Sword of Coming

After Chen Pingan carried the basket and went ashore, he walked towards Qingniu Bei. Not sure if it was an illusion, but the young man felt that the water level in the creek seemed to have dropped a bit.

When he approached the blue stone cliff, he suddenly stopped because he clearly saw many people standing there, and each person's face was almost slender. The reason for this was not because of the bright stars, but because of the green bull's back. On it, stood a snow-white elk, its whole body crystal clear, glowing with wisps of white light, like water plants swaying with the water in a stream.

The white deer lowered its head, while a little girl wearing a red cotton-padded jacket stood on tiptoes and reached out to stroke its antlers.

Outside are two young men and women wearing Taoist robes. I don’t know if it’s due to the white deer’s light. The skin of the man and woman is better than snow, crystal clear. For example, if the people in the small town are made of mud, they are like natives. , then these two foreign Taoists are the exquisite porcelains made by firing, and they are really very different.

The style of the men's and women's Taoist robes is somewhat similar to that of Mr. Lu who runs a fortune-telling stall, and there are many differences in details. The Taoist crown is the most different. Mr. Lu has a lotus crown, while the Taoist crowns on the heads of these two people are shaped like fish tails.

The straw-shoe boy stared blankly, feeling that the man and woman standing next to the white deer were like figures walking out of a fairy statue, as if they would soar away in the next moment, reaching for the stars and the moon at their fingertips.

The other two stood a little further away. One of them, Chen Pingan, was the daughter of Master Ruan, the swordsmith. The girl in green did not carry a package full of food this time. She held a small embroidered handkerchief in one hand, with only a few exquisite and cute pieces on it. The girl lowered her head and looked very hesitant, not knowing which food to start with. The person next to her was about thirty years old, carrying a long sword on his back and a strange ornament hanging on his waist.

When Chen Pingan saw them, almost everyone also noticed the sudden appearance of the straw-shoe boy. The young Taoist nun was a little surprised, so she bent down and rubbed the head of the little girl in the red cotton jacket, while pointing in the direction of Chen Pingan and whispering , the little girl pricked up her ears to listen to the fairy sister's question, opened her eyes wide, and looked intently. After vaguely recognizing Chen Ping'an's appearance, she began to pour the beans through the bamboo tube. She should be giving them to the owner of the white deer. A fairy sister explained Chen Pingan's identity.

At this moment, Chen Ping'an also recognized the eight or nine-year-old little girl. The first time they met was when he went to the Long Kiln to bake porcelain. He had met a little girl with braids in Clay Vase Lane. She was very old. Although he was small, he ran very fast. He held a paper kite in his hand and had two slender legs like thin bamboo poles, but he ran like the wind. Chen Pingan was particularly impressed by this. Later, I saw her intermittently several times. Once, a little girl was lying at the mouth of an iron-locked well, secretly throwing stones into it. Chen Pingan accidentally caught her naughty behavior. The little girl was so frightened that she ran away. She ran out for ten seconds. Bu Cai remembered that the candied haws fell on the wellhead, and he couldn't bear the craving anymore, so he ran back to the iron lock well. He went back to the iron lock well again and again, too hastily, and ended up snapping and fell to the ground. He stood up and grabbed it. Tanghu Lu, then suddenly stopped, opened her mouth, reached out to pull out the crumbling tooth, and put it in her pocket. She did not cry or make a fuss, and continued to run without saying a word.

That scene made Chen Pingan sweat all over his head. The last time I saw her was in the ruined place with the statues in the grass. It was one evening last autumn. Chen Pingan left Longyao and returned to the town. He was wandering around. He saw her busy catching crickets in the grass. She was rolling, jumping, and flying around. After seeing Chen Pingan, she obviously recognized Chen Pingan, and another breeze flew away.

Later, Chen Pingan heard from Gu Can that although this young lady who was dirty all day long looked like an unruly girl, she was actually from the Li family on Fulu Street, and she was not a servant. But I don’t know why, she just likes to wander around alone, and her family doesn’t care. When Gu Can finally talked about her, he was full of pride and contempt, saying that she was stupid even though she ran fast. The two of them happened to catch fish together in the stream. The idiot was busy all afternoon and only caught a crab and not a single slate fish. And the reason why she was able to catch the big crab was because of the crab's The crab claws pinched her fingers hard. Gu Can said this in Chen Ping'an's house. He laughed so much that he rolled on the small wooden bed holding his stomach. He said that she was so stupid. She even deliberately raised her hand to show off to him, as if catching a crab was a big deal. , the key is that at that time she was obviously caught by the crab claws and almost cried.

