[Shadow Guardian] The Wind Rises from the Wild West

Hong Han stood on the highest ridge of Majiabao, looking at the busy crowd below.

Last night's battle started quickly and ended very quickly.Uncle Ma died suddenly, and the dragons and dragons in Majiabao had no leader. They came again very suddenly, and they were caught off guard.In less than half an hour, the once-proud corner of the village collapsed, helping people die and flee, and scattered like birds and beasts.At this time, the sky was bright and the flames on the wall of the village had been extinguished. People searched the goods in Majiabao, exclaiming from time to time, which showed that what they got was not stolen.

Having achieved such a result, Honghan was not happy in his heart.It's not the way he likes it.

He can be a horse bandit, a rogue, unreasonable and rampant, using strength and blood to obtain his own results, but he never thought of using such a tricky assassination to achieve his goal.

Arriving at the city, the garrison official Liang came to him, clasped his fists and said, "All the soldiers in the treasury have been counted, and many horses have strayed away, and they are being chased back. It is all thanks to Bo Jun that he was able to take back the military fort so easily. Gao Yi!" It turned out that this Majiabao was a deserted military fort earlier, it was the outpost of the city, but it was occupied by these tyrants for many years.

Honghan replied smoothly: "I'm just passing by, how to manage it in the future is still up to you."

Ji Liang laughed a few times honestly. "With such a result, the Tian family will definitely have a reward."

Honghan turned his head to look at the tough-faced Northland man, "Are you being serious or pretending?"

The city is remote and desolate, and it has been many years since there has been a king's order, and the two neighboring kingdoms of Yan and Zhao are intriguing with each other, and they don't care about it.If the garrison officer has the heart, he can gain a foothold in a tiny place.

Ji Liang rubbed his head, straightened the old helmet, changed the subject, and said, "Young brother is still young, and his mind is uncertain, how can he be locked up in a small town. It is my wish to have some experience with Uncle Bojun." He sighed. Tone, "But I am a person who cares about the family. It's just a younger brother. It's good to be able to come back in a few years. I hope Bo Jun understands."

Although these words are not broken, they are very clear.It is self-evident what the younger brother will do when he learns his skills.

Hong Han patted Ji Liang on the shoulder, "I'm not such a stingy person."

Uncle Thirteen hurried to look for Hong Han, "General, he's awake."

As soon as Hong Han turned around, he saw a black figure slowly coming up from the bottom of the slope.He frowned, he was seriously injured last night and was about to die, how could he stand up so quickly?

Yun is awake.

He seemed to have slept for a long time, since he completed the fire contract and became Hong Han's shadow, he has never slept so deeply.Then he remembered the backlash from earlier and realized he wasn't dead.Although I don't know what's going on, Chi Yan's internal breath that had been rushing and clamoring has calmed down, the riddled meridians are also recovering, and the dull pain in the heart has also stopped.

In front of me is a wall of rammed earth, a kang of rammed earth, and a stove is still burning on the top of the kang.No wonder it's so hot.He sat up, got off the ground slowly, and walked slowly to the door and pushed it open.He is going to find Hong Han.

If he is not dead, he is still Hong Han's shadow.As long as you live, your shadow will never leave your side.

Hong Han stood on the ridge, watching the boy in black slowly walking up the slope.As the sky was getting brighter, he could clearly see the young man's pale face and downcast eyes.Yun stopped twenty steps away, just like the usual distance.Hong Han frowned.

Thirteenth Uncle looked at Yun, then at Honghan, and pulled Jiliang away.After walking two steps, he stopped again, turned around and said, "General, don't blame the subordinates for talking too much. Some things, it's better to explain clearly. This child... looks soft-tempered, but he is actually very careful and has a very temper. Obstinate." He thought for a while and added: "As obstinate as you."

Only Hong Han and Yun were left on the ridge.Honghan didn't speak, and Yun just stood silently twenty steps away from him, his eyes drooping slightly, not knowing what he was thinking.Or nothing at all.

"Yun." Hong Han finally spoke.

This time the boy did not show his posture to come to the master as usual, but walked slowly step by step.His meridians have not yet recovered, so he cannot be so fast.He walked to Hong Han's side, knelt down on one knee as usual, and said softly, "Master."

Hong Han frowned at him, and looked at the boy in black from head to toe.He walked between life and death yesterday, he didn't seem to have changed much, he still had a slightly thin body and a submissive demeanor.But he clearly remembered the feeling of seeing Yun Shi for the first time in Qishan, remembering that he raised his hand to catch his arrow, and pushed his knife away lightly.He remembered those clean but unwavering eyes.

