dark fragrance of eternal night

The setting sun is like blood, reflecting half of the sky red.Although it has entered summer, the wind and sand are still insolent.It was obviously a cloudless and fine weather, but the dust rolled up from time to time still dyed the sky a hazy yellow, and even the birds parked in the bushes seldom sang.

The horse's hooves stepped on the dusty official road, and the hoofs clattered, breaking the silence around them.A well-organized team was not hindered by the wind and sand, and marched towards the station not far away.

"General, we are at Yuanmen ahead."

"Really?" The young general wearing a tiger helmet laughed loudly, urged his horse to dismount, and accelerated the team's forward speed, "Hurry up, I can't wait to see the brothers of the Shence Army."

The young general has a tiger head and a tiger brain, and he looks a little cute in his resoluteness, but also a little shrewd in his cuteness.He has a bright personality and a frank personality. Although he is young, he is deeply loved by soldiers.

Far away, outside the tall gate, the Golden Armored Shence Army had already lined up. At the front of the line, a man was riding on a black horse, looking ahead silently.

The silver armor stands against the pure black horse, and the whole person is bathed in the reddish sunlight. It's hard to see his appearance against the light, but he can attract all eyes at once.

"General Chang!" The young general saw him from a distance, clamped his horse's stirrups, and rushed forward like an arrow, and only reined in when he got close.The war horse neighed, raised its front hooves high, and stopped in front of the man.

"Long time no see!" The general in silver armor nodded slightly and greeted him, his face was strictly covered with a thin silver mask, only showing a pair of sharp eyes. "General Peng, congratulations, you have been promoted again."

Peng Yang smiled, and a red cloud floated across his face: "No matter what, it can't compare to the reputation of the Yanyun Thirteen Riders! You led the Yanyun Thirteen Riders to sweep across the two states of Xixia, and now everyone in the court praises you, They say that you Thirteen Cavalry are great heroes!"

Chang Huan lowered his head slightly and said, "That's the master's credit."

The master Chang Huan spoke of, Peng Yang knew, was the General Xuanwei whom he had served in the past.In the Battle of Lingwu in the early autumn of last year, the 40 magical troops led by General Xuanwei and Yanyun Shisanqi won a great victory, and the world has since known that General Xuanwei, who has been guarding the western border all the year round, turned out to be Jinshang's cousin , Shunyi Hou Zhao Fang.

Because after Zhao Fang won the victory, he led his army to withdraw from Xihuangling and Wuzhou, handed over the victory to the enemy, and was ordered by the emperor to question his crimes. Chang Huan, the leader of the Yanyun Thirteen Cavalry, has been in charge of the CE army for a while now, and it has been more than half a year.

Letting Peng Yang take over, Chang Huan felt a little unbelievable. Can the generals of the Feihu Camp really be promoted to three ranks in a row to manage the 20 troops under his command outside the city of Lingzhou?

"Don't worry!" Peng Yang smiled, and reached out to pat Chang Huan's shoulder, "I'll take good care of it, and now that Xixia is fighting in a lively manner, they don't have the spirit to cross the border. If you dare to go too far, I will I'll take care of beating them until they cry and go back home. After all, I'm also a general who was brought out by Lord Hou, and you still can't trust Master Hou?"

Chang Huan turned his body slightly, and moved Peng Yang's hand away without showing any trace: "General Peng is the candidate chosen by Lord Hou, so there is no problem. I will leave the soldier talisman to you, and I will leave tomorrow."

"Uh..." Peng Yang was stunned, "Tomorrow? Will it be too soon? You should stay for at least three or five days, and let me familiarize myself with the soldiers at all levels in the army and the surrounding environment here."

Chang Huan shook his head: "With the soldier talisman in hand, the soldiers will take orders from you. The terrain here is flat and wide. If you want to be familiar with the terrain, I have many people who can be guides here."

Peng Yang pursed his lips, waved his hand and said, "Got it, I haven't seen Lord Hou for half a year, and I can understand how you want to go back to see him... I thought I could have a few drinks with you this time."

