"This mortal named Qiao is indeed extraordinary. He is worthy of the fact that he can make Senior Brother Daozhen look at him differently."
Dao Ni landed on the ground and picked up a Qi-replenishing pill from the medicine bottle to replenish his rapidly depleted magic power.
First, he used a paper man to impersonate himself and set up an illusion array to conceal his figure. Then he set up two formations, quicksand and fire talismans, around him. Finally, he summoned three hundred bean generals and kept taking qi-replenishing pills to make up for the rapidly depleting magic power.
There are several back-up plans back and forth, and each step is very expensive. It can be said that it is an invincible fortress built with spirit stones.
What surprised Dao Ni even more was that he actually used all these backup plans
The immortal monks who are usually targeted by him are usually not fooled by his tricks.
"There is no time to lose. We must contact the sect immediately and inform them of these things." Dao Ni was cautious. After confirming that the enemy was dead, he immediately took out two communication jade slips.
Daoxu's communication jade slip was originally intended for Daoni to use as a means of seeking help.
If things are out of control, you can naturally ask for help in time, and the sect's deacons will come to help soon.
Dao Ni had already won at this time and was no longer in danger, but he took out two jade slips of communication.
One communication knows the false, and one communication knows the true.
Dao Ni usually keeps Dao Xu informed of the situation, but in fact he is also in secret contact with Dao Zhen.
His aptitude for becoming an immortal was not that good, far inferior to those elders' children who had a bright future, so he could only be a little more cunning than others.
There is no other reason, just be prepared and seek the word "stability".
But when he finished writing this, he suddenly realized something and looked down at the sand table under his feet.
A moment ago.
On the sandy battlefield in front of the lonely city.
Qiao Ruisen's figure was torn into pieces by the attack of more than a dozen giant soldiers, and his blood was spilled on the yellow sand again, and his body and soul were destroyed.
Qiao Ruisen was the sharpest spear tip in this isolated army, but when the spear tip was broken, there were still more than 200 generals left, which showed that the situation was hopeless.
However, the more than 300 veteran soldiers did not stop, but instead bravely took the lead.
The total number of old soldiers was more than 300, which was slightly more than the number of Dou Jiang. However, when the two armies collided head-on, the old soldiers suffered casualties in a blink of an eye.
They have not yet developed a method to restrain this tough and thick-skinned general. If they engage in battle rashly, it would be like hitting a rock with an egg.
Although the veterans did not retreat, they all knew that the situation was hopeless.
Qiao Ruisen couldn't stop it, and they couldn't stop it either.
Their lives are coming to an end, along with this lonely city that has stood in the desert for forty years.
Hai Duwei was covered in blood, raised his sword and shouted:
"Old brothers, please go to hell with me today."
"We are soldiers of Da Yan. We would rather die than kneel. If we kneel, will there still be Da Yan?"
The old soldier behind him also raised his sword high and charged forward in blood.
On the city gate tower behind him, the storyteller Qianliyan also sighed slightly.
The purpose of Tingchaolou is to listen to the tides and not interfere in worldly affairs. His clairvoyance is already one of the pillars of the building, but he is used to a stable life and suddenly has the idea of venturing into the desert.
This was his first time getting involved in the secular world. Who would have thought that this attempt would cost him his life.
The rules of Tingchao Tower really cannot be broken casually, even if he is a clairvoyant or a genius with special powers.
As he sighed, a middle-aged man in blue clothes and white hair walked slowly towards him from behind. He was not moved by the tragic atmosphere and only had a slight confusion on his face.
"Storyteller, tell me, is their death worth it? Aren't you good at speaking?" Jian Zexian asked slowly:
"You come from Jiuzhou, so you naturally know how corrupt the situation is in the outside world of Jiuzhou and the outside world of Dayan."
Although Jian Zexian was also trapped in the city for thirty years, Lu Yanbei was his brother. Although Lu Yanbei kept his mouth shut to the old hands in the city, he told Jian Zexian about the affairs of the Nine Provinces.
"The Great Yan Dynasty that these Great Yan remnants are loyal to has long been corrupt and has fallen to its knees." Jian Zexian said calmly:
"The old soldiers said that if they knelt, there would be no Da Yan... What if Da Yan had knelt long ago?"
