Chapter 581 - Shaking Hands With Nine Fingers
Chapter 581: Shaking Hands With Nine Fingers
“Wine?”
Xu Xiaoshou was stunned.
If he remembered correctly, the legendary Eighth Sword Deity was the first person to bring up the concept of “Drunken sword, sword confused people”.
Before him, there were indeed swordsmen who drank wine, but they were also famous for being steady swordsmen.
However, after the Eighth Sword Deity appeared out of nowhere, these people were all outclassed.
The Eighth Sword Deity never drank alcohol.
After he put forward this concept, almost no swordsman had anything to do with alcohol.
Whether it was the ancient swordsman or the spiritual sword cultivator..
However, in Xu Xiaoshou’s speculation, shouldn’t the chief of the saint servant in front of him be the Eighth Sword Deity?
How could he also pick up something like the wine gourd?
“I guessed wrong?” Xu Xiaoshou was dumbfounded and couldn’t figure out the situation at all.
“What do you think?”
The masked man who raised his head and drank the wine didn’t seem to care about his image at all. When he finished the last drop of wine in the gourd, he threw the wine gourd back to Cen Qiaofu, wiped his mouth, and put down the mask again.
“I…”
Xu Xiaoshou’s thoughts were pulled back, but he still couldn’t give an answer.
The words of the masked man were indeed very reasonable.
Xu Xiaoshou could not even find a point to refute.
After all, relative and absolute were views that he also agreed with.
But could compromise really only be understood as a “choice”?
“You have a hard time making a decision?” The masked man asked with a smile.
“Yes.”
Xu Xiaoshou nodded.
He could see that the person in front of him was kind to him.
Perhaps there was a prerequisite that he saw Xu Xiaoshou’s potential.
But at the same time, from the outcome, he was still a person who respected others very much.
He was even the chief of the Saint Servant.
It could be said that the respect that the masked man gave Xu Xiaoshou, a junior, had reached an unimaginable level.
Until now, he was still asking for Xu Xiaoshou’s opinion, not forcing him.
Xu Xiaoshou did not say a word.
The masked man spoke again.
“I won’t force you, but this time, I won’t let you go easily.”
“You have to know that this is reality.”
“If you really want to continue moving forward, with the speed of your growth, you will still encounter such things in the future. There are countless things.”
“I can let you go once, twice, or thrice, but others can also force you to make a choice the first time we meet.”
“This is the path that you must take.”
“I have already given you enough kindness and respect, but fate has brought you here…”
“For me personally, the time has come.”
The masked man looked up at the sky behind Xu Xiaoshou. That was the location of the extradimensional space.
“Instead of forcing you to join another power that you don’t like, why don’t you choose to walk with me… Ptui, side by side?”
“At least I can still promise you…”
“What?” Xu Xiaoshou looked up.
The masked man was very serious. “I promise you that if the direction you see in the future doesn’t match the choice you’re making now, you can choose to leave at any time.”
“Not just leave me, but also not just leave the Saint Servant.”
“You can put everything down at any time.”
“Even if you have your own direction and feel that you can do better than me, I can still join you, help you, and help you achieve your goal.”
“My goal…” Xu Xiaoshou looked a little lost.
“You don’t know your goal yet, but I do.”
As the masked man spoke, he seemed to be amused by his own words, and his tone was a little humorous. “In you, I can see the shadow of most people.”
“They may still not understand what they want the most when they are the same age as you.”
“But at a certain point, the direction will be the same!”
“Why?” Xu Xiaoshou didn’t understand.
He himself didn’t understand what he wanted.
Before this, he only had a general idea.
But now, a guy whom he had only met a few times said that he knew what he wanted. Could he be trusted?
The masked man didn’t answer directly.
He first read the story, then turned his eyes to Cen Qiaofu and asked, “Do you know that there are people in this world who are more outstanding than you?”
Xu Xiaoshou: “…”
“I believe you know.”
The masked man nodded and said, “But you may not know that in the entire world, there are countless people who are similar to you and even surpass your peers.”
