across the Quartet

Chapter Three

Like the royal cities of other countries, the Zhao Palace has been expanded many times by the monarchs of the past dynasties, covering more and more land, and the specifications are getting higher and higher.Surrounding the palace, there are inner and outer walls.The palace stands on a [-]-foot-high rammed-earth platform, grand and solemn enough to overlook the whole city.There are corridors and courtyards on the west and north sides; trees, flowers and plants are planted on both sides of the platform base, but everything else is very empty.

After Li Mu entered the palace, all 36 cavalry were left between the inner and outer city walls, and only Sima Shang, Gai Nie and the leaders of the four teams were able to enter the inner city gate with them.A group of people climbed up the steps, and untied their swords and shoes in front of the Lingwu Hall.Even so, Gai Nie, Fan, Li and others were still stopped by the guards outside the hall, saying that those who have not been summoned are not allowed to enter without permission.Li Mu also winked at them, ordering them to stay outside the hall and wait for orders.

Gai Nie took a peek from outside the door, and felt that the interior of the Lingwu Hall was not very spacious, and there were only a dozen guards inside and outside the hall; if there was really an ambush, he was confident that he would be able to break in in no time and protect the two of them. General.There are several other people dressed as guards outside the palace, presumably they must be attendants who followed other ministers into the palace.Since he wasn't the only one who was left outside, he felt a little relieved.

Gai Nie circulated the zhenqi in his body for a small circle, and then gradually gathered it near his ears, wanting to spy on how Zhao Guojun and his ministers in the hall questioned Li Mu.At this moment, a rude and slightly mocking voice came from beside him: "I heard that this is Gai Nie, the number one swordsman in the Zhao Kingdom?"

Gai Nie suddenly became vigilant, turned around, and looked up and down the speaker.The person who spoke was a man with a yellow face and long beard, with broad shoulders and a broad back, a slightly protruding belly, and his palms were knotted like eagle claws, which showed that his external skills were very strong.Gai Nie didn't have a sword in his hand, but he took half a step back with his right foot calmly, ready to strike. "Don't dare. Ge is just an unknown person in the army. I don't know who imposed this false reputation of 'the number one swordsmanship'?"

The yellow-faced man smiled and said: "Why should you be overly modest. Song Si, a diner under the eunuch Ling's door, is only good at swordsmanship in his life. He wants to make an appointment with this step to have a duel. I don't know if this step will show you face?" Leaning forward, he reached out to grab Ge Nie's right arm.

How could Ge Nie let him catch him.He turned his body slightly, the back of his left hand was suddenly placed under Song's four arms, and his right hand was turned over at the same time, making a gesture of supporting both hands: "A strong man invites you, and Gai dare not refuse to obey; it is a pity that I will only return to Handan temporarily this time. We will be returning to the front line soon, so—"

Before he finished speaking, he heard a person behind him laughing and saying: "Gai Nie, do you really think you can go back!"

The voice was so familiar.Gai Nie was startled and jumped up, only to see a cold light like a poisonous snake spitting out a letter, it seemed to attack Fan Yuan and Li Heng behind him at the same time, and suddenly passed the two of them and came straight to the position of Gai Nie's heart.Fan Yuan hurriedly backed away, while Li Heng swung his waist and rushed to the shelf where the sword was placed on the other side of the hall door.The two guards with halberds shouted "No violence!" While preventing others from taking swords from the rack, they intended to intercept the first person to attack.

