When Qi Hao and Zeng Shushu saw Zhang Xiaofan here, they more or less greeted with a smile, only Lu Xueqi remained indifferent, but still glanced at him, as if there was an unknown emotion deep in her eyes Flashed, but disappeared in a blink of an eye.
Reverend Daoxuan looked at the four people in the hall, and said with a smile: "The four of you are here today because there is a business, and I want you to go down the mountain to practice."
Qi Hao and the others were moved together.
Reverend Daoxuan then talked about the "Ancient Cave of Ten Thousand Bats" on Kongsang Mountain the day before yesterday, and said: "This matter is of great importance, the four of you are the elite of my sect, that's why I sent you to investigate. Teaching the demon to be treacherous and vicious, you all have to be careful."
The four said in unison: "Yes."
Reverend Daoxuan nodded, and said: "Besides my Qingyun Sect, Fenxiang Valley and Tianyin Temple have sent outstanding disciples to investigate together, you must not be rude in front of others, but you must not break my Qingyun Sect's aura. In addition, Senior Brother Xiao Yicai from Nagato has already gone to Mount Kongsang to investigate this matter, if you find him, you can discuss everything."
The four of them looked at each other and agreed in unison.
Reverend Daoxuan took a careful look at these four younger generation disciples, and finally his eyes fell on Qi Hao, and he waved: "Qi Hao, come here."
Qi Hao was stunned for a moment, and walked forward, Reverend Daoxuan looked him up and down, then turned to Taoist Cangsong with a smile: "Junior Brother, there are some successors to your Longshou Peak!"
Taoist Cangsong's expression was not very good from the beginning, now he finally showed some smiles, and said with a smile: "Brother, you are joking."
Reverend Daoxuan smiled and took out something from his bosom, handed it to Qi Hao, and said, "Take it."
Qi Hao took a look, but it turned out to be a small mirror with an ancient and clumsy shape, carved bronze edges, a dragon engraved on the top, a tiger engraved on the bottom, the gossip directions were engraved on the mirror, the middle lens was not an ordinary bronze mirror, it was too yellow to see clearly .
Before Qihao could react, Master Cangsong beside him was already beaming with joy, and shouted: "Silly boy, what are you still doing in a daze, quickly kneel down and thank you."
Qi Hao immediately came to his senses, knowing that the inconspicuous thing in his hand was probably the magic weapon "Liuhe mirror", he quickly knelt down and said, "Thank you, master master."
Reverend Daoxuan smiled and said: "No need, no need, get up!" He said to others: "Go out first!"
Everyone knew that he was going to teach Qi Hao the secret of Liuhe mirror, so they withdrew together.
Walking outside the hall, Zhang Xiaofan first stepped aside with Tian Buyi, Tian Buyi glanced at him, and said indifferently: "You have a heavy responsibility now, so don't go back to the Big Bamboo Peak, and go down the mountain with the three of them later! Big Bamboo Peak I'll tell you something there."
Zhang Xiaofan was taken aback, then lowered his head and said in a low voice: "Yes, Master."
Tian Buyi said: "During the month you were recuperating, I heard that your mistress passed on some secrets of sword control and Taoism to you, have you memorized them all?"
Zhang Xiaofan nodded and said: "Yes, this disciple has written it down."
Tian Buyi turned around and said slowly: "That's good. Although your aptitude is not good, you are still under my Dazhu Peak sect. Don't embarrass me when you go out."
Zhang Xiaofan immediately said: "Yes, Master, this disciple will never disgrace you old man."
Tian Buyi snorted, he turned his back, Zhang Xiaofan couldn't see his face, he didn't know what his expression was, but hearing his voice, there was no anger at all.
After a long while, Tian Buyi seemed to sigh, turned his head to look at Zhang Xiaofan, didn't say much, waved his hand as a greeting, then sacrificed the immortal sword and went to Pokong.
Zhang Xiaofan stared blankly at Master's figure turning into a red glow and disappearing into the sky, until someone patted his shoulder, he was startled, he turned around quickly, but it was Zeng Shushu who was smiling. Looking around again, the heads of other branches had already left, only the two of them and Lu Xueqi who stood alone in the distance remained.
Zeng Shushu smiled and said: "You are lucky, I am worried that you will not pass the test this time!"
Zhang Xiaofan felt much more relaxed immediately when he was with him, he said with a smile: "Yeah! I was also scared to death."