The handsome young Taoist glanced at the white deer and smiled at the young Taoist nun: "Senior Sister He, I want you to be careful and don't pamper it too much. It only lasts for less than ten days, and it's just a blind trick. You don’t want to hinder its freedom, but you just don’t listen. Now you’ve been bumped into by an ordinary person, what should you do?”

After listening to the little girl's introduction, the charming Taoist nun smiled and said, "Let nature take its course."

The young Taoist frowned and looked up again. After a quick glance, he looked at it carefully for a moment. He really couldn't see anything extraordinary about the straw-shoe boy carrying a basket. The sect they were in, looked at Xiangwangqi and Xunlongdianxue. Although his ability is not unrivaled in any continent, he is still quite good at it. Since this Taoist priest can come here to retrieve the most important thing on behalf of the sect, he is also responsible for bringing back the mountain-tightening treasure safely. In the future, he will be presented to the Shangzong. Of course, he is definitely not a thing in the pond, so when he didn't see too many strange things about the young man, he gave up the idea of ​​recruiting him into the mountain gate. The young Taoist was good at reading faces. I don’t think I’ll see the wrong person.

The sect the two of them belong to is one of the three Taoist sects in East Aquarius Continent, and it is the first sect in the Taoist tradition of the continent, so it is extremely noble. This time, he and Senior Sister He went out together. As a reward, each of them had a precious quota to recruit a true disciple for the sect, and this disciple would be accepted as their apprentice at the same time. Therefore, he does not want to spend money carelessly and must treat it carefully.

Everyone in the sect knew that Senior Sister He was re-cultivating her mind, so the simple words of letting nature take its course were most likely the idea of ​​accepting a disciple.

He and He Xiaoliang are known as the golden boys and girls of East Aquarius Continent, the proud daughters of Taoism in Yizhou. They are the kings of the world. When meeting them, they must treat each other with courtesy, and the etiquette is not important at all. Lose to the true king of a great country.

Because they are the cultivation geniuses within a continent who are most likely to reach the upper five realms.

When the young Taoist nun took the little girl's hand and walked down the back of the green ox together, with the psychic white deer following behind, it was not only the young Taoist who was his fellow disciple who was surprised, but also the military giant with a tiger charm on his waist and a long sword on his back. He also showed surprise.

When he saw the young Taoist nun walking slowly, Chen Pingan felt a little dizzy. The young man really didn't want to deal with these gods from other places.

Because Chen Ping'an knew that their simple love, hate, joy and anger would determine their own life, death, honor and disgrace.

Moreover, Chen Ping'an knew that his luck had never been very good, so he was even more afraid of provoking them.

However, Chen Pingan did not run away because of this. On the contrary, he symbolically walked a certain distance forward. In this way, he looked decent in the eyes of others.

The white deer quickened its pace slightly, trotted over, walked around the straw-shoe boy, and finally lowered its head and took the initiative to rub against the poor boy.

The white deer returned to its owner. She touched its back gently, and the next moment it transformed into a horse.

Refers to a deer as a horse.

The young Taoist nun looked at Chen Pingan, sighed slightly, said something with a smile, and then looked down at the little girl wearing a red cotton jacket.

The little girl explained it into the small town dialect and said timidly: "Sister He said, 'You are a person who cherishes blessings. It's a pity that you and I are not close friends and can't be Taoist friends.'"

The young man was speechless because he didn't know what to say without being rude.

Carrying a basket on his back, wearing straw sandals and rolled up trouser legs, the young man looked particularly funny.

The Taoist nun asked with a smile: "Do you also know the magical uses of these stones? Chen Pingan, don't worry, I'm just asking casually."

The little girl followed the explanation, speaking quickly and with a clear voice.

Chen Pingan hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "A Taoist priest reminded me that I can often come to the creek to pick up stones and catch fish."

Even though Chen Ping'an had a crush on this young woman, he was careful not to reveal even Daochang Lu's last name. Moreover, the person who really revealed the secret and revealed the valuable value of snake gallstones was Ning Yao.

The Taoist nun smiled and said, "Do you also know our Uncle Lu?"

Chen Pingan was stunned.

The Taoist nun smiled knowingly and roughly explained: "Strictly speaking, Junior Uncle Lu is not from the same sect as us. It's just that Master Lu visited our sect many years ago and became friends with one of our uncles. We stayed there for several years. We know him well, so we naturally got used to calling him 'junior uncle'."

Chen Pingan grinned, completely losing his guard.

The straw-shoe boy was deeply grateful to Director Lu, and he would never forget it in his life.

