After the Mid-Autumn Festival, at the end of September.

This year's climate seems to be a bit unusual, as Gaosuo County, south of the Changhe River, it is only September, and the weather becomes extremely cold, and then it snows.

Fortunately, it was September anyway, although the snow fell early, but it was originally the season when the weather turned cold, and if it snowed in June, I am afraid that some people would say "there must be a big injustice".

At the entrance of the vegetable market, there was a sea of people, the crowd was separated, and a prisoner cart was pushed in, and countless vegetables and fruit peels were thrown at the prisoners locked in the prison cart.

As the cart drove up, two officials dragged the prisoner, dressed in filthy white, down and forced him to kneel in front of the crowd. On the high platform, the new magistrate looked at the sky, there was still a little time before three o'clock in the afternoon, but it was indeed cold, this was the end of September, if it was in the north, it would be okay, Gaosuo County was barely in the south of the Yangtze River.

The snowflakes were falling one by one, and although they could not be piled up on the ground because it was daytime, many children were also excited, and the two children were dragged back by their mothers to burrow into the crowd.

Suddenly, in a corner of the crowd, the momentum dispersed, and everyone dispersed, and a teenager carried a food box and walked in slowly. Although he is only one person, his literary spirit is divergent, and ordinary people dare not stand in front of him.

A servant greeted him, and the young man said a few words softly, and the official ran to the stage and told the new magistrate of the young man's request. Soon, Na Zhixian nodded, although he was a local parent official, he was just a man, the young man was already Xie Yuan, and he was the patriarch of the local clan, he couldn't be offended no matter what.

The young man was naturally Ning Jiang, and he came to the young prisoner step by step. The young prisoner knelt on the ground with his hands tied behind his back, with a long wooden sign on his back, and a large word "prisoner" written on his clothes.

Ning Jiang squatted down in front of the prisoner, opened the food box, took out the braised pork inside, and pinched a piece with chopsticks: "Come, eat a little, eat a little, so that you can go on the road, go underground, and be a full ghost." ”

The prisoner raised his head, trembled, and cried: "I didn't kill Kui'er, I really didn't kill Kui'er." ”

Ning Jiang comforted him: "I know! I know! ”

This young man is naturally Ning Yicheng, although he committed the crime last year, at that time, in order to settle Ning Jiang's heart, and in order to clear up the relationship between himself and Ning Ji's father and son, Ning Yicheng's crime was extremely serious and directly sentenced to death, but the death penalty of the Great Zhou Dynasty needs to be reported layer by layer, and the highest county can only be sentenced to "beheading the prison marquis", that is, the autumn equinox of the next year, and the execution will be carried out after the imperial court review.

The opposite of "beheading the prison marquis" is "beheading and deciding", which can be beheaded in the autumn of that year without going through the DPRK verification, but that is beyond the authority of the county magistrate to convict.

On the other side, a woman cried to death, but was stopped by the official and couldn't come over, that woman was Ning Yicheng's mother, Ning Ji was sentenced to Xiling last year, but he died violently before he arrived in Xiling, his two concubines also quietly remarried, and his wife was once reduced to a beggar, or Xiaomeng sympathized in his heart, and quietly received some help from Ning Jiang.

"Don't cry, don't cry!" Ning Jiang coerced the braised pork into Ning Yicheng's mouth, "It's okay, eighteen years later, he will be a good man again." When I arrived at the underworld, I saw Kui'er, and she made a pair of mandarin ducks with the same fate, don't worry, in the future, my mother, I will let people take good care of you, you can go in peace! ”

Ning Yicheng choked and chewed the meat while crying. Last summer, I thought that I could become the young patriarch of the Ning family, but who knew that in the blink of an eye, the family was ruined, but Ning Jiang became the one who returned to the Yuan Dynasty, returned to his hometown, and was in the limelight. I didn't kill Kui'er, I really didn't kill Kui'er...... He shouted countless times in his heart, but even if the tears were dry, no one cared at this moment.

Feeding Ning Yicheng, Ning Jiang carried the food box, sighed, turned to leave, and shed a few crocodile tears. On the stage, someone shouted: "It's three o'clock in the afternoon!" ”

The new magistrate picked up the token with the word "chop" written on it and threw it down, and a person next to him took off the wooden sign with the charge written on the prisoner's back, and the executioner held up the big knife, the knife flashed in the sun, and with a swing of the knife, hot blood gushed out behind Ning Jiang and splashed all over the ground. The woman who was stopped by the official screamed and fainted to the ground.

Ning Jiang walked on the way home, looked up at the snowflakes falling from the sky, this year's snow is really early...... Is there a grievance?

***

In the next few days, while Ning Jiang was preparing for going to Beijing, he visited Dianhong in the name of asking for teaching, and at the same time asked Dianhong about the follow-up of the monster that appeared in Yuehu Lake in the summer.

Because Ning Jiang was originally a person from this county, it was normal for him to be curious about the natural disasters that happened on Yue Lake, Dian Hong only didn't suspect him, and said in a low voice: "You don't have to tell others, that monster, after being sent to the Tongzhou prison, was originally going to be delivered to the capital, and the imperial court also sent people to check, but somehow, that day in the water prison, the monster died for no reason, only a skeleton remained, and the flesh and blood on the body seemed to be corroded, and no one knew what happened." ”

The corpse is decomposing, and only bones remain?

Ning Jiang was stunned, could it be...... A bone soldier?

Could it be that this matter will be related to Brother Xiao Bodhisattva of Zoroastrianism?

On the evening of that day, Ning Jiang stood by Yue Lake, looked up at the starry sky, and tried to sort out the clues related to the Zoroastrian "female venerable" Xiao Bodhisattva in the previous life, but found that he could say that he knew nothing about this woman.

