old grace

Xie Qinghe quickly found the "killer" who was lying in ambush in the grass.

This group of people did not have very sophisticated tactical coordination, and the hunting of Xie Qinghe and Fu Chuan was more like inexperienced farmers besieging wild animals. Can't even shoot an arrow.

——not so much a killer as a farmer on the hunt.

Xie Qinghe saw the origin of the other party and did not make a sound. This group of unprofessional killers met Fu Chuan, and there was no suspense about the end. Killer" all died quietly on the spot.

Seeing that Fu Chuan was still looking around, Xie Qinghe greeted just now: "Come back."

Fu Chuan took a look at the trembling and hastily fleeing in the distance, and finally did not dare to disobey the order of the senior brother, turned around and ran back.

He dragged the emaciated man who was stabbed to death by the wooden arrow first to Xie Qinghe, and said, "Like a savage wandering here." In order to confirm his judgment, he knelt down and checked the man's hands, feet and teeth. With scarred hands and feet, life is not easy, not like a raised dead killer."

Xie Qinghe didn't think that someone deliberately assassinated him.

In this era, news transmission is very slow. No matter what kind of power is involved, it will take quite a long time to complete such multiple procedures as "detecting the young master of the Chen family leaving home, reporting the situation to the superior officer who can make the decision, formulating an assassination plan, and sending people to execute it immediately." time.Moreover, he and Fu Chuan drove directly from the ridge of Liliang Mountain, and they just came down the mountain today, so who could come here at such a good time to ambush and assassinate them?

"Let's go." Xie Qinghe didn't want to look at the corpses on the ground. He had seen too many tragedies in the world, and he was used to it.

Seeing him staggering, Fu Chuan hurriedly stepped forward to support him.After taking two steps, Fu Chuan couldn't help asking: "Brother, why didn't you let me go after those villains? They clearly saw you and me alone, and they wanted to hunt us for food."

Xie Qinghe remained silent.

"I know that big brother is merciful, but they have already eaten people. If they can't eat us today, they will eat others in the future. If they are not sanctioned and stopped, wouldn't they commit a crime against the people they eat in the future?" A heinous crime?" Fu said.

"I think that the person's body and clothes just now should have been wandering in the wasteland for a long time. God knows how many people they ate."

"That is to say, I met me today. If I were two children, they are sitting around the campfire drinking soup made from my bones and gnawing on my fingers!"

……

The more Fu Chuan thought about it, the more angry he became, and he even raised his head to stare at Xie Qinghe's eyes: "Brother, when did you become so benevolent?!"

"Those who shoot at me with arrows, those who hunt you and me with wooden forks, I will let you kill them all. The group of people lying in the distance are unarmed, and when they see the situation is not good, they turn around and run away. You want to kill them all?" Xie Qinghe asked. .

"The group of people who came to hunt with bows, arrows and wooden forks really wanted to hunt 'prey', so they didn't share it with the group of people in the distance? If they didn't eat people, how did they survive? Could it be that hunters eat meat? , They drink the wind?" Fu Chuan had a rare dispute with Xie Qinghe.

Xie Qinghe felt short of words for the first time.

Of course, what Fu Chuanyuan said is very reasonable. Among those "hunters", there must be no good people who don't eat human flesh.

However, this is the way of the world where individuals eat people.

In troubled times, everyone is struggling with hunger and death, and there is not so much justice to speak of.

A ruled world respects the law and morality, and does not allow people to kill, bully, or steal. The court responsible for arbitrating punishment must ensure that a normal person can live through his own labor while abiding by the law.If the rituals are broken, the world is in chaos, everyone is a beast, and the world is like a jungle, what qualifications do the court and the law have to judge life and death?

In Xie Qinghe's view, people in this world are not humans at all, but beasts: "If you want to tell wolves not to eat sheep, you have to feed the wolves first. There is no reason for wolves to starve to death if only partial sheep should live. .”

Fu Chuan was stunned, and said in disbelief: "We are talking about people, not wolves and sheep."

Xie Qinghe stopped and said, "Go back."

"Ah?" Fu Chuan was confused by him, carefully watching his face, "Brother, are you angry with me again?"

Xie Qinghe shook his head, put his arms on Fu Chuan's shoulders affectionately, and walked back step by step as he leaned on a crutch: "I have my own ideas, and you have your reasons. If you want to follow me in everything Are you still Fu Chuan? One Xie Qinghe in this world is enough."

