Chapter 82 Section 2 Gray Shadows and Masked Stone Carvings

In the cold night when dripping water turned into ice, the commercial and residential areas in Xianyang City, which can be tossed at night the most, also froze. Adjacent to Nanshi, a thriving and well-known commercial city, the southwest corner of Xianyang City is the commercial district.Many merchants from the six countries of Shandong live here, as well as local merchants from all over the Qin Kingdom who come to Xianyang to do business. There are the most wine shops and inns, and it is the most crowded and mobile area in Xianyang City.This area is mainly composed of two avenues that intersect to form a "ten" and a Nanshi with a radius of more than 300 mu.The north-south street is called "Taibai Road", and the east-west street is called "Zhufeng Road".Taibai is the celestial star of the Qin State (under Taibai is the Qin State), and Zhu Feng is the auspicious bird of the Zhou people and the Qin people (the Fengming Qishan prospers Zhou); the two streets in the business district are named after the two, which means Qin people's pious wishes for the business market - follow the way of heaven, auspicious and prosperous.

At the northeast corner of the intersection of the two streets, there is a large isolated courtyard that is not connected to the surrounding shops and inns. The tall courtyard wall is separated from the two neighboring houses by an empty alley.In front of the gate is an abandoned parking lot and hitching posts, and the gate facing the street is also tightly built with large stone and blue bricks. If it weren't for the relatively tall gatehouse foyer, no one would know that this is the gate.In the downtown area of ​​Shangmin, this manor looks a little strange, like a desolate old castle abruptly inserted in the bustling city.Judging from the scale of the mansion, it is neither as luxurious as the big merchants of the six countries, nor as compact and simple as the houses of small merchants.Such a grotesque manor can stand on the street of this precious commercial city. Naturally, it is the earliest "old household" who moved here after the construction of Xianyang City.Even so, after all, the merchants have seen too many vicissitudes of life, from the poor to the humble, and no one is surprised, and no one tries to approach it to understand it.The big courtyard is as isolated and deserted as it was when we moved here, and it looks even more desolate and lonely on this night when the north wind is expected to turn into frost.

In the middle of the night, a gray shadow flew up from the big tree in the alley outside the high wall, and fell silently on the roof of the courtyard. In the big room in the middle of the courtyard, the lantern was dim, and a person was meditating silently.A thick black veil hung over his face, and his white hair was scattered on his shoulders, motionless like a solidified stone carving.Although it was a freezing cold night, there was no brazier in this empty house, only the dim bronze lantern. Suddenly, the half-hidden door opened silently in the howling cold wind. "Where is my friend? Please come in and tell me." The solidified stone carving made an indifferent voice.

Without the slightest sound of footsteps, the gray shadow had already sat on the long table opposite the stone carving, lifted the pottery pot on the table, drank heavily, and gasped for a while, "Zuo Fu is here all right?" After a long silence, the stone inscription said leisurely, "You Fu, are you here?" Gray Shadow: "Twenty years apart, Zuo Fu has such ear power, I admire him very much." Masked stone inscription: "Don't you hear, tigers and wolves live in caves, relying only on their ears?" "The aristocrats of Zuo Fu's family look like walking dead, which is chilling."

"You Fu, a scholar, turned out to be a brilliant swordsman, which makes me very pleased." "Creator makes people, Zuo Funing is so old and dead?" "Misfortune and wealth are all caused by human beings. This old man never believes in strange powers and chaotic gods." "As expected, Zuo Fu is willing to sink, living in a cave with a white head?" The stone inscription is indifferent, "There is no pursuit in the four fields, why not wait for it?" The gray shadow suddenly bowed to the ground, "Young Master Tiezhi, great things can be accomplished."

"You Fu was charged with a serious crime and entered the country after leaving the prison. Isn't it self-evident to the government?" The stone carving remained motionless. The gray shadow sighed, "If you are worried about serving your sentence, how dare you step into Xianyang?" "Could it be that You Fu killed the prison and escaped?" The man in gray giggled, like owls chirping in the cold night, "Zuo Fu is too worried, Qin will never find Gongsun Jia." "How do you say this? Of course, you don't have to say it." "Since we are in harmony with Zuo Fu, is there any reason not to talk about it? The cold night is long, and the story of the cold is wearing away."

