one's door

Thinking of this, Zhou Cang subconsciously touched the bell tied around his waist.The bell has a weird shape, Zhou Cang can't ring when he is walking, sitting or lying down, and there are exquisite and weird patterns on it, which is not ordinary at first glance.

Zhou Cang understood very well that this kind of bell is a must-have for anyone who wants to go out in Xiyuan County today.

It is naturally impossible to have one in hand.But now there are at least five to six in each battalion.There are more waiters and supplies, and he, as the chief general, also carries one with him.It is quite different from when the first battalion only had one or two.There was something in Zhou Cang's heart that he didn't dare to say to others.That is, he felt that the reason why the Yaozu withdrew, or failed, was because they did not have such a magical bell.

At certain times, the bell will ring, and once the bell rings, you cannot go forward but retreat, or gather in groups, using the so-called army evil spirit to offset the danger.

But where is the danger?

can not see.But Zhou Cang is certain that there must be some kind of dangerous thing wandering outside his field of vision, they will hunt and kill the lonely human race and monster race.

The Yaozu was forced to withdraw because the convoy they transported was hunted down endlessly, and the supply was almost paralyzed in the end, so they had to retreat.

Of course, the front line is too long is also an important reason.This forced the Yaozu to have no way to send a large number of soldiers to escort them with the luggage. In that case, the food consumed along the road would also be a large amount, and there would be very little left when it arrived at the front line. So what about supplies?

Although he was determined in his heart, what exactly was the bell for defense and warning?Zhou Cang dared not ask this question.The rules in the army are very strict, if you don't ask questions, if you open your mouth indiscriminately, you will be unlucky and lose your head.

Touching the bell on his waist, Zhou Cang knew that it would be most reliable to save this question to find a chance to ask Zhang Yan who was far away in Langyuan City.Because the bell was made by Zhang Yan, he must know the secret behind it.

But if he wanted to go back, Zhou Cang didn't know when he would have the chance.Now the backbone of the middle and lower ranks of the entire Western Army is almost dead, and new pawns need time to grow, and they cannot do without a "backbone" like him.I'm afraid he won't be able to get away in three to five years.

Now the latest military order he got is to be stationed on the Baimashi line bordering Haoyue Monster Country, the nearest military station, while defending firmly, while guarding the actions of the monster clan opposite the prison room.

Zhou Cang didn't dare to be careless, and would personally lead a team of people around the White Horse Stone every day.He now understands a truth, that is, one must not show timidity in the face of the monster race, no matter how tough one is, one can survive.Therefore, his general flag must be shown near Baima Stone every day.

It is the same today.

"My lord! Report from the horses ahead. There are three demon soldiers standing beside the White Horse Stone, holding the flag of the Haoyue Kingdom, yelling that they are delivering a letter."

Yaozu? !Flag?Delivery?

After hesitating for a moment, Zhou Cang slapped his horse forward, making arrangements as he moved forward. The men and horses in his hands were divided into three teams to support each other. If the opponent cheated, he could immediately retreat or provide assistance.

But Zhou Cang's worries did not come true.The monster clan on the opposite side didn't play any tricks, and even when he arrived, the other party was very well-behaved and stood opposite the White Horse Stone, which is the territory of the Haoyue Monster Kingdom.A waving flag is particularly conspicuous.There are only three monster races in the surrounding area.

And the ceremony flag also confirmed that these three monster races did not come to make trouble.

Zhou Cang didn't bring any more people with him, and also counted himself as a total of three people, and rode forward on horseback.He stopped less than five feet away from the other party, raised his voice and asked, "What's the matter?"

Seeing the three of Zhou Cang approaching, the Yaozu on the opposite side lost a bit of contempt in their eyes, and asked back, "I have a letter from the country to deliver, are you qualified to come?"

"Guoxin? I'm Zhou Cang, General Zhou Cang stationed in Baima Shipian, am I qualified?"

"Zhou Cang? That's enough. Here!"

