Tang, Kaiyuan 741.

This year, the court was chaotic, ethics were impermanent, discipline was ruined, and the trend of decadence began to appear.

This year, the rivers and lakes are swinging, the dark tide is surging, and the long-dormant giants are about to move.

In this year, the military situation was surging, and the northwest side of the Turks, Tuyuhun, and Yan Ya were restless, and An Lushan and Shi Siming led the land of Pinglu, Youzhou, and Hedong, supporting the army and respecting themselves, and refusing to calm the Kou. The Datang border has been repeatedly harassed, and the lives of the border people are miserable.

Lingzhou, at the foot of Helan Mountain, a clumsy young man with a sword on his back and an old horse came from the dust.

When the summer is in autumn, the temperature is hot, the dust sticks to the body, and the smell of sweat and dust is mixed together, revealing a feeling of discomfort. The young man wiped the sweat from his forehead and slowed down to look at the nearby pool.

His nostrils were covered with a layer of gray gauze, and his bare face was covered with dust, and he couldn't see his true face, only a trace of exhaustion in his eyes. At first glance, you can tell that you have just crossed the desert.

At this time, a round sunset of ochre-red light clings to the ridge line of the desert dunes in the distance, shining on this oasis grassland. The earth was lined with a dark and dark atmosphere.

The young man took off the gauze, and his face was tanned by the sun in black and white, which was very funny when combined. Fortunately, he is angular, his facial features are handsome, and although his big eyes are tired, they are clear and distinct, which does not make people feel awkward. It looks like he's just an ordinary young man.

The young man took a deep breath, breathed in the smell of grassland grass, released the reins, patted the horse, and let the horse go to the nearby pond to drink. Then he raised his eyes to look at Helan Mountain in the distance, and thought to himself: the sunset on the long river, the lonely smoke in the desert, and the yellow sand are long, such a spectacular place sincerely does not need this trip, but it is a pity that this 'sky is blue, the wilderness is vast' scene has not been seen.

He has been studying since childhood, yearning for the desert scenery and the magnificent grassland, although there are regrets in the unfinished places, but this time he has gained a lot from coming to Dunhuang, but he is also relieved, but there are still many unsolved places that I am afraid that I will have to come again.

After a moment of silence and sighing, he walked to the nearby pond to pluck water and drink his stomach, and washed his face a few more times, washing away the dust on his face, and gradually changing his complexion. Then he filled the water bladder with water, and then stood by the pond and looked around.

This is an oasis next to the edge of the desert, with the Helan Mountains in the distance in front and the yellow sand in the distance on the left. The Yellow River winds through the mountains, and the water system nourishes several small lakes on the grassland. Some taunting horses were grazing quietly on the grassland, and occasionally a few herds of cattle and sheep slowly passed by. The green grass is dotted with some yurt houses or tents built along the lake, some of which are beginning to emit green smoke, and the smell of milk tea is pouring out.

"There is still some time before Huaiyuan Pass here, and I am afraid that I will not be able to enter the pass today, so it seems that I have to spend another night here." The young man pondered.

He had stayed here when he first went out of the customs, and several herdsmen had known each other, and he couldn't help but think of that cute little sister Ayiyi, and smiled lightly, and a pair of dimples appeared on his face.

But thinking that he had crossed the desert for more than ten days in a row, he was already sleepy and tired, and he no longer had any dry food to eat, so he was so cheeky to trouble others again, and his heart became embarrassed.

After making up his mind, the young man retrieved the old horse, loosened the horse's luggage, took out an inky black ancient bow and carried it on his back, while the rest of the luggage and clothes were still on the horse's back, and then led the horse to a yurt.

This journey through the desert ancient road, he was basically reluctant to ride a horse, and he was really tired.

The yurt house, on the opposite bank of the pond, was built on the opposite side of the pond, about four meters high, and covered an area of about 40 square meters. It is surrounded by a circular felt wall with a circular roof on top. The materials of the yurt are almost all made of local materials, the skeleton is made of red willow wood on the Gobi Desert, and the outer hedges are made of sage, which are tied with red, yellow, green, white, black and other colored silk threads, and woven into various patterns. The outside of the yurt house is surrounded by white felt cloth, which looks very beautiful and atmospheric, and it is certainly not an ordinary herdsman.

