Chapter 132

I have to admit, Xie Lingjiang's gaze was very stressful.

The Female Immortal Yuzhi's breathing unconsciously became lighter, and even the frequency of her breathing almost became chaotic.

At this moment, she was very sure of one thing.

Xie Lingjiang had already entered the seventh grade and was promoted to a mid-grade Qi practitioner. If she remembered correctly, the orthodox Confucian Qi practitioner of the seventh grade was called a Book Flipper.

The Female Immortal Yuzhi saw the vermilion spiritual energy faintly radiating from Xie Lingjiang's body, perhaps due to the emotional fluctuations of great ups and downs.

The only thing she could do at this time was to carefully hide the spiritual energy fluctuations on her body, and must not reveal any flaws.

Between the two, the atmosphere was silent for a while.

Finally.

"Never been there."

Xie Lingjiang slowly withdrew her gaze, looked down at the red rope on her wrist, shook her head, and spoke.

The big stone that the Female Immortal Yuzhi had been pressing in her heart was temporarily put down.

Xie Lingjiang frowned slightly and asked again:

"By the way, didn't Ru Shixiong want to go into the Beitian Jiyang Yuan to inspect? Did you finish the inspection so quickly?"

The Female Immortal Yuzhi weighed her words:

"Went to see, nothing to check, still reluctant to leave you, so I came back..."

After a pause, she glanced at Xie Lingjiang, and the more she spoke, the smoother it became:

"Preparing to go down the mountain, you go change your clothes first."

Xie Lingjiang looked at "Ouyang Rong" for a while longer before nodding, her eyes moving away from his face.

She turned to find Master Venerable Shan Dao, borrowed a guest room in the back hall, went to the back of the hall, and changed back into men's clothing.

The Female Immortal Yuzhi let out a long breath.

Afterwards, as if she were sparing words like gold, she dealt with Master Venerable Shan Dao's conversation.

Waiting until her peripheral vision caught a hidden figure outside the main hall, she turned and went out.

Taking advantage of the gap when Xie Lingjiang was away, the Female Immortal Yuzhi went straight to Yan Liu Liu's side, turned her back to him, looked at the scenery outside, and asked coldly:

"How is it over there?"

"The Female Immortal's calculations are divine. Ouyang Lianghan really went to the Beitian Jiyang Yuan side, and has already entered the net, unable to fly away. Now Liu Qi is watching there, just in case. The Female Immortal is truly..."

The Female Immortal Yuzhi frowned and interrupted:

"Ouyang Lianghan has something called a skirt-knife on him. You go and get it. I am not wearing this knife, and the Xie family woman seems a bit suspicious."

Yan Liu Liu raised his eyelids and looked at the slender back of "Ouyang Rong" dressed in an official uniform in front of him. The more he looked, the more amazed he was, and he replied respectfully:

"Skirt-knife? It's a side knife, right? Seems to have some impression. I'll go get it now."

"Slow and sluggish, forget it if you can't get it."

The Female Immortal Yuzhi looked at the sky, her brows furrowed even more, and her tone was impatient:

"Alright, you go quickly. Xie Lingjiang is coming out, I'll go deal with it.

"Take her and that group of constables at the door down the mountain to pick up people later.

"You go to the Beitian Jiyang Yuan now to collect Ouyang Lianghan's corpse, everything proceeds according to plan."

The Female Immortal Yuzhi left a sentence and turned to enter the hall again.

Yan Liu Liu glanced at the hall and left quietly.

The changes in the Beitian Jiyang Yuan were quite big.

"Magistrate, please this way, please this way."

A middle-aged monk with a wine-red nose wearing yellow monk robes greeted Ouyang Rong familiarly and welcomed him into the courtyard.

As soon as Ouyang Rong entered, he was warmly welcomed by this Ru Shixiong Xiudu, whom Xiufa had mentioned.

Ouyang Rong entered with his hands behind his back, looking left and right along the way.

This time, the county government's funding for the renovation and expansion of Donglin Temple had indeed brought many good changes to the Beitian Jiyang Yuan.

For example, the dry well in the underground palace by the bamboo forest in the courtyard had been surrounded more and more tightly by railings and wooden boards.

It shouldn't be possible for the scene where several old, weak, sick, and disabled mental patients fell in together to gather and play house to appear again.

Ouyang Rong nodded with satisfaction.

"Has the Magistrate been here before?"

Seeing that this young Magistrate almost didn't need him to lead the way, and could skillfully turn left and right to enter, Ru Shixiong Xiudu asked with curiosity on his face.

"You could say that..."

Ouyang Rong responded casually.

Should I tell you that I used to sneak over every night to 'jump into the well' while recuperating?

Ru Shixiong Xiudu patted his forehead in a daze, looking like he had a bad memory:

"Oh oh, the little monk remembers, the Magistrate seemed to have slipped and fallen into the well once... Sin, sin."

Ouyang Rong couldn't help but turn his head to look at the wine-red nose of this managing monk of the Beitian Jiyang Yuan.

