1,400 years ago, the night was boundless.

Li Changmeng, who was already one hundred and six years old, stood on the cliff, with a deep and hideous, lightning and thunderous night sky above his head, pouring down heavy rain, connecting the wind and rain roaring heaven and earth, like countless sharp arrows falling from the sky, destroying everything on the earth, and also crushing the green robe on his body, and the beard that was originally like a white waterfall, wet and listlessly sticking to him, and crawling on his wrinkled face.

The wind that swept from time to time under the mountain was humid and faintly scorching, carrying a mixture of mud and blood, and it shook his body without any flesh one after another, and it seemed that his eyes were a little confused, so that the ancient well-like eyes were full of confusion and decadence at this time.

The sound of wind and rain can cover the neighing of war horses and the sound of people howling and slashing, but it cannot completely suppress the continuous skyrocketing fire, in the most ferocious place of the fire, even the downpour has not had time to plunge into the sea of fire, it has been evaporated by the heat wave, turned into transpiring white gas and swirled between the heavens and the earth, as if covering a thin curtain for the place like purgatory on earth at this time, so as to avoid being too naked to be exposed in the world.

This seems to be a kind of mercy and intolerance from God, and it is also the last trace of mercy for this short-lived emerging sect that is being destroyed in the bloody slaughter.

First, it tore through the night sky like a galloping galaxy, as if it was denser than rain, and the overwhelming rocket rain turned the already tightly surrounded buildings at the foot of the mountain into a sea of fire, and the infantry with battering rams attacked the gates from everywhere, and then the impenetrable Xuanjia army charged with horses, wrapped in iron armor, and the infantry rushed through the collapsed doorway. Under the impact of the most elite and unstoppable army of the new dynasty, this sect, which had just emerged and had a shallow foundation, had no strength to compete with it at all, but in an instant, it lost all will and was completely reduced to sheep to be slaughtered under the iron hoof.

But even if I feel that such a "war" cannot be called a war at all, it is completely boring, this elite army that has experienced many wars and seems to be born for killing, there is no sign of mercy on its subordinates, and it still plays the role of a killing machine seriously and meticulously, carrying out military orders, harvesting the lives of all lambs in its pass, and striving to leave no one left.

"Teacher, there is no ......" Compared with the indifference of the teacher, or Mu Ran, Chen An behind him could not regard the slaughter under the mountain as nothing, and psychologically he couldn't accept that the master had paid his whole life for his whole life, and the place where he had poured half his life was destroyed, so when he saw the fire under the mountain, the last head was cut off, and rolled into the muddy blood water that the pouring rain could not dilute much, he couldn't help but step forward and come to the back of the master's shoulder, and gently reminded him.

Li Changmeng did not move, without any reaction, as if the only disciple who could save the reminder was completely engulfed by the wind and rain as soon as he exited, and did not reach his ears.

"I have long heard that there are many evil methods of your sect, which emerge in endlessly, and one person can defeat thousands of troops, I never thought that we would come with the idea of a vicious battle and many casualties to win, but we are faced with such a tasteless scene, but it is really a little disappointing." At this time, a little farther behind him, a general standing with a sword and wrapped in armor also spoke, because the wind and rain were too strong, so he couldn't see his face clearly, and he couldn't hear the tone, and he could only look at what he said, it seemed like he was mocking.

Li Changmeng still didn't react. It's not because he can't hear the words of the only remaining disciple and the general who was ordered to come to "Nian Wei Mountain", but his thoughts at this time have drifted back to more than thirty years ago.

It was not long after he finally achieved great success, not long after he went out of the mountain to found the Painting Spirit School, and there was only one disciple by his side, and Chen An, who was by his side at this time, was still wandering around, looking for a period suitable for inheriting his life's work. Because the first disciple Chen An was honest by nature, although he was old and simple, with excellent moral character, and his understanding was still lacking, the second disciple, Li Chang, dreamed of finding a person with the same excellent moral character, but with talent and intelligence, and good understanding, so that he could inherit all his mantles in the future, and after searching around for several years, he finally found someone who met the requirements of his heart.

