Ninety thousand miles of wind

一

Since childhood, Sun Xiang has been stubbornly competitive.

If he brought two pears, he would have to grab the bigger one.If the teacher taught memorization in the school, he would be the first to jump up.When he was practicing martial arts with someone, if he taught someone to knock him over, he would practice hard every day until he got back on the ground.It's not that no one has ever laughed at him for being stubborn, but it's a pity that these people all lost in front of him in the end, so they could only secretly say something behind him: Look at that Mr. Sun Jiayi.

The master in the school didn't like him, and always taught him the golden mean of a sage; he couldn't bear to listen, so he ran to the martial arts master.The master loves his tenacity, said, the current world is in turmoil, the world is in turmoil, and strange beasts are swarming, it is the time for us to make meritorious deeds and start a business.If you are willing to endure hardship, I will show you a clear way.

Sun Xiang readily agreed.

So his master got in touch with him and actually introduced him to one of the best retired masters in the south of the Yangtze River.Sun Xiang worked hard every day there, surpassed all his senior brothers, and went out to venture into the rivers and lakes when he was not as good as the weak crown.However, he was lucky and highly skilled, and there were few people in the world who could rival him, so Tao Xuan caught his eye and asked him to be a guest in Excellent Era.

He has been living like this until he was 20 years old before someone said to him:

Your temper is too sharp, and you may be damaged, and you will end up in a bad year.If you are defeated at this time, it would be good if you can let go of your arrogance and give you a little caution.

He squeezed his fingers tightly onto the spear handle, holding it until the pattern on the spear handle was printed in his palm, but he couldn't say a word, he could only watch the man salute, his long sleeves shaking in an arc, and then Turn around, and float away from the long staircase at the gate of Excellent Era Villa.

He knew that the mechanism master girl was waiting for his master at the bottom of the stairs.He heard someone laughing behind him, half of the laugh seemed to be crying - but Sun Xiang just turned his head and saw the four silver hooks and iron paintings on the main gate of Jiashi Villa, suddenly, he was back to the time when he first came Full of ambition, it seems as if you have climbed to the top to see the small mountains, and you can touch the stars in the sky with your hands.

He didn't expect it to end up like this in the end.

two

The first time Sun Xiang met Xiao Shiqin was three months after he came to Excellent Era.At that time Tao Xuan called him to the front hall, and specifically told him that the other party was formerly the head of Lei Ting, one of the famous four military strategists of mechanism divisions in the Jianghu, and only told him to be cautious in his words and deeds, not to offend anyone.Sun Xiang was dissatisfied when he heard this, and thought that since you were not looking for me enough, you were looking for the head of Lei Ting - and you still pretended that I had never heard of the name of Life Destroyer Shiqin?So I was suffocating in my heart, and I was a little picky when I walked into the front hall.But Xiao Shiqin stood there with his toga and long sleeves without any martial temperament. When he saluted, he looked like a scholar, and said: "Sun Shaoxia, I have admired him for a long time."

Ever since, Sun Xiang's anger dissipated inexplicably.

In fact, Xiao Shiqin was famous outside.Ever since the world was in turmoil and alien beasts emerged one after another, fighting alone could no longer deal with those extremely powerful alien beasts, how to command a group of disciples to besiege and keep them busy has become the main point of consideration for various sects in the Jianghu.If you cooperate well, you will get twice the result with half the effort.On this level, people in the Jianghu generally recommend that there are four major military strategists: Jiashi Ye Qiu is as fast as the wind, Thunderbolt Xiao Shiqin is as Xu as the forest, Tyranny Zhang Xinjie invades and plunders like fire, and Lan Yuyu Wenzhou is as immovable as a mountain.If it weren't for Excellent Era, who is used to being strong, Guang Xiao Shiqin, the name of one of the four major military strategists, would be enough to scare everyone in the sect, let alone the "First Mechanism Master", "Birth and Death Dao" King" reputation.

But different from his fame, Xiao Shiqin is a very kind person - it's not that he always has a smile on his face, it's just that he speaks very calmly, and his words are very reasonable and extremely Docile.Although he used to be the head of the first house, and was on an equal footing with Ye Xiu and Han Wenqing; but in Excellent Era, he didn't put on airs at all, not to mention Sun Xiang, even an old man like Liu Hao, He Ming and Zhang Jiaxing couldn't even say a word.

Sun Xiang had never met such a person.

