The tip of Ye Yang's sword pressed down inch by inch, and my eyes fixed on Ye Yang's face as I desperately pushed my head towards the ground.

Ye Yang's sword was about to touch my brow when I suddenly pinched the blade with my fingers.

As Ye Yang's sword vibrated between my fingers, Feng Ruoxing, who was standing behind Ye Yang, said coldly, "Let go, or he will die!"

My fingers holding the sword didn't move, but my empty right hand struck my chest.

The internal force of "隔山打牛 (Ge Shan Da Niu, Striking a Cow Across the Mountain)" passed through my body and struck the ground directly. A sound like bones breaking came from behind me.

Ye Yang and Feng Ruoxing both stopped.

I deflected Ye Yang's sword with a palm, turned around, and plunged a claw into the ground. My five fingers, like hooks, grabbed a piece of wood. With a single hand, I lifted upwards, pulling a coffin lid out of the ground.

A coffin was buried where I had been lying!

Although Ye Yang was attacking me with his sword, there was resistance in his heart, so his sword moved towards my head like a pendulum, bit by bit.

Feng Ruoxing was controlling Ye Yang, but the person controlling Feng Ruoxing was hidden beneath my body.

My calculation was actually very risky. If I was wrong, the three of us would become vengeful ghosts in this abandoned courtyard.

Fortunately, I didn't gamble wrong!

Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, my face darkened. A piece of paper was stuck to the coffin lid I had lifted. "Indecisive, reckless, unable to choose, not worth training!"

Someone had just put this note in there, and the person being dismissed was clearly me.

Suppressing the anger in my heart, I got up to look for Ye Yang, but he was already standing ten meters away from the door. Feng Ruoxing had also moved to the door.

Feng Ruoxing's voice had changed into another person's: "You can be considered to have solved one of my riddles. You can leave. Those two must stay. The dignity of a strategist must not be violated."

Feng Ruoxing was being controlled, retreating step by step, guarding the right side of the gate, while Ye Yang stood on the left side. The two of them held their swords horizontally, posing as gatekeepers.

Feng Ruoxing's last words were: "I just happen to be missing two gatekeepers here. Let them guard the gate for me! So that no one will disturb me!"

The other party left Feng Ruoxing and Ye Yang behind, but insisted on letting me leave. What did that mean?

My doubts arose again, but I sat cross-legged on the ground.

When my master talked to me about strategists, he once said a few words: "Humans can conquer heaven, not by brute force, but by wisdom."

"You have quick wit but are not good at planning. I asked you to hunt down the Nine Ghosts in order to make you use your wisdom to deal with them. You have been defeated repeatedly against the Nine Ghosts, let alone against a strategist known as the all-knowing."

"Strategists are good at drawing circles. Once you step into the circle they draw, you can only be slaughtered. To break a strategist, you must jump out of the circle and think what they have not thought of."

"Don't mythologize strategists, and don't be afraid of them. Strategists are also human, and humans make mistakes. Find a way to break the circle, otherwise, you can only die with regret."

Strategists are also human, and humans have weaknesses, but they hide their weaknesses so well that people think they are flawless.

Where is Qian the Elder's weakness?

Qian the Elder is on the defensive. Is he afraid of the successor of Qu Zhi Guishen (Bending Fingers to Command Ghosts)?

No, he is not afraid, but is using himself as bait to control the Zhang family successor.

He wants to protect the Qian family!

Qian the Elder brought his grandson Qian Hong to live in this small village, but never mentioned his son. I suspect that Qian Hong is not his biological grandson for this reason. He threw out Qian Hong to protect the Qian family bloodline.

The Qian family's descendants are his weakness!

If I use something with Qian the Elder's aura to curse the Qian family, maybe I can force him out.

My finger moved slightly, but I immediately retracted it.

Although the paper on the coffin has Qian the Elder's aura, it may also be a trap he deliberately set.

What does Qian the Elder want?

Does Qian the Elder only want to protect his bloodline?

What does the Zhang family want?

Bai Xin's story, the five ghosts, and the strategist's secrets seem to be the Zhang family's goals.

The things they both want intersect before my eyes, but I can't figure out where the key to breaking the circle is.

Sitting in this courtyard, I feel like a chess piece thrown onto a chessboard.

Qian the Elder and the Zhang family can both push me, and they can both make me move in the direction they want. Only I can't move myself.

In their eyes, I am a dead piece, unless I can turn myself into a living piece, otherwise, I can't break the situation.

In the past, I was good at breaking situations with violence!

If I can't win with wits, I'll just flip the table.

When everyone stops playing, the person setting up the game will definitely come out.

That won't work this time. If I try to flip the table again, it's the same as flipping away Ye Yang and their lives first!

That's four people!

Even if I can kill two strategists, it's still trading four for two, which is too uneconomical. Besides, strategists are not as important as Ye Yang and the others.

Four people?

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck me, and a sneer rose from the corner of my mouth.