Hearing the words "born to know", a bold guess suddenly popped up in Gu Xu's mind, and he said to Zhao Yan tentatively: "Odd and even unchanged? ”

Zhao Yandai frowned slightly, revealing a puzzled expression: "What did you say?" ”

"It's nothing," Gu Xu immediately shook his head, "I just think that your cousin's behavior is really disgusting." ”

At the same time, he came to the conclusion in his heart: It seems that Zhao Yan is not a traverser. After all, he is alone, alone in a foreign land as a stranger.

"Yes," Zhao Yan agreed, "especially after my uncle proposed to let me make a marriage contract with Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu's behavior became more and more rampant, as if he regarded me as his property."

"Fortunately, my father thought that my personal opinion should be respected when it came to such a major life event as marriage, so he never agreed to him.

Then, sixteen years ago, Lu Huan, the first assistant of the cabinet, committed treason and was sentenced to the Nine Clans. Tang Hui was sent to the mansion of the Lu family in Qingzhou to carry out the task of raiding the house.

"Most of the people led by Tang Hui failed to come out after they entered the Lu Mansion. They are said to have been retaliated against by ghosts.

But a few people left the mansion early and escaped.

"During that time, Zhao Yu was following our family's tradition, accompanied by guards, traveling to Youzhou and nearby areas, slaying demons and monsters, and challenging his peers to hone his martial arts.

During the training, his nature did not change, and he did not forget to fool around with people from three religions and nine ranks. While fooling around, he happened to bump into a few people who escaped from the Lu family's mansion. These people were all low-level soldiers from the city, and they did not realize the seriousness of this incident for the time being, and they actually shared with their companions all kinds of atrocities in the Lu Mansion in a conspicuous tone - those high-ranking officials and nobles in the past who were clothed in fine clothes and food have become prisoners who are trampled and humiliated, and those women who are dressed in gold and silver, weeping and begging for mercy in front of them with bruises, seems to be a proud thing for them.

The rhetoric of these people made Zhao Yu extremely excited. When he returned to Jicheng, he experimented with the same on the prisoners in the prison and the prisoners in the army, and then described them to me in vivid colors. He even tried to do something to me, trying to get me to participate in his disgusting 'games'.

"Fortunately, Sect Leader Cai has always followed my father's orders, followed me to protect me, stopped his crazy move in time, and did not let him succeed. Then my father locked him up for half a year and forced him to think about it.

"Later, when I started practicing, my strength quickly surpassed Zhao Yu. He was afraid of being beaten by me, and he no longer dared to say any filthy words in front of me, nor did he dare to do anything out of line.

"It was only because of these childhood experiences that I began to resent marriage, the touch of the opposite sex, and the intimacy between men and women.

"As for those 'lingering in the Qinglou', it is because I have always wanted to avenge my mother, and I have placed eyeliner in the Qinglou, hoping that they can help me find out the real situation back then......

"I seem to be talking a little too much."

Speaking of this, Zhao Yan looked at Gu Xu in front of her and squeezed out a hint of an apologetic smile.

In fact, she just wanted to briefly say that she did not have a good relationship with Zhao Changqi, the auxiliary general, father and son. Unexpectedly, as he spoke, his heart opened silently, and many words that had been suppressed in his chest for many years suddenly poured out like a flood.

She had long been accustomed to wrapping herself in a prickly shell, covering her inner shadows with pride and indifference. But beside the person in front of her, she inadvertently unloaded her guard more than once.

Gu Xu listened to her quietly.

Zhao Yan's tone of voice was very calm, and her demeanor was not turbulent, but Gu Xu could sense the turbulent undercurrent under the calm.

He can understand Zhao Yan's feelings. He knows that some things, some words, may not matter to adults, but they can leave a deep psychological shadow on young children, and even cause irreversible damage.

Like a friend of his previous life, after listening to a ghost story told by others when he was a child, he didn't dare to sleep alone for a long time, for fear that evil spirits would lurk in the dark night and attack him. Not to mention a cousin like Zhao Yan, who has been sharing all kinds of cruel atrocities in reality by her psychopathic cousin since she was born.

There was just one thing he was confused about.

Since Zhao Yan hates contact with the opposite sex, what happened to her healing him before? Isn't this a very torturous thing for her?

"Then you ...... before," he asked after a moment's silence.