Zeng Shushu patted him on the shoulder, looked back and forth at him, and said in a low voice, "Why didn't you bring Xiao Hui?"
Zhang Xiaofan said with a bitter face: "I was brought by Master early in the morning, I didn't expect to go down the mountain immediately, I didn't bring anything! How could I get Xiao Hui?"
Zeng Shushu smiled and said: "It's okay, I can lend you the clothes, or we can buy them in Heyang City at the foot of the mountain." He winked at Zhang Xiaofan and whispered: "Hehe, anyway, we can earn money this time arrive."
Zhang Xiaofan didn't understand what it meant, said: "What?"
Zeng Shushu raised his eyebrows, glanced behind him, and said with a snickering smile, "There are beautiful women accompanying me!"
Zhang Xiaofan was angry and funny, but he still took a look at Lu Xueqi, at the same time, as if Lu Xueqi had also sensed it, he glanced here, the two looked at each other from a distance, Zhang Xiaofan only felt that her eyes were frosty and frightened With a jump, he quickly looked away.
The two chatted and laughed for a while, when Zeng Shushu was secretly talking to him about how he would go on the road with Lu Xueqi in the future, he suddenly found that Zhang Xiaofan's originally smiling face suddenly became stiff, and his eyes became straight, staring at him. behind.
Zeng Shushu felt a little puzzled, turned his head to look, and saw a man in his forties walking up crookedly under the long steps, his clothes were clean, but his face was blank, his eyes were dull, and he said something indiscriminately. The preface does not follow the words: "It's raining, it's getting dark... smelly... mother... god, god, hehe, god..."
Under the gaze of Zeng Shushu and Lu Xueqi who was watching from a distance, Zhang Xiaofan walked over, very slowly, as if it took a long time before he reached the man.
It's like walking to the past!
"Second Uncle Wang, are you okay?" He tried his best to suppress his excitement and said in a low voice.
The man didn't seem to have Zhang Xiaofan in his eyes at all, he was still chanting words, he shook off Zhang Xiaofan and walked over, and soon disappeared behind the hall.
"Who is he?" Zeng Shushu walked to his side and asked.
Zhang Xiaofan looked at the place where Uncle Wang's figure disappeared, and said sadly: "A lunatic!"
Seeing his expression, Zeng Shushu wisely didn't ask any more questions. After a while, a happy Qi Hao came out of the hall and greeted the three of them.
Zhang Xiaofan absent-mindedly walked over with Zeng Shushu, after some discussion (Zhang Xiaofan was in a daze, without saying a word), they decided to go down the mountain to Heyang City first.
Zeng Shushu smiled and said to Qi Hao: "Senior Brother Qi, is the Liuhe mirror passed to you by the Master Master of the sect master very powerful?"
Qi Hao said with a smile: "The Liuhe Mirror is my Qingyun Sect's most precious treasure. It is naturally powerful. I'm afraid I'm not practicing enough! Hehe, well, this is the top of the mountain. Except for the head of Qimai, the rest of the disciples cannot control the sword. Let's go down to the sea of clouds , and then fly to Heyang City with Yujian!"
Lu Xueqi was expressionless, Zhang Xiaofan nodded blankly, only Zeng Shushu was smiling, it seems that going down the mountain is a happy event for a playful person like him.
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From Qingyunmen to Heyang City, on this road, the four most "excellent" disciples of Qingyunmen come here with swords, others are easy and at ease, but Zhang Xiaofan can't help but have some difficulty.
He was recuperating for a month, Suru seemed to have expected that he would be fine, so he passed on some secrets of the Qingyun sect Taoism, and also passed on to him the method of driving the magic weapon to fly in the air.
In fact, it is simple to say, as long as the Taoism is deep enough and the magic weapon is not too weak, it is enough to drive the magic weapon with Qingyun Taoism supplemented by thoughts.
But Zhang Xiaofan is not deep in practice, although the magic weapon is not bad, it is very strange, and he is quite unfamiliar with the new Qingyun sect Taoism, so it is very troublesome to use it.
At the beginning, Suru didn't expect that he would go down the mountain as soon as he climbed Tongtian Peak, and he wanted to let him memorize the formula first, and let him practice more after returning to the Big Bamboo Peak. From the details, judging from his performance in the Qimai martial arts test, it is taken for granted that he knows the most basic way of controlling the sword.
