Embrace the blade

"That's all I know." Elder Xugu cast his eyes on Jiang Li, "As for what happened later, how did Jiang Jingming die, and how did the sword get lost, I'll ask him."

Jiang Li hesitated for a moment, and said: "The "Longevity Secret" was hidden by my father, and the Buyi sword was the only clue. This news was leaked and turned into rumors in the world."

With Jiang Luming's death, the "Secret of Longevity" has become more and more mysterious in the minds of Jianghu people. Since Jiang Luming's sword of no doubt is the clue, and he is not in Guiyun Villa, finding his grave is naturally the key.

Jiang Jingming heard the news in Luoxia Valley, and immediately sent a letter to the old man Xugu for advice on the Qimen Dunjia technique. He tried his best to surround the valley with formations, and the people who came to explore returned without success, and they kept the peace for many years .

Until Jiang Li grew up to be 14 years old.

Every year in winter and summer, Guiyun Mountain Villa will send a team to deliver the necessary supplies to the tomb guards in Sunset Cloud Valley, led by trusted people, follow the route given by Jiang Jingming to dissolve the formation and enter the valley.

A group of people took advantage of this opportunity, lurking outside the valley for a long time, waiting for the team delivering supplies, and then followed them from a distance, taking advantage of the team's lax defense at the moment when they entered the Sunset Valley, they suddenly launched an attack, intending to Attack into the valley.

Jiang Jingming hurriedly led his people to support him, and blocked the group at Taniguchi.

At that time, Jiang Li was ordered not to run around, so he and Ji Xiuming, who had already been adopted as a foster son, climbed up to the highest eaves, looked towards the valley mouth, saw the deep and shallow green forest under the sun, only the wind There was a faint sound of fighting.The two children did not quite understand what this meant.

As long as rumors about the "Longevity" are still circulating in the world, people's ambitions and desires will not diminish. The irony is that if you want to keep the "Longevity" from reappearing, you have to rely on the power it bestows. strength.

"One will inherit the "Secret of Longevity" and the Jinglan swordsmanship, and the other will go to Guiyun Mountain Villa with the delivery team." On the second night after repelling the attack, Jiang Jingming finally made up his mind.

"I knew you were going to make a plan." Zhou Jingtong was sitting in the room sewing a pair of thick-soled boots. Hearing this, she glanced at the screen and sighed with a smile, "If my cloud hasn't come out of the valley yet, I don't know where to go." How long does it take to come back after returning to Guiyun Villa, mother must make the boots bigger and more comfortable, so that he can wear them for a longer time."

Jiang Jingming glanced at her, and said with difficulty: "Jingtong, I haven't decided who to send away yet."

Zhou Jingtong's joyful movements froze, and her face changed instantly: "What nonsense are you talking about? Yun Ruo is your own son. If you don't send him to Luoyang, why don't you push him into the fire pit and let him practice "The Secret of Longevity" ?”

"...I haven't made up my mind yet." Jiang Jingming asked back as if talking to himself, "I can't harm Yun Ruo, so can I decide Xiu Ming's fate without hesitation?"

"Then what is Yunruo's fate?" Zhou Jingtong asked him, "Will my son be trapped in the valley for the rest of his life, or will he die because of the "Secret of Longevity"?"

Jiang Jingming was so confused that he couldn't answer.

"No matter what you think, I won't allow Yun Ruo to practice the "Longevity Formula"!"

Jiang Jingming sighed deeply: "Did you have no feelings for Xiuming at all these years together day and night?"

Zhou Jingtong paused, and her face softened a little: "As long as you send Yun Ruo to Guiyun, I will of course treat Ji Xiuming as my own and make him up."

He just shook his head without saying a word.

"Jiang Jingming, let me ask you." Zhou Jingtong couldn't bear to pick up the scissors on the table, pointing the blade at him, "Why did you adopt Ji Xiuming in the first place? Seeing that he has redeemed him pitifully, why do you have to adopt him as a foster son?" , Didn’t you fancy his roots and want him to replace Yun Ruo to inherit the "Secret of Longevity"? Don't think I don't know, you have already been planning for this day, and when it comes to the end, you actually tell me that you can't bear it? "

"..." Jiang Jingming gritted his teeth, and raised his head to meet her sharp edge, "Yes, that's right! I adopted him with this in mind at the beginning, so every time I face him, every time he calls out respectfully and trustingly, My adoptive father, I will feel that I am despicable!"

Zhou Jingtong slowly put down the hand holding the scissors, and asked, "You say that, do you decide to sacrifice Yunruo?"

"No, I haven't decided, I can't decide." Jiang Jingming buried his face in his left palm in pain, and the voice that came out became dull, "Both of them are my children, and I don't want to sacrifice either of them. I hope that both of them can leave the valley, roam freely in the world, and live in peace. How can I have the heart to let them go through what I have experienced, I wish I could bear it all for them..."

