Scholars and pilgrims would go up the stone steps to offer incense and worship Buddha every day, listening to the deep and distant sound of the bells.
At the back entrance of Tianma Temple, the stone steps still spread deep into the forest, disappearing into a lush forest. There is a huge bodhi tree planted in front of the back door, and the hanging leaves obscure the wooden door. If you don't look carefully, you won't notice that there is a door here.
Despite this, there will still be a few monks sweeping the floor around the Bodhi tree. It seems normal, but those who are interested will find that the steps of the monks never exceed five feet of the wooden door.
Late at night, a monk wearing white robes appeared from the back door of Tianma Temple, followed by two men in costumes and swords.
The three of them walked up the stone steps and walked deeper into the woods.
I don't know how long it took, but suddenly, a very slight "creak" sound came from behind the three of them, which was the sound of a branch breaking. Very slightly, the two men armed with knives turned back in an instant, with murderous intent bursting out of their eyes.
At the same time, there was the sound of a sharp weapon scratching his sleeve. Countless hidden weapons appeared in the sleeves of one of them and flew forward.
The birds in the forest suddenly flew up in confusion.
The leaves fell one after another, and there was the sound of hidden weapons piercing the leaves.
At this time, two masked men in black clothes fell from the tree. The hidden weapon bounced off the sword in the man's hand and hit the trees nearby.
The four of them were entangled.
After the four of them exchanged a few moves, the two men with swords suddenly turned their blades, one slashed horizontally and the other stabbed vertically, faster and faster, and the two men's swords made a whirring sound, beating the two masked men. Defeated steadily. Suddenly one of the masked men revealed a flaw.
Soon enough, a knife stabbed straight through the gap. A knife stabbed one of the masked men in the shoulder. He was so shocked that the sword in his hand fell to the ground. Blood gushed out like water.
His companion shouted loudly, "Be careful." He tried his best to split the sword in front of him, walked to his companion with a sword step, supported his retreating companion, and whispered: "Let's go."
The two of them jumped up to the treetops and left.
The two men with swords were about to chase forward, but Chan Li behind them said: "Zhao Jiu, Zhao Ten, don't chase after poor bandits."
Hearing Cicada Li's voice, Zhao Jiu and Zhao Shi stopped, turned back the knife in his hand, and put it back into the scabbard on his back. Zhao Shi picked up the long sword dropped by the masked man on the ground and returned to Chanli.
"It's an ordinary long sword, I can't tell what its identity is."
Chanli looked at the two masked men leaving and said thoughtfully: "Zhao Jiu, go to the princess and tell her not to come here these days. The two people just now can follow us from the temple gate. Only being discovered by you two here shows that Qinggong is extraordinary. I'm afraid something will happen."
"Yes." Zhao Jiu cupped his hands, turned around and quickly walked down the mountain along the stone steps.
After Chanli and Zhao Shi saw Zhao Jiu leaving, they accelerated their pace. Within a quarter of an hour, a broken wall appeared at the end of the stone steps.
Chanli moved forward, groping for something on the broken wall with his hands. Suddenly he pushed hard, and a door in the middle of the broken wall slowly opened.
The two disappeared behind the broken door, and the door slowly closed again.
**
Only a few dozen miles away from Tianma Temple, there is a manor with a majestic pavilion, high floors, surrounded by palaces, a long and winding road, green pines on the eaves, magnolias on the walls, golden animal faces, and colorful chili. head.
Stepping into the garden, smoke is lingering, the colors are colorful, the lights are everywhere, and the music is loud all the time. It is impossible to describe the peaceful atmosphere, wealth and romance.
On the verandah in the garden, several maids carrying lanterns walked by from time to time. They wore light pink dresses and walked past with their heads lowered and their steps light.
The people living around Baili County all know that in the extremely luxurious manor on the outskirts of the county, there lives a legendary eldest princess who is the sister of the current emperor, but no one has seen it with their own eyes.
Zhao Jiu kept his feet on the ground and ran all the way, passing by the other courtyard, but saw that he had no intention of going in, and ran all the way to the back of the other courtyard.
After half a minute of pouring the incense, the other courtyard had disappeared behind him, and Zhao Jiu came to the Jiangnan River not far from the southwest of Baili County.
The Jiangnan River stretches endlessly from north to south. When the late emperor was in power, he spent a lot of money to re-drill and widen the ancient canal roads and widen the river channels in various counties, making the water transportation in the entire Jiangnan region more and more developed.
Baili County is one of the largest counties in the south of the Yangtze River, and its canal wharf is also one of the busiest wharves in the entire Jiangnan River.
In addition to all kinds of passenger ships that are either loaded with cargo or empty, there are also many pleasure boats belonging to rich families parked on the shore of the pier.
Many boats are hung with bright lanterns all night long, and the sound of music is heard from inside.
These boats imitate the architectural style of other courtyards on the shore, with ridges, roofs, wind boards, rafters, beams, and columns. Some are even as high as three-story buildings, and they are extremely luxurious.
