The girl in the veil ignored the young man in brocade clothes who was walking towards her. She looked over the young man's shoulder and looked at the tall old man who followed her closely. She said with a gloomy look: "Just now you wanted to kill someone because of a disagreement. Although you have your reasons, I think it's wrong."
The young man in brocade clothes stopped seven or eight steps away from the cold girl and said sincerely: "My name is Gao Zhen, and I am from Yiyang County of the Great Sui Dynasty. If Grandpa Wu has offended me, I am willing to apologize and compensate you."
The tall old man stood behind the young man in brocade clothes with mixed feelings. The so-called descendants of the Gao family of Yiyang County of the Great Sui Dynasty are actually just a euphemism. The Great Sui Dynasty lasted for 1,200 years, and everyone who sat on the throne had the surname Gao. Emperor Taizu was born in Yiyang County.
The girl was indifferent to this. She raised her hands and tied the bandages tightly. She said to the old man, "If we were outside, I would not be a match for a martial arts master who is very likely to have "traveled far away". But at this moment, I can kill you with my flying sword."
The tall old man sneered, "As long as the assassin knows your killer move in advance, with his physique at the peak of the junior master, as long as he protects the vital points, what can you do with ten swords? He is still like this, not to mention that I am two realms higher than him, and one of the thresholds is also regarded as a natural barrier in martial arts. Little girl, I don't know where you get the confidence to say the four words "definitely die."
The girl frowned and quietly held the handle of the knife with one hand, "I am a person who is afraid of trouble, and I hate quarreling with people even more. Otherwise, let's try it out and see if it's true or not? Whoever wins is right, how about it?"
The old man, who rarely has the opportunity to be threatened, was a little annoyed. If he was not in this strange place that was hated by gods and ghosts, the old man could crush and kill ten people with one hand, no matter how talented the girl was. To put it another way, if he did not have an important task to take care of the young prince who was highly expected by the whole country of Sui, the old man would have taught the ignorant girl a lesson even if he was seriously injured by the self-circulating avenue here. The courage of a newborn calf is commendable, but that does not mean that the tiger will not eat the calf clean.
The young man in brocade clothes who called himself Gao Zhen quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "If the lady insists on pursuing the matter, I am willing to give this thing as compensation."
Gao Zhen lowered his head and opened the cloth bag at his waist, took out the jade seal, held it in one hand, and handed it to the girl in the veil in the distance, "To show my sincerity, I only ask the lady not to pursue the unintentional offense of Grandpa Wu before. After all, he was loyal and had no intention of harming anyone."
The tall old eunuch with white eyebrows and hair was immediately horrified, knelt on one knee, and said in panic, "Your Highness, don't do this! How despicable this old slave is, this jade seal is your highness's opportunity, it is a rare pure treasure in the world, and it can even carry the incense of the people. How can the two be compared? Your Highness is going to force this old slave to death!"
The young man surnamed Gao, who was born into a noble family, had a stiff face.
The girl seemed a little impatient and laughed sarcastically: "Frogs living in a corner of the well, everyone likes to treasure their own things. Take back the jade seal. I have always liked the saying that a gentleman does not take away what others like."
The girl acted decisively and turned around and left.
The young man in brocade clothes was relieved. "Get up, Grandpa Wu. Kneeling is so inappropriate. The twelve great sages of the Great Sui Dynasty have always only knelt to the emperor. If this is seen by the six censors or the Ministry of Rites, and it is brought up, both of us will be in trouble. Okay, this trip to the small town has been successfully completed under the protection of my ancestors. Let's not make any trouble. Leave here quickly. And after meeting with our own people outside, we must not take it lightly. You must know that among the six pillars of the Great Li Dynasty, the Yuan and Cao families are in opposing camps, but unfortunately, these two pillars of the Great Li Dynasty have an irreconcilable feud with our Great Sui Gao family. Once Grandpa Wu has an accident here and the combat power is damaged, it will be difficult for me to return to the Great Sui safely."
The old man nodded and slowly stood up, "This old slave knows the importance and urgency of the matter."
When the old man said the word "urgent", the girl in the veil had walked out more than 20 steps.
A breeze blew past the young man in brocade clothes, and his hair and sleeves were blown up.
It turned out that the old man next to him, who was powerful in the Sui Dynasty, had not let the girl go at all. He rushed forward at this time. The first three steps were heavy on the ground in the alley, and the sound was dull and penetrated more than ten feet under the ground. In the fourth step, the old man had already jumped high and punched the girl on the back.
