South extension, autumn water.
The child lay on the window lattice in the night, looking at the forest outside the town.
The world is shrouded in a peaceful night, but behind the forest, there is still the light of twilight.
The child looked at it for a long time and didn't know what he remembered. Then he jumped down from the window and secretly glanced at his parents who were still busy in the kitchen. Then he took a bowl and filled it with a piece of stewed pork. He cut off a piece and tasted it, nodded with satisfaction, and then ran outside with the bowl in his arms.
His mother probably heard the noise, poked her head out of the kitchen, looked at his back and asked, "Where are you going?"
The child said without looking back, "I'll go outside."
"It's almost done, come back soon before it's too late!"
"good."
The child ran out with the bowl in his arms, crossed the stream, and ran to the edge of the forest panting.
Then the branch was dug out under the tree.
But when I took it out, I was worried again, how to make this thing become a sword again?
Just when the child began to think this way, the rays of light scattered in the night in the forest rushed towards this place, circled around the branches twice like a sword, and then turned into There was a ray of sword light, and the child suddenly disappeared here.
...
The thatched cottage by the Qiushui River has been renovated. Although it is incredible that a thousand-year-old thatched cottage can survive to this day, probably no one will be surprised by this.
After all, such an autumn water immersed in twilight all day long is already very incomprehensible.
The door of the thatched cottage was open, and the evening light was shining. The white-haired woman with peach blossoms in her hair was sitting under the maple tree outside the cottage, lighting a fire and roasting rabbits.
The sword, which was invisible to the world, was casually connected to the scabbard and inserted into the soil beside the hut, quietly bearing the dusk.
The child hugged the bowl of stewed pork and landed on the long river in the twilight from the night of the town.
Qiu Shui raised his head and looked at the child running over with a bowl in his arms, feeling a little surprised.
"Why are you sitting here today?"
The child stopped in front of Qiu Shui, handed out the bowl in his arms, tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said, "I'm worried that you're hungry here..."
But the sentence was not finished.
Because the child's eyes fell on the delicious rabbit roasting on the fire outside the thatched cottage.
Perhaps he had never thought that a powerful-looking swordsman demon was about to die and came to the river alone, but he roasted a rabbit with great appetite.
But the child asked no such thing.
He just put the bowl aside, squatted down by the fire, looked at the golden and crispy rabbit, licked his lips and said, "Where did this rabbit come from? Was it caught in the mountains?" "
Qiu Shui looked at the bowl of stewed pork on the side and was silent for a while. Then he chuckled and said, "No, the one in the forest may have come from the mountain outside your town."
"Oh." The child said with some regret.
It's not a pity that such a cute rabbit was roasted by such a beautiful monster.
I just regret that I have never encountered such a good thing.
The children coveted it a little, but also felt a little guilty.
After all, there are many monsters here, and my mother is also a monster.
"Didn't you say that monsters won't eat food from the mountains?"
the child asked in confusion.
Qiu Shui looked at the child and said, "Who said that?"
"My mother said so."
His mother is probably a monster transformed from a wild creature.
Qiu Shui thought for a while, and then said calmly: "There was indeed such a saying a long time ago. After all, when the demon tribe was born, they always felt that they should be close to the things in the mountains and forests, not the world."
"What happened later?" the child asked, and after thinking about it for a moment, he said, "It stopped being like this later. Is it because they were closer to the world?"
"No." Qiu Shui looked at the roasted rabbit on the fire quietly, "It stopped being like this later because everything in the world can turn into a demon. If everything is taboo, it means cutting off all ways of life in the world."
The child said ignorantly: "Everything can turn into a demon?"
"Like Qiu Shui," Qiu Shui said calmly, "It's also like black soil, like a broken stool leg."
The child's eyes widened.
"Stool legs?"
"Yes, stool legs. The world knows what a monster is and how to turn it into a monster. But so far, no one can explain why such a group of transformed creatures came from. Maybe it is a natural creation, or A level that is still unknown to the world.”
Qiu Shui said softly, his thoughts may have returned to the long thousand years ago.
