The heavy rain is clear, the sky is clear, the sun has risen high, everything has been moistened, and it is a thriving scene.

The small hills are dotted all over the place, and the mountains are full of osmanthus trees, and the mountains are full of greenery. Next to the avenue are large paddy fields, where the rice crops are growing vigorously and glowing with a vibrant new green.

"Tap!" "Tap!" "Tap!" In the sound of muddy water splashing on the avenue, the three people and three riders approached, and immediately the passengers were half dry and half wet, all dressed in robes, with long swords on their backs.

These three people are naturally Zhenguan's master and apprentice. During last night's rainstorm, they only rested for an hour in a mountain temple, and when the rain was a little lighter, they began to hurry again. During this half-day rush of the night, the three of them did not care about getting off the horse to eat, and only gnawed a few mouthfuls of dry food on the horse's back, and they were already so hungry that their chests were close to their backs.

"The front is Jiangdian Town, and the boss Jiang of the town's 'Osmanthus Xiang Restaurant' is his own person!"

"I can finally have a good meal!" Ling Kong couldn't help but be overjoyed, "Master, I'm going to eat his three chickens and three ducks in one go!"

Zhen Guan said: "I want to see how much you can eat! However, even if you can eat three cows and three sheep in one go, Boss Jiang will never stare at you!"

Ling Xiao said with a smile: "I just want to eat a large plate of braised beef!" By the way, master, the mountains in this area are full of osmanthus trees, why is it not called 'Osmanthus Town', but 'Jiangdian Town'?"

Zhenguan smiled and said, "You ask me, who am I asking?

After a while, the three of them entered the town, turned over and got off their horses, and led the horses into the town. Zhenguan seemed to be familiar with this place, and walked towards a street in the southeast direction, and stopped in front of a two-story restaurant with red walls and blue tiles. Ling Xiao looked up at the door plaque, and saw that there were five cursive green characters on the black plaque, if he hadn't heard the master say it, he might not be able to recognize the word "Osmanthus Xiang Restaurant".

The three of them tied their horses to the stone pier in front of the restaurant and walked quickly into the restaurant. Maybe it was the heavy rain last night that blocked the people of Jianghu from hurrying, or maybe it was a little early before the time for lunch, and there was not a single guest in the restaurant, which seemed very deserted.

When the fat-brained boss Jiang saw the guests coming, he was about to call out to the guy who was napping on the table in the corner to greet the guests, when he suddenly looked at the smiling old man who was walking in front, and his face was immediately full of smiles, and he hurriedly stood up, swayed his two stubby legs to greet him, and shouted happily: "Brother Zhenguan!"

"Hello Boss Jiang!" Zhenguan grabbed Boss Jiang's fat hand and said with a smile: "I haven't seen you for a few years, and I'm even more blessed!"

Boss Jiang shook his head in shame and said, "There's no way, I just want to grow this stupid meat...... Who are these two?"

"Oh, they are my apprentices Dou Lingkong and Shen Lingxiao. Zhenguan replied, turned around and instructed the two: "Come and see Uncle Jiang!"

Ling Kong was probably worried about eating other people's chickens and ducks, so he first wanted to leave a good impression on others, so he hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, and Ling Xiao also stepped forward to greet him. Boss Jiang smiled and took the hands of the two of them and praised them, and said, "It looks like you are tired and hungry, sit down and rest first!

Zhenguan smiled: "We want to eat chicken, duck and beef!"

Boss Jiang smiled and said, "No problem! Not only are these available, but there are also fish, shrimp, and rabbit meat!"

At this time, the napping guy also woke up, so Boss Jiang instructed him to go to the kitchen to ask the master to cook, and personally accompanied Zhenguan master and apprentice to the second floor, and sat down at a window-facing dining table to greet him.

Boss Jiang poured tea and said excitedly: "Little brother is really happy! It's been four years, Brother Zhenguan finally has time to come to the little brother!" Suddenly, seeing Zhenguan's brows slightly locked, he was slightly worried, and asked, "Brother Zhenguan, is there anything to worry about?"