He faintly smelled some alcohol, and glanced at the water stains on the cuffs of Xiudu's yellow monk robes.

Well, why do I feel that the monks in your Donglin Temple are not quite right?

Birds of a feather flock together?

It seems that only Xiufa is slightly normal, but probably, maybe, perhaps... he is also about to be led astray by Master Venerable Shan Dao?

Regarding Xiudu's minor violation of the precepts, Ouyang Rong saw through it but didn't expose it.

Drinking is fine, as long as you don't mess around.

"Why are there no people?"

Ouyang Rong turned his head and asked.

He remembered that there were patients running around everywhere in the courtyard before. Suddenly being so quiet and orderly, Ouyang Rong was slightly unaccustomed to it.

Xiudu hurriedly said: "They are all waiting for the Magistrate in the inner courtyard. The little monk will take you there now."

"Okay, I've wanted to come and see for a long time."

Ouyang Rong smiled, followed Monk Xiudu, and passed through the front building to the backyard.

The inner courtyard was surrounded by plastered walls, surrounded by bamboo forests, with three hanging flower gate towers and covered corridors on all four sides.

It was not one courtyard, but several adjacent courtyards separated by white walls, with different disabled and sick patients moving around in different courtyards.

With a light sound, the wooden courtyard gate was pushed open from the outside.

At Xiudu's respectful invitation, Ouyang Rong entered first.

He looked around curiously.

He saw that there were many stone tables, stools, and chairs in the courtyard, and many old, young, sick, and disabled people with missing arms and legs were sitting or lying in the courtyard sunning themselves, looking like they might be waiting for lunch.

What Ouyang Rong didn't know was that among the disabled crowd in the distance, a one-armed young man was sitting at a stone table.

The one-armed young man's eyes, which had been lowered for a long time, slowly lifted, casting a quiet gaze that landed on him.

Finally, he came.

Ajie was silent.

His arm tightened around the sword scabbard wrapped in cloth strips and disguised as a long stick.

Watching Ouyang Rong slowly approaching.

Ajie suddenly remembered.

That year in Chang'an, his first sword seemed to have been obtained by killing someone for a wealthy man.

It's just that that year, he was still a disabled beggar with only one rotten life.

The muffled sound of the sword tip piercing the target's lungs, Ajie still remembered it vividly until now, and occasionally heard it in his dreams.

But at that time, he had someone he wanted to protect behind him, and the target of the assassination was not a bad bird either.

The sword he thrust out was without hesitation.

And now...

If Guiniang knew, she probably wouldn't brew osmanthus wine for me to drink anymore... Ajie thought silently in his heart, his lowered eyes watching Ouyang Rong's footsteps getting closer not far away.

Yes, "Guiniang" was not only the name of the beloved sword that Ajie had detained in the Peach Valley of Yunmeng Sword Swamp.

It was also the name of an ordinary deaf-mute woman who accompanied him.

They were both beggars who were crippled and begging on the streets of Chang'an back then.

Then... since when did his heart start to turn cold?

Ajie was silent, holding his precious sword tightly, with no answer.

Ajie only knew that since losing that "Guiniang" and falling from the sixth grade to the seventh grade.

He could no longer let go of this new sword in his arms.

He could no longer let go of his hand.

At this time, the sound of children playing came.

A little boy with a missing arm and a deaf-mute girl with a runny nose were happily playing and running past the one-armed Ajie.

The two disabled children were riding a bamboo pole as a horse together, as if they were playing the bamboo horse game popular among rural children.

Laughter reached the ears of Ajie, who was holding the sword.

Ajie's eyes didn't look at them, but silently landed on someone in front.

"Magistrate, please this way..." "Okay..."

This young Magistrate had already entered within ten feet of him, and Ajie could even clearly hear the young Magistrate's voice through the noisy sounds around him.

This voice... it couldn't be wrong, it was the young man who had given him copper coins and caring suggestions in the dark alley back then.

Ajie sat on the stone stool, holding the sword silently, and confirmed it again.

Just at this moment, Ajie saw that the young Magistrate called "Ouyang Rong" seemed to have discovered him after getting closer. Surprise and joy appeared in the young Magistrate's eyes. He turned and walked quickly toward him, who was about to draw his sword, and even waved his hand to say hello easily:

"Eh, you... you are really here. By the way, do you still remember me? We met once."

Only met once, and this young Magistrate, who was busy with ten thousand things, actually still remembered him... Ajie pursed his lips.

His body on the stone stool became tighter and tighter, and he held the sword in his arms tightly.

The swordsman's eyes seemed to sway for a while as his body trembled.

But the next second.

Ajie's body suddenly slumped, and his eyelids drooped like a sick tiger.

A top-tier Qi practitioner, before accumulating strength to draw a sword or make a move, never had his muscles tightened like a street performer, stiffly making moves.

Instead, his whole body was in a relaxed state, neither tight nor loose.

One strike was a full-force kill.

He is a good official, Ajie decided...

No beheading,

Leave the whole corpse.

