She picked up the teapot and served Song Yu Zhixu respectfully with tea. She said with a doggy smile, "Third senior brother, with tea instead of wine, I wish us a safe journey."
Two days later, Cai Zhao and Song Yuzhi went down the mountain half a day apart.
The former left a note saying that he wanted to imitate his aunt and go to the world of martial arts alone to gain more knowledge.
The latter asked his personal followers to send a message, saying that because he was not recovering well and was feeling unhappy, he wanted to go outside to relax and find a way to restore his skills.
The two met outside Qingque Town.
Cai Zhao was a little worried: "No one will doubt that we walked together."
"No." Song Yuzhi was very calm, "I deliberately waited for everyone to notice that you were gone, and then went down the mountain after having lunch with all the disciples."
"That's good." Cai Zhao still felt uneasy and kept looking back.
Song Yuzhi: "What's wrong?"
Cai Zhao touched his head: "Uh, I seem to have forgotten something."
…
Ding Zhuo came out of the inner room and smiled slightly: "Fifth Junior Brother, please prepare fragrant soup for me to take a bath tomorrow."
"It's easy to talk about. It turns out that tomorrow is the day of the competition. Congratulations." Fan Xingjia wiped the sweat from his forehead, "But Fourth Senior Brother, there is a little thing you'd better know."
"The competition is about to begin, so you don't need to tell me the little things, so as not to upset my mind."
"...You must know this."
"Fifth Junior Brother is too ignorant. What else is more important than my martial arts competition tomorrow?"
"Your jousting opponent has escaped."
Chapter 67
Hanhai Mountain is not a mountain, but a mountain range.
At a glance, you can see layer upon layer of peaks and undulating ridges, which are full of green during the day. But after nightfall, there are many will-o'-the-wisps and dim lights, making it difficult to identify whether they are humans or ghosts.
Two hundred years ago, the first leader Mu Xiu decided to choose this place as the place to establish his religion. He first built the Paradise Palace and Jiuzhou Baojuan Pavilion. Subsequent generations of leader continued to build important places in the religion such as the Immortal Sacrifice Cliff and the Devouring God Platform. As the center, countless secret passages and secret doors spread out like spider threads, quietly hidden beneath the majestic mountains.
The only passage open to the outside is located in a dense dark bamboo forest. There are many traps on the left and right, and there are countless traps. People in the world call it the "Netherworld Huangdao".
The Netherworld Huangdao was extremely quiet at this time, and not even a will-o'-the-wisp was seen along the way.
On the eastern edge of the dense dark bamboo forest, there is a brightly lit mansion, with three floors of armed soldiers inside and outside, all on alert. You Guanyue took out the token and quickly entered the study room of the inner house, where a tall and handsome figure was leaning over his desk under the lamp.
"Come in." The handsome and indifferent young man didn't even raise his head. His long eyelashes cast a deep blue shadow under his eyelids, which made his skin particularly white.
You watched the moon and bowed to the ground: "Greetings, Young Master."
Mu Qingyan said: "Has everything been arranged?"
You Guanyue: "Wang Tianfeng summoned the young people from all the villages around the Suzaku Altar. Liu Jiangfeng was waiting outside the Suzaku Altar. Tang Qing led the remaining people under the Tianquan Seat, just waiting for Shaojun's orders."
"Get up first." Mu Qingyan raised his head and sighed softly, "Elder Qiu was very loyal to the Mu family, which can be seen from the sun. It's a pity that after his death, the people under his command either died or went to other places." There are not many people left."
He turned his eyes to You Guanyue who was standing in front of the desk, "Among these people, you have the highest authority. From now on, I will have to rely on Youjun's talents."
You watched the moon and bowed again: "I am willing to die for you, young master!"
Mu Qingyan: "Thirteen, has the sword in the sword cave come out?"
You Guanyue was startled when she saw a thin young man walking out of the shadows. He was as quiet as a ghost. You Guanyue didn't realize that he was in the house.
Lian Shisan whispered back: "I counted the number of people outside, only fifty or sixty handles are enough."
Mu Qingyan chuckled: "Thirteen is really good at living, and he didn't learn to settle accounts from Uncle Cheng in vain. I told you to go down and wait until everyone sees that 'thing', don't fight, just use the sword to break its neck bones and spine. You go Split your swords."
Lian Shisan left in response.
You Guanyue said with excitement: "I heard that a hundred years ago there was a leader who was keen on making swords. He recruited casters from all over the world and cast hundreds of sharp swords that were as sharp as clay in twenty years. They were hidden somewhere in the mountains. Where—it turns out to be true!”
Mu Qingyan laughed at himself: "There are three pounds of nails in a broken ship. After all, the Mu family still has some wealth that Nie doesn't know about."
You Guanyue looked at Mu Qingyan's expression and said carefully: "Young Jun, actually we don't have to go to such trouble to hit him head-on. I know several secret passages in the Suzaku Altar, let's find the secret passages and go in. With Shao Jun's magical skills, one sword Wouldn't it save effort to kill that thousand-jin bear?"
