In the main hall of the castle, four huge copper pillars support the entire palace, and the four spirits are entrenched on the surface of the four pillars. In the center of the main hall is a square boss, about half a person high, on which is placed a rattan chair with extremely delicate patterns. In front of the rattan chair is a flat table, on which pen, ink, paper and inkstones are neatly placed. Li Xiangri and the others sat on ordinary stools under the boss. In addition to the four pillars of the whole hall, the other decorations are very ordinary.

Looking at the scene in front of him that was far from what he imagined, Mu Ziyi sighed with emotion: "I always thought it would be a splendid palace, but I didn't expect it to be so ordinary!" Even Ye Lan said incredulously: "Such a magnificent castle, his palace is so ordinary, the scale of the castle and the palace makes it difficult to connect with each other." ”

Li Xiangri smiled and said, "It's a bit different from what you think!" Ye Lan touched the stool under him and said, "But I don't understand, where does the country's annual tax revenue go?"

"Hello!" a deep, penetrating voice came from the side of the main hall. A young man in a robe, with his hands behind his back and a crown of black hair on his head, walked in surrounded by dozens of people.

When Li Xiangri and Tong Qian saw the comer, they immediately stood up from the stool, covered their left chest with their right hand and bowed, "See the lord of the country!"

Hearing that the person who came turned out to be the lord of the country, Mu Ziyi didn't know what to do for a while, he wanted to kneel down but the people around him were standing, and they wanted to learn from Li Xiangri and they were afraid that there would be a mistake in their movements, the lord of the country saw Mu Ziyi who was at a loss, and said: "Young heroes don't need to be polite, there is no need for so much etiquette here." ”

Mu Ziyi smiled awkwardly and said, "Thank you, Lord of the Kingdom." ”

"You just talked about taxes, so I'll explain where the money is spent. Military expenses in the event of invasion by foreign enemies, relief after natural disasters in various places, and the construction of roads and post stations everywhere all cost money. However, there are always people who can't think of this, they think that the state doesn't need to spend money to do things, and some people even think that the state has embezzled these properties, and some people take the opportunity to fan the flames and cause dissatisfaction in the hearts of the people. As everyone knows, the country's money is actually spent on the people. The young lord sighed after saying this. After hearing this, Ye Lan also regretted his previous prejudice against the country, and said, "Lord of the country, why don't you tell the people who don't know the truth openly and honestly about these things?"

"No matter how you explain the use of taxes to the people, there will always be people who think that the state is using this as an excuse to exploit them. Ye Lan nodded and said, "That's indeed the truth." Then he saluted the lord of the country and said: "I did have some dissatisfaction with taxes before, but what I saw and heard today made Ye Lan ashamed, and I hope the lord of the country will forgive me for the previous misunderstanding." ”

Mu Ziyi saw that Ye Lan could still talk to the lord of the country calmly, and he didn't even know where to put his hands.

At this time, the retinue standing behind the lord of the kingdom separated from each other and stood on both sides of the hall. Only a middle-aged man with short yellow hair with a sword hanging from his waist was left standing behind the lord of the country.

The young lord motioned for Li Xiangri and Mu Ziyi to sit down, and said, "Young heroes don't have to be restrained, I see that everyone is almost the same age, so they should get along as friends." ”

Li Xiangri said at this time: "I'm not here to talk about this today, besides, the world is in chaos now, and it won't help to talk about this, what we have to do is to stabilize the country first." The common people must not be allowed to live under the bullying of bandits and robbers. ”

Mu Ziyi, who is usually open-mouthed, was silent at this time like Xu Shu entering Cao Ying, Ye Lan saw that Mu Ziyi was tied, so he said: "The rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of the husband, and it is our honor to be able to contribute our own strength to the people of the world." ”

The lord of the country clapped his hands and praised: "Okay, if you are really a hero, I have heard about your deeds, and you have cleaned up the robbers in the blink of an eye, and your strength is also worthy of praise." Mu Ziyi heard that the lord of the country was praising himself, and his nervous mood just now suddenly became much better, and he waved his hand and said: "That's not a big deal, it's just a few little robbers, it's not enough to worry about! Even if there are another thousand eight hundred people, we can kill them in seconds." ”

Li Xiangri saw that Mu Ziyi was a little carried away, and hurriedly said, "This time, the two of them followed me and Tong Qian back to help defend the castle. The lord of the country asked: "Why do you suddenly want to return to defense? Wasn't the previous plan that the guards of the capital city would contain Bai Ye?" Tong Qian said: "Now the situation has changed a little, and the sudden appearance of the Heavenly Silkworm Sect has disrupted all plans. ”

A trace of uneasiness appeared on the young lord's face, and he said, "I also know about the Heavenly Silkworm Sect, do they have any actions at the moment?" Li Xiangri said: "For now, they are only taking revenge on some enemies, but according to our investigation, the Heavenly Silkworm Sect is also secretly making small moves, after all, it is already very abnormal to appear when the four major legions are destroyed." The lord's face softened slightly, and he said, "What are your plans now?"

