Ouyang Rong stared blankly at the soft silver hair wrapped between his fingers.
Feeling the girl's steady breath blowing on the thin shirt on his chest, he came back to his senses.
He turned around and glanced at the empty room.
The light in the back room was dim, only a weak lamp was lit on the small table in front of the bed, and the orange light could barely shine on the two pairs of shoes in front of the bed, one large and one small.
Ouyang Rong and Ye Weilai deliberately closed the windows before going to bed.
Late at night in early winter, it is as quiet as water outside, making it easy for people to lose themselves in thoughts.
Ouyang Rong felt the little girl's breath tickling his chest.
He scratched, then suddenly turned over and got up, bypassing the girl sleeping outside in his arms, holding up a lone lamp in front of the window, wearing only a thin snow-white inner shirt, and silently walked to the desk in the outer room.
After the solitary lamp was picked up by Ouyang Rong, its orange halo briefly illuminated the messy scene inside the bed in the back room.
Then as his footsteps moved, the fixed area covered by the halo slowly moved away from the bed.
During this period, he could briefly see the sheets on the bed with faint wet marks and water stains, the wrinkled belly pants, and a delicate and petite back that was as white as snow.
Ouyang Rong put the lamp on the desk and washed his face and hands first.
After his hands and face were no longer sticky and he regained consciousness, he returned to the table, leaned on the chair, and took a long breath.
In the dark inner room, on the bed, Ye Weilai hugged the quilt and lay on her side with her eyes closed, her back facing the outside of the bed.
Suddenly, a faint "嘤咛" sounded.
The girl who was afraid of the cold seemed to notice that a certain warm embrace had disappeared, and her little hands reached out in front of her.
unmanned.
She frowned with closed eyebrows, turned around and touched the sheets behind her, but found nothing.
"Owner……"
Ye Weilai hugged the quilt to cover her chest, rubbed her sleepy eyes with her small hands, lazily raised her upper body, and made a silly sound towards the desk in the outer room.
"You go to bed first." A voice came from the direction of the desk.
"oh."
The white-haired girl wore a green silk shawl and answered with a confused face. She took out a narrow green mandarin duck bellyband from the quilt and used it as a hair rope to tie up her long, messy silver-white hair.
The white-haired little head and snowy back shrank back into the warm quilt.
It looked like he was very tired, maybe he had been tortured a lot and was a little sleepy.
Finally back to being alone.
Ouyang Rong rubbed his face and first checked the Mohist sword box.
The machine opens the box.
He gently stroked the "craftsmanship" like a girl's skin on her snowy back.
"Tangzuo" suddenly avoided someone's fingertips, got out of the sword case, paused in the air for a while, and suddenly flew to the bed in the back room.
The clear blue halo faintly illuminated Ye Weila's silver hair exposed outside the quilt.
"Takumi" hovered above the girl's head, spinning and flying for a while, as if she was curious about what the sword master was doing.
It's a pity that he is still young and doesn't understand at all.
Ouyang Rong coughed, closed his eyes as if drowning, and sank into his mind. He pulled the "craftsman's work" back and put it forcefully into the box.
This tripod sword seemed to have some intelligence. Ouyang Rong estimated that this intelligence was equivalent to that of a six or seven-year-old child. Sometimes, Ouyang Rong could faintly detect the impulses and instincts coming from it.
"I know you're bored, just come out and take a few breaths."
Ouyang Rong pressed his fingers on this "glazed iris petal", closed the sword box, and preached with a serious face:
"Go back quickly, don't look around and lose track. Many people are looking for us and have been arrested. You are so happy to bring new enemies. I am unlucky."
The long and narrow wooden box that contained the sword bounced uncomfortably twice on the table, and the desk creaked and trembled, as if to express dissatisfaction with a certain dog owner's aggression.
Ouyang Rong quickly held the edge of the table and pressed it with his big hands.
"Stop it."
His tone left no room for doubt.
The long and narrow sword box made a loud sound in response, then stopped beating and ignored him.
Ouyang Rong shook his head.
It has been almost a month since I came to Xunyang City, and I really haven’t let it out much, mainly because I can’t use the tripod sword for the time being.
Even his ninth-level spiritual energy cultivation is not very useful.
As he said to his junior sister not long ago, Xunyang City, the capital of Jiangzhou, is different from Longcheng County and needs to be played in a different way.
As the new governor of Jiangzhou, Ouyang Rong was definitely not allowed to fight and kill. Even the junior sister who liked Mang the most had to switch to women's clothing and become the noble and elegant daughter of the Xie family.
"Besides Yunmeng Jianze, there should be many forces looking for this new cauldron sword... At present, only my mentor, junior sister and Li Guo'er know about me becoming the sword holder, and they all keep it secret for me."
Ouyang Rong suddenly remembered what he had said in Dragon City from the Persian businessman named Li Li.
