That year, that cicada, that sword

Chapter 443

Life is a long journey.

Although such words are already clichés, Xu Beiyou takes it seriously.

Especially the word trek, it can be seen that it is difficult.

Compared to nestling in a small area of ​​a city all day, Xu Beiyou prefers to travel [-] miles like his master, to see the vastness of the world, and to appreciate the world of mortals.

This is one of the reasons why he decided to go to the imperial capital on foot.

After coming down to Yishan, Xu Beiyou didn't stay too much in Huizhou and transferred to Yuzhou.

Even if Xu Beiyou only walked on foot, the forward speed is still unmatched by ordinary people, but he will soon reach the city of Yiyang Prefecture within a day's journey.

Yiyang Mansion is located in the southernmost part of Yuzhou, connecting Huizhou in the east and Huzhou in the west and south. , just passing by.

It's just that Tiangong wanted to keep people, so when Xu Beiyou was only a dozen miles away from Yiyang Mansion, the wind suddenly picked up, and the sky suddenly went dark.

Xu Beiyou stopped and looked up at the sky.

The originally gray sky seemed to have been splashed with thick ink.

The lead cloud above the head was getting heavier and heavier, and after a while, the sky was completely dark.

"Bah!"

A raindrop fell on Xu Beiyou's face.

Then there are ten, hundreds, tens of millions.

Countless raindrops poured down from the nine heavens, as if they were going to cover the whole world in a fine rain curtain.

Xu Beiyou lowered his head and pulled the bamboo hat on his head. He didn't decide to go on the road in the rain, but chose to find a place to shelter from the rain.

Of course, with his cultivation base, he would not be afraid of mere raindrops, but on the premise of no emergency, he didn't want to pretend to be an expert who doesn't stain his clothes in the rain.

The outline of Yiyang Fu City could be vaguely seen in the distance, Xu Beiyou casually pulled a few branches and leaves of wild plantains as umbrellas, lightened his feet, moved a little faster, and floated towards the city.

This sudden autumn rain is getting denser and denser.

A young woman was running towards the city in the heavy rain, but the road was muddy, and her pair of embroidered shoes that were already covered in mud could not run fast.

When she managed to reach the gate of the city, she had become a veritable drowned rat, her hair was sticking to her forehead in strands, and her clothes were soaked through. Fortunately, she was not a woman from a wealthy family, and she was only dressed in thick muslin clothes , it would not reveal the inner situation, but the wet clothes were tightly attached to the body, but it more and more highlighted the exquisite figure of the woman.

The soldiers guarding the city gate kept glancing at the woman, but they didn't dare to make any moves. The magistrate of Yiyang Mansion is notoriously strict in governance, and he used thunderous tactics at every turn, so he could only enjoy his eyesight.

The woman passed through the city gate in a hurry, and continued to run into the city in the rain, but at the same time, she did not forget to turn her head and give the soldiers guarding the gate a hard look.

When she ran to Granny Cui's cake shop, the rain was getting heavier and heavier. She couldn't bear the autumn rain that was almost comparable to the summer rain, so she hid under the eaves of the cake shop.

The woman wiped the rainwater off her face with her sleeve. The wind was blowing, and she couldn't help wrapping her arms around her shoulders. She saw that the rain was getting bigger and bigger outside, and decided to take shelter here for a while, waiting for the rain Go home after turning small.

The woman's name is Zhou Xiuning, her name is not vulgar, and she stands out from the crowd among women, especially in this world where women's names are not valued, often only rich families will name their daughters specially, but Zhou Xiuning is not a lady of everyone, She is the daughter of a gardener, and she can only be regarded as Xiaojiabiyu, a native of Yiyang Prefecture who has lived here for generations.

Zhou Xiuning turned her head inadvertently, and suddenly found a person standing on the street not far from the bakery.

