Absolute protagonist

The sky was dark, and oppressive dark clouds piled up in large numbers. Lightning flashed through the clouds, illuminating the world and the two armies fighting fiercely in the wilderness.

The battlefield was filled with blood, and the two armies collided fiercely like two rolling torrents. The evil spirit that rose to the sky stirred the dark clouds in the sky, and the rainstorm poured down on the earth along with the thunder.

In the two armies, there was a Taoist who called the wind and rain, and set up the Eight Trigrams with a wave of his hand, summoning thunder and fire from the sky. The 800-li plain turned into a swamp, annihilating tens of thousands of soldiers.

At dusk, the war came to an end, and the last army loyal to the emperor was wiped out. The dynasty that had been unified for three hundred years ended, and the anti-king alliance collapsed at the same time.

Kyushu fell into war.

Half a month later.

Outside the original imperial capital, in the suburbs.

The rainstorm has lasted for half a month, intermittently. The bean-sized raindrops are like someone overturning a chessboard in the sky, and the chess pieces fall down.

A dilapidated temple stands quietly in the rainstorm, and the eaves and the temple gate are all covered with rain. The temple gate is opened, and a dilapidated statue can be seen sitting on the altar. The surface of the statue is covered with dust, and the place where the sacrifices should be placed is also empty. Below is a few straw mats instead of cushions. It looks really shabby.

The storm blew the temple gate, making a "clang" sound. In the pattering rain curtain, pedestrians who were on their way rushed into the temple in a panic and took shelter from the rain.

The first to come in was a young scholar wearing a tattered blue shirt and looking frail. As soon as he entered the door, he hid in the innermost corner of the temple and sat on a pile of hay.

Several people dressed as monks and Taoist priests came in one after another. They were all dressed in ordinary clothes. They didn't look like masters with magical powers at all. They looked more like swindlers.

Next came a storyteller holding a erhu.

Not long after the storyteller came in, the sound of carriage wheels rolling was heard at the door of the ruined temple. Soon, another group of more than ten people came to the ruined temple. Most of these people were dressed as martial artists. They had a murderous aura on their bodies and protected two young people, a man and a woman, in the middle. As soon as they entered the temple, such a formation attracted everyone's eyes.

The two people surrounded in the middle looked only seventeen or eighteen years old, and their faces were somewhat similar. They should be a pair of siblings. They were dressed very simply, but there was a kind of nobleness that was difficult to conceal. The girl's beautiful face was a little anxious. While walking, she steadily supported the boy beside her. The boy lowered his head and walked in a strange posture, as if he had a fever and was dizzy.

This group of people was silent from beginning to end, and directly occupied another corner of the temple, with no intention of dealing with others.

For a moment, this small temple became a bit crowded.

The cold wind was biting, and the clothes soaked in water were also damp and wet. For a moment, the others did not care about the group of people who were either rich or noble, but worked together to light a bonfire, and the whole temple was bright, and everyone felt a little warmer.

But this warmth could not dispel the sorrow and confusion between everyone's brows.

...The dynasty collapsed, and the last emperor died. Thirty-six rebel kings turned against each other and attacked each other constantly. In today's world, is there any peace?

The warm bonfire was burning, and it was getting dark. The rain did not stop at all, and a group of people who were equally frustrated soon chatted together.

It was said that the troubled times had come and the world was difficult.

After the young man dressed as a scholar dropped a few words from his book bag, he shook his head and sighed, his tone was extremely depressed: "Nowadays, the world is really difficult! Why not follow the example of the sages and go to seek immortals and ask for the Tao!"

The topic turned to the stories of immortals, demons, ghosts and monsters, which aroused everyone's interest in talking. At one time, they talked about all kinds of immortal anecdotes they had heard of, imagining the scenes of flying in the sky, riding swords and riding clouds, and they couldn't help but feel envious and longing.

"It is said that the world is divided into three realms, and the human world has nine states..." The storyteller holding the erhu and the tablet also participated in it with great interest, doing his old business, "The three realms are gods, ghosts, and the nine states are all princes..."

