Sir, this sword is a keepsake

Late spring, Yongxia Villa.

"Take medicine."

Shen Fang propped himself up and sat up, looking at Qing Mi holding the medicine bowl in front of him, he felt a heart-piercing pain in his chest—some images in his memory rushed out, like mud constantly emerging from a deep well.

He gritted his teeth, put his hands on his head, and tried his best to press down on his head, but Qing Mi grabbed his hand.

The two stared at each other in a daze for a few seconds, but they didn't expect that a little strangeness would appear on each other's faces during the two short months of separation.

"Second Senior Brother, I..."

"The younger brothers saw you fall on the mountain road, and after taking you back to the villa, you passed out again. You have worked hard this way."

Shen Fang remembered that after he left Luoyang, he rode fast all the way, day and night, changed four horses, and arrived at Xiaqi on the tenth day and night.

When he was still a day away from Xiaqi, he saw billowing black smoke in the direction of Yongxia Mountain from a distance.

Wildfires raged.

Immediately afterwards, a massive rainstorm suddenly fell, covering the entire Yongxia Mountain.

And when he finally arrived at Xiaqi Town, black smoke filled the air, and his eyes were full of ashes.He coughed and rushed up the mountain.

The screen stopped abruptly.There was a cold and hard touch in Shen Fang's hand, and his eyes fell on the medicine bowl, without any hesitation, he raised his head and drank it.

The bitterness of the potion made his hanging soul gradually settle down, and he stepped on the solid ground.

"Someone from Qihuangfang came to look at it for you. There is something in your body that is absorbing your blood essence, so your physique is extremely weak at the moment. These are some medicines for invigorating qi and promoting essence, and you should drink them every day." Qing Mi said with concern. , "As for that thing..."

"The future will be long, don't rush for a while." Shen Fang said lightly.

Hearing this, Qing Ai knew that Shen Fang was quite clear about the existence of that thing in his body, so he didn't go into details.

Shen Fang closed his eyes and got up to rest, while Qing Ai sat aside, the two of them tacitly didn't say much.

After burning incense, Shen Fang opened his eyes, got out of bed, put on his coat, opened the door and went out.

The courtyard is full of residual red, Shen Fang sits on the wicker chair under the porch, looking at Qing Mi, who is already ready.

"Tell me, what happened that day." He paused, "Second Senior Brother didn't mean to tell me that just relying on those people in Shenwu Pavilion, my father was able to exhaust his internal energy and die of exhaustion. .”

Shen Fang's tone was so calm that Qing Ai's hearing was thrilling.

"Master... it seems that there are old wounds in the body."

"Old wounds..."

Shen Fang murmured again, his gaze drifted away, "Since I was born, he seldom fights with others. The only thing that can hurt him is the Kunlun battle."

"Junior Brother, you thought it was Zhu Wu..."

"Let's talk about the situation that day, Second Senior Brother."

Seeing that Shen Fang's expression was not agitated, and his tone was still calm, Qing Ai hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"In the first match, the master defeated Yazi's zither sword, and under his desperate desire to die, he was forced to seriously injure his meridians and make him unconscious; in the second match, the master defeated the monster's palm technique; in the third match, Shenwu The Pavilion is fighting against Jiaotu."

Shen Fang raised his eyes slightly, Qing Ai thought that he had something to say, and waited for a few seconds before continuing.

"Her sword is pure but fierce. The two of them used their swords with great sense of proportion. Everyone was fascinated by it, but..."

"But what?"

"The moment the flowers fell from the branches, the master died suddenly."

"..."

"Since the flowers are falling on the branches, it means that the master's sword energy is superior, but... but this happened. Jiaotu had already withdrawn the sword force at that time, but found that the master had died of breath."

Qing Ai paused, "She looked terrified, unbelievable, and still crying so sadly."

"Madam came here with a sword and wanted to kill Jiaotu, but for some reason, she didn't do it in the end."

"At that time, Jiaotu collapsed, and Yazi was in a coma. The leader, Yaoyao, insisted on taking this opportunity to take down the Spring and Autumn Pavilion. Madam and us stood guard, refusing to give up a single step."

