the enlightener says

"But I'm not fighting anyone to the death." Qin Ke didn't get up, just sat on the ground and looked at Mulan and said, "I won't be like this when I need it."

"Wait until then." The corners of Mulan's mouth curled up slightly, "Can things that are engraved in your bones be peeled off in a short time? If I want to kill you now, can you do it?"

Qin Ke fell silent.

"Come again." Mulan said.

Qin Ke obediently picked up the sword, but in an instant, Mulan's saber struck again.

Chapter 156 Good steel still needs tempering

For several days in a row, Qin Ke really entered into a situation where he couldn't bear to die. For some reason, Mulan had tempered him so harshly these days that even Abu was a little terrified. In his opinion, Mulan's waving of a sword didn't look like she was performing martial arts at all. Instead, he really wanted to split Qin Ke in half, and under Mulan's fierce knife, Qin Ke was like a flat boat in the sea, which could be overthrown at any time.

Qin Ke's hands were bloody and bloody, and his muscles were as stiff as stones. If no one helped to rub them before going to bed every day, he would even have severe cramps, causing his whole body to curl up into a ball in pain.

Hearing him crying in pain while lying on the bed, Zhang Fu even shed tears and told him not to practice, but Qin Ke just shook his head. He didn't know why he persisted, but he always felt that maybe if he gave up this Things, other things will not persist in the future, right?

But even so, Qin Ke still failed to do what Mulan said, "take offense as defense". Although there is a saying that steel is tempered and tempered, he feels like a big iron lump, while Mulan is a black-faced The fat blacksmith, holding a hammer, hit him one after another. Instead of being hammered into good steel, he turned into broken copper and rotten iron. God knows how long he can last.

It seems simple to ignore it, but it actually requires a person to have that kind of determination, even... to put aside all the determination, to ignore it is like a lunatic.

But at that time, if he made that sword, would he still be himself?

"Aren't you too anxious?" After another day's training, Zhou Gongjin looked at Qin Ke who was supported by Abu Zhangfu, and looked at his embarrassed appearance, which made him struggle to walk. share mercy.

Although Gao Changgong had told him in advance that Mulan was solely responsible for training Qin Ke, and no matter what she did, she had her reasons, but Zhou Gongjin couldn't help but said, "Although I have the same training as General Mulan, you and Chang Gong. The difference is very far, but I also know that there is a saying that haste makes waste, if you continue to fight like this, I am afraid that Qin Ke will not be able to last until then, and it will be even more impossible to learn that kind of sword technique and sword posture."

Mulan looked at Qin Ke and said softly, "If it's about other sword moves, Gao Changgong doesn't need me to teach him. He, the war god of Jing and Wu, can use eighteen kinds of weapons, and he can use all kinds of skills in one body. He can go into battle by himself. But he What you want me to teach is different from the common sense of practice."

"How is it different?" Zhou Gongjin asked.

Mulan didn't answer, but just said another seemingly unrelated thing: "Someone once asked me, saying, I can promote a young general, give him enough power, and teach him the skills to match him, but can I teach him the skills to match him?" A matter between his life and death?"

Zhou Gongjin smiled bitterly and said: "Life and death are always life and death. This kind of thing can only be experienced, not taught by words and deeds."

"In this case, why do you persuade me? You should know that if you can't push him to a desperate situation, he can't experience it. Gao Changgong also understands this, so let me teach him." Mulan said, "I just Just do as he said. 'Seven Advances Sword' is not such an easy skill to learn, if you can't put life and death aside, you won't be able to step into that threshold." After finishing speaking, she turned around and looked at her The camp is gone.

Zhou Gongjin stood there for a long time, and finally sighed: "Seven Advances Sword? It's really unexpected. This seems to be... that person's..."

The victims in the entire camp are recovering at a very rapid speed. Jiuli's snake gall has an amazing effect. There are even many seriously ill people who are no longer tied with black cloth strips. sweep away.

At the same time, the koi flowers that Zhou Gongjin searched from the speculators had also entered the camp, and counties and counties hundreds of miles away had also shipped medicinal materials, and the entire plague situation had been completely controlled.