"From the same stream, to a different stream, and finally back to the same stream, the demon clan's self-perception has undergone a long change. But in today's world, there is probably only one taboo - not to eat the demon clan's corpse."
Children always find it a bit creepy, but also very curious.
"Why?"
Qiu Shui said calmly: "It's the same principle as people can't eat people."
So in a certain yard in Nanyi City, someone drooled looking at the golden and crispy mushroom demon, and then felt that this was disrespectful to the prisoner.
No normal person would drool over the corpses of his own people.
The child finally understood what Qiu Shui meant.
"So it's just this one?"
"Yes, everything is based on the standard of being in line with the world. There are no taboos on things outside of worldly morality." Qiu Shui looked at the child, "If you are greedy in the future, you can safely go roast the rabbit and eat it."
"OK."
The children were probably very happy.
It's just that after being happy for a moment, I felt depressed again.
"Then what am I?"
The child murmured softly.
Just like the fatal question he once asked his parents.
He may not be a demon, but he's not a human either.
Qiu Shui looked at the child squatting in front of her quietly. She could naturally tell that this child was born from the union of human and demon.
After a moment of silence, Qiu Shui said softly: "This is a long-standing question. There is still no definite conclusion in the world of cultivation and in the human world. If I tell you these things, you may not be able to understand them."
The child looked up at Qiu Shui and said seriously: "I want to hear it."
Qiu Shui looked at the child in front of him quietly for a long time, then stood up, walked to Qiu Shui, and said slowly: "The demon tribe first appeared on a high cliff in the north. It was a sword."
"I know, that's the Demon Ancestor."
The child said very excitedly.
Just like when people are discussing something and talking about a certain big shot, someone proudly says, "That's Kamigawa, I've seen him before."
Children probably don't understand what this name means to Qiu Shui.
But Qiu Shui didn't say anything, he just looked down at his heart, where half of the demon heart was already beating extremely slowly.
"Yes, that is the Demon Ancestor. After that, thousands of demons began to coexist in the human world. For the first time, the world began to truly deconstruct and analyze the existence of such a group, and finally defined them... We, as transformed creatures, and with them The corresponding worldly people are the multiplication of living beings.”
The child didn't say anything this time, but listened ignorantly and attentively.
"But when a definition is created, it is natural to consider everything related to it. Human beings flow together, and all spirits intersect, so there are always many intersections - just like you."
"Existences like you are born from the union of human and demon races and are born from the mother's womb. They are naturally reproducing creatures, but they cannot be called human beings, nor can they be called monsters."
The child whispered: "Then what are we?"
Qiu Shui stood quietly by the river and said softly: "This is something that the world cannot make a conclusion about unless it redefines it. But with only definitions and no essential understanding, we can only continue to define until it becomes an unsolvable answer. . The Jian Zong in the cultivation world once proposed a name to call you Ling. But this is just a superficial definition, and Taoism does not agree with it. "
The child asked in confusion: "Why?"
Qiu Shui said calmly: "Because they are materialistic and dialectical, it is impossible for a term that comes out of thin air to be recognized by them. Knowing and knowing needs to be known before it can be understood by others."
The child fell silent, stood up, walked to the side of Qiu Shui by the river, and quietly looked at the psychedelic glow of the river.
"But whether it's temporarily called a spirit or it's called by another name, this is something that only upper-level people need to truly answer. Those who live in the human world are just ordinary people."
Qiu Shui raised his hand and touched the child's head, and said softly: "If you think too much in the current world, you will fall into the quagmire."
"When will people be able to answer this question?"
Qiu Shui said softly: "I don't know, but since there are questions, there will naturally be answers. There is nothing unsolvable in the world, you can wait slowly."
The child looked down at his reflection in the river. It was himself, but it was not himself - it was just a superficial definition.
The child had a headache, so he stopped thinking about it, nodded, and then remembered the bowl of stewed pork he had brought.
"Is the meat I brought you going to get cold?"
The child suddenly turned around and ran towards the thatched cottage.
Qiu Shui walked back with him.
