There are bandits in Zhongshan

Under Zhuoguang Mountain, lava flowed wantonly, and occasionally gravel fell, and was soon swallowed up by the magma without a sound.

The black ring-shaped island is suspended above the flowing fire, and the base mixed with Kunlun jade is enough to withstand the temperature of the fire.

That is the heart-melting sword stove in the deepest part of Zhuoguang Mountain. According to legend, the sky fire is located under the calamity fire here, and the two ancient swords were cast here.

The fierce sword Chongxiao, and the emperor sword - Zhuoguang.

On the island, the craftsmen of the Huozheng clan are sweating profusely to forge the cut iron. They are all wearing shackles. Once they stop, they will be punished. No one dares to relax, and no one dares to resist.

They all know the consequences of resistance, and many people have been thrown into the sword furnace before their eyes.

The fierceness of the calamity fire is unbearable for ordinary people, let alone the calamity fire beside the sky fire, even gods may be hurt by it, let alone a monk who was originally a mortal.

In the center of the sword furnace, the high platform made of cut iron and red gold has taken shape, and the tongues of flames are constantly rushing to it, but it is always blocked by a layer of light blue spiritual power, which cannot be damaged at all.

And on the cliff in the north, the woman in Tsing Yi stood expressionlessly on the edge, motionless like a wooden sculpture, as if no sound could reach her ears, and no image could reach her eyes.

This is Fairy Yuyuan. Although she was looking at the high platform, she didn't seem to be looking at anything. She moved her eyes and said softly, "Have they passed?"

The tone is calm, without any ups and downs.

Ye Lianxi half-kneeled behind her, with a pious expression, as if she was worshiping a god: "Yes, the secret technique of Wulingmen is extraordinary, it can even affect those spirit beasts, if—"

Yu Yuan waved his hand, stopped his unspoken compliments, and asked instead: "How long will it take to practice well?"

"Soon, it will be finished in three days." Ye Lianxi said immediately, although she was interrupted, she did not show any dissatisfaction.

"Then you go to rest first." Yu Yuan still had no expression on his face, "You follow the formula I gave you, and you can break through the bottleneck at this moment with five big cycles."

Ye Lianxi was overjoyed, thanked repeatedly, and then disappeared without a trace before Yu Yuan spoke again.

Not long after he left, the black-robed figure quietly appeared, Yu Yuan finally turned around, and there was some doubt in his voice: "Are they really coming?"

"Long Leaving Meeting." A hoarse voice came from under the hood, speaking concisely and in an unquestionable tone.

"That's good." Yu Yuan said no more, looking back at the raging fire below, showing a satisfied expression.

Right in front of your eyes—

Heaven.

Zhong Mingzhu looked at the woman in front of him, with a complicated look in his eyes.

That person is undoubtedly Li Yang.

Although she looks like she used to be a different person.

There are fine lines at the corners of the eyes, frost and white are mixed in the hair, and the tall and straight body is also bent, but it is not because of aging, it is more like being pressed by an invisible burden, unable to straighten up.

It looks like a tree trunk bent by a boulder, and the center of the wood has been riddled with holes. If there is a little more burden, even a snowflake may collapse.

Seeing her become like this, even Zhong Mingzhu was deeply surprised.Although she expected that Li Yang would not be the same as before, she did not expect that she would be so haggard.

The life of a monk is far better than that of ordinary people, and he cannot escape the cycle of birth, old age, sickness and death. Li Yang's aptitude is not top-notch, and his golden core was destroyed back then. Unless he encounters an adventure, his body will inevitably age.However, the cultivation of Jindan is limited after all, even if it is destroyed, after Li Yang became the patriarch, there are plenty of spiritual stones and medicines to make up for it. If it is calculated as usual, her appearance will only increase by more than ten years, but now she is full of weather, as if she has experienced many vicissitudes .

She wasn't the only one like this. The rest of the people in the cave were full of tiredness, lack of energy, and gloomy eyes. Even when facing the flames, there was no vitality at all.

They're still alive, but that's all.

Changli didn't remember what happened back then, so naturally he couldn't recognize the woman in front of him. Seeing her excitedly calling out his name, he subconsciously looked at Zhong Mingzhu, hoping she could give him some hints.However, Li Yang thought it was because her appearance had changed too much, a look of desolation flashed across her face, and said in a low voice: "I am Li Yang, Fairy Changli probably won't recognize me." She laughed at herself, and went on He said to himself, "Even I can hardly recognize myself."

Knowing the identity of the woman in front of him, Chang Li let out a "huh".

At this time, Jing Xin followed up from behind, and saluted Li Zhongfang: "Patriarch, we found Fairy Changli and her friend Zhujiu Gongzi on the top of the mountain, so we brought them back."

