The Legend of Swing Sword and Execution of Demons

Chapter 639
Jiulian Mountain is a mountain.

Where there are mountains, there are roads.

The higher and bigger the mountains, the more roads, hundreds of thousands, even hard to count.

It’s nothing more than whether walking is easy or not for ordinary people.

There are tens of thousands of roads to Mount Jiulian.

There are three easy ways to go.

There are two front hills.

One is paved with thousands of stones, leading from the foot of the mountain to the gate of the South Shaolinqian Temple.

One is the small path that the residents of the mountain walked out when Jiulian Mountain was not exclusive to the Southern Shaolin in the early days.

Although there are seven turns and eight turns, it is suitable for driving cattle.

Now after being repaired and widened, it has become the main driving lane for Shaolin to buy ingredients for daily use at the foot of the mountain.

The back mountain is a relatively steep hiking trail.

It is not open to the outside world on a daily basis, and is mostly used for emergencies, and it is also a shortcut for successful Shaolin disciples to go up and down the mountain.

Except for these three paths, as long as you have enough skills and patience, you can find a path wherever you look.

However, after a strange fire, there is no easy way to climb the mountain.

For those three easy paths, it is undoubtedly best to lay eyeliner, traps, ambushes, etc., and only wait for the "destined person" to fall into the trap.

What you see, hear, and meet is likely to be what the other party wants you to see, hear, and meet.

On the contrary, for those roads that were originally difficult to walk, the opponent may not have time to perfect the arrangement, and there are still loopholes to exploit.

But the four of Meng Chaoge chose to climb the mountain by the most difficult road that had been "spelled".

Unless the four of them are strong enough to ignore all obstacles, they can go straight to Huanglong.

It was precisely because the four of them were not familiar with each other, and they had lost contact with the members of the cabinet and other allies, and after they disguised themselves, they rejected the invitations of two groups of people one after another. To avoid scurrying around like headless chickens and trapping myself in a more disadvantageous position, I chose the most simple and direct way that has been arranged to get straight to the point.

Face the difficulties first, and then figure out how to overcome them.

……

……

At the foot of Jiulian Mountain, at the beginning of the thousand-step stone steps, there is a stone archway, and the four characters "South Shaolin Temple" are engraved on the plaque in the middle of the archway.

The gloomy sky seemed to cover everyone's eyelids with a layer of navy blue tulle. Not only was it difficult to see far away, but also everything they saw seemed to lose their vitality and appeared lifeless.

The four people who went up the mountain raised their eyes intentionally or unintentionally before stepping into the stone archway.

The stone archway was erected 50 years ago. Its history is not as long as that of Southern Shaolin itself, but it is also an old structure.

After all, it is also a thing that has gone through the barbarian war 20 years ago, and there is nothing wrong with some damage, cracks and colorful spots.

It's just that the name of the thousand-year-old temple is so vague that it's hard to see clearly. It really makes people wonder, has Southern Shaolin really been erased from the world?
No matter how optimistic people are, seeing this situation will not feel that it is a good sign.

The four of Meng Chaoge climbed up the steps with heavy hearts.

Always be alert to the wind and grass behind the tree shadows and rocks on both sides of the stone steps.

After walking through [-] stone steps, the four of them came to the first fork in the road without incident.

Continue to climb the steps straight up, and after [-] steps, there is the gate of the South Shaolin Qiansi Temple.

Go half a mile to the fork on the left, and you will find the Zhike Liao, which is connected and shared with the carriage road.

Zhikeliao has stables and residences to provide free clear soup and widowed water. It is a must-pass for those who imitate temples or worship Buddhists who ride horses and carts every day.

Starting from Zhike Liao and the [-]-step stone steps, there will be Zhike monks to greet and send them off.

But in today's Shaolin, apart from the autumn wind walking along the road accompanied by four people, and the withered and yellowing vegetation on both sides as the autumn deepens, how can there be half a person?
"Go and see?" Ji Zhe suggested.

Naturally, Meng Chaoge and others were not the first group of Jiang Hu people who tried to go up the mountain after the fire.

