Just as Qin Suijie was in confusion, Ma Hu had already left Qian Chao's residence. Qian Chao sat in front of the desk and meditated on this. His eyes were fixed on the tea cup that Ma Hu had used, and the remaining tea in the cup. It had already cooled down, but the thoughts in Qian Chao's mind were already flying out of the sky.
After a while, he recovered from his contemplation, straightened his body, and softly said two words:
"Yan Jing"
He reached out and picked up the piece of paper from the desk, and looked at the face of the person on the paper again.
Then there was another piece of paper. Qian Chao looked at the face of the person he drew and said to himself:
"Wang Yizhong, are these four people really dead outside? Did Yan Jing kill them?"
Then he recalled what Ma Hu had said. He was thinking deeply just now because he seemed to have caught something from Ma Hu's words, but now even he himself was not sure what it was. That senior brother Xun said that others He was of good character, and many people had been helped by him and benefited from him. Therefore, after his unfortunate death outside the sect, many people in Chengqi Hall alone felt sad about it.
Poor Senior Brother Wei, he originally escaped, but he died in such a way. He was heartbroken and devastated. And Elder Jin, his behavior was despicable. He did not care about the lives of others in order to find out the cause of his disciple's death. , Alas, it must be Brother Wei who is unlucky after all. It seems to be a terrible thing for a monk to be cut off from the foundation of his cultivation. Think about yourself, if you wake up tomorrow morning and find that you have no cultivation, and you will never have it again. The hope of cultivation is probably no better than that of Senior Brother Wei, right?
Zhang Jing, it was this Zhang Jing who made Qian Chao curious. Who did he see outside the sect, who was the 'Smiling Man' he called, and why did the bamboo-hunters at Guanxikou initially target Zhang Jing? Yes, what on earth does he know? Thinking of this, Qian Chao shook his head. From Ma Hu's words, it seemed that Zhang Jing himself didn't know what he knew. Even if he was not dead, it would probably not be easy to find out if you asked him now.
"That smiling man, in less than two years, he doesn't recognize me anymore. It's like a different person. It's really unreasonable!"
This is what Zhang Jing said at that time. Less than two years is not a long time. Can you forget someone?
Probably not. Is this Zhang Jing mistaken for the wrong person?
…
For a moment, Qian Chao couldn't understand or straighten out his ideas, so he simply stopped thinking about it. After talking to Ma Hu all night, Qian Chao felt that he was not sleepy at all at this time, so he simply tried harder, so he took it out casually. With a book to read, he can multi-task. While reading the book, he can run his own skills, which can be regarded as his unique practice.
The words in the book quickly captured his attention.
The page he opened at random was not interesting at first. After Qian Chao took a rough look at it, he continued to turn back the page. After reading a few pages, the following story firmly attracted his whole mind.
This story has no name. If you insist on giving it a name, you can simply name it "The Liar Comes to the Door".
What the story tells is that there is a small hidden sect in a secluded mountain forest. It is indeed a very small sect. From top to bottom, from master to disciple, there are only a dozen people in total. Master He is a monk surnamed Zhou. Although he is over a hundred years old, he looks like a middle-aged man. His cultivation level is in the middle level of foundation building. Most of the dozen or so disciples are practicing Qi refining. Only the eldest disciple has not been in the foundation building for a long time. It is the cultivation level of foundation building. This eldest disciple is a woman, and she is quite beautiful.
One day, the monk surnamed Zhou called his disciples together and told them that he was going out once to visit an old friend and travel a bit. He asked his disciples to firstly stick to the door when he went out, and secondly, If they study diligently, they can return in three or five years. In their absence, their senior sister will take charge of all affairs, and then they will drift away.
In this way, these disciples followed the instructions of the master and practiced in this small sect. First, three years passed without seeing the master return, and then five years passed without seeing the master return. Eight years passed without seeing the master. The disciples first Suspicion was followed by discussion, maybe it was because Master encountered something outside or encountered some unexpected incident.
Fortunately, there is this senior sister who has been maintaining her. She currently has the highest cultivation level in this small sect. She warned all juniors not to think wildly. Master rarely travels, so he must be lingering outside, and maybe he will come back after a while. , it is useless to think too much, it is more important to practice individually, so all the junior disciples can calm down again and continue to practice.
Almost in the tenth year, a stranger came to this small sect. He looked like a young man, about thirty years old. He was dressed in an elegant green shirt and had the fair face of a scholar. He arrived. After that, he easily cracked open several restrictions placed by this small sect to defend against foreign enemies, and walked into the courtyard in the middle of the sect very casually.
