The first night of the new year, the time of the sea.

Thirteen miles north of Luoyang City, in the dense forest, suddenly saw a single person riding alone from the city galloping here, the horse galloped, like a black lightning shuttle through the forest, where the horse's hooves passed, all splashed layers of snow. A man and a horse have disappeared into the depths of the jungle in the blink of an eye.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, there was a sharp whistle in mid-air, followed by a muffled grunt. In an instant, the man turned on his back, and the man on the horse fell diagonally from the horse, and rolled down into the snow in embarrassment, and his body writhed in pain a few times, and then he completely stopped moving, only to see the snow under him, under the spread of a slowly oozing blood, gradually melting.

The horse neighed on its back, and stood lonely beside its motionless master, with a constant whine from its mouth and nose.

After a while, two dark shadows quietly walked out of the forest, and the moonlight reflected the faces of the two, one of them was Su Tang, and the other was Lin Fangda.

At this moment, Su Tang was carrying a bow and crossbow in his hand, and it was obvious that the dark arrow just now was from him.

The two of them walked slowly, their expressions cautious and their steps deep. When they got closer, Lin Fangda gently stabbed the motionless horseman with his knife, and only after confirming that the horseman was completely dead did they put away their blades.

"Search!"

Su Tang shouted an order, and Lin Fangda quickly rushed to the corpse, groped up and down carefully, and finally found a secret letter in the corpse's arms, and the envelope was written with the words "Marshal Wang personally opened", and a line of Mongolian text was attached below.

The lord of the mansion really said that, Wang Xutong secretly sent someone to send a letter to the Mongolian court. Su Tang said coldly, "Fortunately, I didn't let him slip through the net, otherwise I dare not imagine the consequences." ”

Lin Fangda nodded lightly with a solemn face, and then asked, "Bai Zhifan, who is this 'Marshal Wang'?"

"Marshal Wang is the backer of Wang Xutong, and he is of the same clan and clan. He was the confidant general of the Mongol Great Khan, Wang Dechen. Su Tang explained, "Counting up, Wang Qingshu should be Wang Dechen's nephew, and now that he is dead in Luoyang, Wang Xutong knows that his strength is not good, and he doesn't dare to tear his face with us, so he wants to ask Wang Dechen for help." If Wang Dechen intervenes in this matter, the situation of the Xian Wangfu will be dangerous. ”

"Wang Dechen?" Lin Fang snorted coldly, "How powerful can he be?" Could it be that he has three heads and six arms?"

"He is a Mongolian general, with countless soldiers and horses, as long as he waves his military flag, Luoyang City will be razed to the ground in a moment. Su Tang said in a condensed voice, "The matter is serious, so it's better for us to go back quickly and inform the mansion master of this matter." Since Wang Xutong already has the heart of revenge, the paper will not be able to contain the fire, and the lord of the mansion should take countermeasures as soon as possible. ”

"That's good!" Lin Fangda agreed, then pointed at the corpse on the ground with a knife and asked, "Then ...... this person?"

"Find a remote place and bury it, and no one can find out. Su Tang said cautiously, "Especially if the General's Mansion can't find out, once Wang Xutong finds out that we have fortified him, then the rest of the matter will not be easy to handle." ”

"Yes!"

Lin Fangda quickly agreed, turned to pick up the corpse on the ground, and walked quickly towards the depths of the dense forest.

......

In the early morning of the second day of junior high school, it was a child.

Seventy miles south of Luoyang City, there is a broken temple, in the broken temple that can not even be seen by ghosts on weekdays, but at this moment there are hazy lights coming out, a bonfire is burning in the dilapidated hall, the wind and snow are mixed outside, the cold is biting, this pile of burning flames has become the only place that can keep warm from the cold within a radius of dozens of miles.

Two people sat cross-legged by the campfire, a man and a woman, one old and one young. The girl was roasting half a leg of lamb on the fire with great interest, while the old man was gently wiping his guqin with a rag.

These two are Liu Laohan and Meihua, who used to sing in the Donghai Teahouse, and were later taken hostage by Wang Qingshu.

