"It seems that the Three Eastern Courts have not forgotten us yet."
Atalona was very tall and had an aloof temperament. In front of her, the city lord named An unconsciously lowered his head. She looked down at the man in front of her and said in a calm voice, "It seems that disaster will change a lot, but some things can never be changed."
"You have saved many lives, and even our court master has expressed his admiration for you."
Bowing slightly, the city lord said in a neither humble nor arrogant tone: "My name is An Quan, and I am the city lord of Shangjing City conferred by Renting Court Master Ying Ji. It is a real honor to meet you today."
"The protagonist today is not me."
Atalona noticed An Quan's eyes, and she had no other thoughts. She said calmly: "The person looking for you is a brave man."
Hearing this, An Quan set his sights on Zhou Li. Contrary to Zhou Li's expectation, there was no hostility or dissatisfaction in An Quan's eyes. Although he was not full of reverence after seeing him like the outside world, respect was still appropriate.
"It seems that many people know the difference between a brave man and a brave man."
Zhou Li did not go around the bush and said directly: "I am not the one who took the origin. Do you know this?"
"have no idea."
After shaking his head, An Quan said: "However, Master Ying Ji once asked us to respect the brave if we meet him. Although we don't know why, it is the instinct of each of us to obey the orders of the court master."
"oh?"
Zhou Li raised his eyebrows and said with great interest: "You? It seems that the human court is still monolithic now."
"You're joking."
An Quan shook his head and said with a faint smile: "As long as the court master is here, the human court will not disperse. The twelve cities in the north and the six counties in the south are all prosperous under the leadership of our court master. Naturally, we will be Monolithic."
Zhou Li felt a little weird when he heard this, but he didn't say anything. After a brief thought, Zhou Li said: "City Master An, I won't follow you around the corner. I want to see your Court Master now, what should I do?"
As if he had expected what Zhou Li was going to say, An Quan did not show any surprise. He glanced at Atalona beside Zhou Li without leaving any trace, and then said: "I'm sorry, Lord Brave, I can’t answer your question.”
Can't answer, rather than unable to answer?
Zhou Li savored An Quan's words carefully in his heart, then he turned the coin in his hand and said after a moment of silence: "Can you tell me the reason?"
"Master Brave, you should also know about the origin along the way."
Looking at Zhou Li, An Quan said slowly: "The disappearance of the origin is an unstoppable and irreparable disaster for our human court, the demon court, and the fairy court. And the reason why the human court can... Surviving that horrific disaster was because His Majesty, the Lord of the Court, bridged the gap at the expense of the will of all the Courts and sealed everything in the Human Court within the barrier. There is no doubt about the solidity of the barrier, but this price was to win His Majesty Ji. soul and body."
"Then win the season now..."
Facing Zhou Li's doubts, An Quan was silent for a moment. After a long time, he sighed and said slowly: "I'm sorry, Lord Brave, I know you may not believe it. However, I have not returned to Beijing for nearly thirty years. Therefore, there are some things that you are better than me. It’s clearer.”
Zhou Li was speechless. He could see that An Quan was speaking from his heart when he said these words. He didn't lie or hide anything. The sincerity in his eyes could not be faked. Of course, Zhou Li didn't believe it all, but after thinking for a moment, he asked: "Then City Master An hasn't contacted the court master for a long time, right?"
"It's hard to explain this situation."
An Quan gave a wry smile and said calmly: "We have a total of eighteen city lords. The only ones who can talk to His Majesty the court master are Beiliang County and Tianfu, which are closest to the royal capital. As for the other city lords, they can only get the information left by the previous city lord. Words. In other words, the orders or news I get are always the last ones and have passed through the hands of many city lords. Therefore..."
Zhou Li was stunned. He didn't expect that the situation in Renting was far worse than he imagined. This kind of information lag is extremely fatal to any country or institution, and it is not just a problem of lag. The information transmission between people may be complete among a few people, but once it is involved If there are more than a dozen people, and there are interests that interfere with it, the fidelity of the information will be greatly reduced.
