The red sun sets in the west, and the crows and magpies are noisy.
Dusk falls quietly from outside the distant mountains. The tall and ancient city walls are sometimes blue-gray, sometimes dark ocher, changing colors silently.
In the shadow cast by the house, a tall young man wearing a black half-face mask was striding toward a civil information bureau.
This person is Gu Xu.
Since leaving the secret branch of the "Qingming" organization, he went all the way north, passing through Zezhou Prefecture, Lu'an Prefecture, Qinzhou Prefecture and Liaozhou Prefecture, and came to Jinyang Prefecture, which is surrounded by mountains on three sides.
This is his nominal title fiefdom, and it has a bit of a fate with him.
But when he saw the wanted posters posted on the wall and the practitioners patrolling the streets with weapons, he felt that the city was full of hostility towards him.
Of course, it’s not just Jinyang Mansion.
Ever since he was accused of "unfounded" treason by Emperor Tianxing, the entire Da Qi Dynasty had regarded him as a formidable enemy. They were heavily guarded and took various measures to search for his traces.
Fortunately, Chief Luo Si was considerate and gave him this mask that could shield spells and cut off cause and effect.
As long as he wears a mask, no one will recognize him even if he walks struttingly on the street.
Therefore, during the recent period, he wore a mask during the day, and as long as he was full of true energy, he would manipulate the "astrolabe" and build a space channel to travel.
At night, in order to avoid side effects, he found a deserted mountain and old forest to hide, took off his mask, and rested quietly.
Since he had thrown away all the elixirs on his body and did not dare to obtain new elixirs in the territory of the Daqi Dynasty, he had not practiced for a long time and could only rely on rest to slowly restore his true energy.
But for some reason, even if he didn't practice at all, the true energy in his body was still slowly increasing - although the speed was not as fast as before, it was still much faster than most of the monks in the Daqi Dynasty.
"The book is right," Gu Xu thought to himself about this, "In Dahuang's practice system, the higher the realm, the more important it is to understand the 'Tao'."
According to the book, the essence of the fourth stage "Wangxiang Terrace" is to look back on the mortal world and experience the fireworks of the world and the various flavors of life; while the fifth stage "Meng Poting" requires cutting off the fetters and transcending from the mortal world.
In order to "detach themselves", Daqi monks came up with various methods - such as retreat, self-abuse and ascetic practice, long-distance training... and the simplest, crudest and most widely known method of "Zhan Qi" Affection".
Gu Xu did not deliberately seek the method of "detachment".
But his recent experience——
Falling from glory to bottom, losing status and honor, and cutting off many original social relationships.
Undoubtedly, it is consistent with the profound meaning of "Meng Poting".
It can be said that "misfortune lies on the back of blessing, and blessing lies on the misfortune."
It gave him a little comfort in this life of escape with enemies on all sides and an uncertain future.
…………
Gu Xu stopped in front of the Jinyang Civil Information Bureau.
With a thought, he took out a heavy package nearly one meter long from "Xianyunju".
The package contained a knife box, and the knife box contained Shi Xiaohan's "Kunwu Sword".
On the day of the "Luoshui Conference", because Shi Xiaohan was injured and had difficulty moving, Gu Xu temporarily kept the weapon for her.
He originally planned to go to her mansion after the battle and return the "Kunwu Sword" to her.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the two separated, Gu Xu went from the much-anticipated leader of the conference to a traitor wanted across the country.
Running away is important.
Under heavy pursuit by the Da Qi court, Gu Xu did not dare to risk his life and go to Luo Jing's residence.
However, not long after, Shi Xiaohan will also advance to the fourth realm. By then, "Kunwu Sword" will most likely become her destiny.
Gu Xu did not want her practice progress to be delayed.
Therefore, he could only choose to send the "Kunwu Sword" to Shi Xiaohan through "express delivery".
…………
After hundreds of years of development, the Daqi Dynasty already had a relatively mature relay system.
There were "official stations" set up by the imperial court, which were used to provide resting and accommodation places for officials who were out on business. They could also pass documents and transport materials through special formations.
There are also "Civil Bureaus" founded by the private sector - they are privately operated and provide paid services to ordinary people for delivering letters and parcels. They are also called "Civil Bureaus".
As a wanted criminal, Gu Xu did not dare to go to Guanyi, but only to the letter bureau.
Not only does he wear a mask, he also uses causal magic to disguise his identity.
He once learned a lot of knowledge related to the avenue of cause and effect from Kongxuan Sanren.
In the Avenue of Cause and Effect, each person's name can be understood as a special talisman, which represents his identity and is also the way for others to know him.
If you use the art of cause and effect to borrow someone else's name, you can temporarily assume someone else's identity, and even if you don't change your appearance, you can still make it unrecognizable.
For example, Kong Xuan Sanren once used the magic of cause and effect to borrow the name of his neighbor Wu Qilang and spent a night with Wu Qilang's wife - for the whole night, the beautiful woman firmly believed that Kong Xuan Sanren was her. s husband.
The name Gu Xu borrowed today is "Wang Xiang", and he belongs to an ordinary clerk in the Exorcism Department of Jinyang City.
Although he is just a minor official, he is still a genuine cultivator after all, and he is one of a kind among all living beings in the wilderness.
As soon as Gu Xu crossed the threshold, he was immediately warmly received by the credit bureau operator.
The operator is a young man wearing a t-shirt and with a withered face.
He politely took the package from Gu Xu's hand and carefully wrote down the recipient's information.
