In the Blade

The gray-haired mouse naturally received no response.

It was natural that there was no response when he kowtowed and shouted at a barren mountain. After all, this behavior seemed meaningless no matter how you looked at it.

But the gray-haired mouse continued to do this meaningless behavior for three days and three nights.

Even if he shouted until his throat bled and he vomited blood foam, he never stopped. His body kneeling on the ground looked so humble and insignificant. With such a posture, it was not as good as a mouse in the gutter, rather than a demon who was high above and in control of power.

Even worse than it used to be.

But it still screamed persistently, screaming at the barren mountain, and never stopped even when it was exhausted.

The more tired, the more humble, the weaker, and the closer to death it was, the more fierce the fire in its eyes burned.

When the body and spirit were on the verge of the limit, it was a more crazy will that took over the body.

"Lord Greedy Wolf! Please give me the power to take revenge!"

The wild mountain still did not respond to it.

Instead, a coyote ran over from a distance.

The coyote's eyes glowed green when it smelled the blood. The gray-haired mouse was very familiar with that sight. This was the posture of hunting. The hungry coyote would bite any blood food nearby.

The instinct for survival reminded the gray-haired mouse that running away was the best choice.

Even though it was a demon, even though it had all kinds of abilities, its current extreme weakness made it no different from an ordinary mouse - perhaps an ordinary mouse was stronger than it was now, after all, an ordinary mouse still had the physical strength to escape, but now, after kneeling for three days and three nights, its entire body had already become stiff.

Counterattack was impossible. It could only use up its last bit of strength to escape.

But it still had no intention of moving.

"If this is my fate..."

Seeing the bloody mouth of the coyote getting closer and closer, the gray-haired mouse closed his eyes.

"If this is my end..."

The bloody mouth bit the back of the gray-haired mouse's neck, which was the most vulnerable and least able to resist.

The sharp teeth only needed to bite down half an inch to easily break the gray-haired mouse's spine.

However, at this moment, a voice close at hand sounded in the gray-haired mouse's ears.

"Why don't you fight?"

The voice said so.

"Use your last strength, you can at least die gloriously."

"Because...wolf."

The gray-haired mouse pulled out an ugly smile.

"What's the point of killing wolves while begging for help from the Greedy Wolf Star Lord?"

"..."

The teeth biting the back of the gray-haired mouse's neck loosened.

"You are very clever."

"Thank you, Greedy Wolf Star Lord, for not killing me!"

Using up the last bit of strength, the gray-haired mouse bowed his head.

"Please help me avenge my blood!"

"There is no Greedy Wolf Star Lord anymore."

Faced with the gray-haired mouse's plea, the coyote just shook his head.

"I don't know where you heard this name, but if you say Greedy Wolf Star Lord, he's already dead."

...

The short words made the gray-haired mouse dumbfounded.

"Dead, dead?"

The gray-haired mouse was struck by lightning, and it couldn't believe what it heard.

"How is it possible? Such a powerful existence, even named after the stars in the sky, how could it be dead? How could he be dead?"

"Why is it impossible?"

The coyote glanced at the gray-haired mouse.

"In the words of those mortals, there are people beyond people, and there are heavens beyond heavens. Even the Greedy Wolf Star Lord you mentioned can't really live forever... Don't look at me with that kind of eyes. The so-called eternity itself is an empty talk. The only thing that doesn't change in the world is change. Since you are so smart, you should understand this."

"But, but..."

The gray-haired mouse was puzzled.

"I, I just want to know why he died?"

It doesn't make sense. This kind of thing really doesn't make sense. You know, even the gray-haired mouse himself is actually hundreds of years old. In the eyes of those mortals, he can be considered immortal, and the Greedy Wolf Star Lord, who is much stronger than him and only exists in some illusory stories, will only be stronger and live longer than him.

But now, it has heard the news of the death of the Greedy Wolf Star Lord.

What is going on?

"It's a very simple thing."

The coyote lay on the ground and looked at the gray-haired mouse.

