different paths

The dark fragrance floats, and the sparse shadows slant horizontally.

Behind the steep rocks, a few plum branches stick out.The season has not yet arrived, and the plum blossoms have not yet bloomed, but the cold fragrance seems to be floating in the air, which is intoxicating.Passing through the chaotic rocks and plum groves, Mei Dulin's Ling Hanzhai appeared in front of his eyes.

It's not winter yet, but Ling Hanzhai brings infinite chill just by the three words on the stone tablet.Just because the character was carved by the fastest sword in the world, and because the monument was erected by the coldest person in the world.Although Ling Hanzhai was behind the plum grove, there wasn't even a single plum tree within a radius of one mile.Among the jagged and strange rocks, there is a single courtyard standing in the middle, unconnected.

Although Ling Hanzhai is the residence of the elders of Jianzong, it seems that there are no servants at all. Jia Wujue and Yue Chentan knocked on the door several times but there was no response.When he was walking around, he heard a cold voice from behind: "Who is here?"

As soon as the two of them turned around—they were so murderous!

The visitor was dressed in an ordinary black robe, but he was carrying a sharp sword without a sheath on his back, and he was not at all worried that his clothes would be cut by the sword.His brows and eyes were sharp, and there was no superfluous expression on his face. Just standing there, he couldn't breathe.His whole body is like a sharp sword without a scabbard, inserted straight between the sky and the earth, looking down on all mortal beings.

Seeing this person with his own eyes, Jia Wujue finally understood why he kept using a sword without a scabbard.Because this sword is so sharp, there is no suitable scabbard to store it in the white mountains and black waters.

"Jia Wujue, a disciple of Qianmianmen, Shaolin disciple Yue Chentan, entrusted by headmaster Chai, came here to visit." The two reported their family background.

"Visit?" Mei Dulin snorted coldly, "Which one of you will come first?" His sharp eyes swept over the two of them, "It's okay to go together."

Seeing that his murderous intent was getting stronger, Jia Wujue hurriedly said: "Your Excellency may have misunderstood, we didn't come here for a martial arts competition."

"Misunderstanding?" Mei Dulin said coldly, "I only serve one type of people in Linghanzhai, didn't Chai Lingqing tell you?"

"Since it's your favorite place, wouldn't it be a pity to only use it to entertain opponents?" Yue Chentan said lightly.

Mei Dulin heard the words, glanced over the wheelchair and then lingered on his face for a moment: "What a pity?"

"Such an elegant and quiet place, wouldn't it be the best place to entertain friends?" Jia Wu deceived.

"Friend?" Mei Dulin seemed to have heard something funny, sneered and pulled out the sheathless sword from his back, "How about this sword?"

"Three feet and five inches, made of fine iron, the cold air is blowing, a good sword!" Jia Wuju praised.

"There are ninety-nine and eighty-one dead souls under this sword, and none of them were famous masters before." Mei Dulin said without emotion, "Now their disciples are trying to put me to death. If you make friends with me, then Who would dare to fight against these 81 gangs?"

"Why don't you dare?" The two said in unison, and now it was Mei Dulin's turn to be silent.

"Life is nothing more than fighting for two breaths, one breath of chivalry and the other breath of alcohol. Wouldn't it be boring to be a lonely hero, drinking alone with the moon?" Jia Wujue smiled, "Naturally, the two of us are not afraid of those gangsters, so what about Brother Mei? "

That's all for now, no need to say more.

The snow and ice in Mei Dulin's eyes melted slightly: "In that case, you all follow me."

The layout in Ling Han Zhai is very simple, the only special thing is probably a piece of calligraphy hanging on the wall of the hall.In the center of the rice paper there is only one character for sword. Although the characters are simple, the strokes, strokes, strokes, and strokes are like wonderful moves.

Of course, this is not Mei Dulin's words - such a smooth and accessible artistic conception is completely inconsistent with Mei Dulin's sharp and aloof temperament.

"This word is inscribed by my teacher." Noticing the gazes of the two, Mei Dulin said.

