Shen Zhou only felt that his whole body was trapped in the black quagmire, the warm and soft touch on Chu Zhixia's hands, the voice of Chu Zhixia as if it came from the sea, and the blood between Chu Zhixia's lips and teeth, everything was blurry.

Don't cry. Shen Zhou wanted to say.

What is there to cry about? Assassins are all going to die.

To die in your arms, to shed tears for my death. Shen Zhou unconsciously wanted to laugh, maybe I was the luckiest of all the assassins who died in the heartburn.

But Chu Zhixia's tears fell on Shen Zhou's face, like a drop of hot iron, which burned Shen Zhou's skin like a burning pain, and it hurt until it reached that cold heart, making it have to tremble and beat.

Don't cry, Shen Zhou wants to say, in the future, someone else will guard you for me, walking on your roof on every silent moonlit night; There will be others who will kill for you with their swords and plunder everything you want; Someone else will hold you...... Kiss you.

He will understand why you cry and why you laugh better than I do.

Will that person be like the books we read when we were children, gambling with you and pouring tea, selling wine with you, and planting a loquat tree in the court with you?

At that time, do you still remember, did you ever cry for me?

Shen Zhou wanted to cry very much, he clearly didn't understand what sadness was, he just felt a faint pain in his heart.

I miss that person who is me, but this life is the price I pay for praying to the gods.

Shen Zhou imagined Chu Zhixia's tearful eyes, transparent and warm tears, wet eyelashes, and moist pupils in the dark.

He wanted to raise his hand to wipe away her tears, and touch her head like the three-flowered cat in the palace, but he couldn't.

It does not matter. Shen Zhou wanted to tell her that from the day I couldn't speak, I knew that this was my reward to the gods.

But I don't regret it.

Don't be afraid, Shen Zhou said silently.

This time, God is on your side.

——

In the previous life, thirteen years of auspicious charms.

On the way back to Yongxue Pass, the sinking boat encountered countless displaced people who fled with their families.

The family either carried a small burden or drove a donkey cart. The woman smearing mud on her face, the man with a kitchen knife in her arms, and the scared child crying, everyone is fleeing south to survive.

Only when the sinking boat goes north, there are mountains of corpses and a sea of blood, and there is a bloody drift, and only there is a way for him to live.

"The snow barrier has been broken, and the Beidi people have come in!"

I don't know who shouted this, and the exiled people suddenly rioted.

Shen Zhou reined in his horse violently, looking for the one who shouted, but saw three or two Beidi men riding horses, their animal skin armor still bloodstained, and the big knife in their hands cut off the head of a woman holding a child like straw.

With a "boom", a feather arrow hit the center of Beidi's eyebrows, and the white feather trembled.

The man slowly fell, and the woman ran away with the child in her arms. Shen Zhou put down his fingers and looked coldly at the Beidi people who rushed over with their copper shields and knives.

The Beidi people are good at cavalry, and they don't take this little boy with fine skin and tender meat in their eyes at all.

But the sinking boat rose from the saddle and stepped on the bronze shield as if it were weightless, and the blade of the sword pierced the throat of the Beidi people at a sharp and fierce angle. Another swung his long knife and slashed at him, and Shen Zhou kicked the dead Beidi man's head, and the knife slashed into his companion's shoulder blade, piercing his heart and lungs before he could pull the knife out.

The snow was white and the blood was like fire.

"Thank you for saving your life!"

The people wept bitterly, but Shen Zhou was in turmoil.

"Embrace the snow...... Is it already broken? Shen Zhou grabbed a person, and the corners of his eyes were red, "What about the eldest lady of the Chu family?" ”

The entire army was wiped out at the Snow Pass.

The Yongxueguan garrison, which had no grain and grass, no medicinal materials, and no reinforcements, was surrounded and annihilated by the Beidi army several times its own, but it also fought to the death, consuming the main elite of the Beidi army and winning a respite for the four states of Yanbei.

The Beidi army will soon be drawn from the north and is about to make a comeback.

On the day the news returned to Qingzhou, Shen Zhou finally arrived at the lifeless Yongxue Pass.

The white snow and the black city were soaked in blood, and the flag of the king of Chu was planted at the head of the city, and there was an uproar in the wind. Layers of snow still covered the mountains of corpses, and the owls pecked at the corpses, caught off guard by the visitors.

Shen Zhou walked blankly in the bloody snow pass, and only after a long time did he start to use his sword scabbard to cut away the snow and dust, and rummaged through one corpse after another.

For seven days and seven nights, he failed to find the corpse of the entire battlefield, nor did he find Chu Zhixia's body.

The sword has no eyes on the battlefield, and life and death run over everyone equally, and she will not show mercy because she is the general of the Snow Pass and the king of Zhenbei who has been stripped of her title.