The sect was shaken by the invasion of foreign enemies. In fact, it was only the dozen or so people who were shaken. Each of these disciples gathered together to face the stranger as if they were faced with a formidable enemy. At the same time, each of them felt uneasy or fearful in their hearts. Some people were even making other plans in their minds, wondering whether they should pack up their belongings and leave, but no one dared to step forward and take action, because the man who came was at the initial level of foundation building, and within the sect, Only the senior sister's cultivation can match it.
How could this happen!
Could it be that the master really encountered an accident outside, and his opponent got the news first and came to attack him. Will the sect be destroyed today?
"Who are you! Why do you want to break in here?" The senior sister asked the stranger who broke in in front of all the junior brothers.
But the next scene shocked everyone. The young man took out a jade pendant from his body and showed it to everyone, then threw it to the senior sister, and then said:
"Why, don't you recognize me?"
That jade pendant was something their master carried with him, and it was also a token of identity for the leader of this small sect.
The senior sister took the jade pendant and looked at it carefully for a long time. After confirming that it belonged to her master, she became even more suspicious after confirming it. How did the token of her master's body get into the hands of this person? Could it be that Master was harmed by this person?
So the senior sister asked sternly: "Where did you come from my master's things? Tell me! Did you harm our master?"
In fact, it was just her, and others did not dare. After all, there was still a lot of gap in cultivation. Even if this person really harmed the master, and this person admitted it, then it would be difficult for him to really take action. Only the eldest sister can match him. Even if the others are bundled together, they are not enough to hold a finger of this young man.
"What a bunch of idiots! I am your master! It seems you really don't recognize me, that's fine!"
As the young man spoke, he turned around and entered the hall in the middle attic. Everyone followed closely. They saw that the man sat down in the main seat in the middle and then began to speak. He called out the names of many disciples one by one, including The nicknames between the brothers and even the nicknames given by the master are all correct, and then ask them how their cultivation is, tell them one by one the cultivation conditions of these people ten years ago, and then ask them about their current situation, and also tell them each time. He explained the difficulties that he had encountered in practice in the past ten years one by one. Now the disciples were half convinced. What this man said was not wrong at all. He seemed to be his master, but his master was over 10 years old. How come a hundred-year-old man now looks like a young scholar?
Seeing that these people still didn't believe it, the young man began to point to everyone one by one and explain in detail how each of them came to be his disciple. Firstly, these were all old things, and secondly, everyone had different reasons for becoming his disciple. Differently, several of them had some private matters that were not open to outsiders before they became disciples. When the young man mentioned those key points, he deliberately stopped silent to let the people mentioned understand the meaning.
Then the young man also talked about some big and small things in the sect ten years ago. There were disputes between the brothers. How the master dealt with them at that time and how he appeased them afterwards. Many things were only the master and the one being appeased. The two people knew it, but the outsiders didn't, and everyone was stunned for a moment.
If this person is not a master, how can he know these things?
But if he was really his master, how come he was a different person when he came back after not seeing him for ten years?
Only the senior sister has been watching with cold eyes. Now her junior brothers believe that the person in front of them is their master. Although she has doubts in her heart, she still follows everyone's doubts and asks:
"What exactly happened in these ten years?"
The young man said with emotion: "Oh, it's hard to describe..."
Then the young man said something. According to what he said, he was the monk surnamed Zhou from this small sect who went out to visit friends. However, his trip did not go well. He first visited Unexpectedly, the old friend was nowhere to be found, so he began to travel. As a result, he encountered a group of rogue cultivators on the road and robbed him. He fought with them, beheading one person and injuring several others, but he also suffered injuries. He was seriously injured and had to run away. The casual cultivators were annoyed that he resisted, so they kept chasing him closely, not wanting to let him go. In desperation, he dragged his seriously wounded body around and killed several people with tricks one after another. However, in the process, his injuries worsened one after another, reaching the point where he could no longer support him, and finally the casual cultivators retreated.
However, before those casual cultivators retreated, he knocked out a high-level Qi refining guy, who was the young man in front of all the disciples. This monk surnamed Zhou knew that he was seriously injured and would not die soon, but he was very It was natural that he was not willing to give in. Who wanted to die like this for no reason, so he came up with the idea of reviving a corpse. In his early years, this monk surnamed Zhou had learned how to seize a corpse with one hand, but now his life was on the line and he couldn't bear to die. So he used that method and used his soul to usurp the body of the high-level Qi refining person. From then on, he could continue to live in this person's body.
