"Senior, are you feeling better?" Chu Qingxiao, who was walking side by side with Sun Li on the streets of Tianxuan City, asked Sun Li as he turned to look at him.
Early in the morning, after Chu Qingxiao finished his night of practice, he came to Sun Li's small courtyard after breakfast.
The original intention was just to visit the old man - after all, when he arrived yesterday, Sun Li was covered in blood and seemed to have suffered a lot of injuries. Chu Qingxiao still kept it in mind.
However, Sun Li recovered surprisingly well. Just as he was about to knock on the door today, the courtyard door opened by itself. It turned out that Sun Li had nothing to do and was going to go shopping on the street with the prairie fire sword.
When he saw Chu Qingxiao, the old man was also very surprised, and he couldn't help but drag Chu Qingxiao along to the street.
"Nothing happened, just some injuries on my hands."
"That little bastard's abilities are just like that. If it weren't for the prairie fire sword, I would have beaten him to pieces yesterday!"
Sun Li moved his hand that was still bandaged with gauze, and the expression on his face was somewhat resentful. It was obvious that he was a little bit worried about yesterday's defeat.
Chu Qingxiao nodded in agreement.
The two of them just walked side by side on the street, chatting all the time.
Although most of what they said were trivial matters, the two of them didn't feel awkward talking about them. On the contrary, because of the prairie fire sword matter, both parties showed that they were far more familiar than they should have been after just a few contacts.
It's like a pair of old friends.
While they were talking, the two came to the busy city in Dongcheng District.
People were coming and going on the street, and vendors on both sides began to sell, with a dazzling array of products.
There are children chasing each other on the street, friends chatting together, and beautiful girls wearing beautiful clothes and smiling like flowers.
This is a very pleasing scene.
Filled with smoke and smoke.
But seeing this scene, Sun Li suddenly sighed.
When Chu Qingxiao heard this, he looked at the old man beside him and seemed to understand what he was thinking. At that time, he asked: "Senior, are you thinking about what happened yesterday?"
Sun Li seemed to trust Chu Qingxiao very much, but he didn't hide anything. He nodded at this time.
Then, he raised his head and looked at the bustling streets: "I have been busy working for Tianxuan Mountain all my life."
"I always thought that this was the holy land for swordsmen in the world."
"Young people learn to practice swords here, hold the swords, and then travel far and wide with swords full of chivalry and courage."
"One generation after another, hundreds of years, thousands of years to eternity, what a wonderful thing..."
Chu Qingxiao listened to Sun Li's words and did not comment, but asked: "What about now?"
"Now?" Sun Li was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and smiled bitterly: "Now, I'm not so sure."
His figure was a bit stooped due to old age, and he was dressed in linen, which was wrinkled in the morning breeze of early autumn, making him look a bit bleak inexplicably.
"I remember that I came to Tianxuan City because when I was a child, I heard my father tell many stories about swordsmen who performed heroic acts of justice. At that time, I thought, one day, I would like to be such a swordsman."
"Take a sword, a jug of wine, and a yellow horse and wander around the world."
"Then I came to Tianxuan City. It was still so big at that time, and I could walk from the east to the west of the city in an hour."
"There are not that many people. Tianxuan City only provides a temporary resting place for those who come to sign up. Most of the time, it is quite clean here."
"I stayed here for a year, and then I passed the examination and became an outer disciple."
Having said this, the old man paused and seemed to be trying to remember something. After a while, he said: "At that time, it seems that there was no such thing as a handyman disciple."
"After entering the inner gate, although you can't go to the divine peak, you don't have to stay in Tianxuan City. In Tianxuan Mountain, there are large dormitories for disciples. They have three meals a day. They even give out some money and give gifts during holidays.
Two new clothes. But they are all uniformed by the disciples, so they don’t look that good, especially those of the outer disciples, which are all gray and white, and I don’t like them very much.”
"I have never heard of Qinghuan Mansion. Although the outer sect's classics are in high demand, if you want to read them, you can still see them if you wait a little longer."
"There is no saying that you need to pay money to participate in the inner sect selection. There are inner sect assessments every spring and autumn. As long as your cultivation meets the standards, you can participate. How is it like now..."
Having said this, Sun Li fell silent again.
The expression on his face became a little complicated at this time.
There is confusion and confusion.
I don't know how to express my anger.
There is also the helplessness and embarrassment of being in the status quo that cannot change the status quo, but cannot feel at ease with it.
Chu Qingxiao somewhat understood his mood: "After all, today is different from the past. There are probably a lot more disciples in Tianxuan Mountain than there were back then. Maintaining a sect with so many people does require a lot of expenditure..."
