Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen

The night was dark, covering the bamboo forest to the south of the Peach Fairy Formation, without a ray of moonlight or breeze.This small bamboo forest is actually a mass grave.In the entire Taoxian Town, the corpses of those who had no owners, died young, had no money to bury, or died of serious diseases were all buried here.A dense mass of broken steles lay here and there, broken coffins and reed mats gave off a stench of corruption, and some shallower graves were torn apart by wild animals, revealing dark yellow bones. The corpses lay on the pillow, and the phosphorescent light floated in the air like a ghost's lantern, illuminating the surroundings with a miserable glimmer.

This purgatory scene has no end in sight.Bamboo shadows swayed, and from time to time owls and wild foxes would startle from the bamboo forest and let out a long and creepy howl. The man in black sat cross-legged in the mass grave, healing his injuries. The skin that had been burned by the fire was almost inseparable from the clothes on his body. When he tore it lightly, large pieces of skin fell off like dead leaves.Holding a sharp knife in his hand, he gritted his teeth and cut off the scorched skin on his body, and then smeared it with a layer of blue powder. When the pain came, even the man in black couldn't help but grin his teeth.

What hurts more is his heart. After traveling across the rivers and lakes for more than ten years, he never expected to be so embarrassed by three fledgling boys.His heart was burned with hatred, annoyance, and shame, and finally turned into a skyrocketing anger.He has made up his mind to dig out the half-rotted corpses here, combine Miao Jiang's Gu control technique, feed the corpses with his own flesh and blood, and sacrifice a group of Gu corpses. Gu corpses are a secret that the old man Huang Quan does not pass on, and he himself only knows a thing or two.Gu corpses are more powerful than golden corpses, but the method of sacrificial refining is also more dangerous. If you don't pay attention, you will be eaten by thousands of corpses. Dugu Jian and his party tore them to pieces one by one.

In front of him was a half-decomposed corpse. This kind of corpse is extremely rare. When it is half decomposed, due to the special climate or the change of terrain where the corpse is buried, the process of decay is stopped, and the corpse will remain half-rotten and half-dry forever.There is not one such corpse among a thousand.And only this kind of corpse can be trained into a Gu corpse. The man in black gritted his teeth and tore off his sleeve. He couldn't help letting out a muffled groan. With this tearing, a large piece of burned skin on his arm was also taken off.He ignored the medicine, took out a sandalwood box from his chest, and opened it carefully.

There are hundreds of red rice grains in the wooden box, but the "rice grains" are extremely plump, and they look crystal clear, as if they will burst from them at any time. Under the reflection of the surrounding phosphorescence, these rice grains are intertwined with red light and blue shadow, It emits a strange luster.The man in black gritted his teeth, wrapped the "rice grains" with the peeled off skin, and stuffed them carefully into the corpse's mouth. After a while, these "rice grains" squirmed slightly, and only heard a strange light sound, and centipede-like insects broke out of the "rice grains" and rushed to devour the skin of the man in black. After a while, they had grown to several inches long, and they pierced deep into the brain of the corpse one after another.

After a while, there was only a crackling sound, and the whole body of the corpse was covered with red silk threads, as if a dense net had grown from the inside, wrapping the whole body tightly, which looked extremely strange. The man in black was overjoyed, murmured a mantra, suddenly bit his middle finger, put blood on the forehead of the corpse, and shouted: "Get up!" Seeing the half-rotted corpse bang, it stood up vigorously.And the big blood-red net under its skin seemed to be inexplicably nourished, beating lightly, and the veins and blood that had been corrupted and dried up for a long time had been reborn in its body in an evil and strange way.

The man in black waved his bloody finger to the right: "Attack!" The corpse turned to the right following his movement, and slammed an elbow on the tombstone beside him. The tombstone made of stubborn stone turned into dust in an instant! The man in black was overjoyed, and was about to manipulate the corpse again, when suddenly, the corpse stopped moving and turned towards him slowly. That half-rotten face seemed to elicit a strange smile, and the empty eye sockets stared straight at him, as if the evil spirit had found the prey it had been looking for for a long time. It hissed and walked towards the man in black step by step.

