It is strictly forbidden to fall in love

There was a dead silence in the originally solemn and solemn hall. On a snowy winter night, the icicles under the eaves reflected the gray light.An old Taoist with loose hair in a black Taoist uniform was sitting in front of the blazing stove, muttering something in his mouth, the paper burned fast and fiercely, making crackling noises, lighting up the whole room red, His eyes gleamed brightly.

A boy of five or six years old opened the door and entered the yard. It was too cold, so he gently rubbed his little hands, and ran across the mountain path towards the main hall with a food box in his hand.

"Master!" The moment he opened the door of the hall and entered, the food box in Xiaodaotong's hand fell to the ground with a bang, and he ran over quickly. It was too late to reach out to pick it up, enduring the severe pain and grabbed out a half-burnt book, when suddenly I heard laughter ringing in my ears.He looked back and saw that the old Taoist in Taoist robes was clapping his hands and laughing, very happy.

"Burn it! Burn it! It's over! It's all gone!" The old Taoist stood up and danced in the empty hall with bare feet. The red light in the cauldron danced rapidly on the wall. On the ground, he spread his arms and danced like flying, "No more."

Even if Xiao Daotong is young and immature, he also knows that this pile of Taoism books is the painstaking efforts of several generations or even dozens of generations of Ziwei Sect. He has seen his master caressing these Taoism books countless times, but now they are all gone. After being burned, he hurriedly kicked off the stove regardless of the severe pain and rescued a few books from the fire, but they were already burnt to pieces and he couldn't recognize anything.

"Burn." Xiao Daotong was so anxious that tears fell out. Looking back with tears in his eyes, the old Taoist jumped like a bird that had finally got rid of its shackles. He ran to the window and opened it, naked like a child. Standing on tiptoe and looking out, the snow poured in from the wide open window in an instant. The skinny old man opened his arms wide as if embracing a new life, like a piece of dead wood stuck in place, or like a flying bird throwing himself into the fire. moth.

The old man closed his eyes, let the snow hit his face, and murmured: "Who is me, and who am I, I am me, I am me!" Repeated happily over and over again, "I am me, I am me."

Xiao Daotong was inexplicably frightened, he got up trembling, grabbed the old man's sleeve and called softly, "Master?"

The old man looked down at him, as if he had seen some treasure. He lowered his body and stroked Xiaodaotong's face, "Don't cry."

Xiao Daotong's tears still fell, "Master, what's wrong with you?"

The old man held him in his arms, held him by the shoulders and said softly, "Don't cry, this is just a dream, child, all of this is just a dream." Hexagonal Snowflake said, "Never wake up."

Finding that the old man was just talking nonsense and completely ignoring him, Xiao Daotong wiped away his tears and hurriedly went outside the mountain to call for help.He told several teachers and uncles that Master's illness relapsed.As soon as they heard this, they immediately followed Xiaodaotong up the mountain.

When everyone came to the hall, everyone fell silent, especially Xiao Daotong, who stared blankly at the scene with his eyes wide open.

The disheveled old Taoist hanged himself in the main hall with a belt. From the thin corpse floating around, the demeanor and figure of Master Ziwei could no longer be seen, and the bald pen was thrown casually. Under the steps, there was a large pile of paper scattered in the hall, with indistinguishable characters scribbled on it.

Xiao Daotong's eyes kept enlarging and enlarging, and at some point he finally blinked. After decades of time, he turned into an old Taoist in purple robes sitting in the temple, staring intently at the fire in the stove. fire.

"Why is he crazy?"

"I don't know. He's always thinking about something. Suddenly, one day, he goes crazy. No one knows."

The gate of the Hall of Eternal Life opened slowly, and a strange brilliance appeared in the eyes of the real person Tianxiang. In the distant place, golden whales floated by in the sea, and there was snow rustling on the sea. It seemed like that year .

Zhong Qing stood under the plaque with the word "Longevity" written on it. The gates of the 72nd hall were opened one after another, and candles lit up. Coming up with the lamp in hand, he glanced at them, turned his head and walked slowly towards the long, narrow and dark corridor.

