Two knocks meant two knocks.
Along with two faint knocks, the Illusionary Realm of the Green Sky Mirror was lifted, and a person appeared on the ground.
That person's face was covered in dust, but the expression on her face was still cold and proud. She was none other than Tong Yan.
Tong Yan felt surprised when he saw Jing Jiu, but he didn't show it, not even raising his eyebrows.
Jing Jiu noticed that Jing Jiu's eyebrows were a bit thicker than before, asking, "What's going on?"
Tong Yan raised his hand and touched it, saying, "Maybe it's because I've been recuperating underground for a long time."
"It's not like I'm growing grass," said Jing Jiu.
The small grass swayed a few times, and Qing 'er flew out while flapping her transparent wings. She circled three times around Jing Jiu excitedly.
She asked in surprise, "Why are you here? How did you find us? "
Jing Jiu said, "I didn't come here to find you. I came to the Cold Mountain to take care of something, and I happened to meet you."
Hearing this, Qing 'er didn't feel disappointed. She clasped her small hands in front of her chest, her eyes as bright as the stars. "This is fate!" she exclaimed happily.
Jing Jiu thought it could be understood in such a way.
Qing 'er looked at Tong Yan and said, "You don't trust others, and you don't want to ask for help; but he has come to us by himself. We can't let him go."
"Have you two been hiding here the entire time?" asked Jing Jiu.
The Zhongzhou School was the leader of the orthodox Cultivation sects, and it had a profound foundation in the Imperial court and a powerful force. If they pursued a traitor with the help of their sect, they thought that the traitor would die for sure. However, Tong Yan was still alive after such a long time, and nobody knew where he was hiding before today.
This was even more unbelievable than the fact that the Aoyama Sect couldn't find Liu Shisui back then.
The important figures of the Aoyama Sect and the disciples of Liangwang Peak all knew that Liu Shisui was a fake traitor, but Tong Yan was the real traitor.
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After Tong Yan left the Guocheng Temple with the Green Sky Mirror on her back, she didn't know where she should go.
No matter how big Chaotian was, there was no place for him to stay.
Even places like Penglai Island could not completely get rid of the influence of Zhongzhou School.
Did he really have to take the risk to go to a distant foreign land or enter the underworld like Taiping Zhenren?
It was then that Qing 'er pointed out a bright path for him: the Cold Mountain.
Orthodox cultivators rarely set foot in this place. Evil cultivators and monsters hid in the Wilderness and mountains. No matter how powerful the Zhongzhou School was, it was impossible for them to search every place.
More importantly, she didn't want Tong Yan to go to the surface of the Cold Mountain, so she didn't have to worry about being betrayed by those free-traveling practitioners.
That place was in the deepest part of the Cold Mountain, by the hot lava river.
There was a terrifying Fire Carp King living in the river of lava.
The King is Qing'er's friend.
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…
By now Jing Jiu knew that they had been hiding at the bottom of the Gathered-Soul Valley lately. "You're a friend of that golden carp," he asked Qing 'er.
Hearing the word "golden", Qing 'er was certain that Jing Jiu had seen the Small Fire Carp. "You know him too?" she asked in surprise.
Jing Jiu thought it was no wonder that the Fire Carp could talk so casually even though he lived in the lava river and didn't have any contact with the outside world.
The Fire Carp and Qing 'er must have talked a lot when they met again, so he must have been influenced by Qing' er's tone. Yet, the familiar feeling didn't come from Qing 'er.
Jing Jiu thought of a possibility, feeling surprised. "Did you lead the spiritual soul of the Fire Carp to the Dark Mountain?" he asked Qing 'er.
Qing 'er was even more surprised, exclaiming, "How could you guess it? What on earth don't you know? "
Jing Jiu had confirmed the answer.
It turned out that the familiar tone of the Fire Carp when he talked came from an old friend in the Green Sky Mirror.
It was the tone of Zhang Taiyue's son.
Of course, that guy didn't speak in such a strong tone before he was exiled to Nan State or when he returned to the capital of the Chu Kingdom.
Later, he became the chief of Taichang Temple and often came to the royal palace to talk with Jing Jiu. He would stand in the grand hall and talk to Jing Jiu, regardless of whether Jing Jiu was willing to or not.
As time went by, the Eldest Young Master Zhang grew older, and his tone grew stronger. It was one of the few unpleasant memories that Jing Jiu had in the Chu Kingdom.
"What are you thinking about?" asked Qing 'er with widened eyes.
Jing Jiu came back to his senses and asked, "The Fire Carp is the divine animal in preparation for the Zhongzhou School; why would he help you?"
Qing 'er flapped her wings and turned around in front of Jing Jiu, saying, "He will only wake up after a long time and communicate with the Cloud-Dream Mountain. Most of the time, the disciples of the Center Sect who talked to him last time would have died of old age during his deep sleep. This made him feel very sad. As such, he didn't contact the Cloud-Dream Mountain in the following thousands of years, except for talking to me. Since we are friends, he would of course help me."
It was no wonder that the Immortals Tan and Bai couldn't find the trace of Tong Yan when they hid under the Cold Mountain and were protected by the divine animal in preparation of the Zhongzhou School.
However, it was a pity that the Cold Mountain was the territory of the deviant sects. Though the Zhongzhou School couldn't find him, the Mysterious Dark Church did.
What was more troublesome was that the regular Cultivation practitioners couldn't enter the hot underground to pose a threat to Tong Yan, but the young Mysterious Dark Church Master had the Sun Banner.
He used the Sun Banner to injure the King of the Fire Carp, which stimulated his ferocious nature and caused the fire to spread in the underground. As a result, he had successfully forced Tong Yan out of the underground.
