Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

Kaifeng is one of the ancient capitals in the history of our country. During the Warring States Period, Daliang was the capital of many, and the following five dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty were all established here.In particular, the Song Dynasty established its capital here for the longest time, so there are also the most historical sites left over.And the most famous historic site is the iron tower. The weather was fine that day, Ruan Wei and Wen Yi came to the iron tower, and saw that there were eight iron towers, a total of thirteen floors, about ten feet high, standing majestically, towering into the sky.

Ruan Wei admired: "I don't know how the ancients built this tower? It's hard to guess?" Wen Yi said with a smile: "Eldest brother, even if he wants to break his head, he can't figure it out. Don't think about breaking his mind, how about going up to the tower to play?" Ruan Wei was amused by him, and immediately entered the tower hand in hand. Walking into the pagoda, Ruan Wei looked up and saw rows of Buddha statues sitting cross-legged, changing from big to small to blurred and disappearing. It turned out that there was a delicate Buddha statue imprinted on the bricks inside the pagoda.

Ruan Wei couldn't help but feel a sense of solemnity, and he seemed to have some kind of feeling in his heart, as if this place suited his temperament very well. One must know that the Tianlong Thirteen Swords practiced by Ruan Wei is a skill that is deeply integrated with Buddhist principles. If he does not have a thorough understanding of Buddhism, the strength of the swordsmanship will be 40 to 50 percent at most, and it will not be able to reach the peak. This pagoda is a building that represents Buddhism. Although Ruan Wei has not studied Buddhism, his roots have been deeply rooted due to practicing the Thirteen Swords of Tianlong. Seeing the Buddha is like meeting a long-forgotten acquaintance. In another state, he completely forgot everything in the world.

Seeing his crazy appearance, Wen Yi secretly smiled and said: "Brother is such a petty temper, I was fascinated by watching it." He quickly shook his head and said, "Big brother! Big brother!" Ruan Wei woke up suddenly, Wen Yi said with a smile: "Look at you..." Ruan Wei felt lost and said, "I seem to have been here before?" Wen Yidao: "Didn't you say that you have never been to Henan?" Ruan Wei replied: "Yes!" Wen Yi smiled and said: "You're really thinking about it again, there is only one Kaifeng Iron Tower in the world, have you ever seen it before?"

Ruan Wei said with a smile: "I don't know why I was dumbfounded, I really made my virtuous brother laugh at me." Wen Yi said: "Stop talking, let's go up and play." This tower spirals up and can reach the top directly, but because the tower is too high and has been in disrepair for a long time, people who are not strong and courageous dare not try it easily. When ordinary tourists go up to the fifth or sixth floors, they already know Difficult to retreat. At the seventh floor, there were no tourists, Ruan Wei thought Wen Yi was a frail scholar, and said with a smile, "My dear brother, shall we go down?"

Wen Yi observed Ruan Wei's intentions, knowing Ruan Wei's intentions, and deliberately said: "Brother looks down on younger brother!" Ruan Wei said anxiously: "I didn't look down on my virtuous brother..." Wen Yi smiled and said: "Then let's go up and have a look!" Ruan Wei figured out what Wen Yi meant, and said with a smile: "It's such a petty temper, I made my elder brother anxious, and I don't care if I go up and cry later." Wen Yi smiled slightly, but in his heart he was very grateful for his concern. The uppermost floor of the tower is very narrow, but it can accommodate more than ten people. There are windows on each floor of the tower for tourists to look at. When they reach the thirteenth floor, Ruan Wei looks back at Wen Yi and sees that he is out of breath. Praise him for his good health.

Walking to the window, the two looked out, but saw the turbulent Yellow River, which looked like a wide and endless yellow belt, winding and flat on the ten thousand hectares of white sand. After watching for a long time, Wen Yi suddenly exclaimed, it turned out that the water surface of the Yellow River was not only far above the ground level, but also higher than the city wall of Kaifeng. The whole city of Kaifeng seemed to be at the bottom of a cauldron. It seemed to people that if the embankment next to the yellow belt was washed away, the whole city of Kaifeng would turn into a country of floods.

When Ruan Wei saw this great scene, his heart was like the raging Yellow River, churning and boiling, as if his own sword could act like a dike to stop the Yellow River from flooding. He couldn't help thinking of the divine power of the Heavenly Dragon Thirteen Swords, and he turned around and stared in thought. On the wall opposite each window of the iron tower, there is a three-foot-high yellow glazed Buddha built by Zhou Fan in the 29th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty. . Ruan Wei suddenly saw the majestic and solemn statue under the tide of thoughts, and his mind immediately entered into a state of ecstasy.realm.