Zhong Qing often listened to Master Miaomiao blowing water and telling stories. Master Miaomiao knew all the factions and individuals in the Taoist sect, but he never heard him mention the head of the Ziwei Sect.As Zhong Qing walked, he wondered what the mysterious head of the Ziwei Sect would look like. According to Xie Dan's hint that day, he might be a lunatic.He has seen crazy people before. Isn't his nominal master "Yiqing Taoist" crazy?In the future, when the Tianheng Sect meets and greets the Ziwei Sect disciples, the conversation may not be like this, "Our head is crazy." "Coincidentally, our head is also crazy!" "Our head always thinks that he saw a ghost." "Our head always feels that we are going to become immortals." Zhong Qing had been getting more and more uncertain as he walked in the dark underground palace, and was inexplicably amused by the idea that popped into his head.

"What are you laughing at?"

There was a voice in his ear, and Zhong Qing came back to his senses. The next moment, he found that the Taoist boy who led the way was gone, the fire in the stove was burning, and he was standing in a circular hall. He turned around, A middle-aged Taoist who looked to be in his 40s was standing on the steps and looking at him quietly.

The Taoist was shorter than Zhong Qing, with a thin body and ordinary features. At first glance, he was no different from ordinary old Taoists commonly seen in the Taoist school. He was looking at Zhong Qing.

Zhong Qing didn't react much, this Taoist didn't have any guru style on him, his clothes and cuffs were even stained with black dust, which was quite different from Zhong Qing's imagined image.

"Your Excellency, Ziwei Zong Tianxiang Daoist?"

The Taoist came forward, but he didn't answer Zhong Qing's question, he just asked, "Help me see how the elixir in this furnace is being refined?"

Zhong Qing turned around and looked at the furnace cauldron placed in the center. The furnace is hollowed out, and the blue fireworks inside can be seen, and some red is faintly glowing.Zhong Qing didn't see any tricks, the old Taoist picked up the tail end of the whisk and put it in his arms, stretched out his hand to pick up a few firewood and piled it under the cauldron. Said: "Can you make alchemy?"

Zhong Qing shook his head.

The old Taoist handed a piece of firewood to Zhong Qing and said, "Try."

Although Zhong Qing has never learned alchemy, he knows that alchemy in this school is a science. The so-called heat and materials are full of mysteries. It is by no means as simple as stacking firewood.

The old Taoist saw Zhong Qing's thoughts, "It's okay, let's try."

Zhong Qing took the two sticks of firewood, which looked like ordinary dry pine logs, and the marks cut by the ax on the edges had already become brittle. He stuffed the stick of firewood into the hearth. Qing felt that he must have done something wrong, so he held the other piece of firewood in his hand and did not move.

Zhong Qing said: "Master, you came to me..."

Before Zhong Qing finished speaking, the old Taoist interrupted him softly and said, "Have you observed this hall during your walk? You walked on the South Eleventh Road, which belongs to Yanggan. There are 81 corridors in this hall. There are 64 main halls leading to each hall, and there is such a furnace in each hall, and I have been refining this furnace for 16 years."

As soon as the old Taoist finished speaking, the fire in the cauldron suddenly went out, Zhong Qing opened his eyes slightly, and then saw a large puff of thick black smoke rolling out, the cauldron vibrated twice, and there was no movement.Zhong Qing seemed to realize something, and glanced at the other piece of firewood left in his hand.

The old Taoist lifted the lid, looked at it, and closed it again. He didn't seem to care that the elixir that had been refined for 16 years was so useless, and asked Zhong Qing, "Has your master's illness been better recently?"

Zhong Qing's heart skipped a beat. The Tianheng Sect had already blocked the news that Taoist Qing had gone crazy, and even his own disciples didn't know about it.

"Everything is fine with my master, please worry about it."

The old Taoist sighed: "Your master is an excellent person, and I don't know what kind of disaster happened to make him look like this." He said to Zhong Qing: "I ordered people to prepare some medicines, and you take them with you. Go back to the mountain and see if it helps."

Looking left and right, Zhong Qing didn't feel that the person in front of him was a lunatic who was insane after taking drugs as Xie Dan said, "Then thank you very much, Sect Leader."

The Taoist turned around, emptied the stove, took out new materials from the cabinet, and set up the alchemy furnace for alchemy again. The half of the purple and gold coat of arms leaking from the sleeve clearly showed the identity of this Taoist, he was indeed the purple Tianxiang Zhenren of Weizong, the head of the world's number one sect, a word he casually said can easily change the fate of hundreds of thousands of monks in the world.

