Fan Xingjia looked at Song Yuzhi in confusion. Unfortunately, Song Yuzhi's face changed and his expression was hard to read.
Old God Cai Zhao got himself a cup of tea, shook his big-brimmed hat and whispered: "Sure enough, everything has advantages and disadvantages. Prosperity of descendants brings troubles of prosperous descendants."
The Fan Xing family was amused: "What about your Cai family?"
Cai Zhao said with a smile: "Cai, what is Cai? He has changed his last name four times in Luoying Valley. Xiaohan wrote a letter last time and said that he had changed his mind again. It's not fun to do arithmetic, but it's more fun to knock wooden fish to become a monk. I can't say that Luoying Gu will have to rely on me to recruit wives from now on, so I will change my surname when the time comes."
"Junior sister Zhaozhao." Song Yuzhi said with a straight face, "You don't need to change your surname to recruit a new wife. Changing your surname is not called recruiting a new wife. Please be more careful in what you say."
Cai Zhao: ...It seems you are not so anxious.
After coming out of the restaurant, Cai Zhao suggested not to enter Guangtianmen first, but to find a remote inn to stay and sneak in after dark.
The Fan Xing family immediately agreed. Song Yuzhi thought for a while and sighed: "Now it seems that the situation is far more elusive than we thought. Junior sister is right, it's better not to show up first, let's take a look before talking."
The three of them walked all the way outside the city and found a tea shop in the countryside.
Although it is under the guise of a tea shop, this place was originally used as a temporary residence for merchants who were late and could not enter the city. Therefore, there are also houses with three entrances, dining hall, guest rooms, and verandahs. .
When Cai Zhao and others entered, they saw that the tea shop was empty, with only an old couple and their young son working.
"Well, with the commotion in the city, there are no merchants coming into the city. The inns in the city are full of guests, and they are crowded with people from all walks of life. The eldest son and daughter-in-law are also borrowed by uncles to help. Now there are only Three customers who plan to go to the west to collect mountain goods." The old shopkeeper looked worried, "I just hope that our boss can quickly put an end to this mess, so that the shop can return to its former glory."
After freshening up in the guest room, Cai Zhao went downstairs alone. As soon as he raised his head, he was attracted by the falling snow outside the window. He unconsciously turned to the backyard, took a bamboo stool and sat on the corridor with bamboo curtains on both sides.
The tea shop was lonely, and the old shopkeeper and the merchants passing by had never seen Miss Cai, who turned the Beichen Six Sect upside down more than a year ago, so she didn't wear a curtain hat, revealing a peach blossom-like face. Let the cold wind blow across the verandah.
Luoying Valley is like spring all year round, and the first snow Cai Zhao saw was on Jiuli Mountain. However, there was constant chaos at that time. He was either frightened or fighting with his neck straight, and he never really enjoyed the scenery in the wind and snow. It was still early winter at this time, and the soft snow petals were flying like powder. It was not very cold, but it had a playful and cute look.
As night falls, a lamp beside Cai Zhao is like a bean. The warm dim yellow blends with the cold snow color, intertwined with a few round or thin tree shadows, mottled like a shadow puppet show.
She was born to be happy and laugh, and she could see the fun in everything. When she was a child, she would enjoy watching ants move things for a long time. Now she couldn't help but chuckle as she watched.
Suddenly there was the sound of very slight footsteps behind the bamboo curtain beside him, and Cai Zhao suddenly turned his head warily.
The bamboo curtain was opened, and the person behind the curtain seemed very surprised. He was also attracted by the fine wind and snow floating like poplar flowers in the night. He did not expect to meet Cai Zhao in this place.
Under the dim light, in the dark snowy night with silver spots, his handsome face had a strange blurry feeling. Cai Zhao seemed to be in a dream. He was clearly standing in front of her, but he seemed far away, as if he was separated. A whole area of desert and snow.
He was wearing a half-worn navy blue robe, and he seemed to be taller. His expression was soft and dazed, but his eyes were still deep and unpredictable.
After being separated for more than a year, they didn't know what to say when they met again. The two looked at each other speechlessly for a long time.
Mu Qingyan raised his long arm to roll up the bamboo curtain, "...What were you laughing at just now?"
Cai Zhao was dumbfounded: "I remembered the shadow puppet show I watched when I was a child."
"Well, what kind of show?"
"I have forgotten all." Cai Zhao looked at the flying snow in the night sky, "When I was a child, I would sit in the audience. No matter how sad and joyful the separation was, no matter how difficult it was to let go, I would always clap my hands happily. My aunt laughed at me and said that I I only watch the play for fun, but I don’t understand the meaning of the play at all." - Auntie, when did you start to understand? If only I never understood.