The man in black was shocked, he couldn't help chanting the mantra, and squeezed out more blood from his fingertips. However, all these were completely ineffective, the corpse seemed to be driven by the devil, and regarded the original owner as the first prey after rebirth! The man in black had sensed that something was wrong, and was about to use the ground escape technique to slam it away, when the corpse suddenly opened its huge mouth and charged at the man in black. The power was like a roaring tsunami, attacking him, the breathing of the man in black had stagnated, and only heard a crisp sound, his arm was actually broken by the corpse!

The power of the Gu corpse is as strong as a servant! The man in black held back the severe pain and jumped towards the bamboo forest behind him. He had been controlling the corpse for many years and knew that the only shortcoming of the corpse was lightness.As long as he can climb the bamboo branch, he can escape the pursuit of the corpse. However, his body was in mid-air, and a chill rose from his heart. The Qi in his whole body suddenly condensed, and he couldn't move at all. He raised his head reluctantly, and saw that ferocious face looming in front of him, the red net under the decayed skin was pulsating, and several sharp long teeth protruded slowly from its mouth, ready to bite down on his neck!

The man in black knew that there was no physiology, so he had to close his eyes. Death did not come as expected, but a faint voice rang in my ears: "You have held the corpse for many years, and this time it is considered as a cocoon." The man in black was taken aback, there were actually people in this bamboo forest?He opened his eyes in panic, only to see the corpse with its huge mouth open, sticking to his side, the long sharp teeth were only an inch away from his neck, but they were blocked from then on, unable to move an inch, as if the mysterious The demonic power instantly returned to nothingness.

