When he was four years old, Ning long lived in a dilapidated courtyard, surrounded by children with the same ragged clothes as him.
The courtyard is surrounded by several adobe houses. It is dark and damp, with numbers engraved on the uneven walls. The dark door let in no light, like a coffin with its mouth upright.
The light falling in front of my eyes looked like winter, with only brightness and no warmth at all.
A smiling man with slicked back hair stood in front of them, talking to an old woman with a face as wrinkled as orange peel. The man looked very strong. Although his figure was not exaggerated, every muscle under his bare arms looked strong and powerful. His hands were empty, but it always made people feel that he had a heavy knife on his back.
Ning Jiujiu will not remember this memory. This is a scene he glimpsed from the inner demon tribulation.
Then he heard someone calling his name "Nine", because the door number of his house was nine, and there were many children living in each house, and the names of the children were homophones of the numbers they used. He was lucky enough to have a name that seemed to have a good meaning.
He walked through the crowd without knowing why.
The man grabbed his hand, and the old woman seemed to have gotten a lot of money. Her smiling face was like a piece of wrinkled tissue paper.
"What's your name?" the man stopped at a fork in the street and asked him.
"Jiu. Zhang Jiu." Ning Jiujiu replied in a low voice. All the children here have the surname Zhang.
This forked road has two directions, each leading to the north and the south. It is equally dark and cold. Ning Jiujiu is very afraid of forked roads, because forked roads symbolize unknown choices and will bring him a sense of panic, especially this kind of road with no end in sight. road.
He was nervous, so he held his hand tighter.
When approaching the intersection, the man said hello to a young man who suddenly appeared, and then met an old man at the intersection. They didn't know what they said, but in the end they chose the road heading north. That road was very cold and freezing. He shivered. The old trees on the roadside looked like old people's faces. When he concentrated, he could still hear the crow calling, but he couldn't find the crow.
This is a scene that Ning Jiujiu's fragmented memories can piece together.
…
The deserted town faded away behind him, and the staggered stones around it looked like dragon's teeth. At a certain moment, he suddenly felt like a ghost, and this man was his soul-carrier.
After many days and nights, Ning Changjiu came to the foot of a big mountain.
The man led him up the mountain. As he went up the mountain, he told him many things.
"Don't go to the deepest hall, that's where Master retreats."
"Don't make senior sister angry."
"Don't watch your third senior brother draw before you are nine years old."
"Although the fourth senior sister doesn't like to talk, she is very talkative. The fifth senior brother has the best temper."
"Your sixth senior brother... you shouldn't have any contact with each other."
“…”
"What about my master?" Ning Jiujiu suddenly plucked up the courage, raised his head and asked.
The second senior brother did not answer.
The wind no longer blows in my face.
A woman in pale green Taoist robes slowly arrived. Ning Jiujiu thought at first glance that she was like a quiet lake, reflecting the lake of Duixue Qianshan.
The second senior brother told her that this was the senior sister.
When they first met, the senior sister rewarded him with a chestnut. He covered his head, not knowing where he made the senior sister angry.
The second senior brother followed the senior sister, and he followed the second senior brother. Together they walked through several stele pavilions, passed through a peaceful village surrounded by a large river, and arrived at the Taoist temple at the end of the mountain road. The Taoist temple was nestled against the steep mountain. The momentum is built on the cliffs, like soaring in the clouds and mist.
There are many clouds and mist in the mountains.
They all flow down from the top of the mountain.
The clouds and fog on the top of the mountain are so thick that you can't see the end at a glance. Only the sky is clear when the moon rises.
"Master doesn't like your name." Senior Sister suddenly said, "From now on, this is your new name."
She handed over a wooden sign.
"Ning long lasting"
He was illiterate, but he pronounced these three words.
…
Practice swordsmanship, practice Taoism, study painting, and give up halfway...
He tried to think of everything he could think of. .
With the appearance of the senior sister, many memories were covered by a veil, revealing their original appearance.
A night buried deep in the memory emerged like a ghost.
"At that time, the senior sister asked the little Taoist priest to go to the Lotus Pavilion and tell him a story." Ning Jiujiu was silent for a long time, but decided to tell the story.
Lotus Pavilion is the book pavilion of Taoist temple.
Although it is a bookstore, no one has ever come to read a book.
