The middle-aged Taoist did not smile or speak. He just stood aside quietly, as if Yu Lian's attention and Jun Mo's silence meant nothing to him.
At this moment, the rain became lighter, and the sound of hooves and wheels rolling over stones came from the street again. The roasted sweet potato shop at the other end of the town was closed. The white-haired old man and the middle-aged man, father and son, sat in an ox cart in the drizzle. They stopped in front of the butcher shop for a while, and the son came out with two hot roasted sweet potatoes.
Yu Lian and Jun Mo took the roasted sweet potatoes and nodded. The old man wiped the raindrops from his white hair and patted the ox's thick neck. He said, "It will be difficult to eat in the town from now on."
His family had been roasting sweet potatoes in the town in front of Peach Mountain for thousands of years. It had been passed down from ancestors to the present generation. In addition to keeping an eye on the Divine Hall for the Academy, the most important reason was that the Headmaster of the Academy liked to eat the roasted sweet potatoes from his family in the original town.
The battle was about to begin. The father and son left the town. Those cavalrymen of Divine Hall who were hiding in the rain and outside the town did not dare to stop them. They silently made way for them.
Yu Lian tore open the slightly charred skin of the roasted sweet potato and used her little finger to pick out some red sweet potato flesh and put it into her mouth. She pursed her delicate lips and chewed for a while. She felt that although it was delicious, it was not as exaggerated as what her teacher had said.
Jun Mo thought for a while and did not eat it on the spot. He wrapped the roasted sweet potato with a handkerchief and put it in his arms. Then he looked at the middle-aged Taoist. His eyes pierced through the autumn rain and fell somewhere.
Yu Lian reminded him, "That handkerchief is mine."
Jun Mo said, "That's my Senior Brother's."
Yu Lian was a little annoyed and ignored him. She held the roasted sweet potato and looked at the Butcher inside the gate. She said, "The Abbey Dean does not care about the survival of Taoism. You have no reason to care."
She talked about the sweet potato and the handkerchief a moment ago, and then she talked about Taoism and the human world the next moment. Life and holiness were never easy to be unified and harmonious, so her words and deeds were a little cute.
It was raining in the town today. She seemed to deliberately make herself go the way of cuteness.
The Butcher slightly raised his eyebrows and said, "How can a junior like you understand?"
Yu Lian looked around and found there was no trash can on the street. She threw the roasted sweet potato that she did not want to eat on the ground and said, "Isn't it just betting on both sides?"
Butcher's ink-black eyebrows rose higher and higher.
Yu Lian said, "The Drunkard went with the Abbey Dean. Whether he was helping or spying on the Abbey Dean, even if he was betting on the Abbey Dean, you came to the Peach Mountain to bet on the Taoism that was abandoned by the Abbey Dean. What I don't understand is why none of you are willing to bet on the Academy."
The Butcher mocked, "Because there is no Haotian in the Academy."
Yu Lian looked at him expressionlessly for a long time before saying, "Does Taoism have it? Don't forget to bet on both sides. It's easy to miss out on both. "
The Butcher was silent for a moment, then said, "If I kill you, I can stand on the riverbank and wait for the result to appear. No matter who wins, it won't do me any harm."
Yu Lian asked, "Do you really want to see the end?"
The Butcher said, "Yes."
Yu Lian said with a resentful expression, "It's really rotten! Apart from watching, apart from waiting like a dog, I don't dare to do anything else interesting! "
The Butcher walked to the threshold of the butcher's shop and picked up the knife on the ground. Looking at the gray sky that was cut into countless thin strips by the autumn rain, he said, "When you live long enough, you will be as careful as us."
Jun Mo didn't say much. Hearing the Butcher's sigh, he said, "The longer you live so carefully, the more boring it will be."
After saying this, he walked out of the town with Yu Lian. The autumn rain fell on the Apprentice Brother and Sister, making them slightly wet. The rainwater on the street splashed with their footsteps.
Standing at the entrance of the town in the autumn rain, Jun Mo said, "I didn't see it."
Yu Lian frowned and said, "According to Ye Hongyu's memory, there should be some remnants of the Arcane Scroll of the Fall. If it's not in the hands of that Taoist, where is it now?"
At this moment, the middle-aged Taoist said from afar, "You two have come from afar. Why don't you go up the mountain and be our guests?"
Yu Lian turned around and said to him, "Evil guests don't need to be invited. Let's skip it today."
The middle-aged Taoist said, "Both of you, please enlighten me."
Yu Lian said, "I am the Grandmaster of the Devil's Doctrine who has entered the West-Hill and is the closest to the Peach Mountain in the past thousand years. I am satisfied with this. If the Butcher doesn't do it, why should I?"
Jun Mo was more direct than her. He looked at the middle-aged Taoist and said, "I dare not enlighten you. I just want to send a message to the people of the Divine Hall. From today on, no one can leave the Peach Mountain."
The middle-aged Taoist's expression changed slightly.
At this moment, a thunder suddenly sounded in the rain clouds in the sky.
More than a thousand cavalrymen of the Divine Hall of West-Hill, as well as the priests and deacons hiding in the woods, heard Jun Mo's words and the thunder, and were stunned and did not know what to say.
It was a plain and casual sentence, but it was extremely domineering.
As if to prove Jun Mo's words, the sound of horses' hooves could be faintly heard from the depths of the autumn rain. The earth trembled slightly, and the rainwater in the puddles trembled a little. It was obviously still far away, but because of the fierce momentum, it gave people a feeling that even the autumn rain was about to be blown away by the wind and thunder.
