across the Quartet

Broken Chapter Four

As soon as the boat docked, Gai Nie drew his sword and slipped away quickly.But Huo Mei suspects that he is still nearby, watching Mr. Wei Zhuang who may wake up at any time.

The north bank of the river is still a desolate tidal flat.I heard that further east is the ancient battlefield of Muye War; west is Xiuwu County of Wei State.Because most of the chariots and horses were left on the south bank, the heavy coffin had to be carried away by four big men.In addition, some injured people also needed someone to help them, but Wushuang had to put them on a temporary raft and drag them away.They walked on the river beach for another two hours, and a small Bigan Temple appeared in front of them.

I don't know who built this temple a long time ago. After being exposed to the wind and sun, the mud tires in the temple have faded long ago; Heart", only then can we recognize that this is the legendary young teacher Bigan.

The old boatman led people around the small temple to make sure that no one was hiding around, and then he held the "heart" held by Bigan statue's hand with five fingers, and twisted it hard, and the clay figurine's feet slowly moved. Opened a wide black hole.Everyone walked in one by one, the coffin bearer was in the middle, Chi Lian and Bai Feng were behind.As the last person walked down the tunnel, the old boatman groped for some mechanism inside the cave, and the hole on the ground closed automatically without leaving a gap.

"That way we won't be afraid that the man wielding the sword will follow." He smiled and lit the torch.Huo Mei reluctantly nodded.

A group of people walked in the tunnel for a long time.When he saw the sun again, Chi Lian was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a luxurious mansion outside, and the tunnel exit was in the corner of the back room.There were many busy servants in the room. They carried the coffin to the main hall, bandaged and applied medicine to the wounded, and waited for others to bathe and change clothes.And the old boatman took off his coir raincoat and outer robe, and he was wearing silk and satin underneath, and after a little straightening his clothes, he was a wealthy businessman with a ruddy complexion, a big heart, and a fat body.Huo Mei calls him "Uncle Jian", and he seems to be an old man who gathers and disperses quicksand.

Although Quicksand's current power is limited, there are more than a dozen similar hidden strongholds, most of which are scattered in Han and Wei, and a few are located on the border of Chu State.The leader of each stronghold is a trusted aide selected by Wei Zhuang thousands of times.However, these people did not know each other, let alone where the other people's strongholds were located, and the orders they executed could only be transferred through Wei Zhuang himself directly, or with pre-agreed tokens.

After Chi Lian took a bath and freshened up, he tied his hair up high and changed into clothes that didn't get in the way.After fleeing from Xinzheng, I had been worried for many days, but after arriving here, I finally felt relieved.She heard Master and Uncle Jian discussing that even if you cross the river, you still can't take it lightly, because the eyes and ears of the net are everywhere in the Seven Kingdoms—now the Six Kingdoms—the beggars sleeping on the roadside, the drunk rangers, and the thieves. , the peddlers peddling along the street... may all be their eyeliners; countless news spread from the eyes and ears to the trap gathering points entrenched in the important cities of the Six Kingdoms, and then the leaders sent assassins to solve them one by one.Hearing these words, she was secretly startled, and decided to take the initiative to check around outside the house to see if there was any suspicious person.

As a result, as soon as she stepped out of the small door of the back room, her feet froze.

Ge Nie was sitting on the ground outside the back alley, holding a long sword in his arms, his eyes closed tightly, as if he had fallen into a deep sleep.

Chi Lian was startled and angry, not knowing what to do for a while; suddenly a familiar voice came from his ear.

"I heard that a skilled swordsman can kill even in his sleep."

She looked up and saw Baifeng standing under the eaves opposite, with a smile on her lips.She walked over a few steps, and also stood in the shadow under the eaves.

"Do you believe it or not?"

"This kind of thing, how do you know if you don't try."

"It's rare that you and I feel the same way."

Three white feathers flew away through the wind—feathers are not hard objects, but these feather arrows may be faster and more accurate than any hidden weapon in the world.