The exhausted Shenzhou leaned on the snowdrift, looked at the gray wind and snow, and suddenly raised his hand and touched his wet face—warm, not snow water, but tears he shed at some point.

"Shen Zhou, go back."

Shen Zhou opened his eyes suddenly, and there was no one in front of him.

"Shen Zhou, you want to ...... Live well. ”

The ethereal, sad voice said.

However, in front of his eyes, only the wind and snow blew by.

——

Shen Zhou finally found Chu Zhixia's only relic, the Buddha beads that she hid in the tent of the main general of Yongxue Pass. This string of Buddha beads that had blocked arrows for the owner had already been scarred, and Shen Zhou wanted to take it back to the clouds to set up a mound for Chu Zhi Xia.

Dust to dust, dust to dust.

When the dead man's business is over, Shen Zhou will go to settle the accounts of the living.

But in the clouds, it is no longer in the clouds.

The people in the city gathered outside the former Zhenbei Wangfu, and the crowd was angry and loud. Garrisoned in front of the palace was the Yulin army wearing royal ornaments, and they were embarrassed by the stones and rotten vegetable leaves thrown by the people, and they immediately drew their swords and took action.

Shen Zhou appeared in front of the people with one person and one horse, and pressed the hand of the Yu Linwei alive and pressed the knife back into the sheath.

"Who's coming?" Yu Linwei blushed, but he couldn't break free from his hands.

"The surviving person of the eldest lady of the Chu family." Shen Zhou said coldly, "What are you guys, and you dare to occupy the magpie's nest?" ”

"The Chu family has long been stripped of their titles, and Chu Shixia not only did not enter Beijing to be punished, but also supported the army without authorization, intending to rebel." Yu Linwei said indignantly, "You are her surviving person, do you want to commit rebellion?" The Chu family really has rebellious ministers and thieves! ”

"You talk nonsense!"

"There must be a traitor who wronged the eldest lady, it can't be like this!"

"The Chu family is such an orphan girl, who died in Yongxue Pass, don't go too far with the big people in your imperial capital!"

Before Shen Zhou could speak, the people in front of the door roared angrily.

"The Chu family is full of loyalty, the king of Zhenbei has tried his best to fight for the four states of Yanbei, and the eldest lady of the Chu family is stubbornly guarding the snow pass, how can you and other villains be slandered!" The young man who looked like a scholar rolled up his sleeves and was about to pounce on him with his old fist, but he was gently and skillfully pushed back into the crowd by Shen Zhou's backhand.

Without waiting for Yu Linwei to be proud, the sinking boat suddenly burst out, and the scabbard was impartially drawn on Yu Linwei's cheek, and it was swollen two high. Yu Linwei was beaten to pieces, his eyes were full of stars, and the scabbard stabbed into his mouth domineeringly, smashing his full mouth.

Shen Zhou kicked him in the chest, and the man flew out and smashed on the stone lion, lying on the ground unable to move.

The rest of the Yulin guards were stunned, and they didn't dare to move for a while. They were ordered to escort the ministers here, and the hard-nosed men of the north on the way defended themselves against the rumored ferocious gods and evil spirits, and treated them with respect, and this was the first time that they had kicked the iron plate.

"Get out of the way," Shen Zhou said lightly, "this is not a place for you to enter. ”

The Yulin guards had to draw their swords to deal with it, but they were forced to retreat step by step by him alone.

"Childe ......" A blood-covered humanoid broke through the layers of Yu Linwei, rushed to Shen Zhou, grabbed the corner of his clothes and wept bitterly, "Young Master Shen Zhou, go and take a look, King Rui is going to burn the ancestral hall of the Chu family!" ”

Shen Zhou could barely recognize this man as the palace guard, he was covered in wounds, and his calf bones were dragged behind him in a twisted position, and he didn't know how he managed to get here.

"King Rui?"

The minister of the Qin mission is none other than the third prince of the first emperor, the younger brother of the new emperor's mother, and the new king of Rui.

Bai Yu.

——

There is a plum tree planted in front of the ancestral hall of the Chu family, and every year in the middle of winter, Chu Zhixia will be carried here to worship and sweep.

Shen Zhou is nameless and pointless, and he is not qualified to enter the ancestral hall of the Chu family, but Chu Mingyan always leads two small groups. Later, the two of them made mistakes, and Chu Mingyan also let them kneel here to copy the family rules without discrimination, and after copying them, they made up a hundred articles that were not the same, and then copied them.

Yes, Shen Zhou is very familiar with this place.

The fire reflected the snow, and the plum trees and the ancestral hall were burned to the ground, soaking in the sea of fire.

Such a big fire seemed to burn down along with the entire canopy, but it couldn't light up Shen Zhou's pupils.

