the other two know everything. Therefore, naturally, no one can inform him.

The second reason is that he needs to coordinate: who should be in which position, and what should be done by whom. Who is responsible for creating chaos, who takes advantage of the situation, and so on—these are all decisions that he needs to make.

Although he heard several loud noises at the city gate, he assumed it was Penglou's men establishing their authority. Therefore, he paid no attention and didn't even consider sending someone to investigate.

It's no wonder he's so confident, because Penglou is such a towering figure in his mind.

All these years, he has been able to do whatever he wants in Xiubei County because of Penglou.

In his view, there was nothing Penglou couldn't do. It was this blind confidence that made him completely disbelieve that there was anyone in the world who could defeat Penglou.

Although Kuang Zheng was somewhat intimidating, no matter how powerful he was, he was nothing compared to Peng Lou.

Now that Penglou has taken direct action, how long can Kuangzheng keep jumping around?

So despite the repeated loud noises coming from the city gate, and the fact that Penglou's troops have not yet entered the city.

But Zhang Zhen never had any doubts. All he could think about was how to torture Kuang Zheng to vent his anger.

As for that fickle woman, hmph.....

It's true what they say, even the King of Hell can't stop a damned ghost. At this moment, Zhang Zhen was completely absorbed in his fantasies and didn't notice anything amiss.

Not only him, but Li Gui and others thought the same way.

Little did they know that Penglou, whom they had always regarded as a deity, would never come again.

"Give the order: once Kuang Zheng is captured, no one is allowed to lay a hand on him. I'm going to kill him myself! Hmph..." Zhang Zhen said bloodthirstyly.

"Yes, I will certainly take care of it!" Li Gui replied.

"Let's take action!" Zhang Zhen said.

"Yes!"

In an instant, crowds began to gather at various intersections in the city, heading towards the county government office as if they had received a command.

From the sky, the crowd looked like ants.

There were only three or five small dots scattered here and there.

Then, as if summoned, the little dots began to gather, slowly forming a thin thread on the path.

Countless lines moved continuously along the direction of the road, converging into even larger lines on the road.

Then, several lines centered on the main road of the county town continued to converge toward the location of the county government. When they reached the square of the county town, all the lines came together and finally formed a coil.

The gathering of the crowd was now complete, and they formed a massive torrent.

Once the floodwaters formed, the pre-arranged people began shouting and clamoring, which ignited the anger of the masses.

When anger reaches a certain point, those responsible for creating chaos begin to vandalize, loot, and burn.

Some people in the crowd, blinded by anger, began to join in the destruction, and thus, even greater chaos ensued.

As that gate of evil slowly opened, it was as if an invisible dark force surged forth, instantly engulfing the entire world.

The once clear boundary between humans and wild animals has become increasingly blurred at this moment.

The wildness that has long been hidden deep within people's hearts is completely unleashed, and the constraints of morality and conscience are as fragile as thin paper.

More and more people are joining this wanton and destructive frenzy.

They no longer cared about the lives and property of others, and indulged their long-suppressed desires.

The city streets were engulfed in flames, with raging fire licking the sky.

The crowd surged about like a raging tide, their shouts and cries mingling together to create a symphony of despair.

However, in this chaotic moment, those with special missions quietly took action.

They may be messengers of justice, consciously shouldering the mission of saving the world.

Yi Quan and his group felt that the chaos was beyond Kuang Zheng's control, so he decided to take matters into his own hands and resolve the Zhangzhen situation themselves.

Many more people resort to any means to achieve their personal ambitions, revealing their most evil side.

Regardless, they all took firm steps without hesitation, merging into this chaotic vortex.

With the involvement of these people, the situation not only failed to be brought under control, but instead became increasingly out of control.

Chaos, like an untamed beast, broke free of all its shackles and rampaged wildly in every corner.

The flames burned ever brighter, and thick smoke billowed up, obscuring the sky; the crowd became increasingly chaotic, with people pushing and trampling each other, and the number of casualties continued to rise.

The once bustling and vibrant city has been transformed into a living hell in the blink of an eye, a scene of devastation and unbearable suffering.

Heart-wrenching cries and chilling howls rose and fell, intertwining one after another.

Accompanying this terrifying sound were the sounds of frenzied smashing, looting, and burning.

In the chaos, people seemed to lose their reason, revealing the darkest and most evil side of their hearts without reservation.