In Fengming Tower, they were obviously knocked unconscious, their life and death were unknown, but they didn't know why they suddenly appeared here tonight?

"Dad, this bowl of snow has melted, you can drink saliva first!"

Plum blossom next to the fire a broken bowl filled with water, slowly pushed in front of Liu Laohan, the water can still vaguely see pieces of ice and a little snow crystal, obviously this bowl of water has just melted with ice and snow.

Liu Laohan stretched out his hand and slowly touched the broken bowl close to his feet, because he was blind, so all perception could only rely on hearing and touch. Liu Laohan's hand first touched the snow water, and then shrank back half an inch, and then he picked up the broken bowl and brought it to his mouth to "Gu Dong Dong" a few sips, and drank the snow water to a fine drink.

"After running for a day and a night, my father must be tired, so let's eat some mutton and rest early!" After that, Meihua picked up the dagger, cut off a piece of meat from the leg of mutton, put it in his mouth and chewed it a few times, then shook his head quite dissatisfied, and then brought the leg of mutton close to the bonfire and roasted it again.

"Fragrant, it's so fragrant!"

Suddenly, an envious voice sounded from outside the main hall. Immediately afterwards, a middle-aged man who looked like a monk walked in with a smile.

The monk has a fat head and big ears, kind eyebrows and kind eyes, his height is more than eight feet, his body is very fat, he is dressed in a linen monk's clothes, he wears a huge rosary around his neck, and he holds a clear water Zen staff in his hand. At this moment, his body was covered with snowflakes.

As soon as the monk entered the temple gate, his greedy eyes were locked on the roast lamb leg that was bubbling with oil, and he couldn't help but swallow his saliva again and again, looking salivating greedily.

"Great monk, where are you coming from, where are you going?" Meihua saw that the monk was very interesting, so she took the initiative to greet him, "Why don't you worship the Buddha in the temple and recite the scriptures during the New Year, and go to this wilderness to do something?"

"The Sprinkler family is a monk who has placed orders on the traveling side, and he has nowhere to come and nowhere to go. You can only use the sky as your bed, and you can sleep wherever you go. The great monk said with a smile, "Tonight the sky is freezing cold, and when the Sprinkle family is about to freeze to death, I see a broken temple here, and I think it is the blessing of the Buddha who gave me a place to live tonight." As soon as I came in, I found that it was really my Buddha's compassion, which not only gave me shelter from the wind and snow, but also gave me a meal of gluttony. Wonderful! wonderful! haha...... The Sprinkle family has not seen food for a long time, I wonder if the two donors can give the poor monk a knife of mutton?"

"Since you are a monk, how do you eat meat?" asked Liu Laohan.

"Wine and meat have passed through the intestines, and the Buddha has left it in his heart. The monk smiled, groped out a wine gourd from his arms, and said, "If the two donors can give me a meal of mutton, the Sprinkler family is willing to share the wine in this gourd with the two." I wonder what you two think?"

Hearing the monk's words, Meihua subconsciously set her eyes on Liu Laohan, but seeing Liu Laohan nodded slowly, she quickly cut off a large piece of mutton with a dagger and threw it to the monk, but before the monk opened the wine gourd, Liu Laohan took the lead and said: "You big monk is very interesting, you take the mutton to eat, but my father and daughter are not strong enough to drink, so we won't drink your wine." ”

"Very good! Very good!" The monk did not insist on it, and nodded again and again, "The Sprinkle family is afraid that the wine will not be enough to drink, but now it seems that it is really the blessing of the Buddha, so that I can meet the benefactors of the two bodhisattvas." With that, the monk walked to the corner with the mutton in his arms, leaned on the offering table, ate and drank in a big gulp, and no longer paid attention to the plum blossom father and daughter.

"Dad, he's ......"

"It's just a mad monk, don't pay attention to it. Liu Laohan said to himself, "Just wait for tomorrow when the sky is bright, and we will leave here." ”

"The two of you are in such a hurry, where are you going?"

Before Liu Laohan's words fell, a cold drink suddenly came from outside the broken temple, and seven or eight men with swords and swords rushed into the hall quickly, and at the same time, several black shadows flew down from the top of the hall in a row. Looking at the dress of these people, they are all disciples of the three sects under the Xianwang Mansion.

