Embrace the blade

The building is in the shape of the word "Hui", and a one-foot-high round platform is set up in the middle. The dancers on the stage have their waists and sleeves stretched out, and the lamps on the four walls hang down red gauze, and the soft light envelopes the drunken audience. The girls were still snuggling in people's arms and persuading them to drink, laughing and having fun.

Tan Niang took the two of them to the second floor, leaning over the railing just enough to have a panoramic view of the singing and dancing on the round stage.Then she turned around and went downstairs, she didn't know what to say, the sound of misty strings suddenly stopped, the dancers hurried off the stage, everyone suddenly became awake, looked around in amazement, and then saw the musicians move out Xiaogu, in the blink of an eye, there is already a beautiful woman standing on the round platform, with red forehead and tulle body, it is Tan Niang.

"Speaking of which, I don't understand dance." Qi Zhaoxi said.

Jiang Li's eyes were fixed on the woman, his face showed embarrassment: "I don't understand either."

Qi Zhaoxi shook her head and smiled, leaning her arms on the railing, watching Tan Niang slowly raise her hand with interest, twisting her long and slender fingers into a closed lotus shape.

The drum beat suddenly.

The lotus flower at her fingertips was blooming, she danced to the beat of the drum, her posture was graceful, her hands moved erratically, like folding flowers and leaves, or disturbing a pool of spring water, but there was always an indescribable weirdness.

The drumbeat gradually became faster and faster, and there was a hint of excitement.

Qi Zhaoxi stared at her palm movements intently, and suppressed her smile.

The right protector Yibu taught by Prajna is superb in martial arts, especially the palm technique is the most frightening.His pair of fleshy palms are indestructible, and his moves are even more blended with various skills. He pays attention to the combination of hardness and softness. He will always frighten the opponent with tyranny and domineering, and then turn to attack until the opponent is controlled by others like a whirlpool, unable to withdraw and resist. Then suddenly set off a bloody storm, directly attacking the vital point.

At this time, Tan Niang was imitating Yi Buzhi's palm technique, not only accompanied by a charming look, but also softened many movements, making it appear that this dance is only a rare softness with strength, but every key point of the move However, she imitated it so vividly that anyone who has seen I Buzhi's attack would never admit it wrong.

Qi Zhaoxi glanced to the side, and Jiang Li's hand on the railing slowly tightened.

The sound of the drum came to a climax, and Tan Niang raised her sleeves, she pushed out her palms and then retracted them, as if the lotus flowers were closing again.The long-awaited crowd in the audience applauded loudly, but they didn't know that if she had internal power, they would all have turned into corpses at this moment.

Tan Niang performed the moves completely, and the drum beat stopped, but she stood still and made the starting gesture again, not in a hurry to get off the stage.

When the audience was at a loss, the sound of the distant flute suddenly sounded, and a figure slowly walked onto the stage.

It was obviously a young girl, with undulating chest, but she was dressed as a teenager, her long hair was neatly tied high, and she held a sword in her hand.She didn't put any makeup on her face, she was as pure as a handful of ice and snow amidst the beauty of the building, implying a coldness.

There was a commotion in the audience, and this unique style greatly aroused the interest of the pleasure-seekers. Gold ingots and beads were thrown onto the stage one after another, like a luxurious shower.

The girl didn't even bother to give alms at a glance, she just raised her long sword upright, reflecting a bright light on her face.

Qi Zhaoxi was slightly startled, even though it was quite a distance away, just a ray of cold light was enough to recognize that it was a precious sword that was hard to find, and it was definitely not something that could be played casually in this kind of place.

Tan Niang turned sideways to face the girl, and the two looked at each other from a distance.

The drums sounded again, stirring up people's hearts, and it was the joy of urging the battle.

The audience whistled and laughed mixed with shouts, and everyone was full of enthusiasm, cheering for the favorite party indistinctly.

The girl touched the sword lightly with her finger, and attacked fiercely. Tan Niang had expected it, and quickly raised her palm to meet it.

"She knows martial arts." Jiang Li said.

Qi Zhaoxi nodded: "Yes, although the little girl is using a fake handle that doesn't look real, but you can see that she can carry an epee so easily, of course she is not an ordinary person."

The two are fighting in a seemingly real way, which looks fierce, but in fact it is more like a dance than a contest: the clothes are fluttering, the figure is stretched, and the sharp and sharp blade rubs against the woman's delicate skin thrillingly. However, the distance is subtle and precise, blood will be seen when one point is close, and falsehood will be seen if one point is lost.They seem to have rehearsed hundreds of times, every move, every move, you come and go, they are all coordinated seamlessly.