But compared to those patients, Qin Ke was getting thinner day by day, just like a light and strong sapling lost the rain and dew, gradually withering.Being "beaten" by Mulan every day, even an iron man has already turned into mud, and Qin Ke's blood and vitality have been almost dried up under such repeated tempering.

If a practitioner of qi and blood has no qi and blood, can he still be called a practitioner of qi and blood?

At the beginning Zhou Gongjin was watching every day, but afterward, she simply couldn't see it.

And Abu and Zhang Fu took care of such a weak Qin Ke almost every day. They also tried to beg Mulan, but Mulan's plain and heroic face was still calm, and her eyes were as deep as ancient wells—she rejected them. request.

Qin Ke still had to bear Mulan's saber every day, many times, even without Mulan's hands. The weak Qin Ke could hardly hold the steel sword that was full of gaps. It was like a disaster.

And on a certain day, Qin Ke finally woke up, his body was hot all over, and he was lying on the bed talking nonsense because of a serious illness.

"The medicine is ready." Abu brought it almost at the moment when the medicine was just fried. The hot pottery bowl contained a scalding heat. He exchanged his hands to pinch his earlobe, and opened the tent as he walked. .

Zhang Fu, who was full of sorrow, was sitting in front of the window, and her pretty face had also lost a lot of weight.

"Let me do it." She said softly. The moment she took the medicine bowl, she clearly raised her eyebrows, showing a bit of pain. Her pampered hands seldom do heavy work. Not as good as Abu.

But she bit her lip and brought the medicine to the bed without saying a word.

Qin Ke's forehead was terribly hot, his eyes were tightly closed, but his mouth was still open.Abu and Zhang Fu helped him up, put two pillows on his back, Zhang Fu blew, and slowly fed Qin Ke a spoonful of soup.

Qin Ke frowned, and spit out the medicine again like a child, but Zhang Fu hurriedly wiped his chin.

Qin Ke pouted, with a dejected expression on his face, and said a few words that made people laugh and cry: "Master, I will never steal it again. You can't punish me for eating Coptis chinensis. It's very bitter." After a while, He changed the subject and said, "Father, I'm not hungry...there's only this piece of bark left, you can give it to mother."

Then, he began to cry loudly: "Mom, where is my sister?"

Abu smiled, but his eyes were inexplicably red. Zhang Fu sat on the edge of the bed, patiently wiping Qin Ke's tears, so she looked like a loving mother.She patted Qin Ke's back softly, and comforted her: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, mother is here. My sister is also here."

Qin Ke relaxed a little, muttered: "My mouth is so bitter, my stomach is so hungry." Then he fell into a deep sleep again.

Zhang Fu couldn't feed the medicine, so she could only put the medicine bowl aside first, and watched quietly, thinking for a while, then she turned her head and looked at Abu, hesitating: "His... his parents, and his sister." What? Why have you never heard him mention it?"

Abu shook his head, sat down on the stool made of a tree stump, and sighed: "Of course you haven't heard him say it, and I only found out after he told me something last time. He fled famine and starved to death on the way. His sister..." He hesitated, not knowing whether he should speak, and fell silent.

When Zhang Fu heard Qin Ke's life experience, her eyes darkened. She didn't know the taste of tree roots and bark, but Qin Ke probably thought of the bark because the soup in his mouth was too bitter.But even if it was the last piece of bark, he still remembered his parents. He would rather be hungry than let his parents eat more.

"What happened to his sister?" Zhang Fu continued to ask.

"He just mentioned one point, but I guessed it." Abu hesitated, "I heard from my husband before that the drought and mutiny in the Mohist land boundary, it is said that the people starved to death for thousands of miles. , the bark and grass roots were all eaten up. After the grass roots were eaten, some people dug the soil from the ground to eat. There was a kind of white one called Guanyin soil. Many people ate too much of it, and finally swelled to death. Some... ...Just exchange the children, and only then will there be meat in the pot..."

"Meat?" Zhang Fu was stunned for a moment, then covered her mouth in shock, "Human...meat? His sister...is..."

