On the Huoshen Peak of Qilian Mountain, Zhang Xiaoyuan wore a white dress and walked between the foothills. She carried a basket in the crook of her arm, covered with a white cloth. The mountain wind blew a corner of the white cloth, revealing the contents of the basket, but it was Ganoderma lucidum ginseng and other precious herbs.

She walked a path into a valley. The scenery in the valley is beautiful, the spring breeze is smooth, the white clouds are swirling, and the light mist floats in the valley, like a fairyland on earth. Strange flowers and plants in the valley, competing for strange and beautiful, fragrant overflowing, elk frolicking in the forest, apes competing on the trees, and birds singing on the branches. A small stream flows from the valley, the water is crystal clear, reflecting the shadows of the trees and the fish are clearly visible.

On the bank of the creek sat a wooden house, and the smoke peeked through the window and disappeared into the valley. Zhang Xiaoyuan came to the door of the wooden house, knocked lightly, and shouted, "Is the holy woman there?"

"Is that Sister Zhang?" a delicate voice came from inside the room, sounding very excited. Then the door opened, and a girl in a pale yellow dress, long black hair, and a thin face greeted her, and when she saw that it was Zhang Xiaoyuan, she squinted and smiled slightly: "Sister Zhang, come in!"

The girl is Xu Lanwei, she has been coming to the Xuanming Sect for more than a month, and she has been living in the "Immortal Valley" on this Huoshen Peak. There are very few women in the Xuanming Sect, she and Zhang Xiaoyuan are the same age, and they are both women, after a short period of getting along, the relationship between the two is extremely close.

Zhang Xiaoyuan walked in, smelled the smell of rice, and smiled slightly: "Is the saint cooking by herself again? Just leave these things to others to do, why do it yourself?"

Xu Lan took Zhang Xiaoyuan's hand and sat down, and said, "I can't get used to the food they cook, so I just cook it myself." Also, Sister Zhang, how many times have I told you, don't call me a saint anymore, just call me Sister Lanwei!"

Zhang Xiaoyuan smiled slightly and said, "It's fine for you and me to call it like this in private, you must not call it like this in front of the sect leader, if you let the sect leader know, I will definitely scold you." ”

"He dares to scold me!" Xu Lan tilted his head slightly, full of anger: "I'm not afraid of him Xiao Tianyu! If he dares to scold me, I will definitely scold him ten times." ”

She's not bragging. In this world, in addition to Zhao Yanfa, I am afraid that in addition to Zhao Yanfa, she is the only one who dares to point his nose and scold Xiao Tianyu.

Zhang Xiaoyuan smiled slightly, didn't speak, got up and took a casserole, scooped up the water in the stream outside the door, put the lingzhi and ginseng in it, and boiled it on the stove. Xu Lan looked at the blue flames rising under the casserole, held his cheeks and asked, "Sister Zhang, I am in good health, I am not sick or sick, why does Xiao Tianyu always let me drink these tonics?"

Zhang Xiaoyuan said: "The sect leader said that you went to the North Pole with them, and the cold qi invaded your body and hurt your vitality. Our women's physique is yin, and we can't stand the cold. If you are old, you will definitely be sick, and the sect leader will take precautions, so let me boil these medicines for you and replenish your vitality. ”

Xu Lan nodded slightly as if he didn't understand, and asked, "Is he still in retreat?"

Zhang Xiaoyuan nodded and said, "The sect leader is in retreat to practice the 'Blood Soul Knife Technique' and 'Blood Soul Mantra' among the four great divine skills of the Xuanming Sect, and it is because of this that he went to Ling Zun to ask for a knife. These two martial arts are the supreme exercises of the Xuanming Sect, and it is naturally difficult to cultivate. If the sect leader is out of the customs, then there will be no one in the whole world who is his opponent. ”

Xu Lan nodded slightly, and suddenly asked, "Isn't Brother Yanfa also his opponent?"

Zhang Xiaoyuan didn't expect her to ask these questions, she was stunned for a moment, and she didn't know how to answer. Yu Guang caught a glimpse of the food on the table, so he changed the topic and said, "Sister, what delicious food have you made?" The sect leader praised you for the delicious food you made before, can you let me taste your craftsmanship too?"