The child touched the bowl of stew, which was indeed cold, and remembered another very bad thing.
"It's over. I've been here for a long time. I have to go back quickly or I'll get beaten."
The child said anxiously and ran to find his magic weapon.
Qiu Shui chuckled and said, "Your parents are already going out to look for you, but don't worry, you can take this rabbit back and say that you are going to find someone to exchange for the rabbit."
The child's eyes lit up, and he came back with the magic weapon in his arms. He looked at the golden-skinned rabbit in the dusk and licked his lips again.
"Is this really good? Then don't you have nothing to eat?"
"I eat stew."
Qiu Shui chuckled, took down the rabbit from the fire, and handed it to the child.
The child took it with a smile on his face, then hugged the branch and ran towards the river. There was a sword light flowing on the branch, and then it went away in an instant.
Qiu Shui just stood there quietly and watched.
...
When the child returned to town, sure enough, his parents were about to go out, and they happened to bump into the smiling child returning with a roasted rabbit in his arms.
"Where have you been for so long?"
"Well... I have a little friend who caught some rabbits. I just went to exchange them for rabbits. Mom, look at these rabbits."
"Friends from town?"
"...from the village outside the town."
"Oh, don't just play with others. When the time comes, you'll see if your father beats you up. In a few years, we'll send you to study at Xuanxuyuan in the next town. You can make more friends there. .”
"..."
...
Amid the wind and snow, a mountain moon loomed.
But after all, the moon in the snow in December is hazy, not as majestic as in the past when the moonlight shines down on the world, but it is also lonely.
Therefore, the people in the city only occasionally raised their eyes to take a look under the umbrella, and then left quietly in the night.
Zhang San was also walking on the street holding an umbrella.
Although the Taoist priest from Shanhe Temple named Chen Qingshan said not to let himself run there all the time, it is still okay to go there occasionally.
And after clarifying some things, his wife also came to apologize again and brought many gifts.
So Zhang San is not afraid that his wife will cause trouble again.
On the contrary, his wife became attentive and always asked Zhang San - why don't you go see that little fairy from the north?
Zhang San was very helpless.
So he held an umbrella, picked up a piece of bacon, and headed for the alley in the wind and snow.
When I was walking through the street, I saw a sword light cutting through the wind and snow in the sky. It gave the blurred moonlight a glimmer of clarity, but it soon healed gradually, as if it was just a dream illusion.
Of course it's not an illusion.
Zhang San stopped and looked at it for a while, but he was thinking about his daughter. In the future, she might be able to fly away in the wind and snow like those in the spiritual world, so she became happy again, lowered her head, and continued to move forward. go.
But when he walked near the alley, he saw a woman in red standing on the rugged slope steps heading towards the alley, with her back to him, holding two swords.
Zhang San was stunned for a moment.
Looking up at the sky, there is indeed a clear path leading to the world, which is gradually covered by snowflakes in the wind and snow.
Could this be the sword cultivator just now?
Zhang San glanced secretly, only to feel that there was a very cold and cold feeling on this young woman in red. His eyes fell on the two swords again, he shrank his neck involuntarily, and then walked along the slope. The other side walked towards the alley.
After walking only a few steps, the woman in red turned her head and looked at Zhang San quietly. Her eyes fell on the piece of bacon in Zhang San's hand. Zhang San stopped subconsciously and stood. over there.
The woman in red looked at it for a long time before she said coldly: "Is there a Taoist from Shanhe Temple living in the alley?"
Zhang San was stunned for a moment, then shook his head decisively and said, "No, some sword cultivators lived there before, but there were no Taoists."
The woman in red looked at Zhang San quietly, then turned and walked towards the alley without saying anything.
Zhang San hesitated for a little and then slowly followed.
The alley was full of wind and snow, and the woman in red stopped not far from the small yard under the locust tree. She looked at it quietly for a long time, and then her eyes fell on another yard not far away that seemed empty.
After looking at the yard for a long time, the woman in red turned to look at Zhang San, who was following up with bacon, and said calmly: "If you know the owner of this yard, tell him that I rented this yard and let him come to him." I’ll take the money.”