The girl in the veil suddenly twisted her waist, using the tip of her left foot as a support point, and drew her sword with her right hand. A touch of snow-white light that was more dazzling than the sun appeared in the alley.
The tall old man rushed over with overwhelming force, punching the blade with one fist, leaving only a bloody mark on the back of his hand. After the old eunuch landed on the ground with his feet, he continued to rush forward, pushing the knife-wielding girl backwards. The old man then casually stretched out his palm, seemingly slowly and calmly, but in fact, it pushed the girl's forehead like lightning. The old man was about to increase his strength and smash the head hidden under the veil with one palm. He quickly moved his feet and moved his body sideways by one foot. With a puff, he looked down and saw that a sharp weapon pierced his right chest from the back. It was the tip of the sword.
The old man's face did not change, he put his two fingers together to clamp the tip of the sword and pushed it back.
He pushed the sharp flying sword that came here according to the girl's wishes out of his chest.
Because of the obstruction of the flying sword, the old eunuch not only failed to smash the girl's head with one palm, but the girl also flew backwards and fell in the alley. Taking the opportunity to catch her breath, she stood up with a nimble figure like a civet cat and quickly disappeared from a side alley.
The young man's face was terribly gloomy, his fists clenched, his momentum was strong, and his face was full of anger. He said: "The eunuch in charge of the Imperial Horse Administration, Wu Yue Wu Diao Si! Why don't you listen to my hints and insist on doing things so biasedly? Do you really think that you, Wu Diao Si, are the most invincible in this town? It was obviously our fault first, and she was not aggressive afterwards. She was willing to settle the matter peacefully. Why are you still so vicious? It's simply too much!"
The old eunuch retracted his gaze from the direction where the girl fled from the alley, turned around and walked back, his back straight, and he looked even more majestic. The old man walked back slowly step by step, as if stepping heavily on his heart.
The young man felt the suffocating power and was oppressed by a slave. He was full of anger, his eyes widened, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Imperial Horse Supervisor Wu Diao Si, you are committing a capital crime!"
The old eunuch said calmly, "Your Highness, the death penalty or life sentence needs to be decided by His Majesty himself. In our eyes, your safety is the most important thing, and the existence of the small town girl has become an urgent matter in our eyes. So if we really want everything to be fine, we have to kill her. Only when she dies can we rest assured."
Seeing the rage in the young man's eyes that could hardly be suppressed, the old eunuch sighed and said softly: "I have served in the palace for more than 60 years. I have seen too many intrigues, bloody and bloodless, countless. I really have no confidence in people's hearts. I have solved more than 30 assassinations on the way to protect the emperor, big and small. Your Highness, the insidiousness and cunning of those assassins are absolutely beyond imagination, especially some of the crazy killers, who are completely unreasonable. Take the masked killer and the girl in the veil for example..."
The young man in brocade clothes pointed his finger at the old eunuch with a cold face, and angrily accused him: "Shut up! You old eunuch! I don't want to listen to your nonsense! I am only sure that you ruined my careful efforts to win her over. Even a blind man knows how gifted and amazing the girl who can control the flying sword is! Even among the practitioners in the mountains, she is the most outstanding genius! Such a character, let alone the Great Sui or the Great Li, is also a rare existence in the entire East Aquarius Continent! I only need to train her for ten years, at most twenty years, and she can become the most powerful assassin in the shadow behind me! No matter you are a land immortal or a martial arts master, what does it matter?! What's the result? I am Gao Zhen, the future prince of the Great Sui Dynasty! The master of you, the old eunuch Wu!"
Strangely enough, the experienced old eunuch was not annoyed by the old eunuch. Instead, he looked more and more pleased. When the young man had vented his anger and finally stopped swearing, the old man looked at the panting young man and smiled, "Your Highness, although you may not know the treacherous world and the evil hearts of people because you have not experienced some things yourself, your Highness did one thing very well, which is very much like the style of His Majesty in the past."
The atmosphere was awkward.