This man seemed to be a Taoist priest, with long black hair combed neatly, pinned with a jade hairpin, and a long sword on his back, looking from the front, only the hilt of the sword could be seen protruding from the shoulder.

Holding an oil-paper umbrella that seemed to be old in his hand, he stood quietly in the rain.The umbrella surface, which was slightly burnt yellow and turbid, kept the raindrops outside, but the front and shoulders of the blue Taoist robe were still wet by the fine autumn rain.

The shoes on his feet were also covered with mud, as if he had come from a long distance, his entire face was covered under an umbrella, and he couldn't see clearly, just like countless passers-by with umbrellas in the rain, but this Taoist man had a calm demeanor, which made him People are born with the meaning of closeness.

It seemed that the Taoist had been standing here for some time, as if he was waiting for someone.

Zhou Xiuning approached cautiously, and asked softly, "Master, are you waiting for someone?"

The Taoist didn't look back, but simply replied with one word, "Yes."

Zhou Xiuning looked at the heavy rain outside, seeing that it was impossible to leave, she couldn't help but asked, "Who are you waiting for?"

The young Taoist shook his head, but did not answer.

Zhou Xiuning hesitated for a moment, tried her best to shrink her body, and made room for half of her, and said, "It's raining heavily outside, so come in and hide from the rain, it's the same as waiting here."

The young Taoist turned his head and glanced at him, but he still couldn't see his face clearly, but the corners of his mouth were slightly raised.

Zhou Xiuning's face turned red, seeing that he was still silent, she didn't dare to speak any more.

After about half a stick of incense, the rain subsided, and when Zhou Xiuning was about to leave this place to go home, a figure came from the direction of the city gate. In the blink of an eye, he arrived not far from the pancake shop. What was a little ridiculous was that instead of an umbrella, he held a few big plantain leaves.

Zhou Xiuning subconsciously thought, is this the person the Taoist is waiting for?

The person who came was wearing a big bamboo hat, which also covered most of his face. The long bag wrapped in Shu brocade behind him was already soaked by rain, vaguely resembling a big cuboid box.

"Good rain knows the season, and autumn kills people, so autumn wind and autumn rain are easy to kill."

The visitor's tone was gentle, as if meeting a friend whom he hadn't seen for many years, but Zhou Xiuning couldn't help being terrified by the content of the words.

The Taoist who had always cherished words like gold before finally spoke and asked, "Jiangdu Mr. Xu?"

The visitor looked at the Taoist who should be meeting him for the first time, with a warm smile on his face, "I'm Xu Beiyou, haven't you asked your Excellency yet?"

The Taoist said calmly: "A Taoist disciple, Ling Yun."

Xu Beiyou was startled for a moment, and then suddenly said: "It turns out that he is the disciple of Daoist Master."

Ling Yun, the No. 11 disciple of Qiuye who is the head teacher of the Taoist sect, started before Qi Xianyun. There are many people in the Taoist sect who regard the two as a pair of golden boy and jade girl made in heaven, but the two of them have always sneered at this statement. Even the two don't have much personal relationship in normal times.

Xu Beiyou didn't expect that after Qi Xianyun and Zhiyun left Xuandu one after another, Ling Yun, the youngest of the remaining eleven direct disciples of the head teacher, also left Xuandu.

Xu Beiyou asked, "How did you know that I would choose to pass through Yuzhou?"

Ling Yun said calmly: "There are two roads to choose from from Jiangdu to Didi. You can take the Dongjiang Grand Canal in Jiangzhou, or take the overland road in Yuzhou. Yiyang Mansion is the only way for Huizhou to enter Yuzhou, so Pindao chose to bet on it. It's a bet that if Mr. Xu chooses the water route, or simply walks with the sword, the poor road will be treated as a waste of time, but if Mr. Xu chooses to pass through Yuzhou, then he will definitely meet the poor road."

Ling Yun paused for a moment, then said slowly: "It seems that Pindao made the right bet."

(End of this chapter)