The bamboo curtain was rolled up high, and Mu Qingyan tied a knot at the end of the rope.
When he lifted the bamboo curtain just now, he saw Cai Zhao sitting upright like a child in school, with his two little hands folded obediently on his legs, but his pink cheeks were slightly crooked, and a small snicker appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Through the mist-like dim lights, he seemed to see the little white Cai Zhao sitting happily under the stage. She must be the most lovable little girl in the world.
"...Has the whiplash on your back healed?" he asked in a low voice.
This sentence brought back the pain that lasted for more than a month. The burning memories made Cai Zhao shudder. However, in the end, she only replied, "Everything is fine."
Mu Qingyan clenched her palms and then spread them out.
He looked at his slender palms with clear lines. Now he had gained the power to turn his hands into clouds and rain. However, there were still things he was powerless to do, such as keeping his father alive, and keeping her from being harmed.
"I didn't expect they would torture you..."
Cai Zhao shook his head gently: "I did something wrong and I deserve to be punished."
Mu Qingyan hummed and stared into the night: "It turns out that you have already regarded me as a fault."
Cai Zhao seemed to look away, and persuaded him with kind words: "Actually, I am not your fault. If we don't have this tie, you and I can live more easily."
Mu Qingyan said coldly: "It's you who thinks it's neat, don't 'feel' for me!"
Cai Zhao tried his best to maintain the etiquette: "Master Mu is now in control, and he has the power of one person, so why worry about these old things anymore."
"If I were really powerful and powerful, I wouldn't be able to watch you walk away from me and be helpless!" The young man's eyes were dark, as if there was a cold flame burning in them.
"Did Master Mu Da come here specifically to quarrel with me?!" Cai Zhao felt annoyed and took out a golden object from his pocket and hung it on the railing under the bamboo curtain. "It's rare to encounter this. Here you go.”
Mu Qingyan was startled, then wrapped the slender gold chain around his palm, "Didn't you pawn it?"
"It was pawned, and later Third Senior Brother redeemed it."
Song Yuzhi unexpectedly appeared in their conversation, like throwing a stone into a lake, instantly breaking the brief trance and anger just now. Mu Qingyan and Cai Zhao simultaneously realized something they should have asked long ago -
"what are you doing here?"
"Why are you here?"
The two sentences were spoken without distinction, and both of them were stunned.
Mu Qingyan's expression was indifferent, "The Siqi Clan and Guangtian Clan are having a quarrel. Why don't I, the leader of the Demon Sect, come to see the excitement? I just don't know what Xiao Cai's heroine is here for?"
Cai Zhao cleared his throat, "As you said, Siqi Clan and Guangtian Clan are in trouble. Third Senior Brother is worried about his father and brother at home, so Senior Brother Fan and I will accompany him to have a look."
Mu Qingyan smiled coldly, "Aren't you always tired of the entanglements in the world, but now you are willing to wade into troubled waters for Song Yuzhi? You really have a deep friendship with us."
Cai Zhao did not defend himself and said angrily: "Master Mu is right. When people grow up, they should think more about future events, so as not to make mistakes in the future. The third senior brother has an upright character and a bright future. My father and my mother , my master, and my two maids who never say anything nice all say good things about him, who else in the world is more suitable!"
"A major event in life? Okay, well said!" Mu Qingyan couldn't help but sneer, "You Guanyue sent Xing'er to serve me a while ago. I think the girl is gentle and gentle, and she is very suitable to my liking. I don't know if this is considered a major event in life. .”
Cai Zhaoxiao's face froze: "Then I wish Master Mu Da a bright future and a harmonious marriage!"
Mu Qingyan lightly cupped his hands and said, "It's easy to talk, let's encourage each other." After saying this, he slapped his palm on the pillar of the thick wooden fence, and saw sawdust flying everywhere, and the fence was shattered. He walked away without looking back, his clothes flying violently.
Cai Zhaoyi was so angry that she put the wooden bench away with shaking wrists. When she left, she found that he had hung the gold chain on the wooden railing again. She picked up the gold chain angrily, walking as fast as if a ghost was chasing her.
Mu Qingyan turned around the backyard and saw You Guanyue and Shangguan Haonan standing respectfully waiting outside. There were dozens of shadowy masters about fifty steps behind them.
