Weird show

Chapter 74

※one※

Shocked and furious, Shangguanpan cut Ji Shuliu's right wrist with no mercy in his swordsmanship, only a minute away from the tendons.

The wound on Ji Shuliu's back had been cracked, but his eyes lit up excitedly. Yan Huijian retreated to the left hand side in an evasive trend, and suddenly flipped his wrist. The tip of the sword pierced Shangguan Pan's sleeve. fight back.

When he was about to take another step forward, Qin Songfeng had already attacked from the side and rushed ahead of him.Ji Shuliu retreated obediently, still holding the sword in his right hand, ready to attack again at any time.

All this happened in an instant, until Ji Shuliu was about to tear off his sleeve with his left hand to cover the wound, and Peng Guru's nine subordinates realized that Peng Guru was dead.

"Hold the book!" The nine people almost cried out in mournful voices. Instead of intensifying their attacks on Sun Chengxiu, they all stopped and took a few steps back.

"After Zhang Shu's death, everything on the island will probably disappear."

"Falling into the hands of that killer Song Gang, life is worse than death. He may let the book master go, but he can't let us go."

"We swear allegiance to the book master. Now that the guards are not good enough, the crime was unforgivable."

"I would rather die than be humiliated..."

"I would rather die than be humiliated!"

Nine people stood scattered, raised their hands in the same posture, and at the same time crossed their swords in front of their necks.

Shangguan Pan's face changed drastically, the long sword in his hand intersected with Qin Songfeng's Yanlai sword, he took advantage of the situation and rushed towards the nine people, but it was too late, they killed themselves neatly and tacitly, nine clusters of fresh blood bloomed in the dilapidated field In the middle of the tomb.

——Sure enough, he is a loyal minister and martyr raised by a person who is familiar with history books.

The dead bone with two plants of grass planted in its eye socket was originally dug out from a grave here, but it has been moved back here and has not been buried yet.One of them happened to fall beside it, and knocked the skull crookedly. The newly-dead righteous man of Heaven's Punishment faced the long-dead sinner in Haifengzhai. The green grass looked at each other, which seemed to constitute a taunt that different routes lead to the same goal.

Shangguan stood in a daze for a moment, took a few steps back, and retreated to the side of Peng Guru's body, his eyes fell on Qin Songfeng: "Second Master Qin, everyone in the Jianghu said that you are tactful in handling things, you can give in when you can, you are more than modest, but you are not strong enough. I really didn't expect that you were so determined to kill Peng Guru."

Qin Songfeng took a few steps forward, blocked Ji Shuliu behind him, looked directly at Shangguan, and said in his usual simple tone: "If you can let it go, you can't let it go. In Peng Zhangshu's words, I have no Way. It’s just that he can’t help it, it’s for people with background, I can’t do it, it’s for people with no background. This is my own will, senior, please don’t blame others.”

"I didn't vent my anger. I just hope you...you guys, do less murder..."

Shangguan put the sword back into its sheath, sat down on the ground slumped, closed Peng Guru's eyelids, caressed the still warm corpse, tears streaming down his face.

Qin Songfeng was stunned, Ji Shuliu and Sun Chengxiu were also at a loss.

They can deal with a peerless master who protects the weak, but it is difficult to deal with a grieving old man.

Fortunately, at this time, Xiao Jiu also walked here slowly.Sun Chengxiu hurried to help her over.Xiao Jiu looked at his father, took a deep breath, and asked calmly, "When did you arrive?"

"Before, I came here on a fisherman's boat. Lao Song got lost at sea the day before yesterday. I took advantage of his unsuspecting and quietly hid in his boat and went to the island with him."

Ji Shuliu remembered that when Song Gang approached the shore, half of the people on the shore were shouting "Shangguansi committed suicide in fear of crime", and the other half were shouting "Shangguansi's cause of death is unknown", and he suddenly began to sympathize with him.

Xiao Jiu asked: "You suddenly returned to the island because you heard the news of the third brother's death?"

Shangguan wiped his face: "I know too late."

Xiao Jiu said: "A lot of people died beside Xixin Lake, do you still care?"

Shangguan said in a trembling voice: "What's the matter?"

Xiao Jiu said: "Fifth brother's subordinates heard the news of his death like crazy, and they couldn't break into the Xixin Hall, so they killed people everywhere on the island to seek revenge. The third and fourth brothers' subordinates were not to be outdone, and wanted to fight with them. Song Uncle is taking care of it, but without the help of Uncle Peng's elite staff, it's a bit powerless."