Their once kind and gentle faces are now twisted and ferocious; they are like savage beasts, wantonly destroying and plundering.

Everywhere you looked, there was devastation and misery.

Houses collapsed, flames soared into the sky, thick smoke billowed, and choking smoke filled the streets and alleys.

Innocent civilians fled in all directions, trying to find a safe place, but there was nowhere to hide.

Some people fell in pools of blood, while others clung to each other, trembling, their eyes filled with fear and despair.

At this moment, the whole world is immersed in endless grief.

Every cry is an indictment of the injustice of fate, and every sound of smashing and looting is a trampling of civilized society.

The once bustling streets are now in ruins, and beautiful homes have vanished in an instant.

At this moment, the human world has been transformed into purgatory.

Morality and ethics have vanished, and law and order have also disappeared.

There is no longer trust and compassion between people, only naked violence and greed.

The world seemed to have fallen into an abyss, leaving no glimmer of hope in sight.

Kuang Zheng looked at everything before him, feeling a deep sadness in his heart.

He came to Xiubei because he wanted to see ordinary people who were far removed from power, and to find the original truth, goodness, and beauty in them.

This is a way to cleanse oneself and purify one's mind from the defilement of trivial matters.

Thus, they can improve themselves by using the Buddhist concept of "cultivating the mind" to escape their predicament.

During this period of repair and preparation, all I saw and heard was the utter corruption of people's hearts:

For personal gain, one can abandon everything, even the most basic human decency.

They are not ashamed of this; on the contrary, they feel that being able to gain more benefits than others makes them strong.

What's most worrying is that not only does he see it this way, but everyone around him thinks he's right...

In this materialistic and money-obsessed world, some people have completely lost their moral and ethical bottom line. They have only one thought in their minds—to get money, they will stop at nothing! As long as they can acquire wealth, they will stop at nothing, no matter how despicable, insidious, or cruel the method is.

These people are like greedy wolves, their eyes gleaming with a fanatical desire for money. They disregard laws and rules, wantonly trampling on the rights of others; they sell their souls, betraying friends and family; they even risk their lives to engage in illegal and criminal activities, just to satisfy their insatiable greed.

For them, nothing is off-limits as long as it brings in money. Deception, theft, robbery, and fraud are commonplace. They walk the line between darkness and darkness, employing every trick in the book to amass wealth. Even if they harm innocent people in the process, they feel no remorse or regret whatsoever.

Zhang Zhen is a typical example, and people like Li Gui around him are staunch supporters of this kind of belief.

What's even more tragic is that, although many people hate Zhang Zhen to the core, they secretly wish they could be like Zhang Zhen, or at least like Li Gui.

However, does this excessive pursuit of money truly bring them happiness? Perhaps not. Zhang Zhen is the most powerful man in Xiubei County, yet Kuang Zheng knows that he doesn't dare tell anyone his exact location even when he's asleep.

Li Gui never dared to live in his own home, and Li Gen only dared to sleep during the day.

There are many more people like this, who have amassed enormous wealth that no one could have imagined.

Ultimately, however, this wealth plunged them into endless pain and loneliness.

Because when they lose the kindness and integrity inherent in their humanity, they also lose something truly precious.

They have lost the most basic meaning of being human...

Looking at the angry crowd, the vast majority of them are incredibly simple and kind ordinary people.

They worked diligently and cautiously throughout their lives.

Although they may complain about the arbitrary actions of those in power, they remain hardworking and simple after complaining.

But once they are coerced, all their goodness and kindness will be lost in an instant!

To become the most evil creature in the world is to manifest this ugliest face.

They trampled on humanity more thoroughly and displayed their evil more comprehensively!

Is the human heart so wicked?

At this moment, Kuang Zheng began to doubt whether he was on the wrong path.

I am not an ordinary person after all, and no matter how hard I try to force myself, I can never truly integrate.

These are two completely different worlds; forcing your way in would be futile.

Because what we see, know, and think are all different.

When people have different values, perhaps the best way to get along is to leave each other alone.

The journey of tempering one's heart in this mortal world has already ended as soon as it began.

Because he has attained enlightenment: the human heart is unpredictable, but one's own conscience can be firmly guarded. If the heart is righteous, the path one walks will not go astray.

Everyone has their own path, and that path requires them to forge their own way step by step...