In the darkness, outside the city, the Nightmare tapir crashed into the city gate. A pack of wolves surged up from all sides, came to the plain, and looked around. The wolves were getting closer and closer, and the encirclement continued to shrink. Watching Hongjun walk into the plain, the nightmare seemed to be in great pain, and he could hardly control his devilish energy.
"It's stronger than I imagined..." the nightmare tremblingly said hoarsely.
Hong Jun jumped off the back of the wolf, and the wolf turned into a human form behind him.
"Why on earth did you do this?" Hong Jun said, "It was... An Lushan asked you to come?!"
As soon as the sentence was finished, Hong Jun suddenly received a slap on the back of the neck, his eyes turned black, and he fell to the ground.
"My little brother has a straight mind." Mo Zhigen said coldly, "I don't know how to turn a corner. I'm afraid he will suck the nightmare of the three thousand worlds back into his body later. Let him sleep for a while."
Mo Zhigen half hugged the fainted Hong Jun and let him lie on the grass, while showing the eclipse bow in his hand.
On the nightmare tapir, the animal skin had been scorched into a dry bark shape, and was peeling off continuously, revealing bright red flesh and blood inside.
"How long have you been lurking in Shiwei?" Mo Zhigen said in a deep voice, "I remember you."
"I remember you too." The nightmare said in a deep voice, "I thought you would never come back."
Mo Zhigen said: "How did An Lushan know that we will come back? Say it!"
The nightmare laughed and said: "There are many, many truths that you don't know..."
Mo Zhigen drew his longbow, and the nightmare released a demonic energy, and scenes bloomed in the magical energy. The young hunter was accompanied by the woman in the village, and the woman guarded under the moon to bid farewell to the hunter. The Shiwei clan occupied the village, and Prince Shiwei found the woman by accident... The village was destroyed by war, and Mo Zhigen, who was a child, rushed to the village, but was taken away by Shiwei guards... The old shaman faced the flames and spoke the prophecy …
Mo Zhigen was shocked suddenly and lowered his longbow.
"this is… "
"Saatura asked me to keep this secret for the rest of my life." The Nightmare Tapir whispered, "But no one of us would have thought that you would actually go south and become a lackey of the Exorcist... Can you say that? My Junior brother."
Mo Zhigen was taken care of by the old shaman Saatura in the past, and he taught him how to read and write, but he rarely had contact with the shaman's disciples on weekdays.
His slender arms were trembling constantly, the eclipse bow was raised and lowered, lowered and raised again.
"An Lushan asked you to come." Mo Zhigen said tremblingly.
"Since you say yes, then let it be." The nightmare said again.
Mo Zhigen remembered that when he was an undercover agent next to An Lushan, An Lushan had threatened him with the safety of Shi Wei and his family. At that time, most of the chess pieces were laid out.
"I'll give you two ways to go." The Nightmare Tapir said, "One is to keep me and let the demon species take the nightmare away; the other is to let me go. I think you have already made a decision in your heart."
Mo Zhigen roared: "There is a third way!"
The Nightmare Tapir grinned, as if smiling miserably, and said, "It's the most stupid strategy for you to stun the demon species. Do you really think that you can disperse the nightmare with the magic weapon in your hand?"
Mo Zhigen pulled the eclipse bow, and the bow was full of light in an instant, and the seven arrows with nail heads flew up, floating in front of the bowstring.
"Instead of thinking about how to kill me, it's better to worry about yourself. Who are you? Where did your father come from?" The nightmare suddenly let out a stern laugh, and the black air suddenly exploded, and the skin of the whole body burst, like a cocoon. A weird and terrifying monster emerged from it!
Mo Zhigen immediately released the arrow without thinking about it, and the arrow flew away like a golden meteor, but accompanied by the shrill laughter, the nightmare instantly exploded into black mist, just like the Dunhuang War Heart Demon in those days, where the meteor arrow went , the power of the nightmare dissipated, but the black flame rose up, gathering and forming in a further distance. Mo Zhigen chased after a few steps, wild laughter burst out in the air, and the nightmare disappeared.
Mo Zhigen, the fainted Hong Jun, and the pack of wolves were left.
Mo Zhigen stared in a daze at the direction where the nightmare in the west disappeared. After a long time, he turned into a wolf and came to De Hongjun. He lowered his head and sniffed, then raised his head towards the distant stone castle, howling a wolf full of anger and unwillingness!
The pack of wolves screamed together, the white belly of the east was exposed, illuminating the stone castle, the night passed, and the day came, and Shi Wei woke up.
When Hong Jun woke up, he found that the surroundings were in chaos. He was in the garden behind the stone castle, and Mo Zhigen was sitting on a stone beside him, with slender fingers, casually playing with Hong Jun's throwing knife.
Hong Jun said wearily: "What happened?" Then it suddenly occurred to him that at the last moment, it was Mo Zhigen's palm behind him that knocked him unconscious!
