Late at night, outside the Sword Gate, in a simple bamboo shed, Liu Zongduan, the current patriarch of the Liu family, sat in the center, and behind him stood his two brothers who leaned on the humerus - Liu Yong, the first master of the Liu family, and Liu Zhi, the first wise man of the Liu family. The three of them sat like a mountain, and stood like a pine and cypress, without showing the slightest anxiousness. They had been in the bamboo hut for three days, and this was their first time out in twenty years.

Liu Zong took a sip of Yulu Qiongzhu, a famous tea specialty of Beiling in Daijun, and said with a smile: "Big brother, how long have we not been out?"

Liu Zhi said indifferently: "Twenty-one years, three months and seven days. ”

Liu Zong sighed: "It's been a long time, I thought I wouldn't come out again, unless I ......" Speaking of this, a trace of resentment flashed in Liu Zong's eyes.

Liu Zhi still said calmly: "Clan Master, we will definitely be able to clean him up, be patient." ”

Liu Zong's gaze returned to normal, and said, "Yes, the victory must be our Liu family." Hey, do you still remember how the three of us annihilated Qingyunzhai, a bandit gang that had been rampant in Tiansun Ridge for 50 years and didn't take our Liu family seriously? From planning to completion, it only took two days, and it was this battle that contributed to my father's decision to make me the heir of the clan master. Those who do not obey our Liu family will definitely not die a good death!"

Liu Zhidao: "After this battle, the three of us lived in a shallow way, and almost never left the house half a step. This is my suggestion, the patriarch does not think so, but it has been practiced so far, why didn't you ask me why?"

Liu Zongdao: "Big brother, since you say so, there must be your reasons." The name of the first wise man of your Liu family was not blown out. I believe you. ”

A trace of gratitude flashed in Liu Zhi's indifferent eyes: "I finally understand now why my father didn't pass on the position of clan leader to me, who was the first in the clan, and he didn't pass it on to the fourth brother who was the first in martial arts in the clan, but passed it on to you." ”

Liu Zong smiled: "I have taken the lead of my eldest brother in this point, and I already knew why twenty years ago?"

Liu Zhidao: "But it's rare for you to trust me so much." ”

Liu Zong's eyes flashed, and he said slowly: "We are brothers, I don't believe you, who else can I trust?"

Liu Zhi laughed self-deprecatingly: "That's why my father chose you instead of me as the clan leader." ”

Liu Zong sighed: "Yes, you are too smart. Smart people are inevitably self-righteous, they can't adopt other people's opinions, and more importantly, they ......" Liu Zong paused, and then said in a deep voice: "Smart people's suspicions will also be very serious, if you take over as the clan leader, the elite of the clan will not be suppressed, they will be eradicated by you, and it will really do less good and more harm to the family." ”

Liu Zhi sighed: "Clan master, do you know that I originally planned not to let you know my resentment for the rest of my life. ”

Liu Yong suddenly interjected: "Big brother, as long as our brothers work together, the status of our Liu family in Shudong will not change." If there is anything, you should have said it earlier, so as not to cause a gap between the brothers. ”

Liu Zong shook his hand and said: "Fourth brother, the eldest brother's idea is human nature, who dares to guarantee that I will not start first when I know that he is unwilling?—— green @ color # small ¥ said & net - the thief party out of the customs, and then gather the clansmen, while entering the cave to reinforce and arrest the thief party, while braking with quiet, strictly guarding the sword gate." As long as the thieves are kept in the pass, I don't believe they will be able to lurk in Yao County forever, and we will be able to catch them as soon as they get into trouble. ”

Liu Zong applauded: "Good!"

Liu Yong agitated his arms, like a goshawk, and flew towards Qihua Cave. As soon as I arrived at the foot of Qihua Mountain, I heard the screams on the mountain, my heart was anxious, I let out a long whistle, my whole body was steaming, I jumped more than ten zhang, and a few ups and downs came to Liu Bai's side.

Seeing Liu Yong coming, Liu Bai said respectfully: "Brother Yong!"

Liu Yong's eyes were full of murderous intent, and he said coldly: "What's the matter?"

Liu Bai smiled bitterly: "The thieves have arranged a mechanism on the mountain. It's not very powerful, but it's hard to guard against in the dark. We've already had nearly half of our people fall into traps by mistake and suffer heavy casualties. ”

Liu Yong said angrily: "Isn't there a thousand miles of light? This is a special torch made by this gate, no matter how dark it is, it can shine as much as day, if it is not a special situation, how can you be willing to let you waste it like this! You can't even see it clearly! What is the use of long eyes?"

