The woman leading the light blue horse, her white long skirt swaying and a jade pendant dangling from a green belt around her waist, walked onto the official road. It was almost noon. She looked up at the time, then jumped on the horse and galloped back to the city.
Monsters appeared frequently last night, and even a golden dragon appeared in the night sky. But the next day, people inside and outside the city needed to live. There were laborers repairing the roads and merchants waiting to enter the city. There were also many foreign caravans passing by. When they saw the mess outside the city, they couldn't help but ask people nearby.
"What happened? The road here and the forest over there were gnawed by dogs. How come they are only in pieces?"
"You just came to the capital, right?"
"Yes, I just arrived this morning." "Oh, you may not believe it, but last night there was a battle of magic in the capital, exorcising demons. That demon was so big that when it stood up, it was taller than the city wall, like a mountain, wow..."
"Then you have to talk about it."
Most of the foreign caravans were going into the city, and the passengers who came here with the caravan had to separate here if they wanted to go somewhere else. A young man with a wooden sword on his back and a package over his shoulder listened with relish to what happened in the capital last night. After a moment, he turned around and left.
"I don't know how that cultivator compares to Master, but he definitely can't compare. Even if he can, he can't compare in looks..."
The young man who was muttering to himself was looking for a caravan heading south and passed by a woman on a light blue horse. Min Yuerou didn't care about the noise around her. She showed the token her father gave her and went into the city. All she saw were yamen runners patrolling the streets. In teahouses and wine shops, most people were discussing what happened last night. Some were talking about the emperor's death, but they all spoke in a low voice for fear of being overheard.
When they returned to Baiguanfushe Street, they could hear wailing from almost every house. A funeral was taking place. Min Yuerou walked into the house, handed the horse to the servant, went to the side yard, and called the two servants guarding the door to go aside.
"How is Zuo Qianwei?"
"Miss, Qian Wei has not woken up yet."
The words of the conversation entered the room. On the bed filled with herbs, Zuo Zhengyang had his eyes wide open, his upper body naked, and thick bandages wrapped around his left shoulder to his ribs. In fact, he had already woken up and was staring at the ceiling in a daze.
The faint voices outside could be heard clearly in his ears.
"…After he wakes up, you two take good care of Qian Wei and don't mention anything about the arm in front of him."
"Also, don't talk about His Majesty's death. It won't be too late to talk about it when he's better..."
Lying on the wooden pillow, Zuo Zhengyang blinked lightly, turned his head to look at his bare left shoulder, closed his dry eyes tightly, and thought of everything that happened yesterday, his cheeks swollen from biting his teeth.
After a long while, he relaxed his clenched teeth, took a deep breath, and then exhaled.
"From now on... there will only be one arm... one hand."
"His Majesty has passed away, and I can no longer serve..."
Listening to the intermittent conversations outside and staring at the slightly swaying burning oil lamp on the table, Zuo Zhengyang felt a little confused about the way forward.
"Zuo's way... how do I get there?"
Occasionally, a slight creaking sound could be heard from the door. Someone would lean in to see if the man on the couch was awake, then close the door again. The broken sunlight illuminated the entire city, especially the imperial city in the center. Black smoke rose up and drifted in the wind.
White banners were hung in every conspicuous place in the palace. Flames rose from the huge bronze tripod, bringing a scorching heat. Some of the paper money scattered by the eunuchs' hands flew into the sky with the wind.
Min Changwen's hair was gray and his eyes were bloodshot. He had not slept since last night. He led a group of temporarily promoted officials to arrange the emperor's funeral. Over there, the prince was guarding the coffin with the imperial concubine, with his head down and tears falling.
Soon, a fast horse entered the palace and handed an urgent document to the old man.
After unfolding it and taking a look at it, Min Changwen put it away, waved his sleeves calmly and told the visitor to go down and rest. When he reached an empty corner, he took another careful look at it, then suddenly banged his head against the wall and punched it hard.
"Your Majesty has passed away, and there is a powerful enemy in the north. This will lead to the demise of the Chen Dynasty..."
The content of the letter hanging in his hand was simple and eye-catching.
—Jian, the prime minister of Northern Zhou, replaced Zhou with Sui and prepared for war with great ambitions.
Chang'an in the north.
Yang Jian walked out of the palace with a strong figure, and countless soldiers were on the alert. Soon, teams of cavalrymen surrounded him and went to the military camp. On the huge parade ground, he walked up to the platform step by step, dragging his cloak, with one hand tightly gripping the hilt of the sword and the other hand clenched into a fist and pressed against the side of his leg.