Xu Lan smiled slightly, picked up the bowl and chopsticks and handed them to Zhang Xiaoyuan: "I caught a carp in the creek, sister, try it quickly!"

......

Yangzhou, the 36th Gang, Fengyue Fuzhong.

A disciple stumbled all the way from the gate to the front of the main hall, knocked open the door, and exclaimed: "Gang Master Ye, it's not good!

Ye Linfeng was discussing with more than a dozen hall masters, and when he saw this disciple's panicked expression, he asked, "What happened?

The disciple held a letter in his hand, shook it in front of him, and shouted, "Helper, it's a letter sent by Zhang Shicheng!"

"Zhang Shicheng!" Ye Linfeng was shocked. This Yangzhou is the territory of Zhang Shicheng. A few months ago, he set up the 36th Gang of Hezong and put this place under his name, but it violated Zhang Shicheng's interests. Zhang Shicheng sits on the rich land in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, in a corner of peace, although he once said that he would raise troops to fight against Ye Linfeng, but he never started. Isn't it his war book?

The disciple handed the letter over, and Ye Linfeng opened it and looked at it. The letter probably meant to praise Ye Linfeng for his young and promising youth, and he united with thirty-six gangs in Jiangnan to fight against the Yuan Court. In the end, he actually wanted to join forces with Ye Linfeng and invite Ye Linfeng to go to Gaoyou to discuss peace, without any intention of provoking.

Yu Sihai thought for a while and said, "Helper, this matter needs to be thought twice." Don't act rashly. My 36th Gang has just been established, and if I fall into Zhang Shicheng's trap, I'm afraid it will be wiped out!"

Ye Linfeng said: "What Hall Master Yu said is right, our 36th Gang has just been established, and we have not yet gained a firm foothold in Yangzhou. If you go boldly, you will definitely be destroyed by that Zhang Shicheng. ”

Yu Sihai said: "In today's plan, the gang leader can no longer fight alone, and should go to unite with other rebels to strengthen the power of the 36th Gang." ”

Ye Linfeng felt that it made sense, nodded, and asked, "If it is based on the opinion of the hall master, who should we ally with?"

Yu Sihai said: "Now that the family teacher Peng Zu supports Xu Shouhui, I also have dealings with him, it is better to send the gang leader to go down and negotiate with Xu Shouhui, I think with my friendship with him, he should agree to form an alliance." ”

Ye Linfeng shook his head and said, "I naturally trust the hall master too much, but Xu Shouhui's righteous army is far away in Hubei, and there is still a Liu Futong between us. If a strong enemy attacks, Xu Shouhui's righteous army must pass through Anhui. One is the long distance, and the other is that Liu Futong and Xu Shouhui have been fighting openly and secretly for the orthodoxy of the White Lotus Sect. If Xu Shouhui's army enters, there will be many changes. ”

Yu Sihai thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he asked, "Then according to the opinion of the gang leader, who should we find to form an alliance?"

Ye Linfeng smiled slightly, and said: "Although Fang Guozhen also rebelled in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, and had a gap with Zhang Shicheng, but I am not familiar with him, so I will not make a choice; although Liu Futong is in Anhui, he is insidious and cunning, and intersecting with him is tantamount to seeking the skin of a tiger; although the leader of the Zhao League in Henan is a generation of heroes, and I have a close relationship with him, I am the same as Xu Shouhui, and the distance is too far, and it is inconvenient to form an alliance; now the only force that can ally with us is General Qin Shuyuan, the leader of the righteous army of the people of Shandong Jianghu!"

Ye Linfeng smiled slightly, and with a pinch of his hands, the letter turned into powder in an instant.

......

In the early morning of the next day, Ye Linfeng rode a black horse, carried the frost moon on his back, and went out. He went all the way north, and within two days he had reached Langya in Shandong. He has been very reverent for the land of Qilu since he was a child, and this land not only has Confucius, the teacher of the sages in the world, to teach and educate people, but also the heroes of Liangshan who rebelled for Tianxingdao. One article and one martial arts, the difference is very big, and it is very interesting.

After about a long time, Ye Linfeng felt in his abdomen

Hungry, he came to the town, found a restaurant, found a corner to sit down, and ordered some wine and food to eat. After a while, two more people came into the restaurant, a middle-aged man and a teenager.

