Chapter 21: The Empty Man
Zizhuling, Leng Zhuxuan.
The night flows quietly, the sky is very clean, a cold moon, a few lonely stars, there is a mountain breeze blowing slowly, the bamboo forests all over the mountains collide with a thin, rustling sound, a series of chasing towards the side of the mountain, like someone's heart, continuous and long.
On a clean flat ground, Qianxue stood quietly, her white clothes and hair fluttering gently, and the Haoyue Divine Sword was tightly held in her hand, staring blankly at the bottom of the mountain motionless, not knowing what to think again.
There is a small bamboo house not far away, the shape is simple and exquisite, clean and elegant, all around are the verdant and green bamboo forests all over the mountains, this hut is hidden in this boundless bamboo sea, only to see a wooden sign erected in front of the house, which reads the three words 'Leng Zhuxuan'.
A path was hidden in the bamboo forest of the mountain, and it zigzagged until it reached the bottom of the mountain, and she stood at this intersection and looked down, never looking back for a long time.
After a long time, Qianxue finally retracted her gaze, bit her lip vigorously, and with a wave of her jade hand, she threw the Haoyue Divine Sword Brush high, and the snow-white figure flashed in the air, and the sword shadows in the sky poured down densely, covering the cold moonlight, and the bamboo leaves around were crossed by the sharp sword qi, and they suddenly shook to the ground.
A person slowly walked out of the depths of the bamboo forest, dressed in green clothes with a cold face, but also expressionless and clear, it was one of the five swords of the Heavenly Sword that ran away eighteen years ago, 'as in the past', she had lived for hundreds of years, and the years did not seem to have eroded her face, she was still so beautiful and moving, beautiful and refined, and she was also an ice beauty!
She glanced at the bamboo leaves that had been cut down all over the ground, frowned slightly, and walked towards Qianxue, who submerged Haoyue into the scabbard and called out to the master softly.
"You, you have something on your mind!"
"No, Master!"
"It's about Xue Lingfeng!"
Looking at the bottom of the mountain in a daze, her voice was the same as Qianxue, it was also so cold, she hadn't walked down Zizhuling for a long time, it should have been more than ten years.
"Master, I'm ......"
"Okay! what you think in your heart, then do it, you go out tomorrow morning, find him, bring Zizhuling, if that demon princess is still entangled, kill her!"
After speaking, he turned around and left, the way he spoke was exactly the same as Qianxue, concise and clean, walked to a place full of fallen leaves, and with a wave of his hand, the bamboo leaves on the ground floated up and flew towards the depths of the bamboo forest, revealing a clean ground.
Here, Xue Lingfeng and Wumei left Wulai Village and went all the way to the east, because Xue Lingfeng had two treasures on his body, the Han Jade Bead and the Xuanguang Sword, these two things were evil in the eyes of the people of Tianjian Gate, but they were treasures that many people dreamed of.
And he himself had no cultivation, so Wu Mei had to take Xue Lingfeng over the mountains and mountains, and took the inaccessible dense forest paths, even so, he still sent many people from all walks of life along the way.
After ten days, I came to a mountain, this mountain is called 'Demon Slayer Mountain', the mountain is not big or high, but it is very famous, and you can reach 'Qulan City' after two days of walking over the Demon Slaying Mountain, which is the territory of the Heavenly Demon Sect.
This mountain originally had no name, it was named after a great battle between the righteous and demons hundreds of years ago, this battle concentrated most of the righteous and demonic masters, tens of thousands of people died in battle, and the blood flowed into a river and the corpses and bones piled up, and finally the demon road was defeated, so it was for the demon slay!
Since then, it has become a forbidden place for people in the world, and ordinary people dare not set foot on it, and in people's hearts it is a huge tomb, the grave of the dead and the living, whether it is the righteous path or the devil's way, they are far away.
There seemed to be a strong smell of blood in the air, mixed with the resentment of the dead in battle, which could not be resolved for hundreds of years, and it was rumored that anyone who touched anything on this mountain would die mysteriously.
