Shan Chao and Yu Wenhu rushed forward at the same time, wanting to grab the snow lotus, but it was definitely too late at this time.
— Xie Yun's brows tightened slightly, and his sleeves waved towards the torch.
At the moment when Fu Wenjie was about to put the flower into his mouth, the fire in the basement suddenly went out, and he fell into a darkness where he couldn't see his fingers.
"Zhongwen..." A faint female voice suddenly resounded in the darkness, the lingering sound was lingering and mournful.
Everyone's scalps exploded at the same time, and Yu Wenhu shouted: "Who is it? Who's there?"
"...Zhongwen..."
Fu Wenjie's movements froze, he raised his head and looked around as if he was sleepwalking, and murmured: "Wanjuan... Wanjuan?"
Shan Chao clearly heard Zhongwen's call coming from the direction of Xie Yun behind him, and his heart suddenly became clear - Zhongwen should be Fu Wenjie's name, and this name is not called by ordinary people except those who are very close to him. .
Sure enough, the next moment, the sound of bone tightening and hurried footsteps sounded at the same time, and Shan Chao only felt that someone was walking past him quickly, heading straight for the cage in the corner of the basement.
The basement was arranged according to the couple's boudoir. Fu Wenjie took down all the things Wanjuan used during her lifetime. There should be clothes worn by his wife during her lifetime in the pear wooden cage next to the dressing table. According to Mrs. Fu's temperament, these dead people's things are probably burned, but Fu Wenjie must secretly keep them inside.
Sure enough, there was a creaking sound of the cage being opened, and then the robe was unfolded in mid-air.
"Wanjuan?" Fu Wenjie was delirious, waving his hands aimlessly in the air: "Is that you? You came to see me, did you come to pick me up?"
With a soft cracking sound, the torch was quietly lit in the corner.
Shan Chao took a look and was stunned.
In the deep darkness like ink, that star of flame was like a fluorescent light, reflecting a hazy halo. A figure of a woman beside the pear wooden cage is slowly turning around, wearing a light crimson gown, behind which is embroidered light gauze, revealing a beautiful silhouette faintly.
Fu Wenjie's hoarse cry was like breaking ice, slowly seeping out from the silent air: "Wanjuan..."
Everyone was so shocked that they couldn't make a sound, several soldiers stood still like stones, and Yu Wenhu's astonished eyes quickly turned complicated and inexplicable.
And Xie Yun was very calm. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he walked towards Fu Wenjie, his footsteps were silent, as if he was floating on the ground.
"Don't cry, Zhongwen," he said calmly.
——The voice is soft and subtle, hoarse and indistinguishable. It may be the reason why he tapped the acupuncture points near the throat. It is thinner than when he pretended to be "Dragon Girl". At first glance, it is really similar to a female voice!
Fu Wenjie looked at Xie Yun, while everyone else stared at Fu Wenjie closely, not even daring to breathe. There was a stalemate in the dark basement, coupled with the huge dark coffin not far away, the scene was so strange that it was indescribable.
In just a few breaths, it seemed as long as several years. Fu Wenjie finally stretched out his hand in a daze: "Great... great, seeing you again..."
The sound of exhaling came one after another, and everyone heard the sound of their heart falling from their throats to their chests.
Xie Yun stepped forward and slowly knelt down in front of Fu Wenjie, who was covered in blood. Huozhezi's flickering light came from behind him, from this angle, most of his face was hidden behind the veil, only the corners of his eyes flickered faintly: "What are you doing, Zhongwen, why are you so angry?" injured?"
Fu Wenjie murmured: "I... I avenged you and killed everyone, are you happy?"
Xie Yun kept silent, Fu Wenjie choked up tears and said, "I miss you very much, Wanjuan, I really miss you..."
The owner of the young village burst into tears, not sure if it was because of the accumulation of blood in his throat, his crying was so hoarse and sharp that it almost changed its tone, as if sandpaper was scratching metal, which made people feel extremely uncomfortable.
He beat himself with his hands, repeating "I was wrong" and "I'm sorry" nervously, and tears rolled down his pale and gray cheeks. His face was contorted to the point of convulsions, and his whole body was shaking violently due to excessive sobbing. It seemed that he had even numb the pain from the golden arrow piercing his shoulder.
Everyone looked at his hand with trepidation. The snow lotus was tightly clenched into a ball, and several petals had fallen off, floating in the blood on the stone floor.
A soldier couldn't hold back his desire to move, but was held down by Yu Wenhu: "Wait."
Xie Yun said gently: "Will you put down what you're holding?"
