While he was in a trance, countless noises were still buzzing in his ears. The scene in the darkness turned into a sea of blood, with waves rising and falling one after another.
The waves transformed into a crowd of people. Amidst the frenzied slaughter, Wanyan Xiyin screamed "Ah —". Then, a pillar of blood and a head flew up.
In his field of vision, a figure rushed out of the crowd. It was the figure of his wife. She had always been resolute and decisive. She caught the head in mid-air and threw it towards him.
At that moment, he seemed to see the determination in his wife's eyes, and even the trace of attachment in the deepest part of her eyes. Then, his wife fell and rushed towards the Jurchen generals. Finally, she was drowned in the crowd and the waves of blood …
Men do not easily shed tears. He was already in his fifties, but at that moment, he tasted the taste of tears.
At night, there was a loud noise in the forest. Fu Lu woke up from the tree. The injuries on his body had become numb, and he began to feel tired and absent-minded. He reached out and touched the head in the bag in front of his chest. Gritting his teeth, he jumped off the branch and ran further away with difficulty.
Behind him, the Jurchen cavalry was still chasing after him …
…
The stench of the corpses rippled in the air. The dragon tattoo wriggled in the ruins.
On his body, there were countless wounds, and the originally visible tattoos were cut into pieces and broken.
He wriggled to a slightly higher place and turned over with difficulty. What fell from the sky was the white moonlight.
As for why he was still alive, he no longer had the strength to imagine it. However, at this moment, as the tens of thousands of corpses in the ruined city began to emit a stench, he looked up at the sky, and for the first time, he felt that the moonlight was so beautiful.
Not long after, it began to rain. The raindrops fell into his dry lips.
In the darkness, someone stood up unsteadily …
*****
The setting sun, with the moisture of the rain, sprinkled its last light into the sky. Zhu Biao saw the note that Ning Yi was reading and stood there for a while.
"I'm afraid that Senior Zhou doesn't want to be pushed to some altar …" he said.
"He won't mind." Ning Yi bowed his head and answered simply.
The wind blew from the wilderness, making it seem even colder in autumn.
Now that he thought about it, he realized that he had only come into contact with Zhou Dong twice, and every time they met, they parted on bad terms.
The first time was in Shandong when he was asked by the Grand Commandant's Office to kill him. Although he did not kill him in the end, the agreement of three punches with Hong Ti had caused Hong Ti to be injured and vomit blood. On top of that, he had been a busybody and told Hong Ti about their master-disciple relationship, hinting that it was best for Hong Ti to leave him. This caused Ning Yi to dislike this serious-looking old man.
The second time they met was at the beginning of last year, when Taoting County was arresting the group of martial arts people, Zhou Dong suddenly appeared. At first glance, it seemed that he was pleading for mercy on behalf of that group of martial artists. Later on, she found out that he was actually trying to stop that group of martial artists from attacking her. That was why he ran thousands of miles through the night to the Peach Pavilion. Even so, Ning Yi still didn't like this old man.
After all, they were both people with incredibly firm views on life. Both of them had their own set of mature and self-consistent ways of doing things. They were also people at the top of their own fields. Once they could see through each other's actions, it was difficult for them to hide the things they disagreed with. But even so, the old man did those things in his field in a righteous manner, and Ning Yi still admired him.
The war had just begun, and all the news was piled together and stuffed into everyone's mouths. That old man had always been full of vigor, as if he was invincible in the world. Even an expert like Lin Zongwu always clamored to challenge him to a duel. When people thought about it, they just laughed it off. For this righteous old man, they really didn't think that anything would happen to him. But unexpectedly, when the war had just begun, he died in such a situation.
But when they thought about it, this kind of ending seemed to be the most suitable for the old man. Even though he might die if he succeeded or failed, there was no way that the old man would fall behind when it came to assassinating the commander-in-chief of the invaders. Why would he hesitate?
When they thought about it this way, it actually made sense …
No matter what, the news of the old man's death always made people feel a little empty in their hearts.
"I killed eight generals, but I didn't kill Ni Han. And there were dozens of Greenwood people, but they didn't even outnumber the people who came to kill me. This is really … "Ning Yi looked at the paddy field by the roadside, shook his head, and murmured.
When he said this, Zhu Biao did not know how to respond. There was a sense of loss in his eyes, but after a while, he thought of something. "But, if that's the case … does sister-in-law become the world's number one?"
"Hong Ti …" Ning Yi remembered, then glanced at Zhu Biao, and revealed a strange and evil smile. "Yes, haha, what you said … seems to be right."
"Haha."
"Hahahaha."
