chewing dragon

Chapter 104 Old Tree
The clear night is dust-free, and the moonlight is like silver.

On the official road east of Huaide County City, two horses, one green and one yellow, were galloping under the moonlight.

After entrusting the family letter to Liu Mu, Qi Jingzhi once thought about using the name of Master Meng's disciple to brazenly go to the underworld to which Yu Shan belongs to ask to see Lao Wei one last time.

However, he thought about it again, the hero of the old Wei, who was so heroic and free-spirited before his death, probably just took a bath in the underworld, and then directly entered reincarnation, and would not go to the underworld to be tried at all, so he put out this thought and focused on it. I just want to attend Aunt Jiao's big birthday, so that I can fulfill Old Wei's dying entrustment as soon as possible.

As for the saintess of the White Immortal Sect, she was eaten and wiped clean by the small bronze mirror just like Lu Yunzi. The two fairy servants in white had limited knowledge, but they saved a lot of trouble.

Speaking of which, among the demons that Qi Jingzhi killed along the way, the three foxes were too weak to mention, and only the tiger spirit did not mobilize the small bronze mirror to attack. Now that I think about it, it was probably because of the spirit stele in Fuya Temple.

From this point, it can also be seen that the background of the Baixian Sect is far inferior to that of Fuya Temple, and there is no similar treasure to protect the spirituality of the saints in the Sect.

On the contrary, the Tianyi Sect mentioned by Liu Muzhi seems to be quite extraordinary, and its basic text "Jizhu Jing" is quite related to the Baixian Sect's "Secret Method of Riding the Clouds", but this sect only existed more than a hundred years ago. Because the Golden Toad Dharma King has revealed his whereabouts, but now he doesn't know where to find him.

Qi Jingzhi was spinning various thoughts in his mind, while riding on the back of a green horse very skillfully, as if he was a veteran who had been in the art of riding for many years.

His experience in the dream in the pillow, especially the knife that slashed the head of the giant snake at the end, laid a solid foundation for him to become the heart and soul of the angry crane after he came out of the dream.

In addition, Qi Jingzhi also accidentally gained Lu Qiyun's sloppy riding skills. Although the skill of shaving the head and face has not been verified, the skinning skills that he already knew have probably been greatly improved.

Jiao Yulang said that the Qinghonggong jade pillow can help people refine their minds in the world of mortals, and it is a priceless treasure, which can be said to be right.

Amidst the sound of horseshoes, Qi Jingzhi seemed to have regained some of the feeling he had when riding a snow chi beast in his dream.It's just that this time he has only Jiao Yulang following him on his side, and there is no battlefield where people are shouting and screaming, and there is only a quiet, seemingly endless official road.

Not far from the north of the official road, a sparkling river flows eastward.

According to Xiaowazi, this river is called Caojiang. It is not big among the rivers and lakes in Daqi, but it is not small either.

Qi Jingzhi turned his head to look at Jiao Yulang: "It's getting dark, let's stop after running for half an hour, and continue on our way tomorrow morning."

"it is good!"

Jiao Yulang, who was riding a yellow puma, responded, and couldn't help but praise: "My brother is riding a horse for the first time, you really have great endurance!"

In the eyes of him, a descendant of a military family who has been riding a horse since he was a child, Qi Jingzhi's riding skills are not very good, barely enough for driving, but his endurance is even more surprising.

The two stopped and stopped along the way, and together they stayed on the horse for several hours. Even Jiao Yulang himself was already sore all over, and he didn't want the elder brother of the Qi family to still look in good spirits.

Qi Jingzhi smiled when he heard the words, shook his head and said: "My two legs have long been numb, but I feel quite happy when riding a horse, and I don't think it is hard."

While speaking, a huge black shadow suddenly rose out of thin air in the center of the official road tens of feet away, looking like a big tree with luxuriant branches and leaves.

The huge and low-hanging canopy stretches in all directions, not only covering the already extremely wide official road, but also extending far away, like a huge green canopy.

When Qi Jingzhi saw it from a distance, he felt alert in his heart, and immediately reined in the reins, slowing down the charge of the green horse under his crotch.

Jiao Yulang also saw it, and while slowing down, he said in a low voice: "I don't remember that there is such a big tree on this official road, I'm afraid the visitor is not kind!"

Qi Jingzhi nodded, and said in a deep voice: "People don't offend me, I don't offend others! Let's go around!"

After finishing speaking, he turned the horse's head and drove the green horse to trot down the official road, and walked slowly on the beach of Caojiang.

Jiao Yulang hurriedly followed, and at the same time kept looking at the big tree that suddenly blocked the way.

As the two continued to approach, the big tree suddenly disappeared from the official road.

At the same time, the eyes of the two of them suddenly dimmed. On the river beach in front of them, a giant tree with a pavilion like a cover was slowly stretching its figure, and the huge tree crown even reached above the river.