Mo Zhigen raised his eyes to glance at Hong Jun, with a slight smile in his eyes.
"Congratulations, the nightmare is gone." Mo Zhigen said.
Hong Jun frowned and said, "What about the monster?"
"I let you go." Mo Zhigen replied.
"How could you just let it go like this?!" Hong Jun came back to his senses. If the enemy was sent by An Lushan, in this way, it would take away the last of the three kinds of magic energy. To An Lushan, what should I do
"We only have the moon eclipse bow and the demon-binding rope." Mo Zhigen said casually, "the demon energy cannot be eliminated."
"But I can..."
"you can not."
"I can… "
"You, no, can." Mo Zhigen said seriously.
Hong Jun was silent for a moment.
Mo Zhigen said: "Brothers will not let you sacrifice yourself and bear anything you shouldn't bear."
Hong Jun really couldn't accept what Mo Rigen did, and almost yelled at him: "Do you know what you did!"
"Of course I know." Mo Zhigen replied.
Hong Jun said: "The Nightmare Tapir carries three thousand nightmares. After returning to Anlu Mountain, once it is swallowed, Anlu Mountain will become a heavenly demon! We have worked so hard and paid so much all the way. Become a demon, in this world..."
"If you can't even protect your own people, how can you protect this world?" Mo Zhigen held the flying knife with his fingers, pinched the blade, handed the handle of the knife to Hong Jun, and said, "Anyone here , Artest, Yongsi, Qiong, Lu Xu, Jinglong, everyone will make the same decision as me. If because of my decision, how many people are killed and how serious the consequences are, they will all come towards me. "
Hong Jun watched Mo Zhigen quietly, tears almost welling up in his eyes, Mo Zhigen just looked up at him, with the corners of his mouth slightly hooked. When the two were looking at each other, Mo Zhigen's younger brother, Qi Luoer, came and came in front of the two of them, and suddenly spoke aloud.
The rampage of the nightmare last night caused the castle to collapse in many places, and the guards were repairing it. King Shi Wei was also quite frightened last night. The first thing in the day was naturally to summon Mo Zhigen to ask what happened.
"I'm not going." Mo Zhigen replied in Chinese.
Hongjun: "..."
Qi Luoer said something again, presumably something like "That's your father", but Mo Zhigen looked up, with a trace of confusion in his eyes, and said: "He is not my father, and you are not my brother. I am not Shiwei people, this is not my home."
Qi Luoer was taken aback for an instant. Hong Jun heard the female shaman talking to King Shiwei at that time, thinking he knew everything
"Heaven and earth against travel, I'm just a traveler in the stone castle." Mo Zhigen got up and said to Qi Luoer, "Go back and tell him, don't worry about the Shiwei family belonging to the wolf, and don't worry about who I will take revenge on, adopt him." My kindness, I will always remember... "
Qi Luoer couldn't help backing away, with fear in his eyes, but not much surprise. Obviously, when Mo Zhigen left Shiwei for the south, this rumor had been spread for a long time.
"If it's for the safety of the whole family," Mo Zhigen said, "don't join the Southern Expedition Army in Anlu Mountain. If we meet each other on the battlefield in the future, I will still show mercy, Hong Jun, let's go."
Hongjun: "..."
Hong Jun came out with Mo Rigen, only to know that Mo Rigen waited patiently in the stone castle garden, not wanting to explain to anyone, but simply waiting for himself to wake up.
He was riding on the back of the wolf, and when the wolf slowly left the city gate, he couldn't help turning his head.
All of a sudden, the soldiers on the walls of the stone fortress bowed their bows and set their arrows one after another, becoming nervous. The wolf didn't miss it anymore, and carried Hong Jun, just like when he came, galloping towards the scorching sun.
Hong Jun has been waiting for Lu Xu to enter his dream again, and convey the news to them, but Lu Xu never shows up.
"We must go back as soon as possible." Hong Jun said to Cang Lang, "Brother Gen, where are you going?"
The wolf was galloping across the plain. At noon, it climbed up a small hillside and looked into the distance. There is its mother's hometown, and the lonely peak that hides the eclipse bow.
"Hongjun, do you remember the day we met?" Canglang said suddenly.
"Remember." Hong Jun said anxiously, "What's wrong?"
"I was the first to enter the Exorcism Division." Canglang said, "Isn't it?"
Hong Jun said "um", and asked, "Did you come in one after another after discussing it?"
Later, Hong Jun heard from Li Jinglong that Mo Rigen, Qiu Yongsi and Artest actually met once before entering the Exorcism Division.
"It doesn't count." Canglang looked at Gufeng and said in a daze, "We just met outside the alley."
On that day, Mo Zhigen, with his quiver on his back, asked passers-by about the whereabouts of the Exorcist, and happened to pass by a restaurant where Artest and Qiu Yongsi were drinking tea after dinner.
"Hey, look at that tall and thin guy." Qiu Yongsi said, "Could it be another one?"