Accurately hit a green light that suddenly appeared, and turned into debris in the air.

"You two, can I let you rest for a while?"

Gai Nie put his sword back into its sheath, but still closed his eyes. "I need to adjust my breath and refresh my mind. Otherwise, I'm afraid it will be bad for you if you encounter a strong enemy in the future."

"Hmph, now that you've crossed the river, you're useless." Bai Feng sneered, another feather appeared between her fingers.

Gaine shook his head. "Don't underestimate the snare net. You just broke the spider thread from South Korea when you crossed the north, but there may not be more traps here."

As he spoke, he lowered one hand to the ground, and a thin turquoise snake actually swam out of the sleeve—to Chi Lian's surprise, there was no sign of poisoning on Ge Nie's face at all.The snake didn't return to her side, instead it crawled away as quickly as if it was running away.

"...What magic method did you use?"

"Miss can unknowingly let the poisonous snake sneak into my clothes. This is a brilliant technique. It's a pity that snakes like warm places. My body is too cold, and it doesn't want to live long."

Chi Lian stared at this person in disbelief.There was indeed no trace of blood on his face, there was a layer of hoarfrost on his eyebrows, his cheeks were sunken, and there were black circles around his eyes; even so, Chi Lian had to admit that he had a good skin: although he and Wei Zhuang It is very different.The two of them are equally tall and burly, with good looks, but Wei Zhuang will wear brocade clothes embroidered with gold thread even in the wilderness, and he will not lose his demeanor even in bloody battles. As for this man, his clothes are shabby and he looks like he hasn’t been washed for a long time. When he performs lightness kung fu, he looks like a crane, an ape, or a cunning rabbit, and this dusty appearance sitting on the ground looks like A wild dog guarding its territory.A voice said from the bottom of her heart, how could these two be brothers in the same line, they are clearly white and black, ice and charcoal, stubborn stone and beautiful jade; In terms of courage and the means of killing people, they are equally brilliant.

She couldn't help thinking that this man had been guarding the river for two days, afraid of missing any ferry boats, and then followed them day and night; did he ever stop to eat and drink?Have you ever closed your eyes and taken a nap?Have you ever kneaded your sore feet?

No one would go this far for an empty promise in a covenant.What is his purpose?

"How did you find this place?" Bai Feng's words interrupted her meditation.

"I know a little about the art of mechanism."

...It seems that this person not only discovered the secret of the Bigan Temple, but also appeared from the house without anyone noticing, and then went outside without disturbing a single person.

"I'm not stupid. Everyone knows that when you encounter a weak enemy, you must take advantage of it. Only a fool will give them a chance to recharge their energy." Bai Feng said while attacking with her feathers again.Gai Nie first drew his sword to resist, then finally stood up, looking for a gap to jump more than ten steps into the air.

"I am not an enemy."

"Of course you said so yourself."

"..." Gai Nie lowered his bamboo hat, as if there was no excuse left.He glanced at the back door of the house one last time, and left quietly through the alley.

"Why don't you go after it?" Chi Lian unwillingly stared at the direction in which the little snake slipped away.

"So what if we catch up to him. I can't kill him." Bai Feng blinked, "Actually, I don't think he will hinder us here; I just prefer a live target."

Just as Gai Nie left, another person came out of the back door; Chi Lian recognized him as Uncle Jian's youngest son, and called him Jian Ba.Uncle Jian’s own sons died in the war. These sons were all orphans he had taken in for many years. Two of them were picked up from the river—mostly abandoned by those who fled upstream; The row starts from the second child and goes down to the youngest Jian Shi.After these children grow up, they all work under Uncle Jian and serve in Quicksand.

"Two, Mrs. Huo Mei asked the two of you to discuss matters."

Chi Lian agreed, turned around and crossed the threshold; Jian Ba ​​followed with a smile, and Bai Feng lazily fell behind.

As soon as he walked into the courtyard, suddenly a breeze brushed the tip of his nose.She stopped suddenly, her body froze unconsciously.

