"I never thought you'd be an assassin again one day."

When the sunken boat woke up, he saw the moonlight hovering over the flying snowflakes, pure and peaceful. He stared blankly at the jade-clasped moon, as if he couldn't tell where it was or where he was for a while.

When Shen Zhou heard this, he turned his head away, and his gaze fell on the disheveled swordsman.

Sword Saint Li Qingbai, Chu Zhixia and his master.

"Am I alive?" Shen Zhou asked in a muttered voice.

Li Qingbai narrowed his eyes, arched his body slightly, and looked closely at the ups and downs of his eyebrows at the corners of his eyes, from which he could distinguish his weak and almost non-existent emotions, "You don't seem to want to be alive, you weren't like this when you were a child." ”

"yes, I wasn't like that when I was a kid." Shen Zhou nodded, and slowly shrouded himself with a big coat, as if he couldn't bear the cold of this world, "At that time, hundreds of our children ate together, slept together, and ...... together Learn to kill. Everyone wants to live, and in order to live, we have to watch out for everyone around us. ”

"In the end I survived because I killed them all." Shen Zhou laughed softly, as if mocking the impermanence of fate, "At that time, we didn't know why we wanted to live. ”

Li Qingbai listened silently.

"I used to want to live very, very much, maybe people are just greedy, and at that time, for me, life was the most luxurious thing. When I can live without much effort, I want something else. ”

Li Qingbai couldn't help but ask, "What do you want now?" ”

What do you want more than you want to live?

"Stay by her side."

Li Qingbai seemed to have been drained of all his strength, sighed, and sat down heavily on the couch.

"Let you understand why you live, and let you lose this reason." Li Qingbai shook his head and sighed, "I really shouldn't have saved you, it's too cruel for you." So Shen Zhou, you now know what I want you to understand, don't you? ”

"I don't know."

Shen Zhou lowered his head, and a well-defined bone protruded from under his plain white skin, fragile and fragile. He was breathing in pain, curled up and shaking, his hair covering half of his face.

Shen Zhou's fingers curled, tapping his heart, as if he were knocking on a hollow piece of dead wood, and he could hear the hollow echo from it.

"I just hurt here. Master, is it a heart-burning attack again? Am I going to die? ”

——

The burning heart did not attack, and the sinking boat did not die.

The Beidi soldiers approached the city, and the sinking boat returned to the clouds to assassinate the enemy general.

He succeeded in one blow, but in the end, he could not turn the tide. The Beidi people, who had lost their generals, quickly regrouped, and the Great Khan personally mounted the horse and tore through the defense line of the Qingzhou army.

Yunzhong County is still broken.

It is the thirteenth year of auspicious charm, Chinese New Year's Eve.

The sinking boat staggered through the chaotic streets, covered in bruises. His body was deep and shallow, all of them were knife wounds from the Beidi people, and there were many bones broken under the flesh, and he held on to his breath, but he didn't know where he deserved.

Lin Tingshi died, died in front of the two armies, and took the lead.

Yuzhu is still guarding the Chu family's cemetery, will she leave there and flee for her life?

Shen Zhou didn't know.

A warm and bright light illuminated his eyes, and Shen Zhou quietly looked at the dilapidated temple gate, and the three words "Huguo Temple" hanging on it.

Huguo Temple has long been looted, and everything valuable in the Buddhist temple has been cut off and taken away, even the clay sculpture of the Buddha smeared with gold powder is not spared. There is only one candle burning in the temple, and in front of the candle sits an elderly Zen master.

Shen Zhou remembered him, the master of the dream machine who was familiar with the Chu family.

"Master, why don't you leave?" Shen Zhou leaned against the temple gate, gasping for breath and asked.

"The True Buddha is here, where am I going?" The Dream Machine Master closed his eyes and knocked on the wooden fish calmly.

Shen Zhou looked up at the broken statue on the shrine and said to himself, "Is there really a god in this world?" ”

"If you believe, you will have, if you don't believe, you will not believe, and if you are sincere, you will be spiritual." Master Mengji recited the Buddha, "Sinking the boat, the army in the clouds is defeated, you don't go to escape but come to the Buddhist temple, do you ask for anything?" ”

Shen Zhou did not say a word, put down the sword in his hand, folded his hands, and knelt reverently in the snow. He had more than a dozen broken bones around his body, and it was not easy to get here, and every time he knelt down, the broken bones cracked more and more, stabbing and tearing at his flesh.

He bowed three times and bowed nine times, step by step, and knelt in front of the Buddha hall with blood.

He learned to hold a knife to kill people since he was sensible, but the blood flowed out of his own body, and he knew that people had so much blood, and it meandered all the way from the door to the front of the Buddha hall, endlessly.

"Donor, what are you asking for?"

The Dream Machine Master stood in front of him, the candlelight behind him faint, as if the light of the lotus sea under the throne of the Buddha in mythology flickered.

"I pray that she will be safe in all things and live a long life."

The wound on Shen Zhou's shoulder ripped open again, and blood poured out like a stream, dripping from his closed palm, splattering into a pool of blood.

"Donor, death is like a lamp going out."

"I pray that she will be safe in all things and live a long life." Shen Zhou said stubbornly.

"Donor, there are some things that gods and Buddhas can't do." The Dream Machine Master said, "You'd better go back." ”

Shen Zhou felt the ribs piercing his lungs go a little deeper, he pressed his chest, buying himself a little respite, and looked up at the Dream Machine Master, his eyes were as clear as snow, like a child kneeling in front of the Buddha and praying.

