treacherous world

Withered Ye suddenly sneaked into Zhao Pu's barracks, causing everyone's doubts.

But Zhan Zhao ran up to find the dead leaves, he didn't run, but avoided Zhan Zhao's palm, raised his eyebrows, "I'll deliver the letter."

"Give it to whom for whom?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Send a letter to Zhao Pu for your eldest brother." Dead Leaf replied calmly.

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, and led him out of the study.

Li Yuanhao was also present, and Zhao Pu waved to him, "Old Li, you go out to avoid suspicion, and come in later."

Li Yuanhao's face was already ugly, but now it is even more ugly.

But there was no other way, since he had something to ask for in other people's territory, he had to follow the shadow guard to the door and squat for a while, waiting for the inside to finish talking.

Dead Leaf stood in the middle of the hall, looked around, and said to Zhao Pu, "I'll pass on a message."

"Say it." Zhao Pu didn't talk nonsense.

The dead leaf said, "61 Jiazi, one Jiazi recurs, everything in the world has a law, and the cycle goes back and forth. The most important thing is timing."

Everyone listened silently, waiting for him to continue.

Unexpectedly, Dead Leaf raised her eyebrows, "That's all I want to pass on. I still have things to do, so let's go first."

……

Everyone subconsciously held back the twitching corners of their mouths. Master Pang asked Bao Zheng in a low voice, "It's similar to what I said to fool Li Yuanhao and the others just now. Is this kid playing tricks?"

Bao Zheng frowned and looked at him, "Did you come to the barracks to play tricks in the middle of the night?"

"Maybe they came to eavesdrop, and they found an excuse to escape..." Grand Master Pang didn't think so.

Bao Zheng frowned, "There are so many masters here, so you can't be so overconfident, right?" That's true. " Taishi Pang stroked his chin.

People here ponder the meaning of the words of the dead leaves, but the dead leaves over there have already left.

Huiying followed for a while, and came back to report to Zhao Pu, saying that the dead leaves had gone to the depths of the desert, and after following for a while, the person disappeared.

"It's gone..." Zhao Pu muttered to himself, seeming to be thinking.

"Li Yuanhao is still waiting outside." Gongsun reminded him.

"Oh, yes." Zhao Pu asked Li Yuanhao to come in, who had been waiting for a while.

Li Yuanhao sat down and drank a cup of tea before he regained his composure.

"The death of the Tubo prince, I heard that you have a clue, but you were poisoned to death?" Li Yuanhao got straight to the point.

Zhao Pu looked at Bao Zheng.

Bao Zheng nodded, "Indeed."

"Tsk..." Li Yuanhao frowned and gave a "tsk", looking at the black cloth bag on the ground.

The black cloth bag contained the "things" that Ouyang and Zou Liang had caught just now.The black cloak, inside is a dry, short mummy and a skull. It is the black wind monster that attacked Bai Yutang in the ruined temple before.

"This thing has often been harmful recently." Li Yuanhao shook his head, "I don't know what it is."

At this time, the black wind monster that was still wriggling just now was scattered on the ground like a pile of bones, motionless.

Bai Yutang poked Zhan Zhao lightly, and when Zhan Zhao turned around, he saw him bypassing him with one hand, holding the topographic map Chen Wang gave them just now, and saw one of them, the mark inside the ancient city—it seemed to be a certain gate , with a skull logo drawn underneath, and wearing a cloak, much like these black wind monsters.

Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin, in order to avoid letting Li Yuanhao know more, he had to make eye contact, he raised his eyebrows and looked at Bai Yutang——this thing, ran out of the ancient city?

Bai Yutang shrugged - he didn't know yet.

"In addition to the harassment by these black wind monsters, there have been frequent occurrences of strange phenomena in the desert recently." Li Yuanhao said, rubbing the center of his brows gently, it seems that he has been exhausted from the harassment for the past few days, "I have more than a dozen city-states in Xixia suffering from the plague , there are also locust plagues, and strong sandstorms continue.”

When Zhao Pu heard this, he looked at him with his chin up, "Then you should find a temple to worship, why do you want me?"

Li Yuanhao glared at him, "I have worshiped all the ghosts and gods in the world, but it is useless. The crux of the problem is that this is not a natural or man-made disaster at all."

Zhao Pu yawned, "What is that?"