Chang Huan glanced at him sideways, and said lightly: "Alcohol is prohibited in the army. Those who violate it will get thirty sticks, another one hundred, three times..."

Peng Yang immediately waved his hand and said, "I know, I know, don't talk about it, that's what I said, how dare I really drink with you."

Chang Huan nodded and said, "It's good that you know, the Shence Army will be handed over to you, and don't let me loose military discipline."

Peng Yang shook his head: "How can it be. Besides, I'm just acting here for a while. When your business is over, your brother will have to return it to you."

At night in the desert, the wind blew up.Although it is hot during the day, as soon as the sun goes down here, even the heat will disappear.Those who are in poor health are prone to cold and cold if they don't wear a thin jacket.

Chang Huan was packing his bags, picked up two plain clothes, stuffed a few banknotes, and seemed to have nothing to take with him.The spear used in the battle was too heavy and too long to be used. After thinking about it, Chang Huan put the Youquan Sword next to the package.

"Old man!" The door curtain was lifted, and a handsome young man walked in. It was the armor shadow of Yan Yun's thirteen riders, "Do you really want us to go?"

Chang Huan reached out and patted him on the shoulder and said, "Xiao Jia, I know you want to go back too, but the new commander is still too young, so you have to keep an eye on him. Although we are in the army, we are The master's shadow guard. We will follow wherever the master is, and when Peng Yang is able to take charge, we brothers will all resign from the military and return to Eternal Night City."

Jia Ying frowned slightly: "The civil war in Xixia is raging now, how can they have the time to fight here. We are guarding here, and our bones are almost rusted. It is really boring."

Chang Huan laughed and said, "Don't complain. You and Xiao B will stay longer, and when I go back, I will call Xiao Bing and Xiao E to replace you."

"Really?" Jia Ying cheered, then turned around and ran out of the tent, "I have to tell Xiao B, that kid will die of joy!"

Chang Huan reached into his bosom, found the letter from Shunyi Hou Zhao Fang, looked at it carefully, and sighed softly.

Changning County is not far from Youzhou City, because merchants traveling west think that Youzhou must pass through Changning, so although Changning County is not too big, it is also very bustling and lively.The fifth day of May is the Dragon Boat Festival, and mugwort leaves and calamus are hung on the doors of every household, and the unique smell of realgar is permeating the streets.Chang Huan led the horse and walked slowly on the busy street.

Because he was not in a hurry, Chang Huan did not cross the desert, but followed the official road, taking Youzhou to the east.

Doing the math, after passing Changning, they can enter Anping Mansion in two or three days, and they will not be far from Eternal Night City.But for some reason, Chang Huan's pace slowed down the closer he was to Eternal Night City.It's been a long time since I went back. Is this the so-called timidity of being close to home?Chang Huan gave a wry smile and shook his head.

Just as I was thinking wildly, suddenly four or five children ran over with candied haws in their hands, laughing and laughing all the way.The girl with pigtails and the barefoot boy were only four or five years old, holding hands and smiling innocently.

Chang Huan stopped, and Wu Yun, the war horse beside him, snorted and pawed his hooves, seeming dissatisfied.Looking at the children playing and laughing in front of him, Chang Huan was a little dazed.He has been in the army for more than ten years, and he doesn't know how long it has been since he heard such a pure laughter.

A pain in his leg brought Chang Huan back to his senses. It turned out that a girl accidentally bumped into him and fell to the ground. The candied haws in her hand rolled away. The child's mouth was flattened and she cried up.

Chang Huan squatted down, trying to help the child up, but the girl was startled when she saw the silver mask on his face, she crawled a few steps outside, crying louder.

Chang Huan froze for a moment, knowing that the mask on his face had frightened her, so he stretched out his hand to remove the mask, and said to the child, "Don't be afraid, uncle will help you up."

Seeing his face, the child suddenly stopped crying, just stared at him blankly, and didn't speak for a long time.

Chang Huan took off a silver bell from his body, and when the bell shook, it made a clear and pleasant sound.

