1.

Time comes back to the present.

Capital, Dengcao Hutong Shilu Courtyard.

Shi Lin had already taken off the beggar suit on his body, changed into normal clothes, washed his face again, wiped the dirt off his face, and revealed his true face.

"So, your great-grandfather got an inspiration from that secret book, extracted a sufficient amount of toxin from the stamens of the Seven Heart Begonias, mixed it into incense, and used his own corpse as bait to delay time, and poisoned those agents of the Fuso Society. Lin Xiao said, "What about later? Reiko Morizaki died, and the Fuso Society would definitely not give up, but whose hand did that flower go?"

Shi Lin poured a glass of water and poured a big sip on his head, telling the story for so long made him feel dry for a while. He drank water and said, "It's in my grandfather's hands." As he spoke, he pointed to another spiritual plaque in the main hall - this main hall has been converted into an ancestral hall dedicated to the spiritual seat - which reads: Grandfather Shi Gong Zhuoyuan's spiritual seat.

"My grandfather's name is Shi Zhuoyuan, and he was a staff member of the Forbidden City Museum. Shi Lin continued, "After my great-grandfather extracted the toxin from the Seven Heart Begonia, he locked the flower and the secret book into a box, and wrote the whole thing and the story between the Shi family and the Seven Heart Begonia into a letter, and asked someone to secretly send these things to the museum and give them to his son, who is my grandfather. ”

Lin Xiao raised his eyebrows and said: "Shanhaiguan fell first, and the Pingjin area was in danger, in order to protect the national treasures and cultural relics left by the palace of the old country, the museum has been carrying out the migration of national treasures since that time, why didn't your grandfather move south with the convoy?"

"Hey, don't mention it!" Shi Lin waved his hand, "Let me tell you, at that time, those cultural relics had already been moved out in five or six batches, and there was still the last batch left, and it would be completed soon." As a result, the plan couldn't catch up with the changes, and the Fuso devils attacked the city every day during that time, and the train lines were completely blocked, and then the Forbidden City fell. The last batch of national treasures was stranded in the museum, and my grandfather, who was in charge of the transportation operation, stayed with him. ”

Ye Wuxin interrupted his digression: "Then, did your grandfather receive the Seven Heart Begonias sent to him by your great-ancestor?"

"Roger. Shi Lin nodded, "My grandfather received the box at that time, and he also saw the letter left by his great-grandfather, and knew in his heart that his great-grandfather must have died in his country, so he cried a lot." But sad is sad, my grandfather knew that the Fusang people would definitely not give up, so he first locked the secret book in the safe in his office, and then fled to Jingshan with the seven-hearted begonia, where he hid for five days and five nights, digging earthworms and insects in the soil to eat when he was hungry, chewing the soil to absorb water when he was thirsty, and he survived and avoided the Fusang Society. ”

Lin Xiao and the four of them couldn't help but change their complexions, although the generations of the Shi family were not great people in name, and they didn't have the great ability of cultivators, but they used the flesh and blood of ordinary sons to forge their supreme faith from the heart!

"I'll ask more, it's just curiosity, and nothing else. Lin Xiao said, "Why do you want to hide in Jingshan?"

Shi Lin said: "Because there was once an emperor hanged there, and even the True Dragon Heavenly Son died there, that place must be very unlucky." Don't look at the Dongying devils who kill people on the battlefield without blinking, those people are very superstitious in their bones! When it comes to arresting people in museums, they are more active than anyone else; but if you let them search for people in an ominous place like Jingshan, they will escape faster than anyone else. ”

Ling Ying asked, "What happened next?"

