In the dead of night.
People who played in the upper reaches of Mushan had already found their own places to sleep, and the rich and powerful lived in the Taoist temple halfway up the mountain. Ordinary tourists can only find a flat and spacious place to pitch their own tents. The people of the Sui Dynasty have always lived a relatively comfortable life. The strong national power for a hundred years has made the people develop a confident and somewhat lazy character.
It is not the privilege of the rich and powerful to travel in spring.
Rich people play like rich people, and ordinary people play like ordinary people.
It's just that few people choose to camp at the foot of the mountain, and most of them live in the small square paved with bluestone slabs in front of the Taoist temple halfway up the mountain. The Taoist temple does not provide meals, but provides hot water. This is also one of the reasons why this Taoist temple is so popular, because of this mountain, the Taoist priests in the Taoist temple live a very prosperous and comfortable life.
Almost everyone inside and outside the Taoist temple had already fallen asleep, but the three people at the foot of the mountain were busy digging a hole. To be precise, two people are digging a hole, and one person is sitting on a tree branch leaning against the tree trunk, which is a bit boring.
"Dig deeper."
The big dog didn't need any tools. He put on the gloves with steel spikes and started working. It didn't take long for him to dig a big hole in the ground. He glanced at Fang Jie, wielding the horizontal knife to dig the soil, curled his lips in contempt, and said, "I dig two and you can't dig one. It's better to do things with your own hands."
Fang Jie wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "I just realized today that dog digging is not just a way of swimming. I admire it. If you don't have something handy, you won't be able to dig deep until dawn."
"Let's not dismember the corpse."
Big Dog said solemnly: "It's easier to dismember the corpse. Divide it into many small pieces, so that you don't need to dig too deep, just dig more."
Li Xian glared at him: "Why are you so cruel?"
Big dog said: "I killed two and you killed two, cruelty is the same cruelty."
He looked back at Cui Lueshang and said unhappily: "I said, Mr. Cui, even if you are not the principal offender, you are also an accessory now, right? Can you help me? Even if you kneel down now and use the method of Buddha sect to save them , don’t they hate you in the Underworld?”
The somewhat dazed Cui Lueshang looked at the big dog with no brilliance in his eyes. Before Fang Jie handed him a short knife, he looked at the dying Liu Yineng who had already been beaten by him, but he didn't dare to strike. Later, after Fang Xie stabbed Li Yuan's neck with a knife, he tremblingly moved to Liu Yineng's side, raised the knife and trembled for a long time before stabbing down. Maybe it was because he was too nervous and panicked, and he stabbed four or five times without hitting the vital point.
The blood sprayed out one by one, splashing Liu Yineng all over his body, but Liu Yineng was not dead yet.
After Fang Jie killed Li Yuan, he really couldn't stand it anymore, and pierced Liu Yineng's back with a knife, hitting the heart exactly.
People killed four people, Fang Jie thought he would be afraid and trembled, but after he actually killed people, he was surprised to find that he was calm as if he hadn't done anything. He even felt it carefully, but was a little disappointed to find that he was really not excited at all.
To him, murder was not a very exciting thing.
This made Fang Jie laugh at himself. When he was in Fan Gu, he firmly believed that he was a person who would not go down and kill someone. Even if he was not a kind person, at least he was not a vicious person. But now after he killed someone, he realized that it turned out that he had been resisting murder not because of the kindness he still had. It's just that he still resists killing people in his memory, which is just a kind of inertial thinking.
Just as they were sweating profusely, the back door of the Taoist temple halfway up the mountain slowly opened, and two people in blue Taoist robes walked slowly to a boulder protruding from the mountainside. A chubby Taoist priest who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old: "Do you want to take care of the big murder?"
The Taoist priest who asked the question was at least fifty or sixty years old. He wore a Taoist crown to cover his white hair but not his gray goatee. Compared with the young Taoists around him, he looks even more immortal and respectable. But he used question sentences when speaking to the young Taoist around him, and his tone was very respectful.
This little Taoist is young and fat. A Taoist robe that was originally very flowing was worn on him, but it was stretched so tightly by the fat that it seemed to be torn apart. So he seemed a little weak when he walked and talked, and he didn't know if it was uncomfortable because of being strangled by the clothes.
His face was very round, so white that no wrinkles could be seen. If he had to use one thing to describe his face, then it could only be steaming white flour steamed buns just out of the pan.
He is not only fat, but also short.
I don't know if it's because he hasn't fully grown at such a young age, his height is barely at the same level as the shoulders of the old Taoist. He didn't wear a Taoist temple either, and his long black hair was loosely tied behind his head, but it had a smoothness that even women had to be jealous of.
"There are so many catastrophic things in the world, you take care of them all...won't you die of exhaustion?"
The young Taoist gave the old Taoist a look, and said angrily: "You woke me up in the dead of night just to let me watch this? Isn't it just to kill someone... When will there be no death in this world? Don't say you are a cultivator. It is a joke to go down the mountain, even if you become a god and can fly... Could it be that you can stop all the evil things in the world by flying around every day? Can you? Can you? Can you?"
He asked three times.
The old Taoist blushed, smiled embarrassingly and replied: "Of course not."
"Then what are you talking about?"
The young Taoist glared at him and said, "If you disturb my sleep, I will write it down first. If you bother me with such trivial matters in the future, I will drive you down the mountain."
The old Taoist panicked and said: "It won't happen next time... By the way, every year when the Martial Arts Academy opens for exams, Master Xiao will be invited to go... The last time I sent people to invite you three times, do you want to go this time? "
"No, no, no!"