Liu Bai trembled and said, "Brother Yong is angry. It's so dark tonight, and although there is a thousand miles of illumination, it still has an impact on the line of sight. With Qianli Ming lighting, the observation of the surroundings is indeed very clear, but the kang under the feet is very clear, but the thieves set the trap in the grass, and our family's martial arts are too poor, so they will fall into the enemy's plot. ”

Liu Yong snorted angrily, but did not answer, and rushed into the Qihua Cave first. Liu Bai, Liu Li, and Liu Wei hurriedly followed behind with the family members who arrived safely.

Liu Yong entered the cave, hurried all the way, and from time to time saw sharp weapons and boulders made of bamboo and wood scattered on the ground, thinking that Liu Yulu and Liu Wanlei broke the mechanism, and after a while, he saw the figure in front of him shaking, and immediately shouted: "Stop!"

A coquettish cry came: "Uncle Yong, come quickly!"

Liu Yong heard that it was Liu Yulu's voice, and hurriedly hurried to see that there were stones and gravel all over the ground in front of him, and Liu Wanlei was covered in blood, leaning on the cave wall; Liu Yulu clenched his hands, his fingers were full of essence, and his big black eyes were flustered in a panic, and his body trembled slightly with nervousness. As soon as she saw Liu Yong, Liu Yulu hissed: "Uncle Yong!"

As soon as Liu Yong took Liu Wanlei's vein, his heart sank: "Who is it?"

Liu Yulu said in a trembling voice: "It's a young man in white, using a sword made of white jade. ”

Liu Yong let go of Liu Wanlei's hand and said in a deep voice: "Calm down and talk about the specific situation." ”

Liu Yulu took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down: "As soon as the four of us went to Qihua No. 23 Mountain, we were ambushed by a young man in white, Brother Listening to Yu and Brother Zhengfeng fell to the ground immediately, Brother Wan Lei and I hurriedly fought back, who knew that the young man was brilliant, effortlessly avoided us, turned around and escaped, the two of us were naturally unwilling, chased after him, and entered the Qihua Cave." Unexpectedly, as soon as we entered the cave, there was a round of bamboo arrows, and when we avoided the bamboo arrows, the young man was gone. Brother Wan Lei was in a hurry, and immediately rushed to the depths of the cave, and I had to follow him. There are quite a few mechanisms along the way, all of which were broken by Brother Wan Lei, who knew that when I got here, a stone rain was under the hood, Brother Wan Lei waved his fist to meet it, and the fist wind defeated the stone rain, I thought the crisis had passed, and was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the young man suddenly rushed out from behind the huge rock on the left, ambushed Brother Wan Lei, for a while, the sword qi was horizontal, and his swift figure and sword light were all in sight, I hurriedly sprinkled out the jade dew Qiongzhu, but they were all shot down by him, and then I saw him retreat, hidden in the lower layer of the cave, and Brother Wan Lei was covered in blood, leaning against the wall. I was about to take care of Brother Wan Lei when I heard your voice Uncle Yong. ”

Liu Yong's eyes widened angrily: "Okay, good ability." He actually killed three disciples in my sect with the power of one person. As he spoke, his heart moved: "You only saw one person?"

Liu Yulu said: "I also think it's strange, I obviously saw more than a dozen figures at the bottom of the mountain, but there was really only one person who ambushed us. ”

Liu Yong met and said, "You go to the Sword Gate immediately and tell the clan master that only one of the thieves may enter the cave as bait, and the others want to take the opportunity to get out of Shu." When I met Liu Bai, I told him and Liu to lead half of the people to guard the entrance of the cave, and as soon as they found a thief, they immediately released arrows so that no one of the thieves could escape, and then sent Liu Yan to lead the other half of the people to follow my footprints. Without looking back, he walked to the lower level of the cave, leaving a footprint an inch deep on the ground with every step he took, whether soft or hard.

Liu Yong traveled all the way, and there were mechanisms on the road, all of which were easily cracked by him, but every time he came to a fork in the road, he had to stop and look at the fence, and then decide the direction, walking quite slowly. After a while, Liu Ling and the others followed, but they didn't dare to disturb Liu Yong, just quietly followed behind him.

