On the way to Bogulou in Dingxi Wangcheng, there is a place called Jingping Town.

All around was a vast wilderness, and there was no man in sight. Liu Ruiying and others have been with the river all the way, but when they arrived here, they also changed their course and flowed to another place. Countless mountain peaks in the distance intersect like dogs' teeth, a dark and bleak scene. Spring has already begun, but here it is still frosty and snowy, the grass is withered and broken, and even birds and beasts seem to be extinct.

"Here...... How can it be so bleak?"

Ou Xiao'e asked.

"Jingping Town is located at the hub and has always been a battleground for soldiers. This is the ancient battlefield...... often annihilated the three armies. The local people are afraid to go out on cloudy days for fear of hearing ghosts crying. The blood of the soldiers who died in the war has been soaked into the land for many years, and almost no grass grows. ”

Liu Ruiying said, her tone heavy.

Looking at the scene in front of you, it makes people think about it......

The north wind swept up the yellow sand in the Hanhai sky, and the enemy soldiers took the opportunity to attack...... Flags of various colors were erected on the fields, and charging heavy armored iron horses galloped in the dry river valleys. Sharp arrows rained down, but those who were lucky enough to get away were also hit by the flying sand grains and the corners of their eyes hurt. The mountains and rivers were dizzy, and the momentum was as great as thunder and lightning collapsing.

Gradually...... The drums of war were heard, and the bowstrings of the soldiers were broken. The countless notches on the knife are the last burns of a lost life. However, the night was long, and it seemed that countless souls had gathered in the sky and were unwilling to go for a long time, crushing the heavens.

The lights are cold and short, the moonlight is bitter white, and it is really a purgatory on earth......

The wine that had always been gag didn't say anything, but silently opened the wine gourd and circled himself to the ground.

"What are you doing here?"

Ou Xiao'e asked.

This place is so gloomy, it makes her a girl's house very uncomfortable. Now seeing such a strange behavior of the wine three halves made her even more frightened.

"Isn't this an ancient battlefield? I'll pay homage to the undead here. ”

The third half of the wine added a sip of wine to his mouth and said.

“...... Are there really ghosts in the world?"

Ou Xiao'e asked.

"Do you think there are immortals?"

Jiu Sanhan asked rhetorically.

"I ...... I do not know. ”

Ou Xiao'e looked at Liu Ruiying after speaking, as if she was waiting for his answer.

"I don't know. ”

Liu Ruiying pondered for a moment and said.

The theory of ghosts and gods has existed since ancient times...... Whether it is a story about coaxing a child to sleep by the bedside pillow, or an old man who admonishes the younger generation to be a decent person and not to do bad things, they will tell similar stories, or coax, or threaten.

But without exception, ghosts are always on the bad side. To deal with him, you can only use violence to counter violence, and cure evil with evil, so there is that sentence ghosts are also afraid of the wicked. But these ghosts are obviously all turned into poor people with poor lives, just to fulfill their unfulfilled wishes in the yang world, but why should they be killed quickly? Liu Ruiying has never thought about this problem carefully, because he was also frightened in this way in his childhood.

The old-timers of the Investigation Division told him: "People who are afraid of death are more likely to hit ghosts, because ghosts, like people, are very afraid of loneliness and like to find people as companions, especially a new ghost with fine skin and tender flesh like him!" Whenever he said this, he didn't forget to poke Liu Ruiying's cheek with the calloused hand that drew his sword all the year round, making him feel terrified, and then everyone laughed and left. So since then, Liu Ruiying has flaunted herself everywhere, warning herself every day, not afraid of death! You can't be afraid of death! But you should still be afraid, but it is useless.

After a long time, whether he was afraid or not, Liu Ruiying had never seen a ghost once, and he couldn't help but have a trace of doubts about what the old-timers said.

