Cross the river pawn

If you just walk along the long Kunlun Road, you will naturally have to walk for a long time. However, Daomen has built hanging baskets controlled by winches and iron cables on several cliffs, which can go straight up and down, saving a lot of time.

It is a pity that neither Zhang Yuelu nor Qi Xuansu has ever become a heavenly being and cannot fly in the sky.

According to Zhang Yuelu's plan, after the two of them descended from Yuxu Peak, they first went to Kunlun Pass and entered Shuzhou along the Tongtian River. Then they went all the way east, across Shuzhou, passed Baidi City and entered Huzhou, and finally passed through Huzhou. Go to Wuzhou.Just by estimating the distance from the map, it's almost six thousand miles away. If it were the actual distance, it would probably be upwards of eight thousand miles.

With such a long distance, even if Qi Xuansu was a veteran, his face turned green at first glance, and he felt that he was really crazy to agree to Zhang Yuelu.But now that I have agreed, there is no reason to go back on it.

However, Zhang Yuelu was already prepared. After descending from Yuxu Peak, he took out a pair of armored horses from the Xumi objects and handed them to Qi Xuansu.

The so-called "Jiama" is a magical talisman. "The Secret of Geography" contains the "Method of creating clouds on the soles of the feet". Take two Jiama and write the four characters "White Clouds Rising" on each one, respectively. Tie it to your legs and recite the cloud-riding mantra: "I hope to invite the gods of Liuding and Liujia, the gods of white clouds and cranes and feathers to fly. The clouds on the soles of my feet are as fast as the wind, just like I am flying in the blue sky. I am ordered by the Nine Heavens Xuannv to take pictures!" It can travel up to [-] times a day. This is also the most common armored horse and is mostly used for traveling.

The armored horse that Zhang Yuelu gave to Qi Xuansu was even better. It came from the "shutchi method" contained in the "Liujia Tianshu". The caster tied an armored horse to each leg and recited the shrunken mantra: "One step, a hundred steps, The land has shrunk by itself. Every mountain is flat and every river has dried up. I was ordered by Master Jiuhou of the Three Mountains to take pictures!" You can travel thousands of miles in a day.

There are twelve hours in a day and a night, and one day is six hours. Six hours can cover a thousand miles. In this way, a journey of eight thousand miles is nothing.

Qi Xuansu had heard of the name of armored horses, which were very expensive on the black market. This was the first time he used them. After hitting two armored horses on his legs, his feet shrank to an inch, which was no worse than that of a martial artist in the stage of returning to his true nature. If you give more, you will feel as if you are walking on flat ground on a rugged mountain road.

Zhang Yuelu did not use armor and horses, but relied on his own cultivation to walk side by side with Qi Xuansu, his clothes fluttering like an immortal from Gushe.

To be fair, Zhang Yuelu is very beautiful, but it is not that she is a beautiful woman. She is just exquisite in facial features, especially her temperament, which is consistent with the Confucian gentleman's belief that he has poetry and calligraphy in his belly.

That day, when Qi Xuansu had a conversation with Shangguan, he was not lying when he said that he was not active in the northwest often.Qi Xuansu only walked the distance from Yuxu Peak to Kunlun Pass twice with his master. He was still young at the time and did not remember the route deliberately. Now he has not much memory.

Qi Xuansu could only pray to Zhang Yuelu not to get lost again, but he did not arrive at Shuzhou. Instead, he went all the way to Posuzhou. That place was not within the territory of Daxuan Kingdom. There were no Taoist flying boats, and it was not much smaller than Daxuan territory. By then, It's really a long journey home, and the two of them may not be able to return to Yuxu Peak before the Lantern Festival.

Fortunately, Zhang Yuelu made enough preparations this time, and the two of them arrived at the Kunlun Pass smoothly.There is also a Taoist temple here. After the two rested in the Taoist temple for a night, they set off on the road again early the next morning.

The journey from Kunlun Pass to Tongtian River looks very short on the map, but in reality it requires climbing over a snowy peak. The mountain road is rugged and difficult to navigate. You have to go up the mountain first and then down the mountain. The real distance is longer than the distance on the map. More than twice as much.

Without the high-quality armored horse prepared by Zhang Yuelu, Qi Xuansu estimated that it would have taken him several days to cross the snowy peak. Now with the armored horse, it only took one day to cross the snowy peak. In the evening, we arrived at the bank of Tongtian River.

The two of them stood on a high slope and looked down, only to see the flickering bonfires by the river.

Sitting around the bonfire were men number seven or eight, wearing dirty sheep furs with the fur turned out, drinking wine and eating meat.There were many horses nearby, and one of the horses had a dead human head hanging on the side of the saddle.

To act like this, he is certainly not an ordinary businessman.

Zhang Yuelu said: "This place has already exceeded the boundary of Kunlun Taoist Mansion, so it is not surprising that there are some thieves."

Qi Xuansu took off the armor on his legs, put it away carefully, and took a long breath. In the early winter, this white mist was particularly clear.

Zhang Yuelu had no intention of taking action and just tightened his cloak.

The next moment, Qi Xuansu rushed down from the high slope with the speed of thunder.

At this moment, the horse thieves also discovered Qi Xuansu, who was charging towards him. The leader among them shouted: "The eagle claws are overflowing with water, let's shoulder together."

A group of horse thieves drew their swords and charged towards Qi Xuansu.

However, after just one encounter, Qi Xuansu snatched the knife from someone's hand, and then saw Qi Xuansu sweeping the knife across the three people's necks, leaving only a thin red line. If it is more, it will be heavier, and if it is less, it will be lighter. , neither serious nor serious, just ended the lives of three people.