When he came to the bottom of Qihua Cave and looked at a dark and damp cave, Liu Yong couldn't help but secretly doubt in his heart: "This is the mine left by the miners when they were mining, and they can only crawl in and out by themselves, and they can't do it, and it's a dead hole, how could that guy go in? But there are obviously traces of him passing here." Did he deliberately stay there to confuse me? No, the traces are very new, and that man must have gotten into this hole. He immediately raised his voice and said: "Little brother, climb out, you are in this mine, you can't deceive me, this mine is dead, there is no way out, come out quickly, follow me to see our clan master, as long as you know the current affairs, not only can you save your life, but also great benefits." ”

Liu Wei looked at Liu Yong and interjected, "That thief killed our three disciples. ”

Liu Yong glared at him and reprimanded in a low voice: "Children, don't talk nonsense. The clan lord is now thirsty for talent, not to mention that he just killed three of our disciples, even if he killed three of our clansmen, it is up to the clan master to decide his life and death. ”

Liu Li's heart was nameless, but he didn't dare to return to his cousin, who he had been in awe since childhood, so he had to retreat aside angrily.

Liu Yong saw that there was no movement in the cave for a long time, and frowned and said, "Little brother, if you don't come out again, I will use smoke." ”

The mine was still deadly silent.

Liu Yong finally got angry and waved his hand: "Smoke with smoke!"

Liu Ling immediately lit the folds of fire, and several of his subordinates with burdens on their backs immediately uncovered the burden and took out a bunch of dried herbs, which had not yet burned, and the strong smell of medicine made people uncomfortable.

Liu Yong said: "What are you doing with the purple marsh grass? ”

Liu Wei said: "Uncle Yong, Qihua stared at nothing to burn, and it took a long time to go out of the cave to find firewood and grass. Although the purple marsh grass is poisonous, it is not very toxic, and we have an antidote, so we will not kill him. ”

Liu Yong snorted: "Nonsense, although the purple swamp grass is poisonous and does not kill people, the smoke formed after ignition does not disperse, and it is easy to suffocate people." Don't think I don't know what you're thinking!

Liu Xun stupidly ordered his subordinates to wrap up the purple marsh grass and take the people out of the cave.

After a while, Liu Ling and others arrived with firewood and grass. Liu Yong grabbed a handful of dry firewood with his left hand, slapped his right palm, and immediately caught fire, and then stuffed it into the mine, pushing it flat with both hands, and a puff of gray smoke continued to drift into the depths of the mine. Liu Li and others hurriedly added firewood and grass to the fire to fuel the fire.

After a long time, there was no movement in the mine, and Liu Ling couldn't help but say, "Uncle Yong, he may have fainted." ”

Liu Yong shouted: "No, after smoking for so long, why hasn't the smoke spilled out of the cave, and I can't even hear a cough." There's something strange in the cave! You wait for me here!" he grabbed a Qianliming from the hand of the family next to him, struck the fire extinguisher with his backhand, and then swept the charcoal ash at the entrance of the cave and drilled into it.

Liu Yong held his breath, endured the remaining smoke in the cave, came to the end of the mine, and found that there was no one, and the smoke was wisps of smoke to the cave wall like a pile of rocks. The walls of the cave were easily knocked away, and it was actually a pile of rubble.

Liu Yong swooped out of the cave, looking at more than ten footprints outside the cave, knowing the plan, he was furious, but he couldn't figure out how the enemy could open the mine in such a short time, and make a good strategy to confuse the enemy. He was depressed in his heart, and he couldn't help but look up to the sky and howl, regardless of the people inside and outside the Qihua Cave, and rushed towards the sword gate.

