heart pole

【a year ago】

The boat has traveled hundreds of miles, passing through the river in the Xiling Gorge area, the water is rich and the sky is colorful.

It is early spring, and the greenery on both sides of the Strait is not yet thick, and the bitter spring breeze is like scissors, making the sails rattle.

People on the boat were reluctant to go on the deck because of the cold wind, only Ning Yuan, with a long sword in a white wooden scabbard and a gray cotton robe, was looking at the surrounding green mountains and valleys in a trance.

He looked no more than sixteen or seventeen, and there was a pattern of four gray clouds with a cross-shaped sword embroidered on the chest of his white jacket.

He was holding on to the cypress railing with his left hand, and that hand was covered with white cloth bandages, but it didn't look like it was bound by an injury.

I don't know how long it took, the faint sound of the piano came from the cabin, breaking the stillness of the green water in the light boat, and the quiet and distant mind was slightly pulled back by the sound of the piano, "He is playing the piano again." He clearly remembered that before boarding the boat, the fellow The young man in Tsing Yi was carrying a white Yaoqin that was about the same height as him.

"Tap!" Suddenly, several short collision sounds came from both sides of the deck, Ning Jingyuan turned his head abruptly, and four water ghosts in green vine clothes had already jumped onto the deck, and the collision sound just now was just in their hands. The grapple hooked onto the ship's railing.

"Who is it?" He asked coldly.

"The person who sent you on your way." One of them replied, with a strong killing intent in his voice. "People from Yunxuanmen must die."

Yunxuanmen, the No. 11 sect in the martial arts, merged various factions in the Central Plains during the Kaiyuan period, and established the "Wulin Alliance". Starting from Suiyecheng, it reaches Liaodong in the north, Canghai in the east, and Mianzhou in the south.

Having said all that, Ning Jingyuan immediately drew his sword out of its sheath, and the long sword behind him drew a sharp sword light, and one of the four raised his iron claw and swung it at the young man, and the blade was instantly entangled by the iron claw.

He switched the sword into his left hand and yanked it violently, the man was dragged a few steps forward.

The other three people were not idle, they also drew their claws at the same time, Ning Jingyuan kicked the first person's right hand, the latter loosened his hand, Ning Ningyuan drew back his long sword in an instant, and the three iron claws almost whistled against his head Passed by, and then the iron chain was pulled back, and the iron claw that fell in front of him immediately hooked towards his cheek.

"Dang!" Tranquility and Yuan Hengjian held the three iron claws at the same time, retreated sharply with the force of the iron claws' hook back, kicked back, and the first person was instantly sent a kite, "Ah!" The other three The man was unable to dodge because he held the iron chain tightly, and the four fell to the ground at the same time.

The sound of the piano in the cabin stopped abruptly, Tranquility was startled, and immediately realized that where he was was not the key point of the ship, and he knew very well that the enemy's target was definitely not him.

The four were all shocked, and one of them sneered, "It's the bodyguard? It seems that the lord is right." As soon as he finished speaking, Ning Jingyuan found more iron claws flying out of the water on the surrounding ship guardrails.

But there was no tension on his face, it was the word "adult" that just said that made him think deeply.

Suddenly, the sound of planks breaking came from behind him, and his white shadow flashed, turning his body to avoid the black shadow that hit him.

"Ugh!" Four figures dressed like these water ghosts crashed out of the cabin, and fell on the deck with flying sawdust, almost everyone lost their mobility.

Wearing a green shirt and a white robe, Liang Shisan walked out of the broken cabin with a serious face. He also had the gray cloud cross logo embroidered on his chest.

"Master." Tranquility called from afar.

"Yeah." Liang Shisan replied, "Jingyuan, they are the famous bandits in the neighborhood—the old Yiling."

"Old Yiling!?" Ning Jingyuan had never heard of this name, but the people in the cabin who heard the name boiled up and uttered terrified calls.

"Oh. It seems that he intends to resist." One person said in a contemptuous tone, and the voice came from above the heads of the crowd.

Everyone looked up and saw that it was Shen Yan, a man in all-black hard attire, holding a jet-black Tang saber in his hand, standing on one foot on the top of the mast, with eyes like a predatory crow.

"Jiangyuelou Chen Yan..." Liang Shisan seemed to have discovered something suddenly, and fell into a moment of contemplation.

"Shen Yan?" Ning Jingyuan's calm face also showed a trace of solemnity, he should have heard about this person from his master.

The man in black snapped his fingers, and countless black water ghosts wearing green rattan armor jumped out from all around the ship, all holding a round shield made of driftwood in one hand, and a scimitar or short halberd in the other. Roughly estimated, at least Hundreds of people.

"Be careful, Jingyuan, they are all very skilled." Liang Shisan walked to Jingjingyuan to remind him, and then said to the person sitting on the mast: "Mr. Shen, long time no see."

"Who are you?" The man called Shen Yan glanced at him, "I'm sorry, I have too many orders, I really don't remember who you are..."

Before finishing his contemptuous tone, Liang Shisan suddenly swung his sword into the bottom post of the mast, and a cold breath escaped from the blade, "Sword One, Luoxue."

The snow-white ice climbed up like a whirlpool, "Crack, crack!" In an instant, the entire mast turned into an icicle, and a few ice thorns exploded where Shen Yan was originally standing.

