[The chains creaked. He lowered his head and watched all this. Wet moss clung to the chains that passed through his elbow joints. The place was closed like a deep hole dug in the darkness, except for the darkness.

In addition, there was the cold that was eroding his flesh and blood all the time.

It was a long dragon-like shackles, criss-crossing and imprisoning him with all the links of his hands and feet as nodes. The chains passed through his arms and then connected to his wrists. There was also an iron nail at the wrist that was as strong as a single tree.

The high wall behind him was cut hard. Then his collarbone, his chest, his waist, his thighs, his knees, and his ankles were all cut hard with crimson nails.

Cut into high walls.

It seemed that he could still escape. The iron ring that fixed his neck would tighten tightly whenever his head moved. It would not let go until there was no breath flowing in his neck. However, he still did not stop.

Struggle, the creaking of the chains, first the dull clattering sound, which echoed in this small and medium-sized space, deafening, and then, the bang of the impact, the chain was pulled like a violent mad cow, those clattering sounds

, chains that are impossible to break free, like crackling thunder, and finally silence again, like silent...dead silence.

There isn't any light here...

Of course there will be no light here...]

[Principal Kingdom, June 18, 2023, Bailing Mountain]

"Tan Mingqiu has left his post without authorization. The Holy One has recognized you as an important minister of the country, so you will be demoted to a commoner immediately. You will never set foot in Bailing Mountain again in this life! This is it!" A man in red official uniform rolled up the edict from the Holy One and waited.

Ask someone to pick you up.

That person was naturally Tan Mingqiu, who looked confused. He looked at Xiao Qingshan, who was also kneeling down to listen to the edict. Xiao Qingshan had a suppressed smile on his face, a little embarrassed to look at him, and his gloating was already beyond words.

"You...are so old...you still..." Tan Mingqiu sighed, shook his head, touched his beard and pointed at Xiao Qingshan, hesitated to speak, and finally had no choice but to accept the edict.

"Hahahahaha..." Xiao Qingshan finally laughed wildly, and his beard trembled with laughter. He also stood up and began to pat this depressed old friend as if to comfort him.

"Senior Tan..." The man in official uniform also quickly bowed to express apology: "The Holy One only dismissed you from office. If you did not dismiss and investigate, it is already a favor from the Holy One. I have wronged you..."

"Oh... you said that I... am old... played a game of chess with an old friend, and that's it... it's really difficult... the ups and downs of life... I can't believe... I can experience it even at my age.

..." Tan Mingqiu touched his waist, as if he was really old. In fact, his waist was as straight as a young man's energy.

He looked relaxed, but his whole face was wrinkled and he squinted at Xiao Qingshan, sighing like a resentful woman.

"Hahahahaha, it's okay, okay... I have to say it, your chess pieces are really smelly! Hahahahaha..." Xiao Qingshan touched his mustache, and when the feather fan shook slightly, there was a slight sound.

The breeze blew up his temples: "It's really difficult... If you had done better... you wouldn't have lost your wife and lost your troops, hahahahaha, right? Mingqiu?"

"Senior Tan, Prime Minister Xiao, although I don't know what happened, the Holy Majesty's will is enough, and I still leave some room..." The official stood aside respectfully, and it was difficult to say anything, but he still said it.

Such a sentence.

"Yes... be demoted to a commoner... isn't this what you dreamed of? Mingqiu? Now that you have achieved your wish, you should be happy... Haha, but Chen Huan, you are still a little late, our Bai

The young master of Lingshan has gone into seclusion to practice... It's really not good for you to come here after the matter has been settled... Next time, as soon as you hear a commotion, you will quickly send troops to surround the entire Bailing Mountain. Don't let the thieves escape.

Do you know?" Xiao Qingshan began to become serious, and looked at Tan Mingqiu who was reading the edict over and over again with interest: "Mingqiu, you don't need to be so sad... you are already a commoner... and you still care about so many rules of the Holy One.

Why? There's no punishment written on it, right? If the Holy Spirit doesn't investigate, you'll live in the room next to mine. If the Holy Spirit comes to investigate, you'll live in my room, play chess, and drink tea with me. What's wrong?

Woolen cloth?"

"You, Prime Minister, are really so casual..." Tan Mingqiu sighed and stuffed the edict into his arms.

"In order to celebrate that Mr. Tan was demoted to a commoner and became a tea farmer as he wished, I decided to cook by myself and cook you a specialty dish!" Xiao Qingshan pushed Tan Mingqiu's shoulder and motioned for him to walk up.

In Tan Mingqiu's eyes, these thousand-foot steps may seem too long...the kind that are so long that once you go up, you can't get down...long...

