Bone

Chapter 117

"Wake up, wake up—"

The pain from the seven thunderbolts piercing through his body moved like a snake, as if it wanted to crush his bones joint by joint.Blunting two words, which couldn't be weaker, has exhausted all his last strength.Tan Fengyue's tightly tensed heartstrings suddenly loosened, and finally couldn't hold it any longer, letting the pain grip his consciousness like an invisible giant hand and dragging down fiercely until he fell into deep darkness.

The noise in the ear, the fog filled the air, and the worry in the heart, all were isolated by the darkness, and returned to silence.

And when I can see again—

What appeared in front of his eyes was a strange red.

He stared blankly, his limbs were a little weak, as if he was floating in the sea.In front of his eyes, there was a crimson moon soaked in blood, and the sides of his hands and body were dripping with blood.

And he was carrying a person on his back, stepping step by step among the dazzling blood.

Enemy attacks, grievances, fear, worries, howls, screams... all turned into a breeze that pierces the ears. He only carried the people on his back, as if he was carrying all of himself, step by step, slowly walk slowly.

Gently, as if he was afraid of waking up the people on his back, he kept his voice extremely low, but couldn't hide his smile: "The matter is over, why don't we just change our names and surnames and go back to the mountains..."

A heart turned into a bird, fluttering its wings, and his voice trembled slightly, "Maybe it's too much to change your surname? Then change your name... Changing your name is an important matter... Me, choose words at will That's it, how about you... Let me think about it, it's called—"

Inexplicably, there seemed to be a sense of dust settled in his heart, as if everything had settled down, everything had returned to its original position, there was no more surprise, no worry, and no more fear in his heart, like a sea fish entering the water, tired The bird returns to its nest, as long as this road can be walked steadily, everything will be——

Suddenly, he was startled, and his heavy steps stopped.

It seems... something is wrong.

The moment he stopped, the weight on his back suddenly disappeared.

"..."

In a dazed state, he looked back in a daze, but his eyes were still full of lively red, but a laughing voice called him: "Are you back?"

The voice seemed to come from far away, but it seemed to be ringing in the ears, as if she had forgotten something important, Tan Fengyue stood a little dazedly in the glowing red colors, raised her eyes, was covered with red The green tiles and cornices of the lamp, with the head tilted, are Zhang Zhang's eager smiles, looking like a young man.

Just as he was staring at this sudden but extremely warm scene, a pair of lukewarm hands put his arms affectionately, his tone seemed angry, but his face had a deep smile: "Why did you come back so late this year?" , almost missed thirty!"

His thoughts were dragged down extremely slowly and bluntly, and he was still a little dazed. He looked up at the graceful old woman and called out in disbelief, "Mother?..."

It is said that the son looks like his mother, and he is still young and handsome, but Mrs. Tan has already lived a long life. When she smiles, the corners of her eyes are deeply wrinkled, and it is difficult to see her beautiful face when she was young.

Afraid of neglecting the honored guest, Mrs. Tan patted his hand lovingly, then let go of him, turned her head to his side and said with a smile: "Qin Xianjun is here too! Okay, okay—how tired are you on the way?"

Before the person beside her could answer, Tan Fengyue turned her head and saw the person in white beside her, the corners of her mouth curled up habitually, but she didn't know what to say for a moment, she just listened blankly My own mother greeted him affectionately, and listened to him reply with single words with care.

——For some reason, it was obviously an ordinary scene that he saw every year, but he seemed to have not seen them for a long time, and he just wanted to watch them carefully and keep them in his heart.

While he was in a daze, Mrs. Tan had led him into the hall by herself, and said in a warm voice: "The Tan family has a relative who I met during the festival a few years ago. Do you remember, Xianjun? They also came this time It's..."

The bright red lanterns on the eaves swayed with the wind, and there were children blowing their whips on the street.

It was as if he had finally recovered his spirit that was wandering nine days away, and he was really in this warm scene. Although he was still a little dazed, he was no longer absent-minded.Tan Junying was slightly taken aback, and followed in with a smile: "Mother, don't scare him—"

Years are always similar, always familiar.The footsteps of the servants in the corridor are orderly, and the voices and laughter in the hall are endless.

On the stage in the garden, the music troupe is already playing music to warm up the scene.There was a table full of melons and fruits, refreshments, and food under the stage. Even though the person was sitting on his shoulder, Tan Junying never took his eyes off him for a moment. The guests who came to chat with him were full of smiles in their peach blossom eyes.

After finally finding a gap, he lightly tugged at the man's sleeve, and whispered deliberately as if making trouble with him: "After the battle of Risheng Ghost Domain, Qin Xianjun is famous, and he would like to honor his face and accompany me home every year. This noise—doesn’t it bother you?”

