Zhenbei Wangfu, study.

"Shen Zhou, there's something I want to ask your opinion on." Chu Mingyan pushed a letter in front of him, and tapped his fingertips on it, "Your master knows that Changle is going to the imperial capital, and asks if you want to go with him." ”

Shen Zhou's master, a sword master who looks like a charlatan but is surprisingly reliable.

"Your master left you here because he believed that I could raise you like a long life. If you go to the imperial capital, I'm afraid you won't be able to live under the sun in this life. ”

"You don't have to kill for anyone. I will arrange for other people to protect Changle, even if there is no you, there are others. You can still keep in touch with Changle and even visit her in the imperial capital. Shen Zhou, do you want to live your life? ”

Shen Zhou shook his head without thinking.

Chu Mingyan was silent for a long time.

"Is it because of Changle?"

Thousands of emotions came to his heart, and Shen Zhou didn't know how to answer for a while.

Chu Mingyan sighed, "I still failed your master's expectations after all, I can't stand him, and I can't stand you." Shen Zhou, you go with him. ”

"Why do you ask God to worship Buddha?" Shen Zhou suddenly asked, gesticulating.

Chu Mingyan was stunned for a moment, pondered for a moment, and patiently and frankly explained to him: "When I was young, I was conceited, and I firmly believed that man will conquer the sky, and later I realized that even if I am a genius of heaven, I can do things beyond my power, so I prayed to the gods. ”

"I didn't believe in God before, probably because I had nothing, I didn't even know who I was, so I felt that I had nothing to lose. People who have nothing, are not afraid of anything. ”

Shen Zhou's fingers moved slowly and seriously, like a small beast slicing open its chest little by little with its claws, revealing its bright red, beating heart, trying to prove to others that I also have a heart, you see.

"Then I knew I was scared, I was afraid that she would be sad, I was afraid that she would be hurt, I was afraid of her...... He's dead. I just realized that that kind of feeling is called suffering from gains and losses. In this world, there are even things I can 'lose', I am no longer a duckweed without roots. ”

"I lived for her, maybe I lived once in this world just to meet her. I know you don't think that's good, but at least I can feel 'alive', and that's not okay, right? ”

These straightforward and incandescent words made Chu Mingyan feel at a loss, and he didn't know how to answer or deal with this sincere feeling.

He sighed heavily, slapped twice on the table, and was speechless.

"That's it," Chu Mingyan held his forehead, "Your master's side, I will confess to him." ”

This means that he is allowed to go to the imperial capital with him.

Shen Zhou chuckled in relief, as if he had received some kind of forgiveness.

"For the first time in so many years, I've seen you smile, Shen Zhou." Chu Mingyan paused, almost reaching out and touching his head like he did with Chu Zhixia, but he still held it down, "I have to live well in the future, no matter who it is for." ”

——

The courtyard was gray, except for a red lantern hanging under the eaves, so red that it was sticky and dull, like a drop of dried blood. A plain white figure sat alone under the eaves, as thin as a piece of paper.

Chu Zhixia felt a burst of fear for no reason, she stumbled over, and said cautiously, "Why are you sitting here alone, big brother?" ”

Chu Mingyan held a scroll and used so much force that the green tendons on the back of his hand bulged. He turned his head and glanced at Chu Zhixia in despair, "It's Changle...... What's wrong? ”

"I said, why are you sitting here alone?" Chu Zhixia's heart beat wildly, hammering her ribs one after another, "Big brother, what's in your hand?" ”

Chu Mingyan let go of his hand as if he realized it, and the scroll rolled to the ground and slowly spread out, revealing a blood-red official seal. The red of cinnabar was so thick that it seemed to be dripping down, staining Chu Mingyan's pale fingertips.

"It's an obituary from the imperial capital." Chu Mingyan's voice was ethereal and distant, as if floating over across thousands of mountains and rivers, "Changle, your second brother is gone." ”

Chu Zhixia's head was stunned, and he couldn't hear anything for a while, only seeing Chu Mingyan's pale lips closing one by one.

