The darkness stretched endlessly, and even if I opened my eyes, it was as if I were closing them.
"Zhu Erniang, Hongniang, where are you?"
The pitch-black darkness stretched endlessly. The woman in red standing in the darkness kept shouting in all directions. According to the past, the distance she had walked could have taken her from the desolate northwest to the surging East China Sea.
The demonic power was still in his body, but no matter how he used it, he could not take her away. Whether he flew up or fell down, it was as if he had never left.
"Matchmaker!!"
The surroundings were dead silent, without a single sound. Hua Hongyi looked around in panic, shouted again, and stumbled a distance. In the extended darkness, she seemed to see a dot of light, swaying like a firefly, flickering faintly.
She immediately took a step forward and rushed towards the light spot. With just one step, the black color illuminated by the light spot suddenly flew backwards from her sight. When she looked again, the white light was dazzling. She had reached the edge of the light spot. Then, before Hua Hongyi could react, the white light surged in like a tide, occupying everything she could see.
Chirp~~~
The sound of birds chirping was heard, and Hua Hongyi slowly opened her eyes. A flying bird was jumping onto the branch of a pine tree outside the eaves. She regained consciousness and in a clear moment, she quickly took a alert posture and jumped aside.
In the field of vision, there was a long corridor eaves. A Taoist boy of about seven or eight years old, with a bun and a beautiful appearance, was looking over. He glanced at Hua Hongyi and said, "You, the Painted Skin Demon, are lucky."
His sleeves seemed to carry a breeze, and he rolled them up behind his back, then turned around and walked forward.
"Come along, Master wants to see you."
Hua Hongyi stared at the back of the little figure walking forward, raised her palm like a claw, and stretched out her red nails to grab it. The next moment, she retracted it, and heard the Taoist boy in front of her whispered: "Don't lose your temper. This place is different from other places. I don't care about your insignificant Taoist skills, let alone my master."
"… "
The woman fell silent, with a look of shock on her face. When she thought of that day, the figure waved his sleeves nonchalantly and she was taken away without even knowing what was going on. Now she didn't know what happened to Zhu Erniang and Hongniang. She thought quickly in her mind and had to follow the Taoist boy and walk behind.
"Little boy, who is your master?"
"Don't ask. You can't bear to hear it."
After that, the Taoist boy said no more. He took Hua Hongyi through the narrow and dark path, walked up the long bluestone moss steps, and turned to a large hall. The foundation of the hall was several feet high, and the hall was decorated with carved lattices on the upper and lower floors. Incense coils were hung on the top of the hall door, and the air was filled with burning incense.
"Go in." The Taoist boy climbed the stone steps and stood beside the temple gate.
Hua Hongyi glanced at him before cautiously pushing open the lattice door of the hall, lifting her skirt and stepping over the threshold. There was no statue in the middle, only a colorful niche with a large "Tao" character on it. Below, a figure stood in front of the word "Tao" amid the smoke from the incense burner on the altar. He was wearing a yin-yang robe with a Qilin cloak, which made him look dark and gloomy. He held a whisk in his hand and wore cloud shoes under the robe. She could not see the rest clearly.
As for his cultivation… he couldn’t see it at all. Hua Hongyi didn’t dare to look at it any more and knelt on the ground.
"I am a little demon from the lower world, I am here to meet the Immortal..."
"Little Painted Skin Demon, you thought you had attained enlightenment after listening to my teachings for a few days." The Taoist did not turn around, and his voice was calm and comfortable to hear, "You know, those Taoists outside Chang'an City were secretly instigating me to do something that almost ruined my plan."
"I dare not, little demon, nor do I know how the Immortal plays chess."
"Haha, I didn't kill you because you didn't know."
Hua Hongyi lowered her head. Even though the other party's tone was calm, she didn't dare to act like a flirt as usual. She gritted her teeth and asked softly, "My lord, may I know your name?"
"I won't tell you my name, just do me a little favor."
The sun was shining brightly outside the hall, shining on the woman's back and casting a shadow in front of her, covering the figure. The Taoist flicked his whisk and slowly turned around.
With just one glance, Hua Hongyi's pupils dilated, and her body froze and she knelt on the spot, staring at the figure in front of her, unable to recover for a long time.
Over there, in the flickering lights, the figure's beard fluttered lightly under his chin.
"… A great catastrophe is coming, go and do something for me."
The sound slowly and steadily spread outside the hall, as if it floated across the high mountains, the singing of birds in the bamboo forest, the gurgling of clear springs in the mountains, extending eastward, passing through the mountains, and in the distant east, there was the prosperity of the world.
Chang'an.
In Yuwen Mansion, Qu Yuanfeng, who had been comatose for a month, was practicing boxing in the yard, practicing martial arts diligently. His punches and kicks made faint sounds of breaking wind, and the nearby potted plants were shaking gently.
In a pavilion not far away, Yuwen Tuo sat on a stone bench and watched his junior fellow apprentice practicing martial arts. A servant came from the front yard and whispered:
"The Duke of Yue is here."
Soon, he came to the front yard and met with Duke of Yue Yang Su in the hall. After he sat down, the latter waved his hand, and two people came in holding a long plate with yellow silk on it, revealing the outline of a sword.
