Zhan Bai and Yu Jiang quietly glanced at each other, and they both saw the thick doubts in each other's eyes, but they all remained silent, and no one asked again.

It's not that they don't want to ask, but they have read a lot of things from the old man's eyes, although they can't fully understand the meaning contained in the old man's eyes, but at least they see the old man's attachment to the bronze incense, and even they vaguely see from the old man's eyes a kind of brotherly love but better than brotherly love.

They don't fully understand that feeling, but it's real.

After a long time, the old man reluctantly let go of his hand, looked around at the "Zhongyi Hall", the vermilion pillars around the whole place, the pillars are still the same, but the paint color is far from being as bright as it was at the beginning, from the original red translucent, it has become the dark in the red today, which is the trace of erosion carved down by the years.

There are also rows of sandalwood comb chairs, the chairs are still the same, as at the beginning, neatly arranged on the ground, but there are no longer as many people as before, and the rest is just empty and lonely chairs, which is sad after the vicissitudes of life.

In the end, he set his eyes on the huge sandalwood Taishi chair in front of the "Zhongyi Hall", the original graceful and peerless figure also did not leave a single shadow, and the statue of Emperor Wenguan on the wall behind the Taishi chair was still lifelike and vivid, but it was missing the original majestic figure, and the style was not as good as before.

Slowly pacing to the statue of Emperor Wenguan, the old man's eyes became confused, although the portrait was still cleaned up and tidy, without a trace of dust and shame, but the old man could not see the momentum of desire and take-off.

"Hey!"

Suddenly, the old man sighed heavily, "I know you have a lot of questions in your minds. ”

He didn't turn around, his eyes fixed on the familiar portrait on the wall, his voice hoarse and low, trembling slightly.

Zhan Bai and Yu Jiang still didn't speak, staring at the old man's back quietly, waiting for him to continue, because they knew very well in their hearts that since the old man had already opened his mouth, he would definitely continue to speak.

Because the old man also knew in his heart that if there was no sufficient reason, it would be easy for him to enter this "Zhongyi Hall", but if he wanted to get out, it would be a completely different situation.

Although the two of them sympathized with the old man and did not have too much resistance to the old man, after all, the "Zhongyi Hall" was the secret of the "Gathering Scattered Inn", the secret of the [Nether Inspector History] and even the entire Shengxuan City, and they would not let it be exposed to the eyes of people who did not know their roots for no reason. After all, it involves a lot of things, and none of them can live up to the trust that their brothers trust in them.

After a pause, the old man spoke up again: "If you don't mind, I'll tell you a story!"

"Your Excellency, please!"

Zhanbai nodded.

The old man finally took his eyes off the portrait on the wall, and turned to look at Zhan Bai and Yu Jiang, "A long, long time ago, there was a little boy who was born very lively and cheerful, and he also had a very warm and harmonious family, with a loving father and a loving mother. Therefore, the little boy lived a happy life from birth, and because his family was quite well-off, his life can be described as carefree. The little boy has loved martial arts since he was a child, he hopes that he can be a hero for the country and the people when he grows up, and his parents also cherish him very much, so he is also taken care of in every way, and he also spent money to invite professional martial arts teachers to teach the little boy to learn martial arts, and the little boy is also very competitive, quite high-minded, and many things can be understood once or twice. If it goes on like this, everything is going according to your wishes, step by step, step by step, right?"

Zhan Bai and the others nodded one after another, if there were no other accidents, this was obviously easy to see, but listening to the old man's tone, it seemed that things were not as smooth as imagined.

The old man laughed at himself, "The little boy thought the same way at first, but not long after, the disaster struck, his parents were killed, his house was raided, and the little boy was hidden by his parents in his own wine cellar to escape." From then on, the boy lived a life of wandering with nothing to rely on, when he was only seven years old. ”

"And how did he survive?"

Zhan Bai's heart turned up in the turbulent waves, and asked in a deep voice. He really couldn't think of how a seven-year-old child would survive after losing his support.

"yes, how the hell did he survive?"

A glimmer of remembrance flashed in the old man's eyes, "It's just that when you're hungry, you can pick up the leftovers and discarded food from others, or look for some leftovers in the garbage heap, and when you're thirsty, you can find a water source to drink, and when you're tired and sleepy, you just squat in any place and sleep in the open." Although he was afraid of ridicule from others at the beginning, he was afraid that his young self-esteem would not be able to bear it, and he would quietly carry many strange eyes, but in order to survive, in order to survive, in order to be able to live, and in order to avenge his parents, he quickly let go of everything, and even slowly got used to taking the initiative to beg for others.