Cutting off hesitation in his heart, completely decisive, Ajie's whole body relaxed, and the sword wrapped in cloth he was holding became even looser.

He nodded lightly toward Ouyang Rong, who was walking over, as if waiting for a response to the greeting, waiting for Ouyang Rong to deliver himself to the door.

Finally,

Ouyang Rong entered within three steps, which was the best distance to draw the sword.

However, it was slightly strange that Ajie found Ouyang Rong's footsteps turning left lightly, bypassing the stone table, as if... he recognized that he was holding a sword, so he realized the danger and wanted to run away?

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Ajie, whose muscles were relaxed, had an incomparably calm expression. He lifted his hand easily, drew...

In an instant, a flash of horror and astonishment suddenly burst out from the bottom of the one-armed swordsman's eyes, just like a thunderclap on a calm lake, setting off one after another of towering waves.

His whole body, which was in a relaxed state, suddenly tightened.

Just like a curved, powerful bow with an arrow on the full string, the arrow shaft was about to leave the string and run away in the next second.

That's right, it was running away, running away regardless of his own safety!

But even though Ajie was terrified like a tsunami in his heart, his body in reality did not dare to move at all.

His Qi was locked by others, so he sat honestly on the stone stool, his face and body were like a newly chiseled marble statue, vivid and stiff.

Ajie watched helplessly as Ouyang Rong bypassed him and walked toward another stone table very close to his side and back.

Under the warm sun near noon, Ouyang Rong stopped in front of the table, smiled, and asked loudly:

"Long time no see, you should still remember me, right?"

I saw that in front of this stone table, there was a girl wearing a cyan-white plain skirt with a slender bone structure sitting alone at the table.

She had a pair of eyes like autumn water streams, and at this moment, her long, curled eyelashes trembled and blinked. She tilted her head slightly, as if in a daze, and did not answer.

Also... couldn't speak.

The slender girl's right hand, which was placed on the stone table, was missing a little finger.

After Ouyang Rong arrived, the four slightly curved fingers she had been using to support the table shrank into her plain white sleeves, as if she wanted to hide them.

It turned out that after Ouyang Rong entered the courtyard, he didn't recognize the one-armed young man Ajie, whom he had only met once in a dim alley, at first glance.

Instead, he recognized another old acquaintance of the Beitian Jiyang Yuan—the mute girl with a missing finger whom he had spent time with in the Pure Land Underground Palace.

"By the way, do you... do you have a name?"

In front of the stone table, Ouyang Rong bent over slightly to ask, and then his words paused, as if he realized that asking a mute girl for her name was a bit too much.

He smiled apologetically, couldn't help but straighten his waist, looked around to observe, and muttered with curiosity on his face:

"Hmm, where is that old Daoist priest wearing a crane-cape? He should be here too..."

Facing Ouyang Rong's close conversation, the slender mute girl lowered her head. For a while, her hands had nowhere to rest. She withdrew them from the table and lowered her hands to the sides of her slender body.

She seemed a bit introverted and restrained.

Beside another stone table, taking advantage of this opportunity, Ajie finally dared to move a little.

He turned his head slowly, his face stiff, and looked at the slender mute girl beside the stone table at his side and back.

This woman didn't know when she appeared, sitting not far behind him.

And what made Ajie most shocked and angry was that he hadn't noticed it at all before this.

As a swordsman who had once faintly touched the threshold of a top-grade sword cultivator, within ten steps of his body, it was originally an absolute domain that made enemies roll their heads.

But at this moment, someone had walked into his absolute domain uninvited.

Or rather, he was now in the slender mute girl's absolute domain.

Like a visitor, but acting as the host.

Ajie broke out in a cold sweat.

The peripheral vision of his eyes glancing sideways clearly and unmistakably saw.

This extremely slender girl with a missing finger had no sword hidden on her hands or body, and was empty-handed.

But the one-armed swordsman, who had fallen to the seventh grade but was almost invincible in the same grade, had trembling palms suspended in mid-air.

He didn't dare to touch the bronze hilt of the precious sword in his arms at all.

Ouyang Rong might not be able to see anything.

He even felt that the side face of this slender mute girl in the sun was very delicate and clean, making people feel comfortable. She belonged to the type of weak and durable beauty that was not too stunning at first glance, but made men want to look more and more.

It also aroused a strong desire for protection, without any threat or lethality.

However, in the eyes of the swordsman Ajie, this mute girl with a delicate little face was simply like a flood and a beast.

Just by sitting quietly, she was the sharpest sword in the world.

There was no scabbard in the world that could contain her.

His Qi had been completely locked by her...

No matter how shocked a certain swordsman was at this moment.

The mute girl never looked at Ajie from beginning to end.

Facing Ouyang Rong's curious gaze.

The mute girl lowered her head deeply, not daring to look at the man she loved.

Xiao Shimei is not without suspicion... Everyone, stop scolding Xiao Shimei for being stupid, scold me. Recently, the transcoding is severe. Let us have more motivation to update faster. Please move your little hands to exit the reading mode. Thank you.