The locust wood sword that Qi Jingchun had moved with Li Baoping secretly cut out and placed quietly in the basket on Chen Ping'an's back was inhabited by a golden incense villain of unknown origin.
After two brief appearances at Qiulu Inn and Cao's Zhilan Mansion, the shy incense villain never appeared again. Chen Pingan let it happen naturally and did not force anything.
It was dark at night, in the Yang's shop, the old man was smoking a dry cigarette, frowning, and stretched out his hand to grab the incense stick, and the little incense man fell to the ground from the void.
Old Man Yang said coldly: "Qi Jingchun worked so hard to hide you. What do you want to do?"
She stood timidly on the ground, as if she was very afraid of this old man, her hands tightly grasped the corners of her clothes, and her lips moved slightly.
Old Man Yang frowned more and more as he listened, and thought for a long time, "I agreed."
He knocked the cigarette pole on the ground, rolled out of a small temple, and stood in front of the incense figurine.
The incense man was full of joy and was about to walk in when he suddenly raised his head and stopped talking.
Old Man Yang said with an indifferent expression: "Of course it's best to know everything, but if you can't do that, just don't know anything at all. Only in this way can you live a good life."
The incense man still seemed a little hesitant and wanted to go back to Mud Bottle Alley to say goodbye to the young man.
Old Man Yang lifted up the cigarette stick again and blew out thick smoke, "You are really smart when you put all your wisdom in your belly. Do you really think that kid doesn't want to do anything but practice boxing, and he knows how to be charitable all day long and be a philanthropic boy? It's a shame for you.
You are really stupid for following him, but he is not stupid."
The little incense man pouted, a little discouraged, but when she walked into the small temple, she was stunned.
She is like an extremely small grain of rice in a big vat.
On the tall walls inside the small temple, each name shines brightly, emitting different colors of brilliance.
Above the head of the incense man, the stars are shining brightly.
The old man put away his cigarette rod, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked out of the drug store with a stooped posture. He walked out of the town. When he passed the stone arch bridge, he sighed, full of regret and confusion, and slowly walked down the stone bridge and walked along the Longxu River to the blacksmith.
Outside the shop, instead of walking into it, he came to the river and lightly stamped his feet. The river god woman immediately flew all the way from the bottom of the river. Her soul was shaken and she was a little dizzy. When she found out that it was Old Man Yang, she immediately smiled flatteringly.
: "Why does the Immortal need to use his supreme magical power? Just give him a shout."
Old Man Yang said expressionlessly: "Go to the source of Longxu River immediately, take the initiative to disperse half of your golden body, blend into the river water, and help Ruan Qiong increase the gloomy weight of the water."
The young woman was stunned.
Cutting off half of the golden body, the old man said it lightly, but the pain suffered during this period and the damage to the road are immeasurable.
The woman wished she could escape thousands of miles away.
It's a pity that she can't escape.
Old Man Yang added: "It's done. If Ruan Qiong succeeds in making the sword, I'll help you get a river temple. In fifty or sixty years at most, you will be able to restore your complete golden body. After that, the incense will continue for hundreds of thousands of years.
, this is a steady stream of income, you will definitely make it.”
The woman was submissive and inaudible, "It would be too painful to break up half of the golden body. I'm afraid of the pain..."
The old man didn't speak, just looked at the sparkling Longxu River.
The woman asked cautiously: "Great Immortal, can I refuse?"
Old Man Yang nodded and said, "Okay."
The woman was secretly happy and surprised. When did this great immortal become so reasonable?
Old Man Yang sneered and said: "It will be better if I smash your entire golden body. Don't worry, after your soul disappears tonight, I will make compensation to your descendants in the future."
The woman was a little desperate, and after some consideration, she asked in a trembling voice: "Great Immortal, the blessing will only fall on my grandson, is that okay?"
Her heart was full of luck, because she knew that no matter how fair the great immortal acted, it was actually different when it came to her grandson Ma Kuxuan.
But Old Man Yang still refused on the spot, "No."
The woman's face was ashen and she said sadly: "Then I'd better go to the source of Longxu River."
Old Man Yang was noncommittal.
The River Goddess gritted her teeth and began to swim upstream along the river, crossing the stone arch bridge that looked nothing out of the ordinary, and headed straight into the mountains.
Ruan Qiong came to the shore, stood beside the old man, and asked: "I am not in a hurry to help that girl forge a sword, whether it will succeed or not, and I have no intention of doing business with you."
"Forging a sword is not a business."
