no one knows better than me

The sky was full of haze, and the scorching waves rushed straight into the sky.Countless tails curled with billowing black smoke danced wildly in mid-air, flying in all directions.

These things are all—wraiths.

On the huge cyan altar in the center of the island, a man whose clothes couldn't move and rolled stood with his hands behind his back in the wind, as if he was standing high on the top of the world, looking down at the huge sea of ​​flames.

So calm, so indifferent.

Zhuang Qingliu fell silently in front of her, turned her head, slowly and long-termly took all the jumping flames and flying souls into her eyes carefully, and said word by word: "What do you think of them? "

Zhuang Huang tapped the hand behind his back, turned his gaze back, and raised an eyebrow at her.

The souls all over the mountains and plains scattered brilliantly, and in the ashes and smoke disappeared, a figure appeared indistinctly, shuttled at extreme speed in vain and with all their strength.

Zhuang Qingliu closed her eyes deeply: "Peach Blossom Spring, over the mountains, Gumengchao... What do you think of those tribesmen? What do you think of Zhuheng? What do you think of me?"

The fingers on Zhuang Huang's back were still tapping lightly, Didi Da Da did not stop for a moment, but there seemed to be a smile in his eyes, and he calmly said to Zhuang Qingliu: "Isn't it all because of you?"

Zhuang Qingliu opened his eyes without blinking: "What did you say?"

There was an extremely mysterious and treacherous smile on Zhuang Huang's face, and his voice was ethereal: "Don't you remember? I told you when you left the island and set foot there for the first time. for one day."

Zhuang Qingliu narrowed his eyes lightly, time seemed to turn backwards at this moment, and his memory returned to the midnight when he first set foot in a strange land 20 years ago

"This place is far worse than ours. What's there to see?"

It was raining heavily all around, and Zhu Heng looked around with a ball of flames in his palm, the flames in his hands kept jumping and flickering, making Zhuang Qingliu's eyes blink.But before she could speak, she stopped suddenly and said, "Wait."

"what is this?"

It seemed that Zhuheng was about to speak, but upon hearing this, he turned around a few steps from the bushes and grass at the height of half a person, lowered his head and frowned, then lifted his eyelids, and stared at Zhuang Qingliu.

This is a... human cub.Roughly sleeps in a bamboo basket, placed under a tree.I can't see clearly in the dim light at night, and I don't move or make any sound, so I don't know if it's dead or alive.Candle Heng quickly held the palm in his hand and the flame blazed five times higher, illuminating the surroundings brightly.

Now I can see clearly.He was alive, but there was a blood-red conspicuous ginseng pattern floating on his face.

Zhuang Qingliu and Zhuheng looked up at each other head to head again, not sure if it was because their parents had something to do that they put him here temporarily.However, the surrounding area is full of night shadows and rustling everywhere. If you put a child here, it will be picked up by wolves soon.So he lowered his head and thought for a while, holding the idea that he had never seen a human cub wanting to tinker with it, the two of them didn't leave for the time being, and waited here for a long time holding the barrier.

Zhuang Qingliu looked at the shadow behind the bush not far away and asked, "What is that?"

Zhu Heng turned his head and looked at it as usual, and said: "A red crane. It must have been injured nearby, and could smell my breath, so it came to ask for help."

After Zhuang Qingliu casually spread a layer of barriers to block the rain on the small basket on the ground, he walked over and took a look. It was indeed a huge and lively red crane curled up on the ground, covered with embarrassing wounds all over his body. It's not like the injuries from fighting bravely with the same kind, but from some sharp blade injuries.

Seeing Zhuang Qingliu and Zhuheng approaching, Tonghe, whose blood was so bloody that he couldn't lift his neck, moved slightly, stared at them with extremely clear eyes for a moment, then lowered his tall and majestic head softly and silently.

Zhuang Qingliu looked away, looked at its lower abdomen under the tree, and said softly: "It's not for me to ask for help." Then he raised his eyes and rescued it.

There were rustlings all around, as if there were hunters circling and chasing around, Zhuang Qingliu casually turned his head and glanced into the darkness, then stretched out his hand and set up a maze in the mountains.After midnight, Tonghe, who had roughly recovered, bowed his head deeply at Zhuang Qingliu again, and left here quickly.It was injured and fled here with blood along the way, if it didn't leave early, it would be found again sooner or later.

