beg for chivalry

The night wind was cold, and it had been raining lightly for a whole day, and the raindrops scattered on the grottoes with tinkling sounds.The farmer lit the jujube branches under the rock, and a small fire was lit, and the black smoke rose slowly, blending into the night.

Dark figures gradually appeared in the forest, they were fishermen and peasants wearing straw coir grass, dragging unconscious villagers in their hands, all of them were dragged out of the fire scene that was looted.Seeing this, the farmer hurriedly called the crowd to carry the wounded man into the cave, and smeared the golden sore medicine on it.

"How is the situation today?" the farmer asked worriedly.

The fisherman put the wounded people down, shook his head dejectedly, and said: "The Houtian tower is sealed off on the mountain, and the left guard came up from the foot of the mountain. Some people saw him wandering in the forest, and he looked very angry. Looks like crazy."

The farmer sighed deeply, looked up at the hazy rain curtain, and the thick gauze curtain hung between the sky and the earth, covering their way out layer by layer.The jujube branches crackled in the fire for a long time, he said.

"I'm sorry, but I've dragged everyone down. If we hadn't been to Longwei Mountain, we wouldn't have fallen into this homeless situation."

The accompanying partner came over and patted him on the shoulder silently.Everyone put their rough palms on his shoulders, and their figures covered his side, blocking the slanting wind and cold rain, silently pouring warmth from their shoulders into their hearts.

"It's okay, we can always go out." The fisherman said, leaning over the fire to roast his drenched hands and feet.The farmer's expression was slightly wide, but the expression of self-blame was not restrained.

The crowd warmed up by the fire in twos and threes, ate the ground gourds and acorns picked from the trees, and after barely filling their hungry stomachs, they went into the caves and slept by the haystacks.The farmer was still sitting quietly by the entrance of the cave, watching the burning fire.When he raised his head, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure standing alone behind the crowd.

The man stood in the drizzle and did not follow the crowd.The farmer caught a glimpse of his dejected figure, with loose hair, plain clothes were wet, and there were red blood stains on the cuffs.Wang Xiaoyuan drenched in the rain in despair, staring at the rain and fog that could not melt away.

The farmer walked over and pulled him to the fire.Wang Xiaoyuan didn't move much either, and let him pull him over in a daze.He looked Wang Xiaoyuan up and down, saw that although there was blood, but no wound, he was finally relieved.

"I didn't bring the knife back... Did you meet the Houtianlou assassin on the road?" The farmer asked, seeing Wang Xiaoyuan was silent, waited for a while, patted him on the shoulder and smiled, "It's okay, we still have the dead. There is no shortage of knives picked up in the pile, so it's good if people are okay."

But Wang Xiaoyuan didn't look like nothing happened.He is like an empty shell, no matter what people say, he will not answer a word.His eyes were dull, black as ink, not even the light of the fire could be reflected.

The drizzle like needles turned into big raindrops, crackling against the grottoes, like the endless sound of firecrackers, covering up the painful groans of the wounded people.A water curtain was woven at the entrance of the cave, and the jumping flames on the jujube branches were frightened, flickering and flickering, writing shadows here and there.

The farmer's tongue was clumsy and he didn't know what to say, so he just leaned against the rock wall and sat quietly.The flames illuminated the faces of the two, and he looked up, only to see a pale face emerging from the thick shadows between the flickering flames.The person sitting opposite had lowered eyes and was kneeling upright, staring at the blood on his hand in a trance.

"Do you want to eat some wild fruit?" The farmer looked for something to say, and asked hesitantly, "You have been out for a long time, are you tired?"

There was a dead silence, only the sound of crackling fire could be heard.Wang Xiaoyuan didn't even blink, and stared straight at the fire.

Seeing that the person on the opposite side still did not answer, the farmer was stunned for a moment, and then closed his mouth embarrassingly.He didn't understand what happened to Wang Xiaoyuan, when he went out this morning he was still fine, but when he came back, he was a dull ladle.The two sat silently for a while, the farmer had nothing to say, and said:

"At the foot of the mountain... there aren't many good villages left. Even if some were not burned to the ground, there were not many people alive. When you first came here, you could only see the charred bodies in the mountain village, and the smell of corpses wafted for miles. Many thieves beat They commit crimes in the name of Houtianlou, and there are not many survivors left in the end."

"You must have met two Houtianlou protectors...their skills are much higher than the ordinary Houtianlou assassins. We were beaten by them, so we had to stay here. But you are really powerful, and you can be under their hands After going through a few tricks, I was able to escape safely."

The farmer laughed a few times, flipped off his brown clothes, revealing his severed arm.The wound seemed to be still not healed, and was wrapped in layers of muslin.

"This hand was chopped off by the left guardian. At first, I just felt sad. I felt that I was a useless person from now on, and I was depressed for a long time. Speaking of which, I was originally a prisoner who was arrested by the sea arresting officer. Fortunately, everyone took care of me. This is what makes me feel a little relieved."

The man didn't answer, just looked down at the fire.The blue hair hangs down softly on his shoulders, the tips of his hair are still dripping with drops of water, and the light crimson landscape-like eyebrows and eyes are light and picturesque.But his eyes seemed to be covered with frost, wandering back and forth in confusion and pain.