The baby-faced young man sat on the Taishi's chair in front of the fire, stepping on expensive ferret fur under his feet, and a green jade ring between his fingers. He looked to be in his early twenties, with round eyes, as cute as a kitten and a puppy, but with a kind of innocent cruelty.

"Another one." King Rui said contemptuously, "You are the surviving person of Chu Zhixia?" ”

The corners of Shen Zhou's eyes squinted, and his gaze fell on the person who was kneeling down by Yu Linwei's twisted arm. The Luo skirt on Yuzhu's body was soaked with blood, her sideburns were scattered, but her eyes were cold and crazy. She looked at the sinking boat, but did not call for help.

"This maid has killed many of me." King Rui laughed, "Chu Zhixia is dead, and there is no one in the Chu family who can ask for guilt." Fortunately, there are still the two of you to deal with. ”

"You set the fire?" Shen Zhou's voice was light and light, but full of murderous intent.

"What if the king put it?" King Rui mocked, "This king not only set fire, but also smashed the tablets of Chu Mingyan and Chu Mingxiu. Chu Zhixia refused to enter Beijing to confess his guilt and surrender to the law, and he was defeated and embraced Xueguan, teaching such a sister, they are also worthy of opening a sect and establishing an ancestral hall? ”

"The defeat of the Yongxue Pass army was because the emperor insisted on asking the Chu family for his trumped-up crime, and he was cut off from food and reinforcements." Shen Zhou expounded the facts without a trace of emotion, "If the faint king teaches a younger brother like you, you both deserve to die." ”

King Rui's face changed suddenly, and he patted the Taishi chair and shouted, "You rebellious thief! Take it for the king, escort the imperial capital and chop it up and feed the dogs! ”

Before the last word could be scattered in the wind, the sinking boat struck first, and the killer sword slipped out of its sheath like a fish, and the snow splashed.

Yu Linwei fell apart in the blink of an eye, and most people just felt a cold and a hot in their throats or hearts, and then lost their strength. No one could see how Shen Zhou came out of the sword, only the sporadic silver light that shattered the splash of blood.

He rarely shoots his sword, but every sword is a must-kill.

Seeing that this was wrong, the guards hurriedly escorted King Rui to escape.

But it was too late, and a sleeve arrow flew out from the bottom of Shen Zhou's sleeve and went straight into the guard's heart. The fallen guard bumped into King Rui, and the domineering little prince sat on the ground in embarrassment and stepped back.

"You dare to kill me? My brother is the Emperor! He's going to punish your nine clans! King Rui said inwardly.

"The one I killed was the emperor." Shen Zhou indifferently admired his unconcealed fear, like a drunkard who had finally tasted good wine again.

Shen Zhou stabbed his sword under his knee, picking at the tendons under his bones little by little. King Rui let out an inhuman scream and crawled forward with all his might, leaving a trail of blood in the snow. Shen Zhou provoked him to roll over and cut off his patella.

"Ahh Rui Wang screamed, his hands dug deep into the snow, "You dare! Don't you dare! You rebel thief! ”

Shen Zhou grabbed him by the hair and carried him back to the ancestral hall to pay tribute to his bones, his blood, and the head on his neck.

"I don't have the Nine Clans to punish you, unless under the Nine Springs, it is also your emperor's brother who is in charge."

"Rebels and thieves? Are you worthy of me to be your courtier? ”

"Except for the surname Chu, no living person will be able to get out of here today."

Shen Zhou's word by word, clear and powerful.

Every word in Shen Zhou's words was full of bloody murderous intent, and for so many years, Yuzhu had never heard him say so many words at once. Chu Zhixia once said that Shen Zhou is a person with a deep heart, and his joys, sorrows, and sorrows are buried very deep and deep, so deep that he can't even detect it.

Now, those deep-seated hatred and anger are pouring out, and they will sweep through all the people who destroyed the Chu family like a stream of iron.

Every bone of King Rui except for his head was dismantled by Shen Zhou, and he was so handy that no knife was superfluous.

Human heads, bones, and flesh were thrown into the unquenched fire by the sinking boat.

"Shen Zhou, did you bring the eldest lady back?" Yuzhu leaned against the plum tree and asked weakly.

The sunken boat stood sideways in front of the sea of fire, shaking his head silently.

Yuzhu finally cried, crying so hard that her hands and feet were weak, and she choked up and couldn't say a complete sentence: "Didn't you say that you have been guarding her all your life......"

The second half of Yuzhu's unfinished words annihilated in the cry, Shen Zhou actually understood it without a teacher.

Didn't you say that you have guarded her all your life? She's dead, you can't even bring her body back, what are you going to do when you come back?

Shen Zhou looked up at the snow falling in the sky, and the snow in the sky seemed to fall into his eyes, burying his life.

yes, Shen Zhou thought, what am I going to do when I come back?