treacherous world

"Shangguan flowers, Xiaguan wind, Cangshan snow, Erhai moon.

Eighteen streams, nineteen peaks, colorful stones, Kunming Lake.

Wind, flowers, snow, moon, mountains and rivers are beautiful, and the four seasons are like spring in Dali. "

The Minjiang River flows through the ferry of Jianchang Mansion, and people come and go frequently.

In the evening, a ferry stopped. Among the passengers who disembarked, there was a boy of seventeen or eighteen years old, carrying a wooden box, and supporting a skinny monkey-like old man holding a gong.

As soon as he got off the boat, the young man heard not far away, the clear and refreshing voice of a child reciting lyrics, singing about the famous places of Dali Kingdom, so he followed the reputation.

Many people also saw that in the big port next to the ferry, a beautiful pure white painting sailed into it. It was three stories high and had an extraordinary style.

"Buy buy three three!"

At this time, a burly man with a big knife on his back yelled, "Such a big boat is too tough!"

His voice was quite loud. At this moment, the boat had docked, and the little fat boy standing at the bow looked at him with wide eyes, as if puzzled, "What are you selling?"

Many passers-by smiled, the big man spoke the local dialect, the kid probably was a stranger and couldn't understand.

"Oh, baby!" Seeing that the little baby is fat and cute, the big man asked, "What do you want to overcome?"

The child squatted on the bow of the boat staring at him with his mouth wide open, unable to understand.

At this time, a young man on the boat jumped down to stop the boat and said to him, "Little Si, this is a local dialect. He said the boat is good and asked where we are going."

"Oh……"

The child nodded and nodded, imitating the tone of a big man and saying, "We can overcome Dali."

In a word, it made passers-by laugh. The young man supporting the old man glanced at it, and couldn't help feeling the injustice of the world. Some people are rich and noble, and they take such a big boat, and some people are poor. Province.

"Wuyu, you have a demonic aura." The old man suddenly said something out of nowhere.

"What?" The boy became nervous and looked around, "Where?"

The old man counted with his face up and his eyes closed, and finally went north, "There!"

The boy looked in the direction of his finger, pointing at the big ship.

At this moment, the chubby doll was hugging a milky white thing who didn't know whether it was a bear or a big dog, and waved to the cabin, "Daddy, we're docking! Ninety-nine! Did you win?"

Those on the white boat were Zhan Zhao and his party who came all the way from Kaifeng Mansion, and who else could that little fat boy sitting on the bow be?Naturally, it is the fourth son.

It was Bai Fu who stopped the boat, and the big painting boat belonged to Bai Yutang. Bai Fu's family was busy trying to stabilize the boat, and there was an indistinguishable killing on board.

Of course, it's not a contest or a fight, but a game of chess.

This trip, the people were chasing the clues left by the dead leaves. Those who came were: Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang, Zhao Pu, Gongsun Ce, Xiaosi, Xiao Liang, and four idlers, Yinhou, Tianzun, etc. , Pang Yu and Bao Yan.Shadow guard Zhao Pu only brought four of them, Ziying, Zheying, Heiying, and Baiying, and the rest stayed in Kaifeng Mansion to help Mr. Bao handle the case.

At this moment, Yinhou and Tianzun are playing chess together to deal with Zhao Pu, while Bao Yan and Pang Yu are helping out with ideas.

Zhan Zhao was a little seasick, leaning on Scissors' back, while Bai Yutang was rubbing his temples.

Xiao Liang was on the deck, practicing kung fu with the shadow guards.

Gongsun was sitting next to Zhao Pu, looking at the geography of Dali and taking a look at the chess game.The fourth son had nothing to do, so he was at the bow of the boat, reciting jokes about Dali geography that Gongsun had taught him, and practicing his words by the way.

Zhao Putting his chin and yawning, he watched Yinhou and Tianzun hold the same chess piece in each hand and neither would let the other in. One said to put it here and the other said where to put it. Pang Yu and Bao Yan also helped to persuade them to fight. They hurried from Kaifeng Mansion It's been more than half a month since I came here, and I just played chess when I was bored by water, so every time Tianzun and Yinhou lost, after losing for half a month, the two old men got angry.

It's not because their chess skills are inferior to Zhao Pu's, but because they are always rebelling against each other.In the beginning, it was Zhao Pu who played against Yin Hou, but after a few steps, Tianzun came over to help Yin Hou make up his mind.For a while, he said that this step was not good, and for a while, he said that this step should be done in this way.

