"Oh, Senior Brother Shen Qiu, you don't know how I've spent most of the past half a year."

On the roadside highlands, when it was getting late, there were two bonfires in Momen, and Li Guyji also brought food and water, and made tea with medicinal herbs.

By a bonfire, Li Yijian sat on the stone with a golden sword, took off his upper clothes, bare his upper body, and talked loudly and laughed to Shen Qiu.

Beside him, the housekeeper of the Li family was treating the wound on the young master's arm.

The wound wasn't deep, and it didn't hurt the bones.

It's just that the bamboo guns used by the people are mostly rusty, so the wounds must be treated carefully to avoid infection, or worse, tetanus and other diseases.

"After you left Luoyang, I was trapped at home by my father for 3 months!"

This young master of the Li family looked gloomy, he picked up the wine jug with his other hand, handed it to Shen Qiu, and chattered endlessly:

"I finally lifted the ban, and my father didn't allow me to stay away from the Central Plains, so I could only take a walk around the business near Luoyang."

"I'm darts, I can't drink."

Shen Qiu stirred the bonfire with a wooden stick and refused the wine handed by Li Yijian.

The latter shrugged his shoulders and didn't care, anyway, in his heart, Senior Brother Shen Qiu was a person with a strange temper.

He picked up the flask himself and took a sip, then handed it to the silent companion beside him, who seemed to have a good relationship with Li Yijian, took the flask and poured it.

"Since you are walking in the Central Plains, how did you come to this land of Xiaoxiang?"

The young girl beside Shen Qiu, while gnawing on the roasted jerky, asked curiously:

"I was also robbed by bandits."

"That's because I'm working hard."

The former bald boy smiled, he asked the steward to take some sugar cakes from the carriage, handed them to Qingqing, and then said proudly:

"I followed my father's wishes, and worked diligently to deliver and receive goods around Luoyang, and worked for more than four months, and finally let my father allow me to go farther.

This time, I followed the steward to Xiaoxiang to deliver medicinal materials to Xiaoxiang Sword Gate. ”

Li Yijian took another sip of wine and said to Shen Qiu and Qingqing:

"My family has to send medicinal materials over twice a year, one is to maintain the relationship with Xiaoxiang Sword Sect, and the other is to ask them to protect my Li family's business in Xiaoxiang."

Speaking of this, the bald boy was also a little depressed, and he said:

"I haven't had an accident in the past years, but the first time I came, I was robbed by mountain bandits, which was really bad luck."

The bald boy's luck was really not too good.

Shen Qiu chuckled, he didn't mention this stubble, changed the topic, and said to Li Yijian:

"I just watched you fight, but your sword skills have improved, and you have a lot of courage, and you have also fought in the past half a year?"

"Yes."

When it comes to martial arts, Li Yijian is also a little gloomy and interested, he said:

"The land of Qilu has become more and more chaotic in the past half a year, so that many homeless people have entered the Central Plains, and the surrounding areas of Luoyang are fine, and the farther places are full of bandits.

When I went to Taihang Mountain to receive the goods, I encountered several robberies.

I'm not afraid of my brother's jokes, the first time I fought with them, I was very panicked, I couldn't hold the knife in my hand, and I forgot the knife technique you taught, so I could only slash and kill indiscriminately.

If it weren't for my little tiger brother who brought the mountain people from the warehouse to rescue, I am afraid that I would have been buried in the Taihang area. ”

The bald boy recalled the past with a look of nostalgia.

He patted the silent companion beside him and said to Shen Qiu:

"This is my brother Zhang Xiaohu, he was the supervisor of my family's warehouse on the other side of Taihang Mountain, and after saving me, he walked with me."

"Oh?"

Shen Qiu blinked.

The Li family pharmacy opened a warehouse in Taihang Mountain, and he paid the money just to be able to communicate with the mountain ghost Gongsun Yu.

He looked at the rather silent companion beside Li Yijian, did it turn out to be the warehouse he had in the supervisor before?

It's really fateful.

This young man has a good pair of muscles and bones, and looks about the same age as Li Yijian, with black fist gloves on his hands, like Cha Bao's finger guards, embellished with steel plates.

It seems that this Zhang Xiaohu is learning boxing.

"Hehe, senior brother, my 'cheats' were given to Brother Xiaohu, he is quite talented in boxing, and he has practiced in three months."

Li Yijian blinked sneakily, he took the strange knife in his hand, handed it to Shen Qiu, and he said quite proudly:

"Brother Xiaohu also gave me his treasures, senior brother, look at my knife, is it a good knife?"

Hearing this, Shen Qiu stretched out his hand to take the knife handed by Li Yijian.

He looked at the knife in his hand with strange eyes, this knife was quite slender, more than four feet, longer than ordinary knives.

And the handle of the knife is much longer than the knife used by ordinary Jianghu people.

The handle of the knife is carefully wrapped with a strip of red cloth, and the blade is a ring hollowed out, and the blade is reversed inward, with a smooth arc, which is very different from the weapons of the Central Plains.

"Wow"

Shen Qiu pulled out the blade.