In an instant, Ge Nie recognized that the murder weapon was a dagger small enough to be hidden in his sleeve, and the one who attacked him with the dagger was one of the four masters under Guo Kaimen, the "Mother and Child Wind and Thunder Sword" Zhao Feng. Beiming; this person has a broken arm and cannot use his swords, but his expression is extremely resentful, and his moves are full of viciousness.Ge Nie didn't want to get entangled with him, he swayed around the short sword Fengrui, and at the same time raised his left knee and kicked the man's waist.Unexpectedly, there was a piercing sound from the back of his head at this time, it turned out that Song Si's knuckles were slightly bent, grabbing his shoulders.Gai Nie's body sank and let go of his strength, and his right leg kicked out quickly, hitting the man's shin with one blow.Song Si dodged in time, took the long sword thrown by another accomplice behind his back, and slashed at Gai Nie's head.Gai Nie retreated instead of advancing, suddenly cut into Song Sihuai's arms, and punched the connection between his shoulder and arm.Song Si evaded sideways, but Gai Nie's punch implied the strange sword intent in the vertical sword technique "Swallowing the Moon". The joints were dislocated, and the sword in Song Si's hand suddenly lost its aim—but Gai Nie grabbed his wrist, and with the long sword in his hand, he deflected Zhao Beiming's short sword that attacked again.

These few movements of rabbit ups and downs are extremely dangerous.Gai Nie has already seen that Song Si is a stronger opponent than Zhao Beiming; he fought with the two of them with bare hands and still gained the upper hand.However, I couldn't help feeling panic and anxiety in my heart, and said to myself: I thought King Zhao would have to ask the general about the origin of the agreement and the letter face to face before he could judge the crime. Open a party?Or is it that Guo Kai got the support of the Qin people secretly, and even the king of Zhao is not in his eyes?

As soon as he thought that the murderous intent in the Lingwu Hall might be exposed at this moment, his heart was on fire, he didn't notice that a long chain was climbing up the steps, rolling towards his right leg like a living thing; It was too late.Gai Nie turned slightly around his heel, thinking that he had avoided it, but Song Si was hit by his punch, but he fell to the ground, reluctantly grabbed the end of the iron chain and threw it towards the opponent's ankle - only to hear "click" With a sound, it turns out that one end of the chain is connected to an open iron ring, and there is a mechanism on it, which will automatically close as soon as it touches a hard object, and Gai Nie's right foot is tightly locked in it.

Gai Nie knew that he had been tricked, so he quickly stabilized his mind, and slashed at the elbow of Zhao Beiming's only left arm, forcing him to withdraw his sword; at the same time, a pulling force came from his right foot, causing him to stagger slightly, almost falling steps to go.The other end of the iron chain was firmly grasped by another old acquaintance, and Gai Nie recognized at a glance that that person was the former leader of the Red Leopard Camp, Ji Sunlong.At this time, Tian and Huang also fought with each other. It turned out that the group of followers outside the hall seemed to be fighting independently, but in fact, all of them were ambushes of the enemy.

Gai Nie yelled in his heart that something was wrong, he was more worried about the safety of the two generals than the group of red-eyed enemies who wanted to kill him.At this moment, there was an indistinct cry from the hall—the moment Ge Nie listened distractedly, three chains struck from the front, back, and left—he knew that the iron ring on the chains would Immediately, he had no choice but to jump down the steps and fly into the air. At the same time, he exerted force with his right foot, trying to pull Ji Sunlong forward.However, Ji Sun suddenly let go of the strength in his hand, causing Gai Nie to make a mistake in his prediction, and was caught by the iron ring mechanism flying towards his left wrist in the air.At this time, Ji Sun grabbed the chain that had just been loosened and pulled it back violently. Gai Nie was caught off guard, and even his left ankle was caught, making it difficult for him to jump up.

"Quick! Bring the horse quickly—" Zhao Beiming shouted behind him.He was hit by Ge Nie's palm, his face turned blue, his brow was full of sweat, but his eyes showed joy.The iron chain that bound Ge Nie's left wrist was tied round and round to his only arm. His clothes were shredded and his flesh was worn to the point of bleeding, but he refused to let go.Gai Nie's only movable right arm struggled and dodged repeatedly, repelling the iron chains that swung towards him several times with his true energy. However, because three of his limbs were trapped, he moved very reluctantly, like a horse in a bridle.He became more and more anxious, but at this time the leaders of the four teams were fighting fiercely with others, and the two guards with halberds had already fallen. Both the enemy and us had snatched the sabers on the shelf outside the hall, but they had no time to help him.

