Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 84: Swordsman Lifts the Head

"You carry the load, I lead the horse, we greet the sunrise and see off the sunset..."

"Flatten the bumps and build a road, fight the dangers and set off again..."

"Set off again!"

The weather is sunny and the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant.

The nearby jungle is chaotic yet orderly. Natural competition has formed an ingenious creation in the cruelty, so that no other big trees can grow around the big trees, only some short trees and vines.

There are gaps between the big trees that lead to the sky.

Chu Tianshu walked in the jungle, humming a ballad, and found a path.

He stood on the path and looked in both directions. At one end of the road, it stretched between lush green mountains, with no end in sight.

Looking at the other end, it seems that there are also green mountains stretching across and clouds halfway up the mountain.

However, at the foot of the mountain over there, there seems to be the outline of a city.

It looks like an ancient city and does not have the appearance of a modern city.

However, based on this alone, we cannot be sure what era the world we traveled to this time is similar to.

After all, even in my hometown, there are still some places in the world that still retain the style of an ancient city.

After Nie Longding's incident, Chu Tianshu flew back to the mainland on the ninth day and had a feast in his hometown.

After savoring those most familiar flavors, he went back to take a shower and rest, changed his clothes, and sent a message to his second grandfather and others saying that he was going out for a trip, and then started his journey through time.

Now he has a clean face and wears a black casual coat over a blue shirt, trousers and sneakers, looking relaxed.

The Sanqi Divine Sword, as flexible as a tape measure, was wrapped around his left wrist like a spiral wrist guard.

The wood texture is antique and mostly covered by the sleeves.

Since he could see that there was an ancient city in that direction, Chu Tianshu walked along the path.

The journey was long and he walked leisurely, as if he was out for a picnic, and continued to hum the tune of "Where is the Road?"

In fact, he couldn't quite remember the full lyrics of the song.

There are only a few familiar phrases that I sing over and over again, and I don’t feel bored at all.

However, as he walked, he found that the sky was getting a little overcast, and the damp and cool smell in the wind became stronger.

"It's going to rain."

Chu Tianshu looked around, quickened his pace, ran to a banana tree on the side of the road, and pulled off a large leaf.

He held the banana leaves over his head, and soon, a light drizzle began to fall on the jungle path.

There is an earthen temple a few miles away.

Chu Tianshu put his left hand together with his fingers like a sword, silently chanted the word "Lin", and quickened his pace.

Most of the rain falling overhead was blocked by the banana leaves, and the oncoming raindrops were invisibly deflected by the Lin character technique.

Just a small application, so as not to get this coat, which he quite likes, wet.

However, when he got closer to the earthen temple, he found that there seemed to be someone already inside.

The ancient temple has no door, with bamboo-reinforced earth walls and a thatched roof. The offering in the temple seems to be a standing Buddhist statue.

There were two groups of people in the temple, all dressed in ancient costumes.

A man was hiding in the corner, his eyes closed, resting. His hair was tied in a bun with a hemp rope, his beard was untidy, and he looked unkempt. There were many stains on his gray clothes, but he gave off a feeling that he was not someone to be messed with.

Because he had thin ropes on his wrists, a leather belt around his waist, and a knife in his arms.

The other group consisted of three people, who seemed to be peddlers who were familiar with each other.

The goods in the two large bamboo baskets were complicated and heavy, including tiger-head shoes, small jewelry, and rattles.

On one of the bamboo baskets, there was a large bundle, leaning against a bamboo straw pile filled with candied haws.

The three of them are one old and two young. The two younger ones look less than 20 years old. They look and dress similarly, so they must be relatives.

The old man was praying with his hands folded in front of the Buddha statue.

"May Guanyin Bodhisattva bless us and may our business go smoothly this time."

Chu Tianshu couldn't help but look at the adobe Buddha statue again.

Different from the common gentle female Guanyin image.

The Guanyin statue in this temple looks like an ascetic monk judging from its clothes, but looks like Sakyamuni Buddha judging from its head.

At first, Chu Tianshu really didn't expect that this was a Guanyin Temple.

Two young peddlers squatted beside the bamboo basket, eating cakes and looking at Chu Tianshu curiously.

After Chu Tianshu came in, he threw the banana leaves outside the temple and smiled at them.

"My dear, your clothes look very rare."

The younger one sensed Chu Tianshu's friendliness and couldn't help but ask, "Where is this style from? It looks really energetic."

Their accents are a bit subtle, but you're lucky to be able to understand them.

Chu Tianshu smiled and said, "I made it myself."

"do it yourself?"

The peddler envied him and said, "Your hands are so skillful! I also want to alter clothes myself, but I'm afraid to use scissors."

When the old peddler heard their conversation, he quickly turned around and gave the young peddler a sidelong glance.

"It's good that you can make candied haws. You've rested for half an hour, why are you still squatting? Stand up and walk around. Once the rain stops, we'll continue on our way."

Although he looked old and had a hoarse voice, judging from his appearance, he was only about forty or fifty years old.

"This boy is rude, please don't take it as an offense, my lord."

The old peddler came up and bowed.

Chu Tianshu looked at him and suddenly remembered that this seemed to be a Tang Dynasty etiquette, so he imitated him and returned the favor. "It's okay, we were hiding from the rain together by chance, just chatting."

The old peddler laughed and said, "Judging from your accent, have you just arrived in Nanzhao?"

Chu Tianshu nodded: "I am a medical student. I left school and traveled around to gain knowledge. I have indeed been here for a short time."

The old peddler stood in awe and said, "So you are a doctor."