Although the lanterns hanging on the boats illuminated the road along the shore a lot, after midnight, there were still no passers-by. Occasionally, drunk people who got off the boats were taken away by their own followers.
Zhao Jiu walked through the willow trees on the shore, trying his best to avoid the light coming from him. He stepped onto a low stone pier on the shore and jumped onto one of the many boats docked on the shore.
Although there was music coming out, unlike the surrounding painted boats, there was no sound of laughter inside.
The moment he jumped on the gate, the door of the boat was opened, a hand lifted the door screen, and a maid in pink poked her head out.
The maid looked around, and there seemed to be no problem. She turned to the side, and Zhao Jiu ducked into the inner room.
**
The roof is painted with yellow paint, and the ship pillars are carved in the style of beams. As soon as you arrive at the door, a thin sweet fragrance hits you, making your eyes feel weak.
There is a couch carved from pineapple flowers and wood in the house, and a beauty in red is lying on her side. A whole set of gauze curtains hangs from the beam room in front of her, making her face unclear and only a vague outline can be seen.
In the center of the room, there were two young men in plain clothes. They seemed to be in their prime. One was playing the piano and the other was playing the flute. The face is smooth and white. Their long hair was hanging down and only held up loosely by a hair tie, making the two young men look even more weak and pale.
A maid in pink clothes hurriedly walked in, walked to the gauze curtain, and whispered: "Zhao Jiu is here."
When the beauty behind the gauze curtain heard this, she raised her hand and waved, and the maid immediately said to the two young men: "You are no longer needed today, please go down first."
The two young men immediately stopped playing the instruments in their hands, stood up, bowed before retreating.
As soon as the young man exited the room, Zhao Jiu stepped in from the other side, bowed his head and saluted: "Princess."
Xiao Changmeng got up from the couch, and the maid quickly stepped forward and opened the gauze curtain in front of her. She looked at the visitor and was obviously unhappy: "I clearly said that you don't come here without my instructions."
Zhao Jiu heard the warmth and anger in Xiao Changmeng's tone, and immediately knelt down on one knee, but his words were still very calm: "Princess atones, my subordinates were with the host according to the original plan, but tonight they were attacked."
"Under attack?" Xiao Changmeng's two slender eyebrows immediately knitted together, "What's going on?"
"The people who came here are top-notch in their qinggonggong. They were my subordinates and Lao Shi Bucha, and they followed them to the back mountain. Fortunately, we found them in time. One of them was seriously injured by his subordinates. The host was worried about any accidents, so he specially asked his subordinates to Come and inform the princess that you should not go there in the next few days in case something unexpected happens."
Xiao Changmeng stood up from the couch and stood barefoot on the ground without wearing shoes. She slowly walked up to Zhao Jiu, suddenly raised her right hand, and gave Zhao Jiu a slap in the face.
Xiao Changmeng wore a huge ruby ring on his hand. A blood mark immediately appeared on Zhao Jiu's face, but he still maintained his kneeling posture without any shaking.
"It's useless and can be followed so easily. What's the use of you? Is Zhao Da back?"
"Not yet."
"Ask him to come see me immediately when he comes back. All plans are ahead of schedule. We must move to the imperial city as soon as possible."
"yes."
Zhao Jiu stood up and left, leaving the maid and Xiao Changmeng alone in the room. The maid quickly picked up the shoes beside the bed, placed them at Xiao Changmeng's feet, and stretched out her hand as if ready to help her: "Princess , The ground is cold, please put on your shoes first."
Xiao Changmeng snorted, then put his hand on the maid's hand and put on his shoes.
"Princess, in that case, let's not go tonight."
"To be able to keep up with Zhao Jiu and Zhao Shi without being discovered, the person coming here must have high level of martial arts. If I was worried about Wen Jirou's men before, that would be terrible. We should be careful these days."
"Yes, princess, in that case, let's go back to the other courtyard quickly. Send Zhao Da and the others out. I'm afraid that the guards around me these days are not good enough. If there is any danger, we will be in trouble."
Xiao Changmeng thought about the maid's words and felt that they made sense. Just as he was about to nod in agreement, a burst of laughter suddenly came from outside the door: "Princess is very elegant. She is enjoying herself on the boat late at night. How about enjoying the next glass of wine?"
Xiao Changmeng was startled, grabbed the hand of the maid next to him, took three steps back, stared at the door and shouted: "Who?"
With a "pop", the door that had been closed when Zhao Jiu left just now was pushed open, and a gust of wind blew in, blowing the gauze curtains in the room flying.
A pair of eyes that are as clear as crystals immersed in water, but the corners of the eyes are slightly raised, making them look charming. The pure pale pink pupils and the charming eye shape are wonderfully combined into a very beautiful style, and the thin lips are as light as water.
The visitor was wearing a purple satin robe, with silver hollow hibiscus borders exposed inside the robe. He wears a jade belt around his waist and holds an ivory folding fan.
She has silver hair and a purple gold crown, with a string of beads hanging from the crown, making her look even more enchanting.
