No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 184
Xiu Niang is no stranger to this Pure Land Palace.

When Tanlang drowned and was sent to Donglin Temple for treatment, he was recuperating in the Sanhui Temple not far away.

Taking advantage of her fourth senior sister's night out to wash her sword, Xiuniang fished out the bad-tempered old Taoist priest from a certain water prison and brought her here to treat Ouyang Rong.

Because the underground palace here is quiet, it is not appropriate to be disturbed by the monks, but it also caused the follow-up monks, such as Xiufa, to think that the county magistrate was missing and jump around in a hurry.

It's just that for some reason, the bad-tempered old Taoist saw Ouyang Rong's strange dislike, and because of the kindness of Xiu Niang who used sword energy to clean up his sores, he agreed to take a shot.

And after healed Ouyang Rong, before walking away, Crane Cloak Qiu Laodao still pointed to the Buddha Jataka mural on the west side of the underground palace "Kaimu Wangsheyan", and said coldly that if there is another time, he will take Xiuniang's pair of beautiful eyes as a gift. cost.

I don't know if this old man covered in sores can't get used to the dog food of lovers in the world...

So Xiu Niang is very familiar with the crazy "Master I Don't Know" who almost misled Ouyang Rong in the underground palace.

And on that day, when the old man Heke Qiu cooperated with the unknown master to tease Ouyang Rong, he kept his head silent and Xiu Niang was also a little selfish, wanting Ouyang Rong to stay in the underground palace for a while.

At that time, Xiu Niang only said that it was difficult to meet each other, so even if it was just to look at him more, it would be good.

But Tan Lang is Tan Lang after all, he broke through the confusion and climbed out of the cave of the underground palace tenaciously...

In the Pure Land Palace, Xiu Niang turned her head and glanced at the lotus pedestal in the center of the underground palace that was shrouded in moonlight year after year... It was also the place where Ouyang Rong threw a rope and turned out of the underground palace after waking up.

Some images flashed in her eyes, silently raised her hand, and took out a fist-sized thing wrapped in a white handkerchief from her bosom.

The embroidered lady untied the handkerchief, held it forward, and said "ah" softly with her mouth open.

A mung bean cake lay quietly in her palm.

Monk Xiuzhen was stunned for a moment, and closed his clasped hands instead, took the mung bean cake from Xiuniang's hand, sat down where he was, and ate it with relish.

Xiu Niang smiled softly, turned around, a gust of wind floated by, and the figure disappeared in place.

The edge of the dry well surrounded by stone railings above.

Xiu Niang, who got nothing tonight, turned her back and left.

At this time.

Her steps suddenly stopped.

This Beitian Jiyangyuan is located on a relatively flat place close to the mountain peak. From here, you can overlook the Longcheng County at the foot of the mountain on the west side and the Butterfly Creek that looks like a "ji"-shaped wing.

The embroidered lady stood still and turned her head silently.

This pair of clear eyes is now clearly reflecting the Dragon City buildings at the foot of the mountain, and can even vaguely distinguish the Luming Street where the Longcheng County Government Office is built, and the red brick sword stoves densely located on the west bank of Butterfly Creek.

This scene is the same as when I first came here, with sparse stars, a bright moon half-covered by dark clouds, and dark buildings with sporadic lights.

An unremarkable night scene.

And if it were an ordinary mortal here at this moment, the scene seen with the naked eye would be the same.

However, the same scene fell into the eyes of Xiu Niang.

Her pupils shrank slightly.

At this moment, when climbing to the high place, the dumb girl looks forward to her breath.

In the field of vision, on the west bank of Butterfly Creek, a hill slightly shorter than Dagu Mountain was surrounded by many sword furnaces.

She looked from a distance, and there was a slender red aura on the hillside halfway up, swaying up and down.

Like a red thread, straight up to the sky.

It connects an extinguished sword furnace on the mountainside with the star-sparse night sky above.

Looking from the embroiderer's perspective.

This slender stream of red air pours from the Milky Way in the Nine Heavens to the human world.

Xiu Niang's eyes were slightly puzzled, and then surprised.

This is... sword energy.

"Ah." The embroiderer whispered softly.

The elder sister mentioned that the three Qi practitioners who signed the alliance at the Lotus Pagoda held three things called "Red Lotus Sword Seals" each.

Xiuniang saw the one inside the teacher's gate once at the elder sister's place.

According to the original agreement, the red lotus sword seal is not only a keepsake when fulfilling the alliance, but also a beacon-like signal item when a certain party convenes a gathering.

Disciples of Qi practitioners from the three directions within a radius of a hundred miles, upon seeing this signal, should go to the appointment.

And the red sword aura soaring straight into the sky in front of him is exactly the same as the red lotus sword seal described in the letter from the elder sister.

There are people who fulfill the alliance.

At this moment, on the Xiaogu Mountain on the west bank of the Butterfly Creek in the distance, the slender red light in the eyes of the Qi practitioner was quite conspicuous, it only lasted for less than twenty breaths, and then disappeared in an instant.

