In the 21st year of Daqi Qizheng, Frost's Descent.
A group of knights galloped wildly on the official road, both men and horses were exhausted. Suddenly, the leading young knight shouted: "The boundary marker has arrived!"
I saw a stone tablet standing on the side of the road not far away, more than ten feet high, with a line of flying and phoenix-like blood characters on it, which is threatening: Chi Yuan, the living will stop, trespassers will be crushed and ashes.
In front of the stele, a middle-aged general was waiting for them with a row of guards. The guards lined up in armor and stood in a line. When they saw the person coming, they knelt down in unison: "His Royal Highness."
"Call—"
The leading young knight jumped off his horse, ran too fast, and staggered, the general quickly stepped forward to support him: "Your Highness, be careful."
"It's okay." The young man waved his hand and asked, "Where's my uncle?"
Before he finished speaking, he heard someone calling his nickname not far away: "Xiao Tong'er, come here."
The one who spoke was a man in black clothes, with his back to the crowd, standing alone on the other side of the boundary marker. The young prince glanced at the blood on the boundary marker, and rushed over without fear of tigers, and trotted to the corner in the mysterious clothes. The man knelt down in front of him: "My son..."
The man in black stretched out his hand, and lightly pulled the prince up: "No need."
This man's face is too young, standing with the young man next to him, he is more like a brother than a nephew, no one would have guessed that he is the Qizheng Emperor Sheng Xiao who has been in power for 21 years.
He has sword-shaped eyebrows, the peaks of which are not visible, and they fly into the temples obliquely, but the corners of his eyes are slightly drooping, showing a bit of tenderness and affection, high-spirited, and very amiable.
Emperor Qizheng patted the little crown prince on the shoulder, and said in a warm voice, "Walk with me, are you afraid?"
The prince said: "My son is not afraid. When the emperor's uncle was young, he leveled Chiyuan, suppressed evil spirits, killed millions of ghost soldiers, and restored our mountains and rivers. Even if my son is not as good as the emperor's uncle, I dare not speak lightly and be afraid. I will fall for you." prestige."
"What kind of prestige, it's a bad name." Emperor Qizheng smiled and walked forward slowly, "You are not afraid, but I am very afraid. I have not dared to come back for twenty years."
The prince hurriedly followed, a little puzzled, neither could understand his fear, nor why he used the word "hui": "Uncle Huang..."
"Hush—" Emperor Qizheng raised a finger to his lips, "Listen."
The prince focused his ears blankly, listened for a moment, and couldn't help muttering: "Listen... what are you listening to? There is nothing."
Emperor Qizheng smiled: "Yes, there is nothing left."
The prince was stunned, and suddenly remembered the legend he heard when he was young - it is said that millions of resentful souls who died in battle were sealed in the sea of fire in Chiyuan, and the resentment was so high that the two sides of the Grand Canyon were blowing strong winds all the year round, sobbing, people standing on the boundary marker Outside, the screams and wailing could be heard day after day.
However, at this moment, the surroundings were extremely quiet, and he strolled around the boundary marker without incident, but heard nothing except the footsteps of himself and his uncle.
The prince thought to himself: "Folk legends, are they really unbelievable?"
After entering the boundary marker and walking no more than 100 meters, I could already feel the heat wave blowing towards my face. At this time, according to the solar terms, it was late autumn, and the prince was only wearing a thin jacket, but his forehead was still sweating layer by layer. He secretly glanced at his uncle, and resisted wiping it off.
They said that Emperor Qizheng was a ruthless, temperamental lunatic who was born in the blood of his father and brother, and was born in an ominous manner. They also said that he killed his mother, murdered his teacher, burned books, silenced him, cultivated sycophants, resorted to war, and killed loyal and good people.
But in the heart of the young prince, this is his only relative.
No matter what happens, this man is always gentle and calm, and he has never been seen to speak harshly or to be disheveled. The prince has looked up to this uncle since he was a child, and now that he has grown up, he can already draw the heaviest bow.
When the two of them crossed the boundary marker for more than a mile, Sheng Xiao stopped in his tracks, the surroundings were filled with the smell of sulfur, the little prince was a little out of breath, and he refused to show it.