Gai Nie stood on the steps and cast a heavy weight, crushing the green bricks with both feet, sinking deep below the ground, so as not to let his legs be suspended in the air by the iron cables, and at the same time, his right arm had to avoid the last iron cable that did not fall. , it is really difficult.In addition to Zhao Beiming, Song Si, and Ji Sunlong, there is another person holding the iron chain, Ximen Jiu, one of Guo Kaimen's four masters.He made the iron chains like long whips, and the ends of the braids were like wind blowing clouds, erratic; Ge Nie's hands and feet were restrained by three directions, and even the last right arm was fastened by the iron ring without paying attention.At this time, the sound of horseshoes really came from a distance. Sure enough, someone came leading some good horses, and immediately put them on the shafts, but there was no car behind them.The two ends of the shaft are also connected with chains made of fine iron, which looks very strong.

"Quick! Quick!" Zhao Beiming urged with multiple voices.

Gai Nie saw through their intentions, and suddenly felt chills—these people were planning to divide the body into pieces!However, the torture of splitting cars also has its weaknesses. If the four horses cannot yank in all directions at the same time, their combined force will only drag the person to be tortured in one direction, and will not be able to kill.So even if you lose a horse, you can't succeed.Naturally, Gai Nie would not just sit still, he suddenly raised his feet together, kicked up a few gravels with his toes, and accurately hit the horse's butt and horse's eye not far away.The good horses were frightened, they neighed a few times, they broke free from the groom and ran away.And several masters were holding chains in their hands, it was not easy to chase, they could only stare at the horse running away.

"What's the rush? Even without a horse, we can tear him alive with the efforts of the four of us!" Zhao Beiming's head was dripping with sweat, but the hatred in his eyes was getting deeper and deeper.The other three had no choice but to scream loudly and exert strength with their hands.

Gai Nie was able to fight against the four of them at the same time, and all the skeletons rattled for a moment, his muscles and bones were all injured, and even the arrow sore from a month ago was torn apart.He gritted his teeth and endured the pain, sweating profusely, but his mood became more and more clear: the true energy first traveled through the whole body, then gradually wrapped around his left arm, and then forced out Laogong and Shaofu acupoints bit by bit. Suddenly, like a tiger coming out of its box, it rushed towards Zhao Beiming on the other end of the iron chain.

Zhao Beiming was doing all he could, when he suddenly felt that the iron rope wrapped around his arm was extremely hot, like hot molten iron, and even the flesh gave off a burnt smell.He let out a scream and relaxed his strength, and Ge Nie suddenly pulled back the rope on his left arm, and pulled it on the top of Song Si who was holding his left foot.Song Si died with a broken head before he could make a sound, and Gai Nie took the opportunity to strangle the two movable iron cables to the two people on the right.Unexpectedly, Ji Sun and Ximen lost half of their power in an instant, and their bodies lost their balance. They grabbed the iron chain with all their strength but did not have the long sword they were used to. Without any openings, the move was as quick as lightning, and Ji Sun's neck was strangled in an instant.But Ximen Eagle dodged a blow and took two steps back, rolled his eyes, dropped the iron chain, and fled.

Gai Nie's complete reversal in desperation caused two of Guo Kaimen's four masters to die, one was injured and the other fled in an instant, but he couldn't feel complacent, and instead became more anxious and panic-the enemy's plot was not complicated However, "killing Gai Nie" is only the first step in the plan, like climbing a ladder to a building; and the people in the temple are their real goal.

He rushed up the rammed-earth steps in a few steps, drew his sword and killed the other ambush soldiers.At this time, Fan, Li and the others were more or less injured. Tian Zhen was hit by several swords and could hardly walk.However, everyone couldn't care less, the injured supported each other, kicked open the palace door and rushed in.