Blood.This is the smell of blood.

Although it was very faint, Chi Lian was too familiar with similar smells these past few days; she suddenly understood something, and quickly turned around to run out, but was blocked by Jian Ba's body; she could only pull out the chain Jian yelled at Bai Feng: "Go to him—go to him and come back—"

"If you hum again, I'll make a hole in your chin."

Too late.Jian Ba ​​was less than half a step away from Chi Lian, before the chain sword was deployed, the girl's arms were embraced by him, and a sharp boning knife was pressed tightly against the joint between the jaw and the neck.Chi Lian was forced to hold his head high, and was pushed and pushed inside without saying a word.She didn't have a chance to look back, and she could only secretly hope that Bai Feng would not be caught by someone—hope that the kid understood her meaning.

The further in, the stronger the smell of blood.As soon as he entered the main hall where the coffin was placed, Chi Lian felt a buzzing in his head and felt a little dizzy.

Almost all the people in the mansion were crowded here, separated into two distinct groups with the coffin as the boundary; a white-haired corpse fell on the open space in the middle, with blood gurgling from the wound on the back—just a moment ago He also greeted their Uncle Jian.Huo Mei was half-embraced by one of Uncle Jian's sons, with a long sword around her neck; and the Quicksand tribe who escaped with her all the way from Xinzheng were on the other side of the coffin; some of Uncle Jian's dozen sons were here One side, some on the other side, all of them are on the verge of breaking out, but no one dares to move rashly for a while.

"Jian Sixteen, you wolf-hearted bastard, how dare you - how dare you do such a rebellious thing as killing your father!!" On the opposite side of Huo Mei, a person with red eyes shouted hoarsely.

"Is it treason? You thieves are covering up repeat offenders, that's called treason." The man who held Huo Mei hostage spoke, and it seemed that he was the leader of another group. "Do you know the amount of reward Luowang offered for those two people? Those who are captured alive will be rewarded with [-] yuan, three levels of honor; those who present their heads will be rewarded with [-] yuan, and one level of honor. I have already persuaded this old man not to be too stubborn. It's because he can't listen to it himself... It's just a adoptive father, even if he is a real father, if he stands in my way of making money, I will kill him!"

Everyone in Quicksand couldn't help shouting and cursing loudly, all kinds of vicious and vulgar words were pouring out, and some ugly words were even unheard of by Chi Lian.It's a pity that no one can erase the smug expression on Jian Shiliu's face.He has gained the upper hand, killed his adoptive father, controlled Huo Mei, Chi Lian and Wu Jiu, and several of his brothers assisted him.The only thing they were afraid of was Wei Zhuang, so they crucified the four corners of the coffin in front of everyone, thinking that nothing would go wrong.

"You beast! Dogs don't eat!!" Chi Lian cursed unbearably.As soon as she made a sound, she felt the sharp knife pierced into the flesh, and hot blood dripped down her neck.Huo Mei shook her head at her.She could only watch as the men drove the spikes into the wood as if they were nailing into her own flesh.

She tried to summon the snakes from the moment she was brought in, but to no avail.It suddenly occurred to her that she accidentally heard from the maid that the master had been bitten by a snake, so he sprinkled some snake-proof medicinal wine everywhere in the courtyard.And in the end, the poisonous snake that saved her life was used by her on Ge Nie——Thinking of this, Chi Lian felt so regretful that his stomach throbbed with pain.

"Sixteen, what should we do with these people?" asked the man with the knife behind her.

"Don't kill me. They are all Wei Zhuang's subordinates, and some of them must know the whereabouts of Hengyang Lord. I heard that when Han Han was still there, Wei Zhuang survived [-] sentences in the prison. It is likely that he himself will speak up. No way... But these people, tsk tsk. I don't believe that everyone is tough."

I will kill you all.Let my snake tear your flesh and drink your blood.Chi Lian thought bitterly, but his hands and feet had no choice but to stay where they were.A pair of eyes appeared in front of him in a trance... a pair of eyes like ancient wells, no matter whether it is killing or being killed, it can't make waves.

