【Xue Xiao】Desolate City Crossing

He sat among the broken iron on the floor, carved exquisite frost flowers on the hilt of his sword, and was so focused on breaking away from reality that in a trance, the fine iron in his hand turned into peach wood, and the wooden sword was half formed. He was standing beside a secluded ancient road somewhere. There was a figure in white beside Ye Pudi, with a book spread out on his lap, but his attention was completely focused on him, as if he had finished telling a story, the young Taoist priest sighed in a clear and gentle voice: "The road in the world is originally It’s hard to go, if someone is willing to go hand in hand, it’s really lucky..."

Frost flowers and silver light flashed, and the young man looked around. He was still forging a sword in a room full of broken iron, and there was no Taoist priest who smiled and listened to his story.

This kind of situation often happens, and a short-lived picture occasionally flashes, sometimes he is running away, and the Taoist priest in white is chasing him; sometimes they are living together, and the days are as calm as running water; Pulling him tightly, they would rather fall together than let go.

Fragmentary pictures can't be strung together into a story. At this time, he doesn't feel like he is 16 years old, and he seems to have lived longer.In this life, he lived a carefree life, but a long time ago, he seemed to be engulfed by the irresistible darkness, shattered, and then picked up by someone, and made it up against the sky.

He asked the fortune-teller half-immortal to explain that the truth is the memory of his previous life.

"The reincarnation of the soul is endless, and each time is a new beginning. Occasionally, someone who has a strong obsession will bring the imprint of obsession to the next life."

He asked, "Then how can I fully recall my previous life?"

The fortune-telling half-immortal closed his eyes slightly, stroked his beard lightly: "The past life, the past life. Why do you want to remember?"

"Whether I want to think about it is my own business, if you have a way, tell me!"

"Little fellow daoist, why should you be nostalgic for the sinful debts of the world of mortals, it is better to let the old man test your marriage in this life..."

He is young and frivolous, and likes to go straight to the point: "Smelly old man, if you change the focus again, believe it or not, I will blow up your divination booth?"

He finally asked, and said: "Only people whose souls are connected can use the shortest mantra in the world to release the bondage of memory."

"What's the shortest spell?"

"Everything has a name, and the name is a curse. The memory of the previous life is bound by the name of the previous life."

"What was my previous life name?"

The fortune-teller half-immortal shook his head inscrutablely: "The heavenly secret must not be revealed."

The young man tried his best to suppress the flames in his heart.

"What is the name of the person connected to my soul?"

"The secret is impossible..."

"Okay, okay, let's change the question, why are the souls connected?"

"Forbidden technique, don't say it."

The boy's patience was exhausted, and in the end he overturned the hexagram booth.

"I think you're an old liar!"

Stand up the table, turn it over, and in an instant, the fortune teller disappeared without a trace, like an illusory fate in the vast sea of ​​people.

The young man turned around inexplicably on the spot, engraving the half-immortal Xuan Youxuan's answer in his heart, until he met Shuanghua, he knew that he was closer to the answer.

The former owner of Shuanghua, Xiao Xingchen.

The first time he heard this name, he suffered from insomnia for three consecutive nights and had to sharpen his sword all night.

The sword was made, at least from the outside, it was exactly the same as Shuanghua.The sword is three feet long, with clear silver light, and the scabbard is hollowed out with frost flowers. With a slight twist, the brilliance flows, as if the whole world is a little brighter.

However, when he looked blindfolded, there was no soft light on the sword like a pure white soul.

The young man decided to abandon the career of stealing swords, take this sword to travel, and use this fake Shuanghua to catch the real Shuanghua.On the day when the sword was made, he still didn't forget to run to the place where Song Zichen would pass by and show it for a while. Before Song Zichen came to question him, he quickly disappeared into the busy market and disappeared.

Someone asked about his sword, and he said, "This is Shuanghua, the real Shuanghua."

After wandering around for a month, someone finally refuted him: "Your sword must be fake, someone is holding the exact same sword as you, and that person is holding the real Shuanghua."

"Who is that person?" The boy dropped the pastry in his hand, his eyes sparkling.

"That man is a true gentleman, and he will never lie. He calls himself 'Mr. Shuanghua', and others honor him as the Lord of Shuanghua. Not long ago, he happened to get a sword with the same name."

"The city lord? Which city is the city lord?"

"The Lord of Yicheng."

The boy's breathing froze.

Yicheng.

It was a place far away from the place where he was born, a place he had never been to.

But why is it so familiar?He even felt a distant call, telling him to go to Yicheng to meet the so-called city lord, who is also the master of Zhenshuanghua.

He inquired everywhere about stories related to Yicheng, Shuanghua, and Xiao Xingchen. The past 30 or [-] years ago was complicated and confusing. A history occupied by murderous corpses.