"Here, this is for you."

Looking at the smile on Chang Huan's face, the girl seemed to be possessed, followed his words and stretched out her hand to grab the bell, and was hugged by him.

"Do you want uncle to buy you another candied haws?" Chang Huan said softly to her.

"Yes." The voice of the four or five-year-old child was sweet and crisp, just like the bell he just sent.Chang Huan was very happy when he heard that, he hugged her with one hand and walked a few steps, and bought a bunch of bright red candied haws for her at the stall.

"Thank you uncle!" The girl was very happy, hugging Chang Huan's neck and kissing him resoundingly on the face.

Chang Huan blushed and put the child on the ground. The girl untied a sachet from her neck and put it on Chang Huan's neck. The faint scent of wormwood wafted out from the small sachet.

The girl smiled, and ran to her companion with her skirt and candied haws.

Chang Huan was about to leave when he suddenly felt as if someone was spying on him. He turned his head and saw a person raised a wine glass to himself in the second-floor seat by the window of the restaurant across the street.

Chang Huan frowned slightly, raised his hand to put on the mask, and led the horse to continue walking forward.

The man smiled and drank the fine wine in the glass.

In the distance, a woman is scolding her child.The child was crying, and it was heard from afar.

"What are you scolding, isn't it just a sachet? You can make another one for her!" Yuelue's father stopped his wife from complaining dissatisfiedly, and suddenly called out, "Huh? Where did this bell come from?" Come here? Damn it, it’s pure silver, it’s worth a dollar or two!"

The couple on the other side were surprised and delighted, on the other side, the man who put down his wine glass raised his chin to the pretty girl in green clothes next to him: "Fei Cui'er, go and get the bell in that little girl's hand..."

The girl in green responded, and was about to turn around when he stopped her.Rubbing his chin, his long brows, which looked a bit unlucky, raised his eyebrows, and he smiled slightly and said, "Give me more money, and don't make the child cry."

The girl was startled, then smiled brightly, nodded in agreement, and ran downstairs with her skirt in her hands.

Finding a small inn in the outskirts of the county seat, Chang Huan handed Wuyun to Xiaoer to drink water, feed some fodder, and went upstairs to rest by himself.It was past noon, and it was supposed to be the time to go on the road, but it was hot summer. Although it was only early summer, the temperature had already risen very high.Chang Huan is not very afraid of the heat, but the sun is scorching, and he feels a little distressed by the dark clouds.Then I thought, take a rest in the afternoon, and it will not be too late to go on the road when the weather is clearer tomorrow morning.

Outside the street, there was still a lot of noise. After taking a shower, Chang Huan drank the realgar wine given by the store, and leaned on the stage to watch the scenery outside.The sun is shining brightly, and the greenery is covered with smoke. The desolation and desolation of the desert have long disappeared here, and it is lively and lively like another world.

It seems that it has been a long time since I have been alone so leisurely!

Chang Huan let out a sigh of relief.

A meandering small river flows under the window, and the bright sunlight illuminates the clear river water almost to the bottom.On the bank of the river, the not-so-strong willows pulled out long branches, swaying gently with the wind, like a shy girl, graceful and graceful.Even Chang Huan couldn't help being curious about the willow trees born in the south of the Yangtze River in such a northwest place.Probably this store was moved from the Central Plains, and it was specially planted because of the memory of the homeland.

Looking at the six or seven slender willow branches on the bank, and smelling the fresh air brought by the river, Chang Huan drank the wine in his glass in one gulp.

Speaking of which, I haven't been to Jiangnan for a long time.Maybe after this task is completed, I can take a long vacation with my master and go back to Jiangnan to have a look?

The warm wind blows on the face, bathing in it, the spontaneous sense of happiness wraps the person heavily, and the mood is calm and peaceful.Chang Huan put his elbows on the window sill, staring blankly at the simple water and trees outside the window, as if time had stood still.

