Strange Records of Xijing

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. It was supposed to be a joyous day, but the emperor suddenly lost a lot of weight. The two deep bags under his eyes already showed that the emperor is having a hard time these days.

"Come on," the emperor looked at Pei Jingxing who was saluting in front of him, and said, "There is no need to be too polite. Today I announce you into the palace because I want to ask you about what happened four years ago."

When Pei Jingxing heard the words, his heart skipped a beat, and he replied calmly, "I know everything."

"Hehe, you don't have to worry about Pei Jie." The emperor's smile didn't enter his eyes, "When you entered that ancient city, you were separated from other people, right?"

"Yes," Pei Jingxing replied, "I accidentally fell into a hole at that time, and ended up getting separated from the others."

"Then during the days when you were separated, did you ever see anything?"

Pei Jingxing frowned, obviously, he didn't have much affection for the "what" the emperor said.Pei Jingxing considered his words and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know what you mean by the 'thing'?"

"Something out of the ordinary," said the emperor again, "is there anything you have never seen before, or is it strangely shaped?"

Pei Jingxing thought about it carefully, then shook his head and said, "After I fell into the cave, I only brought two fire pockets with me. I was afraid that I would stay in the cave for a long time, so I tried not to go astray, and only illuminated the path under my feet. So I haven't seen anything unusual or oddly shaped."

"Really?" The emperor was a little regretful, and asked again unwillingly, "Think about it carefully."

Seeing the emperor's posture, Pei Jingxing knew that if he didn't say anything, the other party would never put him back so easily.It's fine if it's another day, but there is a blind Su Yan at home today, if he goes back late, I'm afraid Su Yan will feel uncomfortable.

Pei Jingxing thought and thought, and suddenly he had a flash of inspiration, and said, "I didn't see anything other than the stone walls and sand snakes and rats in the cave. If there is anything weird, it might be some portraits on the stone walls."

"Portrait?" The emperor listened, leaning forward slightly, "What are you painting?"

Pei Jingxing found himself in trouble at this moment, and replied honestly: "Your Majesty, forgive me. At that time, I was full of desire to find a way out, so I didn't carefully observe the contents of those murals. At that time, I just glanced at them briefly. It's really hard to get up."

"It doesn't matter," the emperor waved his hand and said, "I announce you to enter the palace today. Firstly, I want to ask clearly about what happened back then. After all, you were still young, and you would inevitably panic when you suddenly experienced such a thing. Secondly, the ancient city There may be old things belonging to this dynasty, and I still need to rely on you, Pei Street Messenger, to get them back for me."

Pei Jingxing's heart was shocked!

Alone around the abandoned ancient city day and night, frantically looking for a way out like a drowning man, making a living on the meat of sand snakes and other animals, and seeing the prince and others eating the corpses of their colleagues , These are the years he most wants to forget in his life.

The experience in the ancient city can be said to have completely ruined his life for the past four years!

Now the emperor suddenly asked him to go to the ancient city again. What is the difference between cutting his flesh with a blunt knife?

The emperor didn't allow him to think too much, so he made a decision when Pei Jingxing was still in a daze: "The National Teacher will explain the rest of the matter to you in detail, and he will wait for you outside, go. Remember, don't talk to me about today's matter. Someone mentioned it."

Now that the matter has come to this point, no matter how disgusted Pei Jingxing is, he can only accept orders.

As expected, the national teacher was waiting outside, with some snowflakes on his shoulders, obviously he had just arrived not long ago.

"Pei Street Envoy, let's meet again." The national teacher has taken good care of himself. He is already in his 60s and [-]s. He looks like he is only in his early thirties. Compared with his senior brother Wan Daoshi, he is of two generations.He smiled kindly, and it was easy to make people feel good about him. If Pei Jingxing and Su Yan hadn't been nearly tricked by him before, Pei Jingxing would really have regarded him as an expert.

"It's time for the national teacher." Pei Jingxing nodded to the national teacher, but there was dissatisfaction in his words.

The national teacher pretended not to hear it, and made a gesture of invitation with a smile: "This is not a place to talk, please also invite the Pei Street envoy to move to the national teacher's residence."