Appears only briefly.

The night was dark and unremarkable, as if the scene just now had never happened.

However, beside the dry well in Beitian Jiyangyuan, the figure of a certain thin woman has disappeared in place.

……

Liu Zi'an was awakened by the confidants of Jian Furnace, a brand name A.

This confidant subordinate was responsible for his contact with the old swordsmith without interruption at [-] o'clock.

The old swordsmith is looking for him!

Because of Zheyiqu's incident, Liu Zian didn't sleep very well in the past few days, but when he heard his subordinate's footsteps, he immediately woke up.

He glanced at the dark night outside the window and the bowed and respectful figure of his subordinates.

Liu Zian frowned, but immediately rubbed his face and got off the bed, showing a gentle expression, comforted his subordinates, dressed again, then hurriedly left the yard, went out through the back door, and rushed to the sword shop.

Except for the communication subordinate, he did not bring other subordinates with him, not even his third younger brother Liu Zilin to call.

Liu Zian couldn't help but be so cautious.

The sensitivity and suspicion of the young county magistrate made him feel a little irritated from time to time.

Thinking of Ouyang Rong's iconic smile behind his hands behind his back, the corners of Liu Zian's eyes twitched violently.

These days, every day during the day, he has to pretend to be a pug and run to the construction site of the Zheyi Canal. On behalf of the Liu family who surrendered and reformed, he sincerely cooperated with the county government to dredge the water and dredge the second phase of the Zheyi Canal.

In addition, Ouyang Rong had to deal with surprise inspections from time to time.

Fortunately, the latter returned to Luming Street on time every day, and only came to find fault with Liu Zian and others during the day, and did not work overtime to supervise the project, otherwise Liu Zian would really be tortured to death.

"Hurry up, Ouyang Lianghan, when that day comes, Liu will pay back ten times."

The dark mountain wind on the night road covered the gloomy face of a new head of the Liu family, and the cold murmur was also blown away by the cold wind.

But when Liu Zian came to the sword stove on the hillside of Xiaogu Mountain, and when his face was illuminated by the light of the oil lamp in the house, he immediately showed a refined smile again.

"The old man called Liu in the middle of the night, but do you have something to order?"

The old swordsmith ignored him, turned his back and packed his things silently, turning his head occasionally to look at the night in a certain direction down the mountain outside.

Liu Zian looked at the old swordsmith rather strangely.

When he just arrived, he saw the old swordsmith bending over to pick up a hard object wrapped in a dirty gray cloth on the lawn outside.

Liu Zian glanced curiously.

This solid object wrapped randomly in gray cloth has edges and corners, square and square, the size of a child's fist, and looks like a metal cube.

I don't know what to do.

But right now, after putting the object in his arms, the old swordsmith looked calm, walked back to the sword furnace silently without looking at Liu Ziwen.

Liu Zian had no choice but to dismiss his subordinates and follow up alone.

The table in the room was covered with stacks of blue paper, many of which were cut into small pieces of Pythagorean-shaped paper, and the small pieces of paper were pieced together into strange curved surfaces...

Liu Zian glanced over the messy tabletop, he was no stranger to it.

The old swordsmith seems to be very obsessed with the blue butterfly flower that Ouyang Lianghan folded back then. Recently, he has been obsessed with paper art. He asked someone to help him find these rare blue papers, just to satisfy the old swordsmith. demand.

But right now, there is ink on the blue paper on the table, and it seems that there are many elegant handwriting.

Liu Zian frowned, and from the corner of his eye, he saw two cups of tea on the coffee table next to him.

One cup of tea was drunk more than half, the tea leaves bottomed out, and the other cup was [-]% full, as if no one had drunk it.

The two cups of tea are only slightly warm.

"Has anyone been here?" Liu Zian suddenly asked suspiciously.

The old swordsmith opened the sword-forging furnace beside him, grabbed the paper with beautiful handwriting on the table, and threw it into the empty sword furnace.

Just like that day when the old swordsmith threw the blue paper butterfly flower into the sword furnace, the blue paper disappeared out of thin air in the empty furnace right now, and disappeared into ashes.

"Here we come." The old swordsmith said casually.

Liu Zian's face changed, and he couldn't help but said anxiously: "Who's here?!"

"I discussed it with you in the evening."

"Where is the person from Yunmeng Jianze?" Liu Zian looked around anxiously, and turned to look at the open door.

The night wind howled outside.

The old swordsmith said calmly: "Obviously, she left without drinking any tea."

Liu Zian still looked suspiciously, looking around.

"Oh, don't be afraid."

The old swordsmith chuckled lightly, and there seemed to be a bit of mockery in his smile.

The old man had a half-smile:

"The little girl from Jianze has already gone far away, and she is rushing back to deliver a letter to the first female monarch in the Palace of Female Monarchs."

Liu Zian breathed a sigh of relief, but the muscles on his face were still tense, a little solemn and tense.

