If I don't have money to go to college, I can only go to slay the dragon.

A vermilion torii gate stands at the outer entrance of the courtyard, and a stone-paved path winds its way to the main building deeper inside. Mosses and dwarf bamboos are planted on both sides of the path, and the quiet atmosphere is trapped here by these plants.

The weather was very clear tonight, probably because of the aurora and strong wind. The moonlight also sprinkled on this Japanese-style courtyard, making the red paint on the Japanese-style wooden roof slightly shiny. The dry landscape composed of sand and stone, which symbolized the ocean and mountains, was plowed by rakes to leave traces of waves. The water was gurgling in the pool, and occasionally a few petals fallen from cherry trees floated by.

When the moonlight was accidentally covered by thin clouds blown by the wind, the Japanese garden fell into darkness, and under the torii gate, a solitary and cold figure appeared at some point.

She passed through the Torii gate, walked along the stone path, and entered the dry landscape in the tranquility of the wind rustling through the dwarf bamboos. The flowing pool was filled with startled deer, making crisp sounds of flipping over. As the man passed by, he casually broke off a branch of the most beautiful cherry blossoms, held it in his hand, and walked to the side under the eaves of the wooden house. The petals scattered from the cherry blossoms fell on the sandy surface of the dry landscape, staining the heart-warming red.

The figure stopped in front of the eaves. On the wooden floor of the corridor, which was wiped clean and shiny by servants during the day, there was a tray with everything from dates, tea kettles, water fingers to wind furnaces. There was also a cup of hot tea that had been brewed long ago, with light white steam rising. And as if worried that she didn't like tea, a bottle of sake from the 14th generation, Long Yue, was placed next to it.

She just glanced at the tray and walked past it, passing through the side of the wooden house and into the inner room. After a while, she turned back, grabbed some more bandages and bottles and jars in her hands, sat down next to the tray, and tore off half of her already ragged clothes. The moonlight happened to be out at this time, illuminating the gray and torn wounds on her body. Corresponding to the other intact parts of the body, the injured left shoulder to the right side of the abdomen was like low-quality straw paper, as if it would be mottled and peeled off by the wind.

She opened the bottles and jars one by one, mixed several kinds of unknown powders in a small dish, and finally sprinkled them on the gray and broken upper body. Not seeing much effect, she casually passed the bandage through the armpits and wrapped it around the well-proportioned and beautiful upper body. Finally, she bit open the lid of the small yellow medicine bottle and poured a normal person's monthly supply of painkillers into the cup beside her. She leaned sideways to fill a cup of Fourteenth Generation Dragon Moon, picked up two petals from the cherry blossom branch placed beside her and threw them into the cup. She stirred it lightly with her slender little finger a few times, tilted her neck back and poured the sparkling moonlight mixed with wine into her mouth.

After finishing everything, she put down her wine glass and sat under the eaves, quietly looking at the dry landscape in the courtyard under the moonlight. It was not until the startled deer in the pond flipped the bamboo tube again, making a crisp sound, that she suddenly spoke,

"So, do you want to come over for a drink, or just stand there and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the courtyard returned to its tranquility. Dark clouds passed by, blocking the moonlight. When the darkness passed and the sky became bright again, a figure in a black feather robe slowly appeared from the depths of the house behind her. His hands were hidden in his sleeves, and his figure was majestic, but he revealed an air of old age and wisdom. The moonlight sprinkled on a corner of his face, revealing the mask of the noble who looked like a devil, both crying and laughing.

"A beauty heals her wounds, spring suddenly appears. Although such beautiful scenery is more attractive when combined with the Tsubaki period in Tokyo at this time, as a man, showing up at an inappropriate time will always cause misunderstanding and criticism." The voice behind the mask of the nobleman has a sense of vicissitudes and the unique dullness behind the mask, which makes people feel a little uncomfortable.

"Your beauty should be revealed occasionally to people who are worthy of appreciating it. If you had walked out from my front, perhaps your mask would have fallen to the ground or into the pond like the cherry blossoms in the courtyard." Lin Xian smiled indifferently, even though his tone and content were very casual, as if what they were talking about were all jokes that were not worth mentioning.

