Embrace the blade

When they woke up the next day, they got up and dressed as usual, but they had nothing to talk about. The morning light fell on the bedside through the window, and there were only the occasional sound of rubbing clothes and the sound of tables and chairs in the room, making it a bit lonely.

After Jiang Li tied up his hair, he fetched a basin of clean water to wash his face, but Qi Zhaoxi suddenly picked up the copper pot in the corner of the room and approached, poured hot water into the pot, and a mist suddenly rose from the basin.

Jiang Li paused, Qi Zhaoxi finally found a topic, and said casually, "Test the water temperature."

Jiang Li dipped his hands into the slightly scalding water, the warmth spread all over his body, dispelling the morning chill, he whispered: "Just right."

After finishing talking, Qi Zhaoxi didn't walk away, watched Jiang Li wash his face, thought for a while, and said, "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Yeah." Jiang Li was wiping his hands with a cloth handkerchief, but he felt a little indifferent after answering, so he hurriedly added, "What about you?"

"good."

Jiang Li nodded, Qi Zhaoxi had nothing to say, and fell into silence for a while.

Maybe they should avoid the topic wisely, and pretend that yesterday's dispute never happened, so they can maintain the status quo, and get along with each other casually, intimately and relaxedly.

But the appearance of blinding the eyes has been torn away, and the only thing waiting ahead is the cliff and abyss, no one can avoid it, there is no room for self-deception, and what lies between the two is an irreconcilable contradiction, a constant approaching death.

Finally, Qi Zhaoxi looked away and said, "Let's go, I'm afraid today will be a fierce battle."

Jiang Li nodded again.

The two went downstairs to the lobby of the inn, where the people from the rivers and lakes who had agreed to help each other sat together, chatting with people they knew well, but the people from the Qingshan faction had not yet appeared.They found an inconspicuous edge seat and sat down while having breakfast.

Not long after, Shen Zhiyan led the disciples of the Qingshan School to arrive, and Jiang Lanze followed beside him, pretending to look around and search in the lobby, and he was relieved when he saw Qi Zhaoxi and Jiang Li in the corner.

As for the old man Xu Gu, he is old, and he is good at medical skills and Qimen Dunjia, so naturally he will not participate, so he stays in the inn to wait for news.He heard Jiang Lanze explain the situation last night, so in order not to cause unnecessary trouble, he simply didn't show his face today.

In the gradually weakening voice of the conversation, Shen Zhiyan stood still in the hall, glanced at all the people from the rivers and lakes who looked up, bowed his hands, and said bluntly: "The reason for today's action is because of the reappearance of the Buyi sword. To prevent it from falling into the hands of the Demon Sect and causing harm to the common people. At present, there are many people in the Seven Killing Sect, and the Prajna Sect is more likely to spy in the dark. Thank you again from Yunshanzhuang and Shanhemeng."

Everyone present hurriedly said: "Second Young Master Shen is too polite."

"That's right, exorcising demons and eliminating harm is what should be done!"

Shen Zhiyan nodded slightly, and continued: "According to my rough estimate just now, there are more than 80 people present including the disciples of my Qingshan School. My plan is to divide into two teams. The first team will go to the south end of the col with me, and attack directly to attract The attention of the Seven Killing Sect gathered the sect members who were scattered in the mountain depression to search for the Undoubted Sword, delaying the time as much as possible; the other team went around to the north end of the mountain depression with Master Jiang Shaozhuang, hiding their tracks, and waiting for an opportunity to act."

He took an arrow held by a disciple beside him and showed it to everyone, only to see that the arrow was oval in shape with four round holes on it: "I will shoot this Mingdi at the right time, and it will completely startle everyone. Killing the door, secondly, it is a signal to Jiang Shaozhuang's team to take action. That team will quietly eliminate the northern guards, remove the scattered people who may be hiding in the col, go deep into the rear, and finally fight with me. Form an encirclement and attack front and rear, you can defeat the Seven Kills Gate."

"If the plan goes well, don't take it lightly. You must always be alert to possible sneak attacks by the Prajna Sect." After Shen Zhiyan finished speaking, he paused, "Do you have any questions?"

Most people shook their heads and said no, and some people were thinking about it. Meng Sifan, the senior brother of Tianmen Sect, looked around and asked, "Is there only Master Jiang Shao in Guiyun Villa?"

"That's right! Why didn't I see anyone else? Isn't Ji Xiuming always by his side?" Everyone's eyes shifted to Jiang Lanze, and they became suspicious.

