Early the next morning, in the palace of King Jin.

King Jin looked at the serious face of the man sitting opposite him, and couldn't help but feel a little weak.

"Master Zheng, have you seen Tian Zhiyu last night?" asked King Jin.

Sitting opposite King Jin was Zheng Wuqiu, the head of the Hebei Sword Society in Jizhou Road.

A few days ago, he received a secret letter from the King of Jin, and learned that his own brother had died in Taiyuan City, he was both shocked and angry, and saw the meaning of the King of Jin's words, and the person who killed his own brother turned out to be a young man less than 20 years old.

Suspicious, he decided to go in person, first, to avenge his brother, and second, to personally pick up his brother's body and go home.

This younger brother has grown up with him since he was a child, and his relationship is deep, and the mother of the two is very old, and if the mother learns that her youngest son has died in a foreign country, I don't know how she will react.

Zheng Wuqiu instructed the top and bottom to hide the news of his brother's death from the old lady, and he handed over the affairs of the Sword Society to his most trusted apprentice, and came to Taiyuan alone.

King Jin saw that Zheng Wuqiu didn't speak for a long time, and was about to add another fire to stimulate him, but he said: "Lord Wang, the old man did see that Tian Zhiyu last night. When the old man received a secret letter from the prince, saying that this teenage boy had killed my brother, the old man didn't believe it at that time, and after last night's meeting, I was even more convinced that my brother could not have been killed by him. ”

The King of Jin and the Prince of Jin both looked nervous when they heard this, and hurriedly asked, "How did the head of the family know?"

Zheng Wuqiu said: "This young man, his internal strength is not more than the middle grade, and his true qi is far inferior to my brother, in terms of the younger generation, it is good, but to say that he can kill my brother alone, it is absolutely impossible." My own brother, I couldn't know better, even in the face of a top-grade master, he has the strength to retreat with his whole body, how can he be killed by such a young man?"

King Jin was even more nervous, he also knew that it was okay to make up a lie casually and deceive ordinary people, but it was impossible for such a master.

Since Zheng Wuqiu said that it was impossible for Tian Zhiyu to kill Zheng Luqiu, he himself began to wonder if the excuse he made up was too full of loopholes?

"Then it is very likely that Tian Zhiyu still has a helper, he has a friend who is Yiren, and his skills are not bad, the two of them join forces, it is still possible to hurt Uncle Qiu," King Jin did not speak, and the prince of King Jin on the side spoke.

Zheng Wuqiu shook his head and said, "I have already seen my brother's corpse, and there is only one person who fights with him, and there is no second person. So there is only one murderer. ”

The prince of Jin didn't know what to say, so he had to look at King Jin blankly.

"Shizi, please recount what happened before and after my brother's murder, and I'll see if there are any other clues," Zheng Wuqiu looked at the prince of Jin, who didn't dare to look at him, he was already sweating.

The prince of Jin told the half-truths about the hunting that day, saying how Tian Zhiyu and Wu Lihan provoked, how Zheng Luqiu couldn't help but compete with them to hunt, and how the other party was despicable and used obscene means to obtain prey, and finally said: "Among them, that Yi person competed with bows and arrows, and there were people who used hidden weapons to help in private, so we lost to them." ”

"What secret weapon?" Zheng Wuqiu asked immediately when he heard this.

"It's just a dart, I don't know which guy was thrown out of the crowd, secretly helping that Yiren," the prince of Jin then lied.

"Have you ever seen who used the secret weapon?" Zheng Wuqiu then asked.

King Jin Shizi shook his head and said, "Our eyes were on Uncle Qiu and that Yiren at that time, and we didn't observe who used the darts. ”

"Do you have any darts?"

The prince of Jin shook his head again and said, "The other party is too cunning, we only saw them use it, but we didn't get it." ”

Zheng Wuqiu sighed, didn't speak again, and said after a long time: "If I guessed correctly, it was that secret weapon that killed my brother, with Lu Qiu's skills, ordinary hidden weapons can't hurt him, it must be someone who is used to using hidden weapons, and used obscene means to sneak attack him." It's just a pity, if you can see this secret weapon with your own eyes, with the old man's many years of experience in the rivers and lakes, you can guess who did it, it's a pity. ”

King Jin wanted to say something, Zheng Wuqiu had already gotten up and said, "If you give up your brother and are not talented, you can only blame him for not being good at learning arts, and you can't blame others." It's just that the old man must avenge this revenge for killing his brother. If the prince has any news, please inform the old man. Since the Sword Society is entangled in everything, he will not bother the prince in the future, so he will take his younger brother home. ”

King Jin still wanted to keep it, but seeing Zheng Wuqiu's resolute expression, he held back the words that came to his lips, so he had to order his subordinates to quickly prepare the carriage coffin and escort Zheng Luqiu's body back to the Sword Society.