Before, there were only two types of people in his eyes, the opponents who needed to surpass and the defeated opponents, and the rest of the people were automatically ignored by him.But when Excellent Era became the Chief Guest Officer, he realized that there were so many troubles. When he was fighting the alien beasts, he only thought that it would be good to charge ahead, but he didn't expect that the ordinary people behind him were not as good as he could hide from. quick.Tao Xuan read the battle report and complained in his heart, but he couldn't count on Liu Hao and others, so he simply gritted his teeth and fell into Thunderclap—according to his own words, it took him three days and three nights to speak eloquently before Xiao Shiqin said move over.

Later, Sun Xiang ran to Xiao Shiqin and asked, "You were really persuaded by Tao Xuan to come to Excellent Era?"

The mechanism engineer was sitting in front of a large special wooden table, and he rarely changed into a short shirt and was sketching with a lobular tendon pen, showing his hands with long and slender fingers.Sun Xiang heard that the organ master hid his hands in his sleeves just to prevent the command organ from being seen through, but this was related to the sect's privacy, so he didn't want to ask; but looking at Xiao Shiqin's hands, it didn't matter. The special thing was that he was watching, Xiao Shiqin also stopped writing, turned around and said, "It was the warm invitation from Master Tao."

Sun Xiang thought about it when Tao Xuan went looking for him, first nodded, and then asked: "Did he really talk to you for three days and three nights?"

"What?" Xiao Shiqin also laughed when he heard it, "He told you that? Of course he didn't, otherwise I, Lei Ting, wouldn't know how to entertain guests."

"Why are you here?"

Xiao Shiqin turned back, picked up a pen and continued to draw his picture: "Isn't it a good reason to dream of climbing Mount Hua?"

Sun Xiang was bored, so he poked his head to look at the drawing that Xiao Shiqin was drawing—it turned out to be a big bird, and it was made up of mechanical parts everywhere, and it was so complicated that it was beyond imagination.He was dizzy and asked, "What is this?"

"Organ iron bird."

"What is it used for? Going into battle and beating people?"

"No no. This size is made for carrying people."

"Manned?"

Seeing Sun Xiang's posture of breaking the casserole and asking the end, Xiao Shiqin stopped sketching, and pointed at the back of the big bird with the tip of his pen: "This is enough for two people to sit on it. With the power of gods and ghosts attached to it, and with the good wind, it will be Thousands of cliffs can also come and go freely."

Sun Xiang had never heard of such a thing: "Can this really be made?"

Xiao Shiqin smiled, lowered his head to draw the line again, and did not speak again.

Afterwards, Sun Xiang didn't see what Xiao Shiqin made either.The drawings seemed to have been drawn and then sent away.

three

After Jiashi Villa lost the gold medal, it wasn't that they couldn't support it.It's just that the owner of the manor, Tao Xuan, seemed disheartened, and gave money to each of them. After selling the manor property, he went away alone.Sun Xiang even took Quexie, and settled down alone in the inn by the West Lake in Hangzhou, not knowing where to go next—the youthful spirit that was playing horses before seems to have left him.

He couldn't figure out whether it was because of the loss in the fight with Ye Xiu, or because of Xiao Shiqin's words.The former made him know for the first time what defeat is so that he has nothing to say, while the latter seemed to push him into a ball of cotton wool, without any focus.

In fact, Sun Xiang knew that Xiao Shiqin probably didn't like his personality.Even in the past, the mechanism master always persuaded the young fighter without any trace, always telling him to restrain himself.Sun Xiang sometimes listened to it, and sometimes felt that he was a mother-in-law, so he would talk back to him—in this way, Xiao Shiqin would usually give in, except for being serious.

In the past, Sun Xiang only thought that it was Xiao Shiqin who let him down because of his age.Only now did he feel that it was probably because the man never, never cared about Jiashi and himself.

Sun Xiang lived in the inn until the third day, but he welcomed an unexpected visitor: Jiang Botao, deputy city lord of Samsara.After exchanging a few words of greeting, he went straight to Daoming's intention: Samsara invited Sun Xiang to be a guest minister.

Sun Xiang stared at him for half an incense stick before saying, "But I lost to Ye Xiu."

"If it's against God of War, I'm afraid it's worse than you." Jiang Botao didn't care.

"What did reincarnation ask me to do?"

"Recently, alien beasts have been infested, and Samsara City is short of manpower. We chose you because we value your strong spear that can be compared with Ye Xiu."

Sun Xiang didn't answer, and Jiang Botao couldn't tell what he was thinking, and when he was about to persuade him, he heard Sun Xiang say, "Okay."

Although Jiang Botao was slightly surprised that Sun Xiang would be such a talkative person, he didn't say much at this time, he just smiled and said, "We're leaving for Yongzhou tomorrow, will Sun Shaoxia come with us?"