After Gao Zhen calmed down, he must have realized that he was wrong. Before he was appointed as the crown prince, he was so disrespectful to an old man who was the seal of the imperial horse guard and one of the three gatekeepers of the Sui imperial palace. Moreover, this man was trusted by his father, the emperor and his mother. So the prince Gao Zhen opened his mouth, but saw the powerful eunuch who he called an old eunuch, and smiled and said: "Your Highness, remember one thing, don't say sorry to the servants casually, it's unnecessary, and it's a waste of your status, and the servants may not appreciate it. Even if you feel guilty, you should bury it deep in your heart. You must know that the emperor who is praised as the real dragon in the world is the emperor who speaks the law of heaven..."
Gao Zhen said: "Grandpa Wu, with my current status, it's too early to say this."
The old eunuch suddenly tensed up, as if facing a great enemy, and pulled the young man in brocade clothes behind him. The old man looked at the body of the masked killer.
A tall middle-aged scholar suddenly appeared at the end of the alley, walked in slowly, came to the body of the killer, squatted down, took off his mask, and saw a strange face with no eyebrows, a cut nose, and words carved on his face.
This person was once a prisoner, there is no doubt about that.
The scholar was silent. It turned out that he had planned it long ago. I am afraid that this plan should start from the Confucian Temple.
Gao Zhen's eyes were fiery. He walked out from behind the old eunuch, bowed, and bowed first. No matter what, he bowed first, and then raised his head and asked respectfully: "May I ask if you are Mr. Liu from Shanya Academy?"
The scholar stood up and said to Gao Zhen: "If you hadn't taken the lead in occupying a great opportunity, you two would not be able to leave so easily today."
Outsiders fought each other in the town. According to the rules set by the first four saints, the punishment was not severe, but it was not light either. Compared with the indiscriminate killing of ordinary people in the town, they would inevitably be expelled. The fight between outsiders had an obvious "loophole" that allowed people to make up for the loss. The reason why Gao Zhen and the other three groups of people brought a "retinue" was that they made the worst preparations so that they could be pushed out as scapegoats at the critical moment. Otherwise, just one quota would cost half of the savings of the Emperor Gao of the Sui Dynasty. After all, it was the private money of the Emperor of a great country, half of the family background. The amount was so large that it was conceivable, so who would be willing to be such a sucker for no reason?
In fact, to put it simply, it was just spending money to avoid disaster.
It's just that the expenses here can be described as emptying a mountain of gold and silver. The so-called lavish spending in the secular market is simply a child's play in comparison.
Gao Zhen, who was ordered to leave, continued to talk to himself: "Mr. Liu, if you have the opportunity in the future, can you come to my Great Sui Academy to give lectures? My Great Sui is willing to leave the position of 'National Master' vacant just for you!"
The old eunuch thought about it, but still did not stop the young man's presumptuous remarks.
If this scholar can be persuaded to make suggestions for the Gao family of the Sui Dynasty in the future, the emperor of the Sui Dynasty will surely be very pleased.
The scholar smiled and did not answer.
The old eunuch was decisive and ruthless in killing the girl in the veil who met by chance. At this time, facing the Dinghaishenzhen sitting here, Mr. Liu of the Shanya Academy showed another extreme attitude. He bowed his head and clasped his fists and said: "Mr. Liu, I am sorry for bothering you. I just attacked a junior, which was really a helpless act. I hope you will understand our painstaking efforts as a servant of the Gao family."
Liu Chunshui waved his sleeves and said, "Leave quickly."
Gao Zhen and the old eunuch had to say goodbye and leave, just taking the route of the girl in the veil retreat.
The young man asked in a low voice: "Is she dead?"
The old eunuch shook his head and said: "She must be dead soon. The flying sword can only make her live a little longer, which is of no use."
The young man hesitated for a moment and asked curiously: "When did Grandpa Wu realize that she was not as relaxed and comfortable as she seemed on the surface when she was controlling the flying sword?"
The old man said: "Too much is as bad as too little. Her precocity gave her away."
The young man was surprised and puzzled.
The old eunuch led the young man out of the original alley and whispered: "I have a question for you, Your Highness. You have seen so many rare and luxurious objects in the world. Would you still be interested in ordinary porcelain in a small town?"
The young man patted his waist pocket and smiled: "Of course not. Only this jade seal, or something of similar quality, can make me happy."
