The Sword Named No Way Out

Gong Wei stepped back half a step, his smile dissipated in an instant, and he said politely: "The disciple has met the master."

The backlight couldn't see Xu Shuangce's expression clearly, it took a long time to see him lift his foot, step over the threshold, and enter the house.

Although Gong Wei lived in a side hall, it was separated from the inner room of the main hall by a wall. The layout was leisurely and elegant, completely in Xu Shuangce's personal style—moyu as the building, whalebone as the beam, green gauze and silk as the curtain, and the bamboo forest and phoenix outside the window. The tail is dense, and there is a rustling sound as the wind blows by.

Gong Wei saw Xu Shuangce's white soles that were not stained with half a speck of dust step on the polished paulownia wood floor, walked around in a leisurely manner, and then sat down at the table, completely oblivious to what happened just now. Things in general:

"Have you finished memorizing the book you were asked to memorize?"

Gong Wei lowered his head and said, "My disciple is dull."

Xu Shuangce didn't seem to hear, and said: "Recite and listen."

Ordinary people cannot read fairy gate files like "Dinghun Zhu", because each rune must be infused with spiritual power to read, and those who lack spiritual power can't even read the file as it is, let alone read it. back.

Gong Wei recited the first two sentences calmly, stopped and thought for a while, and then recited the third sentence. Immediately afterwards, he stammered further and further, until he stopped completely after four or five sentences, and said shamelessly: "Master, forgive me, this disciple's cultivation is superficial, and I can only recite so much."

"there is none left?"

"there is none left."

Xu Shuangce tapped four fingers on the table twice alternately, as if meditating on something, suddenly said: "Come here."

Gong Wei bowed her head meekly and stepped forward. Before she could raise her head, her jaw suddenly felt cold. Xu Shuangce's strong fingers pulled her up forcefully, and she was forced to bump into the dark pupils in front of her:

"As a teacher, I only let you learn the first volume of Dinghunzhu, but you haven't even memorized the first paragraph, how should I be punished?"

Gong Wei didn't move at all: "I'm stupid, but I ask Master to ask me for my punishment."

"Are you really dull? It may not be true for a teacher."

"Reporting to Master, the disciple has been unable to form alchemy for many years, and the whole sect knows it. Disciple is really ashamed!"

"..."

The distance between the two is not so close, and even the slightest breathing can be clearly discerned.

Xu Shuangce suddenly said, "Come with me."

Gong Wei's wrist tightened, and he was pulled out of the door staggeringly, and went straight to the main hall.

Xu Shuangce was tall, long-legged and fast-paced, and Gong Wei was able to keep up with him by walking and running. He walked for a long time along the winding bluestone corridor. Arrived in front of the main entrance of Xuanji Hall!

Rows of broad white marble steps descended one after another. Xu Shuangce stopped and stood at the top of the steps. The wind raised his majestic and broad platinum robe train:

"Blunt aptitude and ignorance of hard work, let the teacher's expectations go to waste, what should be the crime?"

"Xiang Xiaoyuan" murmured for a while, his eyes turned red, and he thought to himself, since when did your cheap master expect me so much: "Brother, disciple made a mistake, please forgive me, next time, never dare again..."

Xu Shuangce said coldly: "As a teacher, there are clear rewards and punishments, and you must never forgive easily."

— Not easy to forgive?

From the corner of her eyes, Gong Wei saw the endless jade steps behind Xu Shuangce, which were majestic and layered on top of each other. At the end, through the peach blossom forest, there was a direct way down the mountain, and a shockingly good guess suddenly appeared in her mind.

"...Master... Is Master going to expel the disciple from the sect?"

Gong Wei shook his head in disbelief, then his knees softened and he fell to his knees, with tears welling up in his eyes: "Don't do it, Master! Although this disciple has a bad reputation, is useless, cowardly and lazy , Everyone outside is ashamed...but the disciple really admires the majesty of the master! Please don't expel the disciple and drive him down the mountain!"

Xu Shuangce lowered his eyes under Gong Wei's hopeful gaze, with an indifferent expression: "Capital crimes can be avoided, but living crimes cannot be escaped."

Then he paused and said:

"And punish you to clean up the nine steps, the broom is there."

"..."

After a long silence, Gong Wei trembled: "Ah?"

·

Half an hour later, the dean of the palace held a long broom and said expressionlessly:

Swish—swish—

There are nine stages of jade steps outside the gate of Xuanji Hall, each stage has nine floors, and each floor has nine stages. The peach blossoms in the distance are as vast as the sea, and when a gust of wind blows, they float in the corners of the eaves, the corridor and under his feet.

Xu Shuang is flying immortals outside the sky, and his bedroom is also full of fallen flowers, which is not like the world.

So Gong Wei swiped and swiped for half an hour, but couldn't clean up the peach petals that kept floating around.

