Black birds flew over the mountains, and the peaks were like a screen, black and white, like a black sea full of white foam, rolling back with waves.
No city-state has been seen for thousands of miles.
The black sparrow hovered over the buildings in Tianbang for a while, like a flying eagle.
The evil in the sky list opened his eyes and cast his gaze on the bird in the sky. He glanced at it and then withdrew his gaze, shaking his head slightly: "The daughter of the country's thief."
Ning stood in the command building for a long time and looked at the sky. He couldn't see the black spots in the sky, and he didn't know that all his black spots were seen by Zhao Xianger.
He didn't know that the day of reunion was almost linked to the 'date of death', and he even often missed Zhao Xiang'er, thinking that a long separation was better than a new marriage, and even imagined some arrogant girl in black skirt, Xiaoniao, leaning against his arms. The image of her little hands and cheek pressed against her chest, shouting 'husband'.
This made him more motivated to practice, thinking that next time we meet again, he will definitely not lose to her in the first battle.
The snow on the tower was swept away, and Ning Changjiu sat there with his sword across his knees, refining his sword intention.
Jiange's entry into the rankings did not cause any big disturbance.
Evil is in a very bad state and will not dispute with Jiange over this. Jiange also showed respect for the spirit. The senior sister specially sent a sword letter to apologize, saying that she had severely punished the second junior sister. As for the sword and crown of Jiange, for the time being, Leave it here and take it back later, just to teach junior sister a lesson.
Ning Jiujiu always felt that Jiange seemed to be plotting something big.
From this, the name "Zhang Jiu" spread throughout China and came into the sight of many big shots.
A 20-year-old Zi Ting Peak appeared out of thin air in China. It was said that he was from the ancient spirit sect that had suffered a great disaster. This was indeed strange. For this reason, other divine sects will also send some disciples to come and compete.
The failure of Xiao Qiu and Mr. Fourteen also made them worry, fearing that the best seedlings would be distracted from the Taoist spirit. Therefore, the people sent to make the rankings were only decent disciples, responsible for finding out the truth.
Ning Jiujiu has fought against them recently, and no one has ever been able to defeat him in five moves.
And Ning Jiujiu also used this to gain a glimpse of the leopard, and collected the essence of each sect's swordsmanship and Taoism one by one.
Tonight is the day when the top ten players from Middle-earth are released on the Heavenly Ranking. The pattern of Middle-earth has changed, so many people are full of expectations for the ranking in the Heavenly Ranking.
During the day, after Ning Changjiu finished his practice, he came to a teahouse in Tianbang. The owner of the teahouse made a lot of money by betting on him, and he was very happy with him and waived all the money for tea.
"You have been studying the Tianbang for so many years. Have you found anything?" Ning Changjiu sat next to an old scholar and chatted for a while with a smile.
The old man said: "I don't dare to say that I saw something. If I can understand a little bit about the principles of destiny before I die, I can die without regrets."
Ning Jiujiu asked: "Have you been here all your life?"
The old man shook his head and said, "I only came here in recent years, so it's too late to meet you."
Ning took a long sip of tea, looked at the snow outside, and said, "This is obviously the center of China. It should be prosperous. Why is it so deserted for thousands of miles?"
The old man frowned and asked: "You have achieved such a great reputation, but you don't even know about these things about Chen Ma Lan Gu?"
"Please give me some advice, sir." Ning Jiujiu said sincerely.
The old man said: "Because the middle part of Middle-earth was an ancient battlefield five hundred years ago. It was completely destroyed. The ground we are standing on now was a rock formation that sank deep underground many years ago. The ground veins below Most of them were scattered and fell apart. In spring and summer, there would be frequent earthquakes... Earthquakes are not terrible. What is terrible is that evil spirits often leak out from the cracks in the ground. Even if ordinary cultivators come into contact with these evil spirits, they are likely to die. Ordinary people cannot survive at all."
Ning Jiujiu thought of what he saw in Luo Shu. The place they were at at that time was the center of Middle-earth.
"I see. It's a pity that no one lives in this huge land." Ning Jiujiu said casually.
The old man said: "There is no way. Except for the eighty-one countries that are connected as one, ordinary villages cannot survive here."
Ning Jiujiu asked: "How was the Eighty-One Kingdom built?"
The old man said: "There are rumors that immortals founded the country, and there are also rumors that it was a country descended from heaven."