"Naturally." Sun Xiang thought for a moment, and then asked, "Your city lords are also here?" He said this, with eagerness in his eyes again.Jiang Botao laughed and said, "The city lord has other important matters, so he went to the north."

Sun Xiang nodded, but felt that the desire to fight for strength and victory that had been left behind was empty.He sent Jiang Botao away, went back to the small courtyard where he lived, took out Que Xie, and danced for a while.

——But you have to figure out where to go with it.

Sun Xiang put away his spear, looked up and saw the clear blue sky, and a group of wild geese gradually drifting away.

four

Later, Sun Xiang went all the way to Yongzhou in the northwest.He grew up in the south of the Yangtze River since he was a child, and he has traveled the rivers and lakes before, but he has never been to the real edge.On the way, I slept in the grassland shepherd's tribe. The young girl had braids all over her head and ran back and forth with him with big black and bright eyes.So Jiang Botao and Lu Boyuan made fun of Sun Xiang.Sun Xiang was so embarrassed that he hid back and forth, and when he left the next day, he was held upright and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.They reincarnate a group of people and go far away, and they can still hear the singing of the herdsmen.

Jiang Botao said: "This is an ancient song, and it is sung about 'Longtou flowing water, drifting away from the mountain. Thinking about me, floating in the wilderness.'"

Sun Xiang reined in the reins and looked back, he saw the sky was blue, the fields were vast, and the mountains in the distance were undulating, but it was a scene that had never been seen in the south of the Yangtze River.He watched for a while before riding his horse again to catch up with the reincarnated people, and the herdsmen's songs were gradually overwhelmed by the lark's voice.

Samsara City is completely different from Excellent Era Villa, it is built on the hillside, with camps everywhere, it looks like a military camp in the early years.If the alarm bell rings, there will be another strange beast somewhere.Although the reincarnated people are well-known, they have no airs at all.Although Liu Hao had said a lot of bad things about Jiang Botao when he was in Excellent Era back then, it was only when he actually saw him that he realized that it was not the case.Du Ming, the youngest swordsman in the city, since he ran to fight with Xingxin Tang Rou, even though he was abused by a girl, he fell in love with him. In the end, he was kicked by Wu Qifang and Minghua to practice swords.

So life suddenly became easier.Every day I just practice swords, hang out, and occasionally go out to fight strange animals.Nobody cared how well he was with the spear; he was just one of the reincarnations, that's all.

After staying like this for a month, Zhou Zekai came back from the Northland.Sun Xiang took a good look at this reincarnated young city lord for the first time at the reception banquet, and his first impression was that he would never be able to tell that he had such good skills just from his appearance.When the crowd was bustling, he suddenly said: "Master Zhou, I want to compete with you."

All of a sudden, the hall fell silent, and everyone just looked around between the two of them.

Zhou Zekai watched him quietly for a moment, but before Jiang Botao was about to speak, he said, "Okay."

He fought Zhou Zekai three times that day and lost all three games.In the last fight, he simply fell on his back in the martial arts arena, gasping for breath, and finally understood why everyone in Samsara City admired Zhou Zekai.Zhou Zekai was not in a hurry, he just slowly sheathed the rainbow-like sword in his hand, then stood there and looked at him.

After Sun Xiang had finished adjusting his breath, he asked, "Which one is stronger, City Lord, you or Ye Xiu?"

A sharp light flashed in Zhou Zekai's eyes, and he said slowly, "I still have a fight with him."

"There is still a battle, but it has not been fought yet."

Zhou Zekai nodded.

Sun Xiang asked again: "When?" After asking, he felt stupid, and said, "—it must be the top of Mount Hua."

Zhou Zekai didn't nod or shake his head, just acquiesced.Sun Xiang's mind was full of thousands of thoughts, and when he was in a mess and had nowhere to go, he heard Zhou Zekai say:

"One day—it will be you."

Sun Xiang sat up in astonishment, but saw that Zhou Zekai had turned around and walked slowly out of the arena with his long sword in hand.He paused for a while, and slowly held his side in his hands—it had never been heavy, and it had never been light.

五

Sun Xiang didn't expect that he would see Xiao Shiqin again so soon.

The top ten sects in Jianghu each occupy one side, except for the annual Huashan Sword Discussion, if there is no important business on weekdays, they seldom meet each other.So after Sun Xiang finished his morning class, he saw Zhou Zekai and Jiang Botao rushing to the front hall in rare costumes, so he couldn't help asking Du Ming beside him, "What's going on today?"