“Perhaps most of these people will die halfway because of arrogance, complacency, and being too ambitious…”
“But you also need to understand that not every member of the aristocratic family and outstanding youth have such a problem.”
“The world is relative.”
“There are people who are mentally unhealthy, but there are also people who are as confident, calm, and persistent as you.”
Xu Xiaoshou’s expression turned awkward.
This sudden compliment was somewhat shocking.
However, the masked man seemed to be stating an objective fact and was unmoved. He continued, “There are also countless people like this.”
“Then, there are so many people on the continent who have the potential to become peak experts. How much do you know about the experts at that time?”
“Or to put it another way…”
“How many people are you familiar with who can stand at the highest position in this world?”
Xu Xiaoshou was stumped by the question.
According to what the masked man said, combined with his current experience,.
If a small white cave could gather so many outstanding youths, even the swordsman holding the sword, Gu Qingyi, Lei Shuangxing, and the Ghost Beast all had so many people.
Then in those places that he couldn’t see, those places that were even more dangerous than the White Cave, how many experiencers did they have?
And how many outstanding ancient swordsman were there?
Could these people grow to the level of Seventh Sword Deity?
Xu Xiaoshou wasn’t sure.
But looking at the temperament, strength, and aptitude of these people..
If he really wanted to give an answer…
Xu Xiaoshou’s preference was ‘yes’.
If he wanted to add a prerequisite, it was only a matter of time.
But..
Since ancient times, there seemed to be only seven sword deities.
There were only a small number of them. There had never been a situation where there was an additional one.
Even if it was the Eighth Sword Deity, he could only be counted as half. He still could not break this iron law.
Why?
Xu Xiaoshou opened his mouth slightly. The intense thirst for knowledge in his eyes was obvious.
“Why?”
The masked man could roughly understand Xu Xiaoshou’s inner thoughts. He helped him ask this question, but he did not answer.
Then, his gaze fell on the two people beside him again.
“Let’s return to the question just now. You seem to feel strange, suspicious, and even strongly opposed from the bottom of your heart about how I can know your future goals?”
“…”
Xu Xiaoshou thought to himself, you’re right.
I just don’t dare to say it.
“But I can know your future!”
The masked man said, “Why?”
Xu Xiaoshou already felt that something was wrong.
His gaze also fell on the Storyteller and Cen Qiaofu, trying to find the answer from the masked man’s gaze.
But to no avail.
The two people on the other side still looked bored. The only thing they were interested in was not this young man at all.
Instead, it was more like they were amazed that the masked man could talk so much.
“Why?”
Xu Xiaoshou finally asked a question. He could not hold it in any longer.
The masked man’s eyes were smiling. He did not try to be tactful again. Instead, he answered directly, “Because of freedom!”
“?”
“I can see from your eyes and thinking that you insist on freedom. This is the reason why I did not force you.”
The masked man paused for a moment and said, “In this world, people like you all yearn for freedom without exception.”
“But…”
He suddenly raised his head and looked at the sky.
The rain continued to fall from the nine heavens.
The silence between the two of them was particularly ear-piercing.
The masked man pointed at the sky and asked, “Do you think that outside the White Cave is the Shengshen Continent?”
“Do you think that outside the Shengshen Continent, you can really transcend?”
“Wrong!”
“Do you see the rain?”
Xu Xiaoshou nodded.
“That’s not rain, that’s a person!” The masked man said firmly.
Xu Xiaoshou’s mind went blank.
A memory that didn’t seem to belong to him suddenly appeared in his mind.
It was a thought he had about the Information Bar after escaping from the siege of the Storyteller and the Night Guardian.
Xu Xiaoshou did not have time to think about it and directly looked inside.
“Watched, passive points + 1.”
“Watched?”
He finally paid attention to this problem again.
Watched?
Who was watching?
Rain?
Man?
“That’s a person?” Xu Xiaoshou’s eyes were wide open as he looked at the curtain of rain in disbelief.
“Strictly speaking, it doesn’t count. It’s just an ability.”
The masked man smiled. “But you only need to know that whether it’s in the White Cave or the Shengshen Continent, there’s always a pair of eyes staring at you.”
