Snake Tale

The Story of the Snake · Zhou Budan

Words: 6432

更新时间：2019-03-2023:01:24

Everyone was covered by the oncoming swarm of insects. First, their sight was blocked, and then there was a sharp pain in their bones. The red poisonous insects went straight into the holes.Those caught in the attack let out screams of pain and were lucky enough to avoid their vital organs. They were also touched by the poisonous insects, causing a searing pain, and strings of bright red and translucent blisters quickly appeared on the body. The pain was so great that he fell off his horse; and the unfortunate person who was drilled into his orifice by poisonous insects could only feel the poisonous insects squeezing and biting in his blood vessels and flesh, fell to the ground convulsing, screaming and writhing, allowing the poison to swim through the whole body, It festered into a puddle of flesh.

Luo Yi grabbed Shen Yuzhu and went straight to the tied horses in front of the posthouse.Cut off the reins, jumped on the horse, and galloped against the wind.But after hearing the wailing resounding through the snow valley behind him, he hurriedly turned his head and saw that the swarm of poisonous insects was like a bright red snake letter. It only licked lightly at the crowded place, and thousands of people were attacked and fled in all directions. Pieces of corpses and pus and blood were left on the boundless snow.

The two galloped their horses for several miles before they left the piercing screams of despair far behind their ears.Shen Yuzhu's injury was not healed, and he couldn't stand the wind and snow, Luo Yi predicted that the pursuers would lose their track, so he tightened his reins and walked slowly on the snowy ground.

After a short walk, I saw a green roof tile appearing in the white snow in front of me.Looking closer, it is a shrine that has been abandoned for many years.

Luo Yi got off the horse and took Shen Yuzhu into it to avoid the wind and snow.A thick layer of falling snow had accumulated in the paper burning stove in front of the door, and the statues in the temple had collapsed, and the yellow silk scarves and streamers adorning the statues were lying on the ground, exuding a cold musty smell.

He stared at the blurred statue of gods, thinking, these gods can't protect themselves, who can they protect?

He cleared out a little space for Shen Yuzhu to rest for a while.He walked to the snow field, scooped up a handful of cold snow, rubbed his face, and washed away the exhaustion from day-to-day running.He took out the copper flute and used the whistle to contact the subordinates who had left earlier.He picked up firewood and struck flint, trying to light a bonfire.

The wood that had been burned for a long time barely released a puff of smoke, which spread around the low beams.It took a long time for the wood to make a faint crackling sound.

He and Shen Yuzhu sat opposite each other in front of the gradually burning fire, talking about that weird red umbrella woman facing the bonfire.Shen Yuzhu said that it was an elder of the Qin Wei clan, who met him once by chance.He is surly and eccentric, not an easy person, but because of his outstanding skills, the courage to be a ten thousand husband, and the inexplicable resentment and attachment to Mrs. Zishuo, after Shen Yuzhu escaped from Zhong Lichun's surveillance, he sent Someone secretly contacted and told her about Mrs. Zishuo's whereabouts.

Shen Yuzhu had been running around for days, talking about all these causes and consequences, his face was already pale and exhausted.Luo Yi frowned and interrupted, "I'll talk about this later. You lie down and rest first, don't work hard."

Shen Yuzhu nodded in agreement, lay down on the bed, and soon fell asleep from exhaustion.Luo Yi stepped forward to check his injuries.The wound on his chest was actually more serious than what he had imagined, his pulse condition was vain, and it was a sign of exhaustion of energy and blood, and mental exhaustion.He was secretly startled, knowing that it would be difficult for Shen Yuzhu to bear the bumpy escape.

He was in a daze when he suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes outside.When he walked out of the shrine, he saw that his subordinates were not damaged, and came to him following the sound of the whistle.The black-armored warriors got off their horses one after another, saluted him swiftly, and said:

"Your Majesty, that woman took Mrs. Zishuo with her and left. Although the Qi soldiers were damaged, they still had fighting power, and they were chasing after the horseshoe marks. It is not suitable to stay here for a long time, it is better to evacuate as soon as possible!"

Luo Yiwei pondered for a moment, then made a decision, saying: "You are divided into two teams, one team protects Shen Yuzhu and goes southwest; the other team follows me..."

He paused, and said slowly: "Go to meet Qi soldiers."

