"Hey, hey, Brother Zheng, Brother Zheng, I was just joking, just joking."

Zheng Fan remained unmoved.

The Great Hero Chen drew his sword and placed it on his neck, ready to slit his throat at any moment.

"Brother Zheng, I still have a treasure on me. You and I are fated. Since you called me 'Brother,' then this old brother will give you a gift upon our meeting."

"Great Hero Chen, what are you doing? I was just joking with you. Why are you taking it so seriously!" Zheng Fan said.

"........." Great Hero Chen.

Zheng Fan turned to look at Yao Zizhan.

Yao Zizhan smiled and said,

"Brother Zheng, you're really down-to-earth."

"Humans are born with their feet on the ground, naturally connected to the earth. Those who seem otherworldly are just floating, and they'll fall sooner or later."

"Brother Zheng speaks truly. It's a pity there's no wine here, or we should drink a large cup."

"That's easy."

Zheng Fan stretched out his hand and called to A'ming:

"Wine!"

A'ming handed the waterskin to Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan presented the waterskin to Yao Zizhan and said,

"Drink up!"

"Ha, delightful!"

Yao Zizhan feigned boldness, reached out to take the waterskin, and unhesitatingly tilted his head back for a large gulp.

Then,

*Ooooohh!*

A'ming walked over, took the waterskin away, and frowned slightly as he watched Yao Zizhan squatting on the ground, vomiting wildly.

Zheng Fan waved his hand and said to A'ming,

"Don't panic. When we find a savage tribe on the road, I'll allow you to hunt again."

A'ming nodded, then walked back. Fortunately, not too much blood in the waterskin was wasted, and he could still continue drinking.

At this moment, the great scholar of the Qian Kingdom, the saint in the hearts of scholars everywhere, and the dream lover of courtesans in brothels around the world, was nearly vomiting out his gall, his face covered in blood.

After a long while, Yao Zizhan came to his senses, took the real waterskin, and began to rinse his mouth frantically.

"Brother Zheng, I almost lost half my life to your teasing."

That wasn't wine at all; upon entering his mouth, it was a warm, viscous liquid with an extremely fishy smell.

"Don't you Qian people always say that we Yan people are uncivilized barbarians who drink blood? Shouldn't we be drinking blood?"

"Brother, oh Brother, they say it, not me. In my heart, the Yan people have always held a special place.

"When I was young, I traveled in the Yan Kingdom and even lived with a woman from the Northern Frontier County for half a year. I still haven't forgotten her.

"So, the Yan Kingdom truly has... for me..."

"Let's talk about the meeting gift."

Zheng Fan really wasn't interested in hearing about the romantic exploits of this literary giant. He also believed that Yao Zizhan was definitely a favorite among the famous prostitutes in his youth, just like Liu Yong from another time and space he was familiar with.

"Alas."

Yao Zizhan took out a box from his sleeve. The box wasn't big, about the width of a modern-day small diamond ring box, but it was very thin, so it could easily fit in a sleeve pocket.

"What's this?"

Jade? Not this flat and small.

Gold? What could you do with such a small piece of gold?

"Don't rush, don't rush."

Yao Zizhan carefully opened the box, revealing a purple object inside, like a folded piece of paper.

"This is an evil-warding talisman. It was given to me by Master Zang back then. It's specifically for warding off evil spirits. By holding this talisman, you can protect yourself from evil intrusion."

"Master Zang?" Zheng Fan pondered the name, then remembered and said, "Could that be the Qi Refiner who went to my Yan Capital to directly confront His Majesty to cut off the dragon vein?"

If Yao Zizhan was the leader of the literary world, then Master Zang was the "god" in the hearts of Qi Refiners of the Qian Kingdom. The Qian Emperor treated him with the respect of a disciple, and there were even rumors that this generation of Qian Emperor had been taught the art of breathing and nourishing Qi by Master Zang since childhood.

After retreating from the Qian Kingdom after the war, Zheng Fan had heard about this in Nanwang City. It was said that Master Zang and Bai Li Jian had gone to the Yan Capital together. Master Zang threatened to cut off the dragon vein of the Yan Kingdom to force Emperor Yan to stop the war.

Who would have thought that Emperor Yan, Ji Runhao, wouldn't fall for that at all?

In the end, Master Zang suffered a very severe backlash from cutting the dragon vein, and his fate was unknown.

Seeming to hear the frivolity in Zheng Fan's words,

Yao Zizhan shook his head,

And said:

"Some things, what you see, are not necessarily true, but some things, what you hear, are not necessarily all false."

"Master Yao, I'm not interested in playing riddles with you here."

"I guarantee with my character that this is what Master Zang gave me back then. I've been carrying this thing on me, and I haven't encountered any fox spirits or ghosts."

"Sounds like a bit of a pity?" Zheng Fan said with a smile.

Yao Zizhan nodded and said, "Indeed."

As a scholar, and as a scholar among scholars, he was already tired of courtesans and rouge. When people are tired of playing, they want to try other flavors.

A romantic talent, paired with a fox spirit or a ghost, would be in line with what scholars and the general working people would enjoy talking about during their leisure time.

"I say, there aren't any fox spirits or ghosts here for me to experiment with. Forget it, forget it, I'll just trust Master Yao's character."

Although, judging from the fact that you directly scammed Helian Xiongbi's treasure trove to save your own life, you don't seem to have much character at all.