This scene was somewhat funny, but the man in black couldn't laugh at all.Because he had seen the person behind the corpse. The visitor was fluttering, his whole body was shrouded in a layer of silver light, and there was a little purple beast crouching on his shoulder, looking at him with a very desolate expression, smiling. The man in black was shocked, this man and beast seemed to have been in the bamboo forest for a long time, but he didn't notice it at all, how could this be possible?Could it be that he is really an immortal from the upper realm who accidentally appeared in Purgatory to transform himself? But the thought was fleeting.Where are there gods and Buddhas in this world, even if there are, they are my sworn enemies! The man in black gritted his teeth and said, "Who are you, why can you counter-accuse my Gu corpse?" Chen Suiyun smiled lightly and said: "A few years ago, I brought some gifts to your master Huang Quan. In exchange, he lent me all the secret books in the distribution. Therefore, this technique of controlling corpses is not my opponent. .If you want to defeat me, you must use other methods." The man in black was dubious: "Even if you have practiced the technique of controlling corpses, but this corpse is my flesh and blood, and has been in harmony with my mind, how can you let him attack me instead?" Chen Suiyun looked at him, with some pity in his eyes: "That's just because our blood has undergone the same magic sacrifice, and I happen to have a higher level of cultivation than you." The man in black said in surprise: "You...you also know how to search the soul of the blood demon?" Chen Suiyun nodded: "You must also know that the people who know this kind of magic are not limited to you and me. This kind of magic will have a different appearance in the hands of each practitioner. You will become a vertical gu The method of controlling corpses..." He paused, turned his eyes to the distance, and said with regret: "As for Longba, he uses the technique of getting more injured and braver. His understanding of this technique is actually deeper than yours. It's a pity, I made a promise to him not to trouble him for the time being, so you became the first substitute." The man in black looked at him and asked suspiciously, "How do you know so much? What is your purpose in looking for me?" Chen Suiyun smiled and said: "I came to you because I want you to fight with me—to fight with the blood demon soul search technique." The man in black said: "Impossible! Once the blood demon's soul search technique is used, at least all martial arts will be lost, and at worst, he will be killed on the spot." Chen Suiyun is still smiling, but his eyes are a little dark: "Do you think you can still choose?" The man in black took a deep breath and gradually clenched his fists. He already understood that what the man in front of him wanted was his own life.Although this person's martial arts are far superior to his own, he has killed countless times in his life, and the retribution of life and death has long been ignored. As long as your knife is faster, this head is up to you! The whole body of the man in black made a rattling sound, obviously he has decided to go all out! Chen Suiyun shook his head: "Not now." The man in black punched the ground and said angrily, "If you want to kill me, kill me. If you want to slowly humiliate me, that's absolutely impossible." Chen Suiyun put the giant tail of the sandalwood beast around his neck, and said with a faint smile: "I never kill the dying. You first fought with Long Ba and others, and then you were eaten by the Gu corpse. It is already at the end of your strength. I want to kill , don’t need to borrow other people’s hands.” The man in black was startled: "Then what do you want?" Chen Suiyun said: "Take you to a secluded place, come and fight with me after you recover from your injuries." As soon as the words fell, a ray of purple light came out from his hand, before the man in black could resist it, the purple awn The awn has penetrated the body. The man in black felt that his smile was gradually blurring, and the phosphorescence and silver shadows around him finally merged into one, inseparable... It was the fourth year of Song Gaozong Shaoxing. Song and Jin have fought each other for many years, the state of Jin is advancing day by day, the middle land is lost, and the war is thousands of miles away.In the peaceful corner of the Song Dynasty, civilization was finally chased by barbaric force and had nowhere to hide, which made a sad footnote for the civil service politics of the Song Dynasty. In order to coerce the Song Dynasty and suppress the anti-Jin rebel army that swarmed in the rear, in September of the fourth year of Jianyan, the Jin Kingdom canonized Liu Yu as the son emperor, the country name was "Qi", and the capital was Daming Mansion, and then moved to Kaifeng to rule Jingdong. , Jingxi and other places, known as Puppet Qi in history.When Liu Yu came to the throne, he was "supported by all the people", and he also aspired to be a good monarch. He thought that the civil affairs of the Song Dynasty were lenient, so he did the opposite, "specializing in power to help lenient".Excessive taxation and excessive collection, severe punishment and cruel law, the people are persecuted, and the people of the Li people suffer disaster. You must know that although the Song Dynasty never gained an advantage in confronting neighboring countries, the Northern Song Dynasty had the Liao Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty had the Jin Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty had the Yuan Dynasty, and finally