What a fuck... Xiao Qingshan.

"Let's go! Chen Huan, this isn't your first time coming to Bailing Mountain... I'll prepare wine and food for you to catch the wind and wash away the dust for you!" Xiao Qingshan's feather fan gently patted Chen Huan's waist,

Signaling him to go up too.

"So, are there any other arrangements? Do you want to hand over Wutong Division's token? Chen Huan, what rank are you now? I always remember that you were a little boy... and you were still learning martial arts from your father.

." Tan Mingqiu felt a little better, not so depressed, and followed Xiao Qingshan.

"Senior Tan, Chen Huan is already twenty and six years old... He is no longer a little boy..." Chen Huan and Tan Mingqiu stood side by side, nodding to Tan Mingqiu somewhat seriously: "Chen Huan is already at the fourth level of the Spirit Bird. Why?

A fourth-level minister."

"Okay, you are young and promising! There is hope for the empire!" Xiao Qingshan was overjoyed.

"I remember that when I left Bailing Mountain, I was only a first-level Feiyu. I was really young and promising..." Tan Mingqiu also touched his beard. He didn't know what he was thinking. He lowered his head as if looking at the road.

It's like looking into an empty place.

"Hahaha... you, if you tell the younger generation about the embarrassing things you did back then, you will really have no face to face the young talents, hahahahaha!" Xiao Qingshan laughed again, his voice was very hearty, like

Being demoted is a very happy thing for him, and even the schadenfreude of an old friend being demoted can no longer be hidden...

The smile on his face was a little stiff, but he even touched it.

"I don't dare to accept it, I don't dare to accept it. Xiaosheng is naturally grateful for the praise from the seniors. As for the rest, I can only speak in terms of my position. I don't dare to have too many thoughts." Chen Huan also walked respectfully without any arrogance.

, it feels like a child following behind an old man.

"Yeah, yeah, that's it. There's no need to think about other things. It's best if you complete the repair of Wenlu Marriage. The instructors here at the Guarding Mountain Formation have almost finished repairing it. You can leave an extra one for the last time.

Mind-eye, just check the activation patterns of the magic circle. There are still many lost spiritual beasts. Recover them if you can... It's not really that bad. The power of the magic circle must be comprehensively strengthened." Xiao Qingshan

Use your feather fan to gently point at everything around you.

"Prime Minister, don't worry, Chen Huan will do his best." Chen Huan saluted and followed slowly.

"Oh, by the way, Chen Huan, the jade pendants of the instructors must be carefully checked to prevent others from impersonating or sneaking into Bailing Mountain during the past two days. This must be strictly handled, and unregistered disciples must be brought to

Go to the Wutong Division, and if possible, find out the details of all the current disciples and put them on my table. I need to check them one by one." The Prime Minister turned back to Chen Huan and clicked his feather fan.

"Okay, Prime Minister."

"Qingshan, there's one thing I don't understand...What happened three days ago? I don't understand at all why powerful formations like the Lu Marriage and the Mountain Guard Formation would be destroyed...They just said that there was a

It's very strange snow, I don't know what happened at all, what are you hiding from me?" Tan Mingqiu still couldn't seem to get around it, and suddenly asked, making the feather fan swing slower and slower.

"Also... Yamashita's casualty report is not a small number. If they are just ordinary thieves, this number of casualties is normal. After all, the Zhengfa Division's strength is limited, but if they are powerful thieves, then this number, plus the Zhengfa Division

The casualties... are too unusual... The Holy One doesn't know the truth, so it's fine to say that I left my post without permission, but you should at least tell me what happened..."

"Mingqiu...what about some things? People can live well even if they don't understand. Look, isn't it good that you are so leisurely and comfortable now? Why do you need to know so much? There is no need at all...

...the snow...the formation, it's all over...there's no need to care about...the past things, just let them be buried in the past...right? Chen Huan?" Xiao Qingshan stepped up the mountain, steadily.

The steps made a loud sound.

"That's what the Prime Minister said." Chen Huan glanced at Tan Mingqiu and nodded seriously.

"You are wearing the same pair of pants...Hey..." Tan Mingqiu touched his head and glanced at the sky above Bailing Mountain where the sky was clear again.

"Mingqiu, this is good... Believe me... As for the old man... the most important thing is to enjoy his old age... instead of running around here and there, waiting for others to participate in his own affairs. This is also a matter that requires enough patience.

People, you have to accept old age. When you get old, you will become confused..." Xiao Qingshan said some very strange words, but Tan Mingqiu didn't pay much attention to it and only heard the last sentence.

"You are also very old. Aren't you afraid that you will also be old and confused?"