There are countless books in the pavilion, and in the center, there is an almost magnificent lotus flower composed of tens of thousands of petals. The senior sister told him that every petal is a book.
She plucked the three petals clustered at the top.
"The three stories I'm telling you happened in different eras, three thousand years ago, five hundred years ago, and now. It's called..." The senior sister faintly said the four words: "Hunter" national plan.”
Hunting Country Plan.
Ning Jiujiu didn't know what it meant. He just felt that he had touched the majestic bones that ran through the entire world.
"Why are you telling me such a story?" Ning asked for a long time.
The elder sister's answer was very strange: "Because you are still young, and I tell you now, you won't remember it when you grow up."
Later, he really couldn't remember the specific content of the story. I only remember the four words "Hunting Country Plan" and know that this is what is happening now.
Hunting country? What country are you hunting from
This answer seems incredible but self-evident now.
Although that memory was profound, it was nothing in the long years of practicing Taoism. After that, practicing Taoism was like gurgling water flowing eastward, first into a stream, then into a river, then into a big river, and then into the sea. Everything happened so naturally.
Looking back now, the fifth senior brother who was the most easy-going was actually the strangest person in the audience.
The other senior brothers and sisters often went down the mountain to hunt monsters. They were not in the mountain. After he had learned a lot, he went down the mountain with them to hunt monsters several times. When he saw those fierce gods thousands of times bigger than himself, his hands were so shaking that he couldn't hold them. He raised his sword, but after a few times, he found that they were like paper lanterns in the hands of his senior brothers and sisters. So when fighting demons, he was usually responsible for clearing the road and knocking open the cave, and then asked his senior brothers and sisters to clean up the most ferocious ones in the cave. monster.
But if you think about it carefully, it seems that the fifth senior brother has never been down the mountain.
He had been studying large volumes of books on the mountain. The books were neatly divided into volumes, and then he wrote a book that was almost as thick as the original volume. This is what the fifth senior brother has been doing for countless years, and he is obsessed with it but never feels bored.
Ning Changjiu thought his life was very ordinary. He would occasionally secretly go to the depths of the Taoist temple, stare at the closed door, and imagine that the door suddenly opened and the master walked out.
Although Ning Jiujiu has never seen Master, he knows that she is a very beautiful woman, because the senior sister and fourth senior sister are both beautiful, but when they talk about Master, they will more or less show their longing for her.
The most important thing for a practitioner is practice, and most of the time he is practicing.
But Ning Jiujiu doesn't have many memories of his own path to Taoism.
Because that road is too smooth.
It wasn't until he turned sixteen that his life experienced some upheavals. The marriage letter flew into the palm of his hand like a bird of fire. He was slightly frightened, but after careful consideration he chose to refuse.
After that, the senior brothers and sisters spent less and less time in the observation.
The sixth senior brother also became more and more withdrawn.
At this time, Ning Jiujiu already knew that the sixth senior brother was not a human, but a demon. But he had never seen the Sixth Senior Brother's true form.
Time is like water, and more than ten years have passed in a blink of an eye.
One year before his ascension, the fifth senior brother gave him a book and asked him to fully comprehend and study the book within one year.
This is a certain book written by Fifth Senior Brother.
Except for the senior sister and the second senior brother, everyone else received a book written by the fifth senior brother. These books are not thick, but the content is very subtle. What each book analyzes is something that is well known to the monks in this world. , but the deeper you go, the more it seems like the door to a whole new world has opened.
Then comes the ascension.
…
"The little Taoist priest had a smooth life, but he encountered the biggest setback when he ascended... This setback directly pointed to death." Ning Jiujiu said slowly.
The sun is gradually setting in the west.
The story has also come to an end.
"The master walked out from the audience, burning fireflies as sparks and using moonlight as a sharp sword. The little Taoist priest's chest was pierced by a sword. He looked at the master's face, and then fell into the endless valley." Ning Jiujiu said: "He fell After reaching the bottom of the valley, he did not die immediately, but found himself in a desolate prison that was unimaginable in the world. The prison was gray and he was the only one. He was nailed there with a sword, waiting for death to come... "
"At that time, he was extremely lonely. There was no living person in sight. His body was pierced by a sword and he couldn't move. He occasionally talked to himself but couldn't even hear himself." Ning Jiujiu said and laughed at himself. .
