Autumn frost everywhere, weeds yellow.
There was a light rain the night before, and the traces of the horse's hooves stretched all the way to the end of the sky.
The setting sun was like blood, dyeing the entire sky a crimson red, and the wind and sand outside the gate swept past. When passing through the dilapidated city wall standing alone in the wilderness, it made a sharp voice like a ghost.
There used to be a fort here.
It has been in ruins for many years, no flags can be seen at the top of the city, only a few flagpoles are still standing.
Most of the city wall collapsed, and the remaining stones looked solid and stood up high, and its shadow covered a large area on the ruins, so the buildings there were also the best preserved.
As long as you step on the rubble and sand into the roadway, you can see a circle of stone masonry beside the well, and the shed above the well is only half-collapsed. Footprints are everywhere near the well. In this abandoned city, because of the remaining well, caravans occasionally pass by and temporarily stop.
Next to the well, there are several very spacious stone houses. The damaged roofs have also been repaired by passers-by. The old and new stones and felt cloths that are so dirty that the color cannot be seen look very inconsistent.
The deserted city was deserted, and the sharp whistling sound was like a mournful cry.
At this moment, in front of the stone house, in a sheltered place under the city wall, someone fanned the fire at the pyre with a fan.
In the crock pot on the fire, the soup is milky white and has a strong fragrance.
The person who fanned the fire sat leisurely on the stone, watching the fire on the pyre, and humming: "The spring in Luoyang is good, Luoyang Taoist people are old, old and old, and mutton is indispensable."
He was dressed in a Ge Bu Taoist robe, with wide robes and long sleeves, straight to his elbows, with a green lotus crown on his head, a snow-white whisk stuck behind his back, and his feet on cloud shoes.
He looks like an ordinary wandering Taoist, but his body is spotless, which is extremely unusual in this wasteland outside the pass. It seems to be unrestrained and unassuming, but the eyes are deep and transparent, as if to see through the joys and sorrows of the world, and there is a touch of natural majesty in Qingming.
When people first saw him, they first admired him with such an extraordinary look, and it was impossible to carefully identify his appearance at all.
"Good sheep."
Nan Hongzi looked down at the earthenware pot, took out a pair of chopsticks and fiddled with the soup. There was a mutton leg bone in it, which had been cooked through.
"Let's have some seasonings." Nan Hongzi muttered, feeling and rubbing the sleeves in his arms, and finally took out a small crude porcelain bottle, which contained Sichuan peppercorns, which had been ground into pieces.
With a slight shake in the crock pot, the crushed pepper quickly melted into the soup, and there was no trace of it.
At the same time, a fresh hemp smell came to me.
"Tsk tsk."
Nan Hongzi proudly put away the porcelain vase and said to himself, "The craftsmanship is still as good as it used to be, very good!"
He reached out his hand comfortably and lifted the gourd next to him, suddenly stunned.
His eyes flicked to the gourd, and then he swayed again, only to be regrettably determined that there was not a drop of wine left in the jug of wine that he had made in the country shop before leaving the customs.
"There is no apprentice nearby, not even a person who buys wine."
Nan Hongzi threw the gourd aside and said angrily.
Although this place is desolate, but with the strength of the cultivator's feet, it is not a problem for ten miles, and it is possible to drink at any time.
Nan Hongzi was alone, and he wanted to cook mutton soup and drink wine, which was obviously impossible.
"Wine is what I want, and meat is what I want. I can't have both, it's a pleasure to give up my apprentice and take it leisurely." Nan Hongzi sighed seriously at the crock pot, "It's good that no one robs it. !"
Compared with the benefits of eating alone, the apprentice should go wherever it is cooler!
After all, still happy alone!
"Go away, go away." Nan Hongzi waved his hand, and the fire on the pyre was extinguished, leaving only smoke lingering.
He held the chopsticks, and before he even started, he saw a figure standing at the end of the ruins.
Nan Hongzi was shocked.