Hong Han squatted down.The young man's eyes were downcast, he was so obedient that he was almost humble, and he refused to meet his gaze.Hong Han grabbed Yun's wrist and probed his inner breath, and the other's meridians were indeed stable.The boy's hand was soft and warm, and he let him hold it obediently.Honghan slowly clenched the branded right hand into a fist, and then, tentatively, hammered it at his chest.

Yun suddenly bent down in pain.

Hong Han watched the boy kneeling on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.He didn't let go of the young man's hand, and he could clearly feel the sudden agitation in the other's meridians, as if it came on a whim, but it was much more violent than that.After a long time, the turbulent inner breath gradually stabilized.Hong Han let go of his hand, and he understood.

He sits down.

He always refuses to sit on his knees properly, and always has one leg bent, sitting in a lazy and ruffian posture, very much like a bandit.At this time, he was unshaven, not wearing any armor, and his outer robe was tucked up indiscriminately, half of his arms were bare, and the smell of alcohol and fighting blood from last night still lingered on his body, he was simply "like" a bandit.

Seeing Yun can straighten his body, he made a gesture: "Sit."

This order was clear and simple, and Yun immediately and faithfully executed it.He knelt down on the ground neatly, with his hands flat on his knees, slightly lowered his head and refused to look up.

"What was it just now?" Hong Han asked.

Yun was silent for a moment, and replied, "It's backlash."

The conjecture was confirmed, Hong Han nodded, and then he declared domineeringly: "If I don't let you die, you can't die."

Just then Cai Yun saw that Hong Han's left wrist was tied with a bandage, revealing a faint color of blood.Other than that, Hong Han had no other injuries on his body.He realized something in his heart.

"Do you know why?"

Yun nodded, and said in a sad voice, "It's the master's blood." It's not difficult to guess, not to mention that there were similar records in the bamboo slips of Shadow Gate.Hong Han probably cut his own wrist yesterday and saved his life with his blood.

Hong Han smiled with his mouth crooked, "I didn't expect that one day, my blood could be used as a life-saving medicine." His eyes sharpened, "After all, what is the fire deed?"

Yun was at a loss, not knowing how to answer this question.In his opinion, a fire contract is a fire contract.

Honghan sat even more lazily, "Since I snatched you from the mountain, you are already my person, and there are some things that have to be figured out. About shadow, about fire deed, about backlash and so on. I don't care where you start Say it, but it must be made clear today."

He no longer urged, but adjusted a comfortable posture, patiently waiting for the boy to speak.

At this time, the Majiabao below the ridge was in chaos.Someone was cleaning the burnt gate, and someone was driving the stray horses back to the stables.Ji Liang was instructing the soldiers arriving in the city to load their vehicles and arrange the bundles of arrows neatly.Uncle Thirteen sorted out the sets of armor and put them on the ground in piles.Someone picked up the iron gun that was in hand, and waved it yelling.Jingqujiang and Jikan took a fancy to the same set of iron helmets, and they argued endlessly over every detail.

In the midst of such chaos, there is a strange quiet atmosphere on the ridge.

After an unknown amount of time, the young man's voice finally rang out: "The inner strength of Shadow Gate is called Blazing Flame."

Honghan didn't ask any further questions, and quietly waited for the boy to continue talking.He knew that the boy's skills were peculiar.On Mount Qi, he fought against Yun, and he knew that the young man's martial arts were excellent.At his age, he has practiced martial arts for at most ten years, but with such an effect, it should be a very domineering method.

"After the blazing skill reaches the ninth level, it will be extremely difficult to control. You must pass the fire deed to recognize the master before you can suppress it."

What he said was too brief, Hong Han asked: "How to suppress?"

Yun paused, and slowly replied: "Before the contract of fire, you must first use up your whole body's power in the cold pool. At this time, the master grants blood, and you can rekindle the inner breath of the flame. It also eliminates the original brutality of the power. gas."

The young man said lightly, but Hong Han felt chills down his spine.He mainly focuses on practicing external skills, even so, one can imagine how cruel torture it is for a martial artist to wear down his skills. "Did you go to Hantan that day?"

Yun knew what he was referring to. In Qishan, after he agreed to Honghan's request, he left for a long time. "Yes. I soaked in the cold pool for four hours, and then I made the fire contract."

"What if the fire contract fails, or the master refuses to give blood?"