The middle-aged man is dressed in soap clothes, his face is like a crown of jade, and he is holding a feather fan, looking pedant. The young man was dressed in white, and held a long object in his hand, wrapped tightly in a white cloth, like a sword. Although the young man's appearance is not handsome, there is a heroic spirit between his eyebrows.

The two entered the restaurant and ordered two bowls of noodles. The boy seemed to be very hungry, and as soon as the man brought the noodles, he took the bowl and devoured it. He was sweating profusely when he only ate. The middle-aged man smiled slightly, telling him to eat slowly and not in a hurry.

While the two were feasting, they suddenly heard a commotion outside, followed by the cries of children and the exclamations of women. The young man was startled, immediately put down the dishes and chopsticks, picked up the things wrapped in the white cloth and rushed out. The middle-aged man tried to stop him, but he couldn't. I had to follow him out.

Ye Linfeng was curious, so he also got up and walked out, and most of the people in the restaurant walked to the door to see what was going on. I saw that on the long street, there were four or five Yuan troops wearing armor and riding tall horses. A Yuan soldier was armed with a spear, and the head of the spear was actually carrying a child of three or four years old. The child was held high in the air by him, and he was so frightened that he cried. A woman in a coarse cloth garment, kneeling on the ground, her hands covered in blood, crying hoarsely, and begging for mercy loudly, was apparently the mother of the child.

Ye Linfeng was furious when he saw that this Yuan army was so high-flying and domineering, and he was so careless about people's lives. Just as he was about to set out to save him, he suddenly saw the young man in white rushing away, pulling out a cold and shining sword from under the white cloth wrapping, and slashing towards the spear. With a thud, the spear was cut off by his sword, and the child on the head of the spear chased straight down, and was saved by the boy in his arms.

There was a burst of cheers among the pedestrians on the street, and even Ye Linfeng secretly admired this young man in his heart. The young man in white handed the child to his mother with his backhand. The child lay in his mother's arms and cried.

When several soldiers saw that the young man had achieved great skill, they exclaimed, "Who is coming?" and stabbed him with spears on their horses. The boy was not in a hurry, and the long sword slashed forward, and the spears broke one after another and fell to the ground. Seeing this, several soldiers hurriedly turned their horses' heads and fled reflexively.

Seeing this, the young man in white was about to chase after him, but was stopped by the middle-aged man, who shook his head and signaled him not to chase. The boy nodded, walked up to the woman, and asked, "Is the child all right?"

"Thank you hero for coming to the rescue, grateful, grateful!" The child's mother was very emotional, knelt in front of the boy with a bang, grabbed the ground with her head, and kowtowed to him a few times, only the forehead was full of blood. When the young man saw this, he hurriedly helped her up and shouted, "No thanks, take the child away quickly!"

Before the words fell, I saw a sinister smile on the corner of the woman's mouth, and a cold light flashed in her hand, stabbing towards the young man. The young man exclaimed in surprise and grabbed the woman's wrist with his backhand, but saw a short knife in her hand, which flashed blue light, but it was quenched with poison.

When the people in the street saw this, they exclaimed, wondering why this woman would attack the savior who had saved her child's life. The young man was also surprised, and before he had time to think about it, he tried to snatch the short knife from the woman's hand with all his strength. Suddenly, the child in the woman's arms suddenly became larger, and a long silver-white thorn slipped out of the sleeve of his coat, and pierced straight into the center of the boy's eyebrows.

said that it was too late, and the moment he saw that the long thorn was about to stab the young man, a hand appeared in front of him, and with a clamp of two fingers, he actually clamped the long thorn to death. The person who shot was Ye Linfeng.

Seeing that the long thorn was caught by Ye Linfeng, the child suddenly scolded: "Where did the wild boy come from is nosy, the bad old man can't kill this person, and he can't get the bounty!" The voice was sharp, like the sound of a fingernail cutting through an iron piece, which made people extremely uncomfortable to listen to.

When everyone looked over, they saw that although the child was a small body, his face was wrinkled, and the appearance of a middle-aged man who was extremely ugly was a dwarf.

Ye Linfeng smiled slightly, and said, "Sure enough, my guess is right, the two are the two notorious killers, 'Lady Poison' and 'Evil Dwarf'!"