Old Man Yang shook his head and said: "However, I can help cover up your daughter's true identity for thirty years, but you must ensure that you build that sword as soon as possible. This is the deal I want to make."
Ruan Qiong looked as usual and said with a smile: "True identity?"
The old man said calmly: "Ruan Qiong just needs to nod or shake his head."
Ruan Qiong was a little aggrieved, but still nodded.
The old man smiled and said, "Looking back, it's worth it."
Ruan Qiong asked a strange question, "Then what is considered 'not worth it'?"
The old man smiled and said: "Ruan Qiong, it's not a good habit to eavesdrop on other people's conversations."
Ruan Qiong confessed openly: "You, the eldest grandson of the Li family, Wei Bo, you three, I must keep an eye on."
The old man nodded, then shook his head and said, "It might be better if Li Xisheng and I are reversed."
Ruan Qiong asked with a smile: "A thousand years or ten thousand years from now?"
The old man stopped talking.
Once we enter the troubled times when a hundred schools of thought contend, heroes and heretics will spring up like bamboo shoots after a rain, crazily breaking out of the ground, and overnight, a new scene will change the world.
The old man had seen that magnificent scene more than once.
After all, Ruan Qiong is only a saint from the military family, not a saint like the Yin Yang family. Although he has seen very far, such as the growth of his daughter Ruan Xiu, it is still not far enough.
The old man suddenly said, "Of course it's not worth it. What's the use of two ordinary people gathering their souls? The price they need to pay for it is not small. If it were Ma Kuxuan, of course it would be different."
Ruan Qiong asked with a smile: "Senior, didn't you think highly of Chen Pingan from the beginning?"
Old Man Yang said expressionlessly: "It's enough if someone takes good care of him."
————
The reopening of Beishangyi Road has made the already lively Hongzhu Town even more prosperous.
At night, a painting boat with green bamboo curtains leisurely sailed out of the inlet and headed towards the town. Just as it entered the river that bisected the town, there was business. It was a rich man wearing brocade.
The old man and a middle-aged strong man in coarse linen clothes, who looked like a rich man and his nursing home attendant, went out to drink wine.
The painting boat is of medium size. There are five boatwomen, two of them are rowing the boat, two are playing the piano and making wine. The remaining one is the most beautiful and beautiful lady, sitting next to the old man and serving her carefully, like a little bird clinging to him. This makes
The old man in Jinyi laughed heartily and pointed at the rough man opposite him, "How about it, Lao Xie, people rely on their clothes to dress up, and they rely on their gold clothing. Isn't the old saying true?"
The man didn't know whether he was angry out of embarrassment or because he was an upright man. He took a glass of wine from the wine-making woman, thanked her, and said to the old man: "Don't thank me all the time. I'm not familiar with you."
The old man was a thick-skinned man. When he took the drink, he took the opportunity to touch the back of the boat girl's hand. He also winked at the graceful woman and raised his eyebrows. The boat girl was so disgusted that she had to force a smile. The old man
He didn't care about this and took a sip of wine. "You're not familiar with me, but I'm familiar with you. Your name, Lao Xie, has spread from the northeast to our south. Every time I tell my old friend
Speaking of you, after they learned that you and I were from the same hometown, they all asked me to help introduce you, saying that it was a pity that we could not meet such a great hero."
The man just frowned and said nothing, lowered his head and drank.
The old man has two beards. He is sitting cross-legged with his head tilted, looking at the feasting lights on the shore. He is spinning the wine glass with one hand and stroking his beard with the fingers of the other hand. This kind of dignity seems to others to be despicable, not to mention that the old man is sitting cross-legged.
He sat with his knees deliberately pressed against the plump buttocks of the woman next to him. Even the woman who was used to seeing women regretted not sitting next to the taciturn man.
When the old man raised his arm to stroke his beard, a length of sleeve was exposed. The boatmen's ladies in the boat who were good at observing words and expressions were a little disappointed. It turned out that the old man had a long green rope tied around his wrist. If it were worn on the hand of a child, it would still look good.
It's slender and cute, but it looks really out of place on an old man's hand.
The old man suddenly looked away and asked the beautiful woman next to him, "You ladies, do you believe in the oath of eternal love?"
Not only did she not know how to answer, but the other boatwomen also looked at each other a little confused, wondering what kind of medicine the old man was selling in his gourd.
The old man laughed loudly and pointed to the man opposite, "It's really useful to find him. He is a mountain king. He is in charge of many mountains. Mountain alliances, mountain alliances, and mountain alliances, the mountain alliance here..."