"I'm afraid... So, while I'm still not confused, I'll finish what I want to do first, and when it's done... I'll accompany you to plant tea trees in Bailing Mountain, Ibis Erhai, how delicious it is..."

Xiao Qingshan's feather fan was swaying gently, and a very light wind blew over, blowing up their clothes.

"Okay, if you, an old guy, don't tell me, I won't ask... I am indeed old... I can't compare with young people anymore... Young people are terrible..." Tan Mingqiu also said more incomprehensible words, but looking at

He glanced at Chen Huan and nodded happily.

"It's good to know, but I don't know how to cook... The older you are, the better you can control the heat. Look at me cooking two side dishes today, buying some good wine, and reciting poems over the wine, and I will be happy in the world! Hahahahaha

!" Xiao Qingshan laughed again, and this laughter echoed on the steps thousands of feet away, with faint echoes that lasted for a long time.

"I want to eat braised pork... Although my teeth are not very good, if you make braised pork, even if I pick off the toothpick, it will be made by you." Tan Mingqiu breathed a sigh of relief and seized this opportunity, like

He was following Xiao Qingshan like a child begging for food.

"Okay, okay, do you want to eat the sweet and sour fish? Go kill a Cottage Fish from Mingli Lake and make some sweet and sour fish!" Xiao Qingshan also turned around and suddenly looked at Tan Mingqiu excitedly, his eyes shining: "Can you eat it?

Eat? Eat or not?"

"Eat, eat, eat! Eat, eat, eat!" Tan Mingqiu's eyes were also shining. Delicious food is common to everyone. Don't talk about emotional resonance. As long as you can make an appointment with a few friends, it is peanuts and beans.

Drinking wine can also make you happy.

"Then...junior, let me go down the mountain to buy some good wine?" Chen Huan responded from the side, standing on the steps, and was about to follow the order and go down the mountain.

They had just reached the front part of the mountain. If they went down now, it would be too late.

"The mountain is still being rebuilt... It's probably hard to buy, so don't go... I have good wine in my room... I'll take it out now and give it to you to drink..." Xiao Qingshan persuaded Chen Huan, but Chen Huan gave up.

, nodded and followed respectfully.

"Have you known that this day would come? If there was good wine... you would have drank it with me already... and why would you deliberately save it until today?" Tan Mingqiu said angrily again, his eyes wide open in disbelief.

Eye.

"Hey! What you said... I'm not Liu Banxian, so I can calculate it... If I can really calculate it, will you be demoted?" The wind from Xiao Qingshan's feather fan blew on his clothes, making them light.

Moving, he looked at the broken traces here. The front end of the rock here was cut by the sword energy and was extremely smooth. The second half seemed to be shattered by heavy objects. He didn't know how it was formed. It was just heavily mottled, telling the story of that time.

There may be fierce fighting.

"Ha..." Tan Mingqiu stopped talking. He stood next to the rocks and touched the blood stains on them. Those speckled things looked like the blood splashed out when heavy objects flew over and hit the ground.

"If any disciple protects this place and confronts the thief... he must be rewarded." Tan Mingqiu looked at the deep pit on the thousand-foot steps. There was just enough room for a person to lie down. They walked around the pit.

Moving forward, there are also very slight blood stains inside. If it was hit by someone else, it would be tragic enough... But such a small amount of blood is obviously abnormal. It can only be said that the thief is not that powerful, he just made that person suffer.

There was a little skin injury, otherwise it wouldn't have been just a little bit of blood...

"Mingqiu, you are no longer the general manager... Who are you ordering? Hahahahahaha..." Xiao Qingshan woke up the dreamer with a few words, making Tan Mingqiu shrug his shoulders indifferently.

"It's nothing... I'm just... used to it... If the thief destroyed the magic circle with some evil ways, then the disciples who stopped them can be considered as meritorious... they are indeed worthy of commendation."

"Well, the thief shouldn't be strong..." Xiao Qingshan looked at the pothole that was either big or small, and nodded firmly.

"If that's the case, then I think about it, I really should make that chess game friendly... I feel like I'm almost winning..." Tan Mingqiu pretended to be annoyed and smiled.

"No, no, you are obviously about to lose. Why are you going to win again now?" Xiao Qingshan continued to move forward without looking at the pothole.

Mountains and seas cannot be leveled.

Thanks a lot……

No matter how well you do...

"Qingshan, how long will Master Bai Lingshan be in seclusion? One year? Two years? Or?"

"I don't know...it shouldn't be as long as five years...but it's not impossible..."

"That's really bad... Then as soon as he comes out, he will marry the eldest princess... The good days will come to an end..."
Chapter completed!