Drunk into late autumn for you

The setting sun is shining, and it is all over the Liancheng River, shaking golden waves, and a few white gulls in the middle of the river are chasing a little sail shadow, flying leisurely.

Yi Shenghan stood at the bow of the boat, looking at Mo Zuiqiu who was sitting with his knees hugged in front of him, he had nothing to do but sigh secretly.

Since the Huangshan trip, no matter how he apologized and explained along the way, he tried every means to get Mo Zuiqiu to talk, but Mo Zuiqiu seemed determined, and he didn't respond to him with a single word or phrase, and he didn't even look at him. Contact, most of the time only left him with a lonely back.

Yesterday evening, the two arrived at the Liancheng River. Yi Shenghan bought a small boat at the ferry, abandoned the horse and boarded the boat, and the river was windy at night.Zui Qiu ignored his persuasion, and sat on the bow of the boat all night long, preferring to be blown by the river wind all night, rather than get along with him in the same cabin.

In Mo Zuiqiu's heart, is he really so hateful?Yi Shenghan stared at the back of Mo Zuiqiu who rejected people thousands of miles away, unable to do anything, finally walked forward slowly with a wry smile, and put the thin quilt in his hand on Mo Zuiqiu's shoulders. "If you still insist on spending the night in the bow tonight, just take this quilt—"

He couldn't finish, because Mo Zuiqiu stretched out his hand and gently removed the quilt.

"... Mo Zuiqiu, you've had enough!" Yi Shenghan finally lost patience with this stubborn guy, angrily mentioned Mo Zuiqiu, strode back to the cabin with the quilt on the floor, and threw him into the only cot.

Mo Zuiqiu's face changed miserably, thinking that the man would rape him again next time, but who knew that the man just stared at him condescendingly, but did nothing, and finally threw the quilt on him, and said coldly: "Stay in the cabin!" Here it is, I don’t want you to go to the peak of offering sacrifices to the gods sick because of the wind and cold.”

After looking reluctantly at Mo Zuiqiu's elegant and handsome face, which made him both loving and angry, Yi Shenghan flicked his sleeves and stepped out of the cabin. Slowly diminished.

Just now, he was impulsive, and he almost couldn't help but want to pounce on him, loving Mo Zuiqiu fiercely, until Mo Zuiqiu had no time to get angry with him anymore, but if he really did that, Mo Zuiqiu would definitely get angry with him more and then torment him with longer silences.

His whole life was totally in the hands of Mo Zuiqiu. If his followers knew that their leader would have such a miserable day, they would definitely laugh their heads off. Yi Shenghan laughed at himself, and then sighed heavily.

Mo Zuiqiu lay blankly on the bed, listening to the man sighing outside the cabin, feeling confused.

"...Drunken Autumn..."

In the gradually turning night wind, he suddenly heard the man question in a low voice: "Why don't you believe me?"

What do you want him to believe?Do you believe that Han Xiao, who has longed for him since the first time they met, would really like a disabled person like him?Mo Zuiqiu only felt that this person's question was too funny.Even if that night of adultery was Han Xiao's so-called liking, what men like is probably only his body that can be used to vent their desires. Besides, what else is there for Han Xiao to pay attention to him, a useless person?

Yi Sheng Han Ku waited for a long time, but did not hear Mo Zuiqiu's answer.As expected, ridiculously, he still held a little expectation, thinking that after Mo Zuiqiu came down the mountain, he should see his tolerance in every way and change his opinion.

It turned out that he had always been wishful thinking.

He remained silent, stopped the useless questioning, and let the night fall quietly, like a huge net, covering the rivers, boats, fishing boats, and even everything in the world.

He screamed loudly and suddenly, all the birds in the river flapped their wings and flew away.

After all, he is nothing more than an ordinary person who is ridiculed and manipulated by God's will. What is the use of the leader of the Tianyi Sect and the unique martial arts? !

Mo Zuiqiu listened to the man's shocking howl that contained endless grief, anger and frustration, he was stunned for a while, and bit his lips tightly.

It's not that he doesn't want to believe Han Xiao, but he doesn't dare.

The man's appearance and skill are enough to look down on the world, so what reason does he have to believe that he can really be appreciated by Han Xiao?What's more, after going up to the God Sacrifice Peak, his life was handed over to Yaoquan, and it no longer belonged to him. He didn't even know how long he could live?