The sound of the drum was getting tighter and tighter, Tan Niang folded her hands and turned her hands over, her palms suddenly turned soft, just like the rising tide of a spring river, but there was a faint tendency to engulf everything. Even if he broke free, he couldn't use the long sword, so he was inevitably at a disadvantage.

Jiang Li frowned slowly. That night when he fought against Prajna Sect and Yi Buzhi, it was precisely because of this that he lost.

The longer it dragged on, the more obvious the girl's disadvantage became.Seeing that Tan Niang's victory was in sight, many people in the audience excitedly grabbed handfuls of money and were ready to throw it on the stage at any time.In the warm atmosphere, the girl retreated step by step, but she was still not in a hurry. She almost retreated to the edge of the round platform. The situation was dangerous and dangerous, and the drums were coming to an end.

Tan Niang calmly defuses the attack, easily pushes aside her long sword, grabs her wrist, and shows a bright smile.

The musician raised the drumstick high and dropped it heavily, and the last sound was about to come to an end.

However, in an instant, the girl's restrained right hand suddenly loosened, and the long sword fell into her left hand. Just as the empty door on Tan Niang's chest was exposed, she handed out the long sword without hesitation, Tan Niang could not His eyes widened in confidence.

Blood splattered!

"Boom!"

The drums sounded loudly, the lights in the building went out in an instant, and darkness poured down.

There was a dead silence for a moment, followed by panic and screams, and the crowd scrambled and scrambled to escape, but they couldn't tell the direction, pushing and crowding around in circles.

Qi Zhaoxi grabbed Jiang Li's hand decisively, and was about to pull him closer, but the other party pushed him violently.He retreated unexpectedly, stumbled over something in his haste, was pushed by the rushing crowd, and fell to the ground involuntarily.

Jiang Li also jumped on him, there was a muffled sound of a heavy object falling from above, and several screams exploded beside him.Something covered them, Qi Zhaoxi stretched out his hand to explore, only felt the delicate touch, but couldn't pull it apart, as if they were covered under a huge net.

Qi Zhaoxi felt Jiang Li's shortness of breath on the neck, and led him to the side to avoid the chaotic footsteps, while tentatively touching the other's back: "What's wrong?"

"It's okay," Jiang Li gritted his teeth slightly, "The lantern fell down."

The chaos in the building attracted the attention of the backyard. Several turtle slaves rushed in with lanterns to check, shouting loudly to calm down.

With the bright light, everyone's emotions stabilized a little, and they stopped in fear.

Qi Zhaoxi squinted his eyes, and finally saw the situation clearly. It turned out that the red veil that had been covered on the lamp before fell down and covered them.The tulle filtered the faint light into a blurred and ambiguous scene, and the chaotic and frightened crowd turned into a noisy and blurred background. Jiang Li was half-supported above him, covered in red gauze, with scattered black hair hanging down, gently falling on his chest , crimson surged unscrupulously in this small world, like falling into a beautiful dream.As soon as the four eyes met, Jiang Li immediately moved his eyes away unnaturally, his eyelids were lowered, his brows were furrowed, but Ying Hong's face added some special brilliance.

Qi Zhaoxi's heart was moved inappropriately, looking at it like this, she suddenly wanted to kiss that rouge color.

Before he had time to move, terrified screams came from downstairs again, Jiang Li immediately lifted the red veil and stood up, Qi Zhaoxi stood up regretfully, and looked over the railing.

Although the few lanterns that were brought in were not bright enough, they were still enough to see clearly, which made people even more frightened.

The screaming woman in the audience broke her voice, covered her mouth and fell back, tremblingly pointing at the benefactor beside her.The man looked down for no reason, only to see bloody handprints on his clothes, his face turned pale in an instant, and he fainted from fright.

Others also hurriedly checked themselves. Those who found the bloodstains were terrified, and those who didn't found it seemed to cry with joy.

"Ghost, it's a ghost! How can such a small girl know how to hold a sword? It must have been transformed into that ghost! It doesn't want us to be happy, it's coming to kill us! Look!"

Someone pointed to the round platform, and the girl and the long sword disappeared, only Tan Niang's dead body lay on it, with blood still bubbling from her chest, and a yellow talisman was pasted on her face, which was used by every household in the city to ward off ghosts and evil spirits.

The crowd completely collapsed, crazily smashing open the closed door, scrambling to escape, completely disregarding whether they stepped on anyone who fell down, as if they could get rid of the evil spirit as long as they escaped fast enough.