"In the past, doctors in the Tang Dynasty all worshipped the Medicine King and the immortal Sun, and they basically dressed like Taoist priests."

The old peddler sighed, "I never thought that there are doctors as young as you who can become apprentices nowadays, and they dress differently too."

"To be honest, my dear, I came to Nanzhao with my parents when I was young. Although I miss the Tang Dynasty, I haven't been back for many years. I heard that the Tang Dynasty is doing well now. Can you tell us about it?"

Chu Tianshu chuckled.

Whenever you don’t know what to say, just laugh first.

He originally wanted to find out information from the indigenous people, but now the indigenous people are asking him for information instead.

"Tang Dynasty, that's about it."

Chu Tianshu quickly changed the subject, "What about Nanzhao? Has it been peaceful in recent years?"

The old peddler laughed and said, "In the past, the Tibetans built castles everywhere here, plundered fine goods for their own enjoyment, and also conscripted laborers. The king was also planning to raise a large army to attack Shuzhou. It was really troublesome."

"But since the king was defeated by the Tang Emperor's army ten years ago, Nanzhao seems to have fallen out with Tubo and expelled many Tubo people."

"Haha, we Nanzhao people have been living better these years than before."

Chu Tianshu looked strange when he heard this.

The old peddler's tone seemed to show respect for the King of Nanzhao, but he also seemed to be quite happy that the King of Nanzhao was beaten by the Tang Emperor.

They consider themselves Nanzhao people, but also consider themselves Tang people?
"Well."

Chu Tianshu pondered, "Since you are a citizen of Nanzhao, aren't you angry that the Nanzhao army was defeated by the Tang army?"

"What's there to be angry about?"

The old peddler was a little puzzled. "Nanzhao has defeated the imperial army before. They've always fought back and forth like this."

"Just like before, when the two great generals An Lushan led a large number of generals to rebel, they attacked the emperor at first, and then were attacked by the emperor. It's all normal."

The old peddler smiled and said, "Anyway, Nanzhao is doing pretty well right now."

Chu Tianshu suddenly understood the logic of this old peddler.

In the mind of this old peddler, Nanzhao Kingdom was not a foreign country at all, and the king of Nanzhao was just like a powerful governor of a separatist region.

So it was natural for him to think that he was both a Nanzhao and a Tang person.

Just like the people of Lingnan, they also feel that they are both people of Lingnan and people of the Tang Dynasty.

In fact, Nanzhao originally had dozens of large and small ethnic groups, with six Zhaos coexisting.

The predecessor of Nanzhao was Mengshezhao. Its first monarch paid homage to Emperor Gaozong and was granted the title of Governor of Weizhou.

Later, among the Six Kingdoms, five of them often relied on Tubo and harassed the Tang people.

Only Mengshe Zhao always relied on the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, during the Kaiyuan period, it received support from the Tang court, which sent officials to help it annex the other five Zhaos and establish the Nanzhao Kingdom.

The ruler of Nanzhao, who united the six states, was even granted the title of Duke of Yue. At that time, many Tang people had already migrated to the territory of Nanzhao.

During the Tianbao period, the Nanzhao King Geluofeng was asked to pay a huge bribe by a Tang Dynasty governor. He started a war, repeatedly defeated the Tang army, formed an alliance with Tubo, and treated the two as brothers. He also took advantage of the Anshi Rebellion to expand the Nanzhao territory.

During this process, a large number of craftsmen and civilians were captured and brought back to Nanzhao to fill the population.

After Geluofeng's death, his son died early, so his grandson "Yi Mouxun" succeeded to the throne, who is now the king of Nanzhao.

Yi Mouxun and Tubo formed an alliance to attack the Tang Dynasty, but were repeatedly defeated by the Tang army and suffered heavy losses.

The Eastern Barbarians, who were also dependent on Tubo, were suppressed and subdued by the Tang army generals and all surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.

Tubo became suspicious and suspected that Nanzhao would also surrender to the Tang Dynasty.

Yi Mouxun took advantage of the situation, broke with Tubo, and showed goodwill to the Tang Dynasty.

All of these things were too familiar to the Tang people living in Nanzhao after the Anshi Rebellion.

All of Yi Mouxun's actions were typical of a military governor. Even the people under his rule were no different from other people under the rule of the Tang Dynasty. Everyone still spoke their hometown dialect and used their hometown characters.

As for the fact that Yi Mouxun himself is a Bai ethnic group, there is even less to say about this.

There were people from all ethnic groups among the military governors of the Tang Dynasty.

Even though there were people who often led their troops around to expand their territory and rob each other of people's population, and occasionally there were people who wanted to rush to Chang'an and capture the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, they still considered themselves to be Tang people, and this was not a conflict.

"Anyway, is Nanzhao territory quite peaceful right now?"

Chu Tianshu smiled and said, "That's good. Although we doctors save lives and heal the wounded, we don't like to see too many deaths and injuries."

"Besides, my own safety is better guaranteed if I practice medicine in a peaceful place."

He heard footsteps approaching on the path outside the temple again, so he turned his head to look.

The old peddler also looked over there, his face suddenly changed drastically and he screamed in shock.

The two peddlers rushed forward and supported the old man: "What's wrong?"

They also looked over there, and their faces turned pale.

Chu Tianshu frowned and stared at the figure.

The man walked step by step on the road, holding a knife in his right hand and a human head in his left hand.

Although holding these two things, the man's expression was not ferocious.

Because he had no face, there was nothing above his neck, only bloodstains still on his wet clothes.

The sky is overcast and drizzling.

The severed head walks.

(End of this chapter)