Lu Marry listened carefully.
Ning looked at her for a long time, his smile fading in the wind.
"This is the whole story, isn't it boring?" Ning Jiujiu asked.
Lu Marry looked at her, thought for a long time, and asked, "Is this your story?"
Ning Changjiu looked leisurely.
"Yes." He said softly.
Lu Marian asked: "When was the story?"
Ning Jiujiu replied: "It should have happened... now."
"Now?" Lu Marian has not yet fully recovered from the shock, and another layer of doubt is added to her heart.
Ning Jiujiu nodded gently: "In the imperial city, I returned to my sixteenth year."
The sun sank into the valley, and the world lost its light.
…
Lu Marry knew the story of the Imperial City.
But she had never imagined, nor could she have imagined, these twists and turns.
"Zhao Xiang'er...is this your fiancée?" Lu Marian asked.
Ning Jiujiu nodded and said, "Yes."
Lu Marion laughed and said, neither salty nor lightly, "You two are truly a match made in heaven."
"A match made in heaven..." Ning looked at the dark blue sky for a long time, chewing on these four words. "Maybe it was a match made in heaven in the previous life, but not in this life."
Lu Married said: "Your master is so powerful, everything in the imperial city may be her arrangement."
Ning Jiujiu recalled the words of his elder sister: "The fate is too coincidental, it seems like fate."
"Huh?" Lu Marian was confused.
Ning closed his eyes for a long time and said: "I don't know. This is the first time I have really told these stories to others. I thought it would be much easier after telling them, but it didn't happen at all."
Lu Marian held her hand on the stone on the edge of the cliff, put her embroidered shoes aside, retracted her legs and curled up.
She seemed calm, but in fact she was filled with unspeakable emotions. Even though she was mentally prepared before listening to this story, she never thought that such incredible things would happen in the world.
"I would rather you continue telling me those fables." Lu Marion smiled sadly.
Ning Jiujiu sighed: "I also hope these are all fake."
Lu Married said: "In other words, in the original long river of time, we were just strangers. Maybe... I would have died in the battle of Jiuying, let alone the current story."
Ning Jiujiu didn't know how to answer.
Lu Marry looked at him and said seriously: "Of course time can be controlled with authority, but how can it be possible to go back twelve years? Even if it goes back twelve years, it should be back to when you were sixteen...your sixteenth year , it shouldn’t be like this.”
Ning Jiujiu hummed, and he also thought about this question for a long time.
"This may be one of the possibilities of time. It is not only time that changes, but also destiny." Ning Jiujiu thought of the killed headless god. At this moment, he was almost certain that most of the headless god's authority had been destroyed. Master took it away, but the death of the Headless God happened seven hundred years ago. Did she think about going back in time at that time? But the eldest sister clearly said that the master only made a plan to go back in time as a remedy three months ago.
All kinds of doubts pressed into my mind.
"Perhaps you and Zhao Xiang'er are too close to each other, so you have a chance to do it again, and I am not the one who should come." Lu Marian said half-jokingly.
Ning Jiujiu pretended to be stern and said, "I won't be polite if you continue to think wildly."
"When have you ever been polite to me?" Lu Marian smiled faintly, looked at him, and said, "You are actually thirty years old this year."
Ningjiu nodded.
Lu Marian said: "It turns out that you are four years older than me... The Taoist techniques and swordsmanship you taught me should also be memories from the previous life, right?"
Ning Jiujiu said: "Yes, those are what my senior brothers and sisters taught me."
Lu Marian lowered her head and said, "Then you'd better not grow up. You look good when you're young."
Ning Jiujiu laughed and said, "So you like this?"
Lu Marian blinked: "Because the master is such a master."
Ning Jiujiu hugged her gently.
The cold autumn wind blew, and Ning Changjiu's hand reached into her hair and picked a withered yellow leaf for her.
"Ten years later, I will definitely die." Ning Jiujiu said this calmly: "Maybe I can start my life over again, but only this time."
Lu Marry looked slightly confused: "There is nothing in the world that is certain to die? Unless the world will come to an end in ten years."
He knew that ten years would never end, because he had seen the future in a cross-section of time.
Ning Jiujiu said: "Perhaps only Master knows the answer."
