The moonlight today is beautiful, just like the moonlight on the last night of the Nangong family.
Nan Er raised his knife and left.
He didn't know what he could do, what he should do, or even what to do.
In the heart filled with the intention to kill, there is no trace of madness or distortion, but only the coldness that can never melt like the thousand-year-old snow-capped mountains in the far north.
He walked alone under the bright lights of the dark night, walking step by step back to the place he once called home.
…
The moonlight flows down like water and frost.
The man lying on his side on the green tiles of the roof swung the wine in his wine gourd. He was obviously drunk and his eyes were blurred, but he still couldn't fall asleep.
"I can't sleep after drinking like this... This is my first time."
Xia Zhichan stood up unsteadily.
The white moonlight enveloped him, as if the fairy in the moon palace in the sky was afraid of the cold autumn wind and specially put a coat woven by the moonlight on him.
Xia Zhichan in the room, who was helped to the bed after being knocked unconscious by Nan Er, turned into light and dissipated little by little, and finally there was no one in the whole room at all.
Only the light on the corner of the table still flickered.
What kind of guy is Xia Zhichan? If he is really knocked down by Nan Er's sneak attack, then he can no longer travel around the world and just go back to Longshan to learn all over again.
He stayed on the roof from the beginning, watching Nan Er follow the fake Xia Zhichan into the house, and then watching the former walk out of the house and close the door. He no longer concealed the murderous intention in him, and rushed towards Gone to a place.
Xia Zhichan had been drinking, but the more he drank, the more sober he became.
He simply jumped off the roof and walked outside.
"Lord Lingguan, what are you..."
It was not too late yet, and the postman at the post station was still there. He greeted Xia Zhichan as soon as he saw her coming out. The former postmaster Zhang Yueban specifically gave instructions to take care of this spiritual official like his biological father.
"Go for a walk."
Xia Zhichan replied casually, and then walked outside.
"You can swim around the lake and admire the moon in the east of the city, and there are countless boats, songs and dances..."
The postman said quickly, but Xia Zhichan had already gone out before he finished speaking. He only replied lightly: "I know..."
Although today is not the River God Festival, the entire Jiangcheng is already brightly lit, as bright as day.
The streets were crowded with people and it was so lively.
Xia Zhichan followed the crowd and walked in the opposite direction to Nan Er.
He didn't know how long he had been walking until he saw a huge mirror lake in front of him. This lake was a tributary of the river next to Jiangcheng. The river meandered through Jiangcheng, and there were brothels and restaurants on both sides of the lake.
At this time, there were already several painted boats with lanterns hung on the lake. There were sounds of drums and enchanting women dancing along with the flickering lights.
Xia Zhichan stood on the shore, letting the autumn wind blow the corners of his clothes.
Groups of women traveling at night passed by on the roadside. They all looked at the independent young man on the shore with curiosity and a little shyness.
Even the timid ones would only dare to take a peek, and then quickly leave with their heads lowered amidst the teasing laughter of their companions.
Those who were bolder would deliberately walk past Xia Zhichan, and then "accidentally" throw away some handkerchiefs or something, hoping to stage the scene of a talented man chasing a beautiful woman in a drama script.
Unfortunately, they are destined to be disappointed.
Xia Zhichan didn't pay attention to all the things that happened behind him. If he turned around, he would find that a handkerchief, purse, earrings and jewelry were thrown on the ground behind him. In short, the girl's belongings were almost collected.
His eyes scanned both sides of the river bank, and finally landed on an old man beside a stone bridge.
The old man was dressed in shabby cloth and had gray hair, holding a canoe and standing alone in the autumn wind.
On the bow of the boat were two jugs of wine and three plates of side dishes to go with the wine.
He originally wanted to take advantage of the excitement of the River God Festival to bring a few guests to the lake to enjoy the lanterns. Then those guests would have a drink on the boat and give himself a few rewards. Wouldn't this winter be easier?
I didn’t expect that the autumn wind would be so cold tonight.
Those rich guests will naturally rent the boat. Who can take a fancy to his little broken boat? But the food and wine have already been bought. If there is not a single guest on the boat tonight, let alone making money, he will have to lose money. Na.
Xia Zhichan walked over, took out the money from her sleeve and handed it directly to the old man who was shivering in the autumn wind without looking at it.
"Is this enough money to rent your boat?"
"Uh, that's enough... Master, you don't need so much money to take a boat. Your money is more than enough to buy my boat."
The old man quickly untied the rope on the boat. Before he could get on the boat, Xia Zhichan flew over to the bow of the boat.
"Uh, sir, I haven't boarded the boat yet..."
"No……"
Xia Zhichan lay down on the boat. The boat under her body floated unsteadily on the river without any wind.
"this……"
The old man didn't believe what he saw. He rubbed his eyes vigorously and then looked at the money that actually existed in his hand.
The autumn wind blew by, and the old man shivered involuntarily.
He thought to himself that the money would be enough to buy a new boat anyway, so the old boat would be sold to others.
He tightened his clothes and hurried home with a large sum of money in his arms.
…
The boat rocked and rocked, drifting across the river.
Bursts of joy and laughter came from those painted boats, the dancing fingertips of the musicians, the seductive waist of the dancers, the mellow wine, and the enchanting singer.
Tonight, some people are happy and some are sad.
Xia Zhichan looked at the stars in the sky, with a full moon in the middle.
The moonlight shone down without any warmth.
"Mr. Lang, why are you so sad today..."
An enchanting voice rang in her ears. The woman was sitting sideways on the edge of the boat, her feet immersed in the cold river water. She was wearing a silver tunic and a white tulle.
It was the snake demon who was on the flower boat that day.