The emotional Fu Wenjie turned a deaf ear to it.
"I miss you every day... every day. I was wrong Wanjuan. If I hadn't insisted on marrying you, if you had no children... I would regret it every day. Why did you leave?"
"I killed you, and everyone in this world killed you, they all deserve to die!" Fu Wenjie's voice changed, and his choked-up voice showed insane violence: "I want them to taste the taste of despair, I want Let them go down to apologize to you too! I'll send them all down to accompany you, one by one! They all deserve to die!"
The ending echoed for a long time, and everyone couldn't help shivering.
Xie Yun reached out and gently held Fu Wenjie's cold fingertips:
"I know, I miss you too."
At that moment, as if some kind of magic had occurred, Fu Wenjie suddenly became quiet, and looked at Xie Yun with trembling lips.
——In fact, under such weak visual conditions, and separated by hazy tears, he actually couldn't see anything clearly.
"Wanjuan..." he whispered, "Do you hate me?"
"No," Xie Yun said softly, "I forgive you."
Fu Wenjie laughed foolishly, and the sound echoed in the dark tunnel, making one's hair stand on end.
"... That's great, Wanjuan, I knew you wouldn't hate me... You're so beautiful, you're still so beautiful."
Even Yu Wenhu, who has been on the battlefield for a long time, was chilled by this weird and grotesque scene, and the calves of the soldiers around him also trembled unconsciously.
However, Xie Yun looked directly at Fu Wenjie, the corners of his light red lips were slightly curved, and his eyes were as gentle as a girl's: "The flowers in your hand are also beautiful, can you help me put them on?"
Fu Wenjie didn't seem to understand for a moment, and just sat there blankly. It wasn't until Xie Yun turned his eyes to his tightly curled other hand and lowered his head slightly at the same time that he seemed to react from the chaos and laughed.
"Zanhua, hairpin... that's right. From the east of Bo, the head is like a flying canopy; there is no cream for bathing, who is suitable for it?"
Fu Wenjie raised the hand holding the snow lotus flower in a daze, and the blood dripped from the fingertips, dripping down Xie Yun's black hair along the fingertips.
But he didn't realize it, and a lax, desolate and obsessed look appeared in his eyes, as if through the gloomy tunnel and the flickering candlelight, he saw a more erratic, distant and warm nostalgic picture in his memory: "Is there no cream for bathing?" , who is suitable for it?"
His hand paused lightly.
Everyone held their breath, and the surroundings fell into dead silence in an instant.
— That bloody snow lotus flower was inserted into Xie Yun's temple hair by Fu Wenjie's ear.
Yu Wenhu made a prompt decision: "Commander Xie, come back!"
He was about to step forward with the knife in hand, but Xie Yun didn't move, he seemed to ignore everything around him, and only maintained a half-kneeling posture and looked at Fu Wenjie with a smile: "Do you want to walk with me?"
Fu Wenjie opened his eyes slightly.
Xie Yun repeated again: "Do you want to walk with me?"
Shan Chao suddenly realized something, and lost his voice: "No!"
It was too late for him to say this, Fu Wenjie laughed, because the blood foam blocked his throat, the laughter sounded like a giggle, very weird and scary—but his expression was happy, or rather, forging The owner of Jianzhuang, Fu Shaozhuang, has never shown such an expectant and happy expression.
He said, "Okay."
"Don't!" Shan Chao stepped forward, "Stop!"
—At this moment, Xie Yun's palm was like a knife, and he plunged into Fu Wenjie's heart with a splash of blood!
"..."
Fu Wenjie stared blankly ahead, a large amount of blood poured out of his mouth, and his whole body was in extreme convulsions. But that only lasted for a few breaths, and then he fell down with a plop, his pupils constricted rapidly and then dilated completely.
"... Wanjuan..." The last trace of breath passed through his cold and trembling lips like a whisper: "Wanjuan..."
Xie Yun leaned over and pressed against his ear, and said softly, "I'm here."
Fu Wenjie forced a smile, gasped for breath a few times, and finally closed his eyes safely.
There was no sound in the basement, no one made a sound or moved, not even breathing. The pantomime-like silence lasted for a long time, and finally Xie Yun straightened up, let out a long and thorough breath, and stood up from Fu Wenjie's cold body.
The indescribable tension in the air finally loosened slightly at this moment, and everyone's shoulders suddenly relaxed as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
"Come back, Commander Xie." Yu Wenhu stepped forward quickly: "The matter of Forging Sword Village is over, and Snow Lotus can also..."