With the current manpower and Qi soldiers head-to-head confrontation, there is simply more danger than fortune.The faces of the warriors under him couldn't help showing surprise.However, they are all well-trained warriors selected from thousands of miles. The military order has been issued, and even if they are in front of the sword, they will die soon.Therefore, he quickly wiped away his doubts, and responded with a restrained voice: "Yes!"

Luo Yi turned around in the shrine.Walking to the side of Shen Yuzhu who was taking a nap, she quietly looked at his sleeping face.Luo Yi had already made up his mind, and his heart was silent, but he suddenly remembered that Shen Yuzhu said that day, no matter when and where, he would be waiting for him.

He thought to himself: "Shen Yuzhu, if I never hear from you again, will you still wait for me? How long will you wait?"

Suddenly an indescribable impulse surged into his heart, Luo Yiqiang suppressed himself, just leaned down and kissed his forehead lightly.Just about to get up, she suddenly heard Shen Yuzhu softly say: "Before I left... I left a letter for Zhong Lichun."

Luo Yi froze his movements slightly, and looked at his face in a blink of an eye.Shen Yuzhu closed his eyes and said slowly: "I told her that when Mrs. Zishuo escaped from Qi State, she was actually pregnant with twins in her womb; I told her that you are not of Duke Huan's blood at all. In that prophecy, you will seize The last son of the king of Qi—”

He opened his eyes and looked at him quietly: "It's me, Shen Yuzhu."

Luo Yi felt a surge of anger slowly rising from his chest, looked at him coldly, and said, "Do you think she will let me go like this?"

Shen Yuzhu said lightly: "Of course not. In order to monopolize the power, Zhong Lichun didn't even care about his own life, so how could he let you go?"

Luo Yi was annoyed, "Then why did you do that!"

Shen Yuzhu pressed the wound on his chest, sat up slowly, stared into his eyes, and said, "Why do I do this, do you really not understand?"

He paused, and said in a low voice: "Are you going to leave me again, and make yourself a bait to lure away the pursuers?"

Luo Yi clenched his teeth and refused to speak.Shen Yuzhu turned his eyes to the crackling bonfire, and the red flames illuminated his pale and bewildered face more and more.After a long time, he smiled softly and said, "Luo Yi, you are always like this... You say it nicely, you will never give up on me no matter what, but, whenever this is the case, you always leave me on your own initiative... ...You have never been willing to trust me, and you have never been willing to let me advance and retreat with you...not once—”

Luo Yi clenched his palms tightly, gritted his teeth, and said, "No!——You know...I...I don't think so." His thoughts were surging, and he couldn't tell clearly for a while, frowning tightly, he said in a low voice: "You must do this It would be too unfair to speculate on me!"

Shen Yuzhu took a deep look at him, then suddenly struggled to stand up, and walked straight out.Luo Yi was startled, then quickly got up and asked, "Where are you going?"

As Shen Yuzhu walked away, he said coldly: "I have my own opinion, what does it have to do with you?"

Luo Yi said anxiously: "You are seriously injured, don't act rashly!"

Seeing that Shen Yuzhu turned a deaf ear to it, he forced his weak and injured body to go his own way into the howling wind and snow.He couldn't help getting annoyed, caught up with him a few steps, grabbed his arm, and reprimanded angrily: "Shen Yuzhu, you are simply unreasonable! What are you thinking about at this moment?!" Wu

Shen Yuzhu was already extremely weak, being pulled by him, the wound caused a sharp pain, and he was almost out of breath.Falling down in Luo Yi's arms, he couldn't help panting.Luo Yi took off his cloak and wrapped him tightly, and suddenly heard him laughing mockingly in his arms, saying, "I won't die for love."

Luo Yi was startled, and fixed his face.Shen Yuzhu's face was pale, he closed his eyes tightly, and said softly: "Luo Yi... I have nothing to do with this world, except you. If you weren't in this world, everything in the world would be meaningless to me, I... I'll just spend this life in a daze, what difference does it make if it's life or death?"

He opened his eyes, looked deeply into those blue eyes, and asked softly sadly:

"You really don't know what you mean to me?"

Luo Yi's heart surged suddenly, and he felt an unprecedented heat and sorrow rushing into his heart, almost drowning him.He hugged Shen Yuzhu tightly in the storm, and felt his body trembling uncontrollably, not because of the cold—but because of the surging scorching heat in his heart, like a moth pounced on a flame, mixed with pain With joy and joy, all foreign things were left behind for a while.

