Chapter 43 Forty-second refusal to survive

Xie Xiaofeng didn't understand: "To protect him?" Jian Chuanxue said: "I know he will save you, but if you don't die, he will definitely die in your hands." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Why?" Jian Chuanxue said: "Because as long as the two of you meet, someone will definitely die under the sword of the other party. Of course, the person who will die will definitely not be you." He continued slowly: "Because I know that you will never admit defeat under any circumstances, because as long as the third young master of the Xie family is still alive, he will never be defeated by someone else's sword!"

Xie Xiaofeng pondered, finally smiled slowly, and said: "You are right, I can die, but I must never be defeated by someone else's sword." He looked into the distance, let out a long breath, and said, "Because I am Xie Xiaofeng!" This sentence is likely to be the last sentence he said, because it is likely to be his last day. He could fall down at any moment.Because after he finished these words, he left without looking back.Although he knew that if he left, he would never find another chance for him to live. But he neither forced nor begged.It's like waving your hand to send away a cloud of clouds, without sentimentality or nostalgia.

Because although he cannot be defeated, he can die! The night was getting darker and the fog was thicker. Jian Chuanxue watched his thin and tired figure gradually disappear into the thick fog. He didn't even look back. ——A person can be so ruthless to himself, let alone others? Jian Chuanxue clenched his fists and gritted his teeth: "I can't say, never say..." His tone was very firm, but his men had already rushed out, shouting—— "Xie Xiaofeng, wait a moment." The color of the mist is misty, no one can be seen, and no response can be heard.He kept running and shouting until he fell down.

The soil is damp and salty like tears.Suddenly he saw a pair of feet. Xie Xiaofeng stood in front of him, looked at him with his head down. Jian Chuanxue didn't stand up, and said with tears, "I can't say it, just because if I say it, I will feel sorry for him." Xie Xiaofeng said: "I understand." Jian Chuanxue said: "But if I don't tell you, how can I be worthy of you?" He must not watch Xie Xiaofeng die. He must not leave his life alone. This violates a principle that he has never forgotten for a day in these twenty years. His whole body has been distorted by the painful struggle in his heart: "Fortunately, I finally thought of a way."

"What method?" "Only in this way can I feel at ease, and only in this way can I keep this secret forever." His knife stabbed into his bosom. The faint light of the knife flashed in the light thick fog. A thin but sharp short knife with a seven-inch-long blade had completely pierced his heart. If a person has a conscience, he would usually rather die than do something against his conscience.He still has a conscience. Dense fog and running water.Di flowers rustle beside the river bank.The river flows silently in the darkness, and the fog on the river is as thick as smoke.

The dreary river, the dreary weather. Xie Xiaofeng was sitting by the river bank among the grass flowers, the sound of running water was as soft as the breathing of a dying person.He was listening to the running water, and he was listening to his own breathing. The running water will never stop, but his breathing may stop at any time. What a bleak irony is this? Who would have imagined that Xie Xiaofeng, who is famous all over the world, would sit alone by the river bank, silently waiting to die? Death is not sad, it is his way of death that deserves to be sad. He chose to die this way only because he was too tired, and all the strength to struggle for life was gone now.It is said that when a person is dying, he will always have many strange memories of his life, and some things that have long been forgotten will come back to his memory at this time.

But he dared not even think about it.Right now he just wanted to talk to someone, any kind of person.He suddenly felt very lonely.Sometimes loneliness seems more unbearable than death. Otherwise, how could so many people die for loneliness in this world? There is wind blowing. On the river surface filled with thick fog, a faint spark suddenly flickered on and off. Not the lights, but the fire. A lone boat, a small red clay stove, the flickering firelight illuminates an old man sitting cross-legged on the bow, with green bamboo hat, green coir raincoat, and white hair like frost. There are bursts of bitter and clear fragrance in the wind. I don’t know if the cooking on the stove is tea or medicine?

A lonely boat, a weak fire, a lonely old man.For him, all the joys and sorrows in life must have become passing clouds.Is he also waiting to die? Looking at the old man, Xie Xiaofeng suddenly had an indescribable feeling in his heart, and suddenly stood up and waved. "Old man on the boat, can you roll the boat over?" The old man didn't seem to hear it, but he heard him asking: "What are you going to do?" Xie Xiaofeng said: "You are sitting in a daze on the boat alone, and I am sitting in a daze on the shore alone, why don't the two of us sit together and chat, so as to pass the long night."