Shangguan Pan jumped up from the spot and rushed to the shore of Xixin Lake.

After he was far away, Qin Songfeng asked, "What about Shangguan Wu's death?" He chased Peng Guru too fast, and didn't see the scene where Jiang Wei killed his son.

Xiao Jiu stared at the direction her father left, and sighed shyly.

※two※

Shangguan still has prestige among the elders of the Heavenly Punishment Sect, but the young and impulsive juniors of the Heavenly Punishment Sect and the sinners who have taken refuge in his three sons do not recognize him afterwards, and are completely indifferent to his dissuasion and reprimand.

He could only draw his sword.

At the beginning, he held back a lot, but the end of being merciful is that saving people by himself is not as fast as killing others.In the end, he severely injured more than [-] people who took the lead in one breath, and finally barely frightened the rest of the followers.

Ji Shuliu leaned on Qin Songfeng and watched from a distance, and couldn't help but said: "He doesn't understand people's hearts at all, how could he have such a high prestige in the Heaven's Punishment School back then?"

Qin Songfeng said: "The swordsmanship is high."

Ji Shuliu was speechless.

There were piles of corpses by the Xixin Lake, all of them were young people, Shangguan Pan had a heartbroken expression on his face.But Xiao Jiu said quietly that this is actually a good thing.The ones who died this time were the ones with the most hostility on the island and the ones most deeply involved in the brothers' dispute. After these people died, the rest returned to the land so that they would not cause trouble.

Xiao Jiu and others escorted Jiang Wei from Xixintang back to the iron bucket.Jiang Wei was in a trance, with tears still in his eyes, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

She said softly: "I once said that I didn't know what I did wrong to bring up such a son. In fact, I did a lot of mistakes. When Ah San and Ah Wu were young, I always told Ah San that being a big brother Be sensible and give in to your younger brother. Maybe I don’t say that, Ah San will be less cowardly, and Ah Wu will be more considerate of others.

"I can't bear to kill him from the bottom of my heart. But Xiao Du and the others took the first step to protect Ah San. Even if I can forgive him for Ah San, I am not qualified to forgive him for the other two children. I can only kill him."

Shangguan Pan came in from the outside with other people's blood all over his body and said: "You should kill me, not him. When I was young, Ah San was soft-hearted, Ah Si was bold, Ah Wu was talented, they were all good boys, and Guru was also a good boy." Good children who always have a heart of compassion, it was because I failed to guide them in time that I harmed them.

"Feng Xiaoyu is timid by nature, I shouldn't have married her, causing her to worry about A Si's son to death.

"Back then, Feng Lan wasn't a bad person. I shouldn't have been busy teasing my daughter after she gave birth, but I'd neglected her, which caused her to accumulate grievances. Not only did she harm her eldest daughter, but also Lao Song's wife, and even made her elder sister suffer. Song was lonely all his life.

"There is also Xiaoqing...Qiu Fengqing is a good swordsman. If she keeps practicing her sword skills, even if she can't surpass me, she is still at the level of a first-class master. Although her father has stolen many times, he has never done anything absolutely. Why did you have to kill him? Xiaoqing was a blood feud at the age of nine. I can’t imagine how much suffering and humiliation she endured before she met me. In the end, she not only killed the brothers of the Heaven’s Punishment Sect, but also She killed herself. I actually dug up her grave to confirm the truth, how could I do such a crazy thing."

Xiao Jiu sat on a more comfortable chair, closed her eyes and lay back, and finally asked what she had never dared to ask: "Where is my mother?"

The Shangguan said: "I'm sorry for her too. I shouldn't have taken advantage of her youth and ignorance to trick her into marrying me...but she's still alive."

Xiao Jiu sat up straight: "Where is she?"

Shangguan judge hesitated for a moment, then showed a wry smile: "She lived well in Xuzhou, she has remarried now, and... gave birth to two younger brothers for you."

Xiao Jiu said: "She also thinks that there are too many lunatics on the island. After returning to the land, does she never want to go back to the island?"