He twisted his beard lightly, and his tone was rhythmic, accompanied by the melody of raindrops, which also had a different feeling, attracting many eyes to cast over.

"Since the ancient era of gods and demons, the spiritual energy of the world has become increasingly thin, and ancient myths have become legends. Humans have studied writing, spread poetry, books and etiquette, and established countries. Thousands of years ago, there were 300 vassal states in Kyushu, and there were countless outstanding talents among them... The story of immortals and gods began to spread from then on."

The rainstorm outside the door was getting heavier and heavier, and the storyteller's voice was covered by the rain and became unclear.

"Among the sages of that generation, some people realized the great way of heaven and earth, wrote hundreds of theories, and helped the rise of various countries. Some people heard the stories of immortals and gods, so they abandoned the world, and wholeheartedly sought immortality and asked for the way, visiting famous mountains and rivers..."

"Immortals, if they have completed their practice, can ascend to become immortals. If they have made contributions to heaven and earth, they will be deified after death. Enjoy the incense and sacrifices of the world."

Speaking of this, the storyteller couldn't help but raise his head and look at the statue sitting on the altar. The face of this clay and wood statue was compassionate and indifferent, as if it tolerated everything, and seemed to not care about the things in the world.

"Of course, there is another type of deity who had great merits during their lifetime and was canonized as a deity by the emperor after their death. This can be said to be a new deity for each emperor."

The gods worshipped in this temple are mostly of this type.

"It's boring! Who in the world doesn't know about this?" The old Taoist priest sitting in a remote corner next to him swept his fly whisk disapprovingly and became interested, "Why don't we let the old Taoist tell me some secrets of the immortal sect that are rarely spread in the world."

He pointed to the sky mysteriously, with a "Come and ask me" expression: "I wonder if you have heard of the legend of 'Emperor Ziwei divides three realms with one sword'?"

Emperor Ziwei is the head of the stars and the lord of heaven. In human myths and legends, it is said that there was originally only the human world in this world, and it was He who slashed it with a sword to divide the three interfaces of heaven, human world and underworld.

"Of course this is not the case. The underworld is a place of reincarnation and reincarnation. It has existed since ancient times. As for the heaven, hey, I'm afraid you won't believe it. The birth of the heaven is only a thousand years ago..." At this point, the old Taoist priest raised his voice again out of habit. Fu Chen looked at the surprised eyes of other people in the temple and felt that his vanity was satisfied, so he let out a long sigh, "As the saying goes: The emperor opened the heaven with one sword, and from then on the world and the immortals were separated!"

"The true identity of Emperor Ziwei is that he was a famous genius when hundreds of schools of thought were flourishing thousands of years ago. He once studied under the ancient sages and had high hopes that he would become the second sage. Later, he voluntarily left the master's school and became obsessed with the art of immortals. In the end, he actually succeeded. Not only did he master the immortal arts, but he also opened up the world of heaven and man, and led the immortals..."

"It's him?!" The scholar who was listening attentively next to him was horrified and couldn't help blurting out, "The abandoned disciple of the sage recorded in the history books..."

"Hush!" Before he could finish speaking, the old Taoist priest interrupted directly, with a serious look on his face, "Don't say it, don't say it! Don't pronounce the names of gods in vain."

As a cultivator, he didn't take seriously the idea of ​​abandoning disciples, and he didn't respect the sages of hundreds of schools of thought as respectfully as ordinary people.

If he can truly ascend to immortality, he will not change even if he is given the throne of emperor! Now Emperor Ziwei is high in heaven and has been at ease for thousands of years. And what about his mentor? Even if his teachings are famous for centuries and are regarded as saints by future generations, he still dies young and has gone through reincarnations many times!

As the old Taoist priest casually dished out some anecdotes about immortals that were not known to be true or false, the atmosphere in the ruined temple became more and more lively.