After sending Zheng Wuqiu away, King Jin was also sweating profusely, and said: "After all, he is a top master, and the pressure is too great." This kind of aura is really not something that ordinary people can bear. ”

The prince of Jin also felt the same way, and waited until Zheng Wuqiu's figure was completely invisible, and then he breathed a long sigh of relief, and said: "I didn't expect that there is such a skill in the world, I can sweat just by looking at it, it seems that these so-called masters in our house are far worse than others." ”

King Jin glared at him and said, "Isn't this nonsense? Zheng Wuqiu has the strength of the top grade, and there are not many people like this in the entire rivers and lakes, how can a person with such strength come to our mansion as a guest?"

Shizi stuck out his tongue and said, "Fortunately, this Hebei Sword Society has a good relationship with us, if you don't trouble us, it's really hard to get it." ”

King Jin snorted coldly and said: "Even if it is not an ally, the Hebei Sword Society will never find trouble with the palace, if the Jianghu sect dares to provoke us, it is to provoke the imperial court, then the imperial court will drive them out anyway." No matter how powerful your Jianghu sect is, it will be an ornament in front of the court. ”

The prince of Jin breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Then will our alliance with the Hebei Sword Society be affected?"

King Nunu of Jin said: "The impact is certain, Zheng Wuqiu will definitely have a mustard in his heart, but now it is different from the past, we have taken firm roots in Taiyuan, and the entire Puzhou Road is also under my control, even without the support of the Hebei Sword Society, no one can shake my status." ”

"It's a pity that the trick of borrowing a knife to kill people didn't succeed, and Tian Zhiyu's kid is cheap, so let him live for another two months," Shizi laughed grimly.

......

After Tian Zhiyu returned home, he immediately went to find Wu Lihan and told him about last night's experience, Wu Lihan was shocked and said, "There is such a thing?"

Tian Zhiyu nodded and said, "Brother Wulihan, in your opinion, what is the strength of this person?"

Wu Lihan thought for a moment and said: "According to your feelings, this person's strength is already terrifying to the point of being unbelievable, then there is only one possibility, he is the strength of the top grade." Based on what has happened in the past few days, this person is likely to be Zheng Wuqiu, the head of the Hebei Sword Society. ”

"That's what I guessed, I had expected him to come, but I didn't expect him to come so quickly," Tian Zhiyu said: "And since he came, why didn't he kill me? If he wanted to do it, I would probably be dead, it's really strange." ”

Wu Lihan said: "Then there is only one possibility, he saw that your strength was not enough to kill Zheng Luqiu, so he thought that you were not a murderer, so he didn't do anything to you." ”

Tian Zhiyu thought about it, it should be this possibility, it seems that sometimes weak strength can save his life, but fortunately he didn't rush forward stupidly at the beginning.

"It turns out that the Great Grandmaster level is so powerful," Tian Zhiyu said.

Wu Lihan shook his head and said, "Zheng Wuqiu has not yet reached the level of a great grandmaster, he is a top grade, ranking on the Tiger List, and there is still a certain gap from the Dragon List. ”

Tian Zhiyu smacked his tongue when he heard it, that level is the tiger list, and the people on the dragon list are so strong that they are so perverted?

"Brother Wulihan, who are the people on the dragon list?" Tian Zhiyu asked curiously.

Wu Lihan thought for a while and said: "The list of the Dragon List is not announced to the public, and the outside world is generally speculating. The number of people on the Dragon List should be around five, according to my master, Jing Chengxian, the head of the Vermilion Bird Sword Society, must be on the Dragon List, and the Sword God Zhao Wukuang must also be there, and the rest is not very clear. However, there are only a dozen of them who can really be called famous in the rivers and lakes, and their heads are either dragon lists or tiger lists, these are beyond doubt. ”

"Then Brother Wulihan, is your master also a master of the Tiger List?"

Wu Lihan shook his head and said, "My master has never been to the Qilin Tea Party, and he received invitations the first two times, but my master has already looked down on fame and fortune and doesn't want to show up in the rivers and lakes again, so he refused." It is said that his old man's strength should also be at the level of the tiger list. ”

is really a dashing old man, Tian Zhiyu thought that this is his own goal, not a martial arts master who intrigues and kills each other for the sake of being on the list.

