Southern Xinjiang, one hundred thousand mountains.
After crossing the Black Mountain Range and entering the Hundred Thousand Mountains, Ghost Li felt that he had entered a truly wild and primitive world.
In fact, in the Demon Cult, Wilderness originally refers to a vast and uninhabited area in the extreme northwest of the vast land of China. Most of the area there is the Gobi Desert, where no grass grows. Even if there is life, it is an extremely tenacious wild relic. , so named. And the temple in the legend of the Demon Cult is somewhere there, but Ghost Li has never been there.
But the world in front of me is obviously completely different from the wild land in the legend. In the Hundred Thousand Mountains, not only is there no grass, it is almost a weed. Along the way, there is almost no place to stay in the large tracts of primeval forest, and any piece of land seems to be crowded with plants competing for living space. And behind the endless trees and thorns, there seems to be endless poisonous beasts. In the dark place beside you, it seems that there will always be malicious and ferocious eyes spying on you, waiting for an opportunity to sneak attack, trying to put you to death and turn you into a delicious meal.
For characters like Ghost Li and Jin Ping'er, these ordinary poisons are naturally not a special threat, but the endlessness of them is really a headache.
Although they can fly in the sky, firstly, miasma and poisonous mist will rise over the primeval forest at some point; There was no sign of stopping.
After a few days, it seemed that even the monkey Xiao Hui became restless.
In addition, apart from the harassment of these poisonous mist beasts, the weird weather in Shiwanda Mountain is also quite uncomfortable. It is completely different from the middle land, there is no process of cloud gathering, changing sky, etc. The rain here is almost instant, and the sky is still clear at the beginning, and it is pouring down in a blink of an eye; to stop When it was time to stop, it actually stopped as soon as it was said. One moment there was lightning and thunder, and the next moment it was cloudless, which made people stunned and speechless.
And it seems that there is no exact time for the rain, it can be as short as a short period of time, or as long as several days, which is impossible to predict.
At this moment, the two of them were walking in a black forest shrouded in continuous rain.
The reason why the two of them didn't use spells to walk in the sky was because when they planned to do so, they found that even when it was raining in this weird place, there was still a weird black air rising above the black forest. , but on the land under the forest, the air is relatively normal.
Both Gui Li and Jin Ping'er had been steeped in the Devil's Cult for a long time, and their eyesight was extraordinary, so they naturally knew the seriousness of it, after discussing it, they were willing to be more cautious and walked through the black forest.
This forest is the same as many virgin forests in the Shiwanda Mountains. The branches and leaves of the trees are very dense. The rain in the sky often does not fall directly to the ground, but flows and slides from the dense branches and leaves along the branches. The cold breath Echoing throughout the forest, except for the rustling sound of their walking and the distant sound of rain, the whole forest seemed to be asleep in the rain.
Ghost Li and Jin Ping'er didn't have umbrellas, most likely they didn't bring them with them, but in such a luxuriant forest, even if they had umbrellas, they might be involved, making it difficult to move an inch.
Xiao Hui didn't say a word, it shrank its body, lying on Ghost Li's shoulder, the rainwater falling from the branches and leaves above made its hair wet, and it stuck to its body flat.
There were also drops of water on Ghost Li's face, but his expression was still indifferent, walking in front, he didn't seem to feel any strange aura around him.
Jin Ping'er followed him, and she didn't seem to be tired, but her slightly disheveled hair and somewhat indifferent expression seemed to reflect her unhappy mood.
This forest is actually the Black Forest she visited last time. Jin Ping'er knew clearly in her heart that after walking out of this forest and climbing over a few more hills, they could reach their destination, in fact, she also told Gui Li exactly like this.
"sand… "
Gui Li stretched out his hand and broke a hanging branch, a branch like an ancient vine that looked extremely tough, was almost as fragile as tofu in his hand.
Jin Ping'er was behind him, silently glanced at Gui Li's palm, there seemed to be a thoughtful look in his eyes, and he frowned slightly.
Suddenly, Gui Li let out a "Huh", paused, then turned left and took a few quick steps.
Immediately, I saw suddenly bright in front of me, it was actually a bright color, what I was standing on was a cliff, around a few feet around the rock, there was no vegetation, and what was under my feet was an empty sea of clouds. For good looks.