The red gauze was scattered and falling in all directions. Before, the eyes were full of charming red, but now they all seemed to be dripping with blood.

Jiang Li withdrew his gaze and looked at Qi Zhaoxi.

"What do you think?" Qi Zhaoxi spoke first.

Jiang Li shook his head hesitantly: "It's hard to say."

"Then to change the question, do we still have to leave Qiancheng?" Qi Zhaoxi added, "You have the final say."

This time Jiang Li thought for a long time before he said in a low voice: "...Even if there is no such strange incident, the gunpowder on the street cannot be ignored."

How can he forgive himself if he misses the opportunity to recover because of his concealment and causes a catastrophe?

Qi Zhaoxi laughed, "I knew it."

"But your identity is exposed, it's too dangerous to stay."

Qi Zhaoxi said: "What are you afraid of? It's been exposed to Qin Zheng for so long, and it's not too late."

Jiang Li stubbornly finished his sentence: "You go first, I'll just stay."

Qi Zhaoxi was silent.

Almost all the people in this building escaped, leaving only a messy shell and the two of them.The lantern thrown downstairs was not enough to illuminate the entire building, it was just a ball of fluffy light, so they stood facing each other, but were separated by the darkness, they couldn't see each other's expressions clearly, only their breathing could be heard clearly.

When he spoke again, Qi Zhaoxi lost the relaxed smile in his tone: "Then after I leave first, will you go find me, or take the opportunity to leave?"

This is not an interrogative sentence at all.

He waited for a while, but he didn't hear an answer, and then said: "It seems that I may have made a mistake, Jiang Li, you really want to get rid of me."

Jiang Li seemed a little panicked, and grabbed his sleeve.

Qi Zhaoxi remained calm: "What are you pulling me for?"

"...I'm sorry." Jiang Li said shyly.

"Ah."

He still didn't let go, but clenched his sleeves even tighter.Isn't this extremely contradictory, the implication is clearly to draw a clear distance between the two, but they dare not let go of their hands, as if they are afraid that Qi Zhaoxi will just disappear.

Perhaps the darkness gave Jiang Li some peace of mind and confidence, and he said again: "I'm sorry... I don't know."

"Don't know what?" Qi Zhaoxi asked.

Jiang Li paused, then said with difficulty: "I don't know what kind of person you are in my heart. I haven't met many people, you, you are different from them."

I thought this question would be ignored after being interrupted that night, but Jiang Li didn't think about it.It's just that this answer can't be called an answer at all, why does it make him feel sore?

Qi Zhaoxi sighed helplessly, lifted the tugged sleeves and shook them, and said, "Then do you know that you call this coquettish?"

Jiang Li was taken aback, quickly withdrew his hand, then recalled, and asked tentatively, "Are you not angry anymore?"

"Why am I angry with you?" Qi Zhaoxi smiled, and dragged him downstairs, "We'll talk about it when we go back."

Taking advantage of the darkness, the two returned to the Qin family's mansion quietly.Qi Zhaoxi couldn't help but stuff Jiang Li into the room, urging him to rest quickly, thinking about it before closing the door, and confessing: "If you don't know, just think slowly. Anyway, the most important thing in my life is time. , promises always count.”

Before he could answer, he closed the door from the outside with a 'snap'.

Jiang Li stood alone in the room, staring at the door in a daze for a long time, the corner of his lips could not hold back the inexplicable smile.He recalled the ups and downs of the night, walked around the screen carelessly, and his smile suddenly froze.

A long sword appeared out of thin air on the small table behind the screen. The sword was slender and glowed with a faint blue cold light. It was the one held by the girl on the round table.

Jiang Li looked around vigilantly, and after confirming that there was no second person hiding in the house, he approached slowly and cautiously reached out to hold it.This long sword has just been washed by Tan Niang's heart, but it is cold to the touch. On the hilt is the name of the sword inscribed in small script: 'Qingshuang'.

Jiang Li didn't know much about Jianghu affairs, and even less about the famous weapons of the gods. He couldn't find any news and rumors related to Qingshuang after searching his stomach. He had no idea about the status of this sword, but its value Again it is indisputable that:

The sword body was as clear as autumn water and as cold as frost, clearly reflecting his eyebrows and eyes.

Jiang Li looked at it for a long time, and suddenly caught a glimpse of silver light on the sword, and looked carefully, but it was hidden in his hair.

Jiang Li froze, and hesitantly raised his hand to tear it off, a white hair lying silently on the palm.He finally woke up, the light in his eyes dissipated, and after a long silence, he let out a self-deprecating sigh:

"Nobody can help me."