Embrace the blade

Late at night, Guiyun Villa.

The moonlight was like frost, illuminating an empty courtyard. In the silence, there was only the sound of a sword blade piercing the wind. The young man held the long sword tightly in both hands, lowered his body, and practiced swinging the sword again and again. He was silent. He kept chanting the key points, repeating them tirelessly, and vowed to practice this set of sword skills to the point where he knew the sword skills thoroughly and reached the state of perfection.

However, he strode forward strenuously, but his knees suddenly loosened and his hands loosened, and the long sword fell to the stone floor with a clatter. In the faint echo, he fell to the ground in a state of embarrassment, gasping for breath. His clothes were completely drenched with sweat, and his whole body seemed to have just been fished out of the water. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and cheeks. In this bleak winter night, he was even steaming hot.

Jiang Lanze was exhausted, his legs felt numb and weak, and his palms were in excruciating pain, but the day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow is the day of the contest to choose the leader.He gritted his teeth and stood up with force, but just as soon as he picked up the long sword, he let go of his hand in pain. He tightened his brows, only to find that there were several bean-sized bruises on his palms. blister.

Jiang Lanze let go of his hand in dejection, and looked up at the lone moon hanging high. After a long time, he no longer cared about the long sword that was still thrown on the ground, and walked out of the courtyard with heavy steps.He walked through the long corridor and arrived outside a guest room. He looked at the burning candlelight inside, but he hesitated to approach, wandering hesitantly in the courtyard.

Before Jiang Lanze could make a decision, the door of the guest room opened first, and he was caught off guard by Qi Zhaoxi's questioning gaze, and he was even more taken aback in his nervousness: "You...why are you in Jiangli's room?"

Qi Zhaoxi smiled, and said: "What is Master Jiang Shao hanging around here, come in and talk?"

"Ah... um..." Jiang Lanze followed Qi Zhaoxi into the room, saw Jiang Li put on his outer robe and came out from behind the screen, as if he was about to rest, he clenched his palms unconsciously, and the pain immediately pulled back his Shensi, the pain caused him to gasp, and hastily let go of his hand.

Jiang Li noticed his palm and asked, "What happened to your hand?"

"...Maybe it's from practicing swords these days." Jiang Lanze said.

"Don't pick out the blisters?"

"Ah?" Jiang Lanze murmured, "Is there another choice? I don't know, I've never practiced this before."

While speaking, Qi Zhaoxi had already found a thin needle from the sewing box in the house, burned it on a candle, and beckoned him to sit down at the table: "Then come here, let the young master have a good experience. "

Jiang Lanze sat on the stool a little awkwardly, watching Qi Zhaoxi snap open the bulge and squeeze out the pus. Although it didn't hurt much, the brows twitched.After both palms were cleaned, Qi Zhaoxi got some ointment and applied it on him so that he could heal faster.

During the whole process, Jiang Lanze kept looking down and didn't speak. He remained silent until Qi Zhaoxi finished cooking.

Qi Zhaoxi looked at his expression, and said proactively, "What's on your mind, Young Master?"

Only then did Jiang Lanze move, as if he took a deep breath, summoned up his courage, glanced sideways at Jiang Li who was sitting next to him, and said in a low voice, "I heard from my uncle...you don't want to teach the "Secret of Longevity" Give me."

"..."

"Don't you believe me?" Jiang Lanze lowered his voice.

Jiang Li looked condensed, and said, "You know the truth about the "Longevity Formula", and you know that I must guard it."

"But aren't we here for Guiyun?" Jiang Lanze raised his head and looked at him incomprehensibly, "Isn't it just for the sake of protecting Guiyun's glory?"

Jiang Li remained silent.

Seeing him like this, Jiang Lanze thought about it and couldn't help but said, "Jiang Li, can I ask you a question?"

"what?"

"Do you hate Guiyun Villa?" Jiang Lanze asked.

Jiang Li didn't understand, so he asked, "Why do you ask that?"

"Because you are the eldest grandson, Gui Yun's young master should have been you, but now... it has become like this..."

Jiang Li was startled.

