Fighter of the Destiny

The night wind blew through the forest, blowing a chill on his face. When he woke up, he realized what a risky move he had made by asking the woman about the black dragon, and he couldn't help but feel a little scared. At this moment, Xuanyuan Po's angry voice could be faintly heard from Qiulin's side. Tang Sanliu secretly ate the late-night snack that probably belonged to Chen Changsheng. He smiled and shook his head, no longer thinking about those problems, and walked towards the Anglican Academy.

The word ice left by the woman on the stone table was Chen Changsheng's only clue to find the black dragon. This seemed to be a test - the black dragon was a giant black dragon, itself related to ice and snow.

The problem is, ice is a very common thing. Especially in the late autumn and winter, you can occasionally see ice shards where the major rivers in Kyoto lean against the stone walls. Further north, I am afraid that ice blocks as big as rocks have appeared on the rivers. Even in the middle of summer, those princes The nobleman's house also has an ice cellar with a lot of ice cubes.

For practitioners who are practicing cold skills, ice is something that can be seen everywhere. Just prepare a water basin and put your hand in it. After a while, a basin full of ice will appear. This is especially true in places like the palace. There is a special formation that continuously produces ice for the enjoyment of the Pope and the senior priests.

Chen Changsheng discovered some problems, because ice was... too common in Kyoto.

When he was in Xining Town, he and his senior brothers often went to the mountain stream to pick up ice cubes in late winter. After coming to Kyoto, the opportunities to come into contact with ice became relatively less. Thinking about it now, the most impressive close contact with ice was When I went shopping with Luoluo out of the Chinese Education College, the two of them bought popsicles to eat.

He remembered clearly that it was midsummer, and the streets were crowded with people. Whether they were young ladies, young men, or lackeys, almost everyone had a popsicle in their hands. In Xining Town, or other records recorded in Taoist canon, Summer in the city is a scenery rarely seen.

Both practitioners and formations can easily make ice cubes, but it is absolutely impossible to turn ice cubes into such cheap things. Even if all practitioners lower their status and all formations are activated at full power, it is impossible to provide What so many people in Kyoto need all summer long.

He walked out of the Chinese Education College and went to the grocery store by the well in Baihua Alley. He asked where they got their popsicles in the summer, and then followed this clue and found a dessert shop in Xinchaofang. , and then found an ice cellar strictly managed by the imperial court.

According to his research, in the summer, all dessert shops in Kyoto buy ice cubes from this ice cellar.

This ice cellar is located in Xishi Hutong. The courtyard door looks very small, but you can tell that such a large amount of ice can be stored in the ice cellar underground in the courtyard.

Chen Changsheng asked Tang Sanliu to take a look around and found that there was no formation hidden in the ice cellar in Xishi Hutong. He also asked around and confirmed that this ice cellar was indeed a natural cold cellar. It was said that it was connected to the underground of Kyoto. There is an underground cold vein, so it can continuously provide ice.

After trying his best to drive Tang Sanshiliu back to the Academy of Chinese Education, Chen Changsheng found a simple food shop in the West Market alley and sat down. He took a pen and paper and began to do serious drawing calculations.

Of course he didn't believe in the so-called underground cold veins. According to the knowledge in the Shui Jing Zhu and the relevant regulations of the court, as well as the general location of the ice cellar that Tang Sanliu had found out, it took him less than half an hour to roughly calculate where the bottom of the ice cellar was and whether there was an underground river there. , and most importantly...where is the source of the chill.

Walking out of the West Market Alley, he walked forward according to the lines on the paper.

He didn't know how long it had passed, but he found that the noise around him had disappeared. He looked up in shock and saw a tall city wall appearing in front of him. He was actually in front of the palace!

Sure enough, we arrived in front of the palace.

Looking at the faintly visible cornices in the palace wall, distinguishing those buildings, and using the location of the National Education College as a reference, he roughly found the location of Weiyang Palace, and then closed his eyes. He started walking in his mind, just like the night of the Ivy Banquet, he walked to the abandoned garden, entered the cold pool, started running, ran all the way, and finally pushed open the door.

He opened his eyes, turned to a road to the rear left, and reached his destination through the golden leaves on the ground.

The golden autumn in front of Miyagi Castle, like the ivy at the Imperial Palace, is a famous scenic spot in Kyoto. Now is the best and last time to view the scenery. Although the weather is a bit cold, there are still many tourists.

He carefully avoided a child with muddy hands, politely asked an old man to go ahead, walked around several trees, and came to a well.

He knew this place was called Beixinqiao, but it was the first time he knew there was a well here.

He leaned forward and took a look into the well, and found that it was bottomless, but there was no trace of moisture. It must be an abandoned well.

