Outside the western borders of the Imperial Dynasty, there was a large area of land that was not under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Territory.

The place is round and vast, with countless mountains and endless mountains. Each mountain range is unique, and the main peaks are towering and majestic, and these 100,000 mountains are collectively known as the Western Mountain Realm in the Taishi Continent.

In the territory of the West Mountains, there is a mountain range that tops 100,000 mountains. This mountain range towers outside the western border of the imperial dynasty, has the potential to reach the sky, holding the sun in the hand, it is called the Thang Long mountain range.

The main peak of the mountain range has a wheel on the ridge, the spine has a halo, the green soil is the dragon meat, the mountain stone is the keel, the grass and trees are the dragon skin, and the vein that is curving and lurking from a distance is the dragon body. So unlike other mountain ranges, the main peaks are named after the peaks, and it has a unique name, Thang Long Terrace.

Many of the famous rivers that ran through the hinterland of the Imperial Dynasty originated from the Seosan Mirror, and the most famous of them was called the Harumon River, which originated in the Thang Long Mountains and entered the Black Sea from west to east.

On weekdays, the waves are clear and blue, but as long as the weather is sunny for a long time, under the sunshine, the blue waves of the river will turn from blue to blue, until finally it becomes a golden wave flowing with the same color as the sun, so people give it a very vivid name, Qingchuan.

Legend has it that there will be such a change, because in ancient times, there was a green dragon in the Taishi Continent that flew up in Shenglongtai, but for some reason the ascension failed, and the golden dragon blood spilled from the sky and then flowed down from Shenglongtai, giving birth to the source of Qingchuan, after a long time of mountains and rivers changing paths, it became today's Qingchuan.

The great river of Qingchuan cut the southwest hinterland of the imperial dynasty, with it as the boundary, the south is secluded, and the north is Qingchuan.

In the south, the volcanic eruption more than 1,000 years ago turned the vast mountain forest into a wasteland after wildfires, and now the forest is verdant, and people call it Youyan Prefecture in order to warn themselves of the reverence for heaven and earth, and the capital of Youyan Prefecture is Suzaku City.

In the north, the basin was named Harukawa Prefecture because almost all of its tributaries nourished the Ichibana Plain Basin, and the capital of Harukawa Prefecture was Geumkanseong.

The mountains do not know the turn of the sun and the moon, and the road only knows the way back from the wind and rain.

After leaving Stone Town, Liu Weirui's worries about the future have been haunting her heart, so she increased the speed of the caravan to the extreme.

In the middle of the day at noon today, the daylight in spring has a temperature.

After the caravan turned a small hill, the vision in front of it changed, and a canyon suddenly towered in front of the caravan.

The sunlight overhead spreads here, and it becomes a curtain of light, and the light curtain is filled with water vapor and dances with the daylight.

Closing her eyes and feeling the long-lost moistness and coolness in the air, listening to the turbulent sound of water in front of her, Liu Weirui's nose was slightly fluttering, as if she smelled the smell of her hometown, and her whole body was light.

She and Mu Qing rode side by side in front, and at this time the reins had been loosened, and while raising her hand to wipe the fine beads of sweat on her smooth forehead with her sleeve, she looked at the canyon in front of her with the dazzling sunlight.

"Mu Qing, did you see it?" Liu Weirui pointed ahead and smiled easily.

The sunlight stayed on the long eyelashes, Mu Qingxing's eyes were slightly weak, and he followed the direction of his white fingers to see the natural wonders that were like Xianguan under the interweaving of sunlight and mist, and then his eyes shifted, and he saw three imposing cliff carvings on the mountain stones on the left side of the canyon, and his heart couldn't help but be shocked by the divine will in this Xianguan cliff carving scroll for a moment.

"Harukawa Pass. Mu Qing whispered.

"Whew-"

Although she already had the answer in her heart, after getting the confirmation of the person next to her, Liu Weirui's whole person suddenly became more relaxed.

