The door of the smithy was wide open.

The old blacksmith jumped on the low stool with one leg on his stick, and his movements were so trembling and dangerous, and under the cover of the moonlight, there was a little funny and sad meaning.

He hung a thin-spouted oil lamp on the door, and the faint light mingled with the moonlight, dragging his rickety shadow over the street at the door. It is customary to hang lamps on the doors, and it is said that hanging lamps in this way can bring back the spirits of deceased loved ones.

It's a soul-attracting lamp.

It was none other than his son Techuli.

After hanging the lamp, he did not immediately jump off the low stool, but raised his eyes to look at the gray world. The night wind blew, the beating lights bent around like ghosts, and the smoke from the oil lamp was like a black snake that would change, sometimes wrapping around his potted face, sometimes crawling up his eyes that only had a slit left. He has been striking iron under the smoke and fire all year round, and his eyes have long been in a state of half-blindness. So, despite the hanging of the lamp and the sparse moonlight outside, he saw nothing.

Still, he was looking intently, his dry mouth squirming slightly, as if he was calling for something.

"Lao Tie, your son is dead."

Outside the blacksmith shop was an alley, the alley was paved with bluestone slabs and bricks, and a figure sneaked out of the alley, and then, from behind the figure came out several short figures one after another, they walked to the door of the blacksmith shop like a grasshopper, and the leader raised his head and stared at the old blacksmith with a broken leg on the low stool.

"Yes, my son is dead, and for the sake of fame and wealth, he let the Tieqiu clan die." The old blacksmith bent over and coughed, and the shadow of the broken leg and the stick on the ground was as hideous and terrifying as the devil in hell.

There was silence for a while.

The man said, "I'm looking for something." ”

"Are you going to run away too? Where can you flee with your wife and children? ”

"It's because I have a wife and children that I have to leave here. Those who should have fled, those who shouldn't have fled, and the fortress can't be defended, so I have to think about them. ”

"You go and pick, take whatever you like."

The old blacksmith did not look at the man who was looking up at him, his gaze wandered, as if searching for his son under the cold moon, or rather, waiting for his son's soul to be summoned by the soul attraction. He was going to just stand there, perhaps until the day when the fortress fell, so that he could go to hell and teach his son who did not listen to persuasion. Thinking about it, thinking about it, he grabbed the wooden stick in his hand, struck it hard into the void air, and scolded in his mouth: "Don't go, you want to go, tell you not to go, you want to go." ”

Cursed like a dream.

The fire in which the sword was forged had long since been extinguished, and it was the same as the old blacksmith's hard work, and he died cleanly. The blacksmith's shop, which used to be full of swords, halberds, and armor, is now empty. The man led the family around the shop, but found nothing, but his youngest son, who was five years old, picked up a broken sword from the backyard, the sword was tattered, the blade was broken from it, and the edge of the blade was densely covered with large and small gaps.

The yellow-faced and skinny boy held the broken sword in his arms like a baby.

The adult with a scimitar in his hand rubbed his messy hair: "What are you doing with a broken sword?" ”

The little boy raised his head and replied, "It is used to kill the Dongyi bandits, just like my brother." ”

"Brother? Your brother is dead. The man who was the head of the family said, and the sadness on his face was as thick as the smoke of the light on the door.

The woman pulled out half of the rancid cold bun from the cold earthen stove and carefully wrapped it in a rag, her trembling hands like dry chicken paws. The well-behaved and sensible little daughter took down the snakeskin that was hanging in the backyard. The man looked at the cold shop, sighed, shook his head again, he took the pig-killing knife in his hand, and waved it at the old blacksmith: "Old Tie, where is your dog?" ”

"Dead, all dead." The old blacksmith faced east, waving the stick in his hand, and his hoarse voice was extremely unpleasant, and after a fierce blow, his movements slowed down.

The man's eyes showed reluctance, and he looked at his woman.

The woman held the half of the cold bun tightly, and struggled for a while in her eyes, and finally said: "Uncle Tie, otherwise, you can go with us, there is only one way to die if you stay here, escape outside, and Xingji can still live." ”

The man also said: "Yes, Lao Tie, people can't be resurrected after death, Xiao Tie is dead, but you have to live." ”

"The Tieqiu Clan is finally the last, the last. Let's go, let's go! You're all gone! Come on!! ”

As he spoke, the old blacksmith, like a wild dog in a desperate situation, suddenly burst into anger, jumped down from the low stool, and struck the man with his stick. The man used the pig-killing knife to hold the stick, and with a little force, he pushed the old blacksmith to the ground. At this moment, as if he had lost himself, the old blacksmith struggled to get up on one leg and in vain, and he writhed on the ground like a disgusting worm.

"Lao Tie, are you crazy?" The man shouted.

"Crazy, crazy, you're all crazy."

The old blacksmith raised his head with all his might, his red and swollen eyes widened, and suddenly he laughed again: "Haha, you all fled, stole my dog, stole my house, and stole my son. You're all going to die outside, all of you're going to die outside. He laughed.

"Let's go, he's crazy." The woman pulled a pair of children and leaned timidly towards the man.

The man stared at the old blacksmith for a while, let out a long sigh, carried the pig-killing knife, and led his wife and children out of the blacksmith shop. From a distance, they looked like a swarm of rats, rats fleeing from death in a hurry.

The people were gone, and the blacksmith shop was as quiet as death again.

