In his astonished eyes, red flames erupted, and the entire tower turned into a torch. In an instant, the world in front of him was only golden.
After the golden color dissipated, Jingling Terrace no longer existed.
Elder Qin, who had left the sect earlier, was wearing a black robe and sitting under a dead tree on an unnamed hill a hundred miles away from Guanghan County.
The yellowing leaves of Yanyi fell to the ground around him, and he didn't know how long he sat cross-legged here, and a lot of dead leaves fell from his body. The chilling cold wind blew across the mountain peak, rattling the bare tree trunks on Elder Qin's back, and their swaying shadows were imprinted in the lonely sky.
The Jingling Terrace erupted with bright light, and when it was reduced to ashes in the red flames, the leaves on Elder Qin's body rustled.
But he still didn't open his eyes.
Like falling asleep.
At the same time, outside the city of Guanghan County, a Jin Tang dark guard wearing an iron mask was hiding in the darkness like a ghost, waiting for something.
As a well-known forbidden place for living people, Guanghan County has not seen anyone for a long time. These days, it is probably the time when it has the most visitors.
The city gate not far away was open, allowing the wind from the south to the north to pour in, and the city was still stagnant, as if the wind could not move the depressive and gloomy that was almost fixed. The official road connected to the open city gate was not swallowed up by the ghost world at this time, but the street was empty and there was no trace of pedestrians.
No, it cannot be said that there are no pedestrians.
When a gust of wind blowing through the city gate, the black cloak came out from the deep darkness at the end of the official road. He still held the pure black long knife slantedly in his hand, and his tall and thin figure did not look like living.
The black cloak walked out of the city gate, and Jin Tang's dark guard also appeared.
He threw a copper box to Jin Tang's dark guard, without saying a word. Jin Tang's dark guard didn't ask anything, nodded, and stretched out his hand, a Ling Xiao bird flew out from nowhere.
The Jintang dark guard tied a roll of thin paper to Ling Xiaoniao's feet, and with a wave of his hand, this unobtrusive bird, which lives in the clouds, swept up to the sky.
At the moment when Jin Tang's dark guard released the scorpion bird, Elder Qin suddenly opened his eyes on a mountain a hundred miles away in Guanghan County.
He grabbed the knife by his side and stood up.
The knife slid out of the scabbard without a sound—it was a knife that did not conform to the so-called spirit of martial arts. The knife was treated with a matte finish, and it was extremely dim in the sunlight. The blade can be described as "simple", without any texture, simple lines, dusty, without any aesthetic feeling at all.
And Elder Qin was holding such a knife, standing in the long wind facing him.
A leaf was blown by the wind, and it was spinning in the air, wandering erratically. When it passed in front of Elder Qin, Elder Qin moved.
A beam of saber light cut out from above the mountain peak towards the sky.
It was an extremely introverted knife light, so introverted that it swept out of the mountain and disappeared into the clouds, but the leaf that was floating in front of Elder Qin was still spinning and falling slowly, without any disturbance.
A scorpion bird flew to the northwest by the wind.
It spreads its wings and moves lightly and sensitively.
However, just as it was passing through the clouds, a saber light swept from bottom to top. The speed of the saber light was extremely fast, but it was silent, and by the time Ling Xiaoniao woke up, it was too late.
Thin lines of blood spattered.
Lingxiao bird fell from the sky.
Elder Qin swept up silently, and caught the dead Ling Xiaoniao from mid-air.
There was only a thin, paper-thin knife mark on the body of a small bird.
After catching Ling Xiaoniao, Elder Qin saw the note tied to the bird's feet at a glance.
"Sure enough..." Elder Qin took down the note and murmured in a low voice. He raised his hand and saw another Lingxiao bird flying out from the dead tree behind him. Elder Qin tied another note to the bird, raised his hand and released the Lingxiao bird.
Putting the knife back into its sheath, Elder Qin stood on the mountain peak, staring at the city of Guanghan County shrouded in haze in the distance.
"Do not worry."
The lines of his face seemed to be fixed, stiff.
"Senior sister won't beat you up this time."
The wind on the top of the mountain was bone-chillingly cold. Elder Qin took out the wine from the ring, opened the altar cover, faced the wind, and poured jar after jar in the direction of the city of Guanghan County.
"The soul is back! Go to the king's constant work, what is the four directions? Give up the pleasure of the king, and be far away from him! The soul is back! The east can't be entrusted... Come back! Can't be entrusted!"
Altar after jar of spirits was being poured, Elder Qin uttered hoarse voices, chanting useless words for soul-calling like a mortal.
He read sentence by sentence, his voice was not high, and his tone was steady.
However, tears slowly ran across his old face.
Soul, soul, why don't you come back
Jiuxuanmen.
Yi Heping walked among the tombs.
This is a place unknown to ordinary disciples of Jiuxuanmen. It is a hidden place in the mountains behind the main peak. It is low-key and hidden, protected by a formation. When the Zongmen holds sacrifices, the tombs here will not be worshipped.
Those who are buried here are all the elders who put on black robes and left the sect without a sound, and then never returned. They are those Jiuxuanmen who could not be entered into the Jiuxuan register and put into the hall of spirits.
They are the guardians of the sect in the darkness, the swords of the sect, and the swords of the sect.
It is also a scar that the sect cannot let people see.
Yi Heping carried a jug of wine, passed through familiar tombstones, and walked to one place.