Shangguan sentenced her head down: "She was treated on land for several months, and gradually realized the absurdity of those things on the island, she insisted on divorcing me, saying that she could not take away the husbands of two weak women, and asked me to send you to her side Upbringing. I was embarrassed to tell the truth to my brothers, so I pretended that she was not cured, and asked my brothers to report back to the island, and I stayed on land to persuade. I persuaded for two years, and finally she would rather remarry in order to get rid of me. I was so discouraged that I sneaked into the residence of my brother who was in charge of land and sea liaison, only to learn that the ship back to the island was shipwrecked, and you came to look for us on land, but something happened in Yongping Mansion."

Xiao Jiu said coldly: "It turns out that my mother doesn't want you anymore, so you don't want me either."

"No!" Shangguanpan pulled her sleeve carefully, "You were out of trouble at that time, I followed you secretly for a long time, but I didn't dare to show up. You have suffered so badly, and people have become cynical, I don't know why Explaining your mother's matter is not adding fuel to the fire, but I'm more afraid that you will resent us for delaying for too long and failing to take care of you."

Xiao Jiu smiled: "Oh, so you are afraid of me."

"I did something wrong, how can I not be afraid of you?" Shangguan judged, "I saw that you live at my cousin's house, and you like to practice sword after sunset. You hang Mingshen sword on the wall of your bedroom, and you refuse to use it easily. But always take good care of it..."

"Okay." Xiao Jiu patted Shangguan Pan's hand reluctantly, "Could it be that you don't return to the island to preside over the overall situation because you don't know how to explain it?"

Shangguanpan covered his hands, flattered on his face, and then the smiles in the corners of his eyes gradually disappeared: "I came back and took a look, and felt that Lao Song and Guru were more suitable to preside over the overall situation than me. At that time, the two of them joined forces to rule the island. Let you The three elder brothers manage things separately, and your three elder brothers are all working hard, for fear of being compared. The island is more organized than before I left. I thought it was time to let go.

"More importantly, I found that I am not worthy of being the leader. After returning from you, I became murderous. I first went to Hero Town to find out if there were any Sumen killers who slipped through the net. I didn't find any killers, only one The gang called Laonan Xiangzi has some involvement with Sumen. There is also a local Unyielding Gang who is against Lao Nanxiangzi. The leader of the gang, Lu Fengchun, is very famous for helping the poor and helping the poor. Now he is more famous than before, you should have heard of it , he is a cripple, in fact, his leg was broken by me when he was nine years old."

Ji Shuliu couldn't help but cast a glance at Qin Songfeng, feeling that the story of the eagle-eyed old Liu was haunting.

Xiao Jiu said: "When you saw him, you suddenly realized that what you did before was all wrong?"

"When Lu Fengchun was nine years old, he was a good boy who dared to act. He didn't make any serious mistakes. It's just that I thought he had committed a lot of crimes. When I broke his leg, I believed that this boy was just taught a lesson and didn't dare to commit suicide. For evil, never thought that he could grow into such a person.

"This is God reminding me. Lu Fengchun broke his leg at the age of nine, and Xiao Qing lost his father at the age of nine. They are all good in nature, but I acted in the name of punishment on behalf of the sky, but my actions were not evil. At that time Lu Feng Chun also had a nursing child by his side. The mother of the child was dead. He was much more patient with that child than I was with my sons. The more I looked at him, the more I understood that I was incompetent and incompetent except for martial arts. Saying goodbye is useless. Later, I spent several years of energy creating a set of marksmanship suitable for him, and taught it to him anonymously. He finally used this set of marksmanship to defeat Laonan Alley, which is considered a blessing for the residents of Hero Town.”

Ji Shuliu couldn't help but said: "Actually, he knew it was you, and he said that what you did back then was justified, and he doesn't hate you."

"...Is that so? But he doesn't hate me, but I can't help but hate myself." Shangguan judged, "Just now I thought, if I had returned to the island earlier, these disasters would not have happened. But I want to understand Now, if I go back to the island, maybe I will reverse the disaster. The conflict between Ajiu’s three brothers, there were signs before I left. Not only could I not resolve it, but every time I tried to resolve it, I couldn’t This caused their hatred to deepen. Many years ago, my master said a word, saying that I am benevolent and cowardly, drifting with the tide, and have nothing to do with swordsmanship. He was right, but unfortunately, the brother who was supposed to be the head of the sect was killed. , everyone values ​​my swordsmanship too much, and always forgets the others."

Xiao Jiu smiled wryly and said: "You killed so many people who were not guilty of death, can you really be called 'benevolent and cowardly'?"