The two of Zhu Heng returned to the tree again, bowed their heads and fiddled with the children in the basket who were not crying or fussing. During the period, the rain stopped, the sun came out at dawn, and the ground was about to dry up.Zhuang Qingliu was not in a hurry all the time, sitting idly on the canopy of a tree like a cover, flicking his sleeves to send ants to the ants, and clasping his fingers to help the earthworms, he was extremely busy.

It wasn't until they waited and waited until there was a figure, that the two of them realized in their hearts that this was an abandoned cub.

After hypnotically shaking the small basket back and forth, Zhuang Qingliu and Zhu Heng finally found a couple who seemed to have no children of their own, and secretly placed the abandoned baby in front of their house.In order to make sure that the couple is a good person, Zhuang Qingliu went back and forth several times to test.

"Okay, don't look at what time it is, let's go!"

Zhu Heng dragged her off the wall impatiently, and hurriedly returned to her old dream.Fortunately, Zhuang Huang has been in seclusion these days, and Gui Yao has been helping her protect the law, and the two of them escaped briefly this time without being discovered.

But the bored Zhuang Qingliu seemed to be thinking about the strange mottled lines on the child's face, and took advantage of the time to send the fishing boat that was mistakenly involved in the dream tide back, and went there several times to find out the truth, and finally figured out what happened thing.

"Isn't this considered half of our race?"

Zhuheng glanced at her, and shot an arrow at her heel where she was about to run wild again: "What kind of family? You are the young master of Dream Tide, not the young master of all the spirit beasts, flowers and plants in the world, so these in Dream Tide are the ones Your people."

"Okay, okay, even if that's the case." Zhuang Qingliu blinked perfunctorily to deal with it, but his steps were unambiguous, and he said while running, "But after all, everything has a spirit, why do these spiritual ginseng The family will be..."

The words behind her were vague, and Zhu Heng couldn't hear clearly, but her figure flashed and quickly caught up, saying: "Where are you going?!"

Zhuang Qingliu simply stretched out his hand and pulled her onto the thief boat, pretending to be mysterious and whispered: "I just heard that there is also a cultivator in the fairy gate here who respects animism and often rescues ginseng people. His surname seems to be Mei. I want to take a casual look." Just by the way, see if you can help me.

Although Zhu Heng's nose was about to crooked with anger, he obviously liked this kind of thing in his heart, so he was dragged half reluctantly and half dragged to a place called Wulan Mountain.

It was already winter, the mountains were cloudy and cold, and there was a thick layer of snow on the ground.As soon as the two of them landed in the valley, Zhuang Qingliu seemed to have discovered something. He walked towards a stone forest, looked at his feet, "Huh?" and said, "What's going on? How could there be a bunch of bird footprints?" ?”

"It belongs to Tonghe." Zhuheng also frowned, and said, "But Tonghe usually doesn't leave such a long series of footprints. This season, only pheasants will." Then he turned and chased after him, " what are you doing?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhuang Qingliu had already floated and landed under a flourishing plum tree, as if she looked down and saw something, she blinked.

"? What's going on? Why is there another child?"

Zhu Heng lowered his eyes inexplicably and said: "This one looks really good-looking." His eyes were as clear as a stream.

Unexpectedly, Zhuang Qingliu bent down to pick it up, picked out the small quilt curiously, and quickly smiled: "Haha, it's not as good as me."

"..."

Zhuheng glanced at her, frowned and looked into the swaddling baby again, and said, "I'm afraid it's another abandoned baby."

Zhuang Qingliu said, "No. It was carried out by someone."

At this time, the unblinking baby in her arms suddenly pursed its small mouth, as if it was grinning.

Zhuang Qingliu blinked, looked down several times, and couldn't help reaching out to touch her soft and docile fetal hair a few times, thinking that it was a bit cute when she smiled.It's much better than the ugly face with ginseng lines before.

