Xia Houlin was stunned for a while when he woke up.
He seemed to have had a terrible nightmare. In the dream, his mother died, her head and body were separated, her body was beyond recognition, and her body was thrown into the market. It took a while for him to react very slowly and painfully. It was not a dream.
She's still lying there, and he's going to find her!
As soon as he opened the door, he was pushed back into the room by Uncle Duan, and Qiu Ye walked in behind him.
"Uncle, what are you doing! My mother... "
"I know!" Uncle Duan interrupted him, "Quickly, pack up and come back to Galan with us later."
"Where's my mother! I'm going to find my mother!" Xia Houlin shouted while holding back tears.
"Little brat! The streets are full of Liu Guizang's disciples, and they are searching for you from house to house! You go out to find Garuda now, and you will be caught before you reach her clothes. Which one are you looking for to die!" Don't make trouble for Lao Tzu, pack up as soon as possible and go back to the mountain!"
Xia Houlin stood silently, his fists clenched tightly, his fingernails almost embedded in his flesh.
Qiuye sighed, with the desolation in his eyes that the dry wind swept the leaves away. He stood by the window, looking through the thin window screen at the disciples coming and going in the street with knives. Xiahou Pei's body was impartial, lying in the center of the street, his empty eyes looking at the sky without stars.
"I'm not leaving." Xia Houlin said.
"Xiahou Lin!"
"I'm not leaving." Xia Houlin raised his blood-red eyes, "I want to collect my mother's body and kill Liu Guizang!"
Uncle Duan laughed angrily, "Do you know who Liu Guizang is, even your mother can't fight him, can you!? What are you going to use to kill his three thousand disciples, what are you going to use to resist him? His Qi family knife? At that time, you will be like your mother, and you will die on the street to make people laugh! It's just that you two have one in Beishi and one in Nanfang, let everyone have a good time!"
Qiuye frowned and scolded, "Duan Jiu!"
"But I can't let her lie there, never!" Xiahou Lin wiped his eyes. Xiahou Pei's rotten appearance lingered in his mind. She is such a proud person, how can she endure the sun exposure and wind, and insect bites? How painful should she be
"Xiao Rong," Qiuye said, "Xiahou Pei is beyond recognition, why do you think it is?"
Xia Houlin looked at Qiuye with red eyes.
"That's because she doesn't want you to recognize her, and she doesn't want you to take revenge. Garuda, Garan's first sword, has never been afraid of swords, life and death, she will do whatever she wants for a lifetime, do whatever she wants, without any worries. Only You, Xiaolin, you are her only bond in this world."
"She doesn't want me to recognize her, and she doesn't want me to save her and take revenge. But how can I... how can I..." Xiahou burst into tears, "Do you want me to watch her being trampled on but be indifferent!"
"No, Xiaolin, what she doesn't want is for you to die. She wants you to live, do your best to live."
Sorrow is like dust, layer by layer airtight to seal Xia Houlin's heart. What's good about living and what's bad about dying? Could it be that in order to survive, he can let his mother throw the corpse in the market and eat and drink by himself, everything is the same as before
Xia Houlin said nothing, picked up the knife, pushed open the door and went out.
Downstairs sat a table of dark stakes and a table of assassins. It turned out that not only Qiuye and Duan Jiu were here, but the other eight parts of Jialan were here.
As soon as Xia Houlin went out, eleven pairs of eyes swept over, everyone was silent, like a statue with an expressionless face.
Xiahou pursed his lips and walked downstairs. An arrow suddenly slid across his waist, and blood flowed like a stream. Xia Houlin turned his head, and Duan Jiu asked him angrily, "Xiahoulin, are you going to fight Liu Guizang with your injuries?"
Xia Houlin didn't speak, and continued to walk down.
Another arrow hit his knee, Xiahou Rong immediately knelt down, he stood up with his hands, the thugs with blue veins on the back of his hands, dragged the injured leg, and limped down. The eyes of all the assassins followed him, and no one could tell the meaning of it. It was probably a kind of injury, or a sadness.