For any country, if this system is implemented, it can only mean that the country will collapse soon, and the information will no longer reach the main city. Or, the level of civilization in this country is so low that it means that the transmission of information between various regions must be transmitted in the most primitive way.
But···
Looking at An Quan in front of him, Zhou Li hesitated for a moment. He didn't know if what he was thinking was correct, and he didn't know what Ying Ji's purpose was. An Quan also saw Zhou Li's hesitation. After sorting out his words, he slowly said: "Master Brave, I know what you are thinking. But what I can tell you is that the eighteen city lords Yixin, I have never falsified any information. If I don’t know as much as other city lords, the only reason is that I can’t know, not that they don’t want me to know.”
"The further away from the royal capital, the further away from civilization. This is the truth that our court master once told me personally."
After listening to An Quan's explanation, Zhou Li seemed to understand something. He sat on the wooden chair, saying nothing, tapping the back of the chair with his fingers. After a long time, he looked at An Quan and asked, "Where is the soul of the court master?"
"The soul of the court master..."
An Quan didn't answer for a while. He frowned and seemed to want to say something, but finally gave up. He breathed a long sigh of relief, and then said: "Your Majesty, the Lord of the Court."
【I am here】
"Can you please tell me how to meet the court master?"
As if hearing An Quan's question, the omnipresent soul of the court master fell into a long silence. At this time, the entire reception room could hear a needle drop, and an indescribable dead silence spread among everyone.
[The court owner...is dead, so the court owner is still alive, and you...can't see it, because you are still alive]
After a riddle in which the riddler had to kneel down and kowtow when he came, An Quan smiled bitterly and said to Zhou Li: "The soul of the court master is the spirit body created by His Majesty Ying Ji when he used his soul to establish a barrier. This kind of The spirit body contains the experience of His Majesty the Court Master for many years, and also has a certain degree of authority over the Court Master, but once it is asked questions about the Court Master, it says these incomprehensible words."
Zhou Li stared blankly at the fleeting mist. In fact, he had tried to communicate with the soul of the court master a long time ago. Because he knew that if the Three Eastern Courts had not experienced a restart, then the court owner Ying Ji would definitely remember him, and Ying Ji would definitely tell him some truths that Su Yuli had not explained. But after he asked the soul of the court master, he also got a vague answer. However, that answer was completely different from what An Quan said.
[The court master... is still alive, and you are also alive, so no one has died. You can see him, but you have to die]
It was a very strange sentence that seemed to be intermittent, but Zhou Li could see what the soul of the court master seemed to be trying hard to express. After adding An Quan's words, Zhou Li vaguely noticed something unusual.
These two sentences seem to have no connection, but what if they are connected?
The court master is dead, but the court master is still alive. An Quan can't see him because An Quan is still alive.
The court master is still alive, and so is he, so he can see him, but he has to die.
What if death and life were replaced by the world?
Since he already realized that both Su Yuli and Ying Ji had knowledge of another world, Zhou Li immediately thought of this. He put the two sentences together and compared them, and got a message.
The court master is still alive, but he does not survive in the world of Gaia, so in front of Gaia people An Quan, the court master is already dead. But Zhou Li is not from this world, so the court master who lives in another world is still alive to Zhou Li.
But···
It was hard for Zhou Li to imagine that he could figure this thing out. To be honest, he felt that there was something wrong with the soul and brain of the court master, and his intelligence was no different from Xiao Ai's. A normal sentence must be broken up and said to different people. Of course, Zhou Li understood that some truths might not be suitable to be stated clearly, but Zhou Li still felt that the soul of the court master was a bit greedy.
"Then if I go deeper into the human garden..."
Zhou Li did not explain what he said, but An Quan was also a good person, and he instantly understood the meaning of Zhou Li's words. He nodded, and after a moment of thinking, he replied: "You are right, I know very little. Perhaps it is because Shangjing is too close to the edge of the barrier, and it is easy to get in touch with the entropy spirit, so I cannot know more. . But you are different, you may be able to find all the city lords and connect everything together."
