At midnight.

Zhao Lanjiang and Li Chengcheng came to the Washing Knife Bridge.

When Li Qiuyi practiced knives, he washed knives here every day, and now it has become a holy place for men who practice knives in the hidden sun. On the back of the bridgehead whetstone, the names of thousands of people are densely engraved, and these are the masters of knife use in Hidden Yang City for thirty years. People are almost paranoid about the belief that the knives washed here will be sharper and will be protected by the Golden Sword King.

Zhao Lanjiang knocked on the wooden door of the gatekeeper.

The man who guards the door is surnamed Qian Boyuan, has entered his twilight years, he was a veteran of Yinyang, twenty years ago, he was lame, after retiring from the army, he had no children and no daughters, so he found a job here as a janitor, responsible for writing ink for Yinyang swordsmen, and people called him a Qian Dad.

Once a person is old, he sleeps very little, he does not sleep at this time, he is recalling the battle of following the old city lord to attack Kangju City, that battle, he killed eleven people, and was rewarded by the old city lord with a bowl of red water wine, that was the highest moment in his life, and he has relived this memory countless times in his life.

A knock on the door interrupted his memories.

He muttered, "Which offspring is washing the knife again?" "Over the years, many people who practice knives have chosen to wash their knives at night, but the hidden sun is too chaotic these days, and no one has washed their knives for more than ten days.

Daddy Qian put on his coat and opened the wooden door.

Zhao Lanjiang said, "Uncle, I'll wash the knife." ”

When Father Qian heard Zhao Yanjiang's accent, he glanced at him and frowned, "Outsiders?"

After the knife washing bridge became famous, many people from other places also came to wash the knife, which is also a common thing. However, they are not included in the Hidden Yang Nationality, and they can wash the knife, but they cannot leave their name on the whetstone.

Zhao Lanjiang nodded, "Because I have something important to do, I took the liberty to visit in the middle of the night, disturbing the old man's dream, and asking for forgiveness." ”

Daddy Qian motioned for them to come into the house, "What a dream, we are so old that we can't sleep for two hours a day, come in and register, we will charge 100 yuan, but remember, you can wash the knife, in the middle of the night, you are not allowed to make too much noise!"

According to the usual experience, after washing the knife, many young knife makers said bold words, such as "Lao Tzu wants to become the first in the world", "the future knife king washes the knife here", etc., and even deliberately poured the knife body with internal force, splitting into the red water, stirring up a wave of waves, making the neighborhood full of opinions, so he specially advised.

Father Qian glanced at Li Chengcheng again, "What about you, why don't you wash together?"

Li Qingcheng smiled, "I'm a swordsman. ”

"Oh, swordsman. ”

Daddy Qian made no secret of his contempt, in Yinyang, there was the Golden Sword King, and there were almost no swordsmen in the city, and they were born with no good impression of swordsmen.

"Young age, learn what sword. ”

Li Chengcheng had to smile slightly, not careless.

The three of them walked through the knife stone and came to the bottom of the knife washing bridge, and Zhao Lanjiang opened the knife box and held the golden knife in his hand. Father Qian was shocked when he saw the knife in Zhao Lanjiang's hand.

He was all too familiar with the knife.

Not only him, but in the entire Hidden Yang City, there is no one who does not know this knife.

And they all know that three days ago, this knife was hung on the golden knife platform.

Father Qian's words trembled a little, "This ...... This is...... , how can this knife be with you?"

Zhao Lanjiang said calmly, "Because I am Zhao Lanjiang." ”

Daddy Qian had heard of this person, a few days ago, he escorted the ashes of the Golden Sword King back to Yinyang, but Daddy Qian did not visit the city because of his inflexible legs. Later, Li Xiancheng issued a city-wide wanted warrant and offered a heavy reward for Zhao Lanjiang's head, and he had heard a lot of rumors about this person.

It's just that I didn't expect Zhao Lanjiang to appear here at this moment.

"You're going to ...... What to do?"

Zhao Lanjiang said, "Kill Li Xiancheng." ”

Father Qian took a step back and bowed deeply to the golden knife, "I'll help you fetch water!"

Zhao Lanjiang stretched out his hand to stop him, "It may take too long to wash, I'd better go to the river to wash." ”

Coming to the Chishui River, Zhao Lanjiang jumped into the water, held his hand on the hilt of the knife, and a familiar force passed into the hand holding the knife.

When.

The hand pressed the scabbard, and the golden knife flicked out of the scabbard.

......

Somewhere in the city, a few old men were drinking, and they were already drunk at this time. Although there is a ban on alcohol, every household has more or less some private hiding.

They are all retired white horse righteous servants, the earliest group of people who followed Li Qiuyi to fight in the south and the north, and now the old city lord has died, these people are quite disdainful of what Li Xiancheng did. Today, they got together, drank a few jars of wine, and recalled the eventful years of the year.

"Li Xiancheng is what the hell, he doesn't deserve to lift shoes for the old city lord, Lao Tzu didn't pull out his sword back then, and he was beaten all over the ground looking for teeth! Now it's good, the old city lord is no more, he really thinks of himself as an emperor!" said a veteran.

Another said, "I have long seen his wolf ambitions, but I didn't show his fox tail because I was afraid that the old city lord was still there, you see what he has made Hidden Yang City look like in the past twenty years!"

"And his son, the second ancestor, and the big straw bag, the ghost knows if our Hidden Yang City will be taken into the abyss by their father and son in the future. I even doubt that it will be Li Xiancheng who leaked the whereabouts of the old city lord to Chu Ritian. ”

The previous human, "There is also the descendant surnamed Zhao, who traveled thousands of miles from Jiangnan to send the ashes of the old city lord back, and I heard that on the Golden Knife Terrace, he was killed by Li Xiancheng with a knife, which is really chilling." ”

"I heard that he was a closed disciple of the old city lord. ”

"What kind of disciple who opens the door and closes the door!" the man shouted before, pointing to the long knife hanging on the wall, "If he can pull out Lao Tzu's knife, Lao Tzu will admit it!"

