At night, outside Chang'an City, there is a post house.
"Damn it, why are there so many mosquitoes?!"
A guard jumped up from the bed, breathing heavily, lighting the candles in the room with a fire stick, and looked around fiercely, looking for damn mosquitoes.
His actions woke up several other guards in the room, but Li Shenbin in the corner was motionless and sleeping soundly.
This group of people escorted Li Shenbin to Shiwan Barren Mountain to serve the sentence of exile.
The punishment of exile has existed since ancient times. Sending condemned persons to barren mountains and rivers not only maintains social order, but also
It can also enrich the population of remote state capitals with vast areas and sparsely populated areas, and open up wasteland.
Mangzhou, where Li Shenbin is going, is adjacent to the Shiwan Barren Mountains. It is the first line of the Yu Kingdom's border expansion and is also one of the main places for exiled prisoners.
The environment there is harsh, and people die unexpectedly every year. Occasionally, some people can't stand it anymore and escape back. Their end is usually that they are arrested by the Zhenfu Division and sent back to Mangzhou to serve their sentences.
Fortunately, this group of officers does not need to actually go to Mangzhou - once they leave Chang'an Baili and complete the formality, they will be replaced by the monks from the next room.
Use the more efficient flying sword to take Li Shenbin directly to Mangzhou.
This unwritten rule was due to the fear that relatives of the emperor would die on the road, making it difficult for institutions such as Dali Temple to defend themselves.
The second reason is that because of the noble status of the royal relatives, they may be retaliated and attacked on the way.
However, staying in the prosperous and prosperous Chang'an City for a long time, even just leaving the city for a while, makes people feel uncomfortable.
The guesthouse rooms without mosquito nets are one of them.
A colleague sighed and said: "Be patient, didn't the people at the post house say that the Southern Zhou Dynasty envoys are also here, and all the rooms with mosquito nets have been booked by them."
"What happened to the Southern Zhou Envoy?"
The guard pursed his lips towards the corner and said, "We still have this one."
This sentence was difficult to answer. When the officer saw his colleague fell into silence, he was asking for trouble and swatted the mosquitoes.
The salary of the Dali Temple servants is not high, so naturally they cannot afford the new anti-mosquito essential oil from Chang'an City, but the mosquitoes were killed and the sleepiness disappeared.
If you can't sleep, you just have to chat.
The conversation among several people started from Marseille to the upcoming preliminary examination of the academy, then from the preliminary examination to the hospital, and then, for some reason, they ended up talking about anecdotes and strange things.
The ancient locust trees in the east city of Chang'an City are said to have been planted during the Southern Dynasties, and are older than the Sui Dynasty. When Bodhidharma traveled eastward, he also achieved enlightenment under an ancient locust tree.
That ancient locust tree has magical power. If someone is willing to pay the price, his most pious and strongest wish can be realized.
But maybe it's because of limited mana, or maybe Guhuai itself is a harmful alien, and its way of realizing wishes is always contrary to people's expectations.
For example, if someone wishes to be named on the gold medal list with the joy of his life, then the number one on the list that year is really his name - just another person with the same name and surname.
If a person decides to end his life and wish for a windfall from heaven, he will actually get a fortune - compensation for being hit by a rich man's carriage and causing him to become disabled.
Over time, no one believed in Gu Huai's wishes anymore.
But there is a person who does not believe in evil. He feels that the previous wish-makers were too straightforward and could easily lead to bad consequences, so they have to make wishes tactfully in order to get a happy ending.
He read about the existence of the Invisibility Leaf from ancient books, and every night, he would offer incense to the ancient locust tree, worship it devoutly, and exchange it for an Invisibility Leaf at the cost of shortening his life by ten years.
According to the book, the invisibility leaf will not make him disappear. It takes effect when picked up and becomes invalid when put down. It can be used anytime.
After seven, seven and forty-nine consecutive days, finally on the last day, a leaf fell from the ancient locust tree. fell in front of him.
After picking up the leaf, he found that others could no longer see him.
People who trip over him will only think that they have slipped and fallen. There was no trace of him in the mirror. Even the monks were unaware of his presence.
He finally felt relieved, took the invisibility leaf, walked into the bank's vault, and took away the gold and silver inside.