“Is this considered blind loyalty?”
"In the past, many civil and military officials in the Great Yan court pursued the greatest goal of leaving their names in history."
"Even though I'm dead, my name will go down in history?"
"No, these old soldiers are facing a more severe situation." Jian Zexian said slowly:
"The court has long forgotten them. They will die in obscurity. No matter how heroic their death, their names will not appear in history books..."
The storyteller was startled for a moment, then turned around.
"Foolish loyalty?" Clairvoyance said deeply:
"At this point, do you still think that they are loyal to the Great Yan Dynasty, which has ignored Gucheng for forty years?"
"If we look at it from the perspective of modern people or people from other times, this might be considered a kind of 'foolishness'."
"Knowing that you are weak, you still risk your life for the safety of the people behind you, and for the so-called integrity of the human race. This is indeed a kind of 'stupidity'."
"But if everyone is shrewd and selfish, forgets morality when they see small profits, and cherishes their lives when they do big things... then the human race in Jiuzhou is destined to live under the control of aliens forever." The storyteller Qianliyan said:
"The best and smartest people don't have to fight against the aliens, because if they can't beat them, joining the aliens is the best option. Why risk your life for the life of others?"
"There have always been many smart people, but there are still some fools who will never die in this world. It has always been like this from ancient times to the present." Clairvoyance said no more, just quietly looked down at the battlefield.
He wanted to witness the last battle of these fools who tried to move mountains.
Jian Zexian was speechless and just leaned on the railing of the city gate tower to look into the distance.
And below the city wall, the battle situation was already precarious.
Lu Yanbei was also on the battlefield, and he rushed to the front line like the other veterans.
As one of the most famous martial arts masters and a master ranked 30th on the skills list, Lu Yanbei's internal strength skills are much better than those of the veterans, so his situation is slightly better.
Several generals had been pierced through by the long sword, and fell to the ground due to the burst of internal energy.
Lu Yanbei is already old, at the age of eighty-seven, and has lost a lot of energy and blood, but the internal strength he has cultivated for many years is still there.
Although it is far inferior to Qiao Mu's more than a hundred years of skills, it is still much stronger than the old soldiers.
However, wasting internal energy like Qiao Mu did is not a long-term solution. In just a few moments, he had already consumed a lot of internal energy, and was sweating profusely and gasping for breath.
He is dying too.
Such an epiphany flashed through the mind of this old warrior.
The long life of eighty-seven years passed through my mind like a revolving lantern.
When they were young, the two brothers were looked down upon by the Lu family in the imperial capital, so they left home to venture into the world and have supported each other for decades.
Lu Yanbei is a good-natured man who likes to talk nonsense. Whenever outsiders say bad things about Jian Zexian, he always likes to defend his own brother, saying that his brother is cold-hearted by nature because his biological father and mother are both sanctimonious people with a false reputation, and he has never felt any love from a parent since he was a child.
Not to mention the deep affection... In order to prevent the two illegitimate children from being exposed, the father, who was the Minister of Rites at the time, even hired a master to hunt them down...
The two brothers had similar early experiences, but why was the younger brother so cold-hearted while he was the only good guy
It was just because he, Lu Yanbei, always thought in his heart that as an older brother, he had to set an example. Even if he had to act, he had to act like a good person for his younger brother to see.
He is the elder brother, he practiced sword and martial arts first, he taught Jian Zexian the basics of swordsmanship, he learned to act like a good guy.
At first it was acting.
But later on, he gradually lost himself among the people who called him "hero".
As time goes by, I've played the role until I'm old, that's all.
Lu Yanbei is not a soldier of Dayan, and he does not have the sentiments and righteousness of Hai Duwei and others.
He had fought alongside the old soldiers of this city over the past year, initially just because he wanted to cover for his younger brother.
He has no great awareness, nor does he have any foresight or overall view.
At his peak, he had broken into the first rank, and in his later years, his swordsmanship was good enough to rank among the top ten in the world. This was naturally due to the teachings of the Exiled Sword Immortal.