The younger generation of Guiyun Villa who are well known in the world is mainly Ji Xiuming. They don't know much about this young owner, but they can also see the youthfulness of Jiang Lanze. The support of Guiyun Villa's status allows him to directly lead a team, which is really unbelievable.

Jiang Lanze became very nervous immediately, and turned his questioning eyes to Qi Zhaoxi and Jiang Li.

Qi Zhaoxi nodded invisibly, indicating that he can speak directly. After all, he and Jiang Li will be there to assist Jiang Lanze in his later actions. It is impossible to be completely unobtrusive. It is better to deal with it first.

Once agreed, Jiang Lanze immediately pointed to the square table at the edge of the crowd: "The two of them are with me."

Everyone turned around and looked, and became more puzzled for a while, whispering.

"Who are these two? Are they from Guiyun?"

"I don't know, I've never seen it, and it doesn't look like a powerful person."

The youths and teenagers sitting at the square table nodded politely to everyone, and they all looked ordinary.

Meng Sifan sized it up carefully, and frowned slightly. Du Heng and Wei Ke, two other disciples of Tianmen Sect, looked at him together and asked, "What's wrong, senior brother, do you recognize them?"

Meng Sifan didn't answer, but asked, "What's your name?"

Qi Zhaoxi lowered her voice and said, "My surname is Liu, Liu Qiubai. We are entrusted by Mr. Ji Xiu and Ming Ji to accompany Master Jiang Shaozhuang on his behalf."

Anyway, Ji Xiuming has disappeared, and they have nowhere to verify the authenticity of this statement.

Meng Sifan tried his best to recall, but he had no impression of the name, but still had a strange sense of familiarity, so he shifted his gaze to Jiang Li beside him: "What about this one?"

Jiang Li glanced at him, but remained silent. Qi Zhaoxi took the words very naturally: "It's my younger brother," pointing to his own throat as he spoke, and sighing, "It's inconvenient for him to speak."

Meng Sifan was stunned. After he was poisoned and blinded in his right eye in the battle with the Prajna Sect, he could only live with a blindfold, which often attracted curious and scrutinizing eyes. , no more questions.

Without waiting for other people to ask questions, Shen Zhiyan spoke at the right time, brought back the topic, and divided the two teams according to the plan and everyone's wishes.

Considering that the Tianmen Sect and Qi Zhaoxi had a long history of grudges, he originally arranged the three members of the Tianmen Sect by his side so as not to expose the identities of Qi Zhaoxi and Jiang Li, but Meng Sifan turned his head and took a look again, and offered to ask Joining Jiang Lanze's team, the veto at this time seemed too strange, Shen Zhiyan paused for a while, looked at each other with Qi Zhaoxi from a distance, and agreed with a smile, but then assigned two Qingshan sect disciples to Jiang Lanze, in case of accidents.

Everything was ready, and without any further delay, the two teams of Jianghu people left the inn one after the other, and went straight to the mountains outside the town.

Although it is the bleak weather of late autumn, many of the mountains are withered, but they do not show the color of withering. The tall trees stretch out half-green and half-yellow branches and leaves, which are not dense, and can barely cover the figure of a person.

Jiang Lanze's team of 22 people walked along the nearest mountain road for nearly an hour, and finally circled to the north end of the col.The cliffs on both sides are cut like knives and axes, and a lot of listless greenery struggles out of the cracks in the brownish-yellow rock and soil. The forest below is continuous, and the yellowed grass is sandwiched by a path that has been stepped on for many years. You can see it patrolling from a distance. silhouette.

They bent down, approached slowly, and stopped behind a bush to watch. They couldn't hear any movement in the distance, let alone judge the situation of Shen Zhiyan's team.

"Second brother Shen said that he would give us an opportunity, but how can we deal with the guards without making a sound?" Jiang Lanze said in a low voice, "No matter how fast the lightness skill is, one of the seven will react and call for someone, right? "

"Try a hidden weapon?" Du Heng, a disciple of the Tianmen Sect, touched his cuff with great interest, "I specially brought a silver needle."

"Such a long distance can only hurt the opponent's fur, which has the opposite effect of scaring the snake." Meng Sifan turned his head and glanced at him, "How many times has Uncle Qin told you to stop using hidden weapons? Listen to me, if something goes wrong, even the gods will not be able to save you."

