However, the smile on Fang Zhengzhi's face was the smile of ultimate shamelessness.

"Is Qing Yi almost recovered from her injuries?" Fang Zhengzhi did not bother explaining to Wu Yuer and continued speaking after he thought for a moment.

"What? You are not even letting Qing Yi off?"

"…" Fang Zhengzhi gave Wu Yuer a look of despise. What kind of nonsense is going on in her mind, why could she not interpret what he said in a pure and innocent manner?

…

Qing Yi was eventually brought over by Wu Yuer.

After her ident.i.ty was exposed, Qing Yi never behaved like an ordinary villager but still wore the same black s.h.i.+rt and black bamboo hat.

"Master, you are looking for me?" Qing Yi stopped three steps away from Fang Zhengzhi and bowed respectfully.

"How's your injuries?" Fang Zhengzhi took a look at Qing Yi before pointing to the chair beside him, signaling to her that she could talk while sitting down.

However, Qing Yi did not have any intention of sitting down. She nodded slightly and lifted up a corner of her s.h.i.+rt and took a close look.

"My injuries are more or less healed. Thank you for your concern, Master!"

"…" Fang Zhengzhi froze as he took a look at the corner of the s.h.i.+rt that was covered again and he shook his head. "Qing Yi, do you know why I left you in the Northern Mountain Village?"

"Qing Yi did not do her part in protecting the village, please punish me, Master!" Qing Yi fell to her knees and groveled.

"…" Fang Zhengzhi was speechless. However, he did not blame her because he was aware that Qing Yi had grown up in the Shadow Sect.

The relations.h.i.+p between a Master and servant was deeply ingrained in her mind as she was brought up as a Sword Attendant and taught to think like one. It was impossible for her to change her perceptions.

"Get up, I am not talking about this issue. I was asking you… do you know why I left you behind in the Northern Mountain… Cough cough, this sounds the same. Forget it, I will say it directly. One of my intentions for leaving you behind in the Northern Mountain Village was for you to take care of my parents. However, why did I choose you, out of everyone else, to take on this role? Do you understand what I mean?"

"Qing Yi understands, it's because I am loyal!"

"Alright, except for this, there's another reason that has got to do with you." Fang Zhengzhi knew that he could no longer continue asking questions and had to speak more straight to the point.

"Got to do with me? Please advise, Master."

"Very simple. I think your training has reached a bottleneck. It is very commendable for you to be able to focus on practicing your sword skills without being distracted. It is also commendable that your skills are sharp enough. However…" Fang Zhengzhi suddenly blushed as he looked at Qing Yi who was standing humbly in front of him. "Alright, I am actually not an expert in training. I just wanted to give you a suggestion."

"Please advise, Master." Qing Yi knelt down again humbly.

"Cough cough, it is perhaps not an advice, but I feel that your skills are a little too sharp. You only know how to attack but not so much of how to defend. The ancient saying goes, 'be like the water as you may suffer if you are too brutal', do you… understand what I mean?"

"Yes, Master wants Qing Yi to be more gentle like the water?"

"Yes."

"May I ask Master how should I do that?"

"Sigh… You can understand what I mean but you can't do it. In fact, I have placed you in the Northern Mountain Village for you to understand this."

"Qing Yi is stupid, sorry to disappoint you, Master."

"No, in fact I had not even become a Sage at that time, hence I did not actually fully understand this idea too. Forget it, help me do something."

"Please instruct, Master!"

"Try to chat with the villagers and help them with their farmwork." Fang Zhengzhi touched his forehead. He could not even chat casually with Qing Yi at all.

That was because Qing Yi felt that the most important thing was to obey instructions. Therefore, Fang Zhengzhi could only convey his words in the form of an order.

"Yes, I will do so right away!" Qing Yi did not ask any questions and turned to leave right away.

After Qing Yi had disappeared, Wu Yuer peered into the courtyard with an odd expression.

F"Did you just call Qing Yi over to tell her to chat and help the villagers with their farmwork?" Wu Yuer was confused. After all, it was slightly inappropriate for a Sword Attendant to do such things, or rather, it was wasting her capabilities.

"Yes, didn't you hear all of that?" Fang Zhengzhi nodded.

"I don't believe you. You must have had some plots. Be honest, are you fond of Qing Yi? If so, just admit and I can make Qing Yi yours tonight. Hold on, are you going to marry Qing Yi off to someone from the Northern Mountain Village? Then I will not be willing to…"

Wu Yuer mumbled to herself while Fang Zhengzhi closed his eyes gradually and leaned against the back of his chair comfortably, completely ignoring Wu Yuer.

"Hey, shameless brat, reply me!"

"You will understand it soon." Fang Zhengzhi casually replied without opening in his eyes. However, he was looking at another world in his eyes.

The world was exactly the same as the Northern Mountain Village, except that it was in black and white.

…

In the world of black and white, Qing Yi greeted a villager and carefully asked if she could help with the moving of farming equipments.

Of course, the villager rejected with fear.

"Miss Qing Yi, you have such a high status, how can you be doing such dirty and tiring work? Miss Qing Yi, I am begging you, please don't do this to me."

"…" Qing Yi stopped and looked slightly unnatural. However, she did not give up and continued to look for villagers who were busy with their farmwork.

After asking each family and chatting with them, Qing Yi finally returned to the courtyard.

Fang Zhengzhi opened his eyes, the silvery-white radiance disappeared in a flash and he smiled involuntarily.

