Chapter 574: I Have a Friend Named Xu Xiaoshou

"Understands nothing!"

The red-robed group immediately grew agitated the moment Xu Xiaoshou finished speaking. Had they not been well-trained, some might have already started cursing aloud, whether at the Saint Servant's second-in-command or Yu Zhiwen.

"Resisted, Passive Value, 12.""Glared at, Passive Value, 17.""Cursed, Passive Value, 19."

Xu Xiaoshou casually withdrew his gaze.

"Now, the second question."

Suddenly, the red-robed crowd could no longer suppress their agitation and began to stir. But before chaos could erupt, Lan Ling's lips parted slightly, as if transmitting a message. In less than half a breath, the crowd behind them immediately fell silent again.

Yu Zhiwen gave her a grateful look. Despite her initial disbelief in the Saint Servant's second-in-command standing before her, repeated observations had left her with lingering suspicions.

He was so similar! His speech, his demeanor—even if subtly distorted—were too alike. But Yu Zhiwen had spent a considerable amount of time with that person. There were inherent nuances that others might not perceive. But she trusted her intuition.

"And it's not just intuition..." Yu Zhiwen turned her head back, her eyes flickering. "It could be said that this Saint Servant's second-in-command is already the strongest combatant among everyone present. Given his volatile temperament, had anyone else interrupted him twice like I did, they would have already been killed. Why did he obediently stop?"

"Moreover! Those repeated intimidations, appearing as if he was about to strike, were in fact merely psychological tactics. This person, his true strength, hasn't even been fully unleashed once... yet. Yes! Not even once! Is it because he disdains us, or because he truly has none?"

Yu Zhiwen pondered, feeling she had grasped a sliver of possibility. If the Saint Servant's second-in-command was only demonstrating this level of power, relying on the Cinderflame Origin Seed, the Three-Day Frozen Tribulation... it seemed that if Xu Xiaoshou himself were here, it wouldn't be impossible for him to do the same?

"The important thing is, he's just too similar. Although this Saint Servant claims not to know him... if two complete strangers formed a connection based on a negligible chance, would they really be this alike?"

Recalling this, Yu Zhiwen's heart was already certain. Even if this Saint Servant's second-in-command couldn't possibly be Xu Xiaoshou, he must have a profound connection to him. After all, judging from all his actions just now, if one were to consider it from another angle, there was a subtle hint of protecting his own people.

"Do you want Xu Xiaoshou to have no connection with the Saint Servants..." Yu Zhiwen didn't turn back, but she could already feel Lan Ling's encouraging gaze. She had entrusted everything to her. Was this the feeling of trust? If, under these circumstances, her judgment still proved wrong... Her thoughts paused.

Yu Zhiwen knew the game had already begun. At this point, she had no retreat. Ahead, there was only the path of burning bridges!

"Since you've put it this way, Senior, this junior accepts. Three questions, three lives." Ignoring the resentful gazes from behind her, Yu Zhiwen continued, "But you also said you are not someone who disregards rules. Then, since it's a game, according to the rules, there must be winners and losers. If it's just about asking three questions and us sacrificing three lives, then, from a results-based perspective, this game has no winners or losers at all. Or rather, no matter how well this junior performs... even if the questions are incisive, the ultimate outcome will still be a loss."

Yu Zhiwen paused, met his gaze, and asked fearlessly, "So, how will our victory be determined?"

The Storyteller chuckled aloud. "Playing with the second-in-command, and you still want to talk about rules? It's already good enough that he's letting you ask questions; you're even thinking about winning!"

However, it had to be said that, given the situation, Yu Zhiwen's comprehensive foresight had already earned her a higher regard from the Storyteller. In such a tense atmosphere, her ability to analyze calmly and even contend with a contemporary powerhouse without losing composure was truly admirable.

"What a pity, she's only a woman." The Storyteller shook his head, ultimately losing much of his interest.

Xu Xiaoshou knew Yu Zhiwen was indeed exceptionally intelligent. But these two consecutive waves of forceful remarks still made him look at the girl with new eyes. After a moment of contemplation, he waved his hand.

"A very good 'question'." The red-robed crowd's brief moment of sustained anticipation was instantly shattered by Xu Xiaoshou's deliberately emphasized word "question." Upon careful recollection, "Oh, right!" Yu Zhiwen's tone just now did indeed seem like a question... "How will our victory be determined?" But, that counts too?

Immediately, all the red-robed figures, including Yu Zhiwen, were so infuriated they felt a sharp pain, yet they remained helpless.

"Resisted, Passive Value, 18.""Cursed, Passive Value, 16."

"Regarding the definition of winning and losing..." Xu Xiaoshou lowered his head in thought for a moment, then slowly said, "As long as your question can pique this old man's interest even slightly, then you win."

He spoke with conviction, and the red-robed figures' faces truly turned livid. Another subjective judgment? This was just sheer hooliganism!

"Then, what kind of question..." Yu Zhiwen instinctively followed the straw-hatted old man's words, but then suddenly snapped awake.

Damn it! She realized she had been guided by his rhetoric all along? This old fox, he's truly terrifying! If she really asked another question, wouldn't the game just end?