When the young man heard this, he exclaimed. This "poisonous lady" and "evil dwarf" are fearsome killers on the rivers and lakes. The "Poison Lady" is named Shen Hongsleeve, and the "Evil Dwarf" is named Sun Kuafu. The two are notorious not because of their martial prowess, but because of their extremely insidious methods of killing.

As the name suggests, this "evil dwarf" Sun Kua's father is a dwarf, although he is already thirty or forty years old, his body is like a child of three or four years old. Because of this, the two often pretend to be mother and son, sitting on the road and crying. Someone came to inquire when they saw it, but because they saw that it was a weak woman holding a child, they were not vigilant. When the person came to him, Shen Hongsleeve would suddenly strike out and stab the venomized short knife at the person. Even if that person was alert and quick to react, and could avoid Shen Hongsleeve's attack, she would not have expected that the three- or four-year-old child she was holding in her arms would also be able to kill.

Because of this, countless masters have died at their hands. It has long been notorious in the rivers and lakes. Compared with Ruan Kang and Sun Xiaoxing, the pair of "male and female", it is also more than that.

If it weren't for Ye Linfeng seeing the clue and coming to the rescue, I'm afraid that this white-clothed young man would have died under the thorn of this "evil dwarf".

These two usually kill people by conspiracy and trickery, and they often kill with one blow. There was no strong martial arts, and he was shocked when he saw that he was being restrained. Shen Hongsleeve shook off the young man's hand, hugged Sun Kua's father and turned around and fled. Ye Linfeng and the young man chased after him.

Shen Hong's martial arts skills are not high, and his speed is not fast, so he was caught up by the two in a blink of an eye. Shen Hongsleeve was startled, turned around and threw Sun Kua's father in his arms towards the two. Sun Kua's father scolded in mid-air, and followed an arc towards the white-clothed young man.

The white-clothed young man protected the long sword in his hand in front of him at this moment, preventing Shen Hongsleeve from firing a hidden weapon to hurt himself. Suddenly, I saw her throw Sun Kua's father over, and she forgot to put away her sword for a while. The father of Sun Kua screamed and slammed into the blade of the white-clothed young man's sword. With a bang, the sharp blade cut Sun Kua's small body into two pieces from the middle, and blood splattered everywhere!

The two were shocked and angry, thinking that this "poisonous lady" was really vicious, and she did not hesitate to abandon her companions in order to escape for her life. Shen Hongsleeve took advantage of this opportunity and ran wildly. As soon as he turned around, he saw the middle-aged man with the young man in white stopped in front of him!

"Get out of here!" Shen Hongsleeve roared angrily, the short knife in his hand flashed blue, and stabbed towards him. The middle-aged man smiled slightly, and twitched the handle of the feather fan in his hand, which turned out to be a judge pen made of stainless steel more than seven inches long. The tip of the judge's pen is thin, the handle is thick and round, and there is a ring in the middle of the body.

The middle-aged man grabbed the pen handle to meet the short knife, and actually used the ring to cover the short knife, and with a backhand, the short knife came out of his hand, and after a few rotations in mid-air, it fell to the ground with a bang. Shen Hongsleeves roared angrily, flicked his sleeves, and threw out a few darts. The middle-aged man didn't mess up at all, and swung his feather fan forward, knocking several darts to the ground.

Shen Hongsleeve saw that the two killing moves were blocked by the middle-aged, and he had no choice, so he opened his arms, grabbed his ten fingers like a grasp, and grabbed towards the middle-aged. The middle-aged man saw that her nails were long and sharp, showing a dark purple color, and knew that her nails were also quenched with poison, so he didn't dare to connect them hard. Suddenly, a sharp sword light flashed, and Shen Hongsleeve screamed in pain, and ten nails were broken in unison. The white-clothed young man was holding a long sword, and it had already reached Shen Hong's side.

Shen Hongsleeve was startled, and the middle-aged man suddenly pinched the handle of the pen, and pointed the tip of the pen towards her eyebrows, forcefully

A stab. With a pop, the tip of the pen sank into Shen Hong's eyebrows, and blood gushed out. Shen Hongsleeve let out a low roar in his throat, and fell to the ground with a bang, already dead of anger.

The young man in white ran to the middle-aged man and shouted, "Master Jinjun, are you okay?"

The middle-aged man shook his head and asked, "Wen Yuan, you're not injured, are you?"