In the north, Xu Shi personally led the cavalry of the Tang Empire. They broke through the three lines of defense of the Divine Hall of West-Hill in the morning and arrived at the Bridgeside Town, which was more than 40 miles away from the Peach Mountain.
In the east, monk Guan Hai led hundreds of monk soldiers from the Lanke Temple and marched silently in the autumn rain. As for the powerhouses of the Buddhism Sect, including the chess masters, they should arrive sooner.
In the west, the silver-haired Cheng Lixue was gathering the old subordinates of the Divine Hall of Revelation in the Snowtree Village. They were almost there. He looked at the Divine Hall of Revelation on the Peach Mountain, where he grew up, and sighed silently.
In the south, countless Xiu Swords flashed. In the gloomy valley, countless trees that were wet by the rain were cut by the swords. The blood-red sacred sedan and the pear blossom white royal sedan, under the protection of tens of thousands of soldiers from the Great River Army, slowly approached the Peach Mountain. The deacons of the Divine Hall of West-Hill they met along the way did not even dare to speak.
The Peach Mountain was surrounded, and the Divine Hall of West-Hill was in danger. Jun Mo said that from this moment on, people could only enter the Peach Mountain, but not leave. It was not that he was domineering, but that the Academy had the right to say this.
What was shocking and puzzling was that the Academy did not immediately attack the Peach Mountain. Perhaps it had something to do with the Butcher in the small town, or maybe it was because of some other reason.
The Academy seemed to be waiting for something. At the same time, many people noticed that at such an important, or even final moment, Ning Que and Long Qing were not there.
…
…
One day before, Ning Que finished his cultivation process of watching the stones crack in the Lanke Temple. He looked at the hundreds of statues of Sangsang in the rain in front of the temple and smiled with satisfaction.
He picked out a statue that he was most satisfied with and put it in his arms. It was a statue of Sangsang sleeping on her side. She was sleeping on the hot and hard kang, but she was still curled up and wanted to crawl into someone's arms. Her feet were exposed outside the quilt, and they were as white as two snow-white lotus flowers. They were so tender that people would feel pity for them.
He left the Tile Mountain in the autumn rain and once again embarked on his journey to find Sangsang. But this time, he was much more confident. It seemed that he had a premonition, so he went straight to the north.
Before the Tile Mountain was the Kingdom of Song. There was a small town at the border between the Kingdom of Song and the Kingdom of Yan. On the day he walked into the town, it suddenly snowed. He heard that it was the first snow of the year.
The only butcher's shop in the town was closed, but the calligraphy and painting shop was still open. The Drunkard who liked to drink was nowhere to be found, so there was only the fragrance of tea and ink in the shop.
Ning Que walked into the calligraphy and painting shop and put the fried chicken he bought in the previous town on the table. He looked at the slightly hunched shopkeeper and said, "Have a drink with me?"
Chao Xiaoshu turned around and looked at him. He shook his head, but still took two wine cups.
Zhang San and Li Si heard the noise and rushed to the front of the shop. When they saw that it was him, they couldn't help but jump in fright. They subconsciously looked around and used their fastest speed to lift the door plank and close it before coming to greet him.
"Greetings, Youngest Uncle."
Ning Que nodded and gestured for them to fill their own bowls with rice wine. He said, "The Butcher is in the Peach Mountain, and the Drunkard is chasing after Senior Brother. Don't worry about those things."
Chao Xiaoshu said, "It took me a long time to set up this trap."
Ning Que said, "So you should be careful? Well, I admit that I came here today to break this trap. I don't want you to continue with it. "
Chao Xiaoshu said, "Can you kill him?"
Ning Que was silent. With the Drunkard's Limitless and Immeasurable state, even if Eldest Brother and Third Sister joined hands, they might not be able to kill him, let alone him.
"I'm going to the north. I feel that something is wrong." He looked at Chao Xiaoshu quietly and said, "Go back to Chang 'an. Your wife, children, and the old man are waiting for you."
Chao Xiaoshu did not respond. He raised his wine cup and said, "Drink this cup."
Ning Que drank it up to show his sincerity.
Chao Xiaoshu said, "Then leave."
…
…
Ning Que was driven out of the small town. He had to continue walking north with the stone statue.
He did not know the specific location, but he knew it was in the north.
The small town was between the Song and Yan. Not far from the small town, he entered the Yan territory. There was a river parallel to the Sishui River, flowing from the north to the south into the Great Swamp, and then into the big river, and finally into the sea.
Ning Que rode the Big Black Horse and galloped between the fields and hills on the east bank of the river.
It was early winter, and the water in the river was condensed. The fog was thick, especially in the morning. It was not like the human world.
Ning Que felt that he saw his own reflection in the fog.
The fog on the river seemed to have become a mirror.
It was not until the morning sun rose and the fog dissipated that he realized that there was no mirror in the fog. It was not his own reflection on the other side of the river, but a man on a horse like him.
That man was also dressed in black and rode a black horse, looking very similar to him.
The only difference was that Ning Que wore a black Academy uniform, while that man wore a black divine robe.
That man was Long Qing.
…
…
(In fact, I wanted Chao Xiaoshu to say, "Let's go?" Ning Que said, "Let's go." Then he drank the wine in the cup. When Chao Xiaoshu drank, Chao Xiaoshu said, "Then you go." I feel uncomfortable, but this chapter is well written. I am sure of this, so I feel a little comforted.)
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