The old man didn't speak, but with a sound of "Ai Nai", the light boat slowly slipped over. Xie Xiaofeng smiled. In this cold and damp fog, they met and felt an indescribable warmth. In the small copper pot on the fire, the water is already boiling, and the bitter and clear aroma is even stronger. Xie Xiaofeng said: "Is this tea? Or medicine?" The old man said: "It's tea, it's also medicine." He looked at the flickering sparks, with a strange expression on his aging face, and slowly continued: "You are still young, maybe you haven't yet tasted the taste of bitter tea."

Xie Xiaofeng said: "But I already knew that only after suffering will there be euthanasia." The old man turned his head, looked at him, and suddenly smiled, and there was a smile in every wrinkle on his face. Then he lifted the copper pot and said, "Okay, have a drink." Xie Xiaofeng said, "What about you?" The old man said: "I don't drink." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Why?" The old man narrowed his eyes and said slowly: "Because I have tasted enough of all kinds of bitterness in the world." This was a very sad sentence, but when it came out of his mouth lightly, it had a special taste.

Xie Xiaofeng said: "Since you don't drink it, why do you make tea?" The old man said: "The person who makes tea is not necessarily the person who drinks tea." There seemed to be fire flickering in his squinted eyes, and he continued slowly: "There are many things like this in the world. You are still young, so of course you don't understand." Xie Xiaofeng took the cup filled with bitter tea and almost couldn't help laughing. He wasn't laughing, and he didn't want to argue. There is nothing wrong with being seen as a young man, but the bad thing is that the young man is dying. The tea was still piping hot, and the thick bowl that held it was small, so he drank it in one gulp.Whether drinking tea or drinking, he drank quickly, and whatever he did, he did it quickly.Was it because he already felt that his own life would also end quickly? He finally couldn't help laughing, and suddenly said: "If I say something, you will be shocked." The old man looked at his mocking smile and waited for him to speak. Xie Xiaofeng said: "I am already a dying person." The old man wasn't surprised, at least he didn't show any signs of surprise. Xie Xiaofeng said: "I'm telling the truth." The old man said: "I can see it." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Aren't you going to drive me off the boat?" The old man shook his head. Xie Xiaofeng said: "But I will die here anytime, in front of you." The old man said: "I have seen people die, and I have seen dead people." Xie Xiaofeng said: "If I were you, I would definitely not want a stranger to die on my boat." The old man said: "You are not me, and you will not die on my boat." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Why?" The old man said: "Because you met me." Xie Xiaofeng said: "If I meet you, I won't die?" The old man said: "Yes." His voice was very cold, but his tone was very certain: "If you meet me, even if you want to die, you will die." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Why?" The old man said: "Because I don't want a stranger to die on my boat." Xie Xiaofeng laughed again. The old man said, "Do you think I can't save you?" Xie Xiaofeng said: "You only saw my wound, but not the poison in me, that's why you think you can save me." The old man said: "Oh?" Xie Xiaofeng said: "Although my injury is only on the flesh, the poison is already in the bone." The old man said: "Oh?" Xie Xiaofeng said: "No one can cure my poison." The old man said: "Not even a single person?" Xie Xiaofeng said: "Maybe there is another person." He patted his clothes and stood up, then slowly continued: "But this person will definitely not be you." The old man said, "So you want to go?" Xie Xiaofeng said: "I have to go." The old man said: "You can't go." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Could it be that I can't even leave after I met you?" The old man said: "No." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Why?" The old man said: "Because you drank my cup of bitter tea." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Do you want me to compensate you?" The old man said: "You can't afford it." Xie Xiaofeng wanted to laugh again, but couldn't. He suddenly found that his fingers and toes were completely numb, and it was gradually spreading upwards. The old man said: "Do you know what kind of tea you are drinking?" Xie Xiaofeng shook his head. The old man said: "That's Wumasan." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Wu Ma San?" The old man said: "That was Hua Tuo's secret recipe. After Hua Tuo died, it was lost for many years." He slowly continued: "But there is a person who is determined to find out the secret of this formula again. He has spent seventeen years of hard work, tasted all the herbs in the world, and even used his wife and daughter as experiments. .” Xie Xiaofeng said: "He succeeded?" The old man nodded slowly and said, "Yes, he succeeded, but his daughter has become blind, and his wife has also gone mad." Xie Xiaofeng looked at him in surprise, and said, "This person is you?" The old man said: "This person is not me, but he passed this secret recipe to me before he jumped into the river." