In the second year of Shengyou, the court was corrupt, the people were not happy, the Shengyuan Empire went through hundreds of years of wind and rain, but still could not escape the historical gear of the decline from the saint, after the empire was founded by Taizu, after more than 200 years, eight generations of emperors, experienced the heyday of the empire, and gradually slipped to the bottom.

The ninth emperor Li Mian was mediocre, drinking and having fun every day, building a lot of buildings, making the people miserable, fighting for power within the court, a hot scene, who won in it, power and money will follow. The emperor has completely become a puppet, abandoning the government and ignoring the country, and the entire empire is facing great changes.

The court is restless, and the rivers and lakes are still bloody, the major forces in the Central Plains and the Demon Sect have launched a desperate struggle, and it is difficult to distinguish between each other, adding a bit of sorrow to the innocent people, the people are displaced, and the situation of grief has become the norm.

Compared with the bloody rivers and lakes, there is such a pure land, no blood, a piece of peace, that is, a small continent located in the southernmost part of the empire, separated from the mainland by a river, and this river is called Lingjiang, this small continent has a name, called "Changting Zhou".

At this moment, it is the season when the grass grows and the eagle flies, everything is lush and green, and the interior of Changting Island is also full of life. The area of Changting Island is not very large, only equivalent to the area of a valley, and there is a river in the continent that divides the whole small continent into two unequal parts, the northern area is small, and the southern area is large, and the northern area is separated from the mainland by the Ling River.

The reason why this small island is called Changting Continent is that there is a long pavilion on the south bank of the small river that runs through the east and west in the continent, and the name of the pavilion is called "Long Pavilion".

In the long pavilion, a middle-aged man was looking at the chessboard in front of him and fell into contemplation, looking at the black and white chess pieces on the chessboard, he didn't know where to start for a while, and the white chess pieces held in his right hand were taken and put down, and finally he could only sigh helplessly, and said to himself: "Life is like chess, if you take a wrong step, there is no turning back, no matter which dynasty it is, the emperor takes a wrong step, but it is the defenseless people who suffer, hey!"

The middle-aged man leaned on the railing and looked into the distance, and as far as the eye could see, there was a vast white patch on the water surface, and the reeds in the water were scrambling to emerge from under the water. Not far from the pavilion, a boy was cleaning the open area in front of the attic.

With the Lingjiang River as the boundary, this Changting Continent is different from the Central Plains of the mainland, the Central Plains is a great war between good and evil, the court is fighting openly and secretly, and the people are miserable.

"Xing, the people are bitter, the king and the people are bitter!" The middle-aged man muttered to himself a few more times, and his gaze disappeared and fixed on the misty river.

"Sir, it's windy, let's go back to the house first!" The boy behind him had already put down the broom in his hand and came to the middle-aged man's side.

The middle-aged man heard the sound of wind chimes hanging in the corner of the pavilion, and sighed helplessly.

"Xiao Mu, what do you say is the way of the world, and what is the human heart?"

The boy didn't understand what the middle-aged man was talking about, so he scratched his head and looked confused.

"Komaki doesn't know!" The boy couldn't answer the middle-aged man's question, and lowered his little head in embarrassment.

Only then did the middle-aged man realize that a child's voice came from behind him, and his face seemed to be smiling, how could he ask a child who had not yet entered the world these questions. Picked up the flask on his waist, poured it into his mouth, smiled, patted the boy's head and said, "Haha...... How can you possibly answer my question? Let's go!"

The boy raised his head and saw the loving eyes of the middle-aged man, picked up the broom next to him, trotted out of the long pavilion, followed the middle-aged man, and walked towards the attic behind.

Only the crisp sound of wind chimes remained in the long pavilion, and the aftermath lingered.

"Catch her, she's in front, catch her!"

A group of masked people were running quickly on the forest path, each holding a bright sword, each with unfinished blood on each blade, which looked particularly oozing in the sunlight.

Not far ahead, a woman was hiding in a nearby bush covered in blood, holding a small wooden basin in her arms, in which a month-old baby was sleeping soundly, unaware of the dangers of the outside world, and the woman was quietly relieved to watch the group of masked people pass by her.

And not far from her is the Ling River in the south of the empire. She was originally just an ordinary family living near the Lingjiang River, her husband entered Beijing a year ago to take the exam, and there has been no news so far, and her husband, like other scholars, is determined to take the exam and return to his hometown. His wife is also very supportive of him, and she cares for him every day. Before taking away, her husband swore that he would definitely come to pick her up after seizing a piece of heaven and earth in the capital, but he didn't know at the time that she was pregnant.