"Okay, let's stop here this year." Sheng Xiao turned around, pulled out the sword on the prince's body, and thrust it into the ground, "If you go any further, you won't be able to take it anymore."
"… This year?"
"You can come and have a look every year in the future. If I'm not wrong, this sword should be able to push five miles forward every year. In less than ten years, Chiyuan's fire should be completely extinguished. At that time, you can use 'Secretary Qing Ping' 'Send someone to stay permanently—as for that intimidating boundary marker, just smash it."
The prince was taken aback, and vaguely heard something else from his words.
Emperor Qizheng had expressed his intention to abdicate as early as a year ago. During his two tours, he let the prince supervise the country, suppressed the Quartet at the same time, and paved the way for future generations in an orderly manner.
But when this day really came, the young prince was still flustered and didn't know what to do.
"What should be taught to you, I have already taught you." Sheng Xiao said lightly, "Zhang Bo and Kong Yu are available, Zhao Kuan is still in prison, he was wronged, remember to release him when you go back, and give him to the Zhao family. Rehabilitation. Don’t say anything about my father. In the future, it’s inconvenient for you to speak ill of me. Just push Yang Dong out. That kid is not a good thing. He’s eaten a lot of food all these years, and he should be slaughtered by the end of the year. .”
When he said this, he paused for a moment, as if recalling whether he had missed anything, the prince knelt down with a "plop": "The emperor's uncle is in his prime..."
Sheng Xiao smiled: "Why, are you planning to let me work until I'm old or buried? Your uncle has been worrying about half his life, so he loves me dearly—the imperial edict of the Zen position, Zhang Bo and Feng Chun hold me separately. Keep a copy, Lao Feng will escort you back to Beijing with an imperial army, he is your father's best friend, he will protect you, don't be afraid."
The prince's eyes were red.
Sheng Xiao stood with his hands behind his back, looked in Chi Yuan's direction, and gently touched his forehead: "Do you still remember your biological parents?"
"My son dare not or forget for a day."
"That's good." Sheng Xiao nodded, "You've grown up and know your own way, so go, staying here for a long time will hurt you."
"What about you?"
"The capital is very stuffy, I don't want to go back." Sheng Xiao said, "I... Well, I will guard Chiyuan for you. You can come and see me when you have time later."
The prince settled down for a moment, then remembered something, frowned and said: "But the vicinity of Chiyuan is very desolate, and there is no palace..."
"I have arrangements." Sheng Xiao interrupted him, pulled him up, pushed him lightly, and urged, "Let's go, there is an old friend of mine in Chiyuan, I'll talk to him, you guys are too noisy."
The prince didn't dare to disobey the emperor's order, he walked back three steps at a time, and when he reached the boundary marker, he finally couldn't help but look back at the man, and saw him sitting on the ground in front of the sword.
At that moment, the prince suddenly had a premonition for no reason—this was the last time he saw this figure from behind.
Then he felt that his idea was inexplicable. Emperor Qizheng had far-sightedness. Since he said "there are arrangements", he must have built a palace nearby. A little, even filial piety.
Thinking of this, the prince knelt in front of the boundary marker, meticulously kowtowed three times and kowtowed nine times to the back of the man in Xuanyi, and then went to his own destiny.
The prince and the others were sent away, the night was already falling, and all the imperial guards were sent away, only one guard stayed behind, the guard came behind Sheng Xiao, knelt down and curled up, the armor fell off his body, and the robe fell to the ground , A palm-sized bird unexpectedly drilled out of it, silently guarding the owner's side.
"By the way," Sheng Xiao scratched its neck with his fingers, and took out a very thin gold wire from the little bird's neck, "I forgot about you."
Intricate inscriptions flowed on the gold wire, as if growing on its neck. Sheng Xiao gently stretched out his hand to grind it, and the gold thread shattered at his fingertips.
A deep roar came from the throat of the little bird, and then its body suddenly grew more than ten times, its wings spread out, and a fire was raised. !
Sheng Xiao stood up and sighed: "From now on, you don't have to monitor me anymore, we are both free."
