Laughing at Chang'an

The world has never been gentle.

If you treat it tenderly, it will treat you tenderly.

——The 16-year-old Mu Xiaobai deeply understands this truth.

After his father died, he and his mother were sold into a brothel, and his mother was still teaching him to be a gentle person until her death.

She said: "Because the world has not treated you tenderly, you should treat it tenderly."

His father and mother were very gentle and nice people... so they both died, very badly.

Dense black long swords were inserted upside down on the vast arena. After Mu Xiaobai drew one, he already had a rough estimate of this test in his heart.His limit should be about [-] handles. At that time, his two hands will be useless.

Interesting.

The person who set up this sword array must be a lunatic who likes to watch other people bleed, Mu Xiaobai thought.He walked to the other side of the ring opposite Li Shen, raised his head and looked at him quietly.

Mu Xiaobai drew his third sword.

When he was young, he thought that the so-called bad guys were the ones who wanted to harm him, and if they were more advanced, they pretended to be good guys, but they still wanted to kill him.Later he learned that there is another kind of bad person in this world who will never harm you, but will harm you more than anyone else.

They use tenderness as a weapon, knock on closed doors one after another with fiery temperature, and plunder the body, mind and even soul of others - Li Shen is the best of them.And the most frightening thing is that he himself has no knowledge of this, and even takes it for granted. He has no intention of harming others, is frank and innocent, and is a devil.

By the time Mu Xiaobai realized it, it was too late, irreversible, hopeless.

Pulling out the long sword slowly, he carefully adjusted the holding point and the angle of force, patiently looking for the method of drawing the sword that saves the most effort and causes the least damage. Five hundred handles are too few, and he will not leave even a single handle to contaminate the sword. human blood.

What kind of person Li Shen is, Mu Xiaobai is much clearer than others, it seems simple and easy to understand, but the closer you get, the harder it is to understand.In fact, everyone is probably like this. There are secrets hidden in their hearts that cannot be told to others. The closer you get, the harder it is to get close.

It looks like fire from a distance, which is frightening, and it looks like ice at close range, which is difficult to get close to, but when you really get close, you find that those are all illusions.

Li Shen is a rock, solid.

It is invulnerable to guns and knives, water and fire, cannot be moved and cannot be pushed away, and the marks left are only superficial. It is hard to hold it in your arms and it will be hot, and it will become cold when you let go of your hands.

——Desperate, helpless.

One after another, the blood-stained jet-black long swords flew across the sky, hanging in the air to set up a road to the sky.Li Shen stood at the starting point of the road, watching the blood flowers blooming on the sword.

Mu Xiaobai drew his sword silently, urging the source energy to repair the wound on his palm again and again, the boxer that had been repeatedly cut broke off from his right hand, and fell to the ground with a clear thud.

"The white-haired boy, ahem, talented, that is, ahem, too young..."

The old man bent over while talking, even so, he refused to sit down on the side seat, but stubbornly stood beside Li Shen and looked at Mu Xiaobai in the distance.In fact, the real test of the Thousand Swords Rank is the stamina of the passerby. Drawing a sword requires strength, and repairing a wound requires energy. If strength is continuously consumed, the wound will be deeper and consume more energy... It is a vicious circle until the end People are cornered.

Mu Xiaobai has obviously figured out the most suitable way to draw his sword, but even so, with his physical strength and energy reserves, he might not be able to persist until the end.Just as the old man said, he is still too young, and his cultivation time is too short, so the accumulation of trials without any tricks is extremely unfavorable to him.

Li Shen was a little distracted.

——He remembered the first time when the other party said he wanted to be a mercenary.

………………

Three months after Li Shen retrieved Mu Xiaobai.

It's embarrassing to say that Chang'an is all-encompassing and has everything, but there is no school.Those who have the ability to settle in this city are either rich or noble. The education of the children in the family is either done by themselves, or the teacher is invited to come to the door. In addition, the Tang Dynasty is called an empire but has no imperial system, and Chang'an is a heterogeneous among these heterogeneous. The mercenary guild is responsible for the public security and management of the entire city, and there is no need to set up government offices to run government schools like other city-states.So in this huge city, not to mention all kinds of academies, even a private school can't be found.

Mu Xiaobai was only 13 years old at the time, and he was just at the age of learning calligraphy. Naturally, Li Shen couldn't teach him. On the one hand, his level was limited, and on the other hand, he had no time.He lived in the dormitory of the Gengjun Guild Hall, and ordinary people couldn't even enter Nancheng, let alone come to teach.Li Shenneng didn't have many days to rest in the guild hall. He was called like a dog, and he would only come back once in ten and a half months. He had to ask Gong Yun to help take care of the children. Not a long term solution.

