Volume 1: The Jianghu is the main thing, who is the guest? Chapter 42: Jing Wuming
As the night ended and the day began, Chang'an was covered with snow.
As one of the ancient cities with the deepest cultural heritage in the world, Chang'an City has many old houses that have been abandoned for many years and no one cares about them, in addition to the clan ancestral halls that have long been deserted.
With snow falling heavily between the sky and the earth, in an old house in the west of the city, in the dry well in the backyard, a figure was climbing out of the well with difficulty.
There was a thick layer of snow in the garden, and a few plum trees, growing crookedly, had taken root among them, with their flowers in full bloom.
Li Muchan grabbed a handful of snow and stuffed it into his mouth, then held the person on his back tightly.
Having reached this point where they were almost at the end of their rope, the two men no longer had the sharp edge they had before, nor did they have the suspicion of each other anymore. Their severely injured bodies were shivering with cold, their lips were purple, and they were shaking with the cold.
"Mom, don't chase Xiaoxian away, I will be obedient..."
Listening to the unclear words of the person on his back, Li Muchan was too lazy to distinguish the truth from the false. Anyway, it was all out. The only difference was that this person's body was very hot, like a furnace. He must have been seriously injured or sick and caught a cold.
"I don't know what's going on in Lengxiangyuan. I don't think the remaining people will be..."
He swallowed the snow in his mouth, with his back to Shangguan Xiaoxian, and was secretly thinking in his mind. But as soon as the thought came to his mind, Li Muchan suddenly stopped in place, his expression became unnaturally stiff, and an unprecedented bone-chilling chill made him tremble.
Because, under the few plum trees that were empty just now, there suddenly appeared a person, a man in a bamboo hat.
This person came silently, stood silently, appeared and disappeared like a ghost, with the brim of his hat pulled down very low, and a dusty gray cloak on his back, standing motionless in the wind and snow.
This is a swordsman, because he has a sword on his waist, and the way he carries the sword is different from that of ordinary swordsmen, with the hilt facing left; a pair of deathly gray eyes look out from under the brim of his hat, lifeless, as if they do not belong to a living person, with no expression and no vitality, just embedded in the waxy and skinny eye sockets.
Not just this one person.
Mother Liu had rushed over quickly from the other end. She no longer looked as evil and creepy as before. Instead, she was extremely nervous, with injuries all over her body, and she was staggering.
Of course, she was not worried about Li Muchan, but Shangguan Xiaoxian. She took two steps at a time, then stopped carefully and called out to Shangguan Xiaoxian softly, "Miss!"
Li Muchan didn't dare to move and let Mother Liu carry Shangguan Xiaoxian down.
But he suddenly felt a pain in his right shoulder. He turned his head and saw Shangguan Xiaoxian regaining consciousness and seemed to be more awake. She was lying on his shoulder and bit him. The bite was so severe that blood oozed out. Her silver teeth were stained red. She glared at him fiercely with a dazed look in her eyes and panted indistinctly, "Mr. Li, you must remember that this scar was left by me."
This woman is still thinking about fighting.
Li Muchan hummed, and forced a smile, "Okay, I remember!"
The man in the bamboo hat glanced at Li Muchan, turned around and uttered one word concisely: "Go!"
Even the tone of his voice had no sadness or joy, as if he had become indifferent to life and death, which was frightening.
When the man said he was leaving, Mother Liu hurriedly picked up Shangguan Xiaoxian and followed him with great trepidation.
"The deadly swordsman, Jing Wuming?" Li Muchan stood there with a blank expression on his face, but the hairs on the back of his hands stood up and his back was wet with cold sweat. "How amazing."
He wiped the blood off his shoulder, adjusted the knife at his waist, coughed lightly a few times, and let out a long breath.
But he didn't expect that Mother Liu suddenly came back, her bloated body like a bouncing ball. In just a few flashes, she was in front of him with a book in her hand.
Li Muchan was a little puzzled, but when he took it and took a look, he saw that the book was actually filled with portraits, and they were all pictures of beauties in various poses, which could captivate everyone. There were also many formulas attached to the side, which turned out to be "The Great Method of Bewitching Young Girls".
He seemed to understand and took out the two magical books of the devil's cult from his arms.
Mother Liu didn't even look at him, took the secret book and left like a flash.
Li Muchan put away the book with a strange look in his eyes. With the martial arts left by Shangguan Jinhong, why would he need to practice the magic sect's techniques? Could there be some secret hidden in it?
But he did not think about it too much. Everyone has secrets. He had just discovered that the martial arts in "The Charming Girl's Soul-Bewitching Technique" were actually complementary to the "Clavicle of the Soul-Ecstasy Heavenly Buddha Scroll". Many things that he did not understand before were understood in this instant.
Li Muchan smiled. He closed his eyes, feeling the falling snow and flying frost between heaven and earth, as well as the biting cold wind. His smile gradually became more wild.
Then, he opened his eyes and strode into the snow, walking in the opposite direction of Shangguan Xiaoxian.
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Three days later.
It was already night and the cold moon was in the sky.
Outside Lengxiang Garden, in the chilly wind and frost, a soy milk shop that had been newly opened at some point opened its doors for business.
Ever since a fire broke out in Lengxiang Garden three days ago, killing many people, the place has become increasingly deserted and few people come here.
