The wind blew from the shore and rocked the whole boat this way and that. The river water also kept beating against the wooden planks of the wooden boat, making a banging sound.
Rain fell from the sky, and the misty rain as thin as cow hair fell on everyone. You can occasionally see fish emerging from the water on the river.
Xia Zhichan made a water-avoiding tactic with her left hand and recited a few words silently. The rain that was supposed to fall on him actually seemed to fall on an invisible umbrella.
"Dad, dad, don't leave me, don't..."
That silly boy was still holding Xia Zhichan's right arm with both hands, shouting randomly in his mouth, his whole body was trembling, and tears slowly fell from the corners of his eyes.
"What kind of illusion is this..." Xia Zhichan thought for a moment and flicked her crown of heaven with her left hand. There was a crisp sound, and a pale golden halo enveloped the entire ship almost instantly.
But nothing seemed to have changed.
The others still didn't wake up, and the stupid boy next to him showed no signs of letting go. This situation made Xia Zhichan a little confused.
"It's not an illusion? Ordinary illusions can't affect me..."
Buzz, there was another crisp buzz.
What made the sound was a slender straight knife at the waist of that silly boy. The scabbard is black, as is the handle. There is no pattern decoration. If you don’t look carefully, you might think it is a fire stick.
Snapped!
Xia Zhichan took out her right hand with force, and when the stupid boy came to pester him again, he slapped him down.
Taking the opportunity, he pulled out the straight knife that kept screaming from his waist.
Dark clouds cover the sky, and the autumn wind blows constantly from all sides. No matter which direction you look at, you can only see a gray area, and you can't tell the boundary between heaven and earth.
But at this moment, light bloomed from the boat.
It was white light, cold white light. It's like the white moonlight shining down from the cloudless sky on a moonlit night.
But this light is colder than moonlight.
Xia Zhichan only pulled out the knife three inches. With the cold light reflected, he saw the mirror-like blade flowing with fine lines like waves. He didn't have much knowledge, but he knew it was a knife pattern. It is said that a knife forger cannot make several knives with knife patterns in his lifetime.
It is impossible for ordinary knife patterns to have such a strange sight, so there is only one possibility. Legend has it that among 10,000 knives, there can be a knife with natural knife patterns, and among 10,000 knives with natural knife patterns, there can be a knife with reverse knife patterns. The Dao Wen Dao can cut iron like clay, but the Ni Wen Dao can cut the Dao Wen Dao like clay.
It can be said that before this, Xia Zhichan had always heard these things as legends.
Today, he saw it for real.
Xia Zhichan looked at it curiously, and then put the knife back into the sheath. At this moment, the stupid boy struggled to get up again, so he handed the knife back to the stupid boy's hand.
Buzz!
As soon as the knife was in hand, the boy immediately opened his eyes. The tears from the corners of his eyes were thrown away, and his hands were holding the reverse pattern knife in a very weird posture. With a push of his left hand and a pull of his right hand, a ray of white light shone right on his face, dividing his face into two parts: light and dark.
"Where am I?"
"We're on the boat, have you forgotten about taking the ferry?" Xia Zhichan felt relieved when he saw that the silly boy had come to his senses. He found a place to sit casually and put his right hand into his left hand. In the sleeve robe, I fiddled with it for a while, and then took out my fingers with some disappointment.
The index finger of his right hand is covered with bite marks.
"It seems it's not because of the golden and jade heads..." Xia Zhichan could tell from the black cat's reaction whether there were fragments of golden and jade heads around here causing trouble. This is why Xia Zhichan still keeps the black cat and hasn't taken out the fragment in her stomach.
"What did you say?"
Seeing Xia Zhichan ignoring him, the silly boy felt that his reaction was a bit excessive, so he put the knife back into its sheath with a look of shame on his face. He looked around and ran over to look at the unconscious people lying on the boat.
"It's nothing, I just think this thing is a bit weird, but I can't tell exactly what is weird."
Xia Zhichan yawned, looked up at the dark sky, and then turned his face to look at the dark river water under the boat.
"It's all my fault. If you didn't take the same boat with me, you wouldn't have encountered this kind of thing..."
