The sky was dark, and the clouds were surging in the night sky, like the sea hanging upside down in the sky.
The orange-red light of the fireworks slowly rose between the sky and the earth.
In the dilapidated and chaotic backyard, a short and strange confrontation was taking place.
Jin Yongsheng, who had suddenly rushed here, calmly glanced at the surrounding scenery. He also cautiously and suspiciously looked at the few figures in the dim light.
The four figures were strangely battered and exhausted. It was unknown where they came from, but at this moment, they were sandwiching Li Yanfeng from the front and back. The Monkey King, who was previously awe-inspiring, was now covered in mud, with a bloody nose and a swollen face. It was unknown what kind of battle he had experienced earlier. Among the four of them, only Yan Yunzhi, whose clothes and makeup were tidy, was standing in a somewhat strange posture. It seemed that she had been injured in the previous battle.
The surrounding yard was a mess. Several sections of the mud wall had collapsed, and even a rockery had been knocked away. The traces seemed to be fresh.
It was hard to imagine what kind of fierce battle had taken place in the entire yard in the short period of time after Li Yanfeng had gotten rid of them and caught up with Yan Yunzhi. It was hard to tell which family the young man and the little monk were from.
"This girl belongs to you."
"... Huh?"
After a simple conversation, Li Yanfeng stood up with the support of the half-collapsed rockery and let out a long sigh of relief. Jin Yongsheng heard these words, and while responding, he gave Li Yanfeng a tentative look. Li Yanfeng also had a faint smile on his face. His right eye was swollen, and some mud fell from the swollen eyelid. The monkey king stretched out his hand to wipe the mud off. His hair was messy, but his eyes were calm.
The young man and the little monk, who had just fought, were now slowly walking in the darkness. Taking advantage of this moment of confrontation, they adjusted their breathing rhythm.
In a place where Jin Yongsheng couldn't see, the young man quietly waved his hand at Yan Yunzhi.
Jin Yongsheng held the iron abacus and walked toward Yan Yunzhi tentatively. The young man walked sideways, blocking Jin Yongsheng's view of Yan Yunzhi. The little monk circled around Li Yanfeng, swinging his arms as he approached Jin Yongsheng. If Jin Yongsheng continued to move forward, he and the young man would form a pincer attack on Jin Yongsheng.
The four of them formed a slowly deformed quadrilateral, but at this moment, no one showed any killing intent. Li Yanfeng stood still, Jin Yongsheng was smiling, the young man walked slowly, spreading his arms and making a few stretching movements, the little monk put his hands on his waist and twisted his neck slightly.
Another orange firework climbed up into the night sky, its light seeping over.
The young man waved his hand behind him, his five fingers flicking and retracting between the light and darkness.
"… Run!"
Yan Yunzhi retreated.
Jin Yongsheng's gaze turned towards Li Yanfeng. At this moment, a haze and killing intent surged up the monkey king's expression. The muscles on his right arm bulged, and he grabbed a piece of bluestone beside him that was used to repair the fake mountain. In that instant, he used his greatest strength, wanting to throw it at Yan Yunzhi.
The fake mountain was broken, and stone chips flew everywhere.
Almost at the same time, the young man who was walking sideways had already thrown the flying knife in his hand. He used the tip of his foot to pick up the long stick that Li Yanfeng had dropped, and he reached out to grab it.
The shadow of the stick was about to spread out, but on the other side, Jin Yongsheng had already thrown the heavy iron abacus in his hand.
The flying knife stabbed into Li Yanfeng's shoulder, causing the stone he threw to miss its target. It whizzed past the young man's body. At the same time, the iron abacus smashed into the wooden stick in the young man's hand with a bang. The stick broke, and the young man's figure was sent flying backward.
Yan Yunzhi had already used all her strength to leap into the distance. The moment she turned around, the young man's figure was sent flying backward by Jin Yongsheng's iron abacus. The full power of the iron abacus could almost break the outer wall of a house. The young man named Long Aotian had taken the full brunt of the attack, and she felt her scalp go numb. But at this moment, she could only use all her strength to run forward.
From the corner of her eyes, she saw the young man's body rolling backward in the mud. After that, both of his legs landed on the ground, and he forcibly stood up. In the darkness, Li Yanfeng was like a mad tiger pouncing on him. The arm of the white ape followed the momentum and smashed forward like a meteor hammer, as if it wanted to smash everything in its way. But the young man did not hesitate at all. He opened his arms and rushed toward Li Yanfeng.