Mei Dulin's master is the real Taihe among the seven real masters of Taichong. When he was alive, he was also known as the three great masters of martial arts along with Master Yudu of Shaolin and Master Wudang Hanxu.Not only because of the unfathomable martial arts of the three, but also because of the high morals and prestige of the three, they are not comparable to ordinary martial arts people.Taihe Zhenren has received countless disciples in his life, but Mei Dulin and Ye Zanghua are his last two personal disciples, which are of extraordinary significance.Everyone said that Taihe Zhenren didn't like Mei Dulin's decisive swordsmanship, so he passed the mantle to Ye Zanghua.But seeing the words he bestowed on Mei Dulin now, it seems to be different from the rumors in the world.

While the three of them were talking, they heard a knock on the door from outside.Jia Wujue was about to respond, but Mei Dulin's eyes turned cold: "Don't talk to him."

But the knocker really had great stamina, as if he believed that there must be someone inside, he kept knocking persistently.

"I'll go and open the door." Jia Wujue finally couldn't take it anymore and said.

"..." Mei Dulin was noncommittal.

"I knew you were here." A voice with a smile sounded, "It's not bad to be able to live till now."

"Before you knock on the door, you should be prepared to die." Mei Dulin looked at the visitor and said coldly.

"Senior brother, why are you so serious?" The visitor walked leisurely into the hall, "You Ling Han Zhai, others can come, but I can't?"

There are not many people in the world who dare to talk to Mei Dulin like this, and Ye Zanghua is one of them.

"How does Master Ye know that the two of us are here?" Jia Wujue asked.

"When you asked me to help you, you still called me Brother Ye, but now that you have successfully met your senior brother, you call me Master Ye." Ye Zanghua complained half-truthfully.

"This..." Jia Wukai scratched his head in embarrassment, not knowing how to proceed.

"Say something quickly." Fortunately, Mei Dulin spoke first, judging from his tone that he was not in a very good mood at the moment.

"I shouldn't be the one to say this first." Ye Zanghua hooked the corners of her lips, "It should be the two of them who say it first."

Seeing this, Jia Wukai stopped going around in circles, and said bluntly, "Brother Mei, actually the two of us came to visit because of the extermination of the Tianzhu Sword Sect."

"Miemen?" Mei Dulin heard that, a cold light flashed in his eyes.

"I'm afraid it's too early to say about exterminating the sect, but apart from the corpses of a few direct disciples of the head of the Tianzhu Sword Sect, the rest have disappeared out of thin air."

While talking, Jia Wujue glanced at Mei Dulin, seeing that his expression had not changed at all, and continued: "The missing person is hard to find for a while, but we found some clues on the corpse."

"The wound on the corpse is naturally related to me." Mei Dulin calmly said.

"..." Jia Wuhao paused, and continued, "There is a plum blossom in the seal of the corpse."

"The plum blossoms must be lifelike, and the stabbing technique is fine, only those with pure swordsmanship can do it." Mei Dulin finished the rest for Jia Wukai, his tone was indifferent, as if he was saying something that had nothing to do with him thing.

"Brother Mei is really Qiqiao Linglong..." Jia Wuhai said haha.

"You follow me." Mei Dulin walked out of the hall without saying another word.

There is a row of wooden figures standing in the backyard of Ling Hanzhai. Judging from the appearance, they should have been replaced not long ago. The sword marks are sparse, and some of them don't even have any scars.

Before everyone could open their mouths, Mei Dulin's sword had already thrust out.

In the blink of an eye, there was a pile of sawdust under the feet of a brand-new wooden figure, and a plum blossom appeared between the eyebrows of the wooden figure.The three of them didn't even see Mei Dulin's moves clearly. Between releasing and withdrawing the sword energy, the sheathless sword had returned to Mei Dulin's back.

Jia Wuzhen and Yue Chentan came to check beside the wooden man—the plum blossoms were completely different from the plum blossoms on the corpse.Although the two are similar in shape, the latter looks like it was pierced by the sword's edge, while the former seems to be born between the foreheads of wooden figures.Just like embroidery, for the same style, although the latter is exquisitely embroidered, you can still see the fine stitches, but the former can't even see the shadow of the stitches, which is self-evident.

