"Huansha Lane", this is the place where Zhao Yan's mother, Mrs. Qu, was killed many years ago.
Every time she came to Beijing, Zhao Yan would come here for a walk, stepping on the bluestones soaked in blood under her feet, and imagining the bloody storm in her mind.
"The dignified lady of the country, a strong person in the sixth realm, died at the hands of a group of assassins of unknown origin in Luojing City, which was protected by the Tianlong Formation and the Capital Guard."
If this kind of thing spreads to the public, it will definitely be regarded as a ridiculous joke, and no one with a bit of common sense will easily believe it.
But it did happen.
Thinking of this, Zhao Yan stopped and stood quietly in the narrow alley for a while.
The breeze lifted her black hair, made her clothes rustle, and also blew up the dust on the ground.
Not far away came the chatter and laughter of passers-by, the cries of vendors, the sounds of children playing and playing, and the sparse and messy sound of horse hooves gathered together, creating a noisy scene and the atmosphere of fireworks.
But Zhao Yan turned a deaf ear to these voices.
She was completely immersed in her inner world, silently assessing the strength of those assassins back then, while thinking about how far she had to practice to have a chance to defeat them.
"Let's go"
About a quarter of an hour later, she calmed down the complicated emotions in her eyes and said to the maid Qiu Yan beside her.
Then she got on her horse and followed the way she came, leaving this long and narrow alley.
She looked extremely calm.
The sun shone on her body, dragging her shadow very long.
At first glance, she looked like an ordinary tourist who accidentally took the wrong path.
"Have you found any new clues about the case back then?"
That night, in a small attic of the Jiaofang Division in Luojing City, Zhao Yan He asked in a nonchalant tone.
At this moment, she was resting her chin on her hands, lying on her side on a carved fine wood royal couch, with her black hair hanging down like a waterfall. The bright red silk dress wrapped her body, outlining the graceful curves, like mountains and mountains, graceful and graceful.
Behind a bead curtain, there is a woman kneeling on a bamboo mat, lowering her head and playing the piano silently.
This woman is Liuli, the oiran of Jiaofangsi.
She is wearing a white dress, has beautiful eyebrows, exquisite makeup, and her hair is pulled up high. She is also a quite outstanding beauty.
Just being with Zhao Yan, she lost a bit of her unique coquettish and unruly temperament, and seemed to be suppressed by Zhao Yan from her aura. If such a scene were seen by uninformed people, perhaps they would think that Zhao Yan was the real oiran, and Miss Liuli was just a maid serving beside her.
"Not yet, miss." Miss Liuli replied succinctly.
Zhao Yan said a faint "Yeah", then closed her eyes and continuedContinue to listen to the piano.
Liu Li's answer was not beyond her expectations.
If the murderer of her mother could really be found easily, then she wouldn't have to worry about this matter for many years.
The guqin music played by Liuli is the pheasant flying in the sky that Zhao Yan personally ordered.
Legend has it that this tune was composed by a hermit hundreds of years ago. The hermit, who was old and had no wife, saw a pair of pheasants flying in the sky. He was moved by the scene and lamented the misfortune of his life, so he wrote this song.
At the same time, the hermit also sang a song, the content of which is: "The pheasants are flying in the morning and singing in harmony, and the male and female flocks are flying in the mountains. I am alone and hurt, and I have no room. It is approaching dusk, but there is nothing I can do." , Sigh, there's nothing I can do about it at dusk." 1
This piece of music is gentle and continuous, like a mountain spring winding from a deep valley, flowing slowly.
Zhao Yan listened silently, without any emotional change on her face.
It wasn't until the music suddenly stopped that she opened her eyes and whispered, "Liuli, I need you to help me investigate someone."
"Who is it, Miss?" Miss Liuli raised her head and asked respectfully.
The figure in a green shirt with a vague face that she met in the lava river appeared in Zhao Yan's mind.
Although she was not able to see the person's appearance clearly at the time, the person's aloof and otherworldly temperament left a particularly deep impression on her.
Of course, Zhao Yan also knows very well that for practitioners, appearance, temperament and other things are virtual. After all, there are many kinds of tricks or magic weapons in the world that can be used to disguise appearance. .
