Embrace the blade

In the early morning of the next day, the old man Xugu worshiped in the main room as usual.On the long table there were three spiritual tablets, namely the head of the Taihua Sect, Gu Shaoling, his uncle, and his master, the old man Xugu took three sticks of incense and lit them, knelt on the futon and kowtowed for a long time, and then respectfully held the incense inserted into the furnace.

Footsteps sounded behind him, the old man Xu Gu got up and looked, it was Qi Zhaoxi and Jiang Li who walked into the house.Last night, the old man Xugu arranged a room for the three of them to rest, but seeing how preoccupied these two people were, it seemed that they hadn't slept all night.

"Jiang Lanze has already told me what happened to you. He came to seek medical treatment for Jiang Xingzhou, and I have already agreed, but I see that this hero Qi looks as usual, he doesn't look like he has been poisoned by a poison needle. I don't know why?" Xu Old Man Gu asked.

"Originally, I wanted to inquire about the "Secret of Longevity." Qi Zhaoxi looked at Jiang Li, "Now, this junior just wants to know how many years he still has."

The old man Xu Gu nodded, and turned to Jiang Li: "Extend your hand."

Jiang Li handed over his wrist, and the old man Xugu couldn't help frowning as soon as he caught his pulse: "Your pulse is exactly the same as that of the old leader Jiang Luming back then."

Jiang Li hesitated for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Can I survive until next spring?"

"Difficult." The old man Xugu looked at his appearance, shook his head and said, "According to the situation of the old leader, you can survive until this winter at most. But if you can not urge your mind and use less internal energy, you may be able to procrastinate even longer longer."

The answer was almost the same as what he expected, Jiang Li withdrew his hand, not showing much disappointment, but avoided Qi Zhaoxi's sight.

Qi Zhaoxi frowned tightly, as if she couldn't understand what they said, she said in a hoarse voice after a while: "It's not even half a year, wouldn't it be gone in the blink of an eye..."

Old man Xugu could only remain silent.

Isn't it just a blink of an eye when the leaves fall in the autumn wind and the snow enters the winter?

Why can't the person who is still alive in front of him not be able to stay?

Jiang Li couldn't help but wanted to break the oppressive atmosphere, and said, "Senior Zhong, I also have something to ask about Gu Si and the "Secret of Longevity"."

"What do you want to ask?"

"Before I left the valley, I opened Gu Si's coffin, but it was strange that his body was not rotted at all, a dagger was stuck in his chest, and most of the picture scroll buried beside him was stained red with blood. It really looked like he committed suicide. But I checked it carefully, and there is no sign of him being backlashed by the "Longevity Formula"." Jiang Li said, "As the creator, Gu Si should know the "Longevity Formula" best, even if he can't rewrite the fate, but since he pursues Immortal, how could you commit suicide before giving up?"

The old man Xu Gu smiled wryly slowly: "Because Senior Brother Gu Si has never pursued immortality."

Jiang Li was puzzled, and even Qi Zhaoxi was slightly taken aback.

"True and false, false and true, isn't this just Jianghu?" The old man Xugu sighed, took out a scroll of scrolls from behind the long table, and slowly unfolded it. On the painting was a young man with an indifferent face, who was wiping intently. With a long sword in his hand, although the ink has faded due to age, the picture is still lifelike, and it can be seen that the painter has devoted his heart and soul to it.

"I've seen him before." Jiang Li said, "This person is on the funerary scrolls in Gu Si's coffin."

"The painting was made by Gu Si, and the person on it is my uncle, one of the double walls of the Taihua School, and Gu Si's master, Gu Shaoling."

In addition to the year and month, there was also a line of small characters written on the painting. Qi Zhaoxi took a closer look: "The king is like mountains and snow, and the snow is unfriendly?" He vaguely realized something, and looked at the old man Xugu in surprise.

"That's right." The old man Xu Gu said to Qi Zhaoxi, but his eyes fell on Jiang Li, "Senior brother Gu Si's thoughts on his master are just like you on him."

Qi Zhaoxi and Jiang Li's expression froze, they were silent.

The old man Xu Gu didn't seem to notice the undercurrent between them, he just stared at the person in the painting, his old face showed some radiance because of the memories: "Most of the sect also thought that Senior Brother Gu Si defected because of seeking immortality, There are not many people who know the secrets of it.”

"That was when I was in my early twenties. Brother Gu Si has always been a loner, and somehow he was caught by the master. The master was furious, found all his paintings, and made him kneel down in the hall , called Master Gu Shaoling again, and closed the door to reprimand. The younger junior sister was so courageous, she dragged me to hide under the window to eavesdrop. Now I only remember a few words of "shameless" and "violating the norms" when the head reprimanded me. Sometimes I couldn't see clearly the picture scroll thrown on the ground, and felt strange why the senior uncle only looked at the things on the ground without saying a word. The more the sect master talked, the more angry he became, but senior brother Gu Si had no regrets, and at first he only refuted a few words In the end, he stood up and had a heated argument with the sect leader, until then the uncle said: 'Enough'."

"Then there was silence in the hall for a while, the headmaster pushed the door angrily, and my junior sister and I ran away quickly. The next day the headmaster called me over. I was terrified, thinking that the eavesdropping had been discovered, but unexpectedly returned There are quite a few senior brothers here. The sect master ordered us to build a fire, and told us that the picture scrolls on the ground were collected by senior brother Gu Si obsessively seeking immortality, and he asked us to throw them into the fire one by one, and make sure they were completely burned."

