Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 74
After the rare old man said a few more words, he also recovered his true nature of silence and returned to the room early.In the middle of the night, when the inn finally quieted down, the door of his room was suddenly opened, and the four subordinates carried old man Xu out in a simple sedan chair called a sliding pole, and swaggered out of the lobby.

At this time, there were still many people lying or sitting in the lobby, but it was strange that no one showed the slightest curiosity about Old Man Xu's late night outing and that weird sliding pole. In fact, they all closed their eyes tightly, It was as if he was in a deep sleep, so deep asleep that he was unconscious of everything in the outside world.

So old man Xu was carried out of the inn like this, and walked into the violent sandstorm at night.At this time, it seems that every inch of air in the Gobi Gobi is filled with yellow sand, and the sharp whistle brought by the strong wind is like ghosts. Even strong horses, even camels, and six-horned yaks have difficulty moving forward, because the sand will quickly seal them. mouth and nose, making it difficult for them to breathe.But the four people who were carrying old man Xu didn't seem to be suffering at all, as if they didn't need to breathe at all, they just kept walking forward step by step, and they could basically keep pace in such a strong wind.

After walking about half a mile, under the cover of night and wind and sand, the inn was completely invisible, and the four people carrying the poles also stopped.Old man Xu got off the sliding pole, looked around, and stopped in a certain direction.He didn't open his mouth to give an order, but the four followers seemed to have received some kind of order and started digging north of where he was standing.They were just digging with bare hands, but their hands were harder than a shovel, and they quickly dug away the floating soil on the surface, revealing a hidden iron plate below.The old man Xu bent down, and regularly knocked three long and two short sounds on the iron plate. Repeated three times, the iron plate creaked and moved to the side, and there was a hole underneath.Five people got in together.

The entrance of the cave is connected to an artificially dug underground passage, which is narrow at first, but becomes wider and wider as it goes, until it ends in a huge natural cave.It seems that someone discovered this cave first, and then dug a passage to connect it.There are now some lighted torches in the cave, but most of the place is still in darkness.

Old man Xu took the lead to step into this cave hidden deep under the Gobi.Just two steps away, there was a sudden noise from the top of the head, and several figures rushed down from the height of the cave, with cold light in their hands, obviously holding weapons, and attacked him head-on.At the same time, more than a dozen people suddenly rushed out from all around, quickly surrounding the five intruders.

Old man Xu didn't panic at all.He stood there almost motionless, but the four subordinates had already shot like lightning.The first subordinate threw out both fists, and hit an enemy's cheek with his left fist, and with a click, the enemy's neck was unexpectedly broken by this punch.And his right fist collided with the iron rod swung by another enemy, hitting the iron with flesh, the fist was not hindered at all, but the iron rod was broken in two.He didn't stop, and continued to attack, his fists swung with a strange wind sound, and almost every punch could injure an enemy.

The second man showed excellent legwork.He is tall and his legs are longer than ordinary people. He looks a little thin, but his strength and speed are amazing. He can kick people several feet away with one kick, and it will also be accompanied by the sound of his opponent's bones breaking. .

The third subordinate pulled out his long sword from behind, and a clear sword light flashed by. The enemies who jumped down from the sky and tried to sneak attack almost had no time to make any movements, and the limbs covered by the sword light were cut off one after another. The blood mist fell to the ground together.

With just these three people, almost all the enemies who came up to besieged were dispatched in an instant, and No. 4's subordinates were not idle either.This thin young woman raised her hands high, an almost invisible gleam flashed in the air, and the fallen flesh and blood were stopped by an invisible force, and bounced far away. Old man Xu didn't get a little bit of it on his body. smudge.

"You underestimate me too much," Old Man Xu shook his head, "Use these little bastards to test my current skills? Even 30 years ago, I could easily get rid of it." When he said this , the voice is not as old as when he spoke in the inn before, it sounds full of air, and it is full of arrogance that despises everything.

A voice from the depths of the cave answered him: "Because I don't want to part with my best corpse servants. They will be folded in your hands anyway, so it's better to save a little. But you can let four corpse servants use completely different corpse servants at the same time. Kungfu shows off skills, and it has such power, it is indeed much better than me, and it is worthy of being the strongest corpse dancer of this era. As your master, I am really ashamed, Xu Mizi."

Following the voice, the speaker walked to the bright place, he was the old shopkeeper in the inn.He is indeed old and thin, as if he would be blown away by the wind or knocked in half by a stone if placed in the Gobi Desert, but his eyes are no longer dazed, and now his eyes are deep and gloomy, with a hint of An indigestible hatred and resentment.