Qiu Yongsi's eyesight is the best in the Exorcist Department. As soon as Artest arrived in Chang'an, Qiu Yongsi had his eye on the magic rings in his hands. When Mo Zhigen came, he said these words deliberately, and the volume was much louder. Mo Zhigen recognized what the diners were saying from the noisy market, and turned his head to glance at Qiu Yongsi.
At that time, he came to the table for two and sat down.
"Ah..." Hong Jun remembered, and said, "That afternoon, Zhao Zilong and I were reading in the bookstore..."
"You just passed the alley after dark, and you were walking in front of me." Canglang said in a deep voice, "The three of us followed you and saw that you entered the Exorcism Division."
Hong Jun was surprised: "Why didn't you call me?"
Canglang said: "We haven't figured out the situation yet. The next day they let me in first, to test your depth..."
Hong Jun said angrily: "Why do you have so many eyes?" Then he stretched out his hand to grab the wolf's ear, but the wolf didn't hide, let him grab the ear, drooped a little bit, and clung to it meekly. head. He also said: "The notice to report is the suicide note left by the old shaman. My father found it, and my father handed it over to me. Where did your report letter come from?"
"Qingxiong gave it to me." Hong Jun said.
"Di Renjie's personal letter." Canglang said, "It's been quite a few years, do you still have it?"
"Leave it to Chang Shi." Hong Jun said, "Should it be in Chang'an?"
The wolf said again: "Remember the first day we met, did I ask you something?"
Hong Jun really couldn't remember clearly, shook his head, and Canglang said again: "Di Renjie has been dead for so many years, who sent this letter?"
This is a mystery that everyone has been puzzled by since the day the Exorcist Division was established. However, as they gradually depended on each other for life and death, advancing and retreating side by side, this seemingly fruitless question was gradually forgotten, and no one was persistent in solving it. Find answers. Hong Jun sometimes thinks about it, as if it is fate in the dark.
The wolf looked at the lonely peak in the distance again, as if he had glimpsed some connection among them, and said in a deep voice: "I have a hunch that the answer to this question will be revealed soon." Saying this, it turned around and carried Hong Jun down the hillside , galloping away towards the south.
Tongguan, dark clouds overwhelm the city.
After the early spring, the river broke through the ice, and the spring cold turned into drizzle. This year's spring came earlier than in previous years. The road was muddy, and the two sides of the official road were covered by snow for nearly two months. As the ice and snow melted, the corpses appeared. They were frozen into black and no different from the road mud. Occasionally, the rain washed away and the clothes on their bodies were exposed. identified as people.
The Tongguan army sent troops out of the pass under repeated pressure from Bian Lingcheng. Li Jinglong could barely ride a horse, but he was still unable to fight on the battlefield.
Ashinaqiong, Artai and Lu Xu followed, and Trundeau was eight months pregnant. Li Jinglong asked her to withdraw to Chang'an in advance. After all, the road was bumpy, and she had to slow down while pregnant. After being able to fight, he followed the Tongguan army, crossed several rivers, and drove to Shan County.
"This is a battle that is destined not to be won." During the march, Li Jinglong said to his subordinates by the stream, "The key lies in how to fight and withdraw beautifully."
Artest and Ashina Qiong both frowned and said nothing, Lu Xu said: "Can't we wait for Big Wolf and Hong Jun to come back?"
Li Jinglong didn't answer, and Lu Xu also realized his stupidity. Even if the exorcist had all kinds of skills, he couldn't stop the mortal army from dying, and the mortal army's death was the mortal emperor Li Longji behind him. According to Feng Changqing's plan, if he sticks to Tongguan and does not come out, it can still last for several days. However, when the monsters attacked the city, people in the pass were panicked for a while, so they had to fight immediately to get rid of the monsters, so as to have a chance of winning.
"Think about how to deal with that blood demon." Artest plucked his ears and said, "Is it a blood demon?"
"Painted skin." The carp demon replied.
"Why are you still here?" Ashinaqiong said, "Go quickly."
"Why me again!" the carp demon yelled wildly, "I will be killed by Dan Huo when I go back now!"
"Let you collect information." Lu Xu said blankly, "Don't you be more careful?"
"What kind of information is collected?" The carp monster begged for mercy, "The monster doesn't have much information."
"Then go make trouble." Li Jinglong said, "Kill Liang Danhuo, and I will give you the first credit."
As he said that, Li Jinglong kicked the carp monster down the river, and the carp monster wailed how cold it was, while diving into the icy water and going down the river.
The carp demon is so noisy, not to mention its contribution, it always loves to dismantle Li Jinglong's platform. Originally, it didn't want to take it out and let it go back to Chang'an with Trundeau, but it volunteered to stay and wait for Hongjun, so it had to take it with it all the way. Li Jinglong was irritable, and he didn't have the patience of Hongjun to listen to it. He took the opportunity to send him over to spy on the enemy, leaving his ears clean.