The only thing he knows is that this woman is ambitious, and the "A Bone Soldier" who is fiercely investigated and stabbed is trained by this woman's mysterious evil arts, each of which is almost invulnerable, and in the war of the barbarian invasion of the Central Plains, it is almost like entering a no-man's land, and none of the A Bone Soldiers who have been killed are all flesh and blood corrosion, and only a pile of bones remains.

However, after the appearance of the Yuan Demon Emperor, this woman named Xiao Bodhisattva also disappeared and never appeared again, and no one knew where she went. In Ning Jiang's life, he didn't have any intertwining with this woman, and he didn't care much about Ah Gu Bing and Zoroastrianism who assisted the barbarians in invading China, but the death of the monster mentioned by Dian Hong directly reminded him of the Ah Gu Soldier he had heard of.

Could it be that that monster has something to do with Brother Xiao Bodhisattva and Zoroastrianism?

But even if it is extremely mysterious, it is said that no one has ever really seen her, Xiao Bodhisattva brother, I am afraid it is impossible to make a "meteorite from the sky", which in the history of another world can only be done by a son of a plane like Liu Xiu.

This natural disaster in Yuehu Lake is like a stone in front of the wheel of history in the previous life that he knows, he is faintly aware that the wheel of history has begun to deviate from the direction, but he does not know which direction it is deflecting, except for being secretly vigilant, he can't do anything else.

***

After exploring the monster that fell from the sky, Ning Jiang was already preparing to go to Beijing.

However, he stayed for the time being, because he found that his sister's cultivation in martial arts had reached an important juncture.

For Xiaomeng, she didn't realize this herself, she only felt that in the past two months, she had not made any progress in either swordsmanship or internal strength.

For this reason, she worked harder and harder, although she didn't really think about being the "number one master in the world", but she still wanted to become stronger, strong enough to protect her brother.

Every day, she is constantly practicing swords, and she doesn't know how to continue to improve, she only knows how to practice the swordsmanship recorded in "Xuanji Sword Dance" over and over again.

The osmanthus flowers are falling, the flowers in the garden are all over the ground, the fragrance has not dissipated, the plum blossoms have opened one by one, or snow white, or red, she is wearing a gown and a pleated skirt, dancing in the flowers, the beautiful figure, like a fairy among the flowers, brisk, coquettish, beating in the swaying sword light.

Sometimes, the pleated skirt would follow her delicate body, turning round and round, spreading out into a spinning top-like circle.

Then, the colors of the skirt will rotate into a layered purple and red, like a flower that blooms suddenly.

At night, she began to meditate, operating the internal force, although the weather has gradually turned colder, but the internal force runs between the meridians, will form a warm airflow, and then, the essence, qi, and spirit will follow her full concentration, elevated to the extreme, the body is like transparent, the sword placed beside her, the sword intent shines into her soul, the heart is empty and ethereal.

It was a mysterious feeling, the sword qi was like fire, in her slender body, as if something was being forged, she naturally didn't know, the "Xuanji Sword Dance" she learned can be said to be the most peculiar swordsmanship in this world, it is not only to enhance internal strength, sharpen swordsmanship, but also have the effect of refining the soul.

She only knew that the sword practice during the day and the mental cultivation at night were like the staggered sun and moon, forming a mysterious cycle, like a wonderful circle, the body was like glass, and the heart was like ice crystals, and then, some invisible and wonderful power would loom in the ethereal, elusive and incredible.

It's just that, during this period of time, this wonderful progression of body and mind has an incomprehensible stagnation, which makes her a little distressed.

She went to ask her brother, although his brother didn't know martial arts, he was a scholar, and he was a very powerful scholar.

In the past, when she encountered problems in martial arts and swordsmanship, her brother was always able to help her solve them perfectly.

But this time, my brother just smiled and told her to continue to work hard and not relax.

That night, she sat on the bed with auspicious wishes, sitting cross-legged on the bed, the hibiscus tent was warm, the wind was automatic, and the candlelight swayed on the silver pillar. The sword intent seemed to pass through her body, shining into her heart, her heart was like a sword, her mind was like a sword, her breathing was gentle, like a golden toad spitting out, her chest rose and fell, as if there was a warm fire inside.

Her face is tranquil, her eyes are closed and slightly closed, isolated from inside and outside, to secluded, to quiet and unintentional, the mysterious power that has always seemed to be absent and unpredictable in the past is like the river sand that has been washed again and again, slowly removing the real gold, and like the invisible wind and rain brewing fairy dew between the heaven and the earth.

The formless and substantial, always difficult to grasp in the past, seemed to be condensed from nothingness, and with a bang, it exploded among the hundreds of bones of her limbs, filling every corner of her flesh and blood, and her delicate body, like a furnace, tightly wrapped this mystery.

Then, her consciousness continued to sink and sink, and she finally understood that this mystery was herself, it was "me", and she sensed the real "me", which was a bit strange, but the girl who didn't read much had no better words to describe it.

Just like Taiyi is divided into two poles, the body and mind that have always been turbid in the past are like a jade being broken at this moment, condensing the mysterious jade. She clearly felt the difference between body and spirit. And this mysterious, incredibly pure "I" drives her flesh and blood.

When she opened her eyes, the incense tent split by itself, and she felt a bang, the candlelight, the moonlight outside the window, and everything, full of layers, reflected in her eyes, penetrated into her heart, and was grasped and observed by her subtlety.

She floated out of bed, pushed the door and left the hospital, looking happily at the garden under the moon, the frost moon was like a dream, the brilliance was like a brocade, hiding the beauty she had never experienced before.

She flew happily between the plum blossoms, unspeakably happy, so excited that she couldn't leave......