The young man had only reached the lake, and he heard the sound of a group of horses' hooves. When he looked up and saw a group of people riding up, he frowned. There were eight horsemen and horses in this team, both men and women, young and old, and one of them, an old man with a Shu accent, had been following him since the beginning of Yuzhou, and had been entangled endlessly. The rest of them had a relationship in the Mogao Grottoes outside the Yumen Pass.

When the group approached, they dismounted. The old man looked at the young man, and said with a hoarse smile: "Li Wa'er, what do you want, shout that you should be loose when you walk together, walking the rivers and lakes alone, the danger is tight, and the old man thinks that your baby is lost!" ”

The young man looked at the old man's white shirts that had turned gray, and knew that they must be hurrying on the way, so he smiled and did not reply.

A middle-aged scribe wearing a scarf in the crowd said: "Brother Li, since we met in this desert and yellow sand, we have a fate, why did you leave alone, everyone is worried about you." ”

After speaking, he stared at the sword bag on the young man's body, and continued: "Old Man Qin is also a well-known kendo master in Jiannan Daozhou, and it should be an honor to be favored by him. ”

The old man is the old man Qin, a young man surnamed Li who has just entered the rivers and lakes, how do you know what celebrity swordsmen are on the rivers and lakes. The old man Qin's surname is Qin Haotian, and he calls himself "the old man without a sword", although he is called "without a sword", but everyone in the rivers and lakes knows that he loves swords like an idiot, and has countless hidden swords.

Qin Haotian is famous for his swords, but he almost never carries a sword when he goes out, and the same is true for his disciples. Therefore, it is said that the "No Sword Gate" exercise is mainly based on sword raising, and all the swords are hidden in the sword cultivation pool of the "No Sword Gate", and the sword is improved by absorbing the sword intent. Back then, Shu Di said that Qin Haotian defeated a thousand swords without a sword, so there was a rumor in the rivers and lakes that "there is no sword in the hand to cool the world". It is said that Pei Min, the "Sword Saint" in the imperial court, came from his disciple and is now serving as the envoy of Henan Province. It can be said that Qin Haotian's name is in the limelight.

The Eastern Song Dynasty refers to Song Xingchen in Yuezhou, Song Xingchen is the owner of Yuezhou's "Yijian Villa", and it is rumored that the disciples of Yijian Villa are only worthy of a sword in their lives, and if the sword is destroyed, they will die. At that time, Song Xingchen used a "dustless sword" sword to challenge the eight nine-stage demon path masters who returned from the sea, but the "dustless sword" was not injured at all, and it was famous overseas, with the reputation of "there is a sword in the hand to town Kyushu".

The young man surnamed Li has been practicing the rivers and lakes for a short time, and their family has lived in seclusion in Lingnan for generations, and the people in the clan are generally not allowed to enter the world according to the clan rules. I don't know how to interact with the people of the rivers and lakes. Now that he could hear the words of the middle-aged scribe, looking at the colorful faces of this group of sun-burned, he smiled bitterly and was about to reply. saw a young man in the crowd who was on his back and spoke first.

"What did Ran Shibo say so tactfully?" Then he looked at the young man and said: "Brother, I heard that Old Man Qin said that you have an ancient sword, let's come over and take a look together, can you borrow it and take a look, it can be appreciated by everyone in Qin, it must not be ordinary!" ”

The young man frowned again, knowing that they must have come for this, but he was still unhappy to hear it.

A sword, naturally, is a good sword. Legend has it that the wife of the ancient emperor Qing Du swam on the three rivers, there is a flying dragon flying in the nine days during the day, and at night he dreamed of lingering with the red dragon, and left a book and a sword on his side after waking up. The name of the sword is "Dragon Seven Star Xuantian Sword", and then Di Yao was born and created the "Tao Tang Dynasty" with the sword. This Di Yao is the ancestor of the young man, and this sword is the "Dragon Seven Star Xuantian Sword".

For as long as the young man can remember, his grandfather has let him hold a sword with him, never leaving his side. He also thought about drawing his sword and looking at it, but the sword body took root and never pulled it out. Later, his grandfather told him that this sword was an ancestral heirloom, and he should not give it to others at will, let alone make any mistakes, and told him that this sword was too heavy, the sword intent was extremely strong, and it was easy to hurt outsiders, and the opportunity for the sword body to be unsheathed had to be found by himself.