Duan Jiu shot another arrow, Xia Houlin knelt down completely, and turned to the bottom one by one from the stairs. He couldn't stand up anymore, his legs were shaking. But he still crawled hard, dragging out two glaring bloodstains.
He's going to die. Everybody knows.
But there are some things, even if you know you will die, you have no turning back.
"Xiao Lan, don't you understand?" Qiuye, who had been silent for a while, suddenly said, "You're just an ant."
Qiuye walked downstairs and picked up Xia Houlin's collar with one hand. He used to be a frail man, like a scholar whose shoulders could not resist and could not be lifted, but now he can lift seventeen-year-old Xia Houlin with one hand, press his face firmly against the window, close to Baibujin The window lattice and the milky white screen let him see the disciples coming and going outside.
"Look, the Qi family's sword is the best in the world. These disciples start every day at 9 o'clock and stop at 1 o'clock. Their sword-drawing technique can cut open your belly with one knife and let your intestines flow out like water. You can chop off your head so that your left eye can see your right eye." The gentle man said the most cruel thing in the gentlest tone.
Xiahou shed tears silently.
"Do you think that when you died for your mother, you fulfilled your filial piety, and you are worthy of your mother when you go down to the underworld? You are wrong, when you die, the whole world will know that Liu Guizang killed the mother and son of Garuda. , he is the well-deserved number one knife in the world. At that time, he will command the heroes to respond to every call, sit on the rivers and lakes, and be unparalleled. And you, you and your mother, are just his stepping stones, and the most impressive stroke in his credit book, It's the two gutter rats who died under the sword of the master of Jingdao Villa." Qiuye's voice rang in his ears, "Are you satisfied with this? Xiaolin?"
Xia Houlin seemed to have lost his soul, and let Qiuye hold his neck in a daze. Tears blurred his eyes, and everything could not be seen.
Shame, hatred, and sadness were rushing to the left and right in the chest, and the blood was dripping, but what made him more painful was that he was at a loss and helpless. He had no choice but to hide like a shrunken tortoise.
Outside, Liu Guizang came over on a horse, kicking and stomping with the horse's hooves, turning twice around Xiahou Pei's body.
Qiuye held Xia Houlin's hand tightly and stared out the window intently. The assassins also gathered around, carefully poking holes in the window paper, and peeping out into the street.
"Your name is Xiahou Lin, isn't it! I know that you are Garuda's son." Liu Guizang shouted loudly.
Xiahou Lin was almost invisible, and the earthquake shook, Qiuye held him down, preventing him from moving.
"Wool," Liu Guizang looked down at Xiahou Pei's corpse and chuckled mockingly, "My mother is lying here, but she can't hide her head like a tortoise. Why, Garuda's son is actually a coward. Don't you even dare to meet me face to face?"
The night was like ink, gloomy, as if it was about to drip. There were homes on both sides of the street, and under the dark night, countless pairs of frightened eyes peered at Liu Guizang, who was riding on a tall horse, through the thin window paper. Liu Guizang looked around, but there was still no sign of the person he wanted.
He waved his hand, and the next disciple received the order and blew a whistle.
The barking of the bulldog resounded at the street, and in the dark night, one tall and two short shadows appeared. A disciple came over with two black wolf dogs, and the wolf dogs walked while sniffing around, with their shiny fur, their eyes emitting a hungry green light, and turbid saliva leaking from their fangs.
Xia Houlin fought a cold war.
"You bugs in the sewer, you really don't recognize your six relatives." Liu Guizang said, "Xiahou Rin, if I let the dog eat your mother so much that nothing is left, won't you come out?"
Like a Jiao Lei hitting the top of his head, Xia Houlin was shaken all over, anger swept through his heart in an instant, and he was about to rush out as soon as he moved. Akiba hugged him tightly, and the assassins came one after another, some holding his legs, some holding his hands, and even covering their mouths for him. Xiahou Lin's veins protruded, his teeth clenched, anger and humiliation rolled through his body like thunder, almost burning him to ashes.
