Shocking Guest in the World

The rivers and lakes are big, big enough to hold the grudges and hatreds of millions of people; the rivers and lakes are also small, small enough to hold only one person's name. Ten years ago, everyone in the world was talking about a young man. The young man's surname was Xie and his first name was Qingci. When someone asked where the name came from, he only slightly curled his lips and didn't say much. Later, someone looked through old poems and found the shadow in the sentence "Clear words and beautiful sentences must be neighbors." But the young man himself said that he liked another sentence more - "The Qingshu Palace in the world, the Guanghan Palace in the sky." Qing is the pure Qing, and the words are the words of farewell. No one understood it at the time, and no one understood it later. The first time he appeared in front of people in the world was at the top of Mount Tai when he was seven years old. That year, Taishan held a meeting of young heroes, and all the descendants of the thirty-sixth heroes arrived. Everyone wanted to compete for the title of "the best young man in the world." But no one expected that the person standing at the top in the end was actually a half-year-old child. He was wearing moon-white clothes, and his dark hair was tied high into a ponytail with a silver-white ribbon. When the wind blew, the tail of his hair and clothes would fly up together. He stood on the ring and was a whole head shorter than the person opposite him, but as soon as his sword was unsheathed, the whole audience fell silent. That was the first time he used the "Jinghong Sword Technique". The name of the sword is Fuguang, and it is as slender as a willow. There is a red thread tied to the sword spike, which looks like a tail of blood that is about to swim away when it flies between his wrists. With a flick of his wrist, the light from his sword was like a white rainbow piercing the sun, like a flying dragon stepping on the snow. Within three moves, the opponent abandons his sword and admits defeat. Thirty-six battles, thirty-six victories, and no defeat. From that day on, the four words "White Clothes Shocked the Dragon" spread throughout the world. Some people said that the child had a pair of very beautiful eyes, which were as clear and cold as the unmelted snow on the top of the mountain. But if you look carefully, there is something hidden under the snow that no one else can see through. He couldn't see it himself. He is always accompanied by a middle-aged couple. The man is gentle and elegant, with a bookish look between his eyebrows; the woman is dignified and kind, and her smile makes people feel like they are in spring breeze. When others asked, they would only say that she was his master and his wife. His master's name is Xie Wujiu, and his master's wife's name is Yun Qinglan. No one knows that Xie Wujiu and Yun Qinglan were once the crown prince and tutor's wife of the ancient Yunzhong Kingdom. No one knows that Xie Qingci's surname is not Xie. His surname is Yun - he is the last trace of blood from the ancient Yunzhong Kingdom, and he is the last person in the world who should be alive. The fire that destroyed the country seven years ago burned for three days and three nights. The imperial city was reduced to scorched earth, and both the king and the queen died. The three-year-old prince caught a high fever in the chaos. When he woke up, his past memories were gone, and he even forgot who he was. Xie Wujiu hugged him and escaped from the mountain of corpses and the sea of ​​blood, escaping and hiding all the way. From then on, there was no longer a prince named Yun, only an orphan named Xie. Xie Wujiu taught him to read and practice martial arts, half out of pity and half out of guilt. He is the prince's teacher. If the country is destroyed and the king is destroyed, if he can't protect even this bit of blood, he will be a minister in vain. He taught everything he had learned throughout his life—literary and martial arts, a collection of classics and history, and military strategies. That kid is very ambitious. He started practicing martial arts at the age of four and mastered the basics in five days. After ten days, the guards in the mansion were no longer his match. At the age of five, he was well versed in both civil and martial arts, and at the age of six, he was proficient in hundreds of classics. When he was seven years old, Xie Wujiu thought it was time for him to go out for a walk. So on the top of Mount Tai, there was a young man named Xie Qingci. At the age of eight, on Dongting Lake, he fought against three current masters with one sword and one sword at a time. After three battles and three victories, the three masters were convinced. That year, people in the world called him "the best young swordsman in the world." When he was ten years old, he did something even more shocking. Outside Gusu City, on the bank of