"Okay then." The murderous intent slowly emerged in Xi Heng's heart.
She pinched out three small pieces of silver from her purse and threw them accurately into the child's bowl. "You go now."
The little beggar knelt down and nodded repeatedly. He seemed not to know how to express his gratitude normally. After kneeling down, he ran away with the change and bread in his hand.
Xi Heng used his light Kung Fu to jump to the eaves of the house, stared at the little beggar running fast in the dim street below, and followed him slowly and silently on the roof.
The child went around several damp alleys, then struggled to crawl through a dog hole, and followed a shortcut to a small, dilapidated yard.
Lanterns were lit in the yard, and there were more than a dozen children of different sizes standing in a row. The oldest was about twelve or thirteen years old, and the youngest looked no more than two or three years old.
There were two ugly middle-aged men and a hunchbacked old man in the front, who were scolding the young children sitting below with bamboo sticks.
"Eat my food and drink my drinks! You can't even earn two copper coins a day! What's the point of me leading a bunch of useless people like you?!"
The man shouted with a bamboo stick in his hand, and then hit a little beggar next to him.
The child cried out in pain and trembled and sobbed all over.
"You still feel pain!" the adult shouted:
"You guys should have been freezing to death lying on the street. I brought you here to feed you! You beg for so much every day that you can't even afford food! I might as well break each of your legs!"
"No, no... Daddy, we can ask for it, we can." A boy was frightened and cried again, saying with snot.
"I won't have five coppers tomorrow! I'll beat you up first." The man said viciously, and scanned again: "Where's Yun Gouzi? Hasn't he come back yet?"
The children below looked at each other with confusion in their eyes.
"Did he run away? How dare he run away?!" The thin man slammed the bamboo board in his hand again and said, "Don't beg for money tomorrow. Go find him for me. I will break both legs of that dog! Whoever finds him will get candy!"
When they heard that there would be candies, the children below instinctively showed greedy eyes.
But before they could finish their little thoughts, the child called Yun Gouzi ran back to the yard with the small pieces of silver tightly clenched in both hands.
The man holding the bamboo board saw this and just yelled, "Why do you have to come back so late?"
"Money! Money!" The child came to the man breathlessly and opened his arms.
Seeing the glitter of broken silver, the other party's attitude immediately became much better, and he laughed: "Good! Good! Yun Gouzi asked for silver today, so you can have a piece of candy today."
"Thank you, Daddy." The child knelt down.
"Silver?" The hunchbacked old man and another man at the back also showed greedy eyes and came closer to check.
Xi Heng held her forehead with her hands on the roof. The change she gave was enough to exchange for ten kilograms of sugar, but the other party only gave her one piece.
She then revealed herself, sat on the roof and said:
"This isn't the way to exploit people, is it? Using homeless children as slaves is damnable."
"Who?!" The man holding the bamboo board was startled and turned back.
"You don't deserve to know."
Xi Heng drew his sword and leaped downwards, turning the sword in his hand and stabbing it straight into the opponent's neck.
Mortals naturally have no time to dodge, and as soon as the sword blade enters the flesh, a large amount of blood spurts out.
The man covered his throat and opened his eyes wide, then staggered forward and fell. His forehead hit the blue brick and he bounced around.
“Wu…Warrior!” The hunchbacked old man was the first to react. He placed his hands on his chest and begged for mercy: “Please spare my life, sir.”
"Mercy?" Xi Heng didn't understand the word. He raised the sword in his hand and another half head flew into the air.
"Sir, don't kill me, don't kill me!" The other man who had been silent all this time said in a trembling voice, "I was forced to do it! I didn't want to eat with them."
"Eat?" Xi Heng took half a second to understand what this meant. He felt nauseous instantly and chopped off the other person's head with a sweep of his sword.
Seeing these three people died with their eyes open, she felt a little relieved.
The girl wiped the blood off the sword, sheathed it, and turned her gaze to the many children who had collapsed in a corner nearby.
The children of different ages trembled under her gaze.
"If you are all really homeless, then stay together for warmth. Even if you continue to beg, it is better than being controlled by those guys." She turned and left.
After taking a few steps towards the gate of this small, dilapidated courtyard, a figure suddenly blocked the gate.
He wore a conical hat and a tattered gray-black robe with several sword scratches and faded bloodstains on the edges of the clothes. A simple scabbard was clearly tucked around his waist, and his exposed cheeks were covered with wrinkles.