However, after seizing the body, he did not return to his sect immediately, but found a place to cultivate quietly. Fortunately, the original cultivation level of this physical body was already at the high level of Qi Refining, which was close to the foundation building, and he was previously at the intermediate level of foundation building. As a monk, it is not difficult for him to build a foundation. Of course, having said that, he has experienced some difficulties. It took him several years to finally succeed in building a foundation, and then he returned.
"I see!"
After listening to these words, all the disciples realized that the young man in front of them was their master who traveled ten years ago. He encountered a disaster outside, and then saved his life by taking his body. Now that he is back, he is naturally the master. A blessing.
The young man's actions earlier made these people doubtful, and some people already believed it. Now these words have completely dispelled their doubts, and they all bowed down respectfully, including the big man. Senior sisters, they respectfully addressed themselves as master, saying that master survived the catastrophe and would definitely achieve the golden elixir in the future.
Then the young man said that he had just established his foundation not long ago, and his cultivation was not yet stable. He could finally feel at ease after returning to the sect. He would be in seclusion for a few days, and no one should disturb him. He would continue to practice until he came out of seclusion. , and then teach these disciples.
All the disciples agreed.
But that night, in the secret room where the young man was in seclusion, something unexpected happened.
Naturally, the young man was not the one who took the body of the monk named Zhou. He just came to this small sect to deceive others by pretending to be the monk named Zhou.
In the secret room, the young man used the secret technique he learned from the monk surnamed Zhou to open a secret door on the wall. He was immediately stunned by what was inside the door and was so happy that he was elated!
The countless treasures inside the door were so dazzling and dazzling that the young man couldn't wait to see them. He stepped in, ready to take everything inside.
Then just when he stepped in, inside the secret door and among the treasures, a ray of light hit him directly, making him freeze immediately.
At this moment, in an inconspicuous corner of the dark room, another secret door quietly opened, and a slim figure walked in gently.
"You are not him, I know it from the moment I see you."
The senior sister said softly from behind the young man.
"You...how did you get in?"
The young man said in horror. He didn't expect that there was an ambush among these treasures. He was trying to find a way to get out of this predicament, but when someone came, it would be very bad. He nervously rolled his eyes to see I couldn't see the situation behind it, but I knew from the voice that the person speaking was the senior sister among the disciples. However, if this secret room was closed from the inside, it would be inaccessible from the outside. After all, this is the place where the master of the sect secretly cultivates. She is How did you get in?
"Hmph, you don't even know that there are restrictions in these treasures, and you don't even know that there is a secret passage in this secret room. You dare to pretend to be my master. How stupid!"
As she spoke, the elder sister stretched out her hand and pulled the young man's body over to face her.
"This restriction is very powerful. If no one saves you, you will have to stand here until you die."
Cold sweat broke out on the young man's forehead. He asked in fear: "You...who are you?"
The senior sister's face was full of ridicule, and she said: "Me? I am naturally the senior sister here. I am the only foundation-building monk in this small sect besides the master?"
"How did you know I was fake?"
The senior sister did not answer his question, but asked:
"How long did you torture my master before he told you almost everything about this place?"
The young man was silent for a moment. The situation in front of him couldn't help but tell the truth, and then he said:
"Five years, I trapped him for five years. During these five years, I used every means to torture him, and then I asked these things from his mouth."
The senior sister nodded and asked again:
"Did he suffer in these five years?"
The young man was stunned. During those five years, he used all kinds of cruel methods and went to great lengths to keep the monk named Zhou alive. Otherwise, he would not have asked anything and he would have told him everything in the sect. However, even so, he asked again and again countless times, fearing that the monk surnamed Zhou would say something deliberately. He gave him some loopholes to make his plan fail. Looking back now, the monk surnamed Zhou just wanted to die quickly.
"Yes, I tortured him with all my means and made him suffer for five years."
"What about him now? Is he dead?"
The young man didn't answer. He had long been wondering if he was lying to her that the monk named Zhou was still alive. If she wanted to save people, he might have a chance to escape from this dangerous situation.
"Don't have any other ideas. Since you can come here to cheat and know so many things about our sect, even if he is still alive, he probably only has half his life left. If he dies, I will be relieved. If he is not dead, tell me where he is and I will go back and kill him!"
