The dark, damp dungeon was filled with moaning one after another.

Most of them had been injured to varying degrees before they came in, and since they had not received timely medical attention, they all deteriorated without exception. Not only did the wound suppurate and fester, but also the fever did not stop. They can only let those fat and fierce rats wreak havoc on them. Those who can still struggle to drive away are better, at most they have been bitten a few times and lost some flesh. But those who are already dying can only watch those rats bite off their toes, fingers, and even ears and noses one by one...... and then died a painful death in despair and desolation. When there is not much left of his body to eat, the guards will throw his body into the back mountain in disgust, and then endure the next round of bites.

This kind of inhuman pain is incomprehensible to others, but the creaking sound of those bites is particularly terrifying in the dark.

Tang Zixi woke up from the chaos and found himself in such an environment. The cell was hot and humid, filled with an indescribable stench. Just sitting on it made her sweat profusely, and she wanted to find some moisture to moisten her chapped and bleeding lips, but found that there was nothing in the empty cell except a broken bowl and a straw mat. Although she still had a small half-skin of rice wine in her arms, it was kept by her to save her life at a critical moment, and she hesitated several times and was reluctant to pull the stopper.

When she found a dead rat in that broken bowl, she never dared to touch anything in the cell again. There were rats who wanted to attack her, but for some reason, when they got close to her, they suddenly squeaked like crazy, and then ran away. She didn't know what the reason was, but it was a good thing to be able to avoid these things that made her sick and afraid. Now that her life was temporarily secured, she began to think of a way to escape.

However, although this cell looked small, the door was made of stainless steel, and she could not break even the slightest bit with all her strength, but used up the last of her strength. There was a man in the same cell as her, but he couldn't do anything of it. Because the man had been lying motionless on the straw mat, and he didn't know whether he was dead or faint.

Fortunately, this effort is not for nothing, at least after this sweat, her fever has subsided a lot, and her spirit is much better than when she first woke up. In order to escape, she was ruthless, and took out the skin in her arms and poured a few sips of rice wine, and the feeling of being a little depressed and dizzy suddenly alleviated a lot.

Just as she was gathering some strength and preparing to fight the cell door again, there was a sudden sound of messy footsteps in the distance. She hurriedly lay back in place and pretended to be unconscious, but her eyes opened a slit and stared at the narrow passage.

It didn't take long for a couple of people to come in with a guy in tow. The men went straight to the cell opposite Tang Zixi, opened the cell door and threw the man who did not know whether he was alive or dead, and then dragged the dead man out of the cell.

When Tang Zixi was about to get up, those people came back again, this time dragging two people. They threw the two men into two more cells, then locked the doors and left without saying a word. After going back and forth like this several times, a total of about ten people were sent in, and a few stiff corpses were dragged out.

Tang Zixi waited for a while, and when he saw that those people had no intention of coming in again, he got up and walked to the prison door, breaking the iron railing with all his might. I didn't sit down and rest until I was exhausted again.

After trying this a few times, she finally gave up, and sat down on the ground, staring at the dim and flickering oil lamp at the entrance of the passage.

Looking at it, she suddenly wanted to cry. But no tears flowed out, only sweat dripping down her forehead, but she didn't react, and she couldn't smell the smell that made her almost nauseous at first, as if she had suddenly lost her sense of touch and smell.

No one knows how desperate she is at the moment. She is not afraid of hardship, not afraid of danger, but afraid of this helpless sense of powerlessness.

"Hey!"

A sigh came faintly, startling Tang Zixi, who was in a daze. Because the sigh was so close to her, it sounded almost in her ears.

"Who?" she looked around with some alarm, her gaze falling on the straw mat not far away.

The figure on the straw mat moved, and the man she thought was dead actually sat up and slowly turned to face her.

What kind of man was that! His hair and beard were tangled together, almost obscuring most of his face, and the light was dim so that he couldn't see it clearly. He could barely tell from the tattered clothes that he was a man, and that he had been here for a long time.

Tang Zixi's body involuntarily shrank back, and said in a trembling voice: "You, you're not dead?"

"Dead?" the man tilted his head and thought about it, slowly raised his right hand and put it in front of his eyes, looked at it carefully for a while, and nodded, "I'm not dead yet." But it's also fast. ”

Tang Zixi didn't know how to answer for a while, but fortunately she knew that the other party was a human and not a dead body, which made her a little bolder, and said, "Who are you? Why are you locked up here? What is this place?"

This series of questions obviously made the man's thinking a little overwhelmed, and he thought for a long time before answering: "I don't know, I only remember that my name is Xu Qingyuan! Do you know me?"

"I don't know!" Tang Zixi shook his head honestly.

Xu Qingyuan was a little disappointed when he heard this, and shook his head slightly, as if he wanted to get rid of all the chaos in his mind, but he found that it was just in vain, so he quickly gave up, turned his eyes to the skin in Tang Zixi's hand, and said, "Little girl, are you holding water in your hand?"

