Everyone knows that in Yanguan Town, Liangzhou, there are four saints from the three religions and one family who serve as gatekeepers. Over the past ten thousand years, the three religions have rotated the guardian saints every few years. Although the length of time for each family is uncertain, after thousands of years of precipitation, , each family has at least dozens of saints who have served here.
But most people in the world don't know that there were never four guardian saints in Yanguan Town, but actually five! And in fact, although the four saints belonging to the three sects and one family all wear the word "guard" on their heads, their more duties are to be the gatekeepers of the town. In addition, they each guard the foot of a large formation, the real fifth person formation. In fact, the Lord has never appeared in front of people, but has made that copper bell his home, hanging on the old locust tree at the east entrance of the town for nearly ten thousand years. He has gone through vicissitudes of life, drawing the earth as a prison, watching the stars and the moon for a long time, letting the rain and wind blow him. go.
Tonight happened to be a sudden change in the situation. This supreme being, who was called "Senior Bell Hanging on the Tree" by the little girl in red, walked out of the house for the first time in ten thousand years and settled on the earth and stone ground under the old locust tree. !
He has never been down to earth in nearly ten thousand years, so Rao is one of the Four Heavenly Books. At this moment, he can't help but feel a lot of emotion. The time is long and the river has never stopped. Countless people on the mountain and down the mountain are struggling in the meantime. Everyone can't wait to practice higher and get closer. The further you go, you can only see the moon in the sky when you look up, and you can hear the sound of silver boots touching the ground. There are probably not many people who feel at peace just because their feet can firmly step on the ground, right?
The poor young man who was standing under the old locust tree suddenly turned his head when he heard the sound. What he saw was a tall and straight figure wearing a dark green gown, with silver hair like jade, but his face seemed to be that of a young man in his thirties. people.
The behavior of this senior Zhong was really beyond the young man's expectation. When he was summoned into the white space where he didn't even exist, although he didn't see this person, he heard the dry and hoarse voice. From the voice of the voice, the young man thought that this senior might be an old man with a rickety figure, or he might be like Daochang Lu of Beiling Temple, who looked a lot of years... but was not. I thought he would look like this.
But in any case, this was not the time to be surprised, so the young man was just stunned, then hurriedly bent down, cupped his fists, and bowed, saying, "I have seen...Senior Zhong."
As a result, as soon as these words came out, the scene fell silent immediately, and then I heard the senior said in a strange tone, half-smiling but not smiling: "Who on earth told you that my surname is Zhong?"
This question came a bit unexpectedly, and the young man was a little stunned. Although he didn't dare to say it out loud, his eyes couldn't help but reveal the question, "You are a Zhong, shouldn't you be called Senior Zhong?"
"My surname is Zhong when I live in Zhongli. So if you live in an adobe house, should your surname be Tu?"
The senior could understand the young man's doubts, so after asking him with this sentence, he smiled and gave his own explanation, "It's true that I am a heavenly book, but who said that the heavenly book must be a bell? You see, I am this bronze bell. It’s just because I have been living in the bell, alone for thousands of years, and it makes me feel too pitiful to live in a house with only four walls, so I have nothing to do to write something on the wall of the bell. I wrote things to pass the time, and you can see that the words have changed, just because I wrote too much when I was bored, so they lined up by themselves and took turns to come out for fun."
"Then..." The young man was a little embarrassed. Since his surname was not Zhong, how should he be called?
"Actually, as a heavenly book, I originally had no name. It was just that many years ago, in the endless passage of time, I served three people as my lords. Therefore, many people in later generations have taken the surnames or surnames of those three saints. The first two are called Lianshan clan and Guizang clan respectively, and the third one is named Zhou, so you can call me any one of them."
Listening to this explanation, Chu Yuanxiao scratched the back of his head in confusion. He didn't even read the thousand-character text, let alone who the Lianshan and Guizang clans were, and the founder of the country. Who is the saint of Zhou... But since any of the three can be used, the young man did not make a choice. It was logical that he clasped his fists and saluted the senior: "I have met senior Lianshan."
The white-haired and green-robed senior Lianshan nodded with a smile, and did not dwell on the matter too much. He turned his head and looked in the direction of Wufang Pavilion, and then said to the young man: "I told you before, Someone has been staring at this place for many years. After today, they finally couldn't help but stretch out their dog paws. So according to the agreement between you and me, you need to follow me to Wufang Pavilion and follow me as the chess player. Someone plays a game of chess.”
On the stone table in the Wufang Pavilion in the town, there is a wooden chess set placed all year round. Anyone in the town who knows some chess theory has basically sat at that stone table and served as a chess player. It's just that they have never fought like today, and can only be regarded as ordinary chess games, but this does not include the young man Chu Yuanxiao in front of them. Firstly, no one will teach him to learn this, and secondly, even if he has learned chess theory, , and probably no one would be willing to play chess with him.
Therefore, when he heard that Senior Lianshan wanted him to play chess with others as a chess player, the young man was a little embarrassed, "Senior, junior... don't know how to play chess."