This time, the young man and the crown were born and trained at the order of their grandfather. According to his grandfather's confession, he knew that there was an ancestral fate in Mogao Grottoes, which might be beneficial to his sword edge, so he went to Mogao Grottoes and met Qin Haotian, the head of the "No Sword Gate" through Yuzhou.

The "swordless old man" Qin Haotian has a very tough temperament, accompanying the young man all the way, always wanting to borrow the sword on the way, or occasionally saying that he will exchange the sword hidden at home for the young man's ancient sword. But he was never forced to do anything, just chattered and tireless, and the young man was overwhelmed.

So I went all the way to the Mogao Grottoes. This young man lived in the south, and when he went out for the first time to see the world, he saw the sunset in the desert and the yellow sand for thousands of miles, and after entering the sandbar, he forgot a lot about the troubles of the "swordless old man". I didn't expect him to follow him again.

The young man was silent for a moment, and he also felt that the "swordless old man" was not like a bad person, so he followed the words of the young man with a tiger's back and a bear's waist: "If you don't want to borrow it, you can't lend it to you!" Then he said to Qin Haotian: "How can you tell outsiders about what is going on!?" There was some dissatisfaction in his words.

He was not good at communicating when he first entered the rivers and lakes, and euphemisms such as salutation and thanks for his concern were all exempted, and he said it very directly. At the end, he felt a little rude, and said, "Old man, I have already told you very clearly this way." ”

The young man didn't want to say more, and when he said this, he turned around and was about to leave.

"It's just a sword, everyone is a decent family, and they robbed you!" The young man with the bear's back looked disdainful, "Let's just take it and watch it!" ”

The middle-aged scribe surnamed Ran hurriedly said: "Master and nephew, don't be rude, if you can be so valued by everyone in Qin, how can it be just a sword, it must be a rare famous sword in the world." He also said: "There is a way that the husband is not guilty of his crimes, and Brother Li should be cautious." ”

"Old man without a sword" Qin Haotian glanced at the young man, and said with a sneer: "Wa'er, don't blame the old man, you have a peerless weapon, and I can't find you for a while, I'm afraid of an accident, I don't know how to look for you, and then I asked them to find it together, but I unintentionally revealed your secret." There was a hint of genuine concern between the words, and it could be seen that the old man was an upright, honest and unruly person.

This group of people spoke kindly, and there were no strong words to reason and unkind, but the young man surnamed Li could not regain his dissatisfaction, so he said calmly: "Li Chengtang thanks all the seniors for their concern, but this sword really can't be appreciated by the seniors, first, the scabbard of this sword and the sword body are mixed together and cannot be pulled out, and the second is that the sword intent of this sword is too strong, if you hurt you, it will be under it." ”

The young man with the tiger's back said disdainfully: "I haven't heard that the sword will kill people, it's just that I'm afraid that I won't pay you back." ”

The young man named Li Chengtang smiled, "Brother Meng can't help it if you don't believe it, this sword is useless for you, the sword is not out of the sheath, but it is wrong for Qingqing's life." He had a relationship with this group of people in the Mogao Grottoes, and they both remembered their surnames. Since they were not very malicious, Li Chengtang's tone softened a lot.

"Old man without a sword" Qin Haotian smiled slightly, "Li Wa'er is not an open-minded person, all famous swords must be extraordinary, especially ancient famous swords, the longer the inheritance, the stronger the sword intent, then it will become a big killing weapon, it is indeed very fierce!" ”

He looked at Li Chengtang and continued: "But the ancient intent of this sword is strong, as for the murderous aura, the old man thinks that the realm can see the natural qi, but he doesn't realize it?" ”

Li Chengtang smiled and did not say anything to explain.

The middle-aged scribe surnamed Ran looked at Qin Haotian and said, "What everyone Qin said is that just with the head of Qin here, even if there is a sword qi, it may not be able to hurt people. "It means that everyone is a martial arts master, so what's the harm in looking at the sword.

Martial artists love swords, especially peerless swords, which are basically only seen in ancient legends. Everyone is full of expectations for the sword carried by Li Chengtang, in fact, for Li Chengtang, he doesn't know if this is a peerless sword, but his grandfather told him that this sword is a peerless murder weapon and a family heirloom, so he didn't dare to show it easily.