Tang Zixi shook his head and said, "No, it's rice wine." ”

Xu Qingyuan slowly stretched out his hand and said, "Can you let me take a sip?"

"Yes!" Tang Zixi hesitated, but still threw the skin bag over. First, she was really a little unbearable to see the other party's appearance, and second, she was also thinking about herself. For the time being, she didn't know whether the other party was friend or foe, and she didn't know the depth of the other party, for fear that the other party would suddenly turn his face and snatch it. Rather than that, it's better to be generous.

Xu Qingyuan picked up the leather bag, pulled out the stopper, brought the skin to his lips and took a sip slowly, then closed his eyes, as if he was savoring.

There was a strange grunt in his throat as the wine slid down, and after a long time he sighed contentedly, raised his hand and threw the skin back, saying, "It tastes much better than rat blood." Thank you, little girl!"

Tang Zixi was about to reach out to pick up the skin, but when he heard his words, his hand suddenly froze in the air, and said, "What kind of blood did you just say?"

"Rat blood!" Xu Qingyuan smacked his lips, as if he was still savoring Fang Cai's sip of wine.

However, his action was extremely terrifying in Tang Zixi's eyes at this time, and she couldn't imagine how this person survived. Then I thought that if I couldn't get out, should I also learn from that person......

She shook her head vigorously and didn't dare to think about it, and her outstretched hand retracted.

The two of them sat quietly in the dim light, and did not speak again for a long time.

Just when Tang Zixi was about to be confused, Xu Qingyuan spoke again, and his words almost made her sober up in an instant, because he asked, "Little girl, do you want to go out?"

"Of course I want to!" Tang Zixi replied hurriedly, then glanced at the other party's appearance, and said with some hesitation, "But you ......" She didn't say the next words.

Xu Qingyuan seemed to know what she was thinking, and sighed: "It's not that I don't want to go out, it's just that I have lost all my martial arts and become a wasted person, and even my legs have been cut off, so I can't live even if I go out." As if to confirm his words, he lifted the cloth that covered his legs, revealing his bare half-amputated legs.

His legs were almost broken at the root, I don't know if the knife was not sharp enough, or the other party deliberately tortured him, not only the wounds were uneven, but he could even see some broken flesh and tendons hanging on it, and something was faintly squirming inside.

Tang Zixi only glanced at it and didn't dare to look at it again, don't turn his head to cover his mouth and retch a few times.

However, Xu Qingyuan didn't seem to care, he still covered the rags, and changed his words: "When you didn't wake up before, I listened to your breathing as if it was different from ordinary people, have you ever learned any unique internal skills?"

Hearing the other party mention this, Tang Zixi was suddenly a little embarrassed. She has really learned internal skills, but she has never been able to do it, and she herself is lazy, so far she is at most faster than ordinary people.

Looking at the other party's expectant gaze, she lowered her head a little embarrassed and whispered: "When I was in the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple before, the abbot master taught me a set of internal strength and mental methods to strengthen the body, but unfortunately my qualifications are dull, and I can't practice well no matter how I practice, so I really failed the abbot's teachings." ”

"That's no wonder!" Xu Qingyuan said with a slight bow, "In this world, only Master Lichen of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple still understands this "Five Elements Gong". ”

"It turned out to be called "Five Elements Gong". Only then did Tang Zixi know the name of the exercises he was practicing, and then he thought of something strange, "Could it be that you know the abbot master?"

Xu Qingyuan's eyes showed a hint of doubt, and after a while, he shook his head and said, "I don't know, it's just that these things suddenly appeared in my mind." Speaking of this, he nodded again and said to himself, "Since I can get Master Chen's internal strength and mind method to teach him personally, my character will naturally stand the test." And if that thing falls into the hands of Master Chen, I can leave with peace of mind. ”

His eyes looked at Tang Zixi and said, "There is one thing I hope you can do for me." This matter is related to the common people in the world, so before saying that incident, I hope that the little girl can swear that she will never tell others about this matter except for Master Chen. ”

Tang Zixi was suddenly a little embarrassed, not to mention that this matter is very important, she is now a mud bodhisattva crossing the river and even her own is difficult to protect, how dare she respond indiscriminately, if it is because of her reasons and harms the world, wouldn't it be a great sin, thinking of this, she had to say euphemistically: "It's not that the juniors don't help with this, it's really the juniors' low martial arts, whether they can survive tomorrow is a matter of two words, I really don't dare to promise to miss the big things of the seniors." ”

Xu Qingyuan sighed and said, "I also know that this matter is difficult for you, but I don't have much time now, and now I can only trust you by my side." If you insist on refusing to help with this, I won't force it, but from now on, no one in this world will know the whereabouts of "Mountains and Rivers". ”