Demolition

At the same time, in the city of Yangyue thousands of miles away,

"My lord."

There was a man standing in front of the vermilion pane, although he was dressed in casual clothes, his imposing manner made people behind him dare not speak easily, but he had been standing there motionless for half an hour, from the dark clouds to the mid-moon, He seemed to be looking at the cherry blossom trees that were infested by the moonlight outside the window, but the flowering period had passed and only the lush green leaves remained, and he seemed to be just waiting for something aimlessly. He couldn't figure out his mood at this time, it should be bad, but And a little unspeakable melancholy.A gust of wind blew by, and the hem of his clothes was lifted, and he turned around suddenly, with a low tone

"Is there still no sign of him?"

"Yes, I found Lord Lu's documents at the post station in Conghua, but there was no trace of using the wooden plaque. However, the foreman who guarded the city and the servants at the post station all proved that Lord Lu brought a servant with him."

After finishing speaking, he carefully glanced at Wang Ye's expression, and the other party sighed a little disappointed

"He really didn't want to use what I gave him."

"Lord Lu may have entered the territory of the Sixth Prince, so he didn't use the wooden sign lightly. But it's been more than half a month, and it's not surprising that the news from the north has been delayed."

Ying Yuanzhi laughed, and the subordinate immediately fell silent.

"Jiang is back too?"

"Yes."

"Didn't find anything?"

"Yes, the emperor didn't make any bigger moves. He also said that it was already a deserted village, and there was no one and no sign of Yinxiao Tower."

"Is there any news about Mr. Qi?"

"Go back to the prince, Mr. Qi sent a letter last time to report that he had captured Mo Cong, and he hasn't sent another letter since then."

"Has Master Liu made a tour of the palace?"

"It's been patrolled, everything is smooth, and the emperor didn't ask too much, so it should be fine."

"Where's Mr. Duan?"

"People have been secretly monitoring, and there is nothing unusual recently."

"How is the arrangement at Ji Xiang's side?"

"Everything is going according to plan."

Ying Yuanzhi rubbed the center of his eyebrows, his face full of exhaustion

"Zhongtian, come and help me think about what else is missing."

"Go back to the lord, I feel that the lord has exhausted his plan."

Ying Yuanzhi remained silent, and slowly turned to the window, eyes filled with gloom,

"Then why am I so restless tonight?"

No one could answer him, and the shadow of the cherry tree fell on the white wall, swaying.

After a while he ordered

"Forget it, tell Ji Xiang that everything will continue as usual."

In the afternoon, Xidi City is no longer bustling and noisy. The people in the small southern city are greedy for leisure, and it is the most sultry time of the day. The white sun makes people feel restless. Except for the naughty and tireless children on the street, Even the beggars huddled in the corners, whether they were peddlers or idlers, all squeezed into the teahouses to hide.

Those who are rich can exchange two copper coins for a bench and a cup of rough tea, and those who have no money can sit on the verandah on the ground and drink plain water with great relish. Another person's ear plugged in.On the wooden platform in the center of the teahouse, an ancient and rare old man was talking about storytelling.

The old man was so dry and flat that only a layer of wrinkled skin was left hanging on his bones. He couldn't move his tongue smoothly. He could turn eight corners when he spoke a sentence. He couldn't hold it steady, he would take three breaths before finishing a sentence, everyone's eyes were on him, for fear that he would fall down on the stage if he couldn't raise his breath, but every time he stopped at the most critical place Make the audience anxious.It stands to reason that such a storyteller would be bombarded by the store before he even opened his mouth, but at this moment everyone was paying attention and straining their ears.listen to him

"...On the last day, Pangu was exhausted. His body had turned into sun, moon, stars, lightning and thunder, and famous mountains and rivers. Only a trace of his soul remained in the world. His spiritual consciousness overlooked the land of China. The world was empty, and he suddenly realized that the world lacked vitality, vegetation, insects and animals. Pangu decided to break his soul into a lake. That lake was called Chaohu. Chaohu absorbed the spirit of heaven and earth and became the source of nourishment for all things. Fearing that these creatures would lose protection after he disappeared, he left the last soul as a guardian. Pangu finally disappeared after creating the world and breeding animals. The first god in the world disappeared like this. Later, Nuwa created man, and human beings Commanding the world, the guardian reached an agreement with Nüwa in order to protect the creatures in Chaohu Lake. Everyone will never step into Chaohu Lake, and the descendants of all things will come to the world for human use. It is said that only those who inherit the soul of Pangu can make Chaohu Lake In this world, other people who try to force their way in will be punished by the gods and suffer the pain of being scattered."

There was silence below, and a voice sounded from the corner

"So Master Zhang is out of his wits?"

