Aunt Gua once said that those old things from eighteen years ago had to be told by Master Mao himself.

At this time, the stone cave was quiet, and the person on the stone couch closed his eyelids tightly and didn't know what he thought, his face was very hideous, and his whole body twitched.

When he calmed down, he suddenly opened his red eyes and let out a long scream, revealing a trace of sadness in his eyes.

Master Mao finally spoke: "Eighteen years ago, I was thirty-six years old, and I had a wife, Wu Ling, who lived and worked in peace and contentment at the foot of Qingquan Mountain. But he didn't want to, just rely on a holy decree to make everything wrong. ”

After staying in this deep cave for a long time, I don't know what the light is outside, but I hear the wall of fire start to crackle again.

Master Mao said that he was born an outcast. His biological parents abandoned him at the foot of the hot Qingquan Mountain, and they didn't want him to live. Fortunately, his family rescued him, not only fed and clothed him, but also taught him the art of casting, so that he could have those opportunities in the future.

The family's surname is Wu.

Hundreds of families in Qingquan Mountain cast swords, among which the swordsmanship of the Wu family is the most famous; hundreds of schools of thought in the sword market compete for thousands of swords, among which the stalls with the name of the Wu family are full of swords.

Master Mao was taken in such a sword-casting family, and since he was a child, he has been exposed to sword-casting thaumaturgy, tasted thousands of sword weapons, and was deeply edified, and also developed his gentle and calm good character.

The head of the Wu family is very fond of and important, not only taught him swordsmanship, but also became the future uncle of Master Mao. Wu Ling, the only daughter of Wu Lao, became the only wife in his life in the sixteenth year when Master Mao entered Wu's house.

On the day the two tied the knot, Wu Lao in the high hall announced the new head of the family and the first inheritor of Wu's sword-casting technique.

In the following 20 years, Master Mao led the Wu family to cast thousands of treasures and spread them in all directions, which not only achieved the glory of the Wu family, but also made Qingquan Mountain famous, together with the rest of the 100 families under the mountain all prospered, and for a time the merchants and gentry, heroic swordsmen and others came to the sword market to seek swords.

It can be said that the tree is big and attracts the wind.

This gust of wind actually attracted a holy decree in the capital.

The decree clearly states that the new king will hire a group of highly skilled craftsmen to cast weapons for him in Qingquan Mountain.

To say that it is to hire, in fact it is to take it by force.

The new king was anxious, and on the third day, he had a clear understanding of the bottom of the hundreds of households under Qingquan Mountain. Among the craftsmen who were forced to be selected, the most skilled was Master Mao.

However, Master Mao was also the one who was most reluctant to go to the palace.

People are all known as Master Mao, who has a gentle temperament and has always been humble and polite in dealing with others. But he doesn't want to, for the obsession in his heart, he still has a toughness that destroys the world.

Master Mao said in a deep voice: "I don't want to enter Beijing, I don't want to submit to the powerful, and I don't want to cast a sword for the royal family, I will be the first to tell Ah Ling about this matter." At the moment of the holy decree, others have complained but dare not disobey it, but I am not afraid, and I only ask for one person to be of the same heart with me. ”

"I don't want to, Ah Ling, she is the opposite of what I thought. ”

It is not difficult to imagine that although Master Mao is the head of the Wu family, he was forced to give up a layer of shackles of the original family when he was born, and he advocates freedom a little more in his bones.

But Wu Ling is different.

She was born in Qingquan Mountain, the only daughter of the Wu family, and grew up under her father's eager eyes since she was a child. Her wish is to watch the swordsmiths of the Wu family carry forward and pass on from generation to generation.

Master Mao said that he and Wu Ling grew up together and studied the art of sword casting together, although the two were under the same roof, they grew into diametrically opposed personalities.

Wu Ling is anxious and strives to win the first place in everything, but he firmly believes that slow things will be round, and Wu Ling always owes him a little bit in the fire of sword casting.

Master Mao ranked first on the list of swordsmiths under Qingquan Mountain, and Wu Ling only fell second.

After getting married, she eased the matter a little. They also had countless disputes over big and small things. But because they are husband and wife, they finally gave in to each other and have been with each other for 20 years.

But this time it is a matter of the rise and fall of the family, and a matter of life and death.

The two of them sat down calmly that day, both of them extremely calm.

Wu Ling said first: "You really don't want to go to the capital?"

"You know my ambition, I don't want to submit to the powerful, and I don't want to forge a sword for the royal family. In this life, in order to find a sword master, I want to fight a really good sword. ”

"You are resisting the decree, do you know what the consequences are?"

"It's not just a death. ”

"If you die, you will take all the people of my Wu family with you. Would you like to?"

Master Mao was silent.

Wu Ling said again: "Have you ever thought about what should I do? What about the Wu family? Who will inherit the sword-casting skills of the Wu family, the hard work of my father's life?"

After another long silence, he sighed lightly and said with a sad face: "Ah Ling, I haven't thought about this. ”

The woman on the other end pursed her lips, her eyes burning.

"But do you think that we are entering the capital for whom? for the emperor, for the most ambitious person in the world. I'm afraid that as soon as I enter the Huaguang Tower, it will be like flying into a birdcage, leaving behind my freedom and being imprisoned for the rest of my life. If that great cause is accomplished, in exchange for a glass of poisonous wine and a white silk, let you bury yourself in the ground with those casting secrets. ”

"Ah Ling, have you ever thought about this? After entering the capital, how could the emperor let that secret technique be announced to the world again? At that time, the sword forging technique of the Wu family is really uninherited. ”

Wu Ling's eyes lost their brilliance, lowered her head slightly, and asked him gently: "Mao Lang, then what do you say?"