He remembered something, bent down and put down the basket, picked up one of the stones that he had fallen in love with at first sight. It was as big as an egg, green and clear as ice, very different from other snake gallstones. He handed it to the young Taoist nun with an orchid temperament and asked: "Taoist Priest, if I see Taoist Priest Lu in the future, can you help me give this stone to him?"

After listening to the little girl's explanation, she thought for a moment, took the stone, and said slowly: "Before coming here, I happened to meet my junior uncle who was leaving. He was going to Nanjian Country to attend an important ceremony of an orthodox sect. It’s hard to say when we will meet next, but as soon as I see Uncle Lu, I will definitely help you forward it to him."

Chen Pingan listened to the little girl's words, smiled brightly, and bent down to thank the young Taoist nun who had a great impression.

The young man has always trusted his intuition about the good and bad qualities of strangers.

It's like Fu Nanhua Cai Jin's slips, and it's like Daochang Lu and Miss Ning.

Chen Pingan took out another snake gallstone and handed it to her again.

Among the younger generation of Dongbaopingzhou, this Taoist female crown, known as "the number one in opportunity", did not refuse, accepted it with a smile, and did not forget to thank her.

The little girl in the red cotton jacket twisted the corners of her clothes with her hands and whispered, "I want a piece too."

Chen Pingan turned around with a smile and went to pick stones from the basket for the little girl.

The little girl ran to him and said cautiously: "I want a bigger piece, okay?"

Chen Pingan smiled and said: "As long as you can move it, I will give you the biggest one. But it is not close to the town and home. And I think the big ones in the basket are not as good as the small ones."

She thought for a moment, then put her hands on the edge of the basket, "Okay, then I'll pick something small and good-looking."

Chen Pingan picked out a small lotus root pink stone for her. It was moist and cute. The little girl held it in her hand and was very satisfied.

She suddenly tilted her head, grinned, pointed behind her teeth, and then smiled at Chen Pingan, her face full of pride.

I guess she was showing off that her teeth have grown straight again.

Chen Pingan said happily: "Next time we will catch crickets together."

The little girl's eyes lit up, but soon turned gloomy, and she nodded with a forced smile.

Chen Pingan picked up the basket, said goodbye to the young Taoist nun, waved to the little girl, and trotted back to the town alone.

She is also a fairy, but the gold content of this young woman's crown is far from comparable to that of Cai Jin's slips from Yunxia Mountain. It is almost as good as the gold essence of the fairy family to worldly gold.

She took the little girl and the white deer back to Qingniu Bei. The young Taoist looked away from the back of the straw-shoe boy, closed the coffin and concluded: "A shallow fate means a weak fortune, so naturally it should not be used in a big way."

There are so many Taoist sects in Dongbaopingzhou that every thirty years a pair of "golden boys and girls" will be selected. He and his senior sister He Xiaoliang are the natural Taoist couples of this year, but something surprising happened. , the qualifications of the golden boy are no less than before, but the opportunity of the beautiful girl is so good that it is ridiculous. When she was born, a white deer, one of the auspicious things, took the initiative to walk out of the mountains and swamps and came to recognize her. Lord, after setting foot on the path of spiritual practice, there seemed to be no setbacks and a smooth journey. Some people even threatened that she would only encounter the first bottleneck after reaching the upper five realms.

Regarding her junior brother's contempt for the straw-shoe boy, she laughed it off without comment.

At this time, a short boy walked from the deep pool under the covered bridge to the puddle under the back of the green bull. He only held a piece of snake gallstone in his hand, and it shined brightly in the night like the white deer before.

The dull boy was holding a stone, standing on a stone above the water, like an immortal standing tall, holding a pocket full moon.

The two big green and red fish raised by the young Taoist did not enter the water, but only swam slowly on the stream.

If Chen Ping'an sees this young man, he will know that he is the grandson of Granny Ma in Xinghua Lane.

The boy has been demented since childhood and was rejected by his parents at a very young age. Granny Ma took care of her grandson by herself. The boy was very unsociable and often climbed to the roof alone to look at the clouds.

Growing up, the boy named Ma, who followed Granny Ma, was bullied until the end, feeling that stepping on him would make his shoes dirty. This poor child seemed to have only smiled at the maid Zhigui in Mud Bottle Alley.

That's why Granny Ma particularly hated the maid, thinking that she was just a shameless vixen, and she must have taken the initiative to seduce her precious grandson.

The young female crown walked up to the man with the sword on his back and asked, "About Ma Kuxuan, is there really no room for maneuver?"

The man said in an indifferent tone: "Your junior uncle, if you really want to accept this kid as a founding disciple, why don't you do it yourself? No matter how famous his name is, so what? He has never fought with me, so why should he be given to him? ? If he is not convinced, come to Zhenwu Mountain to find me, and if he wins, let him take the child away."