Taihu Lake, he created his own thirteenth sword style, named "Return to Come". This style hides everything he has seen over the years - the solitary owl in the sunset, the misty rain and the setting sun, the spring breeze and the autumn moon, all transformed into the meaning of the sword. On the day when the sword was made, there was a heavy fog in Taihu Lake. He danced his sword in the fog. When the fog cleared, there were thirteen more sword marks on the stone pillars of the pavilion in the center of the lake. They were the same depth and the same spacing. The thirteen movements of Jinghong Sword Technique are now perfect. It was also this year that he founded the sect. Not called a sect, just a sect. The name was chosen by him and was called "Tingxue Pai". Someone asked why. He stood by Taihu Lake, stretched out his hand to catch a piece of falling snow, and said: "People who wander in the rivers and lakes are like snow. They don't know where they came from, and they don't know where they landed. The Listening to Snow School is to give people a place to stay." There are two rules in the house: one is not to ask about the way you came, the other is to ask about the way back. In just two years, the Tingxue Sect grew from a small courtyard by Taihu Lake into the largest sect in the world. The wanderers who come and go, the homeless wanderers, even the "evil heretics" who are spurned by the righteous path, as long as they are willing to let go of the past and start over, the Tingxue faction will accept them. Xie Qingci was twelve years old and became the youngest leader in the world. He wore a long robe made of moon-white intertwined with silver and gold, and a light-supporting sword as slender as a willow hung from his waist. The red thread on the sword's tassel fluttered like blood in the wind. When he smiles, his eyebrows are crooked, like a young man walking out of a painting. But when he wasn't smiling, his eyes were deep, cold, and light, as if he could see through everyone, but no one could see through him. In fact, he himself can't see through himself. He only dreams occasionally. There was always a fire, a cry, and a pale hand reaching out to him from the flames. When he woke up with a start, the clothes on his back were soaked, but when he thought about it again, he couldn't remember anything clearly. The master and his wife watched him grow up day by day and become famous all over the world, and they felt happy and afraid at the same time. I am happy that this child is living his best life; I am afraid that if his identity is exposed, the enemies in the dark will not let him go. What's even more scary is that Xie Qingci doesn't know anything - he doesn't know who he is, he doesn't know that he should be sitting on thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, and he doesn't know that every step he takes is leading to a destined and irreversible tragedy. But he doesn't know. So when he was thirteen years old, he met a girl. It was a spring day. There was a drizzle in the south of the Yangtze River, and Xie Qingci was investigating a case alone - someone robbed official banknotes outside the city of Suzhou, and it was rumored that it was someone from the Moon Covering Sect who did it. The Blocking Moon Sect is a sect that has only appeared in the past two years. It moves around the western border area. The leader is named Chu Shukuang. I heard that he is also a young man in his early twenties. He is ruthless in his actions and has ruthless swordsmanship. Some people in the world have compared him with Xie Qingci, saying that one is in the south and the other is in the north. "The south is startling, the north is sparse", and they are both called the two best. Xie Qingci didn't take it too seriously. That day he chased into a bamboo forest and heard the sound of fighting. When he pushed aside the bamboo leaves, he saw seven or eight men in black surrounding a girl. The girl wore lotus colored clothes and held two short blades in her hands. She was very agile, but she couldn't stand the crowd and was about to lose her strength. Xie Qingci thought for a moment and drew his sword. In one breath, seven people fell to the ground. When he sheathed his sword, before the blood on the tip had time to drip, the girl had already jumped up and stared at him: "Who are you? Who wants your help?" Xie Qingci was startled. The girl looked at him for a few times and suddenly smiled: "Ah, it's you. Jinghong in white and Xie Qingci?" "... It's me." "Then you are better than me, I agree." She inserted the short blade back into her waist and patted the mud on her hands, "My name is Lin Jingzhe. Jingzhe that Jingzhe. Thank you very much - but I can beat him, it just takes some time." Xie Qingci looked into her eyes, which were as bright as the surface of a lake where spring rain had fallen. He suddenly felt that this spring seemed to be warmer than previous years. Later they