And on the opposite side of him, "Old Man Xu" has completely changed his appearance. The scorched yellow face is just the result of changing his appearance. After removing the disguise, this corpse dancer whose real name is Xu Mizi looks like an elegant A middle-aged scribe with a striking scar on his left face.He looked at the old shopkeeper with a mocking smile on his face.

"Just being able to live for so many years is already quite capable," Xumizi said. "Over the years, there have been people who escaped from me due to my negligence, but they can still survive after being hit by my full strength." You are the first and only one to survive. From this point of view, you are worthy of me calling you Master."

"Sometimes I regret that I accepted you as an apprentice back then, which made my own future so bleak," the old shopkeeper sighed, "But sometimes when I think about it, it might be my fault to be able to teach an apprentice who is enough to leave a name in history. Glorious. But I am very surprised. With your current ability, what you want is not easy to get. Why do you pretend to be a merchant to cross this piece of Gobi? Fortunately, I am very familiar with your spiritual power. Once you step into the inn I sensed it."

"That's why you left me the secret note of the corpse dancer and asked me to meet here," Xumizi smiled, "but this place is very nice. You have always been a cunning and cautious person, but now you are so old that your bones are about to rot. It hasn't changed either."

"At first I thought you were here to deal with me, but then I thought about it, I'm such a dying old man, I'm afraid it's not worth it for you to make this special trip," the old shopkeeper also smiled sadly, "So, tell me , what do you want to do?"

Xu Mizi thought for a while: "I don't need to tell you, but in order to commemorate our unexpected meeting, it's okay to say it. I just want to take a shortcut and go to Ningzhou as soon as possible. The merchants are corpse servants I am used to, and the clothes and goods are just snatched along the way."

"Going to Ningzhou? Is it really for that Xue Ji's daughter?" Although the old shopkeeper is old, it seems that his mind is spinning very quickly. Can you become a corpse servant? If that's the case, let alone a city-state lord, tying the Chinese emperor, the barbarian lord, and the feather emperor together will not be able to stop you."

"You understand my temper quite well, but unfortunately, you guessed wrong this time," Xumizi accepted Master's disguised compliments calmly, showing neither humility nor pride, "That little baby is not bad. , but it's not particularly outstanding, I didn't have to care about her life, but unfortunately, there are some secrets hidden in her mind, only she knows, and I have to dig out this secret."

"What secret?" asked the old shopkeeper.

"Do you still remember Jiang Qinyin?" Xu Mizi's voice was a little sad.

"That yellow-haired girl surnamed Jiang? I have a little impression that kung fu is as strong as bones, and I always like to challenge you, and I have been defeated repeatedly... Oh!" The old shopkeeper suddenly realized, "I understand, you two later Are you a couple?"

"No, it's all my fault," Xumizi sighed unabashedly, "Some things, when you know you regret it, it's too late... I excavated her remains a few days ago, and by accident Suddenly found a note in her jade pendant, which was specially left for me by her. She said, if I would go to dig up her body, it would finally show that I still have her in my heart, and she wanted to ask me to do something After investigating the details of this matter, I found that it must fall on her apprentice——the daughter of Xue Ji whom I was looking for."

The old shopkeeper sighed uncontrollably: "With your temperament, you must be arrogant and stubborn when it comes to matters such as love between men and women. It is useless to ruin the marriage. What is she begging you to do?"

"I can't talk about this for the time being," Xumizi said. "The matter itself is a trivial matter, but by chance, it involves some other things. With your greedy nature, I'm afraid you won't be able to help being tempted after hearing it. You It’s too old, and even though I’ve been poisoned by me for 30 years, it’s impossible to get rid of it, so it’s best to end up in this place, at least a whole body can be left.”

"Aren't you afraid that I'll take you to be buried with you?" The old shopkeeper squinted at his apprentice, "For example, I can set up some traps in this cave, let it collapse completely, and bury you and me in it. Anyway, I I have lived enough, but if I can kill you, it will be regarded as revenge."

Xu Mizi shook his head: "You have this idea, but you dare not. Because I am Xu Mizi."

"You're right," the old shopkeeper smiled wryly, "because you are Sumeru."

four

Xue Huaiqing walked on a white road.

She lowered her head, looked and looked carefully, only to realize that the reason why this road is white is because it is paved with the bones of countless people.Those glowing phosphorescent white bones formed a long road, extending endlessly into the distance.And there was a thick gray mist all around, in this thick fog, she couldn't see anything except the road of bones under her feet.

Xue Huaiqing had no choice but to walk forward along the road.One zhang, two zhang... one mile, two mile... At the end, she couldn't count how far she had walked, but she knew that the road ahead was still unclear, and the soles of her feet were already bleeding.She has been walking barefoot.

Where does this road lead?She didn't know, and she didn't seem to have the energy to think about it. She could only drag her feet forward mechanically, and the blood bit by bit dyed the white bones under her feet red, leaving a striking red mark.