Xi Heng put her right hand on the scabbard and prepared to draw the sword, thinking that the other party was an accomplice of the villain who enslaved children and was coming to cause trouble for her.
The next moment I realized that this figure looked familiar.
Many memories flashed through her mind, and after a moment she recognized where the familiarity came from.
The other party seemed to be the hero Guo Zhengwo whom she came here to find.
The eyes of the visitor under the bamboo hat quietly looked at the several bleeding corpses in the small broken yard, then swept over the dazed children, and finally fell on Xi Heng.
"If those people die, the situation of these children will not be better." The old man said:
"Although you may feel relieved after killing them with one sword, they will still develop into their previous state afterwards. They will either be controlled by others again, or I will be superior to you according to age and size, because this is all they know."
It's none of my business, I'm just here to kill people.
Although Xi Heng thought so in her heart, she still had something to ask of the great hero Guo Zhengwo, so she put on an appearance of respect for the elders in the martial arts world and said with a fist:
"Senior Guo, I didn't expect you to be in this city too."
Guo Zheng ignored me and continued, "I learned about this place yesterday. At first, I wanted to get rid of them, but after a day of observation, I felt that although they were evil people, they did take good care of these children. Even if it was for the purpose of enslaving them for profit, these people did feed the children who should have died and helped them survive the harsh winter. I wanted to persuade them to give up evil and do good, but today, you have killed them."
"Hero Guo is kind-hearted." Xi Heng responded simply.
She herself couldn't quite understand it. If you want to kill, just kill. Why think so much?
"Let me ask you something." The old man said with his hands behind his back, looking very mature:
"You killed the evildoers, which was a chivalrous and kind act, but if you killed them, the children might die faster and suffer more. What should you do?"
"I don't know. I've never thought about this question." Xi Heng said casually.
Guo Zhengwo shook his head and said, "It's not that good people will live better if we kill evil with swords. Most of the time, chivalrous acts like those of you and me will make the situation worse. We can't save the people of this world just by force."
Xi Heng didn't agree with this: "As long as those who should be killed are killed, good people will naturally live a better life."
"But after a while, good people will slowly turn evil." The old man denied, "People are born with evil thoughts in their hearts. As long as they have power and strength, then evil thoughts will grow and spread."
"Then kill more." Xi Heng only said, "Until no one dares to do evil anymore."
"Who in the world has this ability? Even if you make those corrupt officials, village tyrants, gangsters, and mountain bandits kneel down for you to hack and kill, you can never kill them all even if you swing your sword for a lifetime."
He said: "Even if there is... just like when Emperor Taizong of Zhao took up the sword and started the army, he killed the treacherous and violent thugs of the previous Wu Dynasty, but now, isn't Zhao still the same? The treacherous ministers framed the loyal and good, the incompetent monarch misled the country, causing the people's livelihood to deteriorate, the southeast revolted and the northwest became barbarians, and the country was about to perish..."
"Individual bravery can solve the current difficulties, but it cannot solve the difficulties of the world."
"To solve the problems facing the world, we still need to learn literature and preach the truth, and inherit the knowledge of the saints of the past, so that we can bring peace to the world for all eternity."
"It is better to educate people than to kill them." Guo Zhengwo sighed.
"What Mr. Guo said is not true." Xi Heng objected: "There are too many people in this world who deserve to be killed. If we don't let them pay with blood, we won't be able to vent the people's resentment... You may be a kind person, but if you want to save the country and the people, you can't be too kind."
She was once an emperor, although she only sat on the throne for half a month, but she still had some knowledge.
"Can't be too kind?" There was doubt in the other person's eyes.
"Killing is to protect life, and killing karma is not killing people." Xi Heng said bluntly:
"As for how to make Great Zhao peaceful and stable? We must establish perfect and strict laws and prosecutorial institutions... This is difficult to achieve at this time, and we must first develop technology, at least so that the grievances and sufferings of households can be directly reported to the capital without being blocked, so that the people can supervise the officials, and achieve co-governance and common good between the officials and the people. The prerequisite for this is that we must first settle all the chaos in Great Zhao, use the great power of the army to clear the world and create a stable world, and then slowly work towards peace in the world."
Xi Heng had thought about these things when he was emperor, but he did not have enough power and team to push them forward.
Afterwards, in order to call on people all over the world to help her find the immortal, she should sit on the throne again, and during this time she can try to make Da Zhao a peaceful and prosperous country.
