Since this day, Xiong Chen has begun his career of learning art with Xiaoyaozi.

Xiong Chen works very hard, gets up at dawn every day, goes to the stove to cook a nest of white porridge after washing, then fishes the pickles out of the jar, washes them, cuts them into thin shreds and puts them in a small bowl, and sometimes frying two fragrant poached eggs.

Then he would eat his share first, then take the sword inlaid with precious stones, go to the clearing outside the bamboo forest, and draw his sword at the sun, which had just emerged from the gap in the morning glow, and stabbed one, two, and three times......

Xiaoyaozi has a habit of lying in bed, he will not get out of the bed until three poles in the morning, Xiong Chen has no extra time to wait slowly, so whenever Xiaoyaozi stands by the bamboo forest, holding a porridge bowl, drinking the white porridge that has been cooled, he can't help but complain to Xiong Chen who is repeating the same action: "Can you move back the time when you make breakfast, the porridge I drink every day is cold, and I will have diarrhea if I continue like this." ”

Xiong Chen didn't look back, his hand stretched forward and retracted, the frequency was accelerating, and the bright long sword was even more dazzling in the dazzling sunlight.

Xiaoyaozi could only shake his head, return to the stove with the empty bowl, and pull the firewood to reheat the remaining white porridge.

In addition to practicing swords, Xiong Chen does the most is cooking, mopping the floor, washing clothes, these jobs will add up to his two hours of the day, when he sits outside the bamboo forest at night to cool off mosquitoes, he also carries a sword, the sword flashes, a mosquito will be on the ground, when he carries the sword back to his bed, he will sit under the stone will lie a circle of mosquito corpses.

There were two nights when Xiaoyaozi got up at night, when he passed Xiong Chen's bed, he was surprised to find that when this kid slept at night, his hand would occasionally stretch forward quickly, he thought Xiong Chen was having a nightmare at first, but after stopping and observing for a while, he suddenly realized that this kid was practicing swords, practicing swords in dreams.

From that night on, Xiaoyaozi put a sharpened smooth wooden stick next to Xiong Chen's pillow and dismantled the tent on Xiong Chen's bed.

The next morning, Xiong Chen, who was full of red envelopes, protested to Xiaoyaozi, Xiaoyaozi just hugged his hand and Shi Shiran smiled: "Although I demolished your account, I also gave you a mosquito cane, what are you afraid of? Since you want to earn 10,000 taels of gold in your heart, you have to practice the kung fu of chasing mosquitoes first, you see, you stab the sun during the day and mosquitoes at night, if this kind of swordsmanship is successful, this river and lake are the only ones you respect, aren't you happy?"

Xiong Chen often exhaled, touched the uneven bumps on his face, and said, "Very good, what the master said is reasonable." ”

Xiaoyaozi will go out once every three months, each time for seven days or half a month, each time he will come back in the evening, carrying two big gourd wine, four roast chickens, the first thing he does when he comes back is to stop Xiong Chen, who is outside the bamboo forest to the sunset, and the master and apprentice drink and eat chicken, until the middle of the moon, then go back to the room drunk to sleep.

Once, Xiong Chen asked Xiaoyaozi: "Master, where have you been?"

Xiaoyaozi held the gourd wine, shook his head and said, "Let's start work." ”

Xiong Chen was silent, he knew that the start of work in Xiaoyaozi's mouth was to kill people.

"Should those people be killed?"

Xiaoyaozi glared at Xiong Chen and shook his head slightly.

"Xiong Chen, if you have a compassionate heart, you can't be a long-term killer. ”

Xiong Chen looked at the full moon in the sky, the silver-white moonlight seemed to be trembling, and the world under such a bright moonlight should be peaceful and peaceful.

"Killing is just a means, not a common thing, and the peace and tolerance that this world needs. ”

Xiaoyaozi sneered and said, "Then why do you want to destroy the Nine Dao Villa? Heaven has the virtue of a good life, you should let go of the obsession in your heart, don't always think about revenge!"

The fierce light in Xiong Chen's eyes skyrocketed, and his face was terrifying: "No, this is different, what Jiudao Villa did, people and gods are angry, my Xiaolan...... was also tortured to death by them, this revenge, I must avenge, this is not for myself, but for the innocent lives who have died in vain under the sticks of Jiudao Mountain Villa for so many years. ”

Xiaoyaozi sighed slightly, pulled out the stopper of the gourd, and took a big sip of the spirits.

"Then you can practice the sword, the sword is practiced, not to mention the Nine Villas, it is the Ten Villas, the Twenty Villas, and they are also the soul under your sword. ”

One night a year later, Xiong Chen asked Xiaoyaozi while munching on chicken legs: "Master, where is your scabbard?"

Xiaoyaozi slowly turned the chicken bone in his hand twice and threw it into the bamboo forest: "Throw it away." ”

"Why did you throw away the scabbard? Isn't it conspicuous that you walk out with an unsheathed sword on your back?"

"In order to be able to stab a sword faster at any time, I omitted the step of drawing the sword from the scabbard. ”

"Oh......"

That night, Xiong Chen threw the gem-filled scabbard into the dung pit, and it was too late for Xiaoyaozi to stop it.

"Xiong Wa'er, you are a loser, even if you throw this scabbard, you should throw it to the pawnshop, in that case, you can exchange three jars of wine and ten chickens to come back!"

Xiong Chen clapped his hands disappreciatively: "This scabbard is old, it's not worth the price, when I finish practicing the sword, I will exchange it for a hundred jars of wine for you and a thousand chickens back." ”

Xiaoyaozi laughed and touched his smooth jaw, is this scabbard old, or am I old...... The feared killer on the rivers and lakes, Xiaoyaozi, would have treasured this tattered scabbard.

A year and two months later.

That night, Xiong Chen lay on a big stone outside the bamboo forest, his hands on the back of his head, looking at the stars in the sky.

"Master, I have practiced 200,000 swords. ”

“......”

A year and four months later.

"Master, each of my swords is two stabs, and this action has already been practiced to 300,000 swords. ”

“......”

A year and a half later.

"Master, every time I stab my hand, I have three swords, and I have practiced 500,000 swords in this action alone, do I still want to continue to practice?"

Xiaoyaozi propped up his head and glanced lazily at Xiong Chen, who was standing in front of him, and the expression on his face was very solemn under the light.

"Half a million swords?"

"Yes, there are 385,137 more swords than you, master. ”

Xiaoyaozi dragged out a long voice: "It's more...... Well, blue out of blue, good. ”

"Master, do I still want to continue practicing?"

"Of course. ”

Xiong Chen's face was slightly disappointed, and he turned around and was about to walk out of the house.

Xiaoyaozi coughed twice and called out to him: "Although you can't practice the legendary sword qi yet, you are already a qualified killer, go out for a walk with the master tomorrow." ”

Xiong Chen's back straightened, he looked at the distant and deep sky and exhaled a long breath, and looked back at the master: "Really?"