The dancing charm chose to go here, just because she didn't want to meet those who came to snatch the Han Jade Bead and the Xuanguang Sword again. However, most of the rumors have elements advocated by good deeds, and the truth and falsehood of them still need to be verified.
At this time, it was almost evening, Xue Lingfeng stood on a high boulder and looked around, only to see that all around were dense and verdant forests, as vast as a sea of smoke and boundless, he didn't feel that there was anything wrong with this Demon Slayer Mountain, but the air didn't seem to be very good, compared to Lingyun Peak, it was a world of difference.
Wu Mei found a relatively clean place, beckoned Xue Lingfeng to come over, these days she has been busy on the road, busy dodging and sending away those who covet the cold jade bead and the Xuanguang Sword, she is physically and mentally nervous and tired, and now she is on this uninhabited Demon Slayer Mountain, and she can finally relax, Xue Lingfeng does not know the history of this Demon Slaying Mountain, but Wu Mei knows, she concludes that there will be no one else here.
The two of them made a fire, leaned against a huge stone as a barrier, and took out dry food and water to satisfy their hunger, these things were prepared by Wumei before going up the mountain, among which was a fat pheasant, which was also caught by Wumei Xue Lingfeng in other places, and it had been disemboweled.
In the idea of dancing charm, although the legend cannot be fully believed, it is still wonderful that the things on this demon slayer mountain are not contaminated, especially the food and drink!
After eating some dry food, Xue Lingfeng put the fat pheasant on the fire with a wooden stick and roasted it, these ten days to eat and sleep in the open, eat and drink most of the wild fruits and wild meat in the mountains and mountain springs, he is good at cooking, and now the barbecue technology is very skilled, plus his own special condiments, ordinary pheasants and hares, etc., after he barbecued, it became fragrant.
Wu Mei is not a person who likes to eat meat, but she has fallen in love with his barbecue these days, at this time she is sitting opposite Xue Lingfeng, holding her cheeks with both hands, and the two big eyes are staring at the roast chicken in Xue Lingfeng's hand, the pheasant has been roasted almost completely, and the aroma wafts out for a while, and when it is blown by the wind, it will be scattered all over the mountain.
At this time, I heard a sudden crackling sound like a fight in the distance, which became louder and louder, and was quickly floating towards the two of them.
The two of them were puzzled, when they saw a black shadow galloping like a ghost like the wind, and stopped not far from them, only to see that this man was short, lean, and ugly, but his eyes were shining, and he was wearing a black satin robe with a hat, which was embroidered with various bright red ghost patterns, almost completely covering his head and body, and revealing an eerie ghostly aura all over his body.
The two of them looked surprised, and then saw a person flying over, stopping opposite the man in black, but it was a crane-haired boy with a slightly thin body, his hair and beard were a mess, it looked like he hadn't been sorted out for a while, and the clothes on his body were also tattered, it seemed to be a robe, and it was dirty, but the whole person seemed to be very energetic, aside from his sloppy side, but there was a bit of a fairy wind and bones, and the two of them maintained a state of confrontation and watched each other on guard.
Dance Charm was shocked, secretly said how could anyone come to this place? and then think about the people who can come here, it must not be easy! Thinking of this, she quickly stood up, and with a shake of her hand, the Dance of Light immediately appeared in her hand, staring at the two of them tightly in order to wait for the opportunity to move. Xue Lingfeng threw away the roast chicken in his hand, and quickly got up and held Xuanguang in his hand, and the roast chicken fell to the fire and burned like this.
The sudden two were still on guard, Xue Lingfeng and Wumei stood aside, carefully watching their movements, and after a while, the old man with a childish face relaxed first, his nose twitched, and he turned his back to Xue Lingfeng and shouted: "Hey, stinky boy, don't burn that thing!"
