Bright Moon and Cold Thousand Mountains

In the early morning of the next day, Liu Shiqi and Xie Xingzhou exchanged silver taels for horses at the inn keeper on the East Sea, and headed north.After traveling for 20 days, I finally arrived in Linzi before the start of the symposium.

After the fall of the Moon Worship Sect, the world's martial arts quickly rose together. There are centuries-old schools like the Twelve Floors and Ziyang Temple, and there are small and small households like the Bodhi Hall and Miaoyin Pavilion.

But recently, apart from Beichuan school, there is no other school that has been in the limelight.

Today's family respects Confucianism and Taoism, and the Wenfa Temple in Mount Wutai, which was flourishing in the previous dynasty, gradually declined.Later, in order to consolidate the emperor's rule in the rivers and lakes, the imperial court secretly supported the Beichuan School in Linzi.This sect takes joining the world to help the people as its own mission, emphasizing benevolence and righteousness, and respecting etiquette and law. It seems too pedantic in the Jianghu, but it just fell into the arms of the imperial court.

With this opportunity, the Beichuan school was able to flourish, and it vaguely assumed the status of the leader of the martial arts.This time, the hero posts are widely distributed, and all sects are invited to Linzi to participate in the symposium. In addition to giving lectures and discussing the Tao, learning the strengths of hundreds of schools, it also gives you a disgrace, so that you can consolidate your "orthodox" and "number one in the world" status in a fair and honest manner.

In mid-autumn, Linzi in the north of the Yangtze River is full of fallen leaves, and the ground is golden.

The head of the house, Shang Zihuai, treated guests well, and personally sold bread for the guests in the three largest inns in the city.Many well-known and decent families have their own Zhuangzi, except for a few scattered people from small families and small households, those who come to live in the inn are those who fish in troubled waters like Xie Xingzhou and Liu Shiqi.

"One room." Xie Xingzhou said to the errand who came up to him, and took out the hero card with the red rose door emblem printed on it.

That Xiao Er recognized this object, and he was a discerning person. When he saw the scabbard on Liu Shiqi's waist, he quickly squeezed out a bright smile: "My lord, this way please! You two are here to participate in our symposium in Linzi." Come on, eat and sit as you please, and Xuemen has already covered all the expenses on your return trip!"

Xie Xingzhou pretended to be surprised and said, "Yo, this is really thanks to the head of Shang."

Xiao Er repeatedly said "ashamed", as if he could make the decision to waive the fee, and led the two of them upstairs to settle down.The inn was quite empty, Xie Xingzhou asked for a room near the window to observe the movement, and after Xiao Er left, he only put away his luggage and went to catch Liu Shiqi who was still dawdling.

"Go down and eat something, I see you're so hungry that you're pale." Without any explanation, he grabbed Liu Shiqi and slapped the dust off his shoulders. Xie Xingzhou didn't allow Liu Shiqi to plead, and dragged him away.

Liu Shiqi had no room to resist, and was helplessly pushed to the table by him. Seeing his brother scan the menu from front to back, he finally ordered two bowls of beef noodles reservedly.

Liu Shiqi: "..."

It wasn't an illusion, the waiter's expression changed.

The noodles were to be cooked, and before they were served, Xie Xingzhou peeled a plate of melon seeds to relieve his boredom.Liu Shiqi couldn't understand his intention, moved the stool closer to him, and asked in a low voice, "Brother, why don't you go back to your room to eat?"

"Don't you understand?" Xie Xingzhou finally had the opportunity to show his prestige in front of his junior brother, his face was flushed, and he immediately became proud, so he said leisurely, "I heard that Shang Zihuai and the others have booked three inns, and the other two are almost full. Well, there are still ten days before the symposium, and this inn is naturally still empty. Usually, the ones who come to the finale are people with status, so we can probably hear a lot of gossip here..."

Liu Shiqi looked at Xie Xingzhou with admiration in his eyes. For the first time in his life, he felt that the little senior brother usually had a sharp tongue, but he didn't expect that his brain was also useful.