"During the melee, the two sides were at a stalemate. The people in Shenwu Pavilion suddenly retreated. Immediately afterwards, there was an explosion sound from the foot of the mountain, and the fire started."

"It took almost an instant for the fire to spread across the mountain, and there was no way for everyone to escape."

"Those who put out the fire put out the fire, those who save people save people, but it's all in vain..."

Qing Ai choked up when she said this.

"Later, it was a cloudless sunny day, but it suddenly rained, right?" Shen Fang gently reminded.

In silence, Qing Ai restrained her emotions and nodded, "I have never seen such a majestic heavy rain, like spring water flowing down. The mountain stream swelled and overflowed the embankment, flooding the entire mountain at once. "

Another long, overwhelming, suffocating silence.

"I see, the heavy rain should be the one from Spirit Snake Marsh. Second Senior Brother, do you have a question for me?"

Qing Ai was stunned, realizing that Shen Fang seemed indifferent to everything around him, but in fact, his senses were extremely keen, and his every move would reveal his thoughts unintentionally.

"Actually, it's not an urgent matter..."

"Just ask."

"A few days ago, the news of the crown prince's succession has spread throughout the seven prefectures of Daliang..."

Shen Fang's face that seemed to be wearing a mask finally had some gaps. He leaned over, clasped his hands in front of his knees, and his eyes were uncertain.

"Second brother wants to ask me, am I related to Qi Di's death?"

Before Qing Ai opened his mouth, he continued, "The person who entered the palace was not me, but Fang Di who disguised himself as me. Unexpectedly, they succeeded in the assassination..."

Qing Ai looked strange.

"Could it be..." Shen Fang narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at Qing Ai.

"It is said that the national teacher killed the king and rebelled."

"Lu Hongyue kills the king, no, it's impossible."

"But he caught Qi Di on the spot after killing him, and died with thousands of arrows piercing his heart..."

Shen Fang didn't give up, "Was there no one else at that time?"

"It is said that Qi Di had been prepared for a long time. He deliberately caught the turtle in the urn and wiped out the remaining evils of Xiliang. At that time, outside Shangyang Palace, many people from Xiliang indeed died..."

"Among the dead are Huyan Dongliu and Fang, no, Shen Fang?"

Qing Ai looked into Shen Fang's eyes and shook her head, "Maybe, Lu Hongyue colluded with Xiliang?"

Impossible, this absolutely doesn't make sense... Shen said in relief, but he didn't say it.

"Lu Hongyue faked her death once, is it confirmed that the dead body is his?"

"There's nothing wrong with it. I heard that in the palace, the sharks he raised were used to identify him personally. He fed with his own flesh and blood, and those sharks recognized his blood."

Shen Fang pondered for a long time, and said lightly: "Huyan Dongliu wanted to gouge out my eyes and give them to Fang Di. After I was rescued, he caught me again. However, he let me go. On the way back, I kept going I don't understand why he let me go."

"In this way, maybe he got Lu Hongyue's help in the end?"

"However, with Lu Hongyue's ability, Shang was killed on the spot. How did Huyan Dongliu and Fang Di escape unscathed when Qi Di had expected it?"

Qing Mi was speechless.

Shen Fang pinched the center of his eyebrows with his fingers, and rubbed them together, his thoughts were like falling flowers, covering his tired body.Before he knew it, he fell asleep.

In a blink of an eye, two months have passed.

The Taoist priests of Shangqing Temple did not leave, and helped the disciples of the villa rebuild Yongxia Mountain in the past two months.

For two months, Shen Fang did nothing but eat and sleep.All knew, in his seemingly peaceful state, that there was something far more terrifying than sadness.

numbness.

He lives between dying and not dying, between the past and the future, only separated from the present.Others didn't dare to disturb him, and he would not take the initiative to speak, and became more and more silent day by day.

Jiaotu stayed on the mountain, and no one spoke to her, but the attitude towards Shen Fang was completely different, the disciples of the villa were only full of hostility towards her.She stubbornly stayed and built a thatched hut on the back mountain by herself.

