Chapter 3 Chapter Two

Ten years ago, the Jianghu League "No. 1 Sword in the World" competition was held in full swing. Except for a few seniors who had retired to the mountains and forests, almost everyone in the Jianghu participated.Naturally, the couple who were admired by everyone who just won the Hero Sword and the Beauty Sword just a year ago were indispensable among them. If it wasn't for the sudden appearance of Shen Xun, a white-clothed boy who claimed to be from Moling, which shocked the entire Jianghu—in the eyes of everyone, the title of "First Sword" would have been in the pockets of the shocking young couple. Bar?

However, even Shen Xun, who had a mysterious background, was only equal to Xie Hongying in the initial round of sword competition.And everyone in Jianghu knew that among the young couple, Fang Liuyuan's swordsmanship should be slightly higher than Xie Hongying's - so relatively speaking, Fang Liuyuan's defeat of Shen Xun was also expected. ——No one would have expected that the final sword fight would have such a dire outcome: in front of tens of thousands of people, the young couple turned against each other and drew their swords to face each other.What is even more surprising is that Fang Liuyuan, who has never met an opponent since his debut, has always been at a disadvantage in the fight with his lover.

——The last time the two swords clashed, the flames burst out, and the hero's sword flew out of his hand.defeat. Everyone in the martial arts world watching the battle was stunned, seeing the 18-year-old girl standing quietly in the middle of the field with a sword, they immediately went into an uproar. The hero sword was defeated by the beauty sword! Xie Hongying's face showed no trace of joy after victory, she was as pale as death, but her eyes were as bright as lightning, looking directly at her lover, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.Fang Liuyuan's face was livid, he glanced at her, bent down to pick up his saber, and suddenly returned the sword and slashed! ——And Xie Hongying seemed to be insane, and there was no time to stop him, watching his lover commit suicide in front of him.

It was the twenty-year-old young master Shen Xun who stopped Fang Liuyuan in an instant. "Being defeated by her, would you rather die?" At that time, Shen Xun was eager to block with a horizontal sword, and the long sword in his hand was cut off by the hero's sword. However, looking at the couple who turned against each other, the young man in white looked cold, "Brother Fang, you are too narrow-minded." "Isn't it because of you? It's not because of you! - I'm going to kill you!" Fang Liuyuan suddenly turned his head to stare at Shen Xun, then hissed and counterattacked with a sword. .However, with a flash of crimson light, Xie Hongying snatched it with a pale face, parrying the Hero Sword.Maybe he used too much force in his eagerness, or maybe Fang Liuyuan was in a trance under his defeat, but the heroic sword was thrown out of his hand by the shock for the second time.

"Okay...Okay! Hello!" Looking at his lover in a daze, Fang Liuyuan gritted his teeth and sneered, then turned to look at Shen Xun with hatred in his eyes, "Just wait—sooner or later, I will use the hero sword to take it. Your dog's life!" After that battle, the nineteen-year-old Fang Liuyuan, who had just become the owner of the Hero Sword, was wounded and walked away, and disappeared from the rivers and lakes, taking the peerless magic weapon with him. On the arena, the face of the woman who has become the number one sword in the world is as pale as death, and everyone in the audience whispers - a young woman has won the title of number one in the world, which makes everyone feel bad, but there is no one. One can really beat her to go.

Everyone unanimously cast their eyes on Shen Xun, the white-clothed boy in a light robe and belt, but Shen Xun shook his head, saying that the two had a tie in the preliminary round, and did not want to challenge Xie Hongying again—this young boy who claimed to be from Moling, Appearing in the arena like a mystery, he participated in this sword competition, but he didn't care about his name at all. When the leader announced the result, the eighteen-year-old girl who had been standing in the middle of the ring suddenly spoke up, pointing her sword at Shen Xun who was watching the battle: "The real first sword should be him! —— I just rely on the beauty sword, In order to draw with him, in fact, the superiority has been judged."

——Everyone looked in shock at the girl who had just defeated her lover and won the number one title in the world. —So she didn't care about the title at all?Then, why did he mercilessly defeat Fang Liuyuan in public, and then turn around and hand over the honor to this strange boy so easily? Those words stunned Shen Xun, who had been watching the battle with a smile all along. The girl on the stage just withdrew her sword, and didn't go to take the lottery set by Jianghu League. She just left with a pale face.After walking three feet away, she raised her hand to cover her face and cried bitterly.