However, at the door of the shop there stood a tall and large vermilion flagpole, which towered into the sky and overlooked Chang'an.
As the lights came on, a figure was seen moving with extremely strange movements, as if it had no bones, coiling like a spirit snake, circling the flagpole and going straight to the top, then hanging up a huge flag, and letting out a wolf-like howl from its mouth.
A long roar shook all directions.
He is the flag bearer of the Qinglong Society.
In an instant, at the intersections of alleys and streets of Chang'an City, some hawkers who were originally walking on the streets and hawking their wares changed their pace. Their usual steps suddenly became light and strange. Some flipped over and jumped onto the eaves, some flew away and disappeared into the darkness, keeping an eye on the movements in all directions.
And in front of the soy milk shop, a figure walked over.
This man was Li Muchan. He had changed his clothes, put on a cloak, and covered his face with a mask.
As soon as he approached the lonely soy milk shop, he saw countless murderous eyes cast at him in the night; but as Li Muchan took out a token from his arms, all the murderous intent receded like the tide and disappeared into thin air.
In the shop, the honest man who was suspected to be the heir of the Sun family was still cooking soy milk as usual.
Seeing that Li Muchan was still alive, the other party seemed surprised and considerately brought a bowl of soy milk.
It was not just this person. As soon as Li Muchan came in, a quick shadow suddenly appeared in the night. He walked and turned, and his figure changed unpredictably in an instant, as if he had turned into two. He was floating in the dim light of the street lamp. Before I could see clearly, I saw the fire flickering and there was a person sitting in the corner.
This man was tall and thin, and he didn't say a word. He had a dragon-head mask on his face, a standing collar, and a green robe that dragged on the ground. It was difficult to tell his age.
Then came the second one. No footsteps were heard, but a person under the moon looked like a flying goddess in the Dunhuang murals, leaping into the air from afar and flying over. A white satin ribbon rose in the wind, flying across the long street, passing over the head, and finally sitting down leisurely.
This is the woman in white in the “Forest of a Hundred Ghosts” that day.
The third one was a sedan chair, an extremely gorgeous sedan chair, full of jewels and precious stones, and extremely luxurious.
The sedan was flying in the air, coming from far away, and the people carrying it were four masters who were famous for their light skills, but now they were all sedan bearers. The four of them stepped into the air, tapped the corner of the roof to gain leverage, and in a flash, the sedan floated in the air as if it was moving sideways, and then slowly fell down.
Before it landed, a person flew out of the sedan chair and sat down.
Looks like an old man.
The fourth one was a man who looked somewhat down-and-out. No one could see how he appeared at the door, and when they found him, he was already in the store. He was wearing worn-out boots and a worn-out scabbard, but a brand new robe. The robe was whiter than snow, and his long hair was dishevelled. He smelled of alcohol, and had a sword in his hand.
The last one was the young man in gorgeous clothes whom Li Muchan saw in the "Forest of a Hundred Ghosts" that day . He came in slowly and walked leisurely.
No, this is not the last one, the big dragon leader has not come yet.
"Everyone, long time no see!"
Sure enough, when the voice came, Li Muchan only felt a strand of white hair passing by, and there was one more person in the shop.
The man seemed to recognize Li Muchan and asked, "What are you holding in your hand?"
Li Muchan did not say anything, he just opened the package he brought, and two human heads suddenly appeared under the light. They were the heads of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Cult, "Donghai Yuxiao" and "Lü Di".
The man nodded and said, "Very good. From now on, you will be the Seventh Dragon Leader of the Azure Dragon Society."
Seven dragon heads?
Li Muchan was stunned at first, and then he was shocked. How could there be seven?
Hadn’t three been killed in the underground cave, how come the Azure Dragon Society still had seven dragon heads?
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At the same time, somewhere outside Chang'an, Shangguan Xiaoxian's injuries had recovered a little. She stood in front of the window, looking at the moon outside, which reflected her rosy cheeks, her black hair was disheveled, her body was thin, and she was wrapped in a cloak. There was a charcoal stove in front of her.
Shangguan Xiaoxian rubbed his hands and sighed: "This time, I failed to test the depth of the Qinglong Society."
Madam Liu was surprised and asked, "How could that be? Didn't you kill three dragon heads, young lady?"
Shangguan Xiaoxian smiled softly, "How could that be possible? No one knows the identities of the dragon heads, except for the Luoyang Xiao family. The rest are more secretive than the others, and they are unfathomable. So, I might as well make a bold guess that the three who died were just short-lived ghosts wearing masks and thinking they were dragon heads."
"This is a really smart move." She sighed, "Where is the hall master?"
Mother Liu replied, "He died in Lengxiang Garden."
Shangguan Xiaoxian was silent for a while, then suddenly smiled and said, "It's okay. I have already found a new candidate for the lobby master."
After that, she asked seriously, "What do you think of him, Brother Jing?"
In the darkness behind Shangguan Xiaoxian, a pair of deathly grey eyes slowly raised up: "I saw a very scary ambition in his eyes."
Mother Liu finally came to her senses: "Miss, are you talking about that loser?"
Shangguan Xiaoxian chuckled: "A person who seems to be the least likely to survive actually survived to the end. How amazing! If I put myself in his shoes, I'm afraid I might not end up like him."
At the end, her eyes lit up and she spoke word by word: "I'm going to pick him!"