Chapter 338: Soul Broken at Tianrong (Part )

With his hands and legs cut off, Tang Cong completely lost the ability to escape, and with Jian Zhong sealing all the acupuncture points in his body, it was even more difficult for him to move at all. So he could only watch the bonfire die out, feeling anxious but helpless.

The last spark of fire was blown away by the cold wind, and the Tara Hall of Tianrong Temple gradually turned into an "ice cellar". The cold wind swept the frost, snow and dew, whistling through the wide-open doors and windows, and soon a thick layer of frost and snow covered Tang Cong's body.

In this way, Tang Cong, who was unable to move and bleeding profusely, spent the night alone in the remote and cold Tianrong Temple.

This night was the most painful, tormenting and miserable night in Tang Cong's life.

He watched with his own eyes as his blood gushed out of the wound, first melting the ice and snow on the ground, and soon solidified again. He was helpless and could only sigh in despair.

The most terrifying thing is that he remained conscious the entire time. In other words, Tang Cong had been silently enduring the loss of vitality from his body bit by bit, until he was barely alive and dying, and he still felt it clearly and vividly.

At noon the next day, Tang Cong was already shaky and in danger of collapse, with only one breath left.

At this moment, the wind and snow outside have stopped and the sun is shining.

It’s a pity that no matter how warm the sunshine was, it couldn’t save Tang Cong, whose life was hanging by a thread.

At this moment, his face was as pale as wax, his lips were ashen, his whites of eyes were cloudy, his pupils were dilated, and there was no trace of human energy on his body. A pool of brown and red under him had long since solidified into one with the ice and snow, and was cracked into pieces like a dry field. The scene was so tragic and the situation was so desolate that it was heartbreaking and unbearable to look at.

Tang Cong stood motionless beside the long-extinguished fire, his eyes were blurred and his breath was weak. The last ray of light in his pupils gradually dissipated, but his eyes were desperately open a crack, staring at the bright sunshine outside the door without blinking, as if he was full of longing, but also as if he was unwilling to give up.

Finally, a rustling sound of footsteps came from afar, carefully and agilely sneaking into Tianrong Temple.

Hearing the voice, Tang Cong's lifeless eyes suddenly burst into an indescribable brilliance.

Then, Liu Xunyi, in a disheveled state, jumped into the Tara Temple. At this moment, he looked like a deserter crawling out of a pile of dead bodies, with unkempt hair, ragged clothes, blood stains all over his face, looking extremely shabby, totally different from his former handsome appearance.

"Tang Cong, my dear brother..."

As soon as he entered the hall, Liu Xunyi subconsciously opened his mouth to greet them, but before he could finish his words, he suddenly saw Tang Cong lying half-dead under the altar. He was immediately shocked and rushed forward. He looked at Tang Cong with horror, and shouted: "You...you are..."

Looking at the dying Tang Cong, Liu Xunyi's surprise quickly turned into grief. He knelt beside Tang Cong, his mind went blank, and he didn't know how to ask questions for a moment.

"Master...

Seeing Liu Xunyi, Tang Cong seemed to be much more energetic. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly and an inaudible call came out from his throat.

"Tang Cong, what's wrong with you? Where is my brother? Could it be that you..."

"Master, please leave..."

Without waiting for Liu Xunyi to help, Tang Cong's face suddenly turned ferocious and he let out a scream.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Before he finished speaking, there were several sharp sounds of breaking through the air behind Liu Xunyi. In a flash, Liu Xunyi supported himself with his left hand and suddenly rose up from the ground. At the same time, he drew out his hidden knife with his right hand and swept it behind him without thinking.

"Clang clang clang!"

With a few crisp sounds, Liu Xunyi shot down several sharp arrows. Then, four lamas jumped down from the beams of the hall, holding demon-subduing pestles in their hands. As soon as they landed, they rushed towards Liu Xunyi, using killing moves without any reservation.

In such a hurry, Liu Xunyi had no time to understand the situation. He could only shout angrily and draw his sword to fight.

During the fierce battle, Liu Xunyi discovered that these four lamas were different from the other Tibetan guards. They were highly skilled in martial arts, and each of their moves was quite threatening. But even so, they were still no match for Liu Xunyi, who was determined to fight.

