(a)

The back room of the blacksmith's shop was sweltering, and the whole room was shrouded in orange-red firelight, like a big oven.

The old blacksmith was gray-haired, swarthy and lean, and wore a dirty overall, as simple as a piece of black iron. He sat down on an idle anvil in front of the fire, removed his gloves, and carefully picked up the handmade cloth bag containing the fragments of the broken sword with his large, rough hands.

He put his hand into the cloth bag, picked up the largest fragment of it, brought it to his eyes, and examined it meticulously, from the messy lines on the blade to the scars on the fractures, and then shook his head, and said:

"No, not at all...... It's not that I'm arrogant, the old man has been in this business for fifty years, but whether it is steelmaking or sword casting, he is far from reaching this level. This sword, I'm afraid it is not forged by mortals, with my ability, I really can't cultivate it, you better ask for another master!"

"Eh......"

The half-human, half-spirit swordsman, the soul demon dream, stood in front of him, looking very lost.

"Is there really nothing you can do?" she asked softly, holding on to the last glimmer of hope.

"Little girl, think about it, if you break the bamboo in two and forcibly paste it back, will it still grow new leaves?

The old blacksmith's words completely extinguished the last fire in Youmeng's heart. She took the cloth bag, covered it gently, put it on her back, and then bent down and saluted, saying:

"Excuse me. ”

After that, she left the store with regrets.

(b)

It's noon, and Youmeng is carrying a broken sword on his back, walking aimlessly in the bustling street market in the human world, in a trance, and his soul is not leaving. As a swordsman, a good sword is half her life. Without it, she became more and more like a lonely ghost.

Without the sense of security and steadfastness of the sword in hand, the swordsmanship that has been cultivated for many years has become weak and weak, and there is no way to show his ability, and the demon dream is uncomfortable.

The blacksmith shop she had just visited was the last one on the trip, and at the same time, it was the best one in the whole person. Even the old master known as the "Ghost Hand" was powerless, which means that her Louguan Sword has already been sentenced to death.

"What will I do in the future?"

She looked down and thought as she walked, forgetting to look at the road without paying attention, and bumped into a passer-by head-on, and hit it solidly. The two people who collided were also of similar physique, neither of them could hit anyone, and they both fell backwards, and they fell to the ground together, and they fell painfully.

Youmeng is a martial artist after all, and as soon as she fell to the ground, she reacted immediately, quickly stood up, and dragged the passerby who accidentally bumped into her.

She simply patted the dust on her skirt, then bowed solemnly to the other party and said:

"I beg your pardon for being negligent!"

"Where, where!" said the man, too, with a bow, in a rather childish voice, "it's me who is wrong, my mind is not on the road, and I have offended you." ”

Youmeng raised her head and carefully looked at the young man standing in front of her. This is a fairly clean and beautiful young man, and it is almost impossible to distinguish between a man and a woman just by looking at his appearance. He was dressed in white, with white hair like snow, and there was no trace of variegation on his body, only a pair of blue eyes full of aura. His height is similar to that of Youmeng, and the age difference between the two should be almost the same, and what is more interesting is that this young man also has a hair, almost as neat as her sister's head, but there is no hair ornament.

For a moment, Yumu seemed to see another self, but soon she realized that it was a completely different person from her, both externally and internally.

"I remember," the boy and Youmu looked at each other for a while, and then said, "You're the swordsman from the underworld, aren't you?"

"Yes, exactly. Youmeng nodded lightly and said, "And you, you are the famous Baili Bailing, right? I have heard many rumors about you from the villagers, and everyone praises you for being a supernatural power that has not been encountered in a hundred years. ”

"It's overrated. Bai Ling said lightly, "It's just a little small, it's not enough." ”

"Some time ago, at the banquet in the Red Devil Pavilion, you and I had a one-sided relationship, remember?" Youmeng asked.

"Naturally, I remember that the posture of the soul clan's sword dance is unforgettable. ”

After speaking, Bai Ling suddenly changed his words and asked again:

"At that time, it was a pity that your love knife was destroyed by the Nalan clan. Is there a change of knives?"

"Hehe...... Youmeng scratched the back of his head a little embarrassedly, "I'm ashamed to say that to this day, there is still only a single knife available." ”

As she spoke, she took off the small cloth bag on her back, showed the fragments of the Louguan Sword inside to Bai Ling, and said:

"No, the fragments of the Louguan Sword are here, neatly and neatly, and there are a lot of them. It took a lot of effort to collect them in the garden of the Red Devil Pavilion. ”

"That's ......"

Bai Ling glanced at the fragments, nodded thoughtfully, and said:

"May I ask if the Soul Clan is free? Can you come and sit in Xiaosheng's Mansion? ”

"Huh?"

As soon as he heard this, Youmeng immediately said:

"However, even the best blacksmith can't do anything, how can Lord Baili ......?"

"Don't worry about it," Bai Ling interrupted her, "You'll know when you're here." ”

(c)

On the heavy, old wooden plaque, there are three large characters engraved in block letters:

"Lark House"

This is Baili Bailing's home, and it is also the shop he runs.

This small, Chinese-style two-storey wooden building is located on the edge of Renzhili, a relatively deserted area, with shops on the first floor and homes on the second floor. The house is clean and spotless, both inside and out, just like the owner himself.

This shop, although it sells a lot of useful magic items, is not a traditional store. In essence, it is not only a studio for Bai Lingfu to paint poems and study classics, but also a studio for nearby residents to entrust supernatural work such as divination and demon extermination, and the production and sale of props is just a side business.

"To re-introduce, my name is Baili Bailing, thirteen years old, I studied among the mountains in the depths of the continent, and at the age of ten, I traveled down the mountain and lived here. ”

Bai Ling stood at the door of his house, turned around, and said to Youmeng.

"Although Xiao Sheng considers himself a 'Yin and Yang Master', he is not a person who connects the two worlds of Yin and Yang, and he is not good at the Five Elements Spell. If it is self-proclaimed, it is only for the convenience of the public's understanding, and if there is any offense, please forgive me. ”

In the same way, although Xiao Sheng divined ancient and modern things with 64 hexagrams, he was not a cultivator, and although he had studied the scriptures for many years, he had never entered Buddhism. I am a 'scholar', a person who studies and seeks the truth, taking the strengths of a hundred schools of thought in the world and using them for my own use, and I am not bound by a certain sect. ”

With that, he turned around and opened the door of his house, turned sideways again, and bowed, asking Youmeng to go first.

"Welcome to the humble house 'Bailing House'. He said.