Du Heng had no choice but to put back the half-emptied silver needle, but he was not afraid at all, and said with a smile: "Immortals can't save me, isn't there a senior brother who can save me?"

Meng Sifan shook his head helplessly, and turned his attention to Qi Zhaoxi, who was observing intently: "Can Hero Liu do anything?"

"It's really difficult to deal with the seven guards, but if we break them up, there is a great chance." Qi Zhaoxi thought for a while, and he had made a decision. He turned to Jiang Li, motioned to the tallest tree in front of him, "We Go to that tree and wait."

Then he picked up a few stones and handed them to Meng Sifan, looked at the others and said with a smile: "Help us cover and distract our attention, I will trouble you."

Meng Sifan stared at the stone in his palm for a moment, then understood immediately, nodded and said, "Don't worry."

As soon as he finished speaking, Qi Zhaoxi and Jiang Li quickly looked at each other, jumped up almost at the same time, saw a phantom flash in mid-air, and before blinking, the person had already landed on the branch, which was crushed Sinking down, the yellow leaves swayed, making a sound like a breeze.

The guards turned their heads vigilantly. At the same time, Meng Sifan shot a stone, which hit the grass not far away, causing another light sound and shaking.

The guards made eye contact, and then three of them walked out, approaching the sound slowly and cautiously, while the remaining four stood on guard, all their attention was cast on the seemingly quiet grassland, and they didn't even notice the tree above them Someone is watching with bated breath.

The three guards approached and saw nothing unusual in the grass, so they looked around and suddenly noticed a clump of short trees that could hide people.

Behind the dwarf tree, everyone saw the guard stepping up again through the gaps in the branches and leaves, slowly approaching, and their hearts suddenly rose.Wei Ke of the Tianmen Sect held the long sword tightly, and subconsciously moved his arm, and was immediately held down tightly by the big brother Meng Sifan. He looked in a panic, only seeing Meng Sifan's tense side face.

The guards stopped a step away from the bushes, and one of them turned over the spear in his hand and stabbed towards the bushes.

However, a sharp roar rose into the sky in the distance, breaking the silence suddenly!

The patrol paused, and all looked back.

Ming Dy has been issued.

"It's now!" Jiang Lanze's forehead was covered with sweat.

Meng Sifan rushed out together with two Qingshan sect disciples, accurately and swiftly threw down the three guards, with the sword in his hand falling, blood splashed on the withered yellow grass.

Two figures jumped down from the tall tree at the same time. Before one of the guards could recover, his mouth and nose were covered from behind with such force that his skull was almost crushed. He tried his best to turn his head, only to see a red The blade pierced through the chest of the companion beside him.

Qi Zhaoxi turned around with his sword, slit the guard's throat, then let go of the hand covering the opponent's mouth and nose, and let the corpse fall limply to the ground.

And Jiang Li slashed horizontally with his sword, and the necks of the other two guards were cut in an arc of snowy light. One of them fell down immediately, but the other got the strength from nowhere to hold his throat that was gushing out blood bubbles, and stumbled towards him. He ran and hissed, "There is..."

Before he could finish his sentence, his head rolled to the ground after another flash of sword light followed.

Jiang Li didn't dare to relax, he was vigilant that the people in the mountain depression would be alarmed, until Jiang Lanze and the others rushed to the side, and there was still no movement in the mountain, so he relaxed a little.

"Let's search carefully, and we must not miss a person from the Seven Killers!" Jiang Lanze said.

Everyone nodded, and dispersed in a tacit understanding, going deep into the mountain depression.

Jiang Li kept his voice still, and after a dozen or so steps, he found someone in the forest on the right. He raised his sword and approached slowly, and saw a man with a broad-backed knife slanted behind his waist. The man suddenly noticed, turned around and drew the knife Then he slashed, but still took a step slowly, watching the sword edge across his throat, almost tasted the cold taste.

Only after the man was dealt with, soft footsteps came from the direction close to the mountain wall, as if someone else was alarmed.

Jiang Li walked forward and heard footsteps approaching from far to near. He saw a water-red dress looming behind a half-dead old tree. He drew his sword and cut it off without hesitation. Then probe out.

Jiang Li was startled, and hurriedly withdrew his sword: "Cheng Nian?"

Cheng Nian was holding the long whip tightly, and was about to strike, when he paused, he recognized Jiang Li's disguised face, he was both surprised and delighted: "Jiang... huh!"

Jiang Li covered her mouth, pushed her back, and followed behind the old tree, watching carefully.

