"That's a long, long story..."

Zhou Sheng's voice was low and slightly bitter: "If you are willing, you should be able to gain insight into my memory easily."

Yu Ling looked into his eyes. After many years, this was the first time he looked seriously at his former friend.

He has indeed changed too much.

The haze and wind and frost in his eyes seemed to be more vicissitudes of life than that of a centenarian.

Except for those beautiful and carefree years in the academy, in the days that followed, Zhou Sheng rarely appeared in Yu Ling's memory.

He has been forgotten by everyone.

On the one hand, he deliberately disappeared from everyone's sight; on the other hand, it was indeed due to various reasons that their interactions became less and less.

He had never paid attention to Zhou Sheng's movements, nor had he truly cared about this old friend.

There was a momentary trance in front of Yu Ling's eyes, and the surrounding lights and shadows floated for a while, as if he was not on a deserted slope outside the camp at this moment, but standing beside the academy square where the shadows of trees were dancing and the time was quiet.

"Hehe, I passed! I am also a disciple of the academy!"

The young man with a silly smile jumped down from the ring with a roar, not caring about the strange looks from the people around him.

"I think there is a poem that Brother Yu said that is particularly suitable for the two of us... We are both turtle shell people in the world, so why should we meet before?"

That was...how many years ago?

It seems that only sixteen years have passed.

Why does it feel... further away than the three major galaxies?

Yu Ling couldn't help but fell into a trance again. Countless lights, shadows and pictures quickly flowed past her eyes, and finally they became clear without a trace.

"The west area of ​​Canglan City is the most prosperous and has a lot of fun things. I guarantee you a feast for your eyes!"

"Brother Nian, what you're doing is wrong! Guiyun says he's your savior no matter what, how could you do this?"

"Long live the dean, I must beat the people of the three major sects to the ground this time!"

"Aling, take a good rest. If you need any help, just tell me."

"Aling, are you also going to participate in the Nine Realms Competition? We must come together then! I'll be waiting for you in the academy!"

Yu Ling closed her eyes, and the young man's expectant face disappeared instantly, shattering as easily as a dream bubble, and the surroundings fell into darkness and silence.

When he opened his eyes again, what he saw was a completely different scene.

This time should be the time of Xue Mu's journey.

The original bright colors were replaced by gloomy darkness, which looked extremely depressing.

Cold, extremely cold.

In the underground cave, the young man crawled hard, his trembling hands kept digging into the cold, wet and disgusting soil, and he stuffed the squirming soft worm into his mouth without caring, chewed it hard, then retched in pain, and spit it out again.

.

"Water, water...ahem..."

He heard the half-conscious murmur of the girl behind him, so he slowly crawled back.

"laugh--"

Looking at the shallow puddle of water at the bottom of the bowl in front of him, he gritted his teeth, cut his wrist, and watched the blood fall into the stone bowl, turning a turbid color.

The boy slowly poured the bowl of bloody water into the girl's mouth, and then sat down on the ground helplessly.

"Is there anyone...can anyone hear it outside..."

The young man shouted hoarsely, over and over, and over and over again, but all he got in return was an echo of despair.

"Why... why I practice the Turtle Shell Technique... why am I so useless..."

The tears had long since dried up. He hit the stone wall in front of him so hard that blood flowed from his fists, but he seemed to feel no pain.

"Elder...brother Nian...Aling, where are you...who can come and save us..."

The stone wall remained motionless, and he could only kneel down on the ground weakly, curling up into a ball in pain.

Hunger and thirst struck again, and he couldn't even catch a bug.

The young man's eyes were bloodshot. He used his remaining spiritual power to shake off some stone chips, gnawed greedily, and pinched his throat to prevent himself from vomiting again.

One month, another month...

With no one to rescue him, he was abandoned in the abyss of despair.

He wanted to kill himself countless times and end this long suffering and torture, but he was still greedy for the time he spent with the girl.

Finally, he survived, and they all survived.

He returned to the academy, but he was no longer the Zhou Sheng he was before.

"Eh? Isn't that Zhou Sheng? How did he get himself into that state?"