Zhenguan stared at him, and said with a straight face: "Brother Jiang, something happened to Chaotian Castle......" Before he finished speaking, Boss Jiang's face changed color, and he asked in surprise: "Really?...... I heard about it yesterday, and I thought those people were talking nonsense!"

Zhenguan nodded solemnly, and told the Tang Sect about the capture of Chaotian Fort and Fang Zhiju's escape to Shenjian City, and finally said: "Before Chaotian Fort was breached, Senior Brother Fang had let his family members withdraw from the secret passage, and arranged for Yin Tianjin and other seven helpers to protect them along the way back to Qingcheng Mountain...... By the way, Brother Jiang, why don't you say they haven't arrived in Jiangdian Town yet?"

"This ...... It's been more than two days, why haven't you arrived yet?...... Could it be that yesterday's rainstorm blocked their trip?" Boss Jiang rubbed his fleshy nose and guessed.

"It's possible!" said Zhenguan.

"I want to ...... Could it be that they have already passed Jiangdian Town, but they have not come here?" Shen Lingxiao looked at the master, then at Boss Jiang, and put forward his opinion.

"It's possible!" Zhenguan and Boss Jiang agreed.

While talking, the man brought a jar of wine and a few cold dishes. Boss Jiang got up and said, "You eat slowly, I'll go out to inquire, and I won't accompany you!"

Zhen nodded and said, "Okay." Thank you for your hard work!"

Boss Jiang waved his hand and said, "My brother, what's polite!" After speaking, he got up and walked downstairs quickly.

Not long after, eight or nine dishes were on the table, and Zhenguan told Xiao Er that the dishes were enough, and there was no need to serve them again, so the three masters and apprentices buried their heads in hard work. Because the amount of food was too large, Ling Kong only ate a large plate of braised chicken and a large bowl of hot and sour duck soup, and after eating three bowls of rice, he couldn't eat anymore.

The three of them were full of wine and food, drinking tea slowly, waiting for Boss Jiang to come back from inquiring about the news.

It didn't take long for Boss Jiang to hurriedly go upstairs and gasp: "I heard about it...... It should be them...... About an hour and a half ago passed......"

Zhenguan said: "It's going in the direction of Qingcheng Mountain!"

Boss Jiang said: "It's the west avenue, it should be...... However, they are running in a hurry, and there should be an enemy chasing them!"

When the three of them heard this, their faces changed sharply, and they all stood up.

"Not long after they ran, another group of people came to the town...... It should be the enemy who is chasing them...... The gang also injured a guy from Boss Lu, but they ignored it and rushed west with a roar...... A few errand officials in the town chased after them, but they came back dejected after a while, and it was said that the gang was so fierce that they were so scared that they didn't dare to chase anymore......" Before Boss Jiang finished speaking, he saw that the three of Zhenguan and his apprentices had walked quickly towards the staircase.

※※※

The three of them hurried out of the hotel, turned over and got on their horses, whips on the horse's buttocks like a torrential rain, and ran for hundreds of miles in one breath.

Suddenly, the horse in the volley fell to his knees, and the volley jumped forward with both hands on the horse's back, and stood up dangerously. But when I saw the horse "snorting" and "snorting", he gasped for breath and sweated like rain. Looking at Zhenguan and Ling Xiao's mounts again, they were also sweating and walking heavily, so they all got off the horse.

Zhenguan frowned and said: "Even after a day and a night's journey, let alone horses, we can't stand it anymore!

Next to the avenue is a sloping land, and there is a tender green vegetable field with green lettuce planted in addition to the grass. The three horses nibbled a few mouthfuls of grass as they went, and then went straight to the vegetable field, which in a few moments was left with bare stumps.

After eating the lettuce, the horses all ran to the paddy fields down the slope to drink enough water, and slowly stamped back to the three of them.