Sitting beside him, Qin Nianjiu always had that indifferent expression on his face, as if the garden was full of excitement, but his place was cool and cool, and he replied lightly, "I won't get bored."

The arc of Tan Junying's mouth became deeper.

As if seeing him was not enough, he looked at Qin Nianjiu's slightly drooping eyelashes, his heart swelled up with the drumbeat on the stage getting tighter and faster, filled with the warmth of the crimson garden——and jumped again A slap made him freeze the smile on his lips.

On the stage, the actor said, "The most provocative spring is this year..."

This familiar scene, this familiar dialogue, the actor's familiar libretto... this is...

Suddenly remembered something vaguely, Tan Junying's consciousness seemed to be drawn away in an instant, staring blankly at a group of lively red shadows, a woman surrounded by several people was leading a little girl who looked like three or four years old , walking towards them talking and laughing.

He remembered, he remembered... it was—

There seemed to be a pool of foam in his head that exploded one after another, making a small rustling sound. He listened in a daze to the few people who greeted them both respectfully and politely, wishing them a good year, and then said with a smile: "I don't know if Auntie Have you mentioned it to the two immortals before, this is my little girl..."

She is the youngest daughter of a relative's family, and she was married to the Tan family when she was still in the womb, and she will be four years old after that, and she has yet to get a pleasing nickname...

The voice and the music were mixed together, just as he remembered, the person who came shaved the girl's plump cheeks, and narrowed her eyes with a smile: "No, it's rare to see the two immortals, and look forward to seeing you." Xianjun can give the little girl a nickname, and bless her with a safe and smooth life..."

Gradually remembering more, Tan Junying opened his mouth in a daze, and heard himself responding with a smile: "If you let me pick it up, I'm afraid you won't trust me—"

It must be known that he had a bad character when he was young, and his frivolous attitude was even more obvious when he was old. Even if others dared to entrust him with this job, he would definitely not dare to accept it.Ignoring the repeated voices of "Where will it be, how dare you dare?" and the repeated gestures of hands, he turned to Qin Nianjiu who was beside him, nudged him lightly with his elbow, bent his eyes and said with a smile, "Why don't you come?"

Immediately, the visitor stopped saying "how dare you?", stopped waving his hands, and looked over expectantly.

Several eyes focused on Qin Nianjiu. He still had no expression on his face. He just thought about it for a while and said after a while: "I'm not good at choosing names. But I heard that the word 'xi' is very good. It's from the heart... ..."

I was fortunate enough to be given the words by the immortal, and before he finished speaking, the visitor had already burst into laughter, and clapped his hands in response: "Ah, good, I cherish the past, cherish the past, cherish the youth!"

"If you cherish clothes, you will have clothes, and if you cherish food, you will have food. - Good, good!"

"It's really a good name!"

Immediately, someone teased the little girl: "Xixi! Xixi!"

The mother-in-law also clasped the little girl's hands together, taught her to make obeisance, and teased her: "cherish it, offer incense!"

The little girl grinned, giggled, and said vaguely: "Xixi, Shangxiang!"

It caused everyone to roar with laughter.

In the warm red shadows, there were many laughter and distant music. Even Qin Nianjiu, who was dressed in white and had no expression on his face, seemed to be infected with some warm popularity, but no one noticed that Tan Junying was getting darker. The color of his eyes, and no one knows his enthusiasm that is getting colder.

Why did he froze laughing?

Why does he feel chilled?

The age is a dream, and the flowers are empty and the smoke is flowing.The noise faded away with the light, Tan Fengyue caressed the corner of her frozen mouth in confusion, and gradually remembered more.Yes, because——

In a blink of an eye, there are still red eyes.

The battle of Risheng Huangquan was extremely tragic.As far as the eyes can see, there are mountains of corpses piled up, and the sea of ​​blood flows downstream.

Two red sleeves were draped over the shoulders, and the few inches of the exposed arms were covered with scars, which had been carefully applied with medicine and bandaged properly.

Tan Junying, dressed in mottled blue clothes, walked slowly against the flow of rescuers with Qin Nianjiu on his back.

Although he was also extremely exhausted, he had never been as dedicated to killing ghosts as Qin Nianjiu, and he still had some strength to spare.But he didn't want to set up an array to teleport - just because he didn't want to.He is greedy for the closeness of this moment.

The person who was lying on the back of his head lost all strength, hanging heavily on his body, breathing long and hard.

Exhale, inhale, lightly pounced on his neck, as if tickling his itch, so he laughed and clicked his tongue softly, "After this battle, you will be famous—"

The person on the back was naturally unable to respond to him, and lowered his head even more dizzily, causing him to smile again, and after a while he smiled and said: "...It's really rare to see you so weak, let me pick it up." It's cheaper."

