That year, that cicada, that sword

Chapter 421 The Fourth Sword
At this time, the East Lake Courtyard outside the city was already lit, and twelve candles as thick as a baby's arm were lit in the Liuli Pavilion, which was so brilliant that the surface of the lake outside the pavilion even reflected a sprinkling of brilliance.

There were only two people in the Liuli Pavilion, Zhang Xueyao with a wry face and Li Qinglian with a reluctant face.

Although the two are masters and apprentices in name, after so many years of getting along, they are no different from mother and daughter. Zhang Xueyao has always been ruthless to outsiders, but she really can't help this apprentice who is raised as a daughter , So she developed Li Qinglian's full temperament of a young lady.

In the early years, Li Qinglian still had the heavy burden of revitalizing the Sword Sect, and she didn't dare to be too slack and presumptuous. Now that this burden has been transferred to Xu Beiyou, she is like having fun, leisurely and leisurely every day , I don’t practice swords much, and I don’t practice Taoism much. Occasionally, when I feel interested, I help my brothers and sisters deal with the mundane affairs of the sword sect. If I’m not interested, I just study behind closed doors or play around. As the centenary mark was approaching, there was something wrong with her own state of mind, and she had no time to take care of her, which made her really live a happy life for a while.

But recently, Li Qinglian's good life has come to an end, Zhang Xueyao's mood has gradually stabilized, and then she soon discovered all kinds of her reluctance to make progress, and these days, she has suffered a lot by personally giving advice.

This is still the case today, Li Qinglian was forced by Zhang Xueyao to read the entire Qinglian Sword Sutra, but this sword sutra written by the predecessors is obscure and mixed with too many Taoist terms, making Li Qinglian dizzy at first, and then fainted Sleeping is like reading a bible.

Li Qinglian secretly looked away from the book and looked at Master secretly.

I saw Zhang Xueyao staring in the direction of Jiangdu in a daze, frowning slightly.

Then Zhang Xueyao's face changed suddenly, and she lost her voice: "Sword 23?"

The next moment, Zhang Xueyao disappeared, leaving only Li Qinglian holding the book in a daze, her eyes wide open.

In front of the Daoshu Workshop, Sun Zhihong retreated sharply.

He has naturally heard of the name of Sword 23, which claims to be the most mysterious of Sword 36, but he doesn't believe that Xu Beiyou can use Sword 23 forcibly, and at the same time, can run smoothly like Shangguan Xianchen, as long as Xu Beiyou's Sword 23 is powerful. Decadent, that moment is the real winner.

But what Sun Zhihong could think of, Xu Beiyou naturally thought of it too.

So this sword, Xu Beiyou didn't think that it would work well, only going forward without fancy.

With one sword, Sun Zhihong was forced back hundreds of feet.

In an instant, the two arrived at the bank of the Qinhuai River.

Almost at the same time, Zhang Xueyao's figure appeared in front of the Taoist workshop, standing not far from Wu Yu.

Sword 23, formless and formless, Wei Yuanyi and Xu Yi didn't see the clue at all, they only felt that the two of them disappeared in a flash, but in the eyes of Zhang Xueyao who rushed over, this sword did have a bit of a master's spirit.

Zhang Xueyao quietly felt the vast sword intent remaining here, and a tinge of joy arose in her heart. If Xu Beiyou not only stopped at sword 23, but took advantage of the trend to transform the sword intent into sword energy, and used sword 24 smoothly, then there would really be Master's three-point demeanor back then.

The world said that Jianzong 36, swords are not the same, but Zhang Xueyao, as a direct disciple of Shangguan Xianchen, knows the mysteries of them well. Although each sword has its own mysteries, its essence is still a set of orderly succession and gradual progress. Famen, a set of 36 swords is not the same as a single sword.

It's just a pity that Xu Beiyou couldn't use sword 24, but only this half sword caused Sun Zhihong to suffer a lot. Although his body was not damaged, his spirit was seriously injured, and it would be difficult to recover after a few years of cultivation.

When the two of them reappeared in front of the Daoshu workshop, Xu Beiyou put his sword back into its sheath, his face pale.