Senior Lian Shan was not surprised by this. He had been in that bronze bell for many years since he was brought back to the town when he was a baby. Therefore, how did this young man grow up to what he is today step by step? What he has lived, what he has not learned... He may know better than the young man himself, so after listening to the young man's somewhat awkward explanation, he just smiled again and said: "It doesn't matter whether you can play chess or not. Today's game doesn't matter. It’s not the usual way, I will tell you where each piece should go, you just need to put it where it should be.”
This was not difficult, and the young man felt at ease. Although he had never learned to play chess, he would occasionally look at the Five Square Pavilion from a distance, and he would always see a group of people surrounding it. At the stone table, people were shouting and drinking with each other, arguing loudly about how to move the chess next, how to lay out the current situation, how to place the pieces, and so on. It was very lively, as if every chess watcher was more powerful than the chess player. Knowing the direction of the situation, it seems that the chess players are stronger and more powerful than the real players. Often, at the end of a game, the outcome of the game will become secondary, and it will be a matter of arguing over who is wrong and who is right. Where the greatest success or failure lies.
However, Senior Lianshan said so, but the young man still had some questions that he didn't quite understand, "Senior, why do I have to play chess with that person? Isn't it more direct and safer for you to be the chess player?"
Hearing this, Lian Shan did not answer the boy's question directly, but slowly walked out from the shade of the old locust tree. Then he looked up at the dark night sky without a single star, and said softly: " First, because today happens to be the Spring Equinox, it was supposed to be the day when the town was preparing to close its doors. If not for this accident, we would have sent the foreigners who were visiting this time away from the small town together with the teenagers they were taking away. town."
As he spoke, he looked back at the young man and continued: "Secondly, since the other party has come prepared today, he will definitely not be just the person standing outside the town at this moment. As such, I In the main formation of a large formation, there will be a lot of things to do. If I were to sit under that cage-like pavilion and play chess with others, I would not have another chance to take care of other things and coordinate the four people. As a gatekeeper in a big position, I need you to endure the prison sentence on my behalf. You just need to act according to the message I gave you before I finish solving the external affairs, so as to delay the prison. The person playing chess with you in the pavilion, until the moment I turned around to save the situation, even if I lost the chess game at that time, I could still force some things that shouldn't show up back to where they should be!"
Listening to Lianshan's explanation silently, the young man not only did not relax, but felt that the pressure on his shoulders suddenly became heavier and heavier.
He had heard a little bit about the fact that there was something dangerous underneath Yanguan Town. On the day Mr. Cui admitted him, in addition to giving him a copy of "The Thousand-Character Classic", he also had some thoughts on this matter. A simple explanation.
The situation is obvious at this moment, because the Wufang Pavilion has a saying of "central five poles" and is also the center of the Nine Palaces Bagua diagram arranged in the town. Therefore, for the entire Yanguan Formation, the Wufang Pavilion is the center of the formation. Where the eye is, if the thing pressed under the formation wants to break out of the formation, someone must win the game of formation-breaking chess from the outside where the Chu, He, and Han realms are clearly separated, and then break the seal, and then can contact the thing underground. Escape.
The one who breaks the formation can take on this important task, even if he is not the leader, he is definitely not an easy person to deal with. However, the defending side actually sends Chu Yuanxiao, a man with no cultivation level in his body, who does not know all the big words. , and a young man who didn’t have any knowledge of the world and couldn’t even play chess to deal with the opponent’s formation-breaking offensive... This choice even made the young man himself feel a little ridiculous. It’s no wonder that Mr. Cui said at that time that after he sent the message back to China , many people in the Confucian Temple expressed strong dissatisfaction with this matter, and even proposed to ask the Holy Master to clean up the door.
Regarding the young man's contemplation, Lian Shan just remained silent, watching his series of expression changes, and did not say a word for a long time. When the young man came to his senses, the man with white hair and green robes had lived for who knows how long. Zhi Lingcai raised his lips and smiled, and said pointedly: "Don't belittle yourself and think that you may not be able to take on the responsibility. I told you when we met for the first time that I didn't choose you for today's situation. In fact, it was you. I, the little Taoist named Lu, who chose me, also told you, 'The Great Dao is fifty, the Heavenly Evolution is forty-nine, and one can escape one', so how do you know that 'one' will not be you?"
What he said was true, but the young man still felt in his heart that if he dared to take on such a big errand that affected the world just by relying on such a statement, then he should not be called overestimating his capabilities. He should be called a coward!
Lian Shan saw that the more the young man knew, the heavier his heart became. He couldn't help but feel a little helpless, but he also felt more admiration. As the spirit of the heavenly book, he could understand all things in the world and know the past and the future, so this person in the bronze bell Over the past ten thousand years, he has also deduced and observed countless so-called geniuses and geniuses in the world. Some people have never retreated all the way to the top. They always pay attention to their duties and can take the lead in everything. In many cases, in the end, It is true that these talented people who are blessed with luck and work hard have achieved a happy ending for themselves, but this does not represent everything in the world. As long as the matter is close, we must say "do your duty" , because it was the founder of the Confucian school who said these four words, who also said the four words "the three fears of a gentleman", and the first of these three fears is the fear of destiny. Comparing before and after, the way Clearly.