Zhong Qing said: "I came to Ziwei Sect this time because of Tiandu Mansion."

Master Tianxiang raised his hand and continued pouring a plate of shark sand into the stove.

Zhong Qing said: "The head of the sect has heard of this. All the monks in the Tiandu Mansion were wiped out. It is said that Chao Tianzong came back to take revenge. There are also prophecies and legends that all four major sects will be overthrown in this catastrophe."

Tian Xiangren's expression didn't change at all, he observed the stove, as if he only had this one furnace of pills in his eyes, and everything else was insignificant.

Zhong Qing said: "The head has already known about this matter?"

"The heaven and the earth are dark and yellow, the universe is prehistoric, the sun and the moon are full and the moon is full, and the celestial constellations are arranged. It is said that when the heaven and the earth were first born, everything in the world was in chaos. There was no distinction between yin and yang, and there were no four seasons or light." The cinnabar was poured into the pitch-black furnace, "Pangu was born in it, and he divided the heaven and the earth into two with an axe. Yangqing rose to become the sky, and yin and turbidity sank to become the earth."

As the sound echoed in the empty hall, changes also took place in the alchemy furnace. As soon as the cinnabar was poured in, a puff of white smoke rose up immediately, while the black gravel and mud underneath quickly sank.

"In another 8000 years, the dragon holds the candle, and a fire rises from the center of the earth." As soon as he finished speaking, a cluster of red flames burst out from the firewood at the bottom of the stove, and the scarlet flames suddenly splashed out. Like tens of thousands of meteors, illuminating the entire hearth and hall, the voice of the old Taoist also resounded, "The flowing fire turns into a mighty aura, and when it rises, it becomes a river mountain; The white dragon holds the candle, 1 years to the east, and another 1 years to the west, which is spring and autumn."

The old man in the purple Taoist robe threw out a handful of copper sand in his hand, sprinkled them into the alchemy furnace one after another, and when it touched the wall, it turned into soup and golden water. , And lead the rope in the mud, and hold it up as a human." The crushed sand scattered into the furnace, as if it was a miracle, and a few pill-like pills could be seen slowly floating up from the bottom, the whole body was white, reflecting the dazzling With the red light of the flames, the old man continued to read: "The clay figurines came from floating in the sea. They saw all kinds of beasts, vegetation, mountains and rivers in four seasons. They settled in the south of the Canglang and the north of the North Sea. Roosters crowed in the east, and they reproduced endlessly."

The old Taoist didn't fish out the white golden pills, but suddenly closed the lid with a bang, all the flowing fire, white smoke, golden water, and mud were covered up, and all the mysteries were hidden in the small box. In the small hearth, no one could know that the firewood was burning fiercely, and the dazzling light shone on the faces of the old Taoist and Zhong Qing. The old Taoist glanced at Zhong Qing and smiled slightly.

The old Taoist said: "All things come into existence out of nothing, and then return to nothing. The so-called Taoist is empty. The Tiandufu, Chaotianzong, Ziweizong, and Tianhengzong you mentioned are just a drop in them, and they are never important."

Zhong Qing didn't speak for a long time, the other party was telling himself that he knew it all, but he didn't care.Alchemy is like creating the world, this is really treating oneself as a god, the eyes of the gods know everything in this world, and naturally they don't care about the struggle and life and death of ants.

Tianxiang Zhenren asked him, "Have you ever thought about a question?"

"what?"

"Have you ever thought about who you are, where you came from, and where you are going to die?"

Zhong Qing was stopped by the question, and said: "It is said that people are made of mud by gods, so they are born in the loess and return to the loess when they die."

From the face of the old Taoist, it could not be seen whether he was satisfied with the answer, and asked again: "Have you ever thought about your situation after you die?"

Zhong Qing also did not expect that the head of the Ziwei Sect invited him to discuss these philosophical issues of life and death with him. The problem is that he is not good at this matter, so he replied impromptuly: "If you die, you will It’s all gone.”