Jing Jiu saw more than three hundred disciples of the Mysterious Dark Church searching everywhere in the barren plain in order to find him, kill him, and then snatch the Green Sky Mirror.
All this was his own deduction. Though it might be a little different from the truth, it was more or less the truth.
"It's not easy to go to such a deep place."
Jing Jiu said to Tong Yan.
It was well known that the place where the King of the Fire Carp lived was close to the Abyss, so it was not easy to get there.
In comparison to playing chess, Jing Jiu appreciated Tong Yan's ability more.
Tong Yan smiled wryly and said, "I'm not as good as you at playing chess, but you're not as good as me at digging holes."
Back when he heard Qing 'er's cry for help in the manor cave left behind by Lo Huainan, he started digging holes. He had been working day and night for a few years before he reached the deep part of the earth source.
He should be one of the most advanced practitioners in the history of the Cultivation circle, either in terms of the time he spent digging holes or the amount of earth he dug.
Jing Jiu shook his head and said, "You're not as good as me at playing chess, and you're not as good at digging holes."
Tong Yan let out a proud smile, unwilling to argue with him.
Jing Jiu asked, "Since you're good at digging holes, why don't you leave from the underground?"
Tong Yan said, "The Mysterious Dark Church has also set up some arrangements in the underground, so it's hard to leave."
Jing Jiu recalled what he had seen on the Lone Mountain and deduced the formation of the Mysterious Dark Church again, thinking that it was impossible for them to control the underground passages that led to all directions.
Jing Jiu said, "I'll go and find the way."
Next, it was time to witness his ability to dig holes.
Jing Jiu turned his body upside down.
There was a buzzing sound.
A chilly wind was blowing in the wild forest, and a delicate hole appeared on the ground.
Tong Yan and Qing 'er looked at each other, feeling helpless.
Jing Jiu's temperament was quite different from that of the regular swordsmen of Aoyama, but he was still so impatient. They hadn't finished their conversation yet.
It didn't take long for a gust of hot wind to come out from the hole.
Jing Jiu landed on the ground, his white clothes slightly burnt, and his black hair slightly withered. He had never been in such a sorry state.
Tong Yan looked at him with a smile, saying nothing.
Jing Jiu said expressionlessly, "It's not that I can't dig holes; it's that the Sun Banner is too powerful."
Not long after he dived into the underground, he ran into a dense fire source.
Normally, those fire sources wouldn't have any effect on him. But he didn't know that those fire sources and the Sun Banner had already become one. The natural earth fire was mixed with the Chaotic Fire of Yang, which was extremely insidious. If he wasn't careful enough, he would have been burned by the Chaotic Fire of Yang. If the Underworld Fairy Sword hadn't been so fast, he would have been wounded.
Fortunately, he covered his face with the Sword of the Universe, so his eyes weren't burned by the smoke. Otherwise, he would have shed tears, which would have been too humiliating.
Tong Yan wasn't afraid of him, but she didn't want to listen to the catchphrase of Aoyama, either. So she didn't make fun of him, but agreed with him, "The Sun Banner is indeed powerful. In terms of its lethality, it can be ranked among the top ten in the Cultivation world. But the secret controlling method of the Sun Banner has been lost for a long time, and it can only be used as the foundation of a formation. Where did that young Sect Master learn it? "
Jing Jiu knew the reason.
The reason why the secret controlling method of the Sun Banner was lost was that the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect was forced into the underground by him and his Big Brother.
Now that the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect had reappeared, the secret method could be used again.
Sure enough, Senior Brother's shadow was behind this matter.
Seeing his thoughtful expression, Tong Yan suddenly said, "That person is also very formidable. He has become so powerful in only twenty-three years. You didn't expect it, did you?"
It had been another twenty-three years.
Back when the Plum Meeting was held in Zhaoge City, and Jing Jiu came back home, Duke Lu broke a precious ceramic bowl for the first time. Tian Jingren lived in the old plum garden. The chess stalls outside the plum garden were defeated by Tong Yan, and all the highly achieved chess players gathered in the city. Jing Jiu put down a Go piece. That was the first time the two of them played against each other.
Zhao Layue was assassinated by the assassins of Bulao Lin, and Shi Fengchen, who was responsible for the assassination, committed suicide. Wang Xiaoming left in tears, and Yin San followed him in the form of a large bird. The Queen of the Snowy Kingdom was pregnant, and the young geniuses who participated in the Cultivation tournament suffered heavy casualties. Jing Jiu and Bai Zao were trapped in the snowland, which indirectly led to the death of Lo Huainan.
Looking back on it now, Jing Jiu found that so many things had happened at the same time that year.
After a moment of silence, Jing Jiu asked, "What kind of person is he?"
"That person is naturally suspicious, violent, and bloodthirsty. Many subordinates loyal to Su Ziye have been killed by him. Even now, he will still kill anyone he suspects. In order to reforge the Sun Banner, he led the highly achieved swordsmen of the Mysterious Dark Sect to wipe out fourteen small deviant sects on the Cold Mountain. Including the free-traveling practitioners he killed along the way, he killed more than four hundred spiritual souls, all of which were used as sacrifices to the Sun Banner. Interestingly enough, he seldom killed the mortals, and even strictly forbade the followers of his church not to harass Juye City and other towns in the mortal world. "
Having said this, Tong Yan glanced at Jing Jiu again.
Jing Jiu said, "If you look at me again, I will think that you were by my side when I talked to Layue."
"What did you two talk about?" asked Tong Yan.
Jing Jiu said calmly, "She insisted that this person should be killed to eliminate the root of the problem. I thought it was too troublesome, so I didn't do it."
Tong Yan didn't say anything more.
Qing 'er sighed, and said, "Now it's really troublesome."
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I wrote some gossip and posted it on the official Wechat account, wishing everybody a happy New Year in advance.
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