storyteller

Continuous lakes and waterways are paved on this land, the soil is a wet swamp, and the ground is a black and cracked sky.

He had heard from the tree that Peacock Coast was located in a humid and fertile place, surrounded by water, but Qiu Lingfu never thought that he would see it in such a dark night.Ink-like black water flowed from the nearby forest, making people's faces pale.

Qiu Lingfu carefully hid in the dark, and he could easily find where he was going based on the direction and number of his disciples coming and going.

The strange thing is that Kongquebin's defense is not as strict as Yanbi said.This sect seems to have exhausted all its vitality in a short period of time, and now it looks like a disheveled person.

Qiu Lingfu's footsteps headed for the most heavily sheltered place - Pinglan Courtyard.

According to Xianbi, that "Duan Jinglan" is here, whether he is a human or a ghost.

Enduring the pain, Qiu Lingfu looked at the Pinglan Courtyard which was close at hand from a distance.

He is willing to wait because he knows—tonight is different.

This sect, whose main body has been hollowed out by Duan Jingzhe, cannot cope with the severe injuries from the two places.

Qiu Lingfu closed his eyes and meditated, listening to all directions, but he didn't dare to think about anything in his heart.But such a silent and long wait emptied his mind, he thought of his mother and Ah Po.But whenever he thought of the two of them, his heart ached like a knife.

His heart had never been so honest, and the pain kept telling Qiu Lingfu how important those two were to him, and they were almost the source of all his happiness today.

Qiu Lingfu pressed his chest tightly, as if it would make him feel better.

He was angry with himself, and whispered viciously: "Don't hurt anymore, I know! I know!"

But the more Qiu Lingfu talked, the more his chest seemed to be cut and twisted repeatedly by a knife.Sitting in the shadows, sweating profusely, he listened to the sound of patrolling footsteps close to his ears, and wondered if he had risked another impulsive plan.

But soon, there was a vague and weak yell approaching from a distance, and the Pinglan Courtyard was in chaos immediately, and many Kongquebin disciples ran out of it.

When the noisy noise faded away, Qiu Lingfu drew a soft sword from his waist, carefully avoiding the eyes and ears of the remaining hands.Like a Jinhua cat with a strange posture, he jumped lightly in the air, and soon found an opportunity to sneak into the paper window on the third floor of the main building of Pinglan Courtyard.

His lightness kung fu has always been good, he has used it to find so many sneaky things, and what he is going to do now is no different from those sneaky things.

The paper window pushed open by him seemed to be pushed by the wind, but in an instant, there was a person standing in front of the window.He landed as lightly and silently as a sly kitten, and he expected no one to hear him.

But Qiu Lingfu closed the window quietly, but heard an old voice behind: "Are you here?"

Qiu Lingfu's face turned pale, and he looked back vigilantly. Apart from the bookshelves, there were only two tables in this room, one was empty, and on the other table, behind the stacked books, an old man with long eyebrows was leaning over the desk.

The old man not only has long eyebrows, but also long beard and hair.The book covered the person in secret, and the long eyebrows and long beard also covered the exposed head, and the whole person seemed to have only a shriveled nose exposed.

This person hasn't combed himself for a long time, he is as old as an ancient banyan tree, his long beard pierces the ground under his feet.

Someone outside the house heard the old man in the house, and then a voice drifted in: "Elder?"

The old man said slowly: "Don't come in, the head is playing with a little mouse, go a little farther, I want to lecture the head."

There was a hesitant sound outside the door, but those disciples really walked away.

Qiu Lingfu saw that the old man was not young, and also saw that he was sitting safely in this strictly guarded place, and was called an elder.

He then guessed: "Are you Elder Zhang Chun?"

Zhang Chun is the elder of Kongquebin, and he came to investigate Kongquebin with a jade in his hand, and once got a strange poem by elder Zhang Chun.

Zhang Chun was old, he picked up an envelope from the table, it was as if he was holding a heavy weight, and his movements were slow, as if he was about to die.