"We have already divided two squads to monitor the Silkworm Sect, and there are still two squads investigating the situation of the four major legions, and now we have two more squads returning to the castle to assist in the defense, we have to prepare in advance to guard against the Silkworm Sect. It's just that this will make it difficult for the remaining six squads to contain White Night, although they don't know what we're doing, but once we do, we'll be in a passive state immediately. ”

The lord of the country glanced at Ye Lan and Mu Ziyi again, and said worriedly: "A Heavenly Silkworm Sect has restrained a quarter of the combat power of the capital guards before taking action, thanks to the help of these heroes and heroes, otherwise our strength would have been stretched thin." ”

Li Xiangri arched his hand and said: "According to the informant, this time the Heavenly Silkworm Sect is not only for revenge, they also have greater ambitions, and it is very likely that they will take action against the capital in a short period of time." ”

The lord of the country trusts his subordinates very much, although the current situation is serious, but the lord still believes that these people can help the country turn the tide, so he said: "Li Xiangri, if you have any specific plans, just say it!"

Li Xiangri smiled slightly, and said: "As the saying goes, the stone of his mountain can attack jade, I have asked Zhong Liyan to find a way to provoke the contradiction between the Heavenly Silkworm Sect and Bai Ye, once the two of them threaten to fight, we can take advantage of the fisherman." The lord praised Li Xiangri and said: "It seems that Li Xiangri, you not only have strength, but also brains." ”

Li Xiangri added: "Of course, this is just a plan, and it may fail, so I plan to use the name of the lord of the country to issue a summoning order to the heroes of the rivers and lakes, so that those masters who have contradictions with the Heavenly Silkworm Sect can unite to deal with the Heavenly Silkworm." The lord smiled and said, "I know that if you don't use me for your plan, you won't tell your plan." ”

Tong Qian patted Li Xiangri on the back and said, "Okay, I said I don't know these plans, it turns out that I'm useless!"

The smile on Li Xiangri's face gave people a very reliable feeling. The lord of the country picked up the pen and ink on the table and said, "I'll write a summoning order, if the two plans you said can be successful, then the Silkworm Sect is that if we don't do it, he won't exist for long." ”

"By the way, didn't you say that there were four people, why did you only see two of them today?" the lord suddenly remembered a few people mentioned in Li Xiangri's letter a few days ago, and asked. Li Xiangri explained: "There are two more, Ren Xiao and Feng Shang, the two of them follow Zhong Liyan and Luo Yun to act together. I guess it's going to be fruitful!"

Cave Garden.

Sure enough, as Uncle Nine said, the scenery is beautiful and picturesque. Feng Shang looked at the surrounding mountains and rivers: "I really don't understand, why did you choose such a beautiful place to seal the alien beast in the first place." Luo Yun looked at a grass hut on the mountain not far away, and said, "This place was not chosen, the battle happened to be here, so it was sealed here in the end." ”

A few people came to the lake while talking, and looking at the black mist shrouded in the lake, Zhong Liyan said, "Now, we have to inspect the entire lake to see if there is anything unusual. ”

"What kind of situation is called abnormal?" Ren Xiao asked. Zhong Liyan pulled out a sword from behind her back, let her levitate in the air, and then jumped up by herself, and said to Ren Xiao: "It's the place you think is suspicious, I'll go and inspect the lake, and you guys will also spread out and look around, if there is a situation, quickly burst out of internal force, so that others can find out as soon as possible." ”

After saying that, Zhong Liyan stepped on his sword and flew away. "Then let's go and check it out separately!I'll go to the grass hut on the opposite hillside!" Luo Yun pointed to the hill slope in front of him. Ren Xiao and Feng Shang nodded, and then the three of them dispersed to investigate.

There was no sound of any living creatures in the silent cave garden, and it was precisely because these strange beasts were sealed that no animal dared to set foot on this land, only some tenacious insects crawled around in the dim corners. But no one came to enjoy the beautiful scenery, Ren Xiao looked at it while walking, paying attention to whether there was anything strange around Zhong Liyan said.

Just when Ren Xiao was paying attention to the environment in front of him, a dark shadow quietly followed behind him. Time passed little by little, and Ren Xiao became farther and farther away from the others.

Suddenly, a black hole the size of a wellhead on the ground in front of him caught Ren Xiao's attention, Ren Xiao walked to the entrance of the cave and stretched out his head to look inside, and could clearly feel the wind blowing out of the cave. Ren Xiao hid on the ground and prepared to take a closer look, but it was too dark in the cave to see anything, Ren Xiao poked out his ears to listen again, and faintly, Ren Xiao heard the sound of breathing.

"This should be what Big Brother Zhongli said!"

Just when Ren Xiao was about to release his internal force, Ren Xiao heard the wind behind him, and his brain immediately recognized that someone was sneaking attack, and his right hand had already relied on instinct to pull out the Miao black knife before the brain's instructions were issued.

The dazzling sparks where the metal collided and Ren Xiao saw the opponent clearly, a man wrapped in black rags, with his face covered, and a strange black spear in his hand.

"Who are you?" Ren Xiao and the man in black asked each other questions at the same time. Ren Xiao knew that in this case, it was better to inform his companions as soon as possible, so he instantly released all his internal force, and the sword soul came into being, and Ren Xiao's right eye turned into flames.

I didn't expect the opponent to show his strength as soon as he came up, how could the man in black give up, the spear in his hand danced a few spear flowers, and said: "It seems that you are not a good person, I will make you pay for your actions immediately!"