The mountain temple has not been popular for a long time. There is an old bell-shaped tree in front of the door, with dead leaves falling in the wind. There is a trampled path around it, and there are withered yellow weeds on both sides.
The two or three Taoist officials were all slightly injured. They were walking on the way to fetch water, holding a gourd in their hands. Zhang Ling was even more tanned and had a bandaged wound on his body.
The stream was very clear, and the water and stones were rounded by the wash. Several people in the rain picked up the water and drank it. They washed their faces, filled the gourd, and temporarily sat on the bank and looked into the distance without saying anything.
A gust of wind blew, the raindrops stirred up, and I shivered suddenly. The two Taoist officials looked at each other. One was in his thirties and seemed to have a slightly higher status. He said: "Sir, we have five more colleagues this time." Killed in battle, now there are only six left, 70% discount!"
"If we continue to follow, even if we have good foundations, we won't be able to survive for long. This will obviously consume us again and again, sir."
"Shut up, this is a mountain temple, don't let anyone hear you, we are Taoist officials of the imperial court." Zhang Ling scolded.
"Your Excellency, you are too careful." Behind him, a Taoist official in his twenties named Shang Xiang gritted his teeth and said, "This mountain god is a prostitute. He doesn't even have a plaque. He is nothing more than a wild god. He can hear us. ?”
"Even if you listen, can you still report us?"
"Sir, we started with a dozen people, and were replenished twice in the middle. There are more than thirty people in total. Now we are almost dead. Moreover, we have been fighting continuously, and our mana and energy have been exhausted. If we continue like this, we will definitely die. And Daolu Si will be seriously injured."
"Wow!" At the stream, a small fish jumped out of the water and landed on the water again, creating a circle of ripples. Zhang Ling glanced at Shang Xiang and sighed inwardly.
Shang Xiang had a young family and lost another younger brother. Now he was almost alone. He remained silent and reached out to touch his arm. He was also stabbed in the arm. The wound was not shallow. He only cleaned the wound and was reluctant to use magic power to repair it. He sighed for a long time: "But we can't retreat."
"Assassinating enemy generals is obviously beneficial to the court, and this has great righteousness."
"Pei Ziyun didn't ask us to fight directly, but basically one person took charge. We were only responsible for logistics and intelligence. What can we say?"
"And the superiors asked us to keep a close watch and record the whole process."
At this point, the three people present were silent. This is the Taoist official's helplessness. His wealth, life and even the Taoism are all in the hands of the Shangguan. A Shangguan who does not know the Taoism can deprive him of his magic with just a scolding.
In normal times, he receives a salary from the court, but in times of crisis, he cannot help himself. Sometimes you have to die even if you want to die. Whether you die or not, the whole family will die together. This is the system and the court!
At this time, it was getting dark, and under the cool breeze and cold rain, Zhang Ling said again: "If you want to retreat, you will be a deserter. Not only will we die, but the whole family will be punished."
He said with a wry smile: "Just accept your fate! Otherwise, what else can you do?"
The three of them all lowered their heads, and Shang Xiang gritted his teeth, showing resentment, and suddenly clenched his fists.
mountain temple
Spiders had made webs on the eaves, and the offering table was placed under the statue of the god. There was an incense burner, but it was already dilapidated and there were traces of water flowing on it.
There was straw in one corner, and the little girl was sitting tremblingly, looking at the hare being roasted from time to time, exuding the fragrance.
The beggar smelled the smell, took a deep breath, cut a small piece of rabbit with his pocket knife, put it in his mouth and tasted it, then stood up and offered the roasted rabbit to Pei Ziyun.
Pei Ziyun was eating and said: "Although there is only a little salt, the meat tastes pretty good."
"May I have your name?"
"Luo Cheng." The beggar responded with respect, his face was yellow and stained with mud, and his only eyes looked very determined.
Huh? This name is a bit familiar. Pei Ziyun has become an immortal with a photographic memory. His mind moved and he searched his memory, and soon his heart moved.
After looking at it, I found that the beggar was actually fourteen or fifteen years old. It was only because he was homeless and had no nutrition that he looked thin.
According to the memory of his previous life, this person was adopted by a nobleman very early, and he quickly rose to prominence. Rumors reached the ears of the original owner. Although it was only occasionally, and even the original owner probably didn't remember where he had heard about it, but if the rumors spread, he was considered a nobleman.
"It's just that according to rumors, this man should have met a noble man last year. Why is he still a beggar now?" Pei Ziyun tore into the rabbit meat, hesitated for a moment, and then he understood after a thought.
"It seems that because of my butterfly effect, I changed history, and I missed the noble man." But now, Pei Ziyun didn't care much at all. Just when he was about to speak, several Taoist officials came in with gourds in their hands. He placed the gourd on the ground, took out dry food from his arms, and handed the beef to him: "Zhenjun, please have a meal."
Pei Ziyun cut the rabbit into several pieces with a stroke of his hand, and everyone divided it. He said to the little beggar and the little girl: "Since we are in the temple, give us a share."
"Thank you, Mr. Zhen." Although the little beggar didn't understand what Mr. Zhen meant, he could still understand that Pei Ziyun was a big shot. He pulled the little girl from far away, and they both sat on the hay and shared a portion of beef dry food.