With a loud bang, the two of them collided. Li Yanfeng took advantage of the momentum and rushed forward. With a heavy punch, the young man, who tried to stop him, was sent flying again.
In the darkness, the monkey king took huge strides and chased after the young man fiercely. He had been attacked by the young man and the little monk earlier, so he was in a difficult situation. At this moment, he attacked in anger, and his silhouette in the darkness seemed crazy. But in the next moment, his running figure was suddenly pulled back, and he fell to the ground from the sky. The young man's figure jumped up behind him.
"Your grandfather …"
Yan Yunzhi ran out of the courtyard. She heard the muffled sound of the young man called Long Aotian in the night sky. He seemed to have blood in his mouth. Although he was not as old as Li Yanfeng, at this moment, he was showing a crazy and domineering attitude that looked down on everything.
"Your grandfather …"
"Let you …"
"… go …"
Along with this roar, there were continuous sounds of entanglement and fighting coming from behind.
Yan Yunzhi ran with all her might.
Although they had a grudge when they were in Tongshan, and even her clean reputation was destroyed by a few words from the other party, at this moment, she clearly understood how difficult it was to block Li Yanfeng and Jin Yongsheng's way in the darkness of the night.
Why did he do this? She could only ask him later.
In the dusky light, Li Yanfeng and Long Aotian were fighting, and they crashed into the wall next to them. The young man's mouth was full of blood, but he grabbed Long Aotian and headbutted him endlessly. The ferocity in his eyes made it seem like he was looking for someone to exchange his life for.
Li Yanfeng had been in the martial world for decades, and he was also proud of his ferocity. However, he rarely met an opponent who was so skilled in martial arts, but did not treat himself as a human. But on second thought, it made sense. The other party was only a fifteen or sixteen-year-old young man, and he did not know how precious life was. This kind of kid was the craziest!
He had been practicing martial arts for many years, and his attainments in martial arts and cultivation were actually higher than the other party's. However, during this fight, he could not suppress the other party's craziness no matter what. His heart was boiling with anger, and he was dragged into the mud by the other party.
On the other side, Jin Yongsheng was suddenly attacked by the young monk, and he did not have a good time.
After all, he had just arrived, and he was a little careless when facing the short figure. However, as the young monk ran over, this old man, who was used to fighting in a big way, realized that the other party was difficult to deal with. The small figure waved the knife with both hands, and only attacked the area below the knees. This caused him to be clumsy as he ran and dodged. In the end, he almost had to bend down to deal with the other party's knife.
There were many ways to fight in the martial world, but in terms of ruthlessness, lying on the ground and lying on the ground were definitely ranked at the top. This kind of fighting method of rolling and slashing on the ground did not seem to be popular, but in fact, because the feet were far less agile than the hands, it was often difficult to defend against this kind of attack from the lower three paths. Even some armies would specially train in lying on the ground, and when the battle formation was in chaos, people would lie down on the ground and attack the opponent's legs and feet. Most of the time, they could achieve good results.
The young monk's knife technique was obviously an evolution of lying on the ground, but it was specially designed to match his height. Jin Yongsheng did not know which immoral elder did this. Normally, when teaching children to practice martial arts, they would usually build a good foundation, and when they were older, they would come out to kill people. What was the use of teaching a set of fighting techniques to match the child's height? Would he become useless when he grew up?
After all, he was also a veteran of the martial world for many years. Although he was used to fighting in a big way, he was old and his waist was not as good as before. Nothing would happen to him if he bent down to deal with a vicious child. However, in his hasty response, he was completely unable to spare any effort to chase after Yan Yunzhi. For a moment, he could only curse the immorality of the little monk's elders in his heart as he seriously dealt with the vicious child's attacks.
Seeing Li Yanfeng and the young boy fighting each other in the ruins, he felt a little numb on his scalp. Compared with the young boy's ferocious attacks, the vicious attacks of the child made people feel a little better.
*****
It was as if in the boiling battle, the blade slashed across the body, taking away a portion of life.
Life became incomplete.
Liang Siyi accompanied You Hongzhuo in the street conflict full of hostility. Every moment, she seemed to be drowned by this hostility …
…
Liang Siyi remembered that there was a period of time when getting injured was as easy as eating.
Or rather, during that period of time, even eating was not a simple thing.