He pressed Shen Yuzhu's forehead, not knowing how to speak, and after a long time he said softly: "...I'm sorry."

Shen Yuzhu shook his head, grabbed his fingers, looked at him with piercing eyes, and said, "Promise me."

Luo Yi was about to speak, when suddenly a tragic cry came from the empty snow field.The two looked up, but saw a figure staggering and running from a distance. Seeing them, they shouted more and more mournfully: "Help me! Help me!"

Luo Yi and Shen Yuzhu couldn't help being shocked, that person was none other than Mrs. Zishuo who was already bleeding all over his face!

After a moment of hesitation, Mrs. Zishuo had already rushed forward.From a distance, it's not clear, but when I look closely, I realize how horrible her injuries are.But seeing her beaded hairpin falling loose, her hair that was originally black satin like clouds is now dirty like unkempt grass; her face and body are covered with black and festering sores, and worms crawl in and out of the affected area from time to time, eating away at the flesh and blood She seemed to be tormented by severe itching and severe pain, and she couldn't help scratching her body with both hands. When she raised her hands, she saw that her slender fingers had been pried off by someone, not to mention that she was covered in rags and pus and blood— ——Only a few hours away, the noble woman who was originally extremely beautiful and arrogant has been tortured into this inhuman, ghost-like appearance!

Even though Luo Yi and Shen Yuzhu no longer have a good impression of this "birth mother" who looks like a peach and plum and has a heart like a snake, they can't help being horrified and sympathetic when they suddenly see such a cruel situation.

But Mrs. Zishuo howled intermittently: "That lunatic, that bitch...she doesn't want to kill me at all—she wants me to live and die! I—I'm not her at all...I told She made a mistake...I begged her to spare me...she couldn't listen to anything...she also said that she would cut off my limbs...that she would make me into a 'worm figurine' and take me The heart, liver, lungs and viscera nourish poisonous insects..."

Shen Yuzhu took a step forward, checked her symptoms for a while, then shook his head.

"The poison has entered the brain, and the mind is insane," he said in a low voice, "it can't be saved."

He turned to look at Luo Yi.I saw him frowning, staring at the screaming and twitching woman on the ground without saying a word, his right hand was tightly pressed on the hilt of his waist, his expression was gloomy, but he didn't move for a long time.

Shen Yuzhu said in his heart: "After all, she raised him. Even if she cut him off, he... still has no intention of killing." While thinking, he drew a dagger from his boot.

Luo Yi was startled when he saw this, and said, "What are you going to do?"

Shen Yuzhu said: "She is in so much pain right now, it's only compassionate to give her a happy life." After a pause, he said: "You don't have to make things difficult... just let me do it."

Luo Yi said: "You have never killed anyone with your own hands, so you shouldn't make an exception for me." While speaking, Qiang Ran drew out his sword.

Shen Yuzhu said softly: "It's better to let your warrior..."

Luo Yi shook his head, looked at his mother without blinking, and said in a low voice: "As a son, sending her the last journey with my own hands can be regarded as... a beginning and an end."

Shen Yuzhu stopped talking.The long sword rose and fell, a handful of blood spilled into the sky, and the wailing stopped instantly.

Luo Yi watched the blood roll down from the spine of the sword, blooming mournful red flowers on the snow.Mrs. Zishuo's beautiful head, once charming and seductive, is now rolled into the dust.He had imagined countless times how he would feel when the prophecy of the "evil demon" who accompanied him throughout his life and killed his biological mother finally came true.But when this moment finally came true, only the sound of Xueluo was heard, and the surrounding fields were completely silent. Today is no different from the past.

Am I just for this, have I been depressed all my life?he asked himself.In the heart, there is not even a trace of joy of retribution, nor is there a trace of shame that goes against ethics.Yes, it's just a sigh of desperation to meet impermanence.

But Shen Yuzhu let out a soft moan in surprise.He turned his eyes and saw that Shen Yuzhu suddenly showed a dignified expression, half-kneeling beside Mrs. Zishuo's severed head, and gently scratched her face with the tip of the dagger, and with a little force, a piece of human skin was uncovered .