Outside the sword gate, Liu Zong stood with his hands in his hands, his heart full of anger. Just a moment ago, when he gathered his clansmen to gather at the Sword Gate, he learned that at the foot of Jintong Mountain, he found the bodies of Liu Li and the two teams of family members who followed Liu Raccoon Dog, Zhang Bi, Liu Zhifeng, Liu Qunfeng and others to patrol, and several teams of people who patrolled Jintong Mountain the day before yesterday had received a report from Liu Raccoon, but no enemy was found, only Liu Raccoon's body was found, and Zhang Bi, the iron fan who had recently taken refuge in the Liu family and was inseparable from Liu Raccoon, as well as Liu Jian, Liu Ji, Liu Zhifeng, Liu Qunfeng and others were missing. This was more intolerable to Liu Zong than being killed, and if someone had told him the day before that someone could go missing in his Liu family's territory, he would have cut out his tongue and let him swallow it himself. This is impossible, there is nothing in the three counties of Shudong that can be hidden from the eyes and ears of the Liu family, this is his belief since childhood, the Liu family is not the emperor of the soil in the eyes of others in the three counties of Shudong, but a god! An omnipresent and omnipotent god! But now, his people do not see anyone alive or dead in their sphere of influence! And these news together did not make him even more angry with what he had witnessed, as soon as he arrived at Jianmen, he found that Liu Li and the twenty-four family members were all attacked and killed silently, it was obvious that someone took advantage of the dispersion of his strength to break into Jianmen and try to leave Shu. He immediately notified Yuan Chengcai, the chief soldier of the Sword Gate, to search for the criminal, but Yuan Chengcai actually ignored it, he just watched someone kill his own people from under his nose, and then drifted away, he couldn't think about it. Liu Zong felt that his temples were faintly swollen, and his head had a feeling that it was about to crack. I haven't made a move for 20 years, and as soon as I came out, I made a mess, and no matter how high Liu Zong's cultivation was, I couldn't help but suppress the anger in my heart. Moreover, personally, he still has an unspeakable secret, Liu Raccoon was born of an affair between him and his cousin and daughter-in-law, although he usually doesn't care much about this illegitimate child, but now he is dead! No matter how hard Liu Zong's heart is, he can't help but break his liver and intestines. Sadness and anger are intertwined, making him almost vomit blood. He was originally a son of God, and since he was born, everything has gone well, power, wealth, intelligence, bravery, women, what others dream of, he has at his fingertips, effortlessly, but he seems to have lost the luck of God overnight, not only lost his own son, but also suffered a great blow to his prestige and self-confidence. But he still maintained a calm expression, standing leisurely, allowing his agitated mind to gallop freely, without revealing the slightest expression.

Liu Zhi seemed to see through Liu Zong's thoughts, and said in his calm tone: "Clan master, let's go back." ”

Liu Zong turned his head to look at him: "Just go back like this?"

Liu Zhidao: "Since the matter has come to this point, it is in vain to insist on it, it is better to make a decision immediately." ”

Liu Zong didn't seem to hear it, gritted his teeth and said, "Yuan Chengcai, this bastard, if he is willing to believe me and let us go into the city, things will not be as bad as they are now." ”

Liu Zhi sighed secretly in his heart and said, "Clan Master, do you think Yuan Chengcai doesn't believe you?"

Liu Zongdao: "You mean ......?"

Liu Zhidao: "In the middle of the night, how can there be a reason to switch and let people into the city now." If you climb the city wall, Jianmen is an important military town in Shuzhou, heavily guarded, once discovered, it will inevitably be shot with thousands of arrows, how can they easily enter the city. Jianmen is the nest of the Yuan family, and Yuan Chengcai is the cousin of Yuan Chengdu and others, and he represents the attitude of the Yuan family towards Yuan Chengyi. In fact, no matter who is the emperor of Yuan Chengdu or Yuan Chengyi, there is no difference to the Yuan family, so Yuan Chengcai will definitely not oppose Yuan Chengyi, but he may not be interested in arresting those who are loyal to Yuan Chengdu, and he may even have deep sympathy. ”

Liu Zongdao: "But he always has to support one side, he can't choose Yuancheng, which is already in the general trend." ”

Liu Zhi smiled: "Of course he chooses Yuan Chengyi." But those loyal to Yuan Chengdu now only want to escape from Shuzhou, not to win him over against Yuan Chengyi. ”

Liu Zonghan said: "So he deliberately let these people go, but let us suffer dumb losses." ”

Liu Zhidao: "Of course. And even if he didn't want to let them go, he wouldn't let us into the city. The Yuan family's fear of us is not a matter of a day or two. ”

At this time, a long howl came from a distance, and Liu Zong finally couldn't hide the shock in his heart, and his face changed greatly: "The fourth brother's howl is full of depression and helplessness, it seems that there is something wrong with him too." ”

The rare frustration hit Liu Zhi's heart, and at the same time it also stimulated his arrogance, and the passion that had long been extinguished returned to his heart again, and he secretly determined that he must wipe out the Yuancheng henchmen who remained in Shuzhou and shame them. As soon as he thought of this, Liu Zhi said calmly: "Clan master, you go back to the house first." I'll leave it to me and my fourth brother. Within ten days, I will give you an explanation. ”

Liu Zong looked at Liu Zhi's firm eyes, knowing that he was really angry, nodded his head, and threw down a sentence: "Listen to the Liu family, from now on, everything will only be the eldest brother." Big brother, I'm waiting for good news in the house. "Walk away