The Lingwu Hall was silent.The strong smell of blood overwhelmed everything, like a basin of ice water was poured from the top of his head.Ge Nie's hands and feet were cold, his chest was throbbing wildly, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

In the hall, there is no King Zhao, nor all civil and military officials. There are only two rows of guards holding halberds who are dumbfounded.A pool of blood was slowly crawling down the pillars in the hall.Li Mu's body fell to the bottom of the pillar, and a sharp sword protruding from his throat was about two feet long.

"Will..." "General!!"

The leaders of the four teams all wailed endlessly, speechless.

Sima Shang fell to the side of Li Mu's body, his eyes wide open, his expression dull.Seeing a few of them come in, a strange giggle suddenly came out of their throats, and then they fell headlong into the blood.Gai Nie grabbed him and stretched out his arms to pick him up, touching his chest, he felt that his chest was still beating, and just now he felt that his chest was beating again.He raised his head abruptly, and saw a servant in ocher shirt hiding behind the pillar, he seemed hesitant to come over.

Gai Nie rushed forward, picked up the servant with one hand, and asked in a trembling voice, "Who killed the general? Where is the king?! Where is Lord Chunping?! Where are the courtiers of Zhao Kingdom?!"

The servant's teeth were chattering, and he said intermittently: "I don't understand... what are you talking about... Your Majesty is having a banquet with all the ministers in the Hall of Martial Arts today, and he asked the eunuch to order you to send me a sword and an imperial edict, ordering Lord Wu'an to commit suicide..."

"... Self-judgment?!!"

Gai Nie rushed to the top in a rage, and threw the waiter to the ground; finally, he left room for his subordinates, the waiter only vomited a few mouthfuls of blood, and still survived.

What's the use of shifting anger when a big mistake has been made?

He felt his brain buzzing, wishing he could cut off his head and let the hot blood pour out of his cavity, only then would he be able to enjoy it a bit.

There was a "plop" sound in my ear.Gai Nie turned his head and saw a halberd guard in iron armor throwing away the halberd in his hand and knelt down next to the corpse.

"You are... Lao Hu? Why are you here?"

Gaine murmured.Lao Hu shook his head without further explanation.But Gai Nie thought that he hadn't seen him for several years, and thought that he was transferred to Handan after the last Qin-Zhao war.

Lao Hu stared at the corpse on the ground, and said: "20 years ago, the Huns attacked the village, my mother was snatched by the Huns, and she gave birth to me outside Yanmen Pass. I was born as a slave of the Huns, tending sheep during the day and I slept on a pile of horse manure and was often beaten. It was not until General Li Mu defeated the Huns that my mother found a chance to sneak back. Everyone in the village laughed at me as a bastard and bullied us. Until I joined the army, my mother Life would be easier in the future... My mother often said, let me not forget that General Li Mu is our benefactor. But today I just watched my benefactor die before my eyes. I really don’t have the face to go back to see my mother.”

Having said that, he suddenly pulled out the iron sword at his waist.Gai Nie's pupils dilated and he shouted sharply.

"No!"

Not only him, but the eight guards in the palace all drew their swords and killed themselves.

Gai Nie felt a bump all over his body and couldn't speak anymore.The experience of this day was already too tragic. He fought with several people, and he suffered internal injuries, and his grief and anger were too much. His true energy exploded and ran wildly in his body, almost showing signs of madness; but he suppressed it forcibly in order to investigate the situation. Too much blood was trapped in the throat, and he lost his voice.

I don't know if he was bewitched by the atmosphere, but the hundred-gold warrior who lay on his corpse and wept bitterly also drew his sword.Gai Nie didn't care much, so he could only strike in disorder, with the index finger and middle finger raised together, the invisible sword energy burst out, and bounced on the spine of the unsheathed sword one by one, only to hear a series of "dang dang" sounds, unexpectedly The four sabers snapped off one by one.