Nowadays, in many unenlightened places, I feel that being sick is a ghost. So he invited a mage who could hunt ghosts and exorcise evil spirits to hit the patient's body with a stick and a fire hammer, but it often did not take long for the patient to die. But there are also people who have their ears and tongues cut off overnight because of their rhetoric and disdain for ghosts and gods between their words.

Liu Ruiying shook her head, trying her best to get these messy things out of her head. After all, he is now the provincial flag of the Provincial Inspectorate, and he is no longer the little boy who needs to cover his head with a quilt when he sleeps at night, counting and looking forward to the dawn soon.

Passing through this ancient battlefield, it was followed by a series of bare hills.

Suddenly, Liu Ruiying saw that closer to the hill on the right, two people were also galloping.

"Hey!"

The wine three halves shouted and beckoned to that side.

Liu Ruiying didn't have time to stop it, but his mind was already on guard. Fortunately, the two of them, hearing this shout, just looked here slightly and waved in a friendly way.

"You don't have to be so nervous, there are still many good people in the world!"

The third half of the wine said with a smile to Liu Ruiying.

Liu Ruiying looked at the smiling face of the third half of the wine and wanted to stop talking, but after thinking about it, he finally forgot it, for fear of shattering his enthusiasm.

Follow the hill to the end and you will see a gorge. After the three of them entered, they had only walked a few miles, and the scene was immediately earth-shaking.

The previous depression and gloom were swept away, making people suddenly enlightened.

Jingping Town is not big, and a main road can be reached by walking a few hundred steps.

The houses in the town are scattered, all of them are blue bricks and tiles of a water, although it is located in the northwest, it has the characteristics of the Pingnan royal domain. There is a well in the middle of the town, and the water that flows from it flows through every house. There was a towering tree beside the well, with a huge canopy, and the shade almost obscured a third of the town.

"It's a lot like my village. ”

The wine looked around and said happily.

Strangers from other places will inevitably think that although the time to go out for wine is not long, it is the same for everyone's first time.

After a long time, it fades. You may even feel that your body and mind cannot settle down, and you always want to go to a farther place to see, obsessed with the feeling of being on the road.

Many people have been running around all their lives, and this obsession has lasted for so long a lifetime. And some people begin to hate the road under their feet as they walk, these are human nature.

It's just that often such people end up homeless, and can only talk about comforting and saying: "The world is big, and the four seas are home" and end hastily.

The town is divided into north and south, but there is not much difference.

Ou Xiao'e dismounted and strolled through the town, afraid that the sound of galloping horses' hooves would break the silence of the town. Strange to say, although the town was extremely bustling with people coming and going, no one looked at the three outsiders.

"That's fine...... Presumably, this place is located at the hub of the main road, and the townspeople are used to it. ”

Liu Ruiying thought in her heart.

"You seem to like it here?"

Ou Xiao'e looked at the three halves of the wine with a look of enjoyment and asked.

"Yes, the paths are crisscrossed, the sounds of chickens and dogs are heard next to each other, and the air smells of moist dirt and cow dung, just like in my village. ”

Speaking of excitement, Jiu Sanban even opened his arms, as if he wanted to take the entire Jingping Town into his arms.

Ou Xiao'e smiled, she liked it too.

She loved the tranquility, the freshness and cleanliness. Like the village of three and a half wines, the people of Jingping Town have never left here almost all their lives, and they all guard this tree and a well in life, old age, sickness and death. The difference is that the village of Jiu Sanban is supposed to be in isolation, while Jingping Town is a transit place for coming and going.

Being in a complicated and critical place, but being able to stay alone without being disturbed. If there is really a fairyland in the world, it must not be the so-called place surrounded by clouds and mountains, but here.

"Dare to ask ......"

"To the north, there are all the hotels in Dajian. ”

Before Liu Ruiying finished speaking, the man said to himself.

It is no wonder that the outsiders who come here are all here to rest their feet and continue to hurry, nothing more than to eat a meal and drink tea, and after a bad night's sleep, they will eventually leave.

"What's up to the south?"

Ou Xiao'e asked.

She felt that the south side inexplicably gave her a familiar feeling.