After all, searching for the immortals alone is not as good as mobilizing the national strength of the entire Da Zhao.
"To kill karma is not to kill people?" The old man stared at Xi Heng for a long time, and suddenly seemed to realize something, and asked, "Who are you?"
"I am Princess Zhao Xiheng."
…………
Chapter 63: Blue Sea and Turbulence
"I am the legitimate daughter of the Zhao royal family, Zhao Xiheng." Xiheng said calmly:
"According to the order of succession, the throne should be occupied by me now, but I have been wandering outside for too long and I don't want to fight for it anymore."
"Your Highness?" Guo Zhengwo was stunned for a moment, then a gleam of light flashed in his eyes. He immediately clasped his fists and bowed, saying, "No wonder your face seemed familiar to me. It turns out you are a descendant of the royal family. I was disrespectful just now."
After hearing this identity, the doubts in his heart gradually dissipated.
It was strange and surprising that a commoner warrior could utter such words just now.
But if the other party is a royal child, it would not be surprising if he or she has such lofty ambitions.
Guo Zhengwo even had a premonition that what the other party said might really come true in the future.
Therefore, the attitude has added a bit of respect and politeness.
"No need to be so polite, hero."
It turns out that my title as a princess can really scare people...
After thinking about it, Xi Heng turned to the main topic:
"Why did you come to Jinshi City during these turbulent times, hero?"
Guo Zhengwo hesitated for a moment, then said to the princess, "The internal energy I learned has the ability to predict the future. I have been observing the celestial phenomena these days and I feel that it is time to pass on my energy and find a disciple. Fate lies in metal and stone... I am born under the metal element, and lack water in the five elements. I should find a disciple born under the water element, so I came to this city to find the destined person to become my disciple."
"Have you found it?" she asked casually.
The other party slightly lowered his clasped hands and looked at the children in the courtyard: "There is a child in this courtyard who is a little spiritual, but I still need to observe whether he is sincere and sincere before I can teach him."
Seeing that the conversation had reached the point, Xi Heng asked:
"What kind of martial arts are you going to teach? Can I learn it?"
Guo Zheng was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, please don't joke. As a member of the royal family, how can you learn such rough Kung Fu as mine?"
"I heard that Senior Guo has a unique internal skill?" Although Xi Heng's goal is the other party's Hua Jin martial arts, he is still very interested in this unique internal skill.
"Your Highness is right, but this internal skill can only be learned by those with a sincere heart." The other party shook his head.
"Am I insincere?"
The other party did not answer directly, but just stared at him quietly with half-closed eyes.
"Well, maybe the sincerity isn't that obvious." Xi Heng groaned and continued:
"Let's be frank, Mr. Guo. I need your Hua Jin swordsmanship. Can you trade it with the Hua Jin martial arts I brought out from the palace?"
"Oh?" Guo Zhengwo's expression became more serious: "Why does Your Highness want it?"
"I want to deduce the Huajin stage of the Bloodline Sword Technique, so naturally I need other Huajin sword techniques as references." Xi Heng said simply.
Guo Zhengwo nodded slightly. This reason was not beyond his expectations.
But he did not directly answer whether he agreed or not, but asked back:
"Your Highness, do you know the previous generation's Princess Qianqiu?"
"Zhao Qianqiu? Of course I recognize her. She is my aunt." Xi Heng answered casually.
"When I retired, Princess Qianqiu also came to find me and asked for the Bi Bo Jing Tao sword technique for the same reason." The other person's eyes were filled with reminiscence.
"I gave the secret book to her in the beginning, but it is rumored that she has died in the northern border. Perhaps she was never able to deduce the blood sword power. It's such a pity..."
"And Princess Xiheng is her descendant, so I can naturally give her the royal martial arts as well. You don't have to exchange it for the royal martial arts. You just need to answer my question."
"What's the problem?" Xi Heng replied.
She didn't expect that it would be so easy to ask Guo Zhengwo for the method of Hua Jin. She thought that she would have to use several books on Hua Jin martial arts to get it.
Before coming here, she prepared silver and jewelry, copied secret manuals, bought a good sword, and even drew several spell runes on her arms...
So far, none of them have been used, and all they need to do is answer a so-called question.
If I had known, I wouldn't have prepared so much.
Guo Zhengwo blurted out, "The case of the evil spirit in Jianchang City two months ago was committed by you, Your Highness, using the Blood Sea Magic?"
"..." Xi Heng's originally confident look suddenly paused, and he stood there in a daze.