But Zheng Fan was just finding an excuse for himself. He wasn't a loyal subject of the Yan Kingdom, so he wasn't so sensitive to Yao Zizhan's so-called speculation, and he didn't have the determination to kill him to silence him.

This old man is actually quite interesting.

"That's more like it. You have to take good care of it. This thing is valuable."

"Alright, alright, I understand, I understand."

Zheng Fan reached out and took the small box containing the talisman, casually stuffing it into his inner pocket.

Then, Zheng Fan looked at Great Hero Chen, preparing to tell him to put down the sword on his neck,

But he heard Yao Zizhan shout:

"Brother Zheng, Brother Zheng, it's smoking!"

Huh?

Smoking?

Zheng Fan lowered his head and found that smoke was actually coming out of the seams of his clothes. Wisps of white smoke were seeping out, and a scorching heat was accompanying it.

*Hiss!*

Zheng Fan immediately reached out and pulled the box out of his clothes,

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!"

The Magic Seed's resentful scream rang out from the depths of Zheng Fan's heart.

"Damn, son, your dad really didn't know that this talisman would actually work."

Zheng Fan immediately threw the box out, right in the direction of A'ming.

A'ming was holding the waterskin in his left hand and continuing to drink. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his lord throwing something at him. He didn't see clearly what it was, but he subconsciously reached out and caught it.

Then,

He continued to drink,

Then,

Huh?

A'ming frowned and looked down,

He found that his right palm was turning red. What he was holding wasn't a box at all, but seemed like he was directly holding a soldering iron.

A'ming suddenly stood up and threw the thing at Fan Li.

Fan Li reached out his hand. Compared to the small box, his hand was like a tennis racket compared to a tennis ball in terms of proportion.

After holding it in his hand,

Fan Li curiously observed it for a moment,

Then,

"Hiss... it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

Fan Li threw the thing away.

Xue San said with some curiosity:

"There's a Magic Seed next to my lord, and A'ming is a blood clan member. It's normal for them to be afraid of this, but what about A'li?"

The small box that fell down was wrapped in the Blind Man's telekinesis and sent into his hand.

He leisurely blew on the small box,

And answered Xue San at the same time:

"A'li has foreign blood in him, demon or barbarian or something. This was a setting from a long time ago, but A'li's strength hasn't recovered to that level yet, so it can't be manifested."

The barbarian blood here is not the same thing as the barbarians in this world, but is more similar to the racial blood setting in later games.

But it was clear that even though it hadn't manifested, Fan Li's bloodline was real. It was normal for the talisman to consider it an evil spirit.

"Oh, is that so?" Xue San nodded thoughtfully, then tilted his head and looked at the Blind Man, "Blind Man, you seem to have forgotten something."

"What's wrong? I don't have any miscellaneous bloodlines."

"Your damn setting is a reanimated corpse!"

"........." Blind Man.

*Hiss!*

The Blind Man's palm was also burned, and he had no choice but to throw the box out again.

The box flew straight towards Xue San,

Xue San was so frightened that he jumped directly into the tree,

"Damn, Blind Man, you messed up yourself and you still want to trick me."

"You're just a dwarf."

"Bullshit, I've been eating all kinds of wild game and aliens in the previous few drawings. Who knows if I'm still a purebred human in my body now."

The box finally landed on the ground, somewhat lonely.

And Yao Zizhan,

First looked at Zheng Fan,

Then looked at A'ming,

Then looked at the Blind Man again,

Finally, he looked at Xue San, who was so frightened that he jumped to the treetop,

He raised his hand,

Pinched his face hard,

Then looked at Zheng Fan somewhat blankly,

"Brother Zheng, am I dreaming?"

Your family,

Are all freaking evil spirits?

God,

What kind of people am I with?

Yao Zizhan was now somewhat suspicious of his life, or... suspicious of this world.

He had never encountered a fox spirit or a ghost in his life, but he never expected that today, when he decided to give away this talisman, he would encounter a whole group of them at once!

"Great Hero, tell me, am I dreaming, or am I seeing things?"

Great Hero Chen wasn't so surprised, because he had seen the secret weapon hidden in Cui Liu Fort. That strong man who had clearly died was actually continuing to live in another form, and had nearly killed him.

The Great Hero was an honest man, and directly replied:

"No, you're not dreaming. This is real."

"You're talking nonsense! You little brat is now learning to lie in my dream!"

Zheng Fan got up, preparing to explain to Yao Zizhan, but he didn't expect that this action would scare Yao Zizhan. The old man immediately jumped up, and when he landed backward, he twisted his foot. With a "plop," he fell to the ground, and his eyes immediately lit up with stars. His whole body trembled a few times, which showed that the fall was really not light.

Just as Zheng Fan was preparing to help him up,

Yao Zizhan supported himself with his arms to lift his head,

After seeing Zheng Fan coming to him,

Yao Zizhan said with some doubt:

"Brother Zheng, how did I fall asleep? I just had a dream, dreaming that you were..."

Zheng Fan bent over, looking at Yao Zizhan,

The smile on his face suddenly disappeared and he shouted:

"Ghost ah!!!!!"

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!"

————

This chapter counts as yesterday's, not today's update, so the previous two days updated six chapters, which is considered as making up for the day I took a sick leave due to stomach discomfort.