Given the situation, Zhao Laoqi told us about his past.
We believed that everything he said was true.
But when we heard that his wife and child had also been killed by Seven Deaths for a Life, we were all rather shocked.
"Thirty years ago, you must have only been around thirty yourself, sir?" Song Xiaotian asked.
Zhao Laoqi nodded. "Twenty-seven. I was twenty-five the year my wife and I married."
Song Xiaotian had switched to a more respectful form of address. "Then your son must have only just been born... With all your skills, sir, you must have been quite a formidable character when you were young. Why didn't they pick an easier target...?"
Zhao Laoqi lowered his head, his brows and eyes drooping too. "A Wandering Daoist adopted me when I was little. He became my master, and I studied the Dao under him, entering the world of the mystic arts."
"My master survived an age of turmoil, and his abilities were extraordinary. I learned not only his skills but also his martial arts. By fifteen or sixteen, I dared to capture vicious bandits alive. Ordinary people really didn't dare cross me."
"But my wife and son died because of me. My youthful arrogance got them killed."
I had never imagined that someone like Zhao Laoqi had such a tragic past.
None of us interrupted again. We listened carefully to his account.
"I traveled all over the country with my master from childhood. We did plenty of good deeds and stood up against injustice, so we made enemies of quite a few people and factions. There was one faction whose structure I couldn't quite make sense of. It was very much like a cult, but its scale was even more terrifying."
"The first time I dealt with this