But he didn't know that Zhang Xiaofan secretly learned Taoism, and practiced to the state of "repelling things" in a daze, but he didn't know the ability to control the sword.
Looking at other people offering their swords, Qi Hao is the white "Ice" sword, Lu Xueqi is the blue "Tianya" sword, and Zeng Shushu is the purple fairy sword - "Xuanyuan".
Zhang Xiaofan was nervous in his heart, he forced himself to raise the "burning fire stick", but his feeling seemed to be a little bit worse, not as handy as he was on the day of Qimai Wushu.
Traveling through the clouds and across the mountains was supposed to be a half-day journey, but the four of them didn't arrive at Heyang City until the sun went down. In order to avoid suspicion, Zhang Xiaofan and the other three fell to the ground in a secluded place outside Heyang City, their whole bodies were soaked and their faces were pale, it seemed that this situation was more difficult than that day's competition.
This journey was in the sky, and he couldn't grasp the fire stick several times. If it wasn't for Qi Hao and the others who saw something wrong by his side, didn't dare to stay too far away from him, and offered to help in time, I'm afraid that he, the latest "excellent disciple" of Qingyun sect Inevitably, he fell from a high altitude and died in pieces. Before he could win glory for the master, he would be infamous for thousands of years, embarrassing Qing Yunmen.
Qi Hao and the others decided to stop outside the city and walk into the city. Although they wanted to avoid suspicion, they were also afraid that if the city was busy in the city, Zhang Xiaofan would fall down under the eyes of everyone. Qingyunmen has been here for two thousand years. The lofty prestige that has been worked so hard to build will be destroyed once, alas!
After a short rest, when Zhang Xiaofan recovered his breath, the four of them walked towards the tall Heyang city in the setting sun. Zhang Xiaofan walked at the end, and felt Qi Hao and Lu Xueqi in front of him casting suspicious gazes from time to time, obviously they couldn't understand why a person who shined in the Qimai martial arts test can't even walk with ordinary swords .
On the other hand, Zeng Shushu walked with Zhang Xiaofan still smiling, never mentioning what happened just now, and introduced Heyang City to Zhang Xiaofan endlessly: "Within a radius of a hundred miles, this is the largest and most prosperous place. Live here There are at least 200,000 to 300,000 people in the city, and the geographical location is good, there are a lot of business travelers, and it is even more lively... "
Zhang Xiaofan listened, he really admired Zeng Shushu's erudition, said: "Shushu, why do you know everything?"
Zeng Shu was very interested in his writing, and said: "What's the matter, you will know it after reading a lot." As he spoke, he showed a sly smile, whispered into Zhang Xiaofan's ear, "Actually, I've been here many times, They all sneaked down the mountain."
Zhang Xiaofan was taken aback, said: "You, you..."
Zeng Shushu curled his mouth and said, "Look at how scared you are? What's the matter? Since I practice the art of controlling the sword, I naturally have to practice it often. Flying here, what's so great about going shopping when I'm tired! "
Zhang Xiaofan was dumbfounded.
Hearing the two of them whispering in the background, Qi Hao smiled slightly, and said to Lu Xueqi who was beside him: "Junior Sister Lu, it's getting late, we'll spend the night here tonight, let's go on our way tomorrow!"
Lu Xueqi's face was as cold as ice, without the slightest expression, she just nodded lightly.
When they entered the city, in order to avoid trouble, they changed the clothes of Qing Yunmen disciples early in the morning, which did not arouse any suspicion, but Lu Xueqi's beautiful appearance caused quite a stir, causing many passers-by to stop and watch .
Zhang Xiaofan took a glance at Lu Xueqi from the side, saw that although her face was expressionless, but a hint of anger flashed in her bright eyes, he couldn't help worrying about these passers-by, if Tianya got out of her sheath, I'm afraid this ancient city with a long history would be destroyed in half first .
But Lu Xueqi's self-cultivation is obviously much better than Zhang Xiaofan expected, until they moved into an inn called "Shanhaiyuan", Lu Xueqi didn't make any movement.
Qi Hao had the deepest experience among all the people, and the four of them were vaguely headed by him, and he was the one who approached them to arrange such things as staying in the inn, and then they were arranged to live in the best backyard by the inn.
This Shanhaiyuan is quite large in scale, there are four other gardens in the back garden, the four of them live in Xiyuan, each with a room, after going back to rest for a while, Qi Hao called everyone together and went to the front restaurant for dinner.