Mu Qingyan was about to walk forward when he felt something was wrong. When he turned around, he saw You Guanyue's face full of tears and her expression miserable, like a widow blocking the street to complain. When he saw his gaze coming towards him, he let out a sob and knelt down to cry, "Leader, me, me, Xing'er... Xing'er, she..."
Mu Qingyan finally realized something was wrong and immediately stopped him and continued: "Shut up first - when Xing'er gets married, I will give her a thick dowry - I can't even hear the words. Useless stuff!"
Looking at his retreating back, You Guanyue wiped her tears and got up from the ground. Shangguan Haonan kindly stepped forward to give him a hand and said: "Why are you crying? If Xing'er can follow the leader, that will be What a happy event. And you, you obviously like Xing'er, but you insist on refusing to say it. You may regret it in the future!"
"What do you know? If a good man treats Xing'er sincerely, I won't be happy before it's too late!" You Guanyue sobbed to herself, "But the leader... the leader... Xing'er is standing among a group of maids, and the leader might not be able to bear her coming!"
"That's right." Shangguan Haonan nodded, and suddenly thought of something, "Hey, wait a minute, you have never sent Xing'er to serve the leader!"
You Guanyue was stunned, "That's right! I was afraid that the leader would scare Xing'er, so he didn't ask Xing'er to enter the Paradise Palace at all! Oops, why did I forget... It seems that the leader was just using Xing'er to annoy people, it was really a false alarm. Field..." He burst into tears and laughed.
Shangguan Haonan shook his head repeatedly: "Oh, look at your insignificant virtue, I wonder if the leader can give away the dowry within twenty years."
Cai Zhao returned to the house angrily and saw that Song Yuzhi and Fan Xing's house had already packed up. Song Yuzhi asked her where she was going and why she was nowhere to be seen upstairs or downstairs. Cai Zhaoqiang smiled and said, "I went to the backyard to enjoy the snow scenery."
The Fan Xing family shrank their necks: "It's so cold, why don't you wait until tomorrow before leaving?"
"No, let's set off tonight!" Cai Zhao slapped his palm on the table with extraordinary momentum.
On the other side, You Guanyue wiped her face clean, and went into the room with Shangguan Haonan to talk to Mu Qingyan, asking in a low voice: "Master, all the people outside have been arranged. No matter what happens, we are all ready to respond. I don't know what the leader is planning. When is the time to leave?"
Mu Qingyan said firmly: "Leave tonight!"
It was night, and two groups of people left the tea shop in two different directions, disappearing into the snowy night.
The city wall with a height of more than 50 feet is a natural chasm for ordinary people, but for Song Yuzhi and Cai Zhao, it is just a matter of landing on the stone wall a few times. The two of them grabbed Fan Xingjia's shoulder sleeves and touched their feet several times, leaping high to cross it. After entering the city wall, and just standing in a dark corner where no one was paying attention, I heard a heavy and chaotic sound of people and horses behind me, as if a considerable number of people and horses were approaching.
Just when the three of them were in shock and confusion, they heard a clatter of iron ropes in the direction of the city tower. The city gate that was supposed to be strictly guarded opened in the middle of the night! The fierce night wind quickly tore open the slowly opening city gate, and then fifty or sixty well-dressed riders beat their tall horses and drove straight in, while dozens of guards holding torches looked natural and had no intention of blocking them.
Under the dim light, Cai Zhao saw the clothes of these riders and exclaimed in a low voice: "Xuanma in yellow clothes is from the Siqi sect!"
Fan Xingjia's eyes widened: "I'm mistaken, this is the base of Guangtianmen. How can other sects come in with such bright swords and a large number of people?!"
Although the six Beichen sects are said to belong to brother sects, each has its own territorial power. Even though there are so few people in Luoying Valley, and Zhou Zhizhen and Qi Yunke are as close as family members, they have never allowed the troops of Peiqiong Villa and Qingque Sect. We've been stationed there before, let alone Guangtianmen?
Cai Fan and Cai Fan went to see Song Yuzhi together. Song Yuzhi's face was extremely ugly. After a while, he said: "...the west door is guarded by the descendants of the third uncle."
"Which group are we in?" A knight in yellow reined in his horse and stopped. In the cold night, both men and horses exhaled a white breath.
The guard leader approached leisurely and said, "You are the last group. The first three groups have all arrived."
The knight grinned, clamped his legs under the horse's belly, and wheezed away.
Cai Zhao and the others in the corner looked at each other in confusion. Song Yuzhi gritted his teeth and said, "Something is going to happen. Let's go to the main building on the mountain!"