The kid with the knife also found a place to sit, holding the reverse pattern knife in his arms, and said with regret on his face:
"I am born to have a hard life. Master said that I am born with evil spirits. I am born to defeat my father, my mother, my brothers, and my friends. I am destined to have three death tribulations. If I can avoid it, I will live. If I cannot avoid it, I will die. It may even cause the death of innocent bystanders..."
"hehe……"
Xia Zhichan just laughed when he heard this. He turned his head and looked up and down at the silly boy holding the knife. Before he could speak, he heard the other party say:
"Don't believe it, I was born in dystocia, and my mother sacrificed her life to give birth to me. This was the first disaster in my life. When I was five years old, there was a severe drought. My father took me to escape, leaving the last food for me. If you kill me, my father will starve to death. This is the second death disaster in my life..."
Speaking of this, the boy couldn't help but grasp the knife in his arms, lowered his head and buried his face in the darkness. There was a crackling sound, which was the sound of water droplets hitting the planks of the bottom of the boat.
"I didn't say I didn't believe it, rather it was quite the opposite..."
Xia Zhichan took out the red gourd from his right sleeve. He raised his head and took a sip of wine, taking the opportunity to let the tears that were about to well up from the corners of his eyes mix with the rain and fall down.
He stood up, walked up to the silly boy in a few steps, handed over the red wine gourd, and smiled at the surprised look in his eyes:
"Have a bite."
"No, you'd better stay away from me, or I might kill you."
The boy also moved to the side, trying to put some distance between himself and Xia Zhichan. Unexpectedly, his shoulders sank. When he looked back, he saw Xia Zhichan sitting next to him and holding his shoulders with one hand.
"Open your mouth!"
The boy felt that he was completely out of control, his mouth opened wide involuntarily, and then a mouthful of wine was poured into his mouth.
"Cough cough cough..."
He has never drunk alcohol. He has never even had a few decent meals since he was a child, let alone drink alcohol. After the wine, which was as potent as a knife, entered his throat, he felt as if he was being carried away by a strong horse.
"After drinking, we become friends."
Xia Zhichan patted the boy on the shoulder and said unreasonably.
"Cough cough cough, cough cough cough, you, aren't you afraid of being killed by me?"
It was also the first time for the boy to see such a strange guy like Xia Zhichan. He coughed for a long time and finally recovered before asking.
"its me……"
Xia Zhichan took another sip of wine, exhaled the smell of alcohol, stretched out his finger and tapped his nose and said:
"My master said that I have seven tribulations of death, and that I have to overcome my father, my mother, my brothers, and my friends. There are seven tribulations of death in my life... Then the question is, if we become friends, will you kill me first, or will you kill me first? Shall I kill you first?"
"This...I don't know."
The silly boy scratched his head. He really couldn't answer the tricky question Xia Zhichan asked. He was in a daze for a moment, as if he might never have any friends.
Xia Zhichan seemed to be the first person willing to be friends with her.
"South two, south of south, two of one two."
Nan Er was a little uncomfortable, not because of Xia Zhichan, but because he rarely introduced himself in front of others, so he felt a little uncomfortable.
"You know the cicadas in the summer. You know the summer solstice when the cicadas sing."
Xia Zhichan took another sip of wine, feeling a little drunk. Listen to the symphony of lapping river water beside your ears, mixed with the sound of howling wind, intertwined into a harmonious natural movement:
"Your name is really weird. Nan Er, the second male character. It sounds like the name of a supporting character in a third-rate novel. I don't know which unscrupulous author named it."
"My surname is Nan, the second in the family. I used to have a name, but it's not important anymore. Everyone in my family is dead, even the master who saved my life is dead. It doesn't matter what my name is..."
Nan Er smiled, but there was unspeakable pain in his eyes. The name he once used not only represented himself, but also represented his family and the honor that had accumulated for nearly a hundred years.
But now that the family has died and the family has been destroyed, the name that represents the family has been buried in the soil along with it.
"Hey, do you feel something is wrong?"
Xia Zhichan leaned to the side. He looked at the people who were still sleeping on the ground over there. He suddenly felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.
"What's wrong? Look, besides the old ferryman who disappeared, is there anything else..." Before Nan Er could finish his words, he was suddenly startled and looked at those people who were still lying on the ground again. .