A dying person, why bother with Han Xiao anymore.

Three days later, the boat docked at the foot of Jishen Peak, and Qin Song and Xun Lan came to welcome them.

On that day, Master Sacrificial God and Yi Shenghan went down the mountain together, the two had already learned that the leader of the Tianyi Sect was an old friend of the Venerable Lord, and when the servant informed him of his return, they did not dare to neglect at all, and hurried down the mountain to greet him.

Seeing Mo Zuiqiu silently following behind Yi Shenghan, Qin Song was taken aback, looked at Yi Shenghan and was about to ask, but Yi Shenghan said beforehand: "Your lord has something to do on the way, so we will part ways with me , Is he back? Tell him, the old friend Han Xiao is here." While winking at the two of them.

Qin Song was not stupid, and immediately realized that the leader of the Tianyi Sect must not want to reveal his true identity in front of Mo Zuiqiu, so he said respectfully: "Hero Han, the Lord has not returned yet. Please go up the mountain first, both of you."

Yi Shenghan frowned slightly, as his teacher worshiped the gods, it was time to rush back to the peak of worshiping the gods in these two days. Could it be that he was delayed by something on the way, or was he frustrated in seeking revenge at Broken Sword Xiaozhu?Thinking of that mysterious old servant, I felt a little worried about the Master's sacrifice to God, but Su knew that Master's sacrifice to God was much more cautious than himself, even if he was in danger, he should not make a big mistake.

Determined not to waste his mind on this matter, he led Mo Zuiqiu straight to the summit.

Mo Zuiqiu thought that Han Xiao would directly take him to the alchemy room to see the medicine spring, but in the end he was placed in the small room where he used to live.

Seeing the servants clean up the small room with his own eyes, Yi Shenghan left satisfied.

Walking to a secluded place, he couldn't help sighing.The whole blame teacher was talking nonsense that day, but told him where to find a living dead to deal with Mo Zuiqiu now?

Forget it, I still have to save this mess and wait for the Master Sacrifice God to come back and clean it up.

"My lord, dinner is here."

When it was time to light the lamps, the servants brought several plates of delicate dishes.

Mo Zuiqiu and the others left, and slowly sat down at the table, facing a table of food, his thoughts involuntarily returned to a year ago.Under the faint red candle, the young man occupied the dining table, as if he was afraid that someone would compete for food, he ate quickly.Hearing his muffled laugh, the young boy's black eyes turned towards him dissatisfied. It was obviously an expression of anger and warning, but he thought it was extremely cute.

At that time, he was thinking that if he had such a cunning and handsome younger brother, it would definitely bring countless fun, so on the way to escape, knowing that he would bring shame on himself, he still resolutely decided to ask the same family to take in the boy who met him by accident, and wanted to give the boy a In the future where there is no need to worry about food and clothing, he will always want to protect the boy, even if the boy's scrutiny is thousands of times better than his.

It's a pity that everything that followed was like a runaway horse, and neither of them could control it...

Mo Zuiqiu let out a long breath of depression, he couldn't bear the kindness of the leader of Tianyi Sect, let alone deserve it, so let him use this life that should belong to Yi Shenghan to repay it.

The next morning, he got up early, waiting for someone to take him to Yaoquan, sat there until noon without moving, and asked the servant who delivered the food, the man didn't know what to ask, just shook his head.

Mo Zuiqiu had no choice but to wait for another two days, but still no Yaoquan appeared, and even Han Xiao disappeared, as if his existence had been completely forgotten.He was in doubt, seeing the shadow of the setting sun dragging longer and longer on the ground, he finally lost his composure and left the room.

If it wasn't for rushing to rescue Yi Shenghan, Mo Zuiqiu would have been extremely unwilling to meet that man again, but now he had no choice but to go find Han Xiao.He was not very familiar with the terrain of Jishen Peak, so he asked several servants along the way, and finally asked where Han Xiao was, and found the other courtyard where the distinguished guest lived.

A few clumps of tall and straight bamboos are tall and straight, and the whitewashed walls are half covered, making it extremely quiet and pleasant.

The two courtyard gates run along.Mo Zuiqiu lightly knocked the door knocker a few times, and called Han Xiao again, but there was no response, thinking to himself that he didn't give Han Xiao a good look on the way home, the man probably held a grudge in his heart, and deliberately ignored him.He gritted his teeth and pushed the door open.

