"On the second of February, the dragon raised its head."

In the middle of spring, the dragon raises its head.

Worship to the dragon god began one after another in various places, praying for good weather in the coming year. The south of the Yangtze River is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it is a rich and prosperous place, and the reverence for the dragon god is especially great. On this day, the countryside will carry clay colored dragons across the wet land and offer sacrifices to melons, fruits and live animals.

The richer the place, the grander the sacrifice. Prestigious squires would even scramble to make offerings to the dragon god as an honor.

——

Jiangnan, Changzhou.

The red silk was wrapped around the cyan dragon, and the people on both sides cheered. On the high-rise building, someone threw a lot of colorful paper flowers, which were fluttering one after another, like a colorful rain. The procession to greet the dragon god blows and blows, and the gongs and drums are noisy.

The wheel suddenly ran over a piece of bluestone, and the dragon on the chariot shook for a moment, and the red silk suddenly broke, and the dragon fell down like a mountain collapsing. The crowd dodged in panic and exclaimed, and the clay dragon fell to pieces.

"What's that?"

Someone saw a long strip of something rolling out of the shattered dragon, and the bold stepped forward to fiddle with it, screaming and crawling into the crowd.

"It's a dead man, and the dragon god has a dead man in his belly!"

——

The largest green building in Changzhou, the drunken gold building.

The statue of the dragon god was hidden in a dead man, and this incident caused a storm in the city. When the guests hugged the woman's soft waist, they couldn't help but talk a few words, with vicious speculation and curses in their words.

Yan Liu wandered to the edge of the crowd and flashed into a bedroom while people were not looking.

This bedroom belonged to the old pearl yellow dancing girl of the drunken gold building, and at this moment there were six people sitting in this ambiguously decorated and warm room, each wearing close-fitting soft armor under the robe, with a slender and long blade.

Dressed in a tulle dress, the dancing queen dances in the middle of the crowd.

Yan Liu walked into the room, and Mai Ji stopped, and naturally sat in a man's arms, holding a wine glass and feeding him.

"It's confirmed, the person in the Qinglong statue is the mountain ghost Kui." Yan Liu said expressionlessly, "There are not a few good bones in the whole body, and the tendons and veins are all broken." There is only one wound on his body, judging from the traces, it should be Gongzizhou. ”

Mai Ji was stupid, as if she didn't know what the people in the room were talking about, but she just smiled and hugged the man's neck and was intimate with him. The others did not shy away from her at all, and they discussed it fiercely on their own.

"It's not unusual for Gongzizhou to have this ability, but what is he doing with the corpse stuffed into the green dragon statue? Demonstrate to us? ”

"The mountain ghost is dead, did he leak our whereabouts? When he disappeared, I said, we should get out! ”

"Where to retreat? Withdraw to the north or the south, and if we withdraw again, we will have to withdraw from Jiangnan! ”

A group of people raised their eyebrows coldly, almost drawing their swords against each other. The dancing girl's smiling murmur was particularly abrupt.

"Childe Boat" is a mysterious person in the information of the Mountain Ghost Clan, and this name comes from an assassin who died at his hands. The Assassin's body had not been disposed of after his death, and he sent a message to the Yamagi clan through the gesture of his fingers - this man was a haunted man who had caused heavy losses to the Yamagi clan, and the word "boat" was in his name.

As for whether Gongzizhou was a man or a woman, the Mountain Ghost Clan preferred him to be a man, and a small number of Assassins thought that he was a feminine and charming woman, because a considerable number of male Assassins died with a faint fragrance on their bodies.

The three words Gongzizhou have long been on the list of mountain ghost rewards, and his head is worth a thousand gold.

"Alright." As soon as the man holding the dancing girl spoke, everyone fell silent and looked at him.

"Hiding won't solve the problem." The man said slowly, "Since Gongzizhou has come to the door, let's kill him." Gongzizhou is nothing to be afraid of, he is also a human being, and if he is a human being, he will die. But this man has become the demon of the family, and it is the fear in your heart that kills you. ”

The man's voice was calm and powerful, and the others quickly calmed down.