"Here," Xu Shuangce gestured to his feet.

Sovereign Xu actually moved a table to the entrance of the main hall, sat on the top of the steps to read a book, and personally guided the work between turning pages and drinking tea. He is probably used to being the center of everyone's eyes, and he can't bear the slightest estrangement or neglect; as long as Gong Wei goes down the stairs and sweeps three feet away, he will hear a voice like gold from above his head: "Here—"

Then the headmaster of the palace, full of resentment, suddenly looked like a punctured ball, and it jumped up clean with a bang, and obediently moved to his side with the broom, to clean the soles of Sovereign Xu's noble feet.

Xu Shuangce's body smelled like white sandalwood covered with ice crystals after the first snow in winter. Gong Wei was ignorant when he was young, so he often went to hear it. Once Xu Shuangce came to Daishan Xianmeng as a guest, and he hung it around his neck with both hands for half an hour. Zongzhu Xu's stamina was astonishing. During this period, he should have been drinking tea and doing what he should do. The pendant-like Gong Wei was finally torn off by Ying Kai who came to hear the news with his bare hands.

This man really has extraordinary patience. That year, he taught Gong Wei to write his own name by hand, and taught him more than ten times. Although the requirements were strict, he was not impatient at all. Later, Gong Wei always felt that if Xu Shuangce was willing to accept disciples, he must be a very patient master, but it was a pity that he did not see Sect Master Xu as a disciple until the year he died.

"—'Tao Companion'," Xu Shuangce said suddenly, turning over a page of the book.

Gong Wei came back to his senses, his heart skipped a beat.

Xu Shuangce said lightly: "Do you know what Taoist couple means?"

Gong Wei hesitated for a moment, and said cautiously: "Like-minded, karma and Dharma help each other, and we can witness the Dao with each other, so they are called Taoist couples."

"Then do you know what kind of person can become a Taoist companion?"

Gong Wei thought for a while, "Spiritual roots and sea of ​​consciousness are complementary, and the four pillars and eight characters are in harmony?"

Xu Shuangce remained silent.

"Spiritual power, yin and yang, can help each other, and double cultivation can get twice the result with half the effort?"

Xu Shuangce was still noncommittal.

For some reason, Gong Wei feels that his eyes are almost gloomy at the moment, but if he observes carefully, the perennially frozen face is clearly unchanged.

"...Famous and upright, well-matched family? Do you need to obtain the consent of the master and elders? Before you become a couple, you need to observe the etiquette, and then notify the immortal alliance, and then announce it to the world?"

Going on, Gong Wei was about to search his stomach, but after a long silence, Xu Shuangce closed his eyes and let out a breath.

"Forget." He said softly, "You don't understand at all."

Gong Wei frowned and recalled the scriptures of Taoism that he had read in his previous life. He didn't understand what he didn't understand at all—at this moment Xu Shuangce looked up at him, and changed the subject:

"Do you know why Cai Cai didn't drive you out of the sect and put you back down the mountain?"

Finally no longer discussing the dangerous topic of Yu Chixiao, Gong Wei immediately bowed sincerely: "I don't know, please show me, Master."

Xu Shuangce said: "Although you are a half-demon, you can't form alchemy, and you are destined to be unable to make further progress on the long journey of immortality; but as a teacher, you should teach without distinction, be virtuous, and teach others tirelessly."

"Master is wise."

"Children are playful and don't know how to be diligent. Be a small punishment and a big warning. As a teacher, I hope you can use this as a motivation. From tomorrow on, you must combine work and rest, and you must also devote yourself to learning. Do you understand?"

Gong Wei was touched and said: "Disciple understands!"

Xu Shuangce said "Hum", looked at the book and waved his hand.

Gong Wei immediately dragged the broom back three steps, bowed his head and started sweeping the steps, and swept ten feet away in an instant.

At this moment, Wen Xiuyang's figure suddenly appeared at the end of the long steps in the distance. He strode up the snow-white jade steps, and saluted Xu Shuangce at the top as he walked: "Disciple pays homage to Sovereign! Sovereign, Junior Brother Sheng—"

Wen Xiuyang's voice stopped abruptly at the same time as his footsteps, and he looked at Gong Wei who was holding a broom on the top of the steps with his head buried in a shock, as if he was dreaming: "You...what are you doing?"

Gong Wei bowed respectfully and deeply: "Hi brother, I saw that the steps of Master's bedroom are dirty, I'm here to sweep the floor for Master."

Wen Xiuyang: "..."

Xu Shuangce asked from afar, "What's the matter?"

Wen Xiuyang hurried forward, lifted his robe and knelt down: "Reporting to the suzerain, Junior Brother Sheng's seven-day punishment period has expired, can he come out of Hanshan Prison?"

Gong Wei took a breath when he heard Hanshan Prison.