"Hey, I heard that he was trapped in an underground cave not long after he went to the Ice Territory. He did nothing for several months. He is indeed a loser who only knows the Turtle Shell Technique!"

"Oh, I thought he was with Senior Brother Yu. Why is he the only one who came back? So many senior brothers and sisters are missing..."

"You are so lucky! Besides, with his little cultivation, how can he act together with Senior Brother Yu? Is he worthy?"

"Yes, it's just that Senior Brother Yu is a nice person and he treats him as a friend. When he was watching his exchange game, he ran around to get the heat from him. In the end, who would look at him twice?"

"What a pitiful clown. When something happens, he can only rely on others for help. I really don't know what the use of having such a friend is, and there are so many more..."

"Shh, he's here, stop talking..."

The young man was silent, walking through the gossip and never looked back.

He returned to his home in Canglan City, but there was a strange middle-aged man standing at the door of his house.

"We have been observing you for a long time. Do you want to join Tianzhilou?"

"What Sky Tower?"

"You can get everything you want in the organization, including that we can help you reshape your skills and transform into a real strong man, and you only need to pay for information in exchange for equal value, especially Nian Yubai and Yu Ling's

intelligence."

"I can't betray my friends."

"Oh, do you really think they regard you as a friend? Don't be naive, only one kind of people can be friends, and what do you rely on?"

The middle-aged man sarcastically said: "If they regarded you as a friend, why didn't they go with you? Why did they abandon you in that cold underground cave and not come to save you for several months?"

"What you say is meaningless, I won't agree to it."

"That's really a pity. I hope you won't regret it."

The middle-aged man disappeared in front of the young man with a strange smile.

At that time, he did not fully understand the cruelty behind this sentence, nor did he understand what kind of organization Tianzhilou was. He just asked his parents to move next to the academy.

It wasn't until he experienced the turmoil in the Liu family and the Nine Domain Competition that when he returned home, he saw a scene that he would never forget.

The door was half open, and the red blood had seeped onto the bluestone road outside, but no one passing by noticed it.

He walked into the house as if he had lost his soul. What he saw was a severed arm, followed by a bloody corpse.

Looking further inside, the mother was lying in a pool of blood with bruises all over her body. Her eyes were lifeless and desperate, staring at the outside of the house. It seemed that she had struggled to climb a few meters before she was alive, dragging out a shocking blood trail.

He was still. He just stood at the door of the house, motionless.

Just like this, this nightmare scene will not change from nothingness to reality.

A voice came from behind.

"Join Tianzhilou, you have no other choice."

The young man remained motionless.

"It was Nie Zhao's people who did it, because your parents didn't cooperate with their plan, and of course we didn't stop them. If you want to blame it, just blame Yu Ling for getting you involved."

"But now, if you want revenge, you can only rely on our strength, or you can go to Yu Ling and see if he is willing to fall out with the Domain Lord's Mansion for you."

He was still the same middle-aged man back then. He leaned leisurely by the door and said jokingly: "Anyway, he has always been helping you, and you have always been living in his shadow. Without him, you can't do anything.

arrive."

"I don't need you to provide information about him and Dao Lingzong, because you are no longer in his inner circle. As long as you join the organization now, we will place you next to Nie Zhao and give you a chance for revenge.

, how about doing something for us by the way?"

The nightmare finally condensed into a cruel reality, waking him up from nothingness.

He didn't know how he agreed, how he buried his parents and lurked next to Nie Zhao.

He only knew that not long after he arrived, the leader of the Chinese domain died, and then Nie Zhao came to power.

He lived in a trance during those days, like a zombie, just mechanically completing the orders of Tian Zhi Lou.

He cooperated with other secret clues and took advantage of the chaos to kill Nie Zhao when Dao Lingzong bombed the Domain Lord's Mansion, set fire to his body, and left a blood letter to create the illusion that Nie Zhao had committed suicide.

Tianzhi Tower needs the Huayu Territory Master Seal, but he also hates Tianzhi Tower to the extreme.
To be continued...