Just after leaving the palace gate, Dian Xiang Shaoxuan of Jinwuwei Street was also waiting here. He saw Pei Jingxing come out, so he took a step forward.

Pei Jingxing understood, turned to the national teacher and said: "Please wait a moment, the national teacher."

The national teacher didn't care: "Alright, I'll go to the carriage and wait for the envoy Pei."

Xiang Shaoxuan and Pei Jingxing walked a few steps to the side, the former lowered his voice and said: "Mr. Pei, my brothers and I searched all around the place where the body was found, and found no suspicious person or clue."

"Where was the body found?"

Xiang Shaoxuan replied: "The place where the male body was found was a ruined temple in Taipingfang. I specifically asked people who lived nearby, and they said that this temple has been around for a few years, but since about ten years ago, the temple's The monks died of sudden illness one after another. The number of doctors who went to see the doctor could not be counted on one hand, but they couldn’t be cured. Later, some people said that there were evil spirits in this temple, and the remaining monks were terrified. I simply abandoned this temple and went to other temples to place orders. After this temple was abandoned, it became a gathering place for stray cats and dogs, but after a while, some people found that stray cats and dogs often disappeared.”

After hearing this, Pei Jingxing already understood that there had been rumors of evil beings in the ruined temple from the very beginning, and few people approached on weekdays, let alone entered on their own initiative. Those who could notice the disappearance of stray cats and dogs must have been for a long time. the people who live there.But once they noticed this, people who lived near the ruined temple regarded it as a scourge and dared not approach it, which instead made the ruined temple a shelter for exiles like Wan Daoshi.

It's just why Taoist Wan died there, and why the body suddenly disappeared, Pei Jingxing couldn't figure it out for a while.

"Pei Street Envoy?" Seeing Pei Jingxing's silence, Xiang Shaoxuan thought that he had made an omission somewhere, so he called out tentatively.

Pei Jingxing came back to his senses, and patted Xiang Shaoxuan's shoulder: "I still have important things to do, I'll leave the matter over the ruined temple to you first, you go back and continue to send people to search for the whereabouts of the male corpse , disappeared so cleanly, it must not have been eaten by wild cats and dogs. Also, double the manpower for patrol at night, and an extra hour of training during the day."

"Mr. Pei, is there something wrong with that male corpse?"

Pei Jingxing shook his head at Xiang Shaoxuan with a heavy expression: "Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and then Lantern Festival. It is inevitable that greedy criminals will take risks and choose such a day to commit crimes. Our Jinwu Guard is in charge of public security in Xijing, brothers have no choice but to Take it easy."

Xiang Shaoxuan understood that what Pei Jingxing said was for him to go back and explain it to the Jinwu Guards, so as not to panic and spread rumors.

"Yes."

When Xiang Shaoxuan left, Pei Jingxing got into the carriage, and when he saw the National Teacher sitting opposite him, he had a thought, and rarely took the initiative to speak: "National Teacher, I have something, and I would like to ask the National Teacher to clarify my doubts."

The national teacher smiled: "But it doesn't matter."

"The night before yesterday, a patrolling Jinwu Guard found a male corpse in an abandoned temple in Taipingfang. As a result, the male corpse disappeared under the Jinwu Guard's nose, leaving only a straw mat wrapped around the body. .”

"This statement is too general," the national teacher said after hearing this, "Who was the first to discover the man's corpse? Did they search the surrounding area immediately?"

Pei Jingxing did not answer the national teacher's question, but continued: "The male corpse is missing his left ear, and his right hand is missing two fingers."

"This is an old friend." The national teacher still smiled, seemingly very relaxed, but the tight corners of his mouth revealed the nervousness at this time.

"That's right, if I remember correctly, this male corpse should belong to Senior Brother Guoshi." Pei Jingxing fixed his eyes on the Guoshi, "The corpse suddenly disappeared, could it be that he came back to life?"

"Doesn't Pei Jie hate these nagging things the most?" The national teacher closed his eyes and let out a long breath, "My brother is older than me, and after decades of wandering, premature aging is also a normal thing. It's a pity, I didn't even have the chance to collect his body for my senior brother."

Hearing this, Pei Jingxing burst into laughter: "So that's the case. Since the national teacher also believes that Taoist Wan is dead, then I can rest assured."

