Taiping Inn

"A sword comes from the west, the river flows east, and the spirit is overwhelming. Ask how to maintain peace, it is hard to achieve peace. Can we open peace by cutting off the chaos? Heroes and heroes? Righteous and evil? Let the world judge a hundred years later. Recalling the past, the light was cold in the nineteen states, and the sword was ruthless."

"A hundred years of Jianghu spirit. The world is full of wind and thunder. Sighing the ups and downs of this life, the storm is hard to settle; ten years of sword, chivalrous spirit. Green snake hidden in sleeves, three feet hanging from waist, feet stepping on the uneven road of the world. Facing the sky, watch the sword spirit crisscross, and open the blue sky again."

The one who wrote this "Tuned to Qinyuanchun Taiping" was Zhang Baiyue, the daughter of Zhang Suqing, the chief minister of the cabinet during the reign of Emperor Muzong. Zhang Baiyue and Mr. Qingping Li Xuandu said goodbye in the imperial capital that year. Zhang Baiyue wrote this poem specifically for her sweetheart, but there was only the first stanza, not the second stanza. The second stanza was added by Mr. Qingping Li Xuandu himself later to show his determination.

Now Zhang Baiyue has been dead for a long time, and Mr. Qingping Li Xuandu has also made an engagement with Qin Su, the eldest daughter of the Qin family. On the mountain road of Jianxiu Mountain in Zhongzhou, there is another young man who is silently reciting this poem. The young man is about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing green clothes, and is slowly walking up the mountain road, thinking in his heart: "After searching for so long, I finally found the place where my sister rests."

The young man carries a long sword behind him, and he is dusty. It is obvious that he has been away from home for a long time. I don’t know how long he has traveled to get here. After all, there are only a few immortals who can travel from Canghai to Cangwu in the morning and the evening. Most people still have to travel step by step. It takes more than a month or even longer to cross a state. It not only consumes physical strength to travel, but also eats and sleeps in the wind and rain. It is really hard, not to mention the restrictions of the government’s road permits, so it is not easy to meet each other from all over the world. However, the young man looked resolute, as if he didn’t care about the hardships of traveling far away at all.

This young man's surname is Zhang, and his given name is Bai Zhou. He is the nephew of Zhang Suqing. He didn't like to study since he was a child. He despised the academy and liked to do chivalrous things. He liked to wield swords and guns, and often admired swordsmen. He was also stubborn and unrestrained. Because his father died early, his uncle Zhang Suqing was busy with government affairs and had no time to discipline him. He only had a widowed mother, who could do nothing about him. She could only fulfill his wish and let him go out to learn from a master.

At that time, the Jianghu was still a clear distinction between good and evil. Let alone the ten evil sects, let's just talk about the twelve righteous sects. If we talk about using swords, the Qingwei Sect is the first, followed by the Cihang Sect, and the Donghua Sect is the third. However, the Cihang Sect is dominated by women, and few male disciples can get the true teachings. The Donghua Sect is dominated by Quanzhen Taoists, and it is difficult for lay disciples to get their true teachings. Quanzhen Taoists cannot marry, which is not much different from monks. Zhang Baizhou is an only son and it is not feasible, so the Cihang Sect and Donghua Sect are excluded, leaving only the Qingwei Sect.

Given the relationship between Li Xuandu and Zhang Baiyue, it was not difficult for Zhang Baizhou to join the Qingwei Sect. However, his mother was quite knowledgeable. After all, Li Xuandu was not the sect leader, and there were many fellow disciples in the sect, fighting openly and secretly. It was probably not a good thing for a child like Zhang Baizhou to rashly join. If someone wanted to make trouble for Li Xuandu, they might make trouble for Zhang Baizhou and cause trouble for no reason. In addition, the struggle between good and evil intensified, and even Situ Xuance died unclearly, let alone others.

Zhang's mother did not want her son to be involved in these disputes in the rivers and lakes, so she retreated and agreed to let Zhang Baizhou become a disciple to learn skills, but he could not go to any of the twenty-two sects of good and evil. If Zhang Baizhou disagreed, he should not come back. Faced with his mother's soft and hard tactics, Zhang Baizhou had to compromise and finally went to the Shushan Sword School far away in Shuzhou to become a disciple to learn skills. Zhang Baizhou had been gone for nearly ten years. He had grown from a child to a teenager, but everything had changed. He was still alive, but his clan had been destroyed. If he had stayed in the Imperial Capital, he would have died.

The mountain road of Jianxiu Mountain was rugged and winding, with steep cliffs on both sides, as if they were cut out by a sharp sword. The two cliffs and a narrow path formed a landscape of a narrow sky, squeezing the skylight into a narrow line, making the mountain road dark and inexplicable. After Zhang Baizhou walked through the narrow sky, he saw the sky suddenly leaking out, and the road under his feet gradually became flat and wide. He climbed up the steps and saw a quiet lake connected to the river. Going upstream along the river, there was a different world.

I saw that the originally straight cliff suddenly sank into a huge arc, forming a cave-like existence with a large opening, a very shallow depth, and an area of ​​about one acre. This place is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and only one side faces the cliffs, adjacent to the stone path up the mountain. There are lush green bamboos planted in it, and the bamboo waves sound when the wind blows. In the shade of the bamboo forest, there is a quiet and elegant two-story bamboo building.

Zhang Baizhou stared at the bamboo building for a while, thinking: "There are people living here, could it be the owner of this place? According to the records of the sect, there was indeed a sword immortal who lived in seclusion in Jianxiu Mountain in ancient times, but that was hundreds of years ago. Could it be that the sword immortal still has a successor?"