The old man smiled, full of self-deprecation. Zhan Bai and Yu Jiang were also stunned, and they couldn't say how sorry they were, the reality could really be so cruel that it was outrageous, what did he do wrong for a seven-year-old child?

The old man continued: "When he grew up, the little boy became a wandering prodigal son, because he had long been accustomed to being at home from all over the world, but because of his early experience, he began to become silent, because in his heart, there were few good people in this world, and he clearly remembered that when he was a child and fighting for food with others, he was beaten with a blue nose and swollen face and scars, and even his head was broken and bleeding. Later, he met a girl, the girl he loved most in his life, and it was her beauty that made him gradually open his heart, but then the girl also died of illness. ”

At that time, he felt that his whole world had collapsed, and he didn't know what to do, but fortunately he was pulled back from the brink of death by a confidant friend of his own. Even so, at that time, he had lost all his ambitions, and later, he was framed, went mad, and killed many people by mistake, including some defenseless old and weak women and children, after all, he still became disgusted by him. ”

After saying this in one breath, the old man suddenly felt so relaxed and relieved.

Zhan Bai hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Later, he was chased and killed by the whole Jianghu people, but because of his mysterious whereabouts, no one could find him at all, but in the end, he himself turned himself in and asked Master Zhiyong, the abbot of Shaolin, to preside over justice, and then he was taken to Shaolin Temple, right?"

He finally understood who the little boy in the old man's story was, a nightmare that no one would want to talk about.

Seeing Zhan Bai staring at him seriously, the old man nodded lightly, since he had already come here, he had no intention of hiding it.

Yu Jiang took over the conversation, "It is said that on the way back to Shaolin when he was detained, he met a person, and after saying something to Master Zhiyong, Master Zhiyong suddenly changed his mind and decided to save him from the sea of suffering?"

"Not bad!"

The old man nodded again.

Yu Jiang suddenly stared at him, and said in a deep voice: "If my expectations are correct, Your Excellency is the little boy in the story, right?"

In fact, he didn't need to guess at all, the old man's expression already said everything.

"Exactly!"

The old man did not deny that his expression had returned to normal, not sad or happy.

"Or is it more accurate to call Your Excellency the "Polar Shadow God Hand" Gu Shijian?"

Zhan Bai added: "But, ...... your face?"

In his memory, Gu Shijian's special face was completely different from the appearance of the old man in front of him.

"Is it cured?"

He couldn't help but wonder in his heart.

The old man smiled bitterly, but did not answer directly, "'Polar Shadow Divine Hand'? ”

"I see!"

Yu Jiang smiled faintly, "It turns out that Your Excellency has already spied out of Xiaoxinlou, but the vast majority of people on the rivers and lakes still think that Your Excellency is no longer alive?"

The two of them were the second of the few people who knew that Gu Shijian was not dead, and they had always known that Gu Shijian was placed under the Xiaoxin Tower at the head of Shengxuan City, but they didn't expect that he had already walked out of there at this time.

"It's not necessarily possible, but the matter of loyalty has to come out to breathe. Besides, the world is inherently impermanent, what is absolutely true? The Gu Shijian in their hearts has indeed been dead for a long time. ”

As he spoke, the old man stretched out his hand and pulled it from the side of his ear, only to hear a "stab" sound, and a piece of something similar to a dough was ripped off the old man's face.

Immediately afterwards, what greeted Zhan Bai and Yu Jiang was a potholed and unrecognizable face, which was indeed Gu Shijian.

They will never forget this face, it was here that the two of them saw Gu Shijian's face in the first place. It was drizzling like today, and at that time, Tiangongzi was sitting on the Taishi chair in front of him, and their brothers were sitting in turn.

There were two other people who accompanied Gu Shijian here, one was a young monk named "Erjiu", and the other was Master Zhiyong, the abbot of Shaolin.

After the three of them came here, they greeted Tiangongzi for a long time, and then Gu Shijian was placed under Xiaoxin Tower, and the 29th monk also stayed in Xiaoxin Tower to take care of it.

Later, they even heard that Master Zhiyong had reached some kind of consensus with Tiangongzi, but as for what it was, no one knew except the two of them.