"I'm thirsty too, go find some water to drink!" Ling Kong stood up and looked around to search for the well, but there was no well in this area, so he had to run to the edge of the paddy field and prepare to drink the water from the field.

Ling Xiao's eyes were sharp, and when he saw a house next to the avenue dozens of feet in front of him, he said loudly: "Senior brother, you don't have to drink the dirty water in the field! There is a house in front of you, I went to ask for water to drink!"

I walked along the avenue for a while, and out of the avenue, I walked along a grassy path to the house. When I walked to the hut, I suddenly saw three horses tied to the bamboo forest next to the hut, and they were eating hay with their heads down. Ling Xiao pondered: "Look at this family must be very poor, how can there be so many horses?...... No, it must be someone else's!"

Thinking of this, he took his steps lightly, and crept along the wall to the foot of a dense plantain tree in front of the left side of the hut, and looked through the gap in the green banana leaves, but saw a sunshade in front of the house, and under the eaves there were three young men, sitting on a pile of hay, bowing their heads and munching on biscuits.

A boy of eleven or twelve years old, dressed in rags and carrying a large thick bowl in his hand, which seemed to be filled with water, timidly walked up to the three men.

A young man in blue took the bowl, grabbed a handful of biscuits and stuffed them into the boy's hand, touched his little head with messy hair, and said softly, "Thank you." Go!" the little boy looked at the biscuit in his hand, turned and walked away happily.

The blue-clothed young man raised his neck, drank a few large sips of water, wiped his mouth, and handed the bowl to a purple-clothed young man with a bandage on his right leg next to him. The young man took a few sips, then handed the bowl to a young man in yellow with a bandage on his left arm beside him.

The young man in yellow drank the water, put the bowl beside him, sighed, and said, "Brother Tang Li, we all complain that we are injured and can't ride fast horses, so tired that you stay and take care of us!"

Tang Li, a young man in blue, shook his head and said, "Tang Bian, it's a brother, don't talk about this kind ?......of outsider! Don't worry, some of them are injured and won't be able to run fast!

Tang Shuang, a young man in purple, shook his head and said, "Hey, thinking that my brothers are all trying to chase the enemy, but I can't do anything...... I just hurt my leg, it's really hateful!"

Tang Li comforted: "Brother Tang, don't think so much, take care of your injuries...... The Double Cultivation Sect captured Qingcheng Mountain five days ago, and several leaders on the mountain have all been ambushed! We have contacted the Heaven and Earth Twin Venerables, and come down the mountain to flank the enemy, they are already unable to fly!"

Ling Xiao, who was lying in the banana bushes, heard this, like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and almost screamed, only to feel his ears buzzing, and he was immediately stunned.

Zhenguan saw that Ling Xiao had gone for a while and had not returned, so he was relieved, so he let Ling Kong watch the horses, walked along the path to the hut, and just heard the words that Qingcheng Mountain was attacked, he almost couldn't believe his ears, and immediately stood stunned, his hand pressed the hilt of the sword, and his whole body trembled.

The three horses in the bamboo forest suddenly saw a stranger intruding, and at the same time felt the fierce murderous aura of the comer, and suddenly screamed in shock.

The three Tang Sect disciples jumped up in shock, pulled out their blades with one hand, and pressed the hidden weapon sac on their waists with the other. Tang Li screamed, "What person?"

I saw a yellow-robed Qingdao man turn out of the corner of the wall, holding a long sword in his hand, his eyes were red, and he shouted: "What you said about Qingcheng Mountain just now, is it true?!"

Ling Xiao saw Zhenguan suddenly appear, and quickly got out of the plantain bush, standing beside the master with a sword.

Tang Li and the three of them saw their expressions and outfits, and they had already vaguely guessed a few points in their hearts. Tang Li said loudly: "Who are you?...... Is it true? What if it's not?"

Zhenguan Senran said: "Poor Qingcheng Zhenguan! If it's not true, I'll spare your lives! If it's true, I want you to accept your life!"