Zhou Jingtong looked at him silently, and after a while, she suddenly said, "Since you can't make a decision, then I will help you." She turned to the screen, "Yun Ruo, come out."

Jiang Jingming raised his face in shock, seeing Jiang Li slowly coming out from behind the screen, he couldn't help but ask, "You... who are you?"

"I wanted to make him happy when he heard the good news, but it turned out like this." Zhou Jingtong put her hands on Jiang Li's shoulders and whispered to him, "Didn't you tell mother that you wanted to go out and have a look? Are you talking to Jiang Li now?" If your father says it again, you can go out."

"..." Jiang Li met Jiang Jingming's struggling eyes. He knew that with his father's temperament, he would never have the heart to refuse his pleading, but he was still unable to speak.

Zhou Jingtong urged: "Hurry up, hurry up!"

"Father," Jiang Li said after thinking about it, "I'll stay and let Ji Xiuming go."

"What are you talking about!" Zhou Jingtong was completely anxious, "Do you know that you will stay in the valley for the rest of your life, and you may even die!"

Even Jiang Jingming said, "Yun Ruo, do you really understand the consequences?"

Jiang Li nodded slowly: "I understand, I have thought clearly."

"You...!" Zhou Jingtong was so angry that she slammed the door and went out.

Jiang Jingming stared straight at him, as if he still couldn't get back to his senses. After a long time, he tremblingly grasped his hand, his words choked with sobs: "Yun Ruo, it's my father who's sorry for you."

"Can I ask a question?" Jiang Lanze interrupted the narration cautiously.

"what?"

"It's just... Since you really want to go out, why did you give up the only chance to Senior Brother Ji?"

Jiang Li was silent for a while, and then said softly: "Because I really want to go out, I think Ji Xiuming must also want to go out, and I am older than him, as an older brother, I think it is only natural to let him go."

Jiang Lanze asked again: "But I saw that your relationship is not very good just now, did something happen later?"

Jiang Li took a deep breath, his gaze fell into the void, and he said in a calm tone, "After Ji Xiuming went to Guiyun Villa, he never went back to Luoxia Valley. I practiced martial arts with my father in the valley. In the late spring and early summer of this year, the Prajna Sect pretended to be Guiyun's delivery team, broke the formation with a method known only to Ji Xiuming, and entered the Sunset Valley."

The Prajna Sect was well prepared. Not only did they change into the robes of Guiyun Villa, but they also wore human skin masks. A team of chariots and horses drove up, and Jiang Jingming noticed something strange when they got in front of them.

And the Prajna Sect didn't expect to get away with it, and the strikes were faster, all the swords were revealed in the blink of an eye, and they slashed at people's vitals, and countless men in black jumped out of the carriage, overturning the wooden boxes brought to the ground, The kerosene gurgled and flowed, and when the ground jumped, the valley burned.

When Jiang Li rushed out with his sword in hand, the shouts of killing had already rang out. He looked around in the turbulent sea of ​​flames, and barely saw his father's figure.Jiang Jingming was surrounded by a group of men in black. He couldn't deal with it with one arm, so he stared at the leader of the opponent. The leader obviously had profound martial arts skills, and he couldn't help blocking successive sword moves with his changing palms.The two of them were stuck in a stalemate, but the light of the knives cutting all around had already left dense wounds on Jiang Jingming's body, and the blood had already soaked through his clothes.

Jiang Li jumped up in the air, quickly stepped over the shoulders of the gathered men in black, skimmed close to the leader's back, and thrust out his sword suddenly!

In the blink of an eye, the leader turned around to block Jiang Li's attack. How could Jiang Jingming miss this moment, the long sword followed, and hit the vital part of the leader's chest, creating a bloodstain and tearing apart On the front of his clothes, a crimson flower tattoo under the collarbone was exposed, which was extraordinarily bewitched by the light of the fire.

Just as Jiang Li was about to take a closer look, there was a sudden sound of breaking wind, and a feathered arrow flew towards him and hit him on the shoulder. The arrow seemed to carry a huge force, and it actually brought him back and fell heavily to the ground.Jiang Li pulled out the arrow, and the blood splashed away immediately. He was so painful that a layer of cold sweat oozed from his forehead. Only then did he realize that the sides of the arrow were unusually jagged. When he pulled it out forcibly, he forcibly hooked off a piece of blurred flesh.

At this moment, Zhou Jingtong, who appeared at an unknown time, snatched Jiang Li's saber, stretched out his hand to pull him up, and hurriedly said, "Follow me!"

She led Jiang Li to the bamboo forest involuntarily, and the sound of angry shouts and the clash of weapons gradually faded away behind her.Before Jiang Li had time to raise a question, Zhou Jingtong had already stopped, pushing aside a clump of lush bushes, hiding behind it was a section of narrow stone steps extending underground.Then she pulled Jiang Li and walked down quickly, and in the dimness she could roughly see an empty stone room inside, she let go of her hand and said, "Yun Ruo, you go in."

Jiang Li finally understood, and shook his head resolutely: "No, I want to go back and help my father."