From the first time the Jurchen went south more than ten years ago to the fall of the Central Plains, every time there was a war, the first to bear the brunt was always the area south of Yanmen Pass and north of Jin.
Liang Siyi's home was in Taiyuan. When the Jurchen went south for the first time, this ancient city was defended for nearly a year under the leadership of Qin Shaohe. After Bianliang was rescued for the first time, the imperial court's reinforcements did not arrive. Finally, Taiyuan ran out of ammunition and food. After the city was breached, there was a revenge massacre.
At that time, Liang Siyi was still young. She even forgot how she survived in the mud of corpses.
Her parents died in the chaos of the massacre. Taiyuan was burned down and never rebuilt.
From then on, the sky and the earth in her eyes were all gray and black.
She did not know when the middle-aged man named Wang Juyun came to that land of despair. He helped the beggars and taught them martial arts. She almost forgot when she followed him. The beggars and starving people who had no way out gathered behind the man in a shabby gray robe with two swords on his back. Sometimes they could have a bite to eat, but most of the time they had to starve. Some died, and some left.
In the intermittent starvation and separation, there were many sufferings. In the years when the war raged, the infrastructure in the area south of Yanmen Pass was almost completely destroyed. The people who had the ability to go south had already left. Those who stayed were old, weak, sick, or bandits who led beasts to eat people. Even if there were people who wanted to live a good life and plant a piece of land, sooner or later, they would experience the destruction of the bandits.
Wang Juyun's adoptive father had always been saving people in the ruins.
He was a person who could go south. After gathering a group of people, he could also take them to a better place to start over. But year after year, he never left that wasteland. Most of the time, they fought with the bandits in that land, and also fought with the motley crew of Liu Yu's army, and even ambushed and killed the envoy of Nuzhenren. Sometimes, they were defeated in the battle, and their strongholds were burned down by the nearby bandit gangs of various sizes.
The man with the two swords in his hands did not fall.
As the number of people around him gradually increased, his power expanded, but the resources he needed also increased. From time to time, someone would suggest that they move, and from time to time, someone would leave. Every year, there would be a few times when Wang Juyun, whose hair was rapidly turning gray and who was rapidly aging, would gather the children or young people around him. He would point in the direction of Taiyuan and say to them, "You are the descendants of the martyrs. Your father's generation was the first to resist the Jurchen in those ruins, until death!"
Liang Siyi did not know if her parents had participated in the direct resistance, but when she occasionally heard people talking about such things, she also felt that there was still some light in this gray and dark world.
Being adopted by Wang Juyun as his children did not mean that they had many privileges in the army. Over the next ten years, there were hundreds and thousands of people who were adopted by Wang Juyun. They did not have enough to eat or warm clothes, but they still had to practice martial arts every day, and those who practiced well could eat a little more.
For a period of time, there was a considerable amount of hatred and antagonism among these adopted children. They fought on the drill ground, and sometimes when they were angry, they would even kill each other.
But in those chaotic years, every time they fought side by side against the bandits and the rampaging army, they could gradually accumulate some kinship.
Liang Siyi had killed her way out of that kind of environment. She fought with her brothers and sisters on the drill ground, sometimes beating others black and blue, and sometimes being beaten until her head was bleeding. At that time, the medicine for her injuries was very precious, and she did not eat much. There were a few times when she was injured, and Liang Siyi did not even know how she survived until later.
When her adoptive father, Wang Juyun, occasionally appeared, he would always coldly watch them fight each other, and then coldly teach them how to improve their killing techniques. He was that kind of man who was as cold as steel. Later, because he used his own "children" as the foundation to establish the "Chaotic Army", some scholars and people from the outside world always criticized him for being hypocritical and cold-blooded.
Some children and young people also had such resentful thoughts. When they had some ability, they left the "Chaotic Army" angrily, they went south in search of a better way to survive. For these things, the "Chaotic Army" had carried out some purges, but in fact, they did not achieve much.
Because of this, the army of beggars that existed in the ruins seemed to be an ordinary and strange existence in the whole world. Normally, this army did not flaunt much benevolence and righteousness, but in the whole world, there was not much benevolence and righteousness to talk about. The strange thing was that the beggar army had always been entrenched in the ruins, and gradually drove away the bandits, slowly cleaned up the mess of the past, and tenaciously survived.
