Martial Lord

Zhang Qiling glanced at him, and stated in an unbelievably calm tone: "I wanted to touch your sleeping point, but you bumped it with your head—"

"Enough is enough! I already know what happened next!" Wu Xie hurriedly stopped Zhang Qiling from continuing. He really didn't have the courage to know what he looked like after he lost his composure.But how can a good-looking person be bewitched by evil spirits?When exactly did it happen, the fact that the fat man touched the mechanism was not an illusion, right?

Wu Xie still had a dull pain in the back of his head, the wound would never lie.He observed the environment in front of him again, and found that this was an ordinary-looking stone chamber, and the shocking bloodstain in the hallucination did not exist.So what is he...

"It's the smell." Zhang Qiling said, "A special spice is painted on the wall of the passage you walked through. The aroma will make people's mood fluctuate and produce hallucinations."

No wonder!He was indeed looking for a way out following the scent, whether it was blood or Zhang Qiling who had fallen into madness, he was most afraid of seeing it in that situation at that time... It makes sense to say it this way.

"Brother, why are you here? Didn't you go to fetch the bones of Concubine Li?" Could it be that they made the little brother fall too?

"Why are you here?" Zhang Qiling asked back.

This... Wu Xie subconsciously felt guilty for a moment, but then he thought again, no, this time he obediently waited where he was, and the fat man was responsible for all the trouble.So he gave a dry cough and used his eloquence to briefly explain how they fell into the trap when they touched the mechanism, and described the fat man's chaos and his own innocence, wit, and loyalty in detail.Then he straightened his chest and raised his face proudly, as if to say——Look, don't blame me this time, right?

Zhang Qiling frowned slightly after listening, then walked to the wall and sat down.

Wu Xie was taken aback: "Brother?"

"We are trapped." Zhang Qiling said calmly, "There are only two exits in this passage, one is at the place where you fell, and it has been sealed." He originally planned to go up from the place where Wu Xie fell, But according to what Wu Xie said, this road is now blocked.

"There is another way here." Zhang Qiling looked up and said, "There is only one way to open it, but there are not enough people."

Wu Xie followed his line of sight, and saw a candlestick with a strange shape standing on the wall that was as tall as a person. At first glance, it seemed to be the head of some animal. The shape... let's say it was a dragon.Strangely, there are only three candlesticks on the four walls here.Generally speaking, the placement of this kind of thing should be symmetrical, either two or four, and "three" is really a subtle number here.

Seeing that Zhang Qiling didn't stop him, Wu Xie boldly stretched out his hand.With a light leap, he touched the faucet candlestick.After touching it, Wu Xie discovered that it was not a dragon, and of course it was not a unicorn. Strictly speaking, it was a Pixiu.

Pixiu, also known as warding off evil spirits, is a legendary ferocious beast that feeds on gold, silver and jewels.Pixiu and Qilin are the most similar, so they are often confused. Wu Xie is in the pawn business and handles a lot of antiques, so he can clearly distinguish them.Since the Han Dynasty, compared with dragons, phoenixes, unicorns and other auspicious animals, accessories in the shape of Pixiu have gradually become scarce.But the first emperor loved brave, which is well known.The first emperor even listened to the counselor's words and built a pair of tall copper braves in front of the treasury to enshrine the meaning of attracting wealth and treasure and filling the treasury.So it seems normal for them to see Pixiu here.However, Pixiu is a pair, the male is Pixiu, and the female is Xiu. It is even more strange that there is only one lonely person here.

Wu Xieyuan wanted to take a closer look, so he stood on tiptoe and pressed down with his hands, but unexpectedly the candlestick sank.Wu Xie was taken aback, and hurriedly let go. While the candlestick was returning to its place, the candlestick on the other side was raised.

"It's a chain lock." Zhang Qiling said, "These three candlesticks are connected by another mechanism. To open a passage, you must press the three candlesticks at the same time."

That's why Zhang Qiling said that there were not enough manpower, and Wu Xie immediately understood.It turned out that they were trapped here not because they couldn't find the exit, but because they knew the exit but couldn't open it.This is a bit embarrassing, the passage is above, but the mechanism requires three people to open it at the same time.In this way, they can only pin their hopes on the fat man.He and Fatty fell into the trap together. Since he is still alive, Fatty's ability should not be life-threatening, but the situation probably won't be too good, maybe he is still trapped in the maze.Then, as the little brother said, they are trapped, and there is nothing they can do except wait.