Footsteps sounded, Jin Ping'er also stood beside him, her face changed slightly, this was the place where she was assassinated by the mysterious man in black last time, after she escaped by chance, she accidentally found the old man under the cliff. A life-killing knife from the killing monk, but she looked at Ghost Li, but she didn't say a word, obviously she didn't intend to tell this man all the things she had discovered.
Gui Li looked at the sea of clouds below from a distance, shook his head slightly after a long while, and said: "The clouds and mist below are colorful, I'm afraid it's a poisonous miasma."
Jin Ping'er nodded and said, "I think so too."
Gui Li looked at her and said, "How far is it?"
Jin Ping'er reached out and gently wiped the water drops on his forehead, pondered for a while, and said: "It shouldn't be far away, I remember the last time I came here, I walked forward for about an hour, and then I came out. This piece of black forest. After getting out of here, after climbing over two mountain ranges, you will arrive at Zhenmogu Cave."
Speaking of this, she paused for a moment, and said slightly confused: "Strange, last time I came here, there were clearly many evil beasts in the Black Forest. Never seen a single beast."
Gui Li said indifferently: "I'm afraid that those monsters you saw all followed the beast god to eat people outside the Hundred Thousand Mountains."
Jin Ping'er was stunned, and then thought that this might be very big, and a disgusted expression appeared on her face, no matter what, even if she came from the Demon Cult, she would still be indifferent to the doom of beast monsters who have no humanity at all. Very exclusive. Or, in the battle of the Venomous Snake Valley in Zhongtu that day, the entire Hehuan faction was wiped out. Although Ghost Li still doesn't know why Jin Ping'er was able to escape alone and joined the Ghost King's command, Jin Ping'er would have no harm against these beast monsters. What a favor.
Gui Li took a deep breath, cheered up, and said: "Let's go!"
Then he turned around and walked into the dark forest again, Jin Ping'er was about to follow, but suddenly turned around, looked down the cliff, Liu Mei frowned slightly, as if thinking about something. Gui Li in front walked for a while, but didn't feel Jin Ping'er following him, turned around and shouted.
Jin Ping'er woke up startled, smiled sweetly, but said: "Why, did you miss me so soon?"
Gui Li glanced at her, turned around indifferently, let alone cared about anything, went straight, Jin Ping'er followed with a smile.
At the moment when she was about to enter the forest, she waved her hand suddenly, and a white light flashed from her hand, and flew out. in the gap.
Light slowly flashed through that gap, it was the killing knife that used to be.
In the blink of an eye, Jin Ping'er's figure had disappeared.
The bleak wind and rain seem to be enveloped again, covering this strange black forest. In the distance, the vast sky and sky of Shiwan Dashan seem to be all gray. I don't know if there are any gods or demons in the dark Roaring and roaring, watching those seemingly insignificant existences in the world...
The wind and rain are getting worse!
※※※
When Gui Li and Jin Ping'er were trekking hard in the 100,000 mountains in pursuit of the beast god in the bitter wind and rain, the southern border beyond the 100,000 mountains was full of enthusiasm.
More and more Righteous Path disciples came to Southern Border. While making noise, their arrival quickly reduced the number of remnants of those beasts and demons who were wandering in Southern Border. However, there had never been such a gathering in the land of Southern Border. There are a lot of Chinese people, and most of them are people who practice Taoism.
The natives of the five local ethnic groups in southern Xinjiang have always held a respectful attitude towards these outsiders, but among these righteous disciples, there seems to be a strange atmosphere. As long as most of them are not from the same sect, they will Most of them kept their distance, and occasionally even heard that there were conflicts between disciples of certain sects.
It's just why, but no one seems to have ever declared it out loud.
In a sense, Fenxiang Valley, as the oldest cultivator in southern Xinjiang, has naturally become the best place for many righteous disciples who are not familiar with the local geography to visit and ask for advice. Quiet, with a constant flow of people, and people are seen coming in and out every day.
Under such circumstances, on this day, three people came to the gate of Fenxiang Valley, one man and two women, but they were from Qingyun sect, Zeng Shushu from Fenghuifeng, Wen Min and Lu Xueqi from Xiaozhufeng.