Ning Jiujiu narrowed his eyes and immediately remembered the 'Rain of Immortal City' in Middle Earth in Luo Shu - at that time, the sky seemed to have cracked open, and the Immortal Kingdom Cave Mansion carrying it fell down to the world like rain. Those city-states The four walls are made of steel, which is indestructible over time.
Later, Ning Changjiu had a chat with Lu Jianjiao and Siming. At that time, the two of them met during the disaster of the Immortal City Rain.
Could it be that the rain in the fairy city was the prototype of the Eighty-one City, or maybe it was the Eighty-one City...
Ning Jiujiu thought back and said: "To tell you the truth, I am actually from Nanzhou."
"Are you coming from Nanzhou?" The old man said in surprise: "How can a cultivator like you come out of a barbaric land like Nanzhou?"
Ning Changjiu smiled and did not answer, but just asked: "I crossed Wuyun Sea from Nanzhou, and all the way from Haiguo to Gulingzong, all I saw were fairy mountain caves and prosperous cities, but the desolation here is quite different. Very different."
The old man thought for a while and said: "Because the edges of the Middle Earth have not been affected by the war, and because it is close to the sea, commerce and trade are developed, and there are a large number of practicing sects stationed there, naturally it is difficult to escape the prosperity."
Ning Jiujiu asked: "Only the center of China-Earth is an ancient battlefield?"
"Yes. It is said to be so." The old man said: "It is recorded in ancient books that five hundred years ago, the place chosen by the saint for the battle of gods was the center of Middle-earth. At that time, the saint, together with a group of great demons and human monks, cleared the battlefield. He came out and used the power to move mountains and seas to move most of the ordinary people outside the battlefield, saving the ordinary people of the human race and demon race from annihilation. However, the scope of the divine war was later larger than imagined, and many people were still unavoidable. The place suffered a devastating impact, with bloodshed and numerous casualties."
Ning Jiujiu nodded... No wonder that in Luo Shu's world at that time, after flying for a long time, he didn't see any civilians. All he could see was a scene of five paths everywhere and purple courts like dogs.
It turns out that almost all the strongest people in the world at that time gathered here.
It's a pity that the saint and them failed in the end.
The last scene emerged in Ning Jiu's consciousness. The roar of the blue dragon rang in his ears, shaking the mountains and seas, and the sky filled with fire as the curtain call, announcing the end of the divine war.
"It was such a bad time." Ning Jiujiu sighed and said: "Back then, the surviving human races were all over the place. Why were the surviving demon races mostly gathered in the City of Ten Thousand Demons, but rare in ordinary places? In the past, humans and demons worked together to fight against each other. Ancient God, this shouldn’t be the case after the war.”
The old man thought for a while and said: "The City of Ten Thousand Demons... Well, it is said that the strongest demon clan today is in that city. Even the rankings on the Heavenly Ranking will deliberately avoid the City of Ten Thousand Demons. It must be related to the saint. No matter how many , I, an old man, don’t know anymore.”
"Saint..." Ning Jiujiu hummed.
…
Returning to the command building, Ning Jiujiu still had time to rest, so someone went up to the building to ask for the list.
The person who came was a female disciple.
Ning Jiujiu's eyes lit up.
He didn't know the female disciples who came, and he didn't care about their family background and appearance, but he was happy to defeat them.
He usually uses several moves to defeat the male disciples, but to defeat the female disciples, he always defeats the enemy with one move!
So, to his Zhengwang reputation, he added the reputation of being 'destroying flowers with a ruthless hand' and 'not close to women'. He knew that these reputations would be passed down to the Ancient Spirit Sect, and he wanted to use this to get Lu to marry him. It's nice to be married, and it also proves how calm you are when you're alone.
The female disciple looked at the famous young man in white nervously. She saluted seriously, drew her sword, announced her family, and invited him to fight to help her improve.
The innocent girl didn't know that she was about to become a tool for the other party to coax his wife.
There is no suspense in this battle.
The sword shines through the command tower.
In less than one move, the girl was defeated miserably.
She sat on her knees, looking at the sword that fell on the floor, with tears in her eyes. She was also a little fairy from her own sect. How had she ever received such treatment
She said aggrievedly: "Senior is indeed as the rumors say... I have long said that senior brother should come... ugh."
Ning Jiujiu nodded, casually pointed out the shortcomings of her swordsmanship, and then said in a cold voice: "Stop crying, Zhang has a heart of stone... Since you have been defeated, hurry up and get out of the building to avoid misunderstanding."
After hearing this, the girl felt even more aggrieved. She held her face in her hands, turned around, and ran downstairs with tears streaming down her face.