The old blacksmith lay on the ground like a dead man, and a gust of wind blew, and the dust on the stove flew in the wind, and the soul-attracting lamp hanging on the door flickered strangely. In a daze, the old blacksmith seemed to see the little blacksmith, who was forging a sword by the stove, his bronzed skin, his rolling sweat, and his childish and sincere smile.

Everything is so familiar.

"Li'er, is that you? Don't be afraid, come here, I won't hit you. ”

"Li'er, Li'er......"

The old blacksmith twisted his neck and stretched out his hand towards the beating lamp, his posture was very strange, like a twine that was being twisted and twisted, but the hideousness and madness on his face disappeared without a trace, and was replaced by a gentle smile.

"Roll, roll."

An eerie sound sounded, and a black bird flew into the blacksmith's shop. It stopped on the stove and stared at the old blacksmith with big eyes. The old blacksmith raised his head and smiled, wriggled like a snake to the stove, grabbed the uneven stove wall, got up with all his strength, stretched out his hand to it, and called gently: "Li'er, Li'er......"

"Rail."

The blackbird suddenly spread its wings, like a black meteor, and flew over the old blacksmith's head, heading straight for the backyard. The old blacksmith was stunned for a moment, but a more determined smile appeared on his face, it must be Li'er, he came back to see me, he is still there, and the Tieqiu clan is not a queen, there is no queen. Damn fame, damn wealth, turn my Li Er into a black bird.

The old blacksmith chased after him in the backyard, losing the support of his stick, but he was not slow, as if he had returned to the light, and jumped on one leg.

The blackbird perched on a tree in the backyard, the icy moonlight shining on it, and it spread its wings.

The old blacksmith looked up, and felt as if the wings had closed out the moonlight. And the pure black bird pecked at the dried snake gall on the branch, and looked into the old blacksmith's eyes with great indifference.

"Li'er." The old blacksmith held out his trembling hand to it again.

"Roll!"

Suddenly, the blackbird's claws kicked on the branches, and swooped down on the old blacksmith as fast as lightning, and the target of his long beak was the old blacksmith's eyes. The old blacksmith watched it pounce in a daze, and an inexplicable thought suddenly poured into his heart, this is a ghost car bird, it turns out, it is not my Li'er, but the messenger of death. "Wow!" At this moment, the sky above the dilapidated and dilapidated courtyard suddenly went black, and a raging fireball fell from the sky, and the huge figure enveloped the old blacksmith and the blackbird, as if the end was coming.

"Roll rolling."

The blackbird screamed, the cry was extremely terrible, like an iron spoon scraping back and forth in the heart, and its figure was faster than the old blacksmith just now, like a black streamer, narrowly avoiding the long beak of the big firebird, which was as sharp as a sword, and fled to the vast moonlit sky without looking back.

"Goo." The great firebird retracted its huge wings, and did not chase the blackbird, but looked at the old blacksmith with its blood-red eyes.

"Really, it's really a strange bird." The old blacksmith muttered, and fell to the ground with his back to the sky.

"Goo." The big firebird walked to the old blacksmith with the general step, and the great black shadow covered the old blacksmith to death, and it lowered its head, stretched out its beak and touched the old blacksmith's face, and saw that the old blacksmith was not dead, and cried out happily. Then, it shook the reverse feathers on its head like a long helmet, and was about to scream, but suddenly, as if it had found something, it turned its head to look at the front yard of the shop, and the next moment, its eyes flashed rapidly, and it screamed, and rose up at night.

At this time, Yu Lie and Ziche Yu walked to the door of the blacksmith shop, and happened to see a big firebird rising into the sky.

"Curse the evil!" The slave lord couldn't help but scream, but the firebird didn't answer him.

"You shouldn't have chased it away." Zi Cheyu's gaze followed the big firebird as it disappeared into the vast and cold sky, and shrugged his shoulders.

At this moment, the oil lamp on the door of the blacksmith shop was startled by the wind, and the faint light actually emitted a trace of fire and "hissed".

Yu Lie frowned and said, "Why did you hang the lamp on the door?" ”

Zicheyu thought for a while, and said in a deep voice: "The conjuring lamp can guide the deceased to return to his hometown, this is an ancient tradition, along with King Yin being beheaded by King Wuying, taking the world, it has disappeared into the river of history, I don't want to, but I see it here and now." Stinky boy, there is a ghost car in front and a spirit lamp in the back, all of which are bad omens. If I die, remember, don't set a spirit lamp for me, throw my head into the vat, and fill a vat full of swallow wine, then I will die a well-deserved death. ”

The middle-aged lord was not an alcoholic, but at this moment, his expression was extremely solemn.

Yu Lie was stabbed in his heart by his gaze, but laughed: "You can't die, if you die, what will happen to your beautiful daughter?" ”

"Haha, you promised to marry my daughter?" Zicheyu burst out laughing.

"I already have a wife." Yu Lie said solemnly, the scar on his face jumped slightly, at this moment, the slave lord remembered the great doctor Wei who was in the distance, that beautiful and gentle woman, as soon as the matter was over, he would return to Yanjing and marry her, however, in front of him was such a scene: a dilapidated fortress, a city in fear, under the bleak moonlight, the city and people seemed to be sliding into the abyss step by step, and the lingering shadow of death.

"Gollum ......"

Yu Lie fell into deep thought, and the big daunt behind him shook slowly under the spirit lamp, but there was a strange sound beside him. The middle-aged lord pressed his belly and raised his eyes to look into the distance.

There, it's the direction of Izumo Castle.