He raised his head and glanced at the distant autumn sky, looking at the people having fun not far away, his emotions were very shocked and quite complicated.

That black dragon is actually imprisoned underground here? The entrance is actually in broad daylight?

…

…

Beixinqiao is not a bridge, it is a place name.

Why is it called Beixin Bridge even though there is no bridge here?

There is a very famous legend in Kyoto about this matter.

It is said that many years ago, when the allied forces of humans and monsters fought a bloody battle with the demons on the Central Plains, a powerful evil dragon took advantage of the situation and came to Kyoto to cause chaos, killing creatures and killing innocent people indiscriminately. No one could stop it. Just before the great chaos in Kyoto. At this time, no one expected that Wang Zhice sneaked back to Kyoto from the front line and led the generals who stayed in Kyoto to jointly defeat this evil dragon.

The evil dragon is also a dragon. It is the most advanced divine creature in the world. It is very difficult to kill it completely. Moreover, it is said that this evil dragon has the blood of the Dragon King. Even a legendary figure like Wang Zhice is worried about killing this evil dragon. Will the evil dragon anger the dragon clan that has been hidden for a long time? He is also worried that the evil dragon will try his best to bring too much disaster to Kyoto before dying, so he decided to leave a way for the other party to survive - Wang Zhice asked the evil dragon to accept human imprisonment , as an atonement, and then promised the evil dragon that he would build a new bridge on the ground where he was imprisoned. As long as the bridge becomes old or is flooded by the Luo River, he will be released.

The lifespan of the dragon clan is unimaginably long. The evil dragon thought to himself that it would only take a few decades or a hundred years at most for a new bridge to become old. Moreover, with its understanding of Kyoto's water system and its innate ability, it was certain that Luoshui would become old every once in a while. There was a big tide in sixty years. In addition, he was seriously injured and was on the verge of death, so he agreed to this condition.

The evil dragon surrendered, and the Zhou court set up a very powerful restriction outside the palace and imprisoned it underground, but... did not build a bridge on the ground at all.

The Luoshui River passes around the imperial city and does not flow through it at all. The so-called bridge is just a fake bridge.

Wang Zhice also did something. He directly changed the place name here to Beixinqiao.

This bridge will never be flooded by the Luo River.

This bridge is always new.

That evil dragon will never come out again.

…

…

Chen Changsheng sat under the tree, his eyes falling on the scroll, but he couldn't read it at all.

Behind the tree, a father was telling this legend to his children.

The father praised Wang Shenxian for his perfect plan, and the children clapped their hands happily. Some children asked, if you put it this way, the evil dragon is now under our feet? The other children were a little scared when they heard this. The adults laughed and said that a story is a story. Is it still true?

Chen Changsheng had also heard of this legend, but he never thought that it might be true.

He looked at the abandoned well not far away, his emotions becoming more and more complicated.

Anyone who has heard the legend of Beixinqiao will hate the tyranny of the evil dragon and praise Wang Zhice's wisdom, but he feels that the evil dragon is pitiful.

Of course, since the legend may be true, the dragon may have really killed many innocent people before being designed like this by Wang Zhice. He knew that he had such emotions and his position was a bit unstable, but after all, he had seen that The dragon's current tragic situation, especially when looking at the beautiful autumn scenery on the ground and thinking about the cold stone cave underground, can't help but sympathize with him.

During the day, there are still many people in Beixinqiao. There are forbidden troops patrolling under the palace wall in the distance. Over the palace wall, flying chariots will fall down every once in a while. Occasionally, you can still see the light of fire in the distance, which should be Xue Xingchuan. His mount Huo Yunlin, he knew that there was no way to go underground now and he had to wait for a while.

He lowered his head and continued reading.

The fallen leaves left the branches and fell on his shoulders, as bright as golden leaves.

I don't know how long it took, the sounds around him gradually became silent, the dusk faded, and night fell. He raised his head, made sure that no one was paying attention, and walked to the abandoned well.

He knew there couldn't be any pause or hesitation, otherwise it would attract someone's attention.

So he jumped down directly, and the golden leaves floated up and then fell, landing on the edge of the abandoned well mouth.

…

…

The abandoned well has no bottom at all, and naturally there is no mud. It seems to be going straight into the void. There was no light here, only darkness. Chen Changsheng fell faster and faster in the dark void. When he jumped into the well, he held his head in his hands. The bones that had been beaten with sticks and medicinal soup by his master and brother since childhood ensured that the previous collision with the well wall did not cause any harm to him.

After entering the darkness through the bottom of the well, the wind roared past his face. He was not worried about falling to death because he knew that the black dragon must have sensed his arrival. And for some reason, the closer he got to the black dragon, the closer he seemed to be to his emotions that night at the Ivy Banquet, and he was no longer afraid of many things, including death.