"You're not like everyone else." Zhao Yan guessed his mind and immediately interrupted him.

Then she suddenly realized that this sentence seemed to be a little misleading, so she added: "Don't think about it. I mean, maybe it's because we practice the same kind of exercises, so I don't have a physical aversion to you. ”

"I understand." Gu Xu nodded. He knew that Zhao Yan's help to him in the past few days should only be out of guilt and gratitude. He is not narcissistic enough to have the illusion that the other person likes him.

Other young girls may be fascinated by his appearance and adore his legends. But Zhao Yan, as the heir of Dayan, has seen countless handsome guys, beauties, and geniuses since she was a child, and she may have been aesthetically fatigued for a long time. She should have lost these low-level interests a long time ago, and put her mind on the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth and the revenge plan.

Zhao Yan hesitated for a moment, put on a straight face, and continued in a serious tone of "discussing cultivation issues": "To be precise, you give me the feeling that it is not like 'someone else', but like another 'self'. Especially on the day you helped me activate my bloodlines, our meridians, and even blood vessels, seemed to be connected by a mysterious force, and the true essence and blood surged back and forth between each other's bodies...... I wonder if you have a similar ......"

"I do feel something similar." Gu Xu said.

"It's amazing," Zhao Yan sighed after being silent for a long time, "I had doubted before that you would be the illegitimate son of the Zhao family. ”

"I don't think so." Gu Xu smiled. In his opinion, the connection between himself and Zhao Yan should come from the "Huilu" rune.

In the following period, Zhao Yan briefly described some potential conflicts between her father and uncle. She pointed out that Zhao Changqi, the general of the auxiliary state, had close economic ties with many dignitaries and dignitaries in Daqi, and had cooperated in some industries for refining pills and making magic weapons. Therefore, compared to Zhao Changying, who has been planning to avenge his wife, Zhao Changqi is more inclined to compromise with the Great Qi Dynasty. When the Great Qi court tried to reduce the military power in the hands of the Duke of Yan, Zhao Changying showed obvious dissatisfaction, and Zhao Changqize thought that handing over the military power to dispel the doubts in the king's mind was a very good deal.

"I'm very worried that after meeting you, my uncle will send you back to the Great Qi Imperial Court for personal gain," Zhao Yan said, "He is a Sixth Realm cultivator, and he has a lot of powerful magic weapons, and although his bloodline is not as good as me, it is also much stronger than most of the Zhao family." I may not be able to protect you in front of him. ”

"Then do as you say," Gu Xu said, "First rush to the North Underworld as soon as possible and get the fragments of the magic weapon."

"I have Miss Lao Zhao as my guide."

"I've told you 10,000 times - in front of me, don't be polite."

…………

After making a decision, the two did not delay for a moment and began to continue their journey north.

When Zhenyuan was abundant, Gu Xu used the "astrolabe" to build a spatial channel, while Zhao Yan grabbed his arm and traveled hundreds of miles in an instant.

When the true yuan was insufficient, Gu Xu found a remote and uninhabited place, took out the "Xianyunju", changed it back to its original appearance, and then drilled into it with Zhao Yan to cultivate.

With the "Barrier Breaking Pill" brought by Zhao Yan and the energy gushing out of the "Huilu" rune, his cultivation speed was much faster than before.

When he closed his eyes and was in the netherworld of consciousness, he felt that he was not walking, but running like the wind, and the scenery on both sides of the road receded rapidly, and the "Meng Po Pavilion" at the end of his line of sight rushed towards him.

Zhao Yan beside him could clearly feel the crazy rise of the true yuan in his body.

In her perception, whenever Gu Xu entered the cultivation state, he seemed to have turned into a bonfire burning in winter, a round of shining sun, swaying light and heat around without hesitation.

The true yuan in her meridians also became excited, and she couldn't wait to make peace with the other party.

Cultivating the Nirvana Sutra was an extremely painful thing, and it would make her feel like her flesh was torn and healed, and her bones were shattered and restored.

But as long as he enters the state of cultivation with Gu Xu, this pain will be alleviated to a great extent, and the speed of true yuan growth will also be greatly increased.

