Cong Xin stood by the pool, pointed to a stone tablet that had been covered by grass, looked up at Nandao, and said, "This is a pool." ”

Nan Dao followed Cong Xin's small hand and saw the stone stele, on which he could only see the word 'one', and the lower half was no longer visible, and then looked up at the other end of the pool, the man under the peach tree, and asked, "Who is he?" ”

Nandao had actually guessed a little in his heart, but for the sake of caution, he still asked.

Cong Xin carefully held the peach blossom in her hand, and walked towards another winding path outside the pool, at the end of which there was a rather large tree, and on the trunk was a small peach house, which should be where she lived.

"He's the sect master." The little girl's voice came from the spring rain.

The Sect Master of the Human Sword Sect, Cong Blade, one of the highest standing people in the world today.

Although on the first day of the Sword Sect, there were all kinds of cards and cards, as if the Sword Sect in the world was a big card hall, but when Nandao walked here, he still put away his previous jokes, hung the wine jug on his waist, took a deep breath, and carefully stepped on the ordinary bluestone path.

The trail is clean, and there are a lot of peach blossoms on the grass and pond next to it.

Nandao walked all the way along the path, then stopped at the edge of the pool, did not go to the bridge, and then stopped there, quietly waiting for the world's most famous sword cultivator to wake up.

Nandao stood under the umbrella and carefully looked at the man by the bridge not far away.

This master of the Sword Sect sitting in Nanyi City was dressed in white, with a lot of peach blossoms on his body, and he seemed to have slept for a long time, one hand was on the guardrail, as if he was grasping something, half of his face was lying on his arm, his mouth was slightly open, well, drooling. Nandao thought about it and automatically blocked the drooling in his heart. Then he continued to look down, his legs slightly crossed, half-sitting at the head of the bridge, the soles of his shoes were clean, and there was no mud at all.

In the pile of peach blossoms under the tree, there is a faint appearance of a sword, but Nandao can't look carefully, and can only see half of the hilt of the sword outside, as if there is a 'square' character engraved on the sword.

Nandao stood until late afternoon, and the man still showed no signs of waking up.

The rain in Nanyi City seemed to have stopped, and Nandao looked up at the sky, and there were clouds of glow and smoke piled up in the sky after the rain, illuminating the world softly.

Nandao looked at it for a while, and seemed a little tired, and the umbrella in his hand was slightly crooked, and then he heard a lazy voice coming from the side of the bridge.

"Hold your umbrella tight, boy."

Nandao was startled, clenched his umbrella, lowered his head, and found that the Sword Sect Sect Sect Master who was sleeping on his stomach at the head of the bridge had woken up, still lying lazily on the guardrail, and did not look at this side, but just looked down at the flowing water under the bridge.

Nandao saluted, but hesitated for a long time when he spoke, because he didn't know what to call the man in front of him.

Suzerain? Predecessor?

Cong Blade didn't seem to know what Nandao was thinking, just looked at the flowing water, and said slowly: "Actually, I didn't want you to come in at first, Nandao. ”

Nanjima stood by the pool with an umbrella in his hand, remembering the man's reaction when he first knocked on the door.

It turns out that you can't come in regardless of whether you can play cards or not.

It's just that Nandao remembered Zhang Xiaoyu again, so he asked, "Then why did my predecessor let me in later?" ”

Cong Jian leaned on the guardrail and said lazily: "Because Zhang Xiaoyu ran out to play cards last night, he didn't know these things, so he let you in." ”

“......”

"Also, don't call me senior." Cong Jian said, stood up, walked under the tree, flipped in the peach blossom pile, turned the sword out, threw it aside, and then sat down against the peach tree, and then beckoned to Nandao, motioning for him to come over.

Nandao held an umbrella and looked at the peach blossoms on the grass in front of him with some hesitation, and then heard the sound of the bush blade.

"It's okay, they're born with spirits and will naturally avoid you."

Only then did Nandao lift his feet.

When the wind came, the peach blossoms in front of me were blown open a path to the bottom of the peach tree.

Nan Dao walked over, stood still opposite Cong Blade, sat down again, looked at the man in front of him with a lazy sword intent, and asked, "Why don't you let me call senior?" ”

Cong Jian said calmly: "Because I not only cultivate the Dao, I also cultivate cause and effect, and if you call me a senior, I will have something to do with you, which is a very troublesome thing." ”

Nandao didn't understand, and Cong Blade raised his hand and pointed to the black umbrella in Nandao's hand.

"You are the one who is favored by it and disliked by it."

"It?"

Nandao looked at the umbrella in his hand and seemed to understand what Cong Blade was talking about.

He can't see the rain or snow, and he can't see the sky, which means that he needs to hide under the umbrella and not be seen by the things in the sky.

Nandao looked down at the flask in his hand and said, "I can probably guess some, after all, it's been so many years, but I'm here to see you today.... Sect Master, I just want to ......"

Nandao paused as he spoke, as he saw Cong Blade shake his head.

Cong Jian raised his hand to catch a piece of peach blossoms, and said calmly, "Let me ask you a question." ”

"Speak, please."

"Is there a second peach tree in the world that has bloomed for a thousand years?"

"I haven't heard of any of them."

Cong Jian let go of his hand, let the peach blossom fall, looked at Nandao and said, "Do you understand now?" ”

Nandao fell silent.

Yes, there is no second peach tree that has been in bloom for a thousand years.

Therefore, the peach blossom itself came from the Human Sword Sect.

"Your father and I used to know each other, so I gave him this peach branch back then to help you continue your life for ten years."