Luo Yi's heart jumped suddenly, and he took a closer look.On Mrs. Zishuo's ruined face, one can vaguely see a layer of delicate human skin mask. When one corner is uncovered, one can see that the skin and bones underneath are different.

Luo Yi said in amazement: "This...?"

Shen Yuzhu was also puzzled. After a long time, he muttered: "I heard from my master that there is an extremely rare and superb technique that can forge a lifelike human skin mask, which fits with the texture of human bones. Over time, it will even gradually heal. On the original face, replace that person's real face..."

If it wasn't for the vicious method of the woman in red who used the torture of skinning and dismantling the flesh to torture Mrs. Zishuo, even after a hundred years, no one would know the truth.

Luo Yi hesitated and said, "This way...doesn't it mean—"

Shen Yuzhu said in a low voice: "That's right... Maybe this person is not Mrs. Zishuo at all."

Luo Yi was startled.This matter was too unimaginable, and suddenly, he didn't know how to react.

Shen Yuzhu stared blankly at the damaged face, and suddenly said: "That's right."

Luo Yi asked blankly, "What?"

Shen Yuzhu raised his head and smiled at him, and said, "Mrs. Zishuo, who was welcomed back by the people of Qi a few years ago, must be a fake. According to common sense, even if parents are not 'love and desire' for their children, they will not be so unreasonable." She is so mean that she wants to die with hatred. She sacrificed her true colors and deliberately tried to usurp power; and you are the only person close to the original Mrs. Zishuo, and you are the most likely to reveal her identity. Later, Kuai felt a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh, so..."

Looking at Shen Yuzhu's smile, Luo Yi hesitated, "...'So'?"

Shen Yuzhu held his hand and said: "So, your mother has never hated you. Maybe she is still alive, but she has other difficulties and cannot recognize you..."

Luo Yi stared at him for a long time, finally smiled and said no more.In fact, if you think about it carefully, Shen Yuzhu's reasoning still has various loopholes that cannot be justified.But for some reason, Luo Yi suddenly didn't have the heart to chase after him and find out the truth.He just held his hand tightly and thought slowly: "What's the truth, it's not too late to investigate later. It's just that the weirdo hates her so much, since she escaped—"

Before the words fell, the faces of both of them changed.I only heard a desolate chant, as if right next to my ears—on the vast snowy field, the soul-stirring song of dragon and snake floated again.

Luo Yi's expression turned serious.The samurai under his command came up to guard him one after another.

That strange color is like a ghost, it is on the left for a moment, and it is on the right for a moment, and it quickly comes to the eyes in the blink of an eye.

The woman's attire was still the same, and the red umbrella was folded and carried behind her waist. I really don't know where she hid those creepy poisonous insects?But seeing that her expression was cold, she turned a blind eye to them, she bent down without saying a word, carefully inspecting the scattered corpses of Mrs. Zishuo on the ground with different heads.After seeing the abnormal shape of the human skin mask, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

Shen Yuzhu looked at her white fingertips brushing gently over the festering sores, suddenly raised his head, and said coldly, "Who killed her?"

Shen Yuzhu took a step forward, subconsciously protecting Luo Yi behind him, and said, "Senior, as you can see, this person is not the object of your hatred at all. It is meaningless to find out who killed her now."

The woman said coldly: "Even if she's not that little slut, she should still be a plaything in the hands of my Qinmata people. How could someone unrelated take her life!"

There was a gloomy smile on her face, and she said: "I concocted her to be in a good place, didn't you hear that? How wonderful was that howling of pain, and how interesting was that ugly begging—and now, all Ruined by you!"

When everyone heard him say such vicious words from his fresh and beautiful lips, they couldn't help feeling a chill run down their spines.

The woman, who claimed to be from Qinmata, looked around at everyone with resentful eyes, and slowly said: "If you dare to spoil my interest, you must have the awareness to replace yourself—ah!"

She suddenly let out a scream, her expression changed drastically, her body shook, as if she was so shocked by a strong emotion that she couldn't stand, and almost fell into the snow.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, momentarily stunned.I saw Qin Yuren panting violently, staggered a few steps forward, stretched out his hand tremblingly, his face was shocked and ecstatic, and said incoherently: "It's you...you're here!"

That slender finger is Luo Yi in the middle of the crowd.

An ominous premonition floated in Shen Yuzhu's heart, and he subconsciously grabbed Luo Yi's hand.

