Cheng Lin glanced at the young man, didn't say anything, just nodded lightly, then looked at Ji Xuan, looked at each other for two seconds, he opened the door and said, "Let's enter the house." ”

There were only two low houses, one of which was used as a stove room and the other as a living room.

Cheng Lin threw a few more pieces of wood into the stove pit, and then entered and lit the candlestick, the stove pit was connected to the soil kang, touched the soil kang, it was still a little warm, and there was a futon and a kang table on the kang.

Cheng Lin sat silently on one side of the table, Ji Xuan took off his shoes and sat on the other side, the young man quickly took out the food one by one and put it on the table, Cheng Lin looked at it, it was all delicacies, thought about it, he took down the wine sent by Ji Xuan four hundred years ago from the cabinet, wiped off the dust, and opened it.

On the winter night of the Great Daozong, the dilapidated house was full of delicacies and wine, the two old men sat opposite each other, and the young man knelt in the middle, pouring two wine saucers, no one spoke, only the sound of firewood burning next door.

"Senior brother, this is my new introductory disciple, Yi Jiufeng, what do you think?" Finally, Ji Xuan was the first to speak.

Cheng Lin pointed to his cloudy eyes, and then slowly waved his hand: "I can't see clearly." ”

Ji Xuan smiled, didn't continue to ask, just said to himself:

"Jiufeng is the most talented among the disciples recruited in this year, not inferior to the senior brother back then, and even more far beyond me, think about it, if you are diligent and pendeficial, your future achievements will definitely be above me."

"Congratulations." Cheng Lin said.

"Seriously calculated, it has been five hundred years since you and I entered the sect back then...... In the past, there are only two of you and me left. Ji Xuan sighed and raised his glass.

Cheng Lin thought for a moment and raised his glass: "It turns out that so much time has passed." ”

The cups touched slightly, and the two swallowed sake.

Ji Xuan sighed again: "I have been in charge of the sect for hundreds of years, and I feel that I am quite diligent, and I have never fallen into the prestige of the sect, but I am entangled in mundane things, but I am not as carefree as you, senior brother." ”

After a pause, Ji Xuan asked tentatively, "Senior brother...... In the past 400 years, has the foundation been laid? ”

"No, I didn't." Cheng Lin said in a non-wavering tone.

Ji Xuan was silent, but Yi Jiufeng, the young man who was sitting next to him pouring wine, had his eyes moved, and glanced at Cheng Lin in surprise, he had heard Shizun mention this master when he came, but he never thought that there were really people who had practiced Qi for five hundred years.

The room was quiet again, and suddenly there was a snowstorm outside the window, and whimpering.

Ji Xuan didn't continue this topic, but just sighed: "In the past few hundred years, I have been worried all night, and I am not ashamed of the sect, but recently, the world is not very peaceful, there are monsters as the victims, and the origin is unknown, even if the strength of the monsters is low, and it is not a climate for the time being, but I am always a little uneasy......

"It's a pity that the life span is short, I want to come to the end of the day, the only wish is to choose a successor for the sect, Jiufeng is good, but it's a pity that he is arrogant and arrogant by nature, and it may be difficult to change the ......"

"Master...... I ......" Yi Jiufeng, who was kneeling on the earthen kang and holding the wine jar, wanted to argue for a while, but was interrupted by Ji Xuan waving his hand.

Ji Xuan continued: "A hundred years later, he is in charge of the sect, if the world is peaceful, it will be fine, but I am afraid that if there is a great calamity, he will be more than just ...... I'm always a little worried...... Therefore, I have a reluctant request. ”

Cheng Lin was expressionless: "Say." ”

Ji Xuan suddenly took a deep breath, his old and round face was flushed with a red like drunkenness, he held the kang table with both hands, stared at Cheng Lin, and said in an extremely serious tone:

"If the sect is destroyed in the future, I hope that the senior brother can remember the old feelings and help one or two!"

Outside, the wind and snow suddenly became a little stronger, and the cold wind whimpered and filled the peaks.

On the table, the dim candle flame danced violently for a few minutes, and the stunned look on the face of the young man Yi Jiufeng was extremely gorgeous.

Yi Jiufeng looked at his master in surprise, not understanding why his master said this request.