"It's a vision! There's an abnormality." Li Yuanhao said convincingly, with a serious expression on his face, "Nowadays, the disaster is more than one day, and it goes from north to south very regularly. In addition, there is a rumor in the desert. statement."

Zhao Pu became more energetic, "Let's listen to it."

"You saw the spectacle of the mirage just now." Li Yuanhao asked earnestly, "Have you ever heard of the city in the clouds?"

Zhao Pu frowned, shook his head, and said he hadn't heard of it.

Looking back, Zhan Zhao seemed to have never heard his elder brother call the city by its name.

"Hey, Zhao Pu, we real people don't tell lies." Li Yuanhao seemed to have some important evidence in his hand, as if he wanted to negotiate terms with Zhao Pu, "I can tell you the clues I have, but what you find...you have to share it with me .”

Zhao Pu smiled and rubbed his chin, "That depends on whether the value in your hand is worth, besides..."

Zhao Pu put on an attitude of being cheap and good-looking, "It seems that you have something to ask for from me, and it is inevitable that you will suffer a loss. You never thought of making a profit when you negotiated a deal with me, did you?"

Li Yuanhao's face turned ugly again.

Zhan Zhao turned to look at Bai Yutang with sympathy on his face—this Western Xia king is really not easy to be, like a doormat.

Bai Yutang gave a dry laugh, and for some reason, he thought of Chen Wang's nonsensical words just now - you can predict the future?What's the connection?

After weighing it over and over again, Li Yuanhao felt that he could only speak, so he told Zhao Pu, "I looked through the historical materials left by my ancestors, and there was a fragment of a volume, which recorded some legends about the ancient city in the clouds. There was once a desert in the desert. Wang Yang, the lord of the city in the clouds is called Yunxi, according to legend, he is a tyrant, but he has supernatural power, and at that time, it was the end of the Qin Dynasty."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other—it's been so long?

"At that time, the world was in chaos, and it is said that disasters were frequent. Yunxi used an extremely strange method to conquer the entire Western Regions, pointing directly at the Central Plains." Li Yuanhao said, "Do you know what method was used?"

Zhao Pu was listening to the story, shook his head, motioned for him to continue.

"I don't know whether this person is blessed by God or has a magical opportunity. He can bring disasters and control the water veins in the ground." Li Yuanhao said, his eyebrows furrowed a little bit, "The situation at that time was that the plague was rampant among the tribes in the Western Regions. In addition to death, it was submerged by the flood and connected into a vast ocean. As for Yunzhen, he ordered people to repair the warship and expand it little by little."

Everyone heard it so strangely, Zhao Pu asked, "Aren't you so godlike? Call the wind and call the rain?"

"That's what's written in the fragmented scroll. How do I know whether Qin Mo's matter is true or not?" Li Yuanhao still felt that Zhao Pu interrupted him.

Gongsun urged, "Keep going, what happened afterwards?"

"Later, the situation became serious and out of control." Li Yuanhao said, seeming a little distressed, "But because the fragments were kept for too long, some of them were bitten off by rats..."

Just as Zhao Pu opened his mouth to insult him, Gongsun pinched his arm—let him finish speaking!

Zhao Pu had no choice but to swallow the words that came to his lips, and signaled Li Yuanhao to continue.

"But the last part of the scroll is still there. I don't know what happened in it, but later, the city in the cloud perished overnight. It seems that there was a big gap in the ground, and all the sea water flowed to the ground and disappeared. And the city in the cloud also fell to the ground, and at the same time, there was a strong wind, the strongest black storm in history swept past, the city in the cloud was covered by sand and never saw the sun again, and the legendary monarch Yunxi, and The tens of thousands of powerful warships and residents of the city in the clouds also disappeared."

Everyone was silent for a while after listening.

Grand Master Pang said, "Then let God accept him. It's been so long, why bring it up again? Could it be related to the previous mirage?"

"I don't care about other things, but there is one thing that disturbs me very much." Li Yuanhao said, and became a little more serious, "It is recorded in the fragments that there were many abnormalities before the flood engulfed the entire Western Region. All the phenomena are the same as the abnormal situation encountered today. If the steps are correct, then in a few days, there will be a plague sweeping the entire northwest, and then the flood will invade and submerge all the cities. After the flood recedes, the strong wind will hit, and the entire northwest will be Turned into a barren desert."