"You mean he refused to help because he hated that Guiyun didn't belong to him?" Qi Zhaoxi reminded me gently, "Master Jiang Shaozhuang, you have to be careful with what you say."

Jiang Li's breathing tightened for a while, and he almost failed to react. He never thought that he would face such a question, let alone say it from Jiang Lanze's mouth. Suddenly, a cold anger welled up from the bottom of his heart. But Jiang Li suppressed it immediately, and said very seriously: "I never thought about it like this."

"I'm sorry, I said the wrong thing!" Jiang Lanze regretted it as soon as he finished speaking, and panicked for a while, "I'm sorry, I just can't help it. I have been practicing swords these days when I open my eyes, and my dreams at night are full of swords Fa, but I didn't feel any progress at all, but the more I practiced, the worse it became. I couldn't win the big competition the day after tomorrow! I know, it was all because I was lazy before, and I would just be playful if I didn't practice well, but I really didn't There is a way, so I came to you."

Jiang Li didn't speak, and exchanged a glance with Qi Zhaoxi.

Jiang Lanze's hands clenched his clothes unconsciously, and said anxiously: "Jiang Li, I beg you, Jinglan swordsmanship can only teach me one move or two, as long as it allows me to survive the big competition in the day after tomorrow. You swear, I will not use the "Longevity Jue" after that, and I will practice Guiyun swordsmanship, and I will never cause you any trouble!"

"Once you touch the "Secret of Longevity", it will have an irreparable impact on your body," Jiang Li said.

Jiang Lanze looked up at him, his eyes were burning, and he said firmly, "I'm not afraid of death!"

"..." Jiang Li was speechless for a while, he quietly looked at the young man's resolute expression, and thought of his mother in a trance, when the Sunset Cloud Valley fell, he also said without hesitation that he was not afraid of death, fearlessly , He was ready to sacrifice everything, but it was only at this moment that he vaguely understood what Zhou Jingtong felt when he slapped him hard.

"Jiang Li, you know, the two generations of leaders of the Shanhe League belonged to us, I can't just throw it away in my own hands, and let the world laugh at me!"

Unable to get an answer, Jiang Lanze thought it was because he didn't believe it, wished he could swear to the sky, and repeated eagerly: "Really, as long as I can keep Guiyun, I can pay any price!"

Jiang Li finally averted his eyes and said, "I won't tell you."

Jiang Lanze's eyes dimmed, and he wanted to say something more unwillingly, but looking at Jiang Li's tense side face, he knew that he couldn't shake the other party.He bit his lower lip tightly, and the stool under him seemed to have turned into a cage, and he was the trapped animal in it. Seeing the last life-saving straw was broken, struggling and desperate, he stood in a stalemate for an unknown period of time, and he suddenly stood up He got up and rushed out without saying a word, as if fleeing.

Jiang Li subconsciously stood up, but hesitated.

Qi Zhaoxi said: "If you're worried, just follow up quietly and have a look."

"Ah."

With the martial arts of the two of them, it was easy for Jiang Lanze not to notice, not to mention that Jiang Lanze was full of grief, and ran all the way back to his courtyard without hesitation, not paying attention to his surroundings at all.

Jiang Li stopped outside a stone path and looked into the courtyard from a distance. He saw the young man slumped on the ground, picked up the long sword and threw it down in frustration. He stared blankly at his palm for a while, then suddenly hugged his head In the knee, there is no other movement.

Standing in the cold winter night, Jiang Li felt the chill blowing through his robe and seeping into his bones slowly. He wondered if it was colder for the young man sitting on the slate floor, which made his shoulders tremble unceasingly.He couldn't go forward, but he shouldn't turn a blind eye and leave here, so he could only stand here. At this moment, his shoulders tightened, and it was Qi Zhaoxi who hugged him and sighed: "Nothing happened to him, go back."

"Yeah." Jiang Li then looked away, turned around and walked back slowly, Qi Zhaoxi accompanied him for a stroll under the deserted moonlight, and accompanied him to meditate quietly, without making a sound to disturb him.