And if it was carried out secretly, it can still survive in the ice and snow, which means that it has not been out for a long time.Zhu Heng quickly pushed away Zhuang Qingliu's hand, took one of the baby's fetal hairs, and set it on fire with a special method and spiritual power. Ready to send her back.

Unexpectedly, this chase inexplicably led to a rugged spruce forest. After seeing a seriously injured woman, Zhuang Qingliu's eyes suddenly focused, and he turned to the front in an instant, crouched down and looked at her face seriously again. I took a few glances.

The woman bent over with her sword in her hand and took a breath. She didn't pay attention to her gaze, but reached out quickly with trembling hands, and brought back the swaddling baby in Zhuang Qingliu's arms. She looked up at them softly and said, "Thank you—"

Zhu Heng asked Zhuang Qingliu keenly: "What's wrong?"

Zhuang Qingliu quickly pursed his lips and straightened up, only flew up with the woman, and left here, saying: "This is the Mei family I wanted to meet, and they are being hunted down now."

It seems that he is not only being hunted down, but has been cornered.After putting the mother and daughter in a safe place in a flash, Zhuang Qingliu quickly turned back to Wulan Mountain. However, she was a step too late, so she helped the monks of the Mei family to rescue them. I gave birth to a five or six-year-old child.

These people were originally members of the Zhangtaimei clan, but they had a feud with a sect called Dachuan Hou clan who was good at hunting and were hunted down. Now only three people, mother and son, have been rescued.After secretly sheltering them until they were sure that they could return to the clan safely, Zhuang Qingliu left with peace of mind. Before leaving, he lowered his head and touched the little face of the baby he picked up under the plum tree: "I hope you will be happy in the future."

The two of them were delayed for a long time this time. Once they returned to Gumengchao, Zhuang Huang had already waited in the thorn bushes in front of the altar with his hands behind his back, staring at them with serious expressions.

Zhuang Qingliu called out, "Master."

Zhuang Huang didn't respond to her voice, but turned his gaze to the side lightly, and said, "Kneel down."

"Don't kneel." Zhuang Qingliu grabbed Zhuheng and said calmly to Zhuang Huang, "What did we do wrong?"

Standing by the window, Zhuang Huang asked: "Standing there privately, saving people privately, even meddling in the affairs of foreign tribes, secretly helping the people of the Mei family let go of a wave of ginseng people, do you think you are right?"

"Yes. I don't think there is anything wrong with me." Zhuang Qingliu said in a calm tone, "First, why can't we set foot in other places? What's the reason? Second, what's wrong with saving people? Finally, with the human race In comparison, the Lingshen tribe is our own tribe, not a foreign tribe."

Zhuang Huang looked at Zhuang Qingliu quietly, and just asked, "Don't you know that all things survive and have their own rules?"

Zhuang Qingliu replied earnestly: "But for that piece of Xianlu, the Lingshen clan has existed for a long time, who can tell why they are different from the crowd? ——It's just that they have a special purpose. The human race is harming the same race, so how can we talk about the rules of all things? Shouldn't those ginseng people be helped?"

Zhuang Huang shook his head, and said: "Because of your favoritism and obstruction, those spirit ginseng people survived, but the people of Dachuan Hou clan will reduce their cultivation level and life span due to the loss of these spirit ginseng people. The birth of Ling’s offspring has also become difficult, so why aren’t you killing people in a disguised form? Furthermore, because the person named Mei Zongci first released the spirit ginseng people, it is only natural that their family was hunted down for revenge. Intervening to save their mother and son, this is another violation of the rules."

Zhuang Qingliu looked at her incomprehensibly, and asked seriously: "Master, don't you really think this karma calculation is absurd?"

Zhuang Huang didn't answer, just stared at her silently, and after a while, he said calmly: "No matter how absurd it is, it is cause and effect. Many things in this world are neither right nor wrong. I like to do it. But if you do something like this, you must bear the consequences and responsibilities, can you bear it? When something goes wrong, is there a way to solve it?"

"Of course I can."

Zhuang Qingliu answered affirmatively at first, and then wondered from the bottom of his heart: "But these are all normal things, what are the consequences? And why do you have to say it so seriously?"

Zhuang Huang's eyelids seemed to be closed with deep meaning: "You will know one day." Then he turned and left here, and at the same time glanced at Zhu Heng from the corner of his eyes.