The young Taoist smiled and said: "It's just to let our little uncle make one more trip, why bother?"

There is a needle hidden in the cotton.

The man with the sword hanging on his back narrowed his eyes, "Oh?"

The young female crown was a little frustrated. She glanced at her fellow disciple. The young Taoist laughed, then stopped tit-for-tat with the man. She looked up and said, "The moonlight is really beautiful today."

She was a little helpless.

As long as it involves the junior uncle of his sect, not to mention her and his junior brother, I am afraid that all the young Taoist priests in the continent will be honored.

On the other side of the covered bridge, at the foot of the steps, stood a barefoot monk with a square face and a look of perseverance.

The ascetic monk did not look up at the golden plaque, but looked at the ground where the incense sticks had been placed before. He clasped his hands together, lowered his head and said compassionately: "Amitabha."

The short boy went ashore and came to the back of the green ox. He looked at the two young Taoists who were in high spirits, and then at the stern man carrying the sword. Finally, he stared at the latter who was about to hang the tiger charm, gritted his teeth and said: " I don’t want to learn the path to immortality, but can you teach me how to kill someone?!”

The man smiled proudly and said: "I, a military swordsman, have been the most lethal in the world since ancient times!"

The young Taoist returned the favor and said with a smile, "Oh?"

The young female crown shook her head, knowing that the overall situation was decided, she felt guilty that she had failed her junior uncle's trust.

For a moment, there was a tense situation on the back of the green bull by the stream, and the atmosphere was solemn.

The little girl in the red cotton-padded jacket of the Li family hurriedly hid behind the fairy sister.

The girl in green had just finished eating the last piece of pastry and was in a bad mood. She said angrily: "If you have the ability, call my father!"

The man who had a long relationship with the girl and her father no longer had a straight face and said with a smile: "How to fight?"

The young Taoist joked: "Ruan Xiu, this is a bit bullying. Your father is the next saint to succeed Mr. Qi, and he is like the master of this world."

The girl in green curled her lips and said nothing.

The monk walked slowly and climbed onto the back of the green ox.

The young female crown said: "Your Buddhist Leiyin Pagoda, our Taoist Celestial Master's Seal, plus a small sword tomb from the military strategist, and of course the Confucian Mountain Jade Tablet. The four most overwhelming things left by the four earliest saints Things, not to mention the intrigues among the Confucians themselves, but the three parties of us, each took it back this time, although it is justified, but if we really don’t say hello to Mr. Qi, wouldn’t it be inappropriate?”

The monk said nothing.

The young Taoist said worriedly: "It's a bit unhuman, but it's hard to disobey the orders from above. Senior sister, you'd better not add any unnecessary extravagance."

The military man sneered, "I'm not here to get close to anyone."

Over in the town, Chen Pingan returned to the alley where Liu Xianyang's home was located, and saw Mr. Qi standing at the door.

The young man ran quickly, and before he could ask questions, Qi Jingchun handed him two private seals and said with a smile: "Chen Ping'an, I didn't give it to you for free. I have something to ask for. If there is any difficulty in Cliff Academy in the future, I hope you can Help as much as you can. Of course, you don’t need to deliberately inquire about the academy.”

The young man only said one word, "Okay!"

Qi Jingchun nodded and said sincerely: "Remember what I said to you before, 'A gentleman will not save you.' Those are my words from the bottom of my heart, and I am not trying to test people's hearts."

The young man grinned and said, "Sir, I can't guarantee this."

Qi Jingchun hesitated to speak, but finally said nothing and was about to leave.

He originally wanted to say that if Cliff Academy is really in big trouble in the future, Chen Pingan, you don't need to feel guilty if you feel regretful. Just pretend that you haven't seen or heard about it, so there is no need to deliberately do it.

But Qi Jingchun didn't know why, deep down in his heart, he wanted to be lucky, and even he couldn't understand it.

After much thought, the mountain master of Cliff Academy could only come up with one answer. It turned out to be just because of the young man in front of him, whose surname was Chen Ping'an. He seems to be different from everyone else.

What you entrust him with is extremely difficult. Even if you know that the young man will not be able to do it with all his strength in the end, you can really be sure of one thing. As long as he agrees, he will definitely do it and do it with great strength. If not, I am willing to grit my teeth and use all my strength.

That's a comforting thing.

This was something Qi Jingchun had been asking for for many years but could not get. This scholar who took the initiative to be demoted to this place originally felt that the world was a foreign land.

Just when Qi Jingchun was about to turn around, the young man who was still carrying a basket quickly bowed and saluted with great difficulty.

In the alley, the Confucian sage returned the young man's courtesy politely.