Chapter 157 The Upside Down Sea, The Old Man in the Mountain

There was such a moment of dead silence in the room, it was so quiet that even the breathing of the three people in the room became extremely ethereal and illusory.

After a long time, Abu shook his head and said: "In that kind of famine, his sister was young and hadn't been completely weaned yet, but where did his mother get the milk? It was clear at a glance whether he was keeping the big or the young. I always felt that there was something hidden in Qin Ke's belly. But there are some things that he wants to talk to, but he doesn’t know who to talk to. He survived so hard, but what can we do if he tells us. His master is gone, and he came to Jingwu just to look for it. Master's, that is his dearest person in the world, if my parents suddenly disappeared, I would go all over the world to find them..."

"Compared to him, although my family is poor, it's just that I don't have enough to eat at the worst time?" After speaking, Abu seemed unable to bear the gloomy atmosphere in the tent, turned and walked out.

Zhang Fu sat silently for a long time, stretched out her hand, and stroked Qin Ke's eyebrows and face carefully. Feeling the heat above, she said in a low voice, "So...that's it."

It turned out to be like this.A person does not have cowardice for no reason, nor does he work hard for no reason.He walked out of that kind of hell, and he naturally knew that human life was precious, so he didn't like death, and he looked so sad after killing the bandits that day.He practiced sword so hard, naturally because he needed to have enough ability to find his master.

If he is a son of a noble family, there are countless people in front of his horseshoes for him to drive, but he is just a child living alone in the world, and he has nothing else to rely on except the sword in his hand.

Just like in the wilderness where death was everywhere.

Zhang Fu stretched out her hand to caress Qin Ke's cheek, told him to lie down again, listened to the nonsense from his mouth from time to time, stretched out her hand to test his still hot forehead, put out her hand for another cold towel, and tidied him up. The quilt on the body.

Just staring at Qin Ke for an unknown amount of time, she finally fell asleep unknowingly.

Qin Ke opened his eyes.

The sky was like an upside-down ocean, he was floating in it, everything he saw was blue, and when he continued to look up, he found a deep darkness, in which there seemed to be huge shadows swimming in it.

He once read a book, which said that there was a fish called "Kun", whose body was so big that even the largest ship in the world was just like a willow leaf falling into the water in front of it, but when it jumped Out of the sea, the huge tail slaps the sea water, which brings about thousands of miles of sea tides. Its roaring sound rolls up strong winds on the sea surface. Even if it is far away in the world, it can still cross the ocean and hit the land.

This is an unstoppable force, and anything that stands in its way will be destroyed into pieces. The fishermen on the seaside call this "the wrath of the dragon god", and some people say that it is "the god of the sea attacking the humans on the shore." Ask for a tribute".

So the people on the coast slaughtered pigs and cattle, and put their blood into the sea.The priest stood on a high slope, facing the violent sea wind, and begged for peace from the sea god. During this period, how many priests would fall down the hillside and die in such a violent storm, and the fishermen threw their bodies into the sea. Until a few days later, such a storm will stop.

Some inexplicable fear arose in his heart, because he felt the size of that huge figure, and he was as insignificant as an ant in front of such an existence.But for some reason, he felt that the deep darkness was calling him.

Come.come over.

He seemed to hear a woman's call, that person's voice was like a mother's, gentle and kind, like the warm sunshine, warming his skin, he raised his head hard, squinted his eyes, trying to see the darkness clearly, but he couldn't Can't do it.

Come.The voice became more urgent, as if he was in a hurry. Although Qin Ke didn't know where the voice came from, and why he was eager to call him, gradually, he felt that he was sinking slowly, and the deep darkness was getting closer and closer to him. Farther and farther away, and he was getting closer and closer to the sea.

The woman's voice finally disappeared, replaced by a huge and heavy voice, that huge black shadow swayed in the darkness, bringing a huge undercurrent.He was engulfed by this undercurrent and began to descend rapidly.

He saw a familiar wasteland, the sparse trees were dry, showing a decadent atmosphere, and the bark on them had been peeled off for some reason.His eyes were fixed, and at some point, a group of people came up the wasteland.