“Whether you’re eating, sleeping, or making a baby…”
“He’s always staring at you.”
“Not for a moment!”
Xu Xiaoshou’s hair stood on end, and he felt cold sweat on his back. “Who is he?”
“Who is he?”
The masked man threw the question to the two people behind him.
The storyteller was stunned. “How would he know? He was tricked by you to come here.”
Xu Xiaoshou: “…”
Cen Qiaofu shrugged and spread his hands. “Who is he? How would I know? If it wasn’t for you, I would still be in the mountains and forests of the Southern Region. Wouldn’t it be wonderful?”
The masked man rolled his eyes.
He turned around.
“Look, one is at the peak of the Cutting Path, and the other is at the Higher Void. Even now, he still hasn’t given an answer to this question. One can only imagine how powerful ‘he’ is!”
Xu Xiaoshou: “…”
At this moment, he really wanted to give the masked man a direct response for his shamelessness.
However, deep in his heart, he was truly shocked by the sudden appearance of the “Higher Void”.
Turning his head to look at the elders with some difficulty, Xu Xiaoshou was in disbelief.
This old fellow doesn’t have any image at all. Higher Void?
Shouldn’t this be a person who stands at the peak of the world, a sage-like person who rides the crane and flies the clouds?
Why is he standing behind the masked man, cleaning up the wine gourd for this fellow?
“I…”
All sorts of words were on the tip of Xu Xiaoshou’s tongue, but he didn’t know how to say it.
“I can tell you clearly that when Storyteller was in the central region, he was really just a Storyteller.”
The masked man pointed at the man in the red dress and said, “He was the same as you when he was young. He also yearned for freedom.”
“But when he broke through to the Cutting Path, he was suddenly willing to be mediocre. He directly opened a Storyteller’s library and became the so-called ‘boss’ among ordinary people.”
“Why?”
Then, he pointed at Cen Qiaofu and the masked man said, “This person has lived for a few hundred years. Just like what he said before, he has been chopping wood in the Deep Mountains and forests to make a living.”
“When he was about to die, he suddenly had the idea of peering into the greater world and then achieving Cutting Path.”
“But after a year, he returned to the Southern Region’s old forest and picked up his old profession again.”
“Why?”
Xu Xiaoshou was stunned.
What kind of gods were these?
“Because of ‘him’.”
The masked man looked up at the curtain of rain in the sky and said, “Because of this pair of eyes!”
Xu Xiaoshou was still a little confused. He wanted to say something, but the masked man pressed his hand down, indicating that he had not finished speaking. He said,
“Like them, there are many geniuses who are unable to shock the world.”
“But each of them had fallen in a certain place and were completely unable to raise their heads.”
“There is a god within three feet of you. When you grow to a certain level, perhaps you will understand this saying.”
Xu Xiaoshou felt a chill in his heart.
This wasn’t a god, this was a devil!
The masked man clicked his tongue and felt that his mouth and tongue were a little dry. He moved his hand and wanted to stretch back.
Cen Qiaofu immediately said, “That’s all.”
“UH…”
This time, the masked man also realized that he had said too much.
He nodded and finally opened his mouth.
“I’m tired. Let’s go back to the question just now!”
“Them.”
The masked man gestured to the two people beside him.
Then, he pointed his hand into the air. “And them.”
Xu Xiaoshou understood that he was talking about those people who were also willing to be mediocre.
“These people, regarding the question of ‘who is he’…”
The masked man looked up at the Rain Curtain of the Nine Heavens and said, “If they can’t give an explanation, I can give it to you.”
Xu Xiaoshou nodded.
He was ready to accept the final bombardment of his worldview.
“Freedom, as well as the ‘cage’, these are the answers!” The masked man was impassioned.
“?”
Black lines appeared on Xu Xiaoshou’s forehead as he tried his best to decipher, “‘they’ are ‘freedom’, and ‘he’ is ‘cage’?”
“That’s right.”
The masked man nodded.
“Just like the powerlessness that you encountered along the way, every person who longs for freedom will definitely strive for it. Therefore, their experiences are similar to yours.”
“Why?”
“Because we were born to play in the chess game of those in power.”
