Lingxian Zhenjun

Chapter 93 The White Snake Says

"Moo-"

The rotating axle creaked on the rough road. Looking at the lush landscape, the old cow raised his head excitedly and let out a loud cry.

know know...

The carriage swayed with the wheels, and amidst the annoying chirping of cicadas, Chen Yuan sat leaning against the carriage door slightly, holding the scroll and reading the story above, occasionally flicking her sleeves and pinching out her fingers, driving the dark wood beside her to pull the carriage around The old cow that was moving forward turned around, and tapped the bull's butt to make it speed up.

At this time, it has entered the boundary of Lingzhou. In the past, there is no official road, only such a rugged dirt road, but the scenery along the way is beautiful. The rolling green mountains and fields are full of birds circling the ridge, and the misty clouds Floating on the top of the mountain, when passing by the cliff at the foot of the mountain, there is also the unique scenery of the deafening waterfall hanging high.

Along the way, Chen Yuan was bored, looked up the art of refining treasures, sometimes remembered the formulas of sword control, and tried it along the way, but did not study it further, and found that the prerequisite for sword control is to learn the art of object control. Before this, Chen Yuan has already mastered it, and practiced the first level of sword energy, so she gave up and used it as a pastime, spurring the old cow along the way.

After walking past the waterfall with the sound of water, the wind suddenly blew through the forest beside the road. A figure entered the forest in an instant, causing birds to fly wildly.

Chen Yuan put down the scroll, poked her face over there and called out to Lin Zi: "Master?!"

In an instant, the loose tree cage swayed, and the ragged old man landed steadily on the side of the road. His messy gray hair was stained with bird feathers and leaves, and he was holding two big orioles in his hands, chirping. barking non-stop.

The crazy old man raised his hands with a ferocious expression, and showed the two birds to his apprentice.

"The two seduce them as teachers!"

Chen Yuan was stunned for a moment, "Hook... seduce?"

"That's right!" The crazy old man looked at the two birds with a fierce look in his eyes, and said as he walked aside when the bullock cart came.

"The teacher is running on the mountain in good condition, and he is enjoying himself. These two birds don't know good and bad, and they fly over to peck at him as a teacher. Apprentice, look at how fat they are. How can there be such a fat bird? Isn't this just a seduction?" ?! Although you are a bit crazy as a teacher, you can't stand the temptation, how can you test people like this."

"Yes, yes, what Master said is correct."

As long as the master likes it, it's still up to his temperament, as long as he doesn't keep asking Chen Yuan when to give him a resounding and prestigious name.

After walking forward for a while, the dirt road gradually opened up, and there was a fork in the road from another mountain to this road, and there were many car tracks.

Sure enough, about ten feet ahead, there was a grass shed with the word "tea" written on it, but there was no business in the shop today, only an old man sat on the stool at the entrance of the shed, propped his chin and listened to the cicadas rising and falling in the mountains. Ming, pecking at the head bit by bit.

Perhaps he was quite sensitive to the wheels, but when he heard the sound of the wheels turning and rubbing, the old man woke up immediately, saw the bullock cart approaching and hurriedly got up, and said to him: "Guest officer, is it still far from Yongzhou, why don't you come in and have a drink?" Sip herbal tea to cool off the heat, and it’s not too late to go after filling your stomach!"

"Okay, here are two bowls of herbal tea and six pancakes." Chen Yuan stopped the bullock cart, helped her master down, and handed the two birds to the old man in the tea shop, asking him to help pluck out the feathers and guts, and then The stove roasted the bird.

By the way, he asked if there was a Danxia Mountain in Lingzhou and how far it was from here. The old man took some herbal tea and said with a laugh: "Then the guest officer is going in the wrong direction. This road is to Shangyong. See the dirt road that is coming at the back, the guest officer will go along that road in a while."

It turned out that it was the wrong way, and Chen Yuan laughed a little. It was the first time she went wrong all the way from the Canglan River.

When the crazy old man on the side was knocking on the chopsticks, the old man over there was lying on two birds while drenched in hot water, plucking their feathers, and turned around and asked, "Guest, are you going to Danxia Mountain to visit relatives?"