fell into the hands of foreign races. , but the bane of the subjugation of the country is not in civil politics.A system is just a system, and no system is absolutely perfect.Since the Song Dynasty with civil servant politics was inevitable, even the Song Dynasty with military officer politics was inevitable.The disaster of the Southern Song Dynasty's demise should have originated in the Northern Song Dynasty. When the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty used troops, after repeated battles, the military strength of both countries was greatly weakened.At that time, Empress Dowager Xiao of the Liao Kingdom was in power, and many important officials in the court had different ideas.Empress Dowager Xiao had far-sighted thinking and realized that the longer the war lasted, the more credits would be accumulated by her subordinates.If the power is high, it is a very dangerous thing, so there is a heart to negotiate.However, the Northern Song Dynasty had used troops for many years, and its national strength would also be exhausted. Therefore, under the plan of Kou Zhun, the two countries entered into the Chanyuan Alliance, Song Dynasty paid 300,000 silver, Liao respected Song as his brother, and had a good relationship from generation to generation.The Liao Kingdom did not break this promise, and the Liao Dynasty never fought against the Song Dynasty again.Although the Song Dynasty paid tribute to silver at an early age, compared with the consumption of the war, it is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket.The two big countries, which were originally enemies, have actually exchanged peace for generations. And this is precisely the basis for the decline of the Song Dynasty.Later, the Liao Kingdom was replaced by Jin, and it was precisely because of this. Although Song and Liao were the most powerful at that time, there were Xixia in the west, Tubo in Tibet, and Dali in the south. They all established their own countries and were not annexed.Originally, Song and Liao had each other's offense and defense, and each stationed troops to perform martial arts. They were vigilant day and night, and they did not dare to reduce their military strength.But after the Chanyuan alliance, as the peace talks went on for a long time, the worries of the two countries were gone, and they were both accustomed to peace.Since there is no motivation to worry, no matter whether it is civilian politics or military politics, it can't cheer up.Therefore, the root cause of the decline of the Song Dynasty's military power and its final demise is the old saying of Mencius: "Born in sorrow, die in peace."And the most direct trigger was the Chanyuan alliance that Kou Zhun was proud of at that time, thinking that it would lay the foundation of the Song Dynasty forever. Therefore, having a powerful enemy is not necessarily a bad thing.If there is no room for other people to sleep soundly on the side of the couch, then do the utmost to wipe out all enemies, no matter big or small.Then there will be no later gold, and the Southern Song Dynasty will not perish. And the momentary peace and happiness of the Northern Song Dynasty was doomed to the Southern Song Dynasty to bear the consequences.The Kingdom of Jin and the puppet Qi were mutual aid, and the court of the Southern Song Dynasty was afraid of the enemy's partiality, and retreated steadily. The great country was occupied by Jin Qi. In March, Marshal Zuodujian Wanyan Wushu of the Jin Dynasty joined forces with 20,000 puppet Qi troops to fight against the Song army at Mou Shigang, northwest of Kaifeng City.Li Heng, Niu Gao and other troops had no armor, and were defeated by the Jin Fang's heavy armored cavalry.Since then, the Song army has been in a slump, and by October, not only Fengniu Shanzhai, Dengzhou, Suizhou, Tangzhou, Xiangyangfu and other places in Yiyang County have fallen one after another. The troops that Dugujian and others mixed in belonged to Li Qiong, a subordinate of Liu Guangshi, the Jiedu envoy guarding Huainan West Road.In the battle with the Jin-Qi allied forces, he suffered a crushing defeat, lost Xiangyang, and was retreating to Yingzhou.The army is newly defeated, morale is low, and they only care about escaping for their lives. Who cares if someone sneaks in?After years of fighting, the supply of soldiers was insufficient, so they recruited strong men from the local people and replenished them as they went. It was really unclear which ones were newcomers and which ones were old ones.Five people had just escaped from the fire, their faces covered with black ashes, and they looked exactly like these defeated troops.What's more, everyone is afraid of the Jin army, only deserters, no volunteers, some volunteers to join the army, the officers are too happy, I am afraid they will turn around and leave after they have figured it out, a few people handed over the armor, urging them to put it on quickly. Once you put on the armor, it belongs to the regular establishment, and if you want to escape, you need to be served by military law.The officer was quite proud of his quick talent, Dugu Jian and the other five were even more delighted, they snatched it and quickly put it on.After a suit of armor is put on, everyone looks similar.It is really more difficult for the men in black to find them than to reach the sky.The five people were overjoyed when they thought of this. Seeing Wu Qingwei's smile, Dugu Jian's delicate dimple was reflected in the sun, and her beauty was shining brightly, his heart moved, and he wiped the black ash from his hand on her face.Just as Wu Qingwei was about to scold, she suddenly remembered that there