"Being benevolent is not as good as being cowardly, and being cowardly is not as good as going with the crowd. I was only 17 years old when I took over as the head, and I was only worried about disappointing the spirit of my master and senior brothers. What I have done is even more inhumane than my master and senior brothers. The elders in my sect not only did not stop me, but encouraged me to approve it, they only worried that I would return to the old path of cowardice."

Ji Shuliu lowered his head and touched his sword hilt in a daze.The choice of the Heaven's Punishment Sect is not the result of the Shangguan's judgment on one person's cultivation.Perhaps cannibalism is their destined destination, there is no Shangguan, there are other Guan Gangzhu, there is no Qiu Fengqing, there is another Han Qing'e, there is no Peng Guru and Song Gang, or the 27 people who did not understand until death, there are other books Mr. and Mr. Xing.

Pan Ziyun wrote a play using the story of Qiu Fengqing, and the ending was cannibalism; the people on the island spent their 30 years acting in another play, and the ending was still cannibalism.Too pure integrity, too clean morality, although precious, is also fragile. Because of being too serious, it is easier to be self-confident without reason and go astray.

"Forget it, don't talk about this anymore." Xiao Jiu gently pressed the wound on his ribs, "I want to visit my mother, will she still see me?"

"She didn't want to see me, but she never came to see you, just because she regretted hurting you and was ashamed to see me. If you went to visit, she must be very happy."

※three※

Xixin Island organized the islanders to disguise themselves as fishermen and return to the land in batches by boat, and planned to send them to several different places to hide, so as to avoid further quarrels between those with old grudges.Qin Songfeng and others were on the first boat, as were Shangguanpan and Jiang Wei.

When the land was in sight, Shangguan finally said to Jiang Wei: "I don't have a fixed place to live now. When the people on the island are settled, I plan to find a quiet town and buy an unremarkable yard to live in. After you go back, Follow Ajiu for now."

In the past few days, Jiang Wei's whole body has aged a lot, and her pair of dark eyes are dull, but her clothes are still neat, her back is still straight, and she looks energetic at a glance.

Jiang Wei bowed to him: "Thanks to Shangguan for his care on the island, but I should be able to take away my savings on the island, right? After I go back, I plan to buy one or two stores to make ends meet, and then I still use my previous identity to contact my grandfather's former disciples. Sometimes when a woman dies and is inspected by a man, the family members are always displeased. I can still do a little favor like I did when I was a child."

Shangguan tried to intervene many times, but he was speechless at the end.

It turned out that this woman he had never seen before did not want to be attached to him.

Jiang Wei said plainly: "The incident on Xixin Island should be just a dream. I will tell others that I was just sold to a remote village by human traffickers. Now that I am getting older, I can only escape after taking care of Risong."

Then she smiled in relief, perhaps this was the first sincere smile she uttered after Shangguan San's death.

She lost her two sons, but now she's free again to go back to doing the hard work she's wanted to do since she was a teenager, and outsiders hate it.

Isn't this just like Shangguan Judgment, even if he is aliased as Wei Shang, he still cannot leave Jianghu.

※Four※

Ji and Qin lay face to face in the cabin, and could hear their conversation clearly.Ji Shuliu giggled gloatingly - he married five wives because of his greed, and he still wants to be a bachelor when he grows old.

Enough laughing, he suddenly said in a very small voice: "Songfeng, these days I always think of Shangguan Wu's last words. Senior Jiang said that it was just his words of fighting for power and gain to deceive people, but his expression is so angry, why do I feel that? It's not like pretending."

Qin Songfeng said: "His statement about recent events may be half-truth, but I think it should be true when he said that he was determined to change the situation on the island when he was 15 years old. When she was in that tunnel before, Miss Xiao Said that she trusts Senior Jiang the most, because everyone can change, only Senior Jiang's character is the most difficult to change. I didn't expect it to be a prophecy. The people who made mistakes on the island are indeed not bad people."

"This statement is very true. Shangguan's sentence has changed back and forth, and finally returned to the way it was before he became the head. It is also surprising-why do you always speak very reasonable recently?"

Qin Songfeng smiled.

Ji Shuliu blinked and said solemnly: "Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered that there is one thing in the world that is not easy to change. Have you heard of it?"

"what?"

Ji Shuliu hooked his fingers mysteriously, beckoning Qin Songfeng to bring his ears closer, and then said softly, "Of course it's...my love for you."

Qin Songfeng bit his lips lightly, and said with a smile: "It's too sweet, I'm panicking."