Our priest may be ill

Gong Tianxue buried her face in Li Chou's arms, and muffledly agreed.

Li Chou stroked the satin-like long hair of the man in his arms pitifully, and slipped his fingers from his hair, caressing his back: "Sleep."

Gong Tianxue stopped talking, but squeezed harder into Li Chou's arms. Only by being surrounded by the warm and familiar fragrance of plants and trees, could he slightly relieve the sadness in his heart about the truth of his parents' departure.

Li Chou lowered his eyes, and the hazy moonlight quietly cast a piece of hoarfrost under the window, and the furniture in the room was also shrouded in the dim light, with only blurred outlines.

What he was worried about was that Gong Tianxue wanted to use the power of the emperor to expand the sphere of influence of the Chentian Sect in Zhongzhou and compete with the Wulin League, so Gong Tianxue would have to listen to the emperor's orders.

The current Gong Tianxue is no longer the child who used to be willful, but the leader of a sect. Every move is considered and designed from the perspective of the interests of the sect. hang printed home...

"Ah Chou, I think the emperor really wants to find the elixir of life. If he sends me there, I will have to resign." Gong Tianxue obviously thought of this, and it was even more serious than Li Chou thought. simply.

"This..." Li Chou hesitated, "Or you can pretend to promise that you will not go to the tomb at that time, but just send someone down."

"That's fine too." Gong Tianxue agreed.

"But... the emperor will definitely send someone to watch you. If you don't go to the tomb yourself, you will inevitably arouse his suspicion." Li Chou thought a lot, and fell into a dilemma.

"Then what should we do?" Gong Tianxue grabbed Li Chou's clothes and raised his head to look at him, "Otherwise, I'd better resign and go home."

"It's hard to get to this point, so don't rush to resign and go home." Li Chou said, "There must be a way before the car reaches the mountain. Now there is still a period of time before we make a decision. Let's wait and see how the emperor will act. , then we will find a way to deal with it.”

Gong Tianxue agreed: "Alright, Ah Chou, you are the smartest."

Li Chou stroked his hair: "I don't have any good solutions, but I don't want you to go to the tomb of the gods. If the situation is forced to the point where there is no other way, you can bring a few more people, and I will go with you."

"No." Gong Tianxue said resolutely, "I will never take you to the grave, and I will never let you go there for the third time."

"...Let's talk about it later." Li Chou sighed, if it was for Gong Tianxue, it doesn't matter if he does it again, but Gong Tianxue can't make a mistake.

After all, he is immortal, no matter how serious the injury is, he will recover after a while.Gong Tianxue was different.

Gong Tianxue was already very tired, but he couldn't sleep.

He always thought about the couple who handed themselves over to Li Chou on that snowy day. What kind of mood did they face death with?

Thinking of this, Gong Tianxue felt as if a hole had been opened in her heart, and cool wind kept leaking in.

"Tianxue...?" Li Chou noticed that Gong Tianxue was not asleep.

"Ah Chou, the jars of wine I brought from Chen Tianjiao are still buried under the courtyard, shall we dig them out and drink them?" Gong Tianxue said sullenly.

"Tomorrow morning..." Li Chou wanted to remind Gong Tianxue, but he thought that he must be in a bad mood and had a lot of emotions to confide in, so he changed the subject and agreed in a low voice, "Okay, let's dig the wine jar come out."

The bright moon is like frost, pouring in the yard.

The spring night in Chang'an City is very bright. When the full moon is full, it is like daytime. The vast starry sky spreads above the head. The quiet and cool moonlight draws gray blue and silver white outlines on everything, and the colors are like the paint on porcelain. The pattern is generally fine and uniform.

"Ah Chou, let's go up to the roof." Gong Tianxue was carrying two jars of wine, her dark eyes shone like glass in the moonlight, and she looked at Li Chou somewhat dazedly and somewhat fragilely.

"Okay." Li Chou still has nothing to promise him at this time.

"Chou, do you remember, I asked you when I was a child, where did my mother go?"

On the roof tiles, Gong Tianxue picked up the wine jar and took a big sip to her mouth. The hot liquid flowed through her heart, making her very comfortable.

