Growth of the Heart

Night fell.

Yuexi County, Peaceful Inn.

Wang Quan played host and directly ordered a table piled high with fish and meat.

Zhou Ming grabbed a huge chunk of beef rib slathered in sauce and stuffed it into his mouth, finishing it in two or three bites.

The others were the same, wolfing down meat in great mouthfuls.

These past days, whenever they passed through a county town, they never stopped. They had basically settled their meals at post stations along the official road.

It was not as though the post stations lacked good wine and meat, but in their rush to make time, they had mostly eaten quick meals.

Now that the silver escort commission had been completed and they were safely inside a county town, the tightly drawn strings in their hearts finally loosened.

Faced with such fine food, they naturally had to savor it properly.

Zhou Ming took a sip of wine and casually asked, "Where is Escort Leader Wang? The dishes are already here. Why hasn't he returned?"

Li Mu's hand paused slightly as he lifted his wine cup.

The veteran Eighth Rank escort leader said nothing, simply continuing to drink and eat in great mouthfuls.

Escort Master Lu hurriedly rose to his feet. "I need to relieve myself."

"Me too!" the probationary escort master hurried after him.

Zhou Ming watched the two leave, his expression turning ugly as he fixed Li Mu, seated opposite him, with an unblinking stare.

"Li Mu, setting aside my relationship with Escort Leader Wang, we've gotten familiar over these past days, haven't we? You're going to hide his whereabouts from me too?"

Li Mu raised his wine cup. "Escort Leader Wang instructed us not to tell you. Sorry, Brother Zhou. I'll punish myself with three cups!"

Seeing Li Mu act this way, Zhou Ming's expression changed, and he fell into thought.

A moment later, he picked up a jar of wine, filled a bowl to the brim, and drained it in one breath.

It was bland and unpleasant.

He looked at the veteran Eighth Rank escort leader, his expression grave as he spoke.

"Yang Escort Leader, I'm not stupid. The four of you all know where Escort Leader Wang went, and I'm the only one who doesn't. That means this matter must involve me, right?"

Yang Escort Leader set down his wine bowl and nodded slightly.

"Is it related to those bandits I killed just after we entered the borders of Sealed Prefecture?"

"Good talent, and your brain turns fast. On the night we set out, you warned us that the information might leak. That was when I knew you were a clever kid."

After saying that, Yang Escort Leader grabbed a piece of beef and put it into his mouth.

Zhou Ming picked up the wine jar, refilled Yang Escort Leader's bowl, and asked, "Is it related to the markings on their clothes?"

Yang Escort Leader lifted his wine bowl, surprised. "You noticed even that?"

"At first, I didn't pay much attention. I thought they were simply more organized than usual. But since this matter concerns me, it can only be connected to something that happened along the way. The only suspicious thing would be the markings on those bandits' clothes."

"Along the way, we encountered bandits nine times. Only that group had a uniform marking on their clothing. Thinking carefully, our escort agency only has escort banners—none of our clothes bear any markings."

"That can only mean they weren't bandits! But if they weren't bandits, then who were they?"

Though the wine was bland and unpleasant, he began drinking it as well.

Looking at Yang Escort Leader seated to his left, he said in a deep voice, "I beg Yang Escort Leader to explain."

Yang Escort Leader took a drink and raised his sleeve to wipe the corner of his mouth.

"Kid, answer me one question first. I know you aren't bloodthirsty, but along this journey, whenever we encountered bandits, you showed no mercy. You killed with a raised hand. Aside from those who escaped, even those who still had a breath left received another blade from you."

"In your eyes, is this world nothing but black and white?"

Zhou Ming asked in surprise, "Of course the world isn't simply black and white, but they were bandits. Shouldn't they die?"

Yang Escort Leader's expression turned strange, as though he were smiling yet not smiling. "Bandits deserve to die? Do you know how they became bandits? Do you know whether they became bandits for wealth, for murder, or for both?"

Yang Escort Leader's voice grew louder and louder until he finally roared, "Did you personally see them kill anyone? Or had you already investigated everything clearly, so you could bring down the butcher's blade upon them without a care?"

With every question, Zhou Ming shuddered, his entire body turning cold.

Killed people?!

Without asking why?

Along this journey, how many people had he killed? He could no longer remember.

Zhou Ming looked at the gun resting on the table and reached for it. The instant he touched the AK, his fingers trembled slightly.

At that moment, the AK, which had remained in Blood Qi Manifestation for over twenty days, slowly vanished. He dispelled the Blood Qi Manifestation and sat there in a daze.

Having lived two lives, he was already forty-three years old by all accounts, yet the education he had received came from Longhua Earth.

But over these past days, he had killed people—killed without restraint.

Zhou Ming raised both hands before his eyes and murmured softly, "Was I wrong?"

As time passed, Zhou Ming was the only one left sitting quietly in the inn's hall.

The waiter moved over a stool, sat at the inn entrance with his back against the door, and dozed off.

Late at night, a figure entered the inn, sat opposite Zhou Ming, and began eating without a word.

A quarter of an hour later.

Bang!

The figure eating slammed a palm onto the table!

"Kid Zhou, stop muttering already! Wrong, wrong—your chanting is giving me a headache!"

Zhou Ming shuddered all over and slowly lifted his head. That once sunny, handsome face was streaked with tears. His voice trembled as he said, "Uncle Wang, I killed people. So many of them—I can't remember how many!"

Seeing Zhou Ming in this state, Wang Quan cursed inwardly, Damn it, I told Old Ghost Yang to wake this kid up. How did it turn out like this?

After cursing in his heart, Wang Quan picked up a jar of wine, took a huge swallow, and said, "So you killed them. Your Uncle Wang has killed not a thousand over these years, but nine hundred at least."

Zhou Ming looked at him in disbelief. "But those were living lives, one after another!"

"Kid Zhou, everyone chooses their own road. They chose to become bandits. If they dared to seek wealth today, they would dare to kill tomorrow. You killed them, so you killed them. Why make such a fuss over it?"

After saying that, Wang Quan saw that Zhou Ming did not react. He sighed before continuing, "The road of martial arts has never been a smooth-sailing path. Right now, you don't need to worry about resources for martial arts."

"But what about later? Where will the money to buy pills come from? When you encounter heavenly treasures needed to break through a realm and someone competes with you for them, will you yield?"

"At the escort agency, the first lesson I gave you was eating. Today, I'll give you the second lesson: fighting for what you need!"

"On the path of martial arts, if you want to climb higher, you need vast resources. Pills, martial skills, heavenly treasures—they are not rice, enough to satisfy everyone."

"You have to seize and contend! Bloodshed will be unavoidable. Were you wrong? No, you weren't. All Martial Artists are one another's bitter foes. Who didn't step on others to rise? So remember: once you've killed, you've killed."

At this point, Wang Quan took another huge swallow of wine and said coldly, "Kid Zhou, when the day comes that someone casually beats you to death, your unwillingness and resentment will be useless. You chose to step onto the road of martial arts, so you must accept the rule of big fish eating little fish. Do you understand?"

Zhou Ming rubbed his face with his sleeve. Then his eyes brightened, and he grinned widely. "I understand. Those who block my path have only death ahead."

"Good!"

Pfft! Cough! Cough!

A mouthful of blood suddenly sprayed across Zhou Ming's face. Looking at Wang Quan collapsed on the ground, he felt the faint warmth of the blood on his face, yet it made him feel chilled to the bone.

In an instant, an urgent roar rang through the entire inn.

"Yang Escort Leader! Yang Escort Leader! Something happened to Uncle Wang!"