Xue Lingfeng and Wu Mei were stunned for a moment, they didn't expect this person to say such a sentence as soon as they spoke, but this made the two of them feel a lot more relaxed. Xue Lingfeng looked down at the roast chicken on the fire, reached out and picked it up and put it on the stone slab next to it.
The old man in tattered clothes looked at the roast chicken that was roasting fragrantly, couldn't help licking his lips, and shouted at the man in black: "Old ghost, hand over the 'Heavenly Eye', grandpa, I can spare you today!"
The old man in black flicked his sleeves and held a black cane on his chest, only to see a blood-red skull at the top of the cane shocking, and he also yelled in his mouth: "Empty Dao, for twenty years, you have chased me from the east to the western wilderness, from the south to the extreme north, Lao Tzu fought with you today!"
As he spoke, he took the initiative to fly up with his cane and rushed up, and the old man in tattered clothes shouted 'yes', and with a casual move, he held a piece of dead branch next to him in his hand and greeted him.
The two of them suddenly crackled and fought together, the speed was amazingly fast, only to see the vague afterimage flashing, and after a while, they had already fought each other more than 100 moves, all of them were cultivating to be extraordinary top masters, and countless battles made each other understand each other very well, and in the end it could only be a competition of internal strength.
The man in black raised his cane, and the other hand clenched a magic decision, only to see his lips flutter, and a thick blood mist came out of the skull, and after a struggle, he changed into a vague human form, which instantly swelled to the height of the two of them, and roared and pounced forward with teeth and claws.
The surrounding wind gusted in an instant, and a bloody stench rushed into the nose, making people almost nauseous, and the dancing charm couldn't help but exclaim: "Blood baby......! It's the Blood Demon Ancestor!"
Xue Lingfeng had never heard of any blood babies, and naturally he didn't know who this Blood Demon Ancestor was, even the third senior uncle Xu Changfeng, and he had never mentioned it to himself.
He had already been frightened by the sudden appearance of the blood-colored monster and his legs were weak, although he still held the Xuanguang Sword tightly, his feet trembled unconsciously, and the dancing charm glanced at his cowardice, and hurriedly blocked in front of him, grabbed his hand and whispered: "Calm down, don't let people see it!"
This blood baby is constantly collecting the essence blood of living people, and even the fierce and evil 'Blood Demon Dafa' refining, ten years of initial shape, and then after twenty years of growth, it has the ability to suck the essence blood of living people, at this time the blood baby is already extremely powerful, and with the growth of the future, it is even more powerful.
It's just that the progress of cultivating this technique is slow and quite dangerous, and if you are not careful, you will be counterattacked and cost your own life, and this cultivation method is too vicious, even some people in the Demon Dao despise it.
The ragged old man's face tightened, and his hands flipped forward sharply and quickly laid down a pure, thick dark cyan wall of light, the blood baby hit the wall of light and was blocked by life, and with another roar, he bit wildly at the wall of light in front of him, and after a tremble, the original pure blue wall of light had a little blood red from the middle, and the red became bigger and bigger and gradually spread, and it was about to shatter.
Seeing this, the ragged old man hurriedly flew up, bypassed the blood baby in front, and flew straight to the man in black behind, the man in black hurriedly collected the blood baby, and quickly formed a bright red blood cover on his body, covering him tightly. The ragged old man just slapped his palm on this blood cover, and his face was shocked and he hurriedly pulled out and flew back, only to see that a piece of blood on the palm of his hand was eroding up his arm, and he hurriedly forced away this blood, it seems that he is very jealous of this blood red.
The old man in tattered clothes was helpless, and jumped and shouted: "Despicable old ghost, can you have some new tricks, use this evil trick every time you reach the end, and have the ability to fight with grandpa happily for thousands of rounds, do you dare!"
The man in black took the blood cover, and also shouted: "Empty road, don't be quick to speak, if you have the ability, you can break my 'bloody qi' first." ”
The ragged old man stomped his feet angrily, turned his head and saw the Xuanguang Sword in Xue Lingfeng's hand, stared at the back for a while, looked at the back in surprise for a while, and looked Xue Lingfeng up and down a few times and said, "Boy, lend the sword in your hand to Lao Dao to use!"