After a long while, he murmured to himself, "It's true that Buddhism is boundless..." At this moment, he had great confidence in the power of Tianlong Thirteen Swords. Seeing that Ruan Wei was demented again, Wen Yi thought to himself: "This tower is a bit evil, we can't let big brother stay any longer, otherwise he will really lose his mind." He shouted: "Brother, let's go down." Ruan Wei calmed down and said with a smile: "Your brother, are you afraid?" Wen Yi nodded again and again, he only wanted to get out of this iron tower quickly, so that Ruan Wei wouldn't be in a daze anymore.

Ruan Wei had something to gain, and said with a continuous smile: "Then let's go down." On the fifth floor, looking out from the window, I saw several people surrounded in front of the pagoda, the tourists stood far away, and two people in the circle were performing martial arts and shouting from time to time. Ruan Wei looked curiously, and saw two people in the arena, each holding a weapon, fighting desperately. Among them, the one holding a steel knife was a beggar with three sacks on his back. teach fighting." The other person is holding a judge's pen and is dressed in purple. He is the disciple of Tianzheng Sect in purple clothes, and there are six Tianzhengjiao Jianjian in blue clothes standing around him.

But the gang of beggars has only those three bags of beggars.At that time, the popularity of the Beggars' Gang was far below that of the Justice Gang and Tianzhengjiao, but when they mentioned the Beggars' Gang in the Jianghu, they all gave a thumbs up and praised "Good!" neck and neck. The martial arts of the three-bag beggars were not as good as those of the purple-clothed disciples of Tianzheng, and his tattered clothes were torn to pieces by the judge's strokes, and blood was faintly leaking out. Seeing that the three bags of beggars were about to die under the pen of the judge, the tourists all knew the viciousness of the fight against God, and watched from a distance, but no one dared to stand out. But the three-bag beggars didn't show any intention of retreating and running away, they wielded the steel knife and tried their best to resist. The man in purple showed an opening to lure the three-bag beggar to attack, and then with a unique move, he dodged behind the three-bag beggar, and the judge's pen pierced his vest like a gust of wind. The three-bag beggar was eager to attack the enemy, but he was completely ignorant of the fatal move the enemy made. Ruan Wei had already heard his grandfather Xiao Sanye praise the Beggars' Gang for being so heroic, seeing the disciples of the Beggars' Gang in trouble, he couldn't help himself and jumped out of the window. He swept down, his fingers were like hooks, and dug at the eyes of the purple-clothed man, the purple-clothed man suddenly saw a flying god-like figure descending from the sky, before he could attack the enemy, he wanted to protect himself first, and quickly retreated. Ruan Wei's lightness kung fu is much better than him, with a light move, he has already grabbed behind the purple-clothed man, and raised his foot towards his buttocks. The man in purple never imagined that the other party's Qinggong was so strong that he was picked up by a dog and fell to the ground. He got up in embarrassment, knowing that he was no match, he let out a soft cry, and fled quickly with the six men in blue. The three-bag beggar narrowly escaped death, cupped his fists in thanks and said, "Thank you, Mr., for saving me. I am very grateful." At this time Wen Yi had already walked to Ruan Wei's side, and praised: "Brother is so majestic!" Ruan Wei clasped his fists in both hands and said back: "There! There! Seeing the road is rough, I draw my sword to help. The little brother is just at the right time." The three-bag beggar said: "I don't want to thank you for your great kindness. I will see you later." After clasping his fists again and about to leave, Wen Yi suddenly said, "Wait a minute!" He took out an ingot of silver from his pocket and stuffed it into the hand of the three bags of beggars, saying: "Your injury is very serious, take it for treatment." The three-bag beggar asked, "Is the donor's surname Wen?" Wen Yiqi said: "Yes! How do you know?" The three bags of beggar Cao Jiaohui threw the silver and said angrily: "Even if the little beggar is seriously injured to death, I don't want the silver surnamed Wen to treat the wound." After all, he turned and left angrily. Seeing that he was humiliated and worshiped his younger brother, Ruan Wei wanted to go up to him to reason, Wen Yi persuaded: "Forget it, maybe he recognized the wrong person and regarded my younger brother as an enemy, let him go!" Ruan Wei smiled and said, "Your brother has such a good temper!" Wen Yi said with a smile: "Brother, just stop talking about my temper, no need to praise me." Ruan Wei laughed and said, "Do you think you are just being petty?" Wen Yi smiled, and the two left hand in hand. There are two famous giant lakes in Kaifeng, which are called Panyang Lake when they are combined. Separately, one is called Panhu Lake and the other is called Yanghu Lake. The water in the two lakes is usually the same, but there are differences when the water is changed. The water in Yanghu Lake remains clear, but the water in Panhu Lake has become turbid. According to legend: Pan Lake is the former residence of Pan Mei in Song Dynasty, and