Although he is not a cultivator now, his realm is already extraordinary, and he has the spiritual consciousness of the original Mahayana period because of the loss of the house. In this world, there are very few people who can get close to him so that he doesn't notice the slightest movement.
It is obviously inappropriate to act rashly when the enemy is unknown to me.
Nan Hongzi narrowed his eyes and laughed longly: "Which fellow Daoist passed by? Could it be that he was attracted to Pindao's craftsmanship?"
The man walked slowly from the wind and sand, buckled his hat, and wrapped it tightly in felt, only revealing a pair of eyes and the peculiar scarlet mark on his brows.
It looks like two lotus flowers up close, but the rhizomes under the lotus are together.
Nan Hongzi is well-informed, and there are some side-sect exercises that have been passed down from generation to generation in the world of self-cultivation. If you practice it to the extreme, traces will be revealed outside the Zifu of Lingtai, that is, a mark will appear on the eyebrows.
But Biandilian-Nan Hongzi had never heard of such a mark.
The vigilance was even deeper now, and Nan Hongzi's hand holding the chopsticks froze:
In his eyes, there is no flaw in the coming person. In other words, Nan Hongzi feels that no matter where he starts, he has no complete confidence. This kind of mysterious and dangerous person full of uncertainty is the only one Nan Hongzi has seen in his life.
"You call me Taoist friend?"
The slightly hoarse voice smiled, and his eyes fell on Nan Hongzi, as if he was looking at something incomparable.
"According to my inquiries over the past few days, the Beixuan faction should be destroyed. At this time in this world, not only are there people who practice the Mysterious Yuan Gong, there is a person who coincides with the truth of the 'Original Dao Tianjie'. , The Northern Profound Sect is really passing on the fire, and it is endless."
The visitor's tone was not good, but Nan Hongzi didn't take it seriously, and started to fish for mutton.
"Junior, do you think I'm talking nonsense?" The man sneered.
Nan Hongzi sneered, junior, this name has not been heard for many years.
But the junior is the junior. According to the age of the house, Qu Hong is still less than forty this year!
The person in front of him has a high level of cultivation, but his realm is as vast as an abyss, and it is impossible to see through it. To Nan Hongzi, he is a bit like his own little apprentice, Chen He. The cultivation level is far inferior to his own realm. A person whose strength cannot catch up with the realm for various reasons.
Chen He was in the God Transformation period. It is said that he could soar as a demon in his previous life, so it is not surprising that there is such a difference.
But the person in front of him, whose strength has clearly reached the peak of the Mahayana period, still gives people this feeling, which is incredible.
Nan Hongzi didn't need to think about it, he just gave this uninvited guest a "trouble" hat in his heart, um, 80% of the time, it's still a big trouble! Because listening to his tone, it seems that he has seen the scene of the heyday of the Beixuan School.
At least Nan Hongzi had confirmed the name "Will the Tribulation Wuxiang Ran Mingyuangong", which the Beixuan faction had never heard of for five generations.
- This person even met Shi Feng Chen He.
Nan Hongzi thought for a second, and there was still something he couldn't guess.
The person in front of him was the one mentioned by Shi Feng, who fought with Shen Yubai, the master of Feiqiong Island in the South China Sea, and turned into Yang Xinyue, the head of the Nanhe Sect of Qiantan and Tilian.
monks eight thousand years ago.
Nan Hongzi frowned. At the beginning, he told Shi Feng to ignore his own business, the boat would go straight to the bridge, and the car would have a way to the front of the mountain, but it was unexpected that the mountain came to him.
Even though 8,000 years ago, Nanhezong and Beixuan sect were beaten to death, and the hatred was deep like the sea. After the passage of time, Beixuan sect existed in name only, and Nanhezong did not even have a shadow. Who still has the heart to count this in the world? account
"Boil the meat for too long and it will grow old." Nan Hongzi stretched out his chopsticks at the earthenware pot, "The world is like the mutton in this soup. If it is not passed well, it will be born again too early, hatred and anger, and I have to talk about it. opportunity."