"Because you are here."

"...Me?"

The gray-haired mouse was stunned.

How does this have anything to do with it again?

"So, you are only clever."

The coyote shook his head.

"Even a demon like you who only has a little bit of cleverness can hear this reputation, which can only mean that it is already weak enough... It is already so weak, if it doesn't die, does it have to wait for others to kill it?"

"You..."

The gray-haired mouse was confused for a moment, and it didn't understand what it was talking about at all.

It could understand every sentence and every word, but it couldn't understand them together at all-what does it mean that being heard of reputation means that it is weak enough? Is that how it works? Isn't it true that the bigger the reputation, the stronger it is?

Or, if you are not a strong person, how can you make such a big reputation?

If you already have a reputation, how can you be weak?

"...So, you really only have a little bit of cleverness."

Coyote sighed.

"Forget it, for the sake of you kneeling for three days, I will give you one more pointer... Think carefully, why are you here? How did your companion die?"

"My companion..."

The body of the white-haired hedgehog flashed through his mind, and the bone-chilling pain gripped the heart of the gray-haired mouse.

Yes, how could it forget it? They had clearly established the victory, they had mastered everything, they had clearly defeated the Tin Woodman, and the result was because of that one sword, that unpredictable sword. , everything is completely over.

Even it itself almost died on the spot.

The reputation the two of them left behind in those two towns, and the incense and desire that made them lost for a time, are not only not a good thing, but a disaster!

If you think about it from this perspective...

The stronger you are, the easier it is to gain fame. The greater your reputation, the easier it is to obtain incense and wish power, but incense and wish power is a kind of disaster, which means...

The greater the reputation, the more dangerous it is!

"Varied……"

The logic in his mind was finally completely connected, but the gray-haired mouse couldn't say a word for a long time.

Just because the deduced results were too subversive of his cognition.

How is this possible?

The stronger you become, the weaker you become?

How could this nonsense even work?

"Then becoming stronger...what's the point?"

"So, you really only have a little cleverness."

The coyote sighed again, then patted the gray-haired mouse on the head with his paw.

"Is this the same thing? When did I say there was a problem with becoming stronger? Being strong is strong, and being strong is always a good thing... Where is your brain? Are you really listening to me?"

"I……"

After receiving a paw for nothing, the gray-haired mouse's consciousness returned to clarity.

Yes, it seems that this is indeed the case. His derivation just now was problematic from the beginning. He still used his previous perspective - there is nothing wrong with being strong. Everyone wants to become stronger. After all, only when you are strong can you control your own destiny.

The real problem is reputation.

"It seems you already understand."

After looking at the gray-haired mouse, the coyote nodded.

"Only the weak need to become famous and rely on incense and willpower. Because they are weak, they need to prove their strength...but the strong do not need this."

"For the strong, everything else except strength itself is a burden."

The strong only need to be strong themselves.

Other than that, everything is a burden.

With these brief words, the gray-haired mouse's mind had already begun to turn upside down, because this courage and determination had already completely exceeded its cognitive scope.

But this kind of thing is so familiar.

Yes, it's familiar. It must have seen this kind of thing somewhere, and it must have been exposed to this kind of thing, but the memory is too painful and bloody, so that its reason cannot admit it, Don't even want to mention it.

Yes, it actually knows the answer.

Doesn't this description refer to the Tin Man?

He didn't use any incense and wish power, nor did he fight for power with them. The Tin Woodman just swung his knife.

Even though they were hundreds of miles apart, the sword cut the white-haired hedgehog into two pieces without any hindrance.

There is no structure and no reason.

Just an ordinary knife.

It couldn't understand it at all before, what on earth is this? There is no rules, no reason, just this ordinary sword, what is this?

Now it vaguely understands that this is nothing.

This is strong.

Strong, that's it.

There is no need for rules, principles, reasons, or explanations - just because these things, these foreign objects, these seemingly powerful things, are all burdens!

Strong means strong.

The strong only need to be strong themselves.

