I don't know how long it took, Lin Dongjiu staggered to his feet, the tears on his face had dried up, and there was only numbness in his godless eyes.

He glanced at Qiu Qianbian, who was nailed to the wall, and recalled the blue light sword and walked towards him step by step...

Unable to change forever, feeling the murderous aura of the cold abyss behind him also turned into a trembling quail, he begged in a panic:

"Nie Weiwei is self-defeating, it has nothing to do with me, don't kill me, I can give you whatever you want..."

Lin Dongjiu's eyes were full of fierceness, and the blue light sword dragged on the ground to stir up a large spark, making a stabbing and stabbing sound.

"Oops, it seems like I'm a step late, am I missing something?"

Suddenly, a small cloud of black mist emerged from in front of Qiu Qian's transformation, letting out a gloomy laugh.

Lin Dongjiu stopped and sneered:

"No, senior brother, you came at the right time."

Qiu Qianbian seemed to grasp a life-saving straw and shouted frantically:

"Chen Hongyi, you are finally here, there is some accident here, hurry, save me, let's join forces to kill him!"

"Shut up!"

Chen Yi glanced at him coldly.

Qiu Qianyan's eyes widened, and he was about to have a seizure, but thinking of his situation, he tried to slow down his tone and said:

"Chen Hongyi, what do you mean by that?"

"What do you mean?"

Chen Yi's eyes narrowed, and he said with a smile:

"The task assigned by the priest of Great Desire has not been completed, of course you need a person to carry the pot, if you don't die, do you want me to carry this black cauldron?"

"Qiu Hongyi is smart, don't you understand this truth?"

"You..."

Qiu Qianchang's face was distorted together by anger, and he was speechless for a long time in shock.

Chen Yi rubbed his hands and said impatiently:

"Okay, the crazy woman in the butterfly phantage dress is going to catch up, you go on the road earlier, and I can step on your corpse to get on the throne, so I won't give you a chance to explain your last words."

"Chen Yi, you dare to kill me, you dare... Yes! ”

Qiu Qianbian screamed miserably, and was cut off by Chen Yi's head.

Then, Chen Yi said again: "Senior brother, I'm leaving." Of course, I'm not sure I'll kill you before Butterfly Phantom arrives, but if I want to leave, you can't keep mine, unless you want to trade my life for my life.

Well, if you're willing to let me go, I can assure you that I won't tell the priest of the Great Desire about you, especially your secrets, after all, it's what interests me the most, and I don't want anyone else to get involved. ”

"As for the Butterfly Disguise..."

Chen Yi paused for a moment and said quietly: "I advise you to kill it when you run out, so as not to burn yourself." ”

Lin Dongjiu glanced at Chen Yi coldly, and only said:

"You think everyone is as cold-blooded as you are? Don't worry, I'll hide her and make sure that the Priest of Great Desire can't find her, and then it's your business how you explain to the Priest of Great Desire. ”

"Heh... OK! ”

Chen Yi hesitated for a moment and agreed.

The agreement was reached, and Lin Dongjiu's body was filled with murderous intent, and he said, "When we meet next time, I will kill you with my own hands." ”

"Don't worry, this day won't be too long, but whoever kills whom, what you say doesn't count..."

At the end of the sentence, Chen Yi completely disappeared into the Suolin Pagoda.

Not long after, a purple light flashed, and the butterfly phantom dress appeared on the twelfth floor, her hair was messy, her breath was unstable, and she thought that she had fallen into Chen Yi's trick, so she hurried over.

Butterfly Phantom Yi first looked around vigilantly, and after seeing Qiu Qianchang's corpse at Lin Dongjiu's feet, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief and asked with concern:

"I'm sorry master, the slave family is late, has the master been injured?"

"I'm fine, I just let Chen Yi escape."

Lin Dongjiu shook his head slowly and said, "Let's go." ”

"Good!"

Butterfly Phantom Yi grabbed Lin Dongjiu's arm and left the Soling Pagoda with him.

...

"Master, it's snowing!"

Outside, the vast earth is covered in silver, large snowflakes are like torn pieces of paper, sprinkling from the sky, and the distant scenery is hazy and illusory, soaked in the boundless snow curtain.

Faintly, an evergreen spirit tree can be seen standing proudly on the top of the ethereal clouds, becoming the last embellishment in this pure white world.

Lin Dongjiu turned his head white and stopped to look at the hazy sky.

Snowflakes fell into his eyes and melted into mist.

He stretched out his hand, as if to catch a snowflake, but the mischievous white elf slipped through his fingers, like time that could never be grasped, and finally could only turn into a soft sigh:

"yes, it's snowing..."