"Qizong is the body, and Jianzong is the function. I really admire Brother Mei's ability to integrate the two." Jia Wukai couldn't help but praise.

"What is Qizong and Jianzong?" Mei Dulin snorted coldly, "Swordsmanship is so mysterious that you can't understand it without a lot of thinking, so how can it be explained simply by the two schools of Qizong and Jianzong?"

"That's right." Yue Chentan couldn't help nodding when he heard that.

"Senior brother, listen to what you say, but don't let outsiders know." Ye Zanghua couldn't laugh or cry, "If other people find out, they won't settle accounts with senior brother, they will only come to me."

The division of Qizong and Jianzong is not only in the Taichong Sword Sect, there have been such differences in all sword schools, large and small, in the martial arts world.Although everyone understands that the two complement each other to achieve perfection, if you want to become a master, you can only focus on one way of cultivation.It is too difficult to want both of them to rank among the masters.

But for a real martial arts genius, only by taking care of both inside and outside can they comprehend the true meaning of martial arts.Mei Dulin is exactly such a person.

"Master Ye don't need to worry, Brother Mei's suspicion is cleared now, those people brought by Master Chai will have nothing to say." Jia Wu bullied.

"No, no." Ye Zanghua shook her head, "Although you and I know that people must not be killed by senior brothers, those people don't think so. They must ask, if Mei Dulin didn't do it, why did they kill him?" Why did he want to leave the stab marks of the plum blossoms? Even if Mei Dulin did not do it himself, this move is so similar to his swordsmanship, the murderer must be related. Or maybe this is what Mei Dulin did at all, the pain After killing the killer, in order to deceive people, he left a different mark than usual, pretending to be framed by others."

Jia Wujue sighed and said: "It seems that no matter what, they will not believe that this matter has nothing to do with Brother Mei."

"The clean is clear." Yue Chentan said lightly, "There will always be a way."

"Thank you." Mei Dulin didn't repeat, just said two simple words.

"Actually, I have a problem since just now, I hope you two can clear it up for me." Yue Chentan looked at Mei Dulin and Ye Zanghua.

"Please tell me, as long as I know, I will know everything and say everything." Ye Zanghua said.

"In your school's swordsmanship, is there a move similar to Brother Mei's sword just now?" Yue Chentan asked.

"You have to ask senior brother about this." Ye Zanghua looked at Mei Dulin.

"This pose is indeed inspired by the 'Thirteen Taichong Styles'." Mei Dulin said directly without any concealment.

"It turned out to be 'Thirteen Forms of Taichong'?" Ye Zanghua was shocked when he heard the words, "I never thought that the Thirteen Forms of Taichong could transform into such a powerful sword technique!" It’s Senior Brother, I’m really ashamed of myself.”

"Master Ye, why should you be humble, your piano skills have reached a certain level, how many people in the world can compare with it?" Jia Wujue said with a smile.

Ye Zanghua shook her head with a smile, didn't answer, and said instead: "Since it was evolved from the thirteen moves of Taichong, isn't it true that all disciples of the sect are suspected?"

"Oh? Isn't the Taichong Thirteen Forms the treasure of your school?" Jia Wukai asked in confusion.

"Of course not." Ye Zanghua laughed loudly, "This is what I admire senior brother. The Thirteen Taichong Styles are the most basic martial arts moves of the Taichong Sword Sect. , can be learned.”

"It's so." Jia Wujue also smiled knowingly, "Who would have thought that the most common thirteen moves of Taichong could evolve into the frightening number one swordsmanship in the world."

"Exactly." Ye Zanghua said.

"Although everyone has learned the thirteen moves of Taichong, not everyone can imitate Brother Mei's swordsmanship." Yue Chentan said, "The wounds on the corpse cannot be pierced by those who are not skilled in swordsmanship. "

"If the person who created the Taichong Thirteen Styles is still there, maybe this case can be easily solved." Jia Wujue sighed.

"This person is still in the human world." Mei Dulin said coldly, "It's just that he has already gone crazy."