The moon is bright and the stars are sparse, the wind is gusting, the windows of the broken Taoist temple are creaking, and the shadow of a dead tree outside is reflected on the somewhat broken window paper, which looks extremely hideous and terrifying.

There was a faint sound of children sobbing in the temple, it turned out that there were seven or eight children tied up in this broken Taoist temple, the oldest was no more than twelve or thirteen, and the youngest looked to be only eight or nine years old at most.

The strange thing is that in addition to these bound children, there is actually a monk in this Taoist temple.

The monk was very thin and thin, and he smiled before he spoke, and he said to these low-sobbing children: "Don't cry, you can help the Buddha and me in this life, which is a blessing for several lifetimes." Instead of living in this earthly world in a messy life, it is better to give up this skin and offer it to me. ”

He smiled and turned a string of bone-white Buddhist beads on his wrist, which he had taken many years ago and polished from the leg bones of eighteen boys.

Several of the children trembled and did not dare to make any more noise.

At that moment, a gust of wind blew the door open, and the sound of the door hitting the wall was loud in the silence of the night.

The monk's eyes that were still smiling looked at the door vigilantly, and when he saw the person clearly, he smiled again, "It's really a false alarm, I thought that Gu Zhendao was not coming, how do you look at these children, how much essence blood can be extracted?"

It was a handsome Taoist who looked to be in his early twenties, holding a peachwood sword, wearing a white shirt and an ink-colored Taoist robe, with no sleeves on, just draped over his shoulders. His hair was like a splash of ink, and he was tied up by a crown of ebony lotus, and then scattered behind him like flowing water. There seemed to be a gloom in his eyes, but when one looked closely, it disappeared.

Qiao Heng glanced at the group of children and commented, "It's all good." ”

The monk's face almost bloomed with joy, "Of course, I picked hundreds of children to jump out." ”

There was a look of despair in the eyes of several children.

The monk took a step back, so as not to wait for blood to get on his clothes, and he smiled with crooked eyebrows, "No need to change the day, let's do it now." ”

The man nodded cooperatively, "That's exactly what I mean." ”

Then he raised his sword and stabbed it into the monk's heart, and no one could see his movements clearly, including the monk who was still smiling happily just now.

"You ......" the monk's eyes widened in disbelief and coughed up a little blood foam.

Qiao Heng held the hilt of the sword with a slight twist, paused for a while, he drew the sword neatly, and after shaking the sword body, a few drops of blood splashed on the ground.

The monk slammed to the ground, stirring up a puff of dust.

A few children who had just closed their eyes in fright, quietly opened their eyes.

I don't know who muttered in a low voice: "Dead." ”

One of the children screamed, and the other children covered their mouths.

Qiao Heng took a few steps forward, pulled a sword flower, and broke the rope that bound the child into several sections.

He glanced at the group of children, and just wanted to say something, but coughed a few times, and then said, "Go away by yourself after dawn." Then he turned around without hesitation.

There was an older girl, who seemed to have finally reacted, she knelt on the ground, took a few steps forward, and choked up, "Please ...... Please stay with the Taoist Chief!"

The rest of the children also knelt down one after another.

Qiao Heng's footsteps paused and turned around.

The girl's tears fell, "Please also ask the Taoist to take us in, so that we can serve the Taoist with you to repay the benefactor!"

Judging by his behavior and conversation, he must have been born in a wealthy family, Qiao Heng asked, "Where is your family?"

The girl pointed to the dead monk and said, "This demon...... My family has been slaughtered. ”

Several of the other children also spoke.

"I was sold to him by my stepmother!"

"There was a famine in my house, and I was the only one left. ”

They knew that this person was their savior, and they all looked at Qiao Heng with expectant eyes.

"What's the use of me taking you in?" Qiao Heng asked.

Several children were almost forced to cry by this almost blunt refusal.

Suddenly there was a chuckle like a silver bell outside the window, and the window opened by itself with a snap, and the dead tree outside the Taoist temple appeared in front of everyone.

I saw a bright and enchanting woman in Tsing Yi sitting on a tree branch, and she smiled and said, "You bull-nosed Taoist priest is too ruthless, so what if you take them in?"

Qiao Heng saw her heels at a glance, and he said, "How I act, I don't need to be taught by you, a snake demon." ”

The woman in green clothes was a little annoyed and angry by his words, "I think these children are very good, you don't want me!" After speaking, she flicked her arm, and her sleeves turned into a long veil and drilled into the broken Taoist temple through the window.

By this time, the group of children had retreated into the corner in fright.

Qiao Heng cut off the emerald long curtain with a sword, he bit the tip of his tongue, and a mouthful of essence blood sprayed on the sword, and the blood fell on the peachwood sword, disappearing in the blink of an eye. The robe on his body turned into a streamer of light and slipped down from him, blocking in front of the children.

The woman in Tsing Yi was taken aback by him, she didn't have much insight into his Taoism before, but now this real sense of killing intent and crisis is not fake.

The young man's eyes were a little dark, and he really didn't look like a Taoist priest who paid attention to calm and concentrating at this time.

The woman in Tsing Yi forced a smile, "I will spare you as a Taoist priest today, and I'll see you another day!"

After saying that, she was no longer visible from the tree.

Qiao Heng's face was a little pale, he looked back at the children, frowned, and finally said, "Come with me." ”

......

People at the foot of Qingliu Mountain know that there is a Taoist temple on the mountain, there is a Taoist priest living in the Taoist temple, there are rumors that this Taoist priest is over 100 years old, his hair is white, and he is old, and some people say that the Taoist priest is a child, and no one has really seen him.

The most common thing for people is the Taoist children in that Taoist temple, all of them have clear eyes, red lips and white teeth, and they look like fairy children walking down from the portrait.

The Taoist boy on this mountain will go down the mountain every half a month to buy goods.

A few Taoist boys walked together, chatting about what to buy.

An old man who was dining in the restaurant saw this Taoist boy through the window, he pointed down, and asked the shopkeeper on the side, "Are they from the Taoist temple you just mentioned?"

Xiao Er leaned over to the window and took a look, and replied, "It's them." Each of them can spell, but it's amazing. ”

The old gentleman shook his head slowly, "Zi Bu is silent. ”

Xiao Eryu laughed a few times and didn't say anything more.

Just as Xiao Er was about to leave, the old gentleman asked, "How do you go to that Taoist temple?"

He felt a sadness in his heart, the current saint is biased, the Liang thief is in charge, the Qin Tianjian is incompetent, the world is in drought, and the fields are not harvested, but the officials have taken the opportunity to fill their pockets, and now they can only hope for the strange people of the people, hoping that they can ask for early rainfall.

There was a tower-like man standing next to the old gentleman, and he took out a few copper plates from the placket of his shirt and handed them to Xiao Er.

Xiao Er accepted the copper plate and replied neatly: "As soon as you get out of the town, there is a stone road in the west that leads directly to the Qingliu Mountain Taoist Temple, and the old gentleman can just follow it." ”