"Eldest senior brother doesn't recognize my reasoning." Fu said.

Surprisingly, Xie Qinghe denied this point: "I agree with your reasoning. No matter what the reasons are in the world, it is not a pity to kill and eat meat. I don't think they deserve to die."

"But senior brother thinks I should let them go?" Fu Chuan asked.

"It's a crime for a mortal to kill, but you and I are punished for killing someone. What's the difference?" Xie Qinghe asked.

Fu Chuan stuttered when asked, he never thought about this question, the Hanjiang Sword Sect has always been the ruler of the outside world, if there is any dispute between the sects he acquainted with, he would ask the Hanjiang Sword Sect to reason and make peace. Jiang Jian sent disciples to go out and walk around the rivers and lakes. If you say you are wrong, you will admit it obediently. If you are told to cut off one hand to make amends, you will cut off one hand to make amends. He is born to maintain justice, and his status is unquestionable.

"I think... I didn't kill people out of selfish desire?" Fu said.

Xie Qinghe shook his head: "The sky is falling, and the sect has to stand up to it. Only by keeping the peace in the world can we be qualified to rule the life and death of the world."

"To put it bluntly, if we don't stay outside the world and cut off the evil atmosphere, the demon race will rule the world, and the common people will naturally abide by the laws of the demon race and be judged by the demon race."

"Nowadays, the world is not peaceful. Years of wars have been fought, and various families have been plundered and killed. Except for the protection of the people in the city, there are not even a few farmers living near the city. This place is hundreds of miles away from the capital. Dongzhou and Xianzhou have been in trouble again and again, and this place has been plundered in turn... Look at this land, it was neatly organized by the people here many years ago, and there are square relics of wheat fields over there..."

"The Qin court is powerless to rule and defend the world. Many warlords from aristocratic families only care about their own interests. No one has ever taken care of the people here seriously."

"In such a world, who is qualified to die for the people who cannibalize people and become beasts?"

Fu Chuan lowered his head and listened earnestly, but in the end he still refused to agree with Xie Qinghe's reasoning: "Eldest senior brother only cared about pity for the wicked, and didn't he pity the poor people who were eaten by them? The decline of the Qin court and the brutal warlords are not cannibalism." reason."

Xie Qinghe touched his head and said, "You are right."

Fu Chuan knew that the big brother was trying to put him down, but Xie Qinghe had already compromised, so he didn't bother anymore.

At this time, the two had returned to the place where the fight took place just now. The bodies of the killers who tried to hunt them down were still lying in the grass. Fu Chuan glanced at the distance and said, "They can't go away!" Far."

Xie Qinghe nodded and remained silent.Since this group of people cannibalize, they will not let go of their companions' corpses, and will definitely come back to pick them up.

Fu Chuan searched along the folded traces in the grass, all the way forward.Xie Qinghe's body gradually adapted to the environment at the bottom of the mountain, his knees were no longer weak, and he no longer supported Fu Chuan to walk. Fu Chuan's feet became more agile and agile, and the two searched forward faster and faster.

After walking through a large area of ​​deserted farmland, he walked around a small hill and saw a figure running towards the distance from a distance.

The man ran and shouted: "*&##%%##"

Fu Chuan was shocked, and looked back at Xie Qinghe's face: "Brother, do you understand?"

"He spoke the local dialect of the Qingxian area, and told the people over there that we are coming." Xie Qinghe himself knew a little ancient language. During this time, he often walked in Qingzhou and communicated with Yang Xi and others in Qingzhou. He had already learned it. He said, "Go and chase. I'll follow right away."

Seeing that the person was about to run out of sight, Fu Chuan didn't hesitate, and flew out directly with the Cloud Climbing Technique.

Xie Qinghe also took a quick step, but felt out of breath after two steps, so he had to slow down and move forward slowly.

Looking at the younger brother's figure like a fallen leaf in the air, he also had a hint of introspection in his heart.After so many times of practicing magic and seeing too many hells on earth, I began to obsessively reflect on whether I have the right to die in troubled times, but I forgot the simplest truth.

——This world is sorry for the wicked, and even more sorry for the innocent who never hurt others.

This made Xie Qinghe vigilant.

I don't know when it started, the human way he insisted on gradually shifted to the worldly way held by the master.

Constantly going in and out of the demonic world, watching with cold eyes for a long time, made him always withdraw from his identity as a human being, and stand in the distance of the fairy mountains outside the world, aloof and compassionate for the world.Everything is a humble dog, how can gods like or hate it?Gradually, it became a habit for Xie Qinghe to stand by and watch.

