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Outside Xuanwu City, there are resting points for passing merchants every ten kilometers, slave traders, grocery merchants, or those who can enter and leave the city, and there is an endless stream of people coming and going. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoIn a small tea pavilion at a certain stopping point, there was a tea table, a pot of tea on the table, two tea bowls, and a person at the table was wearing a black shirt and a bun on his head, drinking tea quietly, while looking at the majestic silhouette of Xuanwu City in the distance.

This is Qiao Ximing on the way north.

The Xuanwu City in his eyes was extremely huge, making him feel that he saw a giant tortoise, trampling the dirt firmly on all four legs, suppressing the southern land, and holding the southern land with the countless pavilions surrounded by a tower in the center as the back.

"Isn't it complicated to see the Four Holy Cities again?" A voice interrupted the calm on the tea table, and a tall gray-clothed man, wearing a mask, stopped at the tea table.

Qiao Ximing looked up, and then a smile appeared on his face.

"Senior brother. ”

Taking off the mask on his face, Chang Mingqi carefully looked at the little junior brother in front of him.

"This is probably the first time you've called me Senior Brother, right?"

“...... It seems that this is indeed the case. ”

Chang Mingqi retracted his eyes, shook his head, put the mask on the table, and then sat down on the tea table, picked up another tea bowl that had not been moved, and looked at the outline of Xuanwu City with Qiao Ximing.

"Are you going to Suzaku Castle?"

Swallowing the tea, Qiao Ximing nodded.

"The original plan was to prepare to start from Xuanwu City and Qinglong City at the same time, you and Du Tianwen were in charge of Xuanwu City, which was the focus of the plan, and Wei Lun was in charge of Qinglong City, as an auxiliary ......" Chang Mingqi's voice seemed to be flat as if he was talking about a trivial matter, and his eyebrows were flat, giving people an extremely ordinary feeling: "After the challenge, because of the relationship between Raffles, that is, Spiegel, we joined the plan of White Tiger City and divided the power of Xuanwu City into a part of the past. ”

The smile on Qiao Ximing's face remained unchanged: "That's right, it's true." ”

Chang Mingqi glanced at him: "But, you are going to Vermilion Bird City now?"

There was a brief silence.

"The Grasshopper Shakes the Tree......"

Chang Mingqi raised his eyebrows, not knowing what Qiao Ximing meant.

"When I was young, I heard a story from a woman about a species of creatures on Earth called mayflies, which were small, smaller than our fingernails, but so strong that they could lift a hundred times their own weight. One of them, the most powerful of the colony, was proud of it, first it lifted the grain, then it lifted the branches, then it overturned the stones, and the things it lifted heavier than the other. Day after day, its pride swelled until one day it stood in front of a towering tree......"

Chang Mingqi narrowed his eyes and listened to Qiao Ximing continue.

“...... The mayfly said, 'I'm going to overthrow this tree to prove my strength even more!' and it began to charge at the giant tree. ”

"Once, I was dizzy, but the tree didn't move......"

"Twice, the nose is blue and the face is swollen, and the tree still hasn't moved......"

"Three times, the head broke and the blood flowed ......"

"Four ......"

"Five ......"

Qiao Ximing paused, took a sip of tea, and looked at Xuanwu City in the distance, but his eyes seemed to pass through the farther Erfu, Yidu.

The mayfly hit the tree again and again, but the tree never moved until it died of blood loss. ”

Chang Mingqi looked down at the tea leaves floating in his teacup, and said expressionlessly: "I understand what you mean." In front of the whole empire, we are like a grasshopper, no matter how strong we are, it is impossible to knock down the big tree of the empire, and the teacher is one of them, right?"

The word teacher made Qiao Ximing's eyes flash slightly, but he didn't answer, but suddenly said, "The story is not over yet." ”

Chang Mingqi was stunned.

"After the grasshopper died, the tree grew in its place, and it did not change in any way because of its death. One year, two years, ten years, it seems like it will grow on this land forever. But one day, things changed. ”

His eyes lit up, and Chang Mingqi raised his head and looked at Qiao Ximing tightly.

"It was a very ordinary day, with no wind and no rain, and it seemed to be no different from the usual days. But on such a day, the tree suddenly made a clicking sound, at first it was only a very soft sound, but then, the sound became denser and denser, and the whole giant tree trembled with it, as if it was constantly pushed by a giant, and finally, with a bang, it fell!"

In that soft description, Chang Mingqi seemed to really see the scene of a towering tree falling to the ground.

The earth shakes, the dust flies.

The tree fell, and the tree, which had not been shaken by the grasshopper until it was dying, broke in two and fell to the ground. Just when the other animals were wondering why the giant tree suddenly fell, they suddenly found that the trunk of the towering tree was empty. ”

How can a giant tree stand in the hollow?

Qiao Ximing's words changed again: "The grasshopper that shook the tree had a son, and when it saw its father die of exhaustion while shaking the tree, it had a heart of revenge against the giant tree, but its strength was not as great as its father's, so it was even more impossible to shake the giant tree. But it didn't give up, and began another plan. ”

Chang Mingqi narrowed his eyes and realized that there was something wrong with his thoughts.