So, on a dark and stormy night, the man in gray told a story of an unpredictable adventure Longxi, where Gongsun Jia was exiled, is a strange area.There are desolate and vast deserts, grasslands rich in water and grass, steep and steep mountains, and beautiful and quiet river valleys.The most important thing is that it is sparsely populated, a wild land far away from rich civilization.Such a barren and precipitous place, the government's jurisdiction and governance are naturally beyond reach.Even so, this is the original base of the old Qin people, a vast and remote backyard of the Qin country, safer and more reliable than any border mountains.As a serious criminal, Gongsun Jia was not exiled to Shangshan, which borders Chu State in the south, nor to Beidi mountainous area, which connects Zhao State to the north, but was exiled to Longxi, where the old Qin people were based. Naturally, he was most at ease here.

The place of exile is a barren and precipitous narrow valley, surrounded by steep mountains, and the only exit of the valley is a centurion who is also in charge of horse herding.If you want to escape, it is really harder than climbing to the sky.Exile was an ascetic life imposed on criminals.A thatched hut, a commoner collar, a liter of grain seeds, and a shovel, these are all the things that the officials and criminals handed over to Gongsun Jia.He will survive on these few things.As long as the prisoner does not escape and dies in exile due to his inability to survive, no one will be held accountable.Except for life and death checks every three months, the government will never add a grain of food or a piece of clothing.If there is no amnesty order, the prisoners will generally die here.

Gongsun Jia had a deep hatred in his heart, how could he die quietly in this barren ditch?On the first night, the autumn wind neighed in the valley, and the tiger howled and the wolf howled on the mountain, he was so frightened that he squeezed into the crevice of the rock like a snake!Dare to come out until dawn.After thinking hard for a long time, Gongsun Jia tore off the hem of his gown, made a cloth bag, picked up the shovel and went up the mountain.He is well versed in medicine and herbal medicine.This is the self-defense and survival skills of traveling scholars. Like all learned scholars, Gongsun Jia will never forget this basic knowledge in his youth.He began to go up the mountain to collect herbs.One is that there are herbal medicines that can be directly eaten tonic, which are more effective than grains, and supplemented with wild fruits, they can relieve the pain of hunger.The second is to take this opportunity to survey the mountain terrain to see if they can find a way out?Gongsun Jia understood that he would never be able to get an amnesty, and if he wanted revenge, he had to escape by himself first!Two or three months later, he realized that this mountain was wilder than he had imagined. Looking around, it was wild and uninhabited, and there were only beasts and beasts in the mountains. The haunted beast delicacy.

Just when Gongsun Jia was in despair, a strange thing happened. At dusk that day, holding a shovel in his hand, he tapped the waist-deep grass and withered vines, trying to find a way to "go home".But like a blind man, he rushed to the top of a high cliff, accidentally stepped on the air, and fell down!When he woke up, the sky was already full of stars.Am I not dead?He stretched his hands and feet, rejoiced that he was not dead, and struggled to stand up.Looking around, he exclaimed "Ah!"—isn't there a fiery red light under the cliff?Rubbing your eyes and looking closely, yes, it's the lights!With great energy, he broke off a branch to use as a crutch, and limped towards the light.When I got closer, I found that it was a stone house under a steep cliff, and there were faintly visible animal skins peeled off and dried on the stone surface outside the house—the house of Orion, not an official!Gongsun Jia burst into ecstasy, and rushed forward to knock on the door.