The Qing Yun Sect disciples who came to the southern border are naturally more than the three of them. In fact, the Qing Yun Sect is known as the world's number one orthodox sect at this time, and there are countless disciples of the younger generation sent here, but the best of them have not been able to come. Except for a few figures like Qi Hao who have taken on important responsibilities in the sect, Xiao Yicai was also unable to get away because Daoxuan Daoxuan was less than directors recently, and the affairs on Tongtian Peak were complicated, and he took care of most of them; as for Lin Jingyu, this time However, he insisted on guarding in the ancestral hall of the ancestor, and it was said that he was guarding the spirit of a certain Qingyun senior who had great affection for him, but he was unable to come.
Among the remaining few people, Zeng Shushu and Lu Xueqi were the leaders. Zeng Shushu was fine, his father Zeng Shuchang came to Nanjiang after a few words of explanation, but Lu Xueqi's visit this time was more tortuous, it is said that Master Shuiyue didn't want her to go out at first, but then changed his mind somehow, just But Lu Xueqi's senior sister Wen Min specially asked her to follow her.
However, there is one advantage of Wen Min's coming, that is, Zeng Shushu has an extra speaker along the way. Otherwise, if Zeng Shushu is an active person like a monkey, if he only gets along with the ice-like Lu Xueqi on his way, I am afraid that at the end of the day, nine out of Zeng Shushu's ten sentences will be talking to himself, and the remaining sentence will probably be Lu Xueqi's impatient ordering him to leave. It's open.
This way to southern Xinjiang, Zeng Shushu and Wen Min got along quite well, the three of them discussed together, Zeng Shushu suggested that no matter what, as a fellow of the righteous way, when they came to southern Xinjiang, they should go to Fenxiang Valley to pay a visit. It's just that Lu Xueqi didn't seem to be willing, and expressed her opinion lightly, saying that it's not like she hasn't been here before in Nanjiang, and she probably knows where to go, so don't bother others.
Zeng Shushu and Wen Min knew that Lu Xueqi still had a knot in her heart. On that day in the Yuqing Hall of Tongtian Peak in Qingyunmen, she firmly rejected the marriage proposal of Yun Yilan, the master of Fenxiang Valley, for her favorite disciple Li Xun, which hurt Yun Yilan and Wen Min a lot. Reverend Daoxuan's face is naturally unwilling to associate with people from Fenxiang Valley.
However, after several discussions between Zeng Shushu and Wen Min, Wen Min still persuaded Lu Xueqi to come over to make a show after all, otherwise she would not look good in front of the teacher in the future. Lu Xueqi hesitated again and again, but finally agreed.
The three of them came to the entrance of Fenxiang Valley. The three of them already had some fame, especially Lu Xueqi. . As for Fenxiang Valley, Lu Xueqi probably had more meanings, so when the figures of the three of them appeared at the entrance of Fenxiang Valley, they were recognized by the disciples of Fenxiang Valley almost immediately.
After the initial shock, there seemed to be a sensation, but then someone quickly stepped in to report back, and at the same time several people immediately came up to meet them.
The first person smiled and cupped his hands and said: "Ah! Senior sister Lu came to Fenxiang Valley, it is really rare! These two are also senior brothers and sisters of Qingyun sect, please come in."
Zeng Shushu looked at Wen Min from behind, stuck out his tongue secretly and made a grimace, thinking that this Lu Xueqi was really famous and scary, even this ordinary Fenxianggu disciple recognized him at a glance, and Wen Min and himself obviously It belongs to the kind of passerby who follows behind the beauty.
The two of them were not angry, and Zeng Shushu was even more smiling, joking and joking with those Fenxianggu disciples all the way, hearing them laugh heartily from time to time.
Wen Min, who was walking behind, smiled softly to Lu Xueqi who was beside him: "Junior Sister, look at that Junior Brother Zeng, he just met him, but he is so familiar with him, it's amazing."
Lu Xueqi looked in front of Zeng Shushu who had already put his hand on the shoulder of the disciple of Fenxianggu, smiled faintly, but said nothing.
Soon, under the leadership of Fenxianggu's disciples, they came to the Fenxianggu Mountain and River Hall. Above the hall, it was Yun Yilan who sat on the main seat with a smile and waited for them. Obviously, in the eyes of the Fenxianggu's owner, The weight of the three master disciples of Qing Yun Sect is completely different from other sects.
Even so, Zeng Shushu, Wen Min and the other three were not ignorant people after all, knowing Yun Yilan's status, it was quite condescending to receive them in person this time.