Thinking of this, Zhang Baizhou walked towards the bamboo forest, but saw that these bamboos were already some years old.

In the change of the imperial capital, the entire Zhang family died, and such a big news could not be concealed. After hearing the news, Zhang Baizhou wanted to go down the mountain and fight, but was stopped by his master, who then locked him up in the back mountain and asked him to think about it carefully in the back mountain. When he figured it out, he would come out again. There is a large bamboo forest in the back mountain for disciples to practice swordsmanship. Zhang Baizhou stayed in the back mountain for three full years, so Zhang Baizhou knows a lot about bamboo.

The tender bamboo has a short time to receive light, the bamboo skin is green, the bamboo body is dull, the bamboo joints are astringent, and the joints are thick. Especially for young bamboos, weeping bamboo bamboos can also be found at the roots of the bamboo. The old bamboo has a long time to shine, and the bamboo skin is yellow and even red. The bamboo body is bright and the joints are fine. In addition, the color of bamboo leaves can also be used to identify the age and tenderness of bamboo. The bamboo leaves of tender bamboo are green and dripping. The leaves of the old bamboo are dark green and even yellow.

Zhang Baizhou thought to himself: "It seems that it is bamboo planted by someone, not grown naturally. Since there is a master here, it is better to tell the master."

Zhang Baizhou was locked in the back mountain by his master for three years, and his impulsive nature was removed. In the next few years, he practiced swords hard and had already achieved innate realm cultivation at a young age. Not to mention the Shushan Sword Sect, he was placed in each Even if it is not as good as a genius like Li Taiyi, it is still a top-notch scholar. Even among many weak sects, it is already expected to be the rank of the sect leader, which should not be underestimated.

Zhang Baizhou's master was the head of the Shushan Sword Sect. Seeing that his disciples were no longer irritable, he agreed to walk down the mountain. After Zhang Baizhou left Shushan, he went north and south, from east to west, almost traveled to most of the Central Plains, went to many places, met many people and made many friends. Finally, with the disclosure of a friend, he learned about his sister's burial place and came to Jianxiu Mountain.

At this moment, the sound of the piano sounded, floating and misty. The wind rises, and the bamboo forest sways in the wind, elegant and natural.

After all, Zhang Baizhou comes from a scholarly family. Since childhood, he has been influenced by these things, but he only thinks that this person has good attainments. Suddenly, an old voice sounded in his ear, "Boy, who are you?"

Zhang Baizhou was startled and jumped backwards, but saw an old man standing in the corridor on the second floor of the bamboo building, with a long pole of cigarette stuck to his waist, looking at him up and down.

Zhang Baizhou has been walking in the world for several years, and he still has the etiquette he should have. He clasped his fists and said, "I have seen Zhang Baizhou, a junior in Shushan Sword Sect, has seen his senior."

"Zhang Baizhou?" The old man didn't care much about the name of "Shushan Sword Sect", but he was a little surprised by the name "Zhang Baizhou". "Who are Zhang Baigui and Zhang Baiyue?"

Zhang Baizhou lowered his head slightly and whispered: "It's my younger cousin and cousin."

The old man nodded, "So that's it. You are here to worship your cousin."

"That's right." Zhang Baizhou said, "Sir, please give me some convenience."

The old man pondered: "In theory, I shouldn't stop you. It's just that Jian Xiushan is owned by my master. If I rashly let someone in, I'm afraid that the rules are not in line with each other."

Zhang Baizhou asked, "Dare you ask who is the 'master' you mentioned in the words of senior?"

The old man said, "My old master once set a rule that he is not allowed to disclose his identity. After the old master went there, the master inherited the old master's legacy and did not change this rule, so I am not convenient to report it."

Although Zhang Baizhou's temper has changed a lot, his nature is easy to change, but his nature is hard to change. He is still as strong as fire in his bones, and he said in a deep voice: "What a big rule."

The old man was not angry, but just slapped his hand and scratched him from afar, "The boy is so big, he is really a newborn calf who is not afraid of a tiger. It's not that I'm boasting that the rules set by my old master are so big that few people dare to do so. If you don’t take it seriously, you won’t see anyone who dares to come here to speak irrelevantly. That is, you don’t know the name of my old master and master, so you dare to speak wildly.”

Zhang Baizhou said, "Senior said I was very angry, but I felt that my tone was already so great. You said that your master is so capable, but he refused to tell me the name. How do I know what you said Is it true or false? ”

The old man thought for a while and said, "You boy is a bit interesting. Let's do this. After all, my old master has gone to the immortal world. It doesn't matter whether he has leaked his name. The old master is not a pedantic person. I think I'll go beyond it once. , He will not be surprised. But I can't violate the rules in vain. Just like this, I will fight for you and I will not rely on my realm to bully you. I will only use the cultivation level of the innate realm. If you take my ten moves, if it is a continuous I can’t even take ten moves, so of course I’m just bragging and it’s nothing to say. You’d better go back to the mountain to practice for a few more years.”

Zhang Baizhou said, "If I can take the ten moves of my senior, what if I do?"

The old man laughed and said, "If you can take my ten moves, what else can I say? I will not only tell you the name of my old master and master."

Zhang Baizhou pointed to the top of the mountain, "I want to worship my sister. If I take your ten moves, please help me."

The old man pulled out the long smoke from his waist and said, "Okay, that's it. If I lose, I will personally send you to Wangjian Peak."

Only then did Zhang Baizhou realize that the place where his sister's sleep was named Wangjian Peak, and then he heard the old man say, "Be careful, I'm going to make a move."