July is the hottest month of the year in Dushuicheng.
Xiang Shen stood in front of the window of Zifang with his hands clasped behind his back, looking at the prosperous business of the blacksmith shop opposite, with a gentle meaning in his eyes.
But this trace of gentleness was soon replaced by silence.
"Brother, I want to go out for a while." Xiang Shu suddenly said.
Wang Tuo, who was sleeping soundly with his wine gourd in his arms, twitched his ears and immediately opened his eyes and sat up, "Have you thought of a way to eliminate your resentment?"
Xiang Shu shook his head, "No, so I wanted to visit a senior."
"senior?"
Wang Tuo's eyes showed surprise. He couldn't think of anyone in the entire Dongzhou who was qualified to be called a senior by Xiang Shu.
But since she said that, he didn't ask any further questions and immediately jumped onto Xiang Shen's shoulder: "Then let's go."
Xiang Shu didn't move, but just chuckled, "If we leave together, what will happen to this writing workshop?"
Wang Tuo was stunned for a moment, "Mei Shu, you..."
Xiang Shen pursed his lips lightly: "I want to go alone. Brother, can you stay and look after the house?"
Wang Tuo jumped off his shoulders, stood on the table and looked at Xiang Shu, frowning slightly: "Yes, yes, but you have to tell me, where are you going?"
Xiang Shen was silent for a moment, his red lips parted slightly.
"Xuanwang City."
Xiang Shu walked away silently, without saying goodbye to anyone in Dushui City. It was not until Widow Wang came to the door after Jian Zi Fang had not opened the door for a day that she found the letter left by Xiang Shu through the crack in the door.
"The return date is uncertain."
Widow Wang could read some words, and after reading the contents of the letter, a trace of disappointment appeared on her face, and she murmured to herself: "Why did I leave so suddenly..."
Compared to Widow Wang, Luo Hai was quite frightened today.
After Xiang Shen left, Wang Tuo had no point guarding Zifang alone, so he simply stayed in the wine shop and drank all day long.
Luo Hai carefully asked around and found out that Xiang Shu had already left.
"Senior, are you just letting her go alone? Aren't you afraid that she will be in danger?"
Luo Hai is a little unbelievable. Nowadays, there are disasters all over Dongzhou. Although a large number of monks are rushing to suppress it, the world outside is in chaos. Doesn't Senior Hu know?
"She doesn't want to take me, what can I do?"
Wang Tuo took another sip of wine, sighing and getting drunk: "But in terms of danger, what danger can she be in? That's all, I'll just stay here and wait for her..."
As he talked, Wang Tuo fell asleep.
Everyone gets drunk even if they are not drunk. Senior Tiger is feeling sad and is just using alcohol to escape.
Luo Hai saw the clues and was still thinking about Wang Tuo's words.
Senior Hu is not worried about the little girl's safety, so he should have left a means to save her life.
He thought with some envy, carefully packed away the leftovers around Wang Tuo, and then quietly retreated.
…
Going to Xuanwang City, Xiang Shu did not use any cultivation methods. Instead, he took a boat from the ferry at Dushui City, then hired a caravan in the small town and slowly entered the territory of Lu Kingdom.
After walking the same path as Lu Zhu all those years ago, Xiang Shu stood in front of the closed Tianqing Pavilion in Xiuzhenfang City, Mingyun Tower, and stepped out.
With this leap, he crossed countless distances in an instant and arrived at a snowy field.
Not far in front of the snow, there is a rugged mountain road covered by transparent ice crystals, extending upward to the top of the mountain.
The cold that has been frozen for hundreds of years is not so easy to melt away.
Xiang Shu looked at the snow city on the top of the mountain with a calm expression as he climbed up the stairs.
It took her nine days to walk from Dushui City to here.
From the first day of July to the ninth day of July. That day one hundred and twenty-five years ago was also the ninth day of July.
The past events are vivid in my mind, as if they were yesterday.
After a while, Xiang Shu walked to the top of the mountain.
Xuanwang City is as dilapidated as it was when it left a hundred years ago. The city gate is covered with ice edges and turns into an ice wall blocking the way.
With a sweep of Xiang Shen's sleeves, the cold ice wall instantly broke open and exploded into a vast area.
The sky was covered with ice, and it seemed like it was snowing again.
With ice shards flying, Xiang Shen stepped into the city.
Today, Xuanwang City is covered with a thick layer of ice shell everywhere, and everything is icy blue as far as the eye can see.
Xiang Shen dodged his body and came to the former earthen building. At a glance, he saw two palace-style blankets covering the ground under the ice.
She did not destroy the ice to take out Lu Zhu's relics, but waved her sleeves to create a layer of restrictions, reinforcing the ice here and keeping everything as it was before turning around and leaving.
The north of the city was as dilapidated as before. Xiang Shu walked on the street, following his memory, and found the place where Lu Zhu disappeared and sat down.
She touched the storage ring with her fingertips, took out the Lian Cuiling Dagger and placed it on the opposite side. Then she took out a bottle of wine and filled two glasses. She placed one cup in front of the spirit dagger, held the other cup in one hand, and drank it cleanly.
After drinking, a trace of drunkenness appeared in Xiang Shu's eyes.
She didn't say anything, just drank one cup after another, from day to night, and from night to the dawn of the sky.
Suddenly a sigh sounded from behind him.
A circle of formation patterns appeared on the ground. After the light passed, a blurry white shadow walked out and came to Xiang Shu's side.
"The deceased is gone, why do you do this?"
Xiang Yu didn't even look back, he just chuckled: "It's just that I haven't come to see him for a long time, so I just want to stay with him for a while."
Bai Ying immediately fell silent and stopped making any sound.
