boom!
With his sleeves shaking, a sword energy came out like a rainbow.
He ran straight towards the strange statue on the high platform in the middle. The two people sitting in front of the high platform had not reacted before the sword energy hit the sculpture.
Click, click, click.
Centered on the place where the sword energy struck, countless cracks spread all over the stone sculpture like spider webs.
But Xia Zhichan's sword energy is far from being as simple as it seems. When the invisible sword energy is condensed into a tangible shape, the power is not simply increased several times.
The sword energy destroyed the structure of the stone sculpture from the inside out, slowly turning it from a complete stone sculpture into a pile of broken stones, and then from the stones into even smaller stone chips.
The sculpture collapsed and turned into a pile of stone debris on the high platform.
"Amitabha. Why would the donor be angry at a stone statue..."
"Oh? Master also knew that this was a stone statue. I thought it was the golden body of your Buddha. You were asked to wait like this day and night."
Xia Zhichan's anger had not subsided at all. He flicked his sleeves and blew the stone debris from the high platform to every corner of the Main Hall:
"I would rather guard a dead thing than rescue a living person. Master has practiced Zen and Dharma well."
"Amitabha."
The monk clasped his hands together and said no more words. He seemed to have turned into a stone statue, motionless and lifeless.
The Taoist priest who was carrying the wooden sword seemed to be touched. Although he bowed his head and remained silent, his heart was still touched by Xia Zhichan's words. Things that happened when he was young and used his sword to conquer demons and monsters in the rivers and lakes came to his mind one by one.
In order to avoid the reincarnation of cause and effect, he sat in this ancient temple for nearly ten years. In the past ten years, he thought that he had covered up the cycle of cause and effect in himself. But looking back now, it seems that I took it too much for granted.
It's like the fool who plugged his ears in order to steal a bell recorded in the history books. Covering your ears and stealing the bell, you think it doesn't exist if you can't hear it.
If you can't see cause and effect, you think cause and effect don't exist.
Maybe, I was wrong.
With this thought, the Taoist priest felt as if an inconspicuous pebble had been dropped into his already silent realm of a pool of stagnant water. Although the stones are small, they create ripples.
I don’t know how long it took, maybe it was just a moment, or it could be countless years.
"It turns out that I was wrong."
The Taoist priest murmured to himself, tears coming from the corners of his eyes. First, he turned his head and bowed to the sitting monk, then stood up and walked out of the main hall.
Xia Zhichan had already left, and he did not notice the change in the Taoist priest's mentality.
The Taoist priest pulled out the sword made of wood from his back. He lowered his head and stroked the sword that he had not unsheathed for ten years.
A wooden sword has no edge, but a human sword has an edge.
Holding the wooden sword between his palms, he chanted the true formula, and then saw a bright white light flash.
Buzz!
That was the clear chirp of the sword gently vibrating the air.
Immediately afterwards, a white light flew into the sky from the ancient temple, cut through the clouds in the sky, and flew towards an unknown direction.
There was only one great monk sitting in the ancient temple. He remained still and only secretly announced the Buddha's name when the Taoist priest moved away with his sword.
…
Dong's old store.
The young shopkeeper stood behind the counter, staring at the account book and tapping the abacus in his hand, making a crackling sound.
The waiters in the store were all in a hurry, firstly because it was lunch time and there were many people eating in front of them; secondly, because the people from the backyard escort team needed to make a large amount of soup for twenty people.
"Goudan, come here."
After the young shopkeeper finished handling the accounts in his hand, he waved his hand and called the people closest to him over. He turned around and went into the back room.
"Shopkeeper, what do you want?"
"Did you hear anything last night?"
The young shopkeeper knew clearly that last night he led the assassins from the thirteenth floor to test the escorts from the Longmen Escort Bureau. However, he waited outside for an hour and when he came back, he found that everything had settled.
"There seemed to be a thief last night. I heard the sound of a gong, and I thought I heard someone shouting something like a ghost."
Li Goudan is the confidant of the young shopkeeper. He is naturally a smart person who can see all directions and hear all directions. He heard clearly what happened last night, but he didn't come out to check.
