In the dilapidated Xiangjun Temple, dozens of beggars and a young lady of martial arts who are like flowers and jade are all scared silly. It turned out that after Yue Gao woke up, he neither ate nor drank, but asked for a basin of water, a set of clean clothes, and began to shave, comb his hair, and wash up.

"Why did Brother Hua suddenly change his sex?"

"I've known him for seven or eight years, and I've never seen him wear a clean garment. 」

"Didn't you burn out your mind?"

"Hey, hey. I think I brought a beautiful girl this time, and I want to dress up beautifully?" Stinky Boy, Huang Cripple, and Zhao Laosan whispered to each other, and Xin Yanyan watched with wide eyes even though she didn't speak. I saw this beggar in front of me, his long messy hair was combed flat, his face was full of stubble, he washed off his dirt, put on a white shirt, and now he showed his true face, he was actually a plump and handsome young man, where was he still half sloppy? Everyone in the temple, you look at me, I look at you, and you feel that you have never recognized such a "flower promotion general".

"What are you doing?" This Hua Sheng general opened his mouth first, smiled, and put his hand on Zhao Laosan's shoulder, "Zhao Laosan, what are you looking at stupidly?" "No...... It's nothing. Zhao Laosan replied dumbfounded. "Listen, Zhao Laosan. This time my creditors are not as fierce as before, and they are chasing hard, I am afraid that it will not be long before they enter the town to find someone, you go back and tell everyone, your eyes are bright. If I'm not there, if there's any rumor, you can hide first. "You're not here?!" Huang Cripple interjected with an unhappy face, "Where is Brother Hua going to leave our brother behind?" "I have to go to Luo Dahuan's den of horse thieves." As for Miss Xin, she will go with me. 」

This Hua Sheng will lead the horse from the stinky boy and ride with Xin Yanyan to the west of the town. Xin Yanyan realized at this time that she was in a lively town. Located below the plateau, the town was originally just a distribution center for nearby scattered farmers, hunters, and others. In the early years, it was just a small market village, and it didn't even have a name, but since the Qin State merged the six countries eight years ago, the world was unified, the books were the same, the cars were on the same track, the money system was connected, and the goods flowed smoothly. The town is full of buyers and sellers, in addition to all kinds of mountain brewed specialties, agricultural dry food, rice villages, cloth markets, sugar streets, medicine stores, can be said to have everything, between the avenues and alleys, you can also see taverns and inns, gambling houses and green buildings from time to time.

"It's a nice place. Xin Yanyan sighed and said, "Did you say yes? Brother Yue, Brother Hua. 」

"What Brother Yue, Brother Hua?"

"What can I do? You let me call you Brother Yue, but let others call you Brother Hua. Xin Yanyan glared and laughed, "Since I can't figure out whether you are Brother Yue or Brother Hua, I have to stack the two names on top of each other and call you Brother Yue Brother Hua." 」

"Hahaha. Yue Gao laughed loudly, "It's really yours. It's the first time I've heard someone call me that. 」

"Brother Yue, Brother Hua. Xin Yanyan shouted again,

"Alas, you can call it whatever you like. It's just that when you get to someone's horse thief's den, don't open your mouth, or it will be dangerous. 」

"Hmm. Brother Yue. In fact, Xin Yanyan felt in her heart that it didn't matter if the person behind her was called Hua Shengjiang or Yue Gao. She was just a little angry that he treated herself as an outsider and as Zhao Laosan, so she had a small seizure. Now that he heard that Yue Gao was so worried about his safety, he threw those little awkwardness out of the clouds, and still called him Brother Yue.

After leaving the town, Yue Gao quickly whipped his horse and ran all the way to the plateau to the west. After running for more than an hour, the two came to a wooded area. Yue Gao jumped off the horse, tied the horse to the tree, and then took Xin Yanyan's hand and walked into the forest.

"Brother Hua, you're here. The two were walking in the woods when a tree in the middle of the forest suddenly said, "I've been waiting for you here for a long time." Who is this woman?"

"Phew! In front of the horse thief, Yue Gao became vulgar again, and I saw him spit on the ground and become a 'flower promotion general': "This woman is my concubine. Where's your boss?"

