Near the Yuanxi Bazaar, a tavern.

When we came here, there was actually no one, but Du Youlan didn't seem to want to tell her story to anyone but me, so we went to the small private room on the second floor.

The private room has an open window, so you can see the night outside.

The gentle wind, accompanied by Du Youlan's voice, entered my ears together, "If you want to tell the story of me and Wei Heng, let's talk about me first, in fact, I am an abandoned baby......"

It was 700 years ago, when a baby girl was abandoned in a valley, or rather abandoned, but fell from a cliff. The baby girl's life should not be extinguished, wrapped in her bloody clothes wrapped around the branches of trees in the mountains, hung for a few days, was pecked by flying birds, and when she was dying, she was rescued by a person.

That person, Du Youlan called him Master.

The baby girl is Du Youlan.

The surname followed the man, and the name was taken from the ghostly grass orchid that bloomed in the shadows of the valley.

Du Youlan said that the master is a warlock, and he is an upright person, but all his spells are evil cultivators. But the master didn't care, he often said that there is no good or evil in the sword, but there is good and evil in the human heart, and magic is just a tool for a warlock. As for why he only used evil arts, Du Youlan didn't know and asked, but the master couldn't give her an answer, just like the master never walked out of the valley, it will always be a mystery in Du Youlan's heart.

Du Youlan was seventeen years old that year, and as usual, eating, practicing magic, and picking flowers in the valley, she was monotonous but happy, but when she returned from picking flowers, the master was not the same as usual. Du Youlan said that he had never seen such an expression from his master, and he usually always had a smile on his face, but that day, the master had no expression. He gave a few bottles to Du Youlan, as well as a few books, the books were improved spells of various factions, and in the bottles were some witch Gu.

"Youlan, a few decades ago, there was an evil thing that came from west to east, and then it seems to have been sealed by a warlock. But now that the seal is loose, that thing will reappear. I can't get out of here, and you can't stay forever, it's time to go out and see the world. ”

The master asked Du Youlan to leave the deep valley and seal the evil thing he said, or destroy it.

Du Youlan asked, what is that thing?

The master did not give a specific answer, but only mentioned two clues, one is the imperial power, and the other is the West.

Master hasn't spoken since.

Speaking of this, Du Youlan picked up the delicate hexagonal wine glass full of wine on the table, and looked out the window, "I was very sad at that time, but I didn't know why, and then I understood, arranged for me to leave, and after saying the last words, the master was already dead." I left the deep valley, but I didn't understand what Master gave me at the time, and I didn't know what the clue meant, but maybe he had a spirit in heaven? Or maybe that's how my life should be, I met that person......"

"Wei Heng?" I asked.

"Well, it's him, that's ...... Little to eat. ”

"Asking for food? I remember you once said that Wei Heng represented the word 'Dao' among the several of you, and I always thought he was a Taoist priest. ”

"Did I say that? But you're right, he's a Taoist. You know that monks and Taoist priests were high-level beggars in ancient times, and their identities were nothing more than begging for convenience, and occasionally they could do some magic tricks to defraud a little money. Although I grew up in a deep valley, Master taught me many things, including what the outside world looks like. It's just that then again, that little begger is not the same as others, he is also proficient in magic, and contrary to me, every move and style is accompanied by a seemingly innate righteousness. And he is not poor, and I later learned that their father is the county master. ”

"And you're still asking him for food?"

"It wasn't nice to see him at that time, right? I also had a time when I was a girl......"

"What you're saying is interesting." I smiled and filled my glass for her, "Go ahead, how do you know him?" ”

Because of the direction of good and evil spells, and because of their inexplicable strength, Du Youlan was targeted by the so-called righteous people soon after she left the deep valley. There were several frictions, which made Du Youlan have a very bad impression of these people. Later, in the royal capital, an incident happened that made her and Wei Heng meet for the first time. Speaking of this, Du Youlan gave me a new concept, she said that it was a snake demon in a restaurant in the royal capital that was haunted.

"Demon?"

"Yes, demon. There was such a concept, and there were animals that became humans. But you've seen this kind of demon too. ”

"Oh?"

"If you were at that time, you would be a worm. And the snake man before was the snake demon. ”

"So, the snake demon you said is a snake man?"

"Yes, it's a snake man. Master has told me about many monsters, as well as the method of confrontation, but the snake people are too strange, the first time I saw them, I didn't know their death holes, their immortal and immortal ability, I suffered a big loss, Wei Heng was halfway out to help me. He destroyed the eyes of the serpent, and the serpent vanished. Speaking of this, Du Youlan recalled thoughtfully for a while, "Actually, we met twice before, he set up a stall on the street to diagnose people, I thought he was a liar, so I went to dismantle the stage...... Of course, these are not important and have nothing to do with the topic. ”

"And then, what happened? And you went to the royal capital because of one of the two clues that your master gave you. ”

Du Youlan nodded, "I didn't understand it at the time, but later I understood that 'imperial power' refers to Kublai Khan, and 'West' is something that Marco Polo brought." When I first went to the royal capital, I just guessed along the word imperial power, of course, I didn't find anything that time, but I met Wei Heng a few times later, maybe it's fate, we are getting more and more acquainted, and he is also investigating this matter. In the end, we worked together and found a human head. ”

In fact, I have heard such a legend, it is said that when Marco Polo traveled to China, he once sacrificed a human head for the ancestor Kublai Khan, the legend is that it is just a head, without a body, but it is immortal, can speak human language, and water and fire are inviolable, it is immortal.

I told Du Youlan the legends I had heard.

"It's true, but it's not complete."

"Oh? What's so strange about it? ”

"Legend has it that those who have been tainted with their flesh will lose their minds and become monsters that are difficult to kill, sounding like living corpses. There's no way to confirm it, though, because I've never actually seen it. ”

"You haven't seen it until the end?"

"That's right, until the end of the whole thing, I haven't been able to see what the human head really looks like." There should be more to this, but at this point, Du Youlan suddenly asked me: "Do you know why Westerners want to sacrifice this human head to the people of the Yuan Dynasty?" ”

I shook my head, just about to say I didn't know, but there was a flash of inspiration in my mind, so I responded: "That human head, is it the face of the East......"

"Yes, exactly."

……