In contrast, the best way to identify a practitioner is through practicing exercises, martial arts moves, magical powers, and even natal objects and images.
"That man practices fire-attribute skills, at least middle-grade, maybe even top-grade," Zhao Yan said slowly, "Besides, he is also very good at hiding his appearance. , concealment and escape spells."
"It seems that he is a cautious monk who likes to be secretive," Liuli responded, "Miss, do you know his level of cultivation?"< /p>
"I guess his cultivation level should not be lower than the fourth level," Zhao Yan pondered for a moment, recalling the huge and rapid whirlpool in the lava river at that time, and replied, "Maybe even better than me. Be stronger. When investigating him, you must be extremely careful and try not to be noticed by him, so as not to cause trouble."
Liu Li nodded and kept Zhao Yan's words in mind. heart.
Miss Zhao’s attitude was very serious when she spoke, and it was obvious that she attached great importance to this unidentified monk who practiced fire-attribute skills.
"In addition, before the Luoshui Conference officially begins, I hope you can give me a list of all participating monks," Zhao Yan then ordered, "It is best to have everyone's identity and origin on it. , cultivation realm, cultivation techniques, good moves, etc. ”
"As you command, miss." Liuli nodded again.
Then she paused for a moment and asked, "I saw that the lady has a firm look in her eyes. It seems that she is determined to be the leader of this Luoshui Conference."
"That's right," Zhao Yanyong He said in a calm tone, as if this was a matter of course, "According to the information revealed by the court, the monk who wins the Luoshui Conference will have the opportunity to enter the inner treasury of the Daqi royal family and select a precious magic weapon.< /p>
“This is a unique opportunity. I must seize this opportunity, enter the inner treasury, and get the flint. "
Liu Li lowered his head and stopped talking.
"Flint" was once a precious magic weapon of the Yan Kingdom.
Although it is not a "name" "Utensil", but in the eyes of the people of Yan at that time, its significance went beyond "famous utensils".
In the legend of the Yan Kingdom, it was once a sacred object left by the God of Fire in the world.
After stealing fire, the God of Fire understood the secret of fire and used it to create "flint" that can produce flames by knocking it.
In addition, "flint". It can also help "returning to the ancestors" of the "Fire Spirit Body" like Zhao Yan to further activate her blood and stimulate the full potential in her body.
It is said that in the dark period when the method of cultivation has not yet been born, fire. God used "flint" to make one of his disciples with a "flaming spirit body" fully awaken the power of blood, thus giving birth to "Fire Phoenix Wings" that can instantly burn ghosts to ashes.
When the God of Fire was struck to death by lightning from the gods above the nine heavens, the young disciple became the new leader of the human tribe, protecting the human race from the invasion of monsters and monsters in the long night.
Valley. The people of San Dayan once respected her as "Saint Girl" or "Phoenix Girl" and enshrined her on the altar with the God of Fire.
Zhao Yan has imagined more than once that if "Flint Stone" "Still in the hands of the Zhao family in Youzhou, then as a "body of flame spirit", can she awaken a pair of phoenix wings condensed by flames like the original "saint" and have the ability to protect everyone around her?
However, after the last King of Yan surrendered to Emperor Taizu of Qi, he had to offer "flint" to Emperor Taizu of Qi to express his surrender.
Then. , Emperor Taizu threw the "flints" from the Da Yan Kingdom into the imperial treasury along with many other collections.
As far as Zhao Yan knew, the imperial treasury of the Da Qi Dynasty. In addition to "flint", the treasures in the collection also include the jade seal passed down from the Great Chu Dynasty, the skull of a certain khan from the northwest barbarians, etc.
"Miss, I believe you will succeed. "Get the flint." After a brief silence, Liuli said seriously to Zhao Yan word by word.
"I accept your good advice. "Zhao Yan smiled faintly.
After saying this, she stood up, casually tied up her long black hair that was like a waterfall with a wooden hairpin, and then turned around and left the small attic.
Oiran Liu of the Jiaofang SiMiss Li sat quietly where she was. After a moment, she raised her red lips and softly recited a mantra, and soon the wooden floor lit up with golden light, condensing into complex golden patterns.
The next second, Liuli disappeared out of thin air.