walked a long way together. From Jiangnan to Mobei, from Mobei to the East China Sea. She accompanies him to investigate the case, and he teaches her swordsmanship. She didn't think Jinghong Sword Technique was too difficult, but he wasn't annoyed and showed her over and over again until she mastered it. The food she cooked for him was not delicious, but he ate it clean every time. She talked a lot, and she talked all the time. He said ten things and she said a hundred things, but he didn't feel noisy at all. Xie Qingci never told anyone that those days were the happiest time in his life. He became the leader at the age of twelve, carrying the livelihood of hundreds of people on his shoulders, and no one treated him as a child. Only Lin Jingzhe never calls him "Master Xie" or "Jinghong in White". She called him "Xie Qingci" - just Xie Qingci. She would quietly put a plate of sweet-scented osmanthus cake on his windowsill at night, and then pretend that nothing happened. She would jump out from behind to scare him while he was fascinated by the lake, and then laugh until he couldn't stand upright. She would watch him squatting on one side and holding his chin when he was tired from sword practice. After reading it, she would say: "How come you are so good at dancing with a sword?" Xie Qingci's ears turned red and she smiled even more happily. They didn't hide anything from anyone. Everyone in Tingxue Sect knew that their leader had the girl he liked. Lin Jingzhe also often went to stay at Tingxue Pai, and got along like sisters with the four guardians. Chun Heng taught her how to recognize medicine, Dong Ning practiced swordplay with her, and Xia Yi was always dragged to play chess by her - although she lost every time, she was very happy when she lost. Xie Qingci thought, it would be nice if life continued like this. But he forgot that he was the prince of the ancient Yunzhong Kingdom. Some debts cannot be avoided. The Blocking Moon Sect is becoming more and more powerful day by day, and Chu Shu Kuang is also becoming more and more crazy day by day. He began to blatantly annex small and medium-sized sects. If they didn't obey, they would be destroyed, and if they obeyed, they would be taken under his sect. There were complaints all over the world, but no one dared to provoke him - everyone knew how fast and cruel the sword of "Beishu Kuang" was. As the largest sect of righteousness, Tingxue Sect cannot sit idly by. Xie Qingci sent a letter to the Moon Covering Sect to persuade Chu Shukuang to stop. Chu Shukuang only replied with four words: "Take care of yourself." Xie Qingci looked at those four words and was silent for a long time. Then he asked someone to send a message: Three months later, the blue sky of the East China Sea will fall into the sea, and the two factions will have a decisive battle. Each takes three warships and uses the ships as a formation. The loser will withdraw from the arena. Chu Shu Kuang agreed. The night before departure, Lin Jingzhe came to see him. She didn't cry or stop him. He just took out a letter from his sleeve, folded it neatly, and stuffed it into his hand. "We'll look at it when you come back from the fight," she said. Xie Qingci was about to take it apart, but she held his hand down and said, "We'll see when we come back!" He smiled, put the letter in his arms, and put it close to his heart: "Okay, I'll read it when I get back." She took out a second letter, which was thinner than the first. When she handed it to him, her hand trembled slightly. "This letter..." She lowered her head, "Open it again when you feel you can't go on." Xie Qingci was stunned. "I'm not cursing you." Lin Jingzhe's voice was very soft, as if he was afraid of breaking something. "I just... Think you have too many things on your mind. Don't deny it, I can see it - you always have nightmares at night, right? When you practice swordsmanship, you sometimes stop suddenly and look at a place in trance, but there is nothing in your eyes. I don't know what you are afraid of, and I don't know what you are hiding from. But remember... No matter what happens, I will wait for you." She raised her head, her eyes were red, but she didn't shed any tears. "So you must come back." Xie Qingci looked at her for a long time. Then he reached out and took her into his arms, gently resting his chin on the top of her hair. "I promise you." Three months later, the East China Sea turned blue. It was a thunderstorm night. The sky was as dark as splashed ink, and there was no moon or stars on the sea. Only the lights on the twelve warships of the two factions were swaying in the strong wind, like candles that were about to be extinguished at any time. The rain fell suddenly, and the big raindrops hit the deck with a crackling sound. The sea wind rolled up the waves and hit the hull one after another, and the whole sea was turbulent. Tingxue sent six white-sailed warships to form a wild