"Remember." Li Chou supported the wine jar, silently staring at the sparkling water in the distance.

"At that time, I saw that other children in the church had parents, and I found that I didn't, and you didn't let me call you...cough cough, call you father, so I wondered if you were my father ?" Gong Tianxue tilted her head and looked at Li Chou.

Li Chou laughed: "Why didn't I see you at that time, but Ah Chou and Ah Chou shouted like your nanny."

Gong Tianxue raised the corners of her mouth slightly, and suddenly thought of something melancholy, she turned her face in a sense of regret, and looked into the distance, at the high and low buildings in Chang'an's night: "You lied to me that they went out to sea by boat, and I didn't Having seen the sea, I asked every congregation what the sea is like. I don’t know if you still remember, there is an Uncle Hu who often sweeps leaves under the main altar. He used to do it for others on the sea. Gong, all my news about the sea comes from him."

Chen Tianjiao is located in the mountains of Xizhou, and it snows for half a year. Gong Tianxue has never even seen a plain, let alone a sea.

"He said that the sea is vast and endless, just like the sky. I asked him, is there a sun or a starry sky in the sea?" Gong Tianxue smiled, "He said that there are sea monsters in the sea, sea monsters It will shine, the sea monster is like the sun, and the little sea monster is like the stars, they swim, like the stars revolve around the North Star..."

Li Chou knew that these words were just used by adults to lie to children, but in imagination, they were so beautiful, so beautiful that one wished they were true.What's more, this fantastic "sea" is where Gong Tianxue's parents go.

"I asked you, why didn't they take me with you. You said I was too young to go there only when I was old enough. Later, I thought, if I can grow up faster, I can see you sooner. They... I pretended that I was an adult, and when the elders asked me how I was doing in cultivation, I said, I just came out of retreat for ten years, and now I am 20 years old. Haha." Gong Tianxue brought up the wine jar again, clear and mellow The wine overflowed from his lips, wet his chest unconsciously, he glanced sideways at the wine jar in Li Chou's hand, raised his eyebrows, his eyes sparkled, "If you don't want to drink, give it to me..."

"I'll drink." Li Chou didn't want to see him get drunk. The stronger his internal strength, the less likely he was to get drunk. However, if a drinker wants to get drunk, nothing can stop him.

"Then you drink." Gong Tianxue showed a bright smile on his face.

Li Chou drank half of a jar of wine intermittently, thinking that Gong Tianxue would not get drunk if he drank so much, but when he turned around, he found that Gong Tianxue came up with two more jars of wine, and even patted the wine Tan: "Have you finished drinking? There's still more to come, let's not go home today if we're not drunk!"

Li Chou sighed and said, "Drink less."

For Gong Tianxue, these words went in from the left ear and out from the right ear. The two chatted and drank until late at night, recalling a lot of past events, but the part where Gong Tianxue's parents were in the tomb of the gods, Gong Tianxue He never asked, and Li Chou didn't say anything.

Sometimes, I don't want to know about things that are too sad. It's right that they go to sea by boat.Li Chou thought so.

The next day, Gong Tianxue slept until the sun was high, still hugging Li Chou and talking nonsense.

The time to go to the palace has long been missed. Fortunately, after the foreign envoys were sent away, Gong Tianxue was allowed to rest at home for half a day, so he wanted to waste the half day into one day. Anyway, the emperor would not know that he was slacking off if he didn't call.

Gong Tianxue is arching and arching, the father-in-law who received the emperor's order to call someone, with a civil servant behind him, rushed into the Zhuoshui bridge in a hurry, looking for Gong Tianxue.

Li Chou changed into a dark coat (except him and Gong Tianxue, no one could tell the difference between his dark coat today and yesterday), walked out of the yard, and saw Zhao Chang in official uniform.

This time Zhao Chang was the second best chosen by the emperor, and he held a position in the Hanlin Academy. He usually repairs books and so on, which is also suitable for a young master like him who is so flirtatious.