"Such a beautiful concubine, where did Brother Hua get it? Help me get one next time." The horse thief, whose head, waist, and feet were full of branches, said in a rambling voice, "Master Luo, who is talking to Mr. Ros, is waiting for you in the cave." 」

"Don't just look at it!" Hua Sheng pulled Xin Yanyan behind him, "Lead the way." 」

In a cave on the side of the mountain, Luo Dahuan, the leader of the Horse Thieves Gang, saw that Hua Sheng was coming, so he didn't say much, but raised his hand to the depths of the cave, and said in a low voice, "Brother Hua, let's wait and talk about it later. You'd better go in and take a look at Mr. Tan first. I'm afraid that his time is running out, and I'm still worried that you won't be able to catch up. 」

"What!?" General Hua Sheng heard Luo Dahuan say this, and hurriedly rushed into the cave. In the dim cave, there were two white quilts spread on a pile of wooden boxes, and it was none other than the Confucian disciple Tan Zhiqi who was lying on this quilt. It's just that Tan Zhizhi's face is whiter than the bedding under his body.

"Flower ...... Flower Brothers...... I've finally waited for you. Tan Zhi, who was seriously injured, heard a human voice coming from the entrance of the cave, so he opened his eyes and looked at the person kneeling in front of his bed. "Tianming!?" Tan Zhi looked at it, and couldn't help but exclaim, "Why are you!?"

"It's me. Jing Tianming grabbed Tan Zhi's hand, and he knew from his pulse that Tan Zhi would definitely not survive tonight, and he couldn't help but have tears in his eyes, and said, "It's me, Jing Tianming. It's the flower promotion general I'm pretending to be. 」

"I see. Tan Zhi nodded weakly, but a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "I had hoped to be able to explain some things to reliable people before I died. I heard Luo Dahuan, the leader of the horse thieves, say that the Mo family's flower promotion will be near the left, but I didn't expect it to be you. Okay, that's fine, it's good if it's you. It's been eight years......" Tan Zhi looked at Jing Tianming's face and gently held his hand, "I think that when we were in Guiling, you and I still had Hua Shengjiang, we were the best together. Later you ...... Betraying my brother......" Tan Zhi shook his head and continued, "You opened the city gate and saved the lives of all the people in Guiling City, and the people are very grateful to you. However, you also buried the future of the Qi State and made the world the world the world of King Yingzheng of Qin, which made many people hate you. These deeds are really difficult to talk about, and it is difficult to talk about them. 」

"Jing Tianming. Xin Yanyan saw that the big brother in front of him, Brother Hua, had now changed into Brother Jing, and thought that it was just Yue Gao pretending to be a martial arts person, but when he heard the conversation, he finally realized that he thought, "By the way, Jing Tianming. No wonder it sounded familiar to me. Jing Tianming, isn't he the one who rebelled in the bloody battle of Guiling City back then and helped the Qin army to attack the city?" Xin Yanyan looked at Jing Tianming, who was listening intently to talk, where was there still a half-bit smile on his face? "In this way, it seems that Jing Tianming is the true identity of Brother Yue. Xin Yanyan secretly guessed: "This is probably the reason why you are incognito? But with what you have done recently, how can you have the slightest villain appearance in other people's mouths? Alas, in fact, you are Jing Tianming or Brother Hua, for me, you will always be the Yue Gao who saved me desperately. 」

I don't know if I talked too much, but I coughed violently. "Drink some water. Jing Tianming picked up the water bowl and put it to Tan Zhi's lips, and asked in a trembling voice, "You...... Why is your martial arts useless?", "What, you will know when you touch my hand?" Tan Zhi smiled, "I haven't seen you for eight years, and my brother has improved again. My meridians are destroyed back and forth with extremely profound internal strength, not to mention that the internal force is completely gone, and it has made me such a wasted person. Tan Zhi reluctantly raised his right hand and waved, but that hand seemed extremely weak. "Who is so cruel?" Jing Tianming asked hatefully. "It's an old man with extremely high martial arts. Tan Zhi said, "But, Tianming, it is not who hurt me. But...... Rather, it involves a piece of white jade. Jing Tianming was startled when he heard this, and thought, "How can there be white jade again?" hurriedly asked Tan Zhi but said, "Is that a piece of fish-shaped white jade?" This time, Tan Zhi was startled, "How do you know that it is a fish-shaped white jade?" "This is a long story, Brother Tan, you still tell me what you know." 」