Especially...... All he asked for was a Qi cultivator...... Even if Shizun kept saying that he had lived for five hundred years, Yi Jiufeng still didn't believe it, he believed in his eyes even more, and he was extremely sure that this ordinary old man next to him was indeed just practicing qi.

Cheng Lin was silent, and only after a while did he say, "I'm just a Qi cultivator. ”

Ji Xuan said seriously: "But I always feel that you are different, senior brother, when I first saw you at the entrance of Jiyun Town, it was like this, and it is still like this." ”

Cheng Lin laughed at himself, but saw that Ji Xuan was extremely serious, so he thought about it and said, "If I can live to that day." ”

Ji Xuan smiled, his face was covered with a relieved red, as if the big stone hanging in his heart finally had a place to rest.

It was night, and this meal was eaten for two hours, and most of the time Ji Xuan was talking, talking about the past, talking about the countless sufferings in the past five hundred years, Cheng Lin just listened quietly, and occasionally moved chopsticks.

Yi Jiufeng kept adding wine, and he was shocked, he had never thought that the master who was the head of the Great Dao Sect would have such a sad side. It wasn't until there was not a drop left in a jar of wine that Ji Xuan was drunk and staggered to lead the apprentice away, looking like a master at all.

Cheng Lin didn't go out to see him off, just stood at the door, looking at the snow and night outside, and the two people who were drifting away, behind him, the flames in the stove had been extinguished, and only the red-hot charcoal was left, which gradually dissipated the residual temperature.

In the heavy snow, Yi Jiufeng saw that his master was not a sword, so he could only walk slowly with patience, and when he went down the mountain, he turned his head to look behind him, and looked at the figure at the door of the hut under the dim red light.

The sword eyebrows were raised, the corners of his mouth were downward, and he stubbornly thought in his heart that he would never ask for this person in his life.

After all, he didn't look like a tall man at all.

……

……

The heavy snow drowned out the night, and also drowned Cheng Lin's thoughts.

The peaks blurred again.

Cheng Lin only knew in a trance that time continued to pass, and his body was getting worse and worse, his back, which was originally quite straight, inevitably bent down, rickety, his legs and feet became heavier and heavier, and he walked very slowly.

Qi and blood are decaying, his bones are old, except for the aura that is still rolling in the meridians in his body, but is not known to outsiders, he looks more and more old and weak.

Eventually, his last tooth fell out, but fortunately he didn't need to eat or drink, and he didn't starve to death.

His gray hair gradually fell out, and strands left, until in the end, there was not a single one left, his skin was shriveled and there was no trace of moisture, and the whole person became smaller and smaller, and became wrinkled.

In the end, he didn't even have the strength to do the trivial matter of lighting a fire, so he made a choice between the kang and the tree, and chose to meditate cross-legged under the tree in the courtyard, and never got up again.

The peaks are green every year, and the autumn is like fire every year.

The narration resurfaced in my mind:

[After Ji Xuan left, another ten years passed, and one day, he passed away suddenly, and thousands of disciples of the Great Dao Sect were all dressed in white silk, the monarch made a watch, and the mainland mourned together] [The next year, Yi Jiufeng ascended to the position of head of the sect and held the bull's ear of the mainland cultivation world]

[In the next hundred years, the world is still peaceful, but the frequency of monsters is becoming more and more frequent]

[Two hundred years later, someone saw the boundless continent in the East China Sea, hazy like a phantom, and monsters danced together, attracting the attention of monks all over the world]

[Since then, the monsters have repeatedly banned the scourge of the place, and the major famous sects have encircled and suppressed, but they can't prohibit it, and gradually there have been casualties, and two hundred years later, the East China Sea Continent was officially formed, and countless demons came, for the disaster of the world, the major sects of the Great Dao Sect led the continent to contend with it, and opened a century-long war, the demon power gradually became grand, and the human monks fell into the downwind, for a time, the world was turbulent, and countless casualties were killed]

[However, you don't know all this, you just meditate, practice qi, forget about external objects, and are forgotten by everyone, until almost no one remembers you anymore]

[At this point, you have stayed in the realm of qi cultivation for a full thousand years]

……