Turning around and walking away, with a "bang", the door was slammed shut.

"Why didn't the old man discuss it with me? Just call someone?"

Liu Zian turned around and said in a dissatisfied tone.

"The old man told you yesterday, and you agreed."

The old swordsmith's expression remained unchanged, and he replied with a relaxed tone.

"But..." Liu Zian hesitated to speak, and wandered around the house, "But I didn't expect the old man to move so fast, and to call someone here tonight... Originally, I wanted to discuss some details with the old man tomorrow. coming."

"Negotiate what a fart."

The old swordsmith sneered:

"Wei's people are coming soon, if you drag it on, you will miss a move, and you will never get the sword you want so hard."

Liu Zian couldn't help but glanced at the expression on the old swordsmith's face, and argued:

"What all the troubles, I'm also helping the old man, don't forget, we are in the same camp...

"Isn't the old man also dissatisfied with the eldest brother? Without my help, the sword would really fall into the hands of your enemy. The old man spent most of his life making swords, can you bear the feeling of making wedding clothes for others? "

"Making wedding clothes for others..." The old swordsmith chewed, smiled, and didn't speak again.

Liu Zian stopped, turned around and couldn't help asking:

"Why did the female cultivator of Yunmeng Jianze come so quickly? What did the old man use to contact him?"

The old swordsmith stretched out a withered finger calmly, and pointed to his bulging chest.

No hiding.

Liu Zian's eyes followed, his face was in a daze. It turned out that it was the square and hard object wrapped in gray cloth just now, and it was probably some Qi trainer's items left by the master behind the old swordsmith.

Although the artisans who craft the Dao veins are not lethal, don't forget that they still belong to one of the nine mythical Dao veins and are Qi practitioners.

After figuring out the current situation, Liu Zian's brows were still not loosened, and he frequently looked sideways at the old swordsmith's expression.

"You suspect the old man?"

The old swordsmith suddenly asked with a smile, then nodded again, as if asking and answering himself:

"This old man just wants to forge a sword and take revenge by the way. If the latter is fake, why do you want to kill Liu Ziwen for you? Wouldn't it be better to directly cooperate with Liu Ziwen and the Wei family? More secure?

"Otherwise, why do you think the old man will help you? Because you are beautiful? Oh, I want to be beautiful."

"Anyway, the old man who was responsible for that matter has already told you, why the old man wanted Liu Ziwen to die, and why he couldn't let Wei Shi get the sword, we all agree on this point.

"Liu Zian, you're so refreshing. You actually killed Liu Ziwen for this old man. This murderous way of death makes this old man very satisfied."

The old swordsmith smiled, held up the pot, raised his head, and took a swig of rice wine.

Is there anything more satisfying to the enemies than siblings killing each other?
Especially for Liu Ziwen who pays attention to the clan.

Hearing the big brother's name, Liu Zian silently looked away, did not answer, he changed the subject, stared at the voracious old swordsmith and asked:
"Then why didn't you inform me earlier when you summoned Yunmeng Nuxie? Could it be that you have something to tell me about Yunmeng Jianze and pass it on to that eldest lady?"

Liu Zian's tone was dissatisfied. The old swordsmith's casual behavior gave him a faint feeling that things were out of his control, which was not good.

"As soon as I found out that the girl came, the old man sent someone to call you in advance, but it's a pity that you came too late..."

The old swordsmith curled his lips, but his words paused, and he also shook his head:

"However, I didn't expect that the female cultivator of Yunmeng Jianze came so quickly, and the sword energy arrived after only two sticks of incense... Originally, the old man was afraid of attracting the attention of other Qi trainers, so he planned to divide it into several intervals. Use this stuff at night.

"But for some reason, this Yue girl is near Longcheng County."

Liu Zian looked sideways, frowned and said, "Did you just pass by, or... have you noticed it?"

The old swordsmith shook his head:
"If I had noticed it earlier, the Yue girl would not have left so easily just now. Don't worry, the letter will be delivered to the big lady named Xue Zhongzhu as scheduled, and she will... come as scheduled."

The old man took a sip of his wine, squinted his eyes and muttered.

Liu Zian's face changed, and finally the complex expression turned into a look of helplessness.

If it wasn't for Wei Shi's pressure, he wouldn't have made such a risky move. Now the agreed day for taking out the sword from the sword box is getting closer and closer, and Liu Ziwen died too late, so he can't come. Quickly arrange, there is no way to fool Wei Shi, now I can only lead the wolves to drive the tiger away...

"However, the little girl just now is a bit interesting. She is a little mute. This Yunmeng Jianze is really full of all kinds of strange girls."

The old swordsmith laughed and shook his head.

"What do you mean? Little dumb?"

"It's nothing, I didn't talk much about it just now, and I don't know who this little girl is in Yunmeng Jianze. She doesn't look like an ordinary Yue girl..."

The old swordsmith shook his head lightly.

(End of this chapter)