After she goes out, she will definitely accuse Zhang Jiu of being ruthless.
Ning Jiujiu continued to refine his sword intent.
He has entered the ninth floor of Ziting, approaching the peak. His Purple Court realm was extraordinary. When holding the Kunlun Sword, he even felt that as long as he could pull out the sword, he could cross the realm and kill the five monks.
The years are quiet and slow.
The cold night comes again.
The Tianbang barrier that was cut open by the second senior sister Liu Junzhuo has restored itself, shining brightly in the night, like curtains like glazed gauze covering the four sides of the ancient building.
Tonight, many people gathered under the Heavenly List, waiting for the announcement of the people from Middle-earth.
Ning Chang was near the water tower and was the first to see the list.
The first one is undoubtedly the Sword Master, the second one is He Yaoqin, the senior sister of Jiange, the third one is Ji Xuan, the owner of the Shenhua Building, and the fourth one is...
"Master of the Ancient Spirit Sect, Si Ming." Ning Changjiu read out softly.
He was a little nervous, because his fame and Siming's inclusion on the list would focus a lot of attention on the new Ancient Spirit Sect. Siming's status was extremely special and would undoubtedly bring huge attention and unnecessary trouble. At the same time, he was also a little lucky that at least the name on this list was Si Ming and not Xue Ci.
This shows that even the Tianbang has unknown things.
It's just that if Siming sees this list, he will be unconvinced, thinking that the priest beneath him should be towering above the entire human world. Although her condition is far from reaching its peak at the moment, she is only ranked fourth...
No doubt on the wild list!
Ning continued to read for a long time.
After Si Ming is Yu Qing, the owner of Piaomiao Tower, and Jing Zhan, the owner of Xuanhai Tower, is in sixth place. Compared with last year, the names of the two posters have swapped positions.
The seventh is Liu Junzhuo, the second disciple of Jiange, and the eighth is Di Huan, the master of Kuxing Dao Sect, one of the Eight Divine Sects.
"This woman is more powerful than I thought." Ning Changjiu weighed the sword in his hand, thinking about the impulsive woman, and sighed softly.
The ninth is Qiu Xiansheng, the leader of the Eighty-One Kingdoms.
The tenth person is the Pavilion Master of Xuandan Holy Pavilion, Yu Lingtai.
This completes the list of ten people from last year.
On the list, Luo Cangsu, who was originally ranked among the top five, has no name, and the leader of the Ancient Spirit Sect, Huo Huo, who was always ranked tenth, is also missing.
"Si Ming..." Ning looked at her ranking for a long time and laughed softly: "She really lives up to her name."
Alas, it's just a hard time marrying a junior sister. The fourth-ranked expert on the Heavenly Ranking is always next to him, which is not a good feeling... if you think about it.
For Ning Changjiu, this ranking of the ten people in Middle-earth did not arouse much interest in understanding it. It was just a slight adjustment to his boring career of ranking.
There was a huge crowd under the Tianbang.
Those were the people from many sects who came specially to watch the ceremony.
Especially the people of the Xuandan Holy Pavilion, the leader of the Holy Pavilion was on the list for the first time, and they held the pavilion to celebrate. They could finally get over the depression of Xiao Qiu losing to Zhang Jiu.
Ning Chang's gaze lingered on the word Shenhua Building for a while, then he moved away calmly and continued practicing his sword.
It was already in the middle of the night when the news reached Gu Ling Sect.
…
The stove is cold, but the wine is still warm.
Ning Xiaoling was lying on the side of the road, curled up, hugging the warm stove. She opened her mouth, burped, and looked at the master and sister Siming who were still awake with blurred eyes.
Si Ming's original drunkenness also dissipated.
She was sitting on the chair with her legs crossed. She held the rim of the porcelain lamp in one hand and turned it gently. She passed one hand across her chest and placed it between the elbows of the other hand. Her eyes were coldly staring at a picture. The paper placed on the table was stained with wine on the edge and was a bit messy.
Lu Marian's chair moved to her side. She looked at Si Ming nervously and said cautiously: "Sister Xue Ci, I think this ranking... is unfair!"
"Well, it's just a heavenly list. It's normal to know how high the sky is." Siming said calmly and gently pushed the paper aside.
Lu Jianjiao said: "Si Ming, the four... my sister must have just come out of the mountain, and she doesn't know the depth of the ranking, so she deliberately made up a homophonic name."