Yang Lake is the former residence of Yang Ye. Due to the excavation of ancient relics by later generations, it gradually became a giant lake. Yang Ye was a famous general at that time. His descendants were called Yang Family Army or Yang Family Generals. They loyally defended the Song Dynasty. Always keep clear, symbolizing the innocence of the Yang family. Pan Mei was a well-known treacherous official at the time, Su and Yang Ye were at odds, and repeatedly framed the generals of the Yang family, causing the Song Dynasty to decline day by day, so the lake became turbid after his death, symbolizing Pan Mei's filth. Ruan Wei and Wen Yi were going to Longting for a visit, passing a road that looked like a dike, with Pan and Yang Lakes on both sides of the road. They walked and talked, talking about the past of the two lakes, they couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion. Walking to the middle of the lake, he suddenly saw five old beggars with white hair and silver beards standing on the road, each with six sacks on their backs. Ruan Wei said in surprise, "It's the five elders of the Beggar Gang!" Wen Yiqi asked, "Who are they waiting for in the middle of the road?" Suddenly, a beggar with three bags wrapped up in white cloth appeared from behind the tree. Wen Yi shouted: "Look, brother, the beggar who was injured in the morning is also there!" Ruan Wei said, "It's really that Cao's ashes from the morning." The two of them walked up to the five elders of the beggar gang, and the tallest old beggar said, "The one of you is named Wen!" The old beggar with the shortest stature said: "You don't have to ask, isn't the younger one, who is it!" Ruan Wei respectfully said: "The five elders asked the younger generation what advice they have for worshiping younger brothers?" The tallest beggar pointed his fingers and said, "These four are the beggar's righteous brothers. Our names have long been forgotten. In Jianghu, we only call one elder. Second elder, third elder, fourth elder, fifth elder." Now he introduced them to Ruan Wei one by one, and Ruan Wei could easily remember them at a glance. It turned out that the five elders were arranged in order of height and order, and they were not chaotic at all. An old man from the beggar gang was very polite to Ruan Wei and talked for a long time. The four elders of the beggar gang said impatiently: "Is that brother of yours really surnamed Wen?" Wen Yi hurriedly said: "That's right! My surname is Wen, so why not take it seriously!" The fifth child of the beggar gang was the most irritable, and shouted: "That's good!" Then he moved a stone and put it on the side of the road. The three elders of the beggar gang asked suddenly, "Is your father still alive?" As he said that, he also moved a stone to block the road. Wen Yiqi said: "Of course my father is alive, if you are old, it's time to go to the ground!" The second elder of the beggar gang laughed and said: "It's time to go to the ground, but before we go to the ground, we have to drag an old ghost with us." While talking and joking, he moved a stone and put it behind Ruan Wei. Wen Yi asked, "Who is it?" The fifth member of the beggar gang shouted: "Who do you say!" After finishing speaking, he hurriedly moved a stone and put it beside him. Ruan Wei secretly said: "What are they doing?" Wen Yi smiled and said, "It can't be me and elder brother!" An old man from the beggar gang also moved a stone in front of him and sighed, "How is your father?" Wen Yidao: "Don't worry about it, my father is very healthy. He used to say that if old friends don't die, he won't die first." The other four elders were not idle either, they each moved stones to surround Ruan Wei and Wen Yi. An old man said: "No one has died in life since ancient times. In fact, it is better to die early. Why should your father die late alone?" Ruan Wei had already seen that they were setting up a stone formation, and thought to himself: I don't know what to do with my common sense of formations?Check it out later! Wen Yidao: "It's better to die, so why don't you die? It's pitiful to be beggars in this world!" In an instant, the five elders had placed stones around Ruan Wei and Wen Yi. The fifth member of the beggar gang shouted: "Don't talk to that kid anymore, tell him to take his life for Old Ghost Wen first!" The second elder of the beggar gang smiled and said: "Your father is good at formations, you come to see through them?" Wen Yidao: "What formation is that?" The five elders of the Beggars' Clan said in unison: "The five elders of the Beggars' Clan are in the stone formation." The five elders immediately flew around and placed more than ten large stones in an instant. Ruan Wei could have seen the five elders outside the formation, but as soon as the dozen or so boulders were put down, the scenery outside the formation suddenly disappeared. Ruan Weiwei asked in surprise, "What formation is this?" At this time, the five elders shouted in unison outside, but they could only hear it slightly inside, saying: "The five elders of the Beggar Clan's stone formation are designed to trap the unjust people of the Wen family!" Wen Yi asked: "Brother, do you recognize this formation?" Ruan Wei said: "Brother, although I have read all kinds of formation books since I was young, I can't see the origin of this formation at all!" Wen Yi said urgently: " What should I do then?"