From yesterday to now, there are three groups of people, no less than 60 people, went up the mountain successively according to what they saw and heard.

After walking [-] steps of stone steps and climbing a mountain nearly [-] feet high, there was no one in sight.

It would be a good choice to find a place where someone should be staying to investigate the situation.

Perhaps the sky was too dark and depressing, but Meng Chaoge, Shi Zhonghuo, and Dong Qing didn't say anything, they just walked towards the left fork in silence, responding to Ji Zhe with actions.

……

……

South Shaolin Zhike Liao is not small in scale.

The word "Liao" must have been chosen because the four cabins really can't accommodate many guests, nor can they accommodate too many people for accommodation, and they are mainly used for temporary rest.

But Zhikeliao's stables are huge.

The three large stables built with bamboo sheds are divided into four side-by-side wooden houses on both sides and opposite sides.

Forty or fifty carriages can be parked in the open space in the middle, and hundreds of horses can be accommodated in the stables.

In terms of time, today is the last day of the Obon Dafa.

Even if there are not hundreds of horses in the stable, it is not too much to have dozens of horses.

Ji Zhe has peach blossom eyes that are inconspicuous and easy to be ignored by people, so the impression he gives people is mostly delicate and elegant, but when he squints his eyes and closes his slightly pointed chin, even if he still wears a simple and simple His face is also like a shrewd and wise fox beauty.

No matter how hard this beautiful fox looks, she can't see a flower from the stable, let alone a horse!

Just like the three villages at the foot of the mountain, Zhikeliao also escaped the fate of being burned, but its appearance in the eyes of everyone was extremely strange.

The cabin is closed.

The stables are spacious.

Surrounded by the two, the open space for parking carriages and sedan chairs is empty, very empty.

I don't know what's going on in the wooden house, Meng Chaoge and the three who stopped thirty feet away from Ji Zhe didn't see any horses in the stable.

But without exception, all four of them found a shadowy figure in the stable.

people!
People who sit or lie or collapse on the ground!
Why are people in the stables?

Who would be in the stable?

The four of Meng Chaoge stepped forward a little.

They didn't deliberately cover up their whereabouts along the way, but when they came to Zhike's office, they still kept a very cautious distance.

Soon, they could roughly see who was staying in the stable.

Those people were men and women, old and young, dressed plainly, but all of them were sloppy, and although they were still alive, they were lifeless.

Those people are not monks, so their identities are not difficult to deduce, probably some villagers down the mountain.

After the villagers were taken captive up the mountain, they were locked up in a stable?

Who exactly did this, and what is the intention?
Dong Qing took another step forward, motioning for herself to go and have a look.

Meng Chaoge didn't agree immediately, and led the three of them forward, and they stopped about fifteen feet away from the nearest stable.

This distance is the limit of the ability of the three of them. If there is an accident and Dongqing can retreat, they can also cope.

It's just that when Dong Qing left, Ji Zhe silently stopped the other party, shook his head, as if he had discovered something.

"listen."

Ji Zhe only said one word, and the other three listened intently.

It is not easy to hear the details of what is going on fifteen feet away with their ears, but it is not too difficult to get a rough idea.

Only the wind, no sighs, whimpers, or howls.

It's a simple fact.

Shi Zhonghuo frowned and said, "It's really too peaceful."

All four of them heard that the calmness referred to the mood of the villagers.

Ji Zhe said: "If you were frightened all night and starved for a whole day, if you make any noise after that, you will be taken out and executed, so it's not surprising that it's so peaceful."

While Ji Zhe was speaking, Meng Chaoge's eyelashes trembled slightly with the wind, but Jianshui's eyes were staring straight ahead without blinking, even though his eyes were sore, he still stubbornly wanted to see something clearly.

Meng Chaoge was sure that he was looking at the real situation, but what he saw in his eyes was like a still painting.

In a small corner of the huge stable, there were five people in total.

A woman was holding a two or three-year-old child in her arms, sitting dejectedly on a wooden post behind her.