"I know you are angry. You didn't take action that day because you were afraid that you didn't have enough strength. Fellow Daoist Lu and I are good friends. We were surrounded that day and forced to abandon our cultivation. It was really heartbreaking. I must avenge him."
Yang Su put down the teacup, stood up and walked over, peeling back the yellow silk on the long plate, revealing a broad golden sword with a surface so densely engraved with carvings that one dared not look directly at it.
"This sword was obtained from the Yellow River when I was helping Your Majesty expand Chang'an and build Daxing. After checking historical records, I learned that it is called Xuanyuan."
Yuwen Tuo, who was sitting on the chair, stared straight at the long sword in the long plate, his eyes slightly turned to Yang Su beside the sword, and he opened his mouth slightly.
"Since this thing is extraordinary, why doesn't Duke Yue use it himself?"
"Haha, you're too suspicious." Yang Su laughed, but his eyes were looking at the Xuanyuan Sword. Then he restrained his smile and calmed down.
“It’s not that I don’t want to possess this divine weapon, haha… Any mortal who seizes a divine weapon by force will end up in a bad way, but you are different. You are the reincarnation of a divine weapon. If you can get Xuanyuan’s help, the two divine powers will be compatible, and no one in the world can be your opponent.”
"Of course, I won't give you the artifact for nothing. First, your master and I have a long history. Second, you have protected our Great Sui Dynasty forever and made us invincible! Third, the Turkic priests who almost killed your junior brother and the sects that forced your master to abandon his cultivation are just right for testing the power of this sword!"
As he spoke, he shook his sleeves, stretched out his hands to hold the sword, walked towards Yuwen Tuo and threw it in front of him.
"Take it!"
Sitting on the big chair, Yuwen Tuo looked at the sword thrown at him and instinctively reached out to grasp the hilt. The moment of contact, golden light flashed, spreading along the back of his hand to his arm, and disappeared into his body in the blink of an eye.
"Hmm? What's going on?"
Yang Su did not expect this situation to happen suddenly. As soon as he asked the question, he heard Yuwen Tuo close his eyes, scream in pain, "Ah--", and smashed it down with the hilt of the sword.
The sword sank into the floor, and a gust of air pushed the old man away. The tables, chairs and porcelain vases in the hall shattered. Even the two human puppets who came in to present the magic sword flew out of the hall, and the moment they fell to the ground, they were scattered into several pieces of corpses.
boom-
There was a huge bang, and golden light burst out from the window frame. Yang Su fell to the ground and rolled several times. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up. Half of the building in the front yard collapsed with a loud bang, the eaves columns broke and fell, and tiles were scattered all over the ground.
The guards and servants who heard the noise came running over, and Qu Yuanfeng, who was practicing martial arts in the backyard, also rushed over.
“Senior Brother!”
As he ran to the broken walls and shouted, a golden light shone brightly in a circle in the surging smoke and dust, revealing the outline of a half-kneeling figure leaning on a sword.
“Senior Brother!”
Qu Yuanfeng shouted again, and in the golden light over there, a half-kneeling figure slowly opened his eyes, his brown-blue pupils moved in his eyeballs, and he stood up leaning on the Xuan-Yuan Sword, his loose hair fluttering in the wind.
"My memory is back... I finally understand why I need to reincarnate... The great catastrophe of heaven and earth..."
Yuwen Tuo raised his head, his eyes cold and indifferent. He glanced at his junior brother, then looked at Yang Su who was lying on the ground in the courtyard.
"How many Turks are there? Are they enough for 100,000?!"
"Enough!" Yang Su didn't hear what he said before, but just thought that what he said touched the other party. The corners of his bloody mouth curled up into a smile, and he nodded heavily.
"There are many of them on the grassland. After you win, I will recommend you to be the Grand Master of the Eastern Palace!"
Yuwen Tuo looked down at the Xuanyuan Sword in his hand, took a step forward, and arrived at the courtyard gate in the blink of an eye, disappearing into the sky in an instant.
“Senior Brother!”
Qu Yuanfeng, who had chased him out, now had no more magic power. When he ran out of the door, there was no trace of Yuwen Tuo. What should he do? ! What should he do? !
“That’s right!”
Thinking back to when he left Qixia Mountain, his master gave each of them a magical instrument for communication. Although it could only be used once, he couldn't care less about that now.
He pushed aside the guards and servants who were blocking his way and ran back to the backyard to find the paper crane. There was still some magical power on it, and he wondered if it could fly to Mount Qixia.
"Xianhe Xianhe, you must bring the news back to Master!"
Qu Yuanfeng gave a few instructions, then spread out his palms, watching the paper crane flap its wings and fly into the sky, heading south, passing by the prosperous cities lined up below and crossing the mountains and rivers. Gradually, dark clouds gathered in the clear sky.
An autumn rain fell in the south at this time, and the hot weather began to cool down.
At the foot of the winding Qixia Mountain, drizzling rain fell on the mountain village. The small fenced courtyard was shrouded in moisture. Opposite the open window, an oil lamp flickered gently. An increasingly quiet scholar looked at a piece of calligraphy, blew away the wet ink, and hung it on the wall.
Listening to the master's snoring on the bed, the sound of rain falling in the yard outside, taking a sip of hot tea, and enjoying this leisure time.