The man frowned and said nothing, drinking slowly and absent-mindedly.
The old man pointed at himself and said, "Actually, it's useful to look for me. There is a very tall building under the sky. It's called Zhenhai Tower. It's on the seaside. My home is near Zhenhai Tower."
The man finally couldn't help it, his face was full of displeasure, "Cao, what are you doing showing off to them?"
The old man took a sip of wine, picked up a pair of chopsticks to eat with the food, and squinted at the man, "It's interesting to talk to them who don't understand anything. It's boring to show off to people in the mountains."
The man's brows were full of gloom, and he was drinking heavily.
The oath of eternal love, in the marketplace of secular dynasties, is now mostly mentioned by storytellers who travel around the world, and is often used for love between men and women. Its true meaning has long been unknown to ordinary people.
In fact, this statement is quite important to the people on the mountain. It means that practitioners can swear to the mountains and the sea respectively. The oath has an indescribable binding force and is more effective than the black and white words between the people at the foot of the mountain.
.
As long as the mountain is one of the Five Sacred Mountains enshrined by the imperial court in the country, it will be fine. The higher the level of the Qi practitioner, the higher the quality requirements for the mountain. Most of them are alliances between big powers or business contracts. As the time goes by,
As time goes by, marriage contracts between matchmakers gradually become the majority. Oaths to each other have lost most of their meaning. Because with the death of the last true dragon in the world, all the world's five lakes and seas, and the nine territories outside Jiuzhou, have no owners.
, the secular dynasty does not have the power to enthrone the righteous gods of the five lakes and seas, so there is no legitimate water god who can come forward to control the five giant lakes and the four vast seas.
According to legend, the sun rises in the east and sets on the Western Mountains. The place where the sun rises is somewhere in the East China Sea.
The old man surnamed Cao didn't care about the man's feelings at all. He ate the food that went with the wine and chewed loudly. He put his hand on the thigh of the woman next to him and asked with a smile: "This beautiful sister, do you know Xiongzhen Tower?"
The woman shook her head.
"How can this work!" The old man gently patted the woman's strong and elastic thigh, "Brother Rong, let me tell you, in our world, there are nine destiny buildings built by unknown people, each standing on nine
Place. They are Zhenshan, Zhenguo, Zhenhai, Zhenmo, Zhenyao, Zhenxian, Zhenjian, Zhenlong. These eight majestic tall buildings that tower into the clouds and almost reach the sky all have two-character names, except for the last one.
, are three words, the weirdest, called..."
The man clapped his chopsticks and said angrily: "That's enough, Cao Xi, are you done yet?!"
As the chopsticks were slapped on the table, at the same time, all the boat girls fell into a strange state. It did not hinder their breathing and their hand movements were skillful. However, they seemed to be concerned about the two foreign guests who were so close to each other on the boat.
Completely turning a blind eye and hearing nothing.
"Now that we are all here, our identities will soon be revealed. You, Xie Shi, are a person who came out of Lizhu Cave after all. If you deliberately hide your identity, it will make people suspicious. It is better to walk into the small town like me.
Zhen, maybe we have to fight, let Da Li know what he is doing, and prevent them from not taking a land swordsman seriously."
When Cao Xi said this, he glanced at the man across from him and said with a smile: "It is said that the people in Ju Luzhou are honest and upright, like the blazing sun above their heads. They never do anything bad in their lives. Why, are we making an exception this time?
"
Cao Xi leaned forward, picked up a pickled radish from a small pink-green porcelain plate, and threw it into his mouth, "It's just a piece of broken porcelain. As long as you speak and nod, I will help you solve it."
.Thank you, thank you, it’s not what I said to you. You said that we got here anyway, why are you still leading others around? Aren’t you a coward?”
The man sneered: "Aren't you afraid that the wind will flash your tongue? The guy who bought your life porcelain is someone who is easy to talk to?"
Cao Xi looked surprised and said: "Why, Lao Xie, you are not well-informed. Didn't you hear that a junior in my family just got engaged to a direct descendant of the Chen Confucian family? The Chen family hired an expert from the Lu family.
I helped with the fortune telling, guess what, eight characters! A good match between a good man and a beautiful wife! This is really not something I am bragging about. In our continent, it is really not a small matter."
Xie Shi sneered and said: "Cao Xi is just not ashamed of this kind of thing. How can you still look so proud? Who gives you the face?"
Cao Xi's skin was as thick as a wall and asked: "Why are you so embarrassed? My descendants have kidnapped a daughter-in-law with their true abilities. Why am I not happy as an ancestor?"