"And reputation, or in other words, incense and willpower, will only bring trouble to the strong."

The gray-haired mouse continued to think.

"If you gain adoration, you will also gain jealousy. The more famous you are, the more danger you will face...Only the weak need to prove themselves and become famous in the world. The strong can control themselves and even hide without a trace!"

Thinking of this, the gray-haired mouse suddenly raised his head.

"you……"

At this moment, the gray-haired mouse understood everything.

Why did this coyote come to find it? Why did this coyote know everything? Why was everything about it invisible to the other party? Even its past experiences were clearly known to the other party.

Just now, it was originally ready to ask questions, ready to ask why all this was happening.

But now, it already knows the answer.

Perhaps the once tyrannical Lord Greedy Wolf Star was indeed dead.

But the strong ones entrenched here are always there.

He even took the initiative to appear in front of it.

"So...why?"

Gritting his teeth, the gray-haired mouse finally asked.

"Why did you come out to see me?"

Yes, when everything is clear, the only question left is this.

It is obvious that this strong man has already disappeared, it is obvious that this strong man can watch it die, and it is obvious that no one will care about it if it dies here, but this strong man still appears in front of it.

Is it just because of its three days and three nights of pleading?

If it was before, it might think so, or it might feel that its pleading could really move this strong man, but now, it has understood that it is definitely not because of such a superficial reason.

The reason why the strong is strong is that it is not moved by external things. Its pleading, or even its existence, is meaningless to this strong man.

It can even be regarded as a burden.

So, in this case, why did this strong man choose to appear in front of it and even give it some advice?

What does this strong man want?

What does this strong man want to do?

"You can actually think of this level, then it seems that you have more than just a little cleverness."

The coyote looked up at the gray-haired mouse.

"You can have this idea, which means that I didn't come out to see you in vain this time."

"... But I don't think I have the possibility of being favored by you."

The gray-haired mouse smiled bitterly.

If it were before, it might have thought that this was the strong man expressing his appreciation for it, but now it has understood that the strong will never do meaningless things.

Or, is there really anything worth appreciating about a mouse like it?

It never thought so.

The strong man in front of him must have different needs.

"So what can I do for you?"

"Don't ask me, ask yourself."

The coyote raised his paw and nodded his head in a very humane way.

"If you can think of this level, then you should already know the answer."

The answer? What answer?

The gray-haired mouse was asked again. The strong man in front of him seemed to always say something inexplicable.

But immediately, the gray-haired mouse realized that this sentence was actually true.

It did know the answer. After its cognition was overturned, it now knew that fame would bring burdens to the strong, and incense and wish power were even more dangerous poison. The real strong would never take the initiative to expose their whereabouts, just because they are fully capable of controlling their own body shape and all information related to them.

I heard that there is a giant whale in the East China Sea, lurking under the Nine Abysses. It is a ferocious monster that is a hundred times larger than tigers and leopards. However, as long as this giant whale does not float to the surface of the sea, no one will be able to detect its existence.

There is only one thing that can make such a terrifying giant float up.

That is, hunting.

When the hunters are hiding under the ocean, the prey that is still showing off its own strength is so conspicuous.

Yes, its arrival is not worthless.

The gray-haired mouse suddenly realized this.

Although it is extremely small, it at least brought news of the prey.

"I can... lead the way for you."

The gray-haired mouse lowered his head humbly.

"I will lead the prey to you."

"Just lead the way, you don't need to do the rest."

The coyote just licked his paw.

"Also, you don't have to look down on yourself. The fact that you have this ability to comprehend something already shows that you are extraordinary... Maybe one day, you can also achieve what I am now?"

"Can I...?"

The gray-haired mouse's mind was blank.

It could hear that this time, the strong man in front of it was really praising it.

Praising a mouse in the gutter.

Can it really do it?

Can it do it, too?

"The first step to becoming stronger is to doubt yourself less."

Speaking this, the coyote stood up.

"Let's go, it's time to move around."