Xie Qinghe had a little doubt about this.His Dao heart has always been extremely strong, when did it change?

After chasing forward for almost two miles, an abandoned village appeared in the mountain depression. Most of the thatched huts had collapsed, and only half of the burnt stone huts were still barely sheltered from the wind and rain.Xie Qinghe saw corpses one after another on the way in, obviously it was Fu Chuan's handwriting.

Xie Qinghe walked through the mountain of corpses and the sea of ​​blood, indifferent to the corpses.What made his face gloomy were the scattered bones.

They are all human skulls, and after being boiled, they retain a completely different color from raw bones.The smashed ones were thrown on the ground, while the well-preserved ones were placed upside down on the ground or on the residual wall like a bowl, holding dew or rain.

Xie Qinghe walked all the way in, and suddenly took a step to the east.

In front of him was a collapsed earthen wall, strips of beams were exposed on the broken wall, and a small skull bowl was placed on the top of the wall.

That "bowl" is too small.

It was probably less than two years old when its former owner was forced to donate it to make bowls for others.

What evil can a two-year-old do?

It was this world that did evil to him, and those villains did evil to him, and he was the purest and innocent victim.

Xie Qinghe stared at the bowl for a long time, then suddenly reached out to pick it up, wiped off the dust and dew on it with his sleeve, and gently stroked the white bone with his thumb that had been gnawed clean without a trace of flesh, he could even Imagine the smiling face of that child when he was alive.

Fu Chuan greeted from the front: "Brother! Look!"

Xie Qinghe took the small skull in his hand and followed the sound to find Fu Chuan.

Half of the remaining stone houses are the residences of this group of "hunters", full of the breath of life where many people live together.

However, this is different from normal human dwellings. There are cut human corpses hanging on the ground under the eaves to keep out the rain and ventilation. In addition to animal skins and coarse cloth, there are also some crumpled human skins used to keep out the cold. There are chopsticks made of human bones, and there are even curtains made of finger bones on the wall for decoration.

"Eldest brother, they are not members of the Star Swallowing Sect, are they?" Fu Chuan recalled the horror of entering Yangliuhe Manor by mistake.

"They are old people." Xie Qinghe said.

"In ancient times, the old people made their capital in Hu, which should be not far from here. They called the people in Hudu "Heren", and the people in Hudu with a radius of ten miles were called "Dianren", and the people in Hudu with a radius of hundreds of miles were called "Dianren". The common people are called 'subduing people', and the rest of the people who live in the wild are called 'savages'."

"For the old people, wild people are no different from animals. They hunt wild people every day, and they also use wild people as sacrifices during sacrifices."

Xie Qinghe stood in the half-collapsed room, looking at the human finger bone curtain hanging on the wall: "They have been eating people for thousands of years."

"Historical records show that Kudu was wiped out by the Luo people. At that time, the people living in Kudu were also extinct, and the only record left in the history books is the word Hudu. Times have changed, and now the capital of Kudu is gone. Annihilated, these man-eating ghosts survived lingeringly..."

Fu Chuan was quite aggrieved when he heard the elder brother talk about ancient times: "The crooked ways that love to eat people are like earthworms, they can survive even if they are cut into eight pieces."

"They also lost their own practice and inheritance." Xie Qinghe glanced at the curtain of human bones in the room, "The only thing left is cannibalism."

"Eldest brother, have you been to that era?" Fu Chuan asked curiously.

Xie Qinghe shook his head: "I have seen the demons at that time." When he devoured demons, he would go through the life experiences and memories of demons. From the era when humans and demons began to entangle until the time when he devoured demons, he spanned countless years. , there are few eras that he has not seen.

At this moment, Xie Qinghe discovered that the bone curtain on the west wall was rather strange.

It seems something is missing.

Fu Chuan tilted his head and glanced at him, and asked, "Eldest brother, why are you holding a bone?"

"Remind yourself." Xie Qinghe touched the small cooked skull, as if stroking the innocent child who died, "Most of what I said to you today is not human, please don't let it go." In my heart."

Fu Chuan blinked, untied the small bundle and opened it, and said, "Then I'll pack it up for Senior Brother. It's scary to hold it in your hands like this."