His face was solemn, and he looked down at the endless lines of soldiers with a dignified look without anger. They were his tens of thousands of subordinates.
"Mr. Lu's words have come true."
The wind blew over, and at a certain moment, he drew out the Emperor Sword and held it high, shaking his thick beard and hissing.
"Great Sui—"
The sword made a soft clanging sound as it echoed in the air. A large flag with the word "Sui" written on it fluttered in the wind along with his cloak.
The sun shone down, and thousands of people on the parade ground were leaning on their weapons, creating a chilly and sparkling atmosphere, and their shouts shook the world.
"-Long live!!!"
Countless voices screamed and rushed into the sky.
“Long live His Majesty!!”
On the high platform, a figure was holding the Emperor Sword. The sword tip reflected the sunlight and drew a bright spot of light, then changed direction.
Then, Yang Jian swung his arm and slashed down angrily towards the south.
"Conquer the Chen Dynasty in the south and unify the nine provinces!!"
"kill!"
"kill!"
"kill!"
The forest of gunfire shook, and a cloud of smoke and energy spread out.
The sky was covered with clouds, and the changes in the north had not yet spread across the rivers. The fat monk led the two young men on a ferry to the southern land. When he heard the news of the death of the Emperor of Southern Chen, he was a little stunned.
One of the young men raised his hand and said, "What does this have to do with us? Fat monk, what about that Mr. Lu you mentioned?"
Further south, Li Sui'an, carrying a wooden sword, playfully boarded a caravan bound for River Valley County and agreed to help with some chores for travel expenses. He sat on the edge of the truck, kicking off his worn-out shoes, and looked up at the slanting sunset with his still young face, full of longing.
“…I want to be that famous hero!”
In a county town near a river, Zhang Feng, Zhao Liu, and Wang Ti were walking in the country fields, checking on the crops for the next season. Looking at the fields, they saw many farmers coming and going. Soon, Ma Tang ran through the fields holding a letter from a friend in the north.
"It's from Brother Chongwen..."
The four of them gathered in a circle and read the contents of the letter. They all looked toward the distant city wall, their shoulders shaking with laughter. They had already prepared for the promotion.
…
At this moment, the news of the emperor's death had spread at a very fast speed in Southern Chen. Countless horses carrying official documents were galloping on the intersecting official roads.
"drive!!"
From north to south, on the official road that passes Fulin Prefecture and leads to Hegu County, yamen runners carrying official documents galloped on their horses, stirring up dust. On the side of the road, an old donkey was walking slowly, swishing its tail and chewing grass. The bookshelves were shaking, and the small door was slightly open. The Toad Taoist was swaying gently from side to side with the shaking. He took out a small pipe from his webbed feet, and a puff of white smoke floated out. He hummed a little tune comfortably along with Hong Lian in the scroll across the wall.
The Taoist rolled up his sleeves and tried hard to pull out the Yuelong Sword. His pointed face turned red with struggle. Then he gave up and threw the sword back to the scholar in front of him.
"Did Zhou Yu lie to you?"
As the sun shone down, Lu Liangsheng reached out to take Yuelong and looked at the scabbard: "Probably not."
After leaving the capital, I had originally intended to study the dragon energy that flew into the sword, but I found that the sword could not be pulled out... even if I injected magic power into it.
He brushed his fingertips across the sharkskin sheath and injected a little bit of magic power into it, but it was just like before, with no response at all.
"That's strange."
Lu Liangsheng asked his master, and Toad Taoist guessed that it might be the sword blank that encountered dragon energy and nurtured the spiritual heart.
"Do I need to recite the incantation? Unsheathe?!"
At this moment, with a clang, the moon in his hand suddenly popped out a little, and before he could reach out to grab it, it shrank back again.
"Hey, this sword is amazing!" The Taoist came closer and just said one sentence, the Yuelong Sword popped out a little more, and then retracted in less than half a breath.
"Could it be true, as the old toad said, that this sword has spiritual consciousness?"
After a moment, Yuelong popped out and then retracted.
clang!
clang!
clang!
Right under the two people's noses, he went in and out.
There was a faint sound coming from inside.
'I came out, and I went in again, just not to show you! Come and hit me!'
Lu Liangsheng frowned. This voice sounded a bit annoying and also familiar.