Shanhaiyuan's self-built restaurant is located on the busiest street in Heyang City, but in the VIP room on the third floor, it is very clean. There are less than ten tables in the spacious hall, and there are about five tables now. There are guests eating. Qi Hao called Xiao Er, and ordered a few dishes. It seems that he is very familiar with this place, and he is probably a regular customer.
Zhang Xiaofan thought in his heart, he was born in a farming family, he had never been to such a luxurious place as Shanhaiyuan, just now when he passed the second floor, he saw the magnificent hall, but when he walked to the third floor, he saw carved dragons and painted phoenixes, mahogany beams, ancient Fragrant antique, completely different from the second floor.
He naturally doesn't know that if people in the world go to a place of wealth and honor, they will instead pursue status and taste. Even though some people like splendor and luxury, in order to let people say that they are somewhat self-cultivated, it is common to be arty.
The four of them sat on a small table by the window, Zeng Shushu took a look at the layout in the hall, and said to Qi Hao, "Senior Brother Qi, the price here is not cheap, is it?"
Qi Hao smiled slightly, and said: "This is the best restaurant in Heyang City, so it's naturally not much cheaper, but our Qingyun Sect is well-known here, their boss is eager for us to come, and won't charge us much. "
Zeng Shushu said "ah" and nodded in agreement. After a while, the shop waiter brought several plates of side dishes to the table, especially a plate of fresh stewed fish at the end. The body of the fish was elongated, sub-round in the front, narrow in the back, dark brown, with whiskers Two pairs, thick and long. The most important thing is that the meat is white and moist, and the aroma is overflowing, which immediately makes people's index fingers move.
Zhang Xiaofan has always been interested in cooking, and he has never seen this kind of fish, so he couldn't help but ask the waiter: "Brother, what is this fish called, and how is it cooked?"
The waiter in the shop chuckled, and said: "Guest officer, you really have a good eye. This 'clear stewed sleepy fish' is our Shanhaiyuan's signature dish. It is fragrant, smooth and tender, and sweet in the mouth. But it’s very famous…”
Zhang Xiaofan swallowed his saliva, picked up the chopsticks, took a bite into his mouth, immediately closed his eyes and nodded, "Ah! The quality of the meat is really good, but it's cooked better, some sugar is added for sweetness, and ginger slices are added. Fishy, uh, it smells like sautéed shallots, so it must be fresh shallots. Ah! The most rare thing is the combination of pepper, five spices, eh... By the way, and sesame oil, it’s amazing, amazing!"
Qi Hao and Zeng Shushu were stunned by his intoxicated look, and even Lu Xueqi looked at him with a strange expression on his face, but the waiter standing by the side really admired him and boasted loudly: "Guest officer is really Experts, know the goods!"
Zhang Xiaofan just now noticed the appearance of the people around him, his face turned red, he quickly put down his chopsticks, but he still asked, "Excuse me, little brother, where did this sleepy fish come from?"
Before the waiter could speak, he suddenly heard a woman's voice at a large table next door saying: "This sleepy fish is a special product of Zhugou Mountain in the south. It is thousands of miles away. How can you bring it here? Isn't your shop a lie? Is it?" (Note 1)
Everyone was startled, looked over, and saw eight people sitting on that big table, six men in yellow clothes, and two women, one woman was wearing a lavender dress with a mask on her face. Qingsha, I can't see her face clearly, but the exposed skin is white; the other woman is the speaker, she is not very old, she looks only sixteen or seventeen years old, she is dressed in aqua green clothes, she has a beautiful appearance, and her eyebrows are snow-white Skinny skin, a pair of bright big eyes are extremely agile, making people's eyes bright, even compared to Lu Xueqi's.
Zhang Xiaofan said "ah", but after seeing that woman said these words, his eyes fell on Lu Xueqi at his table, he seemed also surprised by Lu Xueqi's appearance. Girls love beauty, even women like Lu Xueqi, who are usually as cold as ice, can't help but look at that woman more at this moment.
The waiter at the shop apologized and said with a smile: "What the guest officer said is true, but you don't know that the sleepy fish was indeed unique to Zhugou Mountain in the south a hundred years ago. Meiyu was moved back and placed in the flood waters of Qingyun Mountain, and it has not only survived, but also gradually prospered. We are all blessed by Daoxuan Immortal on Qingyun Mountain, so we can have this blessing!" He said As he spoke, a look of extreme reverence appeared on his face.