Even if there are so many strong people in the sect, if Qin Nianjiu recognizes him as the second, no one would dare to recognize him as the number one. He has never seen him show such a weak posture.Even if the two of them have known each other for a long time, they have grown up together since they were young, and they have been in the world together day and night, but they rarely have such close moments.

Talking to himself, he stepped in the bloody mud step by step, and Xu Xu talked to the person on his back: "Well, if I got a good deal, I should be happier. It can be seen that you are like this, I am I would rather not take this cheap..."

God knows how terrified he was when he just raised his sword to kill a ghost, and suddenly looked back to see this person falling from the ghost king's hand, and fell heavily to the ground.At that moment, as if the blood all over his body froze in an instant, he didn't even know how to beat a heart, and he flew towards him instinctively——

Full of fear in his heart, he lowered his eyelids slightly, and said with certainty: "Don't be so cheap. It's more pleasing to the eye if you stay by my side well."

He is used to speaking frivolously, and no matter what he said, he seemed to be joking, so Qin Nianjiu was falling asleep at this time, so that he could speak more truthfully, slowly, and express his sincerity, "...otherwise it would be like Now it’s like this, it only makes people worry.”

Seriously but for a moment.He suddenly laughed softly again, and weighed the person on his back, "It's just that, anyway, I've taken advantage of it right now——I want to walk slowly, Qin Xianjun, don't blame me."

The person on the back still didn't respond to him, just closed his eyes drowsily, and the two red sleeves hanging in front slowly swayed with his steps.

"Your senior sister was seriously injured, your master has already brought her back to Jucang first. Your senior brother was invited by Yuyan to help heal someone's injury..." Ignored running around and shouting in the ruins of Huangquan A member of the other sect, Tan Junying walked slowly with the person on his back, counting slowly to him, firstly to reassure him, and secondly to claim credit for himself: "Look, I am the only one who takes care of you. "

He was always upset that the old man Qin Feng was eccentric... He pursed his lips, barely freed a hand, carefully stroked the arm covered with gauze under the red sleeve, and muttered uncertainly: "... There shouldn't be any scars this time, right?"

No one in the world knows that Qin Xianzun is ruthless and reckless in killing ghosts.Whenever he was injured, he was the one who came to bandage and heal him—Tan Junying twitched the corners of his mouth without a smile, and whispered to Feng Ting: "The golden wind purple dew that my master bestowed on me, I will give it to you." It's useless, it's all on you. I just used up the last bottle, and I have to find him to get it in the future...or not? You don't need to work so hard... Risheng Huangquan They have all been taken away, and the seventeen sects are still there, how can there be any ghosts to worry about them?... The matter is over, why don't we just change our names and surnames, and go back to the mountains..."

He has occupied his heart for a long time, but dare not reveal half of his feelings. Originally, he was just like a school of fish swimming under the water surface, but now he was caught by the word "fear" one after another, and his words became more and more irrelevant. , "Maybe it's too much to change the surname? Then let's change the name... Changing the name is an important matter... For me, I can choose the word as I like, and for you... Let me think about it, I will call it—"

He walked slowly with Qin Nianjiu on his back, his steps were steady, his breath regular, but his voice was a little lower, revealing the selfishness and care hidden in it, "I see the word 'cherish' is good. Cherish, live with your heart what?"

Amused by himself, he laughed a few times, and he said a little boldly: "I have a nickname, and you know it, but you don't, so...you have it too. 'Xixi', isn't it better than that vulgar Does 'Qingqing' sound pleasant to your ears?"

Even if he is usually as frivolous as he is, he has never dared to utter half a word of such blatant words. Even at this moment, he only revealed a little bit like a superficial, and then hurriedly diverted, "It's not good to go back to hermit." I always like to be more lively, to be able to travel mountains and rivers with me, and to taste some food from various places... Isn't it wonderful?...It's better than killing ghosts all day long, and being scared for you all the time..."

Xu Xu, he talked a lot, some didn't, from Tiannan to Haibei, he laughed muffledly from time to time.The hustle and bustle all over the place seems to have nothing to do with them, the road ahead seems endless, and the words that can be said also seem endless, and they can just go on like this.

At that time, how could he have thought of what happened later.He only thought that people in the world say that filial piety moves the heavens. If this is the case, is it true that his sincerity is not enough to move a piece of wood and melt a piece of ice in the long run?

——Someday.

If there is a day when you can roam around freely and playfully call that person to cherish, and that person can understand what he wants, that would be great.