In the fourth war of the Jurchen people south, they once again bore the brunt of the attack, and encountered the strongest Jurchen Western Army in the world … Although after that, they began to merge with the army of Jindi and the army of Huaxia, the little bit of family property they had was once again wiped out in that kind of torrent.
They had experienced continuous battles against the Female Zhenren and the Jindi Army led by Liao Yiren. The weapons of the "Army of Chaos" were not excellent, and the training was not excellent either. The only thing worth praising was that in every battle, the adopted sons and daughters of the "Wang Family Army" were in charge of the battlefield, and they were even the first to launch the charge.
Perhaps it was because they had suffered for so many years, these adoptive sons and daughters who remained in the "Chaotic Army" rarely ran away in fear when facing the battlefield. They did not run away, and even though the soldiers below them were not strong, they could often muster up the courage to charge forward.
"You are the descendants of the loyal martyrs. Your fathers were the first to resist the Jurchen people in that ruins, and they never changed until death!"
In the two to three years of continuous battles in Jindi, she had seen too many of her companions die, and she had also fallen into a pool of blood several times. Generals died in a hundred battles, and heroes returned after ten years. On a battlefield like that, whether or not people could survive depended mostly on luck. However, apart from luck, there were also some older and more mature brothers and sisters who took the initiative to take on the most dangerous missions. There were also some who risked their lives on the dangerous battlefield to save her, but they themselves were willing to die.
In that kind of battlefield, Liang Siyi did not know how many brothers and sisters she had sent away in the past two years. And she also woke up after being wounded again and again.
Some people would think that people would gradually get used to such a feeling after being wounded many times, but in fact, no one could really get used to it. In every crisscrossing sword and saber, people's lives would become broken, and sometimes … the people who survived would even hate themselves.
…
"… Go —"
The disheveled figure dashed through the crowd.
Blood flowed down from her forehead, dyeing her vision scarlet. The pain and weakness brought by the sword and saber kept on.
The crowd on the side of the road scattered. Some people ran away, and some people rushed over. After the sword light repelled the enemies in front of her, a scythe with a long handle came whistling from behind. She reacted instantly and subconsciously leaned her back against the handle of the spear. The shining scythe almost stabbed into her shoulder. Taking advantage of the fact that the opponent had not exerted any strength, Liang Siyi waved the sword and saber in her hands and cut the wooden handle of the scythe spear into three pieces!
She did not know how many swords and sabers she had suffered all over her body. The chill in the night accompanied by the gradual weakening of her body seemed to be felt. But the most uncomfortable thing was the obsession of not being able to die bravely. This obsession came from the man named You Hongzhuo beside her.
In the more than two years of war in Jindi, the "Rebel Army" led by Wang Juyun had the highest casualties.
The army that was trained in the land near Yanmen Pass, which lacked supplies and training, was not very good in terms of quality on the battlefield. It was only because of the unique internal system of "adopted sons" and "adopted daughters" who took the lead, and a certain number of generals in the middle who "obeyed orders" and "did not fear death", such a combination eventually led to a series of tragic battles.
Most of the time, in the eyes of some professional generals, it was meaningless casualties.
After more than two years of war, a large number of familiar people had died in the flames of war. The world that she had lived in for more than ten years seemed to have become empty. Later on, when Jindi calmed down, Liang Siyi had made contributions in several of the most tragic wars and received a lot of rewards and praise. But in her heart, she understood that these so-called merits were actually accumulated by the lives of her deceased brothers and sisters. It was only because she was still alive that she received these praises.
She did not know what to do when she was asked to lead the army.
When the Jiangning Assembly came, You Hongzhuo was ordered by her adoptive father to bring her here to "relax", and she also obeyed.
Things on the battlefield were after all different from those in the jianghu. For Liang Siyi to contact Miao Zheng, something went wrong midway and caused the death of his entire family. For her, such failure and incompetence made her feel pain. All these pains piled up together.
But the remedy that followed was in fact very simple.
Assassinate Chen Juefang, do your best to make the other party pay with his life. If you fail, then pay with your own life. In a chaotic army, no one was afraid of death. This had always been the logic of the army.
But she did not expect that the Jindi swordsman called You Hongzhuo, whom she had been with for a few days, would also come over.
"Go!"
Fighting with all her might, she roared. For the people of the jianghu who were used to seeing death, this was actually very unethical behavior. Just like watching their brothers and sisters sacrifice themselves on the battlefield, everyone knew that crying was useless, so they could only fight with all their might.