There is also a name that can't be jumped over-Xue Yang, who is portrayed as a heinous image, killing people and refining corpses, grinding teeth and sucking blood.

The storyteller said: "Master Xiao's soul was broken because of him, but he tried his best to mend it. This is really a mistake that lasts forever..."

The young man didn't want to hear his polite comments and emotions, so he interrupted and asked: "What happened later? Did you succeed in replenishing your soul?"

"Success—"

The young man sighed in relief.

"—But Taoist Priest lived for less than a year after being reborn, and passed away again."

"what?!"

The boyishness came up again.

The storyteller was complacent about the twists and turns of the stories he told, and continued to recount the story of the Taoist priest going against the will of the public and saving his life to save the evil spirit Xue Yang. broken.

Regarding Xiao Xingchen's rescue of evil spirits, there are different opinions in the world, and there are mixed opinions. This storyteller belongs to the "reward school". To get rid of that evil spirit that has a lot of killing karma and has a heart to repent, it can be said to be pure and kind, which is admirable."

After a pause, he pretended to be surprised again: "Hey, boy, why are you crying?"

That day, the storyteller earned a piece of silver ingot, which was more than what he earned from a storyteller in a month.

All the stories faintly overlap with the scenes that the young man occasionally recalled. Daoist Xiao Xingchen entered the world for four years, and Jiajiao was only five years after his rebirth. To the world, he was like a shooting star in the vast starry sky, but to him it was like darkness A bolt of lightning in the sky.

He has a guess that makes him nervous and looking forward to going to Yicheng, and find the Lord of Yicheng and Mr. Shuanghua to verify it.

It is the early spring when everything is revived, and Yicheng is also a revived deserted city.That city was located in the middle of Shu, and it was a small city with many disasters and bad feng shui. The situation didn't change until three years ago when the Lord Shuanghua came into existence.

The young man saw that the turrets at the top of the city had taken on a new look, the bricks and tiles on the city walls were neat and tidy, and the scarlet city gates were not impressive, but it made people feel that this was a place that was carefully protected.

Yicheng is surrounded by high mountains and cliffs, and now the cliffs are covered with exotic flowers and plants, which cover up the pressure of the mountains and rocks, and instead become a unique scenery.

When a young man enters the city, with the chilly spring breeze blowing, he sits at a small wooden table at a street stall, stepping on a bench with one leg curled up, eating a bowl of glutinous rice balls with rice wine.

Seeing him inquiring about the city owner, the owner of the stall kept talking about how the city owner defeated evil beasts at the age of 16 to obtain the spirit beads, put the spirit beads in Yicheng Fengshui, and worked hard for three years to eliminate demons and evil to help Yicheng restore the stability of the small town. finish.

The young man forgot to eat the glutinous rice balls in his spoon, and asked, "He just passed by here and stayed here, and he has done so many things for Yicheng?"

"Yes! If he didn't protect Yicheng wholeheartedly, how could we call him the city lord!"

After eating glutinous rice balls, the young man walked on the streets of Yicheng. The city is not big, and there is no trace of a deserted city. The street stalls have everything from melons, fruits and vegetables to Wenwan cloth, and there are entertainers on the cross streets. Breathes out a fire dragon.

The youth's excitement surged like a river tide.His curiosity became more and more intense, and he wished to see the City Lord Shuanghua himself immediately, but the City Lord went hunting outside recently, and it took at least ten and a half months before he returned as usual.

Alas, the sky fails to fulfill one's wishes.

Hearing that the city lord opened a candy store in Yicheng, he happened to be addicted to sweets, so he decided to go and have a look without thinking.

Entering a small shop with a simple and elegant appearance, the young man's eyes shined brightly, and he saw that the small shop had everything from candied fruit, candied fruit, sugar cakes, dumplings and sweet buns.He was swallowing his saliva and didn't know which one to taste first, when a group of children broke in laughing and laughing, all lying on the wooden counter and stretching out their hands, shouting: "Today's candy! Today's candy!"

The waiter behind the counter said in a bright and pleasant voice, "Don't worry, don't worry, we have them all, wait in line to get them!"

Five or six children lined up spontaneously in an instant, and stretched out their hands obediently in front of the cabinet. The second child put a paper-wrapped candy in the palm of each of them.

The young man was surprised: "They didn't give the money, did they pay on credit?"

Xiao Er found that this was a strange visitor with bright eyes and a suave figure, and explained: "Is this the first time for a guest officer? This is the rule of our city lord. He said it when he opened the shop. He wants to let all the children in the city come. There are sweets to eat, one a day, and there is no charge.”

The boy's heart seemed to be pricked by a needle dipped in honey, it was painful and sweet at the same time.He rubbed his chest, suddenly played tricks, and stretched out his hand: "I want one too!"

Xiao Er was stunned, looking at the boyish handsome appearance, he said friendlyly: "Okay, I welcome you to Yicheng." He put a candy in his hand.