Moreover, although the position in the Hanlin Academy is idle, the grade is not low. After two years of assessment, it is possible to transfer to some positions with real power, such as the Ministry of Household Affairs, which will help a lot in the Wulin League. Therefore, In the Martial Arts League, it can be said that Zhao Chang has returned to his original position as the prince's companion. Zhao Xian no longer dares to confront him, and even walks to avoid him.Zhao Fengya's attitude towards him also changed a lot, he began to respect his choice, and he boasted how knowledgeable his youngest son was to everyone.Zhao Xu has always been gentle and caring for him, but there is no change in his attitude.

Even so, Zhao Chang still didn't want to go home. He would rather stay at the Zhuoshui Bridge all day long, playing football with Protector Zhang and King Protector and watching Xiao Huang.Books, and I don't want to go back to that serious martial arts family.

Seeing that Zhao Chang followed, Li Chou knew that the emperor must be looking for Gong Tianxue.

"He's still getting dressed, he'll be here soon," Li Chou said.

The father-in-law showed an impatient look, Zhao Chang immediately turned his head to comfort the father-in-law, then turned Li Chou to a corner, and said to him in a low voice, "You know about the elixir of life, right?"

Li Chou's face darkened.

Zhao Chang hurriedly explained: "No, I don't have any other thoughts, I just want to tell you that when His Majesty went to court today, he said that he wanted to find someone to go to Donglai Kingdom to look for the tomb of the god, and he planned to add an official to the leader. Jin Jue, if you can find the elixir of life, it’s okay to make him a marquis, the eyes of the people below are all green, and everyone is vying to go, but the emperor said he has his own idea.”

Li Chou sighed: "He wants to find Tianxue."

Zhao Chang gave Li Chou a thumbs up: "Brother Li is a fortune teller, that's what happened."

Li Chou said helplessly: "I don't want this kind of fortune-telling, whoever loves it should be."

It was the first time I heard Li Chou say such willful words, Zhao Chang was a little surprised: "Why, don't you plan to let Gong Tianxue go for such a good thing that fell from the sky?"

Li Chou was silent.

The two were talking, Gong Tianxue had already put on the clothes of the royal guard, and came out while buckling his belt, he was born with a handsome face, even if he was hangover and didn't wash his face, he looked very neat in the eyes of the father-in-law, so the father-in-law came up immediately He grabbed Gong Tianxue, told him in a shrill voice how eager the emperor was to see him, and dragged him outside.

Gong Tianxue turned her body to one side, avoiding her father-in-law's claws like a loach, and walked towards Li Chou gracefully.

"Zhao Chang, what are you doing here? Didn't Yinshi go up and line up?" Gong Tianxue pushed Zhao Chang away.

"Oh, no, the emperor asked you to lead a team to find the god's tomb on the treasure map, but you didn't come out after calling for a long time, and everyone in the court knew that you missed work today, so I volunteered to come to you! " Zhao Chang said hastily.

Gong Tianxue was stunned for a moment, and her eyes became sharper: "Look for me to lead the team? Then I won't go, I won't go." He said, walking back while unbuttoning his belt.

"Hey! Master Gongda, you can't do this!" Zhao Chang was anxious, and so was Eunuch.

Li Chou looked at Gong Tianxue's back, thought twice, and called him to stop.

Gong Tianxue turned around and looked at Li Chou: "Don't worry, I will resign now, I will definitely not go."

"If you resign rashly, you will only anger the emperor. I'm afraid we won't be able to gain a foothold in Chang'an. I think it's better for you to agree first..." Li Chou was interrupted by Gong Tianxue before he finished speaking.

"No, I can't promise. Once I promise, this matter will never end. Ah Chou, I figured it out. I may not be suitable to be an official in the court. I have a big temper and willful behavior, so I am not suitable to be subdued..."

Li Chou immediately covered Gong Tianxue's mouth, they are still in the territory of the emperor of Zhongzhou, they can't say these words, otherwise there will be endless troubles.

"Central Continent is rich and water transportation is developed, and the Wulin League is based on this. Don't you always hope to overwhelm the Wulin League? Now that you have worked so hard, why are you willing to give up? As for the God's Tomb... I have my own way." Li thick road.

