That’s why Liang Jiuxiao in some ways had become his only solace as they depended on each other to live on.

But since when did the cracks in their relationship appear?

Maybe it was when Liang Jiuxiao visited the capital for the first time and saw the corrupted struggles, saw the increasingly horrible conflicts between families, saw brothers murdering each other in cold blood, saw all the crimes, framings, even deaths of loyal officials—behind all of which was the Big Senior Brother whom he always looked up to–

Gao Chong was already standing up, fiercely condemning the Ghost Valley in front of all the heroes.

Zhou Zishu’s eyes were downcast, as if he was sleeping. Not a single syllable of Liang Jiuxiao’s interrogating words had once left his mind all these years.

“What are you all after, really? Power? The throne? Glory and wealth?”

“Your fate will not end well if you continue down this road, please snap out of it!”

“An eye for an eye is how it is, big brother…”

An eye for an eye? Why should blood be paid back with blood while in this world there were other ways to make people suffer without dying—Zhou Zishu smiled mockingly and thought, Ah, Jiuxiao, we’re both wrong after all.

At that moment, there was a grunt interrupting Gao Chong’s words and Zhou Zishu’s train of thought. The noise sounded like it belonged to a child, but was also strangely raspy. There was internal force underlying Gao Chong’s voice, so it was evident that this person was not your run-of-the-mill type, seeing how they were able to cut him off.

They spoke louder. “Sir Gao, how can you come to the conclusion that the Ghost Valley’s behind all this just with mere words? Isn’t this a little far-fetched?”

Everyone’s gaze was drawn to one spot, not excluding Zhou Zishu. The one who spoke up was a dwarf-like man who was only around a meter tall, currently sitting on the shoulder of another man whose build was the complete opposite. Zhou Zishu could be considered tall compared to the average man, but even he had to crane his neck to look at this giant. His hair was wild and his beard was untamed, only leaving his dark eyes visible. He carried the dwarf with care, using his huge hands to grip the smaller man’s legs to prevent him from falling.

Weren’t these “Earth Lord”4 Feng Xiaofeng and his wishy-washy friend Gao Shannu?