goose formation, and Shenyue sent six black-flag warships to form a long snake formation. The two faced each other, separated by hundreds of feet of waves. Between the rise and fall of the waves, one could see the densely packed figures and the reflection of swords on the opposite boat. The rain fell harder and harder, and suddenly a bolt of lightning struck from the sky, and the pale light illuminated the entire sea - and also illuminated the two people standing on the bows of their respective boats. Xie Qingci stood on the bow of the main ship of the Tingxue faction, his moon-white clothes soaked by the rain and sticking to his body. The wind was so strong that half of the silver ribbon that bound his hair was blown away, and his black hair stuck to his cheeks mixed with the rain. He held the light sword in his hand, and the rainwater on the sword fell down drop by drop along the tip of the sword. Opposite the bow of the main ship of the Blocking Moon Sect, Chu Shukuang was dressed in a black and dark red outfit, both soaked by the rain. Most of his high ponytail was loose, and a few strands of wet hair covered half of his eyebrows, but there was still a smile on the corner of his mouth. The Broken Hong Sword in his hand lay horizontally in front of him, and the jade pendant hanging on the sword's grid flashed in the lightning. The lightning went out and the world returned to darkness. There was only the sound of rain, waves, thunder, and the held breaths of thousands of people on deck. Xie Qingci suddenly spoke, his voice was not loud, but it could be heard clearly through the wind and rain to the opposite ship. "Chu Shukuang." "Huh?" "Today's battle, no matter who wins or loses——" He paused and then said, "Don't let others see the joke." Chu Shukuang laughed from the opposite side: "Don't worry. You and I are not the stuff of jokes." After he finished speaking, he drew his sword. The sound of Duan Hong unsheathing his sword was drowned out by the thunder, but Xie Qingci saw the sword light. So he also drew his sword. The moment Fuguang was unsheathed, another bolt of lightning struck down, and the two sword lights intertwined in the lightning, piercing people so hard that they couldn't open their eyes. Then the disciples from both factions moved at the same time. The shouts of death were mixed with the wind, rain and thunder, and the sound of swords clashing was swallowed up and spit out by the waves. Twelve ships collided on the sea, with gangplanks on gangplanks, fighting hand to hand. Blood flowed from the decks into the sea, dyeing the black water deeper. Xie Qingci did not look back. He jumped up from the bow of his own ship, stepped on the waves, and reached the deck of the main ship opposite in three steps. Chu Shukuang was waiting there, the tip of his sword pointed at the ground, rainwater sliding down his face, but his smile was brighter than thunder. "Come." The two men fought on the main ship of the Moon Covering Sect. The hull of the boat was rocked left and right by the huge waves, and the rain hit the face like pebbles. Lightning struck down from the sky one after another, stretching and swallowing the shadows of the two people. The Jinghong sword technique is light and elegant, and the light sword draws white lines one after another in the rainy night, like a Jinghong passing through the dark abyss. The heart of the moon is fierce and domineering, and the Duanhong Sword makes a whimpering sound when it splits the rain curtain, like a trapped beast roaring. From Haishi to Choushi, the rain did not stop and the thunder did not stop either. The hull of the ship had been riddled with holes by the sword energy of the two men, the main mast was broken, and the canvas was torn by the wind. The disciples of the two factions were fighting in rivers of blood on other boats, but there were only two of them on this main boat. There is no helper, no retreat. When it came to the last move, Xie Qingci used "Go Back Come", and Chu Shukuang used "Blocking the Moon and No Light". The two sword energy collided together, and the entire ship cracked a crack in the middle, and seawater surged up from the crack. But at that moment—— There was a strange sound coming from the bottom of the boat. Like countless insects gnawing at the wood, they are so densely packed that it makes your scalp numb. Xie Qingci looked down and saw that the bottom of the cabin was crawling with pitch-black insects. Each one glowed with a strange golden light and was expanding and exploding at an alarming speed. Insanity. A Gu that is older and more domineering than Miaojiang. "Chu Shu Kuang——" Xie Qingci shouted. Chu Shukuang also saw it. The smile on his face disappeared for the first time. "Someone tampered with it," he said. Before he finished speaking, the bottom of the boat exploded. The largest Gu King exploded under the feet of the two of them, and the entire ship was broken into two pieces from