"Shameless brat, are you really fond of Qing Yi? Are you blind to not notice such a beautiful lady in front of you?" Wu Yuer looked at Qing Yi who was standing at the door, then at Fang Zhengzhi with an extremely confused expression.

"Are you rejected by the villagers?" Fang Zhengzhi ignored Wu Yuer and sat upright as he looked at Qing Yi.

"Please forgive me, Master, I…"

"Try again with another method." Fang Zhengzhi broke off Qing Yi's sentence and pointed in the east direction. "Uncle Lee is cutting wood now. Try to praise his cutting skills before asking him to teach you. Then, help him finish his work with the skills he taught you."

"Yes!" Qing Yi nodded again and headed to the east without any questions or doubts.

Wu Yuer's eyes lit up. She took a look at Qing Yi then at the smiling Fang Zhengzhi and seemed to be deep in thought.

After a moment, Wu Yuer jumped up as though something brilliant had struck her.

"You are teaching Qing Yi? Am I right?!"

"…" Fang Zhengzhi rolled his eyes. However, after seeing Wu Yuer's face of antic.i.p.ation, he replied, "You are extremely brilliant!"

"Hmph, finally stating a fact." Wu Yuer smiled brightly and then looked towards the east direction as her body shook suddenly. "Eh? How did you know that Uncle Lee is cutting wood now? You didn't even leave this place?"

"If I said that I have two pairs of eyes, would you believe me?" Fang Zhengzhi smiled again as he looked at Wu Yuer.

"Believe, no way!" Wu Yuer replied Fang Zhengzhi with a look of disdain and mumbled again, "You must have discussed this with Uncle Lee long ago, right?"

Fang Zhengzhi did not reply Wu Yuer. He gave her a middle finger and leaned back with his eyes closed.

…

A day pa.s.sed by quickly, followed by two days, three days, four days…

Qing Yi kept asking the villagers to teach her the skills needed to do farmwork with the method that Fang Zhengzhi had taught her and managed to gradually merge with the villagers.

"I can't believe that Miss Qing Yi was not only capable but also humble and willing to learn."

"That's right, not only willing to learn but also very smart. I only taught her once and the vegetable she grew were even better than mine!"

"That's right, what a fantastic girl. I always thought she was quiet and unwilling to socialize, now that she had suddenly became outspoken, it seemed like she had become a different person."

The commotion went on throughout the entire Northern Mountain Village.

"Become a different person?" As she listened to the discussion at the corner of the wall, Qing Yi was deep in thought. " 'Be like the water as you may suffer if you are too brutal'… I, I think I understand now!"

"You finally understand it? Brutal is Yang and Gentleness is Yin. Things can always be done with an different method. Similar to sword skills, although being fast is important, sometimes, it may be good to slow down too. When you slow down, you can put in more thoughts when you strike and naturally, make more changes to your moves." A figure appeared behind Qing Yi.

Qing Yi's body shook and she fell to her knees and kowtowed to the figure. "Qing Yi thank Master for the advice!"

"No need to thank me. By helping you, I am helping myself too." Fang Zhengzhi shook his head and helped Qing Yi up.

In fact, he had been thinking a lot for a while, such as what Yun Qingwu had been doing in the past few years and had chatted with Wu Yuer regarding all that.

However, there was one issue that he did not talk about.

Yun Qingwu's power did not only stem from her plots but rather her extraordinary ability to control and lead. A single spark can start a prairie fire. If Yun Qingwu was given ten soldiers, she could make use of them to conquer an entire village, then turn the numbers into 100, then 1000, 10,000 and even 100,000.

"The power of an individual is only limited to the individual. Yun Qingwu, out battle begins now!" Fang Zhengzhi narrowed his eyes as he looked towards the Blood Shadow City in the Cang Ling Mountain, as though there was another world over there.

After a while, a silvery-white radiance flashed across Fang Zhengzhi's eyes and he smiled. "Got it, I shall start from you!"

…

After half a month, the autumn wind blew and the smoke signal was activated.

The Southern Region was in a terrible state. A month ago, the central Sagely Mountain City was invaded,and Yun Qingwu used the name of the Shan Family Settlement to order the Nan Ling Settlement and Iron Hill Settlement to return to the Sagely Mountain City to provide support.

Although the Settlement Chiefs of the Nan Ling Settlement and Iron Hill Settlement felt that something was amiss, how could they not do anything when the Sagely Mountain City sent an emergency order like this?

The outcome was obvious. Before the troops of the Nan Ling Settlement and the Iron Hill Settlement had reached the bottom of the Sagely Mountain City, the tens of thousands of elite Demon soldiers had attacked from the Blood Shadow City and defeated the two cities.

Currently, three out of four of the settlements, Yan Ya, s.h.i.+ Zun, Icy Monkey, and Thunderous Lion Settlement, was defeated. Only the Thunderous Lion Settlement was left defending themselves.

"My Lord, the Southern Region had been invaded, for the future of the Southern Region and the bloodline of the Shan Family… please leave!" The other Three Settlement Chiefs that had lost knelt on the walls of the Thunderous Lion Settlement, each of them was covered in blood and one of them had both of his arms severed.

"Escape? Where to?" Shan Yu, who was wearing a long dress made out of animal skin, looked at the Demon troops who were closing up towards the last mile in a state of daze.

It was evident that Shan Yu was extremely exhausted. Although her skin was covered with dust, she did not bother about it.

That was because just as what the three other Settlement Chiefs had said, the Southern Region could no longer defend against the attack of the Demon race.