It was so easy to take advantage of this, the boy couldn't help but push forward: "One is not enough, I want more."

The little girl in front of her hadn't spoken yet, but a girl's voice behind her scolded loudly: "Shameless!!!"

Crisp with three points of pungent.

The boy turned around and met a pair of extremely light-colored eyes. The girl's oval face was delicate and full of vitality. She looked a year or two younger than him, but her aura was not weak at all. She stared at him and said, "Where is the rascal?" Scoundrel? The elder brother of the city lord has the rule of giving candy for the good of the children. Your boss has hands and feet but you still want to rub a piece of candy! You really have no shame!" She stepped into the door and threw the paper bag that smelled like medicine in her hand. To Xiaoer: "Here, the master asked me to bring your medicine, decoct it after meals, three times a day. Don't be a bad person! This kind of person should not give him a single candy! It's a mess. Type it out! If you dare to break the store's rules and give him more candy, be careful I will add □□ to the medicine next time!"

The mistress was clearly older than the girl, but he was choked up and said in a good-tempered manner: "Isn't it the first time I've seen him come..."

The young man snatched the white: "Little girl, do you own this store?"

The girl's arrogance weakened imperceptibly, and said: "It's not so what, the shop opened by the city owner's brother, he is not here, I will take care of him for him!"

"Take care? Helping him drive away the customers in the shop is taking care?"

The girl retorted: "Eating for free is not considered a guest!"

The young man took out a gleaming silver ingot from his bosom, threw it up and down in his hand, and said frivolously: "Who says I want to eat for free, I just plan to taste it first, if everything tastes delicious, it's delicious." Buy some and try it, it’s better now, I don’t want to buy anything after being scolded by you like this, you are so fierce, which caused your city lord brother to lose a lot of business, let’s see if he will praise you when he comes back!”

When the girl heard the words "Brother City Lord" from his mouth, she was even more angry as if the name had been tainted, puffed her cheeks and said, "Bah! Whoever wants to take your money, maybe you stole it." Come grab it!"

"Don't accept my silver? That's even better." The young man grinned, showing two canine teeth. He put away the silver, took a piece of mung bean cake from the wooden food box next to him, and walked away with extremely fast movements. Leaving the shop and the girl's yelling far behind, I faintly heard Xiao Er asking: "My aunt, grandma, on weekdays, the shop gives free tastings to the first-time customers, don't you know? Why are you so angry today? Do you know him? Do you have a grudge against him?"

The girl stood on the street and shouted: "I don't know him, he looks like a bad guy! I don't care, you can't entertain anyone!"

The young man walked away happily, but it was a pity that he couldn't taste the various snacks in the shop.Fortunately, the left and right have to wait for the city lord to come back, he stays in Yicheng, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.

He finished eating the mung bean cake, looked at the candy in his hand, hesitated again and again, still did not peel off the candy wrapper, put the candy away, grabbed a passerby and asked, "Where does your city lord live?"

Following the advice of a passer-by, the young man came to a simple and clean independent courtyard, stood in front of the small square courtyard and the firewood gate, and murmured in his heart: "The capital is the owner of the city, why is it so shabby? Huh? Why did I say 'again'? "

While there was no one around, he climbed over the wall and entered the hospital, and opened the door to enter the room.

His interest has completely shifted from "Famous Sword Shuanghua" to "Mr. Shuanghua".

Entering Mr. Shuanghua's house, my heart was pounding - not because of the guilty conscience of trespassing on the territory, but because of an indescribable excitement.Bricks and tiles, tables and stools here belong to a completely unfamiliar place, but the air is full of familiarity.

On the left side of the main hall is the bedroom, on the right side is the study room, and the kitchen is in a separate small room outside the courtyard.

There was no one else in the room except himself, but the young man held his breath, not daring to make loud movements, and walked slowly to the study room first, and sat down in front of the sunny desk.

There are pens, inks, papers and inkstones on the case. Through the elegant handwriting, one can vaguely imagine the elegant and handsome figure of the writer.

"Last year in this gate today, the peach blossoms on the faces of the people were red. The faces of the people don't know where to go, but the peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze."

The boy flipped through several sheets of paper, full of various poems.On the last one it says:

The breeze comes from the south, surrounded by mountains;

The breeze comes from the north, and the best is like water.

The breeze comes from the east, and the clouds and cranes swim in the sky;

The breeze comes from the west, and fortune and misfortune depend on each other.

Reveal old dreams, shake them to pieces;

The wind stops, the river is wide and the clouds are low.

Qingqing Zipei, think about it leisurely;

The wind moves, I don't give up.

The young man's eyes tightened - isn't this a reflection of that Daoist Xiao Xingchen?The difference is that in this poem, there is an extra emotion.Could it be that Daoist Xiao has a sweetheart?