When Gu Xu said, "The recipient is Shi Lei from Qianhu in Laizhou Prefecture," the young man in a t-shirt couldn't help but look at him with wide eyes, as if he didn't expect that a low-ranking official would actually talk to a guard. A fifth-grade official is involved.
Afterwards, Gu Xu paid the "jiu li" (postage) and the most expensive "deposit" (insurance money), and asked the other party to deliver the package to Shi Lei and not to lose it.
The young man in a t-shirt patted his chest and said that his credit bureau is a century-old brand with an excellent reputation and has never lost anything, so you can rest assured.
Gu Xu nodded, turned and left the information bureau, then walked along the street towards the gate of Jinyang City.
It's getting dark.
The mask he put on his face was soon running out of time.
He had to find a deserted place and pick it off to avoid triggering its side effects.
…………
When Gu Xu was walking on the street, a thin storyteller wearing a linen gown was standing by the window on the second floor of the teahouse, waving a cattail leaf fan and casually looking at Gu Xu's fading away. Back view.
His eyes were empty, making it impossible to see his emotions.
After a while, when Gu Xu's figure completely disappeared from sight, the storyteller finally turned around, looked at the guests sitting in the room drinking tea, and said with a smile: "The story I just told about the imperial prisoner , Dear guests, do you want to continue listening?"
The appetites of everyone present had already been whetted.
They all urged the storyteller to speak quickly and not to delay.
"The fugitive I just talked about, with the help of others and a little luck, successfully escaped from the court and escaped from the capital." The storyteller waved his fan gently and said in a lazy tone, "This The prisoner was extremely cautious. He not only wore a mask to hide his appearance, but also used many fancy talismans and spells to interfere with divination and block the secrets of heaven.
"If nothing unexpected happens, he should be able to sneak out of the country quietly. From now on, the sea will be wide for fish to leap, and the sky will be high for birds to fly.
“However, there are unforeseen circumstances.
"One night, the fugitive was hiding in the deep mountains and forests, quietly recovering his true energy. Suddenly, a frightened scream broke the silence of the mountains and forests.
“The fugitive turned around and found a man not far away surrounded by a group of ghosts.
"Looking at the man's attire, he was a junior official from the Exorcism Department on a mission. The junior official was seriously injured, his body was bleeding, and his face was pale. His cultivation level was mediocre. He was obviously not capable of dealing with the ghosts in front of him. . He felt that he was likely to die here today.
"Perhaps it was because the young official was chanting his wife's name when he was dying, which moved the fugitive.
"The fugitive sighed, walked out of the confinement where he was hiding, and in just a few words, these ghosts disappeared into ashes.
"The exorcism department clerk stared blankly at his savior and was about to thank him.
"But at this moment, a strong gust of wind blew by, and the mask on the fugitive's face suddenly fell to the ground——"
"——What you made up is too outrageous." At this moment, a grumpy guest in the teahouse slammed the table, interrupting the storyteller, "According to you, this fugitive has a very high level of cultivation, and Being cautious, how could his mask be easily dropped to the ground by a gust of wind?
"If you want to expose his identity, you can find a more reasonable reason."
"My guest, you have to understand," the storyteller smiled and said calmly, "it is true that we need to pay attention to rationality in making up stories, but the reality is unreasonable.
“The story I told is not fiction, it happened.
"In other words, it will become a reality soon."
"Then what happened next?" Another guest urged, "After the fugitive's mask fell off, his identity should have been exposed, right? Did the clerk plan to report it to the official, or did he plan to cover up his savior?"
The storyteller said mysteriously: "If you want to know what happened next time, let's listen to the explanation next time."
After finishing his words, he left the cursing audience behind and walked down the stairs to the teahouse.
Outside the door of the teahouse, he met an old Taoist with a white beard wearing dark blue Taoist robes and holding a whisk.
As soon as the two met, they smiled at the same time, even the curvature of the corners of their mouths was exactly the same.
"I really didn't expect that boy Gu Xu to be on the opposite side of the Qi court," said the white-bearded old man. "It's really interesting to see him hiding all day long, like a mouse meeting a cat."
"Now, Gu Xu has left the scope of the 'Tianlong Formation' and escaped the protection of the imperial court," Mr. Storyteller said, "We can deal with him. Last time he destroyed our altar and destroyed our carefully prepared The promotion plan requires him to pay a price."
"Why do you want to do it yourself?" At this moment, a hunchbacked old man suddenly walked out of the shadow in the corner and said with a smile, "Emperor Da Qi is our enemy, and Gu Xu is also our enemy. Now the two Two enemies are fighting, don't you think it's interesting?
"That boy Gu Xu is indeed very talented, but Emperor Da Qi is not an ordinary practitioner. We don't need to do anything, he will be dealt with by the emperor sooner or later."
"But what if even the emperor falls into the hands of that kid?" A middle-aged man with a plain appearance and gloomy temperament sitting on the threshold interjected.
He was wearing an old coarse cloth shirt and carried a wooden frame on his shoulders. There were several mice jumping on the wooden frame.
"Isn't that better?" the hunchbacked old man said with a smile.
"But I think it's difficult to resolve the hatred in my heart without doing it myself." The storyteller sighed and frowned.
"Then let's vote," the old man with white beard decided. "Gather all the clones together and hold a meeting. The minority will obey the majority."
…………
PS: I'm very sorry. I was busy applying for graduate school a few days ago, so the update is a little late.
