Outside the western borders of the dynasty, there is a large area of land that is not under the jurisdiction of the dynasty.
This place is vast and has countless, endless mountains. Each mountain range is unique, and the main peaks everywhere are towering. These 100,000 mountains are collectively called the Western Mountains in Taishi Continent.
Within Xishan, there is a mountain range that tops hundreds of thousands of mountains. This mountain range towers outside the western border of the dynasty. It has the potential to reach the sky and hold the sun in its hands. It is called the Shenglong Mountain Range.
The main peak of the mountain range has a wheel on its divided ridge, and a halo on the combined ridge. The green soil is the dragon's flesh, the rocks are the dragon's bones, and the vegetation is the dragon's skin. From a distance, the winding veins are the dragon's body. Therefore, unlike other main peaks in the mountains, which are all named after peaks, it has a unique name, Shenglongtai.
Many famous rivers that ran through the hinterland of the imperial dynasty originated from Xishan Jingnei. The most famous river was called Qingchuan, and Qingchuan originated from Shenglongtai in the Thanglong Mountains and entered the Black Sea from west to east.
On weekdays, the blue waves are clear and blue, but as long as the weather is clear and the sun shines, the blue waves will turn from green to sky blue, until finally they turn into a golden wave flowing with the same color as the sun, so people named it I gave him a very vivid name, Qingchuan.
According to legend, such a change occurred because in ancient times, there was a green dragon in Taishi Continent that ascended from the Shenglong Platform. However, for unknown reasons, the ascension failed. The golden dragon's blood spilled from the sky and trickled down from the Shenglong Platform, and Qingchuan was born. The source of Qingchuan has become today's Qingchuan after many years of changes in mountains and rivers.
Qingchuan is a large river that demarcates the southwest hinterland of the dynasty. With it as the boundary, Youyan is in the south and Qingchuan is in the north.
In the south, a volcanic community erupted more than a thousand years ago, and the vast mountain forest became a wasteland after wildfires. Now the trees are lush again. In order to warn themselves to respect the nature of the world, people call it Youyan State, and Youyan State The capital of Yanzhou is Zhuque City.
In the north, because almost all of the tributaries of the Qingchuan River nourished a plain basin, this basin was named Qingchuan Prefecture, and the capital of Qingchuan Prefecture was Jinguan City.
I don’t know the sun and the moon in the mountains, and I only know the wind and rain on the way home.
After leaving Stone City, Liu Weirui was still worried about the way forward, so she increased the speed of the caravan to the extreme. Although people and horses were exhausted along the way, the journey was uneventful.
It's noon today, and the spring sun is getting warmer.
After the caravan turned a small mountain peak, the view in front of it changed, and a canyon suddenly stood in front of the caravan.
The sunlight that spreads all over the top of the head reaches here and becomes a curtain of light. In the light curtain, water vapor is steaming and dancing with the sunlight.
Closing her eyes, she felt the long-lost moistness and coolness in the air, and listened to the turbulent sound of water in front of her. Liu Weirui's nose shrank slightly, as if she could smell the smell of her hometown, and her whole body felt light.
She and Mu Qing were riding side by side in front, and they had already loosened the reins. They raised their hands to wipe the fine beads of sweat on their smooth foreheads with their sleeves, and looked at the canyon in front of them while blocking the dazzling sunlight.
"Mu Qing, did you see it?" Liu Weirui pointed forward and said with a relaxed smile.
The sunlight lingered on her long eyelashes. Mu Qingxing's eyes were slightly blurry. Following the direction of her white fingers, she saw the natural wonders that looked like a fairyland under the intertwined sunlight and mist. Then her sight shifted, and she was on the left side of the canyon. On the rocks standing on the wall, I saw three large characters carved on the cliff with natural momentum. I couldn't help but be shocked for a moment by the divine meaning in this Xianguan cliff carving scroll.
"Qingchuan Pass." Mu Qing whispered.
"call--"
Although he already had the answer in his heart, Liu Weirui suddenly became more relaxed after receiving confirmation from the people around him.
She smiled and said: "After passing Qingchuan Pass, we entered Qingchuan Prefecture, which is considered home."
