Madman

"We've only met by chance, how could they believe you have the ability to protect them? Not everyone can see your strength, so it's understandable that they worry you can't defeat the powerful figure behind that manager."

"Risk and reward go hand in hand. I have no obligation to save people who aren't willing to take any risks and just want to sit back and wait for a windfall. It's time to go; our time is very precious."

Wan Ziling's eyes widened in disbelief. "They... they're gone already?"

He immediately stepped forward to block Si Ming, angrily saying, "I really misjudged you! I don't expect you to be able to handle all the injustices in the world, but since we've encountered this, you should at least do something about it. I asked the waiter at the restaurant, and he said that the Zhou Clan is a local tyrant. They don't exactly prey on the villagers or treat human life like dirt, but they certainly act recklessly. They've done plenty of malicious mergers and extortions, and have even caused deaths before. But they've also bribed the government officials, so they've made big things small and small things disappear, paying a little money and letting it go."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "You previously inquired whether the Zhou Clan had committed any crimes, and now that you know, you can't just turn a blind eye anymore, can you?"

Si Ming glanced at it and said slowly, "Let's not even talk about whether the waiter's testimony is credible. Even if what he said is the truth, then what?"

"Of course we should storm their doorstep and demand justice for the victims! We can't let this kind of tyrant continue to wreak havoc on the area!"

"Then what?"

"And then what? The Zhou Clan is wiped out, and the local people will naturally applaud and praise them," Wan Ziling glanced at Si Ming with disdain. "If you care about fame, you might as well leave your name behind. People will naturally spread the word, so that everyone knows that the leader of the Heavenly Martial Alliance is a hero who punishes evil and promotes good, and who acts on behalf of Heaven."

"Ha, I don't even care about establishing the Heavenly Martial Alliance, so why would I care about such a trivial honor?"

Si Ming raised a finger and shook it, clicking his tongue a few times, and said, "Fine, with your intelligence, you can't possibly figure out the answer. I'll just tell you. The Zhou Clan is indeed despicable, but they haven't reached the point where they're forcing the local people to live a miserable life. Their existence is part of the local order and plays a role in maintaining it. Once the Zhou Clan is eliminated, the local order will inevitably be disrupted. If some villains have such intentions, it will be the local people who suffer."

More importantly, if the Zhou Clan is destroyed, the Wu family will take its place. If the Wu family is gone, the Zheng family will take its place, and then it could be the Wang family, or it could be the Zhang Lineage. In short, if you destroy one family, another will be born. It will never end unless you stay here and maintain order in place of the Zhou Clan. But can you stay?"

Wan Ziling coldly retorted, "Just because it's useless, does that mean we should do nothing?"

"It's not that we won't do it, but that we won't do such meaningless things. We should focus our energy on things that are more valuable and meaningful."

"For example?"

"Slay the Beast King Anye."

Wan Ziling was speechless. Not to mention that killing the Beast King Anye was her wish, Beast King was a threat to the entire Eastern Martial World, the small Zhou Clan was indeed nothing compared to it. But she was still unwilling to just turn a blind eye to it.

"No matter how unwilling you are, it's no use. That's just how the world is. When the gentry collude with the government, bullying the weak and oppressing the common people, the law is nowhere to be found. When they bully the few with their numbers and take advantage of their power, the law still doesn't exist. But if any poor and lowly commoner dares to rise up in resistance, the law will immediately come out."

So we just have to accept our fate?

"Either accept your fate or change the world," Si Ming smiled and continued, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. What the people need is not a chivalrous hero, but the Heavenly Martial Alliance."

Wan Ziling was startled. She had never looked at the problem from this perspective before. Now, after being enlightened, she felt as if the clouds had parted and the sun was shining through. In particular, the person in front of her was not a person who talked big, but a person who put his ideas into practice.

"Is this why you established the Heavenly Martial Alliance?"

Because they refuse to accept their fate, because they want to change the world, because they want everyone to have the opportunity to learn martial arts, become stronger, and resist oppression, instead of waiting for a hero to save them...

Wan Ziling couldn't help but feel admiration, and her opinion of Si Ming changed drastically.

Si Ming simply smiled faintly, neither confirming nor denying, and said, "Let's go, we don't have much time left."

In the mountains, the old man performing for money and his granddaughter fled in panic, trying to use the trees to shake off their pursuers. However, the pursuers were prepared and brought hunting dogs, who tracked them by scent, and the distance between them kept getting shorter and shorter.

"They're right ahead, they can't escape!"

"You ungrateful wretch, you caused my young master's injury! You think you can just walk away after this? Keep dreaming!"

"We may not be able to handle that great hero, but surely we can handle you two, old and young? Stay here obediently and kowtow to the young master to apologize!"

The eldest son of Merchant School was shot in the groin with a chopstick, turning him into a four-legged man. According to the plot of a light novel, the Merchant School would naturally spare no effort to send experts to hunt down Si Ming. However, the person in charge of the Merchant School was obviously not that stupid. After his martial arts master confirmed what level of skill was required to use Ziji a wall and then accurately hit a target, he immediately gave up the idea of revenge.

Not to mention that the Merchant School has more than one son, even if it were an only son, the life of one person is still insignificant compared to the safety of the entire Lineage. If they didn't even have the ability to swallow their anger, they would have been wiped out long ago.

However, they dared not seek revenge on Si Ming, but they had no intention of letting the grandfather and grandson performers go. Although they knew that the eldest young master had caused trouble first, they obviously wouldn't discuss right and wrong with others. So when they discovered that the hero and his group had left the town in the opposite direction from the grandfather and grandson, they immediately sent their hired martial arts master with dozens School of Names servants to pursue them.

"Stop right there! You've seen someone!"

Seeing that the two were less than ten meters apart, and that he could even see the little girl's panicked expression, the martial artist at the front immediately leaped out to grab her. On the way, however, he felt a chill on his neck, the scene before him suddenly spun, and then he saw his own headless corpse...

"Caught red-handed, with irrefutable evidence, we can now go and confront them."

Si Ming appeared casually behind the grandfather and grandson, blocking the pursuing wicked servants.

Standing to the side Wan Ziling asked blankly, "Why did we come back again?"

Upon hearing this, Si Ming immediately widened his eyes and rebuked him with righteous indignation. "We chivalrous people are duty-bound to help those in need. How can we stand by and watch the suffering people die? Do you have even the slightest sense of shame?"

Chapter 575 Madman

Wan Ziling's expression at this moment could only be described as "I have never seen such a shameless person." Even "turning the tables" and "the thief crying 'stop thief'" cannot describe Si Ming's shamelessness. To the point that she was not in the mood to curse him for being shameless—for a truly shameless person, simple accusations and insults are nothing more than a gentle breeze.

Didn't you say that time was running out?

Time is like milk... the water in cotton can always be squeezed out.

"Didn't you say that eliminating the Zhou Clan was a pointless thing to do?"

"A person does many meaningless things in life anyway, so one more won't make a difference."

"Didn't you say that what needs to be changed is the world, and that what the people need is not chivalrous heroes, but the Heavenly Martial Alliance?"

"If you can't sweep one room, how can you sweep the world? You have to fight tigers and swat flies. The right way to treat a disease is to address both the symptoms and the root cause."

No matter how Wan Ziling questioned him, Si Ming could easily deflect her questions, and even say some profound things, leaving Wan Ziling bewildered. Was this true wisdom disguised as foolishness, or foolishness disguised as wisdom?

But while the two were talking, others obviously weren't going to just sit idly by and watch. After the initial shock, they quickly came to their senses.

"There are only two of them, don't be afraid, let's all go together!"