Everyone was in an uproar, and looked at the old man with different faces. The old man patted the hall tremblingly, as if he hadn't heard it, and continued his hypnotic tune without any ups and downs.

"The origin of all things is conceived and grown in Chaohu Lake. After the offspring grow up, they will be sent by the guardians to the world to benefit mankind. Among the birds, crows are the most intelligent. They can not only hold stones in their mouths to drink water, feed back bustards, but also absorb divine power, and become They became the top of the birds, gradually unwilling to be trapped in Chaohu Lake, unwilling to be sent by the guardians, they secretly came to the human world, and did not want to go back. The creatures who give up Chaohu Lake will lose the right to grow in Chaohu Lake, and the crows still choose to stay. The gods discovered the crow's betrayal and wanted to condemn the crime. The leader of the crow retorted that even the gods did not have the right to take life. Persuasion gave the crow magic power, and since then crows and humans have become incompatible."

These words were like throwing a thunderbolt in the lobby, the people below were already dumbfounded, convinced by his words, dare to say that this flat-haired beast is not an ungrateful thing, his treachery has nothing to do with us, even the gods What qualifications do you, a mere mortal, have to comment on things you agreed to!The old man's unorthodox and rebellious words are simply deceitful words to confuse the public, and the crime is extremely rebellious. If any word is put in the capital city, it will be a crime of beheading and punishing the nine clans. It is a pity that everyone in this remote rural area does not have such awareness, and they will only sigh with emotion. The old man's storytelling skills are not very good, but the content is really catchy, and he coaxed him to play another paragraph while expressing emotion, and he didn't care so much about his hoarse and mocking voice.

It's just that the old man picked up the tea bowl in front of him, smacked his tongue slowly, and finally opened his closed eyes just now, revealing cloudy eyeballs. The old storyteller turned out to be blind. His eyes didn't know where they fell, and there was a hint of evil on his face with deep wrinkles like gullies, and his expression seemed to be a smile but not a smile.

"Chaohu is in this world, there must be chaos."

After speaking, he walked off the stage tremblingly, walked through the crowd, walked under the dazzling sunlight, and disappeared at the end of the street.Only then did the crowd explode, and there was an uproar for a while.

"What is this old man talking about?"

"Is Master Zhang really dead?"

"There are no bones left, and none of his lackeys survived."

"How did you know that again?"

"My second uncle went to the mountain to look at it this morning. There were bloody clothes all over the place, and there was no meat left."

"Who knows it's them, maybe it's someone else?"

"That's right, curfew last night, who else will appear in Hongcun besides Mr. Zhang?"

"Where did you find it?"

"It's over there in the dirt swamp."

"Oh—" everyone had a clear expression, "Then it's no wonder, who the hell ran to the mud swamp to die."

"Didn't his second uncle go?"

"My second uncle just took a look from a distance."

"Is that real or fake? Did you see it?"

Everyone focused on whether his second uncle could see the bloody clothes from a distance without getting close to the swamp. No one paid attention to a tall and thin young man standing up and looking in the direction of the storyteller.It stands to reason that the old man has already left without knowing what to do, but this young man looks confident.Fortunately, there was almost no one on the street at this time, otherwise his outfit would definitely be without some pointers.On a hot day, he was wrapped tightly in black clothes. Not only that, he even wore a hood with a wide brim covering most of his face, only his chin was exposed, the only thing exposed in his whole body. His skin was so pale that it turned black and blue, not like a living person.

He turned around for a while, and finally stopped in front of a dilapidated thatched thatched house, did not go in, and stood straight at the door until the familiar voice sounded inside.

"Caomin is just a storyteller, struggling to live with one mouth. You have a lot, my lord. Don't worry about Caomin's nonsense."

It was clearly a request for help, but he pronounced it more rigidly than Bai Shui, neither fear nor repentance could be heard.

"Mister knows Chaohu Lake."

"That's just a nonsense made up by the grassroots to make a living. Chaohu has no idea what grassroots are."

"Mister knows where the phantom power of the crow comes from."

"This official, Cao Min is really just an old storyteller full of lies. I really don't know anything about phantom power or Chaohu old man. Please come back, official."

"How does the master know that what follows the master is something from the Yin Xiao Tower?"

It was finally silent inside, the young man took off his hood, revealing his true face

"I'm not from Yinxiaolou. The item was given as a gift from a friend. It seems that the husband has heard about what I've been looking for. Please forgive me if I offend you."

This person is Ji Chuan. Just looking closely at his appearance at this time, you will find something unusual. Not only is his face bluish, but he is also thin and his cheekbones protrude. The pupils almost occupy the entire eye sockets, the bridge of the nose is barbed, the mandible seems to be smaller, and the facial features appear more concentrated, with an indescribably weird feeling.