However, this road still has no end in sight.

Finally, Xue Huaiqing couldn't bear the ubiquitous silence, and shouted: "Is anyone there?"

With this cry, the fog in front of him suddenly dissipated a little, and the silhouette of a person gradually appeared.It was a tall and thin Yuren with long golden hair, but no matter how hard Xue Huaiqing tried, he couldn't see his appearance clearly.His face was always blurred, changing like the surrounding fog, but fortunately his voice was very clear.

"You can't get out, you can't get out," the blurred man said to her, "you'll be stuck here forever."

"I don't believe it!" Xue Huaiqing said loudly, "This road will always have an end!"

"No, it has no end," the man shook his index finger. "This is an endless road, and no one can leave it. You can only keep walking, forever, until death comes."

"Go on and on...until death?" Xue Huaiqing repeated involuntarily, "But, why is this happening?"

"That's just fate," the man said. "Every word you say, everything you do is nothing but a plot that fate has already arranged. So you have nothing to think about, no way to escape. "

"Then what should I do now?" Xue Huaiqing murmured.

"Keep going!" The man pointed forward, "Go on until you are exhausted, until your legs and feet are broken, until you no longer have the courage to go on."

Then Xue Huaiqing woke up.She was still in the cell, sitting on that comfortable chair, with a feather clan mystic still standing beside her, and the mystic still had an annoyed expression on his face.

"Can't dig it out, still can't dig it out," the mystic said to the others in the room, "This woman is a corpse dancer. Although her mental power is extremely weak now, she has almost perfect control over her spiritual world. There is still no way to invade her real memory."

"Then let's talk about it another day. Let Miss Xue rest first." The answer was a young Yuren who had been standing at the door. He seemed to be around 30 years old, but his whole body exuded a disturbing majesty. Feeling, wearing a spotless white clothes is even more lofty.He waved his hand, and everyone left the cell silently, only him and Xue Huaiqing were left in the end.

"Miss Xue, I really don't understand why you insist on protecting this memory so much," Yuren said, "Your life was saved by us, and your parents abandoned you after you were born. Have you ever seen them? Then why do you insist on concealing all the information related to them?"

"You saved my life, I will naturally find a way to repay it," Xue Huaiqing said softly, "but no one can force me to tell others what I don't want to tell."

"Then let's wait and see," Yuren walked towards the door, "We will find better mystics, and sooner or later you won't be able to handle it."

After Yuren left, Xue Huaiqing let out a sigh of relief, took out a handkerchief from his bosom, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.Then she stood up with support, slowly moved to the side of the bed step by step, and lay down.With just a few simple movements, she was so tired that she was panting again and again, but to her, being alive and panting was already a remarkable achievement.

"It's good to be alive." Xue Huaiqing said to herself.

Xue Huaiqing is a young corpse dancer. A few months ago, in order to find out the truth about the brutal murder of her adoptive father's family, she accidentally met the head monk An Xingmian.At that time, the Emperor Donglu was searching for the Changmen monk in the whole territory. An Xingmian ran around to resolve the catastrophe, but found that this incident was inextricably linked to the murder of Xue Huaiqing's adoptive father.

So the two walked together on the same road, and after going through many obstacles, they finally found out the truth of the incident.But at the last moment, in order to rescue the trapped companions, Xue Huaiqing exhausted her mental power by using the corpse dance technique and fell into danger.The Yuren Feng Qiuke who taught An Xingmian martial arts came up with an idea, first used poison to put Xue Huaiqing into a state of suspended animation, and then brought her back to Ningzhou, where the Yuren would definitely try their best to save her life. Because her biological parents were involved in a major unsolved case in the history of the Yu clan.

Now Xue Huaiqing is staying in the palace of Ningnan City in Ningzhou, and as Feng Qiuke expected, although the Yumen saved her life, her body is still extremely weak and she can only rest slowly.And she finally knew what kind of big case her parents were involved in.

"Your father is the biggest suspect suspected of killing the previous city-state lord." When Xue Huaiqing finally woke up from a long coma, Feng Qiuke briefly explained the case to her at the first time, " This is a great disgrace to the Huoqintu city-state and the Ningnan Feng family, so no matter what, you must find your father, Xueji."

"So his name is Xue Ji..." Xue Huaiqing seems to be most concerned about his father's name, "What about my mother? What's my mother's name?"

"That's not clear. Xueji entered Ningnan alone at the time," Feng Qiuke said. "We found out later that his wife was not a Yuren, but a human being when we chased him down. But... ...We once got a note from him to your mother, in the note, he called your mother 'Qing'er', so I think there is at least one word Qing in her name."

(End of this chapter)