Mu Qing felt the relaxed joy exuding from the inside out of the beauty beside him, and couldn't help but smile: "It's more than seven hundred kilometers from Zhuque City back to Jinguan City, and these more than five hundred kilometers in Youyan Prefecture are indeed considered Finished walking."
"Yes." Liu Weirui sighed: "I have walked these more than 500 kilometers many times, but this time is undoubtedly the longest and most memorable."
The emotions in Liu Weirui's words suddenly became very complicated. Mu Qing looked at the other party's slightly pursed red lips, changed the subject and asked: "The Liu family is quite famous in Qingchuan Prefecture, right?"
Liu Weirui's bright eyes were good at gazing, and she said with high spirits: "Yes, the Liu family has been ranked among the top three in the entire Qingchuan Prefecture, specializing in brocade weaving, so our Liu family also has a name, called "Jinsi Liu"."
Mu Qing asked in surprise: "Then why did you go to Suzaku City to purchase medicinal materials?"
Liu Weirui smiled and replied: "Since I started leading the caravan, I have come to Zhuque City to purchase medicinal materials at least twice a year. However, this is not for myself, but for my good friend's family. Her family is also one of the top ten families in Jinguan City." The title of Medicine King Li is even louder than the name of Jinsi Liu."
Seeing Mu Qing lowering her chin and listening carefully, Liu Weirui couldn't help but laugh and said, "Are you interested in coming to my house now?"
Mu Qing said in embarrassment: "Miss Wei Rui, stop joking. Didn't I tell you my true identity?"
Mu Qing has never been a cold-blooded killing weapon. As a novice assassin, he encountered a task that was not killing people when he was just starting out. Although it was a bit embarrassing and difficult to understand at the beginning, as the task progressed, As you proceed, you become more comfortable.
After getting along with Liu Weirui for a long time, Mu Qing also revealed some information that he could confess.
Sometimes he also wonders, if the first novice task is to let himself kill people, what will the ending be like?
Will you be unable to take action? It doesn't seem like it will either.
It's just that he didn't kill people to protect others as transparently and freely as he does now.
In Mu Qing's heart, he has never recognized himself as a real assassin. If there is a criterion for judging this "real", it should be what the elder of the assassin lineage said: "The meaning of an assassin's existence." , it should be the killing hidden in that charming night."
What they want is a silent killing weapon.
Because Mu Qing knew that he would never be that kind of person. Six years of being an orphan had already laid the foundation for a free and uninhibited character. Therefore, he longed to become stronger in his heart, because only by becoming stronger could he have the opportunity to truly leave the training he had received. The place where I had been tortured for twelve years and had nightmares for twelve years.
Finding that his thoughts were surging because of one sentence, Mu Qing shook his head and tried hard to suppress the desire for freedom in his heart.
Liu Weirui felt a little regretful after saying the invitation. Mu Qing told her that she was actually an assassin. Although not in her eyes, the big forces in the world were very strict about rules.
Liu Weirui couldn't explain what she was thinking now. While she felt ridiculous and regretful, she also had a hint of shy longing hidden in her heart.
After seeing Mu Qing shake her head and refuse without hesitation, she hid her daughter's complicated thoughts with a smile and continued to ask: "Didn't you say that place is not good at all? Why don't you want to leave?"
When his thoughts returned to the present, Mu Qing raised his eyes and looked at Qingchuan Pass in the distance, and said seriously: "It's not the time yet, I'm not strong enough."
Shocked to realize that he had spoken too deeply, Mu Qing turned his head and looked aside.
Under the warm spring sun, a beautiful lady is riding a horse beside her.
Although the other party fell into deep thought because of his words and seemed to understand something, Mu Qing did not feel nervous about revealing the secret in his heart. On the contrary, he was very relaxed and felt lucky for his novice mission, because now he had several more friends, and mutual trust was the basis of mutual communication between friends.
In fact, Mu Qing still hasn't really understood that the start of his assassin career that he was so lucky to have changed something, which is bound to have far-reaching consequences.