the middle. The huge whirlpool instantly swallowed the shipwreck and the two of them together. When seawater poured into his throat, Xie Qingci only had time to think of one thing - letter. The two letters are still in my arms. He didn't have time to look. On the sea, all the remaining ships were stunned. In the pouring rain, people from the Snow Sect and the Moon Covering Sect simultaneously let out heart-rending shouts - Leader! The leader has fallen into the water! But the night was too dark, the rain was too heavy, and the thunder was too loud. No one could see what happened under the two wrecks. Only the foam and broken wood surging on the sea surface proved that two people had just stood there. That day, many people died in Biluohai. The Tingxue Sect lost thirty-one disciples, and the Blocking Moon Sect also lost dozens. The four guardians fought tooth and nail to lead the remaining troops out of the battlefield. Dong Ning's left arm was bitten by a poisonous insect, Qiu Yue was stabbed three times on the back, and Xia Yi dragged Chun Heng out of the water with half his life. They drove the broken boat back to the shore in the heavy rain. They were covered in blood and soaked. They knelt on the shore and looked at the black sea where nothing could be seen. On the Moon Covering Sect side, four of the eight tribes died. Chu Shukuang's deputy - a middle-aged man named Fei Lian - stood on the wreckage of another ship, looking expressionlessly in the direction of the sunken ship. That Gu King was released by him. He waited for ten years. The last drop of blood of the Yunzhong Ancient Kingdom finally sank to the bottom of the sea together with the people and the ship. As for Chu Shukuang? It's just a pawn of his. Now that the chess piece and the opponent are dead together, the Moon Covering Sect is his. The thunder gradually became distant and the rain became lighter. At dawn, only fragments of wooden boards and blood-stained canvas were left on the sea. Lin Jingzhe arrived at the beach on the seventh day. She ran all the way from the south of the Yangtze River. Three horses were killed, the soles of her shoes were worn out, and her feet were covered in blood blisters. When she ran to the beach, the four guardians were still kneeling there. Several new tombs were erected on the beach, with the names of Tingxue Sect disciples engraved on the monuments. She didn't cry. She walked over, stood behind them, and asked, "Where is he?" No one answered. She asked again: "Where is Xie Qingci?" Chun Heng turned around, his lips trembled for a long time, and he only said two words: "... Haili." Lin Jingzhe stood by the seaside all day long. The sea breeze blew her hair around, the sky cleared up after the rain stopped, and the blue sea was as calm as if nothing had happened. She remained motionless. When it got dark, she turned and left. She returned to the small courtyard where they had lived together. The sword tassel that Xie Qingci left for her still hung on the door frame - the red thread had faded a bit, but she wiped it every day. She told no one about the two letters, not a word about them. She started to learn to cook and her cooking was much better than before. She filled the yard with his favorite flowers. She placed two pillows at the head of the bed. When she lay down every night, she reached out and patted the one next to her and said, "You didn't come back today." One year, two years, three years. In the third year, she wrote a second letter - the letter "Don't read it until you can't walk anymore". She put it under her pillow, took it out every few days, looked at it, and put it back again. In the fifth year, few people in the world have mentioned "White Clothes". The new generation of young heroes have new names. The Moon Covering Sect became more and more ghastly and terrifying in Fei Lian's hands. Although the Tingxue Sect was still there, the gate became much more neglected. Only the four guardians were still guarding the small courtyard by Taihu Lake, waiting for their leader to return. In the seventh year, Lin Jingzhe carved a line of words on the old plum tree in the yard. "A stranger in this world never comes back." After carving it, she smiled again and said to the words, "No, he will come back." In the tenth year, she was still waiting. And Xie Qingci is indeed back. He was washed up on a desert island by the current. He was covered in injuries, three of his left ribs were broken, and his right leg was almost useless. He lay on the island for three months, surviving on rainwater and wild fruits. After he recovered from his injuries, he built a raft and floated for more than a month before returning to land. That was already a year later. He didn't answer Snow Pie. He first went to Biluo Sea and saw several graves on the shore, with the names of Tingxue Sect disciples engraved on the monuments. He went to the territory of the Hiding Moon Sect again and