Si Ming is used to being domineering these days and has a feeling of being invincible, so now he is quite dissatisfied when he sees that he is ranked below three people on this list.
She looked calm and said: "It may just be the ranking of realms. Those with higher realms than me may not be my opponents. Besides, I am far from the peak."
Lu Marian nodded and said: "If the ranking is really based on victory or defeat, then wouldn't my husband have to be at least third..."
As soon as the words came out, Lu Marry gently covered her lips, realizing that she had said the wrong thing.
Siming tilted his head slightly and his eyes fell on her lightly: "What did my sister say?"
Lu Jianjian quickly made up for it, carefully folded the paper according to a certain line, and then handed it to Siming - she saw that the top three were folded to the back of the paper.
"Sister Xue Ci will always hold this position in my heart." Lu Marian said with a smile.
Si Ming then showed a pear blossom-like smile. She stretched out her hand to trim Lu Jianjie's hair and said, "I don't know if my sister is being considerate or if she has learned some trickery with sweet words."
Lu Marian said: "Of course you are considerate. I don't care about my sister."
Siming smiled and said, "I don't know how long this rareness can last."
Lu Marian's heart trembled, she blinked and said with a smile: "Sister, what nonsense are you talking about? This kind of love will naturally last a lifetime."
Alas, the master used to be so cruel when he was teaching in the sword hall, and now he is bullied to such an extent... Ning Xiaoling listened with pricked ears and continued to pretend to be drunk. She just hoped that her senior brother would come back soon.
Siming took the last sip of the wine, then put the cup down and said, "The world is just as boring as this wine."
Lu Marian said helplessly: "This is already the strongest wine in the entire Yishang Street. If it has no taste, then there is nothing worth drinking in the world."
Siming looked at her with a smile in his eyes and said, "So after Ning Jiujiu comes back, my sister should hurry up and give birth to the baby."
As she spoke, she leaned closer and quietly touched Lu Jiaoyou's flat and tight belly with one hand.
Lu Marion pushed her hand symbolically, feeling distressed.
"By the way, what exactly is the fox tail that Xiaoling mentioned earlier?" Siming thought of this matter again.
Lu Marian's heart was shaken. She raised her hand gently and slowly placed it on her forehead. Her eyes were blurry: "I... feel a little sleepy."
Ning Xiaoling regretted her previous gaffe and continued to pretend to be drunk.
Siming grabbed Lu Jianjian's wrist and said, "Will you tell me or not?"
Lu Marry directly sealed her sea of consciousness with spiritual power, pretended to faint, and fell into her arms.
Siming looked at the woman in his arms, sighed, stretched out his hand to rub her hair, and asked puzzledly: "As for... Oh, what on earth is it?"
…
In the Guling Sect, the disciples who went home to celebrate the New Year on New Year's Eve also began to return to the sect one after another.
The ice and snow have not yet melted, and Youyue Lake is still frozen for thousands of miles, but the voices of people are gradually getting warmer.
This made the Fish King a little unhappy.
Because of this, it is not the only god in Youyue Lake.
There is only one lake, and the more gods there are, the more people will fight for resources with him. And it was very strange among these 'gods', so it had to give up this fish pond.
But after eating green vegetables for more than half a month, he cherished fish very much.
It needs to find a way to eat fish when not sitting in the fish pond.
So it dug a striking cave on the edge of the lake, with the words 'Fish King Cave' written on it. It hid inside and said in ancient and profound words: "I am the supreme master of Youyue Lake, and all anglers, Three big fish must be worshiped every day, otherwise, nothing will be harvested and the fish king's curse will be tainted."
At first, people just thought it was a prank.
But soon, they discovered that they really couldn't catch any fish.
It turned out that the fish king dived underwater and blocked all the gaps in the ice caves.
After today, someone tried to pay tribute to the Fish King. After paying tribute, they caught a lot of fish as expected. More and more people are paying tribute to the Fish King, and some people feel that it is evil and dare not approach Youyue Lake anymore. And the Fish King never went into the water himself again. He went to the cave every day to eat as much as he wanted, and he ate in vain again.
Those fishermen were even grateful to the so-called King of Fishes for their bumper harvest, and offered more and fatter fish to him. As everyone knows, it was originally what they deserved, but it was deliberately restricted before.
The fun of pretending to be weird was over, and the fish king lay down on the rock to bask in the sun.
He touched his plump belly and recalled the turbulent years that had been blown away by the rain and wind, but he always had a sense of unreality that everything was gone.