While he was in coma in Sanhuiyuan, the figures of Yunmeng Jianze's Xuezhongzhu and other female monarchs appeared in Donglin Temple in Dagushan and searched for Dingjian.
Looking at it this way, the eldest lady not only knew about the old swordsmith casting the tripod sword, but she even had special means to locate the approximate location of the tripod sword.
Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that the mountain temple where he was unconscious was searched specifically?
But at the moment, it seems that his identity as the sword holder has not been discovered, let alone the "craftsmanship".
"What method did they use to sense our position? Was it because there was too much noise when they violently killed Qiu Shenji?"
Ouyang Rong lowered his head and stared at his palms, with a thoughtful look on his face:
"My junior sister said after careful investigation before that there are strange changes in my body. As long as I don't deliberately stimulate the spiritual energy in my body to violently turbulence, the spiritual energy fluctuations will not be revealed...
"Even when I activated the spiritual energy in my Dantian and poured out the 'craftsmanship' to draw the sword, my junior sister didn't notice it at all.
"The whole person is like a sharp sword with its edge hidden in its sheath. Without special means, most Qi practitioners will ignore my existence in the crowd at a glance and cannot detect my spiritual energy cultivation. I can be regarded as an invisible person in a sense. .
"Why does it sound like a ghost?
"But the junior sister is happy to say that this is very suitable for a sword wielder who is as brittle as glass. He can hide the cloth sword and kill people violently.
"Is this the way to become a sixth-generation professional?"
Ouyang Rong was speechless, sighed, and then couldn't help but murmured in confusion:
"I remember when I crawled out of the underground palace and killed Wei Shaoxuan, Qiu Shenji and the others, it didn't seem like this.
"Is it the sequelae of overdrafting the 'Bi Ping Qi', or is it that the characteristics of the sword holder's broken pulse are beginning to emerge?"
Ouyang Rong thought for a while and shook his head somewhat giving up:
"Forget it, no matter what, for the time being, this change has far more advantages than disadvantages for me.
"The method of searching for the eldest lady Yunmeng Jianze is unknown for the time being. It is better to keep a low profile and be careful and hide yourself."
"Other than that, the most important thing right now is to break through to the eighth level of cultivation and have more self-protection strength."
Thinking of this, Ouyang Rong immediately closed his eyes and meditated, checking his dantian.
The feeling of looking inside was magical. After "seeing" the unchanged volume of his Dantian, Ouyang Rong opened his eyes and tapped the wooden box with his index finger.
He supported his chin with his other hand, his eyes thoughtful, summarizing step by step:
"It is currently known that each level of the sword holder's Juemian requires a new sword technique to be opened. The sword technique is like the cultivation technique of this level. Therefore, without the technique, one cannot advance to the next level, and will hit the south wall of a dead end. , stuck in a bottleneck.
“That’s why the sword holder is called the Mythic Endless Path, because the sword techniques that exist in the world may not be enough for the nine paths, and are not enough for a sword holder to reach the end of this mythical road.
"Just like before the birth of 'Takumi', the ceilings of all sword holders in history will always be lower. How despairing this is.
"The birth of 'Craftsman' has now filled in the missing link, raising the upper limit by one level.
"But it is very likely that there is still a 'cauldron' that has not been transformed into a sword, and it is impossible to gather the nine sword techniques... But this is still far away, so I don't need to worry about it for the time being."
Ouyang Rong nodded:
"Right now, I have mastered and thoroughly digested the 'Return to Laixi Ci' sword technique left by 'Hanshi Sword Master' Tao Yuanming, so I can reach perfection in this ninth level without any hindrance and start preparing to be promoted to a new level.
"As for the next-level sword art, I have also found it. Well, I have mastered half of it, and I can understand the general meaning of 'craftsmanship' given by the old swordsmith."
After muttering to himself, he stopped tapping the wooden box with his fingers and pursed his lips.
That day at the top of the mountain, watching the Zheyi Canal resolve the flood, and suddenly killing Qiu Shenji, Ouyang Rong realized for the first time the true meaning of "craftsmanship":
The old swordsmith has been making swords in a boring way for more than ten years, humbly learning from humble female workers, and forging myths from the mortal world... This is the work of a craftsman.
Thousands of people gathered together to open the folded-wing canal with a shovel and a hoe, turning decay into magic and completely resolving natural disasters and floods... This is the work of craftsmanship.
Ah Shan stood up bravely, put on a heavy mask, exchanged one person for millions of people, and destroyed the sacrifice plot of Liu Zian and the Liu family... This is also a work of craftsmanship.
Craftsman's work is meant to be an ordinary work of craftsmen, but ordinary work can create myths.
If it falls on the sword master, an ordinary man can kill all injustices in the world with a single breath of injustice.
