Loyal Heart Roaming the Skies

From the west gate of Fenglin City, follow the official road for about seven or eight miles, then turn left into a path, and in less than half an incense stick's time, you can see the green willow river surrounded by weeping willows.

At this time, the evening breeze brushed past their faces, and the bright moon was reflected in the ripples, shimmering.

When Jiang Wang came out of the path, he saw Linghe's thin back standing by the river like a silent tree.

"Hey, let me see, let me see." Zhao Rucheng rushed over to him and craned his neck, saying, "He must be hiding and crying, right?"

Linghe was a bit helpless. "Why did you guys come?"

"Your voice is a bit hoarse. You must have cried!"

At this moment, a rough voice came out of the grass by the river, "Zhao, sometimes you need to be put in your place, you know?"

"Tiger Brother, you're here too?" Zhao Rucheng shrank his neck. Du Yehu was a brute who really didn't hesitate to use his hands, and he didn't care about his handsome face.

"I was drinking here originally." Du Yehu said grumpily, his body full of alcohol in the evening breeze, "I didn't expect him to carry that guy over here too, it's bad luck."

"Exactly! Why did he bury him?" Zhao Rucheng said, "This kind of heartless thing should be thrown directly into the river and let him feed the fish and shrimp."

Jiang Wang glanced in the direction Du Yehu came from and asked, "Is he buried there?"

"Third Brother." Linghe explained, taking into account Jiang Wang's feelings, "I haven't forgotten Pengju's bad deeds, but I also remember his good deeds. My family was poor and often couldn't afford to eat. Pengju always used the excuse of asking me to teach him martial arts, and dragged me around until mealtime. He deserved to die, but I couldn't bear to see him lying exposed in the wilderness... Of course, you have also been very good to me. That year when we attacked the Qingniu Gang, you saved me..."

"Why are you saying all this?" Jiang Wang interrupted him, "When my father was alive, he told me that adults are different from children. The first thing adults should learn is to seek common ground while reserving differences. Those who refuse to play with him, so you can't play with him, are children. You and Fang Pengju and I, we'll each mind our own business. I won't affect your deep feelings for him, and you won't affect my breaking off ties with him."

"That's right." Linghe said.

He looked around at the green willow river bank in the night, "There is always a feeling of déjà vu. The changes here are not big, but we are all different now."

"Nothing stays the same. The only thing that never changes in this world is that everything is always changing." Zhao Rucheng said meaningfully, and then shamelessly approached Linghe, "Isn't it a bit too late to bury someone? Did you two cry your eyes out?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he jumped up and dodged Du Yehu's flying leg with great agility.

"Tsk tsk, angry because of embarrassment..." He had only said half of his provocative words when he quickly bowed and apologized, "I was wrong, I was wrong, Tiger Brother."

Du Yehu had already rolled up his sleeves and was about to catch up with him. "You're not wrong, I was just about to cry with you."

Watching the two of them play-fighting, Linghe said leisurely, "But I believe there are some things that will never change."

"I agree with half of what you said." Jiang Wang said.The "spar" between Du Yehu and Zhao Rucheng somehow turned into a four-person melee. Fists and feet flew, and everyone tripped each other. In the end, everyone was panting and laughing together, then crying in pain.

If someone passed by the vicinity of the Green Willow River tonight, there would probably be some strange stories about water ghosts.

The four brothers left the Green Willow River together, leaving behind a place that recorded their youth and friendship.

No one spoke again.

But Zhao Rucheng muttered as he turned back:

"When we get there, don't hurt our friends anymore. You dead ghost."

...

Moonlight flowed into the rippling Green Willow River and spilled onto the broken roof of the Zhen Guan.

Perhaps because of the moonlight, the faces of the two people talking in this broken temple looked extremely pale.

One of them was a beautiful woman wearing a bright red dress. She had a wonderful figure and was alluring. Especially the dazzling white skin exposed by the slightly open collar, it was hard to take one's eyes off.

Her face was too pale, which should have made her look weak and sickly, but instead gave people a stunning sense of beauty. Perhaps it was because of her overly bright red lips?

She sat on the dusty incense table so beautifully and calmly, lightly touching her red lips with her fingertip and saying, "All the beggars in this temple have died out. It's really distressing. What should we use to invite the divine decree?"

Her voice seemed to have circled around the cobwebs on the eaves before reaching its intended destination, sounding somewhat hollow.

"A cultivator's soul is enough."

The speaker stood at the door and, unlike the woman in red, seemed unwilling to even step into this dirty broken temple. He even covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief embroidered with plum blossoms.

"Ah, it sounds easy." The woman in red said, "We have to sneak around to kill a few mortals, but a cultivator? Are we afraid that the Zhuangguo Daoist Temple won't come knocking?"

"Everyone in this city is going to die sooner or later." The man said, frowning. "Do we have to talk here in this kind of place?"

Laughing, the woman in red said, "Left Guanglie, who was famous throughout the world, fell here. The people from Zhuangguo have turned this place over inside and out at least ten times. There is nowhere cleaner nearby."

Speaking of Left Guanglie, she even closed her eyes slightly, showing a fascinated expression. Even the pale face quickly turned red, "I can still smell his majestic breath~"

"Let's get back to business." The man interrupted her reverie without making a sound. "Wei Quji is not easy to deal with. Now Dong A has come, we must find Daozi as soon as possible. Those Qin and Chu barbarians are fighting here, disrupting the sacrifice in the Zhen Guan. Instead of secretly catching mortals one by one, it's better to sacrifice a cultivator directly, which is simpler and more straightforward."

"There is more than one way to find death, why stick to this one? Why not use a sword to cut the throat? Or lure lightning to strike the body?"

Perhaps annoyed by the interruption of her thoughts, the woman in red opened her beautiful eyes and restrained her smile, "Before Daozi appears in the world, you'd better know what it means to be low-key!"The man seemed a little annoyed and covered his nose, saying, "Miao Yu! It's as if attacking the Fenglin Taoist Academy wasn't your intention! Now the whole city is in turmoil. If something goes wrong, our big plan will be ruined!"

"What do you know? The world is too big, and there are too many unexpected things! Who could have thought that Zuo Guanglie would die like this? And just happened to ruin our sacrifice plan. The Forgotten River has been silent for too long! There can't be any more surprises! Dong A is crucial in Fenglin City now, and we must be clear about his strength and bottom line! Some sacrifices are inevitable. Besides..."

The red-dressed woman named Miao Yu licked her lips and said, "Do you know that the beggars in this broken temple are not extinct? I smelled a familiar scent in the Fenglin Taoist Academy..."

The dirty environment made the man even more impatient. "Is the life and death of a beggar worth my concern?"

This time, Miao Yu lazily stretched and showed off her beautiful figure. "Fool."

The man squinted his eyes, hiding the fleeting desire in his eyes. "Don't think that just because you are a disciple's woman, you can be so presumptuous. The sect has had many holy women for thousands of years. When the disciple appears in the world, whether he wants you or recognizes you, it remains to be seen."

"Beauty and bones, empty and illusory. Can't you see through it?"

"Hehehe." The man turned and walked outside the temple. "Whether I can see through it or not, what does it matter? It's just like that."

After a long time, in this quiet and dilapidated temple, seductive murmurs sounded softly, spreading like moonlight.

"Why doesn't he love me? Why doesn't he want me? I've been waiting for so many years, and I've been waiting for so long..."