With a sound of words and a wave of his hand, a light and shadow passed by at an extremely fast speed.

Zhou Cang snorted coldly, and stretched out his hand to catch it, but the huge force made his chest tight.And the horse under the seat couldn't bear the strength and took three or four steps back before stopping, stomping on the ground anxiously.

"Hey, this is for your emperor." After saying this, the three monsters turned and left without looking back, and disappeared from sight in a moment.

Zhou Cangchang let out a breath.Feeling depressed, his strength is still a little lower, and he almost made a fool of himself just now.But fortunately, I took it.

He looked down at the copper bar in his hand.There are three stamps on it, and it looks like a very official national letter.Just by way of border delivery instead of a dedicated courier escort, which seems sloppy.

But Zhou Cang didn't dare to deal with the other party hastily.Dang even rode back to rush back, and immediately handed the copper bar in his hand to the tent of the Western Army Commander in Baishi City, along with a briefing on the acquisition of the copper bar written by Zhou Cang himself.

Chapter 367 Guoxin

What is the relationship between the demon race and the human race?It is essentially the relationship between "food" and "diners".The demon race eats the flesh and blood of the human race, and the human race eats the tendons of the demon race.No one on both sides is a fuel-efficient lamp.It's just that in terms of race confidence, the human race is much worse than the monster race.Even if Xu Fengyang, the martial sage, started the trend of martial arts among the human race, the gap between the races has only narrowed, and it still hasn't been reversed.

Who talks to food?No.

So after Yao Nation handed over this national letter, Nanyuan Nation felt strange from top to bottom.

what does this mean?

Zhou Cang didn't delay at all, took out a pen and paper and scribbled a brief introduction on his horse's back, and immediately sent Fei Yu to Baishi City first.Then a team of cavalry was sent to escort the copper bar towards Baishi City at high speed.

Yang Shiming, the commander of the Western Army in Baishi City, was also surprised, but after carefully distinguishing the authenticity of the copper bar and opening it, he continued to report the copper bar to the Yamen of the Ministry of War instead of reporting it directly to the palace.Because the content in the copper bar let Yang Shiming know that although the reason for the letter from the Yaozu was weird, it was not so urgent.It's not something that needs to be chosen.Going to the Yamen of the Ministry of War seems to be more compliant.

Did Yang Shiming open Guoxin in compliance with the rules?Nature is in line with the rules.As the commander-in-chief of the West Route Army, and facing the strange behavior of the Yaozu, how could he just send the copper bar directly to the emperor?Hostile relationship, if you say Guoxin is Guoxin?What about jugglers?Isn't it a big joke?

There is not much content in the copper bar, and the flying feathers can fully carry it.So before the official national letter was delivered to Yuanding Imperial City, Emperor Yang Sheng had already learned about the situation that had just subsided in the west through Feiyu's text message, and there was new news.

Yang Sheng read the contents of Feiyu no less than ten times.Even if I knew it was correct in my heart, I still felt strange in my heart.

"Wu Kui, you have been in contact with the Yaozu, and you have interrogated a lot. What do you think the Yaozu, or the Yaoguo, is planning this time? They actually proposed to send envoys to visit?"

As soon as the war against the monster clan in the southwest was over, Wu Kui returned to Yuanding Imperial City from the camp of the Eastern Army.And Shi Xuan also led the main force of the Eastern Army back to Beijiang County before and continued to stick to Tonghu Pass while supporting the front line of Yueshui.

Hearing the emperor's inquiry, Wu Kui quickly bowed and replied: "Your Majesty, the habits of the monster race are actually the same as those of the wild wolves in the mountains. They eat meat and it is impossible to change it. For us humans, we can also rob and kill if we can." , I have never had the second attitude. It is recorded in history books that there were human nations who wanted to make peace, and were even willing to submit to the monster clan as a vassal. But they were still ignored by the monster clan. Until later, the warriors prospered , The price of the monster clan's attack began to increase, and it was impossible to fight for tens of thousands of miles, and then gradually formed the current pattern of the human race country.