When the little boy in the sunning saw two murderous Taoists suddenly coming, he was so frightened that he hurriedly ran back to the house, closed the door, and hugged his grandmother, both of whom were trembling with fright.

The three Tang Sect disciples were shocked and their faces changed miserably, and they quickly exchanged glances, and said in unison, "Go!"

Two poison darts, a handful of poisonous sand, and a cluster of sleeve arrows fell on the two of them, and at the same time they took their blades and flew up.

Zhenguan shouted, the long sword conjured a curtain of light, "ding" and "ding", all the poison darts and sleeve arrows were shot down, and at the same time, the left sleeve swayed, rolled and beaten, and slapped the poisonous sand to the ground. In the sound of "sonor" and "sonor", Ling Xiao and Tang Li have already handed over.

Tang Shuang's right leg was injured, his body was not dexterous, and he was killed by Zhenguan with a sword after only one hand. The remaining two were horrified, and wanted to get rid of the two of them and rush to the bamboo forest, but where could they rush through the dazzling sword net?

In less than three battles, Tang Bian was stopped and killed by Zhenguan, and Tang Li was also pierced through the heart by Ling Xiao after the fourth combination.

Ling Xiao killed Tang Li, settled down, walked to the broken door of the house, and Wen Yan shouted: "Don't be afraid of the master of the house, we are not bad people! These people we killed are robbers! If the government asks, you can tell them truthfully and let them come to us...... Here's a mina of silver, take it. We're in a hurry, let's go first!" After saying that, he put a piece of silver at the door.

Ling Kong heard the sound of fighting, flew over, and saw that the three enemies had already been ambushed, Zhenguan and Ling Xiao showed grief and indignation, and the long sword in their hands was dripping with blood, and asked in surprise: "What's the matter?"

Ling Xiao gritted his teeth and glanced at him, gritting his teeth and said, "They are from the Tang Sect. Listen to them, something happened to Qingcheng Mountain!"

"Ahh

Ling Xiao said what he had just heard, stunned Ling Kong, turned his eyes to look at his master, and muttered, "Master, is it true?...... What to do?"

Zhenguan's mood had slowly stabilized, and he gritted his teeth and said hatefully: "Most of it is true! Don't be afraid, there is a master here...... Since those Shuangzun are coming, you don't have to go back to Qingcheng to find them......! Let's go to Liaojiachang!"

The three of them didn't speak along the way, suffocating with their heads and whipping, and it was almost evening, and Liao Jiachang was finally in sight.

When he reached a hillside, he exclaimed, "There's a dead man here!"

The three of them hurriedly rolled their saddles and dismounted, and saw a man and a horse falling under a big camphor tree next to the avenue, and the deceased was a sturdy man in his thirties, holding a steel knife in his hand, but his face was unknown. I saw that his green clothes had been dyed red with blood, and he had a throwing knife and a hand-throwing arrow on his shoulder blade and back, and a blade wound on his left rib and chest. The fatal wound in the chest, as if cut by a sharp axe, was so long and deep that it almost cut the person into two sections.

The horse that fell next to him was also hit by thistle terrestris in his hip and right hind leg, and his left hind leg was cut off in half, and a large pool of blood flowed from under the horse's body, and a large clump of grass beside the road was also dyed red.

Zhenguan took a closer look at the broken leg of the horse's corpse, and muttered, "This person has such a strong arm......! I didn't expect there to be such a good player among the enemy!"

The three of them became more and more nervous, jumped on the horse, touched the horse's mane in the air, and said softly: "Brother Ma, Brother Ma, I have to work hard for you again! When the enemy is defeated, I will buy you whatever you want to eat!" The horse seemed to understand human speech, and neighed with its head held high, as if in agreement. The three of them whipped like lightning, and galloped forward.

Zhenguan said loudly: "They should have fled to Cherry Villa and defected to Master Zhu!

The red sun sinks in the west, and in the blue sky, a few white clouds are like bright and dazzling colored satin under the reflection of the setting sun. But in the eyes of the three of them, it seemed to be stained with blood.