Li Shen pondered whether to set up a yard outside Nancheng, let Mu Xiaobai go there, and invite some teachers and servants.He told Mu Xiaobai about this idea, but unexpectedly, the other party looked at him silently for a while, and said, "I don't study."

Li Shen, who just came back from a mission in the North, looked like he was covered in mud: "..."

That's right, no child likes to study, and Li Shen didn't like to study when he was a child, playing truant every day... But the problem is now that the role has been reversed, he is from the perspective of a parent, and he is absolutely, right, no, able, tolerant to the problem of children not wanting to study Tolerate.

"Don't study?" Li Shen suppressed the anger in his heart, and talked patiently with Mu Xiaobai, "What can you do if you don't study? Go out to work for others, or do you want me to support you forever?"

Mu Xiaobai looked at him without hesitation: "I want to be a mercenary."

... It is impossible to describe Li Shen's mood at that time.

If Mu Xiaobai is a mischievous, lively, trouble-loving brat, that's fine, but he is pure and shy, looking like a delicate girl doll, and Li Shen instinctively couldn't accept that he wanted to be a mercenary all of a sudden.Besides, if others don't know, can Li Shen still not know?What do mercenaries do?It's useless to whitewash and whitewash, two words, murder.

Li Shen probably killed more people over the years than he ate rice.

"When you are a mercenary, you want to kill someone." Li Shen tried to reason with the other party.

"I know."

"He could die at any moment."

"I know."

"Then do you know that I don't want you to be a mercenary?"

Mu Xiaobai, who had always answered yes without hesitation, fell silent.

"That's it." Li Shen stood up, stripped his clothes and walked to the bathroom without looking back, "Don't even think about it, just obediently read to me."

He hadn't had a good night's sleep for more than half a month. After taking a shower, Li Shen threw himself into bed and fell asleep. That's right, he changed a bed. He originally wanted to buy another one, but the space in this room is limited and there is no room for two. Since there was a single bed, he simply changed it to a double bed, which he and Mu Xiaobai shared.

Early the next morning, when he opened his eyes, he saw a man kneeling on the ground beside the bed.

Li Shen was stunned for three seconds, then got up in silence, changed his clothes, washed up, boiled a cup of hot milk and put it on the table, and left without saying a word.

He was a little angry.

Going back to the regiment to report on work, Geng Yan dragged him to check his body, and talked to Lin Guo to apply for a more relaxing and pleasant task. Li Shen was so busy that he couldn't even drink his saliva, so he finally found time to go to the restaurant on the second floor to have something to eat. He was also caught by Li Xifeng with snot and tears, crying to him how bad and unreasonable Xuetu's attitude was, and the subtext was to find him to support the situation.

Li Shen was not fooled. He only chopped Xuetu 72 into 80 yuan in public last year. Although the matter was finally resolved satisfactorily, he has also risen to the level of thorn in the flesh in the hearts of everyone in Xuetu.He was still thinking about going to see the baby after the limelight passed, and of course he would not do such a thing that caused him hatred.

"This negotiation is at the Blood Slaughter Hall. Don't you want to see Baby Yang? It's just right." Li Xifeng persevered in persuading him.

Li Shen was a little moved.

So in the end he followed Li Xifeng to the Xuetu, but the hope was good, but the reality was cruel. He gained a lot of hatred, but he couldn't see the little girl who didn't know whether she was fat or thin.

It was late in the evening after finishing this work, and when Li Shen returned to the Gengjun Guild Hall, he remembered the annoying little kid in the room.Thinking about whether the other party really knelt for a day, Li Shen, who was a little annoyed, hurried home, opened the door and searched around——

People are gone.

This place is the Geng Army Guild Hall, which is his home, and the possibility of being taken away by someone is extremely slim, most likely Mu Xiaobai, who left by himself.

Li Shen sat on the sofa and quietly smoked a cigarette, crushed out the cigarette butt, and rubbed his face tiredly.Let's go, they are strangers who have nothing to do with each other, but they just met by chance and have a little connection.

——If that kid dared to roll back in despair, he would definitely slap him.

Li Shen, who didn't sleep well all night, was sent to work by Lin Guo the next day. Well, it was a 'relaxed and happy' mission to suppress bandits.Li Shen, who played the game of "cat and mouse" in Quling Mountain for three days, finally caught this group of bandits who were as good as groundhogs in a pit 300 meters underground. Before he had time to catch his breath, he received a call from Yang Huxing.

"The child you picked up is with me. He knelt outside my door for three days."

Li Shen, who hurried to the Huxing Group Guild Hall, couldn't suppress his anger at Yang Huxing, and immediately asked, "Where is the man?"

Yang Xingxing pointed to his room, then grabbed Li Shen who was about to barge in, and pushed him down on the chair: "I'm fine, you sit down first, let me explain to you clearly."