"Aren't you a martial artist?" Qiu Lingfu saw the clue.People who practice martial arts, even when they are old, most of them have a calm breath, not like ordinary people who are short of breath.

"The imperial court is divided into civil and military officials, and Kongquebin is divided into peacock and sparrow tribes. Not everyone has to practice martial arts." Zhang Chun is indeed very old, and his voice seems to be blowing from a cracked flute, breaking the wind everywhere.

Qiu Lingfu found this sentence strange, but he couldn't tell why for the time being.

But when the other party uttered such unclear words, Qiu Lingfu was secretly unhappy.He hoped that speaking with this person would give him the upper hand.

He tried his best to look confident, and asked briskly, "You knew I would come?"

"Jing Zhe knew you would come." The old man said the word "Jing Zhe", as proud as he was thinking of his grandson, then he laughed again, "He also knew that Kongquebin was going to suffer today."

Without waiting for Qiu Lingfu's reaction, he waved again like a child: "He still has something to give you."

Qiu Lingfu waited for him to hand over an envelope with trembling hands. It was the first time he waited so patiently without grabbing it with his hands, because he didn't trust this person at all.

But when his eyes fell on that piece of paper, he felt itchy, and he took the risk, wasn't it because he was curious about Duan Jingzhe?

He took a handkerchief, stared at the old man's face, took the unsigned envelope through the handkerchief, took a few steps back, and opened it carefully.

The eyes only dared to glance down, but this one glance was enough to read the whole letter.

There were only six words written on the paper: Ziyi Guest of Zixiang Tower.

Zhang Chun's eyes half covered by white eyebrows seemed to be able to see Qiu Lingfu's expression clearly, he said tremblingly: "He said that only you understand this, if you don't understand now, you will understand later."

Qiu Lingfu suddenly stepped forward and put the soft sword that he carried around the old man's neck.

He sneered and said, "What I want to understand now, can you tell me?"

Zhang Chun calmly asked, "What do you want to know?"

Qiu Lingfu raised his tone and said contemptuously: "Kongquebin has been seeking a secret for a long time. This matter was discovered by Mr. Xu, the magistrate of Taiping Town, and a pot of tea alienated Kongquebin. Then Kongbu left, and Kongquebin every time The situation is getting worse. Duan Zhongsi realized that Kongquebin was unable to hold on and couldn't hold his breath. Two years later, he designed to frame the Bai family, but still got nothing. At this time, Duan Zhongsi's body was weakening as quickly as Kongquebin, and the two children He has no intention of inheriting his will. So Duan Zhongsi forced the two brothers to kill each other, in order to cultivate their sharp and aggressive temperament, and continue to succeed him. What is wrong with what I said?"

After Zhang Chun heard these words, not only was he not angry, but he was really happy and said: "You are as smart as Jing Zhe, you really are someone Jing Zhe values."

He said regretfully, "If he takes good care of Peacock Bin, maybe I would like to invite you to Peacock Bin... Unfortunately, Peacock Bin may not survive tonight."

Elder Zhang Chun sighed, as if he was sighing from the bottom of his heart. When one is old, if there is a little emotion, the internal organs will be tortured.Qiu Lingfu could see that he was indeed a person who cherished talents, but he was not born with any gratitude for this.

Qiu Lingfu only wanted to ask what he wanted to know: "Is he taking revenge on his father by smashing the peacock bin?"

Zhang Chunpo shook his head, followed by his white beard.But he said mysteriously with great interest: "I'll tell you a secret, let's see if you can guess it."

The old avatar didn't know his identity at all, he only cared about his own happiness, and stabbed: "I'm from the imperial court."

Court people?

Qiu Lingfu suddenly throbbed in pain, and his heart was happy to be close to the truth.

On the handkerchief left by Xu Yu, there are embroidered orchids in the wind and rain...

On the jade pendant that Old Uncle Xu hid, the imperial surname Shen is impressively engraved...

Sneaking into Peacock Beach with a Bibi, he stole a poem by Zhang Chun describing Tang Di, but it was called "Pin Lan"...

And Po!