Shen Yan swung his knife to block the incoming ice thorns, jumped off the mast, and landed hastily on the deck, his black boots covered with a thick layer of frost.

""Snow Sword"?" A little confused, then smiled contemptuously, "It turns out that it is Mr. Liang, who has been hidden from the world for nearly ten years, why bother to come back again."

Liang Shisan, who has lived in Shu for a long time, although he is the head of the Yunbu of Yunxuanmen, he has rarely been involved in the world of mortals, and most of the affairs are handled by the senior brother of the Yunbu.

"Who does Mr. Shen think is right?" Liang Shisan muran asked.

"Ha." Shen Yan sneered, waved his hand, "Withdraw, withdraw."

Shen Yan lightly jumped onto the guardrail. Apart from the calm Yangtze River, there were ten fast boats under his feet. The fast boats were all members of Jiangyuelou dressed in red, and they all had unique logos embroidered on their chests—— A white waning moon and a horizontal line below.

"Everyone in Yiling, congratulations on picking up a big gift. There are many great merchants in Sichuan, and all their belongings are on this boat." After saying this, Shen Yan jumped off the guardrail, like a black crow landed, and stepped on the boat silently. The Clippers are already ready.

The hundred water thieves known as the "Old Yiling" raised their arms and cheered.

"Master." Tranquility gripped the silver long sword tightly.

"Jingyuan." Liang Shisan paused, then said flatly, "Let's go."

"...Why?" A look of doubt appeared on Ning Jingyuan's calm face.

"Shen Yan is the most profit-seeking person in Jiangyuelou. He may not do his original mission, and he will never give up his property." Liang Shisan took off his white robe and looked around at the surrounding cliffs. "Learn to be decisive."

Suddenly there was another sound of piano in the cabin, "Here we come." Then came the words of a young man.Looking sideways at Ning Jingyuan, Li Qingzhou was wearing a light blue toga, sitting cross-legged on a cotton mat and playing the piano with his head bowed. The sound of the piano was melodious.

Apparently, the killing intent came suddenly, leaving no time for people to think about it. Countless burning arrow feathers came from the cliffs on both sides. This formation must burn the ship!

Those robbers wearing rattan clothes standing on the deck were the first to suffer. They were either shot to death by arrows or burned into the river by rapidly burning rockets. They seemed to know that human life was important and began to evacuate immediately.

The large wooden ship soon caught fire all over, and the people on board had to run to the deck as the fire grew bigger and bigger.

Ning Jingyuan could still hear Li Qingzhou faintly plucking the strings amidst the noise. He swung his sword as much as possible to prevent as many rockets from shooting into the cabin as he walked up to the man. "Still leaving?"

But Li Qingzhou didn't seem to hear his question, and couldn't feel the fangs of the fire demon. He was still stroking the snow-white Yaoqin in the sea of ​​flames.

Tranquility couldn't help stretching out the bandaged left hand, and patted him on the shoulder. The latter looked up in surprise, with a flat smile, "Brother, do you know this song?"

Tranquility felt that there was a kind of desolation in Li Qingzhou's expression, and after a glance, he felt unfamiliar. After calming down, he replied: "The fishing boat sings late."

Li Qingzhou's smile stretched slightly, showing some satisfaction, then he lowered his head and continued to pluck the strings.

Tranquil Yuan noticed that the sound of the piano carried a transparent icy air, and even the spreading fire never reached him.

The hands that plucked the strings seemed to be purple from the cold winter, and the purple scabs spread from the gaps between the fingers and spread all over the fingers.

Tranquility listened to the sound of the piano and watched the hands fall into a brief distraction.It wasn't until the moment when the pillars in the ship's cabin were burned that he suddenly returned to the situation in front of him. He quickly swung his sword to cut it off, and then took Li Qingzhou's hand. When they touched each other, the latter still smiled and said softly, "What's the matter?"

"...It's not safe here, son, let's go." Ning Jingyuan was stunned for a moment, and replied.

"Okay. Shall I go with you?" Li Qingzhou still looked at him unhurriedly, the corners of his eyes were bent down and seemed to be smiling, and the mole between the corner of his left eye and the bridge of his nose was also very eye-catching.

"Yes." Tranquility looked into his eyes and nodded calmly.

"Boom!" The upper structure of the ship's compartment had been burnt down, and several large wooden beams were smashed down, and a light blue sword aura swept over from outside, and it was immediately cut into dozens of pieces and fell to the ground. "Jingyuan, the whole ship is about to sink, why are you still here?" Liang Shisan's voice of reproach came from the sea of ​​fire, but it seemed far away.

"Master, then you..." Tranquility asked.

"I want to question Jiang Yuelou Xingshi, you protect yourself." Liang Shisan's voice was so far away that he could hardly hear it clearly.

Li Qingzhou put his left hand to his ear and listened for a moment, then said, "There is no one else on board."

"Can water?" Tranquility asked him.

Li Qingzhou still smiled, "It seems that I can't help it."

As soon as the words fell, a huge crack appeared in their position, as if a mountain ax split the ship in two.There was fire all around, and the two of them had no way to retreat, and they fell to the surface of the water one after another.

"Li Qingzhou." He said softly before falling into the water.The cyan long-sleeved shirt was fluttering, revealing the original appearance of the white dark coat underneath.

"What?..." Ning Jingyuan saw the embroidered patterns on the deep clothes, and wanted to ask, but had to plunge into the icy river water.