His footsteps stopped suddenly, and Xie Yun raised his hand to pick off the snow lotus. At the same time, his figure with his back to the crowd stretched again. His leg bones, waist bones, spine, shoulders, and his long and slender fingers made a snapping sound of their joints returning. , and then the tall and straight figure of the commander of the imperial army appeared in front of everyone again.
"What about the snow lotus?" Xie Yun said indifferently.
A certain ominous premonition suddenly rose from Yu Wenhu's heart: "Don't mess around, Xie Yun. Today's holy majesty has decreed that you should return to Chang'an immediately to meet the holy priest and tell everyone in the forging sword village and the prince to cure the medicine. Leave it to me to handle..."
"But I was the one who got the antidote in the end, wasn't I?"
Yu Wenhu choked up under Xie Yun's cold and teasing gaze, and then said, "Then what do you want to do?"
As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere suddenly became strange again. The soldiers tightly clenched the hilt of the knife, and Shan Chao also twitched his brows. He looked at Yu Wenhu and Xie Yun, and subconsciously took half a step away, vaguely blocking the seven-star Longyuan sword in the direction of Yu Wenhu's advance. .
However, Xie Yun didn't answer, and lifted from his shoulders the crimson robe that the young lady had put on hastily just now, and casually covered Fu Wenjie's body under his feet.
"I don't want to do anything." Xie Yun said lazily, his tone was unexpectedly relaxed and malicious: "You think too much, General Yuwen. People who think too much tend to die early."
He turned around and walked through the crowd, picked up the Tai'a sword that had been placed in the corner just now, and walked out of the secret room door as if nothing had happened. Yu Wenhu cast a wink at the soldiers and followed quickly, only to see Xie Yun stepping into the tunnel first, holding the snow lotus flower in one hand and the Tai'a sword in the other.
"General..." a soldier whispered.
Yu Wenhu made a silent gesture, signaling him to look at the end of the crowd.
——Shan Chaozheng looked back at the coffin and corpse in the secret room for the last time, then turned around and strode to keep up with the team. The black-clothed monk's handsome face is gloomy and solemn, and the seven-star dragon yuan is on his back, and a faint blue light is shining from the rags.
Haze flashed across Yuwenhu's eyes.
No one knows where this monk came from and where he came from. Although he seemed hostile towards Xie Yun, Xie Yun's attitude towards him was quite interesting.
Besides, the tunnel is narrow and cannot be paralleled. The two people are one at the head and the other at the end. In case of a fight, they will form a double team...
No one made a sound all the way to the ground. When the secret door came out, the cold morning air hit us head-on, and everyone was immediately refreshed.
Only then did Yu Wenhu realize how wrong he was to be cautious in the tunnel just now.
The people and horses around the other courtyard of Duanjianzhuang were as dense as iron barrels, and they were completely surrounded. Taking the tunnel they came out of as the center of the circle, the left and right ends are clearly separated: on one side are the five hundred soldiers of General Xiaoqi’s mansion, and on the other side are the imperial guards sent by the capital with neat bows and horses and swords drawn!
Yu Wenhu couldn't bear it any longer, raised his voice and sneered: "—Commander Xie's good means, I admire, admire!"
Xie Yun said lightly: "You have a lot to admire about me, you might as well learn it carefully in the future."
"Commander!"
Ma Xin led more people out, got off his horse and bowed his hands, and took a delicate rosewood lock box from his subordinates behind him. Xie Yun put the blood-stained snow lotus in it, and asked casually, "Where is the gate of gods and ghosts?"
"Jing retreated, and we did not stop him according to your order. However, it took some time to search and check the warehouse of Duanjianzhuang, so we failed to escort him in time. Please forgive me, Commander!"
Ma Xin said it so brazenly in front of everyone, and the expressions on the faces of Shan Chao, Yu Wenhu and others were very subtle.
"Well," Xie Yun didn't take it seriously, "Confiscate the light and valuable ones, and don't want the big ones."
Ma Xin asked again: "There is another matter. The Chen family in the south of the Yangtze River and the decent sects of the famous sects in the south of the Yangtze River heard the news and sent people to pick up their disciples. How does the commander plan to deal with it?"
——When he asked this question, Chen Haiping, Zhou Yu and more than a dozen martial arts disciples were being escorted by the imperial guards, staying far away outside the courtyard.
After the fierce battle with the Shenguimen, these rookies who were usually full of flowers and stars were quite embarrassed, and even couldn't stand up for a few stands and could only sit on the ground. Hearing Ma Xin's question, the group of people had different expressions, and it was not clear whether any of them were consciously ashamed and indignant and wanted to seek death.