Guangtianmen is built against the mountain, and clusters of tall houses and houses move upward layer by layer along the mountain. Although Song Yuzhi left home to become a disciple at a young age, he still clearly remembered the terrain and location. The three of them avoided the patrolling disciples of Guangtianmen and approached the main building as quickly as possible. Except for the cold wind that filled Fan Xing's family, there were no unexpected dangers along the way.
As we get closer to the main building, all we see along the way are disciples from various sects who are walking in a hurry and looking confused. There is an unsettling atmosphere in the air. As the three of them walked, they discovered that most of the crowds were heading in the same direction. Fan Xingjia was puzzled: "Where are you going if you don't sleep in the middle of the night?"
Song Yuzhi thought for a moment and said: "That is the direction of the Guangtian Holy Church. It is the place where ancestors of the Song family are worshiped and the three pure gods are enshrined."
Cai Zhao curled his lips and said, "It can also be used as an ancestral hall to deal with unworthy descendants."
Song Yuzhi's eyes darkened.
It was the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, and it was cold in the middle of the night. Most of the disciples of all sects were wearing thick cloaks. Cai Zhao struck out like lightning and knocked out three low-level Guangtianmen disciples without politeness. He tore off their cloaks and gave them to the three disciples. People put it on, and then followed the direction of the flow of the crowd and blended into Guangtian Holy Church.
There were huge braziers burning high around the huge flat ground in front of the church, as well as dozens of torches, illuminating the place as if it were daytime. Several familiar figures were sitting in front of the church, surrounded by heavy crowds.
Sitting in the middle of the table is Song Shijun, the leader of the Guangtian Sect. His brows are furrowed and his face is full of sorrow, and he is no longer as arrogant as usual. There were three people sitting on each side of him. On the lower left were Yang Heying and Cai Pingchun, and on the lower right were three old men whom Cai Zhao didn't know.
Song Yuzhi explained in a low voice: "These are my third uncle, second uncle, and fifth great uncle. They are the three elders with the highest seniority and the most children in the Song family."
Luoying Valley is sparsely populated. Cai Zhao has never been exposed to such complicated and tortuous names for relatives. He was stunned on the spot, "There are so many people in the Song family..." Luoying Valley has never been so prosperous in more than ten lifetimes.
Fan Xing's family was very interested and enthusiastically came over to explain, "That is to say, the third uncle and the third senior brother's grandfather are brothers, the second cousin and the third senior brother's grandfather are cousins, and the fifth great-uncle is about The third senior brother’s great-grandfather’s clan brothers are separated from each other.”
Cai Zhao was curious: "So what do these elders want to do in the middle of the night?"
Before Song Yuzhi could respond, his father Song Shijun spoke to Yang Heying first.
"...Are you done? You woke everyone up in the middle of the night. Even if you want to convict our Guangtianmen, we should wait until Qingque Sect and Peiqiong Villa arrive!"
An old man with a arrogant expression said coldly: "Don't open and shut up our Guangtianmen. The disaster your precious son has done has to implicate hundreds of Song clan members. It is really unreasonable. As an elder of the Song family, I will also ask you today." Let’s discuss it.”
Song Maozhi on the side couldn't bear it for a long time, and immediately shouted: "Song Junhao, you old man, Guangtian Sect has always had more rules than family rules, the biggest master in the world, you have rebelled against heaven and dare to show up in front of my father. Act as an elder..."
"Shut up Maozhi!" Song Shijun held back his anger, "Third uncle, although Maozhi has always been reckless, there is no conclusive evidence that he did it. If you rush to convict him now, it will be a joke to the martial arts colleagues!"
Cai Zhao looked around and saw that there were indeed many martial arts people dressed in different styles in the venue. Many of them, including Taoist Priest Yunzhuan, had participated in the ancestor Beichen's ceremony.
The leader of the Shahu Gang, Sha Zuguang, walked out from behind Yang Heying and said in a loud voice: "What more evidence do you need? The corpse slaves caught on the boundary of your Guangtianmen, and the corpses of the villagers with the sword marks of Guangtianmen - - During those days, your eldest son, Maozhi, led a large number of gangs to the area frequently, who else could it be if he wasn't him!"
Following his fingers, Cai Zhao and others saw a huge iron cage placed at the end of the square. There were several walking corpses in ragged clothes with flesh and blood festering inside. They kept bumping against the iron cage. The image was very terrifying. Even the crowded crowd stayed far away from this iron cage. There were seven or eight corpses covered with white cloths on the ground nearby. Fortunately, it was cold now, so there was no corpse smell.