"That was about three or four months ago. Tan Zhi took a sip of water and began to speak, "You also know that my master Duanmu Jingde's lifelong wish is to carry forward the Confucian doctrine. For this reason, although the Qin state, which advocated the doctrine of Legalism, finally unified the world, our Confucian children still traveled all over the world under the leadership of the new head of the sect, Shao Guangqing, and taught everywhere. 」

"Of course, I am no exception, there are few days in the year when I stay at home, and I am always relieved that I can't go to the schools run in various places, and I will visit everywhere every now and then. However, a few months ago, I came out of Hanoi and planned to visit several schools in Sam Chuan to observe the teaching. I didn't expect that several schools in Sanchuan County were abolished, so I asked around the local area, and the people there were originally silent, but later someone saw me dressed as a Confucian child, which kindly reminded me. It is said that in several schools, the disciples of Confucianism were arrested by Qin Bing, and all the books in the schools were copied. Later, I changed my clothes and asked around. The news is getting worse and worse, not only in Sanchuan County, but also in the Confucian schools in each county, Qin soldiers arrested people and copied books, saying that they wanted to arrest a Confucian student surnamed Tan. Good brother, guess what, why do these Qin soldiers want to be arrested as elder brothers?"

"This is naturally for the sake of talking about the white jade on my brother's body. Tan Zhi smiled and said he had guessed correctly. Jing Tianming asked, "What I don't understand is...... How can my brother have that piece of white jade on him?" "Alas, that's a token of my Confucian teaching. Tan Zhi has always been hearty, and he can't help but sigh when he says this, "Eight years ago, in Guiling, my master Duanmu Jingde personally handed over the white fish jade pendant to me. So, Tan Zhi briefly told Jing Tianming about Duanmu Jingde's succession to the throne.

"That's weird. Jing Tianming asked again, "In this way, after the death of the old man Duanmu two years ago, the new Confucian head should be the eldest brother?

"That's what I gave him. Tan Zhi said, "You should understand that brother, I like to make friends, not to be a teacher. It's not my personality to tell people to do this and that all day long. What's more, Guangqing ...... He had wanted to be the head teacher for many years, and he had always thought that the master would eventually pass on the position to him, but he didn't expect it...... Alas, let's not mention this for now. All in all, two years ago, I publicly elected Guangqing as a trusted Confucian teacher, and Guangqing was also very grateful to me, as long as I had no problem with him, it would be difficult for other Confucian people to say anything. It's just that although the position of the head of the sect was given to him, I didn't give the white jade to Guangqing. Master so earnestly instructed me that night to take good care of this piece of white jade. Every time I think of the scene at that time, I can't give the white jade to Guangqing for safekeeping. 」

"Hmm. Jing Tianming replied, and then asked, "So, Shao Guangqing, he also wants this piece of white jade?" Much smarter than me. Tan Zhi bowed his head and said, "I only said that Guangqing asked me for this piece of white jade three times and twice, just so that the master regarded this piece of white jade as a token of the master's teaching. Today, it seems that there is another hidden story behind it. 」

"Then how did Brother Tan get hurt?" Jing Tianming reminded when he saw that Tan Zhi's expression was a little dazed.

"Oh, yes. Tan Zhi came back to his senses and continued, "About seven or eight days ago, I came to the vicinity of Jiaozhen and chose an inn to stay in. Because for three or four months in a row, there were at least a thousand Confucian scholars who were captured by the Qin soldiers, so we changed our clothes and tried our best to hide our true identities, but we didn't expect to be targeted. That day, I slept until midnight when I suddenly heard a knock on the door, and it was the secret signal of my Confucian family to communicate with each other. I got up and ran out, following the sound to the outside of another room in the inn. Secretly looked inside, only to see Shao Guangqing, the head of the sect, with his hands tied behind him and lying on the ground. I was outside the window, and after seeing the inside of the house, I was about to go in to save someone, but I heard someone in the house say, 'You're welcome, please come in.' The man's slow-paced voice startled me. Because I obviously observed very carefully, there should be no one else in the room except Guangqing. 」