Zhang San hesitated for a while, then walked forward and said sincerely: "I am, but this yard is haunted. You see there is a locust tree there. It may be unsafe to live in it."
At that time, Zhang San also used the locust tree to make a fuss - there were ghosts beside the tree, and the world was peaceful.
But now there is a ghost beside the tree, living there uneasily.
The woman in red just opened the door calmly and walked in.
"I'm not afraid of ghosts."
Zhang San hesitated for a while, glanced at the yard nearby, and somehow gained some courage, and said firmly: "I won't rent."
The woman in red stopped at the entrance of the courtyard, took out a money bag from her arms, threw it over, and threw it into Zhang San's arms.
"I think it can be rented."
Zhang San said angrily: "You are being unreasonable!"
The woman in red looked back at Zhang San, her eyes calm and indifferent in the snow.
"Yes, so what?"
The courtyard door slowly closed.
Zhang San stood there in a daze, then lowered his head in frustration.
Of course not.
Practitioners will reason with the world because they are willing to reason.
If you don’t want to talk about it, the world will naturally have no choice.
Shanyue City is not Sophora Capital.
Zhang San stood in the wind and snow dejectedly for a long time, then threw the bag of money in his arms at the door of the courtyard, then spat at the door, then walked to the courtyard under the locust tree, opened the door and walked in .
Chen Qingshan was still sleeping by the stove under the eaves.
People who have been injured naturally feel a lot.
Zhang San looked at Chen Qingshan under the eaves with a sullen expression, thinking to himself, Master, you are sleeping peacefully and don't know how to restrain yourself. No, your enemies will smell it and come to your door.
I don’t know whether Chen Qingshan heard his inner curse or whether the sound of closing the door woke up the Taoist. In short, when Zhang San walked into the yard, Chen Qingshan opened his eyes and looked at Zhang San strangely.
"Why are you looking so sad? Your wife scolded you again?"
Zhang San sighed, walked to the eaves, put away the umbrella, and put the piece of bacon in the bucket beside it - Chen Qingshan sat under the eaves all day long, and didn't take those things in, so he simply threw them aside.
After putting away the bacon, Zhang San turned back to the steps, shaking the snow off his umbrella, and recounted what had just happened.
"Does the real person know which of your enemies that is?"
Although Chen Qingshan listened to the whole story, he just glanced aside lazily and said, "I don't know, there are too many enemies."
"Then Master, are you going to run away?"
Chen Qingshan said quite calmly: "Why should I run? The only people in this world who can let me run are some bad old men."
"Then what is she doing there?"
Chen Qingshan shrugged and said: "I don't know. Maybe I was surprised to find that I am here, but I was pessimistic to find that I can't win. I might as well just wait and see when I will be seriously injured."
"Isn't that what a real person is now?"
"It wasn't enough for her."
Zhang San looked at Chen Qingshan suspiciously for a long time, and saw that the Taoist's face was indeed very calm, so he felt relieved.
Chen Qingshan really didn't care who the person was, he just counted the days, sat in front of the stove and waited quietly.
...
A seaside town somewhere in the world.
Except for the area around Nanyi City, there are actually very few people who are keen on playing cards.
However, it is rare for this small town to have a card shop that seems to have been open for many years.
The business inside is not very good, but it is not deserted either. After all, it is snowing heavily and there is nothing to do, so it is inevitable to find some entertainment.
Someone was sitting quietly at the card table in the corner. The middle-aged man at the table rubbed the red card in his hand for a long time, and then played it out.
"What a fool."
The man calmly took the red card from the deck, and then pushed the card down.
The man at the table sighed for a while and simply paid the money. He probably lost too much and was going to be scolded by his wife when he got home. He got up and walked out with a sad face.
When I opened the curtain, I happened to meet a person who opened the curtain and came in. The loser didn't pay attention and walked out dejectedly.
The man in the corner of the card table, where three were missing and one was missing, raised his head and looked quietly at the man in white who walked in.
"How many laps?"
"Can."