The old eunuch nodded and said, "That's right. When the girl was flying the sword to kill people, her heart was as calm as still water, extremely calm and composed, just like... eating, drinking, defecating and urinating of ordinary people. And after realizing my true martial arts cultivation, she decisively gave up the idea of fighting, especially because she was afraid that I would see through her cowardice and deliberately provoke us. Her real intention was to find a way for both sides to save face. She was afraid that I would kill her and would rather kill her by mistake than let her go by mistake, so she had to break the situation. Of course, the facts proved that she did not do a good job. But in the final analysis, it is not simple for her to have such thoughts at such a young age. But the more so, once the tiger is released back to the mountain and allowed to thrive, the greater the threat to Your Highness in the future will be."
The old man sighed, "Young men and women are full of vigor and vitality. If they kill people in a passionate way or die bravely, it is not strange for us. However, it is very abnormal for them to die calmly after careful consideration or to kill people without causing any ripples in their hearts. It can even be said that this temperament can only be honed by experience, and it has nothing to do with a person's talent or qualifications. Whether it is a monk or a warrior, many geniuses die young because their temperamental shortcomings are too obvious, and they are prone to bad things when they encounter difficulties." Gao Zhen lamented, "Anyway, it's a pity." The old eunuch joked, "Your Highness, if you have to sigh once for the life and death of such a person, then when Your Highness really stands on the top of the mountain in the future, you should be very busy." The young man smiled and said, "I don't believe it."
The old eunuch suddenly said: "I don't know if it's an illusion, but I feel that Mr. Liu, who has great cultivation, seems to have a big problem."
The prince of the Sui Dynasty said indifferently: "Anyway, as long as we can get this 'Longmen' seal, it will be a great success. Who would have thought that this priceless seal would be 'reduced' to a small addition to a big deal, so we should stop while we are ahead. When I talk about the golden carp, I can't help but think of the boy in straw sandals..."
The old eunuch smiled and said: "Your Highness, are you thinking of finding an opportunity to thank this boy in the future?"
The boy shook his head and said: "No, I feel sorry for that bag of copper coins."
The old man laughed dumbly.
Maybe there will be a frugal emperor in the Sui Dynasty in the future?
————
A quiet alley running north and south, with only the sound of wheels.
There was a young Taoist priest wearing a lotus crown on his head. He stopped doing business early today and was pushing his cart forward, thinking that he would clean up and return home after returning to his residence. Whoever interfered in this mess would be in trouble.
A slim man in black suddenly staggered out from the east-west alleyway, and finally leaned against the wall, moving slowly, one hand passed over the veil to reveal the thin gauze, and covered his mouth hard, and pointed at the young Taoist priest with one hand.
The young Taoist priest quickly lowered his head and muttered silently: "You can't see me... You can't see me... The Supreme Lord is as urgent as the law... Forget it, it's still the Buddha's blessing, and the Bodhisattva will appear..."
It's really a bit unreasonable for a Taoist priest to pray to the Buddha and the Bodhisattva instead of asking the Three Pure Ones when the matter is at hand.
Sure enough, the Buddha and Bodhisattva seemed unwilling to care about the disciples of other sects. The girl in the veil staggered towards the Taoist priest with her last bit of strength and fell heavily with a plop, but she finally grasped the Taoist priest's ankle tightly with her last hand.
The young Taoist held his head with both hands, with a miserable look of collapse, as if he was looking up to the sky and asking: "Such a big karma, isn't it equivalent to engraving the four words 'wanting death' on my forehead? I have been traveling all these years, sleeping in the open, crossing mountains and rivers, and often being bitten by dogs on the street... It's very hard, okay! Damn the Gao family of the Sui Dynasty, and the old dog surnamed Wu, you wait for me, this account will not be settled in five hundred years... I am so shallow in my cultivation, I really can't bear any heavy burden..."
The young Taoist who was already incoherent lowered his head, almost bursting into tears, "Little girl, please have mercy and let me go, okay, I will help you find a beautiful place with excellent feng shui, which will definitely bless you with offspring... Oh, no, the girl is still a virgin, then..."
The girl had fainted completely.
Seeing that there was no one around, the young Taoist squatted down and quietly pried open the girl's five fingers.
Whoosh.
The flying sword hovered in the air, and the tip of the sword was only three inches away from the young Taoist's eyebrows.
The young Taoist let go of his hand without showing any expression, with a face full of pity, and said righteously: "Humans are not plants or trees, how can they not have compassion? I have lived a glorious life, how can I be the kind of person who would watch someone die without helping?!"
The young Taoist sat cross-legged, and his handsome face was about to wrinkle into a ball, "Where to send it next is also troublesome."