Here stood a rough tombstone—it seemed to have been made by some poor craftsman. On the tombstone is engraved a line of words "the tomb of Guan Zhiyu, the wife of He Qingchuan, the elder sister of Jiuxuanmen Qianmai".
Yi Heping closed his eyes, and he could recall the way He Qingchuan carved this tombstone like an ordinary person with red eyes and no real anger. That guy's craftsmanship was really poor, he couldn't even hold the knife steadily, and he cut his hand with a series of wounds, dripping with blood.
"When he came to me and said he was going to Jingling, should I disagree?"
Yi Heping put down the wine jar, sat down in front of the tombstone, took out a piece of bluestone from the ring, and carved it.
Originally, it was not He Qingchuan who brought Jun Wanbai and the others to Jingling Terrace. It was another elder in the sect who was dying. But that day, He Qingchuan came to him.
The first sentence he spoke was: "I'm going to Jingling."
Yi Heping was playing chess at that time, and his hands were hanging in the air.
He Qingchuan was still carrying his heavy saber that never left his body, but Yi Heping could detect that the aura of that saber had slightly changed—the things he was familiar with in the saber seemed to be gone.
He Qingchuan has always wanted to go to Jingling Terrace.
But he never said it.
He Zhou has not grown up yet, and he is not qualified to get what Guan Zhiyu left behind. As the first sect of immortals, Jiuxuanmen, overtly and secretly, countless responsibilities are always on the shoulders of each of them. The disciples on and off Xuanli Peak will still be protected by him, so He Qingchuan also knows that he can't go and has to stay.
Now, the knife is gone, He Qingchuan endured it for so many years, and finally he couldn't bear it anymore.
So he came to find Yi Heping and said he was going to Jingling Terrace.
The way He Qingchuan said he was going to Jingling Terrace was very reminiscent of his stubborn and willful face when he first started.
"Go back?"
Yi Heping put down the chess and put his hands into his sleeves.
He Qingchuan didn't answer, and looked silently at the pavilion where Yi He usually sat - when he fought with Qin Jiu, Yi Heping also sat here, playing chess with Ye Yi, while Guan Zhiyu sat on the pavilion, swinging his legs crossed With wine.
After so many years, the pavilion is fine, but there are no more people.
He Qingchuan didn't answer, but if he didn't answer, Yi Heping also knew the answer.
After all, Yi Heping is still a mortal, after all, he can't really do everything from the overall situation. Pretending not to know that He Qingchuan won't come back after this trip is the only thing he can do for He Qingchuan as a senior brother.
The peak master of Xuanli Peak never came back, and at this time of turbulent undercurrents, the follow-up troubles would be a lot of mess without even thinking about it. But, Yi Heping thought, at least... at least he is a senior brother.
Junior brother wants to be self-willed, even if he stabs someone and scolds him, as a senior brother, he still has to help clean up after all.
Although the matter is troublesome, he will not be unable to handle it.
The tombstone in his hand slowly took shape, and Yi Heping began to carve words on the tombstone. Facing Guan Zhiyu's tombstone, he began to chat like a chat.
"But I'm you again, that guy won't listen to me like that."
Yi Heping laughed.
At the beginning, the few of them laughed at He Qingchuan a lot, and they were like a little daughter-in-law in front of Guan Zhiyu. Don't look at fighting with Guan Zhiyu all day—or being beaten unilaterally, never calling a senior sister, but in fact, he will do whatever Guan Zhiyu asks him to do.
Guan Zhiyu let him go, but he was sombre because of his reluctance, and he still left obediently.
Guan Zhiyu asked him to wait, and he waited until the snow on the tomb was white, until now.
Yi Heping laughed out loud as he thought about how his senior brothers laughed at He Qingchuan. However, with a smile and a smile, there was no sound.
On the tombstone, he slowly carved a line of words:
The tomb of He Qingchuan, the husband of Guan Zhiyu, the master of Xuanli Peak in Nine Xuanmen.
"That guy is an idiot. He is the only one in the world who doesn't know the answer." Yi Heping put the tombstone next to Guan Zhiyu, looked at the tombstone, and said in a low voice.
He remembered that the day Jun Wanbai and the others left, He Qingchuan came to see him for the last time.
"Brother."
Before leaving, He Qingchuan called him.
What's the use of calling him brother at this time? It's not about letting him clean up a bunch of messes. Yi Heping turned his back to He Qingchuan and didn't look back at him.
After such a long time, He Qingchuan called him "senior brother" for the first time.
"I'm leaving."
"Let's go."
And then really go.
Yi Heping sighed, slapped the wine jar away, and poured it on the tombs of Guan Zhiyu and He Qingchuan—they died together and were buried together, this is probably the best answer.
"I'd rather have someone punch me hard again."
Yi Heping poured wine, but he didn't drink it himself.
He can't drink, he can't get drunk, he is the head of Jiuxuanmen.
The tombstones were pale, the wind was blowing coldly, the world was desolate, Yi Heping stood alone in front of the two tombstones.
Soul Xi, will never return.
The author has something to say: Master Yi who can't get drunk, Guan Zhiyu and He Qingchuan who depend on each other, Elder Qin who sacrifices wine to the wind, the unknown tombstone... the world is desolate in the end.
I myself really like the sect of Jiuxuan.
Ah... I started double-playing today, and the day of bursting my liver has come [Shen Shen] I thought I could save a world's manuscripts, but it turned out that there were only 12,000.
Me: emmmmm, let’s wash up and sleep, I have everything in my dream, thanks to the little angels who voted for me~