As the sun sets, a horse-drawn carriage slowly walks down the road.

There were two people sitting in the car, the one in front of him was a little older, about forty years old, thin, wearing a green coat and a hat, holding the reins of a horse in his left hand, a long whip in his right hand, and a long sword reclining beside him. The young man sitting in the back was dressed like the middle-aged man in front, as if he was a little tired, lying on his back on the car, and his long sword was thrown aside at will.

A few crows in the nearby woods seemed to be alarmed by something, chirping and flying to the other side of the woods. The middle-aged man took off the two hats and pushed them behind his back, looked at the sunset, raised his hand and whipped the long whip in the air, and the horse heard the whip, and his pace became faster and faster.

The young man was woken up, and when he opened his eyes, he found that it was almost dusk, and urged: "Master, let's hurry up the carriage and find a stay at the Jiainn before dark, or we will spend the night in the wilderness." ”

The middle-aged man smiled: "The horse has been running for a day, and it is also very tired, let's walk for a while, where can it go," he said, he reached out and touched the paper bag in his arms, "There is still some dry food, and there is no shortage of water, if there is no inn, we will spend the night here." The horse snorted and seemed to agree.

The boy complained twice, and there was no objection.

The horse was still walking forward, and the young man saw a person walking on the side of the road in front of him, patted the master, and the middle-aged man nodded, and naturally drove the car by himself.

The man noticed a car behind him, turned around and shouted, "Stay and go!"

The middle-aged man pulled the reins of his horse, quietly held the sword in his hand, and carefully looked at the person who stood in the way. The man was of medium height, about twenty years old, dressed in an earthy yellow robe, with a headband tied around his forehead, his hair was not in a bun, and hung haphazardly on his chest, looking like a hero. Behind his back was a long sword of an ancient style, and a gourd twice the size of the usual one - judging by the smell of his wine, it was not difficult to guess what was in the gourd.

The man walked quickly and clasped his hands into fists: "Senior, but are you going to Chongyang Palace?"

The middle-aged man held the sword in his hand, and he also hugged his fist: "Children of the rivers and lakes, you are friends when you go out, little brother doesn't have to be polite, you come up." ”

The man thanked him again and again, came up and took off the wine gourd behind his back, opened the stopper and poured it violently, and handed the gourd to the middle-aged man: "My name is Jiang Yuan, I am new to the rivers and lakes, and I also ask my seniors for advice." ”

The middle-aged man saw that he drank boldly, took it and poured it, and the young man behind him was also eager to try, looking at the wine gourd with a hopeful face. After hesitating for a moment, he handed the gourd to the young man and spoke: "You're welcome, the two of us are disciples of the Diancang Sect, my name is Xu Tao," he pointed at the young man with his hand, "This is my disciple, his name is Chen Xiping." ”

After the young man finished drinking, he handed it to Jiang Yuan again, hugged his fists and asked, "Brother Jiang, where are you going?" It's still on the road at such a late hour. ”

Jiang Yuan laughed and patted the young man on the shoulder: "I, my master told me to go down the mountain to see the world, and do a few things by the way." I'm not in a hurry to do things, just walk around. It's you master and apprentice, you're still on the road so late, where are you going?"

Xu Tao took over the words: "A few days ago, I received a post from Chongyang Palace, teaching Ma Zhenren to pass away," he sighed, and then continued: "Ma Zhen made good connections before his death, and his reputation in the rivers and lakes is very high. ”

Jiang Yuan saw that he was sad, and hurriedly persuaded: "People will eventually die, and the predecessors don't have to be too sad." ”

"There's an inn ahead!" Chen Xiping was very excited, and finally didn't have to sleep in the wilderness, so he jumped out of the carriage and ran to the door of the inn after three or five steps.

When the shopkeeper saw the guests coming, he greeted them politely, beckoned the person to pull the carriage to the backyard, and quickly vacated an empty table: "The three guest officers are still staying in the hotel, what do you want to eat? We still have a few upper rooms here...... Chen Xiping has already sat down and beckoned the second child to serve tea. Xu Tao and Jiang Yuan walked into the inn with a smile and were slightly stunned.