The young man in white shook his head, looked at Ye Linfeng, and said, "Thanks to this young man's rescue, I was not injured." He took a few steps forward, waved towards Ye Linfeng, and said, "In Xia Yang Wenyuan, thank you Shaoxia for coming to the rescue, and you haven't asked Shaoxia for his name?"

Ye Linfeng heard the young man call the middle-aged Jin Junshi, and heard the middle-aged man call the young man Wen Yuan, and asked: "Dare to ask the two of you, but are the Jin Shaoyou Jin Junshi and Yang Wenyuan and Yang Shaoxia under the command of General Qin Shuyuan, who are from the rivers and lakes?"

These two are Jin Shaoyou and Yang Wenyuan. Ye Linfeng, who heard this, called out his name, and the two of them were also surprised, and asked, "May I ask who the young man is?"

Ye Linfeng hugged his fists and said: "In the thirty-six gang of Ye Linfeng, I have seen Jin Junshi and Yang Shaoxia!"

The 36th Gang has become famous in recent months, and the limelight has vaguely overshadowed the Wumeng, and no one in the rivers and lakes knows about it? And Ye Linfeng, the leader of the 36th Gang, once made a stir in the Jiangnan area with a "three-character order," and he is a well-known figure among women and children.

The three of them are famous for each other, and they are briefly recounted. The purpose of Ye Linfeng's trip to Shandong was to meet Qin Shuyuan and discuss the alliance by the way. For example, among the rebel forces today, most of them are the White Lotus Sect and the Red Turban Army. Although Zhang Shicheng is not from the White Lotus Sect, he is also from a salt merchant, and the only real leaders of the rebel army from the rivers and lakes are him, Zhao Yanfa and Qin Shuyuan. Among the three of them, Qin Shuyuan is a senior, not only has a high reputation in the rivers and lakes, but also has an excellent reputation among the rebels.

Zhao Yanfa's martial arts alliance and the Jianghu people were not nominally allied. But Zhao Yanfa's Wumeng has a deep relationship with Luxiqiao, and Luxiqiao and Qin Shuyuan have a fateful friendship. Zhao Yanfa and Xiao Qingshan and Yang Wenyuan also lived and died together. Therefore, although the forces of the two sides are not aligned, they are secretly linked by bonds, which is no different from an alliance.

Ye Linfeng explained his intention to the two, and Jin Shaoyou was very happy, but his face was sad. Under Ye Linfeng's questioning, Jin Shaoyou said it.

It turned out that in the past month, in the Langya area of southern Shandong, a group of rebel forces quietly emerged, and they pretended to be the righteous army of the Jianghu people, and they actually did the bandit work of robbing homes and houses and bullying men and women behind their backs. This matter reached Qin Shuyuan's ears, and he was furious when he found out, saying that it was forgivable to pretend to be in the name of the Jianghu people's righteous army, but the crime of robbing the house was unforgivable. sent his subordinates Xiao Yanyu and Jin Shaoyou, and led the rebel army with Xiao Qingshan and Yang Wenyuan to encircle and suppress.

Jin Shaoyou only felt that the march of the army was too ostentatious, so he divided it into parts, and the troops were divided into two roads, which were led by Xiao Yanyu and Xiao Qingshan to march from the small road, and he and Yang Wenyuan went to the city to explore the enemy's forces before making plans.

When Ye Linfeng heard this, he felt angry, so he asked to go with the two of them and do his part. First, the two of them don't know the size of the enemy's forces, and they are alone, and if Tu Sheng changes, they may not be able to retreat with their whole body; second, Ye Linfeng wants to form an alliance with the Jianghu people, if he helps them encircle and suppress the group of thieves, he can take this as an alliance with the Jianghu people, no matter how Jin Shaoyou persuades him, he will go. In the end, it was difficult to be enthusiastic, Jin Shaoyou had to hug his fists and say: "Then there is Lao Ye Gang Leader!"

The three of them returned to the restaurant and ordered some food. After he was full of wine and food, Jin Shaoyou ordered the three of them to sneak into the city separately and secretly inquire about the news and number of the fake rebels, and it was best to ask where their headquarters were, so that they could discuss countermeasures and defeat them in one fell swoop.