While these people were talking about sex, there was another scene in the corner of the ruined temple.

"h...Brother, brother, are you okay?"

The girl with a beautiful face was full of worry at this time. She helped the boy beside her sit on the ground, stretched out a hand to explore the boy's hot forehead, and took out the medicine from her sleeve. The small porcelain bottle made a very light sound.

The young man was half-leaning against the wall. He was wearing a black robe without any patterns. At this time, his hair was a little messy. His face was as white as porcelain, with a layer of blush rising due to the rain and fever. When he heard the girl's voice, his long eyelashes fluttered, revealing a pair of empty pupils.

He looked at the girl in front of him steadily and was silent for several breaths. Then he slowly stretched out a hand, took the pill bottle from the other party, took out the pills and swallowed them. Every movement is eight beats slower than ordinary people.

After doing all this, he closed his eyes again and leaned against the wall, looking too lazy to move.

Seeing this, the girl named Rong Yin just sighed slightly, getting used to it. After all, her brother has been like this since he was born. He does everything slowly, and his favorite thing to do is to be in a daze. You can spend a whole day in a corner alone if no one disturbs you. Taoist priest Jiuli, who was once the most famous in the world, concluded that he had lost his soul.

Thinking of this, Rong Yin suddenly felt even more desperate about the future. As a brother and sister, once they fall into the hands of those anti-kings, their fate can be imagined. However, the brother is in this situation... If she continues to escape, she can't even believe that the guards around her are completely watching. Choose betrayal when there is no hope.

No one can explain the various sorrows and confusions that have accumulated in her heart, and the girl's beautiful face is filled with sadness.

With her mind wandering, she didn't notice that the boy lazily leaning next to her suddenly fluttered his eyelashes, as if some inexplicable change had occurred in him.

Just at this moment, the clatter of horse hooves came from outside the temple. This uniform sound sounded like a well-trained army. The sound of swords clashing sounded amidst the crashing rain. In the blink of an eye, there were many people wearing black armor. The soldiers surrounded the entire temple.

A condensed momentum gathered in the air. The old Taoist priest who was talking about the lotus tightly closed his mouth, and the others also trembled at the same time, and the ruined temple fell into silence.

In their blank and nervous eyes, the already shaky door was kicked hard to the ground. A general wrapped in armor jumped off his horse and strode in.

"Qiang!"

More than a dozen guards in the corner had stood up at some point, and at the same time they drew out the long sword from the Yue Yao Room, and the bright light of the sword illuminated everyone's eyes.

"Your Highnesses, you are well." General Xuanjia stood at the door. He did not move forward or glance at the vigilant guards. He just gave a gentle salute with a seemingly respectful tone, "My Lord Wei. Hou You invites you two to come as guests."

After a pause, he revealed the murderous army behind him at the right time: "I hope your two highnesses will not embarrass me."

"...Your Highness?!"

This title made other people who were still unclear about it couldn't help but turn their heads and look at the corner over there. To be precise, the brother and sister.

If the identity of the girl is still difficult to distinguish, then the identity of the boy is clear. Because the current emperor, or the deceased emperor, has only one son. That is the prince Rong Yu born by the queen. It is just rumored that he was born with a lost soul, which is different from ordinary people - this was also used by many rebel kings who later launched a rebellion as an important excuse to attack the emperor's immorality. If the emperor is not immoral, how could the only son have such a defect?

Such an obvious excuse is actually believed by many fools. Therefore, the deeds of this prince are also widely circulated among the people. Let them associate it with it at the first time.

Suddenly, everyone's expression became extremely strange.

... Even people with low political sensitivity know that being involved in such an incident is simply fatal!

In the unbearable silence, Rong Yin trembled and stood up from the ground, trying to maintain her princess demeanor. She raised her head with a cold expression: "What if I refuse?"

"Reject?" General Xuanjia repeated coldly.

A huge murderous aura mixed with bloody evil aura suddenly descended, and Rong Yin's face turned pale, her body trembled and shook, but her eyes were three points firmer.