Zhang Xiaofan and other members of Qingyun sect listened, naturally they were all happy and smiled, but when the girl heard this, she turned her head and looked at the woman in the light veil, sat back, but snorted.
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After eating a delicious dinner, Zhang Xiaofan and others returned to their residence contentedly. Qi Hao said to everyone at the gate of Xiyuan: "Everyone, let's rest here first! Tomorrow morning, we will hurry to Kongsang Mountain."
Zhang Xiaofan and Zeng Shushu agreed, but Lu Xueqi didn't say a word, she walked back to her room, and closed the door with a "bang". Qi Hao was stunned for a while, then smiled wryly at the two of them, and said: "You two, let's go to bed early too!"
Zhang Xiaofan took a look at his handsome face, and saw that under the setting sun, Qi Hao's expression was no less than before, on the contrary, he looked a bit out of the ordinary, suddenly became discouraged, couldn't lift his spirits, and reluctantly fought with Zeng Shushu He said hello, but he ignored Qi Hao and walked back to the room on his own.
Zeng Shushu chuckled, chatted with Qi Hao, and the two went back to their rooms to rest.
This night, Zhang Xiaofan left Qingyun Mountain for the first time in five years, tossed and turned, for some reason he didn't sleep well all night.
In the middle of the night, I managed to fall asleep in a daze, and suddenly dreamed that I was covered in blood, and I was standing in the sea of blood with a hideous face. Like luscious spring water, attracting him, luring him, making him unable to bear the desire to obtain all of this by killing.
"ah!"
Zhang Xiaofan woke up from the dream, sat up suddenly, panting heavily, sweating profusely all over his body, it took a long time for his violently beating heart to calm down.
He sat blankly in the dark for a long while, then reached out his hand inadvertently, and touched the fire stick beside the pillow, and a cold feeling surrounded him.
This dream was very similar to the nightmares he had been dreaming about over the years. The scene of becoming another person, the bloodthirsty murderer in the dream, made him feel afraid.
There was no sound, and the surroundings were pitch black.
He crossed his legs, sat up straight in the dark, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and folded his hands in front of him.
The darkness is like a gentle woman, gently wrapping around his body, a layer of faint golden light is faintly emanating from his body.
Reflecting that faint light, Zhang Xiaofan's face seemed to be covered with a layer of dignity that he shouldn't have.
I don't know how long it took before this layer of golden light gradually dissipated, Zhang Xiaofan opened his eyes in the darkness, feeling peaceful. At this time, he especially misses the kind and kind monk Puzhi.
He didn't feel sleepy anymore, walked to the door, opened it and walked out. The next few rooms were pitch black, presumably Qi Hao and the others were asleep.
The back garden of Shanhaiyuan is built in a garden, and there are four courtyards in the four directions of the southeast, the north and the west. Zhang Xiaofan walked out from Xiyuan where he lived, and went to the garden in the center.
It was already late at night, looking up at the sky, the sky was full of stars, and a full moon hung in the sky. The night breeze is blowing, with a faint fragrance. The path is winding and deep, leading to an unknown place ahead. Along the road, green grass, shrubs, and flowers of various colors are blooming everywhere.
Zhang Xiaofan was in a daze, walked down this path, the breeze was blowing on his face, bringing a little bit of coolness.
On such a quiet night, a young man walked alone in the deep garden, reminiscing about the past.
On the side of the road, a small flower trembled in the night wind, there were crystal dewdrops, attached to the pink and white petals, exquisite and translucent, Zhang Xiaofan stopped in his tracks, he didn't realize he was stupefied looking at it.
The faint fragrance came secretly.
Suddenly, a slender hand, as if reaching out from the eternal darkness, with a quiet beauty, imprinted with the moonlight and stars in the sky, reached out to the flower.
Fold it off!
At that moment, there was a "boom" in Zhang Xiaofan's mind, as if the sky and the moon had lost their brilliance, and the garden suddenly fell into darkness.
He turned his head and looked over, with a bit of inexplicable hatred.
A young girl in water-green clothes stood there, as if she had attracted the light from the sky, gently put the flower in front of her nose, and took a deep breath.
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"Note 1: "Shan Hai Jing, Jing, Volume 4, Zhugou Mountain": It travels five hundred miles in the south, and it is called Zhugou Mountain, which has no vegetation and is full of sand and stones. It is a mountain, with a wide population of hundreds of miles, and many sleepy fish. 』