"Southside? ”

The man knocked the cigarette pouch and pot on the edge of the well and said.

Ou Xiao'e was a little excited when she heard the blacksmith shop, after all, the sex of "Ou" is not called in vain, and the iron smelting and gold have long been dissolved in the blood and bones. At the moment, regardless of the other two, they walked south on their own, but they must see the blacksmith shop.

"Dangdang!"

A slightly noisy sound came from the front, but when it reached Ou Xiao'e's ears, it was like the sound of Peiyu's singing. The steps under my feet are getting faster and faster, and I can't wait to run.

Liu Ruiying and Jiu Sanban followed behind, and they were really worried that a girl's family was running around in a strange place. Although the people here seem to be simple, after all, there are bad gods in the Heavenly Palace, who can pack a ticket for this?

The three of them searched for the sound and finally found the blacksmith shop, only to see a man about eight feet tall, if it wasn't for the slight bending of the iron, the top of his head would have pierced through the shed of the blacksmith shop.

The man was shirtless, and seemed to be alone in the shop. When the three of them got closer, no one came out to support.

Locks of hair with sweat stick to the forehead, neck and back. On closer inspection, it seems that it has not been freshened for a long time.

"What do you three do?"

The man didn't turn around, and his hands didn't stop, and he asked.

Liu Ruiying and Jiu Sanhan didn't know how to answer, but Ou Xiao'e was fully engaged in his hammering method of striking iron, her eyes were strange and she couldn't extricate herself.

"This ...... This!"

Even Ou Xiao'e, the Ou family's "sword heart", has never seen such exquisite iron-striking skills. A strange-shaped piece of iron and stone was constantly beaten and shaped under the hands of this man until it became a rough iron bar. Subsequently, the fold is repeatedly tapped.

This process seems to be not to mention the He Ou family, even the blacksmiths in the world are also like these steps. It's just that this person always has a unique rhythm when he wields the hammer, and the iron under his hand seems to be not a dead thing, but a living spiritual thing. Each of his hammers seemed to communicate with the iron in advance, and he was always able to strike it in the right place. In this way, his hammer is worth four or five hammers of an ordinary blacksmith.

If the iron is not exercised enough, it will not be tough, and if it is overworked, it will be crisp and easy to break. Therefore, in this hammer effort, it is not possible to have more than one or less points. And because the nature of each piece of iron and stone is different, even the same batch of iron and stone produced in one place is very different. Therefore, the blacksmith profession has never been a job that can be read from the book.

You say it's difficult, if you get a good master and teach it, you will make rapid progress. You say it's not difficult, if your own quality is not good and your understanding is not enough, then anyone is helpless. After all, if you can't write your article well, you can still have a gentleman to help you polish it. If the martial arts are not ripe, then the winter practice is three-pronged, and the summer practice is also diligent to make up for the clumsiness.

But striking iron is different, if you only have that cleverness but not a good body, it is not enough, after all, the temperature of the furnace is extremely high, and the hammer of striking iron is extremely heavy. If the bellows hadn't been pulled a few times, and the hammer hadn't been raised above his head, he would have collapsed first, but how could he have created a peerless sword?

In the same way, if you only use brute force, the desperate push of the siege cone when attacking the city will definitely work, but if you want to use the same method to deal with the iron in your hand, it will be a prickly prick, and both will lose. Not only can the iron not be beaten, but it may even be injured by the force of the shock, and in the end the gains outweigh the losses......

Ou Xiao'e looked at this man's style, as if it was already unique and natural. Although the process is the same as that of others, the control of the force, the angle of the swing of the hammer, and the frequency of the strike are all strictly controlled by him. She even found that this man raised the hammer to the top of his head seven inches and eight minutes every time, nearly a hundred hammers in a row, without any deviation.

Precision and flexibility, these are the two contradictory but opposing extremes that all craftsmen pursue.

