At Xupai time, Mou Rongtian and Shi Yi responded to Dezhen's invitation and came to the Temple of the King of Yue, ten miles west of the city.

I saw a Taoist priest sitting cross-legged and meditating in the hall, it was Dezhen.

Mou Rongtian hugged his fists and said hello to Dezhen.

Dezhen stood up and said, "Master Mou, you are here."

Mou Rongtian asked: "The Taoist priest invited me to come here, but I don't know why?"

Dezhen said: "Pindao is afraid that you will not be a match for my second junior brother Deyu in tomorrow's battle, so I want to help you."

Mou Rongtian was worried that he would not be able to defeat Deyu. Hearing this, he felt happy and said, "Thank you very much, Taoist Master. How can you help me?"

Dezhen said: "Pindao is very clear about Deyu's martial arts routine. Pindao practices with Master Mou. With Master Mou's intelligence, he will definitely find a way to crack it."

Mou Rongtian smiled and said: "That's very good, so I'll help Taoist Master."

Shi Yi said: "Taoist Master Dezhen, why are you helping us deal with your junior brother? Is it possible that you two are at odds?"

Mou Rongtian didn't know why Dezhen helped him so many times, but he couldn't ask directly.

Dezhen smiled and said: "No, Pindao and Junior Brother Deyu are brothers and sisters. The reason why I want to help Master Mou is, firstly, to respect Master Mou's character. Everyone in the world knows that Master Mou is an upright and good official. Secondly, I want to help Master Mou."

I don’t want our sect to cause trouble. The Red Leaf Snow Lotus is the Queen’s life-saving medicine. If we don’t give it to you, we will be openly opposing the imperial court. How can we still get any good results?”

Shi Yi raised his thumb and said, "Taoist Master Dezhen understands righteousness, and I admire him."

Dezhen smiled and said: "Master Mou, the backyard is spacious, let's go to the backyard to practice."

The three of them came to the backyard. Mou Rongtian and Dezhen were sparring. Dezhen showed Deyu's martial arts routines. Mou Rongtian was not Dezhen's opponent, and Dezhen taught him how to resolve his sword moves.

The Kongtong sect's soul-chasing and life-killing sword techniques have a total of seventy-two styles. When the styles are arranged and combined, endless moves can be produced.

For example: one move, two moves and three moves are combined into one move. If the order is changed, the three moves are performed first, then the second move and the first move are performed, and another move is formed.

Although the disciples of the Kongtong sect all learn the soul-chasing and life-killing swordsmanship, their methods are different. Dezhen and Deyu have known each other for a long time, so they understand Deyu's swordsmanship routines.

Mou Rongtian was gifted and intelligent, and he could understand with just a few clicks. It took him less than an hour to learn how to decipher Deyu's sword moves.

Dezhen said: "Master Mou, you can already defeat my second junior brother. When we fight tomorrow, you should not make a quick decision. You should wait until after Bai Yuhe and then defeat Deyu, so as not to arouse suspicion."

Mou Rongtian said: "I understand."

Dezhen then ordered: "Sir Mou, you must click on it as soon as possible, and you must not hurt my second junior brother."

Mou Rongtian said: "Don't worry, Taoist Master, I have a sense of proportion."

The next morning, Mou Rongtian, Shi Yi and Ma Baihu climbed up Kongtong Mountain again, came to Xuanyuan Temple, and stood in the square in front of the main hall to wait. The little Taoist priest went in to report, but there was not much time, so Juechen led the crowd out.

Mou Shima and the others paid tribute to the three elders of Kongtong.

Juechen said: "Let's not talk nonsense. Deyu, you can play with Mr. Mou."

Deyu took a step forward, extended his left hand and said, "Please, Mr. Mou."

The two stood in an open area of ​​the square, Mou Rongtian pulled out a tiger-head embroidered spring knife, and Deyu showed his long sword.

Mou Rongtian said: "Taoist Master Deyu please come first."

Deyu was not polite to him and said, "I'm sorry!" He thrust his sword and stabbed him, and the two of them exchanged moves and fought together.

Mou Rongtian saw that Deyu's swordsmanship routine was the same as Dezhen's last night, so he felt confident. According to Dezhen's instructions, he was not in a hurry to defeat Deyu, and beat him back and forth, until he reached 130.

After more than ten seconds, Mou Rongtian suddenly walked around behind Deyu and pointed him with one finger.

After saying "I accept it," he opened the acupuncture points for Deyu.

Deyu walked back with a face full of shame, lowered his head and said to Juechen: "This disciple is incompetent and has embarrassed the master."

Juechen frowned, with a look of displeasure on his face, and reprimanded: "You useless thing, he is more than ten years younger than you, and you can't beat him. You don't want to eat the salt of these ten years.

Just a piece of rubbish snack, roll it aside."

Shi Yi said proudly: "Senior Juechen, please hand over the Red Leaf Snow Lotus."

Juechen said unhappily: "Dezhen, give them the red leaf snow lotus." Then he turned and left.

Dezhen went to the back house and brought a brocade box, opened the lid, and the aroma filled the air. It turned out that it contained red-leaf snow lotus. Dezhen closed the lid and handed the brocade box to Shi Yi.

Mou Rongtian saw that there was no other Taoist priest around, so he said to Dezhen: "I would like to invite the Taoist priest to have a few drinks. I hope the Taoist priest will appreciate it."