Most of the famous immortal sects have all kinds of places of punishment that are reformed with extremely harsh methods. On the one hand, they punish the children who violated the rules of the sect and family, and on the other hand, they can greatly improve the cultivation of the disciples in the process of punishment. It's just painful. The "Eight Prisons" set up by Cangyang Sect is exactly for this purpose.

Gong Wei was forced to visit Hanshan Prison, one of the "Eight Prisons" in his previous life. It was a period when the relationship between the two of them deteriorated after the unfortunate death of "Mrs. Xu". Sovereign Xu ordered the dean of the palace to be strictly forbidden to set foot on Cangyang Mountain. However, the cowardly Gong Wei just likes to come here in the middle of the night to kill himself. One night, he came to play with Xu Shuangce again, and happened to meet Xu Shuangce drawing a portrait of his dead wife with his own hands while borrowing wine; Gong Wei just objectively commented that "the painting doesn't look like it" and kindly asked, "Do you need me to draw a full-face portrait for you?" ", Xu Shuangce stabbed his eye with his sword in a rage. Gong Wei, who was covering his right eye, still didn't give up, and came up to tease him and wanted to kiss him, but the furious Sect Master Xu picked up the back of his neck and flew all the way to the top of Hanshan Prison with his sword—if he hadn't slipped so fast, Almost got thrown in.

The dean of the palace has such a cultivation level that he sneezed for half a month after sneaking back to the Xianmeng. It can be seen what it will be like if someone really enters the Hanshan Prison and stays for seven days.

Xu Shuangce turned another page of the book before saying, "Let's have a look."

Wen Xiuyang paused immediately, then raised his hand back and shouted, "Get up!"

A manifesting magic circle spread out in mid-air immediately, opposite to the gloomy and green cold mountain ice pool, where the evil wind gusts and thousands of ghosts howl. A young disciple with white frost on his face and blue blood vessels all over his body was wearing only single clothes. When he saw Xu Shuangce, he immediately trembled and wanted to get up, but his legs were already frozen, and finally he staggered and knelt down with a plop, and tremblingly said: "Disciple worship, worship...meet the suzerain!"

Gong Wei looked him up and down a few times, and said that this little brother is really miserable, the coldness has penetrated into his lungs, although under the urging of the extremely painful external environment, his skills will definitely improve, but for a long time in the future, he will definitely suffer from pain. There are still a few days when life is worse than death. He recognized this person as one of the eight guarding disciples, he should be the seventh or eighth young junior, he couldn't help but secretly wondered, how big of a mistake did he have to be to be punished so severely?

Xu Shuangce asked: "Do you know your mistake?"

The young man's tongue was frozen, and he couldn't even finish his sentence: "Brother... this disciple is stupid. I couldn't memorize the entire book of sword washing for three days in a row. I failed the suzerain's high expectations. This disciple should be punished!"

Gong Wei: "..."

Xu Shuangce said: "Since you know you are stupid, you should be more diligent. Go back and study hard, and take the school exam in three days. If you fail, the penalty will be doubled."

The young disciple kowtowed immediately, but he couldn't get up after kowtowing, and was rushed out by several attendants, and the magic circle disappeared.

Xu Shuangce turned his gaze, and asked unhurriedly, "My beloved, what's wrong with you?"

"..."

Gong Wei stood there with a pale face, hesitant to speak.

After a long while, he finally took a deep breath, bowed down with sincerity, and said emotionally: "Master! This disciple is suddenly thirsty for knowledge, and really wants to go back and memorize the soul injection. This time, this disciple feels that he will definitely live up to the respect of the master!"

Xu Shuangce frowned: "Why does my lover push herself like this, didn't she just say that work and rest should be combined?"

Gong Wei immediately said: "No, no, the master has shown his kindness to his disciples as much as a mountain, and the disciples really dare not let them down!"

Wen Xiuyang stood stunned: "..."

Only then did Xu Shuangce say nothing, and waved his hands happily: "My beloved apprentice is so hardworking, I feel very relieved for my teacher. Go."

Gong Wei didn't need him to say another word, and fled with a broom.

·

Gong Wei was quick at everything since elementary school. When he was picked up by Ying Kai to Daishan, he couldn't even speak a word, but later he learned from others when he practiced the secret scroll of Xianmen, as if he had a natural intimacy with Taoism from birth. . Back then, there was an evil cultivator in Beiling who founded the "Fu Guimen", who secretly practiced a forbidden technique specially used to summon ghosts and temper fierce ghosts, called the secret spell of yin and yang chaos. After Ying Kai found out, he personally wiped out the house, and the evil cultivator jumped over the wall in a hurry, and even set fire to the forbidden scriptures in the carriage, in an attempt to destroy the evidence. Unexpectedly, Gong Wei was extremely bored at that time. Before the fire broke out, he peeked at all the bamboo slips, and he could not forget them in a flash. After returning to Xianmeng, he took a pen and wrote all the scriptures in one go, and used this as evidence to determine the head of the sect. crime.