"Blaze needs to be supplemented with extremely cold medicine when practicing. The deeper the skill is, the more severe the cold poison will be. During the fire contract, if the master refuses to give blood, the flame will not be able to rekindle, and the cold poison will attack and die. "

No wonder, no wonder the boy was as cold as ice back then, and it was the same way last night.Hong Han sneered and said, "What a good trick! What kind of fire contract is this? It's clearly a blood contract! Therefore, Ying has to be controlled by the master!"

The boy's tone remained unchanged. "yes."

"That's why you always said before that shadows cannot defy their masters."

"Yes."

"If you disobey, there will be a backlash?"

Yun replied calmly: "Yes."

Hong Han was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked: "How many times have you backfired?"

Yun didn't expect him to ask this question, hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "I don't know."

I don't know, that means it has happened many times.Hong Han didn't remember any act of resistance, so he continued to ask: "Aside from fighting? Can't even think about it?"

"Yes."

Hong Han was silent for a long time.He thought of the days after he went down the mountain, the boy never resisted, and his demands were endless.He finally understood why Yun became dark and silent day by day, and he seemed to be addicted to drugs, unable to suppress the cruel beast in his heart more and more.Alone in front of this young man, he became more and more tyrannical.The command of power is a temptation, both for things and people.What kind of satisfaction is there when there is such a person who surrenders to himself and abandons all freedom and dignity?What kind of sinking will there be?

"What if the master dies? Are you free?"

"No, when the master dies, the fire deed will appear." The young man pointed to his forehead.

"and then?"

"It will incinerate the shadow."

"incineration?"

"Yes. The red flame will burst out of the body and incinerate the shadow."

Honghan was stunned, "So, is he still a person?"

Yun had been watching Hong Han calmly, but now he lowered his eyes. "Shadow Gate, there are only shadows, no one."

Hong Han sneered again. "The so-called shadow guards, the so-called black-clothed guardians, the shadows unique to the Son of Heaven, that's what it is. Those celestial beings and the royal family are really good at it! Admiration, admiration!"

Put in all your effort to train such a docile and obedient shadow guard.Royal nobles, are the emperors and princes of that generation so timid and afraid?

Hong Han pondered for a moment, looking directly into the boy's dark eyes. "Yun, you don't need to force yourself." He said, "I don't want to pretend to submit, and I don't care about being forced to obey."

"What I want is you, it's you, understand?"

Yun looked at him quietly.

"I'm not a good person. I'm a rascal, domineering, irritable, and sometimes I don't care about anything when I go crazy. But I'm not a heinous villain, an overlord who only respects me."

Honghan said: "Since I have taken a fancy to you, I snatched you off the mountain and kept you by my side. I hope that someone will accompany me with my life and death on the road to the four directions. I don't care for an empty shell that only knows how to obey and endure, and I don't want you The one brought out from Qishan is just a walking dead. Do you understand?"

"I don't want the person who follows me to be a shadow who obeys orders."

"He has to be alone."

"A complete person who can have his own judgment and opinions, have his own preferences and friends, and be able to respect and be respected by others."

"Yun, I hope you can be yourself again."

Hong Han said these words sentence by sentence, he said out of order, but Yun understood.

I don't know if it's because the sky is getting brighter, or the twilight of the morning sun just happened to shine on the young man's face, Yun's eyes also lit up little by little.Since he walked out of Qishan, he has been submissive, never asked for anything, and used the most obedient and humble posture to hide his true self.

Now, his eyes lit up a little bit, and his whole body became alive.

"I'm sorry about what happened before." Hong Han patted the boy's head.

He hugged the young man and asked in his ear, "Does it hurt?" He asked in a very general way, as if he was referring to the backlash from the day before, and also to the earlier events.

But the boy understood.He wanted to say that all the shadows given by the master must be accepted, and he wanted to say that he had to bear these pains.In the end, he just whispered one word in Honghan's ear: pain.

At this time, the sky was bright, and the people in the village were bustling. As long as they looked up, they could see the two figures on the high ridge.

In the morning light, the general gave the boy in black a deep hug and pressed a long kiss on his forehead.

"What do you want?" Hong Han asked suddenly, he leaned back, and returned to that unruly sitting posture full of ruffian.

Yun raised his eyes, a little confused.

"People who follow me, some want status, some want fame and fortune, some want future power, and some want to achieve success. Of course, there are many people who have no choice but to make a living. What do you want?"

Yun was at a loss for a moment, and then he said softly: "I want to go to distant places and see scenery that I have never seen before."

Hong Han laughed heavily, his chest trembling endlessly. "Then it's right for you to follow me!"