"No, just passing by!"

"Just passing by is good. The old man heard that there are big snakes over there. Someone was collecting medicine in the mountains and saw the boss, a white snake. The scales were almost covered with a person's fist."

"Did that hurt anyone?"

"I've never heard of that." The old man cleaned up the bird meat, skewered it with branches, inserted it next to the fire of the earth stove, wiped his hands and continued: "It can be said that there is a nose and eyes, someone saw the snake coiled on a big rock with his own eyes. Sun-dried scales, a piece of white flowers, can scare a person to death, guest officer, think about it, how can such a big snake grow so big if it doesn't eat people."

Chen Yuan listened to the stories in the mountains and the wild as stories in strange stories. After all, snakes with thick arms may be misrepresented as snake spirits as thick as adults.

Chatted with the old man again, after filling his stomach, he paid for the tea and meals, and turned back according to the road the other said. After walking seven or eight miles, there were quite a few people on this road. The mountain people came down from the mountain in groups of twos and threes carrying baskets, most of them were from the nearby villages. After Chen Yuan stopped and asked them the name of the mountain, a woodcutter who knew it pointed to the mountain behind the distant village.

"Turn over and you'll be there."

Looking not far away, ordinary people may not be able to reach it even after dark. Chen Yuan looked up at the time, and when he reached a place with few people, a speeding talisman fell on the old cow's buttocks, and immediately accelerated. He quickly bypassed the big mountain behind the village and arrived at the so-called Danxia Mountain before dusk.

Standing at the foot of the mountain, the far towering peaks are surrounded by clouds, just overlapping with the setting sun, as if a few beams of rosy rays poured down the mountains and forests along the top of the mountain, and fell straight to the foot of the mountain.

I am used to seeing the rolling hills and steep mountains, but this kind of scene is quite different.

Chen Yuan stopped and looked at it for a while, and when the sun started to sink and the vision became cloudy, she led the old cow to the nearby mountain road that had been reclaimed.

The night was sinking, the mountains were damp, and a mist gradually formed.

The mountain road under my feet has been walked by people for many years, and the dry ground has long since grown no grass, leaving large and small yellow mud footprints. Chen Yuan's eyes are magical, and she can see things in the dark forest. In front, drag the cattle to follow, so that you don't have to slip and slip, and even the cattle and the cart fall down.

Of course, he was just putting on a show, even if he let go of the rope, the old cow could keep up smoothly.

rustling...

In the sound of footsteps stepping on fallen leaves, walking along the mountain road, the terrain gradually became stable, and it should have come to the mountainside, where the terrain is much wider.

The clear light of the moonlight is pouring into the gaps in the forest. In the quiet and gloomy environment, Chen Yuan vaguely saw a fire burning in front of her. When she got closer, an abandoned mountain temple stood in the darkness. The existing bronze stove was also removed and sold by some rascal who was short of money.

Inside the temple, a group of rough men in simple clothes were gathering in front of a bonfire, surrounded by baskets. Looking at the boiling iron pot, someone filled a bowl of soup and sat down to drink it.

"Today we searched half a mountain, and the harvest was quite fruitful. Let's walk around tomorrow morning, be quick with our hands and feet, and finish picking earlier, so we can go to the next one. We have to go back to help after the autumn harvest."

"Why are there more herbs in this mountain than in other places?"

"Hehe, I knew it when I came. The local villagers didn't dare to come, saying that there was a big snake. It's a joke. We also walked half a mountain today. Can you see it?"

The talking man with a beard and a beard also scooped up a bowl of soup, and was about to eat the dry food in his hand, when he heard movement outside, he exchanged glances with his companions, and one of the tall and thin men was holding on to the waistband of his trousers. The hatchet went to the door.

Sleeping in the mountains overnight, they had to be cautious.

After a while, a high-roofed ox cart slowly stopped at the temple, and saw an old man and a young man coming down, and the tall and thin man at the door held the handle of his knife and looked at the two with expressionless faces.

"Who are you guys?"