Cheng Nian came to his senses, silently silently, and turned his head to look outside.

Although his actions were scattered, Qi Zhaoxi was not too far away from Jiangli. Hearing the sound, he walked this way, followed by a Jianghu person who also heard the sound.

"It sounded like a woman's voice just now?" The Jianghu man looked at the male corpse on the ground and said in a low voice, "I heard that after the head of the Seven Kills Gate was replaced by a woman, there were more women in the gate. Get up, alas, is it better to find a good family to live with instead of falling into the devil's religion?"

Didn't see Jiang Li's figure, Qi Zhaoxi caught a glimpse of the red corner behind the old tree, and immediately understood it, so he unobtrusively blocked the Jianghu man's sight, and said casually: "There are many people in this world who can't help themselves. Let's go." , people should have fled inside."

The Jianghu man nodded and left.

When they were far away, Jiang Li let go of his hand and took a step back. Cheng Nian turned around and stared at him incredulously, "Is that the left protector of the Prajna Sect? You're still staying beside him, Jiang Li, Even if you don't believe me, you should know that what I said is true when you see the tattoo on his body!"

"I know." Jiang Li paused, "But I want to believe him."

"Why?" Cheng Nian asked anxiously, "Because he didn't harm you now? Maybe it's because the time is not up?"

Jiang Li was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice: "I like him, and he also said he likes me."

"... Hi, like it?!" Cheng Nianru was struck by lightning, and he couldn't even speak clearly, "Is it the kind of liking I thought? Yes, but you two are men..."

Jiang Li looked up at her and said, "This is no different."

Cheng Nian was at a loss for words, and said in a daze, "Yes, it's the same, but he..."

She wanted to persuade him again, but seeing Jiang Li's calm expression, she suddenly couldn't say anything, not to mention, she was not qualified to say anything.

The messy thoughts slowly returned, and Cheng Nian fell silent. She lowered her head, smiled, and said, "I've been wanting to see you again for the past few days, but I didn't find a chance. I finally made up my mind to leave. It is rare for me to have such luck to meet you."

"leave?"

"Yes," Cheng Nian nodded seriously, "I want to leave the Seven Killing Gate and leave here."

Jiang Li was a little surprised: "Before you were unwilling to leave the Seven Killing Gate."

"Because I can't continue to deceive myself." Cheng Nian's smile was a little bleak, "Master, she doesn't love me, she doesn't really care about me, otherwise she wouldn't use me to find your whereabouts, and wouldn't mention to your face that I lied to you. You, she knows I will be sad."

"..."

"I've thought a lot these days. I'm afraid of being alone, but I'm still alone." Cheng Nian smiled, trying to look open-minded, "Love can't be given by others, so the more I want it, the more I can't get it." ,right?"

Jiang Li couldn't answer, so he could only ask, "Why do you want to see me?"

This time, Cheng Nian was silent for a long time, there was no wind in the mountains, and everything hid and withered in late autumn. During the interrogation by the three members of the League, I was questioned in the hall and had no way out, but you suddenly stood in front of me and said you believed me."

She suddenly choked up, and hurriedly raised her hand to wipe her eyes, maintaining a smile: "I am not worthy of a friend like you, but I still want to see you for the last time. Apart from you, I have no one else to say goodbye to."

"..." Jiang Li said, "You also came here to remind me for my safety."

Cheng Nian was taken aback for a moment, then smiled, and couldn't hold back the tears: "Jiang Li, thank you."

Jiang Li thought for a while, then asked again: "Where do you plan to go after you leave?"

Cheng Nian raised her hand to press her heart, and the jade pendant that Cheng Juxian carved for her was hidden under her clothes, warmed up, she smiled and said: "I want to leave the Central Plains, go to the Western Regions, and walk along my father's path." way, and maybe someone will tell me a story about him."

Jiang Li nodded.

"Don't delay you, it's time for you to catch up with your companion." Cheng Nian took a deep breath, and clenched his fists at him, like many Jianghu people who have traveled far and wide, "The mountains are high and the waters are long, we will meet again by fate."

"See you by fate." Jiang Li looked at her and said.

Cheng Nian smiled, turned around and left, her water-red skirt was lifted up, no more nostalgia, Jiang Li also turned around, hurried to the mountain depression, and went against her.

Jiang Li slowed down a little when he saw the scattered backs of the same team, and couldn't help but look back. The forest in the mountains was bleak and deserted, and as far as the eye could see, the sky was high and the sky was vast.