Li Yang nodded, motioning them to rest first, and then looked at Chang Li again.

Chang Li has no expression at all, even when she heard Li Yang's name, she didn't show any emotion, which is exactly the same as the Chang Li in Li Yang's impression, but in this way, she didn't know what to say next Well, the atmosphere was a little awkward for a while.

Seeing this, Zhong Mingzhu couldn't help laughing inwardly, she knew that Changli was actually waiting for Li Yang to speak, but most people who were not familiar with Changli's temperament would interpret her silence as rejection or resistance, and thus feel timid.

Seeing that Li Yang's eyes gradually showed wavering and retreat like those who tried to talk to Changli in the past, she couldn't help flashing contempt in her eyes, but quickly covered it up with a gentle and harmless smile, and she took a step forward , blocked Changli behind him, then saluted in a dignified manner, and said: "In Xiazhujiu, I am a friend of Fairy Changli. If the patriarch has anything to ask Fairy Changli, you can tell me directly."

It was only then that Li Yang noticed that the young man beside Changli was gentle and fair, like a frail scholar, but she always felt that his gestures exuded an aura of arrogance.

Just like Fairy Changli's little apprentice back then.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help being taken aback for a moment, and then there was some hesitation on her face: "It's about the secrets of the clan..."

But before she finished speaking, Chang Li nodded her head, so she could only sigh softly and said, "Well, it's over, it doesn't really matter." After saying that, she went to the deepest part of the cave Go, "You two please follow me."

Zhong Mingzhu and Changli followed immediately. When passing by the bonfire, the people resting around the bonfire would raise their heads and look at Changli with scrutiny. But when they walked away, those people would turn their eyes back and continue to stare at the fire in a daze. .

——Even if the patriarch claimed to be able to save them, they couldn't arouse their interest too much.

Zhong Mingzhu took everyone's status into her eyes calmly, and finally, she noticed a young woman was flipping through a picture book by the farthest bonfire.

The picture book looks like it has been around for a while, the pages have turned dark yellow, and the colors in many places are mixed together, turning into a dirty gray. Although a protective spell has been applied, it still won't last long.

That spell is too rough, it will turn into dust in a few years, Zhong Mingzhu thought.

"Originally there were more than 100 people, but now there are only 37 left." Li Yang said as he walked, his tone almost numb, "In fact, sometimes even I don't know, what's the point of persisting like this."

There is no road ahead, no light, and maybe not even a front.

Day after day, just living aimlessly.

"But I have to persevere." She sighed, "Once, I was caught by those monks, and I witnessed them coercing the imprisoned clansmen to control the fire, and people died continuously, but they didn't even raise their eyebrows. "

Walking to a dark stone wall, Li Yang stretched out his hand against a depression on it, the stone wall slowly parted, and behind it was a secret room.There are a lot of spiritual stones and elixir in the secret room. The spiritual light dispels the cold and damp underground. Compared with the cold and damp outside, the inside can almost be called a fairyland.

Zhong Mingzhu found that when the stone wall was opened, many people sitting around the campfire looked over with envious expressions.

——Except for the woman who was flipping through the picture album, she only raised her head and glanced at this place, then immediately retracted her gaze and returned her attention to the picture in front of her.

"Why should this room be separated?" Zhong Mingzhu asked, she deliberately amplified her voice, and the few people who looked secretly and enviously looked away immediately looked away, trying to pretend that nothing had happened.

Compared with Changli, they seem to be more interested in the spirit stone in the house.

Zhong Mingzhu raised the corners of his lips with great interest, and thought: This place is more interesting than expected.

Li Yang noticed those people's actions, she didn't show any surprise, instead she pulled a wry smile, she led Changli and Zhong Mingzhu into the secret room, and when the stone wall was closed again, she said: "This is the healing room."

Zhong Mingzhu said "Oh", and then said: "I think they are very envious?"

Li Yang sighed: "There is a shortage of supplies here, and they haven't obtained spiritual power for a long time. When they see Lingshi, they will naturally be envious."

Just like ordinary people need food, monks also need spiritual power to maintain consumption. There are a lot of monsters entrenched in other places with abundant spiritual power on Shuoyuan. The spirit stones are struggling to survive, and they are exhausted right now, the last ones are sealed up in this secret room by Li Yang to heal the wounded, and the rest will only get a few spirit stones as supplies when their spirit energy is consumed too much.

"So, do they have the heart to snatch the spirit stone?" Zhong Mingzhu said sharply, "That's why you have to separate this house from the outside."

"That's right." Li Yang couldn't refute.