The old Taoist looked at Zhong Qing, and suddenly showed a very light smile. He raised his hand to let Zhong Qing go over. After Zhong Qing passed, he took Zhong Qing and sat down on the steps, tidying up his half-worn sleeves, and He told a story.

"When I was a child, I saw my master concocting alchemy and studying in the palace every day. He was immersed in it day and night, and never asked about other things. Everyone said that he was destroying a world from ancient times to the present. A secret that no one can break. Then one day, he went crazy."

"crazy?"

The old Taoist said: "He hanged himself above the main hall with a belt."

Surprise finally appeared on Zhong Qing's face. If he guessed correctly, these things are the absolute secret of Ziwei Sect.

"The ancestors of the Ziwei Sect spent their entire lives thinking about a secret. They were thinking hard about what the origin of this world is, where life comes from, where we die, and who we are. Finally, one day , my master broke this secret, but the strange thing is that he didn't tell anyone the answer. First he went crazy and burned all the Taoist books of the past, and then he died, taking the answer forever gone."

The old Taoist asked Zhong Qing kindly, "What do you think the answer to this question is?"

Zhong Qing shook his head.

The old Taoist said: "I have spent decades sorting out the things left by my master, and finally one day, I figured something out."

Zhong Qing asked: "What?"

The old Taoist stood up and walked to the cauldron, "The answer is nothingness. It turns out that everything in this world is nothingness. People come from nothingness and go to nothingness. All kinds of things in the world are just dreams floating in the sea of ​​illusion. "The old Taoist looked at the alchemy furnace, the words were light and light, as if the flames floating in the alchemy furnace were much lighter, he remembered the words his master always muttered to himself after he went crazy, " It was just a dream."

Zhong Qingdao: "Everything is empty. The head of the sect thought about it for many years, and finally figured out that everything in this world is meaningless, so did he commit suicide?"

The old Taoist looked at Zhong Qing and did not speak.

The fire in the stove was still burning, as if it was really the human world they were in, and all living beings were tumbling in it, and they sat outside the stove, neither of them could hear each other's voice.

This world is nothingness, there is no eternity, everything is false, and all things are meaningless. The first head of Ziwei Sect saw through all this, but he couldn't find a way to escape, and finally chose to die.

But his disciples found another answer.

"Everything in the world is nothingness, everyone is trapped in it, and there is only one way to get rid of it."

Become a celestial being.

Tianxiang Zhenren turned around to look at Zhong Qing, and asked, "Where is that dragon?"

Zhong Qing's expression didn't change for a long time, and then he said with a smile, "The head is joking, where do dragons come from in this world?"

"The dragon that broke into the Palace of Eternal Life yesterday."

The smile on Zhong Qing's face was a little stiff. He sat down on the steps, put his hands on his knees casually, and sighed, "I really don't understand what the master is saying."

Tianxiang Zhenren didn't mean to be angry, "It seems that I just said a lot, and you didn't listen to it." He looked at Zhong Qing and said: "About a year and a half ago, someone saw a dragon and a dragon in the area of ​​the Huai River. Fighting in the big river, the white dragon is more than a hundred feet long, several times the size of the black dragon, the two beasts fight, the sky and the earth change color. You should have been there at that time."

Zhong Qing squeezed the hands in his sleeves, and suddenly smiled and said, "Where did the head master hear such nonsense stories?"

"No one else knows about this, and you don't have to."

Zhong Qing had previously determined that it was absolutely impossible for the Ziwei Sect to know about this matter. The truth that Yun Jue was a dragon was known only to him for so many years, and the other person was Master Miaomiao, but Master Miaomiao could never tell this Ziwei Sect.He was sure that Tianxiang Zhenren was deceiving him, but what he didn't expect was that they were caught fighting with the black dragon on the river that day.Who will it be?How did Tianxiang Zhenren know?

Zhong Qing's mind was spinning rapidly, and then he heard Tianxiang Zhenren say: "His name is Yun Jue, and he is your junior brother." Almost at the same moment, Zhong Qing raised his eyes, and his eyes completely changed.

"I think there seems to be such a disciple, but he was kicked out of the teacher's school many years ago. I haven't heard from him since I went there. Where did this come from?"