"Oh? In your eyes, the great road is not as important as this pot of soup?" Yang Xinyue said lightly.
"Can the poor Dao touch the Dao, and will he fly up soon?" Nan Hongzi laughed, and asked himself, "No, so the Dao is not as good as this pot of mutton soup, the opportunity should not be missed, if it is missed, isn't it? The timing. What hasn't come yet, is the mirror and the moon, illusory."
Of course, Yang Xinyue was not one to be persuaded so easily.
He stared at Nan Hongzi and said meaningfully, "I thought you would be very interested in what I said about the 'Yuandaotianjie'. As long as you ask, I won't deceive a junior like you."
Nan Hongzi went on to eat mutton without speaking.
Not only eat, but also take out the hard dry biscuit from his arms, break it up and soak it in the soup, the fragrance wafts everywhere in the wind.
Something suddenly moved under the felt robe around Yang Xinyue's waist.
He pressed it down and said nonchalantly, "Now the world of self-cultivation is in decline, and there are no people in the world who understand this way. I see that you are clear-headed and transcendental, so you must be in a state of enlightenment. How? The detachment of the realm, in fact, is still repeating the path of the ancient cultivator, lost? Or disappointed?"
Nan Hongzi had no choice but to look up from the mutton soup: "Why did the sect master cultivate immortals in the first place?"
Yang Xinyue's eyes narrowed.
He was not surprised when the other party pointed out his identity, unless the two Northern Profound Sect disciples he had seen before had a grudge against the one in front of him, so he would not remind the other party.
But the question of Nan Hongzi obviously exceeded his expectations.
"Xiu Xian—" Yang Xinyue murmured, "It's been a long time, I've long forgotten."
Nan Hongzi gave a high five and applauded: "Forget it."
"… "
Yang Xinyue fixedly looked at him.
- Forgetting is not obsession.
It is a hundred times, a thousand times better than reasons such as "getting ahead", "taking revenge", "getting rid of life, old age, sickness and death".
There are comparisons, there are pros and cons, and if you cannot see through, it is a demon.
Nan Hongzi would not compare to the ancient desolate cultivator who first realized the "Tao".
"Whoever goes, this is whose way. There is no one in the past, and no one will come later. Only the mutton of heaven and earth and me...!" Nan Hongzi said solemnly, holding up his chopsticks.
Yang Xinyue suddenly smiled, he sat down by the fire, and untied the felt robe that was wrapped around him.
What made Nan Hongzi stunned was that the other party grabbed it casually, condensed it into a pair of chopsticks with True Yuan, and rudely put it into the pot, and accurately picked up the largest and most thoroughly cooked mutton.
"You missed the opportunity." Yang Xinyue smiled slightly.
"… "
"Guhuang doesn't have this kind of utensils. Fortunately, it's not difficult to learn." Yang Xinyue's second chopsticks were not so accurate, as if he had just stared at the pot for a long time and figured out the tumbling laws of mutton.
When it comes to grabbing food, Nan Hongzi has been competing with his apprentice for many years, so how dare he fall behind
A pot of mutton and soaked dry biscuits were instantly robbed by the two of them.
Nan Hongzi was still in the mood, so he was in the mood to look at the suzerain of the Nanhe Sect.
- Except for the mark between the eyebrows, Yang Xinyue's appearance is very ordinary, only a very large cyan gourd hangs on his waist.
Nan Hongzi's eyes lit up.
Yang Xinyue saw through his mind and said to himself, "This is not wine."
After speaking, he patted the gourd and added seriously: "There is a fish inside."
"This is not the right time, fish and sheep, Xian Ye, just cook another pot of soup." Nan Hongzi suggested.
"No, this is a big fish that can swallow the entire South China Sea monks. It is extremely hard. Just scratching the scales can exhaust a Mahayana monk to death." Yang Xinyue said while pressing the constantly bouncing gourd.
"… "