After a long time, his faint voice came from the darkness.

"Kill... what will happen?"

The farmer was stunned for a moment, and then realized that it was the person opposite who spoke.Wang Xiaoyuan leaned against the uneven stone wall, his eyes were loose, as if he was waiting for his answer.

"I have little knowledge, but I also know that saving lives and healing the wounded is considered meritorious service." Seeing that he finally got a little angry, the farmer hurriedly said, "Some Taoist priests often come to the village to prescribe a few pieces of yellow paper to boil water for medicine and distribute it to the sick. If you eat it, you can accumulate merits if you say so. Killing people will not accumulate merits, and you will probably be punished by unjust ghosts. We don’t dare to kill animals on weekdays, and we only eat some ground twist seeds, which can satisfy our hunger.”

Wang Xiaoyuan's eyes lingered on the linen clothes tied on the hemp rope, and there were also jackets and cloth socks of different lengths hanging there, which obviously belonged to different people.He suddenly asked, "How did you meet your partner?"

The farmer smiled wryly. "They are all acquaintances from the past. I didn't want them to be chased and killed by Houtianlou. We felt sorry for each other, so we got together and hid."

"Now I'm just hiding, don't you want to go down the mountain?" Wang Xiaoyuan stared at the fire, and said in a low voice.

His voice was vain, but at this moment there was a little chill.The farmer looked at him in astonishment, as if looking at a piece of ice rolling down from the Tianshan Mountains.Just after going out for a while, this previously docile-looking person changed completely.

"I think..." the farmer lowered his head, his voice trembling, "but it's all about thinking about it. That Dugu Xiaodao is a well-known figure in the rivers and lakes, not to mention my humble person, even if it is all the people in our cave, It's no match for his study knife!"

"Since the day my arm was crippled, I have been plagued by nightmares frequently. In my dreams, I always see the appearance of the knife cutting into the flesh... No match, we are not his opponent at all! No match against Houtianlou Die with the wicked!" the farmer cried loudly, his chest heaving violently.

Wang Xiaoyuan asked again, "Since you don't think you are the opponent of Houtianlou, why did you take the risk to save me from them?" When he asked, he became more aggressive, and the questions jumped from one to another, abrupt but hard to refuse.When the farmer met his eyes, he felt that those clear eyes seemed to fall straight into the bottom of his heart, seeing through everything.

The farmer said in a babble, "Because... I know you..."

"Will you save everyone you know?"

"No... not bad. If you can't even save your old friend, then what kind of a hero is he?"

"What about the person you don't recognize? Will you save it too?"

"I will... go to rescue." For some reason, the farmer's son was sweating profusely as if guilty, and pointed at the wounded people in the cave who were tossing and turning on the haystack, "Whenever I see someone in trouble, I will feel uneasy, A heart is beating non-stop, and I must save people."

Wang Xiaoyuan sat upright, raised his face and stared at him, "Then why don't you save your 'everyone'? You are willing to live here for the rest of your life, under the name of a mountain ghost, being misunderstood and scolded by the world. When you go to the government If you come, you will be pushed out to take the blame by the villains, are you willing to do so?"

"Yes...no, no!" the farmer shouted incoherently. "Of course I'm reluctant!"

The night owl fluttered up, and the sound of the rain had stopped at some point, and water droplets rolled from the roof of the cave to the ground one by one, shattering around them.Wang Xiaoyuan suddenly raised his head, let out a long breath, and asked with a blank expression on his face. "Why do you come here to hide?"

The peasant looked at him blankly.

"Longwei Mountain has long been occupied by the evil man's ditch. You are passers-by. You should have heard the rumors and knew that this place is a dangerous place." Wang Xiaoyuan asked calmly, "But why did you come?"

For some reason, these words seemed to hit some fatal spot in an instant, the farmer's face under the shadow turned blue, and he said in a stunned voice. "Come... come here because..." After hesitating for a while, he gritted his teeth and said, "It is said in the "Xianjing" that this place is really a blessed place in the cave, it is the Xuling cave of the 36 small caves. Wu Jue, we have nowhere to go, so we wanted to find out. But now that we meet you, we just..."

"I killed someone and broke the precept of the Tianshan Gate, so I can't use a sword anymore. Even if I use it, it's not as powerful as before, and I must never use the third sword." A smile appeared on Wang Xiaoyuan's face, For some reason, that smile was peaceful and innocent, "That's why I can't protect you."

The farmer stared at him blankly, propped himself up on his knees, and the burnt color gradually dyed between his brows.He curled up as if asking for advice, bowed his body and bowed his head.In front of Wang Xiaoyuan, he suddenly appeared child-like at a loss.The brown clothes trembled, and there seemed to be confusion on the face covered by the Ruo Li.

Wang Xiaoyuan was still sitting upright, just like when he was meditating at the Tianshan Gate in the past, or when he was teaching people, his eyes were quiet and silent.He put his hand gently on the bamboo hat, stroked the farmer's head and face through the rough grass blades, and said in a low voice.

"The only one who can save you is yourself, Yu Jiachen."