But he is a fast learner, which does not mean that "Xiang Xiaoyuan" is also a fast learner.

Gong Wei burnt the lamp to fight at night, painstakingly, recited hard, and the lingering sound lingered. In the middle of the night, the Xuanji Hall was empty and quiet. Xu Shuangce was writing silently under the lamp, only listening to the melodious sound of reading in the hall from a distance, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes resentful, and sometimes impassioned, like two hundred frogs twirling in a lotus pond. His voice was chaotic; Wen Xiuyang, who was standing behind the big pillar, gritted his teeth and endured for a while, and finally couldn't help it: "Sect Master, do you want disciples to go—"

"Need not."

Xu Shuangce's silhouette was as young and straight as a sword's edge, his expression could not be seen clearly in the candlelight, only the slight rustling sound of the wolf hair on the paper.

Wen Xiuyang recited the meditation mantra silently three times in his head, but the croaking magic sound in the distance kept drilling into his ears, and finally couldn't bear it again: "Sect Master, it's not as good as a disciple..."

Xu Shuangce raised his eyelids, his gaze was piercingly cold: "What's the matter?"

A chill that came from nowhere suddenly surged from his heart, blocking the words he was about to say.

"No, nothing." Wen Xiuyang slid his throat forcefully, racked his brains for a few seconds, and said in a hurry: "Just... I suddenly remembered that the suzerain seemed to no longer carry a sword with him."

There was no answer from above.

"Okay, it seems that I haven't seen Fu Nai He since I came back from Linjiang. I wonder if the suzerain enshrined the divine sword in the Tianji Pagoda? This disciple is just thinking..."

"Really," Xu Shuangce interrupted Wen Xiuyang's increasingly dry explanation.

Then he was silent for a moment, and then said: "If you can't listen to it, you can go first."

Wen Xiuyang didn't dare to distinguish any more, he saluted without saying a word, and stepped back out of the deep and empty main hall.

The side hall in the distance is brightly lit, and the sound of Xiang Xiaoyuan reading aloud, full of emotion, can be heard in the distance. The volume can reach a whole school for one person. Anyone who comes here must endure toothache and praise the child for his hard work. Wen Xiuyang walked along the long corridor for a while, somehow his mind kept thinking about the little things that happened these days, the more he thought about it, the more strange it became, like looking at the moon in the water and looking at the flowers in the mist, shadowy , but can't make sense of anything.

He couldn't help standing still, and looked towards the side hall, his eyes suddenly froze.

Under the moonlight, the glazed roof with double eaves reflects a blue halo, and the stone pillars beside the white marble corridor turn from near to far. The end of the long corridor is outside the hall, and the sill pane reveals a vague light, illuminating a heavy silhouette at the foot of the doorstep.

It was Sovereign Xu.

Xu Shuangce faced the vacant palace door and stood at the bottom of the steps without saying a word. In the moon shadow, his back, shoulder line, and even his jawbone seemed to be very tight, so tight that people suddenly felt a very weird feeling; but the upper half of his profile was completely hidden in the dark.

After a long time, his robe finally moved, and he slowly stepped up the steps, stretching out his hand as if to push open the palace door.

— With this movement, his eyes hidden in the shadows finally fell into Wen Xiuyang's sight.

Bang!

Witnessing this moment, Wen Xiuyang took half a step back in horror, the jade pendant on his waist hit the stone pillar, Xu Shuangce stopped in an instant!

"..."

The world seemed to freeze, Wen Xiuyang's pupils constricted, and his mind went blank.

Every nerve is clamoring for him to avoid it immediately, but the fact is that he can't even turn his eyes away, he can only see Xu Shuangce turn his head, and the pair of dark eyes looked at him for no reason.

Then he just walked down the steps, walking calmly, turned and left without saying a word.

It wasn't until the figure completely disappeared at the end of the corridor that Wen Xiuyang suddenly came back to his senses, and staggered half a step back to stand still.

He was the only one left in the courtyard late at night, and the sound of reading in the distance continued. When the night wind blew, Wen Xiuyang suddenly shivered, only to realize that he was sweating through his heavy clothes, and the shattered jade pendant fell to his feet in several pieces.

He leaned over to pick up the broken jade, his fingers trembling slightly because of surprise, and the look in Xu Shuangce's eyes when he stretched out his hand to the hidden palace door just now kept appearing in his mind——

If it wasn't for knowing that this was Cangyang Mountain, he would even have thought that the majestic Cangyang Sect Master was possessed by some kind of evil.

Those eyes seemed to be that of a magical beast that was in extreme despair and was on the verge of going mad in a cage.