After sleeping in the middle of the night, Chang Huan suddenly woke up from the dream, stretched out his hand, and found the secluded spring from under the pillow.

The small voices on the roof were inaudible.Chang Huan frowned slightly, and quietly jumped to the window.Chang Huan, who has served as a shadow guard for many years, never took off his clothes when he was staying outside, and kept his weapons close to his body all the time.Although he had been out leading troops for more than half a year this time, he never dared to let go of the vigilance that a shadow guard should have.

Sure enough, not long after, the moonlight reflected the black figure in front of the window.The window paper rustled twice, and there was already a small hole in the white window paper, and the small copper spout protruded from the small hole.

Chang Huan couldn't help laughing. He had been a shadow guard for many years, but most of the time he was still on the battlefield.He reached out his hand to block the copper mouth to let the smoke flow back, after thinking about it, Chang Huan put down his hand.

It's so rare, how can you not have fun?

The corner of Chang Huan's lips twitched, showing a naughty smile that he couldn't detect.

Leaping back to the bed silently, squeezed out the cold tea leaves from the teapot beside the bed, rubbed two small balls and stuffed them into his nose, Chang Huan fell on the bed and covered his head with a thin quilt, leaving only a small gap, Let him see what's going on outside.

After a while, the door was knocked twice, but when there was no sound, the person outside the door inserted a dagger through the crack of the door and fiddled with the bolt.

There was a loud noise when the bolt fell to the ground.

Strange, with such a loud noise, won't other residents wake up?

Chang Huan listened carefully, and there was no other sound except for weak breathing.Maybe the whole store's customers have been smoked.

The door was pushed open with a creak, and two people walked in.

His footsteps are vain, and he looks like a person with little kung fu.Chang Huan felt a little disappointed.But think about it, if they were really capable people, these two people wouldn't use Mixiang, the most shameless Jianghu people.

The two were wearing black trousers and light black forged boots, and Chang Huan couldn't see their faces because they covered their faces with a quilt.There was a chaotic sound in the ear, and the two seemed to be looking through their own bags.

"Damn, this guy didn't pack anything of value!" One of them complained to his companion in a low voice.

"Yeah! This guy looks pretty good, but he's also a poor guy." Another person kicked the table.

"Hush your voice!"

"What are you afraid of! The guests here are all sleeping like dead pigs. Even if they are up, let's kill each one and see if he can still yell!"

"Second brother, we don't want our lives for money. Don't always shout and kill. Be careful of retribution in the future."

The second child seemed to be a little jealous of this person, so he stopped talking after muttering a few times.

"Forget it, let's change to another room, this guy has no good meat."

"No, boss, the materials of his clothes are pretty good..."

"Leave someone a change of clothes."

"Here's a few coins left!"

"You have to save a little bit for others, you can't do everything!"

"Hey, what's next to his pillow... It's white, it looks like silver!"

The second child excitedly rushed over and leaned over to pull the silver mask that Chang Huan kept beside the pillow.

Chang Huan suddenly lifted the quilt, raised his hand and pointed upwards, and the second child said "Ouch", and he was frozen on the spot, unable to move.

The boss was startled, and immediately rushed over, pointing at Chang Huan with a knife: "Don't move, I'll kill you if you do!"

Chang Huan stood on the bed and looked at him coldly: "Really? If you have the ability, you can try it!"

The room was pitch black, and the man couldn't see Chang Huan's face clearly, but his metallic voice sounded slightly hoarse, with a bit of creepy indifference and death.The man's scalp exploded, and his hands began to tremble slightly.

Seeing his brother standing there motionless like a wooden sculpture of clay, if he could not hear the heavy and flustered panting, he almost thought that his brother was dead.Such a scene was so weird that it made him panic and his hands and feet were cold.

His legs softened, and the man fell to his knees on the ground.

"Hero! The villain has eyes and doesn't know Mount Tai, and he ran into you. Please show your hand and let our brothers go. We are just desperate, and we come to ask for some money. We have no intention of killing you! Please, hero , let my brother go!" After finishing speaking, he kowtowed like pounding garlic, and the floor was knocked loudly by him.