Xie Yun smiled and said: "Let go, let them go, it's useless anyway."
The Ouchi imperial guards have completely taken over the dominance of Forging Sword Manor. The whole situation is orderly, and orders are issued in an orderly manner. Obviously, no one else has anything to do.
Yu Wenhu looked back at his troops, gritted his teeth and cupped his hands: "It seems that Commander Xie has been prepared for a long time, so I won't bother you... The Holy Majesty is still waiting for me to return to the palace. Let’s talk about it in the imperial study.”
— This is clearly a threat.
Xie Yunding took a look at Yu Wenhu, everyone thought what he would say next.
But then, he turned his head and casually said to Ma Xin:
"By the way, ask someone to blow up the tunnel in the backyard. The corpses of the young master of Forging Sword Village and his wife are inside, so there is no need to dig it up. It is a joint burial."
"..." Yu Wenhu's face turned livid immediately, and he walked away without looking back.
The imperial guards brought a snow-white horse with no trace of hair on it. Xie Yun turned on the horse and looked down at the completely collapsed ruins not far away.
Just one day ago, it was the elegant, deep and beautiful back mountain courtyard of Duanjianzhuang. Who would have thought that the family would be ruined overnight, and the grandeur and grandeur would be empty in an instant.
Xie Yun withdrew his gaze and said, "Let's go."
The well-trained men immediately got on their horses, when a voice suddenly came from the side: "Wait!"
Everyone turned their heads one after another, only to see Shan Chao standing where he was, staring at Xie Yun for a long time before slowly saying: "You... don't you plan to say something?"
Xie Yun asked: "What?"
Shan Chao suddenly realized that the scene at this moment was extremely absurd, even a little ridiculous in the absurdity, but he couldn't laugh at all.
"...you don't want to kill me now?" After a long while he managed to say something.
Xie Yun looked him up and down, and asked, "Why kill you? Do you deserve to be killed?"
If he hadn't been the person involved, maybe Shan Chao couldn't help laughing and applauding this wonderful answer - but no one around smiled, and no one even showed any expressions, only the horse occasionally snorted and stomped on the dirt with its hooves, except Otherwise it was completely silent.
Shan Chao finally opened his mouth with difficulty:
"Since all this was arranged in advance, why did you involve me?"
"Why did you hide your identity, why did you let me enter the sword forging village, why did you go to great pains to let me see and experience all this with my own eyes?"
Xie Yun looked down at Shan Chao on his horse, and suddenly showed a look of interest.
"Remember what I told you that night on Zhongzheng Street?"
"..."
"There is nothing that can be easily obtained in this world. Without the supreme status and supreme power, it is impossible for people born in this world to seek answers from the world—and to me, you are a weak person. An ant. Even Fu Wenjie knew that he had to fight for revenge, but you only knelt down and begged me for the so-called answer."
Xie Yun leaned down slightly, smiled at Shan Chao, and said, "I don't talk to the weak. In my eyes, you are weaker than Fu Wenjie, or even Yu Wenhu."
"..." Shan Chao gritted his teeth slowly.
"Leave him a horse." Xie Yun casually told Ma Xin: "The world is big, let him go—let's go."
The imperial guard rode on horseback, galloped past Shan Chao, and quickly went down the mountain amidst the sound of horseshoes.
The huge Houshan Bieyuan was empty in an instant, only the dust and smoke from the ruins slowly fell to the ground. The morning sun passed through the mountains and forests, reflecting the ruins all over the ground, and green smoke rose slowly from the charred beams and rubble.
Shan Chao looked not far away.
There was really a horse by the woods, oil black as lightning, hooves white, pawing the ground impatiently, it was the one he rode with Xie Yun when he escaped from Chang'an and went south!
——"The sky is big and the earth is big, let him go..."
Shan Chao remembered Xie Yun's last words again, and suddenly seemed to realize something from those eight words, his pupils constricted slightly.
In the direction of Chang'an on the horizon, the outer country is thousands of miles away, and the majestic imperial city. The eight waters surround the twelve city gates, and the Daming Palace is bathed in the pale golden morning light, glowing with continuous and dazzling red light like the rising sun.
Shan Chao jumped on his horse and looked into the distance.
After a long while, he finally took a deep breath, and beat his horse brazenly: "—drive!"
The dark clouds ride on the snow and the wind is fast, passing through the mountains and streams, advancing day by day on the land of China, carrying Shan Chao towards the pinnacle of imperial power.
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—End of volume one—