In just thirty rounds, Liu Xunyi had mercilessly killed two people and seriously injured one. The last person, seeing that the situation was not good, made a feint and flew back, fleeing from Tianrong Temple in a panic.

Liu Xunyi was concerned about Tang Cong's safety, so he didn't insist on chasing him. Instead, he put the tip of his knife against the seriously injured Lama's chest and shouted, "Who sent you here?"

Facing Liu Xunyi's questioning, the lama's eyes turned fierce, he shouted coldly, then bit his tongue and died instantly.

This move greatly surprised Liu Xunyi. He had been on the run for the past three days and had seen many warriors chasing him, but this was the first time he had encountered such a decisive and ruthless Lama.

Without time to think, Liu Xunyi quickly returned to Tang Cong's side. As he gradually calmed down, he suddenly found that Tang Cong's posture was strange, and he immediately understood everything and quickly untied the acupuncture points for him.

In an instant, Tang Cong's body shrank into a ball like a deflated ball, and he looked like a human being no longer in human form.

"Tang Cong, who harmed you like this? My brother..."

"Master!"

Before he finished speaking, the dying Tang Cong suddenly perked up, and as if he had regained his consciousness, he tightly grasped Liu Xunyi's arm and said tremblingly: "I don't have much time left, you listen to me first! Listen to me..."

"you……"

"The Jian Zhong we met in Yulong Palace was a fake. The Boren in Lhasa City was the real Jian Zhong. Fo Lianzi was the reincarnated child, the living Buddha of the time, and the little monk we took away from the secret room of the Potala Palace..." Tang Cong spoke very quickly. His pale face had a pair of turbid eyes that were frighteningly wide open, and his voice was trembling so badly that he could hardly speak in tune.

At this moment, not only were his lips trembling, his entire face and even his entire body were shaking violently like a sieve, looking extremely strange and even a little scary. "What?"

The devastating news caught Liu Xunyi off guard. He was worried about Tang Cong's injury, and at the same time was shocked by every word Tang Cong said. For a moment, he was extremely confused and unable to control himself.

"Don't say anything, I'll take you away first..."

"No!"

Tang Cong was determined and shook his head desperately, saying, "Master, it's too late... I've always been afraid that I won't be able to wait for you..."

"Tang Cong!"

Liu Xunyi tried hard to hold back the pain in his heart, staring with his red eyes, trying not to let his tears burst out. At this moment, his expression was extremely complicated, anger, sadness, despair, shock... a mixture of emotions, he didn't know what it meant.

"Master..."

Tang Cong slowly stretched out his bloody right hand, and Liu Xunyi quickly grasped it in his hand. At the same time, a tear rolled down his face.

"Master, we kidnapped the reincarnated child... Not only will the eight kings of Tubo not let us go, but Tantric Buddhism will not let us go either..." Tang Cong's spirit began to wane, his eyes became increasingly empty, and he said weakly, "The lama who ambushed you just now... is a master of Tantric Buddhism..."

"I feel it." Liu Xunyi nodded repeatedly. "Logically, I have returned the key to the secret room to them, so they should not pursue me anymore. But these past few days, I have been blocked everywhere, whether by government troops, civilians, or the elderly, women and children. It seems that the entire Tubo is against me and regards me as an irreconcilable enemy."

"That's right! That's right..." Tang Cong almost fainted as he answered incoherently, "They don't hate us for stealing the key, but they hate us for kidnapping the Living Buddha... Sect Master, we were all deceived by Jian Zhong and used by him... Now, Jian Zhong has fled north with the Buddha Lotus Seed, making you and me the target of public criticism. We have to protect him... We have really capsized in the gutter this time. We were playing with the eagle... but we accidentally got pecked in the eye by the eagle..."

At this point, Tang Cong forced a bitter smile. He wanted to maintain his old playfulness, but a faint smile was extremely difficult for him now.

"It's okay! It's okay!" Liu Xunyi's tears fell silently, but she still forced a smile, "Everything depends on human effort. We will definitely be able to avenge this hatred. Let's go! I'll take you back to the Central Plains first, and then we'll go home!"