This person was Li Changmeng's second among the eleven disciples later, and originally in his opinion, Wu Yue would have the highest achievement.

When he met Wu Yue, he was only a poor fourteen-year-old boy from a poor background, with only a grass hut and a sick mother who was frail and sick, and his father and brother had died in harsh forced labor, and their bones were not found. Although the family is poor, only two acres of thin fields, but fourteen-year-old Wu Yue, but never let his mother starve and freeze, would rather be hungry for a meal, than let his mother eat less, to others are also humble and polite, helpful, in the township neighborhood has an excellent reputation, despite the difficult environment, but never give up the heart of study, since childhood, whenever leisure, he ran miles to the countryside private school outside eavesdropping, rain or shine, he learned to read and write.

At that time, the imperial examination system had been formed, and civilians could also enter the government through the scientific examination, and the government was no longer exclusive to the children of the gate valve, so the gentleman who was teaching in the countryside, seeing that Wu Yue was smart by nature and had excellent understanding, and he eavesdropped intermittently outside the door, but he could also learn well, know how to read and reason, and write a good hand of calligraphy and painting, so he moved to promote him to the high gate to study, and participate in the scientific examination in the future. After not wanting to put forward this idea, he was rejected by Wu Yue on the grounds that he still had a sick mother to take care of at home, and in desperation, Mr. had to give him some of his four treasures in the study room and study at home.

After hearing about Wu Yue's deeds, Li Changmeng moved the idea of accepting him as his second disciple.

The war ended sooner than all those who took part in the war expected, or there was no such thing as a war at all, and some were just one-sided massacres. No one would have thought that once stirred people's hearts in panic, countless people heard the color change, the legend is guarded by the demon god of hell, the disciples are all proficient in evil arts, can lead the Yin soldiers, summon evil ghosts, one person can defeat thousands of troops, the unbreakable painting spirit cult, is so fragile and vulnerable, just after a rain, it is already a river of blood flowing all over the body, there is no longer the life of the past, reduced to a dead land.

"Sixty-six inner door cultists and two hundred and forty-seven outer door cultists were found, except for 57 who were not implicated or were not deeply involved, the rest have all been punished, their bodies have been separated, and they are consistent with the list, and not a single person has escaped. The thief leader Yang Zhen has cut his head and surrendered, Qian Zhen has surrendered, and the rest are nowhere to be seen, which is consistent with the information that followed the thief leader Wu Yue to abscond, and no one has been missed. ”

As the pouring rain stopped, the scout reported the number of the battlefield after counting, and Yuan Qingmao, a disciple of Chen An who was standing beside him in his twenties, could no longer care about the killing talent behind him, and wiped his tears and whimpered. And Rao is a teacher and Chen An, who has a much stronger psychological endurance, couldn't help but shake his body slightly when he heard this string of numbers.

Only Li Changmeng, who had created the painting spirit with his own hands and witnessed its destruction, was still indifferent, as if he had never heard it at all.

In order to bring Wu Yue into the door, Li Changmeng took a lot of effort, found the door from the beginning, and showed him a lot of wonders of painting spirits, but Wu Yue was unmoved, he just wanted to be filial, even if his mother scolded and whipped, scolded him for being unproductive, and didn't know how to cherish it when he met the favor of the gods, he still didn't change his original intention, and he didn't want to go even if he was beaten and scolded. In the end, Li Changmeng took the initiative to stay in Wu's grass hut to teach, which did not affect his filial piety to his mother, and the young man finally relented and agreed to apprentice.

So in the next few years, the master and apprentice stayed in this unknown small mountain village grass hut, and the two brothers worked diligently to farm and herd sheep to make a living, while learning the art of painting spirits with Li Changmeng. It wasn't until a few years later that Wu's mother died of illness, sold Bo Tian and did his best to bury his mother, and kowtowed to his neighbors in the village every family, thanking him for his help over the years.

It was not only the mountain gate hall that was slaughtered and burned overnight, but every disciple's family was implicated. As for the culprit, Wu Yue was even punished by the nine clans, not only his mother and ancestors who were filial piety were exhumed and killed, but even the village neighbors who kowtowed to thank him one by one when he left were also implicated, and the family was ruined overnight, as if the kowtow of each of his families back then was not thanksgiving, but more like a confession many years in advance.