The young Taoist waved his hands and said impatiently: "Three senior brothers, one has become a leader of the Taoist sect and has to pretend to be greeted and sent all day long, one has disappeared without a trace for ten years without a trace, and the other is hiding in the palace as a watchdog Not to be free... who is as chic and happy as me? Life... What you pursue is the natural way, what is the way?"
He looked at the old Taoist and said solemnly: "You can make your own decisions when you eat, drink, and sleep. This is the Dao."
The young Taoist turned around and went back to the Taoist temple. When he was about to enter the door, he turned and told the old Taoist: "The number of tourists has been increasing these days, and the meat, eggs and fresh vegetables in the temple are not enough. You can go down the mountain to buy some in the morning..."
He looked down the mountain, with a look of pity in his eyes: "If the meat is chopped up, you can't tell whether it's human flesh or pork, right? If it's made into buns and sold, no one will eat it? Even if we eat it, as long as we don't Is it okay to admit it?"
The old Taoist was so frightened that he took the young Taoist's hand and walked into the yard: "You should go to sleep, you should go to sleep..."
"When you go down the mountain tomorrow, remember to bring me back Xiangcheng Songji's dim sum, shortbread, five-spice melon seeds. There is also Chenji's smoked pork leg, the sausage from the old blind man's house, and..."
The sound gradually faded away, and the Taoist temple regained its calm again.
…
…
down the mountain.
Cui Lueshang held the earth and covered Liu Yineng's body. Seeing Liu Yineng's expression of death, he fell to the ground in fright: "What should I do? If someone finds out, the future of my life will be ruined." It's gone. My father doesn't know how much gold and silver he gave and how many favors he sold to help me find the opportunity to enter the martial arts academy, but I ruined my future... If my father finds out, why don't you break my leg? "
"Excellence!"
The big dog rolled his eyes at him and said slightly angrily: "Everyone has been killed, are you afraid that there will be a fart after you regret it now?"
Cui Lueshang wanted to wipe off the sweat from his forehead, but wiped his face with dirt: "But this matter cannot be hidden after all. Many people know that the five of us visited Mushan together. Li Yuan and the others agreed that it was for This trip is only possible if I practice it, but if I am the only one who returns to Xiangcheng by myself and the four of them don’t, the government can easily find out that I killed them.”
"It must be hidden."
Fang Jie dragged a dead body over and threw it into the pit, looked at Cui Lueshang and said, "You don't need to hide this matter at all. After burying their bodies in a while, you can rush back to Xiangcheng immediately. Tomorrow As soon as the city gate opens in the morning, you should hurry home and tell your father the truth. It is not your fault, but Li Yuan and the others who wanted to kill you first... Your father will naturally help you find a way. We are outside Xiangcheng Waiting for you, when the time comes, we will go on the road to Chang'an together, and I will take care of you."
Fang Jie said while burying the soil: "I will not hide it from you until now. I am not called Shang Guohen, nor am I a peddler who does business in Fangu City. I am recommended by the frontier army of Fangu City to take the exam at the Academy of Martial Arts this year. Frontier scout, my name is Fang Jie. Since meeting is also our fate, you and I go together, and going to the Martial Arts Institute for the exam can be regarded as a help."
"You are also a candidate for the Academy of Martial Arts!"
Cui Lueshang was taken aback, and couldn't help but look at it carefully: "You didn't lie to me?"
"Could you have been deceived by this matter? Now that you have been deceived in Chang'an, have you been deceived?"
Fang Jie smiled and said, "You might as well stop meddling in this matter, and go back to Xiangcheng now. It will be dawn in about two hours, so you just go back to the city by riding back to catch the dawn. Go back Just talk to your father, I reckon your father will send you out of the city as soon as possible that day."
"real?"
Cui Lueshang couldn't help worrying: "What if my father arrests me?"
"Tiger poison doesn't eat children, your father is willing to spend a lot of money to let you enter the martial arts academy, how could he just let you ruin your future, go!"
Fang Jie patted him on the shoulder and said, "I promise nothing will happen."
Cui Lueshang thought about it and Fang's explanation made sense. He didn't want to stay in this place for a moment, so he simply got up, cupped his fists and said goodbye, turned around and ran away.
After Cui Lueshang's figure disappeared, Mu Xiaoyao jumped down from the branch and walked to Fang Xie's side, looked at Fang Xie seriously, and then asked seriously: "You killed these people, not just Because you want to kill someone, right?"
Fang Jie nodded: "Yes."
"It's not just helping that idiot once as you said, right?"
"right!"
Fang Jie nodded again, then looked in the direction where Cui Lueshang disappeared and said in a flat tone: "I am just a small frontier scout, without a noble background, without a strong background, even if I arrive in Chang'an City, there will inevitably be many hardships and difficulties. …Although the Cui family in Xiangcheng is not as rich as the Cui family in Boling and has many important court officials, it is still a famous family. Having such a friend by your side will always save you some trouble."
"So you've been scheming against that idiot from the beginning?"
Big Dog asked in surprise.
Fang Jie smiled: "I am helping him, and I am also helping myself...Isn't it? Doing kindness to others is doing kindness to yourself. This seems to be a Buddhist saying, but it still makes sense."
"If possible, it would be better to make friends with a few powerful people. In any case, a candidate like me will not have a smooth journey in Chang'an City. I will naturally not miss it if I can find a few helpers. I remember going out of Fan Gu. When I was in the city, I told you that three years ago I relied on you and Shen Qing to fan the seven of them, and these three years I relied on the two of you, but from now on... I will rely more on myself."
"I was carried away by your belt for fifteen years."
He looked at Mu Xiaoyao and said seriously: "You should go by yourself, it's best... to run."