A group of ragged, skinny people.They were in twos and threes, some were alone, some were gathered together, some children were sleeping soundly in the arms of their mothers, and some tired old men fell down by the roadside.

The scorching sun was blazing, and the ground was dry and cracked.

"Father, mother...sister." Qin Ke was surprised to see several familiar faces among them.Just above the wilderness, there was a man with a tired face. The long journey and hunger made his steps weak, but he still tried his best to hold his wife's hand, and tried his best to catch the sleeping baby in his wife's arms. little girl.

And on his other hand, he was also holding a small hand.

Qin Ke's hand.

Qin Ke saw himself.

Qin Ke broke through the water and fell from the sky. The azure ocean twisted and turned into the distorted giant face he had seen in the dream again.He opened his eyes, looked at everything on the wasteland, and let out a terrible laugh in a low voice.

"I" seemed to have heard something, raised my head, and met Qin Ke's eyes in the air.

Like a mirror, it suddenly shattered.

On a mountain, an old man was lying on a smooth bluestone, looking at the vast night sky, the stars blinked like pairs of eyes, he slept on the bluestone, and scratched his waist from time to time, as if he couldn't stand the mountain Big fat mosquito bites.

Probably after tossing and turning for a long time, he sat up and stared at the sky, a little annoyed: "What's the noise? Hurry up, hurry up, you know it's urgent, can you eat hot tofu if you're anxious?"

Beside him was an old ox tied to an old tree that was about to die. While chewing the green weeds on the ground, he looked at him with the eyes of a fool, as if thinking that this person had started to lose his nerve again.

The old man stared and blew his beard: "Eat your grass! It's none of your business!"

The old scalper mooed, and displeasure appeared in the huge bull's eyes. It turned around, pointed its fat buttocks at the old man, and pulled out two balls of cow dung with two pops.

The old man was about to yell, but at this moment, dark clouds gathered in the sky, and rumbling thunder resounded.

The old man stood up, facing the sky, and opened his mouth.

If it is said that a Taoist man of insight is standing here at this moment, and sees an old man opening his mouth to the sky in the middle of the night, he will be shocked. It is said in ancient times that a person with Taoism can swallow the sun and the moon, and breathe There is life and death.

However, the old man's actions in the next second are likely to disappoint those people, and even ruin the scenery of green mountains and green waters.

I saw the old man aiming at the sky, making a ho-ho-ho sound from his throat, and then a "Bah!", the old man's thick phlegm pierced the night sky, showing a very tasteless parabola in the air, and this parabola also disappeared. It's not very high, but it falls straight into the valley.

"I know how to yell at young people all day long. If you don't bother me, I will." The old man kicked the old scalper cursingly, and was about to continue to lie down and sleep.

However, the moment he turned around, the dark clouds in the sky seemed to be uncontrollable, disintegrating one after another, and the thunder seemed to be frightened by something, and disappeared.

Chapter 158 A ray of light in the chest

Suddenly, Xiao Hei, who was lying on the bed and sleeping quietly, opened his eyes and looked around vigilantly.

Zhang Fu, who had already fallen asleep, seemed to feel a wave of heat steaming in front of her. She rubbed her sore and swollen eyes in a daze, and raised her head slightly, trying to see the situation in front of her clearly.

However, the sight in front of her made her stand up in horror.

She widened her eyes and pinched the back of her hand with her fingernails - if she wasn't dreaming, why is there such a bright light shining on Qin Ke's chest now!

This light did not shine on Qin Ke's body from anywhere, but from his chest. Under the shining light, Zhang Fu could even see the shadows of those organs in Qin Ke's chest. .

This group of light is not static, but swimming in it, like a little snake, looking for a way to break through Qin Ke's body.

Zhang Fu didn't know what happened, she couldn't help but retreat from fear, but her concern for Qin Ke kept urging her to move forward.She gritted her teeth and wanted to touch Qin Ke's chest.