Precision means rigidity, like the rising sun and the setting of the moon, and no one will suspect that there will be any changes. Flexibility means being flexible and quickly choosing the most appropriate solution for a variety of situations. Instead of admitting death, fantasizing about breaking all laws with one force.

But the man in front of him has obviously surpassed the limits of these two levels, he is precise under flexibility, and flexible in precision.

He has a comprehensive and meticulous grasp of every part of the iron, so he has chosen the best tempering plan in his mind. Once the plan has been chosen, it is rigidly executed until the end of the process, until this part is completed. By analogy, how strong will a piece of iron be after being beaten in such a way? Ou Xiao'e didn't dare to imagine, but she just felt that this man looked rough and didn't decorate himself, why did he hide in this deserted border town with such a shocking forging skill?

"If you win him over to the Ou family......"

Ou Xiao'e couldn't help but be moved.

With this man's craftsmanship, it is impossible to say that he wants to set off a change in the world.

"People from the Ou family?"

This man saw Ou Xiao'e's Bauhinia Sword, but he also recognized it, and said it.

"Exactly, I don't know ...... predecessors"

"Is Ou Yamin alright?"

Without waiting for Ou Xiao'e to finish speaking, the man grabbed the conversation and asked.

Although it is inevitable to be distracted when speaking, the hammer method of his subordinates is not chaotic at all, and it is as steady as Mount Tai.

Liu Ruiying was a little surprised, as if this man had acquaintances in the Ou family.

"Head of the house...... The head of the house has always been well!"

Ou Xiao'e stumbled.

Liu Ruiying was also taken aback, but she didn't expect that in a dilapidated blacksmith shop in this remote place, a rough man who seemed to be unable to even hire a buddy actually opened his mouth and called the head of the Ou family, the name of the contemporary "sword". Even in the archives of the Investigation Division, in order to show respect for the helmsman of the important forces in the world, the three words Ou Yaming are also used as "the contemporary sword of the Ou family" as a pronoun.

"Did he send you?"

The rough man then asked.

"No...... No. The head of the house did not send him down. ”

Ou Xiao'e suddenly felt nervous, and a sense of urgency rose from the bottom of her heart.

"And why are you here?"

The rough man finally stopped the hammer in his hand and turned around.

The three of them looked at him, although he was sloppy, he was really a dragon and a phoenix, and his nature was natural. The rough dress of the unkempt could not hide his detached temperament, like a lonely pine tree on a high mountain. The words are clear, but they are like a breeze under Panasonic, and they can't be triggered.

Ou Xiao'e saw the strong contrast of this scene, and she was a nymphomaniac for a while, and she didn't say anything for a long time, which caused the man to sneer before he came back to his senses.

The man led the group to the back of the blacksmith shop with his right hand.

On a small table is a porcelain flask, surrounded by several porcelain bowls. Four crooked stools surround a low, cracked table, and beside it is a small field of vegetables of unnamed varieties.

"Then how did the Ou family's 'Kenshin' come to Jingping Town?"

The man asked after sitting down first.

The three of them also sat down, only to see the man pick up the coarse porcelain wine jug on the seat, pour himself a bowl of wine, and then place it in the center of the drink, signaling everyone to take care of themselves.

"We're going to the main building of Nabogu Building. ”

Ou Xiao'e said.

The man glanced at the official mansion on Liu Ruiying's body, and then at the three halves of the wine that had begun to pour wine for himself, and finally fixed his gaze on Ou Xiao'e's Bauhinia Sword.

"A Ou family has experienced 'sword heart', a new provincial flag of the Investigation Division, and a simple civil and military all-rounder, are you going to Bogulou to smash the field?"

The man said jokingly.

Liu Ruiying was also amused.

Indeed, the identities of the three of you on your side are very different and your personalities are very different, but you coincidentally got together. Originally, it was nothing, but when it was broken, the more I thought about it, the more interesting it became!

It's just how did he know that his provincial flag identity was new?

"Dare to ask my seniors if they know the head of my Ou family?"