"Brother Gai, you—"

Gai Nie shook his head, holding the unconscious Sima Shang in one hand, dipped his hand in blood and wrote on the ground: The general was killed by others.

"Brother Gai is right. It was Guo Kai, Han Cang, and those treacherous villains who took bribes from the Qin State, who fabricated charges and slandered the general; and the king listened to the slander, and actually forced the general to death. We wait You should save your life and avenge the general!!"

Gai Nie gritted his teeth, and for a moment didn't know how to express his doubts——General Li Mu's death was very strange, as if he was killed by hitting a pillar with a sword in his mouth.Not to mention the general's tenacity, and his concern for the safety of the [-] Zhao troops on the border, he would definitely not seek death easily; although he has a disease in his right arm, he has been accustomed to using his left hand for decades, riding a horse, and using a sword. The thought is gone, and you kill yourself in anger, why swallow the sword?

Unless...he didn't commit suicide?Once a connoisseur sees the shape of the wound, he knows what the murder weapon is.Could it be that the general was killed from the back of the neck with some kind of small hidden weapon, such as nails, awls, needles, etc. After death, someone deliberately pierced his throat with a sword, and the original wound was covered by the later sword wound. I can't see any clues.But if this is the case, then the eight guards in the palace must have seen the murderer with their own eyes; could it be that they were powerless to stop the murderer, so they committed suicide in shame?So why didn't Lao Hu tell who the murderer was before he died, and let others avenge the general?Gai Nie thought about it, and always felt that there were too many things that didn't make sense.He pointed to the servant next to him, and wrote on the ground to Tian, ​​Fan and others: Ask him what he saw.

Tian Zhen pulled the servant who was still vomiting blood, put the broken sword on his neck, and threatened: "Quickly tell me, how did the general get killed?!"

The waiter in the ocher shirt shook his head in horror: "I didn't see anything!! Lord Han Cang ordered the servant to come and take back the king's sword. When the servant entered, the general had already..." Before he could finish speaking, Tian Zhen had already shouted and cut off the king's sword. up his head.

Ge Nie opened his mouth to shout, but he couldn't make a sound, and it was too late to stop him - he still had too many questions that could not be answered.

Why did the King of Zhao claim to have summoned Li Mu today, but actually held a banquet elsewhere?Is the edict handed down by eunuch Ling Hancang really written by King Zhao?Which side are Young Master Jia and Jun Ping on?Has there been a suspicious transfer of the palace guards?Why did so many people attack them in front of Cai Cai Hall, but no one came to stop them?

Gai Nie knew at this time that the biggest mistake he made was to still regard this summoning as a court discussion in the depths of his heart, believing that the highest place in the capital still has right and wrong.But he didn't expect that this majestic Lingwu Hall, and even the entire Zhao Palace, was nothing but a pitiful and despicable murder trap.He didn't expect that the king of a country and a group of courtiers would spare no effort in order to ruin their own country.

He looked up at the dome above his head, only to feel that his eyes were red and confused.In the past three or four years of leaving the valley, I have been in a trance like a dream. In the dream, there are swords and halberds, horses neighing, and banners stained with blood. All kinds of scenes are turned into sand and dust with the death of one person, swept away by the strong wind, and never return.

Gai Nie and the leaders of the fourth team left the palace with Li Mu's body and the unconscious Sima Shang on their backs.The 36 cavalry who were originally blocked between the inner and outer walls had just gone through a fierce battle. The enemy's identity was unknown, but all of them were extremely skilled. They were stopped several times when they stormed the palace gate.Later, when they heard the call of gold in the inner city, the group of assassins scattered and fled.Shocked to see the tragedy, everyone staggered their chests and choked their feet, weeping uncontrollably.After weeping for a while, Gai Nie made gestures again and again, and finally sent Wu Anjun's body back to Handan's home first.After seeing his grandfather, Li Zuoche cried several times and passed out.Except for a few old servants, there was almost no one in the Li family, and everything behind him was handled by the subordinates who followed Li Mu back to the capital.