Xue Lingfeng was about to walk out when he heard this, Wu Mei hurriedly stretched out his hand to stop him, at this time, he saw the figure of the ragged old man flashing, and in the blink of an eye, he stood in place again, holding the Xuanguang Sword in his hand and watching up and down, Xue Lingfeng looked at the empty scabbard in his hand, and couldn't help but beat wildly in his heart, he didn't even see it clearly, the long sword in his hand had been snatched away.
There was a burst of excitement on the face of the ragged old man, and he raised the Xuanguang Sword and shouted, "Old ghost, do you recognize this sword?"
The black-clothed man's pupils tightened, and he stared at the Xuanguang Sword for a long time, and suddenly lost his voice and said, "This ...... This..... Could it be the Demon Sword Xuanguang that has been missing for five hundred years?"
"Hahaha, it's the treasure Xuanguang you've been looking for, old ghost, look at me, this will break your bloody qi!"
The man in black was full of horror, and hurriedly raised his hand and was about to release the blood baby, at this time, I saw that the ragged old man who had just flown up seemed to have suffered some heavy blow, and fell staggeringly, the confused expression on his face flashed, he quickly shook his head and threw away the Xuanguang sword in his hand, and forcibly fixed his mind: "This sword is really evil, and it is actually the one who recognizes the Lord!"
Seeing this, the man in black finally relaxed his nervous expression, sneered and said: "Hahaha, empty space, this kind of divine soldier, it seems that it can't be controlled by cultivation alone, see how you still break my bloody qi!"
The ragged old man glared at the man in black, turned his head to Xue Lingfeng and said, "Boy, can you use this sword?"
Xue Lingfeng didn't seem to have recovered from the fright, and replied tremblingly, "I...... Use...... Useful!"
"You can really use it! Come on, come on, come here!"
The ragged old man suddenly became hippie and smiling, beckoning Xue Lingfeng to pass, Xue Lingfeng looked at the dancing charm, hesitated on his face but still walked over.
With a smile on his face, the ragged old man looked him up and down again and said, "Come, pick up the sword and help me cut him!"
Xue Lingfeng was taken aback, mechanically picked up the Xuanguang Sword on the ground, and stammered, "Then I'...... I...... How do you cut it?"
The ragged old man was stunned for a moment, and looked at Xue Lingfeng with a puzzled expression, this was probably the stupidest stupid thing he had ever heard in his life, and even the dancing charm on the side almost couldn't help laughing.
But Lao Dao looked at Xue Lingfeng's serious appearance, his face was full of surprise and fear, and his body was still trembling slightly, as if he said it on purpose, so he reached out and pressed it on his shoulder, and his face was surprised again, and he retracted his hand, thinking that it was really strange!
Xue Lingfeng only felt that a strong force rushed towards the dantian from top to bottom, and suddenly there was a surge of blood in his body, and a stronger force suddenly rose from the dantian, rushing back the external force, and his whole body suddenly became hot.
"Boy, don't you really know how to cut him?"
Xue Lingfeng raised his eyes and quickly glanced at the black-clothed man opposite, swallowed his saliva secretly and said, "No...... I don't know, how can I beat him!"
"Then you just have to slash him with your sword!"
As he spoke, the ragged old man quickly pushed out a palm behind Xue Lingfeng, and suddenly a whirlwind blew, rolling Xue Lingfeng up and flying forward quickly.
The black-clothed man in front of him looked tense and quickly released the bleeding baby, and at the same time formed a thick blood cover on his body.
Xue Lingfeng was swept forward by the sudden whirlwind, he was surprised in his heart, and before he could figure out what was going on, he looked up and saw a hideous and huge blood-colored monster rushing towards him with his teeth and claws, a foul-smelling smell of blood rushed into his nose, the blood-colored monster roared wantonly, and the delicious meal was unobstructed in front of him, and he opened his bloody mouth and was about to bite off Xue Lingfeng.