"Next...... It's not a big deal. Shi Lin said: "My grandfather thought to himself that since the people of Dongying didn't dare to set foot in Jingshan, he directly moved that flower there. Later, after the war, my grandfather quit his job at the museum and found a quiet place to live, studying the secret book left by his great-grandfather. ”

"My great-grandfather believed in science all his life, and never regarded the ancestral exercises of the Shi family as one thing, until a few days before his death, I realized that these secret techniques were not the dregs of feudal society, but the real superior kung fu. So he also wrote in the letter to my grandfather, asking my grandfather not to take that secret book seriously like him, and asking my grandfather to practice hard according to the instructions on the secret book. ”

"If you want to say that my grandfather, I really listen to his father's words, let him learn from him, not even a word, unambiguous. Shi Lin took another sip of water to moisten his throat, and continued: "My grandfather has studied for a few years, and he has gradually figured out the way, and the Tao has become deeper. Later, when my dad grew up, my grandfather passed on these kung fu to him, and then my dad passed it on to me, and our family's Fu Gong kung fu was passed down from generation to generation from my grandfather. ”

"If you want to say that the ancestor of your family is still a closed disciple of the 'Moon Worship Monk', although it is said that the skills of the middle family have been lost, but it can be regarded as half of the Xianmen family, how can you say that you are the descendant of the 'Drum Flea Time Migration'?

Shi Lin gave him a blank look when he heard this: "What do you know? This is all a strategy of last resort! After my grandfather passed away, my father pondered for a long time by himself, and felt that the reason why the Shi family would put up such a thing was that the identity of the 'flower protector' was too obvious, and he had to find another identity to cover it up. Therefore, he specially went to worship a pickpocket who had washed his hands in a golden basin as a teacher, learned the art of stealing, and claimed to be a descendant of Shi Qian to the outside world - he just felt that in this way, no one would always target our Shi family because of the Seven Heart Begonias. ”

"Later, my dad passed on to me all the Taoism and stealing skills, and I also learned the story of the Seven Heart Begonia and its relationship with the generations of our family. Shi Lin suddenly sighed, "It's a pity, my dad's health has not been good, a few years ago I went to the hospital to check and found that there was a tumor in the body, and my family didn't have the money to do chemotherapy, and he left after a while, leaving me alone." ”

"When my father was alive, he didn't teach me anything except those handful of Taoism, as well as those sneaky skills. I also have no education, and I can't carry it on my shoulders or lift it with my hands, so it's too cold to move bricks. No, you can only make some money by stealing chickens and dogs and helping people inquire about some gossip. ”

Having said that, Lin Xiao and the others have basically learned about the situation of the Shi family and the Seven Heart Begonias. Ye Wuxin asked lightly: "That seven-hearted begonia, is it still in Jingshan now?"

Shi Lin nodded and said: "Yes, I always take two or three days a week to go to Jingshan to see it, so as to prevent it from being spoiled by people or animals who don't have long eyes—the most important thing is that I am afraid of being touched, and poisoning people will cause a big incident! But fortunately, no one will touch it, and it has grown quite well over the years." ”

"One last question. Lin Xiao said, "What's going on in this alley? And can you explain to me what the 'DEAD' Morse code at the door is?"

Shi Lin replied: "This alley, one person died during the turmoil/turmoil in those years, and no one dared to live in it after that, and all the residents of the entire alley moved to other places, and the vacant house became Yizhuang." Later, when I caught up with the rectification of the old city, my father thought that this alley was very good, and he was afraid that the people of the demolition office would lose it with a shovel, so he secretly built a wall to separate the front alley from the back alley, and then applied a magic circle on the wall, so that people could not come here. ”

"As for the code ......," Shi Lin said, his expression suddenly became a little embarrassed, "It's that I saw a book about code knowledge in a second-hand bookstore a few years ago, and I felt very interesting, so I made a wooden armor mechanism here to simulate that signal." First, it's out of fun, and second, it's just to intimidate those bear children and stunned young people who always like to wander around. ”

"I'll go! You can figure out this kind of bad move!" Lin Xiao couldn't help but burst into a small foul mouth, and several other people also reached out to support their foreheads, and they all fell down.

2.

Fu Ji Noodle House.

Lin Xiao and Shi Lin ordered a bowl of beef noodles, and then served a large plate of dumplings stuffed with leeks and pork, dipped in garlic and soy sauce vinegar, and eaten with noodles, which made people feel appetizing.