The three of them sat down, and the wine and food were all together. Xu Tao glanced at him, and secretly pointed to the side with his hand: "Liuhe Gang ......"

Chen Xiping was taken aback when he heard this, and looked up over there.

Jiang Yuan hurriedly knocked on his hand with chopsticks: "The action is small," turned around and asked Xu Tao: "Where did this Liuhe Gang come from?"

Xu Tao shook his head, kept silent, and motioned for Jiang Yuan to return to the guest room.

The three of them hurriedly had dinner and came to the guest room, Xu Tao looked left and right, quickly closed the door, turned back to Jiang Yuan and said: "You may not know when you first set foot in the rivers and lakes, this Liuhe Gang was originally a small gang in Jiangsu, but in recent years, I don't know why its strength has increased greatly, and it has successively annexed several gangs around it. There is a faint momentum of Shaolin and Chongyang Palace. After a pause, he said: "They are rampant and domineering in the rivers and lakes, doing evil, and all the rivers and lakes are discolored, so let's avoid them." ”

Jiang Yuan felt very strange: "This place is already very close to Chongyang Palace, do they dare to do evil here? What are they doing here? They don't want to come to mourn Ma Zhenren, right?"

Xu Tao shook his head: "I don't know, I think they don't dare to spread wild on the territory of Chongyang Palace." In short, we are careful not to conflict with them. By the way, little brother, you have nothing to do, do you want to go up to Zhongnan Mountain together to mourn Ma Zhenren?"

This sentence was asked to Jiang Yuan's heart, and Jiang Yuan hurriedly nodded, indicating that he was willing to agree. So they made an appointment to go back to their rooms to rest after setting off together tomorrow morning, and Xu Tao repeatedly told them not to conflict.

The next morning, Xu Tao and Chen Xiping went downstairs after washing up, and found that Jiang Yuan was already drinking downstairs, Chen Xiping walked over quickly: "Drink early in the morning, Brother Jiang is so interested!"

Jiang Yuan shook his head and acted like a scholar: "I'd rather live without bamboo than eat without meat; I'd rather eat without meat than drink without wine." ”

Chen Xiping laughed: "Brother Jiang, you have memorized all the articles of the ancients wrongly, if he hears you memorize like this, he will be angry and alive!"

Jiang Yuan also smiled: "The articles written by my predecessors are the ideals of my predecessors, and what I read is also my ideal." Ideals are different for everyone. Besides, I'm not a scholar, what's the point of the children of the rivers and lakes not being allowed to drink?"

Chen Xiping smiled again. Seeing that Xu Tao also sat down, Jiang Yuan nodded: "Let's go." ”

Xu Tao also nodded, admiring this young man more and more in his heart.

After breakfast, the three of them went on the road again, and Chen Xiping asked curiously: "Brother Jiang, I see that you have an extraordinary bearing, what school do you learn from, and who do you practice?"

Xu Tao's heart moved, this was a taboo in the rivers and lakes, but Chen Xiping asked the point, so he was also listening attentively.

Jiang Yuan laughed: "I have blunt qualifications, I learned swords at the age of seven, and now I have a small success." Before going down the mountain, the master specially told me not to reveal his name and embarrass him. So I can't answer you. ”

"So the Venerable Master is a hermit master?" Chen Xiping was still young, and when he heard the hermit master, his eyes immediately lit up. Jiang Yuan nodded, agreeing with his statement.

Xu Tao thought to himself, the so-called master is not allowed to be mostly a pretext, maybe it is a disciple of an old monster who is hidden in the world, and he must be a little monster if he can be put down the mountain, after all, after studying for more than ten years, he feels more and more that he is dragging him with him How correct it is.

The three of them talked and laughed along the way, Xu Tao is not the kind of old-fashioned old-timer, Jiang Yuan is also a talkative person, and Chen Xiping is a young man who has not been deeply involved in the world, and he unconsciously arrived at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain.

It was getting late, the three of them found an inn to stay, Jiang Yuan, who was interested after dinner, invited Xu Tao and his apprentice to go to the town for a walk, Chen Xiping was eager to try, but he had no choice but to rush for a day The master and apprentice were not in good health, and Jiang Yuan had to go out alone.