"Hearing what the head master said, I was even more itchy and curious, but he didn't dare to make a small move while staring at the side, so he threw it into the fire slowly. A senior brother suddenly rushed to report to the head, saying that senior brother Gu Si had injured a few disciples and wanted to force his way out of the school. The head told me to burn the painting, and hurried away with the others. I got this good opportunity , How could you obediently burn it, immediately hid the painting back in the house, opened it secretly, and saw that the painting was Master Gu Shaoling, and was stunned."

Elder Xu Gu closed the scroll and sighed: "After I heard about Taniguchi, I understood everything."

The head of the sect led a group of disciples to stop Gu Si at Taniguchi. No matter how talented he was, he would be hard pressed to encircle him. After several fights, he was defeated.The head of the sect pointed his sword at Gu Si, and was about to order someone to imprison him, when he saw Gu Shaoling appearing, looked down at his blood-stained apprentice and asked, "You didn't listen to a single word that Master said last night? "

"Yes." Gu Si knelt down on the ground, and suddenly raised his head to look directly at him, "I can't see through it, I can't detect it, I just want to be obsessed with it!"

Gu Shaoling nodded expressionlessly, and said: "Think clearly, if you betray the teacher today, the valley will never be opened for you again."

"it is good."

"Don't regret it."

"No regrets!"

Gu Shaoling's eyes turned to the head of the sect, and he said calmly: "Brother, let him go."

The head of the sect was full of disapproval, but seeing Gu Shaoling shook his head, indicating that he didn't need to say more, he had no choice but to hold back his anger, and waved his disciples to leave.

Gu Si stood up staggeringly, wiped the blood on his face with his sleeve, grabbed the sword, walked for a while, turned around uncontrollably, and shouted at Master's back: "One day I will come back, I will break through the valley, and go straight in! At that time, the sect leader will not be able to stop me, nor will you be able to stop me, and nothing in this world will be able to stop me!"

Everyone present changed their faces and looked at each other.But Gu Shaoling didn't say a word, let alone turn around to look at him.

Gu Si didn't care, but smiled instead: "Master, wait for me to come back."

It wasn't until his figure completely disappeared that Gu Shaoling turned around slowly, looked at the lush vegetation after he left, and said, "Arrogance."

Five years later, the Seven Killers attacked the Taihua School, and the head of the school died in Taniguchi. Gu Shaoling led the disciples of the school, dressed in plain onyx, and died in the flames together with the enemy.

Another three years later, Gu Si really achieved great martial arts and reappeared in the world, but he heard that Jiang Luming from Guiyun Villa called on all the sects to join forces to encircle and suppress the Qishamen, in order to avenge the Taihua faction's extermination of the sect.

Taihua Valley has been renamed as Luoxia Valley, Gu Si looks around in a daze in the valley, his eyes are full of desolation, weeds are scattered on the ruins.

He participated in the siege, the head of the Seven Killing Sect was killed by him, the whole world feared him, Gu Si fulfilled his wish to be the only one in the world, and became the youngest person who reached the pinnacle of martial arts in hundreds of years, but for him , has been too late.

Gu Si returned to the valley with the same appearance as when he left that year, surrounded by verdant vegetation and spring in the mountains and rivers, as if he could still see Master's back when he raised his eyes.In the end, he found the basement of the remains of the Taihua School, and after leaving behind the "Secret of Longevity", he laid it in the coffin together with the scrolls accumulated over the years.

"So the name "Longevity Jue" is ridiculous. From the very beginning, it has nothing to do with immortality. What kind of thoughts did senior brother Gu Si have in creating it, and whether there is a way to resolve the backlash? Now everyone is wondering No way of knowing."

He fell behind and no one spoke for a long time. Qi Zhaoxi looked at Jiang Li's profile and suddenly asked, "How does senior Gu Shaoling think about Gu Si's feelings for him?"

Jiang Li couldn't help but turned his head to take a look, and his eyes collided with him, there was no way to avoid it.

"No one knows what the uncle thinks. After senior brother Gu Si betrayed his family and left, he didn't even mention it in a word." The old man Xugu paused for a long time before saying, "I only know that the uncle is famous for his sword. When the sect is destroyed, in his whole life, he only accepted Gu Si as an apprentice."

Qi Zhaoxi stared at Jiang Li without blinking, and asked with a smile, "Jiang Li, what do you think, can he be accepted?"

Jiang Li's eyes dodged: "I don't know."

Qi Zhaoxi smiled instead, and said, "This is the first sentence you said to me since last night, but I don't accept such an answer."

"...I'm sorry." Jiang Li became annoyed as soon as he opened his mouth. He also knew that he had said this too many times, and his cowardly and evasive attitude made him feel bored and disgusted, but he was really flustered. A moment ago, he left hastily again.

Qi Zhaoxi didn't care about how the old man Xugu would react, and quickly chased him out.

The main room was quiet, most of the incense in the stove was burning, and the incense mist curled away. The old man Xugu looked at their leaving figures, then shifted his gaze to Gu Shaoling's spiritual seat, and sighed long.

The author has something to say:

It is worth mentioning that from the time I conceived the story of the master-student pair to the time I wrote the pen, I didn’t know whether Gu Shaoling had any other feelings for Gu Si. He doesn't care, maybe it's because of Gu Si that he didn't accept another apprentice, maybe it's just that he didn't meet another talented candidate, only Gu Shaoling knows.

I don't know the answer either.