"Master, their reinforcements will arrive soon, you should go..." Tang Cong urged weakly, "I can't do it anymore, I can't let you get hurt..."

"What nonsense!" Liu Xunyi said angrily, "I brought you into Tubo, so I must take you out alive. You and I are brothers, we live together and die together!"

"No!" Tang Cong laughed bitterly, "You must go back alive... If we all die here, Jian Zhong will definitely make up stories and slander us out of thin air when he returns... We have already risked our lives, and we cannot bear the stigma of 'cowards and fools' anymore..."

"Jian Zhong! I swear I won't be a human being if I don't kill you!"

Liu Xunyi slammed his fist to the ground, his voice filled with rage.

"Master, I..."

Seeing Tang Cong's body shaking violently, Liu Xunyi hurriedly hugged him in his arms and used his body to keep him warm.

"Tang Cong, I'll take you away! Let's go..." Liu Xunyi trembled all over and choked silently.

"Master, I'm going to die..." Tang Cong leaned weakly in Liu Xunyi's arms, his eyes blurred and erratic, and he kept muttering, "There is something... I want to ask the Master to tell me the truth, so that I can die with my eyes closed..."

"No matter what, I will tell you the truth!"

“Who… are you?” Tang Cong opened and closed his mouth, and after a long while he managed to utter a few words, “Once, I went to your room to look for you… and you weren’t there… but then Brother Xu went to look for you again, and you showed up… They all said I was a liar, but actually… I didn’t lie, you really weren’t there the first time… You explained that you were asleep and didn’t hear anything, but I went into your room and there was no one inside…”

Looking at Tang Cong, whose life was fading, Liu Xunyi couldn't help himself and burst into tears. He clearly remembered that he had left the city overnight to meet Qin Wei secretly, and when he came back, the Yingchuan Pan family sent someone to deliver the bad news. The owner of the mansion asked everyone to go to the central hall to discuss the matter, and Liu Xunyi was a step late and was almost exposed.

"Another time..." Tang Cong continued, "In Ruyi Inn in Huazhou... the guy who washed your feet... was not actually the waiter of the inn... you were plotting something big in the room, and I accidentally caught you... so you deliberately acted... right?"

When a person is about to die, his words are also good.

Facing Tang Cong who was about to die, Liu Xunyi really couldn't bear to lie to him, so he could only nod his head heavily. He was heartbroken, but pretended to be relaxed on the surface, and chuckled: "So you knew everything. I have always claimed to be perfect... Since you knew everything, why didn't you expose me earlier?"

"Because... I know that the Sect Master is a good person..." Tang Cong smiled bitterly and murmured, "At Ruyi Inn, that person wanted to kill me... It was the Sect Master who saved my life. Although I don't know why you sneaked into the Xianwang Mansion, I know... You will definitely not do anything evil that harms the world... Sect Master, you... you..."

"Actually, I'm from the imperial court!" Liu Xunyi hugged Tang Cong's head tightly and confessed in a trembling voice, "I'm Liu Xunyi, the junior guard of the Tianji Pavilion in the East Palace. Following the order of the Prime Minister, I sneaked into the Xianwang Mansion and waited for an opportunity to get close to Luo Tianjin. My purpose is to use him to recruit the heroes of the martial arts world."

"I knew it... The Sect Master is definitely not an ordinary person. I have been a thief all my life, first wanted by the government, then bullied by bullies. If I hadn't met the Sect Master, I might have been treated as a nobody all my life... I didn't expose you, so does that count as a good deed for the Song Dynasty?"

"Yes!" Liu Xunyi smiled and said, "Of course it counts! You have made contributions to the Song Dynasty, the imperial court, and the people of the world!"

"Okay!" At this moment, Tang Cong's voice was almost inaudible. "When I see my father in the afterlife... I can straighten my back and tell him... his son is no longer a villain that everyone wants to kill, but a good man. Haha... I have brought honor to the Tang family... "

Before he could finish his words, Tang Cong's head suddenly tilted, his arms drooped to the ground, and he was motionless again.

"Tang Cong!"

In the vast snowstorm, life and death are unknown. In the Tianrong Temple, in the Tara Hall, a mournful cry was heard, and the hearts of the people were bleak, and the world was in sorrow.

……

(End of this chapter)