[Shadow Guardian] The Wind Rises from the Wild West

They walked all the way to the palace where the emperor was, and all the palace people around had been condemned to leave long ago, only the old servant was still there, looking at them resentfully.Behind the curtain ahead, a figure could be vaguely seen sitting.After more than ten years, Yun is finally going to meet his elder brother again.

He walked forward calmly, knelt down on both knees, and bowed to salute, touching his forehead to the back of his hands—this is a courtesy to elders and high-ranking people.If you are a commoner or a slave, you cannot kneel down with the back of your hand on your forehead. Only noble people can do this.

After finishing the ceremony, he raised his body by himself, looked ahead and said, "Brother."

From the moment he walked in, the emperor stared at his brother whom he hadn't seen for many years.I remember that the last time I saw Yun was when he was taken to the main hall after the rebellion. A villain saluted meticulously, obediently and calmly, not at all like a six-year-old child.The firebird on the back of his hand was branded on by himself.Now that helpless child has grown up, he found the shadow of a child in the young face of the man in front of him.

The emperor said, "Yun, you are so brave!"

While the emperor was looking at himself, Yun also looked at the emperor without hesitation.This person is his elder brother. He hasn't seen him in 12 years and has changed a lot.He was a handsome young man back then, but now he is only in his 30s, with a haggard face, sunken cheeks, and black eye sockets, like an old man.He replied, "Have not seen each other for many years, brother."

He neither called His Majesty nor Emperor Brother, but just like ordinary people, he called him Elder Brother.

The emperor was furious. This younger brother had already been demoted as a slave, so he dared to call him that.If it wasn't for the fact that it would take many years to develop a shadow guard, and the one beside him was at the end of his strength, he would have already ordered Yun to be killed without regret.

He barely suppressed his anger and did more important things first.The old servant offered a golden knife on a tray, and the emperor picked it up. He stepped down from the high position, came to Yun, looked down at him, and said coldly: "Even if you call me elder brother, you have no other choice." .”

He cut his finger with a golden knife, squeezed out a drop of precious blood, and dripped on the back of Yun's hand.

Yun didn't move, but looked at him calmly, obviously looking up, but seemed to have some pity.

The drop of blood splashed a small blood flower on the Firebird brand on the back of his hand, and then slowly slid down, forming a bright red trace, but there was no sign of integration or fire contract at all.

The emperor frowned, and whispered in disbelief: "What's going on!"

Yun said, "It turns out that brother's blood is also warm."

This undoubtedly offended the majesty of the emperor.The emperor was furious, and swung the golden knife at the person in front of him.Yun didn't get up, but tilted his head slightly, and the knife was slashed across the side of his face, bringing only a little cool wind.The emperor had never practiced martial arts, even if Yun didn't have the slightest skill at the moment, it would be easy to dodge such a knife.

"Didn't they tell you that I have reached the fire contract?"

"It's impossible!" The fire contract can only be achieved with the blood of heaven and man. Except for the royal family, it is impossible for Yun to reach the fire contract with others.

Yun smiled: "Brother, not only you have the blood of heaven and man, but I also have it."

The emperor was furious, and came to his senses: "It's Uncle Xi Yan! How dare that barbarian...you are really rebellious!"

He wanted to swing the knife again, but his hand was held. Yun's hand was as cold as a piece of ice, but the emperor couldn't break free.He could only let the other party take the knife away and gently put it on the ground next to him.The emperor was very angry, never thought that this rebellious younger brother would dare to fight him. "Shadow!" He habitually whispered.

A black shadow like light smoke came to the side of the emperor in an instant, and bowed his knees to salute. "Master." Bai was summoned from the shadow of the curtain.

"Take him down! Kill him!"

The man in black, who always obeyed orders, didn't move, he just lowered his head and knelt there.