The movement of the other party holding the child was not careful, he only used his left hand to wrap around his right arm, while his right hand was hanging down to one side.

The child is being hooped like this, and his head is still thrown back, so he must not be able to sleep comfortably.

But the woman didn't care, maybe she also hoped that the child in her arms would wriggle up and protest against it.

On the woman's right is a peasant who is mostly naked.

The peasant folded his fingers in his rumpled bird's-nest hair, and buried his face between his knees.

Facing the peasant, lying on his side was a thin old man with gray hair.

The old man hugged the wooden box used to collect horse manure tightly like a daughter-in-law.

The stables built with bamboo sheds are just so-so in terms of shelter from the rain, and it is too little to say that they can provide shelter from the wind.

It was a cold night, so the old man Gai who had nothing to rely on used the wooden box as an oven, staring at it for warmth.

However, the ups and downs of the old man's back were slow and weak, like a candle in the breeze, extinguished at any time.

There is also an old woman with frosty temples on the right side of the farmer.

The old woman's eyes were sunken, but her eye sockets were swollen, which should be caused by lack of energy and excessive tears.

Sitting with slightly hunched body, he was actually a little angry among the five people.

When Meng Chaoge's eyes were fixed on the other party, the old woman happened to look over.

The old woman who was supposed to be dim-sighted actually saw the person in the distance clearly, and two lines of tears flowed involuntarily from the corners of her eyes.

……

……

The old woman is an old man who returned to his hometown after the barbarian war.

She believes in Buddhism all her life and is determined to be kind to others, and she will be rewarded with great blessings.

When the war broke out 20 years ago, she and her family were going to North Shaolin to worship Buddha, thus avoiding disaster.

After returning to his hometown, he became more devout and Buddhist.

In addition to being a loyal pilgrim of the South Shaolin, every three years, he would take his family to the North Shaolin to thank the Buddha for his blessing.

The old woman never imagined that everything she believed in and cherished would be turned into ashes overnight.

She saw the South Shaolin fire soaring into the sky.

She, her family of six and a village of villagers were taken captive to the mountain, and locked in a stable with air leaks from all sides but still smelly.

No one here cared about their life or death, so they were locked up, they were not given food, and they were not allowed to make noise.

Those who cried, begged for mercy, and resisted were all taken away and never came back.

Everyone dared not think or believe that those relatives and friends who were dragged out of the stables were already dead.

Her two family members left her one after another within a day.

Just now, her little grandson also died.

The daughter-in-law is not stupid now, and she is probably crazy.

The youngest son had no idea how to deal with these changes.

And she was even more ashamed.

Unexpectedly, at this time, she found four figures slowly approaching the direction of the stable in her cloudy vision.

She might not understand at first, but in the past two or three days, she has seen some people from the rivers and lakes.

She doesn't like to fight and kill, so she can't talk about recognizing people in the Jianghu.

The Jianghu people burned Nan Shaolin, the Jianghu people destroyed her home, and the Jianghu people are still torturing her.

She hates people in the quack.

But when she saw that there were still some Jianghu people who broke in because of irrelevant people like them, trying to save them, and then died one by one by another group of Jianghu people, she realized that there are good and bad people in the Jianghu.

In the past two days, she has seen too many dead people, people who died tragically in various ways.

She wanted to stop the four people from approaching, but she didn't have the strength to make a sound.

She was anxious with tears in her eyes.

His cheeks trembled with anxiety, and two teardrops oozed and dripped down.

She shook her head stiffly, hoping that the other party would understand her meaning.

Although the person at the far end looked like a young man, the old woman could tell at a glance that he was a tomboy.

She didn't want to see another girl with yellow flowers dying in front of her eyes.

……

……

Meng Chaoge saw the scene of the old woman shaking her head silently with tears on her cheeks.

She was sure that the old woman was looking at her, and she understood what the old woman was thinking.

But Meng Chaoge couldn't seem to convince herself to ignore these villagers.

Grumpy Grumpy!

When Meng Chaoge was hesitating, there seemed to be the sound of owls in the forest...

(End of this chapter)