She was just a princess, and she might still have a chance to survive. But her brother was different...

She couldn't help but lower her head and glanced at the boy who was still sitting against the wall.

... Even if she was naive, she knew that if he fell into the hands of the princes, he would never have a good end. Even if he survived and became a puppet by chance, he would most likely die in the future. Instead of this, it would be better for the brother and sister to die together, at least they could preserve their dignity.

"Then... forgive me for being rude." I don't know if he saw her thoughts, General Xuanjia immediately sank his face and stretched out his hand directly to this side.

It was clearly just a light grab, but his hand seemed to cover the sky and the sun in an instant, covering everyone's sight at once, as if the day suddenly turned into night.

"Bang bang bang..."

With just one blow, almost half of the guards were disabled. These people didn't even have time to groan before they fell down, blood flowing all over the ground.

Rong Yin screamed and collapsed to the ground.

"This is the last warning. I hope Your Highness will know better." His cold voice directly tore through the original disguise, full of sarcasm, "Your Highness knows what the current situation in the world is like. The building has collapsed and it is beyond human power to save it."

General Xuanjia's blade-like eyes swept through the ruined temple. Seeing the dusty statue, he smiled coldly, with a bit of cat-and-mouse flavor: "If Your Highness thinks that hiding in a place like this and praying to God will work, you might as well give it a try."

As he spoke, he approached the two again.

"No need."

At some point, the boy sitting against the wall opened his eyes, revealing a pair of deep and unfathomable eyes. As if he hadn't spoken for a long time, his voice was a little hoarse.

This prince, who was always known for his lost soul, actually spoke inexplicably, and such a shocking change made everyone present startled. Before they could come to their senses, their vision was already filled with endless white light.

It seemed that the vast world had turned into endless light, and their bodies were also submerged in this light. Vision, hearing, smell... all perception abilities were lost, as if they had turned into a ghost.

It was unknown how long it took for the light to disappear little by little, and the perceptions that had disappeared from everyone's body returned again. And the scene in front of them had changed drastically.

Not far from the collapsed gate, the once arrogant General Xuanjia was lying on the ground in a distorted posture, with endless confusion and horror on his face.

Outside the gate, the cold rainstorm continued to wash continuously, and the large number of soldiers who had originally surrounded the temple also fell to the ground in unison. From a distance, you could still see the quiet and satisfied smiles on their faces, as if they were trapped in a dream.

The young man was standing in the center of the temple with his hands behind his back, with his back to the cold body of General Xuanjia.

"Sure enough... Has the immortal way of the gods become popular..."

He whispered something that no one could understand, and looked at the statue on the altar curiously. That strange look seemed to want to cut the statue open inch by inch.

"... Pray to the gods?" He chuckled, as if he found it interesting.

The statue on the altar suddenly shook violently, and the thick dust was shaken off, revealing the cold statue of clay and wood covered with dust.

Amid the shocked and puzzled gazes of everyone, the statue with a compassionate and indifferent expression slowly bent its moon towards the young man in front of it.

"Cracks..."

As the bending arc became larger, cracks appeared on the statue one after another. Then it completely collapsed.

"This is..." The old Taoist waved his whisk, his face changed in shock, "The statue has spirits!"

Outside the temple, heavy rain rolled down, drowning the sky and the earth.

Inside the temple, the young man still stood firmly in his place, accepting the gift from the statue as a matter of course. There was a faint smile on his handsome face, which not only did not make people feel arrogant, but also had a sense of right and wrong.

This scene made the people present unforgettable for a long time.

Until many years later, as someone's glory shone through the world, the storyteller adapted this legendary experience of the first encounter into a popular storytelling and opera, attracting countless people to follow.

Amid thousands of expectant eyes, the storyteller tapped the tablet lightly and ended with the last sentence:

"... It can be said that: I don't worship the gods, the gods worship me, and the immortals must lower their eyebrows when they see me!"