Xue Lingfeng was sweating profusely, so hot that it seemed to be about to burn, at this moment of life and death, there was a violent tremor of the Xuanguang in his hand, as if it was from a long and ancient impulse, straight to the bottom of his heart, his face suddenly became gloomy, but with a little bit of fierce resentment, he held the Xuanguang Sword in both hands, and slashed out towards the front.
With a whoosh, a strange dark green light slashed through the blood baby's huge body and continued to fly forward, the blood baby screamed miserably, turning into a cloud of blood mist and flying back into the crimson skull.
And the dark green light slashed unabated, and in the blink of an eye, it reached the man in black, and suddenly hit his thick blood cover, and with a bang, I saw red and dark green scattering and splashing, and the thick blood cover on his body collapsed instantly, and his body staggered back a few steps and almost fell.
I saw a surprised expression of disbelief on his face, and a trace of black gas came out of the broken shirt on his left shoulder, as if it was burned, as if the flesh and blood had begun to rot at this moment, and he hurriedly used his skills to force the black qi back.
"Hahaha, old ghost, don't hand over the eye of heaven soon!"
Seeing this, the old man in rags took advantage of the situation and swept towards the man in black, as fast as lightning, and the man in black gritted his teeth when he saw this, reached out and took out something in his arms, shook his hand and threw it down the cliff.
The man in black took the opportunity to flee to the depths of the forest, leaving only a resentful roar from afar: "Stinky boy, this sword revenge, Ancestor I will find you sooner or later!"
Xue Lingfeng fell to the ground, suddenly sweating profusely, his whole body was soft, he sat up with the Xuanguang Sword in both hands, his expression was painful and he couldn't even open his eyes, Wu Mei touched his head, it was so hot that he hurriedly took water to cool him down, and a large pot of water was drunk by Xue Lingfeng at once, but the water he drank immediately turned into sweat and flowed out, which didn't work at all.
When he was anxious, he only heard a gust of wind on the edge of the cliff, and the old man in tattered clothes rose to the sky, holding a dark iron box in his hand, and saw Xue Lingfeng sitting on the ground sweating profusely, and said with a smile on his face: "Oh, this stinky boy, it's so bad, it's just a sword and you're tired like this!"
The ragged old man sat on the ground next to him, ready to open the box in his hand, Wu Mei took a step forward, grabbed the box in his hand and scolded angrily: "Bull Nose Daoist, you are still a master, can't you see that he is not tired! He made it like this to help you, don't you think about it quickly, believe it or not, I will still put this bullshit thing from here!"
Wu Mei said and raised the box in his hand, and made a still preparatory action, the old man in tattered clothes jumped up suddenly, and gestured forward with both hands: "Little girl, don't get excited, ah, don't get excited, I'll take a look at him." ”
As he spoke, he turned to look at Xue Lingfeng, and muttered in a low voice: The little girl is so sharp-toothed, woman, it's trouble, it's always there!
The ragged old man touched Xue Lingfeng's head, jumped up suddenly, and said in a lost voice: "Wow, little baby, why are you so hot, you are about to become a roast pig!"
While speaking, he saw that Wumei was looking at him with an angry face, and shook the box in his hand, and quickly put away the smile on his face and said, "Don't be excited, don't be excited, I want to think about it!"
After finishing speaking, he put his hands behind his back, walked around Xue Lingfeng twice, and suddenly said: "Water, give him water, if he has a fever, then he has to cool down, just throw him directly into the pool!"
When Wu Mei heard this, she stomped her feet angrily, pointed at the ragged old man and scolded angrily: "Niu Nose, aren't you talking nonsense, if it's so simple, who wouldn't have thought that ordinary water won't work at all, besides, can it use the water on this Demon Slayer Mountain!"