"Hey, you don't know? Master Lei Ting is here today—" Du Ming suddenly came to his senses in the middle of speaking, hurriedly said something casually, and hurried away.

Sun Xiang pulled the sweat towel in his hand and almost missed it.He took two steps and threw the sweat towel into the cold well water, and then slapped it on his face—it was nearly November, and the cold made him shiver three times from the inside out.

Then he threw the towel and strode towards the front mountain.

In the front hall, Xiao Shiqin was still wearing his signature toga with long sleeves, and his hands were still covered in the sleeves: "I, Lei Ting, definitely don't mean to be against reincarnation, but I don't know where Vice City Master Jiang's words come from. ?”

"Where did it come from? The iron bird who brought assassins to disrupt my reincarnation that day, Dean Xiao, do you really think that we reincarnation people are so blind that we can't recognize that it was written by you, Daoist Lord Birth and Extinction?" Jiang Botao still With a calm smile, "I don't want to get involved in this kind of dispute again in my reincarnation, and I don't know why you came here today, Master Xiao."

"Xiao apologizes." Xiao Shiqin got up and bowed when he heard this, "However, I came to reincarnation today to make the two families reconcile. I hope you will understand."

"You thundered into the King's faction, and sooner or later your holy family will be very prosperous; my reincarnation is just struggling to survive." Jiang Botao rarely sharpened his teeth.

"Deputy City Lord Jiang thinks the assassin is the King of England? I'm afraid you underestimated the determination of the officials." Xiao Shiqin said slowly, "No one can escape the affairs of the world. The city of Samsara is related to the defense of the Northwest. In the battle for the heir apparent, it is tantamount to self-destructing the Great Wall. Thinking about it, the assassins back then were only for the purpose of restraining City Lord Zhou, and had no intention of harming him."

Jiang Botao stopped talking for a while.Zhou Zekai only looked at him from the beginning to the end, and then nodded slightly.

Xiao Shiqin said again: "Nowadays the world is in turmoil again, I'm afraid it won't be possible to bring it under control unless everyone in the world works together. I came this time just to hope to untangle this knot with reincarnation, and to be able to survive the catastrophe." It’s just a matter of disregarding previous suspicions.”

Zhou Zekai glanced at Jiang Botao again, Jiang Botao knew what he meant, finally sighed and said: "Master Xiao is so sincere, if I reincarnate to say anything, we don't know the general idea." Then he got up and bowed, "Jiang Taught."

When Xiao Shiqin stepped out of the front hall, he saw a man standing there in a daze. When he saw him come out, he didn't exchange greetings, and still stood there.He sighed inwardly, and took a step forward with a smile on the head of Lei Ting, cupped his hands and said, "Sun Shaoxia."

Sun Xiang looked at him, seemed to frowned, but said, "Didn't it be enough to tell you to call me Sun Xiang? It's a small matter."

Slowly, Xiao Shiqin's expression that belonged to Headmaster Lei Ting melted away like a layer of thin ice in spring, revealing the expression that Sun Xiang was used to and that belonged to Xiao Shiqin, always a bit troubled.Sun Xiang didn't give him a chance to answer, and asked again: "How about the things you came to talk about?"

"Thanks to City Lord Zhou and Mr. Jiang being reasonable, it's still complete." Xiao Shiqin hesitated for a while, and asked, "How are you doing here?"

In an instant, Sun Xiang thought of the blue sky he had seen by the West Lake, the ancient songs heard on the grassland, and the days and nights in the city of reincarnation.He thought of the first time he met Xiao Shiqin, of his sword fights with Ye Xiu and Zhou Zekai, and of things that he seemed to have figured out these days but couldn't condense into words no matter what.In the end, all he could say was "it's okay".

"That's fine."

Xiao Shiqin replied.The mountain wind was strong, and the hem of his clothes was blown up for a while, but a thin silhouette was outlined from under the heavy dress.He blocked the sun with his hand and glanced at the position of the sun, and said: "It's getting late, I have to go down the mountain. ——There are many risks in the world, so take care Sun Shaoxia."

Sun Xiang looked at him for a while, then suddenly said: "I will catch up with you sooner or later, it's a small matter."

Xiao Shiqin laughed at his words: "You don't need to rush, you are already better than me, Sun Shaoxia."

Sun Xiang felt as if something was choking there, and finally couldn't explain it, so he watched Xiao Shiqin go down the mountain.He only thought that what he was talking about was not martial arts when he saw that the figure was not among the shadows of the trees on the mountain road.

But this explanation was only left to himself.