found that it was no longer what it used to be - Fei Lian took the throne and turned the Hiding Moon Sect into a place where poisons were raised and refined. It was so gloomy that no one dared to approach it within a hundred miles. He walked and watched. He saw that the naval battle that year was rumored to be "a man in white clothes who was belligerent and caused innocent people to die in vain". When he saw people in the world mentioning Xie Qingci, their admiration turned into shaking their heads and sighing. He saw that the Tingxue Sect had fewer and fewer disciples. The former largest sect in the world was now empty of disciples. He walked for a whole year before returning to the small courtyard by Taihu Lake. The courtyard door was ajar. The sword spike hanging on the door frame is still there, but it has faded to a very light pink. He reached out and touched it. The red thread was already brittle, and a small section broke off at the touch. He put the broken piece into his sleeve, then opened the door and walked in. The yard is clean and the flowers are blooming. The plum tree he planted is still there, and there are two more trees next to it - she planted them later. There was a line of words carved on the trunk of the old plum tree, and he saw it at a glance. "A stranger in this world never comes back." He stood in front of the line of words for a long time. Then he went inside. The furnishings have not changed, and there are still two pillows at the head of the bed. He walked over and felt the two letters under the pillow. The envelope had been turned over so many times that the edges were frayed. He opened the first letter. "Xie Qingci, I know you will win. If you win, I will make sweet-scented osmanthus cakes for you for the rest of your life. If you lose, it doesn't matter. I will go wherever you go. I, Lin Jingzhe, will do what I say." He opened the second envelope. "Xie Qingci, I don't know where you have been, and I don't know if you can read this letter. But I still have to write - I'm still waiting for you. When you come back, let's tidy up the yard and plant some flowers. By the way, if you feel tired, don't be the leader. Let's find a place to live at the foot of the mountain. You chop firewood and I plant the land. How nice." He held the two letters and stood in the empty room, motionless. After a long time, he heard someone talking outside the wall. "Have you heard? This year, someone went to the beach again to pay homage to Xie Qingci." "Why sacrifice him? If he hadn't insisted on fighting against the Moon Covering Sect and so many people died, my second uncle wouldn't have done it - well, forget it, everyone is gone." "That's right. It's very harmful to people to be shocked by white clothes." Xie Qingci stood by the window and slowly closed his eyes. He thought of the disciples who sank at the bottom of the sea, of the thunderstorm that night, of the way Chu Shukuang looked at him when the boat broke apart, and of Lin Jingzhe's slightly trembling hand when she handed him the letter. He suddenly felt that maybe he was really wrong. He raised his hand and touched his chest - he folded the two letters and placed them close to his heart. He looked back at the old plum tree in the yard. The words on it had been stained by wind and sun for several years, and were already somewhat mottled. "A stranger in this world never comes back." Xie Qingci slightly curved the corners of his mouth and whispered, "Well, I won't reply." He didn't go to see anyone. There was no reply to the Snow Sect, no search for the Four Great Protectors, and no search for Lin Jingzhe. He just returned to the room, picked up the pen on the desk, dipped it in ink, and slowly wrote four words on the paper: "Come back." Then he pressed the paper next to the two letters, turned around and left the yard. When he left, it started to rain again. Just like the rain that spring, it was thin and dense and made no sound when it fell on my shoulders. He didn't hold an umbrella and didn't look back. From then on, no one in the world saw Jinghong in white clothes again. Some people say that he died and sank into the blue sea. Some people say that he went overseas, to a place where no one can find him. Others say that he has actually been living at the foot of a certain mountain, chopping firewood and planting flowers every day, just like ordinary people. But no one could tell where he was. Only in the courtyard of Tingxue School by Taihu Lake, there is a line of newly carved words on the old plum tree. The handwriting is as thin as a sword, next to the graceful handwriting next to it—— "A stranger in this world never comes back." Another line is added below: "It's better to go back than to go back." That year, Xie Qingci was seventeen years old. Ten years in the world are just a dream. Intention: The spirit of young people will eventually fall into silence, but some people have lived with great vigor.