He broke the friendly silence between them and said with a smile: "There should be a bigger inn in Qingchuan Pass. Let's have a good meal at noon today."
Liu Weirui glanced at Mu Qing, suppressed the questions in his mind, and replied with a smile: "Qingchuan Pass is not an inn, but an important town. There are many people going north and south in the town, so there is no inn, but there is a lot of."
After regaining a relaxed state of mind, the characteristics of a foodie emerged easily.
A clear light flashed in Mu Qingxing's eyes, he pursed his lips, and said impatiently: "I have been eating wild game these days. Today I can finally change my taste. Let's go quickly."
"Okay! You can do whatever you want today, I'm not short of money." Liu Weirui said with a sweet smile, but she had already moved forward.
And just when Mu Qing and Liu Weirui passed through Qingchuan Pass and had not yet arrived at Qingchuan Pass Town, a man dressed as a butcher walked into an inn in the town called "Dangguan".
His face is very ordinary, with a dark complexion and a strong body. He looks to be in his forties or fifties.
He found a seat by the window and sat down quietly. The two people chatting at the table behind him paused for a moment and then stopped paying attention.
The waiter at the "Dangguan" Inn recognized this man, so he went to clean the table of the guests who had just finished lunch, and at the same time refilled the teapot that had been filled with water twice on the table with hot water. , then came to his table carrying the pot of tea that had no taste.
"Butcher Hu, this pot of tea is given to you on my own initiative. Why have you been ignoring your own butcher shop these past few days and come to my inn every day at noon?"
The swarthy man known as "Butcher Hu" is actually the owner of the butcher shop in the east of Qingchuanguan Town. The fresh meat in the inn is bought from his shop every day, so the waiter is quite familiar with him.
After Butcher Hu took the teapot, he poured a cup of clear tea on his own, but his eyes turned to the window.
The waiter in the shop was a lazy person, so he didn't take it personally when the other party ignored him. He followed the other party's gaze out the window and said with a pained face: "It seems that I have to ask the shopkeeper to collect the money for viewing the scenery at this location. Except for the specially opened observation deck on the second floor, your location is the best, and I didn't pay much attention to this before."
The inn is located on a high ground, and the window in the lobby on the first floor has an excellent view. You can clearly see the scenery of Qingchuan Pass not far away.
The waiter at the shop next to him was still chattering. Butcher Hu didn't get angry after he looked away. He laughed hoarsely and said, "You want to eat the meat you slaughtered yourself, can't you?"
Although he often dealt with the other party, the waiter really couldn't stand the other party's laid-back and peaceful temperament, so he felt like he had lost a battle and said helplessly: "Okay, okay, tell me what you want to eat."
"Half a catty of stir-fried beef, eight taels of apricot blossom shochu, and I want the vat of wine your shopkeeper brewed during the Qingming Festival last year." Butcher Hu asked casually: "I gave you a discount on this beef, can you give me a discount? "
"I'll give you a discount on your legs, do you want it?" The waiter rolled his eyes helplessly. When he was about to go to the kitchen to tell the cook to put more green peppers and less meat, he was stopped by the two people at the table behind Butcher Hu.
These two people are probably twin brothers, because they look very similar but have slightly different skin colors. They are probably around thirty years old.
While the waiter raised his eyes to guess the identity of the other party, he bent down and showed a standard fake smile and asked: "Sir, what else do you want to order?"
One of the men with slightly darker skin said dissatisfiedly: "Your soju is not strong at all. Are you trying to pass it off as inferior because we are not locals?"
He casually smashed the ten taels of silver ingots on the table, "Go and get us another two kilograms of Xinghua shochu. Well, we also want the vat your shopkeeper brewed last year during the Qingming Festival."
"Oh, that's good!" The waiter admitted his defeat and replied weakly.
Butcher Hu turned his back to the two of them, took a sip of the weak tea, and pursed his lips slightly.
On the second floor of the Dangguan Inn, a free and uninhibited young man was sitting by the window of the observation deck and heard the interesting scene happening below him.
In just a moment, he finished the Xinghua shochu in the cup and turned his eyes to Qingchuan Pass.