Xie Xingzhou laughed, and continued: "On the way here, when you were looking at the freshly baked buns, I heard something. The Taoist priests of Ziyang Temple are monks, and this time they live outside the city. Tang didn’t come to join in the fun, and Miaoyin Pavilion and Green Mountain Pavilion are still on the way... The twelfth floor——” He pinched a melon seed with two fingers, and gently knocked on the table, “I heard that they live in the backyard. Strange , the two pavilions and the first floor are all here."

When Liu Shiqi heard the name of the twelfth floor, he was in a daze for a moment, and said casually, "What 'even'?"

Xie Xingzhou flicked his forehead: "I don't even know if you came from the twelfth floor? Chu Henshui, the new head of Miaoyin Pavilion, fell in love with your big brother Yu Zheng, and asked someone to pass the brocade book and embroidered handkerchief, but the flowers fell on purpose. Ruthless, the girl's family has lost face, and it's embarrassing right now!"

Liu Shiqi clutched the place where he had played, speechless: "...How could I know this."

Xie Xingzhou spread his hands and said: "But this time I didn't expect to be able to face the twelfth floor. Coming from Ningzhou, it can be said that there are thousands of rivers and mountains... Zuo Nian also gave Shang Zi enough face."

Unexpectedly hearing the name of an old acquaintance from his mouth, Liu Shiqi shuddered all over, and his thoughts drifted away almost logically, going straight to the vague memories of seven years ago:

Does Yu Zheng have any girls like him?Is he still the bad temper he used to be?If the head of the twelfth floor is also here to lead people, then, wouldn't that be——

Maybe we can see Wendi?

The word "Wendi" is like a ray of Liu Shiqi's concern, which is usually buried in his heart, pretending that nothing happened, but when he suddenly thinks of it, he can't stop it.Memories of those years flooded in like a tide, he was like a lone boat, hit by thousands of waves erratically, dizzy, unable to tell the difference between south, east and north.

He... is he okay?Will it change?

If we meet again, can Wendi recognize himself at a glance?

Liu Shiqi next to him suddenly had a sad expression, his eyes drooped, and Xie Xingzhou just thought he remembered something sad, and reached out to pat him on the arm. Just as he was about to speak, a large group of people crowded in at the door.

"Does the person on the twelfth floor live here?!"

"Tell those hypocrites in Xixiu Mountain to get out!"

"Grandma, where did Zuo Nian die?! Do you really think there is no one in our Huashan sect?"

There were about a dozen people blocking the door, and the leader was a fat man who could be called fat and round.He was holding a sword in his arms, the sword was narrow, and he was so weak that it was almost broken.

The fat man walked across the lobby of the inn, and the space suddenly seemed cramped. Several guests ran away, not wanting to get involved in the dispute. Just as Liu Shiqi was about to get up, Xie Xingzhou held down his hand.He looked suspiciously, and the other party shook his head slightly, with a malicious smile clearly hanging on the corner of his mouth.

The fat man's voice was like a bell, full of energy, he wished everyone could hear him, and shouted with all his internal strength: "Grandson on the twelfth floor! Grandpa Huang knows you are hiding behind! Why, do you have the courage to kill but not the courage to confront him? ! When you killed my family of elders of the Huashan School, did you think about today!"

These words were made upside down, but everyone present heard them clearly, but they were all terrified, and they didn't dare to move any more in an instant.

"According to him, Elder Huashan's door was destroyed on the twelfth floor?" Liu Shiqi asked Xie Xingzhou in disbelief. Their table was in the corner, and no one noticed for a while, "They wouldn't do such a thing, would they?"

Xie Xingzhou bit the melon seed shell and said vaguely: "Is it hard to say that there are still few people who are decent and decent to do rubbish things? I saw that they all have red eyes, and there should be no fakes, let alone use this to trouble the twelfth floor."

Liu Shiqi still wanted to say something, but the Huashan faction people shouted and cursed louder, he frowned and kept silent.

"The ones on the twelfth floor! Call your head out, I know you live in the back, if you don't come out today, we will be blocked here and not leave! We will be blocked until the meeting! Although the Huashan faction is not as powerful as the family on the twelfth floor, But it's not easy to provoke—"

Fatty's voice echoed in the lobby, making people feel that the beams were shaking three times.