A year later, she was greeted not by a group of dressed homecoming troops, but by a group of masked uninvited guests, who had entered the village without saying a word, and who did not understand what she had done wrong or why her village had suffered such a catastrophe.

Taking advantage of the chaos, she ran out of the village, but the mysterious group of people obviously did not intend to let everyone in the village go, and when they saw her escape, they immediately sent someone to chase after her.

On the one hand, she was secretly glad that her husband did not come back and escaped the catastrophe, and on the other hand, she was worried about whether the child in her arms could escape this catastrophe, looking at the sleeping child, a few tears fell from the woman's face, and fell on the face of the sleeping child, the child seemed to feel something, and his mouth blinked a few times. The woman was even more sad when she saw this, and her tears couldn't stop flowing, and she hurriedly covered her mouth, for fear that she would cry.

The masked people returned to the original place again, and were looking for something everywhere, the woman saw this, the mood was even more flustered, and hurriedly came to the Ling River with the wooden basin, looking at the quietly flowing river, the woman looked at the child in the wooden basin with a soft expression, and then took out a letter in her arms and put it in the wooden basin, and after kissing him on the face, she trembled and put the wooden basin in the water, watching it drift away with the water flow. The children in the basin do not cry or make trouble, and the water flow of the Ling River is as gentle and quiet as that.

The woman felt the masked man outside the bushes behind her getting deeper and deeper, and she watched the tub drift away, and finally covered her mouth and turned in pain to run towards the other side of the path.

"She's here!"

The voice of the masked man came from behind her, and at this moment the woman's mind was only the weak figure in the tub.

"Child, I hope you can survive in this troubled world, my mother didn't leave you with any ......"

......

"Sir! sir...... "The boy named Xiao Mu in the attic of Changtingzhou pushed open the door of the attic in a panic, and the middle-aged man was leisurely looking at an ancient book in the room, and when he saw the boy's expression, he put down the book in his hand, looked at him suspiciously, and said:

"Xiao Mu, why are you so flustered?"

Xiao Mu didn't have time to reply, he grabbed the middle-aged man's hand and hurried to the long pavilion, the middle-aged man also let him grab his hand at this time, and followed him, he also wanted to know what was going on.

"Look there, sir!"

Xiao Mu pointed to the river not far away, turned his head to look at the middle-aged man beside him and said.

The middle-aged man looked at his fingers, and saw that above the vast water waves, a wooden basin was swaying towards the long pavilion, and the middle-aged man was shocked, because he looked closely and saw a baby in the wooden basin.

"Xiao Mu, you wait for me here!" After finishing speaking, the middle-aged man leaped along, flying above the water in the air, where his toes clicked, the microwave rippled. When the middle-aged man was still a foot away from the wooden basin, he untied the cyan saber at his waist and threw him to the water next to the wooden basin. The middle-aged man took two steps and stood on the cyan sword, he bent down and held the tub, and the baby looked at him curiously, his eyes full of yearning for this world.

The middle-aged man smiled lovingly as he looked at the baby in the basin, turned around, and walked across the water, returning to the pavilion in a short time.

Xiao Mu hurriedly stepped forward, and when he saw the baby in the wooden basin, his face also showed an excited look: "What a cute doll!"

The middle-aged man touched his head with a smile and said, "Xiao Mu, hurry up and go to the attic to find some clothes, don't let him freeze to death!"

After listening to the middle-aged man's words, Xiao Mu hurriedly ran to the attic, the middle-aged man looked at the baby in his arms, and saw that the baby was not afraid and hesitant, and he loved him even more in his heart. He picked up the envelope on the wooden basin casually, opened it and studied it carefully, looking at it, his brows couldn't help frowning, and when he saw the name of a person mentioned in the letter, he trembled, the expression on his face was cloudy, and finally sighed helplessly.

"Is it really providence?"

The middle-aged man looked at the baby in his arms again, and saw his own reflection in it through his clear eyes, and the child's innocent eyes suddenly pierced his heart. He remembered the figure that had been inseparable from him many years ago, expanding in the depths of his memory, and finally gradually disappearing into the deepest part of his mind.

Time can really change a lot of things, and even the purest soul can hardly escape the fate of being assimilated when it blends into this filthy world.

Just when his thoughts were full of emotion, the baby in his arms moved, and the middle-aged man came back to his senses and saw that one of the baby's small hands was playing with the cyan sword on his body, and he chuckled a few times from time to time.

"Do you like this sword?"

The middle-aged man held the sword in front of him, and at this moment the baby was even more excited, dancing with his hands, and a few smiles appeared on the middle-aged man's face.

"Since you don't have a name yet, and you love this sword so much, the name of the sword is 'Qing Ming', then your name will also be Qing Ming in the future!"

......