"Let me tell you, the beef noodles in this house are time-honored, and the taste is definitely not bad!" Shi Lin said vaguely while holding the noodles with chopsticks and mouthing them in a bowl, "This beef noodle is particular about 'one clear, two white, three red and four green': 'one clear' means that the soup is very clear, 'two white' refers to the white noodles, 'three red' refers to red spicy, and 'four green' refers to green garlic seedlings." Now there are only one large and small noodle restaurants in the Forbidden City that can be so exquisite. ”

Lin Xiao picked a few chopsticks of noodles, and saw white noodles floating on the red soup in this bowl, and a few large pieces of brown beef and verdant vegetable leaves were dotted next to it. After eating, beef, vegetables, white noodles and soup are tumbling in the stomach, making people feel warm all over their bodies, and they only feel a rush of energy throughout their bodies.

"Well, it's really delicious!" Lin Xiao nodded in approval, and began to feast.

Shi Lin said while eating: "Anyway, haven't you immortal cultivators all practiced the 'Technique of Clearing the Valley'? The way you eat is not the same as what I imagined to be a cultivator......"

Lin Xiao sucked a noodle into his mouth with a "snort", and then said: "I'm a normal person, so I will have a sense of hunger, of course I have to eat when I'm hungry." The few people around me are the practitioners of the Eight Classics, and I am a half-person at best, and those of them can skip food after crossing the valley, but I can't. ”

Shi Lin pursed his lips with understanding, then picked up a dumpling and dipped it in the sauce, and said, "I heard you say - you want to use the toxin of the Seven Heart Begonia to detoxify another Gu poison?"

Lin Xiao nodded: "Yes, what's wrong?"

"I just think...... Sounds a bit unreliable. Shi Lin put the dumplings in his mouth, picked up the bowl and took a sip of the soup, and then said: "What is the toxicity of this Seven Heart Begonia, although I have not seen it with my own eyes, but from the story of my great-grandfather, just a little toxin added to incense can poison a room of people, how terrifying is that poison? !

"It's not like we've not thought about it. The noodles in Lin Xiao's bowl were basically swept away, and now he was holding chopsticks to "tease" the few garlic sprouts and green onions floating on the soup noodles, "But your great-ancestor and those Fusang spies are just ordinary people without cultivation after all, and that kind of poison will definitely die if you touch it." The person we want to save has thousands of years of cultivation, and there are so many masters on the side to protect him, so he should use a little more methods to save his life. ”

Shi Lin said "hmm", then stopped talking, quietly finished the noodles, and then slowly sipped the soup.

Lin Xiao began to "eliminate" the remaining dumplings on the plate, this restaurant not only made the beef noodles delicious, even the dumplings are thin skin and thick filling, a bite is full of soup, mixed with the aroma of soy sauce, vinegar and garlic paste together on the taste buds, eating one makes people want to eat the second one, can't stop.

Lin Xiao asked without a word while eating, "What are your plans for the future?"

Shi Lin was stunned: "What do you call what are you going to do?"

"Could it be that you really plan to work all the way to the end in the pickpocket business?" Lin Xiao said and picked up another dumpling, "This time we are going to take the Seven Heart Begonia away, you'll no longer exist as a 'flower protector' in the future, and there is no need to pretend to be a descendant to hide your identity, you always have to find something serious to do, at least it can allow you to meet the needs of three meals a day." ”

Shi Lin shrugged his shoulders and said, "I only have so many skills, and to be honest, I don't know what I can do." Otherwise...... When this is over, I'll follow you!"

Lin Xiao just put a dumpling into his mouth, and when he heard this, he almost choked to death by the soup that came out of the filling. He covered his mouth and coughed violently for a long time, and poured a few mouthfuls of soup before he relieved himself: "You...... What do you mean by that?"

"What's the point, practice with you!" Shi Lin smiled, "Look, I'm also a talisman cultivator anyway, and among you, there is no shortage of such masters......, right? Or just choose one of you to worship as Master!"

"Yo, you really dare to think about it. Lin Xiao couldn't help laughing, "But it's not impossible, it's better than you keep stealing chickens and dogs." But this matter, your own wishful thinking can't do it, and I can't do anything, when I look back and see the three 'big names' around me, you can think about it again and see which of them is willing to accept you!"

"Gotcha!" Lin happily snapped his fingers, picked up the last dumpling and swallowed it into his mouth.

Lin Xiao drank the soup at the bottom of the bowl, burped slightly, looked at Shi Lin, who was still fiddling with the remaining noodles in the bowl, and asked, "Are you full?"