“When we thought that we could break the cage, we jumped into a bigger chess game. We hit a wall everywhere, and it happened again and again. Under such circumstances, the only result is that we are disheartened.”
“Don’t tell me that you can break the cage!”
The masked man saw through Xu Xiaoshou’s thoughts and smiled, “If you really want to say it, please say it to him.”
Xu Xiaoshou followed his finger and saw the black-faced Cen Qiaofu. He immediately swallowed his words.
This was a higher void!
A peerless powerhouse who had reached the top of the world. He couldn’t even give an explanation for a problem, and he was still in the game.
“Can I…” Xu Xiaoshou was deeply suspicious of himself.
“You can’t.”
The masked man said, “I once thought that I could too, but I failed. It’s not as simple as you think.”
Xu Xiaoshou was speechless.
He felt that the masked man and his thoughts were completely compatible with Elder Sang’s to a certain extent.
As expected of someone from the same organization?
A doll-like worldview..
“I want to ask.”
Xu Xiaoshou hesitated for a long time and said, “Elder Sang, who is also the second-in-command of your Saint Servant, is the same?”
The masked man could not help but laugh. He saw the loosening in Wen Ming’s eyes and said, “Otherwise, what do you think he is running all day long? Training?”
“Wrong.”
“He is the same as you, a person with his own ideas. He also thinks that my path is not feasible and can not break the cage, so he is looking for his own path.”
“The paths are different, temporarily separated, but different paths lead to the same destination, can you understand?”
Xu Xiaoshou: “…”
Can you understand?
He looked up at the sky, momentarily speechless.
..
The scene was silent for a while.
“Rustle…”
The masked man suddenly moved his hands up and down, touching everywhere.
After a long time, he frowned.
“Where’s the command token?”
Cen Qiaofu, who was behind him, looked disgusted. “Throw it away during the spatial fragment!”
“UH…”
The masked man blushed and directly stretched out his hand toward the old man. “Command token.”
“That’s mine!” Cen Qiaofu was angry.
“I don’t want your command token.” The masked man sighed and said, “My own command token.”
“What?” The Storyteller was shocked. “Brother, you…”
“Stop.”
The masked man immediately stopped him with a headache. “It’s just a command token.”
“But that’s…”
The Storyteller was dumbfounded and said, “I’ll help you get the Luo girl’s command token!”
“Forget it.”
The masked man waved his hand and took the purple command token from Cen Qiaofu’s ring. He handed it to Wen Ming, “Are you in?”
Xu Xiaoshou’s liver was trembling.
He felt that the scene in front of him was so familiar.
Tiansang Spirit Palace, Goose Lake, old man straw hat, and that sentence..
“Eat the seeds?”
Crap!
Why were all of them such terrifying existences!
God, who’s going to save me?
Xu Xiaoshou broke down and said with a sobbing tone, “Can I refuse?”
“You can.”
The masked man slapped the command token back into his hand and said, “I never force others, but think about it for yourself.”
“Even if you refuse now, you will encounter many similar things in the future.”
“But they might not be as easy to talk to as me.”
Xu Xiaoshou held the command token in his hands, and his hands were trembling.
“I’ll say it again. Whenever you feel that you’ve taken the wrong path, you can leave at any time. Right now, I’m just a ‘tool’, that’s all.”
The last sentence of the masked man seemed to have given Xu Xiaoshou a powerful calming shot.
Xu Xiaoshou looked down.
It was a command token that was entirely purple and suffused with a faint purple light.
On it was carved a graceful naked woman with her head lowered, hugging her knees. She was sobbing so deeply that she looked like she was about to cry.
On her hands and feet, there were heavy shackles that extended all around the command token, as if they had connected the heaven and earth.
It was like..
Wretched saint!
Xu Xiaoshou felt like he understood something, but he also felt like he didn’t understand anything.
His fingers trembled as he flipped the command token over.
The back was clean and neat, and there was only one word carved on it.
“Eight!”
Clang —
Xu Xiaoshou’s hand shook, and the command token fell to the ground.
The faces of the three people in front changed at the same time.