"Impossible...... How could the second brother be in the imperial capital? It's obviously me who wants to go to the imperial capital. When Chu Zhixia reacted, she was already trembling and holding Chu Mingyan's hand, as if she wanted to crush his bones—but that hand was cold, like holding a handful of snow.

Chu Mingyan didn't seem to hear her words, and said to himself, "Your second brother is gone, I will send someone to the imperial capital to pick him up...... He can't be outside alone, your second brother looked at Heng, and he also loved to cry when he was a child. ”

"Changle, what are you shaking?" Chu Mingyan held her hand instead, and there seemed to be a drop of ink in his eyes, "What did you just ask me, why am I sitting here alone?" ”

Chu Zhixia watched as blood seeped out of Chu Mingyan's eyes, nostrils, and corners of his mouth, dripping through his white clothes. He resembled a shattered porcelain doll, revealing the red grains of sand stuffed inside.

The pain of suffocation swept over Chu Zhixia, and she felt her heart crack inch by inch, inevitably, and the sound of broken porcelain drowned out the howl of the wind and snow.

Chu Zhixia had a small voice in her heart and roared no, no, no, it shouldn't be like this, but she couldn't say a word, so she could only grab her brother's hand in vain, like a drowning person grasping a life-saving straw.

"It's not me sitting here alone, it's you who broke in alone." Chu Mingyan wiped away her unconscious tears with her bloody fingers, "Changle, you will be alone in the future, you have to take good care of yourself, you know?" ”

Chu Mingyan turned into a pool of blood in her arms.

"Brother—"

Chu Zhixia bounced up from the bed suddenly, her eyes were blurred, and the sense of crisis made her subconsciously touch the sword under the pillow, but suddenly someone held her wrist. The hand was warm and powerful, and the fingertips carried the thin calluses she was familiar with.

"Shen Zhou......" Chu Zhixia looked at Shen Zhou sitting on the edge of the bed in a daze, seventeen-year-old Shen Zhou.

The real dream and the illusory reality were clearly distinguished in front of Shen Zhou, and Chu Zhixia hugged his neck violently and began to cry.

Shen Zhou was afraid that she would draw her sword and hurt herself in a delirious manner, so he quickly held her down, but he was hugged with a full embrace. Chu Zhixia trembled with tears, and a kitten-like whimper lingered in Shen Zhou's ears.

Shen Zhou's limbs stiffened around her, gently patting her on the back, as if coaxing a child who had been caught in a nightmare.

"I had a terrible dream." Chu Zhixia was coaxed by him to gradually calm down, curled up in a ball and lay on the bed, looked at the sinking boat guarding the bedside, and asked, "Why are you here?" ”

For a long time as a child, the two people often stuck together. The children had no scruples, so Chu Mingyan went with them. Later, when he was older, Shen Zhou still didn't know much about men and women, and Chu Shixia didn't criticize him.

But Shen Zhou rarely ran into her bedroom so late.

"There was an assassin just now," Shen Zhou gestured, "I'll come in and see you." ”

There were countless assassins who visited the Zhenbei Palace, and almost every morning they had to wash the blood stains on the ground of the courtyard with clean water, and Chu Zhixia was no longer surprised.

Chu Zhixia opened his palm, and leaned over like a kitten to smell it. Shen Zhou jerked his hand away, his body tense.

"It does smell of blood, what are you hiding?" Chu Zhixia grabbed his hand and held it dissatisfied, as if to confirm his body temperature, and rubbed the faint blood in the lines of his palm vigorously, "Shen Zhou, don't make yourself so dirty." ”

"A person who has blood on his hands can no longer live a normal life."