Ou Xiao'e asked cautiously.

"Do you say Ou Yaming? haha, I do. Not only do I know, but I also count me as half of his master!"

The man laughed and said.

If others were so ashamed, Ou Xiao'e would have drawn her sword, but after seeing this person's kung fu, she really couldn't help but believe what he said. But at the moment, he was convinced and said: "Don't be deceived by me, seniors."

"How so? That was more than ten years ago...... I've just settled here. Ou Yaming is also like you, going to Nabo Gulou and passing through here. At that time, there was no aqueduct today, so my shop was set up next to a well in the middle of the town. Iron quenching requires a lot of water, and only there is the most convenient. Somehow, the head of your family didn't leave after seeing me striking iron, and stopped and stared at me for three days. I was also young and vigorous at the time, and I thought that this man was deliberately stealing the teacher, so I said, 'What did you hear, and what did you see?' but as soon as these words came out, his face turned red, and he said, 'Come by what you hear, and go away when you see what you see.' 'Isn't this a disguised admission that he had stolen a trade from me, you say?'

The rough man said.

With that, he took a guqin from the wall next to it and placed it on his knees.

"You only have this relationship with the head of the family?"

Ou Xiao'e asked.

She had also heard about it, and Ou Yaming was still the Ou family's "sword heart" like her, and he was not the most talented one. Once he ran errands for his family, traveled thousands of miles to the northwest alone, and when he returned to the Ou family again, he would not go out of retreat for three months. In order to mock him, the rest of Kenshin even arranged a nickname for him, "Why don't you go out as soon as you go out".

I never thought that after three months, Ou Yaming would be out of the customs, but he was moving to the northwest in person. Since then, his sword-casting skills have improved by leaps and bounds, but the "sword heart" that was originally far ahead of him is also unmatched, and finally became the contemporary head of the family, receiving the title of "sword".

"Of course not...... But in total, we only met a few times. The second time he came, he brought with him some jars of good wine. We play the piano and drink wine, but we don't talk about striking iron at all. Three days later, I woke up drunk, but he was gone. It's just a pity that this guy who picks the door has taken away half of the unfinished wine...... The third time was after he became the head of the family. Like your little girl's thoughts, you want to invite me to the Ou family to be a Taishang worship, but I refused, and asked him not to mention it again. Otherwise, I will drop his wine, and I will use this piano to drive him out of Jingping Town. ”

The man said softly as he plucked the strings, and a few pleasant tunes flowed through his fingertips.

"Dare to ask the seniors their names?"

Ou Xiao'e heard that this man actually had a deep friendship with the head of his Ou family, and couldn't help but get up and bow his hand.

"Go back and ask your master, hahaha!"

The rough man said.

He lowered his head and played on the piano casually, but he was still able to spare one hand to pour the wine, hold it up, and clink glasses with the wine. The two drank to the rhythm of the piano, and things twisted slowly and slowly, sometimes noisy and earnest. Sometimes it is like the crisp and gentle sound of birds, and sometimes it is like the sound of the water under the ice. Suddenly, there was a burst of iron swords and guns, but it seemed to burst out from Liu Ruiying's heart, and he felt that his heart seemed to turn into the strings under the rough man's hands.

"Can you still bear it?"

The rough man secretly exclaimed in his heart.

"I wonder what kind of track my predecessor played?"

Liu Ruiying came back to her senses and hurriedly asked.

"What, want to learn?"

The rough man smiled and hung the guqin back on the wall.

"I don't know if the seniors can teach me. ”

Liu Ruiying hurriedly said.

The strange person in front of him is a character who can be on an equal footing with the head of the Ou family. Although I don't know what the subtlety of this music is just now, it must be good just because it can touch my heart.

"This is a song, and I got it by accident, called "Qin Yue Han Pass"

The rough man said, with a hint of nostalgia in his tone.

"But it's a ...... in the dark"

Liu Ruiying knows that this song must be extremely precious and will never be passed on easily.