Mu Qingyan thought for a while and nodded: "By the way, you have been the deputy leader of the Vermillion Bird Altar for several years, so you do know a lot. But I did it more than a year ago to save effort. This time I want to change Take a walk - you know what's the best way to clean a dirty, dirty house?"
You Guanyue smiled awkwardly: "Please give me some advice, Young Master." But she said in her heart, all of us have put our wealth and lives on you, so don't do anything wrong.
Mu Qingyan stared at the dim lights: "Before, I thought it would be enough to change the owner of the house. Later I realized that this house was not only filthy, but even the beams and pillars were occupied by snakes, insects, rats, and ants. Cleaning a house The best way is not to clean it up at all, but to burn it down and start over."
"More than a year ago, I thought I was successful in practicing martial arts, so I rashly challenged Nie Zhe. As a result, I was attacked from both sides and was seriously injured and fled. This time I will not look for Nie Zhe. I will go to Netherworld Huangdao. , push it inch by inch to the Paradise Palace." He looked at the huge map on the wall, "The first place is the Suzaku Altar."
You Guanyue was horrified when he heard this: "Young Master, you, you mean to attack them everywhere? This, this is very laborious. In addition to the Suzaku Altar, there are three main altars: Qinglong, White Tiger, and Xuanwu. The Suzaku Altar My subordinates at least know a little bit about his details, but the other three subordinates are completely blind!"
"Yes, it is difficult. Are you still willing to serve me?" Mu Qingyan's eyes were like ice springs, extremely cold, but also extremely gorgeous. When his eyes focused on You Guanyue, You Guanyue only felt The vest is cold.
He quickly said: "This is natural!"
Mu Qingyan looked at him quietly: "You Guanyue was sold into the sect by Yazi when he was six years old. Elder Qiu saw that you were smart and intelligent, and had good qualifications, so he selected you from a group of young children to be the alchemy boy. Elder Qiu passed away. Later, you escaped Nie's purge because you were young, and then you were promoted to the leader of a branch of a certain place because of your quickness, shrewdness and ability."
"Five years ago, you took the opportunity to get acquainted with Xiong Qianjin, the master of the Suzaku Altar. Relying on his love and trust, you were promoted to the deputy master of the Suzaku Altar. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, and Xiong Qianjin soon had two new loves. . Zhang Xun and Li Zhang have replaced you and become the left and right deputy leaders of the Vermillion Bird Altar, and you have been pushed out to another branch of the Altar."
You Guanyue huddled on the ground, sweating coldly as she listened, filled with humiliation and resentment.
Mu Qingyan: "I don't care if you really care about the kindness of the elder Qiu, or if you want to regain power after turning around, I just want you to remember one thing - since you have surrendered to me, then what I say will be what you do. .When Xiong Qianjin dies, you will be the new head of the Suzaku Altar."
You Guanyue's eyes gleamed and his blood became hot.
He stood up and knelt down next to Mu Qingyan's chair, deliberately loosening his clothes to reveal his handsome and slender collarbones. He was about to speak with a smile on his face, when he suddenly noticed that Mu Qingyan's eyes were as cold as lightning, as cold as bone.
He shivered and quickly pulled up his clothes.
Mu Qingyan said slowly: "I will only say this once. I don't like others to come within three steps of me."
You Guanyue hurriedly knelt further away, determined to take the route of "keeping oneself as jade" in the future.
After Lian Shisan distributed the swords, he came over to report: "Young Master, the time is almost up."
Mu Qingyan said: "Guanyue also goes to get a sword, and we will take action now."
…
The night seemed to be burning with blood, killing sounds were everywhere in the valley, and corpses were everywhere.
Mu Qingyan's figure passed through the night sky in an instant, like a sharp sword cutting through the sky. With two consecutive palm strikes, the huge heavy wooden iron gate at the entrance of the Suzaku Altar burst into pieces.
You Guanyue deliberately showed off in front of Mu Qingyan. He was at the front with his sword, slashing left and right, unstoppable.
Lian Shisan was slightly surprised: "It turns out that You's kung fu is pretty good."
Mu Qingyan: "He is a leader among the younger generation in the sect. He was selected for his cultivation and talent, but Nie Zhe refused to reuse him no matter what."
As one of the four main altars, the Zhuque Altar was supposed to be full of masters. However, Nie Zhe was jealous of talents. The more powerful and capable people were, the easier they were to be squeezed out. Xiong Qianjin was promoted by Nie Zhe single-handedly, and his attitude towards employing people can be imagined. Know.
You Guanyue led the charge in front, and Mu Qingyan was behind. Seeing which enemy master was more powerful, he stepped forward and killed him. After killing seventeen or eighteen masters in a row, the situation reversed between the enemy and us.
Zhang Xun watched from behind as You Guanyue got closer and closer, his charming face twisted, and he decisively ordered: "Release the corpse slave!"
