I shook my head and said, "The reason why Guizhenzi is so notorious in the art of divination is that he only ever sets up killing arrays in his life."

Killing arrays are the most difficult type of array to set up. Unlike illusion arrays, which can make people dizzy with just a few simple adjustments, killing arrays require meticulous planning to leave no chance of survival. It's impossible to complete them in a short amount of time.

Every mission I've ever undertaken has involved taking the initiative to attack. I've never had time to set up a killing array.

I continued to explain, "Guizhenzi's 'falling button formation' is just a legend. The array diagram that appears when the button lands is, to put it bluntly, a trapping array that can only temporarily trap the opponent."

"The core of the 'falling button formation' isn't the array itself, but Guizhenzi himself. Guizhenzi stands in the array and kills people, while those outside can't see what's happening inside. By the time Guizhenzi removes the array, all that's left inside is a field of corpses."

"The martial world only knows that Guizhenzi's array skills are godlike, but no one knows that he's actually a martial arts master."

"The reason I threw that button in the courtyard was twofold: first, to prove my strength to Qian the Elder, and second, to make Ling wary of me. That's pretty much it!"

As I was speaking, the hotel waiter brought me a letter.

The letter contained only a simple sentence: Three days from now, meet at noon. You choose the location.

The signature was: Ling.

I smiled bitterly as I held the letter. "Ling chose the time and left the location up to me. She's giving me a chance for a fair fight!"

Feng Ruoxing said, "Then let's choose Green Shade Manor! It's Zhao Ci's property, so we're familiar with the environment and can make some preparations. Besides, the place is relatively remote. If we really get into a fight, there won't be any trouble."

I nodded. "Alright! Let's choose Green Shade Manor!"

I left a message at the hotel bar and hurried back to my room.

For the next three days, I didn't leave the hotel, nor did I go to the manor to make any preparations.

Ling dared to let me choose the meeting place myself, which meant she wasn't afraid of me laying an ambush. Rather than letting her watch me busily setting up countermeasures, it would be better to meet her directly.

Three days later, Ling arrived as promised, precisely on time.

Ling pulled out a chair and sat down as if she were meeting an old friend. I smiled and said, "Tea or wine?"

"I only like wine!" Ling's answer didn't surprise me. I opened the wine on the table and said, "Try my own brewed wine. It has no name, but it excels in its aroma and mellowness."

Ling picked up the wine, took a sip, and said, "Good wine!" She took out peanuts from her pocket, shelled one, and threw it into her mouth.

I couldn't help but find it amusing. "You dare to drink my wine, but you won't eat my food?"

Ling smiled as well. "Fine wine and beautiful women are not to be wasted. As for food, it's not important whether it's there or not. What do you drink wine for?"

I poured myself a glass of wine. "To enjoy the feeling of leisure and contentment, nothing more. Wine is neither good nor bad, and food doesn't matter. What I want is the mood."

"Not bad!" Ling picked up her glass and clinked it against mine. "You're a wine drinker."

"Whether I gain a worthy opponent or a like-minded drinking companion, it's a great pleasure in life. I salute you!"

Ling put down her glass and said, "You must be wondering why I didn't mobilize Nan Weiyang to surround and kill the Qian family, right?"

"Yes!" I nodded. "Although I don't know the specific strength of Nan Weiyang, I believe that your manpower and experts are definitely not inferior to those of a large sect."

Ling smiled. "It seems you don't understand strategists very well."

"If the Qian family were just an ordinary family, I could destroy them with a flip of my hand. But they are strategists, so I can't."

"Strategists have a rule: our duels must be evenly matched. Using power to suppress others or force to win may work on other opponents, but the initial stage of a strategist's duel must be completely equal."

"As for strategists building up forces or bringing in helpers in the later stages of the duel, that's all based on their own abilities and is not restricted by this rule."

Hearing this, I nodded slightly. "You played Bai Xin?"

"Bai Xin is not me, but a real person." Ling explained, "The one who set up the Five Hearts Scheme back then was the Qian family."

As I frowned slightly, Ling smiled and said, "Do you know what kind of people in this world are least afraid of being immoral? Strategists!"

"A strategist's plan can often lead to the deaths of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people. In their eyes, as long as they can achieve their goals, human lives are less valuable than a floating cloud. They won't even bother to listen to how many people died."

"Strategists are also schemers. As long as we want to make a move, anyone can be a chess piece!"

"It's like Qian the Elder saying you're indecisive and not capable of great things. He was actually saying that if you just struck decisively, you could escape danger and maybe even counterattack."

"But you chose a way to gamble your life, which is the stupidest thing in the eyes of a strategist. That's why Qian the Elder changed his mind."

"I think he initially planned to give you a fake secret manual, let you become his successor, and lure me away. Later, he simply didn't have the confidence and let you go alone."

"Qian the Elder didn't know you, but he treated you as a chess piece, but that's the way of a strategist."