Lu Nan City is the seventh city of the Nine Shadows. In the current season when the herds are frequently attacking, there are also convoys transporting animal skins and meat in a steady stream. Everyone's faces were filled with joyful smiles, and even the dark sky seemed to light up.

A man in black with a cloth covering his head walked through the busy crowd, no matter how crowded it was, but everywhere he went, there was no stagnation. The man ignored the meat of the beast that could be eaten at will on the carts around him, and only slowly but firmly moved in one direction.

After walking through the crowd for several miles, a tall mansion made of huge black stones appeared in front of the man in black. Perhaps because it was a rare easy day in the Nine Shadows, there was not even a single figure in front of the door of this black house.

The man in black raised his legs as if he were facing his own pavilion and entered the gate, until he walked a long way along a stone road, and then there was a silent person standing in front of him, this man had a white beard, white hair, and deep eyes, although his face was full of wrinkles, his whole body exuded a terrifying aura.

This old man who is unknown to everyone in the whole city is Xiao Ting, one of the ghost envoys of Lu Nan, although he is old, but with his Yin and Yang cultivation, he is also famous in the entire Nine Shadows.

Xiao Ting, who had never smiled in front of people, bowed to the man in black who rashly broke into his house: "Uncle, you are here." The man in black nodded slightly: "Uncle Ting, I haven't seen you for a year, you're okay." ”

Xiao Ting had a rare kind smile on his face: "This old bone is quite good." Uncle, please come with me, and the old man will accompany you to see Miss. He turned and walked first, but the man in black looked up at the sky above him.

It was pitch black and I didn't know what he was looking at, and after watching silently for a while, the black-clothed man walked to follow Xiao Ting in front. Until their figures disappeared, a faint sigh came from the place he had just looked.

The man in black followed Xiao Ting all the way into a deep tunnel, there was no light in the darkness, and he could only faintly hear the sound of the two of them breathing. The two people in the tunnel were silent and did not say a word, and their steps were light and swift as they walked deeper and deeper in the darkness.

I don't know how far I walked, Xiao Ting's voice came from the darkness: "Uncle, please." After he said this, there was silence again, and it was a long time before he heard the man in black let out a long sigh, and the sound of the stone door being pushed through the tunnel.

A soft light suddenly appeared in this deep cavern, and as soon as the stone door was opened, the man in black had already entered the stone chamber where the light was emitted. As the stone door closed, darkness returned to the tunnel.

The man in black entered the stone room lightly, but his dexterous movements became a little clumsy, and his voice with a trembling voice sounded softly: "Xian Xian, I came to see you." ”

No one in the stone chamber responded to his words, and the man in black walked to a large stone platform in the middle of the chamber, from which the soft light shone through. He gently pushed open a black stone slab on the stage, and the stone chamber suddenly became brighter and brighter.

The whole stone platform is hollow in the middle, and those rays of light are emitted from a light cluster suspended in it, and the bright light emitted by this light cluster is slightly yellow but not dazzling, but I don't know why the light can be transmitted through the thick stone slab.

Directly below the soft light cluster lay a woman in costume, who looked to be in her twenties, and although her eyes were tightly closed, she could see that she was beautiful and vulgar. Under the light of the mild yellow light, there was still a hint of red on the creamy face.

The man in black watched as she slowly lifted the black cloth on her head, revealing an angular face. This face is handsome but full of wind and frost, it is Zhuo Xuhan who met Zhang Zhao by chance by the lotus pond in the town. Looking at the woman in front of him, his face was full of pity and tenderness: "Xian Xian, you are still so beautiful, when you wake up, will you not recognize me as an old man?"

Zhuo Xuhan stood up gently, reached into his arms and took out a black silk sac, after opening this silk sac, there was actually a silk sac inside, and after he peeled off the silk and opened six or seven silk sacs, a palm-sized jade box was revealed, and two or three boxes were opened from large to small, and a ball of light came out of his hand.

Holding the last jade box in his hand, Zhuo Xuhan carefully brought the objects in the box close to the light in the stone platform, and as soon as the two lights got close, they trembled like water droplets and fused together, and then slowly stabilized, still hanging three inches above the woman's seal hall.