Luo Yi frowned slightly.Although he didn't know why, he also felt that the person in front of him was weird and dangerous, not Yi Yu's character.Without waiting for an order, the guards around had already drawn out their swords—but they saw the Qinmata people waving their five fingers, as elegant and elegant as waving five strings, and only heard sharp objects piercing the air, and the swords of all the people present suddenly snapped and fell into the snow one after another On the ground!

Before Luo Yi could be terrified, Qin Yuren's ethereal and swift figure was faster than the shadow of a sword. In this split second, he had already leaped to his eyes and grabbed his wrist!

Everyone's exclamations came from beside his ears, Luo Yi felt as if he was riding a cloud, and he couldn't help but be held hostage by her and run away.

He was extremely annoyed, and was waiting for his luck to resist, when he suddenly saw a silver light flash between the other finger of the woman, and several silver needles shot out, piercing into his Fengchi, Shanzhong, Lieque without any mistake. Several large acupuncture points were instantly blocked, and they were unable to move!

Luo Yi could only hear the cold wind whistling by his ears, as if thousands of sharp knives were scraping his cheeks.Annoyed that he couldn't control his limbs and face freely, his mouth and nose were forced to be poured with cold wind, and he felt as if his internal organs were being stripped from the cold, and his eyes were even more painful from the sting.Annoyed in his heart, he wanted to shake off the bondage several times, but he felt like a stone sinking into the sea, and there was no waves.

How could the Qinmata people not notice the fish struggling on the hook?Immediately mobilizing his internal energy, Luo Yi's already extremely swift movement speeded up a little bit. Luo Yi felt that his body was like a flag being shaken, and he was pulled straight by the wind with a "hoo", and it became more and more difficult to control himself. .

I don't know how long the Qinmata people have been running on the snowy field. On the vast snowy field, there is a huge snow mountain with a radius of [-] feet. The top of the mountain seems to be sliced ​​off by a sharp axe.The closer to the foothills of the giant mountain, the more the ice crumbles.A large river meanders through, and there are countless ice rocks and boulders standing in a forest, sometimes like horns clashing, sometimes like wolf teeth, sometimes two peaks stand side by side, more than a hundred feet high, only a line of blue sky is exposed.

During the leap, the Qinmata people took advantage of the thin and brittle ice rocks like a dragonfly on the water, and rushed away. Not only did the speed not decrease, but their posture drifted nimbly, like flowing clouds. Obviously, they are very familiar with the circuitous and complicated terrain of this place.

After a while, the people from Qinmata rushed to a valley at the foot of the mountain with Luo Yi in their arms, and stopped in their tracks.She handed Luo Yi forward lightly, and he felt the huge inertia dragging his body forward, hitting the ice with a bang, staggering involuntarily when he hit the ground, and rushing straight into a hidden place by the foot of the mountain. Inside the cave, on the smooth and tortuous ice road, go straight for hundreds of steps.

Luo Yi was secretly startled.In his life, he galloped on the battlefield, killing the enemy with his hands.Although he is injured now and has not returned to his former peak state, he is like a childlike child in front of her, unable to fight back.Unexpectedly, there are such superb martial arts in the world!How many strange people like this who hide in the dark and have unfathomable depths exist in this world?

While thinking, he leaned his back against the ice wall and looked around.The inside of this cave is actually very wide and grand. There are two or three gaps in the top of the cave, and the bright light is as moist as water pouring down, and then reflected by the crystal ice cones on the roof of the cave, illuminating the huge cave with brilliance. Exquisitely brilliant.It's just that there are still many dark and deep openings on the edge of the cave, and I don't know where they lead.

However, in the middle of this transparent and bright cave, there is a huge three-legged copper tripod, which is tumbling and steaming out clouds of cold and strange mist.Luo Yi took a closer look, and only then could he discern that many snakes, scorpions and poisonous insects were crawling on the edge of the giant tripod.

At this moment, Qin Yuren stooped into the cave, and casually put the red umbrella behind her waist on the wall, acting very naturally, obviously this is her usual resting place.

Luo Yi had just been awed by Qin Yuren's superb and superb body skills, and recalled that she was good at handling poisonous insects, and her temperament was extremely vicious and cruel. She was afraid and dared not act rashly. It is useless to fight recklessly. She kept me alive, obviously because she wanted something else. I have to hold my ground and wait and see what happens."