Taiping Inn

There is an inn, square, two-story building, with a flag in the center.

This flag, with tattered edges, is hung on a tall pole, fluttering in the wind.

There are four big characters embroidered on the flag: Taiping Inn.

The tall pole is not far from the two-story building, but compared with the extremely important word "Taiping", this two-story building is really inconspicuous. The white wall has peeled off for the most part, revealing the blue bricks underneath, and the black tiles on the roof are also incomplete, which looks quite shabby.

It's just that in this wilderness, it's a blessing for travelers to have such an inn to rest.

But then again, there must be something wrong when things are abnormal. In such a place far away from the town, thieves are everywhere and bandits are rampant. I think it's not an ordinary person who dares to open an inn in this place.

The inn covers a large area. There is a two-entry yard outside the two-story building, which can be used to store sundries and horses. The flagpole is located in the middle of the yard, which is very conspicuous.

A young man dressed as a Jianghu walks into the yard. He first looks up at the "Taiping" flag fluttering in the wind, and then turns his eyes to the simple stable not far away. At this time, there are already many "guests" in it, most of whom are tall and strong, with bright fur, and their neighs are full of confidence. If there are people who know horses here, they will understand why these horses have such "arrogance", because they are all first-class war horses from the army, known to travel 800 miles a day, and only officials can ride them.

In such a simple and shabby inn, there are such fine horses, just like the swallows in front of the king's hall really flew into the homes of ordinary people, which is very inappropriate.

The young man retracted his gaze and looked at the two-story building as the main body of the inn.

There is a dry old tree stump against the wall outside the door of the two-story building. A dark and thin boy is sitting on it and dozing off. His head is like a chicken pecking at rice. The saliva from the corner of his mouth flows little by little, and a white and bright thin line hangs along his chin. I don’t know what the boy dreamed of. His face was full of smiles in his deep sleep. Looking at his age, it is probably a beautiful woman who came into his dream. When he wakes up, he probably can’t remember her face. What does the poem say? Spring dreams leave no trace.

At the boy’s feet, there is also a yellow-haired local dog lying, lazily accompanying his owner to bask in the sun. Although he has not fallen asleep directly like his owner, he is already in a state of half-sleep and half-wakefulness.

In this late summer afternoon, the whole inn exudes a sense of laziness.

The young man didn't want to break this lazy tranquility, so he walked gently towards the lobby of the inn. But at this moment, the dog suddenly woke up, first staring at the stranger warily, then began to grin and growl.

The dark-skinned young man also woke up from his dream. He wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth first. After seeing the young man, he quickly stood up and kicked the local dog. The local dog whimpered and ran away with its tail between its legs. Then he asked with a smile: "Sir, do you want to stay in the hotel?"

The young man joked: "It's not a black hotel, is it?"

The dark-skinned young man said seriously: "Sir, what are you talking about? We are a clean business run by a decent family."

The young man raised his hand and pointed to the big flag fluttering in the wind, "Sir, do you see it? That flag was specially written by a scholar asked by our shopkeeper. It says peace and tranquility. In short, if you stay in our hotel, it will be peaceful."

The young man tasted the implicit meaning of this sentence and whispered: "What a big tone."

The dark-skinned young man smiled and stopped talking, leading the young man into the lobby.

The inn is divided into two floors. In addition to the counter, there are more than a dozen eight-immortal tables and matching benches in the lobby on the first floor for guests to drink and eat. The second floor can be used for accommodation. At this moment, there are no guests in the lobby, only a couple, who are probably the shopkeepers and their wives.

The shopkeeper is thin, wearing an old square scarf and a blue cloth robe that has been washed to a pale color. He looks like a teacher. He stands behind the black lacquered counter and is keeping accounts. Behind the shopkeeper are several large wine jars, which seem to be quite old and polished. The aroma of wine can be smelled from a long distance.

The proprietress sits on a bench next to an eight-immortal table, cracking melon seeds out of boredom. She wears a floral bodice, but she is plump, with the right curves and curves. In addition, with her middle-aged face, every move of hers carries a sense of romance that makes men have many different ideas. It perfectly interprets what a mature woman should be like.

When the proprietress heard the footsteps, she looked up inadvertently and saw the young man following behind the boy. She was startled.

The couple had run the inn for many years and had seen a lot of the world. They had even seen many wanted criminals. This young man, who looked like an ordinary man, had a kind of "qi" on him.

Murderous aura.

Her husband was proficient in some superficial aura-reading techniques. Once when he was half drunk, he told her that if a person had a lot of blood debts on his hands, he would naturally have a murderous aura.

It is said that ghosts are afraid of butchers. It is because butchers have been using the knife for many years, and they are stained with blood and have murderous aura on their bodies. Ordinary ghosts cannot get close to them. If it is a big thief who kills people like crazy, even a powerful ghost dare not get close to him easily. This is the reason why evil ghosts are afraid of evil people.

From this point of view, this young man is definitely not a rookie who is just starting out in the martial arts world. He is an old veteran who takes people's lives without any hesitation and calmly. He treats life and death as nothing more than a common thing.

This kind of martial arts person is the most terrifying.

The proprietress glanced at the indifferent shopkeeper, snorted, put down the melon seeds in her hand, stood up from the bench, walked towards the young man, and smiled, and waved her hand, "Sir, please come in quickly. Our Taiping Inn has always been fair in price and never cheats anyone. Looking at the hundreds of miles around, it is a resounding golden sign. You can rest assured to stay here."

The young man smiled but said nothing.

The proprietress asked, "May I ask your name?"

The young man said, "My surname is Li, Muzi Li. My given name is Xuandu, Xuanmiao and Du."

Li Xuandu, this doesn't sound like the name of a man in the underworld.

The shopkeeper, who had been keeping accounts with his head down, slowly raised his head and asked softly in a mellow voice: "Xuandu, is it the Xuandu in 'the White Jade Capital in the sky, the Twelve Towers and Five Cities'?"

The young man nodded and said: "Xuandu Zifu, the place where the Supreme Taoist Ancestor cultivated immortality. My master gave me this name back then, probably hoping that I could go to Xuandu in the sky one day, but this is just the elders' hope, don't take it seriously."

The shopkeeper said meaningfully: "That may not be the case."

At this moment, the sound of the door opening on the second floor was heard, followed by the sound of footsteps, which was particularly clear in the silent lobby.

Then a figure slowly walked down the stairs and came to the lobby.

This person was wearing a green narrow-sleeved long-collared brocade robe, with a bronze phoenix head buckled on his waist, and black-faced and white-bottomed official boots on his feet.

A knife was hung on his waist, the blade was about three feet long, and the handle was about six inches long. Although it was wrapped in a scabbard, it could be seen that the blade spine was straight and the blade was slightly curved.

This sword is a Wenluan sword.

This person is a Qingluan Guard.