In order to comfort the old man in front of him, Chu Qingxiao said some unintentional words that he himself did not quite agree with.
However, after saying these words, he did not receive a reply of approval from the old man. The other party just looked directly at Chu Qingxiao and asked: "Do you really think so?"
Such a look made Chu Qingxiao stunned, and he felt guilty in his heart.
After all, the old man seemed to have been honest with him, but he...
Thinking of this, Chu Qingxiao also said frankly: "That's not entirely true. At least I think Tianxuan Mountain, as a prestigious and upright sect, should review the disciples who come under its sect..."
"Some people who really have no talent in this way should not be accepted as our disciples, give them hope, and let them waste here for several years, or even their whole life, this..."
"A little selfish."
If this was the case, if Ziyu listened to it, Xiao Nizi would definitely get furious with her whole-hearted defense of Tianxuan Mountain, and argue with Chu Qingxiao with a blushing face. Maybe she would pay for it if she couldn't explain anything.
Show your own silver light and Luoxue, and convince others with "reason".
This kind of thing has happened to Ziyu and Yue Jian countless times.
But after hearing these words, Sun Li nodded after a brief silence: "You are right!"
"After I came back yesterday, I went to the wine shop to find someone to chat with."
"In the past, I only knew a little bit about the things in Tianxuan City. After talking about it yesterday, I realized that it was shocking..."
"In today's Tianxuan Mountain, I can't see any courage and responsibility as the head of the Sword Sect."
"All I have is arrogance and selfishness, and ambition that is so swollen that it makes people feel scared and uneasy..."
Chu Qingxiao looked at the old man saying these words, and the expression on his face became a little more indignant.
"Senior, please don't think too much. Small people like us can't handle this kind of thing, so there's no need to worry unfounded." Chu Qingxiao hurriedly persuaded.
It's just an ordinary scene.
If you talk to others about it, they will probably sigh and agree: "That's right. Worrying about these things, you might as well think about what to eat for lunch today."
But Sun Li was obviously no ordinary person.
When he heard this, he turned his head and looked straight at Chu Qingxiao, asking: "What if everyone feels that everything has nothing to do with them."
"Isn't it true that the people above are left to do whatever they want and do whatever they want?"
"Today, the people in Shanshuigou were expelled, and no one was able to uphold justice for them."
"But when one day, the expelled people become ourselves, will it be too late to think about rising up to resist?"
Sun Li's words made Chu Qingxiao stunned at that time.
This is actually not a particularly tricky angle.
Even Chu Qingxiao heard similar words said more than once.
But what made Chu Qingxiao feel a little turbulent at this moment was that he saw in Sun Li's already somewhat cloudy eyes a kind of firmness and determination that no one else had seen when he said this.
He seemed to agree with this sentence from the bottom of his heart, and he also seemed to be seriously thinking about what he could do.
And this seemingly stupid persistence reminded Chu Qingxiao of the group of Xizhou Jianjia who traveled thousands of miles to Wuling City and finally died in Wuling City.
Probably, if he didn't also have such an obsession, it would seem almost stupid.
Back then, Wuling City would soon be submerged by Zhuyin's beast tide.
There is no Chu Qingxiao standing here today.
"Senior..." Chu Qingxiao wanted to say something at this time.
"Dead people!!!"
But at this moment, a cry of surprise suddenly came from one side of the street.
Everyone on the street was attracted by the sound at this moment and turned their heads to look.
Chu Qingxiao and Sun Li were also stunned when they came out. They also followed the sound and saw a crowd of people rushing to a corner of an alley not far away.
The two of them didn't say much, and just leaned over at this moment.
"This death scene is too tragic..."
"Yeah, who is so vicious? How much hatred must there be? His face was scratched, and his family probably won't be able to claim it."
"Could he be the victim of the recent disappearance case..."
"Probably not. Those missing people all disappeared without a trace. Moreover, most of the people reported by the Sword Master Hall are young people. This guy looks quite old."
Before he got closer, Chu Qingxiao listened to the passers-by in front of him sighing one after another.
It sounded like the death of the deceased was very tragic. He couldn't help but be a little curious. At this time, he stood on tiptoes and looked into the crowd.
There, lying there was a man covered in blood.
One of his hands and one of his feet were chopped off and thrown aside like pieces of meat. His face was indeed, as passers-by said, cut to pieces with some kind of sharp weapon. It was a bloody mess and was beyond recognition.
But the moment he saw this scene clearly, Chu Qingxiao's body trembled, and his face suddenly turned pale...
He recognizes him!
To be precise, I recognized the beige oil-paper umbrella in the man's arms!
That was the oil-paper umbrella that Chu Qingxiao gave Zhu Renzhao when he left last night!