...

"Ah Jiu, what a lot of snow!"

In a dilapidated alley, a thinly dressed little girl follows a barefoot boy.

The boy's face was sallow, his limbs were thin, as if he had been hungry for several days and had not eaten, and his steps were a little vain.

But he walked fast, deaf to the voices behind him.

The little girl could only follow the boy with her footsteps, as if she took a step slower, and the boy would disappear from the corner of the alley into her world.

The cold wind poured into the little girl's neckline, and she shivered with cold.

"Ah Jiu, you wait for me!"

"Oops!"

The little girl accidentally tripped over a pebble on the side of the road and fell to the ground for a long time.

When the boy heard the movement, he stopped, turned back and asked:

"What's wrong, Dongdong?"

"My foot is twisted..."

The little girl pouted and blinked aggrievedly.

"It's a little burden to be able to fall down even if you walk!"

The boy shook his head helplessly, and although he complained, he still carefully carried the little girl on his back.

"I'm not a burden!"

Not to be outdone, the little girl stretched out her little hand and wrapped her arms around the boy's neck tightly, and her dependent gaze overflowed with warmth enough to melt the ice and snow.

"Don't talk, don't be afraid of the wind, I'll be home soon!"

The boy bent his waist and walked a little faster against the strong wind.

In this way, the backs of the two little beggars gradually disappeared into the windy and snowy alley.

...

The boy carried the little girl into a small temple in disrepair, which was empty, the clay statue in the center had lost its head, the lower offering table had been removed, and the only remaining table was covered with a thin layer of hay, and a tattered but well-washed futon was rolled up on the grass.

This small temple should be the "home" in the little boy's mouth.

The boy first put a large wooden head against the temple door, then put the little girl on the simple bed made of table boards, and covered her with a quilt, and then took off the little girl's straw sandals and gently rubbed her feet.

After a while, the sky gradually darkened, and the cold wind outside blew in along the broken windows and leaking tiles, making the temperature in the small temple no different from the outside.

Sometimes the wind is stronger, and the swaying doors, windows, and beams will make a creaking sound, as if this small temple may be blown down by the wind in the next second.

The little girl shrunk into the quilt and turned pale with fright, but the boy looked as usual, as if he had long been accustomed to it.

Yes, he's been living in this small temple since he was a child, and it's been his fifth year.

It turned out that there were some friends who wanted food to live with him, and after a few years, the sick died of illness, the starvation of starvation, and in the end he was the only one left.

The boy's name is Lin Ajiu, and the name was made blindly, with no connotations, just a smooth call.

He has been a little beggar for many years, he has been beaten, robbed of food, deceived, and starvation is the main theme of life, and loneliness is just the normal state of life.

But he usually hums an unknown song and has a faint smile on his face, as if happiness in suffering is his only belief in facing misery.

And just a few days ago, the boy begged for food during the day, and when he came home at night, he found that he was hiding a person in the bed.

The boy thought that his family had been burglarized, but on second thought, there was really nothing to steal from the house...

He lifted the quilt and found a sleeping little girl lying in the bed.

The little girl slept soundly, as if she were tired, and the boy could not bear to wake her up, and went to prepare supper.

Dinner was two roasted sweet potatoes, and when the boy baked the sweet potatoes, the little girl smelled the fragrance and woke up, she was very vigilant when she saw the boy at first, but after seeing the two roasted sweet potatoes in the boy's hand, she couldn't help swallowing her saliva and looked at him pitifully.

The boy handed the little girl a sweet potato, and the little girl devoured it and looked at him with a dumb eye.

The boy had no choice but to give the little girl the only remaining sweet potato...

That's it, from then on, there was a little heel begging with him behind the boy, the kind that couldn't be driven away no matter how much he couldn't catch up.

...

"Ah Jiu, I'm so hungry..."

The little girl in the nest poked her fingers, as if she was afraid that the boy would be angry, and even spoke carefully.

"It's snowing heavily these days, and I can't get food, and I still have half of the nest left over from yesterday, so you can eat it first."

The boy took out a paper bag from his bosom, opened it, took out the dry nest inside and handed it to the little girl.

"Hehe, Ah Jiu is the best for me!"

The little girl cheered, but she only took a small bite, and threw the nest head to the boy, and snorted angrily:

"Bah, it's so unpalatable, I don't want to eat it, you can keep the rest for yourself!"

"I'm a picky eater, and I don't know which lady you're from..."

The boy muttered, and ignored her, apparently this had happened more than once or twice.