This time Haoyue Yaoguo proposed to send envoys, but the old slave didn't know its intention.However, the old slave felt that it might have something to do with the fact that they failed to retreat after their crazy attack on Xiyuan County. "

Yang Sheng didn't express any surprise when he heard this.What Wu Kui said was exactly what he thought.

Yaozu and Nanyuan Kingdom have been adjacent to each other for hundreds of years, even more than a thousand years including the time of the previous dynasty.I have never heard of the Yaozu taking the initiative to come to envoys before.It has never happened in the history of the human race.

"Is there anything in Xiyuan County that attracts the monster race?" Yang Sheng couldn't think of any other possibility after thinking about it.Even if you look back in this way of thinking, the Yaozu aggressively attacked Xiyuan County, posing as if they were going to attack the city and seize the territory.It can be understood as "bright grabbing".Now that Ming can't grab it, is sending envoys here to outwit him?Or intimidation?Or is it a negotiation?

"Slaves don't know." Where did Wu Kui know the Yaozu's thoughts?

"Prepare a document to the Yamen of the Ministry of War, and ask them to order Yang Shiming to conduct a survey of the entire county of Xiyuan County immediately. The literature of Xiyuan County since ancient times began to be searched, including local chronicles, and some legends and stories.

In addition, focus on the area behind Baishi City.You only want what you don't have.If the Yaozu really came for something as we thought, it must have not been obtained yet. "

The southwest of Baishi City was captured by the monster clan before, so if you were looking for something, it would naturally be captured by the monster clan, so there was no need to attack the front line of Baishi City desperately.So it is also guessed that if there is such a thing that is attracting the monster race, it must be somewhere behind Baishi City.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Wu Kui should be here. In the corner of the study next to it, there is a clerk who is always ready to start writing.It is the duty of the clerk to turn the emperor's oral language into a formal document.After that, the emperor will confirm that it is correct, add a seal, and then deliver it by a special person.

After the document was drawn up, Yang Sheng looked at it, and when he felt that there was no problem, he put his own seal on it and sent it to the Yamen of the Ministry of War not far away.Although the matter is not urgent, it will take a lot of time to sort out the entire Xiyuan County as he said, and the sooner it starts, the sooner it will have results.It is best to get the results before the envoys of the Yaozu come.Of course, there may be no results.

Wait for the order to be sent away.Yang Sheng also seemed to be involved in this incident, put down the pen in his hand, and put aside his official business for the time being.Picking up a small teapot on the table, he left the study, ready to go for a walk in the small garden behind to change his mind.

"A few days ago, I read Xiao Shisan's letter saying that Zhang Yan was leading them to build a house and a mountain gate? You know about this, right?"

"Returning to His Majesty, Zhang Yan did not hide it, so the slaves also know about it. Moreover, Zhang Yan's mountain gate is on the cliff mountain that His Majesty gave him last time. Now it passes every one and a half months There are some new constructions on the mountain, but they are not yet on a large scale. It seems that it will take a long time to complete the construction."

Yang Sheng sipped at the mouth of the small teapot, and said with a smile: "It seems that Zhang Yan is going to take off the cover of miscellaneous learning on his body? Lishan Gate, what will it be called in the future?"

"What your Majesty said is true. Judging from Zhang Yan's actions, he really wants to distinguish himself from the school of miscellaneous studies. In fact, he said it a long time ago. It is said that Zhang Yan's ability has the means of the school of miscellaneous studies , but it’s not just one kind of miscellaneous learning. Other methods are actually more than miscellaneous learning. It’s clear at a glance who tolerates who.