Zhang Xueyao glanced at Sun Zhihong, who was also as white as paper, and said coldly: "I will give you an incense stick of time to leave Jiangdu City, otherwise don't say it was unexpected."

Sun Zhihong guessed the identity of this woman whose appearance was not inferior to Wu Yu's in an instant. His already bloodless face became even paler, and he could almost see the flesh and veins under the skin. He lowered his head and said, "Yes."

But anyone who comes out of the palace can not only raise their heads, but also bend their waists.

Sun Zhihong took Xu Yi and Wei Yuanyi and left without hesitation. As for the two unlucky ghosts who were thrown into the Qinhuai River by Xu Beiyou earlier, he couldn't care less.

Zhang Xueyao turned to look at Xu Beiyou, Xu Beiyou shook his head and said, "It's nothing serious."

Zhang Xueyao said softly: "Come to another courtyard later."

Xu Beiyou nodded.

Zhang Xueyao disappeared again.

Xu Beiyou was about to take people away when he suddenly remembered Feng Lang who was alone blocking Xu Yi's party and motioned for Wu Yu's party to go back first, while he turned and walked towards the Jiange disciple who was a little uneasy.

Seeing Xu Beiyou walking towards him, Feng Lang was a little clueless, and said cautiously, "Master Xu...Uncle?"

Xu Beiyou smiled.

Feng Lang quickly saluted and said, "Feng Lang has seen the young master."

Xu Beiyou stretched out his hand to support him, then patted his shoulder heavily, and said with a smile, "Good job."

Feng Lang chuckled.

Xu Beiyou's figure disappeared in a flash, and the next moment he appeared in front of the gate of the East Lake Courtyard, and then walked through the corridors and halls all the way as if entering his own home.

After Xu Beiyou came to Liuli Pavilion, Zhang Xueyao waved her hand to signal Li Qinglian to leave.

Li Qinglian immediately left the place without looking back as if she had received an amnesty.

Xu Beiyou sat in Li Qinglian's place before, and said, "Why did Master teach me?"

Zhang Xueyao took out a history book compiled internally by Jianzong, which recorded the ups and downs of Jianzong for more than a thousand years, and said softly: "Looking at this sect for thousands of years, there were two huge changes before Daqi was established. It is one success and one failure. The first change is that the patriarch of the sect, Shangqing Daojun, rebelled from the Taoist sect and founded the sect on the Thirty Islands in the East China Sea. Instead, the position of Daoism was replaced by Western Buddhism, and my Sword Sect also took advantage of the situation to gain a firm foothold during the alternation of Daoism and Buddhism. This is called success."

"The second change was in the era of my master Shangguan Xianchen. The power of the Sword Sect reached its peak in a thousand years. Before it was invited by the Dazheng court, and later it was supported by Weiguo and the five great families. So the master also wanted to fight for a place in the Central Plains. Then At that time, Jianzong's heart was in all directions, with ambitions in all directions, but this move just happened to be at odds with the Daoist sect who aimed to revive the millennium. Remnants' linger on. This is called defeat."

"So far, our Jianzong has fallen into the lowest ebb in the millennium, and is almost on the verge of extinction. The Taoists who have ascended to the world are confident that they have completely eradicated Jianzong, but they don't know that our Jianzong can make a comeback even if it is in utter decline. This can be called the third change. In the era of Gongsun Zhongmou, but he is no longer full of hostility and sharpness like the last two times, but chooses to hide the sword in the box, the sword energy is restrained, but people can hear its sword sound."

Xu Beiyou's face became serious, and he said, "It is precisely because the sound of the sword reached Emperor Xiao's ears that Master met privately with Xiao Mahe, King of Lingwu County, and forced Qiuye to destroy Daoism at all costs. You have to force it too."

Zhang Xueyao said softly: "If you regard these changes as sword moves, Jianzong's first two sword moves were hard, with one success and one defeat, and the next third time is soft, but with your master's death, It can already be regarded as a defeat, it is said that hardness and softness are both good, I hope you can make it the fourth time to strike the sword, so that the last two sword strikes of our Sword Sect are equally successful."

Xu Beiyou was silent for a long time, and said solemnly: "Remember the teaching of the teacher and mother."

(End of this chapter)