"Then why don't they snatch it directly? With your current cultivation base, you probably can't stop them?"

"I am the only one who can open this secret room, and I am the patriarch, so I am still a little deterrent." Li Yang glanced at the dark stone wall with a complex expression. Outside was the clansman she was trying to protect, but she herself I wonder if this is meaningless, "And in the past ten years, those monks have not found us, so there is no conflict between us. But even so, these spirit stones can't last long. Recently, Jing Xin and the others frequently go out Just looking for a way out." Speaking of this, she glanced at Chang Li with mixed feelings, and was about to sigh, but was interrupted.

"What do you want me to do?" Changli asked suddenly, she listened for a long while, Zhong Mingzhu sipped Fairy Changli, which made her feel a little uncomfortable, so she simply opened her mouth.

Li Yang said: "Actually, I don't know the reason."

"Heh." Zhong Mingzhu laughed first, "What kind of joke are you telling?"

"I didn't mean to be fooled." Li Yang turned a blind eye to her taunt, and explained seriously, "My family has protected the sword for tens of thousands of years, and many things have been lost. All I can do is guess, and naturally I don't know the reason."

As she said that, she took out a scroll from the storage ring, and Zhong Mingzhu recognized that it was made of Kunlun jade, which should have been a divine object, but now it was damaged in many places, and the remaining spiritual power was very weak.

"This is the scroll left by the ancestors, which records the division of the Three Realms. It is only because of the severe damage that only a few fragments remain. I have read it thousands of times, but I still don't know what happened." Li Yang Hold up the scroll, and then flick it lightly, only to see a wisp of light smoke drifting out from the scroll, gradually spreading until the whole room is shrouded in mist.

Then, the mist swirled and condensed into a vague outline.

Fire and blood interweave into a bright red that stretches as far as the eye can see, and the black figure slowly pulls out the bloody sword from the crimson. Afterwards, landslides and ground cracks, rivers flow backwards, and thousands of people cry.

Chang Li stared at the unpredictable scene in the fog, and murmured: "That's what I saw that day."

Those cruel scenes that she thought were hallucinations were the battlefields of the past.

When Li Yang heard her words, joy appeared in her eyes, but she didn't say anything, but stared at the mist intently, as if she was waiting for something.

The battlefield in the fog only lasted for a moment before dissipating. After a long time, the fog condensed again, and what appeared in their eyes was a completely different scene.

The flames are also lingering, but it is not a battlefield, but a room, and a person is sitting in front of the table. This time, the outline in the fog is clearer, and it is enough to see that it is the back of a woman. She is putting the accessories on her body one by one. Take it off, earrings, rings, bracelets... Finally, even the hosta that binds the hair is also taken off, and the black silk cascades down.

Zhong Mingzhu looked at that figure from the back, and suddenly felt a little familiar, and at the same time, a little uneasiness appeared in his heart.

The woman was originally wearing a gorgeous dress, but she took everything off, leaving only a commoner dress, which looked like——

At this time, the woman turned around. Although the mist covered everything like a veil, Zhong Mingzhu could still see the woman's face clearly.

She immediately let out an exclamation, and at the same time, Chang Li also let out an "ah" and opened his eyes wide in disbelief.

That was Chang Li's face.

Although the feeling is completely different, the woman in the mist is over middle-aged, she looks about 40 years old, there is no cinnabar mole on her forehead, her eyes are not as deep as Changli, but dark brown like ordinary people, and her expression is also different. Not as blunt as Chang Li, but exuding a gentle aura, and there was even a smile in his eyes all the time.

But Zhong Mingzhu won't admit his mistake, that woman looks almost exactly like Changli.

——In other words, Chang Li looks exactly like that person.

She couldn't help taking a step back, glanced at Chang Li, then suddenly turned around and strangled Li Yang, almost lifted her up, and asked sharply: "Who is she!"

Seeing this, Changli hurried to stop Zhong Mingzhu. At this moment, the scene in the fog changed again, and the battlefield reappeared.

Countless figures fought indiscriminately.

On the bloody bones, the man holding the heavy sword laughed wildly and cut down one figure after another.

Suddenly, Changli noticed that the man had a pair of purple pupils, and at the same time, the bones behind him gradually condensed into a human shape.

They opened their eyes, and the coquettish purple revealed a cruel aura in the blood light.

The fleeting scene disappeared into the fog in the blink of an eye, even Zhong Mingzhu didn't notice it, but Chang Li saw it clearly.

The same purple she had seen before.

In Zhong Mingzhu's eyes.

She looked at the person beside her who was sneering and almost strangling Li Yang's neck, and couldn't help feeling a chill in her heart.