"…"
"…"
"Do you know, there are some people who you don't like and dislike when they are alive. But one day, you suddenly hear that they have died, and you feel that they shouldn't have died like that. This kind of person has really lived for a lifetime … "
*****
The same news spread across half of the world, and in the ears of different people, it had different meanings. Some were sad, some were happy, some were melancholic, and some were indifferent. Of course, most of them were ordinary people who did not know who Zhou Dong was. In the overall situation of the Jin army moving south, a group of martial artists did not bring about a desperate struggle to turn the tide. They were like insignificant little waves that were swept into the surging tide in the blink of an eye.
When the news of Zhou Dong's death suddenly came to Xiangzhou, Yue Fei was collecting money to replenish the weapons and armor of more than three hundred men under his command. He had collected a hundred and fifty taels of silver and was about to hand it over to the officer in charge of military equipment when he heard the news of Zhou Dong's death.
He had not seen his master for a long time.
After learning under Zhou Dong's guidance, Yue Fei went to join the army. Zhou Dong roamed the world and did chivalrous deeds. He passed by Tangyin three times and gave some money to his family. Yue Fei and Zhou Dong had only met once. As the last personal disciple of Zhou Dong, they both had a serious side to their temperaments. Yue Fei could understand his master's thoughts. Once he graduated from his apprenticeship, he would not interfere too much with his disciple's affairs. But his expectations for his disciple were self-evident.
"Walk the right path."
When he graduated from his apprenticeship, the old man only said this simple sentence. Perhaps it was because his master's spirit and body were too good, he was also a little absent-minded when the bad news came. After standing on the street for a moment, he walked into the agreed restaurant with red eyes and handed the bag of silver to the officer in charge of military supplies.
When the officer asked him to stay for a drink, he found an excuse to leave. The officer who stayed opened the bag and looked inside. There were clear fingerprints on the silver ingots.
"Ruffian soldiers …" The officer curled his lips and cursed in a low voice. After drinking a cup of wine, he also left while singing a little tune.
Not long after, Yue Fei's soldiers received their equipment.
Many people in the underworld gradually learned of Zhou Dong's death from Takeshi's propaganda. But that was a story for another time. There was a man named Lin Chong, who later changed his name to Mu Yi. When the news of the old man's death spread far and wide, it was not until much later in the chaos of the war that the old man had been killed that he learned of the news.
*****
In autumn, in an inn near the Miaojiang Village, there was a loud bang as the floor collapsed.
Several important leaders of the Great Radiant Sect ran downstairs. In the chaos, they saw the most embarrassing side of the sect leader.
Lin Zongwu's huge body stepped on the floorboards and fell down, smashing a banquet table below him. The spilled soup and water hung on his body, scaring the few people who were eating around him.
Lin Zongwu's left hand was clutching the piece of paper with the news. His right hand was clenched tightly into a fist. He stood on the broken round table in a daze, completely unaware that the soup and water were slipping down his body. After a while, his teeth moved eerily.
"Ah ah ah ah … ah …"
The roar came from his throat, and as he raised his head, it began to grow higher and higher. The sunlight shone in, and his wide robe fluttered. The sound spread out in all directions, like a raging bull, like a great bell, and gradually, like a tide, like thunder. Under the push of his powerful inner force, the entire inn seemed to be trembling, and the sound could be heard several miles away, not stopping for a long time.
"Who said … that he could die like this …"
When the sound finally stopped, they saw Lin Zongwu shake the piece of paper in his hand with bloodshot eyes. Then, with a dazed expression, he began to walk out. As he passed by the pillar outside the inn, he casually punched it. After a while, half of the inn, which had been carelessly repaired, collapsed.
Dust rose up, and pedestrians ran. Lin Zongwu looked at the sunlight. Everything had turned pale.
There had once been an era that belonged to him. But because he was not strong enough, he was forced to leave the center of the era by Fang La and the others. When he came out this time, he hoped that this was his era. He also knew that this was his era. He wanted to fight with that old man. If it was that iron arm, he was willing to pay a huge price to seek a victory.
The only pity was that Zhou Dong was old. Even if he really faced him, it would be somewhat unfair for him to win.
But now, he had completely lost this opportunity.
The moment he received the news, Lin Zongwu suddenly understood that from now on, no matter who he defeated, in the eyes of the world, he could no longer defeat that old man.
…
If there were heroes in the world, why would they miss seeing them …
*****
On the afternoon of the second day after receiving the news of Zhou Dong's death, the caravan approached the temporary camp of the Wu Rui Battalion. At the entrance of the camp, lines and cavalrymen came and went. It was a busy scene.
The bearded Qin Shaoqian came out to welcome them with his personal guards. The fifty thousand strong army that was originally stationed near Shandong and had contributed to Ning Yi's attack on Liangshan was now under his command.
"You're here." Qin Shaoqian cupped his hands at Ning Yi.
"You're here." Ning Yi also cupped his hands.
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