Chang Huan walked around the dick whose acupuncture point he had tapped, walked to the window, and pushed the window open.The moon is like a hook, hanging high in the air.With the faint moonlight, Chang Huan could see the faces of the two clearly.The two had dark complexions and long beards. The eldest who was kneeling on the ground was tall and burly, and the second who was next to the bed was thin and thin. However, they both looked simple and honest, with similar facial features, as if they were brothers.

Chang Huan took the tea leaves from the nose towel, turned around and sat on the chair.

"You thief is quite conscientious, and I won't make it difficult for you. I just return all the stolen goods tonight, and I will spare you."

Hearing what Chang Huan said, the big man immediately kowtowed and said, "The villain will do it right away!" Then he turned around and rushed out of the house.

As soon as he rushed out the door, the big man came back again, and said to Chang Huan with a distressed face: "What, hero, our brother's first customer today is you, and you haven't stolen other people's gold and silver yet."

Chang Huan saw that this guy was so silly and funny, he raised his hand and rummaged through the messy baggage on the table, and sure enough, he found some small pieces of silver.

"You have a good heart and know how to save people's lives. For your sake, I let your brother go, but you can't do this kind of business in the future. You two are young and strong. Despicable activities, if I hit you again in the future, you will never keep your hands."

The big man even claimed it was, and kept knocking with his head down.

Chang Huan frowned, flicked his hand, and a piece of broken silver popped out from between his fingers, knocking open the sealed acupuncture point of the big man's brother.

The two looked at each other for a moment, then knelt down to Chang Huan.

Chang Huan thought they were annoying, so he waved them away repeatedly.The two stood up gratefully, and were startled when they saw Chang Huan's face.

"What are you looking at!" Chang Huan felt panicked when he saw the two of them staring at him with a lost look on their faces. "Get out of here quickly, and look again, be careful that I will gouge out both of your eyeballs."

The two nodded dumbly, but still stared at Chang Huan's face without moving their eyes.

Chang Huan cursed, got up and took the mask in his hands and covered his face.

After being separated by the mask, the two people woke up with a start, their faces turned pale, and they fled out the door quickly.

Just as Chang Huan was about to close the door, the boss turned back and said to Chang Huan, "Hero, the villain has something else to tell you."

"what's up?"

The big Han paused, hesitated for a moment before saying: "Hero, are you going east?"

Chang Huan nodded.

"There is a ghost crying creek in the east. It's not peaceful recently. If you want to go east, you'd better take a detour, or stay here for a day or two, and leave after the seventh day, then it will be safe."

"Why?"

"The little man just heard what his friends on the road said." The big man looked nervous, looked around, and lowered his voice and said to Chang Huan: "I heard that someone wants to deal with a big man, and set up an ambush over there. You I also know that in our small place, there are very few people from the Jianghu. What they are going to deal with is a young man who is said to have high martial arts. Of course, it should not be you, because you don't look like..."

Chang Huan frowned secretly, what's not like?Is it not young enough or too poor in martial arts?But thinking about it, I was right, I didn't look like a Central Plains person, and what they had to deal with was probably a person from the Central Plains martial arts, and it had nothing to do with me.

"Anyway, hero, be careful, avoid as much as you can, those people are very fierce, no matter how skilled you are, you can't avoid explosives..." When he realized that he had slipped his words, the man covered his mouth with panic, " That's all, the villain will leave." As he spoke, he ran away without a trace.

Chang Huan touched his chin.

Ghost crying stream!He didn't turn around, of course he knew the place.

If it is a detour, at least two or three more days will be required.

Although loitering alone is not bad, but the behavior of walking for two or three days in order to escape is obviously not in line with his personality!

"If the master knows that I took a detour for this reason, he will definitely laugh at me again!" Chang Huan murmured.

"Besides, I really want to meet that big man who makes people want to be blown to death with dynamite!" Chang Huan laughed, "Speaking of which, I haven't seen any big man for a long time!"