Xie Qinghe handed the things to him, Fu Chuan tidied up and tied the small bundle on his back again, urging him to say, "Let's go. This place is horribly creepy. Sleeping human skins, decorating human bones, the altar of the Swallowing Star Sect is not so evil. sex."

Xie Qinghe glanced at the bone curtain on the west wall again, stretched out his hand and gestured at a certain gap.

Fu Chuan asked puzzledly, "What's wrong?"

"It's okay." Xie Qinghe temporarily put down the doubts in his heart, "It should have been lost."

"What has been lost? Eldest brother, I only read the word "箢都" in the history books, or did the Luo people, the former master of Sangshan, bring the flying dragon and the phoenix to kill all directions, mentioning it by the way, and didn't mention it at all' You people, do you have any connection with the Swallowing Star Sect?" Fu Chuan kicked away the dead body at his feet, clearing a path for the elder brother.

"Do you know what '吢' means?" Xie Qinghe wrote the word in Fu Chuan's palm.

Fu Chuan was quite surprised: "This word? It's just..." He made a motion of vomiting.

Xie Qinghe was amused by him, and said, "Hey, it's something that was spit out by kittens and puppies."

"In ancient times, there was a saying that there are three kinds of things that can see things in the underworld. One is unkilled animals, cats and dogs, or cows and horses with human nature, the other is children with pure eyes, and the third is the reincarnation of immortals. Very human."

"The old people called themselves 'Qin', and later generations recorded it as 'Qin', because it is said that when the Luo people attacked the capital, they brought many puppies to do reconnaissance. The Luo people are good at raising all kinds of animals, and the people are good at Raising ghosts and ghosts, the puppies raised by the Luo people will spit out the filth in fear when they find the ghost slaves and ghosts carried by the people, so later generations will call the old people "Qing"." Xie Qinghe said.

"Then it has nothing to do with the Tunxing Sect. The Tunxing Sect cultivates itself, and the old man raises ghosts." Fu Chuan thought farther, "How come the inheritance in ancient times likes to raise foreign things, and the Luo clan raises dragons? , people raise ghosts..."

"The inheritance will be broken in later generations." Fu Chuan concluded, "It can be seen that those who do not cultivate themselves are heretics."

Xie Qinghe knew that Junior Brother was a talker, so as long as he wasn't asked, just let Junior Brother gossip, and don't bother thinking about how to flatter Junior Brother, anyway, Junior Brother can talk the whole audience by himself.

——Of course, when the junior brother is in a bad mood or thinking about other things, he will be very silent.

Now Fu Chuan was pulling him along while chatting, Xie Qinghe just listened with a smile.

The younger brother's idea is very simple.When you meet bad guys, kill them all, if you meet good guys, you help them, if you can beat them, you beat them, if you can't beat them, you run away.As long as these points can be achieved, the little junior brother will be in a good mood, his thoughts will be clear, and his body and mind will be happy.

Xie Qinghe thinks that this is also very good.

It was a long way to find Wangdu Chidao, and after leaving the hunting range of the remnants of the Hu people, wild beasts began to appear in the wasteland.

Fu Chuan's book on taming has been well learned. When he saw a pack of wild wolves following him from afar, he excitedly ran forward to use his own method of taming animals, and soon tamed the first wolf, trying to complete his riding. The life wish of the wolf.However, the wild wolf's hair is probably more prickly. Xie Qinghe watched the little junior brother fall off the wolf's back from a distance, and seemed to rub his buttocks twice.

At this time, Xie Qinghe suddenly thought of a question.The Hu people have a history and experience of hunting humans for thousands of years. Are the "hunters" who hunted him and Fu Chuan today a little too unfamiliar with their skills?

"Brother, it's getting dark, should we find a place to rest, or should we drive all night and rest during the day?" Fu Chuan ran back with the leading wolf. The wolf had a big show, and there were several young and strong male wolves beside him. Serve as a guard.

"I want to go back and have a look." Xie Qinghe said.

Fu Chuan thought he heard it wrong: "Where are you going back?"

"That abandoned village, the residence of the old man. I always feel that something is wrong." Xie Qinghe told Fu Chuan of his doubts, "The old man has hunted humans for more than a thousand years, and today the group of people are too unfamiliar to hunt. More like savages who have lost their homes and been forced to wander these years."

"Is there any difference between the savages and the savages who have fallen into the wilderness these years?" Fu Chuan asked.