Xie Shi crossed his arms over his chest, narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice: "Tell me, why on earth did you call me here? If it's about that piece of porcelain, you don't need to say anything anymore, I won't agree to it, it's my own business.
, not to mention I can’t trust you Cao Xi.”
Cao Xi exclaimed and went to rub his eyes, "He is worthy of being the world-renowned Hero Xie. He is so majestic and upright, so dazzling. I have to rub my eyes quickly, otherwise I won't be able to stand it..."
The green silk rope on the wrist of this seemingly absurd old man appeared again.
Everyone in Nanbosu Continent knows that Cao Xi's swordsmanship is not top-notch among land swordsmen, but his sword, as a magical weapon, is enough to rank among the top ten in the continent.
Cao Xi's wrist is actually hung with a veritable river of water, rolling and flowing.
This river is Cao Xi's sword.
Xie Shi had already heard about these not-so-secret news from other continents, but even so, he still asked directly: "Do you need a fight to shut up?"
Cao Xi just ate food and drank wine, shaking his head and saying: "Everyone in Posuzhou says that I, Cao Xi, am moody and have a perverse temperament. Xie Shi, do you think it is difficult to deal with people like me?"
Xie Shi began to close his eyes and rest his mind.
Whenever there are passengers boarding the boat and after discussing business, the boatman will take off a lantern hanging at a fixed position on the bow to indicate that the boat is full and will no longer accept passengers.
Cao Xi shook his chopsticks and said, "That's wrong, that's a big mistake. The most difficult person to deal with in the world is someone like you Xie Shi. It's so difficult to get along with him."
Xie Shi closed his eyes, "My patience is limited."
Cao Xi rolled his eyes and said: "Okay, let's get down to business. Some people can't see the rise of the Song family in Dali, but you, Xie Shi, are stubborn and keep your promise. You have to go out of the mountain, so that the trip to Hanging Mountain has to be delayed."
"Unfortunately, Chunru Chen doesn't like Qi Jingchun's kindness. She also had a very bad impression of Da Li before, but now she has changed her mind. The reason is unknown and I don't care. Anyway, Chunru Chen is not only in the small town, but also with Baoping
I opened a school in the name of the Chen family in Longwei County, Zhouzhou, and even asked me to go this far away as a gift to my descendant, just to stop you from thanking me."
"Although I don't know the specific plan, if I continue to appear here, I will keep an eye on you."
Xie Shi didn't open his eyes, and said sarcastically, "Are you sure you can stop me?"
Cao Xi finally finished the various dishes on the small plates, put down his chopsticks, and said confidently: "I'm not sure if I can beat you, but I'm sure I can stop you."
Xie Shi opened his eyes suddenly and turned around to look.
A young-looking swordsman did not hang the sword or carry the sword on his back, but placed the sword horizontally behind his back, lazily resting his elbows on the scabbard, and looked at Xie Shi with a smile.
This person was in the ghost mansion of a married woman with a plaque that read "Beautiful Waters and High Winds". He could not even unsheath his scabbard, so he used a small mountain range that he moved in front of him to block the sharp sword of Wei Jin, the land swordsman.
.
In Hongzhu Town, he met and drank with A Liang. On the Xiuhua River ferry, he greeted Chen Pingan again. It seemed that it was the first time that Chen Pingan had clasped fists and saluted with someone. In the end, it was he and a subordinate
After leaving Liu Prison, he took Wei Bo from Qidun Mountain to Longquan.
In the Wei and Jin Dynasties of Shenxiantai, he was called "that person from the Mohist family".
————
Chen Ping'an sat in the room facing the locust wood sword for a long time. In the end, he found that he couldn't calm down no matter what, he couldn't read a book, he couldn't practice calligraphy, he couldn't even walk the pile and use the sword furnace.
Chen Ping'an then carried a basket on his back, loaded up his locust wood sword, left his ancestral home, walked out of the Mud Bottle Alley, and rushed straight to Luolu Mountain.
When he appeared in front of the bamboo house, the boy in green and the girl in pink were shocked.
Chen Ping'an walked up to the second floor of the bamboo building and his heart suddenly calmed down.
The girl in the pink skirt tried to follow, but was grabbed by the neck by the boy in green. He gently lectured: "You are really stupid, didn't you see that the master is not in a good mood?"
The girl in pink skirt looked confused.
The boy in green pulled her to sit on a small bamboo chair on the first floor and vowed: "With our master's temper, there are only two situations that can make him so wrong."
The girl in pink skirt pricked up her ears and listened carefully.