After doing all this, Zhuo Xuhan seemed to want to reach over and touch the pretty woman's face, but in the end, he only stroked it a few times from an inch to Xuxu: "Xian Xian, if you wait, I will definitely find a way to cure you." ”

The tenderness in his eyes gradually became firm, and he gently reached out to cover the stone slab, and the light in the stone room dimmed slightly. Zhuo Xuhan stared at the stone platform for a moment, then resolutely turned around and opened the door and went out.

After coming out of the tunnel with Xiao Ting, who was guarding in front of the stone room, Zhuo Xuhan bowed to Xiao Ting and turned to leave, this time he didn't look anywhere, and slowly walked away in the direction he came in.

It wasn't until his figure had been hidden in the darkness for a long time that Xiao Ting, who was silent, raised his hand and wiped the corner of his eyes: "Young master, you obviously know that you can't blame your uncle for what happened back then, why haven't you talked to him for so many years?"

He turned to look at the direction that Zhuo Xuhan was staring at just now: "It's been almost twenty years, if it weren't for the immortal yuan sent by my uncle on time, how could Miss have survived until now?" After Xiao Ting finished speaking, he slowly walked into the darkness, and his slightly rickety body looked even more old.

When Zhang Zhao opened his eyes again, Ye Qinghe and Yan Wuxi were actually standing in front of him: "Brother Zhang Zhao, you really came to Jiuyou, and you didn't take a good avenue, why did you still run to the Beast Rejection Earth City?"

"How can this be? Why are you two here? What's wrong with me?" Zhang Zhao sat up and rubbed his face, looking around that was obviously brighter than before, only to realize that he was no longer on the road: "Where is this?

"I can't throw anything from you. Ye Qinghe stepped forward to help him up and said with a smile: "I heard them say that you have been helping in the Beast Rejection Earth City for three or four days, and you must be tired." You slept quite comfortably this way, after they sent you over, Lao Yan and I screamed a few times and didn't move, if you don't wake up today, I'm going to call Shizun to come and see. ”

Zhang Zhao got up and found that the clothes on his body had not moved, so he put them next to the bed without arguing: "Where is this?" Ye Qinghe smiled when he heard this: "Ghost King Mansion of Xuluo City, do you still think that you will arrive at the City of Light when you wake up?" Yan Wuxi shouted in a strange voice beside him: "You don't have to worry, they are all here, let's go to the City of Light, we are all waiting to see what the Blood Rakshasa looks like when he sees you." ”

Zhang Zhao couldn't wake up that day, and the cart man and the others saw that their breathing and heartbeat were normal, and they thought that he was too tired and fell asleep in the Beast Rejection Earth City, so he took care of him carefully along the way, and when he arrived in the city, he sent him to Ye Qinghe according to what the beard said.

Among the Nine Hidden Cities, the Light City is the closest to the entrance, and every time this harvest season, the rest of the cities have to transport animal skins to the Light City to trade rice and salt with the merchants. Ye Qinghe and the others made an appointment to meet in Xuluo City, and sent Zhang Zhao over, and the man with the cart happened to arrive at the Ghost King's Mansion at the same time as Yan Wuxi.

"Brother Zhang Zhao, when we were in the realm of life and death, you didn't rest for a few days and nights in a row, why are you so tired this time?" Ye Qinghe listened to Yan Wuxi's words and smiled: "At that time, we were just guarding the entrance of the cave, how can we compare with the Beast Rejection Earth City?"

Zhang Zhao felt that his fainting was not due to exertion, and this time he was unconscious until he woke up, and he didn't even feel like this when he was seriously injured by Tang Qun and lay down for two months.

"By the way, where's my carriage?" After Zhang Zhao asked again, Yan Wuxi shouted: "What about the backyard, no matter how good your horse is, you can't lose it, can you still trust us?" Zhang Zhao shook his head again and again: "No, the things I brought to you are all in the carriage." ”

"That kind of dried meat last time?" Yan Wuxi saw Zhang Zhao nodding and rushed out like a gust of wind: "I said, why does that smell so familiar." Ye Qinghe saw that Zhang Zhao was no longer in trouble, and chased him out: "Old Yan, you have to leave a few pieces for me." ”

The two ran out one after the other, and Zhang Zhao calmed down to check his own situation. The Ten Thousand Soul Recipe in the body was still running as always, and the Spirit Gu was flowing in the blood without any abnormality, and it was only when the soul sense swept the golden words in his mind that he found something different.