"The situation is settled, you can't help anyone, go in!"

"I won't hide, I'll face it with you." Jiang Li said that he was about to snatch his sword back, but his hand was slapped away. He didn't want to force himself, so he looked directly at her and said loudly, "Mother, I don't need your protection, I'm not afraid of death!"

Zhou Jingtong raised her hand and slapped him hard on the face, and the crisp sound of 'pop' echoed in the stone room.

Jiang Li was stunned, he didn't care about the numbness in his cheeks, he only saw Zhou Jingtong's eyes were red, and the raised hand was trembling, as if the pain was worse than him.

"Why don't you listen to me!" Tears welled up in her eyes, and her angry voice was trembling, "I told you not to practice the "Longevity Formula" and you didn't listen, and I told you to hide and you didn't listen, you Do I have to be mad at me to be reconciled? Jiang Yunruo, how can you make my mother feel at ease like this?"

"Mother..." He was startled.

Zhou Jingtong pushed him in abruptly. He was caught off guard and fell to the ground. Some mechanism was triggered, and a stone wall fell down in front of him.Jiang Li panicked and rushed forward, the stone wall crashed to the ground, he hit it directly, warm blood flowed from his forehead, his eyes were dark, the last light in his vision was the falling crystal tears.He slapped the stone wall with all his strength, and shouted outside, but there was no response, only his gradually hoarse voice echoed in the stone room.

Before his strength was exhausted, Jiang Li got up and groped around looking for the mechanism to open the stone wall. However, this stone room was much larger than he expected, and it was connected to many stone rooms of different sizes until he bumped into it. Only after looking at a coffin placed in the middle did he realize that this was the basement of the remains of the Taihua School, and the one lying in the coffin in front of him was the rumored Gu Si.

Jiang Li didn't know how long he had been trapped in the basement. When he finally found the trap, opened the stone wall and walked out, Sunset Cloud Valley had already recovered its calm.

However, the Prajna Sect did not completely evacuate, and more than a dozen congregants remained in the valley pretending to be the gravekeepers of Guiyun Villa.

Jiang Li lived in a cave in the bamboo forest, observed these people from all over the valley secretly, and pieced together an important news from the few words they exchanged: Although they got the Sword of No Doubt that night, unexpectedly there was an oriole behind them. , encountered an ambush outside the valley, and in the chaos, Buyijian disappeared again.Because of this, they were left in the valley to search for clues and await orders.

One evening, when one of them was washing his face in the river, Jiang Li quietly appeared behind him and picked up the long sword that had been thrown on the grass.

Unfortunately, no useful information was obtained from these populations.

So he left Sunset Cloud Valley alone and stepped into this chaotic world.

There was silence in the room.

Qi Zhaoxi touched her left collarbone subconsciously, and stared at Jiang Li in a complicated and unspeakable manner.

Seeing this, the old man Xugu stood up and patted Jiang Lanze on the shoulder: "You and I go out first, the two of them have something to talk about."

Jiang Lanze was very confused: "How do you know they have something to say?"

The old man Xu Gu said without changing his expression: "Go out and tell me about your father's condition in detail."

Jiang Lanze immediately stood up, followed the old man Xugu out, and did not forget to turn around and close the door.

The two people in the room were still relatively silent, Jiang Li lowered his eyes, wondering what he was thinking.

Although the words he narrated were plain, the hatred for the Prajna Sect hidden in them was clear. After all, this is not a good time to confess.

Qi Zhaoxi sighed, trying to make his tone more comfortable, so as to break the stagnant atmosphere, he said softly: "Jiang Li, you have so many secrets in your heart, so sad, why don't you come and hug me?"

Jiang Li raised his eyes to look at him, and couldn't help but slightly curved his lips.

Qi Zhaoxi also smiled lightly, paused, and still couldn't help asking: "How much time do you have?"

Jiang Li said frankly: "I don't know, but it won't be too long."

Qi Zhaoxi was silent for a moment, but still wanted to ask: "Is there really no way to resolve it?"

"My father and grandfather have tried all the methods that can be tried. Maybe this is fate."

"Fate?" Qi Zhaoxi frowned.

"All karma is predestined, that is fate." Jiang Li said in a low voice, "The Jiang family brought the "Secret of Longevity" to the rivers and lakes, and enjoyed more than ten years of glory with it, so they are destined to pay the price for it."

"You actually believe this? What is fate? What is karma?" Qi Zhaoxi found it ridiculous. "Could it be that God wants me to meet you just to lose you?"

Jiang Li couldn't help being stunned.

The turbulent mood was about to break through his chest, Qi Zhaoxi suddenly didn't want to bear it anymore, stretched out his hand and hugged him into his arms, and said in a low and deep voice, "Jiang Li, don't die." His arms kept tightening, this embrace was warm but heart-warming. Difficult to breathe, as if afraid of Jiang Li dissipating through his fingers, he said, "Don't die, I like you."

"..."