Dezhen said: "You go first and wait for me at the foot of the mountain."

Mou Shima and the others left Xuanyuan Temple and walked to the foot of the mountain. Mou Rongtian took Ma Baihu away and sat on a blue stone to wait for Dezhen.

About half an hour later, Dezhen arrived. The three of them went to a restaurant in Kongtong Town and asked for a private room to sit in.

Mou Rongtian handed the recipe to Dezhen and asked him to order. Dezhen ordered two cheap vegetarian dishes. Mou Rongtian showed his gratitude and ordered a dozen more hard dishes and a jar of good daughter's red.

There was not much time, so the food and wine were put down, and the three of them chatted while eating.

After three drinks and five dishes, Dezhen changed the subject and asked Mou Rongtian who was in his family.

Mou Rongtian said: "My mother has passed away, and I and my father are the only two people left in the family."

Dezhen asked again who was in Shi Yi's family.

Shi Yi didn't know who his biological father was, and he wasn't familiar with Dezhen. He didn't want to mention his life experience, so he said, "My father passed away, but my mother is still here." He asked casually, "Who is there in the Taoist priest's family?"

Dezhen sighed, picked up the wine glass, drank it all in one gulp, and said sadly: "It's gone, it's all gone, they were all killed by the enemy."

Mou Rongtian and Shi Yi were startled, and Mou Rongtian asked: "Who is the enemy?"

Dezhen shook his head and said, "I don't know. Sixteen years have passed, and Pindao still doesn't know who the enemy is who killed seven members of my family."

Mou Rongtian said: "What exactly is going on? Can the Taoist priest tell us something?"

Dezhen said: "If you want to hear it, Pindao can tell you." Then he told about his life experience and the murders in his family.

Dezhen's surname was Kong, his original name was Kong Daleng, and he was a native of Kongtong Town, Pingliang Prefecture. His father was named Kong Niu, and his mother was named Zhao.

Kong Niu was a tenant farmer, his family was poor, and he lived a very poor life. Fortunately, he was hard-working and his wife was virtuous. He relied on the few acres of rented thin land to make ends meet.

When Dezhen was seven years old, one day, he went into the mountains to collect wild vegetables and met a vicious wolf. Dezhen was frightened. He sat on the ground, his legs were weak, and he couldn't run even if he wanted to. He shouted: "

Don’t eat me, don’t eat me!”

Dezhen was a skinny kid, with not much meat on his body. The evil wolf also hated him. There were plenty of plump pheasants and rabbits in the mountains, but he refused to eat them and insisted on eating Dezhen.

Seeing the wolf approaching him step by step, Dezhen was so frightened that he wet his pants and begged: "Uncle Wolf, don't eat me, don't eat me."

How can a bad wolf understand human speech? Even if it could, it would not let him go.

Just as Dezhen was about to die in the wolf's belly, a giant eagle flew up with a Taoist priest sitting on it. The giant eagle swooped down, grabbed the wolf with one claw, and flew high into the sky.

Dezhen had never seen such a big bird, and he screamed in fright. He was relieved when he saw that the wolf had been caught away without harming himself.

A moment later, the evil wolf fell from a high altitude with a "boom" and landed right next to Dezhen. He fell to his death immediately and was so frightened that Dezhen shouted, "Mother!"

The giant eagle flew down and hung about ten feet high in front of Dezhen, constantly beating its wings. When Dezhen saw a Taoist priest riding on the eagle, he thought he was a deity, so he knelt down and said, "Thank you, uncle deity, for saving me."

"

The Taoist priest said: "There is no need to thank me. I am not a god. I am a monster in Kongtong Mountain that eats children. Baby, I'm hungry. Take off your clothes and let me eat."

Hearing this, Dezhen shivered with fright, kept kowtowing, and begged: "Uncle Monster, don't eat me, don't eat me, please."

The Taoist priest said: "It's useless to beg, I'll take care of you today."

Dezhen was so frightened that he cried.

The Taoist priest asked: "Little brat, what's your name?"

Dezhen said: "My name is Kong Daleng."

The Taoist priest said: "What a stupid name, who gave you this name?"

Dezhen said: "My father started it."

The Taoist priest said: "Your father must have never read a book, otherwise he would not have given such a name. What does your father do?"

Dezhen said: "My father is a tenant farmer."

The Taoist priest said, "No wonder." He paused and said, "Little brat, why did you come up the mountain?"

Dezhen said: "I'm here to pick wild vegetables."

The Taoist priest said: "Stop picking wild vegetables and become a monster with me."

Dezhen shook his head and said, "I don't want to be a monster."

The Taoist priest said: "If you don't become a monster, I will eat you. Don't you want to die?"

Dezhen said: "I don't want to be a monster, and I don't want to die."

The Taoist priest said: "If you don't become a monster, you will die. I ask you again, do you want to become a monster?"

Dezhen thought for a moment and said, "Can I be a monster without eating people?"

The Taoist priest said: "There is no monster that doesn't eat people. To be a monster, you must eat people."

Dezhen stood up, pointed forward, and said, "Who is that?" As the Taoist priest turned around to look, he ran away.

The Taoist priest said, "Where is there?" He turned around and saw Dezhen running away, and shouted: "Little brat, if you dare to lie to me, I will eat you."
To be continued...