Just as he was walking out with the money in his arms, a palm pressed on his shoulder. When he turned around, he saw an old man with kind eyes and white hair.
He was shocked and shouted subconsciously: "How can you see me?"
The old man smiled and replied: "The invisibility leaf in your hand can indeed make people invisible to you.
only..."
As he spoke, the old man's mouth grew bigger and bigger, revealing a mouthful of fangs. He ate his head in one bite and said vaguely: "I am not a human being."
It turns out that in the alien world, people holding invisibility leaves are as dazzling as oil lamps in the wilderness at night.
...
The officer who spoke paused for a moment and said leisurely: "But, this story must be false.
If the ancient Sophora japonica tree could really respond to requests, the leaves and flowers would have been removed by those who made the wish, so how could it still be standing there?
The Xuegong and the Zhenfu Division had long since discovered its flaws, bulldozed it, sent it to Dongjun Tower or some other place, and kept it under strict supervision. "
Dang Dang Dang——
The soft Haotian bell rang in the post house, and it was already Yin Zheng hour before I knew it.
They had to go on a journey tomorrow, so everyone blew out the candles, went back to their beds, and fell asleep.
The officer who was the first to get up to fight mosquitoes was lying on the bed, tossing and turning. In a hazy moment, he heard a very slight creaking sound on the wooden floor of the room.
I guess someone got up in the middle of the night to relieve themselves.
The servant turned over and continued to sleep, but the slight squeaking sound stopped for a while and then started again, and slowly made a half circle around the room.
He opened his eyes subconsciously, and in the dimness, he saw that the quilt on the bed opposite him had lifted up a corner without any warning.
Then came the first bed, the third bed...
Wherever the abnormality appears,
The creaking of the wooden boards in the room was heard everywhere.
The quilts were lifted one corner after another,
It's like an invisible butcher selecting the fattest pigs in the pigsty.
Finally, footsteps sounded next to the bed where Li Shenbin was.
The officer felt a cold current rushing through his body and subconsciously wanted to scream at the top of his lungs.
Zheng!
The next moment, accompanied by the sound of gold and iron colliding,
Li Shenbin's whole body bloomed with bright rainbow light, penetrating the bedroom.
Talisman.
The light emitted by the protective talisman illuminated the entire room, awakened all the government officials, and also illuminated the intended perpetrator—a short figure covered in gray robes, holding a wooden dagger.
The dagger made of wood chips happened to have a green leaf growing on it.
The assassin did not expect this to happen. He held the wooden dagger tightly with both hands, and his body appeared and disappeared. However, under the rainbow light of the talisman, he could not completely become invisible.
Li Shenbin was awakened and jumped up from the bed. He looked at the assassin in front of him and laughed wildly: "I knew someone was going to assassinate me. Who? Who asked you to come?
Li Ang, Meng Chengye or Jin Wusuan?
Hahaha, no matter who it is, who disobeys the emperor's orders and commits assassination, he must die! ! "
As if to verify his words, the sound of swords sounded in the next room, and the two monks from the Zhenfu Division who were responsible for assisting the officers in escorting Li Shenbin to Mangzhou took action.
Bang bang!
Two flying swords broke through the wall and struck out towards the assailant like thunder.
Li Shenbin sat on the bed, watching all this happen proudly.
He was a relative of the emperor, and his status was far beyond that of ordinary prisoners. What's more, he also had a deadly feud with Jin Wusuan, the number one wealthy businessman in the Yu Kingdom. Out of various considerations, the Zhenfu Division lent him several protective talismans to prevent possible assassinations on the way to exile.
I just didn't expect that the assassination would come so fast, so hasty, and so... useless.
Li Shenbin almost wanted to sing a song. His exile sentence was changed by Emperor Yu himself.
No matter how much His Majesty the Emperor despises or despises himself,
Nor will such assassinations that violate the emperor's will be tolerated.
The assassin, and his mastermind, will all die tragically.
boom!
The sword energy of the two flying swords flew wildly, cutting the floor of the room into pieces, but they missed the target and failed to hit the assassin as expected.
The short assailant himself was currently located in the corner of the room, being protected behind him by a dark figure wearing a black windbreaker and a dragon-head mask.