But the general behind him knew that this was a serious statement. If this woman said she wanted to turn against him, then it would be a fight to the death. There was no need for him to offend a terrifying person who was superior to him in the biological field and almost at the same level as him in the field of thought and action just for the so-called lust in human nature.

"Tokyo is exceptionally lively tonight." The king gently dropped the black cane in his hand on the wooden floor, making a hollow echo.

"When is Tokyo not bustling? A burning fire is never short of the fuel of hot oil. As long as the fierce ghosts and the eight snake families are active on the stage, this city will never lack a stage." White bandages were wrapped around the exposed half of the body, covering the gray wounds underneath. She sat diagonally on the wooden corridor under the eaves and found a comfortable posture. She picked up a new glass of sake and turned her back to the king, without any defense against the powerful enemy.

"Don't you think you've gone a little too far?" General Wang's tone was somewhat melancholy but non-complaining, as if he was bringing up some topic of black humor.

"It's hard to imagine that you would say this to blame me." Lin Xian said, "Besides, before we did it, the power supply and electrical appliances in Roppongi had been shut down, so there would be no evidence left to expose you or the secrets of the dragon clan. I understand that for the ghosts, that day has not come yet, so I always keep some discretion in doing things."

"I have a small doubt, I wonder if you can answer it for me." The king was wearing a mask and his expression could not be seen clearly. His tone was still calm and leisurely. "Everything you did tonight was His will? Without your own selfish motives?"

"You don't have to worry about this. He will know everything I do. There is no need for others to ask about it." Lin Xian replied.

"I understand this sentence to mean that everything you can do is completed under His instructions?" General Wang asked softly, letting out an indescribable chuckle.

Lin Xian paused for a moment as he placed the sake cup to his lips, then smoothly poured the pure liquid into his mouth, "You can understand it this way."

"I secretly watched you before and found that you were seriously injured, so I didn't come back with a big fanfare. Are you worried that it will destabilize the army's morale?" The king's eyes fell on Lin Xian's beautiful back with bandages through the mask of the nobles, without any emotion that a human should have. "The child of the Sakurai family and the new blood collected from the sanatorium are all looking forward to you. Don't you want to make them worry, or lose your prestige in front of them?"

"That's about right. You can understand it that way."

To Wang Jiang's surprise, Lin Xian actually admitted his conjecture. He thought that this woman should have said something polite to fight back. This straightforward admission made him utter a "huh" and then fell silent, waiting for the other party's next words.

"After all, I'm not the kind of person who likes to make my subordinates worry. If you want to run a group and keep a situation moving in a good direction, you always need to maintain some face, as a leader, as a parent. If you're hurt, you can't cry or scream in pain. If you're angry, you can't yell or vent. Sometimes, when you're someone else's sky, you have to be self-aware, because the sky will never fall. No matter what happens, you have to make them feel that with you around, things will always turn out well." Lin Xian said slowly to the king behind him with a relaxed smile, "But if it were you, it would be hard to understand what I mean, right? After all, we are completely different people. Although you and I can reach an astonishing consensus on certain aspects, overall, we're just two intersecting dividing lines."

"I can understand it, but I cannot agree with it. No wonder the Sakurai family's children and those new bloods are so loyal to you. I even began to regret choosing to let you contact and recruit those children. People with psychological trauma are naturally easy to be captured by people like you! They are willing to die for you because you are a newborn. They are already your most perfect warriors. You don't even spend time brainwashing them - or when you meet them for the first time, the brainwashing has been completed." said the general.

"You also mentioned Sakurai Akira. It seems that he came back alive from Lu Mingfei's hands. That's great. It seems that I need to pay more attention to him. There will always be a stage in the future for him to shine." Lin Xian praised the child without hesitation.

"He should be the most dedicated and most promising assassin under your command. For you, he might even be willing to assassinate me, the nominal general." The general said with a faint smile.

"There will always be a chance to try it in the future." Lin Xian joked.

"Then you must hide your injury well. Otherwise, if your fans knew what you look like now, they would probably lose control and seek revenge on that man, right? Sometimes excessive enthusiasm can lead to a situation that gets out of control. This is a reminder to you from someone who has experienced it." General Wang said.