The strange thing is that even at this moment, Wu Xie doesn't feel depressed.On the one hand, it was because he had just narrowly escaped death in the illusion, and his spirit was still tense; on the other hand, it was also because, although this man named Zhang Qiling stated such a situation, he didn't look like he was waiting to die in the slightest.Therefore, Wu Xie has never been too deeply aware of the fact that "they have fallen into a desperate situation".

Shopkeeper Xiao Wu continued to study against the wall for a while without giving up, but unfortunately found that there was indeed no feasible solution.This stone room is not big, but it is still impossible to control more than two candlesticks at the same time.Wu Xie also thought about tying three candlesticks with a rope and stretching them in the middle at the same time.But the angle became a problem again.The height of the candlestick and the angle of movement are obviously carefully designed, and it is impossible for one person to pull the candlestick to a fixed angle.After tossing for a while, Wu Xie finally gave up and sat down with Zhang Daxia in the corner.

As soon as I was free, many things came to my mind. The hallucination just now was too realistic. In fact, Wu Xie still can't tell which part is the environment and which part is what happened in reality.He looked sideways, Zhang Qiling's profile coincided with the man in the dream, combined with various signs from the first acquaintance, Wu Xie hesitated for a while, and finally asked the question in his heart.

"Brother, there is actually a question I've been wanting to ask, I...have I met you before?"

No way, he can't just say directly, I just dreamed that you bathed me and pinched my butt.

Zhang Qiling was startled slightly, then his face darkened: "What did you remember?"

Seeing this, Wu Xie decided even more that that childhood memory might not be a hallucination at all, it might be a part of the memory he had forgotten.But this is not right, he seemed to be only five or six years old in the dream, and Zhang Qiling looked no different from now.If this matter is true, wouldn't Zhang Qiling not have aged at all in all these years?

Just as Wu Xie wanted to ask a question, he felt that the words were too ridiculous, how could this be possible.Speaking of which, I met Uncle Zhang when I was a child, maybe that person is Zhang Qiling's father, they just look very similar.The Zhang and Wu families were originally family friends, and they are well-matched when they get along... No, the point is, if this is the case, then naturally Zhang Qiling will not remember these things about his father's generation.

The more Wu Xie thought about it, the more he felt that this was the case, yes, this was the only explanation.So when Zhang Qiling looked over, he just shook his head and said, "It's nothing, I just saw some strange things in my hallucination."

Wu Xie briefly described what happened in the dream, but didn't directly say that he dreamed of Zhang Qiling, only that he dreamed of a person who looked a bit like him.After finishing speaking, Wu Xie smiled embarrassedly: "If it weren't for the age mismatch, I would have thought it was you."

"If it is true."

Wu Xie raised her head and met Zhang Qiling's gaze.Those were indifferent, calm eyes, but what was hidden behind this indifferent and calm, if he was unwilling to express, no one could see through.Wu Xie was stared at tightly, and suddenly had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, Zhang Qiling asked suddenly: "Wu Xie, do you believe in longevity?"

This question came too suddenly, and had nothing to do with the content of the previous conversation, Wu Xie was momentarily dumbfounded.Longevity, this seems to be something that people have longed for throughout the ages, from the emperors and generals to the common people, no one does not yearn for this word.Just because of the ambiguity of this matter, in the long history, "Longevity" has already been sublimated into an image, which only exists in people's imagination.Zhang Qiling's question seemed meaningless, but Wu Xie couldn't help becoming nervous.Because he realized that in the current situation, this person seems to be finally ready to tell him some things, and these things, or a certain part of them, are likely to be related to "longevity".

"I don't know." After thinking for a while, Wu Xie answered truthfully.Perhaps the absence of an outright negation proves that he has been shaken.What a vain and ridiculous thing this is, but just because Zhang Qiling said it, he couldn't laugh it off.So he asked back: "What about you, do you believe it?"

Zhang Qiling shook his head.

"There is no real 'longevity' in this world. Birth, old age, sickness and death are human nature. If you go against natural cause and effect, you must pay a price."