Gong Tianxue frowned: "Ah Chou, don't lie, if you had a way, you wouldn't have said that way last night."

The two discussed it here for a while, but the father-in-law over there got impatient and urged him sharply.

"You go first, adapt to the situation, if you can't do it, you agree." Li Chou pushed Gong Tianxue.

"...Okay." Seeing this, Gong Tianxue had no choice but to respond.

Later that day, Gong Tianxue and Zhao Chang came back together.

Li Chou practiced two sets of swords in the yard. When he saw them coming back, he put his sword back into its sheath and came forward.

Gong Tianxue sighed and asked Zhao Chang to speak.

Zhao Chang looked distressed, and said, "Brother Li, it's like this... Your Majesty, let me lead the team to the God's Tomb..."

"What?" Li Chou was surprised, he felt relieved at first, and then thought of all the dangers in the tomb of the gods, people with martial arts can't get out, let alone Zhao Chang who is so powerless.

"I, I can't refuse, so I can only accept it..." Zhao Chang's head was sweating, "Besides, the emperor ordered my elder brother and the leader of the palace to be my guards and escort me along..."

Speaking of this, Zhao Chang suddenly grabbed Li Chou's sleeve, fell to his knees with a "plop", and begged anxiously: "Brother Li, Brother Li, please help me, I really don't know what to do , I don't care, but my elder brother, if there is something wrong with him..."

"Okay, Zhao Chang, don't play the emotional card." Gong Tianxue grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up.

The emperor's arrangement was not shrewd. He deliberately used a civil servant to lead the team, and mixed the two opposing forces of Wulin League and Chen Tianjiao in the team. The people and horses will also do their best to get the elixir of life in the tomb of the god as soon as possible.

The more ruthless part of this move is that Li Chou can't ignore Gong Tianxue and Zhao Chang, and Zhao Chang has to worry about Zhao Xu...Of course, when the emperor made the arrangements, he didn't think of such details. From a macro point of view, it is enough to bring in the two forces to achieve an efficient check and balance.

"When are you leaving?" Li Chou asked.

When it was getting late, Li Chou, Gong Tianxue, and Zhao Chang got together to discuss how to deal with the next step. The faces of the three were not very good-looking. Li Chou and Gong Tianxue were still calm, but Zhao Chang was completely panicked. You know, when I took office as a new official, I was playing flowers and weeds in the Hanlin Academy, but suddenly I was about to go to the grave, it was frightening to death, okay?

"Tomorrow morning, go with the Donglai envoys." Gong Tianxue said.

"So urgent?" Li Chou frowned.

"There is no time to prepare. The envoy of Donglai said that he will take us to meet their monarch first, and then go to the tomb." Gong Tianxue replied.

In the emperor's arrangement, there is still Donglai Kingdom, even if the most unlikely thing happens - the Wulin League and the Chentian Sect join forces, at least there will be a loyal subordinate Xiaoguodong who surrendered to the emperor of Zhongzhou. Lai's surveillance.

Li Chou sighed, and said: "I originally thought that we could delay for a while. Back then, Li Shengxiang took people to Donglai Kingdom, went there twice, but returned without success. Donglai Kingdom did not provide help. At that time, they also I don't know exactly where the tomb of the gods is, and it took seven or eight years to go in for the last time..."

"Can't we do this now?" Gong Tianxue asked.

Zhao Chang also hastily agreed: "We will use delaying tactics! Since the elixir of life is gone long ago, and the tomb is so dangerous, there is no need to actually go to the tomb, are you right, and ghosts and so on... at last Terrible! Amitabha!"

"Zhao Chang, I remember that you don't believe in Buddhism." Gong Tianxue pointed out Zhao Chang's opportunistic behavior of worshiping Buddha in a hurry due to his illness.

"The Jade Emperor manifested his spirit..." Zhao Chang changed his obeisance again.

"No, listen to me, it's useless to delay the time now, because we have to go to Donglai country to report first, Donglai country will definitely send someone to take us to the tomb, and even stare at us when we go to the tomb , Those two envoys from Donglai originally said they were going to leave today, why did they delay until tomorrow? I think the emperor has this in mind." Li Chou said with a serious expression.