She said with a smile: "After passing the Qingchuan Pass, I entered the Qingchuan Prefecture, which is considered to be home." ”

Mu Qing felt the ease and joy emanating from the beauty beside him from the inside out, and couldn't help but smile and said: "More than 700 kilometers from Vermilion Bird City back to Jinguan City, these more than 500 kilometers in Youyan Prefecture are indeed over. ”

"yes. Liu Weirui sighed: "I have walked more than 500 kilometers many times, but this time is undoubtedly the longest and most memorable." ”

The emotions in Liu Weirui's words became very complicated for a while, Mu Qing looked at the other party's slightly pursed red lips, changed the topic and asked, "The Liu family is still famous in Qingchuan Prefecture, right?"

Liu Weirui had bright eyes and a bright look, and said with a bright face: "Yes, the Liu family has been able to rank among the top three in the entire Qingchuan Prefecture, specializing in brocade silk weaving, so our Liu family also has a name, called "Jinsi Liu". ”

Mu Qing was surprised and asked, "Then why did you go to Vermilion Bird City to purchase medicinal materials?"

Liu Weirui replied with a smile: "Since I started to lead the caravan, I have come to Vermilion Bird City at least twice a year to purchase medicinal materials, but this is not for myself, it is for my good friend's family, and her family is also one of the ten families in Jinguan City, and the title of 'Medicine King Li' is even louder than the name of 'Jinsi Liu'." ”

Liu Weirui saw that Mu Qing was listening carefully with her lower jaw, and couldn't help but laugh and speak, "Are you interested in coming to my house now?" ”

Mu Qing said embarrassedly: "Miss Weirui, don't you joke, didn't I tell you my true identity?"

Mu Qing has never been a murderous weapon that can kill emotions and slash coldness, as a novice assassin, he encountered a task that was not a murder at the beginning, although it was still a little embarrassing and incomprehensible at the beginning, but as this task progressed, he became more and more comfortable.

After getting along with Liu Weirui for a long time, Mu Qing also said some information that he could confess.

He sometimes wondered what would happen if the initial rookie task was to kill himself.

Can't you do it yourself? It doesn't seem like to.

It's just that it's not as transparent as it is now.

In Mu Qing's heart, he really did not agree that he was a real assassin, and if there was a standard for judging this "real", it should be the sentence that the Elder of the Assassin lineage said: "The meaning of an assassin's existence should be the killing hidden in the charming night." ”

What they want is a calm and silent weapon of killing.

Because Mu Qing knew that he would never be able to become that kind of person, and six years of orphan life had already laid the foundation of freedom and uninhibited in his character, so he was very eager to become stronger in his heart, because only by becoming stronger could he have the opportunity to truly leave the place that had cultivated him for twelve years and had nightmares for twelve years.

Finding that his thoughts were racing because of a sentence, Mu Qing shook his head, trying to suppress the desire for freedom in his heart.

After saying the words of invitation, Liu Weirui regretted it a little, Mu Qing told her that he was actually an assassin, although in her eyes he was not, but those big forces in the rivers and lakes were extremely disciplined.

Liu Weirui can't tell what she thinks now, and when she feels shallow and absurd and regretful, she faintly hides a trace of shy longing.

After seeing Mu Qing shaking her head and refusing without hesitation, she hid her complicated daughter's thoughts with a smile, and continued to ask: "Didn't you say that that place is not good at all, why don't you want to leave." ”

Thinking back to the present, Mu Qing raised his eyes and looked at Qingchuan Pass in the distance, and said seriously: "It's not time yet, my strength is not enough." ”

Surprised that he had spoken too deeply, Mu Qing turned his head to look aside.

Under the warm spring sun, the beautiful woman rides a horse on the side.

Although the other party seemed to understand something because of his words, Mu Qing did not feel nervous about revealing the secret in his heart. On the contrary, he felt very happy for his novice task, because he now had a few more friends, and mutual trust between friends was the basis of their interactions.

In fact, Mu Qing still hasn't really understood that the beginning of his assassin career that he is thankful for has changed something, which is destined to have far-reaching consequences.