"My injuries? They're not that bad. My normal movements probably won't be restricted. At most I'll need a short period of recuperation. Just leave it to my bloodline. I'm a cursed person, and death won't favor me so easily." Lin Xian stretched out his hand and gently stroked the bandage under his collarbone, feeling the withering vitality in it, and said softly.

General Wang looked at Lin Xian's back. He knew clearly what the gray wound under the bandage meant. It was damage at the cellular level and the collapse of the genetic chain. Just like radiation can disassemble and destroy human DNA, melting a living person into a pool of foul-smelling blood, the power that hurt Lin Xian was the same, except that it was directly aimed at the destruction of the "dragon blood cells".

Lin Xian should have only been touched by the aftermath, so she didn't die directly in the dark night of Roppongi, but it was only by the aftermath that she fell into this situation. If she hadn't obtained the terrifying authority of "Yaki" from somewhere, she should have been dead by now, right? It was also because "Yaki" locked the completely destroyed gene chain injuries to the piece under the bandage that she was able to recover after resting.

"They won't stop their actions while you are healing." General Wang said leisurely.

"Are you referring to the Eight Snake Clans, or the group of people led by my dear brother?" Lin Xian asked with a chuckle. "If it's the Eight Snake Clans, I believe that I can easily resist them with the power of the Fierce Ghosts. After all, you have been planning this game for so long, and I have no doubt that you can always play them in the palm of your hand. If it's the group that jumped out of the chessboard, I have my own arrangements."

"Is it you who has made the arrangements, or is it He who has made the arrangements?" the general asked.

"You can interpret it however you want." Lin Xian did not elaborate, "Protect the three factories. I'm afraid they have already got the addresses, and the subsequent attacks are inevitable. In my opinion, they will probably use this information to form a superficially complete alliance with the Eight Snake Families. Once they launch a general attack on the fierce ghosts, it will not be an easy task for you to resolve."

"Does He have any suggestions on this matter?" The king gently poked his short staff, not caring about the factory being exposed and attacked, as if this was supposed to happen, sooner or later.

"You don't seem like someone who would listen to His advice. Even though we are cooperating, aren't you both 'enemies'?"

"The enemy is often one's best teacher." The king said with a faint smile, "Hasn't He also learned a lot from me?"

Lin Xian lay on his side on the wooden corridor under the eaves, slightly tilting his head, looking at the old man standing in the distance with the corner of his eyes. He looked at him meaningfully and then looked away. "The allocation of personnel will be the key. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, they will definitely want to destroy the three factories at the same time, so the main combat force will definitely be allocated in a biased manner. Whoever is better at allocating personnel will win this opportunity."

"The story of the best horse, the average horse, and the worst horse. It's a Chinese fable that I like very much." Wang Jiangwen said with a smile, "Will you become our best horse?"

"It's only natural. If the Sheqi Eight Clan and the headquarters come out in full force, we should also go all out. There shouldn't be any problems with Fengjian Liuli, right? Does he still listen to you as usual?"

"Still as casual as ever, but if the young master of the Yuan family came in person, I'm sure he would be very interested in trying to see if he could take off the other person's head."

"Then there is nothing to worry about. I'm a little sleepy, so you should leave. If you still have questions, talk to Him when He comes back. After all, this is your cooperation with Him, not with me." Lin Xian nodded slightly and simply ordered her to leave, even though this courtyard was prepared for her by General Wang from the beginning.

"Before I leave, I have one last question."

"As people get older, instead of knowing their destiny and solving the puzzles in life, they have more and more questions. This is not a good thing. The more questions they have, the more unwilling they will feel when they are caught off guard and enter the cemetery one day!" Lin Xian said helplessly.

"It's just a simple question, why do you want to irritate him? In my opinion, an enemy who is hesitant and indecisive is always the easiest to defeat. If you let him focus on his opponent and hold the butcher knife tightly, it will only cause more trouble, right?" General Wang was not annoyed by the sarcasm in the woman's words. He just asked in a gentle tone with a little confusion.

Lin Xian fell into silence for a moment regarding this question. After a moment, he snorted and waved his hand. He still did not answer and just asked the king to leave.

The old man with the noble mask quietly watched the woman drinking alone in the moonlight for a while in the dim light, and then disappeared silently, leaving her alone lying on the wooden corridor in front of the dry landscape, stirring the cherry blossoms and moonlight in the sake with her fingers.