She really didn't want to admit that she wanted to see this person very much at this moment.

At this moment, the room suddenly became dark.It seemed that some mechanism was activated, and the curtains on all sides were lowered at the same time, and the skylight above was also blocked by wooden boards.In the dim light, there were several mournful howls.

When Chi Lian came back to his senses, the people behind him had already fallen down.She couldn't wait to strangle him around his neck with a chain sword, and when she looked back, she saw a tall figure standing in the middle of the room, with one hand raised high, holding another person in her hand, with a "heh, heh" between her knuckles noise.

The person who was picked up was Jian Shiliu. His feet were off the ground, and as his neck bone was crushed inch by inch, his body twitched and trembled, like a worm crawling out of the mud.He turned his eyes to the brothers beside him in horror.

Help me—his eyes said so—everyone of those people held a sword in their hands, as long as someone has the courage to rush up and cut off this hand, he can be saved.However, his brothers who conspired in the big event were all frightened out of their wits, not to mention rushing forward, some of them were so frightened that they couldn't even hold their swords steadily.

Because the person holding him was Wei Zhuang.

At the moment of dying, Jian Shiliu finally tasted the feeling of being betrayed.

Chi Lian couldn't believe his eyes.Although the light was dim, it could still be seen that the coffin was still closed and there was no sign of opening it.He moved freely like a ray of ghost, and eliminated the three chief culprits in one shot; the traitor had no hostages in his hands, and the situation was immediately reversed.

Wei Zhuang threw the limp Jian Sixteen to the ground, and squinted at the few people who were still holding their swords.Those people were panicked and at a loss, like a nest of voles stared at by a boa constrictor.Finally, someone broke down and cried out: "Don't kill me! It's useless to kill us... Luo Wang, the adults of Luo Wang, will be here soon..."

"They won't come."

The curtain was lifted.A man half-stained with blood came in and answered his words.

It's Gaine.

Wei Zhuang twitched the corner of his mouth, not looking very surprised.

"Brother, did you come to see my joke?"

Gaine shook his head. "General Li Mu of our country has made great achievements and loves soldiers like a son; he repelled the Xiongnu for the state of Zhao, conquered the land of Yan in the east, and strengthened Qin in the west; however, there are still many Zhao people who want to kill him, including his own subordinates."

"Oh?"

"Betrayal for profit is not uncommon. It is not ridiculous."

"Brother, does this count as comforting me?"

"..." Ge Nie bowed his head and remained silent.Wei Zhuang turned his head to look at the corpse on the ground, with a teasing smile still on his face.

"I just want to tell you that loyalty to my interests is higher than betrayal. It's not that I, Wei Zhuang, can't afford to pay a higher price than the people of Qin. It's a pity that some people are not worth the price themselves."

Even Chi Lian was a little surprised that this thrilling informant ended so hastily.Wei Zhuang handed over the responsibility of this mansion to the remaining brothers of the Jian family, and ordered them to bury the adoptive father after cleaning up the corpse.The blood on the ground was still fresh; the servants in the hall came and went, performing their duties, but none of them opened their mouths, as if they were weighed down by something and couldn't lift their heads.

The one who broke the silence was Ge Nie. "Xiao Zhuang, when did you wake up?"

"When a sword was hanging in my heart." Wei Zhuang smiled and gestured on his chest.

"Sorry. It was forced by the situation at that time." Gai Nie didn't seem to notice the coldness in Wei Zhuang's smile, and asked naturally: "How much has your internal injury healed? Who hurt you? Or , just because of the relationship between practicing that book of secret arts, just like Master did back then—”

Wei Zhuang interrupted him with a wave. "Why can't I understand a word of Senior Brother's words? Who said I suffered internal injuries? I'm just a little tired and want to take a good rest."

Ge Nie frowned and said, "Xiao Zhuang, could it be that you can't trust me? You want me to leave?"