The rough and heavy round wooden door creaked open, and a thin man wrapped in animal skin stood in front of him holding an animal oil lamp.Gongsun Jia said "Ah!", took a few steps back, and stared at the other party firmly!This man resembles him very much, he is simply a black and white twin!But the animal-skinned man didn't realize it, wiped his tears and stretched out his hand foolishly, let him in, and sat in another narrow stone house.The man silently brought a large pot of stewed animal meat and a can of mountain fruit wine, and stood beside him wiping away his tears.Gongsun Jiajing, who heard faint groans in the stone house next door, clasped his hands and asked, "What's the matter with you, brother? Can you tell me?" The animal-skinned man wiped his tears frankly, "The second old man is as strong as a cow, but I don't want to offend the mountain god, and I have diarrhea for days, seeing that I can't live anymore, woo—!" Then he began to cry. Gongsun Jia heard the word "Da Xie" right, and stood up generously, "I am a master of medicine, please take a look." Within ten days, Gongsun Jia cured the acute diarrhea of ​​the old Orion couple, and also healed his wounds.The Orion family was very grateful and gave him a lot of animal skins and meat, but Gongsun Jia refused.The animal skin man blushed with anxiety, cut a bloody gash on his arm with a hunting knife, spat out a mouthful of blood with his mouth, threw himself on the ground and shouted loudly, "Mr. I will die!" Gongsun Jia helped the skinned man up, "Brother Gao Yi, just visit me when you have free time, that's enough." Half a month later, the animal skin man found Gongsun Jia's thatched hut in the valley by virtue of the hunter's unique skills. When the mountains and the moon were in the sky, Gongsun Jia and the fur man sworn brothers with different surnames.The man asked the eldest brother why he broke the law?The eldest brother said that his parents were brutally murdered by the enemy, and the vengeance was not avenged, but he was framed by the enemy to serve his sentence. He asked his brother to help him escape from this place.The man agreed generously, and Gongsun Jia tattooed his face and branded his cheeks, exchanged clothes with the man, dressed the man as himself, and taught the man how to deal with the "seasonal investigation" by the government. Three days later at night, when the moon was dark and the wind was high, Gongsun Jia and his brothers drank mountain wine together, adding dumb medicine to the wine. After his brother fell asleep, Gongsun Jia followed the animal path guided by his brother and escaped from the deserted mountains... "It's true, non-toxic and not a husband." The masked stone carving sneered. The man in gray gritted his teeth sullenly, "For big things, don't stick to small things." "Even so, you will never see the light of day. If the government wants to arrest you, what will you do?" Laughing like a night owl, the man in gray said: "Zuo Fu has been imprisoned for twenty years, but he is ignorant." "In this way, you Fu Qiyu keeps coming." The stone carving showed a hint of sarcasm. The man in gray sneered, and told another thrilling story Gongsun Jia escaped from the mountains in Longxi, traveled at night and stayed at dawn, traveled eastward all the way, crossed the Dasan Ridge, followed the Nanshan Mountain, turned into Shangshan, sneaked out of Wuguan from the Danshui Valley, and fled to the State of Chu.He didn't place his hope on the protection of the Chu State, but he took a fancy to the untouched mountains in the upper reaches of the Chu State's great river.For revenge, Gongsun Jia vowed to reinvent himself and devoted himself to practicing swordsmanship.During his trek in search of a foothold, he crashed into a mysterious canyon one night. The green hills on both sides of this canyon always faintly sounded some kind of strange voice, "Puff————"!It wasn't the sound of wind or thunder, but it seemed that Dashan was suffering from asthma.In the middle of the night, this strange sound is even more clear, and there is also a faint red light and a uniform and vague "tom tom" sound in the cracks of the rocks.Gongsun Jia seemed to be in a dream, and after listening to it all night, he concluded that there was a great secret hidden in this desolate canyon!Gongsun Jia wandered around the canyon and the mountains on both sides of the river for several days, and finally lost consciousness suddenly in a dark night... When he woke up, Gongsun Jia found himself lying on the cold stone slab, the red light flickering in front of his eyes.It turned out that this was a huge cave, and an old man with fluttering white hair was standing in front of him, staring at his forehead.Without a few questions and answers, he willingly did the hard labor of the old man. Gradually, he knew that this canyon was the headquarters of the famous swordsmith "Fengzong" in Chu State, and that old man turned out to be Fengbeard, the most famous swordsmith master after swordsmith Ou Yezi and Ganjiang! "Fengzong" has six sword-casting caves in this canyon, each cave has a furnace, and there are more than 20 craftsmen who directly cast swords, such as ironworkers, windworkers, handymen, cookers, etc. A large workshop with more than 200 people. The rule of "Fengzong" is to prepare materials and rest during the day, and cast swords at night.Therefore, people who enter the canyon during the day will not find anything.During his hard labor life, Gongsun Jia cured many unnamed strange diseases for many craftsmen.Gradually, he gained the favor of Fengzong. One day, Fengbeard, who