Since then, there has never been a beauty sword in Jianghu. Xie Hongying retired from the Jianghu in the 29th year, living beside the Xiling Bridge in Lin'an, and declined all visits. A pair of twin stars who had just risen in the martial arts world suddenly fell, and the heroic beauty disappeared from the rivers and lakes.In the arena, we can only vaguely guess why such a stunningly talented young couple turned against each other, and their blood splashed on the martial field. "It's not because of you!" - the words Fang Liuyuan said to Shen Xun before disappearing became the only clue.So everyone said: It was the mysterious young son who intervened between the pair of lovers, which caused the hero's confidant to turn against each other, and blood spattered three feet on the sword fighting field.And after Xie Hongying retired to Xiling, she didn't see any outsiders, except that she would have a small gathering with Shen Xun every Chongyang Festival, which seems to confirm this guess even more.

However, it has been ten years, and to the surprise of those hearsayers, for some reason, Shen Xun and Xie Hongying have never gotten married, and they just maintain such a relationship that gets together once a year and is always inseparable. "On the way to Lin'an, I stopped by the old leader Yan Lei and resigned from him as the leader of the Jianghu League. But I also promised that although I don't want to be the leader of Lao Shizi, if I need help, I will not stand idly by." Not wanting to continue this topic, he poured a glass of wine, and Shen Xun talked about what he had seen and heard on the road, "Xiao Xie, you have been living in seclusion for a long time, and you probably don't know that in recent years, the Daguang Palace of the Western Regions has shown signs of revival, and has repeatedly sent people into it. Zhongyuan incident."

While talking, as if thinking of something, the swordsman in white suddenly laughed, a little strangely: "Old leader Yan asked me to say hello to you, and said—" "I haven't seen him for a long time. His granddaughter Ling'er should get married this year too?" Xie Hongying asked calmly, "What did he say?" "Old leader Yan asked when we will get married." He took a sip of wine and put it in his mouth, but a smile couldn't help but flow out from the corner of Shen Xun's mouth, as if the smile he had been holding back for a long time finally came out, "Ahem."