"I've been walking for a long time, and I'll go back at this time, and I have to go back again after I finish watching. I'm afraid that I'll waste too much time and miss the opportunity to go to the road and wait for Aunt and the others' carriage. Otherwise, senior brother Tell me what concerns and doubts you have, I will take a walk at night, I am fast, and I will not waste time if I go and return quickly." Fu Chuan asked for instructions.

Xie Qinghe thought for a moment and said, "That's fine."

"Do you remember the bone curtain hanging in that room? There is a gap in the west wall."

Xie Qinghe squatted down, and used a tree branch to draw the approximate location on the ground. He actually remembered the exact location of each string of bone curtains on the wall, "There should be a tail phalanx here, which is called a 'tip' in the Han tradition. .If the people who ambushed us today were the savages, then their inheritance should be completely cut off, and they don’t know how to raise the tip. If the people who ambushed us today were the wildlings nearby, then the tip probably exists, but it is not known. The savage who knew shades lost."

"You look for the corpses of those people, or look for places where you can hide things in the house. If you find it, bring it back to me. It doesn't matter if you can't find it. Come back as soon as possible." Xie Qinghe said.

Fu Chuan nodded: "Okay."

Xie Qinghe was a little strange: "Is there anything else?"

"I'll serve the elder brother first, have dinner, sit down and rest, and then go back to look for it." Fu Chuan patted the wolf's head, "Let the little wolf protect the elder brother later, and he won't be afraid of being harassed by wild animals."

Xie Qinghe couldn't laugh or cry: "This is not on the ridge, I can take care of myself."

"It's better to find a place with a source of water to rest." Fu Chuan bowed his head and said a few words to the wolf, and then the wolf turned around and led the wolves towards the west. Take us to find water."

The two followed the wolves all the way to the west and came to a small river. Fu Chuan ordered the wolves to collect firewood, while he himself went fishing in the river.

In the beginning, the wolves followed Xie Qinghe and Fu Chuan to hunt for prey. A pack of wolves needed a lot of food to fill their stomachs, but they failed to catch the food, and instead were caught as laborers picking up branches.Seeing the old wolf and the young wolves running back and forth with dead branches in their mouths, Fu Chuan didn't want to treat these wolf friends badly, so he gave a fish to all the wolves who had held the branches in their mouths.

This place has been barren for far too long, wild animals are rampant, and the river is rich in fish.

Xie Qinghe thought, if he didn't eat people, could he survive by relying on this river alone?Then I thought again, how many people can this river support?

When eating dinner, Fu Chuan took out two stone spoons.The stone spoon he chiseled was given to Xie Qinghe, and he used the stone spoon chiseled by Xie Qinghe.Before Xie Qinghe could respond, Fu Chuan's ears turned red: "You're showing your ugly face. It's not as good as Elder Brother did."

Xie Qinghe scooped up some fish soup with a stone spoon, and then put the spoon to his mouth, Fu Chuan stared at him with bright eyes.

"You did a good job." Xie Qinghe had to boast.

"That's right, the stone spoon doesn't burn your mouth. Except that some of the weight is too heavy to touch, there is nothing wrong with it." Fu Chuan repeatedly praised, "It's so interesting that senior brother uses stones to make spoons."

It turned out to be to please me.Xie Qinghe couldn't help laughing, pinched Fu Chuan's cheek: "The mouth is so sweet."

After dinner, Fu Chuan served Xie Qinghe to cook water, wash his face and wipe his hands, moved the place of the bonfire for him, spread the fur skin on the dry ground to make a pavement, and told Xie Qinghe to protect him from all directions. Please resign: "Brother, I'm going to find something right now. I'll definitely be back before dawn."

"Be careful." Xie Qinghe urged.

Fu Chuan obediently agreed, and flew out with the Cloud Climbing Technique. The wolves all looked up at him until he disappeared into the sky.

Xie Qinghe looked up at the dark sky with complicated emotions.

Wild animals are rampant in this place, and the corpses left in the wilderness are likely to be eaten by wild dogs, wolves, and various insects.He had told his junior brother that the "point" might be on the body of the dead "savage", but Fu Chuan was not in a hurry, he would go after eating and sleeping with him.

Is it because in the younger brother's mind, his diet and daily life are more important than "Jian", or is it because the younger brother knows the whereabouts of "Jian"?

In the afternoon, when he was looking at the bone curtain on the west wall, the junior brother happened to interrupt him and asked about the skull in his hand.

……

Xie Qinghe didn't want to doubt the younger brother.However, he didn't feel well.