It's just that Zhang Yan probably didn't expect his strength to improve so quickly.Otherwise, he doesn't need to wear the jacket of miscellaneous studies. "

Yang Sheng shook his head, unlike Wu Kui's statement: "Leaving aside Zhang Yan's ability, after all, it is not a category that we are familiar with. But just talking about Zhang Yan's previous steps to take advantage of the situation, to be honest, ninety-nine out of ten people are No such heart. If you look back at his previous actions based on the results, you will naturally feel that it was unnecessary, but at that time, he found the largest and widest energy storage environment for himself in almost every step. Otherwise, if there is one more variable, he may Can't get up."

When Yang Sheng said this, it was impossible for Wu Kui next to him to argue with him.But Wu Kui also had to admit that what the emperor said about Zhang Yan was indeed walking now.I am afraid that no one in Nanyuan Kingdom will be able to do anything to him.In turn, you have to rely on him a lot.

At the end, Yang Sheng had a whim, and said with a smile: "Zhang Yan seems to value the mountain gate very much. You said that if I give him another piece of lake view and hills in Xiyuan County, will he accept it?"

Chapter 368 Discovery

Zhang Yan was in no hurry to build the cliff mountain, even if it took three to five years, it would be fast for him.According to legend, it took nearly 30 years from the start of construction to the complete completion of the Dragon and Tiger Mountain Gate. What is there to worry about?

What's more, there are only three registered disciples under the sect now. The establishment of the Shanmen is not because there is no place to teach apprentices, but the establishment of the Shanmen itself is a tempering of the disciples under the sect.

Since it is necessary to hone the disciples, the longer the time, the better.It can also give Zhang Yan more time to move the spiritual veins and cultivate the cliff mountain itself.

There is no rush to cultivate Cliff Mountain.The gathering of spiritual veins is a surprise, but it also needs the help of time.Moreover, the mountain itself also needs to slowly digest the various changes brought about by the increase in aura.A spiritual mountain is not only rich in spiritual energy, but vegetation and wild animals will change due to the increase in the aggregated spiritual energy of the spiritual veins.

Therefore, for monks, many things take time to ferment, and they are rarely accomplished overnight.

Of course, Zhang Yan was not idle either.The things in hand are currently going down step by step.Apart from practicing and teaching apprentices, the most important thing is refining tools and alchemy.

Although the demand for Peiyuan Dan is not large now, it is only used as an auxiliary consumable to match the spirit stone, but it will be different in the future. After Zhang Yan established the mountain gate, it is impossible for there to be only three disciples.Prepare more now, so as not to be in a hurry in the future.For this reason, Zhang Yan specially ordered a lot of large jade boxes with a square foot, not asking for high quality jade, just big enough and strong enough.Take it back and engrave Shanggu Ling's magic circle, so that it can be used to place the medicine for a long time without worrying about the spirit energy dissipating and losing the power of the medicine.

And refining equipment is more complicated than alchemy.The simple daily routine is to refine the ghost-stalking bell, and it takes one and a half hours a day to do this, which can be said to involve a lot of Zhang Yan's energy.Thirty percent of the finished product will be handed over to the demon species, and the rest will be handed over to Beiwu Kingdom.

In this regard, Bai Yu of the demon species also came to Zhang Yan, and expressed some ideas in a very tactful manner, testing whether it is possible to increase the price in exchange for the exclusive right to catch the ghost bell, so as not to flow into the hands of Beiwu Kingdom.After being rejected by Zhang Yan, he didn't dare to speak again.

In fact, Zhang Yan, the ghost-killing bell, is already a little tired of practicing.After all, this thing was a kind of magic weapon that Zhang Yan took out in an emergency, and his refining level was limited at that time, so the upper limit of the ghost-stalking bell is not high overall. Even though he has improved it many times now, it is still in line with It's not up to Zhang Yan's current refining level.

The obsession with improving one's weapon refining ability is also because in the wild world, there is no way to rely on others except oneself.If you want to use a good magic weapon, you can only do it yourself.But now, what Zhang Yan needs to prepare is the magic weapon for storage.

The difficulties in the refining of storage-type magic tools mainly lie in the refining of materials and the matching and use of magic circles.