"Buddhism is boundless..."
The Fish King spoke softly.
…
…
Time passed by unconsciously, and half a month passed in a blink of an eye.
The ice and snow covering the world gradually faded away, and the snow-covered branches began to spit out new stamens. Vigorous vitality nourished the vast land one by one, just waiting for the thunder of the Awakening of Insects to strike, and the insects and snakes crawled out of their nests.
Ning Changjiu looked up from the command tower, and saw the peaks and mountains standing like a screen, filled with gold in the sunset. This is almost all that the field of vision touches.
It's been over a month.
He walked out of the command building, slowly closed the door, and left slowly with Liu Junzhuo's sword and crown.
"Got to go?"
A voice sounded in my mind, it was evil.
Ning Jiujiu nodded: "It's almost time."
Evil said: "Well, next time we meet again, maybe the sky will tilt to the northwest and the earth will sink to the southeast."
Ning Jiujiu said: "The saint is about to die, and no one in the world can launch a divine war of this scale again."
Evil said: "Maybe."
Ning Jiujiu slowly walked down the stairs.
When he was about to truly leave, Evil's last words sounded in the lake of his heart as softly as a dream, causing ripples.
"Be careful with the sword pavilion."
Evil said.
Ning Jiujiu seemed to have heard nothing and did not make any response. He walked out of the Tianbang with a normal expression.
The command building is empty, and the sky list in the sunset says goodbye to him.
The young man came alone and returned with a sword on his back.
"Is he leaving now?" said the old scholar who had chatted with him: "One month of practice here is as good as one year outside. This is a rare holy place for cultivation in the world. It would be a pity not to stay for three months. .”
Ning Jiujiu said: "I don't have time."
The old scholar is a little strange. Isn't sitting on this list just to save time in practice
"Do you have anything more important than cultivating immortality and realizing the true fruit?" The old scholar was very surprised: "It's okay for ordinary ascetics not to mention it, but for a genius like you, it should be your supreme long-cherished wish to cultivate the path to immortality."
"I don't cultivate immortality." Ning Jiujiu said, "I only cultivate immortality."
His fate with Tianbang is evil and Xiaoling's safety. Once these two things are done, the fate will be over, and it is naturally not worth staying.
Don't say that he only has a few years left in his life. Even if his life is still long, he will not do anything to seek immortality.
Although immortality is beautiful, it is not worth spending long and boring years gambling on a vague ideal. In the end, it is very likely that it will be turned into ashes after thousands of years of vicissitudes. These leisure times are not as good as watching the snow with Siming, watching the mountains with Marry, or enjoying all kinds of customs with them.
Seeking immortality, seeking medicine, and asking for immortality are things that people only do when they are old.
He is still young.
I would rather leave for a long time. Afterwards, many disciples who had been waiting at the Tianbang for a long time entered the building one after another and began to compete for the next place to guard the Tianbang.
They are all young and talented people, but with Zhang Jiu, Mr. Fourteen and Xiao Qiu Zhuyu in front, no one cares about their victory or defeat.
…
Ning Changjiu wielded his sword, followed the ruts and flew into the snowy river, moving his sword eastward.
After a day and night, he stopped in a pavilion and took a rest.
It was an ancient pavilion near the water, which had been eroded by the years and was crumbling.
Ning Jiujiu came to the pavilion, put his sword aside, and adjusted his breath.
Suddenly, he felt enlightened. He raised his eyes and glanced at the monument beside the pavilion. There are three words written on the monument: "Xunjiu Tai".
"Xunjiu?" Ning Jiujiu frowned slightly: "Xunjiu..."
Just as he finished speaking, he was still thinking about whether it was a coincidence, but the last piece of wintersweet suddenly fell from the branch beside the pavilion.
The red plum petals are like the last snow in winter.
Ning Chang felt ominous in his heart.
He suddenly stretched out his hand to hold his sword, and slashed away the plum blossoms with a burst of sword energy.
The plum blossom split into two petals and lay quietly in the snow - it was just a cover.
Suddenly, the sound of wind and the chirping of cranes started, and the vegetation around the ancient pavilion was filled with soldiers.
Behind Ning Jiujiu, the sky dimmed, the spring breeze dispersed, and the snow in the courtyard suddenly gathered, forming a sharp edge like a whirlpool, piercing his back.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time."
The voice and the crane's shadow emerged from the sword light at the same time, with lingering resentment.
It was none other than the leader of the Dianhuan Sect, True Lord Baihe, who escaped that day.