This was a serious blow, and the other horse thieves were frightened and did not dare to step forward.

Qi Xuansu kept walking and rushed forward with a knife.

The leader of the horse thieves suddenly changed his expression, shouted loudly, and was about to rush out.Suddenly he saw a flash of cold light, as if a cold wind was passing by, and then there was a soft sound, and half of the blade fell to the ground. The handle and the other half of the blade were held in the hands of the leader of the horse thieves. He slowly lowered his head and looked down, and suddenly felt that the scene in front of him was moving for no reason. .

Suddenly, half of the thief leader's body, from his neck to his side, kept his head bowed and slid down, blood gushing out from his front and back.

Qi Xuansu had no expression on his face and just waved away the blood from the long knife in his hand.

The other horse thieves looked at Qi Xuansu again, their whole bodies trembling as if they were sifting chaff. With a "clang", one person dropped the long knife in his hand, turned around and ran away, and the others followed suit, throwing away the knife and running away.

There were a few more cold rays, and blood suddenly burst out from the backs of the thieves' hearts. Their corpses jumped forward for more than ten feet before they fell down. A pool of blood formed under them in a short while.

There were two more horse thieves who had climbed on the back of the horse and were about to ride away. Qi Xuansu directly threw out the long knife in his hand and instantly skewered the two of them.A group of horse thieves were all killed by Qi Xuansu's sword in the blink of an eye.

At this time, Qi Xuansu still looked like a flower garden Taoist?

Zhang Yuelu had known for a long time that Qi Xuansu was very murderous, but it was only today that he saw with his own eyes how decisive and neat he was when killing people.

When Zhang Yuelu came down from the high slope, he found Qi Xuansu pulling on his cloak and looking left and right. He couldn't help but ask, "What are you looking at?"

Qi Xuansu returned to his usual self: "Let me see if there is any blood on the new cloak."

Zhang Yuelu smiled and said: "It's just a cloak, is that all?"

Qi Xuansu said casually: "Of course, if it's dirty, will you wash it for me?"

"You are so beautiful, wash it off yourself." Zhang Yuelu rolled her eyes at him.

Qi Xuansu saw that there was no blood on the cloak, so he walked to the horse with the human head hanging on it, opened the mouth of the skull, and looked at his teeth.

Zhang Yuelu followed Qi Xuansu and asked curiously: "What are you doing?"

Qi Xuansu replied: "Looking at the degree of tooth wear, you can roughly judge whether the deceased was poor or rich."

Zhang Yuelu made it clear: "Those whose teeth are badly worn are the poor, because the food poor people eat is hard and gnawing, right?"

Qi Xuansu nodded and said: "That's more or less the truth. Poor families can't afford white flour and polished rice, and they even have to mix some bran or other coarse grains into the flour. Not to mention the taste, the texture is like chewing wood, which is naturally bad for the teeth. .”

Zhang Yuelu sighed: "Now that the world is peaceful, the livelihood of the poor is still so difficult. If there are wars and natural disasters, I don't know what life will be like."

Qi Xuansu said calmly: "Selling sons and daughters, or even exchanging sons for food."

Zhang Yuelu did not continue this heavy topic and asked: "Did you see it?"

"It's a rich man." Qi Xuansu closed the mouth of the head, and also helped him close his eyes. "But as far as I know, if it's for money, people generally won't do things like beheading."

Zhang Yuelu asked: "Do you think it's a vendetta?"

"It is possible." Qi Xuansu said, "But there is another possibility, that is, hiring a murderer to kill someone. There must be proof, so they can cut off the head and bring it to the employer in exchange for a reward."

"These people are not ordinary horse thieves?" Zhang Yuelu was a little surprised. Although her cultivation level was higher than Qi Xuansu's and her status was also higher than Qi Xuansu's, she had been in Yujing for a long time and her experience in the world was not as good as Qi Xuansu's.

"You'll know just by looking at it." Qi Xuansu took off his cloak and handed it to Zhang Yuelu. He rolled up his sleeves, tucked the hem of the robe into his belt, and walked towards the corpse of the leader who had been divided into two halves.

It's not that Zhang Yuelu has never seen dead people, he has also killed people, but when he saw this corpse, he silently looked away.

Qi Xuansu squatted down, turning over the body regardless of the blood, and groped around the chest: "Found it."

Zhang Yuelu turned around and saw Qi Xuansu shaking open a piece of cloth with his bloody hands. There was a portrait painted on it, which was the head hanging next to the saddle.

"Really hired murderers? Are there any letters?" Zhang Yuelu asked in surprise.

Qi Xuansu shook his head and said: "Hiring a murderer to buy a life is usually discussed in person and will not be put into writing. Even if there is writing, it will be destroyed after reading it. As for the portrait, because there is a certain degree of distortion, it will be carried with you for comparison at any time. To avoid killing the wrong person.”

After that, Qi Xuansu threw the cloth on the ground, went to the riverside, broke the ice that was not thick, and slowly washed his hands.

Zhang Yuelu remembered that Qi Xuansu once said that he used to work hard to make money in the arena, and couldn't help but ask: "Tianyuan, you are so familiar with these sects, shouldn't you have done this kind of business?"

Qi Xuansu shook his head and said: "I haven't done it, but I have been in the 'inn' for a while and have seen a lot of them."

Zhang Yuelu didn't show it on his face, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

Qi Xuansu washed the blood on his hands and shook off the water drops on his hands: "If we are not in a hurry, we can investigate this matter."

"Okay." Zhang Yuelu had this intention and immediately agreed.