"Could it be that the Nirvana Sutra is an incomplete exercise," Zhao Yan guessed wildly in her mind, "its mutilated other half is on Gu Xu's body?" ”

When Gu Xu's cultivation was over and she opened her eyes, she couldn't help but ask, "With your cultivation speed, I'm afraid you will be able to break through the fifth realm in less than two or three months, right?" ”

"Hopefully I'll live to that point unharmed." Gu Xu said with a smile.

Zhao Yan pondered for a few seconds, and then said, "Next to you, the efficiency of my cultivation seems to have accelerated a lot. “

"Me too."

"I'm describing an objective fact. Not psychological, not a joke. She folded her hands over her chest and said solemnly. The sun shone in through the window and fell on her cheeks, making her skin glow hazy, like crystal snow.

"Me too."

…………

The further north you go, the colder the climate becomes.

Although it is late spring, there is still a chill in the air in the northern wilderness.

When passing through Jicheng, the capital of Youzhou, the "Huilu" rune produced an extremely majestic and fierce power. Gu Xu could hear the prayers of thousands of people.

This reminded him of the story of "Taishang Haotian" and "Ziwei Emperor" competing for incense.

The power of faith is powerful. No wonder the Upper Realm Immortals needed it to ascend to that supreme realm.

However, further north, the farmland receded, and the population gradually thinned out, leaving only sparse and fallen trees in view. The hills grew steeper and steeper, soon turning into snow-capped mountains, which stood beneath the dim sky like gray-blue giants with gray hair.

Occasionally, a cold stream passes through the grass and trees, and the water shimmers and the sky shines.

When the sun set and the silver moon rose, Zhao Yan stood on the edge of the steep cliff, stretched out her hand to the place where heaven and earth met in the distance, and said softly: "There should be the end of the world!" ”

Her gaze at the moment was complicated. Gu Xu could glimpse the emotions of curiosity, anticipation and apprehension, like an explorer about to land on a new continent.

He looked in the direction she was pointing, and saw a lake of clouds and mist on the horizon.

The legendary "Northern Underworld" should be hidden behind that cloud. It was a mysterious, untouched land, with the fragments of the "astrolabe" he wanted, as well as countless potential dangers.

Just as the two were about to continue their journey, a huge shadow suddenly rose from between the clouds and mist, like an overwhelming curtain, which darkened the silver moonlight a little.

"Do you know what that's going on?" Zhao Yan frowned slightly and asked again.

"Maybe it's the legendary 'Kunpeng'."

Gu Xu thought of the description he had seen in the book: "Peng's back, I don't know how many thousands of miles it is; Flying in anger, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. ”

In the book, Dapeng is written to be huge and magnificent.

Although he had been mentally prepared, he was still quite shocked when he saw this scene with his own eyes.

"I heard that 'Kunpeng' is a monster at the level of 'fierce god'." Zhao Yan said with a worried face.

"Don't worry too much," Gu Xu said, "If the description in the book is correct, 'Kunpeng' is not the same as ordinary ghosts. It is an existence evolved from the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, and it does not devour human beings, but feeds on the two qi of yin and yang...... Of course, there is no yang energy in this world, it can only swallow yin energy.

"As long as we are careful not to provoke it, we should not be attacked by it."

As Gu Xu spoke, he took out a few old copper coins from his pocket, threw them gently, and silently recited the names of "Taishang Haotian" and "Ziwei Emperor", and got the hexagram of "Water Lei Tun" that "shook up and down".

"The 'Tun hexagram' is the second hexagram of the Kan Palace, indicating that there are difficulties, symbolizing that there is a danger in the face of movement, and it takes fortitude and courage to reach it," he explained to Zhao Yan, "but it is an auspicious hexagram after all, and it is considered to be the image of 'solving the first difficulty'." ”

"Are you divining accurately?" Zhao Yan asked.

Zhao Yan likes simple and rough combat methods, is used to solving problems with the spear in her hand, and does not know much about complicated things such as divination, talismans, and formations. In addition, there are few reliable soothsayers in Youzhou, who often calculate results that are 108,000 miles away from the facts, so that Zhao Yan has always been not very confident in the art of divination and deduction.

"Never went wrong."

"Even the capital of Los doesn't dare to say that."

"I'm more talented than him in that regard."

Gu Xu's tone was very flat, not the impetuousness of young people bragging about it, nor the weakness of heart after being reckless, but as if he was describing objective facts, telling a truth like "the sun rises in the east".