She twisted her boneless snake waist and gently pressed one hand on Xia Zhichan's chest, feeling his hot and powerful heartbeat.
The latter glanced at her and said angrily:
"roll."
"Mr. Lang, you are so heartless. Did the slave family do something wrong..."
The snake demon lowered his eyes and said with tears.
If others didn't know better, they would think that Xia Zhichan was some kind of heartless person who started in chaos and then gave up.
"Xia is in a bad mood today. If you don't leave quickly..."
Xia Zhichan shook her right sleeve, and there was a faint sound of thunder inside.
The sound was like a sharp sword.
The snake demon's body stiffened, her pupils instantly shrank like needles, and her feet turned into a slender silver snake tail.
"Although you sucked the essence of passing men on the river, you have never killed anyone...otherwise Xia would not have been merciful and let you live."
Although Xia Zhichan fought hard against the four monsters at the beginning, he did not bring out the cinnabar yellow talisman, which had a great power to deter the monsters. His purpose was to let them live.
But today, this snake demon unexpectedly came to the door on its own, and Xia Zhichan was in an extremely depressed mood, so he would not be merciful.
"Mr. Lang, you are so heartless. You have forgotten the love between you and me..."
Click!
A crash of thunder.
Many guests on the flower boats stuck their heads out of the windows, looking at the bright moon in the sky and the cloudless scenery, and scratched their heads in confusion.
"There's not even a cloud here, why is it thundering..."
Xia Zhichan sat up from the boat. He shook his right sleeve and then looked at the boat where he was the only one left.
On a small table at the bow of the boat, there were three dishes of appetizers, and two jugs of wine next to them.
Xia Zhichan picked up a small fish from the plate, threw it into her mouth and chewed it. Well, in addition to the salty taste, it also has a slight fishy smell, which is really not very delicious.
Plop.
A woman with long hair shawl emerged from the water on the side of the boat. She combed her hair that was wet by the river water, and simply took off her soaked gauze coat.
"Mr. Lang still has feelings for me. He just scared the slave family..."
With the sound of thunder, the snake demon turned around and jumped into the river. However, after entering the water, she found that she did not feel the power of thunder at all, and then she quietly raised her head from the water.
Xia Zhichan was speechless for a moment.
The sleeve on his left side fluttered, and the black cat with its tail wagging came out.
She jumped lightly onto the desk, then lowered her head and licked the small fish on the plate. Sure enough, as long as it is a cat, no matter it is an ordinary kitten or a cat demon, it can't resist the temptation of Xiaoyu.
The snake demon lay on the side of the boat, stretched out his slender white arms, picked up the jug on the side, and poured a full glass of wine for Xia Zhichan.
Her lying posture showed the fullness of her chest in front of Xia Zhichan without any reservation, and her arms were stretched with a bit of teasing movement.
"Mr. Lang, please~"
"You're really not afraid of death, are you?"
Xia Zhichan drank the wine in one gulp. He had a drunken blush on his cheeks, but he still managed to stay awake for the last time.
If he wants to get drunk, it's best to be drunk.
But he just couldn't get drunk.
"Young Master has something on your mind, why don't you say it? The more you keep some troubles in your heart, the more uncomfortable you will feel."
The snake demon poured another glass of wine.
Under the moonlight, she looked less enchanting and more elegant and peaceful.
Xia Zhichan twirled the wine glass in her hand. This wine was bought by the old man from the street. In any case, it could not be as good as the fairy wine in his wine gourd.
But the wine in this jug tastes better than the wine in the gourd.
"Tonight, a friend of mine is going to kill people, kill many people... I know, but I can't stop him."
Xia Zhichan drank the wine in the glass with lonely eyes.
On the one hand, he was entangled in the life and death of those people. He had the ability to save them but had to watch them indifferently. On the other hand, he was concerned about the blood feud that his friends had endured for many years and he should not stop them.
"When I came down the mountain, Master told me..."
Xia Zhichan stood up. Facing the cold autumn wind on the river, he didn't know whether to cry or laugh with his mouth wide open:
"When you go down the mountain this time, just go and conquer the demons."
Conquer demons and demons, these are four words that Xia Zhichan often talks about. What Master said seemed easy to understand, but also seemed difficult to understand.
"Conquer demons and subjugate demons..."
Xia Zhichan stood on the boat and turned gently in a circle, her robes flying as if she encompassed the whole world.
"It's only now that I understand a little bit."
"I originally thought that the most difficult thing in the world was to subjugate demons, but I didn't expect..."
Xia Zhichan picked up the wine gourd and took another sip.
"This is actually the easiest."
If you encounter monsters and ghosts, beat them up. If you encounter good monsters that don't eat people, give them a lesson and then let them go. If you encounter bad monsters that eat people, just beat them until they lose their wits.
See how simple this is.
On the contrary, it is human beings, who are much scarier than monsters and monsters, and much more difficult to deal with. Demons kill people, but people also kill people.
None of the bandits and killers in the Dong family's old store had their hands stained with blood. They had killed more people than some monsters. The cleanest person in the Dong family's old store was actually the woman in the well in the backyard. Hell, she's never killed anyone.
Thinking back to the two shunned people I met in the ancient temple, they chose to sit back and watch the world's affairs indifferently in order not to care about the rights and wrongs of the world.
Xia Zhichan sighed. Only now did he understand why his ancestor Yan Chixia left behind the ancestral precept of "only to conquer demons".
"Human beings are scarier than demons and monsters."
He smiled sadly, fell onto the boat, and finally fell asleep due to sleepiness.
The wine gourd in his hand fell into the river with the wind, swayed on the water for a while, and then sank.