Upon hearing this, the young man almost stared blankly at the senior sister's gorgeous face, not expecting that she would say such a thing.
"He is already dead, but I didn't kill him. I tortured him for five years, during which he resisted and almost succeeded. As a last resort, I crippled his cultivation. In the end, he couldn't bear it anymore. Not long ago , he... committed suicide, and that's why I came here."
I thought that after saying this, the senior sister would have some emotional ups and downs. Unexpectedly, she looked very satisfied when she heard this. She nodded and asked again:
"Then how did you catch him in the first place? Your cultivation level five years ago would not have been what it is now. You would have been no match for him at that time."
The young man couldn't figure out what the senior sister wanted to do, but since he was asked, he had to answer:
"As I said, he encountered a robbery by rogue cultivators. I was one of that group of rogue cultivators. There were more than a dozen of us, most of whom were foundation builders. But I was still practicing Qi refining at the time. Your master was also very good. It was amazing. One person almost killed all our friends, but he himself was seriously injured. I couldn't help but hid at that time, and watched them fight, and the corpses at the end were added to the pile. Your master was seriously injured and fell into coma, so we were able to restrain him."
The senior sister nodded when she heard this and said:
"So that's it. I'm telling you that you can't subdue him."
The young man asked:
"You haven't told me yet, how did you see that I was a fake? I have asked everything I should have asked in the past five years. I asked myself that there are no flaws. How did you see through me?"
The senior sister sighed:
"Five years! Maybe you didn't torture him long enough, or maybe you tortured him not harshly enough. Well, there's also the possibility that he deliberately beat him to death without saying anything, just for today, I borrowed my Come and avenge him."
"What……?"
"Hmph! I am the senior sister, the only one among the disciples who has built a foundation of cultivation, but do you know? My cultivation level... was obtained at the expense of myself!"
"What!"
"Can't you see it? I am pretty pretty anyway. Don't you feel moved when you see me? My master was moved, but I didn't care about him at all. Guess what, I Can you resist? It is precisely because of this relationship with him that he looks at me differently in terms of practice, and that is why I am where I am today. But... they are called master and disciple, but in reality they are husband and wife, even among everyone There was something in the way he looked at me in front of me that only I could understand. And you, even if it was really him who took the body, your appearance was completely different, but the way he looked at me couldn't deceive me, so I recognized it at a glance. , you are fake!"
"That's it, that's it!" the young man murmured.
"You are still a casual cultivator after all. These dirty things in the sect are different from the violent and cruel days you usually lead."
The senior sister walked into the secret door as she spoke, and put everything inside into her storage bag one by one. As she did so, she said:
"You know, this restriction was actually arranged by him to guard against me."
"Why?"
"After building the foundation, I can leave here as long as I want. He also saw my thoughts and deliberately let me see these good things. Although our sect is shabby now, it was once prominent in the past, so After years of accumulation, the things here are naturally rare in the world. When I saw them, I was tempted. Naturally, I thought I could steal them before I left. As a result, when he stopped opening this place, I fell into the ban. I stood there for a whole day before he came to help me untie it, hum! Just like that, he used these treasures to tie me here again. Oh, by the way, the secret passage I came in was just to hide it from others, although he He has done something disgraceful, but he always wants to have some dignity in front of his disciples, so only the two of us know about our affairs."
The brilliance gradually dimmed. It seemed that the treasures had been put into her storage bag by the senior sister. After she walked out, she smiled and asked the young man to look at the storage bag in her hand.
"They're all here. With these, I can fly far away and leave this disgusting place! Speaking of which, I have to thank you. If you hadn't triggered the restriction, I wouldn't have dared to go in again. Well, although he bullied You have been living with me for so long, but this body of cultivation and these treasures are all given by him. Forget it, I didn’t want to kill you, but just treat it as a favor to that damn ghost, and we won’t owe each other anything from now on.”
In the secret room, the sword light flashed!
Later, the small sect completely disappeared, leaving only ruins and crumbling buildings, overgrown grass, and wild orioles singing. The disciples had long since dispersed, and only a withered skeleton remained in the unknown secret room!
The story ends here.
(Thinking to himself: Alas, what I write is originally a story, and I also need to write some short stories in the story. It is a bit laborious, but in the transition, such short stories can be considered to be more harmonious, of course. I can cheat on the word count, haha, there will be more of these short stories later, and there are many of them, they all serve the plot I designed, and this time I used two short stories, and there is another one later.)