A group of people were drinking water. Pei Ziyun's ears twitched slightly and he heard the noise. He remained unmoved for the moment and continued to eat, only at a much faster speed. He also threw a silver medal, a piece of silver, and a bag of dry food to the beggar: "You hide, Go behind the statue, there is a secret room there, don't come out, you can go to Yingzhou or Liujin Island afterwards, with this silver medal, someone will take you in."
As he stood up, there was the faint sound of horse hooves. The expressions of several Taoist officials changed and they looked outside: "No, it's King Lu's cavalry."
Pei Ziyun smiled, with a hint of coldness in his smile, and said, "We caught up again. It seems that King Lu is really furious and is determined to pursue him at all costs."
There was only a "click" sound as he drew his sword, and a faint cold light appeared in the temple.
Looking outside, I saw a line of cavalry, holding crossbows. It looked like there were fifty people, and they were slowly surrounding them. As the cavalry approached, birds in the low mountain forest were frightened and flew into the distance. go.
"True Lord, there are fifty people. They seem to be on patrol. They saw the mountain temple, so they checked here." Zhang Ling looked at it, his face became increasingly ugly, and his heart beat faster and faster.
In fact, this is easy to understand. It is too easy for rumors to leak out in the village. The common people are the most snobbish race. Even if a stranger is not guilty, he may kill an outsider, let alone an ultimatum criminal.
For the safety of the village and for the possible benefits, I will definitely report it to the official.
In this case, the cavalry patrol was the outdoor stronghold - so the cavalry approached the mountain temple as soon as they saw it.
"If the true king were in his prime, it would not be difficult to kill these fifty cavalry."
"But it's obvious that Zhenjun is a little exhausted after repeated assassinations. Now the situation is dangerous."
Just as I was thinking about it, the horseshoes outside became quiet, and there seemed to be the sound of someone coming in from the grass.
"The enemy has crossbows, so field battles are disadvantageous. We are fighting in the temple. Everyone is prepared. Once the enemy comes in, we will immediately surround them and kill them." Pei Ziyun said coldly, and the remaining Taoist officials silently prepared Taoist techniques and drew their swords.
At this moment, Shang Xiang rushed out the door and shouted: "Pei Ziyun is inside, I abandon the darkness and turn to the light."
This man didn't want to die, and there was no one in his family. Since Pei Ziyun didn't give him a way to live, let him die.
"Damn it!" Zhang Ling was furious. Now that they were together, this person betrayed Pei Ziyun and wanted to let him die. He had sympathy at first, but now he was just angry.
Seeing Shang Xiang running out, a hint of murderous intent flashed across Pei Ziyun's face, but he did not move. With a kick, a piece of firewood flew out, like a sharp arrow, and passed through Shang Xiang's back with a "pop" sound. He fell to his death.
"Ah!" The cavalry who had just rushed in saw the Taoist officer shouting surrender and were immediately killed. The blow was almost with the power of a crossbow. This was really terrifying and there was an uproar.
The cavalry were all in an uproar, their armors on, and their crossbows were cocked. The atmosphere suddenly became tense. The team waved their hands, took a few steps back slowly, and took a deep breath: "Ready the crossbows and set off fireworks!"
Someone among the soldiers immediately took action, and a red firework shot up into the sky and exploded.
"Captain, do we want to go in?" The deputy captain looked at the ruined temple with his eyes wide open. King Lu said that if he kills Pei Ziyun, he will be promoted to the third level immediately.
"We are just a team here. This person is really scary. If fifty of us go up, it will be difficult to take him down. It is only right to use fireworks to summon an army. If you dare to go up, you will ruin a big thing. I will take it from you." The team member said coldly. Said.
The deputy captain was listening to these words, his breath was suffocated, his eyes were full of enthusiasm, and he didn't dare to make any mistakes. The captain saw him surrendering, and said: "We only need to delay for a while, and once the army arrives, it will be a great achievement!"
A Taoist official leaned through the gap and looked outside. There were crossbows aimed at outside, and a bonfire was burning, and thick smoke was rising.
"Zhenjun, what's wrong, they didn't come in. They lit fireworks and bonfires, as if they were announcing the news." The Taoist official exclaimed.
Pei Ziyun closed his eyes slightly and listened to the sounds outside: "There are more than fifty people outside, cavalry, wearing light armor. They are very cunning and will not come in at all."
In fact, this is normal. In the past assassinations and pursuits, Pei Ziyun and Taoist officials had magical powers. What they liked most was to lead them into narrow terrain where they could not display their troops. Once in this environment, it was not difficult to kill dozens of armored soldiers. , but with too many tactics, the enemy is not a pig, so he will not be fooled. Pei Ziyun glanced at several Taoist officials: "I will kill them out, do you still have mana?"
Zhang Ling's face was livid, and he looked at the cold light of the crossbow: "Zhenjun, we don't have much magic power. We can still communicate and flash, but there is no more."
"Okay, just have the flash technique. If you use it, I will go out and kill you." Pei Ziyun said.
"Yes, True Lord—Flash!"
In the dark rainy night, two white light spots appeared on the field. The team members reacted very quickly. When they saw the white light, they immediately ordered: "Close your eyes and shoot the crossbow."
The armored soldier immediately responded to the order, only to hear a "pop" sound suddenly cut through the disturbing rainy night. Under dozens of sharp roars, arrows rained into the temple entrance.
However, no one rushed out immediately, so the crossbow arrows shot into the wall and the door, and then the door flew out and hit them. Behind him, a figure jumped out, with a sword light, blood spurted out, The three soldiers at the front fell out before they had time to react.
(End of chapter)