"Going at night, I saw a fire here, so I came over to have a look, and stopped here for the night." Chen Yuan dusted off the dust on her clothes, said to the man, and bowed politely to the few people inside. , Seeing the several baskets inside, full of herbs, you will know the identity of the other party.

But listening to the accent, it was a little different from the locals who asked for directions before, and they must have come from outside.

The bearded man inside was also looking at Chen Yuan. He was dressed in simple robes and was not very old. There was an old man beside him who didn't look very smart. He didn't look like Jie Dao's eyes and ears.

Putting down the bowl with a smile, he got up and invited the two of them in: "We are also staying here for the night, and it is fate to meet each other. Little brother, hurry up and bring your father in."

"Thank you very much!"

Chen Yuan was polite and didn't see anyone else. She walked to the corner of the temple with her master, and looked at the faces of the group of people illuminated by the firelight. They were dark and simple. The son's man doesn't have any blood on his body.

After exchanging greetings with them and getting acquainted with them, Chen Yuan said with a smile: "I admire you herb collectors who travel across mountains and rivers, and dig in every forest, and you are not afraid of encountering man-eating mountain spirits and ghosts, sucking people's yang energy." Fox Demon."

"Little brother raised us up. We didn't just enter the forest every time. We won't go to the mountains with many strange things, and we won't go to the mountains that are less than half young... But if we meet a fox demon that absorbs yang energy, Hehe, we have many men and are full of yang energy, so I'm afraid we won't be able to feed that fox demon enough!"

They are all men who have been away all year round. After knowing that they are ordinary people, it is inevitable that there will be some dirty words in their words.

Seeing his apprentice chatting happily with the bearded man, the crazy old man put his hands in his sleeves and turned his face away angrily. When he saw the burning fire, he ran over and squeezed a herbal picker away. , pouted his buttocks, and played with the fire again.

Amidst the crackling of rising sparks, Chen Yuan continued to chat with the group of herb pickers, asking how many mountains they had traveled, and had they heard of some magical vegetation, gold and stones.

"...The little brother wants to ask these questions, so I won't be sleepy. You can ask them. When you passed Jiguanliangzi last year, you found a scorched old wood, as hard as iron, with new shoots. Later, after going down the mountain , Speaking of it to others... Oh, that is called a regret, only to realize that it is a tree struck by lightning, and after the lightning strikes, if it does not die and regenerates new shoots, it is a treasure."

"And then? You didn't go?"

"I went there again, and the tree was dug up with its roots and soil, and its whereabouts are unknown."

The warm light of the fire shone on everyone, and the herb pickers, who had been busy all day, felt sleepy at this moment. As far as the light could reach, they used their elbows as pillows and fell asleep in a daze. Chen Yuan also fell asleep. He yawned, leaned against the edge of the altar, and closed his eyes.

At this time, the wind outside the temple was still rustling, and it was stronger than before.

The crazy old man who was still picking up the sparks stopped at this moment, raised his face and looked at the roof, "There is a monster!"

Chen Yuan also opened her eyes. He always believed in Master's warning.

……

Outside the temple, on the cliff at the back, a long shadow gradually slid down with some fallen gravel in the hazy light of the night sky, pressing down on the dense treetops below and making a soft 'rustle' sound , with the front half of his body raised high, flashing snake letters quickly, he climbed up to the eaves.

The dense scales slowly squirmed along with the thick and long body, pressing the tiles full of fallen leaves, bringing out a series of 'squeaking' movements.

The unbearably burdened beams let out a distorted moan, and the dust fell into the temple in a rustle.

A group of men picking herbs who were already on alert woke up one after another, and when they heard unusual movements, goosebumps unknowingly arose.

"Long worm!"

A man was particularly sensitive to the sound of snakes crawling over, and immediately said what was coming out.The bearded man in the lead gritted his teeth, looked at the roof with the sound of tiles squeezing in horror, and suddenly remembered the persuasion of the locals, and couldn't help feeling regretful.

Could it be that today's medicinal herbs brought it out?
This is where everyone's life is at stake.

(End of this chapter)