A large piece of green bamboo was also planted in the courtyard, the door of the wing room was wide open, and sandalwood was still burning in the incense burner on the desk, but there was no one there.

Since Mo Zuiqiu arrived, he didn't want to go in vain, so he lit the candlesticks, sat down in the room and waited quietly.

Not long after, the courtyard door slammed and was pushed open.

coming?Mo Zuiqiu raised his head from his seat, just as the visitor had already walked outside the door, he pushed open the wooden door. "Yi Shenghan—huh? Why are you?"

The priest raised his eyebrows in surprise.He had just returned, and was trying to discuss some important matters with Yi Shenghan, but he was in vain.

"You're calling Yijiaozhu?" Mo Zuiqiu was more surprised than Shijishen. He was sure that he had heard correctly just now, but the person Shijishen came here to look for should not be Han Xiao?

It seems that Mo Zuiqiu doesn't seem to know the truth yet.Hey, his little senior brother was too tolerant this time!He has already tricked people back to Sacrificial God Peak, but still concealed the truth, so is he going to continue spreading the lie?The priest priest secretly laughed, and suddenly heard the sound of footsteps as light as cotton wool walking towards the other courtyard.

He turned around and saw that Yi Shenghan had entered the courtyard in the twilight, and there was a faint flow of stellar energy around him. Obviously, he had just finished practicing. He walked up to him and smiled: "Shenghan, you came back just in time—"

Yi Shenghan looked over the shoulder of the god priest, and saw Mo Zuiqiu with a pale face in the seat, his expression suddenly changed.The "Sheng Han" sound of Master Sacrificial God undoubtedly exposed his background. He flew into the room and scolded unceremoniously: "Master Sacrificial God, shut up!"

"You guys?" Master Jishen's gaze was like a torch, and he suddenly sensed the strange atmosphere between the two, so he smiled.

Yi Shenghan smiled wryly, how could he explain clearly to the priest for a while, and the most important thing right now is to appease Mo Zuiqiu first. I will find you in time."

The Master Sacrificial God looked at his solemn face, nodded, and drifted away.

Yi Shenghan turned his head and faced Mo Zuiqiu.

The young man was still the same as before, sitting motionless in the chair, the candlelight cast a heavy shadow on Mo Zuiqiu's face.Mo Zuiqiu's eyes were also fixed, not moving, his whole body was like a lifeless clay sculpture and wood carving.

"Zuiqiu..." Yi Shenghan didn't expect the truth to be exposed so quickly, he was unprepared, he was a little bit at a loss, and he didn't know how to explain it.

He leaned over to hold the armrest of the seat, tried his best to slow down his tone, and said cautiously: "I didn't tell you earlier. I was indeed buried in the heavy snow that day in Tianshan Mountain, and was rescued by Shiji God. Shiji God hijacked your master back then. At that time, I ordered Yaoquan to take a gourd of your master's blood and refine it for me..."

His voice gradually lowered, because the expressions of the people in the seat remained the same, without any change at all, as if they hadn't heard what he was saying at all, only the sound of breathing that was suppressed as much as possible, indicating that Mo Zuiqiu was trying his best to restrain himself Own.

Mo Zuiqiu must have been extremely angry... Yi Shenghan was silent for a while, and then said slowly in a deep voice: "Ziqiu, believe it or not, I really like you, that's why I went to Broken Sword again. I’m looking for you. I’m afraid you still remember how I humiliated you back then, hated the me I used to be, and refused to let me get close, so I kept it from you at the beginning, and I wanted to tell you when the time is right.”

Mo Zuiqiu had bulging veins on the back of his hand gripping the handrail, slowly raised his head, looked at the man's deep black eyes, and smiled abruptly—this look, in fact, was so similar to Xiao Han's!Han Xiao Han Xiao, isn't it just reading "Xiaohan" upside down?

Only if he is as dull as him, will he be tricked by Yi Shenghan again, and he will be deceived again and again even though he has sensed something strange during the journey, but still trusts him...

"Heh..." He stood up, gently pushed away Yi Shenghan who was standing in front of him, and walked out with a smile.

