Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 66 The Elegy (1)
一
The secret technique used by the old man to set himself on fire was equally powerful, and his body was quickly burned to ashes.And several people were trapped in this stone tomb, and fell into despair.They don't even bother to lament the tragic ending of the old man, so they have to rack their brains for their own situation first.

"The stone slab is very thick, even with your secret techniques, it is impossible to penetrate it," Luo Xue said after careful inspection, "It seems that this is really a desperate situation."

"We really should have left one more person behind," the woman sighed. "It's too hasty, and I'm only thinking about saving people. Even if I leave a note to explain the reason, I won't die in vain."

"In this case, no one will be able to inform Tianzangzong of the deception they have suffered," the little man said with a dejected look on his face, "Are they really going to wipe out all the hard work of the ancestors one by one like this? "

An Xingmian looked at these people with some exclamation.Death is in front of them, but they don't seem to care about their own life and death at all. All they think about is how to rectify Nagato's name and how to stop those deceived Tianzang sect members from continuing to fill up the book cave.Perhaps the Nagato monks are indeed a little pedantic, and perhaps many times the Nagato monks make incorrect choices in dealing with things, but at this moment, their beliefs are firm, sacred, and unquestionable.

And what about myself?An Xingmian sat lazily on the ground, enduring the pain in his right hand, holding Xue Huaiqing in his arms, and still felt calm in his heart.Yes, they failed, and eventually they were trapped in the mechanism by the old man and waited to die slowly, even unable to pass the message to the long door monks.But no matter what, he tried his best, and he felt that he was worthy of himself and Nagato.Just like the words he used to stimulate the old man just now, dying with the one you love can give you peace of mind.

At this time, the Xuanliu jade surrounding Saxigalo was also unsustainable because of the death of the old man, and finally dissipated, but the deep black presented by Saxigalo did not change.An Xingmian once thought that it might erupt with frightening power and kill everyone as the middle-aged woman said, but in the end, it still fell silent.

Maybe, this "gateway to hell" is calm because of me?And because of this, why would the damned Feng Qiuke and the Yu clan forces behind him allow such a dangerous thing to be carried by a human being?An Xingmian suddenly had this thought, but he was too lazy to think about it.If death was inevitable, he didn't want to waste his thoughts on such trivial matters.

Time passed slowly, and Bai Qianyun, unwilling to wait to die, was still searching for possible cracks in vain, but the facts proved that except for a small vent that was not blocked due to luck and everyone could still breathe, Everything else is completely blocked.The unknown old man must have spent a lot of energy building this underground stone chamber. This set of mechanisms is very meticulous, and the thick and huge stones fit together tightly.

"Someone has to dig it out from the outside," Luo Xue said, "We can't get out from the inside alone."

Bai Qianyun tried to shout again to attract the attention of the outside world, but he shouted for a long time in vain, his voice was almost hoarse, and he still failed to get any response.In the end, he also had to sit down on the ground angrily, and chose to give up.

Fortunately, these people are extraordinary, even though they are in a desperate situation, they can deal with it calmly.It wasn't until this time that Luo Xue had time to introduce the four monks he brought with him to An Xingmian and the others. Among them, the small man was named Huang Qixin, and the middle-aged woman was named Lin Sangu.The names of these two people, An Xingmian, have all been heard, and they are quite famous teachers and scholars in the Nagato.These four are long-door monks who have practiced for many years, but outsiders have never heard of their names, let alone their profound skills in secret arts.

"We have done what we should do," Luo Xue's words sounded like a concluding statement, "Maybe God thinks that Nagato's catastrophe is not enough, so there is nothing we can do about it."

"I seem to have heard that you Changmen monks don't believe in the fate of ghosts and gods." A weak voice suddenly sounded, it was Xue Huaiqing!
"You're awake!" An Xingmian almost jumped up for joy, "How is it? How do you feel?"

"I can't die for the time being, so don't talk about it," Xue Huaiqing said in a low voice, "What's going on now?"

An Xingmian sighed, explained the situation to her in the shortest words, and then said softly: "Leave this alone, you should have a good rest first."

Xue Huaiqing laughed: "What's the use of taking a good rest? Waiting to die of starvation and thirst here? You men are always like this, putting on a tone of 'I'll solve the problem and you women are resting on the sidelines'" , In fact, I can’t do anything, I just talk empty words.”

An Xingmian scratched her scalp in embarrassment: "Oh, you are getting sharper and sharper... Aren't we trying to find a way?"

Xue Huaiqing leaned softly in his arms, seemed to feel very comfortable, and spoke lazily: "Don't think about it, no matter if you are a warrior or a occultist, there is nothing you can do at this time. Dancers, maybe there are some tricks..."

An Xingmian was overjoyed: "Do you have a solution?"