As Li Yuanhao said, he said to Zhao Pu, "Zhao Pu, I'm not fooling you, but I just think something is wrong. If a catastrophe really strikes, let alone the countries of the Western Regions, you Song Dynasty will not be able to escape."

Zhao Pu stroked his chin, "The reason you are looking for shells is to find the city in the clouds?"

"That's right!" Li Yuanhao nodded.

"What else did you not say?" Bai Yutang suddenly looked at Li Yuanhao.

"Uh..." Li Yuanhao opened his mouth, and seeing Zhao Pu's half-smile, he sighed, "One more thing... Rumors have spread in the Northwest recently, and everyone is talking about the things that happened in the past. Someone deliberately released the wind. At the same time, there is another rumor that is miraculous, saying that the reason Yunxi was able to control disasters and water veins was because of a well."

Everyone looked at him, "Well?"

"The well of life and death connects the two worlds and can control life and death." Li Yuanhao said, looking at Zhao Pu with a complicated expression. "It is said that as long as you master this well, you can easily breathe out disasters and draw floods."

After listening to Li Yuanhao's narration, Zhao Pu nodded in silence for a long time, and said, "I understand, you guys are just stunned by this legend, right?"

Li Yuanhao stared at Zhao Pu, "It's not just rumors..."

Zhao Pu waved his hand, "Okay, don't talk too much, I'll teach you a trick."

"What move?" Li Yuanhao's eyes lit up.

"Do you want to build more boats?" Zhao Pu laughed happily, "When the flood comes, you can get on the boat, and when the flood subsides, you can disembark."

"You..." Li Yuanhao blushed with anger and shook his sleeves, "Zhao Pu, don't you believe in evil. When the time comes, I'm not afraid of perishing. Just let me see you upset, and I'm worth it." After speaking, he left angrily.

Everyone is looking at Zhao Pu - that means, you really don't believe it?

Zhao Pu pursed his lips, "This is really annoying. It would be easier to say that the four families of the Western Regions have brain-twitched and joined forces to attack the Song Dynasty, but this time they are drawn into some demons and evil spirits. How can we fix it?"

Everyone in the military tent had their own thoughts. What Li Yuanhao said was indeed weird, but there was indeed a city in the clouds back then, so I had to believe it.

At this time, someone came to report that Yelvming had come.

Zhao Pu patiently asked him to come in. What Ye Luming said was similar to what Li Yuanhao said, and he also mentioned the city in the clouds and the well of life and death. It was not from what the king of Liao read from any file, but it was recorded in ancient Buddhist scriptures.The Buddhist scriptures are also fragments, some of which are also lost, but compared with Li Yuanhao's fragments, this volume contains a little more, and a tree is mentioned in it.The reason why the city in the clouds can stand in the clouds is actually just an illusion. The city was built on a huge ancient tree with a well at the root. This well is dark inside, without water and bottom, only the clouds It can be approached, and on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar new year, boys and girls will be thrown into the offerings.Unlike the fragment in Li Yuanhao's hand which said that the well of life and death was the entrance to the two realms, Liao's Buddhist scriptures said that Yun Zhen raised a god and demon in this well, and everything was helped by this god and demon.

"Oh... this is even more outrageous." Zhao Pu sent Ye Luming away, and just as he had time to breathe a sigh of relief, Han Changzai came again.

Han Changzai also brought a similar message. Tubo has not been peaceful recently, not to mention frequent plagues, and people always die, the grass in the pasture is withered, the cattle and sheep are starving, and there is heavy snowfall, so cold that those livestock can’t get out of the house. cubs.As one of the oldest tribes in the Western Regions, Tubo has left more files. Among them, in the remnants of Tantric Buddhism, there is no description of the well, but a detailed description of a tree.

This tree is said to have mouth and eyes, it is a sacred tree, and it is this tree that supports the city in the clouds.In addition, there are eight kinds of divine fruits on the tree. This tree has the aura of heaven and earth, has extremely strong demonic properties, and has a lifespan of more than a thousand years, devouring humans and animals.It was only when Yunxi controlled the tree that he was able to act like a god, but later it was said that the tree died, and it was a complete defeat. As for how it died, the remnants of Tantric Buddhism are like some poems, which seem vague and hard to fathom .

However, the news from Tubo has aroused everyone's interest - this tree, it seems to be a bit like a sacred tree with eight fruits, is related to their previous case, and is also related to Zhan Hao. The news from the three parties is added to Together—is there something hidden in the ancient city?

