August has clear skies and intoxicating flowers, which is a good time in the south of the Yangtze River. In Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, a stone avenue stretches straight out.

In front of a majestic and gorgeous mansion, there was a stone giant beast sitting in each of the two stone altars on the left and right, with a hideous expression and a fierce appearance.

Judging from its external shape, it has a dragon head, antlers, lion eyes, a tiger's back, a bear's waist, and snake scales, a tail like a cow, a hoof like a horse, and a pair of horns on the top of a round head, which is the unicorn that is one of the four spirits along with turtles, phoenixes, and dragons in ancient legends.

These two beasts are intimidating in their workmanship. There is a vermilion lacquer door in the mansion, and the copper buckles the size of teacups on the door are shining, and the plaque on the top of the door is engraved

"Dewei Martial Arts Hall" four glittering big words. Outside the door, the unicorns on both sides stood two men in their twenties, although the four of them were not very old, they were all in strong figures, showing a heroic spirit.

Suddenly, there was a sound of horses' hooves in the distance, and the four men stepped forward together, only to see seven horsemen running on the avenue on the east side of the martial arts hall.

The first horse was snow-white, the saddle pedals were made of sterling silver, and there was a young man riding on it, about eighteen or nineteen years old, gorgeously dressed, a sword at his waist, the silver scabbard was shining, and he carried a sterling silver longbow behind his back, and the quiver hanging from the back of the saddle was also white with silver trim on it.

Behind the boy was a white horse, on which was a young girl of his age, followed by five horsemen, four of whom were all dressed in linen shirts, and only one of them was about forty years old and dressed in a blue robe.

A group of seven people galloped to the door of the martial arts hall, and the four men shouted in unison: "The young hall master is back! The young man smiled slightly, the reins were pulled hard, the white horse was in pain, his hooves jumped up, his head was raised and hissed, and he stopped in front of the door of the martial arts hall.

A man in front of the door shouted: "Brother Zhang, Ming'er is the 50th birthday of the pavilion owner, and the pavilion owner and his wife are waiting for the young pavilion owner to come back!" The young man laughed, and the man in his forties smiled: "Yan wine tank, every time the young pavilion owner goes out, he will bring you a few jars of good wine back, and this time is no exception, this time it can bring you the authentic Shaoxing daughter red." The man shouted: "That feeling is good, that feeling is good, Ming'er must taste it!" In the midst of a burst of laughter, the young man and the others had already come down and walked into the house.

Several people walked straight to the hall from the courtyard of the mansion, and the young man saw his father He Zhentian sitting in the main hall talking to a Taoist priest and a nun, and his mother was silent beside his father, so he took the hand of the girl who came with him and walked over, and shouted: "Dad! Mother!" The mother saw her son returning, got up to greet him, and said with a smile: "Master, Bao'er is back." He walked closer and smiled and nodded to the girl beside the boy, and said, "Ping'er is here too." The girl bowed and said, "Aunt He is good." He Zhentian frowned, and asked with a little unhappiness: "Why did you go for so long and come back?" The young man said: "I met a few robbers on the way, and I was delayed for some time. He Zhentian said: "Causing trouble again?" The young man didn't dare to speak, and pouted at his mother, who turned to her husband and said, "Look, Master, Bao'er has just come back, let him rest." He Zhentian frowned and said: "You know how to protect him, you see him pulling and pulling in front of the guests, what kind of system he becomes!" The girl blushed when she heard this, retracted her hand, and the young man glanced at her and didn't make a sound.

He Zhentian then said: "Bao'er, come here, this is the Spirit and Contemplation Lord Xuankong Dao Master, and this is the Mingjing Master of Huixin Nunnery, and I have seen two seniors. The young man walked over, saw that both of them were in their sixties, their faces were kind, and they saluted in front of the two and said, "Meet the Taoist, Mrs. Shi." The two got up and returned the salute, and He Zhentian said to the two: "Two, this is the little He Baoting." Xuankong Daoist smiled and said: "Sure enough, the tiger father has no dogs, what is the hall master, Ling Lang is really a talent." He Baoting nodded and thanked him, and He Zhentian said, "Bao'er, you take Ping'er to rest first." Then he said to the few people behind He Baoting: "You also go down to rest." By the way, Dehai stays for a moment. The man in green shirt in his forties answered, it turned out that his name was Zhang Dehai.