At this time, Qi Jingzhi and Jiao Yulang were only more than ten feet away from the giant tree blocking the road, and he could see that it was a very old camphor tree, the body of the tree was yellowish brown, and the bark was split like scales.

What is particularly eye-catching is that the trunk of the old camphor tree and even many thick branches are tied with dense red silk and red thread, which is quite festive amidst the green and vigorous.

"It turned out to be a camphor tree girl!" Jiao Yulang couldn't help crying out.

Seeing Qi Jingzhi's puzzled expression, he immediately explained: "This is a custom in many places in the south of the river. Parents are afraid that their offspring will not be able to support them, so they will look for the oldest and strongest camphor trees in eight villages, and let the young The young children recognize her as their mother, and not only worship it every year, but also tie a red thread to the 'Camphor tree mother' for protection."

"Huh? Is this a sacrilege of evil gods? Doesn't the local government care?" Qi Jingzhi was surprised when he heard the words.

"Who doesn't want the children in the family to prosper, so that all children can grow up?"

Jiao Yulang shook his head: "It is said that this method is quite effective, and even many people who eat in the yamen secretly participated in it. The government does not want to make the public angry, so most of them turn a blind eye. It is to make the child recognize a godmother, it is not considered to be an offering to the evil god..."

"Oh? From what you've said, is this camphor tree lady a good spirit tree?"

Qi Jingzhi looked at Jiao Yulang, and the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously: "There must be a reason for it to stop us, maybe it wants to be a godmother to you little brat."

Hearing this, Jiao Yulang curled his lips, displeased: "My family doesn't believe in this kind of thing! If any of the younger generation worships or makes friends with other people indiscriminately, they will be punished by the family law!"

Qi Jingzhi nodded, and put away the smile on his face: "Do you still remember what the black donkey spirit said before he died? There is an old camphor tree in the Qinghong Temple, and he ran away overnight for fear of being blamed if the jade pillow was stolen."

"Of course I remember! Could it be this guy?"

A dazed expression appeared on Jiao Yulang's face, and he smiled narrowly: "Okay! You don't have the guts to stop the black donkey, but you come here to cut the trails. Are you treating our Yu Shanlu brothers as persimmons?"

Hearing this, Qi Jingzhi couldn't help but give Xiaowazi a sideways glance, and shook his head helplessly: "Are you addicted to pretending to be a devil?"

He suddenly reined in his mount, looked up at the old camphor tree not far away, and shouted loudly: "You old man is so ignorant that you dare to block the way of our Lu brothers! Do you really think my skinning demon king's knife is not good? ?”

As the voice fell, the crown of the old camphor tree suddenly shook violently, making a rattling sound.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of small figures no more than one foot high drilled out from the depths of the dense branches and leaves on the treetop.

These villains are all dressed in white, stretching out their hands to grab the red ropes tied to the branches of the trees, hanging on the branches like fruits, with their little feet dangling back and forth, and laughing like babies.

At the same time, an old voice came from the tree: "The two young brothers from the Lu family forgive your sins, and the old woman boldly appeared to block the way. I have a question to ask, do you have a jade pillow on your body?"

Seeing that the name of the second Demon Lord of the Lu family did not scare him, Jiao Yulang immediately put on a serious face: "Hmph! How about bringing it? What if you didn't bring it?"

"If the two younger brothers bring a jade pillow, can you give it to me? The old lady is grateful!"

Hearing this, Jiao Yulang sneered immediately: "You look more and more like a thieves! To tell you the truth, the jade pillow is on me! This treasure is already in our brother's pocket, so come and ask for it if you are empty talker!" Yes, really thick dough!"

The tone of the old camphor tree is still unhurried: "These red shrimps are the good fruits produced by the old woman who absorbs the essence of vegetation, earth and rocks, and supplemented with the merits of incense and fire. Eating them can adjust the viscera and nourish the mind."

It paused, and seemed to weigh it before opening its mouth again: "If the two of you are willing to help, the old woman is willing to give you ten red shrimps as a gift!"

Hearing this, the two people in front of the tree looked at each other with surprise on their faces.

Qi Jingzhi raised his head and carefully looked at those villains named Chi Xiazi. He saw that except for their short stature, their eyebrows, eyes, limbs, and laughter were no different from babies. Words, I don't know that the old camphor tree I rely on will give them to outsiders to eat.

Thinking of this, the young man felt a little bit more unhappy in his heart.

He looked at the old camphor tree coldly, and said in a deep voice: "They look too human, we brothers can't talk about it! As for the jade pillow, it will be sent back to Pengze Water Mansion, so don't worry about it!"

"Since the two mentioned Peng Zeshui Mansion, they must know the inside story. The old lady was fooled by that goddamn ghost dragon, and she was charged with theft for no reason. Even with her mouth full, she can't tell!"