He ate the head of the nest in two bites, got up and made a fire.

After a while, the orange fire illuminated the small temple, and the boy and girl hid in the bed to keep warm, because of the snow, the firewood in the fire was a little damp, and it was still crackling out.

The cold wind was howling outside the temple, the temple was warm and quiet, the little girl dozed off, and after a while lay on the boy's shoulder and fell asleep...

"Bang bang bang!!"

Suddenly, a series of rapid knocks sounded on the door, and the little girl was awakened by fright and subconsciously shrank into the boy's arms.

The boy frowned and whispered comfortingly: "Don't be afraid, Dongdong, I'll take a look." ”

The boy put on a sackcloth coat, went to the door, and asked vigilantly, "Who is it?" ”

"It's me, I'm Ergou, Brother Jiu, open the door!"

Ergou, like the boy, is a little beggar begging for food in Yangtou Town.

Hearing that it was the voice of the second dog, the boy immediately removed the big log at the top door and opened the door:

"Ergou, why did you come here so late?"

Ergou looked flustered, didn't enter the house, and said quickly:

"Brother Jiu, Yazi is here, Brother Donkey and Brother Tie's territory has all been ended, and people have been arrested, you take Dongdong and run away!"

After speaking, the second dog did not stop, turned around and ran.

The boy's face changed, and he tightened the rusty dagger around his waist.

The "teeth" mentioned by Ergou are actually human traffickers, who specialize in catching little beggars like them for profit.

For these little beggars, it is not terrible to be hungry and clothed, but it is terrible to be caught by the teeth and sold to the black mine, that is the dark day, and you can't survive and die!

The boy extinguished the fire and beckoned:

"Dongdong hurry up, Yazi is coming, let's go out and hide first!"

"Didn't Yazi just come a few days ago, why did you come again!"

The little girl hurriedly put on her shoes and went out of the small temple with the boy.

"It's winter, Yazi is short of money, and there will be more times in winter."

The boy's face was calm, at least he didn't show any panicked expression.

He'd been through this too many times, and on several occasions he had almost been caught.

However, the cunning rabbit still has three holes, and the boy has naturally been fully prepared.

There is a deep mountain not far behind the small temple, and the boy used to go into the mountain to cut wood and find a very hidden cave in the mountain.

The cave was supposed to be left by a spirit beast, so he used it as a refuge base, and usually sent some begged dry food and daily necessities to it, just to deal with this unexpected situation.

As soon as I came out of the temple gate, the oncoming wind and snow were like a sharp knife hanging on my face, making people unable to open their eyes and move their feet.

And the most unbearable thing is the biting cold, in this kind of environment, it may not be able to stand long for adults, let alone two little beggars who are already thinly dressed.

At this time, a few flickering fires appeared in the distance, even if the blizzard was like a waterfall, it was so conspicuous.

"It's not good, the tooth has been caught, Dongdong is leaving!"

The boy's heart sank, and he ran wildly in the snow that was large enough to reach his calves, leaving a series of footprints of varying shades.

"Ah Jiu, wait for me..."

The howling cold wind drowned out the child's shouts, and the boy suddenly remembered that the little girl was injured in her legs and feet, and that it was difficult for her to walk, let alone run.

He looked back, and apart from the nearer and nearer firelight in the distance, he could see the little girl's figure somewhere.

"Dongdong!"

The boy slapped his thigh and ran back desperately, screaming desperately.

Fortunately, he didn't run far before he saw the little girl fall into the snowdrift, and the tears hanging on her face were frozen into ice droplets.

"I'm sorry Dongdong..."

The boy picked up the little girl on his back, but as soon as he delayed, the teeth chasing after him came closer, and he could hear them scolding viciously:

"Don't run! When these two puppies are caught, the male baby is thrown into the black mine, and the female baby is sold to the kiln, making a damn sum of money..."

The boy did not dare to delay at all, and ran with difficulty to the refuge base with the little girl on his back.

"Ah Jiu, you leave me behind, with me this burden, I can't escape..."

The little girl said in a low voice with a look of despair.

"Shut up!"

The boy scolded heavily, but he slowed down again:

"Dongdong, how could I say that you are a burden and leave you behind, we will not be arrested, you have to believe me, okay?"

"Okay, I will always believe in Ah Jiu..."

The little girl buried her head in the boy's back, tears welling up like a river, but she didn't let out a cry.

In front of him is the mountain behind the small temple, and the boy walked through the snowy forest with one foot, and he seemed to be like a fish in water, bending left and right, and after a while, he threw away the teeth that were chasing him.

