The Taoist Palace is quite large, with hundreds of disciples living in the palace. Not only is there a copper kettle and dripper for timekeeping, but there are also disciples who are responsible for keeping watch at night.
In ancient times, the first quarter of Xu was the first update, the second quarter of Hai hour was the second update, the Zhengjiao hour was the third update, the third quarter of Chou hour was the fourth update, and the fourth quarter of Yin hour was the fifth update. The old man Mo Jing arranges the people on night watch according to the strength of the weak. Xu Shi is the time when the lamps are first turned on, and everyone has not yet rested, so the night watch starts from the second watch. The first group is the old man Mo Jing and Tiezheng Daoyuan, and at the third watch it is Sima Qingyun and Zhuge are quiet, and Jiang Shuo and Ye Guizhen are at the fourth watch. By the fifth watch, the sky is getting brighter, and there is no need to keep vigil.
The old man Mo Jing said that the meeting of the Nine Sects will be held in two days, and he must have a good rest. Everyone is a master of martial arts. They sat or lay down, closed their eyes, and adjusted their breaths according to the instructions. They all fell asleep in a short time.
Jiang Shuo sat cross-legged on the couch, with a trace of clarity still remaining in his mind while he was doing his exercises and regulating his breath. When the bangle sounded in the distance at three o'clock in the ugly hour, he woke up. When Sima and Zhuge closed their eyes to rest, Ye Guizhen was still sleeping soundly, and it was the best time to sleep between Chou and Yin. Jiang Shuo thought to himself that Ye Tianshi was crazy and it would be useless to wake him up. It would be better to let the old man have a good rest, so he did not wake him up.
It was already before dawn on the second day, and the next night would be the Nine Religions Conference, and there were still many mysteries to be solved in this conference. At this moment, in the dead of night and the stars in the sky were dim, it was the darkest moment. Jiang Shuo felt that his heart was also depressed by this darkness.
In addition to the Tubo people, there were countless powerful enemies at the Nine Religions Conference. They wanted to take Elder Ruixi to the West Sea to find medicine, but they were delayed this time. In addition to the antidote of Guangming Salt, there was also Ye Qingyao, whose life and death was uncertain, and There is... Xiang'er, I don't know where she ran away... She hurt sister Qingyao, what should I do? Do we really never meet her again?
Jiang Shuo found that he had been highly nervous in the past few days and had never thought about the future carefully. Now in the dead of night, these thoughts came to him like a tide. Jiang Shuo shook his head vigorously, reminding himself that now was not the time to think about these things, when suddenly he heard a faint voice in his ears.
This sound was extremely subtle. If it was noisy during the day, you would not be able to hear it. But at this moment, it was the quietest time in the world, and this sound was captured.
Jiang Shuo thought to himself: Could it be that mysterious person? He immediately closed his eyes and concentrated, following the Qi contemplation method taught by Mr. Zhang Guo, he lowered his breathing to the slowest level, but his thoughts stretched out like tentacles, and the slight sound seemed to It was amplified and slowly filled his ears.
Sure enough, there was someone hanging upside down under the eaves outside the house. This person was breathing very lightly. He must be the mysterious person. Jiang Shuo knew that this person was very good at qinggong and had the upper hand. If he got up to chase him now, he would see him first and he would immediately Just leave, still unable to catch up.
Since this mysterious man didn't take action, Jiang Shuo didn't move. He thought he couldn't hang there all the time. Waiting for him to leave, he would follow behind him. Such an exchange of light and darkness might not necessarily lead to detection. His true identity.
After being in a stalemate with the mysterious man for about two moments, he finally felt the man gently turn up on the roof. The tiles he stepped on were like the wind blowing by, making only a slight rustling sound. If Jiang Shuo hadn't closed his eyes and concentrated from the beginning. , and at this moment, everything between heaven and earth was completely silent, and Jiang Shuo could not catch the sound of his footsteps in any way.