"Zhiyu, you still have to pay attention in the future, no matter what, Zheng Wuqiu has already suspected you, the disciples of the Hebei Sword Society are all over the country, and your every move in the future is very likely to be watched by them, especially your darts, if they see them, it will definitely arouse suspicion, so it's better not to use them for the time being," Wu Lihan said.

Tian Zhiyu nodded, he didn't expect that his first enemy on the rivers and lakes was such a powerful Hebei Sword Society, and he really had to be cautious in the future. This Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is not as simple as I imagined at the beginning.

Just as the two were discussing, Ma Bencai pushed the door and walked in, saying, "The ice in the Yangtze River has almost melted, and the ship is navigable." In the past two days, I asked the people at the dock to hurry up and load the goods, and we can set off to the south of the Yangtze River on the seventeenth day of the first month. ”

Hearing this news, Tian Zhiyu suddenly had mixed feelings in his heart, being able to leave Taiyuan and leave the north can be said to be beneficial and harmless to him at present, but when he thought of Su Yijin, he didn't know how long it would take to see her, so he was a little worried about her.

"Brother Ma, are we going straight to Jiangnan Province this time?" Tian Zhiyu asked.

Ma Bencai nodded and said: "Yes, this batch of goods should have been transported to Yuhang years ago, but it was repeatedly delayed, and the owner of the goods had urged it many times." So this time I had to ship it right away. ”

"How long does it take for the ship to travel from Taiyuan to Yuhang?"

Ma Bencai thought for a while and said: "Half a month at the earliest, but we still have to supply on the way, and several ports have to be unloaded and loaded on the way, so we have to delay for two or three days, and if it goes well, it will take about twenty days." ”

Tian Zhiyu nodded and said, "If you take the land route, how long will it take to get from Yuhang to Taiyuan?"

Ma Bencai was a little strange and asked, "What, Zhiyu, do you want to go back to Taiyuan in the near future?"

Tian Zhiyu said: "I'm just curious to ask, see which is more convenient by land or water, I always have to come back to see when I have time, I still think about Xiao Tianjing." ”

Ma Bencai did not doubt him, and said: "It must be that the waterway is much more convenient, but if you return to Taiyuan from Yuhang and go upstream, the boat will be much slower, and the land route will be faster, and it will take about fifteen days to ride a horse." Of course, if it is a post horse, it can be reached in five days at the earliest. ”

"Is it so fast?" Tian Zhiyu was a little surprised.

"Of course, each post station has a special person responsible for guarding and taking care of the horses, once there is an emergency, the person who transmits the information will quickly whip the horse, the horse will not change, and every post station will be replaced with a new horse, so as to ensure that the news is delivered as soon as possible. However, the horses at the post station will only be used in emergencies, and ordinary people have no power to use them," Ma Bencai said.

Hey, it's still inconvenient, it's like a descendant, a train will arrive in one day, a plane will arrive in an instant, and now it will take half a month, Tian Zhiyu thought, but no matter what, only if you have time, you have to come back to see Su Yijin.

"Brother Ma, how long will you stay in Yuhang, and then will you go back?"

Ma Bencai said: "You may stay in Yuhang for three or four days, and then you have to hurry back to China." I haven't been back for almost half a year, I don't know what happened to the family's business, and whether my good daughter wants to kill me. ”

has known Ma Bencai for so long, Tian Zhiyu didn't even know that he had a daughter, and after thinking about it, not only did he not know that he had a daughter, but even a few members of his family didn't know. Thinking of this, Tian Zhiyu couldn't help but feel a little ashamed, and asked, "Brother Ma, who is there in your family now? In addition to his daughter, how many children do you have?"

Speaking of these, Ma Bencai showed a fatherly smile and said: "Lao Ma has three sons and one daughter, and the three sons have all started a family, only the youngest daughter, who is ten years old, is only old when Lao Ma is forty-four years old. is used to calling several sons, Lao Ma, and he really loves this daughter, and he refuses to let her suffer a little grievance. Hey, I haven't seen you for half a year, I thought to myself. ”

It turned out that she was still a daughter slave, Tian Zhiyu smiled and said, "Brother Ma has to play with the girl for a few days when he goes back this time." ”

"That's, that's, this time I'm going back, I have to make up for my baby girl," Ma Bencai smiled: "You two should also rest and rest again, buy what you should buy, and we will set sail on the seventeenth day of the first month." ”