"How can it be. If I believe in you, I will naturally ask you to walk with us all the way. If there are still people chasing the snare, the elder brother must be a great help; if I don't trust you, I should walk with you even more, because for us Who else in the world is more transparent than me in the place where we are going? If Senior Brother joins forces with other people, Wei will never have peace."

It turned out that he woke up at that time and practiced his mind.However, just like what the master said, Wei Zhuang had not fully recovered his physical strength when he just woke up, so he was extra cautious and vigilant and did not trust anyone.I'm afraid he came out of the coffin not long after he arrived at Jane's house, restored the coffin lid to its original state, and hid himself secretly, even his cronies and subordinates did not know where he was.He saw with his own eyes that Jian Shiliu killed his adoptive father in his hiding place, but he was not in a hurry to act. Firstly, he wanted to wait for the situation to be clear and every traitor who joined forces with Jian Shiliu would be exposed so that he could wipe out the roots. Probably also felt that Uncle Jian had no knowledge of people and had lost the qualification to be the leader of a party.Slowly sorting out in his heart like this, Chi Lian felt a chill gradually rise from the soles of his feet.

I'm not yet qualified to be fully trusted by him.Neither did Bai Feng.Master... Master, does she know?

Who on earth could be entrusted by Wei Zhuang at his weakest and most critical time?

Gai Nie was well aware of his younger brother's vindictive temperament, but he didn't feel uncomfortable because of Wei Zhuang's sarcastic tone. "I came here for the Zhangshui alliance. Zhao Guo has received favors from South Korea, and he should repay them. Gai is just trying to do his best. If General Wei does not trust the alliance, Gai should leave."

"When did I say I couldn't trust you? Senior brother, I know best." Wei Zhuang rolled up his sleeves and stretched out an arm, "How about my body, senior brother will try to know—"

Gai Nie strode over, raised his right hand to check his pulse.Chi Lian needed to gnash his teeth to hold back his silence—it was a taboo for warriors to expose their veins to the enemy.Didn't the master say that their brothers and sisters are sworn enemies from the day they started?

"This pulse is so strange...Could it be..." Gai Nie was concentrating on talking to himself, and suddenly his eyes changed, as if he had realized something, but he couldn't dodge it—— Wei Zhuang grabbed his inner and outer gates like lightning , a ferocious internal force rushed into his meridians like a fire, causing his whole body to be in turmoil, and he could no longer support it.

Wei Zhuang clicked on several important points on the elder brother's body one after another, supported his limp body with one hand, and knocked on the coffin lid behind him with the other hand.

"Pry this thing off."

Immediately in the quicksand, someone took a chisel and a crowbar and opened the coffin that was nailed to death by Jian Shiliu just now.Wei Zhuang smiled alluringly at the speechless senior brother, and then threw him in.

"Pin it on."

"Yes."

Chi Lian opened his mouth wide and watched the two people switch sides in an instant, not knowing what to say.It wasn't until Wei Zhuang stroked the edge of the coffin in satisfaction and ordered his subordinates to prepare for dinner, that she couldn't help but stepped forward and said, "Master Wei Zhuang..."

"What's the matter?" Wei Zhuang didn't seem to notice the change in address at all, as if Chi Lian had always called him that.

"My lord... this subordinate has a request." She gritted her teeth and continued, "This subordinate believes that although Gai Nie is inseparable from friend and foe, he has assisted us many times on the road, and he has saved my life. Grace--"

"Oh? Are you reluctant?" Wei Zhuang raised his eyebrows.

"This subordinate is just—please give him a good time." The burial without seeing the light of day is really tormented; Chi Lian thinks that Gai Nie... is at least worthy of a sword. "Subordinates can do it themselves."

Wei Zhuang stared at her for a moment, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but grow wider and wider, and finally he burst out laughing.Chi Lian had never seen him so happy before.

"You think I'm going to bury him? Hahahaha... That's a good idea. I'll do it sooner or later, but not today. He still has a lot of uses right now. I want to bring him back to Yunmeng Mountain alive."

TBC