The Maihime, who was sitting on the man's lap, suddenly "giggled" and laughed, and the laughter was as crisp as a silver bell. Everyone's nerves were like spider silk suddenly being pulled tight, staring at her vigilantly and murderously. This dancing girl was drugged by them, and she obeyed the drugged person, and soon died violently.

It stands to reason that she is not a dangerous person.

But the dancing girl leaned back and forth while laughing, and at the same time hugged the man's neck tenderly and did not let go, "Hades called, the ghost is gone; Blood seals the throat, Gongzi Zhou. ”

The man she was holding suddenly tightened, grabbed her by the neck and tried to pick her up. But Maihime's movements were faster, and her hand was like a sharp blade, easily sinking into the back of the man's neck, peeling off the flesh and bones.

The others rushed up, trying to tear apart the dancing girl who suddenly burst out. But a cat jumped in from a window that had been pushed open at some point, sat between the dancing queen and the crowd, and licked its paws in ignorance.

Just a moment of hesitation, Maihime jumped up lightly from the stiff man, her plain white hands dripping with blood.

"She's not the dancing girl, she's one of the ten ghosts' 'pulse interceptor'."

I don't know who spoke up.

Luo Shuangyi, who was wearing a human skin mask, shook off the blood on his hands, and said in a low voice: "Don't you do it yet?" The famous Gongzi boat. ”

The faces of the crowd changed abruptly, and they glanced vigilantly at their companions. The first one to be seriously suspected was Yan Liu, who was the last to enter the door.

"What are you looking at me for, can't you see such a clumsy discord plan?!" Yan Liu said angrily, "Who is Gongzizhou, don't you know if you catch the pulse interceptor?!" ”

"Take both of them!"

Someone decisively gave an order.

Yan Liu unsurprisingly resisted fiercely, and the assassins of the Mountain Ghost Clan, who were already suspicious of him, became more and more determined, and they acted mercilessly. Luo Shuangyi dodged the attack left and right, his movements were fluent and graceful, and he was at ease, slowly approaching Yan Liu.

Luo Shuangyi said to Yan Liu with a solemn face: "Get out!" ”

Yan Liu was so angry that he was about to vomit blood, and just as he was about to scold, a slender blade pierced his heart. Yan Liu looked down in disbelief at the silver-white blade with blood in his heart, and then looked at the sword wielder along the blade.

The man did have a face he was familiar with.

"Think I'm in the way? Then you're going to have to play four. ”

Pretending to be someone else's voice for a long time, Shen Zhou said in a slightly hoarse voice. He raised his hand to unmask the human skin on his face and looked around at the crowd.

"It's better to be famous than to meet, it's not talented in the next place, it's Gongzizhou." Shen Zhou's skin was pale, his eyebrows and eyes were beautiful, and he smiled slightly, "If you want my life, you can start queuing." ”

Several people glanced at each other, two attacked Shen Zhou, one attacked Luo Shuangyi, and the last person rushed to the window unexpectedly - even if everyone died here today, it doesn't matter, Gongzizhou has already shown his face, as long as his appearance is passed on, Quan Dang bought his information with these six lives, and it is also a profitable business.

As the window slammed open, the wood, the window paper, and the assassin's body cracked in an instant, as if an invisible blade had split him at the waist! Landing only in a moment's time, the Assassin stared back and saw his disconnected lower body—and a string-like thing taut in front of the window, dripping with blood.

Inside the house, the bloody battle was over.

Shen Zhou held the sword in his backhand and nailed the assassin under his command to the table, the blade of which was slightly peeking out of the table. Luo Shuangyi wiped her hands dry on the dance skirt that was as thin as a cicada's wings, and looked at Shen Zhou with a little dissatisfaction: "Why did you do it so late?" ”

"Otherwise, how can they eat dogs?" Shen Zhou didn't apologize at all, put on a silver ghost mask, and turned his head to look for the cat in the house.

The killer sword used by the mountain ghost clan is thin and long, and you don't even have to get your own blood to kill people. Shen Zhou's body was clean, only the edges of his sleeves were soaked in a layer of blood. He found the white cat under the table with its ears pricked up, and the white cat stared at him with round eyes.

Shen Zhou stretched out his hand at it, and there was a candy in his palm.