Bi Fang stepped forward and gently grabbed the corner of his clothes.
Sheng Xiao looked down at it, and Bi Fang met his gaze, flinched instinctively, slowly loosened his jaw, and sat down cautiously.
"Good." The man smiled, raised his hand and took off his crown, and the long hair on the top of his head fell down. He waved his hand, then turned and walked towards Chi Yuan.
Chiyuan cracked for thousands of miles, and the violent ground fire magma rolled underground, and there was no grass on both sides of the bank. When he reached the edge of the cliff, the man's robe sleeves and boots were scorched.
The mask-like gentleness and calmness on his face cracked, revealing pleasure and madness vaguely.
It's still good for everyone.
Ordinary people have only a fleeting moment in their life, and there are decades of suffering and decades of happiness. The pain that the body can experience is always limited. Often, people have already liberated before feeling the pain.
Standing on the edge of the cliff, Sheng Xiao thought: "I, maybe I have to suffer a little bit."
Bi Fang, who was guarding the sword, let out a shrill scream, and the man jumped into the sea of fire under the abyss.
The hot wind blowing towards the face was like a fire, and the rolled flesh was quickly burned into coke, starting from the hair and skin, burning layer by layer, until the bone was touched, the blood also began to boil, and the blood vessels burst in the body, blasting through the skin. Burnt skin and flesh, all meridians in his body were cut off, he coughed up a mouthful of ashes, but he didn't know whether it was the heart or the lungs.
Immediately afterwards, he crashed into the Earthfire magma. There was a hard shell on the surface of the magma, but his body was so strong that it was not broken into slag when he fell from the high cliff. The broken spine was folded in half , the flames rose high, like a banner, the ground fire melted into gold and jade opened its mouth, swallowed him in one gulp, and then exploded again, spraying him back into the air.
So far, he still hasn't died.
If a person can live experience a setback, then all the so-called "unforgettable" in the world will become ashes floating on the stone.
Under such repeated torment, the ins and outs, joys, sorrows and joys of his life, together with his melted mind, were boiled and refined by the fire, until... he gradually forgot who he was, and the disturbed magma calmed down again. His inexhaustible stump slowly sank.
Finally, it's over.
Sheng Xiao, Emperor Wu of Qi, was the son of Emperor Ping.
Emperor Ping was killed by the demon clan, and died in battle in Chiyuan, Jisheng, and Xiaodai became emperor. When he was young, he was ups and downs. At the age of twenty-three, he killed the demon king in the city of Yong'an, changed his reign name to Qizheng, restored the country and flattened the frontier, compared the five emperors with merit, cruelty and bloodthirsty, and reversed the rules. In the 21st year of enjoying the country, he committed suicide in the fire of Chiyuan, and there were no bones left.
In another ten years, the fire on the ground was extinguished, Chiyuan was leveled, Emperor Wen cut down the boundary monument, and the mausoleum of Emperor Wu was erected.
In the vicissitudes of life, after thousands of years, a vast forest grew out of the ashes of Chiyuan.
The primeval forest of Chiyuan Grand Canyon has become a scenic spot.
hum—
what sound
Vague and unsettling ravings came from the depths of the earth, getting louder and closer.
very noisy…
His consciousness was forcibly awakened by those noisy noises, his perception betrayed his will, and the sense organs that had been silent for thousands of years greedily stretched out their tentacles, madly sucking every vivid detail around them, and the whole noisy world rushed towards him involuntarily. , followed his six senses into the sea of consciousness—the touch of mud, the smell of soil, the sound of wind, falling leaves, footsteps, human voices...
vocal
He wondered, "Why is there someone here?"
This doubt flashed past, and then, more doubts surfaced with his revived consciousness: "Why shouldn't there be people here? What kind of place is this? I... I am..."
who I am
He felt his body, and tried to move a bit. There was a crisp sound of "crack" in his ear, and the wind passed over his forehead. He opened his eyes suddenly, and was shaken out by the long-lost sunlight. Tears, and finds myself lying in the crumbs of a coffin….
"Oh," he pondered for a moment in the coffin residue, and calmly came to a conclusion, "I might have cheated."