Looking at Mo Zuiqiu's faint smile, Yi Shenghan felt a chill in his heart, and felt that if Mo Zuiqiu was allowed to walk out of here, he would lose this person forever.He quickly grabbed Mo Zuiqiu, hugged him from behind, and murmured in a low voice: "Zuiqiu, don't do this. Everything I said is true, you believe me, trust me..."

The man's deep pleading kept repeating in his ears, but Mo Zuiqiu thought of that night on Sun-Viewing Cliff, the wind and rain were torrential outside, and the man hugged him tightly inside the house.

The man's heavy and lustful panting and low smile kept passing by his ears: "Zuiqiu, do you like me? Do you know that I like your current appearance the most, huh..."

The man greedily kissed his brows, eyes and lips, licked his sweat, tears, and body fluid, galloped and throbbed hard in his body, sending him to the peak of bliss time and time again...

The body is hot, but the heart is inexplicably sad, falling slowly, falling... Mo Zuiqiu closed his eyes slightly, and suddenly asked the man behind him who was still begging in a low voice: "Master Yi, are you waiting for you to lose interest in me?" , will you let me go?"

Yi Shenghan didn't understand what he was saying for a while, and while he was stunned, Mo Zuiqiu had already started to take off his clothes, and within two strokes, the top fell off his shoulders, leaving half of his body naked.

"What are you doing? Put it on!"

This stubborn guy actually started to despise himself again.Yi Shenghan was furious and heartbroken, grabbed Mo Zuiqiu's left hand, covered his shirt for him, and wanted to scold Mo Zuiqiu, but when he saw Mo Zuiqiu's expressionless face, he was suddenly discouraged .No matter how much he talked, Mo Zuiqiu still refused to believe him.

Yi Shenghan stared at Mo Zuiqiu steadfastly, although he didn't say a word, Mo Zuiqiu felt that the man's eyes seemed to be extremely hateful, but also extremely sad.He lowered his head without a word, only listening to the wind on his sleeves, Yi Shenghan had already passed by him, and left the room without looking back.

Yi Shenghan, he probably left because of his anger... Mo Zuiqiu slumped back in his chair, looked at his right hand, and smiled desolately.

So what to believe?That is the leader of Tianyi Sect who is famous all over the world, and he is just a cripple who has nothing. The two people who are so different from each other will never be able to stay together until they grow old.

On the sapphire case, plain sandalwood, the master worshiped the god sitting upright, holding a jade pot and slowly pouring wine into the two wine glasses on the case.Hearing the familiar light footsteps in the corridor, he raised his eyes slightly, raised his glass and sipped the fine wine, and said indifferently to the visitor, "Sit down."

Yi Shenghan frowned, sat on the ground, drank the wine in one gulp, and became even more irritable. He sighed, put down the glass, and asked, "By the way, what did you gain from your trip to Xiaozhu? Did you follow me again?" Is that old guy right?"

The God of Master Sacrifice calmly said: "The man who broke Mo Zuiqiu's finger, I have already taught him a lesson for you, brought him back, and locked him in the dungeon. If you don't feel relieved, you can kill him, but it's the opposite. It’s cheap for him. I originally wanted to teach Guan Shanyu a lesson, but it was a pity that Su Muzhe was alarmed and rescued him.”

Yi Shenghan knew that the understatement taught by Master Sacrificial God was enough to make that person live or die, so his anger finally calmed down, and he nodded, "Okay. Are you injured?"

"You can't hurt me by covering yourself with the Soviet curtain." Shi Jishen's eyes turned cold, his face darkened, he turned his back to Yi Shenghan, and unbuttoned his shirt.There was a purple palm print on his back, five fingers were clearly visible, but the center of the palm turned white.

"Ziluo Feiyan Palm!" No matter how calm Yi Shenghan was, he couldn't help but change color suddenly, because this was one of the palm techniques he was good at using. "Who hurt you?"

Shi Jishen put back his clothes, turned his head to stare at Yi Shenghan, and said coldly, "It's that old guy. But his palm is weak, not as strong as your palm back then. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to retreat completely."

Yi Shenghan was startled, there are only two people in this world who can master this palm technique, one is him, and the other is his master - Shen Wumeng, the previous leader of Tianyi Sect.

It's just that not long after he took over the position of leader, Shen Wumeng died of a sudden illness.Where did the old servant learn this palm technique? !