He was so familiar with the mountain roads here, how could Yazi catch up?

After running a long distance, the boy's hands and feet were already frozen and he didn't obey the call, but he still felt so hot that he even wanted to take off his clothes and roll in the snow.

But reason told him that if he did, he would die.

"I can't die, I want to live with Dongdong, I can't die..."

A strong conviction rose in the boy's heart, and he gritted his teeth and ran in the direction of the cave.

At the last moment when he fell, he finally ran to the cave with the little girl on his back.

After entering the cave, the boy fell to the ground panting, and the little girl immediately lit a bonfire in the cave, dragged the little boy to the haystack, hugged him tightly, and warmed him with his body heat.

After a while, the boy's body stopped trembling, he turned his head and saw the little girl holding him crying silently, he couldn't help touching the little girl's head, and comforted him loudly:

"It's okay Dongdong, we're safe..."

"Ah Jiu..."

The little girl couldn't hold back her crying anymore, but she seemed to be afraid that her crying would affect the boy, so she could only choke up.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, cry if you want to cry, those bad guys can't catch up with us."

"I don't cry... I don't want to be a burden..."

The little girl wiped her tears and forced a smirk.

The boy laughed too, and he got up and walked to the pile of debris in the corner of the cave, rummaging through the boxes and cabinets, not knowing what was going on.

When the boy turned around, he was holding a piece of bread in one hand and the other behind his back.

The boy handed the dough to the little girl, but the little girl didn't eat it, so he took advantage of the little girl's inattention, spread out his other hand, and gently blew on her little face that was red from the cold...

"Ah Jiu... I'm a little sleepy..."

The little girl shook her head and fell to the haystack.

"Sleep Dongdong, in the future, a person must take care of himself..."

The light of the orange fire reflected the boy's calm and resolute face, and he covered the little girl with a straw quilt, and finally, he looked at the little girl silently, put a bundle of hay on his back, and resolutely came out of the cave.

He didn't want to abandon the little girl, but he knew that their situation was not safe.

Because it was snowing heavily, he was bound to leave footprints in the snow that would reveal his whereabouts, and although the blizzard might cover up his footprints, he didn't dare to bet.

If those teeth observe carefully, maybe they will still find clues and grope along the seal pit.

He was dead, but he didn't want to take the little girl to gamble with him.

After many days of getting along, he has actually regarded the little girl as his dependent family...

Out of the cave, the boy blocked the entrance with haystacks, leaving a few vents, and covered it with a thick layer of snow to blend in with the surrounding environment.

He then began to return the way he came, cleaning up the footprints left outside the cave.

After he had cleared almost a few hundred meters away, beams of fire suddenly appeared in his sight.

Sure enough, I caught up... The boy scolded secretly, but he was a little happy in his heart.

He gritted his teeth, ran wildly in the opposite direction of the cave, and shouted loudly:

"teeth, come after your grandfather and me!"

"Those two puppies are over there, chase after them!"

...

The boy didn't know how far he had run, all he knew was that he had run out of the dense forest, and the blizzard had gradually stopped, and the sky had dawned.

But the boy couldn't run away, he didn't have the strength to run through the chasing and intercepting teeth anymore.

He fell to the ground hard, and looked at the tooth behind him who was chasing after him with a sack and rope, but his face showed the brightest smile.

"Boss, a puppy ran away!"

"Forget it, let the brothers rest, and sell this son of a son today!"

The boy was punched and kicked by Yazi, his hands and feet were tied, his head was covered with a sack, and he completely fainted.

"Dongdong, you must live well..."

...

When the sun broke, the little girl woke up faintly, and when she looked around, the cave was empty, except for the burning bonfire on the ground and the endless cold and loneliness.

The little girl curled up on the haystack, hugged her trembling body, and could no longer hold back her crying:

"Liars... Swindler! ”

"Ah Jiu... I don't do it anymore... Please... Come back... Don't leave me..."

pity

No one responded to her anymore.

...

The sack on his head was removed, and the blinding light kept the boy awake, and before he could figure out where he was, he heard the sound of a thunderclap of whips and a loud roar in front of him:

"Hurry up, get in line!"

The boy lined up at the back of the line like a walking corpse, and he glanced at the front with a blank face, and the line was full of little beggars like him, and someone at the front asked for their names while holding a notebook to register.

No need to guess, this is a black mine that eats people and does not spit out bones.

When it was the boy's turn, the man who registered asked sharply:

"Name!"

The boy raised his head slowly, and something flashed in his eyes, and replied in a stiff voice:

"Lin Dongjiu!"