"Oh, yes, I can't see that the little girl is still well-informed and knows the history of this Demon Slayer Mountain!"
"Don't talk nonsense, you're also a master, you should think of a way!"
"Okay, okay, I think about it, I think about it!" said the ragged old man, and then turned his hands around Xue Lingfeng, and suddenly exclaimed: "By the way, Hantan, forget about Hantan!" There is a strange story in this world, the pool water is quiet and deep, but there are no living creatures in it, and what is even more strange is that no matter whether it is cold or summer, the pool water is cold and bone-chilling but never frozen......
"Okay, okay, what is this cold pool, can you save him?"
"Well...... this"
"You're going to say it quickly!" Wu Mei was worried about Xue Lingfeng, eager to know where this cold pool was.
"What the seniors said is ...... But the one behind Lingyun Peak...... That cold pool?"
Xue Lingfeng saw that the old man in tattered clothes didn't talk, so he took the initiative to interject, he was tormented by the heat, and he was uncomfortable and spoke intermittently, at this time he was already sweating profusely, and his clothes could be brought out of water.
"Good boy, you really hide it well, not only do you have deep internal strength, you hold the world's amazing soldiers, but you also know the Forget Worries and Cold Pool in the mountain behind the Heavenly Sword Gate!"
"The old-timers misunderstood, I ......"
"Hmph, what kind of bullshit is right, when are you still touting each other here, after a long time, there is a strange tale in the world and a fart for a long time, I'm afraid that I won't be able to reach the Heavenly Sword Gate, someone has already become jerky!"
Wu Mei originally hoped that this cold pool could save Xue Lingfeng, but after a long time, this cold pool was far away on Lingyun Peak, and she was angry in her heart, and she was even more ruthless when she spoke.
Xue Lingfeng and the ragged old man glanced at each other, and couldn't help but secretly say to himself, he had already learned the verbal skills of this dancing charm, and immediately kept silent, silently enduring the torment of the heat all over his body.
The ragged old man glanced at the dancing charm, leaned over to Xue Lingfeng's side and asked cautiously: "I said boy, why did you suddenly become so hot all over, have you ever been like this before?"
"There were, I used to get a fever before...... Just soak in the cold pool, and then it's fine. ”
When the ragged old man heard this, he suddenly became even more interested, and hurriedly asked: "Hey, boy, when I hear you say this, it seems that you live in the Heavenly Sword Gate! Could it be that you are a member of the Heavenly Sword Gate?"
"I ...... I was ......"
"What was it originally?"
"Okay, now it's time to figure out how to save him, these irrelevant things will be talked about later!"
The ragged old man glanced at the dancing charm again, didn't dare to say anything more, and thought to himself, he had wandered the world for hundreds of years, and he had seen countless strange things, and he had also broken through a lot of swords, mountains, fires, seas, dragons, ponds, and tigers' dens, but a situation like Xue Lingfeng was the first time he had encountered it, and he couldn't think of any good way for a while.
After a moment of silence, Han Yuzhu slowly flew up from Xue Lingfeng's arms, flashing with a dazzling cold light.
"This ...... Is this the legendary Han Jade Pearl?"
The ragged old man exclaimed, staring at Han Yuzhu tightly with his eyes bulging. Wu Mei slapped her head, secretly scolding herself for being so negligent, she was in a hurry just now and forgot about it, this cold jade bead is the coldest thing in the world, with it, any heat can be eliminated.
The cold jade bead flew up and down around Xue Lingfeng's body for a while, turning into a stream of cold air that drilled into his mouth, Xue Lingfeng's whole body trembled for a while, and then gradually calmed down, sweating profusely and drying after a while, leaving only gray traces.
The cold breath floated out of his mouth, and turned into a cold light dazzling beads, Xue Lingfeng stretched out his hand to it, and it stopped in his palm, and the pure white elf inside kept waving his wings and waving his hand, Xue Lingfeng smiled at it, and he didn't know what it meant.