And the next moment, a white shadow suddenly came out from the corridor, like a bird flying lightly, stepped on a table in the middle in the blink of an eye, without making a sound.Just now he stood still, and looked up coldly, the scolding Huashan faction gasped miraculously, and silently fell silent!

Behind the white-clothed man, a few young people in their twenties came out in a file, standing next to him, with a hidden posture of being led by the white-clothed man, and quickly confronted the Huashan Party.

After seeing the face of the person stepping on the table clearly, Liu Shiqi almost stopped breathing.

He is about in his early twenties, with a spirit of vigor, white clothes are spotless, beautiful features, bright red cinnabar marks between his eyebrows, cicada-winged lancet on his waist, red phoenix eyes slanted upwards, moon lips that look like a smile but not a smile, with a divine light Introverted, elegant and unparalleled.

The surroundings became quiet all of a sudden, Liu Shiqi stared at the white robe intently, his heart seemed to be floating in the sea, drifting with the current and finding no place to settle.

He still remembers the child who was a few years older than himself, when he heard his name, he held his hand with joy and said with a smile: "I also have a younger brother in my family, why don't you recognize me as an older brother?"

He thought that he had forgotten the other person's appearance long ago, but he still recognized it at the first sight, even if it was only for a moment, even if it felt extremely strange, the name was ready to be pronounced——

"On the twelfth floor, the disciple heard the flute. Dare I ask this brother, who kept arguing at the door of the inn in broad daylight, and pointed out that he wanted to see the head of my family. Did he have any old affairs with his old man?"

After the man in white finished speaking, he looked condescendingly at the Huashan sect, then jumped off the table and stood opposite the fat man, raised his hand and saluted politely, quite like a gentleman.

Swords were on the verge of breaking out in front of the lobby, and at the table in the corner of the inn, Liu Shiqi's eyes suddenly turned red.

And the confrontation continued.

When Fatty Huang saw the disciples on the twelfth floor, he was inexplicably short of breath, and insisted: "Why, do you dare to do it or not?! This morning I sent Elder Xu's own Zhuangzi, a family of eighteen with servants, all In the hospital of death! The corpse is full of knife wounds, the knife edge is narrow, and you sent Chunshui knife technique when you saw it! The twelfth floor just arrived in Linzi last night, and the person died this morning. Is this a coincidence? Could it be a coincidence that the lancet I owned was also a coincidence?!"

The more he spoke, the angrier he became, and his whole body turned into a red gourd on the spot. In the end, he was filled with righteous indignation, and with a big wave of his hand, a Huashan disciple next to him immediately presented a knife that hadn't wiped off the blood.

The blade is narrow, shaped like a willow leaf, as thin as a cicada's wing, and makes a slight sound when it is swung——

It is indeed a lancet held by the disciples on the twelfth floor!Immediately, the expressions of all the young people behind Wen Di changed slightly, and they looked at him in unison.

But Fatty Huang was still yelling: "The corpse is outside the inn, if you have the guts, go and see for yourself! Don't say that grandpa is slandering you!"

At the gate, the Huashan faction dispersed, made way for a passage, and walked out without changing expression after hearing the flute.

There were few people on the bustling street at this time, and there were more than a dozen corpses neatly arranged outside the inn, leaving a few thin bloodstains on the vital parts, but there were not many signs of struggle.Wen Di frowned and remained silent, but did not speak out to argue.

Fatty Huang took a panoramic view of all this, thought he was guilty, and snorted coldly without losing the opportunity: "A servant escaped from the clutches of the devil and survived by luck. I see how you can argue! ——Bring it here!"

Several people pushed and shoved a sallow and thin man between Huang Fatty and Wendi.Fatty Huang pressed his shoulders and said, "What did you see, tell this young master?"

The man's whole body was like sifting chaff, and he couldn't utter a complete word for a long time. The fat man was annoyed, and just about to teach him a lesson, Wen Di gently and deftly reached out his hand to stop him, and said softly to the man, "Don't worry, I saw it." Whatever you tell the truth."