Xiao Nianjin stayed in Shen Yucheng's study all day long, never took a step out of the door.

Seeing the flames of their hearts and souls go out little by little, they hid themselves in the long silence and dark gray shadows.

July was almost over, and the news of the end of the battle in Cangzhou came.Beihuang suffered heavy casualties and withdrew its troops a hundred miles away.

It was late at night, and Shen Fang, who was sitting alone in the room, suddenly wanted to go out for a walk in the back mountain.

On a summer night, the chirping of cicadas in the woods was so loud and dense that it almost drowned him.Casually, he ran his hands over every surviving tree he passed.

A small stone suddenly hit him.He looked at the bush, and there was a rustling sound coming from inside.

He pushed aside the bushes and walked into the dense forest where no one had ever seen before, and suddenly he felt similar emotions. The last time was on a bright autumn day.

From a distance, I saw a gigantic white figure in the pool of the mountain stream, with its sharp beak resting on the shore, opening and closing, dejected, looking hopeless.

Bei Mingyuan is used to the northern climate, and the southern summer is extremely difficult for it.

On the shore, still dressed in gray cloth, Zhuang Li held a piece of grass in his mouth, and looked at Shen Fang without blinking.

As soon as Shen Fang took the first step, Zhuang Li stood up. The moment his figure was blurred, he floated in front of Shen Fang in the next second.He held Shen Fang's hand, and rubbed his chin against Shen Fang's palm like a cat, "I wanted to go directly to your yard to find you, but when I passed by the back mountain, I accidentally bumped into your mother with that Miss Xiao, Who would have thought you would run out at night, so I brought you here for fear of disturbing them."

He paused, closed his eyes and said in a low voice, "I've heard about it."

Shen Fang gently stroked Zhuang Li's soft face with his palm, trying his best not to think about the sadness in his eyes.

Zhuang Li seemed to have remembered something, raised his head, and met Shen Fang's eyes.

"Afraid that I'm fake?" Shen Fang tried to lighten his tone, but found it difficult to do so, so he had to lower his head to hide his pain.

The foreheads of the two were touching, their breaths were intertwined, and their lips touched and rubbed lightly without the slightest emotion.

"When I got the news in Cangzhou, I almost didn't care about anything and rushed to Luoyang... Later, I heard... You always remember that you still have mine, right..."

Zhuang Li hugged Shen Fang tightly, as if he was afraid that he would collapse like debris.

Shen Fang nodded, buried his head on Zhuang Li's shoulder, wanted to laugh, but finally cried out.

In front of Zhuang Li, his invisible shell completely dissipated.His cries were subdued and hoarse, like a dying animal.

Let Zhuang Li caress his back, like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw, he ruthlessly vented his inner anxiety and grief.

After an unknown amount of time, he gradually calmed down in Zhuang Li's arms.

The two walked out of the dense forest, came to the hillside, looked at the starry night sky, and lay down.

"Zhuang Li, I want to know the truth of all this."

"It doesn't matter if you want the truth, or whatever you want to do, I will risk my life to accompany the gentleman."

"Take it back to me."

"I, I, I took it back."

Zhuang Li's hands were flustered in the air, as if covering something back to his mouth.

Shen Fang's tense face suddenly relaxed, leaned down, and said next to Zhuang Li's ear, "Stay with me no matter what happens?"

"No matter what happens." Zhuang Li took out the short sword and played with it in his hand, "Isn't this a token of love from you?"

Shen Fang was silent, his eyes fell on the short sword, "Actually, it is one of the six famous swords in Yongxia Mountain Villa... I was greedy back then, so I asked for two swords—hey!"

Before he could finish speaking, he was lightly kicked by Zhuang Li.

"What did I say wrong?"

"greedy."

"Greedy... eh? Ah! Ah Li, greed does not mean passion... I was wrong, I swear I—"

"What did you call me?"

"Don't you like it...then I won't bark."

"No, it's called this."

"Ali?"

"OK."

"A Li...I like you so much."