The rest of the people all retreated, and He Baoting also walked out of the side hall with the girl. He Zhentian saw that there was no one else in the hall, so he called Zhang Dehai aside and asked, "Dehai, has this journey been smooth?" Zhang Dehai said: "Pavilion master, it's quite smooth, but I met a few strongmen on the road, and there are no more troubles besides the young hall owner." He Zhentian sighed and said, "That's fine." He picked up an envelope from the table and handed it to Zhang Dehai, saying, "Dehai, look at this." Zhang Dehai took it, opened it and read it, frowned and said, "Pavilion master, the Snow Mountain Sect is going to come to pay homage tomorrow?" He Zhentian nodded and said, "Not bad." Zhang Dehai said: "Pavilion master, we have nothing to do with the Snow Mountain, will they come this time to ......" Before he finished speaking, he turned his head to look at Xuankong and Mingjing on the side, saw that the two were silent, and then looked at the master, only to hear He Zhentian say: "The Taoist and the master are old friends with me, and they also know the origin of the Dewei Martial Arts Hall and the Snow Mountain Sect." Are you trying to say that they are for the Snow Mountain Sword Spectrum?"

"Amitabha" Mingjing said: "Although the Dewei Martial Arts Pavilion is a teacher of the Snow Mountain Sect, the two families have not interacted for decades, and as far as Poor Ni knows, when the old Pavilion Master He left the Snow Mountain Sect, the two brothers of the Wu family also swore an oath and warned the disciples of the Snow Mountain that they would never disturb the heirs of the He family, and the Poor Ni felt that the Snow Mountain Sect would not be like this. Moreover, this letter was written by Tan Yunchun, the second-generation disciple of the Snow Mountain School, and he had heard that Tan Yunchun, the 'green pine in the snow', was a simple person, so I was afraid that it was too much to worry about. ”

"Not bad. He Zhentian said: "The letter stated that it was only for his birthday, and I thought that if he really came for the sword spectrum, he would not notify me in advance." ”

"But the owner of the museum, the two have never had contact with each other for decades, but the heart of guarding against people is indispensable. He Zhentian frowned at Xuankong and Mingjing, and Xuankong said: "According to the poor Dao's opinion, I will wait for tomorrow and wait and see what happens, besides, the people who come to celebrate their birthday tomorrow are all well-known figures in the rivers and lakes, if the other party really dares to mess around, it will definitely not be easy to please." ”

"What Senior Brother Xuankong said is very true. Mingjing interjected on the side: "The guests and friends here tomorrow are all good hands in Jiangnan martial arts, if you start to do it, it will be difficult for the Snow Mountain Sect to gain a foothold in the rivers and lakes in the future." He Zhentian nodded and said to Zhang Dehai: "Dehai, we will definitely send more people in the next two days, and we will be ready to deal with the enemy at any time." However, don't say too much to your disciples, lest people panic and cause trouble. Seeing Zhang Dehai nodding yes, he said to the lady on the side: "Madam, you go to see Bao'er and Ping'er, Ping'er is here, we must greet her." When Mrs. He came to the backyard, she saw her son Baoting talking happily in the garden with the girl who had come with her, so she walked over and called, "Bao'er, Ping'er." He Baoting looked up and responded: "Mother!" The girl also got up and said, "Aunt He." Mrs. He walked over with a smile, took the girl's hand and sat down together, and said, "Ping'er, are your parents okay?" The girl replied, "It's all good, they often mention Uncle He and Aunt He." Mrs. He said with a smile: "The last time I saw Ping'er was when I went to Hangzhou with your Uncle He a few years ago, when you were still young, and now you have grown into a big girl." The girl blushed and bowed her head silently.

He Baoting teased on the side: "Isn't it, now they have grown into big girls." Mrs. He said with a smile on the side: "Ping'er, Bao'er has been spoiled by me and your Uncle He since she was a child, and you will have to let him go in the future." ”

"Mother, wow, you say this about your son in front of your future daughter-in-law, how can I be in charge of the house in the future. When the girl heard him say this, she blushed to the root of her ears, and reached out to pinch him quietly, He Baoting was in pain and screamed, which made Mrs. He and the girl laugh.