"..."

The national teacher suddenly felt that he seemed to have been fooled by Pei Jingxing.

I only heard Pei Jingxing continue to say: "In the first month, Xijing is mixed with fish and dragons. Unfortunately, His Majesty ordered me to go to the Western Regions, not in Xijing. National Teacher, Xijing is up to you."

The national teacher forced a smile and said: "Where is it, I can rest easy with the Jinwu guards."

There were more than half a sentence that didn't agree with each other, after Pei Jingxing finished speaking, he stopped talking.The national teacher had something on his mind, and closed his eyes all the way, not knowing what he was thinking.

It wasn't until the national teacher led Pei Jingxing into the national teacher's mansion and ordered everyone to retreat. Only after the two of them were in the room did he make it clear what the emperor hadn't finished saying: "Among the few of you who came out of the ancient city back then, one of you had an accident. gone."

"An accident?" Pei Jingxing filtered the candidates in his mind and guessed, "Is it the prince?"

Only when something happened to the crown prince would the emperor call him into the palace so mysteriously.

"Pei Street Envoy is really a smart man," the national teacher praised perfunctorily, and said, "In fact, the prince has been in poor health since he came back from the Western Regions four years ago. The imperial doctor checked the prince's pulse and found no abnormalities in the prince's health. , I have also exorcised the prince many times, but I did not find any traces of evil spirits in the East Palace. Later, some imperial doctors speculated that maybe it was because of that incident that made the prince feel ashamed, which caused the prince to become weaker and weaker. A few days ago, The prince suddenly fell into a coma and didn't wake up until midnight last night, and a mark appeared on the prince's back."

"The imprint?" Pei Jingxing raised his spirits and asked, "What imprint?"

The national teacher dipped his finger in the tea and drew an image on the table: "It looks like an eye, and it is getting bigger and bigger. When I first found it, it was only the size of a little finger, and now it is about the size of an adult's fist."

"Only the prince has it?"

The national teacher's eyes lit up: "In fact, I checked Zhao Shimin's back yesterday, and there is also a mark like an eye, but it is smaller than the crown prince's."

Pei Jingxing asked again: "Does the national teacher want to check my back?"

The national teacher raised his right hand and made a gesture: "Offended."

Pei Jingxing didn't hold back, he simply took off his cloak, his coat and middle coat, and piled them around his waist, revealing his lean and strong back.

The national teacher moved closer, looked at it carefully, and even poked it with his fingers from time to time. After a long time, he said, "Pei Jieshi, did you ever have a mole on the right side of your back near your arm?"

Pei Jingxing had guessed what the national teacher wanted to say, shook his head and said, "No."

The national teacher signaled Pei Jingxing to put on his clothes, and said, "That black spot is too small, I can't be sure."

For some reason, when Pei Jingxing heard the words of the national teacher, although he was somewhat weak, but at the same time he also felt that a big stone in his heart had fallen to the ground.

I always want to go to the Western Regions again.

Pei Jingxing thought in his heart.

Although he always resisted recalling everything in the Western Regions and always wanted to escape this experience, but during the four years of deliberate ignorance, another voice appeared in Pei Jingxing's heart, appealing, or bewitching Pei Jingxing , Let him go back to the Western Regions, back to that ancient city.

"I accidentally took in a monster that wasn't a ghost or a demon before. After looking up ancient books, I found out that this monster was a slave created by a tribe in the Western Regions with some kind of magic to protect the holy land." The national teacher waited for Pei Jingxing to get dressed, and continued Said, "The marks on your backs are also recorded in ancient books, and they are specially used to punish sinners who trespassed on the Holy Land. No matter where you are born, the marks will not disappear. The marks are latent in the human body for a few days, and as many as In a few years, once the imprint emerges, it will be irreversible until it slowly sucks the blood of the person dry."

After hearing this, Pei Jingxing felt hot and itchy on the right side of his back near his arms, and subconsciously wanted to reach out and grab a couple of them.

The national teacher also said: "More than 30 years ago, the then deposed prince learned about the Holy Land from one of his concubines. He secretly transported some treasures he collected to the Holy Land and hid them. It is said that one of the treasures has the power to bring the dead back to life. Effect. Now that the prince’s life is in danger, it’s up to you to find this treasure in the ancient city.”