Jiang Shuo noticed that the mysterious man left the roof, crossed the courtyard wall, and entered the courtyard where he had been yesterday. Jiang Shuo hurriedly tiptoed out of the house and pressed against the wall of the courtyard. Once he took action, he had to open his eyes and pay attention to his own footsteps. His perception of the mysterious man's footsteps would naturally be weakened. When he moved to the wall , when I closed my eyes and listened, I could no longer feel the footsteps of the mysterious man.
Jiang Shuo was anxious, so he flew over the courtyard wall and saw that the courtyard was no different from the daytime. The doors that had been knocked open by the old man Mo Jing were still wide open, and the door hinges made a soft creaking sound.
Jiang Shuo knew that the mysterious man must not have entered the house. If he went in and out of these rooms, he would definitely close the door and would not leave the door open. Could it be that the mysterious man went to another yard?
Jiang Shuo once again used the Guan Qi technique to find traces of the mysterious man. However, the man's movements completely disappeared...
Jiang Shuo's heart trembled. Could this mysterious man really be some kind of monster? Otherwise, how could it suddenly appear and then disappear out of thin air? At this moment, he suddenly felt cold in his legs and feet, and there was a very weak wind blowing from the ground. Although Jiang Shuo didn't believe in ghosts and gods, the hair on his body couldn't help but tremble at this moment.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the well in the yard.
Jiang Shuo recalled that Ge Qizhen took them to the foot of Kongtong Mountain through the underground network of wells. Could it be that there are tunnels under the wells in the palace that communicate with each other?
Thinking of this, Jiang Shuo jumped into the well. This well was not like the wells in Pingliang City. It was a normal-sized well. Jiang Shuo spread his legs in the well and pressed against the well wall, groping with both hands. There was no protrusion on the well wall. things.
He supported the well wall with both hands and moved downward slowly. He thought to himself that if I can go up and down like this, the mysterious man would have no problem. It is not surprising that there are no raised bricks in the well wall.
Only halfway down, Jiang Shuo's right hand suddenly became empty. If he hadn't reacted in time, he would have fallen into the water at the bottom of the well. However, there was a small tunnel halfway up the well wall, and Jiang Shuo ducked in.
At this moment, it was pitch black outside the well, and it was even more difficult to see inside the well. Jiang Shuo simply closed his eyes and started groping in the tunnel.
When Jiang Shuo's hearing and vision failed, his Guanqi technique became even more acute. He could feel the breeze flowing in the tunnel. He expected that the tunnel was not a dead end. He closed his eyes and followed the breeze as he walked through the tunnel. But no one was seen, and no sound from the mysterious man was detected.
Jiang Shuo was drilling around underground for an unknown amount of time. He suddenly felt an updraft and knew he had reached another exit. He followed the airflow and reached the wall of a well. He continued to hold on to the well wall with both hands and climbed up. climb.
After leaving the wellhead, he saw that the well was in a corner. The wellhead was tightly blocked by thatch. When Jiang Shuo pushed aside the grass and took a look, he suddenly felt that the courtyard was quite familiar. He suddenly thought that this was not his first night. The other courtyard where you live?
It seemed that the mysterious man actually entered and exited through this well, but he went to the walls and rooftops to look for traces of him. How could he find it? After discovering the secret of this well, Jiang Shuo thought that maybe this man's kung fu was not so unpredictable. Although he can still be ranked among the first-class masters, he is not beyond one's imagination.
At this moment, Ye Guizhen's voice was heard faintly in the distance: "Who is this person... a good thief... take a slap from the old Taoist."
Jiang Shuo thought: Not good! It turned out that the mysterious man was trying to lure him away from the big house and into the bottom of the well. Then he relied on his familiarity with the underground tunnels to detour back to the big house with the intention of sneak attack.
Thinking of this, Jiang Shuo no longer returned to the well, but straightened up his energy and returned to the hospital.
But they saw that the people standing in the courtyard were not Ye Guizhen, but Cheng Qianli and Pugu Huai'en. The two people standing in the outer circle were also two people. The long knives in their hands were roaring with flames, and they were circling Cheng Qianli. He Pugu Huai'en kept wandering around, occasionally stepping forward to attack.