Lu Marian said: "Then are you going to find her?"
Ning Jiujiu said: "I haven't thought about it yet."
"Have you not thought about it for so long?"
"It takes ten years to wake up and ten years to dream. If I could extend these three months into ten years, I would be willing."
Lu Marian was silent for a long time, then suddenly said: "When you entered the peak, Master Yazhu once asked you a question, and later she told me your answer."
"What's the problem?" Ning asked for a long time.
"She asked you why you practice. You said it was to explain the world." Lu Married asked: "Do you still think so now?"
Ning Changjiu said: "Yes."
Lu Marion said seriously: "From now on, I will accompany you to see the world, from Nanzhou to Northland, leaving some of our marks in this world, just like the book says, ten years of traces and ten years of heart."
Ning pursed his lips and remained silent for a long time.
Lu Marian said: "Are you afraid?"
"Well, ten years is too short." Ning Changjiu sighed: "I have seen the ending once, how can I not be afraid?"
Lu Marian shook her head, her eyes gradually brightened: "That was the ending of the little Taoist priest in the story, not your ending. Now you are a swordsman, my master and husband, Xiaoling's senior brother, and Miss Zhao's fiancé. Only Not a Taoist priest in the temple."
Ning Changjiu looked at the dead leaf with red edges in his hand and the dead lines on it, then held it in his palm and crushed it gently.
"You're right, that's not my story." Ning Changjiu put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes seriously: "Now is my life."
…
…
In the days that followed, Lu Marry and Ning Chang went down the mountain and visited many small countries in Nanzhou.
They did not use their spiritual power, but just like ordinary knights and knights in white clothes, swords in hand, riding horses, drinking wine, and looking at the scenery in all directions. On the streets where people come and go, the two often win applause from blockbusters when they fly over the walls.
They stayed in many inns and saw many customs and customs in Nanzhou. From the bustling crowd to the dead of night.
Sunrise and sunset.
This is their ten days.
"Sometimes I always feel that there is no difference between ten days and ten years." In an inn in Baicheng, Lu Jianmou put her hands on the window and looked at the scenery outside the city, her body slightly bent. "Time always flies when we think back, just like when we jumped off the cliff and went down the mountain ten days ago, it seems like it was yesterday."
Ning Jiujiu said helplessly: "This is an unsolvable problem, don't think too much about it."
Lu Marian smiled and said: "Tomorrow I will personally give my husband to other sisters. How can I not think more about it?"
Ning Jiujiu asked: "Do you want to come and see me then?"
Lu Marian asked back: "Watching you guys fighting each other, does it make you feel more uncomfortable?"
"Tu Zeng is uncomfortable..." Ning Jiujiu praised: "Tu'er's words are getting more and more concise."
This is the eve of the three-year appointment. Ning Jiujiu is surprisingly calm. The past is like the wind outside the window. It arrives accurately in late autumn and then blows away the last lingering charm of autumn. Those flowers that never fade are still tightly building a false prosperity, and the winter is like lightning falling vertically, striking the ice, snow and chill in front of you.
He stood next to Lu Yuai and looked towards the northwest. That is where the capital of Zhao State is located.
Tomorrow, the State of Zhao will hold a ceremony, and everyone in the city will be dressed in silk.
At this moment, deep in the palace of Zhao State, two maids brought a stone box with water in it, and an ancient long sword placed in the water.
Zhao Xiang'er has not yet taken off her black dragon robe, and is sitting in a wooden chair. The nobility and majesty between her brows have not been washed away by the cool night.
The blade of the sword was pure black, and the blade was silver-white. The dividing line between black and white was neat and clear, just like the girl's pupils.
This is the fairy sword used by the immortal to kill the old fox.
She fished the sword out of the water.
The unruly fairy sword was as docile as a child in her hands.
Three years have passed.
In the dim candlelight, she looked at the fairy sword carefully, and then sank it into the water again. In her original plan, she would give him this sword as compensation for her long-term three-year contract with Ning, no matter she won or lost.
Because no matter whether she wins or loses, she cannot stay.
A few days ago, Jiuyu brought a letter from the sky, which was written by his mother. She had no doubt that her mother was alive, but was a little confused about the content of the letter.
"After seven days, we will return to Zhao State and return to our country. The big exam is coming."