"That's when I knew I had met someone superior. Tan Zhi raised his head and smiled at Jing Tianming, "When I was in Guiling, did I tell you that I had been beaten by Granny Jiang?" Jing Tianming shook his head. "Ever since I was beaten, I know what a true master is. But when it comes to martial arts...... Tan Zhi's voice trembled slightly with fear, "I'm afraid that even Granny Jiang is not the old man's opponent. "Old man?" "Well, it was an old man who was talking to me in the house, a very old man. 」

"I knew that I had met a peerless master, but since Guangqing fell into his hands, I had no choice but to listen to him. "When I went into the house, I saw the old man sitting on the ground, with a withered face, and there was almost no flesh left on one of his heads, as if he were sitting on the ground like a human skeleton. If you talk about age, even if my teacher Duanmu Jingde is alive, I'm afraid that it is not as old as the old man. "Are you talking straight?" The old man looked at me with a pair of sunken copper bell eyes, and asked sharply, "That white fish jade pendant is in your hand!?" Brother, I didn't know until then how much trouble that white jade would cause people. "Fortunately, Brother Tan didn't bring that piece of white jade with him. Jing Tianming exhaled.

"yes. If the white jade had been on me at that time, how could I have survived to this day?" Tan Zhi recalled the scene at that time, "At that time, not only did I resolutely refuse to hand over the white jade, but I also refused to tell the old man the whereabouts of the white jade. Later, the old man abolished all my martial arts, leaving only one life. "Later, talk about my brother......

"Alas, it's still the way of others. After a day and a night of torture, the old man saw that I was not telling the truth, and said that if I did not tell him the whereabouts of Bai Yu, he would kill the Confucian master in front of me. I thought about it, Guangqing has just become the head of the sect, if the sect here for no reason is killed, who will continue the great cause of Confucianism? What's more, thousands of Confucian disciples have been captured by the Qin soldiers, and they also need to be led to the rescue by the head of the sect. "Okay. As long as you let Guangqing leave first, I'll tell you where Bai Yu is. In order to save Guangqing and the brothers, I said this to the old man. The old man was also refreshed, only to see him gently hook Guangqing's back with his fingers, and the rope was broken. Then, with a push on Guangqing's back, he sent the person out of the door. It was almost noon, and I waited until dusk, thinking that Guangqing should have gone far. Only then did I tell the old man that Bai Yu had been handed over to Liu Bi for temporary safekeeping a year ago. 」

Jing Tianming exclaimed, "The white jade is on Liu Bi, then Liu Bi is in danger. When Jing Tianming said this, he felt vaguely uneasy in his heart, but he didn't know why he was uneasy.

"It's all my fault for not being able to eat the ancients. He said with regret, "I've never lied in my life. This hurt Liu Bi. Brother, seeing that I can't do it anymore, then Bai Yu and Liu Bi will ask you. "Don't worry. Jing Tianming nodded and asked, "What happened later, why didn't the old man kill you?" After entrusting the secret to Jing Tianming, Tan Zhi finally felt much more relaxed, and said slowly, "That old man naturally wants to kill me. After hearing this, the old man nodded and said, "Very well. As he spoke, he raised his right hand to pat it on top of my head. I knew there was no chance of survival, and I didn't want to resist the humiliation. Just as the old man was about to slap his palm down, someone pushed the door in and shouted, 'Slow down!'"

"So someone saved you?"

"Hehe, that's fine. But I really don't want to be saved by him. Tan Zhi sneered, and asked Jing Tianming, "Guess who the person is?"

"Hmm. Jing Tianming thought for a while, "I can't guess this. 」

"Don't talk about you, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, even I wouldn't have guessed. Tan Zhi said quietly, "The person who came is Shao Guangqing. 」

"Shao Guangqing!?Didn't he escape?" Jing Tianming turned his mind and said, "Could it be that he doesn't want to live alone, and he will definitely come back to save you?"