"So that's how it is..." Zhao Chang was stunned.

"It's so troublesome..." Gong Tianxue was a little annoyed.

"It seems that we can only do something when we go to the tomb." Li Chou thought deeply.

"How do you do it?" Gong Tianxue asked immediately.

"Pretend to go down so that Donglai envoys can see us go down, but we actually didn't go down." Li Chou said.

"There is a way?"

"Yes." Li Chou nodded, "I'm sure of that."

Zhao Chang breathed a sigh of relief, and said gratefully: "Thank you, Brother Li! Without you, I really don't know what I would do."

Li Chou smiled: "The one-year agreement hasn't passed yet, so I will never let you go."

"Eh, I forgot..." Zhao Chang was stunned, and then asked sadly, "Brother Li, if there is no agreement with Wu Muling, will you leave me alone?"

Gong Tianxue was agitated for a while, and pushed Zhao Chang aside with her elbow: "If you make an inch, you should pay back, Ah Chou, I said you shouldn't tell Zhao Chang about the one-year agreement, anyway, he has already passed the Jinshi exam .”

Li Chou shook his head with a smile, and the three of them discussed some details and asked the congregation to prepare the things they needed on the road.

After the meeting ended, Li Chou called Zhao Chang to stop.

"Brother Li, what's the matter?" Zhao Chang was surprised.

"Today you go back to the Wulin League, find a way to communicate with your elder brother, and tell him that we don't plan to really go to the tomb. The reason, you just say...the corpse king in the tomb is very powerful, and it will die if you touch it. If you don’t die, you will die from poison within a year after the incident. If he asks you how you learned about it, you can just say that you know Li Shengxiang’s old department, and if you don’t believe him, you can ask the old emperor’s former ministers in the martial arts league.”

Zhao Chang turned pale with fright: "Is there really a corpse king?"

"Really." Li Chou said with a straight face.

Zhao Chang was almost pissed with fright, trembling all the way back.

When Gong Tianxue heard Li Chou's words, she hugged him at night and asked him what the corpse king looked like.

"It's the Clothes Tomb, there is no corpse king, to scare him." Li Chou sighed.

"Then... the elixir of life, is there really nothing left?" Gong Tianxue changed the subject and asked.

The elixir of life is no less attractive to Gong Tianxue than it is to anyone else.

He himself is a person who doesn't care about the length of his life, but when he thinks that he will be with Li Chou in the future, even if he practices daily, he will not be able to keep up with the speed of aging. The most vulnerable thing in the world is a good appearance. His Ah Chou likes his appearance Yes, otherwise he wouldn't have endured his broken skills for so many years.

Once he is old, will Li Chou dislike him?

This is what Gong Tianxue fears the most.

If you can get the elixir of life.

If you can maintain the current appearance with Li Chou, you will never age or die, and you will see each other every day.

He is willing to make Gong Tianxue pay any price.

Therefore, the elixir of life is the best way for him to achieve his beautiful vision.

Li Chou was stunned when he heard Gong Tianxue's unexpected words.

He thought that Gong Tianxue didn't care about the elixir of life, but in fact, he did. After all, Gong Tianxue is a human being, and everyone desires immortality...Only those who are truly immortal wish to be "normal" , grow old with someone you love, you don't have to be lonely and wandering, you don't have to hide your true face for fear of being regarded as a monster.

Understanding is understanding, but when hearing this question, it still touched the pain in Li Chou's heart.

In the past, the child who always obediently followed him and called him "Uncle Li" later turned against him because he knew the existence of the elixir of life, and even did a series of unbearable things...

Now, the same question was before his eyes.

But he couldn't be as decisive as he answered "no" to Li Shengzhen back then.

He got the elixir of life by chance, and he didn't search all over the tomb of the gods, so he couldn't be sure that there was no elixir left in the tomb.

After a long silence, Gong Tianxue hugged Li Chou and said, "It's fine if you don't want to say it."

"I'm not sure." Li Chou said, "The price is too high, and the hope is very little. I don't want you to take risks."

Gong Tianxue's arms tightened, and he let out a "hmm" from his nose.