"Since the two of you are also going to return the jade pillow to the original owner, why not make a good relationship with the old lady? Although Peng Zeshui's mansion is rich and powerful, the gift of thanks may not be better than ten red shrimps. Even if the two don't If you eat it, you can also exchange it with others, after all, you won’t suffer any losses.”

Hearing this, Qi Jingzhi's face remained calm, but he couldn't help being amazed in his heart.

He has seen many monsters recently, and this old locust tree has the most docile temperament among them. No matter whether Jiao Yulang sneered at him or rejected him face to face, the other party never showed the slightest bit of hostility. Can't do it either.

With this thought in mind, Qi Jingzhi's tone became a little gentler: "We both know something about you, and when we return the jade pillow, we can tell Peng Zeshui Mansion on your behalf. Please move out of the way and let us Brother go."

The old camphor tree was silent for a while, then slowly said again: "Twenty pieces!"

Qi Jingzhi shook his head slightly: "It has nothing to do with the number, if you say no, you don't want it!"

Jiao Yulang on the side also echoed his words: "My brother is the most trustworthy, and he will never break his promise if he says it for you!"

Hearing this, the old camphor tree stopped talking, and the dozens of red shrimps also closed their mouths.

These strange little creatures let go of the red ropes in their hands one after another, and fell down like a ripe fruit, and disappeared without a trace as soon as they touched the ground.

At the same time, the trunk of the old camphor tree swelled up visibly, its branches became thicker and thicker, and the already huge crown stretched out unscrupulously, trying to cover the sky and the moon.

In an instant, the old camphor tree turned into a wall alone!
The originally soft riverside beach uplifted rapidly, and countless thick tree roots scrambled out of the ground, climbing in all directions like living things, which made people's scalp tingle.

Two mortal horses, one green and one yellow, neighed in horror, and kept backing away, hastily avoiding the ferocious tree roots that spread close to the ground.

Seeing these tree roots bypassing him quickly, and the top of the head was covered by a thick and dense canopy, which faintly surrounded the two of them, Qi Jingzhi immediately took out the silver candlestick in his hand, and said coldly: "It's really not worth it. discuss?"

"The old lady never harms anyone, but I just want to ask you two to stop for a while and think about it!"

After the old camphor tree said this in a muffled voice, it fell silent, but the movements of the branches, leaves and roots accelerated a bit, obviously intending to encircle the two of them heavily, and it really didn't directly attack them.

Regarding the words of the old camphor tree, Qi Jingzhi naturally would not easily believe what the other party said, even if what the other party said was true, it was absolutely impossible to hand over the lives of the two of them to a strange monster.

He immediately lit the silver candlestick without hesitation, raised his hand above his head, and stretched the bloody flames of the Silver Fiend towards the branches and leaves that were almost touching his head.

A green leaf that was ready to drip was ignited immediately, followed by a whole cluster of leaves and a whole branch, and the seemingly inconspicuous blood flame spread in an instant.

The yellow-brown bark, which was already split like scales, was burned and exploded, crackling into one piece.

"what!"

It wasn't until the blood flames had covered a small piece of the canopy that the old camphor tree finally reacted. The huge tree trembled violently and screamed continuously.

The red shrimps that had just disappeared emerged from every corner of the canopy one after another, standing on the high and low branches, all of them showed anxious expressions, and kept babbling in their mouths.

"Help the old lady put out the fire!"

The miserable howling of the old camphor tree became louder and louder. The thick and dense roots slapped the ground crazily, and the fiery red crown, which was already half burning with blood flames, danced wildly in the air.

Hearing the order, the red shrimps seemed to finally have a backbone, and they all opened their mouths to the maximum, and spit out a string of blue or yellow bubbles towards the blood flame.

The cyan bubbles fell on the burning branches, and immediately turned into green fluorescent juice, which penetrated into the gaps in the cracked bark, isolating the blood flames.

The yellow bubbles were obviously heavier, and they all hit Lie Lie's dancing blood flames, and then shattered silently, turning into muddy raindrops, suppressing the spreading momentum of the blood flames for the time being.

Seeing this, Qi Jing held up the silver candlestick with one hand, and controlled the reins with the other, driving the green horse to circle around the old camphor tree.

Originally such a horrifying sight, it was just that Fanma's green horse must have been terrified when he saw it, but it was illuminated by the blood, and it suddenly calmed down, and its steps couldn't be more calm.

At this time, the surrounding area was full of blood, enclosing a large area of ​​nearby land, and both Jiao Yulang and Lao Zhangshu could clearly see the bright red flames on the candlestick in Qi Jingzhi's hand.

Therefore, wherever the boy on horseback holding the silver candlestick went, the canopy, branches and roots of the old camphor tree gave way one after another, not daring to hit him directly.

(End of this chapter)