Zhao Xianger burned the letter.
She could have regained the Zhao Kingdom long ago, but she was always waiting for one person. Although he would not come, she just wanted to fulfill this agreement so that she would not have any regrets when she left the world.
Zhao Xiang'er closed the stone box.
She subconsciously looked at the wall. There is a letter framed on the wall. The letter begins with "Hello, Miss Zhao. I have been thinking about this for a long time and have been unable to sleep for a long time. I feel deeply guilty for the girl, so I am writing this letter and hope to be forgiven by Your Highness." It begins with "I hope I can forgive you." As long as you live, I wish your Highness a long life." Ending.
That was the letter he wrote to himself in the last days of Linhe City.
The content of the letter was very hateful, and it made her a little angry every time she read it.
Zhao Xiang'er never understood what her feelings for him were, but she couldn't sleep on the night of their three-year appointment.
So in Zhao Xiang'er's palace, the lonely sound of the piano came out.
Winter has not yet arrived, but the sound of the piano is like falling snow.
After a long night, the State of Zhao will usher in a national sacrifice. The purpose of the national ceremony is to celebrate the recovery of the State of Zhao and pay homage to the dead soldiers. However, everyone who participated in the birthday banquet three years ago knows that this day is the day between His Highness and the State. Ning long promised day.
Zhao Xiang'er sat by the window, watching the sky turn white and the sun rising.
She walked into the darkness behind the drooping bead curtain, and the black and gold-painted dragon robe fell to the ground like a waterfall. The darkness in the palace seemed to wrap the most beautiful jade in the world. Soon, the jade was covered with a thin white dress.
When she walked into the young general's mansion with an umbrella, she was wearing a plain white skirt like this. At that time, she had a small yellow flower pinned to her right arm.
Zhao Xiang'er rolled up the curtain and came out. She didn't tie her ponytail and had a long white silk tied on her forehead.
She picked up the red umbrella and walked towards the window where fallen leaves were piled up.
In the White City, there was also someone who had not slept all night. When the sky turned white, he took the new sword he had made, tucked the quilt for the beauty who was still in her dream, closed the door and left. After closing the door, Lu Marry opened her eyes, stood up slowly, and touched the remaining warmth on her pillow, her expression calm.
This is the day of national sacrifice.
If no one warned me, I would have thought winter had arrived early.
Thousands of households are covered in mourning clothes like snow.
Zhao Xiang'er opened the door of the deep palace courtyard, held an old red umbrella, and walked out after a long absence.
The palace was extremely quiet, and no one dared to disturb His Highness today.
Her body was a little taller, and when she walked, her dark hair that had already hung down over her hips swayed slightly. Today's weather was a bit gloomy, but in the dim light, her long hair looked even more shiny.
She walked towards Jiulingtai.
The Nine Spirits on the Nine Spirits Platform have disappeared.
She looked at the entire Zhao country.
These are the nineteen years she has experienced.
"You really don't keep your word." Zhao Xianger smiled. The wind blew up the white silk and poured it into the thin white skirt, taking away the last warmth from her skin.
She suddenly raised her hand.
A sword energy rushed into the sky. On the side of the sword energy, there were countless firelights spreading out in an arc shape, with fireworks rolling on the edge of the arc.
Jiulingtai is like a beacon tower.
Soon after, this fire will be seen by Baicheng. At that time, Baicheng will take down all the flags of Jin State and replace them with the flags of Zhao State.
At that time, all the soil in the Zhao Kingdom has been recovered, and she will have made up for the last lack of destiny, and then leave the Zhao Kingdom on the fire sparrow and go to the Western Kingdom where her mother is.
This was something she could have done a long time ago, but just to wait for this three-year appointment, she never took back the White City and used it as the last blank space.
The sword fire broke through the sky, exploding like fireworks.
But for some reason, after a long time, the fireworks had dissipated, but there was still no movement in Baicheng.
She sensed something and turned around quietly.
Under the Jiuling Platform, a young man in white climbed up the steps and walked towards him.
"Miss Xiang'er, the three-year period has come, Ning Changjiu has come to keep the appointment."
The boy in white bowed seriously and looked at her quietly.
In the autumn wind, the two looked at each other silently.
Three years apart.
She seemed to have changed a lot, but also seemed like nothing had changed.