Father?

Nandao thought about his father, he never thought that the middle-aged man who opened a blacksmith shop but didn't strike iron, and slept in the yard all day long, would have anything to do with the Cong Blade, one of the three swords in the world, in front of him.

Cong Blade didn't care about Nandao's silence, looked at the peach blossoms all over the ground, and continued: "But cause and effect are orderly, and if you can ask for ten years, it is already the limit of the world, so even if you really give this peach tree to you, you can't really continue your life." ”

Cong Blade sighed, looked at the three-inch peach branch on Nandao's shoulder, and said, "What's more, you still have to pay back the ten-year cause and effect of that peach branch." ”

Nandao sat there stunned and said, "So what do you mean?" ”

Cong Blade brushed off the peach blossoms on his body, stood up, looked up at the orange sky, and said softly: "When you finish paying off that cause and effect, you will die, Nandao." ”

"Is there no other way?"

Nandao muttered under his breath.

"If you live, you will die, and if you are born, you will die, this is a sentence that the Taoist saint Li Queyi once said, and I can't do anything about it."

Cong Blade had already sat back at the head of the bridge, watching the falling flowers under the bridge flow with the water, and said extremely calmly.

Nandao stood up, bowed to Cong Blade, and said, "Thank you." ”

Cong Blade waved his hand, lay on the bridge and closed his eyes, and in a moment, he was already asleep.

Nandao held an umbrella and silently began to walk back along the path he had come.

When he walked to the bluestone path, he heard Cong Jian as if he was talking in a dream, and muttered, "Cong Xin, when will the Hanging Courtyard start spring admission?" ”

Nandao was a little puzzled, and then turned to look at the mahogany house on the big tree in the distance a pond away.

The little girl Cong Xin sat at the window, looking at the peach blossoms in her hand in the twilight, and replied without looking back: "It's tomorrow, have you forgotten?" ”

Cong Jian seemed to have fallen asleep deeply, and did not say anything more, and the peach blossoms under the tree kept falling.

Nandao retracted his gaze, looked down at the bluestone slab under his feet, smiled, and whispered, "I remember." ”

......

Zhang Xiaoyu wore a rag on his shoulder, sat by the window on the window lattice on the second floor of the inn, and looked at the people coming and going in the streets and alleys below with a slight smile, as if he was very happy.

"I heard that you lost all the money you made a few days ago today, why do you look quite happy?"

Someone came up from the back stairs and put his arm on Zhang Xiaoyu's shoulder and said.

Zhang Xiaoyu didn't look back and knew who the person was, Su Guang, the young shopkeeper of the inn, his long-term card friend, card skills worse than him, it is said that his father once opened more than 100 inns in Huai'an, but he played cards and lost to only Nanyi City, which is indeed as his name suggests, lost.

Zhang Xiaoyu jumped down from the window happily, pushed Su Guang's hand away, and said, "Because I met someone today." ”

Su Guang stood at the window, watched Zhang Xiaoyu wipe the stairs with a rag, and asked curiously, "Who can make you so happy when you lose all your money?" Could it be the girl from the family in the cloth shop in the south of the city? ”

Zhang Xiaoyu wiped the handrail of the stairs and said, "Then she should be happy." ”

Su Guang followed, leaning on the escalator and asked, "Who is that?" ”

"You don't know anyone, it's not from Nanyi City."

"I think I can get to know each other."

Zhang Xiaoyu stopped, thought for a while and said, "You may know each other tonight." ”

"Why?"

"Because he not only won all my money, but also won the money of my three senior brothers, he will definitely spend so much money, your inn is so close, there is a chance that he will come to your house to stay."

"That's also my family's money, what are you happy about?"

Zhang Xiaoyu finished wiping the handrail, put the rag on his shoulder, jumped down the stairs directly, walked to the lobby, cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks on the table in the corner, and said while busy: "Because I've been looking for him." ”

Su Guang lay on the second floor and asked, "What are you looking for him for?" ”

Zhang Xiaoyu walked into the back kitchen with the dishes and chopsticks and did not answer.

After a long time, the sound of the back kitchen stopped, and Su Guang heard Zhang Xiaoyu's calm voice.

"Because I'm going to kill him."

"Don't say it."

Su Guang naturally didn't believe it, walked down, wandered around the lobby twice, walked to the door, leaned back again, and said to the back kitchen: "I'm playing cards, are you going." ”

"No money, no going."

"Don't pull it down."

Su Guang shook his head and hummed and walked out.

After a long time, Zhang Xiaoyu walked out of the back kitchen, walked to a pillar in the corner of the lobby, looked at the scabbard hanging on it, and smiled slightly.

"My sword is gone, of course it's true."

Zhang Xiaoyu took off the scabbard, and it was empty, and the sword was gone.

The Human Sword Sect is looking at the human world.

And the world is looking at the swords of those Sword Sect disciples who play cards all day long - it doesn't matter where they are, what matters is where the sword goes.

Zhang Xiaoyu put the scabbard behind his back, threw the rag on the table, and walked to the counter, the shopkeeper was not there, but the security in Nanyi City was very good, not to mention that this was still an inn in the north of the city, there had never been a theft, and he counted ten cents in the counter - this was his salary this afternoon.

Zhang Xiaoyu put the money in the money bag and walked out with a smile.

The wind comes from the long street, and it is the spring breeze.

The spring breeze blows up the corner of the white robe, which is a Taoist robe.

There seems to be a line of small print on the robe.

The mountains and rivers sit with me.

It is a view of mountains and rivers.