Shi Lin finally took a bite, and then said, "It's full." ”

"Let's go, then. Lin Xiao got up and took out his mobile phone to scan the code on WeChat to pay the bill, and shouted at the counter: "Boss, I've paid the money!" Then he walked out of the noodle shop with Shi Lin and walked in the direction of Dengcao Hutong.

Walking into the winding alleys of the old city, the noise of the night market that was still lingering in my ears came to an abrupt end. What can be heard now is the sound of the TV coming out of a family, the sound of shuffling cards when playing mahjong, and the sound of sitting together and chatting, although there is less lively atmosphere, but there is a special human touch.

As he walked, Shi Lin suddenly reached out from the side and grabbed Lin Xiao's arm and dragged him into a dark alley. Lin Xiao was dragged by him and flashed, couldn't help frowning, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Shhh ”

"Ah?!" Lin Xiao was taken aback, and subconsciously turned his head to look outside, but saw that there was not even a figure, so he lowered his voice and asked suspiciously, "Are you sure?"

"Nonsense, you don't want to think about what Lao Tzu does!" Shi Lin said categorically, seemingly confident in his judgment: "Pickpockets like us, when we want to be foolproof, after locking on a target, we must keep watching, observe the other party's every move, and then decide what kind of technique or method to steal." I know this feeling of being targeted best, I have always felt that someone is secretly staring at us since I came out of the noodle shop, but there were many people in the night market at that time, and I thought it was my own illusion; now there are only two of us left, but this feeling is still there, there must be a tail following behind me, but I can't tell where the other party is. ”

Lin Xiao felt that Shi Lin's words were not unreasonable, and he became alert for a while. But he thought that he was about to reach the Fifth Heaven of Cultivation, and he listened quietly for a long time, and he didn't hear any footsteps or anything like that. The only explanation is that the other party must have used some method to hide his whereabouts, and nine times out of ten it was the work of the cultivator.

At the mention of cultivators, Lin Xiao felt a little headache. If this is a half-person like Shi Lin, it will be fine, and now looking at the other party's means, it is obviously a "distinguished guest" from another floor, so it will be very tricky to deal with.

Moreover, if the other party attacked directly head-on, with his current swordsmanship attainment, he would be able to resist it, at least until Ye Wuxin and the three of them rushed to support. But if the other party used a spell to hide his traces, then he was really helpless.

Unless, is there any way to perceive the other person's presence.

Lin Xiao's eyes suddenly lit up, and a thought instantly popped out of his mind: Ziyang Divine Sect's "Heaven and Earth Net Technique"!

It's just that since Lin Xiao resumed his cultivation, all he has learned is swordsmanship, and the spells will only be the "Miluo Fantasy Realm" and some simple talismans. If you want to talk about this "Heaven and Earth Net Technique", Ye Wuxin himself will not know, of course it is impossible to teach him.

Lin Xiao took a deep breath, stretched out his hand and twisted a trick, trying to think about the content of his memory, trying to explore the use of the "Heaven and Earth Net" in the memory fragments in his mind: gather qi and concentrate, take himself as the center, release the spiritual power from the sea of knowledge, and spread it like a heaven and earth net......

Lin Xiao felt it carefully for a long time, but he still didn't notice the slightest movement. Just when he thought that he had failed and wanted to give up, in the dark, suddenly a subtle fluctuation of spiritual power touched his scattered spiritual power and transmitted back to his sea of consciousness.

It worked!

Lin Xiao knew that his method had worked, and it stands to reason that this should be an unexpected joy, but he really couldn't laugh at this time.

Because the spiritual power fluctuation that came came from the position directly above his head!

"I'll go!" Lin Xiao didn't have time to think about it, so he directly pushed Shi Lin away, and at the same time, he was also lucky, and he slid backwards in a vertical step. I saw that a black mist suddenly turned out above the alley, and a black-clothed masked man swooped down from the fog, holding a black and heavy steel cone in his hand and pointing straight down, which was exactly where Lin Xiao's Tianling Gai was.

"I'm going to your second uncle!What the hell is this?!" Shi Lin was frightened at this time, and suddenly a lot of swear words subconsciously spat out. The masked man in black glanced back at him, his eyes glaring at him so sharply that he closed his mouth again.