The boy in green stretched out a finger and said in a low voice: "One situation is that money is lost, and the amount is not small."
The girl in the pink skirt thinks so.
The boy in Tsing Yi said with a bad smile: "Then the master has suffered serious emotional injuries, such as tossing and turning alone, unable to sleep alone, suddenly having a whim, running to confess his feelings to Miss Ruan Xiu, but she rejected him. Or to confess to his beloved.
When the girl confessed her love, she went to extreme lengths. She wanted to kiss her and give her a hug. Then she slapped Miss Ruan and called her a stinky scoundrel. This made our husband so angry that he had to come to Zhulou to cool off.
Cool.”
The girl in the pink skirt said doubtfully: "Master will not do such a thing."
The boy in green lamented, "You don't understand us men."
Chen Ping'an sat cross-legged on the second floor and looked into the distance through the gap between the railings.
The locust wood sword was placed across his knees.
He took out the silver sword embryo and stared down at it. Unlike the strange movements in Mud Bottle Alley, the sword embryo was as quiet as a dead thing at this time.
For some reason, Chen Ping'an was already in a peaceful mood, even more stable than when he usually practiced boxing, with a clear mind and clear thoughts.
Chen Pingan raised his head again, clenched the sword embryo in his hand, and said calmly: "It's not mine, even if it's under my feet. After I pick it up, I will only take the initiative to find the owner and return it to others. If it's mine, it's mine.
, you can’t go anywhere, even if you escape to the horizon, I will catch you back.”
The silver sword embryo gradually became warm and soon became scalding hot.
Chen Pingan gritted his teeth and just held it tightly with one hand, while placing the other hand gently on the locust wood sword as some kind of emotional support. Later, he had to hold on to the sword tightly.
The palms of my hands had already been burned red.
Heart-breaking pain, soul trembling.
The pain caused by the burning of the sword embryo, apart from the skin and flesh, is more like a horror like melted copper juice pouring on the heart.
The Eighteen-stop Sword Qi movement method naturally began to flow, hitting the acupoints of the Qi Mansion with names that were completely different from those of today again and again, desperately resisting the shock caused by the fiery heat.
Previously, Chen Pingan had been stagnant between six and seven, unable to break through that threshold.
No matter how Chen Ping'an practiced boxing or fighting, or how he sparred with the boys in green to temper his body, he couldn't find the right method, so he couldn't get in.
In order to reduce the pain perception as much as possible, Chen Ping'an, whose body was shaking violently, had to try his best to distract himself and think elsewhere, thinking about the contents of the sages' classics that Cui Dongshan read loudly, thinking about the font of the prescriptions written by the young Taoist Lu Chen, and thinking about Feng Xue.
The sword of the Wei and Jin Dynasties broke through the air and destroyed all kinds of magic. Imagine the strange scene of the white rainbow flying sword hitting the spring leaves and autumn wind in the Clay Vase Lane today...
Thinking about one thing after another, there is still no benefit.
In addition to the bloody palms of Chen Pingan's hands, which were stuck to the sword embryo, Chen Ping'an also began to bleed from his seven orifices. This was not just the minute pores on his skin, blood began to ooze out, and finally, shocking blood beads condensed.
The appearance is miserable, but the inside is even worse. The meridians between the qi palaces in the body are like being trampled by the hooves of an iron horse, causing mud to splash everywhere.
Chen Pingan finally thought of a girl.
He smiled knowingly.
I can only smile knowingly.
Because Chen Ping'an's face had long been distorted into a rigid and ferocious expression, and it was impossible to change at all.
Chen Pingan is still suffering huge pain silently.
From beginning to end, he was silent.
He was already vague and confused. In the daze, Chen Ping'an thought of a personal name. If he looked around, the familiar scene would be relatively clear for a long time, while the less familiar one would disappear in a flash.
There is like, there is admiration, there is respect, there is fear, there is disgust, there is disgust, there is pity, there is hatred, there is doubt...
Dong dong dong...
It's like someone is tapping the young man's heart with his finger.
It's like he's asking something.
Until the heart.
With only a trace of consciousness left to support him, the young man who was unwilling to admit defeat could only answer from his heart, and even he himself would not know the answer.
When manpower is exhausted.
Chen Ping'an finally couldn't hold on any longer and fell backwards, hitting the green bamboo ground with the back of his head and regaining consciousness a little.
Buzz buzz.
I just felt a strange movement coming from my stomach.
The human body is like a small world, and suddenly there is an uneven sound of swords clanging!