He counted it several times in a row, and found that there were twelve more golden words in his mind, not only to make up for the three that had been missing in the eighth sentence, but also to rank the ninth verse in the sea of knowledge without missing a word.

Since Zhang Zhao learned the requiem spell, there has never been a situation where more than a dozen golden characters appeared at the same time. He quietly recalled the experience since entering the Nine Shadows, and felt that it must be related to the herd of beasts in the past few days.

Zhang Zhao has been practicing this requiem mantra for several years, and although he has not been instructed by anyone, he has some understanding of how to increase the number of golden characters. In addition to the breakthrough in his cultivation, he vaguely felt that it had a lot to do with the number of living beings who died at the time of chanting.

As the number of gold characters increases, it becomes even more difficult to add each one. This time there was suddenly a whole sentence, and the only explanation could only be the millions of beasts that had died in front of the Beast Rejection Earth City.

Zhang Zhao thought to himself that it was precisely because the number of golden characters had changed too much this time that he would fall asleep for a few days. Before he could appreciate the usefulness of this scripture, Ye Qinghe and Yan Wuxi had already rushed back outside.

"Brother Zhang Zhao, your carriage is actually full of dried meat?" Yan Wuxi held a piece of dried meat in one hand, grabbed half a piece of fish meat with the other and said vaguely: "You can't sell these things for much money, so it's better to pull some rice and salt." ”

When he mentioned this, Zhang Zhao also came to the spirit: "Those are all I brought to you to taste." In addition to dried meat, there are fish and shrimp, and a lot of dried scallops are pressed underneath, but there is really no way to get black crabs, so you can only eat them when you go. ”

Ye Qinghe and Yan Wuxi's chewing movements gradually slowed down: "You made the whole car yourself, and it was all given to us?" Zhang Zhao nodded again and again: "Of course, I did it for two months, just to let you eat enough." ”

Unexpectedly, Zhang Zhao pulled this big cart of dried meat from Wuxuan to Jiuyou just for this reason, Ye Qinghe and Yan Wuxi felt that the blood was churning in their chests: "Brother Zhang Zhao values love and righteousness, your friend is not in vain, Senior Sister Nie is really a good eye." ”

The two of them put the dried meat in their arms in their arms: "If you use it to sell for money, the two of us can eat a few pieces." Since they are all given to us, such a good thing should be tasted by everyone. Zhang Zhao thought that Ye Qinghe and Yan Wuxi were going to eat together after the rest of the people arrived, but the two of them called Zhang Zhao to drive the carriage out of the Ghost King's Mansion and came to the street of Xuluo City. As soon as they see a child passing by, they take the jerky from the car and give it away.

Every child had a surprise on their faces after taking the jerky and eating it in their mouths, but Zhang Zhao felt a little surprised, although these children knew that the jerky on the carriage was obviously better than the beast meat around them, they only thanked Ye Qinghe and Yan Wuxi, and after eating the meat in their hands, they no longer came forward to ask for it.

"Don't thank the two of us, these meats were given to you by Uncle Zhang Zhao earlier. Yan Wuxi stood on the carriage and shouted, "Study and practice hard, and when you grow up, you can have such delicious things to eat every day." ”

"Thank you, Uncle Zhang Zhao. Hearing the immature voices of the children around him, Zhang Zhao couldn't help but feel a little emotional, and he still called him uncle when he met people, and then he felt that he was not young. drove the carriage around the streets of Xuluo City, and half of the thousands of catties of dried meat were missing.

"Almost, I'll have to leave you some to take to the city of light. Ye Qinghe looked at Zhang Zhao and wanted to continue to remind him hurriedly: "There are more people over there, not to mention that you came all the way from Wuxuan, you can't just catch an empty car." ”

After a few people entered the Ghost King's Mansion, Zhang Zhao couldn't help but ask as he thought back to what he had seen along the way: "Senior Brother Ye, why do I think you Jiuyou children are very unusual." At a young age, they seem to know a lot of things like adults, and many children help carry meat in carts at such a young age. ”

"Hehe, Brother Zhang Zhao, your vision is not bad. Ye Qinghe had pride on his face: "We Jiuyou these children have been reading and writing with our husband since they were three years old, and they began to come into contact with martial arts after they were seven years old. Some talented people can be selected by the ghost kings of various cities to be accepted as apprentices in the mansion, and Lao Yan and I are like this to worship under our respective masters. ”