Zhan Zhao was also curious, asking Han Chang if he was investigating anything after he led people deep into Black Wind City.

Han Changzai was in a bit of a dilemma, hesitating for a long time before saying, at first they thought it might be Zhao Pu playing tricks, so they wanted to go to the border towns of the Song Dynasty to check if there were any diseases or disasters, if not, then the people of Song Dynasty were indeed suspicious.

But everyone present felt that Han Changzai seemed to be hiding something.

Unlike Li Yuanhao and Yeluming, Li Yuanhao himself is the lord of the country, and of course the interests of Xixia come first, and Yeluming is also a prince, and he will worry about the future of the Liao Dynasty more or less, but this Han is always there, his identity is unknown, and the rumors are suspicious. , everyone is still a little wary of him.

After sending away the three families, it was getting late, Zhao Pu felt dizzy, so he said that we could talk about it tomorrow, so everyone went back to their houses.

Putting aside the irritability of the generals and senior officials in the barracks, he just said that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang left the barracks and went back to their room.

Zhan Zhao went to the bed, "Brother asked the dead leaves to pass the words, what do you mean?"

Bai Yutang changed his clothes, walked to the bed and sat down, the box that had been hidden in his arms fell out, and he picked it up and put it on the table.

"What?" Zhan Zhao curiously took it over and opened it, and found a roll of black cloth inside, and looked at Bai Yutang in confusion.

Bai Yutang was about to go back and told Zhan Zhao about the fact that he almost turned the empty island upside down, but only found the roll of black cloth hidden in the porcelain cat.

Zhan Zhao picked up the black cloth and looked left and right, puzzled, "It's pure black, what is a piece of cloth with nothing on it hiding?"

Bai Yutang shrugged, "But those black wind monsters, I think of something."

"What?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"Mao'er, have you seen the wooden puppet formation?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Of course I've seen it before." Zhan Zhao crossed Erlang's legs, put his hands behind his head and looked at the roof, "The wooden man uses some mechanisms to control and punch. It's a very elementary mechanism, and many schools are used to practice."

"The principle of the black wind monster that attacked us before is very similar to that of the wooden puppet formation, but more sophisticated." Bai Yutang put the black cloth back into the box, and when he closed the box, his hands stopped.

"Well, the strangest thing for me now is that if the manipulator behind this incident is not any one from Xixia, Tubo, or Daliao, then who is it?" Zhan Zhao finished asking, and seeing that Bai Yutang didn't respond, he leaned over to take a look. Sure enough, Bai Yutang was in a daze.

"Hello." Zhan Zhao pushed him, "What are you doing?"

"Uh..." Bai Yutang came back to his senses, suddenly turned around and said to Zhan Zhao seriously, "I want to enter the ancient city again."

Zhan Zhao frowned, "Aren't you afraid of danger? It seems that all the organs inside have been activated."

"There's a map."

"The map may also be fake." Zhan Zhao was a little worried, "Whether Chen Wang is loyal or a traitor, no one knows."

Bai Yutang nodded, took the black cloth and said to Zhan Zhao, "I just have an idea, I probably know what this cloth is used for."

Zhan Zhao's eyes lit up, and he sat up, "What are you doing?"

Bai Yutang put the box away and said in a low voice, "This may be the music score."

Zhan Zhao's eyes widened, "Huh?"

Bai Yutang nodded.

"But...it's pure black!" Zhan Zhao said seriously, "There's nothing there!"

"It's nothing!" Bai Yutang smiled, "That's why it's the music score."

……

Zhan Zhao stared at Bai Yutang for a while, then reached out to touch his forehead, "Oh, did you get a fever from the rain?"

Bai Yutang didn't know whether to laugh or cry and pulled his hand away, but asked seriously, "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

Zhan Zhao stared at him, "What did you think of?"

Bai Yutang sat beside him, "Do you still remember the picture of weeping blood at the Mausoleum?"

"Remember." Zhan Zhao nodded.

"There are all kinds of people's faces on it." Bai Yutang smiled, "People in the world often say that they are destined. Maybe it's just a cyclical process from generation to generation."

In the dead of night, Zhan Zhao took Bai Yutang's words inexplicably, maybe he himself didn't quite understand what the words meant, and fell asleep. In his sleep, he always felt that there was a voice calling—from generation to generation, repeating.