After a brief silence, An Quan raised the tea cup in his hand and said solemnly: "If you really solve all the disasters, tens of thousands of people in the Three Eastern Courts will always remember your name."
"maybe."
Zhou Li also raised his teacup and drank tea instead of wine. The two men clinked the teacups in their hands and drank it all in one gulp.
After drinking this cup of tea, both of them made a tacit agreement not to talk about the previous matter.
"Lord Zhou Li, if you need it, I can send a Gotei team to go with you to other towns. What do you think?"
Faced with An Quan's kindness, Zhou Li did not answer immediately. Instead, he shook his head and refused after thinking: "No, we are traveling very fast. It will be easy to slow down if we bring a team."
"Too."
An Quan nodded. He could tell that none of the people in front of him had a fuel-efficient lamp. Whether it is the brave thief who is powerful in the world, or the mad god who even the court master is afraid of, the mysterious and elegant blue-haired girl, or the red-eyed white-haired woman who hides her edge but makes people shudder, there is no one. Do not reveal the opponent's strength.
"Then I will prepare customs clearance documents for you. According to the rules, people from one town who want to go to another town need to undergo a three-day review. As the city lord of Beijing, I naturally have ways to speed up this process. I have personally received a customs clearance document. In the next three cities, you can use this document to act as you like. Of course, after three cities, you need to obtain the documents from other city lords."
Looking at Atalona on the side, An Quan hesitated for a moment, and then reminded: "Also, if possible, Lady Atalona is best not to appear directly in front of the timid city lord. After all, you are famous in the human court. Hehe, they are likely to be afraid of your breath and unable to escape."
"It doesn't matter."
Atalona shook her head and said calmly, "No one can avoid me."
An Quan really wanted to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, because he could see that Atalona was serious. But seeing that there was nothing he could do, he couldn't fight or be convinced, so he could only pray for the next few city lords.
"Then please stay one night. It's almost midnight now. Even with the customs clearance documents, the gates of other cities have probably been opened. You guys just have a rest while we are in Beijing and want to make up for it."
It was obvious that An Quan had a very friendly attitude towards Zhou Li and his party. Of course, this is also the reason why they have a lot of fun talking with their daughter.
"Then excuse me."
Zhou Li didn't refuse. There was no point in being anxious for a while. What Zhou Li and the others had to do was to recharge their batteries, adjust their state and solve the matter in one go. In addition, he was indeed a little tired, so he agreed to An Quan's request to let them stay overnight.
"Father, Grandpa Sun asked me to help change the tea."
Just when everyone was about to get up and leave, the girl with a round head holding a tea tray knocked on the door and said something to An Quan in the room. When An Quan heard his daughter's voice, the dignified and stiff smile on his face instantly disappeared, replaced by an awkward expression that wanted to keep a straight face but couldn't hide the smile. He cleared his throat and then said: "Come in."
An Qing, who was holding the tea tray, carefully opened the door and then smiled at Zhou Li and others. An Qing's walking posture is not like that of a younger daughter. The right pace shows that she has martial arts skills. She looks very sassy and graceful. After placing the teacups on the tea tray in front of everyone, she looked at An Quan holding the tea tray and asked with a faint smile on her face: "Father, do you need me to take all the distinguished guests to the guest room?"
"Since you have such intention, then go ahead."
Waving his sleeves, An Quan looked very relieved about his daughter. He looked at Zhou Li, cupped his hands, and said, "Then please follow my girl to the guest room. Don't worry, although the mansion is not worthy of the title, It’s resplendent in the sky, but it’s more than enough to say it’s clean and tidy.”
"Thank you very much."
Zhou Li and others thanked An Quan, and then they slowly left the guest room. After everyone left, An Quan's smile gradually faded, replaced by a deep worry.
(End of chapter)