never saw him face to face, called him into a small cave, and asked him a few words coldly, "Do you want to learn swordsmanship?" "Yes!" "Do you want to change your face?" !" Gongsun Jia didn't hesitate at all. The old man didn't say a word, and with a wave of his hand, two strong men lifted him up and threw him into the pool outside the cave, and then pressed a stone slab on it.Gongsun Jia soaked in the water for three days without eating or drinking, and was carried back to the cave, dying.Feng Huzi asked coldly, "Are you afraid that I'm going to tie you up and warm you up?" Gongsun Jia shook his head.Fengbeard didn't speak any more, and with a wave of his big skinny hand, two strong men clamped him and tied him to a tall and thick stone slab.Less than a foot away from the stone slab was the blazing sword furnace, and the scorching heat wave hit his face, making his skin soaked in cold and damp feel dry.But half an hour later, he became unbearably hot, and the stone slab on which his back was leaning also became hot.The two people around him just sprayed water on the stone slab regularly, but they didn't pay any attention to him.Gongsun Jia gritted his teeth tightly, but didn't make a sound, and soon passed out from the roast, and when he woke up with splashing water, he passed out again after a while. After an unknown amount of time, Gongsun Jia was carried to the entrance of the cave, and the biting cold wind woke him up again. Fengbeard walked over, and suddenly sprayed a strange-smelling green water on his face, and with a "poof!", a purple mist dispersed.Gongsun Jia's face suddenly swelled up like a big dough, translucent!Feng Huzi approached and took a closer look, stretched out his long nails and gently picked at Gongsun Jia's forehead, and peeled off a layer of human skin from the "big dough", the black characters and brand marks were impressively visible!Gongsun Jia was put in a cave where dripping water turned into ice and was frozen overnight. The next morning, when he was carried to Fengbeard's small cave, his face felt completely recovered. Feng Huzi asked coldly, "Do you want beauty?" Gongsun Jia shook his head.Feng Huzi didn't speak anymore, and sprayed a mouthful of red potion on Gongsun Jia's face, and a strange feeling immediately permeated Gongsun Jia's limbs and bones!Wind Beard stretched out his big hand like a dead branch to massage his face for an entire hour, and said, "Remember yourself. The water tank is there." Then he fell asleep. Gongsun Jia was so quiet that he stood up.He originally thought that he would be paralyzed if he survived such torture, but he didn't expect to feel lightness under his feet!He went to the water tank to have a look, but there was a scream, and he passed out... "So, You Fu's face is very extraordinary?" The masked stone carving was indifferent and flat, not surprised at all. "Zuo Fu remembered." The man in gray suddenly tore off the black veil, and the masked stone carving couldn't help shaking.Under the lamp, a ferocious and terrifying face suddenly appeared - a head with red hair, blue face, black and blue eyes, and yellow white eyes, wide mouth, big teeth, and big beard growing on the temples!Compared with the handsome and elegant Gongsun Jia back then, a devil was really born. "Although ghosts and gods have insight, they can't recognize them." The masked stone carving sighed. "Let me tell Zuo Fu that Feng Huzi accepted me as a student and gave me the famous sword of Fengzong. Gongsun Jia dare not say that he can rule the world, but revenge is enough. If it weren't for your Chiyou Tianyue sword, Shang Yang would have died in Wei. Mountains and valleys." "You, are you an assassin?" "Shang Yang has many enemies. Even if he is a god, he would never have thought that my grandson Jia would be born again." "Shut up." The low voice of the masked stone carving was panting with anger, like a tiger standing up suddenly.The man in gray couldn't help shaking.After a moment of silence, the masked stone inscription sneered, "Gongsun Jia, I thought you were really reborn from the ashes, but who would have thought that you were still a mean and wretched villain. If I don't want to kill you, you can go." "Avenging and killing enemies is considered a villain? How can one be considered a man?" "Gongsun Jia, although you are more than smart, you will never have a big weapon. The old man asks you, is the enmity between us and Shang Yang the enmity of a small village?" "Of course not. It's national hatred." "Not to mention that you can't kill Shang Yang, even if you do, you will make Shang Yang a hero and famous minister in the world, and you yourself will become a despicable assassin who is ridiculed by the world. If this is revenge, why do you need to take action?" The man in gray was silent for a long time, and bowed his hands respectfully, "Ask Zuo Fu, how to plan?" "Where is Shang Yang's greatest meritorious service?" "Nature is a reform." "What if the state affairs are reversed and the reform fails?" "Shang Yang...is ruined!" "I'll ask you again, I'm waiting for hatred, is it Shang Yang's lynching?" "No, it's the law of the country to punish." The masked stone inscription sneered, "Remember, only if Shang Yang's reform fails and Shang Yang is punished by the state law can we avenge the big weapon." The man in gray bowed deeply to the ground. "With Zuo Fu's words, Gongsun Jia Maosai suddenly understood." At the darkest moment before dawn, the gray shadow flew up the treetops, fell down the alley, and disappeared suddenly in the city of Xianyang in the vast winter night.