The cold wind in the north is strong, but not biting, Shi Ning and Ran Shu put on the road in simple clothes, crossed the boundary of the Jin State after crossing the Huaishui, and looked north to the end of the Pingchuan River, which is the territory of the Qin State.

Dozens of miles in a radius, and uninhabited, and walking dozens of miles, still desolate, Shi Ning was afraid that Ran Shu would be tired, just wanted to find an inn, a restaurant to rest, and then dozens of miles, only to see a few miserable and miserable families, the dilapidated door under the farmhouse was blown by the cold wind "squeak" straight sound.

He was also thirsty, and just wanted to beg for a bowl of water to drink, Shi Ning first knocked on the door of the house, looked into the house through the wide crack in the door, and asked loudly, "Is there anyone?" Repeated three times without answering, he took Ran Shu and carefully pushed the door into the farmhouse.

"Ahh

Looking at his feet, he saw a person lying horizontally in the dark room, Shi Ning gently shook the person on the ground, but he didn't move, by the faint light, Shi Ning leaned over to take a look, it turned out to be a dead man!

A putrid smell came to my nose, and there were still several corpses lying in the back room, dead longer than outside, and flies buzzing around.

"This family is all starving to death, Brother Shi Ning, I'm afraid, let's go quickly!" Ran Shu leaned on Shi Ning's arms and said timidly.

Shi Ning shook his head and sighed: "It's really pitiful!" Just as he was about to leave, he heard the "knock" sound in the back room, Shi Ning followed the sound source and walked towards a cauldron, lifted the lid of the cauldron, and saw a child about eight years old lying in the cauldron, his mouth stuffed with boiled tree roots and grass roots, dying.

Shi Ning was afraid that the inn on the road was far away, so he had dry food on his body, he quickly took out a meatloaf and stuffed it into the child's mouth, the child smelled the fragrance of the meatloaf, spit out the roots and grass roots in his mouth, and stuffed the meatloaf into his mouth with his trembling little hands, maybe it was the child's last strength, the child only took a bite lightly, and before he could swallow it, he starved to death.

"If we had come sooner, this child would not have died. Shi Ning blamed himself deeply, remembering that he had crawled out of the pile of dead people and fainted with hunger, and his heart couldn't help but feel sad and pity.

Shi Ning asked Ran Shu to sit and rest on the abandoned stone mill outside the house, and he went to dig a large pit in the hill not far away to bury the starving family.

On that hill, a lot of new graves were added, some of them were too late to be buried, and they were piled up on the hill indiscriminately, and the vultures swooped down and ate carrion, and Shi Ning couldn't bear to bury them one by one.

It was about 400 miles away from the river, and it was also desolate, with wheelbarrows constantly being pushed out of the city to transport the bodies of people who had starved to death, and the streets were in tatters.

Due to the war, the business people in the county have moved inward, not to mention the inns in the city.

The two of them were extremely tired, but there was an inn open alone not far away, as if it was specially opened for the two, the two happily entered the store, and before they were seated, Xiao Er served a small wine and side dishes, as if he was prepared, and the shopkeeper came to explain: "I know that Shi Shaoxia is never extravagant, so someone instructed the small one to prepare some small dishes and thin wine to entertain, and the two guest officers please use it slowly." ”

Shi Ning was just about to interrogate who ordered the wine and food, Ran Shu tasted the freshly brewed tea and asked, "Shopkeeper, which little matchmaker prepared the wine and food for my brother Shi Ning?"

Shi Ning laughed and said: "Could it be that it is the wine and food arranged by Shu'er, the little matchmaker, just like the last time in Jiankang Xianghe Restaurant?"

Ran Shu's face turned red, and she lowered her head delicately to taste tea and stopped talking.

The shopkeeper smiled slightly and said, "The noble man has ordered, and the little one can't be revealed!"

Xiao Er poured the wine again, didn't want to reveal Shi Ning, didn't need to ask more, picked up the wine and drank it all, only to listen to a few people dressed as northern rivers and lakes at the adjacent table talking:

"In the Battle of Weishui, the Qin State could have swept away the Southern Jin State in one fell swoop, but he didn't want God to bless the Sima family, and a young hero came out of nowhere, swept away the thousands of troops and horses of the Qin State, and turned the tide of the war, but the Jin State turned defeat into victory. ”

"What is the name of this young hero?"

"You don't even know the famous Southern Martial Arts Alliance Leader Shi Ning? You are still walking the rivers and lakes! The next time you see Shi Xiaoye, be careful, he is a person who specializes in killing the people of the Qin Kingdom!" several people laughed.

"Master Shi doesn't seem to kill people, right? I heard that he only wounds people on the battlefield and doesn't kill people. ”

"Don't kill people, is that Shi Xiaoye a Buddhist Shaolin?"

"No, no, Buddhism is the state religion of my Qin State, and he must be Taoist as a person from the Southern Dynasties!"