"This place is not far from our inn. I can feel my corpse servant. Even if he can't move these boulders, he can find others to help," Xue Huaiqing said, "But even if I don't have so much mental power just now It is impossible to summon corpse servants from such a distance."

"If you can't be summoned, isn't there still nothing you can do?" An Xingmian was a little frustrated again.

Xue Huaiqing smiled slightly: "I can't do it alone, but Senior Luo has brought several powerful mystics. If I can use their spiritual power to help, I'm not sure."

An Xingmian cheered up: "That's right! You are such a genius!"

Before Xue Huaiqing could answer, the middle-aged woman Lin Sangu shook her head firmly: "No, that will kill you!"

"Why?" An Xingmian was startled.

"She is already at the end of her strength," Lin Sangu said, putting a finger on Xue Huaiqing's forehead, "She was too young to be cultivated enough, but today she has released her spiritual power extraordinary, at least It will take three to four months of recuperation to slowly recover. If we continue to drive our mental power, I am afraid that our lives will be in danger. And borrowing our mental power will aggravate the damage, which is even worse."

An Xingmian's heart sank, and she didn't know what to say for a while, but Xue Huaiqing said: "Then if I don't drive my spiritual power, everyone will die here, and I still can't live. It's the same death, one death or Ten dead, this account is easy to settle."

"But...but...human life can't be added and subtracted like this," An Xingmian scratched his stomach thinking about the reason to stop Xue Huaiqing, "not to mention how could I make you sacrifice like this..."

"Nonsense!" Xue Huaiqing raised her arm with great effort, and flicked her fingers on An Xingmian's forehead.For some reason, at such a moment when her life was hanging by a thread, she completely lost her former restraint, and she didn't seem to mind making any intimate gestures towards An Xingmian at all.Suddenly, An Xingmian felt intense pain in his heart, and he understood Xue Huaiqing's thoughts: Maybe there will be no such opportunities in the future.For her, when her life comes to an end, maybe she can show her true feelings without any scruples.

"One person dies or everyone dies, this is the only choice that needs to be made now, in fact, there is no need to choose," Xue Huaiqing said weakly but firmly, "Don't be bound by things like morality, morality and face. Myself, besides, this has nothing to do with morality at all. I am dead anyway, but if I can make you live, it is worth my death."

An Xingmian hugged Xue Huaiqing tightly, and pressed her cheeks together. Feeling Xue Huaiqing's cold skin, she finally couldn't help but shed tears.At this moment, he even felt strong remorse: Why did he pursue this incident so relentlessly?Why can't we simply assume that the underground magic fire is real, give up Nagato's belief from then on, and live happily with Xue Huaiqing?

At this time, he was finally able to be completely sure of one thing: he really cannot be regarded as a long-door monk.Compared with Xue Huaiqing's life, there is nothing more important in this world, and there is nothing that cannot be discarded.He doesn't want to pursue the truth, he doesn't want to understand the true meaning of life, he just wants the girl in his arms to live, even if he sacrifices his life for it, he won't hesitate at all.

In the death-like silence, Tang He suddenly spoke, but his tone sounded quite hesitant: "Maybe, I mean maybe, she can not die for a while, although... I don't know what will happen in the future."

"What did you say?" Excited, An Xingmian grabbed Tang He's hand, and then hurriedly let go.

Tang He didn't blame him: "Do you still remember that brother Bai and I fell into witchcraft and feigned death a few months ago?"

An Xingmian nodded: "Of course I remember. You mean to let her die immediately after summoning the corpse servant? But, none of us know that kind of Gu technique."

Tang He smiled: "This is luck. I later found that kind of Gu art very interesting, and by chance, I met a person who knew this kind of Gu art. I learned some superficial things from him, but I didn't learn the essence."

"Then...how much have you learned?" An Xingmian asked cautiously.

"I secretly caught a vicious dog that hurt people on the street and did an experiment," Tang He said, "The vicious dog was indeed suspended animation, but I couldn't bring it back to life, and I don't know what it would do if the medicine didn't work. It will wake up in time. It may stand up in a few days and go to the street again to show off its might, but it is also very likely to sleep forever."

An Xingmian's palms were full of sweat: "That is to say, if you use the Gu technique, she may never wake up again."

"Yes, to be honest, I'm only half sure, or even less than half, the biggest possibility is that she won't wake up again," Tang He said sadly, "But, I really can't think of any other way gone."

"You can try," said Xue Huaiqing who had been listening, "If there is a glimmer of hope, even if it is one percent, one thousandth, you can try. The worst is death."

"Since this is the case, we can add a little more risky bet," Feng Qiuke said, "Xing Mian, do you trust me?"

An Xingmian hesitated for a moment: "Although you have many things to hide from me, but... I have no other choice."

"Okay, as long as she doesn't die immediately after being hit by the Gu technique, you can hand her over to me and take her back to Ningzhou," Feng Qiuke said.