He slowly breathed a sigh of relief, he had already thought of a way to comfort her, "The only craftsmen selected by the Wu family are you and me, and the rest of us can first escape from here with the secret art of sword casting, so as to preserve the inheritance of the Wu family." As for resisting the decree, as long as you and I have one heart, what are you afraid of? Ah Ling, are you willing to accompany me?"

Master Mao showed a gentle smile and asked, "Ah Ling, are you willing to accompany me?"

Wu Ling thought for a moment extremely seriously, and when she looked up again, she stared into his eyes and said, "I do." ”

......

The man on the stone couch couldn't say any more, he slowed down for a long time, his face was extremely pale, and he looked at somewhere in front of him in a daze, as if he was still reminiscing about the high-five promised that day.

I couldn't help but step forward and say, "Master Mao, Master Mao?"

"Huh?" Master Mao turned his head to look at me, his eyes cloudy, and his young face was a little ignorant.

"And then? That Changjuesan is really her...... Hey, what you're wearing?"

After hearing this, his eyes gradually cleared, and only a sad smile appeared on his face, and there was no other emotion.

"Changjuesan, she fed it to me with her own hands. ”

"At that time, I naively thought that I would finish this last meal with her before I died. Ling made a table of delicacies and handed me a bowl of extremely delicious soup. But who would have thought that after I drank it, my throat stabbed like sharp ice, my abdomen was cut like a knife, and I couldn't speak...... I saw her say to me very calmly, 'Mao Lang, don't worry, I have already taken the mother medicine. This Gu medicine is cold, just wait a while. At that moment, I knew that she had fed me the medicine of Changjuesan. ”

I exclaimed, "Isn't that Changjuesan a forbidden medicine? The secret recipe for refining medicine is hidden deep in the Ouchi Palace, how can ordinary people have it?"

"That's a good question! ”

"At this time, I saw Ah Ling hook the corners of her mouth again, and said to me, 'Mao Lang, I forgot to tell you, the emperor has promised me that as long as you can enter Beijing, he can protect the Wu family, and can also keep the Wu family's lineage of swordsmanship passed on from generation to generation. So Mao Lang, I'm going to wronged you this time'......"

"At that time, I realized that how could the Wu lineage survive for a hundred years in this mountain wilderness? Its sword-forging secret technique has been passed down from generation to generation, and it is carried forward here, and someone is behind it. And that person is the power of the royal family and nobles that the Wu family relies on today. ”

"Ah Ling has always been the one who knows me best. She knew that I had great ambitions in this life, but I was afraid that Changjuesan would come to Qingquan Mountain at the same time as that holy decree. Ah Ling knew that I would resist, which would be detrimental to the Wu family. She designed me to take Gu medicine like this, and wanted to control my words and deeds to serve the royal family...... And how can I let her do it?"

Master Mao's eyes suddenly lit up with a burst of firelight, gritted his teeth, and his face became terrifying again. He looked sideways at Xiao Jiu and said, "You're right, if the person who swallows the sub-medicine wants to get out of control when his consciousness remains, he can only win by biting the root of his tongue and resisting this yin deficiency with his blood and qi." ”

Xiao Jiu trembled and stretched out his finger to point at him, and said with an embarrassed face: "You...... If it really bites through, the consequences are ......."

“...... The heart is like a knife, and he is tortured and dies of pain. "I thought I was going to die that day, but although I was conscious, my whole body was tingling, and I thought I had a sharp knife standing in my head." I ran out screaming, and everyone thought I was crazy and avoided me. ”

"I ran to the green spring mountain to avoid others, but when my heart was broken, I saw those stones with patterns...... I know...... I knew there was stone poison in it, and I would die if I ate it. Usually people talk about this kind of stone, but at that time I was like a treasure......"

"I thought that eating the stone poison would end my suffering. If I can be buried in Qingquan Mountain, it will be a blessing for my soul to return to my hometown. No, I woke up again. ”

This is the beginning of another nightmare. ”

"Now I have been dragging this crippled body for eighteen years, and the only thing that supports me to live is the will of my heart. ”

Master Mao landed on the stone couch, and Aunt Gua on the side immediately stepped forward to help him walk towards the wall of fire. He was flushed with the blazing fire.

"I don't want to submit to the powerful in this life, and I don't want to cast a sword for the royal family, I just want to fight a really good sword and find a sword master for it. In the past 18 years, I have adhered to this belief and persevered. Now the great cause will be accomplished, and my sword will burst out in the fire after 7749 days!"

The sound of indignation was so great that it caused lime to fall from the cave.

The sword light in the wall of fire appeared and disappeared from time to time.

Hu Xiaoer was still standing in place, motionless, with his head down, not knowing what he was thinking.

I looked at Master Mao and seemed to be shining all over, and the melon lady on the side looked at him with great admiration.

After a long time, Xiao Jiu stepped forward and stood next to the wall of fire.

"You know that your time is short. ”

This sound, not light, not heavy, not hurried, but let everyone in the cave hear it clearly and clearly.

In an instant, the fire in Master Mao's eyes was extinguished.