However, the current situation did not allow the young man to retreat, so while Lian Shan was appreciative, he also made some calculations in his heart, and finally compromised with the young man: "Since you are really worried, let's make a compromise. In this way, I will leave a small part of my consciousness to enter your sea of consciousness. In this way, the chess game in the Five Square Pavilion will be controlled by half of the consciousness of you and me, and the chess game will be presided over by the half that I control. , you will be responsible for the emergency response, and you and I will work together to hold that person down, what do you think?"
At this moment, although Chu Yuanxiao was still a little unconfident, he was somewhat relieved that Senior Lianshan was guiding him in his mind. As for some of the magical methods used in this proposal... I'm not surprised. .
And he also knew that since the senior had planned to let him enter Wufang Pavilion from the beginning, it was hard to say whether his successive refusals would change the result, but it would definitely disrupt some of the senior's plans, and it would be possible to have The current compromise method may be the best and safest way.
Seeing that the young man did not refuse, Lian Shan finally smiled with satisfaction. This result was actually similar to his initial prediction. If this young man's chest banged loudly as soon as he came up, he would be a little worried. Only with this kind of respect and fear can he survive the next mental tug-of-war. The reason why he deliberately arranged the previous period of bargaining was to give the young man sufficient psychological preparation, and to make him realize You must try your best to live up to your trust, otherwise you will lose the whole game with just one move. Not only will the Yanguan Formation be unable to be saved, but all the creatures in this small town will also have to risk their lives. !
After the two reached an agreement, Lian Shan slowly walked with the young man to the vicinity of the Wufang Pavilion. Then he stepped onto the spire above the Wufang Pavilion, stood with his hands behind his back, and smiled loudly: "Mr. Mo Da, since you have traveled thousands of miles to get here, Visiting Yanguan, why don't you come in and talk about it? Since you have been planning to break the formation for many years, but now that the matter is about to come but you still stand outside the formation and hesitate to move forward, I'm afraid it's a bit of an anticlimax, right?"
…
Outside Yanguan Town, the young man in white stood in front of the Jinzhu Cliff three miles west of the town. He was holding a jade fracture fan that was as black as ink, as if the Jinzhu Cliff that stretched in front of him could not block his sight. From that sentence After saying the words "Stupid Tiger", he just stood there and looked at the series of changes in the entire town with a smile.
From the appearance of the layout of the outer circle and the inner square, to the four saints guarding the formation dispersed to the four directions, to the appearance of the four spirits, the four-color light pillars rising into the sky around the entire Yanguan Formation, plus the sixty-four hexagrams of the town Three hundred and eighty-six lines of boiling dazzling golden light gathered together to illuminate the entire dark night within a radius of ten miles as bright as day, and also illuminated the man in white standing under the cliff stone clearly and every detail. now!
However, the handsome androgynous man in white just stood there, as if he was watching a big show, with a smile on his lips, without any obstruction, and just let the entire formation operate until it reached its peak. !
It wasn't until the real leader of the main formation in the center of the town came to invite him that he smiled slightly, slowly raised his legs and took a step. When he took one step, his figure appeared in the sky thousands of feet without any trace, and his sight could easily be seen. Looking over the cliff stone that was over a thousand feet high, I could see the white-haired young man in dark green robes at the top of the pavilion in the center of the town.
It was also at this time that this handsome man in white, known as Mr. Mo Da, finally said his second sentence after arriving in the town: "After all, this Yanguan Town is a Taoist altar set up by several of the world's top figures. With you, Mr. Zhou, personally in charge, if I really follow what Mr. Zhou said and go straight to the point, and not only disrespectful, I’m afraid this little life will not last long, right? But since Mr. Zhou is full of sincerity, then I must also have Why don’t you prepare a small gift when you get the chance?”
After saying that, without waiting for anyone else to reply, the man in white gently raised his left hand, pressed his thumb and index finger in one place and made a crisp snap!
This crisp sound is like the inspiring rumbling war drums on the battlefield where the two armies are facing each other. Although there is only one sound, it echoes endlessly in the empty valley within a radius of ten miles. The farther the sound spreads, the louder the drum sounds, and the small town The thousands of creatures who were trapped in ignorance due to the operation of the grand formation, although their eyes were empty, felt as if their souls were about to be torn away when the drums echoed, and they all showed pain on their faces!
The next moment, no less than twenty dazzling golden lights like bright stars suddenly lit up from the distant horizon in all directions of Yanguan Town. As soon as they appeared, they converged towards the town at an extremely fast speed. They were in front of them in the blink of an eye. These golden lights that suddenly appeared are none other than the top warriors who have become saints in the flesh!
When the formation was completed, the young man in white at the head raised his lips and straightened his clothes carefully. Then he clasped his fists and saluted the five defenders, and said with a loud smile: "Mo Qianqiu of Fengdu has been planning for many years, and today he came to break the formation. , please enlighten me!"
…