It wasn't until late evening that the three of them gathered together again to gather the news they had inquired about. It turned out that this group of fake rebels came to the capital of Langya Yizhou more than a month ago, and there were about fifty or sixty people, claiming to be the rebels from the rivers and lakes of Qingzhou, who came here to fight the Yuan army. The people in Shandong are known to Qin Shuyuan and the Jianghu people's righteous army, and the people in Yizhou Mansion welcomed them that day. At the beginning, the rebels did a few good things and defeated a group of tyrannical Yuan troops. But since then, the rebel army seems to have changed, exposing its true nature, and even burning, killing and looting in the Yizhou Mansion, doing all kinds of evil, and being even more domineering than those Yuan troops. The people talked about it with a change of color and misery, but they were defenseless, and they dared not speak out.

A few days ago, the rebels seized the mansion of Yufu, a large family in Yizhou Mansion, as a stronghold. Every late at night, the courtyard of the house is brightly lit, and the degree of extravagance is even better than that of the court officials.

Yang Wenyuan also asked where the Yu Mansion was, and went there to take a look, only to see that there were four guards on duty at the front and back doors of the Yu Mansion, and they would change their posts every two hours, and the defense was so tight. Jin Shaoyou thought about it, so he found an inn, rested first, stayed in the dead of night, and then quietly sneaked into Yufu to find out.

In the blink of an eye, the sun is setting, the night is coming, and the sky is full of stars.

Located in the center of Yizhou Mansion, the Yu Mansion is really brightly lit as the people say, and the sound of pushing cups and changing lamps in the house, and the sound of fists and shouts come and go. Jin Shaoyou, Yang Wenyuan and Ye Linfeng did not go through the front and back doors, but came to the outside of the courtyard wall of Yufu, looked around, and saw that there was no danger, so they successively performed light skills to climb over the courtyard wall and enter the courtyard.

The three of them walked softly to the door of the house, only to hear that it was very noisy inside, and there were as many as fifty or sixty people. The sound of cups and plates clashing, and the sound of wild laughter continued.

After a long time, a rough voice shouted: "Brother Chen is worthy of being Zhuge in the world, and he is really clever, knowing that the people of this Shandong land are in awe of this Jianghu rebel army, so he pretended to use their reputation to rob houses here, and no one dared to resist!"

Another person shouted: "This is not very powerful, I think the most powerful is the part where Brother Chen came to Yu Mansion to deceive the rich man of Yu, which is really exciting." Brother Chen's righteousness was awe-inspiring, and he was upright, which made the rich man cry when he heard it, and praised Brother Chen for his heroism and chivalry, serving the country and the people. I listened to myself and was about to believe it. If it weren't for that, how could the rich man be willing to give up this huge mansion to us, how could our brothers have such a good place to live, how could they have such good wine and good food to eat!"

The rough voice in front shouted: "Come, brothers are here to toast Brother Chen!"

I only heard one person laugh and said: "Brothers, you don't have to be polite, the reason why I pretended to be a Jianghu person is also because I fancy its reputation in Shandong." But please also remember that we are not meeting for pleasure, but to expel the Tartars and regain our Han country!"

When everyone heard this, they all nodded yes. Ye Linfeng listened to Brother Chen's voice outside the door, and he only felt familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was for a while. I only heard that Brother Chen said again: "I have been floating on the rivers and lakes for several years, I have suffered, I have suffered from hunger, I have seen the warmth and coldness of people, and I have seen the heat and coldness of the world. Now that the world is in turmoil, the Mongolian Tartars are in charge of my rivers and mountains, oppressing the people, the people are not living, as a Han people, if you don't do something for the people, how can you be at peace in your heart!"

Everyone shouted: "Brother Chen is worthy of a generation of heroes, worried about the country and the people, and is really a model of my generation." ”

The man shouted, "Don't dare, don't dare, it's all your brothers who can afford it!"

Jin Shaoyou and Yang Wenyuan, who were outside the door, listened to this person's words loudly, and they were arrogant, and they both thought in their hearts: This person is also a reasonable and righteous person, how could he do such a hurtful thing? Could it be that we are wrong to blame him?

Ye Linfeng suddenly remembered who this voice was, got up and kicked open the door, strode forward, and roared angrily: "Chen Youliang, are you shameless villain lying here again!"

......