"What about the people in the escort team?"
The young shopkeeper squinted his eyes. He felt a little proud that his plan yesterday was really brilliant.
"They are all lying in the room. It is said that they were possessed by evil spirits, and they asked the kitchen to prepare twenty portions of soup."
"Making soup medicine? Could it be that... you go and get me some leftover medicine residue from the medicine they made. Let me see what medicine it is."
The waiter agreed and quickly turned around and went to the kitchen.
The young shopkeeper already had a guess in his mind. It is very possible that the people from the escort agency had a fierce battle with the killer on the thirteenth floor last night. Most of them were injured and needed to be treated with decoction.
After a while, the waiter named Li Goudan came over with a small bag of medicinal residue. He handed his hands to the young shopkeeper and stood aside.
The young shopkeeper took out a few pieces of medicinal residue, first smelled the smell, and then looked at the shape and color. Although he said he was not a doctor who knew medicine, he still knew some common herbal medicines.
"Astragalus, angelica... they are all warming and tonic substances that can replenish blood and qi. It seems that nine out of ten of them are true."
As the young shopkeeper thought about it, he couldn't help but reveal a faint smile from the corner of his mouth.
That smile made Li Goudan, who was standing beside him, tremble all over. He has followed his shopkeeper for many years, and he knows in his heart that once the shopkeeper smiles like this, someone is going to die.
"Goudan, after Youshi, you go to Brother Zhang's house and buy fifty kilograms of pork from him. It's better."
The young shopkeeper emphasized the last three words very hard.
The leader of the bandits in the mountains is named Zhang Mazi. When he was young, his family still had some money, so he asked his master to teach him some boxing and kicking skills. Later, his parents died and his family fell into ruin. He himself became a prostitute and gambler, completely ruining the family fortune. Later, he simply roped in a gangster and went up the mountain to become a bandit.
The meaning of what the shopkeeper said was to go to the mountains to find Zhang Da, the master, and select fifty brothers to bring back and ask for the good ones in the village.
"Yes, I remember it, little one."
Li Goudan nodded and then retreated.
The young shopkeeper was sitting on a chair, holding his forehead with his left hand, constantly thinking about what actions he should take tonight in order to obtain the maximum benefit at the minimum cost.
…
There is an abandoned temple deep in the mountains. Due to its age, even the walls of the temple have collapsed. The main hall in the center does not even have a roof.
The garden is full of wild grass half as tall as a man, swaying from side to side in the autumn wind.
If there is anything left of this dilapidated temple, it is only a five-story blue brick pagoda in the backyard.
The pagoda has experienced years of wind and rain, and the green bricks on the pagoda body are covered with green moss, and the green bricks have become loose and fallen off in several places.
At this time, an extremely burly figure walked out of the front hall of the ruined temple, and then strode into the pagoda.
Dong-dong-dong, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed inside the pagoda.
The rotten wooden stairs creaked under the load, and the dust accumulated due to not being cleaned for many years fell down.
This burly man was the one who was injured in the lower back by Mr. Huang with a throwing knife on the roof last night.
I don’t know what method was used. The big man who was almost unable to walk after being hit by the flying knife is now as good as a normal person.
"My subordinate, Wang Dayan, pays homage to Your Majesty and would like to thank Your Majesty for your life-saving grace."
After the burly man reached the top floor, he didn't even dare to raise his head and knelt down at the top of the stairs with a grunt. He said in a respectful and deep voice.
Originally, he was stabbed in the lower back. Even if his life could be saved, he would probably be paralyzed in bed and need care from others for the rest of his life.
But the lord on the thirteenth floor only gave me an unknown pill. The big man actually recovered completely after eating it. Even the wounds on his body were healed and no scars were left.
"Wang Dayan, you really embarrassed our Thirteenth Floor. A dozen people were beaten down by just one person."
The woman's voice came from the bed covered with black gauze on the opposite side.
A corner of the opaque black gauze was lifted up, and a beautiful woman was seen lying on her side on the bed.