He remembered what Ah Po said more deeply.Apo said that the government of Chongyun City once cleared out the nameless beggars in the city, the reason is that they received a mysterious orchid order...

Those who hold the Orchid Order can issue any secret order to the government!

This unexpected clue was not what Qiu Lingfu wanted to know.But the sweat on his head still flowed down his cheeks to his chin, which was as exciting as hearing a book to satisfy curiosity, but what he cared more about was elsewhere.

Qiu Lingfu took a few steps back, and sat down slowly against the wall: "Why did the imperial court allow Kongquebin to decline?"

He feared that the decline was fake, and the outrageous thought disturbed him.He now believes even more in the possibility of disturbing him.

The old man snorted and laughed: "Little friend, I don't know that the imperial court is also a world."

Ministers are getting old, just like people in the Jianghu are getting old, and all they sigh are world-weary.Qiu Lingfu didn't like to hear it.

He asked again: "Do you want people in the Jianghu to kill each other?"

The world is doing evil outside the imperial court. Although the forces of good and evil are balanced, they are still not forces that the imperial power can control.

There is no imperial power that is not afraid of the world, but no imperial power dares to confront it openly.

But Zhang Chun said regretfully: "Little friend is too young, and his knowledge is still a little shallow."

Qiu Lingfu naturally knew that he had said something stupid, but he didn't care about it: "Actually, I don't really care about the grievances and grievances between the court and the world, nor do I really want to hear you preach that there are worlds beyond the world. I'm here I want to know, where is Duan Jinglan?"

After Zhang Chun heard this, he was silent for a long while, completely motionless. Qiu Lingfu waited for a long time, not even knowing whether he was dead or alive.

He said slowly: "Do you think there is Jinglan here? Jinglan's child is long gone..."

This is a fact, it was admitted by Duan Jingzhe himself, but Qiu Lingfu was dubious: "He is not here, why is he still the head of Kongquebin?"

"Because Jingzhe doesn't want him to die." The old man's eyes were a little sad, "He sometimes comes here to pretend to be Jinglan, but every time he comes here, he will get sick. Every time he leaves this door, he will go to kill him again." some people."

Qiu Lingfu imagined that person doing these things, and his heart made of iron and stone felt a little uncomfortable.He has absolutely no sympathy for Duan Jingzhe, but he thinks of A Po and Qiu Xinsu.

He collected his expression, and checked another guess of his own with Zhang Chun: "Did he starve to death?"

Zhang Chun nodded.

Qiu Lingfu asked again: "Where are his bones?"

Zhang Chun's long beard trembled: "I was thrown into the forest by his father and eaten by a snake."

After years of past events, Zhang Chun is already very old, why should he think about it again.

Qiu Lingfu watched him stir his long beard a few times, and only heard the sound of sobbing.

This simple question actually forced an old man to burst into tears: "I have no conscience! People in Jianghu have no conscience!"

After the old man wiped away his tears, he waved his hands tremblingly again, panting and said: "My blood is not cold yet, but I can't move or walk while sitting here, don't make me think about those things..."

As he spoke, he reached for a book from the table next to him and flipped through it randomly: "I should read a few more books before I die, so I can clear my mind..."

Qiu Lingfu saw that he was crying and lost his mind, so he tried to ask again: "Do you know Kong Ting?"

"Kong Ting, Kong Ting?" Zhang Chun thought for a long time, "It sounds like he is a child of Kong Bu... But Kong Bu is long gone, no Kong Ting, no!"

The old man suddenly thought of something again, and it hurt his heart, and he burst into tears again, tears dripped into the book, and when he touched it with his old hand, it was full of ink, "The words are blurred, and I can't see clearly... Tell the old man to return to his hometown, tell his old man to return to his hometown!"

Zhang Chun didn't know if he was pretending to be crazy or really was crazy, suddenly there was a commotion, and the sound of footsteps outside the door approached chaotically again.

Qiu Lingfu quickly stood up. He glanced at the old man, seeing that he was in a daze and could no longer ask any questions, so he could only bear the pain and jumped out of the window before the sound of the door being broken.