Although he was not considered the best in the world in martial arts, he had already become a famous figure in the martial arts world, and his name as the Great Hero of Zhongzhou was already known throughout the world.
In his later years, he found his younger brother Jian Zhexian, who had been missing for thirty years.
Although his 87 years of life were full of twists and turns, looking back on the past, he thought that he could also say that...
"The old lady has no regrets in her life."
The corners of Lu Yan's mouth rose slightly, and the Xuanji sword that had followed him for many years was slowly drawn out of its sheath.
"Heaven-slashing sword technique..."
Lu Yanbei was Jian Zhexian's first swordsmanship teacher, but Jian Zhexian became the later comer and taught his swordsmanship to Lu Yanbei in return.
This was a sword that would burn out his life. The only remaining internal energy in his body gathered at the tip of the sword. The blood and internal energy in this frail old man's body were rapidly drying up.
The sword has not yet been drawn, but it is already shining like a bright star, and its sharp sword light is unique.
The surrounding bean generals seemed to be aware of the threat and were approaching quickly.
However, his sword was not completely drawn out, and the sharp edge that had just appeared was uncontrollably retracted.
Because there was another person in front of him.
"Use my swordsmanship in front of me?" a faint voice said:
"It's better to avoid things that move you like self-sacrifice."
The Exiled Sword Immortal had no sword in his hand, and his aura was not fierce. He was still the same as before, with a sense of decadence and laziness.
However, the sword light that Lu Yanbei had just built up suddenly retracted unconsciously.
Even the bean generals that were not living creatures around them seemed to be frightened by the invisible aura and stood there stiffly.
"Yannan?" Lu Yanbei looked surprised and turned back unconsciously to look at the ancient city gate tower of the lonely city.
After all these years, this should be the first time that Jian Zexian has left the city gate tower and set foot on this battlefield soaked in blood and tears.
"Yan Nan, have you finally come to your senses? I knew you----" Lu Yanbei had a lot to say, but before he could finish his words, he was interrupted impatiently by Jian Zexian:
"Don't be so self-indulgent, Third Brother."
"... What did you call me?"
Jian Zexian ignored his brother's question and said to himself:
"Whether it was forty years ago or now, forty years later, I never cared about the lives of ordinary people, the justice of the world, whether the women, children, old and young in the city had enough food and warm clothes, whether they could survive, and how long they could live..."
"So, I'm just here to save your life, that's all." Jian Zexian said slowly.
He stood in the center of the battlefield, but there was a hint of confusion in his eyes, like a lost traveler.
His biological father was a high-ranking official in the Great Yan Dynasty and a great Confucian scholar, so he had no sense of belonging to the Great Yan Dynasty and scoffed at the Confucian virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness.
His biological mother was a female knight in the martial arts world, so he had no fondness for the so-called chivalry.
We are the inn of all things in the world, and the passer-by of time and generations. We are alone until death, and others are just temporary travelers.
No one in this world is obligated to be good to you, not even your biological parents.
Just like when he was suffering from syphilis and was seriously ill and about to die, his female friends left him one after another and Wudang expelled him from the sect.
Only his brother Lu Yanbei stayed with him and watched over him through life and death.
Jian Zexian still didn't understand the so-called righteousness, but he roughly knew why these old soldiers risked their lives.
"I have repeatedly asked myself what is the meaning of sacrificing for others... This question is too vague. No wonder I am stuck." Jian Zexian shook his head secretly.
"It turns out that I just couldn't bear to see him die."
Jian Zexian is neither a soldier nor a knight. He has no concept of family and country, and no pursuit of chivalry. He seems to be casual and easy-going, but in fact he is ruthless.
But in this world, he is not completely alone after all.
So even if he had been in a bad state for thirty years, he would not sit idly by and watch his own brother die in front of him.
"I can't bear to see him die, so I'm willing to fight for others, that's all." He said silently in his heart.
He loves a specific family member, an individual.
The old soldiers in the lonely city have a bigger vision than the two generations of Qiao family he has seen. What they care about in their hearts are not only their own families, but also the families of the old and young women and children in the city, and perhaps the Kyushu outside...
Although he couldn't do it, he now roughly understood it.