In the light of the bonfire and the evening sun, the snow-white blade has layers of cloud patterns, and it is very cold.

And where the spine of the knife is close to the grip, there are several strange words.

"鬼のたま"

Shen Qiu softly read out the pronunciation of those characters, which made Li Yijian and Zhang Xiaohu beside him widen their eyes, and Qingqing also asked in surprise:

"Senior brother, do you know this text?"

"Understand a little bit."

Shen Qiu closed the knife in his hand, held it up with both hands, and examined it carefully.

After a while, he handed it back to Li Yijian and said:

"This is a Japanese knife, the style should be a knife, but it is not a famous forging, it is barely a good knife.

But what I'm more curious about than the knife itself is, where did you, brother, get this sword, this world... Uh, I mean, in this side of the rivers and lakes, there are also Japanese people walking? ”

Li Yijian took back his beloved knife, he looked at Zhang Xiaohu, and said to Shen Qiu:

"This knife is said to have been obtained by Xiaohu's father, who got it from a Japanese merchant back then.

I also heard my father say that in the early years, when the sea route was not cut off, there were indeed Japanese people in the area of Quanzhou, but I had never seen it. ”

"Cut off by sea?"

Shen Qiu grasped the point, and he asked:

"What's the severance method?"

"Wind."

Zhang Xiaohu, who was silent, suddenly spoke:

"Before my father changed careers, he was a businessman in Quanzhou.

I heard him say that more than 20 years ago, on the sea route from China's Central Plains to the foreign Japanese kingdom, a violent wind suddenly blew and blocked the smooth flow of the sea route, and no matter how big the sea ship was, it was impossible to go to sea.

The merchants were cut off. ”

"But in recent years, the winds at sea seem to have weakened."

Li Yijian answered:

"The last time I followed my father to visit Lei Ye, I listened to Lei Ye say casually.

He said that according to the current situation, he is afraid that in more than ten years, the wind may subside. ”

"I see?"

The doubts in Shen Qiu's heart were not solved.

But he still subconsciously held the sword jade in his hand, more than twenty years ago, wasn't that the time when Zhang Moxie found the immortal fate?

Many things seem to happen at that node, and the secret of this has to be explored by Shen Qiu himself.

"That's right, senior brother."

Several people talked and laughed for a while, Qingqing added fuel and vinegar to the others about Suzhou, and described Shen Qiu as a god descending from the sky, and Li Yijian, who listened to it, exclaimed righteousness.

This guy probably wanted to suppress the pain in his arm, so he drank again and again, and he was already slightly drunk at this time.

He looked at Shen Qiu and asked softly:

"I saw you use the knife before, although it is still the Guiyan knife method, but there is a knife shadow dancing, isn't it, you have learned a new technique from this Guiyan knife?"

"I do have a realization."

Shen Qiu held the coarse porcelain teacup, glanced at Li Yijian, and said:

"But it's impossible to teach you, it's not that I'm hiding my secrets, but if I teach you, it will get you into trouble, so don't ask more. Your Guiyan knife method is only entering the hall, and if you want to have a deep three flavors, you have to continue to practice. ”

"Yes."

Li Yijian's youthful temperament, although it is much better than half a year ago, is still not stable enough, and he is still a little out of it, but he admires Shen Qiu a lot, and when he saw what Shen Qiu said, he didn't ask any more.

"Alright, it's getting late, let's go rest."

Shen Qiu opened his mouth and said to the others by the fire:

"I have to hurry tomorrow, you go to Dongting, I will go to Changsha later, and we will be separated tomorrow."

"You'll see you again in the future."

Li Yijian was helped to stand up by Zhang Xiaohu and said to Shen Qiu:

"It's a good thing to see my brother today, and when the goods are delivered, I also beg my father to let me go to Suzhou to play, and then I can meet my brother and the young girl."

At that time, I'll wait..."

"What people! Don't come closer! ”

Before Li Yijian finished his drinking words, he heard Li Yiji's shouting from outside this resting height.

It seems that someone is approaching the station.

Shen Qiu immediately held the Hongming knife in his hand, and the other resting people also stood up one after another, the experience of being robbed during the day was still there, which would make everyone a little nervous.

But after a while, the men who were guarding the perimeter led a few people wearing long robes and swords into the field.

Li Yijian was a little drunk, so he washed his face first to sober himself up.

When he saw the uniform outfits of the few people in front of him, as well as the jade pendants they wore around their waists, he hurriedly clasped his fists and said:

"It turned out to be the senior brothers of Xiaoxiang Sword Gate, and we are the caravan of the Li Family Pharmacy in Luoyang, and we are here to send medicinal materials to Xiaoxiang Sword Gate.

Everyone is family. ”

He glanced at the vigilant postures of the people in front of him, and then asked:

"But I don't know why you senior brothers came?"

"It's not a big deal."

Among the several people in the Xiaoxiang Sword Gate, a middle-aged man led by him seemed to have an extraordinary bearing, he stepped forward with a smile, twisted his beard, and said to Li Yijian:

"My name is Lu Kun, I am the manager of the outer gate of the Sword Gate, I have indeed heard that the Sword Gate has an old relationship with your Li family, and it is lucky to see you today, you don't need to worry."