"Oh my God," Xie Hongying was also startled, turning her head away dumbfounded, "Even his old man asked the same question—it's fine with others. Didn't you make it clear to the old leader that there is nothing between us?" "I don't dare to say it clearly." Shen Xun drank the wine in the glass seriously, with a wry smile on his face, and before Xie Hongying asked, he said, "If I say that, he will probably want me to marry his precious granddaughter— ——You also know that I can't afford to offend Yan Linger, that wild girl. After weighing the trade-offs, I'd rather bear the false name of you and me." "Yan Linger?" The appearance of that weird wild girl appeared in front of her eyes, Xie Hongying looked at her old friend's expression, and finally couldn't help laughing, "Shen Xun, are you using me as a shield?" Shen Xun smiled wryly, and shook his head: "There's nothing you can do about it, you should be wronged—anyway, there have been gossip and gossip outside the past ten years, and I don't care if one more person misunderstood me, right?" "Hey... Although you indulge in mountains and rivers and swim swords in the world, you are actually living a hard life, right?" Smiling, Xie Hongying slowly fell silent. The dishes on the table are already cold, and the red candle is about to burn out, " You are not young anymore, do you really plan to be like this for the rest of your life? Yan Linger is actually pretty good." "It's so good, how do you start a matchmaker?" Shen Xun frowned slightly, and smiled, but his expression was quite heavy, "If you ask yourself why you are like this, you will know me - I am also a fallen person in the world , why bother to be in such a hurry?" "That's different." Xie Hongying said calmly, raised her long eyebrows, and looked at the dark night sky, "Liu Yuan will come back to seek revenge on me sooner or later - so I wait. But... Su Mei has been dead for eight years You have been like this all the time, and I worry about you when I see it." "Don't worry, if something happens, it won't happen until eight years later." Although he comforted his old friend like this, the gloom in the eyes of the man in white persisted, and he tried to laugh, "What's more, if I have a family, And how can I travel around the world like today, and talk swords with you? ——Aren’t you impatient with me nagging you every year, and want to quiet your ears earlier? " "Listen, listen—a great hero, speak in this tone." Xie Hongying also laughed, but her brows were tired, and she suddenly sighed, "Actually, I don't regret defeating Liu Yuan in public at all—— Today, again, I choose the same." "It's my fault... If it wasn't for me, Fang Liuyuan wouldn't have misunderstood, and you wouldn't have ended up like that." Having the opportunity to apologize for the first time in ten years, Shen Xun put down his wine glass, sighed, his expression was calm, "Always Feel sorry." Sweeping hair and smiling, the woman shook her head: "It's none of your business? Without you, Zhang San Li Si would show up sooner or later, and he and I would have trouble sooner or later. He... well, to be honest, he was I can't afford that heroic sword." Speaking of the lover ten years ago, Xie Hongying still had complicated feelings between her brows, but her tone was calm. "He can't afford it, do you think I can afford it?" Suddenly, someone spoke outside the window with a cold voice. The two drinking under the window were startled, and looked up out of the window—the night was dark and the rain was still falling, but at some point, on the corner of the eaves of Zhanbi Building, a young man in Tsing Yi stood facing the wind with his sword in his arms. Seeing the two people in the building turn their heads to look over, the young man smiled coldly, turned the long sword in his hand upside down and held it flat, and slowly drew out the sword inch by inch——suddenly a thunder fell from the sky, and the lightning-like long sword cut across thousands of feet Canopy. ——However, the light of heaven and earth cannot take away the sharpness of the unsheathed sword in the young man's hand! "Hero Sword!" The two people under the window suddenly stood up and whispered at the same time. Standing on the overhanging eaves of the Zhanbi Building, he slowly drew out the heroic sword at the pair of men and women who looked like jadeites—he had been preparing for ten years to wait for this dream scene. "Who are you? Why is the hero sword in your hand?" The candle shadow under the window was red, and the handsome woman asked in surprise, her eyes looked at the long sword in his hand, and her fingers subconsciously grasped the saber. Oh... is that Xie Hongying?The name that has lingered in his heart for ten years and has never been forgotten! Big brother... Big brother, now, I finally see her.Sure enough, she no longer recognized me. "Don't you know me?—I'm Fang Jie." Inch by inch, he finally drew out the sword. The young man stood in the rain and replied coldly, with an expression of aloofness on his youthful face, "I'm here for my elder brother. you." "Xiao Jie?" Xie Hongying brushed aside the curtain, with a faint expression of hesitation in her brows, as if she was trying to remember something, but looking at the young man holding a sword in the rain, she couldn't help being surprised, "Then what about Liu Yuan?" Why didn't he come! Why didn't he come by himself! Where did he go?" "Ask the person next to you! Didn't he tell you?" The young Fang Jie's eyes fell on Shen Xun who was standing side by side with Xie Hongying. Suddenly, he was as cold as a knife, sneered, and slowly raised his finger to the sky. Love, my elder brother went here three years ago—" "Shen Xun!" With a sudden shock, Xie Hongying felt his body go limp, and hurriedly raised his hand to support the window lattice, and turned to look at his long-time best friend aside, "You, you knew Liu Yuan's whereabouts earlier? You killed him? You have been there for three years?" Did you kill him before?!" "Xiao Xie." Seeing the woman's eyes like this, Shen