"Besides, if you don't know the rhythm of music, you can't learn it. ”

Liu Ruiying's words seem to be an explanation, but in fact, she is looking for herself to go down the stairs. How could this rough man not hear the meaning of his words, but said aloud: "Who said that anyone who plays the piano must know the rhythm?"

This sentence made Liu Ruiying a little confused...... If you don't know the rhythm, how should you play this piano? How should Xiao blow it? Can't you just hammer it like that war drum, just get as loud as possible?

"Then did the head of the house come again?"

Ou Xiao'e asked, she was not at all interested in the rhythm of the piano.

The rough man didn't answer, and pointed to a piece of paper nailed to the wall of the blacksmith's shop.

Because the distance is too far, Ou Xiao'e can't see clearly, but she will be able to read the title at the top.

""Breaking Friendship with Ou Yaming"!"

Ou Xiao'e read it word by word, feeling incredible. She couldn't figure out why the head of the family would break off with such an alien senior.

"Don't be so surprised, it's all trivial......

The rough man scratched his head and said, looking a little embarrassed.

"The main reason is that he keeps bothering me...... He said eight hundred times that he would not go to the Ou family, but he still had to say how good it was to worship the Taishang for eight hundred and one times. Do you think I'm annoyed? Just break off the relationship, it's a hundred!"

The rough man said.

"Senior, I want to learn how to strike iron from you!"

Ou Xiao'e bit Dan's lip lightly, as if she had made up her mind and said.

"No, no, no, no...... You are the Ou family's 'sword heart', and if I teach you, isn't it equivalent to reconciling with that annoying spirit? But no...... Absolutely not!"

The rough man was like a great enemy, and vetoed it again and again.

"Senpai!"

Ou Xiao'e was really reluctant, and immediately knelt down with a "plop".

The rough man pretended not to see it, but turned his gaze to Liu Ruiying, and said, "Aren't you going to apprentice?

Liu Ruiying suddenly realized, and hurriedly saluted like Ou Xiao'e. Before this, he had never had any interest in the musical instrument, but this piece had an inexplicable attraction to him, a feeling that it was necessary and that it could not be done.

"Look, like me, use the index finger and thumb of your right hand to make a peacock shape, pinch the same string as me, and then pluck it together, and this ritual is finished!"

Qin Yundang said to Liu Ruiying.

Liu Ruiying did as much as she could when she heard this, but she felt a little pity when she saw Ou Xiao'e, who was still kneeling on the side.

After Liu Ruiying and the rough man completed the piano ceremony, he said to Ou Xiao'e again: "In this way, you can stand it?"

"If you can learn real skills, you can even stand it if you strip and jump into the water!"

Ou Xiao'e said categorically.

"I didn't expect the Ou family to have a woman like you with an iron heart, let's go...... I will allow you to come close and observe, as Ou Yaming did. But I won't explain a word to you, and how much I can comprehend depends on your creation!"

The rough man waved his hand and said helplessly.

"What about me?"

Knowing that the coarse porcelain wine jug on the table was drunk, the third half of the wine noticed this short effort, and the two people around him actually apprenticed one after another. Only he was left aside, like an outsider.

"Aren't you very moisturized?"

The rough man said with a laugh.

"But you two are anxious, I'm afraid there is something important to do. You've got your heart down, little girl. ”

"Yes, senior. ”

Ou Xiao'e replied.

She didn't expect that this trip with Liu Ruiying and the wine three and a half would be able to meet such a great opportunity, but she made up her mind at the moment to stay on the move until she learned to stop.

"Anyone?"

Suddenly, the sound of inquiry was remembered in front of the shop, and the three of them were all surprised.

"So, the blacksmith shop is going to take over the business, otherwise this table, chair, bench, vegetables, wine and food will all fall from the sky?"

The rough man got up with a smile and said.

Liu Ruiying looked forward with the figure of the rough man, and suddenly kicked over the table in shock, drew his sword and jumped onto the roof of the blacksmith shop.