Sima Shang was still unconscious; Gai Nie checked and found that there was no external injury on his body, and some bruises could be seen on his ribs. It was presumed that someone had tapped his acupuncture points with forceful fingers, making him unable to move.Gai Nie couldn't help feeling that the matter was getting more and more strange: if someone killed General Li, why did he only tap General Sima's acupuncture points so that he could see the general die with his own eyes?As long as General Sima wakes up, can't he identify the murderer?No, the murderer could not have expected that the eight guards in the palace would die for the general. They should have seen the face of the murderer, so why did they stay alive?

Could it be that the general really killed himself by swallowing his sword?But this way of dying... I always feel that there is something hidden.

Gai Nie suddenly remembered that in Chu State, he and his younger brother had teamed up to break through the "Three Prisons of Blood Smeared Formation" of the sorcerers in southern Xinjiang.It is said that the formation method is to manipulate livestock and the dead with the supreme and wonderful method, making them form inconceivable evil objects to attack others; if the dead can be manipulated, can the living also be able to?

If there is really some strange magic in the world that can make other people become puppets of the magician...

He was startled suddenly, as if seeing the shadow of a ghost in a bronze mirror.Before being coffined, he re-examined the general's body—although the wound on the back of the neck was hideous, and now there were many bruises and plaques, but a few shallow textures were faintly visible, as if it had been painted on by someone.Ge Nie suddenly remembered the vine pattern near the wound when he was hit by the Yin-Yang curse seal; it was very similar to this mark.

Could it be that the death method of this sword piercing roar was not to cover up the wound, but to destroy the curse seal? ! !

...It's a pity that everything is just speculation for the time being.If there are a few traces of bruising, it is not enough to prove the existence of the curse seal.If you want to know the truth, you need to wait for General Sima to wake up and tell what he saw.Therefore, Gai Nie never left his sick bed, served soup and medicine, and did not dare to pretend to others.

Two days later, the news of Li Mu's death ordered by the palace was spread all over the city by someone.In the city of Handan, countless people cried out loudly, calling for grievances for Lord Wu'an.Many knight-errants in the city, acquaintances and strangers, also visited their homes to express their condolences.This group of people from Jianghu and Li Mu's soldiers were congenial, and everyone discussed that although Lord Wu An was bestowed by the king to die, he hated the people who spread rumors and used the letters of the negotiation to frame him, everyone was very angry.The more I talked, the more angry I became, and finally, one of the hundred gold warriors raised his arms and shouted, and the heroes responded one after another. They rushed into the dozen or so families with blood on the door with swords in their hands, and counted them all. kill.Then he said that these traitors were Guo Kai's minions, and if the chief culprit is not eliminated, this hatred will be hard to get rid of; however, the formation in Guo Kai's mansion is weird, and the group of heroes finally cut down trees and pushed the wall to break the formation, only to find that people in the mansion have already gone to the building null.

Everyone rushed back to Li's mansion in a hurry, but they heard loud clamor in the mansion, as if something urgent had happened.He broke into the inner courtyard and saw that Sima had woken up from a coma, but refused to take the medicine, ran around the house, and ran away when he saw anyone.Gai Nie and Li Heng wanted to hold him, one on the left and the other on the right, but they didn't dare to exert too much force with their hands; while the patient was weak, his footwork was extremely nimble and clever, and he was able to move back and forth among the siege of servants. , I couldn't catch him for a while.

Sima Shang seemed to no longer recognize anyone.He forbade the old department to come close, saying that they were all demons and ghosts.From time to time, he pointed at the people around him and shouted: "You! Died of gold and wood!! You! Died of water and fire!! You——the ground is covered with bones, piled up like a mountain of corpses, what a murderous butcher!!" At the end At the time of the sentence, the index finger was pointing at Gai Nie.Suddenly another burst of wild laughter broke out.

"The old man's sky eye has been opened, the sky eye has been opened!!"

He's crazy.

TBC