The basic material of the storage device is not a combination of one or several materials, but needs to be smelted together to form a thing called "beard" that does not exist in nature.This kind of thing is the first difficulty in refining the storage magic weapon.

The function of "whiskers" is to become an anchor point of "from the real to the virtual".This miraculous refining product can perfectly cooperate with the space law circle to anchor a space gap captured through the space barrier in a fixed place so that it will not float away again.It also makes it possible to open and close at any time in the same space.Otherwise, the magic weapon of the storage class can only be empty talk.

Once the "beard" is done, it is the inscription of the magic circle.The difficulty lies in the word "enlightenment".With the same magic circle, a clear understanding can show a greater effect, which is especially obvious in the space magic circle.

Zhang Yan didn't know whether his understanding of space was good or bad, but he didn't feel how difficult it was when studying the space magic circle, and it was easy to understand.In addition, he had the expectation that "everything is difficult at the beginning" from the beginning, but he felt satisfied after the result came out.

The first refined product was a large box three feet square.The main body of the box is iron essence, which is dotted with particles made of "whiskers" arranged in a nebula.Even though this compromise method has been used, it still consumes a lot of "whiskers", and the cost is already equal to all the magic tools that Zhang Yan has handled before.

It can be seen from the expensiveness of the storage magic utensils.

After opening the box and opening the magic circle according to a specific method, you can open the space interlayer inside it.The space is very large, which is also the result of Zhang Yan engraving several space magic circles on the huge box.Although the technique is still jerky and rough, the practicality is not bad at all.

A volume of six feet square is already much larger than the small warehouse in Zhang Yan's house.It is enough to pile up top-quality spirit stones and medicinal materials.The more important thing is that this is a beginning, which marks that Zhang Yan can refine hundreds of such storage artifacts as long as he wants to. The idea of ​​the mountain gate as a foundation guarantee.

Naturally, one box is not enough, at least all those things piled up in the martial arts academy in Langyuan City must be removed first.According to Zhang Yan's estimation, he still needs to refine five more storage boxes of this kind. Afterwards, if the consumption and income offset part of it, he can refine one every three months.This is not counting the increase in storage box space brought about by the improvement of his refining skills in the future.

But when Zhang Yan was refining the third storage box, he frowned inexplicably, and interrupted the refining three times in the middle.In the end, although the refinement was completed, the doubts on his face showed that he must have encountered some accident.

"The space magic circle seems to be unstable when grasping the cracks in the space. It needs to be anchored before it will not vibrate. This...is this different from what is said in the Taoist script?" This is why Zhang Yan frowned .

According to the Daoist scriptures, there are often gaps in the space, and they are closed, and can be grasped and used at any time. It does not need to be as dangerous as "void".It is the prerequisite for the constant use of the space magic weapon.

He hadn't noticed Zhang Yan's first storage artifact when he was refining it, but after he got familiar with it, the second and third ones caught his attention.When grabbing the cracks in the space, it is not as smooth as the Daoist said, but there is a force of involvement, which seems to prevent Zhang Yan from grabbing the cracks in the space.

Can the cracks in space also be "owned"?This guess made Zhang Yan dare not continue refining.Instead, he quickly meditated, immersed himself in the tower inside the Wanxiangzhu, and read all the records about the cracks in the space.

When Zhang Yan regained his consciousness, although the doubts on his face were less, the frown deepened.

According to Taoist scriptures, the gaps in the space are infinite, stable and usable, and can be grasped at any time, and the situation that Zhang Yan encountered will not occur.But there are exceptions, that is, the space itself is not stable.

Chapter 369

It's like a pool of deep water. If you use a small bowl to scoop the water, there will be no problem, and there will be no waves.But if the corners of the pool of water are not stable and there are gaps, the water will always flow in or out, and when you scoop up water, you will feel that the water surface is not calm.

The same is true for the relationship between space and space gaps.