"I've been doing well all these years, it's normal." Shen Zhou said indifferently, "Do you know what Master is going to take me away?" ”

Chu Zhixia was stunned for a moment, trying to bury himself in the quilt, but was dug out by the sinking boat again. Chu Zhixia dodged back vigorously, his back pressed tightly against the head of the yellow rosewood bed, and he was in pain on the pattern.

Shen Zhou approached her unhurriedly, and the distance between the two of them was only a thin piece of paper. Chu Zhixia could even hear the violent heartbeat in his chest, and Shen Zhou could also smell the faint warm fragrance on her body.

Shen Zhou lowered his long eyelashes and glanced at Chu Zhixia's lips pursed because of nervousness.

I want to bite.

"I know you're angry, but do you want to be so close to me?" Chu Zhixia said humbly, "Men and women don't kiss, I won't be able to marry in the future......"

Shen Zhou didn't back down, his eyes seemed to ask, "Who do you want to marry?" ”

"Okay, okay, I'm wrong, right?" Chu Zhixia closed his eyes and shouted, "I just don't want you to become a tool for killing, you are not anyone's sword, you are not surnamed Chu, and you don't owe our Chu family, this matter has nothing to do with you!" ”

With a "bang", Shen Zhou slapped his palm on the head of the bed next to Chu Shixia's ear. Chu Zhixia opened his eyes nervously, met his dark eyes, and said in his heart, it's over, this time he is even more angry.

Shen Zhou slammed to his feet, pushed the door open, and left.

——

Huguo Temple.

The green lights of the Buddha hall are bright, and the little novice who keeps vigil kneels on the futon with his head, little by little. He was so sleepy that he suddenly saw a long shadow cast on the Buddha statue, which frightened him and shouted in a "whooshing" voice.

"South, South, South, ......" Xiao Shami's throat trembled, and he couldn't even pronounce the Buddha's name smoothly, and he was so anxious that he was about to cry.

"Don't go south, go down." The abbot of the dream machine didn't know where it came from, and turned around on the head of the little novice, "You are lazy when you recite the sutra on weekdays, I'm afraid that you also feel dishonest to the Buddha in your heart, so your heart is weak at the moment, right?" ”

Xiao Shami didn't dare to refute, and ran out with a rolling belt. Only then did he see clearly that the person standing at the door was not a demon or a monster, but a young man dressed in black, with a white complexion that seemed to be Shengxuan.

"In the middle of the night, you have nowhere to go, and you actually thought of me here, which really flatters me." The abbot of the dream machine raised his hand to invite him in, "What are you doing standing there, you have come here, don't you bow down?" ”

Shen Zhou hesitantly stopped outside the door, and said in sign language: "I just killed someone, can I come in and worship in this way?" ”

"As the saying goes, put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the ground."

"I can't put it down. I can't do anything but kill people. Without a sword, I can't protect her. ”

Dream Machine laughed, "You don't ask God or believe in God, so what are you doing here?" ”

"I wonder if a man as ungodly and unforgivable as I am can occasionally be pitied by the gods?"

Thousands of candles in the Buddha hall are dancing brightly, and the golden body of the Buddha is hidden behind the layers of colorful spirit flags, which is not real, but the corners of the lips faintly show a smile.

The threshold is only one foot high, but it is like a ravine that a sinking boat cannot cross in a lifetime.

The abbot of the dream machine stood between him and the Buddha, and there seemed to be a sea of stars behind him.

"If the Buddha doesn't have mercy on you, what should you do?" The abbot of the dream machine asked rhetorically.

Shen Zhou clenched the sword in his hand suddenly, looked at the old abbot with kind eyebrows and kind eyes, and said wildly, "If God doesn't pity me, stop me, hinder me, and kill me, I will prevent God from killing God, and Buddha will kill Buddha, even if I fall into the Infernal Hell, I will not hesitate." ”

The abbot of Dream Machine did not reprimand him for being out of line and offended, but smiled slightly, "You have already got the answer, Shen Zhou." ”