The two often fight until later and start a game of chess together.It's a pity that the combination of swords and swords of these two martial arts masters not only did not increase their combat power, but instead yanked each other's hind legs, making foolish tricks again and again.In the end, if you lose, you blame me and I blame you. When you eat, you ignore each other.Zhan Zhao and the others spent the whole morning trying to persuade the fight, and persuaded Kai to continue playing chess in the afternoon after lunch... Repeatedly.

"Just put it here!" Yin Hou discussed with Tianzun for a long time, and finally put down the chess piece, staring at Zhao Pu.

After Zhao Pu yawned, he raised his hand and dropped it, then stood up, "General."

After a moment of silence, as expected...

Tianzun grabbed Yin Hou's collar, "I told you not to take that step, but you just didn't listen!"

"It was you who made me take this step!" Yin Hou scratched his white hair angrily, "You have to come and make trouble for me!"

"It's all your fault!"

"It's you!"

……

The fourth son wiped Xiao Liang's sweat, shook his head and muttered, "Here we go again, they are over 200 years old!"

Xiao Liang smiled and pulled him off the boat.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang also came down, Zhan Zhao, the landlubber, was fine after a day or two on the boat, but after sitting for half a month, he almost vomited gall, and Bai Yutang used all the "folk remedies" for seasickness, and he was cured. Zhan Zhao's condition worsened.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Zhan Zhao stretched his waist greatly. He just wanted to feel how good the flat ground is...Suddenly, he saw something rushing towards him.

Zhan Zhao was startled, and instinctively turned his face away to dodge, and saw a glass of water splashed over him, behind him Bai Yutang also turned his head to dodge, Yinhou and Tianzun both got out of the way, Zhao Pu wanted to dodge but felt wrong—behind him was Gongsun!

With this hesitation, there was a "poof".

Zi Ying and Zhe Ying bravely rushed forward to help Zhao Pu block the water in this face, and their heads bumped into each other with a "boom".

The two wiped their faces with their hands, only to find that it was ordinary water, and at the same time... heard someone shout, "Monster, look at the divine water!"

Everyone present was silent, unable to speak.

Gongsun checked Zhao Pu carefully, and found that it was not splashed, and then checked Ziying and Zheying.The fourth son came to wipe the two of them with a handkerchief, and when he saw that the bag was bumped out of his head, he felt distressed and rubbed it...

Gongsun yelled at the top of his voice, "His grandma, what kind of turtle is splashing water indiscriminately?!"

With this voice, the passers-by on the ferry opened their mouths wide in shock, thinking that this scholar looked so gentle, so he was so rude.

Zhao Pu poked Gongsun on the shoulder, which means—— dear, you are a princess after all, pay attention to your appearance!

Everyone looked back at the same time, and found that it was a young man who was splashing water, and there was a thin old man holding a gong behind him.

The young man was holding a water bag full of water in his hand. Seeing that he hadn't splashed it for the first time, he yelled again, "Monster! Show yourself!"

At the same time, water splashed out.

This time everyone could see clearly that he was throwing at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao turned his head to dodge again, but Bai Yutang behind him didn't dodge, raised his hand and flicked his sleeves... One sleeve swept across, "Ding Ding" a few times, the water splashed in the air instantly condensed into ice beads and icicles, scattered all over the ground .

In an instant, the pedestrians on the ferry were surprised.

The big man who was joking with the fourth son just now cursed at the top of his throat, "It's a meal!"

The fourth son stroked his chin, "What do you eat?"

Bai Fu quietly helped him explain, "He said Fifth Master is amazing."

"Sure enough, it's a monster!" Before the young man finished speaking, he felt a burning sensation on his forehead, and with a "boom", he took two steps back while covering his forehead, with a puzzled expression on his face.

Tianzun folded his arms and looked at him, "Who do you say is a monster?"

The young man stretched his fingers, "He is!"

Everyone looked at Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao was already seasick. He hasn't eaten well these days. He's lost a lot of weight and still feels hungry. He's a foodie, so he can't sleep well at night because he's dangling around at night.After finally landing on the ground, I thought I could have a good night's sleep, but a young man ran up out of nowhere and said that he was a monster.

Zhan Zhao stroked his arms, and behind him Bai Yutang grabbed his collar and pulled him back, "Keep a low profile, cat."

Zhan Zhao held his breath.

The fourth son waved his hand, "We don't have monsters here!"

The boy turned around and asked the old man, "Grandpa?"