The two looked at each other, and both felt that this matter was 12 points weird. In the end, Yi Shenghan broke the silence, "When I return to the main altar, I will immediately go to Shen Jiaozhu's spirit to see what happened."

The god of priests nodded, looked at Yi Shenghan's tangled brows, and said, "What about Mo Zuiqiu? You decided to take him back together? You two were weird before, what happened?"

"Don't bother me about me and Zuiqiu." Yi Shenghan thought about his troubles.After drinking several cups in a row, he turned around and left.

The priest swirled the wine glass lightly, and finally shook his head.

Yi Shenghan stepped out of the living room, the night had already shrouded the top of the Jishen Peak, the waning moon was half hidden in the clouds, it was very desolate.

Mo Zuiqiu's small room was on the other side of the mountain, and Yi Shenghan stared into the distance for a long time in the night, stretching his body and darting over there.

Mo Zuiqiu didn't know how he returned from Yi Shenghan's guest house to his small room, he only knew that it was not a long journey, but he walked with difficulty.After stepping into the small room, all the strength in his body seemed to be taken away, he sat in the chair and continued to be in a daze.

The twilight gradually took away the last ray of twilight, and the room was full of darkness, but it was not comparable to the heavy shadow that lingered in his heart.

In the deadly silence, the door was suddenly pushed open, and the man's slender figure stood in front of the door, looking at him without blinking, with such naked affection in his eyes that Mo Zuiqiu hardly dared to look at him.

Aren't the words he said earlier not cruel enough?This day, the leader of Yijiao, hasn't given up on him yet?Mo Zuiqiu trembled, and was about to chase him away, but Yi Shenghan strode inside, picked him up, turned back and walked out of the house.

After walking to the most remote and quiet place on the mountain here, Yi Shenghan found a clean grassy area, and slowly sat down with Mo Zuiqiu in his arms.The faint moonlight, as blue and white as water, immediately sprinkled on the two of them, forming shadows of different shades.

This scene was somewhat similar to when the two were admiring the moon in the Tianshan Mountains. For a while, the two were immersed in the memories of the past, silent.

After a while, Yi Shenghan finally said in a low voice: "Ziqiu, don't talk, just listen to me. Yes, I have lied to you many times, but I never wanted to harm you. I really shouldn't have insulted you like that back then, but Zuiqiu, do you know? Seeing you care so much about Guan Shanyu, I was going crazy! I did that because I wanted you to only have me in your heart and stop thinking about other people. Not to tease you. Zuiqiu, I really like you..."

He stroked Mo Zuiqiu's cold and trembling severed finger, and smiled wryly: "Tell me, Zuiqiu, what should I do to make you believe me?"

The atrium convulsed and throbbed because he couldn't bear Yi Shenghan's pleading, Mo Zuiqiu gritted his teeth, and suddenly shook off Yi Shenghan's hand with all his strength, and turned his head.

The man's astonished and injured expression made Mo Zuiqiu's chest ache unbearably, but he still remained indifferent, and the sneer he let out was harsh even to himself.

"Yi Jiaozhu, no matter how much you say, I won't believe it. Don't you just have dirty thoughts about my body? You give up! I will always only like my master Guan Shanyu. I want me to be with you , and do that kind of ugly thing with you that is not as good as a pig or a dog, you'd better give me a slap to make it easy."

"Mo Zuiqiu!" The anger in Yi Shenghan's black eyes was repeated, and his voice trembled with anger: "What do you call a pig and a dog?! I like you, so it's not enough to please you and serve you? You that night Mingming is happy too, has been hugging me and refuses to let go, don't you dare to admit it?!"

"So what?" For the first time in Mo Zuiqiu's life, Mo Zuiqiu discovered that he could speak the most acrimonious words without changing his face, every word was like a needle, to pierce the person who fell in love with him. "I was drunk by you. At that time, even if I was ten times more disgusting than you, I would still come. Lord Yi, you don't think I'm really attracted to a shameless and nasty person like you right?"

He turned his head away from the distorted face of the man under the moonlight, and said coldly, "Master Yi, please let me go!"