In fact, there is no description in the Daoist scriptures stored at the Dragon and Tiger Mountain Gate about the reason why the gap in the space was found to be unstable during the refining of the storage magic weapon.Zhang Yan found a related similar situation from a random thought about space and the relationship between heaven and earth, and then deduced the possibility from the actual situation he encountered by analogy.

What if the space is unstable?And why?

These questions are not explained even in the Taoist scriptures in the Dragon and Tiger Mountain Gate.Naturally, Zhang Yan has no way to learn from it, and can only observe carefully, not to mention in-depth study or evasion.

But inspired by this, Zhang Yan has a new understanding of Huang Tianyu.Because according to Taoist scriptures, the complete world is a stable unity of heaven, earth and space.Conversely, if it is unstable, does that mean that this world...is not complete? !

With such a guess, Zhang Yan couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive for a while.

It's like suddenly one day you find that the place you live is empty, and no one knows whether the result is a near miss or a sudden collapse.Uncertainty of the unknown will immediately hit the heart.

But what can I do?Ants do not have the right to dominate their own lives.You can only take one step at a time.

At least Zhang Yan discovered this secret, so he was more prepared than the others who were kept in the dark.

During dinner, Yang Rui came over to ask for leave, saying that it would be his father's birthday in a month or so, and he had to go back to Yuanding Imperial City to congratulate him.

Zhang Yan knew about this before.The new city governor of Langyuan City had invited him to attend the emperor's birthday banquet in the imperial city.But he declined.There is no need for Zhang Yan to cater to these things with a smile or to cover everything.Of course I don't want to waste time.

"You just go back. But you can't leave homework behind. Especially the comprehension of the principles in the Daoist books, think about it, ponder it more, and take advantage of this opportunity to go back to see more, so as to confirm what you have learned. Cultivation of Taoism, a long stream of water , everything has its reason, to understand a little is a little, and to accumulate slowly is the right way.”

"Disciple remember!"

But Yang Rui who returned to the imperial city was not very happy.Because he had calculated that no matter how fast he came and went, it would take at least three months.The construction of the cliff mountain gate is likely to start the main building part next month.If he left, wouldn't he miss a lot?

Zhang Yan could see his disciple's reluctance, but he didn't say anything.Not to mention taking the initiative to use the Skylark shuttle to give him a ride.It is not a good thing that everything goes well. After some small bumps have been tasted reluctantly, it is also a kind of experience.

What's more, Zhang Yan knew without guessing that Yang Rui didn't simply wish his emperor Lao Tzu's birthday when he went back this time, there must be other things waiting for him.For example, what Yang Rui has learned will definitely be asked.Another example is that the marriage between Yang Rui and the princess of Huayue Shang Kingdom also needs to be explained clearly to Yang Rui.

Yang Rui bid farewell to Zhang Yan early the next morning, and hurried to Yuanding under the guard of a group of guards.

At Yang Rui's age, he usually rides in a carriage. After all, the bumps on a horse's back are not something a child can bear.But Yang Rui thought the carriage was too slow, and even muttered, "Compared to the teacher's shuttle, riding alone is a snail, let alone a carriage."

So Yang Rui rode alone for the first time in his life.

But soon Yang Rui realized that his thinking was too simple.Although he can ride a horse, the saddle and so on should all be the size and best equipment made for him.But long-distance riding depends not only on "can ride a horse", but also on "how long you can ride".

The inner thighs will soon become red from being bumped up and down, and if you continue to grind, the skin will be broken. The next day, let alone riding a horse, it will be difficult to walk.

The knight next to him was naturally aware of the difficulties his little prince had made, so he explained that he had done so before so that the prince would not be embarrassed, and then said that he could go back to the carriage again.

"No need!" Yang Rui flatly rejected the guard's offer.At first, he really felt embarrassed, even though he was young, he didn't like to be underestimated.Secondly, he didn't feel that he really couldn't solve the problem of being impatient with sitting on horseback for a long time.

As a result, under Yang Rui's thoughts, a water film condensed from his crotch and extended to the entire area above the knees and below the waist, wrapping it tightly.