Xun's heart turned cold, but after all, he still suppressed his arrogant character, and broke down in a low voice, "I didn't kill him——I didn't kill him." "So, you really have been hiding it from me?" Before he could say any more, Xie Hongying sneered, and suddenly swung the Hongyan sword across, forcing him to take three steps back, "And said you couldn't find him! —— If you kill him, of course no one will find him! Why did you kill Liuyuan? For that heroic sword?" "Xiao Xie!" Hearing such cold words, Shen Xun's face turned pale, "I have known you for ten years, do you think I am this kind of person? If you want to win the hero sword, I won it openly in the arena ten years ago. Why wait all these years!" Xie Hongying was startled suddenly, looking at the calm and familiar eyes of the man in white in front of her, the consciousness lost because of the sudden bad news finally slowly receded from her heart.She was silent, but she had already let go of the hand holding the sword. "Upright?" Originally, he was holding his sword and listening coldly, but the boy on the eaves couldn't help but sneered, with indescribable contempt, "Instigate my elder brother and Miss Xie to kill each other, you want to take it!" The benefits of being a fisherman—is it considered fair and aboveboard? What a great Xia Shen, son of Moling." "Heh." Facing the young man's equally cold accusation, Shen Xun didn't seem to care, just sneered slightly, "What happened ten years ago, what did your elder brother do?" "My elder brother has been killed by you! How else should I ask him!" Fang Jie's eyes suddenly brightened, murderous look filled the air, "Now, I only need to do the two things he entrusted to me - one of which is to kill you !" Amidst the young man's stern voice, the Hero Sword seemed to be stimulated by its master's murderous intent, and it echoed long and softly. "It's okay, I've been waiting for ten years. What about the other one?" Shen Xun raised his eyebrows lightly, looking at the young man in front of him, there was actually a hint of admiration in his eyes - such a murderous look and edge, only at this age Is it only in the child?When I was eighteen or nineteen, I'm afraid I didn't have the five successes of the boy in front of me. "One more thing, I want me to give this thing to Miss Xie." Fang Jie's eyes fell on the woman in a daze, and suddenly it became complicated. He reached into his arms, took out a flat jasper box, threw it come over. "I'll open it for you." Afraid of cheating, Shen Xun raised his hand to hold the box, and opened it with a snap. Because of the deep hatred in the past, Xie Hongying was on full alert the moment the box was opened, and Hongyanjian was ready to grab the hidden weapon or poison from the block at any time. However, after the Jasper box was opened, she and Shen Xun both looked frozen. There is only one blue lotus flower in the box, which is as bright as life and has a delicate fragrance. "My elder brother said that Miss Xie has had headaches since she was a child, and this snow-capped green calyx lotus is the most effective cure." Looking at Xie Hongying's defensive expression when he threw the jasper box over, Fang Jie spoke calmly and indifferently, but in his eyes But it showed a complicated light again, "He stayed in the Western Regions for seven years, and he found one with great difficulty. He asked me to bring it back to the Central Plains for you no matter what." Hearing such words, even Shen Xun was stunned—ten years ago, in front of the heroes of the world, the heroic sword was defeated by the Hongyan sword, Xie Hongying shot down the long sword in his hand twice in order to protect Shen Xun, and the heroes of the world were in an uproar—that The blow once made Fang Liuyuan feel ashamed and angry, and after failing to commit suicide, he left for a foreign land. ——The resentment towards Xie Hongying in his heart can only be imagined. However, ten years later, the last words left were like this. "Oh... Unexpectedly, he is still such a person." Muttered, as if feeling some emotion, Shen Xun paid respect to that person for the first time, and handed the green lotus in his hand to Xie Hongying who was already completely infatuated . "He doesn't even hate me..." With a lot of emotion, the grievances and resentments of the past ten years rushed to her heart, the woman sighed softly, tears were already in her eyelashes, she let go of the hand holding the sword, lowered her head and picked up the snow lotus flower tremblingly, Sniff gently. In the rainy night outside the window, the corners of Fang Jie's eyes moved slightly, and he silently bit the corner of his lips. "Be careful!" The moment Xie Hongying lowered her head and sniffed the fragrance of snow lotus, she seemed to sense something was wrong, Shen Xun suddenly shouted, and rushed over, without a sword at hand, she reached out eagerly, and the sword on the woman's waist jumped out , fell into his hands.Without even thinking about it, Shen Xun slashed at the lotus in her hand with a sword. However, it was too late - at that moment, that lotus flower exploded like smoke on Xie Hongying's cheek! "Xiao Xie! Xiao Xie!" A short distance away, the woman who couldn't help herself didn't realize the sudden danger. In Shen Xun's stern voice, the lotus flower in her hand suddenly exploded and splattered on her cheeks. With a spicy potion smell. It's poison—it's poison! Ten years later, because of her "betrayal" that day, Liu Yuan still poisoned her! The piercing pain made her unable to open her eyes for a moment, Xie Hongying subconsciously threw the lotus in her hand out of the window, and quickly retreated.However, the sneering sound of rotting skin and flesh on the left face still rang softly in his ears and spread rapidly. "Xiao Xie, don't move!" Suddenly hearing Shen Xun's shout, she stopped immediately without hesitation, "Don't move!" She had already stopped when his voice sounded, and at the moment she stopped, Shen Xun slashed back with a sword from bottom to top, his fingers