She was wearing a thin purple brocade dress, and a pair of long white legs that looked like jade carvings stretched out from under the dress and crossed over the edge of the bed.
A pair of jade feet were hanging in the air and shaking, and every fingernail was dyed bright red with rouge.
But the burly Han King lowered his head in confusion and did not dare to look up at the stunning beauty in front of him.
"The flying knife that stabbed my subordinate has a special mark on it. It should be a famous figure in the world. I have sent people to investigate. In less than three days..."
Wang Dayan was not a fool either. He could make him not notice it at all and hit his weak spot from behind with a flying knife. This kind of miraculous knife-throwing skill is definitely not available to ordinary people in the world.
"Bring up the throwing knife."
"yes."
Wang Dayan took out the willow leaf flying knife from his arms, but he hadn't moved it yet. The flying knife seemed to be picked up by an invisible hand and floated danglingly in front of the woman in purple.
The handle of the willow leaf flying knife was engraved with a crescent moon and a star on both sides.
"It's him! Flying stars and picking up the moon..."
The woman held the tip of the knife and looked at the mark on the handle with surprise. For a moment, surprise, surprise, and resentment all came to my mind.
"Hahahahaha..."
The burly Hanwang's big eyes were frightened by the sudden laughter. He subconsciously wanted to raise his head to look, but as soon as his eyes saw those trembling delicate jade feet, he quickly lowered his head.
The woman in purple laughed so hard that her branches trembled with laughter, but what was revealed in her laughter was not happiness, but some kind of anger that had been suppressed for a long time.
"Huang Xing! Huang Xing! This time, I can finally avenge my husband..."
The woman smiled and broke the fine steel flying knife in half with just her fingers.
"Wang Dayan."
"My subordinates are here, please give me your orders."
"Go and gather all your people. I will go with you to the Dong family's old shop tonight. You go catch the swordsman, and Huang Xing leaves it to me."
The burly man agreed, turned around and went downstairs.
The woman in purple threw the flying knife that was broken in half to the ground, and the strange black patterns that originally appeared on her fingers gradually dissipated.
She couldn't help trembling with excitement, and then she suddenly thought of something and lifted up the black gauze on the other side of the bed.
A strong man with his shirtless upper body bound by a black rope was revealed. His mouth was gagged with a cloth and he couldn't make any sound.
The woman in purple smiled and blew a breath, and the black rope that originally bound the strong man burst apart.
The strong man rolled directly to the ground, trembling all over and kowtowing to the purple-clothed woman. While he kowtowed vigorously, he kept begging for mercy:
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I know I'm wrong. I deserve to die. I'm obsessed with lust. Please let me go, please let me go..."
Bang bang bang, he hit his head on the floor, and it was already bleeding.
"Hahaha...that's not what you said when you climbed into my bed and tore off my clothes just now."
The woman in purple chuckled softly, narrowed her eyes, and spit out a cloud of pink smoke from her mouth.
The strong man was originally kowtowing to beg for mercy, but as soon as he inhaled the smoke, he immediately froze in place.
His eyes began to become bloodshot, and there was no trace of consciousness inside them, leaving only the primitive impulse of being an animal.
"Ha ha ha ha……"
The woman covered her mouth and smiled sweetly. She stretched out her slender fingers and gave the strong man a slight hook:
"come."
Two words, full of charm.
Hearing these two words, the strong man felt like a powder keg with the fuse lit. He let out a roar that didn't sound like a human voice, and rushed forward desperately as if he was crazy.
…
An hour later, the woman pushed the strong man who had breathed his last out of bed.
With a pop, the body rolled under the bed. There were several long-dead desiccated corpses there, all of them identical to the naked upper body, with twisted and ferocious faces like ghosts, and the appearance of death could be said to be extremely tragic.
"Hahahahaha..."
The woman sat on the bed where the corpses were piled up, covering her mouth and smiling sweetly.
The sun gradually sets in the west, and the golden afterglow shines through the holes in the windows and shines inside the pagoda.
The shadows on the wall gradually changed and twisted into a mass of monsters whose appearance was unclear.