But at this moment, You Hongzhuo was ultimately different from her brothers and sisters. Although the hope was slim, Liang Siyi still hoped that the other party would turn around and escape at some point. Then she would risk her life here and stop "Sky Blade" Tan Zheng, "Jackdaw" Chen Juefang, and the others for a moment.
But the other party did not say anything. Only the long blade in his hand fiercely clashed with the blade in Tan Zheng's hand. Sparks flew in the air.
"Go …"
"Hide!"
In the night, the clouds in the sky rolled back and looked like they were about to fall. At some point, as Liang Siyi shouted, You Hongzhuo turned around and charged. He pushed Liang Siyi's body with one hand and swung the long blade behind him with the other.
"Sky Blade" Tan Zheng strode over and slashed at Meng Chao's arm.
Blood splattered. The next moment, the two of them rushed past a few pedestrians by the road and crashed into a tightly shut shop by the side of the road. It was originally a restaurant. When the owner saw that the fight outside was spreading, he sealed the door with a wooden board. At that moment, with a bang, the two of them broke through the door and rushed inside. Wood splinters flew everywhere. "Jackdaw" Chen Juefang and "Sky Blade" Tan Zheng chased after them.
Liang Siyi's body crashed into the wooden door. She felt intense pain all over her body, but she still managed to keep her feet. She wanted to run to the back of the house as fast as possible, but You Hongzhuo crashed into her with an even greater force. The two of them rolled on the ground as they crashed into each other. Liang Siyi felt You Hongzhuo reach out to grab her clothes, and the two of them rolled into the depths of the dark house. As they rolled, You Hongzhuo seemed to have kicked over a table and tossed something in his hand.
Under the gloomy night sky, on this side of the street, Chen Juefang and Tan Zheng chased into a restaurant on the side of the road. In the next moment, they only heard a loud "boom" that shook the ground. White dust, along with a wave of air, shook the restaurant and sprayed out.
Everyone on the street looked in that direction.
Wood splinters and stone splinters flew everywhere.
A figure was blasted out of the room by the air currents and rolled on the street.
It was chaos …
…
As if alarmed by the chaos on the ground, the rolling clouds gradually approached the land, and the cold autumn rain began to fall bit by bit.
With the Golden Tower as the center, the great chaos caused by the assassination lasted for nearly a quarter of an hour on the long street. The violent riots expanded in all directions. Then, they were suppressed by the forces of the Chakravarti King who came over from the surroundings. But during this process, several rioting tributaries broke through the defense line and went into the distance.
At a quarter past nine, a storm swept across Guizhi Street, which was located hundreds of feet southeast of Golden Tower and the Qinhuai River.
This was originally an inconspicuous narrow street. When the city was breached, the nearby courtyard walls collapsed, and many refugees lived here. After nine, as a large number of fireworks and arrows rose up, the subordinates of the Chakravarti King began to approach Golden Tower. A few groups of people also passed by Guizhi Street. Then, a dozen people led by the small leader Fang Jinwen temporarily stayed here and watched the commotion in the distance. At the same time, they ordered the refugees nearby to hide in their shacks or tents and not cause trouble.
The next moment, sparse raindrops fell from the sky, and the torches on the road also flickered. Suddenly, four figures rushed out of the courtyard of the Dark Ones.
These four figures were of different heights and sizes. They chased and fought with each other. The young man in the lead rushed to the street and snatched a long saber. Then, almost half of the long street turned into an Asura-like killing field.
For a moment, Fang Jinwen could not tell who was good and who was bad. But the young man who snatched the long saber was as fierce as a tiger, and an even shorter figure was like a ghost, rushing into the crowd, running and moving, appearing and disappearing from time to time. Behind these two people, a man snatched a long stick and waved it like a madman, fighting with the young man who held the long saber the most. The fourth figure was an old man, waving a heavy iron abacus in his hand and smashing it. The broken tables and chairs on the nearby streets were almost smashed by the abacus. Even the half-collapsed earthen courtyard walls were smashed by the abacus he threw.
The four figures fought on the street, dragging in a few subordinates of the Chakravarti King who could not escape in time. Blood flowed all over the ground, and then they rushed into the nearby shanty area, extending into the distance.
…
In the darkness, Yan Yunzhi fled into the distance.
The broken ribs in her chest were still hurting.
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