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Has he jumped into the river?" The old man said: "If your wife and daughter become like that because of you, you will jump into the river too." He looked at Xie Xiaofeng coldly, and asked coldly, "Can you afford to pay for such a cup of tea?" Xie Xiaofeng said: "I can't afford it." He smiled wryly, and said again: "It's just that if I had known what kind of tea it was, I would never have drunk it." The old man said: "It's a pity that you have already drank it now." Xie Xiaofeng smiled wryly. The old man said: "So now your limbs must have started to go numb, even if you cut you, you will never feel pain." Xie Xiaofeng said: "And then?" The old man didn't answer, but slowly took out a black leather case. The leather case is flat and flat. Although it is very old, it has a strange luster due to the friction of human hands.The old man slowly opened the leather case, and a light blue light flashed inside immediately. The light of the blade. Thirteen knives. Thirteen knives with strange shapes, some are like hooks and sickles, some are like saws, some are long and narrow, and some are curved.These thirteen knives have only one common feature-the blades are all thin, thin and sharp.The old man stared at the thirteen blades, and suddenly a sharper light than the blades appeared in his aging eyes. "And then I'm going to use them against you." The old man finally answered Xie Xiaofeng's words: "Use these thirteen knives." Xie Xiaofeng sat down again.The terrible numbness has almost spread to his whole body, only his eyes can still see. He was also looking at the thirteen knives, he couldn't help but look at them. The river flows quietly, and the fire has gradually weakened. The old man picked up a long and narrow knife—a nine-inch long knife, only seven cents wide. "First, I will use this knife to cut your flesh." The old man said, "Your rotten flesh." "and then?" "Then I will use this knife against you." The old man picked up the hook-like knife again: "Use this knife to tear your flesh and blood." "and then?" "Then I'm going to use this knife to slash your flesh and blood." The old man chose another knife: "Scrape out the poison in your bones, dig it out, even the roots." The old man wants to tear your flesh and bones apart, but Xie Xiaofeng didn't even blink his eyes. The old man looked at him and said, "But I promise you will never have any pain at that time." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Just because I've already drank that bowl of Wumasan?" The old man said: "That's right, this is what Wumasan is for." Xie Xiaofeng said: "This is the only way to cure my poison?" The old man said: "Until now, it seems that there is only this one." Xie Xiaofeng said: "You already knew that I was poisoned by this kind of poison, so you prepared this method for me?" The old man said: "Not bad." Xie Xiaofeng said: "How did you know?" The old man said: "I have been watching you all the time." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Why?" The old man said: "Because I want to exchange one of your lives for another." Xie Xiaofeng said: "How?" The old man said: "I want you to kill someone for me." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Who are you going to kill?" The old man said: "A murderer." Xie Xiaofeng said: "Who did he kill?" The old man said: "Some people should be killed, and some people should not be killed." Xie Xiaofeng said: "So he should be killed?" The old man said: "I will never ask you to kill people who should not be killed, and you will never kill them!" There was a strange expression in his eyes: "I promise you will never regret killing him." Xie Xiaofeng didn't speak. He suddenly felt that terrible numbness had spread to his brain and heart. He could still hear the old man asking, "Do you want to die?" He also heard his own answer: "I don't want to." The last sound he heard was the sound of a blade scraping against bone. It was his own bones. But he didn't even feel it at all. Its daybreak.The sun is shining and the earth is shining. it's dark. The moon is bright and clear, and the sky is full of stars. Whether it is dark or dawn, there is always a beautiful side in life. If a person can live, why should he die? Who really wants to die? Xie Xiaofeng is not dead.His first feeling was that there were hands slowly massaging his heart. The hands were clean and stable, with rough calluses on the palms.Then he heard the sound of his own heartbeat, which gradually became steady from weak.He knew those hands had saved his life. The old man was looking at him, his tired and aging eyes became indescribably clear and bright, like the stars in an autumn night. He suddenly found that the old man was much younger than he thought. The old man finally let out a breath, and said: "Now you can live. As long as you want, you can live longer than anyone else. Now your bones have become like a freshly picked corn on the cob. Fresh and clean." Xie Xiaofeng didn't speak.He suddenly remembered what Jian Chuan said. ——There is only one person in this world who can save you. ——But if he saves you, he must die by your sword.