Yi Shenghan suddenly raised his palm high, and in an instant, he really had a bloodthirsty impulse, wanting to destroy Mo Zuiqiu together with him.However, staring at Mo Zuiqiu's pale and bluish side, the appearance of Mo Zuiqiu when he was just dug out from the heavy snow floated in front of his eyes—the snow-white face was almost transparent, as if it would fall out of his hands if he was not careful. Turned into a phantom, completely disappeared.

At that time, he didn't have any distracting thoughts in his mind, he only knew that he would save Mo Zuiqiu's life no matter what, that was the person he gave everything he had and didn't want to lose...

"boom--"

The earth-shattering palm did not land on Mo Zuiqiu after all, but hit the side trees in the air. Several towering trees shook for a while, but they did not break, not even a single leaf fell.

Yi Shenghan smiled sadly, jumped up, ran wildly, and disappeared without a trace in an instant.

Hearing the man's desolate laughter disappear completely, Mo Zuiqiu didn't move at all, still sitting in a daze.

Wherever the night wind passed, there was blowing overhead, and countless leaves swirled and fell. Each piece turned into a strange dark purple, covering the grass, like a big beach of half-dried blood.

"Crack!"

Several soft, barely audible sounds drifted into Mo Zuiqiu's ears one after another.He looked back, and was shocked to see that those towering giant trees seemed to have been burned by a raging fire. From the tree body to the branches, they were all black, and then they were blown by the strong wind and turned into fly ash, and the purple leaves all over the ground were blown by the wind. It rose up, shattered like powder, and disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving no trace.

Mo Zuiqiu stood stunned in the wind, covered his face for a long while, and laughed silently.

Even if martial arts are not abandoned, it is impossible for him to practice to the level of Yi Shenghan's perfection in this life, not to mention that he has a hand muscle and his limbs are mutilated. Even if Yi Shenghan doesn't care about the eyes of others, he is ashamed of himself. He didn't have the courage to stand side by side with Yi Shenghan and face the pointing and ridicule of the world.

Let everything that was absurd and dreamlike in the past be wiped out with that person's departure.

Master Jishen held the scroll in one hand and the cup in the other, and was still drinking lightly under the lamp.Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching suddenly, seeing Yi Shenghan go and return, he was startled for a moment, and then he found that Yi Shenghan's face was sinking like water, he couldn't help understanding, and said teasingly: "That boy surnamed Mo showed your face again?"

Yi Shenghan entered the seat without saying a word, snatched the remaining half jug of wine, drank until there was no drop left, remained silent for a long time, finally made up his mind, looked up at the Master Sacrificial God, and calmly said: "Master Sacrificial God, help me again Hurry up, let Yaoquan try to refine a kind of elixir for me."

"What medicine?" Master Jishen drank the wine, his gray eyebrows slightly raised.

Yi Shenghan pointed at himself and laughed, full of grief and indignation.

"I have thought about it day and night for many years, hoping that I can grow up like an ordinary person, but Zuiqiu doesn't like me at all, and thinks I'm disgusting and shameless. He was willing to save me before, but hates me now .Master Sacrifice God, you call Yaoquan to refine medicine, and help me restore my original appearance.”

The Master Sacrificial God is always graceful, but at this moment he finally lost his composure and spewed out a mouthful of wine. Fortunately, he reacted very quickly and hurriedly raised his sleeve to block it, so that the spray did not hit the face of the opposite person.He coughed twice, calmed himself down, and looked at Yi Shenghan like he was looking at a monster.

"Do you want to be a child again? Shenghan, do you really think that your muscles, bones, skin, and flesh are made of flour, and you can stretch them as you want, and flatten them if you want?"

"I'm not kidding you."

"Are you serious?!" Seeing that the other party's expression was calmer than ever, the priest's eyes gradually became sharper, he put down his glass suddenly, stood up, and said with a sneer, "You almost died in order to save that kid named Mo Tianshan, how dare that kid be ungrateful? There is no need to keep such a heartless and righteous person."

The gray shadow flitted out in a flash, but Yi Shenghan was faster than him, blocking his way, with a serious face on his face, he warned in a deep voice: "Don't hurt him!"

The murderous aura did not give in to each other, and they intersected between the gazes of the two men.

I really want to crush Mo Zuiqiu to death like an ant, but Yi Shenghan will definitely turn against him. "Don't worry, I won't touch him."

My self-willed little brother is really hopeless! ——This was the only thought on the mind of Master Sacrificial God when he finally shook his head and sighed.