Zhu Heng didn't say a word from the beginning to the end, and knelt down without saying a word.

Zhuang Qingliu turned his head to look, and immediately raised his voice and shouted: "Zhu Lanzheng, why are you kneeling? Stand up!"

The candle did not move.

Zhuang Qingliu repeated it again, squatting down in front of her, lowering her eyes seriously: "You also think I did something wrong, did we do something wrong?"

Zhu Heng closed his eyes impatiently, and said in a deep voice, "Stop talking."

Seeing her like this, Zhuang Qingliu's heart burst into a faint fire in an instant, and he asked unreasonably: "Let me stop talking, then what are you doing? Why are you kneeling?! It's okay to make a mistake." I did something wrong, what are you kneeling on!"

Zhu Heng closed his eyes and twitched the corners of his mouth: "Because I am your follower."

"Who the hell wants you to be a follower, you still have to finish!"

Zhuang Qingliu was so angry that she suddenly punched her: "And you look in the mirror yourself! Are you my entourage or hers? I told you to get up and not kneel, have you ever heard me?!"

Zhu Heng suddenly opened his eyes, and slapped back suddenly: "Then what can I do?! I have the final say!!"

……

The sound of the two quarreling and beating each other gradually spread away, and was replaced by the flames soaring into the sky.

Zhuang Huang's face was covered with hazy light and shadow by the fire, but his voice and posture remained unchanged from many years ago: "21 years ago, the Dachuanhou family hunted down a red crane that was sure to get it, and was later caught You intervened in the rescue. From then on, they began to secretly investigate who was doing the shooting one by one, and suspected that there was an outsider emerging."

"Twenty years ago, you secretly helped Mei Zongci let go of those ginseng people, which led them to send ships overseas to search extensively, so that Gumengchao was completely discovered. After that, you appeared there in a grandiose manner, and brought Gumeng to life." The existence of Tide was exposed in broad daylight, causing everyone to covet and plan secretly."

"Afterwards, you caused the Hou family to hold grudges many times because of the Mei family's affairs. So when they were about to die, they turned to Pei Huang and told him the existence and whereabouts of the red crane. Thanks to Pei Huang The sensuality of the dog and the horse is actually to retaliate against you."

"And what you don't know is that the crane feather that the red crane passed to you for help was deliberately withheld by a person named Mei Jiaxu, and it was delayed for three days in secret. Why did he have a rift with you? Don't worry about it." I’ll say more. So that Tong Crane struggled to escape for three days while waiting for you, and finally ran to Sigui Cliff. It wanted to go out to sea to escape to Gumengchao, but it was exhausted there and was captured by Despair. I only hid the eggs on the cliff, but they were dissected alive. They were saved because of you, and it was also because of you that they didn’t survive.”

"The shark bead you gave to Nanny Duan Bin at the market was also found by the Hou family secretly and told Pei Huang on purpose. She died because of you."

"And lastly, today, these vengeful spirits were set on fire in Gumengchao. These vengeful spirits, who were kept in captivity to death and full of hostility, were left to you even though the entire Hou clan was exterminated. Backhand."

After Zhuang Huang said a very long paragraph, he finally said word by word: "If there is a cause, there will be an effect. I told you a long time ago that whenever you make a mistake, someone will be implicated, and there will be many, many people." I was implicated. So the one who caused all of this—it was you, it was you."

After a long time, Zhuang Qingliu didn't say anything else, but turned his head, and took a last look around the familiar island.

Zhuang Huang put his hands behind his back and raised his eyes lightly in front of her: "So now, do you still feel that you can bear the consequences of what you did? Do you still think that you can solve it?"

Unexpectedly, Zhuang Qingliu turned his eyes back little by little, and said calmly: "I can."

Immediately, the hand she had been holding by her side finally moved, and slowly pulled out the knife from the void. The tip of the knife drew a half-arc in the air, and finally pointed straight forward, pointing directly at Zhuang Huang.

The smile on Zhuang Huang's face froze and disappeared slowly.

The author has something to say: It’s still a day when I’m sleepy enough to lie flat, let’s finish it in the next chapter).