Wu Xie agreed at first, but the more he listened to it, the more wrong it became.Zhang Qiling means that there is no absolute longevity, but is there a "relative" one?What did he mean by the price?If this kind of thing happened to others, Wu Xie would definitely laugh out loud.But with Zhang Qiling, all the impossible becomes infinitely possible. If Zhang Qiling suddenly told him that he was [-] years old and an old fairy descended from the world, he probably wouldn't doubt it.

After thinking for a long time, Wu Xie sighed: "Brother, we are already trapped here anyway, to put it bluntly, maybe we won't be able to get out this time. Can you tell me the things you kept from me? , and who are you? What happened between you and me...and the Wu family? Are these related to the price of longevity you said?"

The battle of heroes of the Nine Gates, the snake-browed copper fish in the imperial mausoleum, the ultimate clue, longevity... Combining these factors, Wu Xie already has a vague outline of an event, but he is subconsciously unwilling to face it unless someone tells it himself Tell him that none of these things are coincidences.

For a long time, Wu Xie thought that Zhang Qiling would not answer for so long, but suddenly the man's voice came from the darkness.

"It's the ultimate." Zhang Qiling said, "Wu Xie, think about it carefully. Ever since you were young, haven't you heard these two words mentioned by people around you? Didn't your grandfather warn you about anything?"

Being reminded by Zhang Qiling, Wu Xie really had a flash of inspiration. The word "ultimate" seemed to have been mentioned somewhere, but it wasn't grandpa or third uncle, it seemed to be in the second uncle's bookstore.

"Ultimate..." Wu Xie mulled over these two words, but subconsciously blurted out a brand new vocabulary, "Book of Heaven?"

The moment he made the sound, Wu Xie himself was startled, and the impression in his mind suddenly became clear.

The last time Zhang Qiling only said the word "Ultimate", he really didn't have any impression, but now that "|Tianshu"| was mentioned, he remembered something vaguely.That's right, no wonder Zhang Qiling is so sure that he has heard about these things, because this is not a secret, the legend about the "Book of Heaven" is still circulating in the martial arts today.It's just that that matter is too incredible and too sensitive, and few people will mention it.

Every time there is a major turmoil in the martial arts, the cause is nothing more than a few things, such as the appearance of magic soldiers, the loss of secret books, or the turmoil of the family like this time.Every day in this arena, there are people who dream of being number one in the world. There are always people who believe that even if their martial arts are mediocre, they will be invincible if they get magic weapons, and they will be unrivaled in the world by practicing cheats.The appearance of the "Ultimate" of the Heavenly Book is similar to most stories, the only difference is that the appearance of this secret book not only caused turmoil in the martial arts world, but—

The world is in chaos.

Now the weather is good, the country is peaceful and the people are peaceful, the government and the people are calm, and the mountains and rivers are in good shape.But in fact, it has only been a few dozen years since the people escaped from the chaos of war, and it is not enough for a generation to forget the devastation caused by the change of dynasties and the disaster of war and disaster that changed hands.Even though the rumors have subsided and the new emperor is a virtuous emperor who loves the people like a son and governs the country well, people still regard the cause of the turmoil back then as unknown.And the source of that war was precisely this heavenly book that was said to be an ominous thing - "Ultimate Secret Scroll".

In order to obtain this scripture, the royal family of the previous dynasty actually mobilized the army to dig the ancient tomb under the precarious situation of internal and external troubles in the court, which greatly damaged the national power.Therefore, this volume of heavenly scriptures is also known as the "Volume of Disaster for the Nation".But in fact, at the beginning of the founding of our dynasty, the first emperor also devoted himself to finding the ultimate secret volume.Because the imperial court also mobilized its troops on a large scale at that time, there were not a few people who knew about it, and it was a tacit secret among the people of the world.

It would be too naive to think that the ultimate secret volume is some kind of martial arts secret book if the two emperors were so persistent.According to legend, what attracted the royal family of the previous dynasty to search for it even if the country was subjugated, and what made the first emperor never forget it was not the book itself, but what was recorded on it—the technique of longevity.

The more people have in life, the more they are afraid of losing, the more they yearn for eternal life.Regardless of the princes, generals, or poor people, it is the same on this point.The golden thread cloth clothes are just ordinary people.