The two looked at each other, and Zhong Qing sat on the steps, seemingly unfazed, but in fact only he himself knew how tense he was right now.Now that he is on someone else's territory, if the other party really wants to attack, he can't get much advantage.The person in front of him seemed to be no different from an ordinary old Taoist, but Zhong Qing never forgot that this person was the head of the Ziwei Sect, a monk who had lived for hundreds of years, and had retreated for more than 20 years, with unfathomable scheming and cultivation.The opponent was clearly prepared, and he lost the initiative from the very beginning.

From the eyes of the other party, Zhong Qing already realized that it might be difficult for him to get out today, and he was very glad that he forced Yun Jue to leave last night, at least for the time being, he didn't have to worry about his safety.The problem now is that he doesn't know how much the head of the Ziwei Sect knows. Just as he was thinking, the other party's voice rang in his ears.

Tianxiangren said: "With your own strength alone, you can't control that dragon."

Zhong Qing's heart was already almost in his throat, and he was preparing for the possibility of doing something, when he heard the sound, he felt inexplicable, what do you mean?Zhong Qing looked up, and it took him a long time to continue following his words: "How do you know that I can't control it?"

Tian Xiangren said: "If you think you can control it, you won't want to drive him down the mountain, and try to kill him more than once."

Zhong Qing felt another thump in his heart, what's the matter?He felt that his mind had never been spinning so fast before, and all the fragments flashed past his eyes like snowflakes. He suddenly figured out the joints, and the other party didn't know the whole story!

The other party probably found out that Yun Jue was a dragon by accident, and found that Yun Jue was with him, so he went to Tianhengzong to investigate Yunjue. However, in the eyes of Tianhengzong's disciples, his relationship with Yunjue was extremely bad. He always wanted to drive Yun Jue down the mountain, and even went so far as to assassinate him secretly many times, but he never succeeded, and Yun Jue hated him very much, and spoke ill of him more than once, and the two were incompatible.

Ten thousand thoughts flashed through Zhong Qing's mind, but his expression didn't change at all. In order to verify his conjecture, he said, "What the headmaster means is that you want to cooperate with me?"

Although the upsurge of searching for dragons recurs every few hundred years, people in the Taoist sect have always had differences in their attitudes towards dragons. Some people are extremely fanatical about dragons and do everything possible to obtain the power of dragons, while others think that dragons are The root of all evil, they blame the dragon for the chaos and disasters of the past few years, and believe that the dragon must be eradicated quickly. With the rise of the wave of reflection, the latter actually occupies a lot of people in the Taoist quantity.

In Tianxiang Zhenren's cognition, from Zhong Qing's various performances, he obviously belongs to the latter. Zhong Qing did not tell anyone about the existence of the dragon, and tried all methods to kill the dragon but failed, so he retreated Secondly, he drove the dragon to no man's land. He is a standard dragon slayer.

Tianxiang Zhenren looked at him and said: "The dragon is destined to awaken, you can't change all this, and when that happens, you will die without a place to bury you." The old Taoist stepped forward, "And I can help you."

When Zhong Qing heard this sentence, he was completely sure of his conjecture. He raised his eyes and looked at Tianxiang Zhenren, "How can you help me?" When he said this sentence, his tone was very subtle, as if it was in his eyes , Tianxiang Zhenren is the kind of fanatical dragon seeker he hates.

Tianxiangren said: "Give that dragon to me."

Zhong Qing stared at the other party for a long time without speaking.

Tianxiang Zhenren said: "I have taken in many disciples in my life, but most of them have nothing to do with my Taoism. There is only one named Xie Dan who can barely be regarded as a talented person. You should have seen him. I have taught him He started cultivating Taoism and taught him carefully, but who knows that he is not a good fortune, and retired sickly within a year. If you want, I can pass on my lifelong Taoism to you." The fire was burning, and the lights were strange, and there was a strange light dancing on the face of Taoist Tianxiang. He looked down at Zhong Qing and said: "Enter my Taoist door, and leave this fantasy sea and void from now on, abandon the mortal womb, and cultivate the supreme Avenue."

"You're talking about the technique of immortality?" Zhong Qing looked at the alchemy furnace and added, "You can become immortal?"

The old monk who could change the fate of hundreds of thousands of monks with a single sentence smiled, "Exactly."