As a strange and tortuous flute sound sounded, a group of people with blue-gray skin walked out in unison.
These 'people' have dull eyes, dry skin and sunken flesh, exuding the breath of the dead, and making a rattling sound from their throats, like ghosts from hell coming to the world.
Under the moonlit night, a terrifying and strange scene appeared.
The sound of the flute suddenly changed, becoming shrill and tight, and the group of mummies who were supposed to be buried immediately attacked. Although they do not have advanced martial arts skills, they are extremely powerful and are not afraid of harm.
The arm of a mummy was cut off, but no blood spattered, only a thick black-red liquid dripping slowly.
You Guanyue yelled: "Don't chop and stab, or break their necks or spines!"
Everyone followed suit.
The body of the mummy was stiff and cold. Fortunately, Mu Qingyan distributed sharp swords in advance, so no one was harmed.
However, there were so many mummies that You Guanyue and others were gradually forced to retreat.
Mu Qingyan listened carefully and finally found the source of the flute sound. He suddenly jumped away and shouted in the air: "Go!"
A short, skinny man screamed and staggered out from behind the crowd. A thin stream of blood flowed from his mouth, ears, nose and eyes. Then he slumped to the ground and died. He was injured and still holding an iron piccolo.
Zhang Xun quickly asked another person to take his place and continued to play the flute and direct the mummy. However, those who use sound as a weapon are most afraid of being destroyed by someone using energy to drink their Dantian. Once the energy is broken, their lives will be at risk.
Mu Qingyan followed the sound, hiding his inner strength in the shouting sound, and then broke the Dantian of the two flute players.
Zhang Xun never expected such a situation.
In the past, when he used corpse slaves to attack others, the other party would often be frightened and panic, or they didn't know how to solve the problem. He didn't want to meet a master like Mu Qingyan who knew the basics today.
As soon as the sound of the flute stopped, the large number of zombie slaves had no one to direct them, and they fell like kites with broken strings.
"Thirteen, you can let the villagers come over now." Mu Qingyan suddenly ordered.
Lian Shisan went to call someone immediately.
Seeing that there were no strong opponents in the field, You Guanyue retreated to Mu Qingyan's side and said flatteringly: "It turns out that the young master has been prepared for a long time. Just now, the young master shouted several times. His energy is far-reaching and his power is strong. It is better than anything else." The lion’s roar is much stronger!”
"Shut up." Mu Qingyan said in an indifferent tone, "That day when you came to me to seek help, there were actually two people with higher cultivation levels than you. Do you know where they are now?"
You Guanyue was startled, "... Shaojun is talking about Brother Han and Brother Wu."
"The man surnamed Han has long since taken refuge with Nie Zhe and wants to sneak in as a spy; the man surnamed Wu is capricious and wants to find out the location of Jiuzhou Baojuan Pavilion from me - I have eliminated these two people."
Mu Qingyan's tone was indifferent, as if he had crushed two grasshoppers to death. You Guanyue's heart trembled, "Young Master, you did the right thing."
"Actually, you have gone through this several times and have sought refuge with many people. Do you know why I kept you?" Mu Qingyan seemed to be very patient with him, "Because you still remember the rules that Elder Qiu taught you."
"The people in Hanhai Mountain, including traders and pawns, cultivators and weaver girls, are either family descendants of the religious believers, or ordinary people who are willing to join the religious religion. Throughout the year, they pay their contributions honestly and never slack off; and in turn, the gods The church will protect them - this is the rule set by the Mu family."
There are many rivers, swamps, hillsides, fields in the Hanhai Mountains... just like Jiuli Mountain, they can be self-sufficient.
When Mu Xiujue first established his sect, he was surrounded by his trusted generals. However, like the Six Beichen Sects, it only took ten or twenty years for the population to continue to grow. In addition, the members of the church died in the war, and their wives, children, and children need a place to care for them; they have recruited new masters, and they need a place to settle - a place where thousands of people live together, and they need their own food, clothing, housing, transportation and other supplies.
Over the past two hundred years, markets, small towns, and villages have all become complete in the mountains of Hanhai.
"No matter how domineering Nie Hengcheng was back then, he still knew how to follow this law, but Nie Zhe wanted to destroy the religious rules for his own selfishness - someone should teach him the rules." Mu Qingyan turned to look at You Guanyue, "Nie Zhe We don’t dare to capture people from the Six Beichen Sects to be corpse slaves, and we don’t even dare to capture people outside the sect, so we can only attack people within the sect.”
"The reason why you fell out of favor with Xiong Qianjin is not because your skills are inferior to others, but because every time Zhang Xunli Zhang can send dozens of young and strong villagers to Xiong Qianjin to refine corpse slaves, you can only send a few. Over time, Xiong Qianjin naturally thinks more highly of Zhang and Li."
Mu Qingyan's eyes were clear and clear, as if he could see through everything.