"The Shangqing faction and the Lingbao faction don't seem to be either, I heard that he was expelled from the division because he was from the Qian tribe。。。。。 ”

"You said that he was a member of the Jin tribe who actually helped the people of the Jin Kingdom to fight his old man, if it weren't for him, the Qin State would have dominated the world a long time ago, and now that the Qin State has been defeated, it is still the people of Li who are suffering!" Several people shook their heads again and again, sighing for a while.

Shi Ning put down the teacup, had no intention of drinking it again, and muttered sadly: "If the Qin State unifies the world, the people will be spared less suffering, I am a sinner, I am a sinner!"

"Brother Shi Ning, don't listen to these people's nonsense, most of these people are from the Northern Hu clan, just speaking for the Qin State... Ran Shu comforted.

"But I'm also a Hu clan!"

"You are different, you are for the sake of the people of the world, and they only think about the interests of their own people. ”

"Then is it right or wrong for me to help the Han people of the Jin State fight the Hu people of the Qin State?"

Before Ran Shu could answer, he heard someone outside shouting: "The soldiers of the Northern Mansion of the Jin Kingdom are here, everyone run!"

Since the defeat of the Qin State in the Battle of Weishui, although it still controls the county north of Huaishui, but the sphere of influence and influence have weakened significantly, the original garrison of the county of Qian County withdrew to the north after the war, so there is no defender in the city, and the soldiers of the northern government of the Jin State can drive straight into the city and rush into the city to chase and kill the Hu people in the city, those Hu people are not soldiers, they are ordinary people.

"Stop, how can the dignified Beifu soldiers indiscriminately kill the unarmed people?" Shi Ning made a move to scatter the Beifu soldiers, and made another move to step on the Beidou, flying into the encirclement, standing in front of the Beifu soldiers who were the leaders.

"What do we have to do with you when we kill the Hu people in the city?" The officer of the Beifu Army looked at Shi Ning, and said with a sigh: "Looking at your appearance, you must also be a Hu person!"

"Yes, I'm a Qianren!" Shi Ning Ling Ran said.

The Beifu soldiers hated the Qi people the most, and they all rushed to Shi Ning, and Shi Ning only used one move in the Shangqing sword technique to beat these Beifu soldiers to the ground.

Shi Ning said: "Whose subordinates are you?"

Seeing that Shi Ning's martial arts were strong, the officer of the Beifu didn't dare to make a mistake, and replied truthfully: "Under is the general Liu Yu of the Great Jin Dynasty, dare to ask the hero's surname?"

"I'm Shi Ning!"

When the officer of the Beifu heard the word "Shi Ning", he was so frightened that he took a few steps back, knelt on the ground and said in a panic: "The last general will see the Marquis of Wuling and the general of Shenwu!"

Shi Ning waved his hand and said: "I am no longer the general of Wuling Hou Shenwu, in the future, I will tell your generals not to give orders to kill innocent people!"

"But... But General Xiaocai said that all the Hu people must be killed, and once the war starts, the Hu people can also shoulder their scimitars and kill the soldiers and civilians of the Great Jin Dynasty。。。。。 ”

Shi Ning interrupted: "I said that if I can't kill, I can't kill, no matter the Han people and the Hu people, they are all innocent! Don't let me see you again!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Seeing Shi Ning's anger, the Beifu soldiers led their subordinates to quickly withdraw.

As soon as the Beifu soldiers left, the relatives of the Hu people of the Qin State who were killed hurriedly ran out and hugged the relatives who were brutally killed and wept bitterly, scolding in their mouths: "These southern barbarians must not die well!"

Shi Ning was full of emotion in his heart at this time, and he beat his chest and said sadly: "I thought that only the northern Hu people would kill the innocent people of the Jin State, so how could the soldiers of the Northern Mansion of the Jin State treat the people of the Qin State cruelly? I am the great hero of the Jin State, but I am the great sinner of the Qin State!"

After that, Shi Ning rushed away, no matter how Ran Shu called "Brother Shi Ning, Brother Shi Ning", he couldn't call it back, and suddenly, Shi Ning rushed back again, crazy and crazy, venting the infinite grief in his heart.

Ran Shu saw that Shi Ning's mood couldn't calm down for a long time, and her heart was also sad, and she cried: "I knew that you became like this, we wouldn't come to the north, I don't look for any relatives, and you don't look for any Tianshi, it's good for us to live in Jiankang peacefully... ”

"The girl's words are wrong, Shi Shaoxia must find the Heavenly Stone, only when the world is peaceful, can the people live and work in peace and contentment! And the shortcut to make the world peaceful is to find the Heavenly Stone and obtain the Heavenly Secret!" said an old man who walked down the inn.

"Where is the Heavenly Stone?" Shi Ning became excited again when he heard the Heavenly Stone, and suddenly flashed in front of the old man and asked: "Is it true that the Heavenly Secret in the Heavenly Stone can make the world peaceful and the people live and work in peace and contentment?"