Yan Wuxi also shouted on the side: "We Jiuyou don't distinguish between high and low, and we don't charge a penny for reading and reading since we were children. Every year, the Ghost King's Mansion sends people to the academy to teach some martial arts techniques and the like, and I just find it interesting to learn art from my master. ”

If it weren't for the gentleman who didn't want money in the town back then, Zhang Zhao was afraid that he wouldn't even know a single big character, and he entered the Lingxiao Leisure Hall because of a coincidence, and countless adventures led to today's achievements. Otherwise, with his family background, even if he spends the Immortal Crystal Worship Sect, he must start as a miscellaneous disciple first, and only after three or five years will he have to teach some introductory martial arts.

Although he had not experienced this arduous process, he could see it clearly in the disciples of Lingxiao's back kitchen and some miscellaneous disciples. However, these are benefits that everyone can easily obtain in the Nine Shadows, so those children seem to be polite, and even those cultivators in Beast Rejection Earth City are not as rude as they look.

No wonder there are only a few cities in the Nine Shadows and they are so poor, but they can fight against the five Xuans of Nuoda for nearly a thousand years, Zhang Zhao remembered that the people in the Nine Shadows he had come into contact with were all connected to each other and had no selfish thoughts, and the battles between the various factions on the Five Xuans were really different.

"Why don't you take everyone up there with you?" Zhang Zhao brought up the question he had already asked again: "Even if someone will stop you, it will ...... with your strength."

Ye Qinghe Yan Wuxi looked at him with a strange expression: "Brother Zhang Zhao, you don't think it's to persuade us to go up and start a war with you Wuxuan, right?" Zhang Zhao swallowed his saliva: "It shouldn't be possible to start a war, just because I saw that cavalry team in the Beast Rejection Earth City, who else would dare to stop you?"

"Brother Zhang Zhao, just talk to the two of us about this, don't talk nonsense when you go back. Ye Qinghe sighed: "In the past few hundred years, there have been constant wars between the Nine Shadows and the Five Xuans, and many people have died. Although we are not afraid of death, we are afraid that after the death of someone, all this will not change. ”

Yan Wuxi's voice was also a little hoarse when he mentioned this: "Brother Zhang Zhao, if everyone thinks like this with you, then things will be easy to do, but those old guys in Wuxuan believe that it is their territory, and even when we pass by occasionally, they are careful to beware, if all these people from Jiuyou go up, there will inevitably be a resurgence of war." ”

No matter how Zhang Zhao thought about it, he felt unfair: "It's all the same person, why do you have to suffer like this below? Is there no other way?" The two people on the other side were silent, and after a long time, Ye Qinghe replied softly: "We have also asked our respective masters about this matter." ”

"Wait. Yan Wuxi said these two words repeatedly: "Everyone got the same answer, so we can only continue to live like this, waiting for the time to change all this." This reminded Zhang Zhao of what Gui Zhengyang had said to him when he was in Xuanmu City, and the three people in the room were silent, each thinking about their own thoughts.

In the next two days, Zhang Zhao learned a lot of things about Jiuyou from their mouths, especially when those acquaintances in the life and death world came one by one, Zhang Zhao proposed to go east and invite everyone out for a good meal, only to know that there was not even a restaurant in Jiuyou.

His wish to cook some broth out of dried meat for everyone to taste couldn't be fulfilled, and the only source of water in the Nine Shadows was dew drops from the stone crevices above, barely enough to quench his thirst. Not to mention the broth and tea, many Nine Shades cultivators have lived so much that they have never drunk a sip of hot water.

In the two years when the old butcher was the most seriously ill, Zhang Zhaojie was not so miserable when he was short of food and money to treat him, not to mention that his life had changed a lot since Yuan Ming gave him Xianjing. But Jiuyou, these cultivators who had broken through the Three Realms, were actually not as comfortable as when he killed the pig.

Zhang Zhao tried to ask why he didn't dig a well to get water, and after Wei Tiesheng finished speaking, he realized that what came out of the deep well dug in the Nine Shadows was black fire oil, although it could be used to warm the beast, but there was not half a drop of clear water.

The clothes on these cultivators' bodies were intertwined with animal skins and coarse cloth compared to several sets of disciple clothes when he first entered the Lingxiao, not to mention the new clothes of the five top-grade immortal crystals. Zhang Zhao looked at all this, only to feel an indescribable discomfort in his heart, and his mood became a little low.