were steady and fast, and the red face sword pressed against her left face and peeled off a thin layer of flesh! Blood flowed all over his face.In an instant, such a gorgeous woman was already indescribably frightening. "Be careful of Fang Jie!" Blood blurred her eyes, and the pain on her face had already made her aware of the serious damage to her appearance, but Xie Hongying ignored her and reminded sharply, "Leave me alone, be careful of Fang Jie! " The first thing, that boy has already done it - delivered this jasper box to her. Then, the second thing, he is going to attack Shen Xun, right? However, at that moment just now, Shen Xun could not care about the young man standing behind the rain curtain at all. Even if there was a huge murderous intent coming from behind, he could only care about Xie Hongying in front of him. "I won't take advantage of people's danger - to kill you, I will kill you openly and in front of the whole martial arts world!" However, watching this scene, the boy in the rain didn't do anything at all, his eyes were cold and arrogant. With a swipe, it seemed like a shock flashed in the rain, "I want you to suffer a humiliation ten times heavier than my elder brother's! My elder brother said that sooner or later, the hero sword will take your dog's life—I want Fulfill his promise!" Pulling the long sword, the boy went away with a long smile and disappeared into the dark rain. "It's so evil..." Listening to Fang Jie's infuriating expression, and seeing his gestures when he swung his sword, Shen Xun's eyes had a solemn light, "It is fundamentally different from the Huifengwu Liu swordsmanship handed down by Fang's family. Different—it seems, it seems to be the way of the Great Bright Palace?" "Great Guangming Palace of the Western Regions? The martial art of that demon palace?" Although Xie Hongying's eyes had been blurred by blood, he was stunned by the severe pain when he heard the words of the people around him, and exclaimed, "How do you know?" of?" "Don't talk—the blood on the left side of your face is all broken, and it won't stop once it moves." Shocked slightly, he quickly withdrew his eyes from the night, Shen Xun supported Xie Hongying, but didn't answer her question, just looked away from his clothes Tear off a piece of cloth from the sleeve, touch the points between the eyebrows, Wenxiang, and Tianji with your fingers to stop the bleeding, and wrap the white cloth around the woman's cheeks—just now, the blood soaked out. "Be patient, I don't bring wound medicine with me, I will send you back to Xiling Xiaozhu first." Fingers gently touched Xie Hongying's gauze-wrapped cheek, Shen Xun's voice was low and deep, and there was indescribable anger in his eyes ——He could also see that even if the injury healed, the magnificent face in front of him was completely ruined. "So ruthless... so ruthless! After all, it's Fang Liuyuan." Shen Xun's eyes, which were always calm and clear, became serious, and he sneered.The face under the gauze moved, Xie Hongying seemed to want to say something, but Shen Xun stopped her from speaking, helped her back to the seat and sat down, hesitated for a while, and finally said: "Forget it, no matter what, I won't say it in front of you." His not--now I can slowly tell you what happened three years ago. "That's right, three years ago, when I was traveling in Sword Rivers and Lakes, I met Fang Liuyuan. "It was in a glacier under the Lingjiu Snow Mountain in the Western Region. I saw him—he had changed a lot. If I hadn't recognized the heroic sword first, I wouldn't have recognized Fang Liuyuan at all. "He recognized me, but unfortunately he couldn't move at that time - I saw him sitting in the glacier and practiced his sword luckily, and he obviously showed signs of being possessed: ice and snow piled up on half of his body, while the river water was flowing on the other half of his body." Slightly bubbling and boiling! "Ice and fire are in conflict. It seems that most of them went astray when they were practicing inner strength. "I think he's probably unlucky if he continues to practice like this. It's a deserted place, and there's no one else who can save him—although because of the sword fight ten years ago, I don't feel bad for this person, but seeing death It's not my wish not to save him, I want to help him resolve the conflict of fire and ice in his body. "However, he would rather die than accept my help, and he broke his heart." Hearing this with concentration, Xie Hongying's eyes blinked, and tears fell silently.However, the tears that had just shed were immediately stained crimson by the blood on his face, and fell on Shen Xun's sleeves. Yes, yes...that was Liu Yuan's temper.So proud, he would rather die than allow others to underestimate him in the slightest, in order to become a strong man, he will use all means—— So, ten years ago, he would do that kind of thing and cause the two to break up? So, ten years later, he who has been reduced to bones, still refuses to let her go? "I didn't take the hero sword - I left the sword by his side and buried it together." Having said this, Shen Xun smiled bitterly, "It seems that the child saw me walking over from a distance and pressed his palm on the ground." His brother thought that I killed him." "Xiao Xie, the reason I didn't tell you about this is because I'm afraid you won't be able to bear it—you've been through a lot of hard work these past ten years, and I don't know what's holding you up?" The man in white shook his head, eyes flickering The light of pity, sighed softly, and continued to bandage her swiftly, "If... if you are waiting for him to come back, then, if I tell you that he is dead, I'm afraid you really won't be able to hold on. Live—I dare not risk it." "thanks." Half of her face was tightly wrapped in a white cloth, but looking at the man in front of her who bent over to cover her wound, and his indifferent eyes, Xie Hongying struggled lightly to say something, but just moved, her face was full of pain. Blood gushed out again.