Cheng Qianli and Pugu Huai'en each wielded long axes and hooks and sickles in their hands. With the length of their weapons, they blocked the two men holding flaming knives from getting close to each other. The group of heroes had already been awakened, and each stood in the corridor holding a sword. Ye Gui Zhen sat on the steps with his hands on his knees, smiling as he watched the four of them fight each other.
He must have shouted loudly on purpose to wake everyone up, but he didn't take any action.
Seeing that the person who came was not a mysterious person, but an old acquaintance, Jiang Shuo flew down to the courtyard and said loudly: "Envoy Cui Right, Envoy Tian Zuo, we haven't seen each other for many days, how are you doing?"
The people who came were Cui Qianyou and Tian Qianzhen, the light envoys of Manichaeism. When they saw Jiang Shuo, their hearts were filled with fear. They each danced a sword and flower, broke away from the battle, and retreated to a corner.
Cui Qianyou took the lead and crossed his hands and said: "Hey, Master Jiang, you are really lingering, and you actually chased me to Kongtong Mountain."
Jiang Shuo knew how good these two were, and after meeting these two "old friends", he actually felt a little relaxed. He also crossed his hands and said, "I don't have the time to chase you. This time I heard that Fei Hongzi summoned the Nine Sects." Congress, I’m here to participate in this grand event.”
Tian Qianzhen's eyes widened and he said, "Hey... Young Master Jiang, are you one of the nine sects? I don't know what sect you are from?"
Jiang Shuo said: "My kung fu comes from Maoshan, so it is naturally Taoist."
Cui Qianyou thought to himself: Jiang Shuo's martial arts skills are extremely high. If he comes to cause trouble, Fei Hongzi and Damu Zha will have another headache. But he knew that there were many masters from the outside world coming this time, and it was never his turn to fight Jiang Shuo, so he could talk very easily.
Cui Qianyou said: "Young Master Jiang, my two brothers are not here to fight today. It's just that these two gentlemen started fighting, and I started fighting before I could say anything."
In fact, Cui Qianyou didn't recognize Cheng Qianli and Pugu Huaien. Seeing that they were tall and tall and dressed like soldiers, he just thought they were two rough men who wanted to take advantage and take advantage of the opportunity to establish their authority. People started fighting.
Unexpectedly, Cheng Qianli and Pugu Huai'en were not only proficient in martial arts, but also had a tacit understanding of the two long-handled weapons. As soon as they fought, Cui Qianyou almost suffered a big loss because he underestimated the enemy. Fortunately, Tian Qianzhen and he had cooperated for many years. He took action from the side to help him out.
After that, the four of them fought back and forth for more than ten times, but no one could do anything to anyone. If Jiang Shuo hadn't come to break it up, Cui Qianyou wouldn't know how it would end.
Cheng Qianli and Pugu Huai'enpo had also stopped. They were quite afraid of the Demonic Cult's Bright Salt before, so they did not dare to attack. They just took advantage of the length of their weapons to keep the two Light Envoys at a distance.
Cheng Qianli sneered and said, "You know how to beat up Cui. Weren't you the ones who made the first move?"
The old man Mo Jing said: "Okay, there's no point in the quarrel... The two light envoys came here early in the morning, it's not just for the sake of quarrel, right? Why are you here, please tell me clearly?"
Cui Qianyou also didn't recognize Old Man Mo Jing and Ye Guizhen, but he saw that the Three Saints of Kongtong were respectful to them. Old Man Mo Jing spoke as if he was taking the lead. He expected that they must be senior martial arts veterans in the Central Plains. This was also true. It’s not surprising that even if every preparation is made, it’s still impossible to wipe out the entire Central Plains martial arts world in one fell swoop.
So he calmed down, crossed his hands and said, "Senior, we are here to inform you that the meeting place on Douji Peak has been completed. At 3:30 pm on the following day, Damujia will greet the seniors of the three sects of the Central Plains on the peak."
Some people died, but not completely...