This Lu Kun explained softly:

"It's just that in the nearby mountains and forests, there is a group of bandits today, among which there is a female thief in the green forest, who has done a lot of evil, which alarmed the uncle in the door, so he specially sent me to search nearby.

Since my Xiaoxiang Sword Gate is built on the shore of Dongting Lake, I must protect the residents here. ”

He was very polite, and leaned slightly over the people by the campfire, and said:

"I naturally believe that you are waiting, and you all seem to be honest people who will not do anything illegal.

It's just that the senior brother in the door has an order, and we have to work hard, so if we want to search the caravan, you may be able to do something convenient? ”

This person's tone is not impulsive, reasonable, soft and hard, giving face to the person in front of him, and making a very reasonable request.

Obviously, the rivers and lakes have a lot of experience.

"My Li family and Xiaoxiang Jianmen have always been good friends, and if my senior brother wants to check it, I will check it."

Li Yijian has also experienced it for more than half a year, and he has a bit of his father's bearing in dealing with people, he glanced at Shen Qiu, and said with some hesitation:

"It's just that I, the senior brother of the Shen family, came here by dart and met me by chance..."

"It doesn't matter."

Shen Qiu saw that the bald young man was a little embarrassed, so he also waved his hand and said to the person in the sword gate:

"I only have a few big boxes of darts, and I can't hide people, but if you don't worry, go and check it over there, just don't damage my goods."

"Thank you!"

The middle-aged man hugged his fists in thanks, and then said a word to a few people behind him, and everyone scattered to check the goods.

Shen Qiu squinted his eyes, looking at the few people in the Sword Gate who were equipped with long swords and were extremely vigilant, he quietly got lucky, and sensed the surroundings.

He took a step back and whispered to the young man behind him:

"There were people nearby, quite a lot, not coming for us. But don't be unguarded, if something happens in a while, you have to protect Qingqing. ”

Zhe Tie snorted, and also grabbed the iron rod at hand, but heard Shen Qiu tell again:

"I know you have a good heart, but if there is a real fight in a while, you must be ruthless."

Xiao Tie hesitated.

But in the end, he nodded, and he carried the iron rod and walked towards the young girl who was supervising the search for the goods by the people in the Sword Gate.

The goods on Shen Qiu's side are only a dozen boxes.

As he said, the size of the box couldn't hide anyone.

There is also a set of rules when this dart, the secret lock on the box, only the shopkeeper of the shop in Changsha has a key to open, several people in the sword door carefully searched, and the lower floor of the carriage was found.

Naturally, there is nothing wrong with it.

But something went wrong on Li Yijian's side.

"Senior Brother Lu Kun! There was blood on this car! ”

A young man shouted, Lu Kun's face changed slightly, Li Yijian's expression also changed, and the two walked quickly to a carriage on the outermost part of the Li family's caravan.

Several swordsmen around the carriage had already drawn their swords, and they looked like they were in a ready position.

"It should have been left over during the day, when I was robbed and fought by those homeless bandits."

Li Yijian looked at the bloodstains on the carriage, and he explained:

"This box is full of high-quality medicinal materials, and they will be sent to your waiting sword gate."

"I believe in Li Shaoxia, but the female thief in the green forest is very cunning, and I have to guard against it."

Lu Kun still looked smiling, but there was already a little more chill in his eyes, he held the hilt of the sword in his hand and said to Li Yijian:

"Please also ask Shaoxia to open the box in the car, let me wait and take a look, so that I can relax."

Li Yijian was slapped by this Lu Kun, his face was a little unbearable, he turned around, and angrily asked a few guys to carry down the box in the car and open it in front of the bonfire.

As soon as the box was opened, the steward beside Li Yijian exclaimed.

The neat medicinal materials that were originally stacked were actually turned over as if they had been turned over.

Not only were a few packs missing, but they were also thrown into disarray, and what was worse was that there were also blood stains seeping into the edge of the box, which had not dried up yet, apparently just left.

"Wow"

The sword in Lu Kun's hand was unsheathed, the smile on his face disappeared, and he said with a cold face:

"Now what else do you have to say! Where did the thief go? Be honest! ”

The disciples of the Sword Sect behind him also drew their swords one after another, surrounding the Li family's caravan, and they were about to start fighting if they disagreed.

"I've never seen any female thieves."

Li Yijian was holding a knife, and he also shouted with an unconvinced face:

"How can I explain it to you?"

"I don't know if the thief has hooked your soul."

Lu Kun held his sword and sneered and threatened:

"You have to think about it, Li Shaoxia, your family has a big business, why should you ruin the friendship between my two families for the sake of a woman of unknown origin?"

"I don't know if I don't know!"

Li Yijian already has a grudge against the Xiaoxiang Sword Sect that sucks blood from his house every year, and he is even more impatient that this will be framed.

He drew his long knife with his backhand and shouted:

"You want to frame me and others, and ask me if I agree to the knife in my hand!"