……

Slowly, slowly.The sky and the earth are red, and the distant figure gradually shrinks, turning into a full stop.

Yes, he remembered.

The garden is decorated with lanterns and festoons, and the flowers are like brocade.Tan Junying was bewildered and looked at the guests and relatives gathered around Qin Nianjiu, who laughed happily and praised the word "Xixi" as a good name, and finally remembered everything.

It was on this day, at this time, that he finally realized——

Qin Nianjiu has always known.

Because there is always a hint of cowardice in his heart, he is unwilling and afraid to express the feelings in his heart, as if as long as he speaks out, everything will be overwhelmed.So he always used frivolity and frivolity as a cover, and jokes instead of sincerity, just thinking about staying one day, getting closer to them, and softening up this unintentional person, maybe the time will be ripe...

Only that time.Only that time.He was fascinated by the "rear fear", and he boldly said a lot, he thought he didn't hear it at all, he thought it was just a small, insignificant selfishness of his -

But it turns out...he heard it all, he knew it all, but he didn't understand.

Because he has no heart, he will never understand his sincerity, and because he is ruthless, he will never understand his true feelings.

—and never be able to respond.

So today, Tan Mansion was full of warm lights, but his heart was cold.

Gently, the little girl who was nicknamed "Xixi" stood up on tiptoe, grabbed the sleeve corners of him and Qin Nianjiu, raised her face and babbled and asked, "Brother Xian, come to celebrate the New Year as well." Is it?"

After all, they are children, and they still think the word "Xianjun" is their name.Everyone burst into laughter again, the girl's eyes full of anticipation and excitement were extremely moist.

... How did he answer?

That's right, he took a look at Qin Nianjiu, swallowed the few strands of soreness and bitterness stuck in his throat, snapped his fingers and lit the incense stick in her hand for the little girl with "creating something out of nothing", and smiled sincerely: "That's natural. Come, we are together, year after year."

——Not today, someday.

……

In the warm red light, the memories that followed the fairy bone being pulled away and folded back bit by bit, from the beginning to the end——

On Jucang Mountain that day, the white snow was not cold, but the heart was cold.The wind curled up his clothes, and the clouds caressed his ears. He heard him say: "... I will not enter the world to get rid of evil from now on, so you don't need to walk with me anymore."

How was he feeling at that time?That's right, there were thousands of words gushing out of his mouth, which even made him want to laugh, but the corners of his mouth were so heavy that he couldn't raise it no matter what, and there was only a short silence in the end.

——That couldn't be better, I've always been lazy, and I don't want to do this kind of business, so I will retire with you and live in the world.

——Why do you have to stop joining the WTO?It's not that I can't fight or protect you.You can follow me...

——What kind of superstition and fallacies left over from ancient times?I'm going to talk to Qin Feng that old man!

……

Xu Shi was really tired, tired, for some reason, he couldn't utter a word of the jokes that were readily available on weekdays, and it was his expression that cooled down with his heart.He heard himself ask in a cold voice: "... In your heart, you always think... that I come to look for you every day, and I insist on walking with you... just to kill ghosts and get rid of evil spirits, so as to accumulate merit?"

What responded to him was Qin Nianjiu's indifferent question: "Isn't it?"

"..."

So there is nothing to say in the end.

He thought that it was the first time he tasted the feeling of coldness in the Tanfu, but he didn't know that the feeling of death was waiting for him to taste.

No matter how hot a heart of flesh and blood is, no matter how warm it is, it burns like a fire, but day after day, year after year, there is no firewood to fuel it, and only ice water can be used to irrigate it. How long can it last?

In the end, only a piece of ashes remained.It's heartbreaking.

So he finally didn't say anything more, just smiled and made an appointment with him "Goodbye in the Immortal Palace", then turned around and said goodbye, and never saw him again.

Acacia is as deep as the sea, and old things are as far away as the sky.That day in Tanfu, he said that every year——

Obviously Qin Nianjiu also nodded along with him.But in the blink of an eye, many years have passed.

Once he ascended to the sky, Qin Nianjiu died, and there was no years or years between them.

Suddenly, a long cry of black crows came from far and wide, splitting the bright red scene in front of him.

Tan Fengyue frowned slightly, only to see the red light scattered around her eyes, and suddenly fell silent, a kind of bone-chilling silence.

Inexplicably startled by the cold silence, he opened his eyes urgently and laboriously.

In the gradually clear vision, there are no glaring sect members with swords, no sky-shattering thunders, no colossal monsters, and no people in his dreams, only the sunlight and the faint bamboo shadows outside the window.

Outside the small bamboo hut, which was full of greenness, there were bursts of indistinct cries faintly coming from far away.