"I thought so, too. I was about to open my mouth to scold him...... That Shao Guangqing opened his mouth first, "The old-timers are merciful. This is straightforward, the younger generation hates him to the bone, and he has to kill him with his own hands to be happy. When the old man heard him say this, he said, "This man's martial arts are gone, and it is okay for you to kill him." What's more, his meridians have been completely destroyed by me, and there will be no more life for three days. If you still have a trace of friendship, you don't need to do it, and after three days, you will be killed naturally, and there will be a whole corpse. Shao Guangqing shook his head and said resolutely, "This is too cheap for him." No, I'm going to kill him with my own hands. When the old man heard him say this, he did not deny it, and departed lightly. 」

"Huh? It's a stopgap measure. Jing Tianming said, "If it weren't for that, how could Shao Guangqing be that old man's opponent. But why would the old man agree? 」

"Oh my. Tan Zhi said, "I praised you for being smart before, but I didn't expect you to be as stupid as me." I also thought it was Guangqing's expedient measure at the time. When the old man was gone, I wanted to thank him. How do you know Guangqing...... No! Shao Guangqing ...... But he drew his sword and said to me angrily, "Talk straight, I've put up with you for a long time. Killing you today is also a bad breath in my heart. "Guangqing!?As a brother, when did I feel sorry for you?" "Do you dare to say that?!" Shao Guangqing snorted contemptuously, "When my father passed on a Confucian master to you in public, why didn't you resolutely dismiss him? I never expected you to be so insidious, after my father passed away two years ago, you actually gave up this master to me in front of everyone. Talking about straightness, talking about straightness, you want everyone in the world to know that my Shao Guangqing, the position of the head of the teaching, was given to me by you with disdain and kindness, isn't it?

"I see...... Jing Tianming saw that he was straight, but his face was full of sadness, and he bowed his head and said, "It turns out that Shao Guangqing and that old man teamed up to set a trap...... "It's not." If it weren't for the horse thief leader Luo Dahuan who came, I wouldn't have seen my brother today. But he perked himself up and asked, "Why did this horse thief come to me? "It's nothing. Jing Tianming replied a little embarrassedly: "This horse thief gang had a little holiday with Pinghu Village Xu Cup last year, and I solved it for them. 」

"I see. Tan Zhi regained his original heartiness, and said with a smile: "It turns out that you did a good thing in the name of General Hua Sheng, I think it's strange, how could Brother Hua interfere in the festival between horse thieves and bandits. It seems that Tianming is eating very well on the rivers and lakes now? ha. 」

"Hahaha. Jing Tianming also laughed: "No, no, no! it's Hua Sheng who eats the Hua brothers very well on the rivers and lakes." The two of them remembered the bear-like appearance of General Hua Sheng, and they both burst into laughter. "Interesting. Interesting. Tan Zhi asked, "Tianming, have you ever pretended to be someone else?" Jing Tianming was even more embarrassed, nodded and said, "Don't tell lies in front of real people, I even pretended to talk about your brother's name several times." "Hahaha. Tan Zhi laughed again, "I really didn't expect that I Tan Zhi is also a famous person among the copycat bandits. "I didn't spit on the ground when I pretended to be my brother. Always polite, courteous, hearty and generous......" "Enough is enough, don't disgust me." But it's dawn," Tan Zhi changed his words, and said, "The so-called death of a man is also good. As an elder brother, there is not much time left. There are a few words that must be said. Thinking about it in the past eight years, you have been promoted to a general, and all of a sudden you are talking straight, but I am afraid that it will be Liu Bi or something...... You just don't want to be yourself, do you? You don't have to defend yourself. If it weren't for that, how could you still be nameless after you had done so many things?

"I thought, why do you do this? There are two reasons, one is that you must miss your friends very much, and you don't want to see them, and you can talk to you about the way you pretend to behave like them. What are you going to do......" Tan Zhi looked directly at Jing Tianming and continued to persuade: "Needless to say, it's for the fact that you opened the city gate eight years ago. In the past eight years, I have also been pondering whether Tianming is right or wrong to do this? If you are right, then are we all wrong? If we are right, then you Jing Tianming alone is wrong? In the past eight years, I have thought about it and pondered it repeatedly, but there is no positive answer. 」

"I probably won't survive tonight. Tan Zhi smiled to himself, "To see you at this time, I can't help but have new ideas in my head. Do you think there is a problem that you say right and it is not right, and if you say wrong, it is also good. I have been taught Confucianism all my life. When I used to read Mencius, I read that Zengzi described Confucius's great bravery, saying, "Although there are tens of thousands of people, I will go to it." At that time, I was envious, and I thought what kind of courage this was? As an elder brother, I have lived up to this sentence all my life. Tan Zhi tilted his head slightly, looked out of the cave, sighed and said, "But the old master also said, 'Seventy is what you want, and you don't exceed the rules. It is only today that I read these two sentences together. There is a bit of a contradiction between these two sentences, isn't it? 'Where can this man live to be seventy years old?'" Tan Zhi stuck out his tongue and smiled again, "If Master Duanmu hears this, he will have to be beaten again. No wonder the old master also said that even a virtuous person like him can not make mistakes until he is seventy years old, don't you say?" Jing Tianming couldn't help but laugh when he heard this.