The old man thought about his beard and pinched his fingers, and stretched out his hand to Zhan Zhao, "That's right, the cat demon is reincarnated!"

The corners of everyone's mouths twitched, and Bai Yutang clapped his hands slowly, "God's fortune, fortune..."

Zhan Zhao was angry, but they were on official business, and this time they were taking Yin Hou with them, so they didn't want to say anything.Ignoring the old and the young, Zhan Zhao waved to everyone, "Let's go."

Everyone followed him, but the old man and the boy stopped him, "Where are you going, you monster?"

Zhan Zhao curled his lips, "You say I'm a monster, eat people, will you come?"

Zhan Zhao was talking about it for fun, but the young man and the old man were serious. The young man was startled and looked at the old man, "Grandpa, what should we do! He's going to eat people."

The old man raised his eyebrows and raised his eyes, pointing at Zhan Zhao with two fingers, "Look at the trick!"

Zhan Zhao tilted his head to look at him, and said to himself, do you still have a trick?

I saw that the old man took out something from a black cloth bag that he carried with him, carefully wrapped it in the cloth, and it was a thin octagonal piece.

Everyone looked at it with a frown, the old man shook off the cloth bag, and a gossip mirror appeared inside, a mirror was shining brightly in the middle, reflecting the sunlight, it was so bright... Pedestrians all subconsciously closed their eyes.

After the old man said a formula to Zhan Zhao, he shouted, "Sure!"

Look again... Zhan Zhao really stopped moving.

The fourth son covered his mouth and asked Xiao Liang, "Little Liangzi, will Miaomiao show her original shape?"

Xiao Liang laughed dryly, thinking that it must be a beautiful big cat with a snow white and black belly.

Of course, Zhan Zhao didn't show his original shape, and he didn't get any immobilization spell, he just stood there looking at the gossip mirror, dumbfounded.

It's not that the gossip mirror is rare or precious...but the moment the sunlight reflected by the gossip mirror hits the eyes, Zhan Zhao saw something.

How should I describe it?He saw in midair, there seemed to be a strange monster roaring at him.The monster has three heads, its face looks like a hyena with big ears, its whole body is black, and its mane is very long.Three heads with three necks, blood-red eyes, a big bloody mouth and triangular sharp teeth, roaring with their mouths open, salivating horizontally, which is very ferocious.This thing feels huge, its body resembles the shape of a leopard, its tail is very long and drags to the ground, where it stands, its sharp claws are covered with dead bones.

Looking at the scene behind the monster, there were many wraiths and ghosts with distorted faces. Zhan Zhao couldn't see it clearly, but felt very strange.

In just that flash, the picture disappeared, and the blue sky was still clear, and the light green lake surface was vast and misty... Zhan Zhao was too surprised, and felt a disgusting and disturbing coldness, so he froze.

Seeing him stunned, the boy clapped his hands happily, "Grandpa is amazing!"

The old man was proud, holding the gossip mirror in one hand, and pulled out a brass sword from his waist with the other hand, which was covered with various charms. He chanted formulas in his mouth, and stabbed Zhan Zhao's forehead with his sword.

Bai Yutang frowned slightly, but stood there without moving.

This sword naturally missed Zhan Zhao.At the point where the sword tip was less than half an inch away from Zhan Zhao's forehead, Zhan Zhao stretched out two fingers and easily clamped the bronze sword.

The old man was startled, and tried to draw it hard, but Zhan Zhao didn't blink his eyes, and it seemed that he was useless at all... But the sword just couldn't be drawn out.

The old man was in a hurry, and held up the gossip mirror, "Monster, let's see the treasure again... Sigh!"

Before he finished reciting the mantra, Zhan Zhao reached for his mirror and looked around in the sunlight.

It's just an ordinary glazed mirror, nothing special, it's very clear, the mirror surface is smooth and the picture is not distorted.

Zhan Zhao tossed and turned to look in the mirror. The old man's arms were sore from grabbing the bronze sword. He shook his hands to take a rest and looked in the mirror at the same time—the Zhan Zhao in the mirror was no different from the Zhan Zhao in front of him.He is still a handsome and elegant young man, with fair skin that looks like someone from Jiangnan, and his eyes are extremely beautiful smoky gold, which the old man has never seen before.And the way he looked in the mirror was indeed like a curious cat.

Bai Yutang also came over and asked Zhan Zhao, "What's wrong with the mirror?"