But he couldn't do anything, he could only watch, watching the two dogs sniffing and sniffing at his mother's body, the disciple raised the whip and hit the wolf dog fiercely, and the wolf dogs barked a few times in fear. With a sound, he began to bite Xiahou Pei's broken body.
The carrion was bitten open piece by piece and swallowed into the belly, revealing the white skeleton soon.
Xiahou burst into tears, the assassins turned their heads away, and some sighed in a low voice.
"Xiahou Rin, don't be impulsive anymore." The assassin who held his hand said gloomily, Xia Hou Rong recognized him, he was the newly appointed Luo Jia, "Why did Xia Hou Pei die, don't you understand?"
Xia Houlin was stunned.
"It's because of you," said the assassin below, "If you hadn't let that young master go, Xiahou Pei wouldn't have had to bear the whipping for you, and he wouldn't have been hurt more and more, and his old illness would not have healed for many years."
"Her injury is dramatic when it rains. It is rainy in Liuzhou in winter, and the sky wants to take her away. There is nothing you can do."
Because of him, all because of him. These words were like a curse, and they kept repeating in Xia Houlin's ears.
It was his willful actions and his deviant behavior that led to the miserable situation of Xiahou Pei today. All because of him.
Liu Guizang waited for a long time, but still no one was seen. He got off his horse and stepped on Xiahou Pei's head, "Xiahou Rin, do you want your mother's head to be buried in the dog's belly as well? dog food."
Uncle Duan said angrily, "Pull Xiao Rong back, don't let him see it!"
The assassins pulled Xiahou Rin to the table and pressed him to sit down. Xia Houlin was like a lifeless puppet, sitting blankly on the bench, his eyes were dull and dull. He was silent, as if a dark cloud hung over him, but even if he remained silent, all assassins were aware of the suffocating sadness in him.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven..."
Xia Houlin didn't move, as if he couldn't hear Liu Guizang's countdown, like an ignorant puppet.
"Three, two, one!" Liu Guizang said loudly, "Xiahou Lin, you useless bastard!"
He let go of his feet, and the two dogs scrambled to bite the rotten flesh on Xiahou Pei's cheeks. Soon, half of his face was gone.
Xia Houlin stood up, and the assassins surrounded him.
"I'm going to bed." His voice was hoarse like rough sand, inaudible.
He turned around and climbed upstairs trembling all over. His leg was injured, and he was shaky every step of the way. No one stepped forward to help him. The assassin's path must be walked by the assassin himself, even if it is a bush of thorns, even if it is the road of Shura.
Behind him, behind the door of the inn, two wolf dogs gnawed at Xia Hou Pei's head, even the bones were shattered between the sharp teeth, the snoring sound passed through the crack of the door, through the window edge, and reached Xia Hou Pei's ear.
Xia Houlin didn't look back, step by step, like a lost dog, crawled back to the house.
The night was silent, not even a dog barking, the whole city seemed to be dead.
Xia Houlin leaned against the bed with his knees in his arms. Tears have dried up, he is a boy and shouldn't cry. When he was a child, Xiahou Pei was annoyed when he cried, saying that he was a sissy and a crybaby. Of course, Xia Houlin didn't like to hear this. Every time he wanted to cry, he would hold back his strength.
Now no one cares whether he is crying or not, he can cry from night to dawn, and no one will call him a crybaby, like a girl.
The door was suddenly opened, and Uncle Duan walked in.
He handed Xia Houlin a knife, Xia Houlin took it, it turned out to be Hengbo.
Holding the cold scabbard in his hand, Xia Houlin's heart was severely stabbed. He didn't say anything, but slowly hugged Hengbo into his arms.
"I found this in the woods outside the city. Fortunately, I can still find Hengbo, so I can give you some thoughts." Uncle Duan said, "Speaking of which, I have known Xiahou for twenty years. She is a natural knife. Guest, when someone else is an assassin, you have to suffer a little bit, and you will gradually gain some fame. But there is no way to avoid it. Our gang is very simple, do what you can, and save your life. It's the top priority.