The flying sword that had been three inches away from the Taoist's eyebrows moved forward an inch rapidly.
The Taoist patiently explained: "If you want your master to survive, I need a helper. By the way, go to the old locust tree and poke a locust leaf over. I will help her keep her vitality. Your master is a little special. I don't want to save people randomly just to save people. If I accidentally delay her future of cultivation, this new cause and effect... makes me want to die and end it all..."
The flying sword seemed to be hesitating, and the tip of the sword trembled slightly.
The Taoist said unhappily: "If you go a little earlier, your master can come back from the gates of hell one step earlier. If you go too late, we will all be finished!"
The flying sword disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The Taoist said angrily in a low voice: "The man and the woman have feelings for each other, and they can become a good couple. You, Mr. Liu Chunshui, are so good that you randomly match couples and don't even clean your butt after you shit!"
The young Taoist held his chin with one hand and counted with his fingers with the other hand, "Let me calculate which family in the town you should be sent to so that you can survive and the other party won't be ruined. Let's start with the Lu family... The Lu family is not good, it's about the same as the Zhao family, and they already have the opportunity, so what about the Ye family?"
The Taoist in the alley here has not finished speaking.
The Ye family's gate on Fulu Street, all the door gods posted on the big and small doors, instantly lost their spirit, dimmed, and there were wisps of green smoke rising that were invisible to the naked eye of mortals.
Deep in the courtyard, a barefoot old man pushed the door open, stood in the yard and yelled: "Which bastard is plotting to destroy my Ye family's foundation?! Come out and fight!"
The young Taoist coughed and said to himself: "The Liu family in Fulu Street looks prosperous and seems to be able to take on things. Let's give it a try?"
The plaque of the Liu family's family hall, which has been passed down for thousands of years, shattered with a bang, and shocking cracks appeared.
An old woman's voice was deep, and she knocked heavily on the ground with a dragon-headed cane, "Who are you? Can you come out and see me?!"
The young Taoist pretended that nothing had happened, "Then it's the Wei family in Taoye Lane? I can see that your family has accumulated good deeds, and you can definitely bear this cause and effect."
Soon, an old man used secret techniques to transmit his voice and shouted to the school: "Liu Chunshui! You don't care?! If you can't, or don't dare to, get out and give your place to Ruan Qiong! Let him deal with this sneaky guy! Or is it you, Liu Chunshui, who is venting your personal grudges?"
A man was leading people to dig a well by the stream south of the town's covered bridge. He stood up and moved his lips slightly to the north.
It was like spring thunder, rolling over Fulu Street and Taoye Lane, "Enough! Don't disrespect Mr. Liu, and I, Ruan, will never get involved in town affairs before the spring equinox!"
For a moment, the world was silent.
And the culprit sitting next to the cart in the alley was grabbing the hand of the black-clothed girl, and then threw the green locust leaf brought by the flying sword into her bloody palm.
After the locust leaf touched the wound on the girl's palm, it melted like ice and snow and disappeared in an instant.
The young Taoist sighed: "Every time I see this scene, I feel for the creation of heaven and earth..."
After brewing for a long time, the Taoist couldn't come up with words that satisfied him.
Finally, the young Taoist lowered his head and looked at the girl who was slightly flushed. He was a little embarrassed, "Since the fate you are involved in is greater than I imagined, I can only go against the grain. In the town, there are six hundred families, intertwined, and the atmosphere of this secret place has been immersed in generations. If you ask me to find a guy with fate, it's easy, but finding a poor guy is harder than climbing to the sky. This is like finding a high official in the court hall, it's easy, but finding a beggar, how can you ask me to find it?"
The young Taoist exclaimed.
I really found such a poor guy.
He was not surprised at all, but horrified. He closed his eyes and asked himself.
The young Taoist sighed, "No matter what, let's see what choice you will make. I will never force you. If you don't want to, I will bear the consequences myself."
Finally, he put his hands together like a monk, "Buddha bless you, Bodhisattva show up, and let me survive this disaster."
————
In Niping Lane.
The young Taoist bent down and pushed a two-wheeled cart. He stopped outside a courtyard gate, knocked on the door, and asked, "Is Wang Gu'an here?"
On the cart, in the corner, there was a long sword with a snow-white sheath. The flying sword in the sheath looked sickly, as if it disliked the young Taoist for finding such a poor family.