"Bring it back to Ningzhou? Why? Is there a way to bring it back to Ningzhou?" An Xingmian asked.

"I'm tired of the oath, and I can't tell the whole truth, but I can tell you one thing," Feng Qiuke said, "In Ningzhou, once some people know the real identity of this girl, they will never Allow her to die, but will do everything possible to save her, so that she can find out the traces of her parents from her mouth. Yes, her situation will be very bad, she will receive a lot of stares and discrimination, and may even become a prisoner , but... she will be alive, waiting for you to save her. As a man, that's when you take responsibility for yourself."

An Xingmian digested Feng Qiuke's words for a while, and gradually became firm in her heart.Sure enough, as he expected, Feng Qiuke knew Xue Huaiqing's life experience, and this life experience seemed to involve some major internal affairs of the Yu clan.But at least, if Xue Huaiqing can survive, there will be hope if he survives. It is just a few more doors that are difficult to cross in the long road of life, but as long as it is not the last door, there will be hope.

Yes, there will be hope.Hope is the door that people pursue forever, An Xingmian thought.

"Xiao He, I'm begging you, this is really the only chance, we can't let it go," An Xingmian said, and turned his attention to Feng Qiuke again, "But the great Mr. Feng who keeps his oath, you really Can't you leave me any clues?"

"I can't, I don't know anything, but Xiaoxue is a very smart girl, she knows what to do." Feng Qiuke said with a straight face, then turned away and ignored him.

Xue Huaiqing was slightly taken aback, but immediately understood what Feng Qiuke meant, so she reached into her bosom and took out the white crane-shaped clan emblem that Feng Qiuke deliberately "dropped" on the ground that day, and put it in An Xingmian's hand : "This little bauble was not given to me by others, but I picked it up accidentally one day. So if you find any clues from this little bauble one day, it has nothing to do with others, especially It has nothing to do with Mr. Feng."

An Xingmian nodded to show that she understood the meaning of her words, and carefully put away the family emblem.Then he held Xue Huaiqing's hand tightly: "There is no need to say anything more between me and you. Wait for me."

Xue Huaiqing nodded lightly: "I will. I will wait for you."

"Then, seniors, I'm sorry to trouble you." She turned her head to the mystics, with a smile on her face all the time, as if she was afraid that she didn't smile enough and worried An Xingmian.

two

The birthday of Emperor Hongjing is approaching. This is the top priority of Tianqi City in the near future. It seems that all civil activities must be carried out around this matter, and they dare not deviate in the slightest.During this period of time, the entire Tianqi City was in a state of chaos, but the common people had long been accustomed to it.Living at the feet of the Son of Heaven is like this. In fact, the freedom is much less than that of people in other places, but they are all complacent and proud, and they endure all kinds of inconveniences with proud smiles on their faces.I don't know if they are lucky or unlucky.

During this period of time, various troupes carefully selected from all over the world entered the imperial capital to perform, and the purpose of Qiuyan Troupe's coming here was also the same.However, they are non-governmental organizations after all, and they did not get the honor of presenting and performing on the night of their birthday. They just got the opportunity to enter the palace to perform on the night before their birthday. For them, this can be regarded as a great honor.For this reason, the class leader entered a state of excitement half a month in advance, urging the artists to practice hard all day long, looking like he wanted to beat them with a whip.

"This is the blessing and glory that you can earn in many lifetimes!" The class leader repeats this sentence thousands of times every day, "Anyone who dares to make trouble for me, just open the cage and get in!"

Under the intimidation of the class master, all the members of the Qiuyan class practiced hard, and the final performance was quite good.Although the young Emperor Hongjing was not addicted to sensuality, he was still very excited to see such a wonderful performance. After the performance, he even summoned the troupe master and artists to him, and asked them a few words in person , really flattered them.

"The woman who walked the thin rope at high altitude just now is very skilled, why not call her over?" asked the queen accompanying Emperor Hongjing.

Naturally, it was Tang He who asked this question.The class leader hurriedly turned around and searched around. This search made him sweat profusely, and all he had to do was kneel and kowtow: "This... this... the empress's atonement, the emperor's forgiveness, that village girl doesn't understand the rules, She must have resigned as soon as the performance was over. I...I...she...the Emperor..."

The emperor couldn't help but smiled slightly: "Those who don't know are not guilty. I won't punish you for this matter. Don't worry. Let's live peacefully."

Only then did the incoherent class leader dare to stand up, his legs were still trembling.While forcing a smile on his face and continuing to answer the questions from the emperor and the empress, he was thinking in his heart: Where did Tang He, that bastard little girl, go?

At this time when everyone is lively and happy, in Tianqi City and the palace, there is one person who is not happy.This person is the mother of Emperor Hongjing, the Concubine Duan conferred by Emperor Shengde in the past, and the current Empress Dowager.

(End of this chapter)