Sure enough, the storyteller's story was not complete, and he felt strange when he heard it.

The boy hid the poem privately, walked around the study room, and then went to the bedroom.

As soon as he walked in, he saw the snow-white clothes on the side frame of the couch for the first time, and his whole body was shocked. It seemed that the gentle and indifferent Taoist priest in white appeared in front of his eyes again. This time, his face was the clearest, with picturesque eyebrows, straight nose, and thin lips light red...

There is a pleasant faint scent of grass and trees in the room, which reminds people of the bamboo forest passing through the breeze, and the grass moistened by the spring rain.

He picked up the white robe, draped it over himself, and when the robe fell to the ground, the young man curled his lips slightly: "Huh? He's taller than me?" He then comforted himself: "It's okay, he's nineteen and I'm sixteen, and he's still growing."

In the past, the boy broke into other people's territory just to steal the sword and stayed for a short time, but this time, he stayed at the house of the Lord Shuanghua.

I haven't seen anyone yet, and he has been staying at someone's house for nearly half a month.He wandered around Yicheng every day, digging out the stories of their city lords who rescued the dead, healed the wounded, eliminated demons and suppressed evil from people's mouths. After eating and drinking enough, he returned to the quiet courtyard of the city lord to study swordplay techniques, or browse the corners of the house and yard. fall.When it was dusk, he pulled the quilt away and fell asleep on the bed of "Mr. Shuanghua".

On the first night, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep, he hugged other people's quilt and rolled over and over; after the excitement, he became extremely at ease, and everything seemed to be at his own home naturally.Surrounded by the familiar atmosphere, he slept soundly and contentedly like never before.

The moonlight was like water, Mr. Shuanghua was wearing a white robe and a light robe, he came back from hunting, and stood in front of his bed in surprise.

Unprepared, unexpected surprise.

There was a handsome young boy lying on his bed, sleeping soundly.Because he was greedy for the warmth of the quilt, the young man huddled under the quilt, only his head and left hand were exposed, and there was a faint and irregular mark on the little finger of his left hand, which tempted Mr. Shuanghua to hook that finger.

Next to the pillow, a piece of candy, under which is pressed his poem note with "the wind moves, don't let me abandon it".

Looking around, there are traces of the young boy's intrusion everywhere in the house: a black robe was added to the wooden shelf where the white clothes were hung, the pen and ink in the study was moved to the bedroom, and there were strange drawings spread out on the desk. , it was covered with scraps of iron and sawdust, and there was a half-made dagger that could be seen to be very delicate, surrounded by tools of various sizes that he didn't recognize.

He should be angry, or at least bewildered, that his house had been invaded.But no, he loved everything new in the house, especially the boy.He was sure that the young man must have walked a long way, so he couldn't bear to disturb him, so he took a closer look at him under the hazy moonlight coming in through the window: the young man had thick eyebrows and deep eyes, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, even in his sleep, he exuded vigor Upward wild vitality.

Like the wounded child, flirtatious water demon, and infatuated lonely ghost he often dreamed of, they were more beautiful than the shadows in his dreams.

Mr. Shuanghua lightly gathered his white clothes, and sat down quietly beside the bed. His gentle and obsessive eyes moved over the young man's eyelashes, nose bridge, and lips. Just like that, he stared intently at the familiar face. He guessed: If the young man smiled , should also show a pair of cute canine teeth...

The author has something to say: Postscript:

About Fanwai: There will be, but for the time being, I need to take a break, take a breath, deal with the three-dimensional matter, and go back and refine the full text.There are some ideas that cannot be used in the text, both in the timeline of the text and after the timeline. If a decent chapter can be assembled, it will be published.If you have any special stalks that you want to see, you can also leave a message and talk about it. If you happen to be inspired, I will write about it.I am not good at writing daily sweet articles, but I will work hard for them.Both the side story and the refined version of the main text will be updated here together with loftr's account of the same name [Black Cat Silent Rain] (lofter may be more complete and faster).

About Xinkeng: Xue Xiao/Xiaoxue’s novels will not be available. For me, their stories are already complete in "Walk City Crossing". If there are other flashes of inspiration, they will only be written as short stories.In addition, long and short stories about other characters, fanciful or original, are possible.Writing and sharing stories has been more fulfilling than anything, and I plan to continue.

The love for Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen is all in the 26w words of "Walking the Deserted City". Needless to say, during the writing of the article, I cried and wet a lot of tissues for them more than once. It is hard to believe how I have such deep love for them Feelings.

Thank you for your companionship all the way, all comments and rewards are the best encouragement, especially thanks for the recommendation and pictures of Xiaoxiao Composition, I can insist on finishing the writing, you have contributed a lot~~ I hope the future will be under the new story I can still see familiar readers~

Others: I intend to add a picture to each chapter of all the articles I have written, but that should be a long time later.