Even the shadow guard doesn't listen to his king's order?The emperor sneered and said, "Okay, okay! If you are in collusion, one or two will rebel!" He flicked his sleeves and slapped the man in black hard.He exerted so much force that the man in black endured it without dodging or avoiding it, but he still lowered his head and said nothing.

Yun raised his hand to grab Tianzi's wrist, preventing him from continuing to attack, and said in a deep voice, "Brother, if you don't want your last shadow guard to die, don't force him anymore." He looked at Bai.The man in black was still respectfully half-kneeling on the ground, without any trembling in his body, but he never raised his head, his fingers clasped on the ground turned slightly white due to too much force.

Not only disobeyed the order, but was punished by the furious master, what kind of backlash would there be?

The emperor wanted to withdraw his hand but was held firmly, unable to withdraw, trembling with anger. "What do you want?"

Yun said to the Son of Heaven expressionlessly: "There will be no more Shadow Guards and no more Shadow Gates in the future, you should die!"

"You...you...I should have killed you back then!" The emperor shouted to the door, "Come here!"

Immediately, four hidden guards rushed in.Yun grabbed Tianzi's wrist and twisted it, then buckled him back in front of her. The golden knife was already held in her left hand, and it rested lightly on Tianzi's shoulder.It looked like it was two inches away from the neck, but it was utterly threatening - the hidden guards all knew how fast his kung fu was, and this distance was no different from being on the neck.

The hidden guards didn't dare to move rashly, they all stared at Yun's hand.

Bai still knelt on the ground and did not move, but through the shoulders of the emperor, one could see that the black clothes were trembling slightly.

Yun sighed: "Brother, let them all retreat."

Tian Ziqi's blue veins were exposed, and he said with a stiff neck: "I knew it! I knew that none of you didn't stare at this position!"

"You think too much."

"Do you think you can secure this position by killing me? Dreaming!"

"I never thought about it that way."

"Uncle Xiyan asked you to assassinate me, right? I knew he was ambitious!"

"..."

"You do it, I want to see how Uncle Xi Yan can support you to sit in this position!"

"..."

"I'd like to see how you will face your ancestors in the future!"

"Okay." Yun said suddenly.

The emperor stopped.

Yun replied very flatly: "After I kill you, let's go to meet our ancestors together. I also have a lot of things I want to ask them."

What he said was so natural that the emperor felt that he might really think so, and had thought so many times.

Yun said: "You'd better let them all back down, or I promise to kill you in an ugly way." He gestured with the golden knife.

The emperor was furious and shouted: "You all go out! All of you go out!"

The hidden guards left without saying a word.Bai knelt on the ground with his head down and didn't move - he couldn't stand up anymore.

Yun looked at him, and slowly let go of Tianzi's hand.The emperor immediately took a few steps back, and as soon as he sat down on the couch, Fang was about to call for someone again, when he saw Yunzheng staring at him calmly.

"Stop yelling." Yun said, "If you don't want to do it again." He stood in the middle of the bedroom, and the dim palace lantern cast a dim shadow behind him.He was obviously only wearing a sackcloth, with loose hair and bare feet, and his hands and feet were bound with fine steel chains, but he had a calm and determined attitude. "I just wanted to talk to you."

The emperor knew that he would not kill himself, and did not dare to kill himself.He calmed down a little, "What do you want?"

Yun shook his head and looked at Bai who was kneeling beside him.Asked: "Brother, do you really know what a shadow is?"

What is shadow?The man in black kneeling on the ground is his shadow.

The Son of Heaven is the orthodox heir of the royal family, and generations of emperors have vowed to protect him.When he became the crown prince, his father had told him that the heavenly and human royal family was protected by the blue bird, and the shadow gate was passed down by the blue bird.After reaching the fire contract, the shadow guard recognizes the master, never disobeys, and lives and dies with him.This is the secret of the Qi family being powerful for hundreds of years as a royal family.