Mu Xiaobai came here three days ago, he knelt down on the opposite side of the road without going to the door or doing anything else.It just so happened that Yang Xingxing was also doing missions outside these few days. The teenagers in the Huxing Group Hall noticed Mu Xiaobai and asked him why he was here. When the day comes again, he doesn't listen, and kindly brings him water, but he doesn't touch it, and knelt for three days until Yang Xingxing came back.

"In my hometown, such a person is called 'Yan Wangchou'. He is afraid of being stunned, and he is afraid of dying. The doctor said that if it is later, his legs will be disabled. Even so, he will never die in this life. Don’t even think about walking on the ground, unless you teach him how to practice and let him use energy to repair the bones and meridians in his legs.”

Yang Huxing glanced at Li Shen, and seeing that he no longer looked anxious and angry as before, but showed a thoughtful expression, he knew that the other party had listened to his words, he paused, and said in a low voice.

"It's nothing to be cruel to others, but it's really scary to be cruel to yourself. This kid has a ruthless temperament, which may not be good. If you want to keep him by your side, it's best not to put too much affection on him."

Li Shen pushed open the door and walked into the room, and came to the bed. The boy on the bed was still frowning in his sleep, obviously not feeling well.He sat sideways on the side of the bed, thinking that if people could control emotions, if they wanted more, they would have more, and if they wanted less, they would have less, then there wouldn't be so many tragedies in this world.

Ruthlessly, Yang Huxing has a good eye for seeing people, and this comment is also very appropriate.But ruthlessness is not necessarily a bad thing at all, at least for him, he is not easy to be hurt, and his life is much tougher than ordinary people.

Li Shen reached out and knocked on Mu Xiaobai's forehead.

"Grow up quickly."

——What will it look like?It's really exciting.

………………

The 160th eighth handle.

Mu Xiaobai lowered his right hand, which was a little bluish due to blood loss, and replaced it with his left hand. The speed of drawing the sword slowed down slightly, because he had to find the best way for his left hand again.The old man standing on the sidelines watching with Li Shen shook his head regretfully, and said, "He's starting to get tired."

Li Shen remained silent.

There is a mechanism under the sword, and it can only be pulled upwards with more than a certain amount of strength-if measured by weight, it is about a ton.Without the help of source energy, Mu Xiaobai would naturally be tired if he pulled up more than 100 tons of things in a row by relying on his own strength.And as the wound on his hand continued to get deeper, he couldn't keep up with the speed of repairing it with energy, so he had to change hands, drawing the sword alternately.

"The further you go, the more difficult it is, eight hundred handles, there will be no more." The old man asserted.

"He can pull it out." Li Shen said.

"Impossible...you have to cough cough cough cough..."

The old man stared wide-eyed at Li Shen walking up the sword steps in front of him, he hurriedly opened his mouth to stop him, but was interrupted by a sharp cough, and when Li Shen stepped on the second step, just as his back foot left the first sword, it suddenly disappeared. He lost his power, and fell back to the ground with a bang.

He stopped in surprise.

"This sword step can only be walked once." The old man finally recovered his breath and explained to him, "If you give up halfway, you have to start all over again, and you don't want to, cough cough, let the boy's blood flow in vain, wait a little longer , don’t rush for a moment.”

Li Shen laughed silently.

"I said, he can pull it out." After speaking, he stepped onto the third step without hesitation, and another sword fell to the ground with a clang. Mu Xiaobai in the distance was also startled by the sound, and looked up.

He quickly understood the situation - he had no way out.

So good.

The white-haired young man showed a bright and joyful smile, watching Li Shen who was walking up step by step.There are no gods in this world, and he does not believe in so-called gods. His body, mind and even soul have been sacrificed to that demon named Li Shen.

No redemption is needed, for he is full of joy.

That is the source of his happiness, the only one in this life.

A long sword rose from the ground and flew into the towering ladder of a thousand swords, with a pitch-black blade and scarlet blood.Bang Dang, Bang Dang... One after another, the long sword that lost its support fell from Li Shen's feet, but everything was so quiet that even the sound of footsteps could not be heard.

The hand is broken, the leg is broken, the leg is also broken, so use your teeth to bite...

Mu Xiaobai lay on the ground, watching his god ascend the last step and disappear from sight.

He smiled and closed his eyes.

"Cough cough..."

Holding the broken limbs picked up from various places, the hunched old man walked up to him, and gently put these things that belonged to him into his arms.

Mu Xiaobai opened his eyes wearily, and said thank you.

"you are welcome."

The old man stared at Mu Xiaobai with complicated eyes, his stooped shoulders straightened up inch by inch, and he stood there straight, like a long sword pointing straight at the sky.

"When you came, you hugged me for a while, so let me carry you out instead."

The author has something to say: PS: Li Shen: You are the stone, and your whole family is a stone!

A certain flow: My son is good...