The leader is a man in his early thirties, with thick eyebrows and wide eyes, clear water chestnut horns, and his tall and burly posture, which makes him look heroic. The man was carrying a Tang knife in his hand, but the knife was not unsheathed.

"Dare to ask the two of you, but the old man Liu and the plum blossom girl who used to sing in Luoyang?" the man arched his hand, "Down is the owner of the Xianwang Mansion, Ling Qing." Tonight, on the orders of the lord of the mansion, I specially invited the two of you to return to the mansion with me. ”

In the face of the sudden battle, Liu Laohan and Meihua, who have always been cowardly and fearful, did not show any panic at this moment, but still did what they were doing lightly. The plum blossoms were still roasting, and Liu Laohan continued to wipe the piano.

"Our father and daughter have no grudges with the Xianwang Mansion in the past, and there is no enmity recently, I don't know what your mansion master is looking for us?" asked Liu Laohan without raising his head.

Seeing this, Ling Qing couldn't help frowning, and said aloud: "The mansion master wants to find the two to ask what happened in the Fengming Tower of Luoyang City on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve. Who killed the little Mongolian prince Wang Qingshu?"

"How do we know?" Meihua smiled, "We were knocked unconscious that night, and when we woke up, Wang Qingshu was dead, and I don't know who killed him." ”

"What about after that?" Ling Qing asked.

Liu Lao replied coldly: "After that, we left Fengming Tower overnight, left Luoyang City, and planned to go back to our hometown." Our father and daughter are lonely and helpless, how dare we offend the Mongols and the Xian Wang's Mansion? ”

As soon as Liu Laohan said this, Ling Qing's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he said coldly: "Isn't there a famine in your hometown? Didn't you come to Luoyang because you fled? Why do you want to go back to your hometown today? Do you want to go back and wait to starve to death? I see that you are obviously lying, go back with me!"

Meihua took the mutton to her mouth, took a bite of it, perhaps because it was too hot, and hurriedly spit it out, and while sticking out her tongue, she replied: "So what? We can go wherever we want, why do we have to tell you? We are not criminals, and you are not officials, so why should we be arrested?"

In fact, as soon as Ling Qing entered the door, he found that the father and daughter were too calm in the face of sudden changes, and even their composure was far beyond the tolerance of ordinary people.

Ling Qing thought secretly: "If you can maintain such composure, if you are not a fool and stupid, then you must have something to rely on." But what exactly did they rely on? Could it really be that they killed Wang Qingshu as the mansion master expected? Could it be that the father and daughter were singing in Luoyang and were hiding evil intentions?

"Regardless of whether Wang Qingshu was killed by you or not, the two of you will go back with me tonight!" Ling Qing's eyes were straight, and he said in a firm tone, "Everything will be decided after returning to the Xianwang Mansion!"

Liu Laohan put the spotless guqin on his knees, gently stroked the strings with both hands, and asked casually: "If we refuse to go back with you, what will Your Excellency do?"

"Then don't blame me for being rude!"

As soon as Ling Qing gave the order, the two disciples behind him immediately rushed forward, stretching out their hands to forcibly capture the plum blossom father and daughter. But before the two disciples could get closer, Liu Laohan suddenly raised his hand and waved, only to hear a few sonorous and powerful piano sounds of "Zheng Zheng Zheng". As soon as this sound came out, Ling Qing and the others suddenly felt a dullness in their hearts, and quickly used their internal forces to resist, and took a few steps back again and again before they were a little relieved.

Looking at the two disciples again, they were standing motionless in front of the plum blossom father and daughter at this moment, and they didn't move for a long time.

"How did you ......?"

"Bang!"

Before Ling Qing, who was full of doubts, finished speaking, the two disciples suddenly fell straight to the ground. Ling Qing was shocked, and hurriedly stepped forward to investigate, but saw that the two of them were bleeding from their seven orifices, their anger was like a gossamer, there was no way out, and all their internal organs were shattered, and in an instant, they were already dead.

"You ...... You can actually do martial arts?"

......