Immediately the three of them hurried forward, Zeng Shushu said after seeing the ceremony, "Why did Senior Yun still meet in person? It was supposed to be a visit from the juniors. It really killed all the juniors."
Yun Yilan smiled slightly, with a very kind expression on his face, and said with a smile: "Nephew, what are you talking about, your uncle Daoxuan, Master Daoxuan, and your father Zengshu Changzeng have been friends for more than a hundred years. Now, why should you be so polite. How are you two?"
Zeng Shushu respectfully said: "Everything is fine with Master Master and my father. The two elders have told me that when I arrive in Southern Xinjiang, I must come to see Master Yun."
Yun Yilan laughed loudly, nodded and said, "It's been a long time since Qingyun said goodbye, I really miss some old friends!"
As he said that, he smiled and turned his eyes to look behind Zeng Shushu, his eyes turned on Wen Min, and then fell on the face of Lu Xueqi with an indifferent face.
As if sensing Yun Yilan's gaze, Lu Xueqi raised her eyes and saw Yun Yilan looking at her with a smile on her face, while there was a person standing beside him with a complicated expression on her face, as if there was a hint of a wry smile , and in my own opinion, it was Li Xun.
Lu Xueqi remained silent and lowered her head slightly.
Yun Yilan smiled slightly, looked away, and said with a smile: "Why are you still standing, you and I have an extraordinary relationship, we are a family, please sit down!"
Zeng Shushu and others pleaded guilty and sat down next to him.
Yun Yilan talked to the three of them again, and after knowing that Wen Min, like Lu Xueqi, was a disciple of Master Shuiyue in Xiaozhufeng, she asked a few more questions about Master Shuiyue. Wen Min answered one by one, and then Yun Yilan started talking to Zeng Shushu again.
From the beginning to the end, it seemed that he also knew that Lu Xueqi was unwilling to speak, and he didn't ask Lu Xueqi. Lu Xueqi was also happy and relaxed, and sat beside her without saying a word.
However, the other Fenxianggu disciples in the Shanhe Temple, including Li Xun who was standing next to Yun Yilan, spent most of their time lingering on Lu Xueqi intentionally or unintentionally. There is a strange magical power that makes the highlights of the whole hall quietly gather on her body.
Over there, Yun Yilan asked Zeng Shushu with a smile: "After the great battle that day, senior brother Daoxuan defeated the beast god for the common people and turned the tide. His merits are immeasurable! But when the old man left Qingyun, the injury of senior brother Daoxuan It seems that he hasn't recovered yet, I don't know how is Senior Brother Daoxuan's health recently? He is now the leader of the Righteous Path, and everyone expects him!"
Zeng Shushu replied with a smile: "Thank you, Uncle Yun, for your concern. Uncle Yun, the head of the sect, is all well. As long as the common people in the world can escape the catastrophe, and Qingyun Sect suffers a little bit, it doesn't matter."
Yun Yilan smiled more and more kindly, took a sip from the teacup on the coffee table at hand, then his eyes flickered slightly, as if he suddenly thought of it unintentionally, he said with a smile: "By the way, the old man heard a rumor recently, just My nephew came here recently, just in time to ask you a question."
Zeng Shushu said with a smile: "Master Yun, please tell me, this disciple must know everything and say everything."
Yun Yilan nodded, and a flash of light flashed in the depths of his eyes, and he said slowly: "The old man heard by chance recently that after Senior Brother Daoxuan defeated the Beast God in the Battle of Qingyun that day, there was still a fight on Qingyun Mountain, and the final result , It was reported that Qingyunmen's supreme treasure 'Ancient Sword of Zhuxian' was broken and damaged, is there such a thing?"
As soon as these words came out, the entire Shanhe Hall was filled with solemnity, and there was no sound at all, but Zeng Shushu, Wen Min, and Lu Xueqi stood up at the same time, their faces changed, and they looked at Yun Yilan. And the other Fenxianggu disciples, including Li Xun, looked at Yun Yilan in astonishment.
Only Yun Yilan seemed to be alright, as if what he asked just now was not a major event that would affect the world, but a trivial, everyday matter, he gently picked up his teacup and took another sip of tea.
Then, he kindly and gently smiled at the three of Qing Yunmen and asked: "That, is it true?"
In the Palace of Mountains and Rivers, there was deathly silence...