Therefore, Ouyang Rong obtained the simple magical power of "craftsmanship" to absorb the purple mist of merit and the dissatisfaction in his chest.
Especially that night not long ago, after he wore a bronze mask and answered Mother Liu's questions, said goodbye to them and left.
At that time, while walking on the night road to Tanlangdu, Ouyang Rong suddenly felt that the pent-up energy in his chest was completely clear, and the true meaning of "craftsmanship" was almost completely digested by him.
At the moment, we are at least short of the final step of creating the "Craftsman's Sword Technique".
This demanding achievement of summarizing sword techniques can only be achieved by the legendary sword master of each tripod sword.
It is even more difficult for the sword master who is not a very energetic person.
But once this remarkable achievement is completed, the legendary sword master will be able to unleash the maximum power of this tripod sword.
For example, although Ouyang Rong has mastered the "Return to Lai Ci" sword technique, his use of the "Return to Lai Xi" sword technique is definitely not as good as that of Tao Yuanming, the legendary sword master who created this sword technique, and he cannot use it well. The maximum power of a certain lost cauldron sword "Han Shi".
"It stands to reason that as the first sword master, for me to understand the true meaning to this extent should be almost the same as obtaining the sword technique.
"But why has it been so difficult to break through to the eighth level? Is it because we have to complete the last step, the creation of the 'Sword Art', or is there some other reason..."
Ouyang Rong frowned in confusion.
The secret knowledge about the sword holder's Juemai is the top secret of all the hidden sects in the world. It is never spread to outsiders. Even the mentor and junior sister don't know the details.
As a wild swordsman, he could only gradually learn and explore on his own.
Ouyang Rong frowned and puzzled. For most of the next hour, he frequently looked inside his dantian, activated his spiritual energy, and looked for problems.
At a certain moment, he glanced at Gujing Wubo's spiritual energy in his dantian, and suddenly an idea flashed:
"Wait a minute, is it the most obvious reason, simply not enough spiritual energy to break through the bottleneck?"
"I remember that when my junior sister broke through, she observed my 'qi' and was filled with the spiritual energy of the world around me, and then she broke through the bottleneck with one breath.
"Should I also observe Qi? Not necessarily, this method is rare.
"But no matter what, it is definitely necessary to use a large amount of extra spiritual energy to attack the bottleneck and open up the Dantian capacity.
"Then where did I find this large amount of extra spiritual energy..."
Ouyang Rong thought hard and began to recall what he had learned about Qi Practitioners in the past.
He frowned and suddenly took out a pill box and opened it. Lying quietly inside was a dark green pill, which was the "Mo Jiao".
"Wait." Ouyang Rong shook his head:
"Maybe not. The junior sister said that Qi-boosting elixirs can only replenish the maximum spiritual energy capacity of the Dantian. They are not used to break items. Using external elixirs to break items is a crooked way, and different Tao channels have different ways to break items. How to taste...
"Huh!"
Ouyang Rong suddenly remembered the promotion methods of the Jade Fairy and Liu Zian.
"I am a sacrifice to the Jade Immortal. I have inherited the ninth-grade cultivation level and my initial path is the same as hers...can't I learn their promotion methods?"
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense, "But... they arranged cruel rituals, killed sacrifices in public, and absorbed a lot of spiritual energy and spiritual advancement.
“Furthermore, the status of the sacrifice, bloodline cultivation, and the number of surrounding spectators are all important indicators of the effectiveness of the ritual.
"Should I also arrange this kind of evil ritual?"
Ouyang Rong held his forehead, his eyes hesitant, and suddenly felt that this matter was a bit troublesome.
He stood up and walked over, opening and closing the windows and staring at the night of Xunyang River in the distance.
The lone lamp on the desk was blown out, and the night wind carried a whisper:
"It's so good, where can I find a suitable sacrifice..."
…
The next day, Ouyang Rong was on duty as usual.
In the evening, as soon as he returned to the mansion, a beautiful woman with a skirt came up to him, took his arm, and pulled him into the dining hall with a smile.
I saw Xie Lingjiang and a bowl of longevity noodles waiting in front of the table.
Zhen Shuyuan smiled and said, "Huanhan is coming to stay here tonight, and Tanlang will spend more time with me."
Ouyang Rong and Xie Lingjiang looked at each other calmly, "Okay."
Midnight watch.
In the Ice Drinking Room, on a certain bed, Ouyang Rong suddenly opened his eyes and looked out the window.
There was slight movement.
Ouyang Rong quickly got up, changed into black clothes, and left the house quietly;
On the couch behind him, the little white-haired head exposed from the quilt was sleeping peacefully.
Not far away on the rooftop, Ouyang Rong and Xie Lingjiang met. It was the agreed signal just now.
"Elder brother..."
"Shh, let's talk later."
"yes."
The two of them took advantage of the cover of night and headed to Prince Xunyang's Mansion together...