"Hmm..." Zhan Zhao shook again, the scene just now did not reappear, he wondered, could it be a hallucination?

"Grandpa." At this time, the boy ran over and asked the old man in a low voice, "Look at him, he didn't show his original shape when he looked in the demon mirror, and he didn't change his appearance in the demon mirror!"

The old man stroked his beard and nodded, "Well, it must be a thousand-year-old cat demon!"

"The Real Man of Wuxu!"

At this time, not far away, a young man dressed in a short robe and dressed as a martial arts student hurried over, "Realist Wuxu, you are here!"

Zhan Zhao returned the bronze sword and demon mirror to the old man.

The old man took the mirror, looked at Zhan Zhao again, shook his head and said to himself, "Strange, strange..."

"Really, you've worked hard all the way!" The young man came up to the old man, "Come up the mountain with me, our head is in a hurry!"

"Okay, lead the way!" The old man waved his hand, led the boy, and followed them away.

Zhan Zhao glanced back, the young man was wearing a blue gown, with a white spot on the upper right of the back, and the word "Cang" inside.

Looking at Bai Yutang, "It's the clothes of the Cangshan School."

Bai Yutang also frowned and nodded, "Cangshan Sect and Erhai Palace should be the biggest sects in Dali area. Cui Qishou, head of Cangshan Sect, is also considered one of the top masters in martial arts, why is he in a hurry to find an old man who talks about catching monsters? "

"If he is really the real person of [-], then it will not be surprising at all..."

At this time, Tianzun and Yin Hou came up and said something.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned their heads together, "What is the origin of the real person of [-]? I haven't heard of it."

"You were not even born when the name of Daoist Daoist was popular in the world during the [-] Reform Period." Yin Hou smiled, "There is no one with the Wu surname, and it is the only demon-killing clan bestowed by heaven in the world."

"Destroy the monster clan?" Bai Yutang listened freshly, "Then there must really be monsters."

"The Wu family did kill many monsters back then."

"For example?" Bai Yutang didn't believe in evil, and pointed to Zhan Zhao, "It's only been 20 years since the cat demons have been able to suppress them, so what kind of demons are you going to kill?"

Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang and felt his teeth itch for no reason, wanting to bite the mouse!

Tianzun laughed dryly, and patted Bai Yutang's shoulder lightly, "Young man, if you haven't seen something before, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

When the four of them turned their heads, they saw that Pang Yu had already pulled a passerby to inquire, "Uncle, is the fly swatter making trouble with elves?"

Bao Yan kicked him behind him, "It's the Cangshan faction! Do you understand?"

Pang Yu pursed his lips, "I can also embroider my legs twice, you purebred scholar and I have a slap in the face?!"

The passer-by uncle hurriedly persuaded the fight, saying, "Recently, the Cangshan faction is troubled by goblins. It seems to be the third son of the head of Cui's family. The goblins have been fascinated."

"There is such a thing?" Pang Yu was curious, "Is it a vixen, a spider, or a pipa?"

After hearing this, everyone moved over curiously.

The uncle shook his head, "I'm not sure, but the Cangshan faction was planning to compete with people from Erhai Palace these days, but this happened suddenly, and some people said that it was the fault of Erhai Palace. No, swords are always at war these days , The entire Jianchang Mansion was disturbed. I was afraid that the two sects would really fight, and the local government could only watch and couldn't help at all. We are Dali here, and it's not that the Song Dynasty has the Ninth Prince Zhao Pu in charge. Our emperor recites sutras and Buddhas all day long, and he doesn’t even have a decent army under his command, alas..."

After the uncle finished speaking, he shook his head and left.

Gongsun asked Zhao Pu curiously, "Who is the current emperor of Dali?"

Zhao Pu thought for a while, and said, "It should be Duan Sulong, Duan Silian's nephew, who just came to the throne not long ago."

"It is said that the royal family of the Duan family has converted to Buddhism, has a docile personality and does not like disputes. Is it true?" Gongsun wondered.

Zhao Pu nodded, "That's right, Prime Minister Gao Zhisheng and Military Advisor Dong Jialuo are in power. Duan Sulong is devoted to Buddha and doesn't care about internal affairs at all. I think he is about to go to Zen."

"The relationship seems very complicated." Gongsun said to himself.

Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang, "Should I stay in Jianchang Mansion first? Do you want to pay a visit to the Cangshan School?"

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, "Cat, why are you suddenly interested in those two monster hunters?"

"Hmph." Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, and replied mysteriously, "Secret."