六

Ten years after the turmoil in the world was settled, the Northwest War resumed.The three battles of Qingyang Gorge, Wulipo, and Baishuitan were the most intense battles.At that time, a part of Sun's family, the vanguard of the Northwest Army, was trapped at Baishui Beach and ran out of food.However, Xiao Shiqin, Shangshu of the Ministry of Supervision and Military Industry, overstepped his will and killed Commander Modan Luo in front of the battle, leading most of the army to aid Baishuitan.People say that although Xiao is a civil servant, he is braver than a general. He uses troops like thunder and outrageously, and the enemy is afraid of him. He is called "the king of life and death".When he was about to be executed, the people sent him along the street.On that day, the general of the Sun family at Baishuitan, with one man and one spear, disrupted the law field and wanted to rob the Xiao family, but died in the random arrows.And there were rumors in the streets and alleys that an iron bird came down from the sky that day, carrying Xiao and Sun away, but it was strange and not worrying.

——"The Chronicle of the Kingdom of China", the article in March of the eighth year of Yingzong

Seven

That was the day before Xingxin challenged Excellent Era.

Tao Xuan seemed to be preoccupied. He walked around in his study for a long time, and finally appeared at dinner. After talking for half an hour, it was nothing more than Xingxin's unpopularity, and he probably couldn't even gather witnesses from the sect. In the end, he said lightly: "——If we really want to fight, we will fight with the five of us. Liu Hao, Qiu Fei, Mu Cheng, Mr. Xiao, and Sun Xiang, the name of Jiashi Villa is entrusted to you body."

Liu Hao stood up abruptly: "Naturally, Master Tao can trust us."

Su Mucheng and Qiu Fei glanced at him, but they all lowered their heads and didn't say a word.The rest of He Ming and the others didn't know whether they were happy or worried, they just looked at Sun Xiang.At that time, he was still young and energetic, so he opened his mouth and said, "If it's Ye Xiu, just leave it to me."

Xiao Shiqin beside him glanced at him, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he smiled and said, "Villa Master Tao looks up to me."

"No, no," Tao Xuan said, "I trust sir very much."

It wasn't until after dinner that Sun Xiang caught up with Xiao Shiqin in the courtyard of the mechanism division: "Small matter, what did you want to say just now?"

"what?"

"After I finished talking about Ye Xiu. Do you think I'm no match for that old guy?"

The mechanism engineer sighed after hearing what he said, and said, "Sun Shaoxia, have you fought against Ye Xiu?"

"There was one time before, but at that time, I didn't have the shackle, and the debt was only a tiny bit. If I meet again today, I will definitely be able to beat him."

But Xiao Shiqin just shook his head: "Sun Shaoxia, if you are full of losses, you will benefit from modesty. Although this is an old saying, there is always a reason for it. You are too aggressive, and you may be compromised. In the end, you will end up in the sky. This time When the time is lost, it would be good if you can let go of your arrogance and give you a little bit of caution."

Sun Xiang just looked at him in disbelief, thought for a moment, but smiled again: "Small things, you are really worried about me. You are worrying about this for nothing. Tomorrow I will clean up that guy Ye Xiu and show you." After finishing speaking, he turned around and left without saying goodbye.Vaguely, it seemed that Xiao Shiqin called him "Sun Xiang", but he didn't hear it again.

But thinking about it now, it was probably just a dream.Because no matter how much he called "little things", that person would only call him "Sun Shaoxia".

Then he woke up.After opening his eyes, the person he hated the most in his life was sitting in front of him.

"Are you awake?—two idiots." Ye Xiu said, throwing a wet towel on his forehead mercilessly, "Even if you don't discuss such a big matter with me, you have to discuss it with your city lord." Forget it. If it wasn't for our various activities to get that iron bird, what are you going to do? Will you die with Xiao Shiqin in your arms?"

Sun Xiang glared at him, then simply looked away - he had never liked Ye Xiu.

"——you dead boy." Ye Xiu scolded and stood up, "I'd better leave it to you, I can't deal with him."

There was a sound in the seat, and Sun Xiang thought Ye Xiu had replaced his city lord to continue preaching, but when he turned his head, he found that it was Xiao Shiqin whose arms were still wrapped in gauze.He smiled slightly, but it was the one Sun Xiang was familiar with many years ago, always with a troubled expression:

"You are too reckless, but I still want to thank you, Sun Xiang."

Sun Xiang looked at him, as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right words.Outside Ye Xiu kept talking to someone one after another, and the sound of the cuckoo cooing on the tree in the courtyard, and the sunlight penetrated into the half-opened window sash together, hovering warmly and livelyly.

It is the day of March in Yangchun.