Zhong Qing lowered his head and pressed his forehead for a while, then slowly said: "You want to kill that dragon to make alchemy and become immortal."

Tianxiang Zhenren looked at Zhong Qing who was in deep thought, he didn't seem to be in a hurry, and gave Zhong Qing a lot of time to think carefully.

I don't know where the bell rang, and there was the sound of footsteps, and it was a pair of seven or eight-year-old twin Taoist boys who came out of another corridor carrying pills and tea.

Zhong Qing raised his head and saw that Tianxiang Daoist had been in seclusion for many years, and he didn't even see his own disciples. In the Hall of Eternal Life, only Taoist boy was left to wait on him.I saw a Taoist boy knelt down in front of Tianxiang Zhenren, raised his hand and brought the pill to Tianxiang Zhenren, Tianxiang Zhenren put down the whisk in his hand, rolled up his sleeves, opened the box, and swallowed the red medicine pill and water .

Zhong Qing noticed the wrist exposed at the moment when Master Tianxiang rolled up his hand, and his pupils suddenly dilated.The arm was densely covered with red veins.

Tianxiang Zhenren also noticed Zhong Qing's gaze and glanced at him.

Zhong Qing felt that this person was really crazy about taking medicine. He had taken a lot of elixir all year round. The cinnabar had completely destroyed this body. Even the blood was mixed with red sand. He had to take more elixir every day to relieve the pain. Pain and staying awake, even though he has extremely powerful spiritual power, his aging body makes him helpless. He can't even get sunlight, so he can only hide in this palace for decades.He will be poisoned to death by these elixirs, unless he can refine the real immortality elixir, the dragon is his last hope.

The two twin little Taoist boys looked very well-behaved. One of the little Taoist boys waited for Tianxiang Daoist to take the medicine, and the other little Taoist boy stepped forward to present tea for rinsing mouth and a clean hand towel. The wooden case was too heavy, his hands shook, and some tea came out.His face turned pale, Tianxiang Zhenren glanced at him.

With a bang, before Zhong Qing realized what happened at that moment, the little boy suddenly fell face-to-face, and Zhong Qing felt that the blood in his whole body was frozen.The other twin Xiaodaotong knelt on the spot while maintaining the original posture. He seemed to be completely frozen and did not respond to this scene. The blood slowly flowed to his knees.

Tianxiangzhen said: "It's been dealt with cleanly."

The little boy nodded, and he didn't raise his head from the beginning to the end.

When Tianxiang Zhenren turned his head and saw Zhong Qing looking at him, he recalled where the conversation between the two of them was just now, and continued: "I used to think that this might never be unraveled, but that dragon appeared, Perhaps all of this is God's will, and God has given the answer."

The way he looked at Zhong Qing seemed to see through everything. He knew that whether Zhong Qing believed him or not, this person would definitely agree, because this is Ziwei Sect.

Sure enough, Zhong Qing's reaction was as he expected.Zhong Qing finally agreed to cooperate with him, but he seemed to be really entangled. After a while, he repented as if he was struggling again and said that he would think about it again.Tianxiang Zhenren looked at this capricious young man, maybe because he was a little tired after taking the elixir, or maybe he believed in his heart that the ending would not change, so he agreed to let Zhong Qing think about it one night and come back tomorrow.

Zhong Qing finally got up and walked out.

After a while, Zhong Qing stopped at the entrance of the corridor again, and asked, "Are you the only one who knows about the dragon?"

Tianxiangren said: "Yes."

Zhong Qing nodded, he continued to move forward, and suddenly he stopped again, he looked up at the patterns on the corridor, as if he had made up his mind, he turned around again and walked towards Tianxiang Zhenren, Tianxiang Zhenren Finding that Zhong Qing had turned back again, he subconsciously looked up, "You..."

The dagger fell from the sleeve and fell into his hand. Zhong Qing raised his hand and slashed open the opponent's throat with a sharp knife. The sound stopped abruptly, and blood spurted out.The other party stared at him with wide-eyed eyes, without any defense or resistance at all, and he fell backwards.Zhong Qing lowered his head and did not speak for a long time.

Xiao Daotong on the side hugged his junior brother's body, he opened his eyes wide and looked at the scene in front of him, it was like a dream, and he couldn't react.He watched Zhong Qing turn and leave.