He looked at Fatty Huang, always in a gentle and easy-going manner, but his words pierced the other's throat like a thorn: "If it's really ours, then I will tell the head to make a decision. But if the teacher of your sect This person has lied, the ends of the earth, the places where he can see on the twelfth floor, he can never live his whole life in peace."

After Wendi finished speaking slowly, the man let out a scream, and sat down on the ground with his legs limp, crying, "Yes! It's the man in white! When I was ugly, when I was ugly, I got up at night and saw a man in white jump over the wall and enter. , quickly hid. He, he killed Mr. Xu, Mrs.... There are many people! The master couldn't beat that man, he cut his belly open, and his intestines flowed all over the place... He killed someone and put the corpse neatly placed in the yard..."

Fatty Huang waved his hand, stopped his next words, and narrowed his eyes: "There are all witnesses and evidence, I can see how you quibble on the twelfth floor!"

"Sophistry?" Wen Di repeated softly, tilting his head thoughtfully.

The fat man seemed to be unreasonable, just about to continue yelling, Wen Di suddenly pulled out the knife in his waist, turned around and slashed at the left arm of the fat man involuntarily.

The blade hummed, he was also a martial arts practitioner after all, Fatty Huang reacted quickly, and quickly turned sideways to avoid it.But before he could stand still, Wendi's second saber hit his waist like thunder and lightning, and at the same time made a hook finger with his left hand, heading towards his eyes!

Fatty Huang let out a loud roar, unsheathed his long sword and parried in mid-air, he was completely enraged, and attacked Wendi's lower body with a sweeping leg.Wendi seemed to have expected it long ago, one hand changed from claw to palm, supported on the spectator by the side, jumped up, easily dodged the strong wind under his feet, and at the same time slashed back with the lancet——

Before he came back to his senses, the side of his neck was cold, and Fatty Huang's hands and feet froze immediately.

Wen Di landed behind him on the left, and leaned close to Fatty Huang's ear, his voice was as vigorous as silk but concealed inner strength, so that everyone inside and outside the inn could clearly hear: "Senior, you can kill people with tricks but don't kill them. In the throat... This is the Spring Water Knife Technique, it is not something that can be pretended by some hide-and-seek rats."

The scene was condensed at this moment, Fatty Huang was put on the neck with a knife, and he didn't dare to vent his breath, but Wen Di's brows sharpened suddenly, he was no longer the modest gentleman just now, making it difficult for people to find out his reality.

During the stalemate, the sound of horseshoes came from a distance, and a person spoke as if they were close at hand: "Wear the flute, be presumptuous!"

As soon as he heard the flute, he put the knife back into its sheath, and took a step back to the side.When the horse neighed and stopped at the door of the inn, Wendi bowed his head respectfully and said to the horseman: "Master."

Zuo Nian turned over and frowned immediately: "What's going on?"

Xie Xingzhou had a good time watching the excitement, and just wanted to communicate with Liu Shiqi, when he turned around, he found that the younger brother had disappeared at some point, and the broken knife Changhe leaning on the table had also disappeared.He frowned, secretly thinking that this was something on his mind, and immediately ignored the fact that he hadn't eaten noodles yet, so he got up and went upstairs to find someone.

Pushing open the door, Xie Xingzhou really saw Liu Shiqi in the room.His thoughts are not as delicate as Feng Tingyun's, and he is not born with the ability to coax others. Seeing that the other party's expression is different now, he can only ask softly: "What's wrong?"

Liu Shiqi didn't answer, Xie Xingzhou asked again: "That man...you have been thinking about him, right? Back then you were afraid that my senior brother and I would catch the wrong person and would make trouble for him. The child named Wen...was him? "

This time Liu Shiqi nodded. He sniffed, but still didn't speak, straightened up and opened the window.From his room happened to have a panoramic view of everything on the street outside the inn.

Just when Xie Xingzhou thought he was going to keep silent and was ready to accompany him to let go of his grievances, Liu Shiqi leaned against the window and suddenly said, "I'm afraid of seeing Zuo Nian."

The scene from that year was still lingering, he saw Zuo Nian slit the throat of a senior sister, the blood stained the snow-white skirt red.