His person was still in the air when he heard the long and distant breathing, and then heard the slight interruption of the breathing.

Two faint divine fires appeared in the darkness, which were its eyes.

The black dragon woke up.

A dense, real-life air cushion appeared under Chen Changsheng, helping him fall to the ground easily.

A huge figure like a mountain moved slowly and terrifyingly in front of him. The air in the huge underground space made an unpleasant tearing sound due to the squeezing.

An unimaginable chill instantly enveloped his whole body, and countless frost appeared on his eyelashes, threatening to fall at any time.

It's me. He took out the luminous pearl and illuminated his face.

As he took out the luminous pearls, thousands of luminous pearls in the dome of the dark underground space lit up at the same time.

The black dragon appeared in front of him again. The dragon's body was like mountains, with no end in sight. The dragon's head was like a palace, and its scales were like mirrors. There was frost in the middle, and it was covered with dust. It was filled with countless vicissitudes, and it floated gently. The moving dragon whiskers are like real, solidified lightning.

This was the second time Chen Changsheng saw the true face of the black dragon. He was still shocked and it took him a long time to wake up.

He put away the luminous pearl and saluted the black dragon. Considering the age of the black dragon, he naturally saluted as a junior and said, Uncle Long, I'm here to see you.

Seeing that Chen Changsheng had really arrived, the divine fire burning in the black dragon's eyes was constantly dancing, as if dancing, and seemed particularly happy. After hearing this title, the two groups of divine fire froze instantly and turned into ice and snow.

That terrifying dragon power appeared in the underground space again.

Chen Changsheng felt very uncomfortable and quickly raised his right hand and said, I understand!

The dragon's power diminished slightly, and the black dragon looked at him indifferently, waiting for him to greet him again.

Chen Changsheng figured it out. The word uncle must be too commonplace, and according to the lifespan of a dragon, even if this black dragon had been imprisoned for hundreds of years, he might still be a teenager, or at most a young man, and he was like Like those women in Xining Town, they don’t like to be called aunt, but only like to be called sister-in-law...

He paid homage to Black Dragon again and said affectionately: Brother Long, long time no see.

With a muffled sound, the black dragon released its extremely terrifying dragon power. Chen Changsheng fell heavily to the ground, splashing countless ice shards.

The black dragon slowly flew above him, its whiskers fluttering in the air, like tentacles protruding from the abyss. It was obvious that it was out of anger.

Chen Changsheng lay on the ground, raised his right hand with difficulty, and said: Senior, senior, don't be angry!

…

…

The title Senior may not be completely appropriate, but Heilong reluctantly accepted it. When Chen Changsheng sat in the residual snow on the ground, thinking about the previous scene, he was still frightened. He thought that if he had blurted out the word Zhi Zhi at that time, Will it be instantly blown away by the terrifying dragon's breath into ice shavings all over the ground?

According to the promise made that night, Chen Changsheng came to see the black dragon, probably to talk to it, but at this time, one person and one dragon sat speechless, and the atmosphere was a bit depressing and awkward. The black dragon can understand human language, and Chen Changsheng can Some pronunciations of Dragon Language, but don’t know Dragon Language, how can the two parties communicate?

Suddenly, Chen Changsheng remembered that he had jumped into the abandoned well of Beixinqiao before, pointed to the faint black spot on the dome, and asked: Is it always like this? Over the years, someone must have fallen into the well by mistake, and those people are all dead. ? Or were they saved by you? If they were saved by you, where did those people go?

This is indeed the issue he is most concerned about now. Although after hearing the legend, he felt some sympathy for the black dragon and was very grateful to the other party for letting him leave alive last time. But if... those who fell into the underground space, in the end They have all become its food, and there is definitely no way he can continue to sit in front of it.

It wasn't that he was afraid of being eaten by the black dragon, but that he couldn't accept talking to a man-eating black dragon.

…

…

(It should be in May? In Beijing, I was sitting in the car chatting with a friend named Lu Wen. He asked about the new book Zhe Tian Ji. I said that I had completely thought about it. I wanted to write about a dragon, the palace There is a dragon in it, a real dragon. I really wanted to write about a dragon. It should have been on Zhang Zizhong Road at that time. Lu Wen looked at me and said mysteriously, in fact, there is a dragon under Beixin Bridge... in Beijing Sometimes, because I want to eat or something, you know, I often pass by Beixinqiao, but I really don’t know where the bridge is. Then he told me a story, a story about Beixinqiao. It turns out that there is no bridge here, or there is only A dry bridge and a well, this is an old story in Beijing. When I heard it, I thought, what is that called? Isn’t this what I want? Well, I finally wrote it in the book ,very happy.)