Yu Zhiwen immediately changed tack, saying, "What this junior considers interesting, Senior, should be the same as you: when you dare not directly answer the question I ask, that means it's interesting!" She deliberately emphasized her tone, precisely to prevent the straw-hatted old man from declaring "Game over."

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes revealed a pleased glint, as if acknowledging a teachable student. "Very good, you are very clever. But living in this world, every step of growth requires a price. No matter who you are or what your background, no one is obligated to teach you or train you without reservation or charge."

Everyone listened, feeling that something was amiss. As expected, the next second, Xu Xiaoshou uttered the most unpleasant words.

"Today, you little girl have grown; you know how to speak now, but the price is among you red-robed ones... The second person, has also died."

Yu Zhiwen's face instantly fell. Lan Ling, Night Watch, and the others were collectively speechless. The red-robed crowd lingering behind each turned ashen-faced, becoming frightened and uneasy once more.

"Cursed, Passive Value, 12.""Slandered, Passive Value, 18."

"The third question." Xu Xiaoshou smiled and raised his middle finger, retracting the thumb and index finger he had previously held up.

Yu Zhiwen now dared not speak carelessly at all. Heaven knew, if she inadvertently said anything more at this moment, the straw-hatted old man could terminate the game and freely kill. If that were the case, her sin, Yu Zhiwen's sin, would be immense!

"This junior has some conjectures; I wonder if I should speak..."

"Bah!" Yu Zhiwen spat heavily. Damn this upbringing!

Blushing, regardless of the other party's reaction, she began to speak directly: "To be frank, Senior, that friend I mentioned earlier, Xu Xiaoshou, should be here. While we were controlling the great array, we encountered a wave of attacks. And if Senior Lan Ling's judgment and mine are both correct, then someone was attempting to seize control of the great array."

The Storyteller's eyebrow suddenly twitched. Very subtly. But it made Xu Xiaoshou's heart skip a beat. He immediately used his spiritual sense to look inward, checking the information bar he had almost forgotten. As expected. Scrolling up the information, amidst a continuous string of 'Cursed,' 'Slandered,' and 'Resisted,' there were occasionally a few instances of 'Suspected.' Moreover, each time the passive value was '1.'

During this time, facing so many powerful individuals simultaneously, Xu Xiaoshou found it difficult to spare any attention for the small details in the information bar. It was only now that he noticed this crucial piece of information!

"My heavens, could it be that Little Yu has already guessed something? How dare she even think of that..."

Xu Xiaoshou was instantly horrified, his heart accelerating almost uncontrollably. He had a mind to stop the girl from continuing to speak. But in his 'Perception,' the Storyteller already looked quite interested. Clearly, this fellow had connected it to his earlier attempt to break through the ancient book space and escape.

Furthermore! Yu Zhiwen had stated earlier that if he dared not directly answer her question, it would mean... he lost. Winning or losing was not important at this moment. However, under the prerequisite she had emphasized, if he still didn't dare to face it, he would surely have something to hide. Invisibly, it would be equivalent to acknowledging Yu Zhiwen's words.

"Good heavens!" This time, Xu Xiaoshou was truly astonished. "You haven't paid much in tuition, little girl, yet your grades have suddenly skyrocketed..."

It had to be said, at this moment, Xu Xiaoshou was slightly flustered. He felt that the situation was on the verge of collapse. But at this point, he had no way to stop it.

"So?" With a casual rhetorical question, Xu Xiaoshou perfectly masked the turbulent emotions within him.

Yu Zhiwen did not respond. She had become clever. The old man before her certainly had an inexpressible, inexplicable connection with Xu Xiaoshou. Otherwise, these subtle little tricks couldn't be so similar. Yu Zhiwen, who had already learned not to respond to Xu Xiaoshou's verbal provocations, now directly addressed the straw-hatted old man as if he were Xu Xiaoshou, continuing her line of thought:

"According to our Red Robes' intelligence, combined with this junior's own judgment, there cannot be any grandmaster-level or higher spiritual array masters near the Sword-Leaving Grasslands. And without those conditions, no one could, in such a short amount of time, successfully touch the core of the Heaven Sealing Great Array. Even if this great array's core was merely copied by Senior Storyteller." As she spoke, she cast her gaze toward the Storyteller.

The Storyteller's eyes showed even greater interest. "Little girl, you are very impressive. You can even tell that this array is not that array. Indeed." He nodded proudly. "Unlike the White Cave's 'Thirty-Six Heavens Seal Array,' all the arrays here were successfully copied by me, and it took a full day and a half."

At his words, everyone felt their scalp tingle at once. It was obvious that the Storyteller wasn't even an ordinary spiritual array master. Yet, relying on his ancient book space, he had forcefully copied all the Dao patterns of the Heavenly Mechanism Great Array, and in a runnable form!

"Only a day and a half..." Even Yu Zhiwen, as a Heavenly Mechanism Artificer, was startled by this. To copy such a complex and vast Heaven and Earth Great Array in such a short time — wasn't that practically superhuman?