Xu Xiaoshou was so scared that he immediately bent down and picked it up.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to refuse…”
“So you agreed?” The masked man’s eyes lit up.
Xu Xiaoshou froze on the spot.
He saw that the other party seemed to lose his composure because of his excitement.
This alone was completely different from elder sang.
Respect..
Xu Xiaoshou pondered for a moment and asked, “Can I shake your hand? I’m a little… flattered?”
The masked man narrowed his eyes. “Shake my hand?”
“No, no, no. If it’s not convenient, then there’s no need at all.” Xu Xiaoshou hurriedly waved his hand and retreated a few steps in fear.
“It’s ok!”
The masked man suddenly smiled and used his left hand to grab the black glove on his right hand.
“If you just want to shake my hand, I’ll respond to you with the utmost sincerity.”
“But if you just want to take a look…”
He paused.
Within the mask, there seemed to be the outline of a smile.
“It doesn’t matter.”
With a swish, the masked man removed his right glove and extended his hand towards Xu Xiaoshou.
Xu Xiaoshou’s entire body tensed up.
One, two, three, four..
He closed his eyes deeply.
There was no thumb!
“What’s wrong?”
The masked man smiled and said, “You’ve never seen four fingers before?”
“No.”
Xu Xiaoshou felt that his voice was trembling. “I just feel that you’re very similar to a friend that I’ve met before.”
“Oh, which one?”
“A scruffy-looking man…”
Xu Xiaoshou’s brain could not think properly. It took him a long time to react. It was really too impolite to speak like this.
The masked man frowned.
He suddenly raised his hand and sniffed. This time, his eyebrows shrunk even more.
“Sorry, I haven’t washed for a few years. I am indeed a little sloppy. Do you mind?”
“I. . .”
Xu Xiaoshou looked at him reaching out his hand again. He suddenly did not know whether to laugh or cry.
He subconsciously raised his hand, but he pulled it back slightly. However, he did not dare to step back too obviously.
“Pa!”
The masked man took a step forward and grabbed it.
“It’s a little dirty, but you still have to have a sense of ritual. You can just wash up later. Welcome, Wen Ming.”
“I…”
Xu Xiaoshou didn’t know what to say anymore.
He felt that his mouth, under the pressure of the person in front of him, was unable to play any tricks.
But!
It was so warm..
This guy’s hand.
Calluses, coarseness, and densely packed thin strips of scars..
But!
It was so warm..
Holding him, he felt like he was holding the entire world.
Xu Xiaoshou felt a surge of emotions.
He knew that he had been persuaded by the masked man.
Indeed, in this world that was like a chess game, the artillery vehicles and horses were all “wantonly” moving forward according to the designated rules.
However, in the end, the only way to get out of the game was to be eliminated.
If he wanted to break the chess game and become the chess player, it was too slim to rely on one person’s strength… it was not enough!
Xu Xiaoshou did not know whether his “choice” was right or wrong.
However, it was different from Red Coat, Ghost Beast, and Elder Sang.
At least in the masked man, he felt respect and his promise many times..
Could he quit?
Was it a trick?
Or, was it true? !
“If…”
Xu Xiaoshou held the entire world in his hands and could not speak clearly. “If I can’t take it anymore, can I really choose to quit?”
“You can take it.”
The masked man said happily, “Even if I can’t take it anymore, I have my back. Taking ten thousand steps back, quitting is also a choice. It’s not shameful. Many people do it. They just change their way of life.”
So warm..
Xu Xiaoshou had never felt such a degree of warmth from any of his seniors.
Even the previous Night Guardian was only a material gift.
On the spiritual level, he also wanted to force his thoughts on himself.
This was completely different!
“Thank you.” Xu Xiaoshou’s voice was like a mosquito.
“What?” The masked man could not hear clearly for a moment.
“I said…”
Xu Xiaoshou paused and looked up at the Rain Curtain of the Nine Heavens.
That was actually a pair of eyes..
Then he looked inside.
“Watched, passive points + 1.”
He felt relieved.
He clenched his hand and then let go.
“What I mean is…”
“Saint Servant, I, Xu Xiaoshou, choose to join!”