Xiang Shu continued to drink for most of the day. It was not until the sun set that the smell of alcohol dissipated from his body and his eyes regained consciousness.
"Senior Array Spirit, a person whose soul is in disarray, is there still a glimmer of hope for reincarnation?"
"I haven't reached the end of the road to seeking truth. I don't know the true meaning yet, so I can't give you the answer."
In the ice and snow, Bai Ying sat down next to Xiang Shen, his blurry face seemed to be smiling: "Also, I am not a formation spirit, you can call me...senior sister."
Hearing this, Xiang Shu finally moved his eyes away from the spirit dagger and turned to look at the white shadow beside him.
This is a turbid remnant soul, which can be vaguely identified as a woman. It has the smell of a human soul and the fluctuation of the formation.
Xiang Shu narrowed his eyes slightly, "The person who communicated with me a hundred years ago was also a senior?"
"No, that is indeed a formation spirit."
Bai Ying shook his head, "I have been sleeping in the center of the formation. Thanks to this hundred-year freeze, I have the opportunity to merge with the formation spirit, regain some sanity, and wake up."
After saying that, Bai Ying smiled again, "Little junior sister, don't you even want to call me senior? The blood ring on your hand is my master's treasure, and it is also the token of my puppet master."
Xiang Shen's eyes flashed when he heard this, "Senior, can you recognize the sword madman?" Five
"Sword Madman..."
Bai Ying was startled, and then his expression became complicated: "Elder brother, he is... crazy... he should be crazy..."
Bai Ying murmured to himself and quickly came to his senses, "Where is he?"
"A hundred years ago, I met Senior Sword Madman in the Demon King Valley and was taught swordsmanship."
Xiang Shen didn't hide anything and said bluntly: "Later I returned to the old place. I didn't see him in the Demon King Valley and I don't know where he went."
Bai Ying was obviously a little disappointed when he heard this, but he quickly cheered up and said: "Xiang Shu, I know you have many unresolved doubts in your heart, and you don't even know your own mission. That's why I'm here today. .”
mission?
Xiang Shen frowned slightly. She didn't like this word, but she didn't rush to refute anything, and continued to listen to Bai Ying's narration.
"My name is Wen Yi, I am the second disciple of the Puppet Sect leader, and I was also the city lord of Xuanwang City."
Bai Ying's voice was full of reminiscence, and he spoke eloquently, "Master had four disciples during his lifetime. In addition to me, there were also senior brother Jianfeng, third junior brother Xiao Wei, and fourth junior brother Fang Ye."
At this point, Bai Ying paused, and his tone became more intimate: "Now, there is another one of you, Fifth Junior Sister."
When Xiang Shu heard this, his expression did not change at all, "Did Senior Wen misunderstand something? This junior just got this blood ring by chance. The person who left the ring only scrawled a few words.
, did not mention anything about the puppet clan. "
"So that's what you care about?"
Bai Ying shook his head and laughed, "Not everyone can refine the blood ring.
When the master was still alive, she once said that the blood ring was a token of the Puppet Sect. She left a heart-refining test in the blood ring. Whoever can pass that test and make the blood ring recognize its master will be the second generation master of the Puppet Sect. .
It is precisely because of this that I can be sure that you, Xiang Shu, are the fifth disciple recognized by Master after a lifetime, and not a rooster and a dog thief. "
Xiang Shu listened silently, feeling a sense of fragmentation in his heart that could not be ignored.
She did go through a test when she fell into the cliff.
But that test was aimed at the corner of the "Deception" formation disk. In Qingtian's eyes, the blood ring was just a good magic weapon and was never said to be a token of the puppet sect.
Looking at the precise words of Senior Wen Yi, and considering the performance of Senior Sword Maniac in the past, it cannot be false.
There is no falsehood on either side, it can only be that there is some kind of misunderstanding. As for what the misunderstanding was specifically... there were too few clues for her to figure it out.
However, even if she knew that there were some errors and omissions, Xiang Shen could not explain it. She could not expose the existence of "Deception" just to clarify this point.
It's better to make mistakes and use this relationship to find out more truth.
Thinking of this, Xiang Shu's eyes flashed and he said, "Little sister Xiang Shu, I have met my senior sister."
When Bai Ying Wen Yi heard this title, her eyes suddenly brightened a lot, and her words became softer: "Fifth Junior Sister, you are the sect leader now, so according to the rules, you don't have to use this modesty."
Xiang Shen nodded slightly, "I still don't know the master's name. It's really rude. I wonder if senior sister can tell me?"
"Of course I should tell you."
Bai Ying smiled sweetly, "Master's real name has been erased by heaven, and almost no one remembers it. Even if there are still people who remember it, they dare not mention it for fear of being punished by heaven.
However, the Xuanwang City formation has the effect of concealing the secrets of heaven, and I am integrated with it, so it doesn't hurt to talk to you. "
Speaking of this, a solemn expression gradually emerged on Bai Ying's face: "Master once traveled around the world of cultivation under the pseudonyms of Puppet and Tianqing. She established the largest sect in ancient times, the Puppet Sect, under the name of Puppet and Tianqing. , founded the first chamber of commerce in ancient times, Tianqing Pavilion.
The master has thousands of disciples, and in terms of cultivation, talent, learning, and strategy and intelligence, he is the number one overlord in the ancient world of cultivation, and no one can surpass him.
Her name was well known to everyone at that time, even mortals in the secular world could tell her a few words.
However, today, ten thousand years later, Master has been completely forgotten by future generations. "
Wen Yi sighed quietly, "Fifth Junior Sister, you must remember carefully, Master's real name is Lu Xuanji!"