The whole room returned to its original state.
At the same time, downstairs of the Jiaofang Division, there was a drunken young man wearing a brocade robe, a handsome face, dragging a maid, and kept shouting: "Miss Liuli, why are you here?" If you don’t want to see me, the money given by Xu is not enough."
"Mr. Xu, Miss Liuli is receiving distinguished guests tonight, so I cannot meet you."
"Where are you distinguished guests? The distinguished guest who came here has as much money as I gave him." Mr. Xu burped, and at the same time he took out a few more banknotes from his pocket and slammed them on the table next to him, making a loud "pop" sound. The liquid in the wine glass on the table began to slosh violently, "If it's not enough, I'll give you more. The most important thing I don't need is money."
The maid was frightened by his gesture. A jump.
"Sorry, Mr. Xu, that distinguished guest has a special status." The maid took a deep breath and tried to maintain a polite attitude, "She is Miss Zhao from Youzhou."
"What kind of young lady would come to a place like this?"
"She is Zhao Yan from Youzhou."
Hearing this name, Mr. Xu seemed to sober up instantly. His eyes were wide open, like a mouse seeing a cat.
Before the maid could react, Mr. Xu turned and left the Jiaofang Division.
"Mr. Xu, you forgot to take your banknote." The maid hurried out the door and shouted at Mr. Xu's back.
Her voice broke through the silent night and made many curious passers-by turn their heads.
But Mr. Xu did not look back for a moment.
So the maid understood that Mr. Xu must be the victim of Miss Zhao a few years ago.
That night, after finishing the affairs of the elixir workshop, Gu Xu came to the yamen of the exorcism department headquarters and went straight into the library to find some information about the "astrolabe" .
Although it was past the time for the office to be dismissed, there were still many monks sitting quietly at the desks in the library, reading books intently and studying various martial arts and spells.
Gu Xu has long been accustomed to such an involutionary environment in the Luojing Exorcist Department.
Especially now that the "Luoshui Conference" is coming soon, many monks from the Exorcism Department have already signed up to participate, and they are even more eager to try, hoping to take advantage of this rare opportunity to become famous.
When Gu Xu entered the library, some monks raised their heads and glanced at him, with surprised expressions on their faces.
They couldn’t help but think in their minds that a genius as good as Mr. Gu actually wants to engage in a pre-match assault with mediocre people like us. This really doesn’t give us a way to survive
Of course, Gu XuDon't care what they think.
He quickly held more than a dozen thick books, randomly found an empty seat to sit down, picked up the top book, and spent a few minutes "brushing" it "Brush" from beginning to end.
Immediately afterwards, he picked up the second book and turned it from the first page to the last page at the same unimaginable speed.
Then the third, fourth, and fifth books.
His movements of turning the pages of the book seemed to be flowing and extremely smooth.
With the authority of "wisdom", he only needs to glance at the contents of each page of the book to remember it firmly in his heart and never forget it.
The monks nearby couldn't help but be stunned when they saw this scene.
"Master Gu, is he really reading?"
"He reads so fast, can he really understand the content of the book?"
"Alas, the gap between genius and me is wider than the gap between man and dog."
""
In less than half an hour, Gu Xu put these books He looked through them all, but he didn't find any words related to "astrology" in any book.
It is as if the "astrology chart" is a concept made up out of thin air by a white-haired boy and does not exist in this world at all.
He sighed softly, put the books back where they were, and then prepared to find a few more books to continue searching for information on the "Astrolabe".
However, at this moment, a familiar figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
It was an elegant woman with an oval face, willow eyebrows, and a green skirt, smiling slightly at him.
“Fellow Daoist Gu,” Shangguan Jin handed a piece of letter paper into his hand, “The Chief of Staff thinks that you will be very interested in what is written on this letter piece of paper, so he specifically asked me to give it to you. "Send it over."
"Thank you" Gu Xu took the letter and thanked him politely.
Then he lowered his head, unfolded the letter, and saw that it read
"A noteworthy collection in the imperial treasury of the Daqi Dynasty."
s Asking for a double monthly pass
Notes
1 Warring States Period Qi Min Xuan Fei Ge Chao Fei Ge.
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