Yun looked at Bai who was kneeling on one side.Bai came to Tiandu four years ago to become a shadow guard. Before him, Yun clearly remembered the shadow guard who gave him the ice breath pill.Even if he didn't count his elder brother's time as the prince, he had already seen two shadow guards.And the father has been in power for more than [-] years, and I don't know how many shadow guards he has changed.He sighed, "Perhaps elder brother knew the origin of the Qi clan and Shadow Gate, so he remembered to send me to Shadow Gate."

The emperor did not deny it.

"When I went to Qishan, I was still young, and I didn't understand many things. There are many books and bamboo slips in the ancient tomb of Yingmen, most of which were left before the capital moved eastward. Slowly, I realized how to get back Something. Presumably the elder brother also knows that only the children of the royal family can enter the earliest shadow sect, and the legendary Zudi and Qingniao are actually brothers."

The Son of Heaven raised his eyelids and said angrily, "Emperor Zu and Qingniao were originally brothers. They joined hands to conquer the country and guard the empire's inheritance, and only then did the 300-year inheritance of the Great Zhou come about. Now that you know it, how dare you be so rebellious? !"

The so-called legend must have a real basis.The ancestor emperor met the blue bird on Mount Qi, signed a contract of fire, and eventually ruled the world with fire virtue.Whether it is the invincible Biwu arrow or the supernatural power of the blue bird, it is just an exaggeration of later generations, and it is also a god-making that the emperor acquiesced in order to rule.

Blazing Flame Kung Fu is the Qi Clan's kung fu method. Although it is powerful and weak, it needs years of accumulation.In the long past, the talented young man of the Qi clan sought the help of Hanquan in order to practice quickly, but accidentally fell into a madman.The older brother saved the younger brother with his own blood, and the first-generation fire contract was achieved.Later, it was the story of brothers joining hands to conquer the world in troubled times.

After the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the elder brother became the emperor, and the younger brother created the Shadow Gate.Generation after generation of Qi family's descendants were selected into the Shadow Gate, and the prince or emperor at that time had to go to Qi Mountain in person to treat each other with sincerity, so that the shadow guards swore to accompany them.Every emperor has only one shadow guard, who is buried in the imperial mausoleum after death.This inheritance was maintained until the capital moved eastward.

After moving to the east, the royal family withered, even if the descendants of the Qi family had suitable blood, how could they allow their descendants to go to Qi Mountain to suffer.The inheritance of Shadow Gate was difficult to continue until an alternative method was found - forcibly pouring the blazing power into the meridians.If people from the Qi clan practiced cultivation, there would be no need for such trouble.But for other children, depending on their aptitude, some need to be poured into the second level, and some need to be poured into the third level.It's just that the shadow guards trained in this way in the end, the skills and the system conflicted, and the life expectancy was greatly reduced.The emperor had to be surrounded by shadow guards, so he had to change them every few years.Later, in order to solve the problem of the distance between Tiandu and Qishan Mountain, Bingxi Pill was made, and there was an edict from the Son of Heaven.

Everything is completely different from what it was at the beginning of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

This moment, that moment.Shiyi, time shift.

For hundreds of years, when the black-clothed shadow guard swore surrender and abandoned all freedom and dignity, what kind of satisfaction is it for the master?What kind of sinking will there be?

"Before the Heavenly Capital moved to the east, the disciples of the Shadow Sect were selected from the royal family. Because the Blazing Flame Kung Fu was originally the skill of our Qi clan, the blood and the Blazing Flame Kung Fu complement each other, and there is no hindrance in their cultivation. Brother Sending me to Mount Qi probably wants to imitate my ancestors and revive the imperial career..." Yun looked at his elder brother, maybe he was really rebellious. "If... If brother could have made everything clear back then, maybe it would have been different. Or if you really followed the ancient method and kissed Qishan, it would have been different."

"It's useless for you to regret it now." The emperor sneered.

"I have no regrets." Yun said very seriously: "Brother, you are not a lord worth following."