"Alright, let's set off for the city of light. Seeing that Zhang Zhao was a little dull, Yan Wuxi thought that he was afraid that everyone was delayed in leaving. A group of people laughed and walked out the door, and were confronted by a young man who looked to be in his early thirties.

"Big brother, you're back. Ye Qinghe stepped forward to hug the man, turned to Zhang Zhao and smiled: "Brother Zhang Zhao, this is my eldest brother Ye Xunhuan, he usually walks around on Wuxuan, and he does debt collection work. ”

Zhang Zhao saluted the man: "I've seen Brother Ye." The rest of the people also said a few words, and Ye Xunhuan, who was in a hurry, nodded at them and left.

Ye Xunhuan, who passed by Zhang Zhao, didn't recognize that the young man in front of him was the child who was knocked over by the meat stall back then, and Zhang Zhao naturally didn't know that it was the ingot of gold that he lost his meat that gave him the opportunity to meet Yuanming.

There are hundreds of miles between the two cities, and it doesn't seem too far for a group of people to talk and laugh. Zhang Zhao, who still couldn't tell the difference between day and night, rarely spoke along the way, and occasionally asked a few words about the situation of Jiuyou, so he had to be silent for a while.

As soon as they entered the gate of the city, countless torches were planted on both sides of the city wall, reflecting the faces of the busy people in the city. In addition to the people of Jiuyou who pushed animal skins, there were also many Wuxuan traders who came to trade with bags of rice and salt.

The whole city is in order, on both sides of dozens of long wooden platforms, people from different places are discussing the details of the transaction, Zhang Zhao, Ye Qinghe and others wanted to go straight to the ghost king's mansion after entering the city, but they inadvertently met a pair of Ying Ying phoenix eyes with a smile on their faces.

Nie Wanqing, who was still carrying a rice bag on her shoulder, and Zhang Zhao looked at each other idiotically, although the two were in the midst of tens of thousands of people, they only had each other's figures in their eyes at this moment.

Ye Qinghe and the others scattered to help carry the goods and load the truck, Nie Wanqing got rid of the trance, stared and threw the rice bag to Yan Wuxi, who pretended to be solemn, and then slowly approached Zhang Zhao, who was also flushed with her.

"You're here. ”

"I'm coming. ”

"How long have you been here, and how did you get together with these guys?"

"It's been a few days, I got lost and ran to the Beast Rejection Earth City in Void City, and they sent me to Senior Brother Ye. ”

Nie Wanqing walked up to Zhang Zhao and stopped, her face flushed even more: "I've already told my father about you." Zhang Zhao looked at her bright red cheeks and his heart fluttered: "What did uncle say?"

"My father said, if that boy dares to come, do as you please. Zhang Zhao stared at Nie Wanqing, whose eyes were rolling, and smiled softly: "Now that kid is here, I don't know what Miss Nie's mind is?"

Nie Wanqing tilted her head and pouted: "I think it's okay now, but it depends on whether that kid has brought anything, if he comes empty-handed, this girl really can't afford to lose this person." ”

"Look, thanks to us, we've got half a cart of dried meat. Yan Wuxi, who had been listening to the two of them with his ears pricked up, shouted: "Brother Zhang Zhao, why don't you hurry up and drive the carriage to the Ghost King's Mansion to propose marriage, Senior Sister Nie can't wait." ”

A soft halo lit up, and a round bead with a crystal luster appeared on Zhang Zhao's hand. After choosing among the many treasures, the elders of Yangxian Hall agreed that it was only fitting for Zhang Zhao to win this strange night pearl from Yu Wenyong as a dowry.

This kind of rare thing immediately attracted everyone in the Nine Shadows to look over, Nie Wanqing's pretty face was like a burning sunset, she stomped on the lotus foot of Zhang Zhao, who was holding the gorgeous pearl in her hand, and sneered: "You are really, what are you doing now?"

The applause of the nine shadows who were watching was thunderous and cheering, but a cold voice came from the noise: "Senior Sister Nie, this is the Zhang Zhang Zhao you are talking about?"

A young man with thin hair in a gray robe approached slowly, his squinting eyes were faintly shining, and after looking Zhang Zhao up and down, he spoke coldly again: "Do you want to marry Senior Sister Nie? ”

(End of chapter)