He broke the friendly silence between them and said with a smile: "There should be a bigger post station in Qingchuan Pass, let's have a good meal at noon today." ”

Liu Weirui glanced at Mu Qing, suppressed the question in her heart, and replied with a smile: "Qingchuan Pass is not a post station, but an important town, and there are many people coming and going from the south to the north in the town, so there is no post station, but there are many inns. ”

After regaining a relaxed state of mind, the characteristics of a foodie are easily revealed.

Mu Qingxing's eyes flashed, he pursed his lips, and couldn't wait to say: "I've been eating wild meat for the past few days, and today I can finally change my taste, let's go quickly." ”

"Okay, you can order whatever you want today, I'm not short of money. Liu Weirui laughed coquettishly, but she had already slapped forward.

And just when Mu Qing and Liu Weirui passed through Qingchuan Pass, and before they came to Qingchuan Pass Town, an inn called "Dangguan" in the town walked into a man dressed as a butcher.

His face was very ordinary, and under his dark complexion was a sturdy body, and he looked like he was forty or fifty years old.

He found a place by the window and sat quietly, and the two people at the table behind him who were chatting paused for a moment before paying no more attention.

Xiao Er of the "Dangguan" Inn recognized this man, so he first went to wipe the table of the guests who had just finished lunch, and by the way, the teapot that had been filled with water twice on the table was filled with hot water, and then he came to his table with the pot of tea that had no taste.

"Butcher Hu, this pot of tea is given to you on my own initiative, why don't you care about your own butcher shop these days, and come to my inn at noon every day?"

The swarthy man known as "Hu Butcher" is actually the owner of the butcher shop in the east of Qingchuan Guan Town, and the daily fresh meat in the inn is taken from the other party's shop.

After Butcher Hu took the teapot, he poured himself a cup of clear tea, but his eyes were biased to the window.

The shopkeeper is a lazy character, and when he saw that the other party didn't care about himself, he didn't care, and he followed the other party's gaze out of the window and said with a painful face: "It seems that Lao Tzu has to let the shopkeeper collect the money for this location, except for the observation deck on the second floor, your location is the best, I haven't paid attention to this before." ”

The inn is on a high terrain, and the window in the lobby on the first floor has a very good view of the window, and you can clearly see the scenery of Qingchuan Pass not far away.

The shopkeeper next to him was still chattering, and Butcher Hu was not annoyed after retracting his gaze, and said with a dumb smile: "I want to eat the meat I slaughtered, can't I?"

Although he often deals with each other, Xiao Er really can't stand the other party's idle and peaceful nature, so he feels like he has lost a battle, and says helplessly: "Okay, okay, let's talk about it, what do you want to eat." ”

"Half a catty of fried beef, eight taels of apricot blossom soju, I want your shopkeeper to brew the vat of wine made during Qingming last year. Butcher Hu asked casually: "I gave you a discount on this beef, can you give me a discount?"

"I'll give you a discount on your legs, do you want to?" The shopkeeper rolled his eyes helplessly, and was about to go to the kitchen to tell the cook to put more green peppers and less meat, but was stopped by the two people at the table behind Hu Butcher.

The two men were probably twin brothers, and because of their extremely similar appearances, only slightly different skin tones, they were probably around thirty years old.

While the shopkeeper raised his eyes to guess the identity of the other party, he bent down and lowered his head with a standard smirk and asked, "Guest officer, what else do you want to order?"

One of the dark-skinned men said dissatisfiedly: "You soju is not strong at all, do you want to be shoddy because we are not locals?"

He casually smashed ten taels of silver ingots on the table, "Go and re-inflict two catties of Xinghua Shochu for us, well, we also want the vat that your shopkeeper brewed during Qingming last year." ”

"Alas, okay!" the shopkeeper admitted, and replied weakly.

Butcher Hu turned his back to the two of them, took a sip of bland tea, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

On the second floor of the Dangguan Inn, a chic and uninhibited young man sat by the window of the observation deck and heard this interesting scene at his feet.

In just a moment, he drank the apricot blossom shochu in the cup, and then drifted his gaze to the Qingchuan Pass.