"It's just my personal thoughts. But he said, "Think about it yourself. People are in a dilemma. In the whole world, is there someone who is not difficult? Let others say what they like to say. You just don't let them say it, they have to say it, don't you? Anyway, don't stop at the same point and think about it. You have to go forward, take it in stride, and let them stay behind you. Stopping at one point, this kind of thing, I'm afraid that only saints can do it. 」

Tan Zhi took Jing Tianming's hand and said sincerely, "If you can, don't run away again. Be on your own. For example, you are not Hua Shengjiang now, not Liu Bi, but Jing Tianming. Jing Tianming sat in front of me and talked to me. I think it's very good to be an older brother...... cough cough cough ...... Oh, is there any wine? Let's have a drink. 」

Obviously there is not much time to live, but Tan Zhi is still worried about himself. "I didn't expect that there are still people in this world who care about me......" Jing Tianming's heart was moved at this time, and it was impossible to explain it with words alone. Jing Tianming walked out of the cave and said to Xin Yanyan, "Please go and get some wine with Luo Dahuan. "I'll go now, Brother Yue...... Oh, no, Brother Jing, you wait a minute. It turned out that Xin Yanyan listened to the two talking for a while, and felt that it was inappropriate, so she had quietly retreated outside the cave to wait.

"Brother Yue, who is this?" asked Tan Zhi suspiciously. "It's nothing. Jing Tianming scratched his head and walked back to Tan Zhi's bed, and said embarrassedly, "It's just a name I casually talked about. "The girl who spoke just now is Gao Yue, right?" Tan Zhi said again, "I still recognize her voice. Didn't she leave when she was in Guiling......?

"No, she's not a high ......" Jing Tianming was stunned for a moment, wanting to say the person's name, but he gave up, "She is the daughter of the head of the Bagua Sect, Xin Yanyan. Tan Zhi saw Jing Tianming's face full of embarrassment, and he also felt that he was speechless, "Is it? Alas, don't mention this. You see, Miss Xin is here with wine. 」

"Let's drink. 」

"Drink. The two of them immediately drank a cup of you and a cup of me, and Xin Yanyan was invited, but she had to take a sip and a small sip next to her. The two of them drank until they were half-drunk, and Jing Tian said clearly: "Don't worry, brother, if you see that Shao Guangqing another day, you will definitely avenge you as a brother." 」

"No, no. But he waved his hand and said, "Anyway, he didn't hurt me. I was also very angry at the beginning, but now that I have a conversation with you, I think it will be difficult for Guangqing. He's already lived so himself, so why should I bother with him anymore? It's just that Tianming, I'm afraid I'm only afraid of Guangqing...... Thousands of my Confucianists went to the rescue. I heard that the Qin soldiers will kill my Confucian disciples in the pit of Xianyang City and burn my Confucian classics. It all started because of that piece of white jade. I know it's hard, but I can only ask you, brother. In this way, under the nine springs, I met my teacher, and I had an explanation. 」

"Brother Tan, don't worry. Jing Tianming's eyes were full of tears, and he replied, "I promise you. 」

"Excellent. Come on, let's drink again. 」

"Drink!" The two of them then talked and drank again with a smile, until the sun went down, and until Tan Zhi unknowingly dropped the wine bowl in his hand and died suddenly. "Until you die, you are fearless of life and death, and you only know how to worry about your comrades......" Jing Tianming looked at Tan Zhi's expressionless face, raised his wine glass, and toasted Tan Zhi with the last glass of wine, "Good brother, you really deserve to be the chief disciple of Confucianism in today's world, and a true gentleman. I, Jing Tianming, dare not follow the example of the former sage?" Jing Tianming drank the wine in the wine glass and slammed the glass to the ground. That night, he left the horse thief's den with Xin Yanyan.