Without waiting for the old man in the house to respond, he walked in on his own.The thatched hut is low and dilapidated, and the walls inside are bare. An old storyteller sits on a broken bed. Ji Chuan looks around and finds that there is not even a bench. He flips up his robe and simply sits on the ground. The trousers returned to Ji Chuan's hands.old man sighed

"What do you want to know."

"Why is Chaohu alive, there must be chaos."

"Because every time after Chaohu appeared in the world, the world was in chaos." The old man's voice was piercing like a knife slicing against the wall, but Ji Chuan heard it calmly, and he rambled on about the last chaos.

"Twenty years ago, I was a storyteller in the Yunlai Teahouse in the west of the city. At that time, I told the story on the stage of the most powerful bandit Mo Boss in Xidi City at that time. Boss Mo was from the army. The business is better than anyone else, and the merchants in the city are all harmed by it. After the government decided to suppress the bandits, they all contributed money and effort to get rid of them quickly. .”

"That young man knew at a glance that he was not an ordinary person. He had an extraordinary bearing and was imposing. He found me in private and gave me the silver. He asked me where I could find Boss Mo. I am just a storyteller. How do I know where Boss Mo is hiding? , naturally claimed that he did not know. The man laughed and said, 'You are a descendant of the Cang family, so naturally you know everything'."

Speaking of this, the old man let out a long sigh, his face was full of ashes.

"I have been a storyteller for most of my life. In the past few decades, only two people have seen through the identity of Caomin. One is you, and the other is the one from back then."

The Cang family, according to legend, is the descendant of Cangjie. They know everything about astronomy, geography, life and death. Since the pre-Qin period, they have been the target of the princes and generals. Having a military master who knows everything can be invincible in the era of lords vying for hegemony. place.It's just that this clan eventually went extinct.Any emperor would not allow a person who has discovered the secrets of heaven and is close to God to become his subject, and his wisdom will be damaged. No matter how important the Shicang family is, they will be as dangerous as they are.Those who sit at the top are afraid that if such people are used by the enemy, their regime will be overthrown in an instant. The safest way is to kill them, and the dead are no threat.The descendants of the Cang family no longer set foot in the court, but it was too late. The crazy massacre made this surname bestowed by God disappear in the long river of history, and was no longer mentioned.

"I didn't expect him to know my identity and was caught off guard. I had no choice but to tell him where Boss Mo was hiding. He led me to Boss Mo. Only then did I know who he is and what he is going to do."

"Although I bleed the blood of the Cang family, my family has been destroyed long ago, and there are very few people in the clan. My ability is greatly reduced, but it is only a little bit better than ordinary people, but the warnings passed down by my ancestors are always in my heart. I tried my best to prevent him from recreating Chaohu Lake, but he insisted on going his own way and forced me to study the method of controlling crows. Crows cannot step into Chaohu Lake, but they will be attracted by the breath of Chaohu Lake. We extracted the air of Chaohu Lake Placed near Hongcun, the crows will hover here. Connecting the fairyland with the world is an act against the sky. Boss Mo's greed and the power of the crows have become the medium. After that, although he can let the crows do things for him, the day I have to suffer the pain of separation of soul and body every day, and I can’t stay away from the Qi of Chaohu Lake, and that young man didn’t achieve his goal, and I also lost my eyes because of the backlash of witchcraft.”

"The young people left Xidi, Chaohu Lake disappeared, and the biggest crow plague in the north broke out in the next year. It was a hell on earth," the old man couldn't help but shuddered at the scene before his eyes, "The crows left me They attack human beings like crazy, and all people, whether civilians or officers and soldiers, become the prey of crows. People's eyeballs are gouged out alive, and every finger is taken away. Dozens of crows pounce on them I can’t see them all, there is not a piece of good meat on my body, and in the end, only bones are left in the city. The five cities were destroyed, and there were no ruins.”

"From ancient times to the present..."

Suddenly the old man stopped, beckoned to Ji Chuan as if realizing something suddenly,

"Come here, let me touch you"

Ji Chuan leaned over, and the old man's bony hands touched Ji Chuan's face little by little, and suddenly he shrank back in shock, trembling uncontrollably, as if he had encountered some scourge

"You are? You are!"

"It's fate, it's fate." He laughed wildly, like Uncle Feng Mo Jiu, and shouted tremblingly, "What's the use of killing us, what should happen to kill all the people in the world will definitely happen, Stupid, stupid! Haha, trying to fight against the sky in vain, overestimating one's abilities, overestimating oneself."

Who knows who he's talking about stupid?Perhaps the most stupid is the Cang family who know that the secrets of the sky cannot be leaked but try to change the course of history.Ji Chuan looked at the crazy person in front of him calmly, without saying a word.

Even though the sun is still shining brightly outside, the inside of the house is like an ice cellar.