One, two, three...seven?
Including Xia Zhichan and Nan Er, there are only nine people. Does that mean there is one less person on the boat?
"Impossible, I just counted, there are indeed ten people..."
Nan Er frowned, and once again climbed up the handle of the Niwen Knife in his arms with both hands. He didn't speak anymore, but looked at Xia Zhichan, which meant he was asking what should be done next.
Xia Zhichan smiled and shook her head slightly to signal Nan Er not to act rashly. Then he raised the wine gourd and took another sip, and then simply fell asleep due to the drunkenness.
Seeing his lazy look, Nan Er also understood that the other party was planning to deliberately pretend not to know, so that the mastermind behind all this could relax his vigilance, and wait for him to take action next time.
"Yawn...I feel so sleepy. I'll take a nap first."
Nan Er yawned, curled up and leaned to the side, imitating Xia Zhichan and pretending to sleep.
After both of them closed their eyes, they were at the bottom of the ship that they couldn't see.
One by one, dry and thin black claws slowly climbed up. The owners of these black claws were all black shadows that looked like monkeys. They had no hair like monkeys, and only the mud from the river bottom stuck to their skin.
The scarlet eyes seemed to be flowing with the blood of all the people who died in the river. The mouth is wide open, and inside are fangs that are the same color as the skin.
They climbed quietly on both sides of the boat, swaying from side to side as the river flow followed the boat's hull. In a dim environment, the body can be completely hidden.
If it weren't for Xia Zhichan suddenly waking up just now and pulling out the counter-grain knife again. These guys hiding at the bottom of the dark river had already climbed onto the boat and threw all the damned people into the river.
There was a rumble, like thunder in the sky, or like a huge boulder at the bottom of the river being moved by something, making a loud noise. The loud noise was like war drums beating in front of the two armies, and the strange-looking water ghosts climbed up from both sides of the ship.
Squeak, squeak, those monsters' sharp claws dug into the wooden planks of the ship, making a tooth-breaking sound. They seemed to be organized and planned. After getting on the boat, they did not dare to approach Xia Zhichan and Nan Er. Instead, they directly grabbed the unconscious people and dragged them to throw them into the river. go.
At this time, a white light shot out of the sky.
The black water monster, which looked like a monkey but was even more twisted, let out a piercing scream.
Then it was split into two.
The other monsters that were around it scattered in panic, making incomprehensible sounds from their mouths full of sharp teeth.
They had no intention of fighting Nan Er who was holding the reverse pattern knife. They rushed into the river like dumplings one by one and disappeared.
Nan Er slashed left and right, and still relied on his sword skills to kill several monkey-shaped water monsters. But most of the remaining monsters took the opportunity to escape back into the water, and never dared to show their heads again.
The few beheaded water monsters slowly turned into a puddle of foul-smelling black mud.
A gust of wind blew up, and the boat began to rock violently with the wind. Even though Nan Er was a martial artist with a solid foundation in martial arts training for many years, he could only hold on to the wooden planks of the ship's side to barely stabilize his body.
After an unknown amount of time, this unexplained strong wind finally blew over. Nan Er wiped the river water from his face. He looked intently and saw that he and Xia Zhichan were the only two people left on the boat.
Those who were unconscious were swept into the river by the strong wind.
"Damn! Damn the wind!"
Nan Er cursed angrily, and he was so angry that he couldn't help but stamp the wooden board under his feet several times. Immediately afterwards there was another violent shaking, but it was different from before. Just now, the strong wind was rocking the boat.
Now, there is no wind and the boat is on its own.
"What's going on?"
Nan Er could only sit down next to the side of the boat again, holding the knife in his right hand and grabbing the wood on the side of the boat with his left hand. He was really uncomfortable now. He knew that taking a boat was so uncomfortable. He would rather go around the fifty-mile mountain road and walk on the bridge than take the boat.
"fine."
When Nan Er was killing the water monster just now, Xia Zhichan didn't move. He didn't even bother to pinch a spell. But now he stood up, no matter how the small wooden boat shook, he was like a nail firmly nailed to the wooden boat:
"The Lord is here."