Now the prince falls into a coma from time to time, neither the imperial doctor nor the national teacher can do anything, the emperor has no choice but to seek help from the ethereal treasure of the abandoned prince in the ancient city of the Western Regions, but what does this treasure look like and what material it is made of? people know.

Pei Jingxing and Zhao Shimin are the only two who have entered the ancient city and lived to this day. Their backs are also marked with eye-shaped marks like the present prince. Their trip to the ancient city this time is not only to save the prince, but also to save them Own.

"How is fellow Daoist Su's eyes?" After talking about the business, the national teacher suddenly became concerned about Su Yan's eyes.

Pei Jingxing became alert, and replied calmly, "It's still the same."

"Really?" The corner of the national teacher's mouth raised a smile, "Speaking of it, I almost forgot. There was not only one treasure hidden in the Holy Land by the abolished prince. I heard from one of the apostles of the abolished prince that it was the same as the abolished prince. The treasure of detoxification is called Zhubao Toad, which can detoxify all kinds of poisons. Su Daochang's eyes have seeped the blood of the devil snake, this is not an ordinary poison, maybe Zhubao Toad can make Su Daochang's eyes recover."

Pei Jingxing heard that Su Yan's eyes were saved, so he hurriedly asked, "Then how does the Zhu Bao toad detoxify?"

The national teacher didn't hold back, and said: "According to the ancient book, cut open the belly of this Zhubao toad, take out his inner alchemy, grind it into powder and divide it into three parts, take two parts orally, one part is applied around the wound, three parts After a few days, the toxicity subsided."

Pei Jingxing made a careful note in his mind, and then asked: "Dare to ask the national teacher, what are the characteristics of the Zhu Bao toad?"

"I don't know about that." The national teacher shook his head and said, "It's also the first time I've seen Zhu Bao toad. There are many capable people in the world, maybe someone else knows?"

Thinking that Su Yan's eyes might be saved, Pei Jingxing didn't reject this trip to the Western Regions so much.

The national teacher saw the joy on his face from the side, but the words that came out suddenly were like a basin of cold water, pouring away Pei Jingxing's fresh enthusiasm.

"Almost forgot, the inner alchemy of this Zhubao toad will turn into water as soon as it sees the wind or light, so it is better to take Su Daoyou with you when you go west this time, so as not to find Zhubao toad with great difficulty. Have fun."

Pei Jingxing's heart sank to the bottom of the lake: "Su Yan has bad eyesight. The journey to the ancient city this time is dangerous, and it's not easy for ordinary people, let alone him? I'll find Zhu Baotoad and bring it back."

The national teacher shook his head and smiled: "Pei Street Envoy, you don't understand this. Zhubao toad is a rare treasure, how many people covet it? This treasure is a living thing, the most clever, once you break Zhubao toad's If you don’t seal it, it will find ways to escape. The Western Regions are thousands of miles away from the capital, is Pei Street Envoy sure that he can bring this Zhu Bao toad back to Xijing?”

Pei Jingxing was silent for a moment, then suddenly said: "The national teacher knows so much, could it be the Zhu Bao toad that the national teacher personally sealed?"

The national teacher was startled, and then he laughed loudly: "Pei Street envoy can joke."

"The national teacher told me so, isn't he afraid that I will tell His Majesty?"

Since Zhu Baotoad can cure all poisons in the world, the emperor may not want to take it for himself. The national teacher secretly hid the news and did not report it. I can't be safe anymore.

The national teacher was confident: "If His Majesty finds out, this Zhu Bao toad will have no chance with Fellow Daoist Su."

Threatening Pei Jingxing with Su Yan, although this trick is cheap, it is very effective.

"Thank you, Master." Pei Jingxing put on a straight face, unwilling to discuss Su Yan's going with the Master any more, "If there is nothing else, I will take my leave first."

"Come here, send me the street envoy Pei."

The author has something to say: Inflammation of the throat and cold, everyone pay more attention to the body

There was no update in the past two days, and I will try to add more fat chapters in these two days, thank you for your support