"It's best not to touch him." Zhang Fu turned her head suddenly. The tent cloth was lifted at some point, and the sky outside was getting dark. As soon as Mulan entered the tent, she pulled up the tent cloth, as if she didn't want the tent to be disturbed. The situation inside is seen by outsiders.

"General Mulan, Qin Ke..." Zhang Fu said anxiously.

"I can see it." Mulan stared at the light on Qin Ke's chest, thought for a long time, and said softly, "Is that so?"

She finally understood why Gao Changgong dared to let herself teach Qin Ke in this way: "What a lucky child, to be favored by Your Excellency Shenlong, there is only one person in this world for nearly a thousand years... Of course, now I have to add one you."

Zhang Fu didn't understand. Looking at the light on Qin Ke's chest, she said with trembling lips, "General, can he still be saved?"

"Help?" Mulan smiled, "he's here, who can kill him?" She walked forward, and Xiao Hei jumped in front of Qin Ke, screaming at him, even though it sounded like It was the cry of a little mouse, but Zhang Fu inexplicably felt a tightness in her chest and her legs were a little weak.

Mulan squinted her eyes and lowered her head, as if she wanted to see Xiao Hei's appearance clearly. As Xiao Hei watched Mulan approaching, she felt the powerful beating heart with a huge pulsating force, and its voice became more and more sharp.

"So that's it." Mulan stood up straight again, looked at the light on Qin Ke's chest, turned around, slowly opened the tent and left.

Zhang Fu chased him out: "General!"

Mulan didn't look back, she just put her hands behind her back and gradually walked away: "You stay with him, but don't touch his body lightly, or your whole hand will be ripped off by 'it'. Although it still It's very small, but you are too vulnerable in front of it. Also, you don't need to let Qin Ke know about this matter."

When Qin Ke woke up, the sky was already bright.He didn't know how long he had slept this time, but he could feel that his body was full of strength again, and the energy and blood that had been nearly dried up by Mulan's beating had recovered, even stronger than before. .

"It seems that he has slept for a long time." Qin Ke can vaguely remember that he seems to be sick, but he doesn't feel any discomfort in his body at the moment, and he even feels full of energy. His hands can draw a bow and hold a sword. Being able to fight tigers, even if Mulan's subordinates supported him for a few more hours, it wouldn't be a problem.

Thinking this way, he tried to get up, but what he could touch was a soft body. Qin Ke frowned, and turned his head to see that Zhang Fu was lying on the edge of his bed. She was asleep, and the dream didn't seem sweet. His brows were slightly frowned, and his long eyelashes trembled slightly.

There was still a bowl of cold soup on the table. Qin Ke never liked to drink medicine, but he could guess that Zhang Fu had obviously taken care of him for a long time.Thinking of this, his heart warmed slightly, he shrank his body carefully, got up from the bed, and tiptoed out of bed, trying his best not to wake her up.

It's just that things didn't go as expected, Zhang Fu still woke up, as if she hadn't fallen asleep at all just now, just a little movement, her slightly trembling eyelashes suddenly opened, like a pair of butterflies spreading their wings in fright .

She reached out and grabbed Qin Ke's arm suddenly, as if she was afraid that Qin Ke would disappear suddenly.

"Qin Ke..." She had a headache and said softly.

"I'm here." Qin Ke replied softly.

Zhang Fu raised her head and met Qin Ke's eyes. She was pleasantly surprised: "Are you awake? Are you okay?"

"What's the matter? It's like I'm going to die." Now that Zhang Fu woke up, he climbed off the bed, stretched out his hand to support Zhang Fu, and made her sit on the bed.She yawned, but soon blushed from being exposed.

"It's fine." Thinking of what Mulan told him to keep secret, she frowned, then she ignored it, wiped Qin Ke's forehead with her hand, and then tried it on her own forehead, "Really quit. No more fever."

Qin Ke hadn't been sick for a long time. Since he started to practice qi and blood, although he wasn't immune to all kinds of diseases, he was much healthier than ordinary people after all. However, the serious illness this time was beyond his expectation. outside.

Thinking of the plots mentioned by those storytellers, he said with some concern, "I wouldn't know that... slept for three days and three nights, right?"