were no women in the army, so she kept her mouth shut, gave Dugu Jian a hard look, turned her head, and carefully spread the black ash evenly.Dugu Jian couldn't help laughing when he saw that although she was painted with black ash, it was still extremely detailed, as if she was applying fat and powder, and would never let it have the slightest unevenness.He was afraid that Wu Qingwei would stare at him again, so he forcibly held back. Wu Qingwei took out a small bronze mirror and looked at it front, back, left, and right. She seemed dissatisfied and repainted it a few times before suddenly saying to Jiang Long in a rough voice: "Brother, if you want to hurry, go faster, don't procrastinate." of!" Jianglong was startled by her unexpectedly, and after looking carefully for a long time, he suddenly realized that he pointed at her and said, "You...you..." Wu Qingwei still said roughly: "Why is this brother so surprised to see me?" Jianglong laughed out loud, and was about to laugh at her when an officer in front turned around and said sharply, "No noise!" The surrounding soldiers all looked over, and Jianglong couldn't help being overwhelmed by the momentum, he quickly lowered his head and hurried on in a muffled voice.Wu Qingwei chuckled a few times, and the officer glared at each other again, so she had no choice but to walk away with her head down. After walking for more than 30 miles, the army stopped and stationed on a hillside called Huyang Hill.The gang leader buried the pot to make food, and the rest of the soldiers rested in place.The five people ran away anxiously for days, and once they were safe at this time, they all felt exhausted and fell asleep.The soldiers in the army also rested in twos and threes, but no one came to take care of them.When it was dark, two gang leaders came over with a big bucket of rice and said loudly, "It's time to eat!" So everyone was given a large spoonful of military food.Gui Yinzi took a mouthful and vomited it all out.The rice was boiled mixed with vegetables, with some oil and salt sprinkled indiscriminately, so there was rice and vegetables.But the taste is really unpalatable, some of the rice is raw, and some are burnt, how can it be honored by Gui Yinzi? Wu Qingwei said worriedly: "Teacher, you haven't eaten for several meals, and you only drank a pot of wine in Taoxian Town. Are you really not hungry?" Gui Yinzi shook his head and said, "There is a bird in the south. Its name is owl chick. It's not a sycamore tree. It doesn't eat unless it's practiced. It doesn't drink unless it's a sweet spring. Why don't I?" Wu Qingwei resolutely put down the food and said, "Master is really strong! I will accompany you!" Dugu Jian and Jianglong endured the smell and taste of the food, and swallowed with difficulty.Wu Qingwei said contemptuously: "Only pigs can eat this kind of food!" Jianglong shouted: "You ate so much in Taoxian Town, of course you're not hungry anymore!" Wu Qingwei crossed her waist and said, "Who told you not to eat? You are only worrying about gold and silver corpses, I'm already full! I just walked for a while to digest, it's really comfortable." She patted her stomach and sighed with satisfaction.Gui Yinzi also sighed together, but one of them was smiling gloatingly, while the other was frowning, regretting too late. There was a sudden sound of drums, Jianglong and Dugujian were startled, and said, "What's wrong?" However, the soldiers around them all stood up in panic, scrambling to pick up their weapons, and they formed a crooked line amidst the officers' furious shouts and curses.Long Ba sighed, looking sadly at this team with no military discipline and no combat effectiveness. Yes, this is the team that the Song Dynasty relied on to defend its home and country, and this is the Great Wall of flesh and blood that it relied on to fight against the 300,000 troops of Jin and Qi. But how to fight against it?Long Ba sighed deeply, and followed Dugu Jian and others in the queue.Hearing the repeated yelling and cursing from the leading officer, Long Ba felt that the unhealed wound was burning with pain again. Suddenly, there was a burst of passionate drumming from the opposite hill, and everyone felt their eyes light up, and a large group of people and horses came out from the other side of the mountain in an orderly manner.The armor is bright, and the cold light from the tip of the knife and gun is shining, which looks so dazzling in this dark night.The officer of the Song Army stopped shouting and cursing immediately, his eyes stopped on these strong bodies in awe, and his hand on the handle of the knife trembled slightly. However, the Song army did not dare to retreat. If the army was ordered to retreat, it would immediately turn into a rout. But even if you don't retreat, will there be a way out? The Jin army moved forward slowly, and stopped thirty feet away from the Song army.All of a sudden, the air became extremely stuffy, and a heavy sense of oppression clung to everyone's hearts, making them hard to breathe.Even Wu Qingwei felt the suffocating pressure, and became extremely solemn. This is the suffocation of the heavy rain in the future, the tranquility when the building is about to lean forward, the sound sleep of the new nightmare, the reflection of the dying, and the short pause before the iron hoof of fate is about to step out. Slowly, a horse rode out from the golden army and walked to the middle of the two armies.Immediately it was a Song man, but his face was full of the arrogance of a golden man, pointing at the Song army with his whip, he said loudly: "You guys, is there anyone who is willing to fight with the army?"