Xu Xiaoshou, however, frowned. At this moment, his mood was entirely detached from the topic the Storyteller had diverted to. Yu Zhiwen, there was something about her! Her way of speaking had a familiar feeling, one he couldn't quite place, as if she was subtly brewing something. And yet, what she was saying at this moment came in disjointed pieces. If not connected, her ultimate meaning would be completely incomprehensible.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Xu Xiaoshou ultimately did not interrupt her. After all, if he conceded early, perhaps this play would end in tragedy.

"What I want to express..." Yu Zhiwen secretly rejoiced that she hadn't been interrupted. As long as the straw-hatted old man didn't stop her, then no matter the final outcome, at least she could say she had tried her best.

"A gut feeling." Yu Zhiwen said calmly, "Still, the same words: I have a friend named Xu Xiaoshou. All the prerequisites I've mentioned before might apply to anyone, but for him, they're all invalid!"

"Oh?" The Storyteller's curiosity was instantly piqued. Before his eyes appeared the image of the young man who had broken out of his ancient book space and then fled for his life. Was he truly that remarkable?

"Expected, Passive Value, 1."

Without waiting for the straw-hatted old man to react, Yu Zhiwen knew she couldn't stop. So she quickened her pace, saying: "My friend is exceptionally capable. Senior Night Watch has witnessed and acknowledged it." She pointed to Night Watch, the red-robed figure, and rattled off a torrent of words: "My friend once, at the Tiansang City Lord's Mansion, discerned a partial copied diagram of the 'Thirty-Six Heavens Seal Array' with just a glance. And a spiritual array master with such a foundation, who has also touched upon the art of Heavenly Mechanism and is an advanced spiritual array master, would only need one item as an aid to control the Heaven Sealing Great Array in a short amount of time! That is..."

"Mmmph!" As Yu Zhiwen spoke, her eyes suddenly bulged, and her words were completely choked, as if under immense pressure.

The next second.

"Pfft!" She instantly dropped to her knees in mid-air, a mouthful of blood spewing out.

"Zhiwen!" Lan Ling exclaimed.

Everyone was startled by this sudden turn of events... Turning back abruptly, they saw the Saint Servant's second-in-command's pair of eerie black eyes fixed intently on Yu Zhiwen.

"Shameless!" Lan Ling directly cursed aloud. In the middle of the game, he unilaterally broke the rules and dealt such a harsh blow to a junior. Was this the demeanor a contemporary powerhouse should possess?

"Second-in-command!" The Storyteller suddenly called out loudly, his words already containing a hint of unfriendliness. He, too, was startled by Yu Zhiwen's words. For some reason, the box-shaped object the second-in-command had taken out from underground earlier suddenly appeared in his mind. And the seemingly innocuous reminder from Luo Leilei when he first discovered the second-in-command seemed to be directly amplified at this moment. Everything subtly seemed to be connecting into a single thread.

"Second-in-command, let her speak. What exactly is that thing?" The Storyteller stared directly at his own second-in-command.

"Suspected, Passive Value, 1."

Xu Xiaoshou ignored it directly. How could he let Yu Zhiwen say it? Sure enough, his premonition was not wrong. This girl was crazy. She had grown too fast. To the point where she could trap him step by step with her words. One should look at a scholar with new eyes after three days' absence. The ancients truly did not deceive me!

"Cough, cough, cough..." Yu Zhiwen wiped the blood from the corner of her lips, feeling that the aura, which should have been enough to crush everyone present, seemed to have been subtly reined in when it fell upon her. She tugged at her blood-stained red lips, and surprisingly, she was smiling.

"Se-Senior, you lost." Struggling to utter these words, Yu Zhiwen called him 'Senior' verbally. But in her eyes, there was already the gaze of an equal.

Even if she still didn't believe it, at this moment, she already knew. This person who dared to brazenly reprimand and act audaciously in front of numerous Path-Cutters and a dozen King-level experts, was truly... Xu Xiaoshou!

"How dare he...""How *dare* he?!"

Yu Zhiwen's heart was a mix of emotions, feeling unpleasant. So, Xu Xiaoshou had truly arrived here in advance. He was omnipresent!

"Admired, Passive Value, 1."

When Xu Xiaoshou saw this piece of information, he already understood something. Completely disregarding the enraged crowd, at this moment he only wanted to understand what exactly had happened to Yu Zhiwen. She was clearly just a sweet, naive girl...

"Who taught you all these things? Was it also your extraordinary master? Have you been deceiving me all this time?" Xu Xiaoshou felt that his past experiences with this girl were somewhat unreal. Do people truly only see the truth clearly after parting ways?

Yu Zhiwen was startled. What did she hear? Telepathic message?! Xu Xiaoshou, since when could he transmit messages telepathically? She glanced around for a moment; no one noticed. Clearly, it really was Xu Xiaoshou's voice!

At this moment, Yu Zhiwen smiled. Her starry eyes curved, and a blush appeared on her pretty face. Under immense pressure, she actually straightened her back and gazed directly at the decrepit-looking man. It wasn't a telepathic message. With a lift of her chin, her defiant voice echoed throughout the hall.

"Still, the same words... I have a friend named Xu Xiaoshou. He taught me!"