The white cat came up and licked a mouthful of candy, as if confirming the identity of the feeder through this familiar action, and was safely picked up by Shen Zhou and stuffed into his clothes.

"Pack up and go." Shen Zhou removed the murderous weapon on the window and threw it to Luo Shuangyi, climbed through the window and left, his boots indifferently stepping in a pool of blood.

"Hey, the intelligence channel over there in the imperial capital has been opened." Luo Shuangyi said suddenly.

The sunken boat stopped.

"The first news we received was that the emperor had grounded the eldest lady of the Chu clan in Yunzhong in the Autumn Leaves Mountain Residence for three months because of the death of a eunuch."

Shen Zhou suddenly clenched his fists.

——

Imperial capital, Akiba Mountain Residence.

Chu Shixia sat in the Taishi chair under the eaves, looking up at the melting snow flowing and dripping like a spring. The sky was as clear as a wash, and the wingtips of the white birds carved scratches among the flowing clouds; In the golden-wire birdcage at hand, the emerald finches leisurely comb their feathers.

This is the third month that Chu Zhixia has been grounded, and from the first day of the grounding, Pei Zhang was forced to move out of the Autumn Leaves Mountain Residence under pressure.

On the third day before Chu Shixia was punished to kneel in the Xuanzheng Palace, Sun Xia was inexplicably drowned in the lake. The emperor was furious, and although there was no evidence, he still suspected that Chu Zhixia was acting in revenge, and ordered her to be grounded.

Chu Shixia did not defend and accepted it calmly.

There was a thick stack of letterhead beside the golden wire birdcage, densely filled with incomprehensible words. That's the code language used by the spies in the clouds, and it needs to be solved with a specific key. The information is concise and capable, but the code words on the paper are too long and too obscure to read.

The top piece of paper reads: "At the beginning of the fourteenth year of the auspicious charm, the snow was broken." Counting forward: "Erdan Khan, the unidentified leader of the Blue Eagle Tribe." Further on: "The Chen family killed the monarch and usurped the throne, and Bai Huan acted as a tiger." ”

"Miss." Yuzhu walked behind Chu Zhixia and called her softly.

"What's wrong?" Chu Zhixia asked calmly.

"His Royal Highness the King of Qi has come down," Yuzhu said with a complicated expression, "with a holy decree." He said, Your Majesty has ordered your ground lifted. ”

Chu Zhixia looked back at Yuzhu's not good-looking face, and joked, "You seem to prefer that I be locked up all the time." ”

Yuzhu shook his head and said, "His Royal Highness King Qi has also brought another piece of news. The plague was rampant in Binzhou, starvation was everywhere, and countless deaths and injuries were imposed; Gyeongju Wu Guang Jiegan uprising, known as the Great Zhou Wude, in the name of deviating from the new policy, committed rebellion. ”

Chu Zhixia nodded and said flatly that he understood.

"Eldest Miss, Your Majesty lifted your grounding at this time, does he want the second prince to lead the army to quell the rebellion?" Yuzhu said a little hurriedly, "Or, he knows that the Chu clan in Yunzhong is not out of the north of the country, and he wants you to ......."

"Alright." Chu Shixia interrupted her and said calmly, "Even if he asks me to go to counterinsurgency and disaster relief, can I not go, do I dare not go?" ”

"But—"

"Which of these straw bales in the imperial capital can defeat the rebels?" Chu Zhixia got up, smoothed the wrinkles on his clothes, and wrote lightly, "I'm not going, do I want to watch the rebels fight to the imperial capital, and then let the second brother gallop thousands of miles to help and raise troops to serve the king?" ”

"Do you guess he is more afraid of the rebels, or has 300,000 elite soldiers in Xueguan?"

Yuzhu lowered her head, with tears in her eyes, and choked up: "The eighteenth birthday of the eldest lady hasn't passed yet." ”

Chu Zhixia curled his fingers to wipe away her tears, and coaxed softly: "Okay, what is there to cry about." The Chu clan in the clouds, how can there be no one who does not go to the battlefield. ”

"This is different, the second son was younger than you when he went to the battlefield, but he has the eldest son and the old prince by his side." Yuzhu said with teary eyes, "But what about you?" ”