"But your mother is different. She is a genius. Since her debut, she has never missed a beat and never failed. In the Central Plains, people call her Garuda, and in the Western Regions, she is called 'Avoru'.' ', meaning the devil."
Xia Houlin remained silent, his eyes like a dry well. Uncle Duan didn't know if he was listening to him, so he sighed and said, "Xiao Lian, you have to remember that your father was the abbot of Jia Lan, who swept across the Central Plains thirty years ago, and no one dared to stop the Mind-killing Buddha. , Your mother is Garuda of Garan, Avoru of the Western Regions, the sharpest blade in the world. With the blood of an assassin flowing in your body, you are a born assassin.
"Your brother is tired and has inherited the swordsmanship of heart-killing. Go to him, Xiaolin. Go and learn the swordsmanship of the strongest in the world from him."
Xia Houlin raised his eyes, his dark and dull eyes reflected on Uncle Duan's face, and he hoarsely repeated the name of the brother he had never met: "Chian."
"Yes, he lives on the top of the black-faced Buddha. No one but the abbot knows the way to the top of the black-faced Buddha. You can only climb up on your own, with a rope, with a dagger, whatever you use, go find him. Little Lin, you have to replace your mother and become the strongest assassin, and only by becoming the strongest can you defeat Liu Guizang."
"I understand."
The grief-stricken teenager hid in the darkness, Uncle Duan could not see his eyes, only saw his thin hand holding the transverse wave, doing all he could, as if his fingers were about to break. Uncle Duan suddenly had a feeling that what he was holding was not a knife, but his life.
The Assassins began planning to withdraw from Liuzhou. They plan to retreat in batches, and Xia Houlin is the first batch.
They chose a sunny day, and Qiuye, Duan Jiu and Xia Houlin rode out of the city on horseback. The plains are vast, and the eyes are dead trees and old crows, and the stone road of Banqiao. The clouds in the sky are faint, like a very light stroke of ink, and the color below is a little darker, outlining the endless distant mountains.
One mile out of the city, Xiahou Lin suddenly stopped his horse.
Akiba and Duan Jiu turned to look at him in surprise.
He has been silent for a long time these days, hardly saying a word. Akiba asked people to take turns looking at him, for fear that he would do something stupid. But he didn't do anything, he should eat, sleep, and he didn't even take a step closer to the big threshold. He is still a child, and no one can expect a child to quickly come out of the pain of losing his mother, but he no longer even sheds tears, and he is so cute that it is scary.
"What are you doing?" Uncle Duan asked.
Xiahou Ran dismounted from the horse, did not answer, knelt beside the road and kowtowed three times in the direction of Liuzhou.
"Unfilial son Xia Houlin, here I say goodbye to my mother! The hatred of killing my mother will never be shared. From now on, Xia Houlin, Jingdao Villa, and Liu Guizang will never die!"
Qiuye walked up to him and said, "Xiao Rong, do you know that if you commit murder, you will be killed? I'm waiting for blood on my hands, and I'm full of evil. Today is expected, why are you obsessed with it? Listen to me, don't hold your breath. , you should live your own life. When will the grievances be repaid, you killed Liu Guizang, and Liu Guizang's descendants and disciples came to kill you again, why bother?"
"Master," Xia Houlin didn't look back, the kneeling back was sharp and desolate, "I, Xiahou Lin, in this life and this life, do not marry, have no children, take apprentices, and make friends. If I kill myself, everything will rest."
In the plains of winter, the vegetation is desolate, and the wind is quiet.
Xia Houlin's words were both an oath and a punishment.
Qiuye watched Xia Houlin stand up and walk away from him.
The icy cold wind tugged at his hair recklessly, and the shabby black robe was blown loudly. This lawless child grew up with grief and hatred. When he raised his eyes, Akiba's heart throbbed fiercely.
Those eyes belonged to a wounded lone wolf.
Akiba knew that the moment it healed, it would return from afar with claws and fangs to avenge all who trampled on the assassin.