After passing a row of houses, a strong smell of wine wafted from the brightly lit windows. Jiang Li subconsciously took a look in, and could vaguely see that there were many figures gathered in the house, and his lowered voice followed. Passed out:

"Hey, Jiang Huaiyang, where did you get these good wines?"

"Wait a minute, it's not good for us to do this... If you are caught by the uncle, you will definitely be punished..."

"Aren't you too timid?" The young man called Jiang Huaiyang let go of his voice indifferently, "For the big competition of the Shanhe League, we practiced swords hard these days, why don't we reward ourselves? "

Jiang Li was familiar with the voice and name, recalled carefully, and remembered that he had encountered the dispute between Jiang Huaiyang and Ji Xiuming before.

The room continued: "The Dabi is coming, the uncle has a lot of things to worry about, if you don't have time to check us, you can rest assured!"

"Speaking of this, I think the people sent from all schools are quite powerful."

"Can it surpass us Guiyun? Just kidding, don't even think about it, who established the Mountain and River Alliance, where can others take the position of the leader? Come, drink and drink!"

The sound of cups colliding suddenly sounded, and the voices became too noisy to distinguish. Jiang Li turned his head and looked at Qi Zhaoxi again, and walked away with light steps in unison.

After walking a certain distance, Qi Zhaoxi said leisurely: "The number one in the world has been doing this for a long time, and it is inevitable that you will be self-righteous and arrogant. I think the Tianmen sect was so arrogant back then, and the sword-testing conference held every five years would be enough. The Tianmen Mountain is steep, and visitors have to be guided by their disciples to go up the mountain smoothly. The prominent figures of the famous sects have special escorts, and others rely on luck, hoping to meet a good-tempered disciple. If they are unlucky, It's common to look at people's faces, and there have even been scandals where people from the Jianghu lacked some money and were thrown on the mountainside by their disciples for a night."

It was the first time Jiang Li heard of such a thing, and asked, "What happened next?"

"The disciple was taught a lesson by the head of the sect, and he barely quelled the criticism, so he let it go." Qi Zhaoxi smiled and said, "What happened later, Xue Le told you, I broke into the Tianmen sect robbery. After leaving him, none of the disciples in the sect could stop him. Since then, the Tianmen sect has abolished the sword test meeting, and has purged the upper and lower levels, strictly disciplined them, and added an hour of morning class to all disciples. It is said that the atmosphere of the sect has changed greatly , I see that those disciples of Meng Sifan have indeed improved greatly in martial arts."

Jiang Li nodded.

Qi Zhaoxi looked at his side face, and said: "So, no matter what the result of the big competition is, Guiyun Villa should be blamed for all these years of pride and lack of training. It's no wonder that you didn't give it to me three days ago. About their "Longevity Formula"."

Hearing this, Jiang Li stopped in his tracks and turned to look at him: "I know."

Qi Zhaoxi stopped in front of him, seeing his still gloomy expression, suddenly asked: "Jiang Li, do you hate Guiyun Villa?"

Jiang Li was slightly taken aback, this time he thought about this question seriously, then shook his head: "I don't hate it."

"Then do you like Guiyun Villa?"

"..." Jiang Li looked around the high-walled and deep courtyard, the long corridor turned round and round, and the lanterns hanging in the distance looked like clusters of dim yellow moons. His eyes fell back on Qi Zhaoxi's face, and he smiled helplessly.

Qi Zhaoxi felt distressed for a while, reached out to hold his face, leaned closer to make him look directly at her, and said in a low voice, "I don't like Guiyun Villa."

Jiang Li stared blankly into Qi Zhaoxi's deep eyes: "Why?"

"This is not your home." Qi Zhaoxi lowered her eyes and pressed her forehead against his, "I said you are mine, and I am your home."

Jiang Li's hands that were slightly stiff from the cold wind couldn't help trembling, the blood in his heart was hot and surging, and flowed along his limbs and bones. After recovering from the warmth, he gained strength, so he hugged Qi Zhaoxi tightly, as if Being able to absorb enough warmth from the other party to last through the whole winter, he closed his eyes and smiled softly: "Well, I see."