"If the gods and Buddhas have eyes, they should know that the Chu family and her should not end up like this. They fought for the people, for the country, don't they deserve a good ending? Didn't the Buddha say that good and evil are rewarded, and cause and effect are reincarnated? ”

The Dream Machine Master was dumbfounded.

Shen Zhou bowed to the ground suddenly, blood foam flowed between his lips and teeth, and the words wept blood and his voice was resolute, and he said it to the gods and Buddhas above the nine heavens.

"I know that murder is like hemp, and my sin is unforgivable, and I can't afford to enter the Buddhist temple for half a step. I am willing to keep the green lantern for the Buddha for a hundred years, suffer from the karmic fire of ten lifetimes in hell, atone for the sins of my life, and only ask the gods and Buddhas to have mercy on her. ”

Shen Zhou was hoarse and swore a gambling curse, like a desperate gambler, betting everything on the table. He traded his life for the gods for a hopeless chance, but he didn't know if he would get a response.

"Please, live."

Shen Zhou bowed his head to the ground, and a bright blood color was smeared under him, and he gradually lost his breath.

There was a dead silence in front of the Buddha hall.

After a long time, the master of the dream machine stroked the top of his head and sighed, "Idiot. ”

The flickering candlelight illuminated the Dream Master's torn robe and blackened wounds in his abdomen.

When the Beidi people broke into this place and plundered, the monks of all sizes in the temple had already run clean. In order to protect the scriptures in the temple, the master of the dream machine was stabbed through the abdomen with a knife, and his life was not long.

But Shen Zhou walked in like a wandering soul who didn't know where to return to heaven and earth.

The Dream Machine Master toppled the candlestick, and the tongue of fire licked the curtains and shrines in the Buddhist temple, and the entire Huguo Temple was gradually engulfed in flames, burning silently in the endless heavy snow of Yunzhong County. The old man sat down peacefully beside the dead young man, meditating cross-legged and chanting sutras.

The collapsed beams of the house rattled with the bronze bell, which rang through the broken clouds like a lone bird hovering high in the sky.

In the firelight, the Dream Master's body gradually turned into a pile of charcoal, which drifted away with the sweeping wind.

Only a few relics were left in place.

——

If you live, I'll win the bet.

——

In this life, auspicious charms for four years.

The sunken boat on the bed bounced violently, as if someone had punched his ribs, and curled up in agony. Chu Zhixia's arm strength was amazing, and he grabbed his wrist alive and unfolded his body.

Li Qingbai took out a few crooked silver needles from his chest and instructed Chu Zhixia to say, "Go find the Blood Lotus." ”

Cheng Yuan listened on the side, and just wanted to interject that the blood lotus could not be found in the imperial capital, but was interrupted by Chu Zhixia.

"Okay." Chu Zhixia said without hesitation.

"The poison of the burning heart is like a maggot on the tarsal bones, it is difficult to pull out, and because of its encroachment, it is difficult to return by the time the poison occurs." Li Qingbai said a few more words, "Only the effect of blood lotus condensation and blood veins can slow down the spread of toxins, and only then can it be saved." ”

Chu Zhixia knew all these things, and Li Qingbai's words were very unnecessary. Chu Zhixia heard what he said, and motioned for Cheng Yuan to go out first.

There was only a delirious Shen Zhou left in the house, and Chu Zhixia's master and apprentice.

"Master, what do you want to tell me?"

"The day you left the clouds, your brother sent me a message saying that the residual poison of the sinking boat was different." Li Qingbai is there, "Otherwise, ordinary people want to find me, there are no three or five years, it is difficult to find a trace, and the bones of the sunken boat are cold." ”

Chu Zhixia felt sorry in his heart and said, "It's my negligence." ”

"No, Changle, your family has done its best to Shen Zhou." Li Qingbai denied, "Even if he can't be saved this time, it's not your fault." ”

Chu Zhixia was shocked by these words, and Tianling Gai trembled, and he held on to the table so that he didn't fall down, "Master, what do you mean...... Chances are you're not going to be able to do it, are you? ”

"The burning poison in his body is like ashes, and it should never have flareed up again. The comeback is like a prairie fire, unstoppable. Li Qingbai shook his head, "Even if he survives this time, it is not a longevity after all." ”

After the huge confusion, all that hit Chu Zhixia's heart was helplessness.

Why is this happening?

Chu Zhixia remembered the idle conversation that day without warning, and Shen Zhou suddenly told her that if he died one day, he would write "Chu Zhixia Li" on the stone tablet.

Did he already know that there would be such a day?

"On the way here, I heard that the blood lotuses within a hundred miles of the imperial capital have been purchased." Li Qingbai suddenly said, "If you want to find it, it must be difficult, and it is possible to die for life." ”

Li Qingbai looked at Chu Zhixia with a sharp inquiry, "Changle, your heart is happy, just like a book that you can never read, a porcelain that is not warm, and a bird that will never look back for you." Even so, are you going to save him? ”

Chu Shixia came back from Fang Cai's distraction, chuckled, and carried the madness of a young man: "If I like a flying bird, why should I be trapped in a cage?" It is my business that I longing for him. It doesn't matter if he runs to the heavens and the earth, or draws the ground as a prison. ”

"Shen Zhou has no parents, no relatives, no friends." Chu Zhixia said word by word, "If I can't spare my life for him, who else will save him?" He said that he would accompany me to the ends of the earth, the mountains of swords and the sea of fire, and I couldn't watch him die. ”

Chu Zhixia picked up the snow and pushed the door to leave.

There was a long silence in the room.

Li Qingbai scratched the tip of Shen Zhou's nose and said, "Did you hear everything?" If you still care about her kindness to you, listen to me, calm your breathing and heartbeat, and protect the Dharma for you. ”