As the founder and largest leader of the "cult", Li Changmeng was escorted into the capital along with Chen An's master and apprentices and the surviving fifty-seven disciples and grandchildren after that massacre. Although he does not need to be shackled, and the soldiers in charge of escorting him along the way are quite polite to him and have a certain degree of personal freedom, the identity of the prisoner will not change.

As the only one, Li Changmeng spent seven years before and after receiving the disciples, and the disciples who were willing to follow, Wu Yue after losing the bonds of his relatives did not live up to his expectations, showing extremely high talent and comprehension. Not only in the next few years, the other nine junior disciples that Shizun had accepted were beyond his reach, but even Chen An, who had apprenticed several years before him, was also left far behind by him, Shizun poured the most energy into him, and all the senior brothers were also sincerely convinced of him, and they already regarded him as the future successor of the teacher and the sect in their hearts, and even the senior brother Chen An also thought from the bottom of his heart that he was more suitable than himself.

During this period, Wu Yue also gained love, met by chance with an official lady, and secretly made a lifelong decision with each other. Although he has always been afraid to tell the teacher, in fact, Li Changmeng has always seen these things. He does not object to his disciples, especially his most beloved disciples, taking into account the love of their children while studying, so naturally he will not be hindered because of this.

It should be noted that although the young lady was born in an official family, she was not a concubine, and she had many brothers and sisters, plus she was sick and frail, so she was not very favored, and she was often excluded by other brothers and sisters. The insignificance of being at home allows her to have more opportunities to have a secret tryst with Wu Yue, and Wu Yue's biggest goal is also to use what she has learned to cure this young lady's innate stubborn disease.

A disaster closely related to Wu Yue's later change of heart was laid.

After being escorted to the capital, Li Changmeng, who was already old, was not imprisoned and tortured with his disciples and grandchildren, but received a certain degree of courtesy, and even under the mediation of those who wanted to help protect him, he was also received by the new emperor who had won the world. Everyone knew that Li Changmeng was a good person, including the Daomen who had been the most strongly opposed, severely reprimanded the painting of spirits as an evil art, and expelled him, but everyone also knew that the art of painting spirits should no longer exist in the world, at least not in the world in the way of openly recruiting disciples.

So it was very logical that the new emperor had a heart for Li Changmeng, hoping that the art of painting spirits would be able to serve the royal family while reducing the scale to a minimum and no longer spreading it publicly. The quid pro quo was to grant Li Changmeng the status of a national teacher for each subsequent generation of painters, and at the same time, all the disciples of the painters in custody could also be pardoned, released from prison and reunited with their families, and live and work in peace and contentment.

The official lady who secretly agreed with Wu Yue for life still did not get healed in the end and died. Although Wu Yue has put in a lot of effort, exhausted all his life to learn to cure his sweetheart, and was able to enter and leave this young lady's boudoir as a medical officer, he is still destined to be invincible after all, in a night when the roses outside the boudoir are beginning to bloom and the moon is full, his sweetheart still leaves him and closes his eyes forever.

With the death of this young lady, Wu Yue was immediately expelled by his family, was driven out of the courtyard, and was not allowed to enter again, and even failed to participate in the funeral of his beloved. Under the blows that followed, this young man who was cold and bitter, his body and skin had suffered, his original intention was unwilling, and he was virtuous and filial, and he was depressed for a long time, and he didn't think about three meals a day, closed his door, and refused to see anyone.

Since ancient times, heroes have been sad to pass the beauty pass, and witnessed the most beloved disciple, from the once high-spirited and full of ambition, to today's depressed and boring, Li Changmeng's heart was painful, but there was no other way, so he had to order to go down, except for three meals a day delivered to the door on time, no one should disturb him again, let him survive this heart calamity and be reborn.

However, it is not only the beautiful and gorgeous butterflies that break out of the cocoon and are reborn, but also the hideous and ugly moths, and what Li Changmeng never expected is that the most beloved disciple is not only depressed all day long.

What everyone sees is just some appearances......