But the man in black didn't make a move on Shi Lin, but rushed straight towards Lin Xiao with a steel cone in his hand. Lin Xiao seemed to have expected this result, and he didn't panic at all, the Biluo Sword flashed in his hand, and the edge broke through the air, catching up with the steel cone in the hand of the man in black.

Lin Xiao swung his sword and made more than ten moves with the man in black, and he noticed that although the man was quick and fast, he was more than ruthless and not calm in his moves, and he took a typical assassin's way. Generally, people who use this style of assassination are aiming for "quick battles", otherwise they will lose their physical strength after a long time.

Lin Xiao used his long sword against the short cone, and he already had the upper hand in the blade, and he steadily sealed several vital parts of his body with his sword moves, so that the man in black could not take advantage of the gap; as long as he kept fighting at the current rhythm and exhausted the opponent's physical strength, he could drag him down and break it in one fell swoop.

It's just that Lin Xiao is worried that there may be more than one person on the other side, if there are two more to attack him, then the situation will be very bad, and he shouted at Shi Lin at the moment: "Shi Lin, I'm dragging him, you go find someone to help!"

When the man heard that Lin was going to move the rescuers, he wanted to turn around and stop him, but as soon as he turned around, Lin Xiao immediately followed, the long sword in his hand shook, the tip of the sword trembled, and a move "Flowing Wind Back to Snow" stabbed straight into the back of his heart. The man in black had to turn around and distance himself as he swung the steel cone to smash away the stabbing sword.

Shi Lin saw that Lin Xiao had already entangled the man in black, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and he was about to go to find Ye Wuxin and them. As soon as he turned around, he bumped into another person, who reached out and pushed him to the ground.

Shi Lin exhaled in pain, and raised his eyes scolding, and suddenly froze in place. But I saw that the person in front of him was also dressed in black and masked, and it was the same as the one who was trembling with Lin Xiao in terms of clothing, except that he was not holding a steel cone, but a long knife.

The man pointed a knife at Shi Lin, and said, "Boy, do you want to die or live?"

Shi Lin was so frightened that he knelt directly on the ground, kowtowed again and again: "Uncle spare your life! Uncle spare your life!"

The man didn't expect this guy to look quite horizontal, but it turned out to be a spineless soft bone, and there was a little more contempt and disdain in his eyes, and he sneered: "You give me to stay here honestly, don't act rashly, I will spare your life." Otherwise......" he said and made a gesture of raising his knife.

Shi Lin was so frightened that his whole body was trembling, and he quickly kowtowed several times in a row, and said while snorting: "Don't dare! Don't dare! Uncle Xie is gracious!

The man laughed disdainfully, and was about to bypass Shi Lin, who was kneeling on the ground, to besiege Lin Xiao. As soon as he took a step, he suddenly felt that the "Hanging Bell Point" on his ankle, the "Chengshan Point" on his calf, the "Weizhong Point" on the crook of his legs, the "Liangqiu Point" on the knee side and the "Fengshi Point" on his thigh were numb at the same time, and his legs lost his strength in an instant, and he fell directly to the ground straight.

The man in black was shocked and angry, only to hear a contemptuous sneer from behind him, Shi Lin, who was still kowtowing and begging for mercy just now, stood up, walked in front of him, and smiled hypocritically: "Yo, uncle, what are you doing, you suddenly make such a big salute, boy, I can't stand it!"

"Bastard! How dare you calculate Lao Tzu!" The man in black scolded, "Hurry up and release your grandfather and me, and spare your life!"

Shi Lin sneered: "Let you go??, you fucking think I'm as brainless as you!" and ......" He bent down and picked up the long knife that the man in black had dropped on the ground, and his face suddenly became ruthless, "Can my grandfather's identity be replaced by a stupid pig like you?!"

The man in black looked at the flashing knife light in Shi Lin's hand, and a trace of fear suddenly flashed in his eyes: "I...... I warn you, don't ...... Don't mess around...... Don't mess around!"

"Mess up, Lao Tzu kowtowed to you so much just now, shouldn't you also return the courtesy!" Shi Lin smiled coldly, looking at the eyes of the man in black who became more and more frightened, he raised his hand and fell with a knife......

【To be continued】