Xie Xingzhou didn't understand what grievances and grievances there were between them for so long and couldn't let go, so he nodded reservedly, stood next to him, observed the movement of his head with him, and comforted him: "If you don't see it, you will see it, anyway, you are already me. It’s my younger brother, and they dare not do anything to you with me here.”

Liu Shiqi smiled gratefully at him, still staring at Wendi downstairs.

They left briefly, but the people downstairs were not as impatient as before.Zuo Nian heard a general statement from a disciple, his expression changed, and he couldn't help but slap Wendi with his palm: "Nonsense!"

His palm looked powerful, but it didn't have much strength when it was actually slapped on the body. It was purely a show for the Huashan sect. Hearing the flute, he immediately understood and endured it submissively, but his face was still not convinced, and he argued: "Master! They It is clear that it is to frame my faction's reputation, and it was deliberately picked at such a time—”

"Shut up!" Zuo Nian retorted "angrily", then turned to Fatty Huang of the Huashan School, curbed his anger, and said in a good voice, "Wen Di left Xixiu Mountain for the first time, and he has always defended our disciples. For the sake of his youth and ignorance, don't be as knowledgeable as him. Make it up to senior, hurry up!"

Wen Di pursed his lips, and turned his gaze around Fatty Huang's face indistinctly. He muttered something first, and then bowed perfunctorily: "Yes, this junior is being reckless, and I still hope that senior will forgive me."

Zuo Nian was still going to get angry: "You kid, at least you have to apologize—"

"Forget it, let's go, Master Zuo." Another young disciple of the Huashan School couldn't see it, and called out first.Although anyone with a discerning eye can see that at the age when ordinary people hear the flute, they can worship and get married, why is it still called "young and ignorant", Zuo Nian gave them this step, even if they have evidence in hand, they dare not go downhill , stabilize the situation first, and then it will not be too late to seek justice.

Zuo Nian looked at him, obediently accepted the sentence "Forget it", and said kindly, "What's the name of this nephew?"

The man said: "I'm Zhao Zhen, Zhao Yang's son from the Huashan School, my father went to meet friends today, and the boy came here on his behalf. This is my uncle Huang Yuanyi, I have offended you a lot, please forgive me."

Zuo Nian smiled and said: "It's okay, it's okay, it turned out to be the young head of the Huashan faction. It's natural for your faction to be a little anxious when such a tragedy happened. My nephew doesn't know, I sent all the disciples who have learned the Spring Water Sword Technique, Liu Ye The surname is engraved on the knife, can you borrow the 'murder weapon' to have a look? In this way, I can have a thorough investigation, and I will definitely give you justice!"

Hearing what he said, even Huang Yuanyi, who looked like a red gourd, stopped for a while, snorted coldly, and asked others to offer the lancet again.Zuo Nian took it over himself, turned the handle of the knife, and really saw a lettering on the bottom.

With a strange expression on his eyebrows, he handed the knife to Wendi.Wen Di didn't understand, so he turned around to look inside, his pupils shrank slightly, his hand shook, and the knife almost fell to the ground.

He lost his voice: "Impossible! Senior sister was with us yesterday!"

I saw a fingernail-sized character engraved on the bottom of the lancet, horizontally and vertically, it was the character "Song".And the most famous disciple with the surname Song in Xixiu Mountain is none other than Senior Sister Song Min'er.

Zhao Zhen noticed the abnormality, pressed forward step by step, and asked: "Oh? It seems that the left head has already made a judgment in his heart? Then let's not waste our words here, and ask the left head to call this girl. Let's confront each other face to face, so as not to spread the word across the air, which is easy to cause people to think too much. Senior, what do you think?"

After a moment of silence, Zuo Nian raised his head, without losing his composure, nodded and said, "That's natural. Adi, where is Min'er?"

"I went to buy rouge with Lingxi this morning. When I came back, I said that I was too tired and wanted to sleep more. Just now... when Senior Huang invited us out, I saw that the door of the senior sister's room was closed, so I didn't call her." Wen Di cautiously replied, "But Master, last night I checked the ward with Lingxi, she is indeed there..."

"It's useless to talk too much," Zuo Nian interrupted him, waving his hand and said, "Lingxi, go and call Song Min'er."

The author has something to say:

continue tomorrow w