"The little mayfly returned to the colony and began to look for companions who would follow him, and it took a long time for it to gather a large group, and then together they set off towards the tree. When they reached the tree, the little grasshopper did not call its companions to shake the tree, but made another move—they bit through the roots and climbed up the trunk along the roots!"

"In the trunk of the tree, the little grasshopper and its partner gnaw on the juice and flesh of the heart of the tree, and can nibble on a part of it every day......"

"Then they hollowed out the tree, causing the giant tree to collapse, right?" Chang Mingqi suddenly interjected, frowning: "Isn't that exactly what we are doing now?

Qiao Ximing, who was interrupted, smiled, but said, "Senior brother, don't worry, listen to me finish the story." ”

Chang Mingqi froze, frowned and resisted his impulse.

The little grasshopper and its companion gnawed at the trunk of the tree, hoping that one day it would be able to devour the tree and avenge its father, but one day, it was horrified to find that while its companions died of exhaustion one by one because of gnawing on the heart of the tree on the road of revenge, new juice and flesh continued to grow in the trunk, and soon replenished the part they had gnawed. ”

"—what they have tried so hard to do is in vain!"

A sense of blockage appeared in Chang Mingqi's heart, and he couldn't say anything at all.

He began to understand.

Ben Nord, and even the Seven Sages who rebelled at the beginning, they were all the grasshoppers who shook the tree in Qiao Ximing's story, because the difference in strength was too large, they all failed in the end, and they paid the price of their lives.

And after the death of the grasshopper that shook the tree, their remaining strength, that is, the group of people cultivated by Benold, including Chang Mingqi and Qiao Ximing, they are all small grasshoppers trying to gnaw the heart of the tree, hiding day after day, hoping to gnaw the big tree one day, and wait for the day when it collapses.

However, although the history of the empire is short, only more than 200 years, it has allowed human beings to survive in the state of brutes for more than 200 years, and this foundation is extremely solid, just like the heart of a tree that will regenerate, the empire that is eroded by them will always give birth to more blocking forces to hinder their actions, and in exhaustion, let them perish.

"Until one day, a small grasshopper changed. ”

Qiao Ximing's voice interrupted Chang Mingqi's deep thought.

"This little grasshopper mayfly has a kind of poison on its teeth, which is made from the sap of the heart of the tree, and when its poisoned teeth gnaw at the heart of the tree again, they are surprised to find that the heart of the tree that has been gnawed by the fangs is completely necrotic and stops growing. ”

So, the mayflies' plans changed, and they gathered more companions into the trunk, carried the gnawed heart out to make poison, and then transported it back to the trunk for the team inside. ”

"One Day ......"

"January ......"

"One year ......"

"Ten Years ......"

Then, that day, the heart of the tree was empty, and the little grasshopper stood inside the trunk and took the last bite into the bark. ”

"Boom!"

The voice was very soft, but it made Chang Mingqi feel excited, because he knew that the giant tree in the story had fallen!

Qiao Ximing took a sip of water.

"We are just small grasshoppers, and with our strength, we will not be able to shake the shadow of this big tree, nor can we gnaw away at its center, and the only way is to find the poison that can stop the tree from regenerating. ”

There was a brief silence.

"Poison, what did you ask Guan Xin to do?" Chang Mingqi suddenly asked.

Qiao Ximing smiled: "This is just a story, the empire is not a tree, we are not just grasshoppers, and there are many forms of poison." Guan Xin is, so is Spiegel, and ...... The most important thing is the way of poisoning, it can't be just one direction, it can't be two directions, or three directions, it can only be done in four directions at the same time, so that he has no chance to fight back at all...... Because, we only have one chance!"

Chang Mingqi thought about it, and his expression finally eased: "It turns out that you have already decided...... Okay, here in the Xuanwu Domain, I'll do my best to arrange ......"

Qiao Ximing shook his head.

"Xuanwu Domain, let Tianwen be in charge, although he looks lazy, but in fact, if he is serious, he will not be inferior to anyone. Senior brother, your goal is still only that. ”

Chang Mingqi was solemn and nodded.

"You learned the news about the eight groups of the Black Department from Lan Huang, it is indeed true, I returned to the Xuanwu Army through Shi Lang, as long as possible, I will try my best to sneak into their interior, according to your analysis, the most likely one I will enter is the Tiger Group of the eight groups, responsible for the high-end combat power of the empire. ”

After being silent for a while, Chang Mingqi suddenly spoke: "You made up the story of the grasshopper, right?"

Qiao Ximing smiled but did not speak.

Chang Mingqi sighed helplessly: "Forget it, it's not too early, this time I am afraid, I am afraid that it will be a long time since I have been separated." ”

Qiao Ximing smiled and put down the teacup: "Then, senior brother, take care." ”

"Take care!"

The black-clothed figure quickly disappeared into the stop, and instead of entering the city, it made a detour and went to the north.

Chang Mingqi stayed for a while, then put on his mask, and then glanced back in the direction of Qin Zhen.

Poison?

With a chuckle, the gray shadow vanished.