"Presumptuous!" The Son of Heaven was furious, being touched to the deepest level of Ni Lin, or by his own younger brother! "The remnants! I should have killed you back then, and keeping it is really a disaster!"

Yun smiled. "Back then, my elder brother was sent to defend the country, but after my father ascended to heaven, my third brother rebelled, and my elder brother had to borrow troops from the king of Wei to return to Tiandu to quell the rebellion and ascend to the throne. It has been more than ten years since this happened. Elder brother is still worried about it." He looked directly at the emperor and said, "But elder brother, why did the emperor let you go to defend the country?"

The state of Wei was powerful, so the prince was naturally sent to be a hostage, and later he had to rely on the support of King Wei to ascend the throne. For many years, he could not feel proud, which was the biggest humiliation in the heart of the emperor.

Yun said: "I think the father must have his painstaking efforts. Over the years, the country of Wei has been rising continuously. Let the elder brother experience it for himself, and he will be able to understand it. After the elder brother takes over, he may learn from his strengths and make up for his weaknesses. Zhongxing Emperor Industry."

"Presumptuous, no matter what your status is, you dare to speak out!"

But Yun smiled, looked at the emperor who was on pins and needles, and said: "But you can neither stop me from thinking this way, nor can you stop me from saying this now." He said frankly, "Brother, you have no ability to stop the decline of the royal family."

"In these years, whenever a rebellion happened, you had to ask all countries to send troops, and then you had to divide the city and territory as a thank you. To them, the royal family is just a deer to be slaughtered. They respect you on the surface, but in fact It’s just that they are jealous of each other and covet your flesh. This is how generations have lived since Tiandu moved to the east. This Central Plains, in fact, is no longer the Central Plains of the royal family.”

The emperor was shocked, he never thought that one day his younger brother would say that.Unexpectedly, he would expose the reality hidden under the brocade royal robe nakedly, without leaving any sympathy.

"Perhaps, you feel that you were born in the royal family, and that you are unable to recover from the decline. But is Xi Yanbo's situation better than yours? He first came to the throne, and was squeezed out by everyone. He couldn't even stay in Yancheng. It was a helpless move. But he traveled the Central Plains, searched for capable people and strangers, traveled thousands of miles across Chile River and returned to Xiyan, and walked out an impossible road. Although Xiyan is located in the border of the Western Wilderness, it is still full of thorns and thorns. Intertwined, far poorer than the Central Plains. Rebellion, famine, and strife have never stopped. But no matter what, Xi Yanbo never compromises, and never turns around. He may do many things wrong, and his head will be broken. But the Xiyan established in this way does not have the stale air of the Central Plains."

"Actually, you are clear in your heart, but what can you do? You can only fight against each other among a group of brothers, stepping on the blood of your brothers to ascend to the throne. You can only rely on the support of the princes, balance left and right, and hold back front and back Uncle Zheng stole your corn, you can only ask Marquis Wei to punish you, and Marquis Wei asked you for the commercial port of Luoshui afterwards, but you couldn't refuse. You can't change anything, when you have to respect King Wei When you became the overlord, you already understood it very well. Then, why is it so strange that the shadow guards that originally belonged to the royal family, or the Biwu arrow with the power of the blue bird, were coveted and obtained by others? Even if you still got these , it’s just adding a piece of delicious meat to the deer.”

Yun slowly, but without stopping, said what was in his heart, and suddenly felt relieved.Finally, he knelt down to the emperor and left silently with chains on his hands and feet.

The emperor was speechless for a long time, sitting on the ground covered in cold sweat.He was suddenly very angry and wanted to smash something, but the man in black was still kneeling quietly in front of him.The hall was quiet and empty, only the shadows of lamps swaying between the curtains, filled with a stale and depressing atmosphere.He wanted to call for someone to come, but he opened his mouth, sighed, and lost his mind.