In the winter of the fifteenth year of the Xia Empire's Tiance, there was a snowfall in Changling County, and it had been raining for a long time.

Qilingyi was a military border fortress in the past, in order to prevent the invasion of the Northern Desert people, and later was stranded for some special reasons, but the original ruins were preserved, and the earthen city wall in four directions was built extremely thick, and it looked like a solid earthen fence.

After Gu Qingci came here with the county soldiers, he arranged for people to start repairing as soon as possible, and the accumulated snow on the earthen wall would be blown by the northwest wind knife and would float around, and then fall on the simple barracks, and fall on the soldiers, and the whole world would become a snow-white until nightfall, and then it would begin to rest.

A few bonfires, a few canvas tents, and more than a dozen servants with swords, Gu Qingci did not bake the fire, but stood on an earthen fort, looking into the distance, where was the Northern Desert.

Behind Gu Qingci, there was a person in a green shirt who slowly climbed up, it was Gu Qingci's classmate Ma Shilian, he didn't know martial arts, although during this time Gu Qingci handed over the Huashan mental method to him, however, he didn't practice anything, so that a three- or four-meter-high mound needed to climb slowly, and his hands were red from the cold.

"Your Excellency. ”

Ma Shilian walked behind Gu Qingci, looked at this Xiao Suo's back, sighed softly, and said, "My lord, you don't have to blame yourself too much, these things happened so suddenly, you have done your best!"

Gu Qingci didn't carry his sword, his sword was all damaged, and the white clothes were also stained red with blood, in the night, it was illuminated by the snow, it looked very dazzling, he slowly turned around, shook his head, and said, "I guessed it a long time ago, but I didn't make too many preparations." ”

"Adult ......"

Ma Shilian wanted to persuade him, but Gu Qingci waved his hand and interrupted: "You don't need to say more, let's talk about the current situation." ”

"Yes," Ma Shilian arched his hand and said: "The spies are back, there is a Northern Desert army thirty miles outside the Qiling Station, there are no more than 10,000 people, half of them are cavalry, however, we now occupy the Qiling Station, with this line of defense, we can barely resist the Northern Desert cavalry, but it is not a long-term solution." ”

Gu Qingci nodded, this was all in his expectation, Beimo's plan, he also knew it, originally, he should be sensible, pretend not to know anything, return to Changling County, and wait for the imperial court to send troops, but he couldn't bear to let hundreds of thousands of people die under the butcher's knife here, not to mention, the bright system task was still forcing him, so he had no choice at all.

As soon as he received the news from Beimotu Village, the system issued him a task, so he could only come without hesitation, even if he knew that life and death were unpredictable.

"Ding, as a county parent official, he bears the life and death of thousands of people, and in the face of the invasion of the Northern Desert, he should naturally take the lead. System Mission: Resist the invasion of the Northern Desert, or defeat the Northern Desert Pioneer Force, the time limit is one month, the success reward, 3,000 knight points, three random lottery chances, a random magic soldier, failure punishment, become a vegetative person!"

However, the risks and benefits are proportional, this time, if he succeeds, he will definitely be able to break through to the Hood Qi Realm, and if he fails, he will only have a dead end.

"Is there any news from the girl in Tsing Yi?" Gu Qingci asked.

After he received the task of the system, he had already started to plan, and he knew very well that with the people he was in his hands now, it was impossible to have a chance of victory in the face of the elite troops of the Northern Desert, but he also had a chance, because the system did not require him to eliminate the Northern Desert army.

More than 300 miles away from Qilingyi, it is the largest military border city in the north outside Xia - Weicheng.

Gu Qingci knew very well that it was impossible to go to Weicheng to ask for troops in his identity in a very timely manner, so he hit the princess Tang Yun with his idea, and the reason why he let Tsing Yi go was because Tsing Yi's identity could make Tang Yun have scruples.

Ma Shilian knew about Gu Qingci's plan, or did he accompany Gu Qingci to find Tsing Yi, and when he heard Gu Qingci's question, he immediately replied: "Not yet, it may be delayed by something, the princess should agree, my lord, you don't have to worry." ”

Although Ma Shilian said so, he himself was bottomless, he knew very well that the road from Changling County to Weicheng must have been blocked by the Northern Desert, otherwise it would be impossible for 10,000 troops to appear in Changling County, but Weicheng did not react.

They can know, and the princess will know naturally.

No one can say whether the princess will agree to this nine-life thing.

Gu Qingci raised his eyebrows and did not continue the topic, because he also knew that he could only do his best and obey the destiny of heaven.

"Eh, by the way, what about Qin Keqing? I haven't seen her for half a day?

"No," Ma Shilian said, "I saw her just now, but there was something wrong with her expression, standing alone in the snow, neither speaking nor moving, just holding a sword." ”

Gu Qingci nodded, it's good that he didn't leave, but he knew that this woman was a master, and the resources that could be used now must be used.

......

The snow stopped for a long time, but there was a thick layer of snow all over the mountains, and in this night, it was all glowing, and you could feel a burst of coolness when you looked at it from a distance.

There were improvised tents everywhere, piles of bonfires, patrolling soldiers walking around, most of them had already slept, except for one mountaintop, a white-clothed Taoist girl was motionless, holding a snow-white sword in her hand, stunned.

She is a sword mystery, and she has always relied on swords for her life.

Until today, she actually had doubts about her Dao heart, and the reason was that an old man said a few words.

It was during the day, Qin Keqing met a very ordinary old man, who had to walk slowly, for fear of falling, but he carried a knife and followed Gu Qing to kill people, and what was even stranger was that his knife was really stained with blood.

The old man said to Qin Keqing: "Master Gu knows that he practices swords for protection, so his sword path will not come to an end, as long as there is protection, there will be a sword, but do you know what you practice swords for, and where is the final end?"

Qin Keqing immediately froze there, she never thought about why she practiced swords, it seems that since she was a child, she only knew that she should practice swords, Master taught, she learned, her life has always been only swords, so she practiced swords, but no one ever told her, what did she practice swords?

She couldn't figure it out, so she kept meditating quietly, even when she was following the big army, she was pondering, and she kept thinking until the night, and she still didn't figure it out.

I don't know when, the old man appeared beside her again, looking at the confused Qin Keqing, the old man showed his two front teeth, and grinned: "Little girl, since you can't figure it out, then you can ask the person who understands." ”

"Who?"

"Master Gu!"