"Li Tingtou, you're here again!"

Back then, this veteran was a well-known thorn in the white horse group, relying on his high martial arts, and he didn't even pay attention to Li Qiuyi.

Once, when he was performing martial arts, he once threatened Li Qiuyi in front of five thousand white horse righteous servants, "As long as you can pull out my sword, I will recognize you as the city lord!"

At that time, Li Qiuyi laughed when he heard it, "Pull out your sword alone, I can be the city lord, won't I let the world laugh!"

When everyone was puzzled, he pressed the knife spring.

In the entire martial arts arena, the sound of brushing was everywhere, and the long knives of five thousand white horse righteous servants seemed to hear the call, and they all unsheathed half a foot!

Since then, not only Li Tingtou, but all the white horse righteous servants have bowed to Li Qiuyi. Today, Li Tingtou brought up this matter again, just to recall the demeanor of the old city lord back then.

Another said, "If only the old city lord were still here, it would be great!"

As soon as this sentence came out, several elderly people in their fifties, their eyes were red, tears flowed down, and they hugged their heads and cried.

At that moment, there was a click.

Everyone here are veterans, and they are very familiar with this sound, it is the sound of pressing the knife spring, the long knife ejecting the sheath, everyone looked towards the wall, only to see that the long knife, has been ejected from the scabbard, half of it is exposed.

Under the candlelight, the knife was still shining.

Everyone was stunned, "Could it be that the old city lord has appeared in the sky?"

At this time, several more clicks were heard.

Several of them were veterans, and even after they were discharged from the army, the long knife never left their bodies. When they came in to drink, they put their long knives on the head of the bed, and now they all unsheathed.

This night, in Yinyang City, there were thousands of long knives, all of which were unsheathed, and even in the city lord's mansion, there were many dragoon guards with long knives unsheathed.

Immediately after, a voice spread throughout the Hidden Sun City.

"Li Xiancheng, on the day after tomorrow when he ascends the throne, Zhao Lanjiang will take the head of the emperor and sacrifice to the sky!"

Declare war!

Zhao Lanjiang declared war on Li Xiancheng.

After the Golden Knife Tower, Zhao Lanjiang, whose whereabouts have been unknown, issued an open challenge to the City Lord's Mansion at this moment, and the object of the challenge was Li Xiancheng, who was about to ascend the throne.

This night, there were countless people in Hidden Sun City who stayed awake all night.

Almost everyone was shocked by this voice, one was the current city lord, and the other was the heir of the old city lord, and these two people inevitably went head-to-head.

......

Castle Lord's Mansion.

Li Xiancheng was furious and had already dropped several cups.

Chai Gongwang and everyone prostrate on the ground, welcoming Li Xiancheng's thunderous rage. Zhao Lanjiang's words were too lethal and directly challenged Li Xiancheng's bottom line.

The enthronement ceremony is set for the day after tomorrow, this is Yinyang City, it is his territory, and he himself is a master of general imagery, how can he allow a junior to provoke, Zhao Lanjiang Ming came to find fault, Li Xiancheng decided to give him a chance.

"Give him a chance to come and die. Li Xian became enlightened.

Chai Gongwang leaned down, and thought to himself: The city lord's temper is getting more and more irritable, and he has developed the habit of throwing things indiscriminately.

In the past, Li Xiancheng was still restrained, but now that he is about to ascend the throne, his temper is becoming more and more inscrutable, and I heard that there was a servant girl yesterday, because of a trivial matter, angered him, and was beaten to death by him.

Could it be that this is Tianwei Longyan?

He was thinking about whether to tell Li Xiancheng about Zhao Lanjiang's infiltration into the City Lord's Mansion, but he still hesitated when he thought of the Gu poison of unknown origin that Zhao Lanjiang gave him to eat. What is the prime minister on the left and right, the upper and lower pillars, compared with life, they are all floating clouds.

Once, Chai Gong's fate was like mud, and after eating this meal, he didn't settle for the next meal. Now relying on whiskers and bragging, Chai Gongwang has gradually regained his value as a man.

Over the years, he has accumulated hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and he has made up his mind that after this incident, he will take the opportunity to take the gold, silver and jewelry out of the hidden sun and escape from this place of right and wrong. When the time comes, if he can lose 150 pounds, who in the world will still be able to recognize him? Even if black and white impermanence asks for his life, he may not be able to catch the wrong person.

In the face of Li Xiancheng's storm, his heart was calm and waveless, and he lowered his head to the ground.

Everyone didn't dare to come out, Li Xiancheng lost his temper for a while, and gradually calmed down, since Zhao Lanjiang wanted to challenge him, he didn't have to go to great lengths to find him, just wait for him to come to the door at that time.

This is called the unstable and moody son of heaven, let these future courtiers feel in advance first, the feeling of accompanying the king like a tiger,

He began to arrange the banquet on the eve of tomorrow's reign.

The eighteen city lords of Yinyang, the envoys sent by Western Chu and Northern Zhou, as well as a number of forces on the rivers and lakes, all came to participate in this night banquet and watch the enthronement ceremony on the second day together.

The political significance of this kind of night banquet is greater than the formal significance.

In front of the Eighteen Cities and in front of the embassies of various countries, he wanted to show the prestige of the "Emperor of Longyang", and of course, he also had to ensure the safety of the people attending the banquet.

What's more, now in the city, there is also a dangerous person such as Zhao Lanjiang.