Seeing the clouds

Chapter 2: A flat sand spreads into the sky

Northwest folk customs have always been fierce.

The so-called ring battle in Guan Nei is nothing more than a competition between two people, regardless of life or death.The audience is just passers-by taking a look, and there is no charge for watching anyway, so it can be considered a good thing.But outside the Northwest Pass, the fight to the death between people and animals has become an entertainment event.Not to mention the large animal pens in Wusun City, the capital of Northern Xia, where royal generals and ministers often visited. Even in small towns like Maxia and Liqiang, there were countless animal pens for people to watch.

But most of the animal pens are only for people to watch, and there are only some small black animal pens, where gambling and other gambling activities are conducted secretly.Although this kind of behavior originally regards human life as trivial, it is not very difficult for the capable prisoners to earn a life for themselves. Anyway, everyone is just here to watch. If you have a strong fist, you can beat them to death. Bi Fan, not only will no one force you to die, but you will have more admirers, of course just for talents.Only in those black animal pens are human lives really inferior to a handful of yellow sand outside the city.For the owners of the animal pens, it is nothing to them to die a few insignificant prisoners in order to win money, and those who can open the animal pens are also powerful people themselves, unless they affect the local public security. The government generally ignores it.

Ang Lee’s stable is an example.

Speaking of Li An, he was originally from the Southern Tang Dynasty and came from a wealthy family. When he was young, he learned martial arts from others. Not only did he fail, but he also committed a crime. Later, when the Southern Tang Dynasty was destroyed and his family was in ruins, he fled outside the customs.But he was not good at martial arts, but his brain was good enough. He gathered a few desperadoes to steal a few horses, and became horse thieves, making a living by robbing passing merchants on the loess sand.

Although he was said to have bad conduct and was involved in everything from food, drink, prostitution and gambling, he was unambiguous about being a brother.Whenever he catches a sheep, he always gives a big portion to his brothers and keeps a small portion for himself.If things go on like this, I will make less money, but the brothers who follow me will be determined to do it.Later, he thought that it was not appropriate to live such a life of licking blood from the edge of a knife. After all, sheep were not available every day.So he borrowed money and bought the animal pen.The income is stable, but it is not enough to pay off the debt.

So he thought of a way to open a gambling house secretly. First, he instigated the brothers around him. Originally, he just thought of it as an exaggeration, but he didn't expect that this gambling game would become indispensable in the lives of the brothers in the future. Later, the gambling hall became bigger, and spectators who often came to the animal pen would participate, and the animal pen gradually changed its flavor.

What are they betting on?It's simple: gamble your life.

There are several gladiatorial battles every day in the stable, and spectators who want to gamble only need to know the characters of each gladiatorial battle and choose one side to place a bet before the battle begins.The winner will get the corresponding money. As long as you are familiar with the strength of the puppets and fighting animals in the animal pen, unless the two are equally matched, you can only leave it to fate. Generally, the stronger one can win without any suspense.Of course, nothing is absolute, and sometimes the weak will win. This situation is called iron tree blooming, which is relatively rare.

Because of the existence of iron tree blooming, some people will take risks to bet on the weak side, so that once iron tree blooms appear, they will get a return of ten times or even dozens of times the deposit, and such people are nicknamed iron flower branches.The occasional iron tree blooms tend to balance the game, but recently the iron tree blooms have become more and more common.

Currently, Li An is sitting in an inconspicuous position on the stand of the animal pen, waiting for the next fight.He was wearing a white robe, and his face was quite handsome without a beard. At first glance, he didn't look like a vicious desperado, but rather like a teacher with no temper.The animal pen is not big, but it is full of seats and very lively and noisy. Many people are having a headache about placing bets on the next game.

Man versus beast.

Everyone knows the person's side of the story: Prisoner has black hair, so everyone calls him black hair.He was an orphan who was picked up by Li An in the desert. He was found in tatters and had no money to earn. He was completely dehydrated, but his eyes were very firm.Li An felt that this boy had such a strong will and was a good piece of wood that could be carved.So he picked it up and brought it back. Since he has no wife or children, it would be good to brainwash and train him to be his successor.

Things in the world are always unsatisfactory, and this boy has a terrible stubborn temper, and he will not join the gang even if he is beaten to death.Once Li Andu held a knife to his neck, but the boy remained indifferent.Li An was at his wits' end and threw him into the animal pen in a rage.

Do you want to die?Then I will help you!

As a result, to Li An's expectation, this kid not only had a terrible stubborn temper, but also had a terrifyingly hard fist.From being thrown into the animal pen to now, he has had a total of 53 gladiatorial fights, and he has never lost a single one, regardless of whether he was against humans or animals.It's unbelievable to know that his opponents are desperate desperadoes and man-eating beasts!
As a result, they were all smashed by his fists and the chains on his hands until they either gave in or surrendered or fell to the ground.He usually starts with a disadvantage, and the more he fights, the braver he becomes, and his fighting methods are simply life-threatening. After every fight, the wounds on his body are enough to keep him unable to move for ten and a half days. Others see the ravine-like wounds on his body. , it hurts just thinking about it.But he acted like nothing was wrong, vomiting blood from his mouth, and punching others one after another.

At first, Li An saw this kid's talent and bet on him every time, but he won a lot of money.But as the number of fights increased, everyone saw that he was beaten to win as soon as the game came. Gradually, it became difficult for Ang Lee to make any more money.So he thought like other prisoners, let him play two fake games, and the iron tree would blossom after two games.As a result, the kid ignored him and sat on the ground in a daze, but Li An couldn't do anything about him.For other prisoners, a good meal or a woman can make them obey their orders, but this black-haired boy has no need for food, no desire for beautiful women, and no other hobbies. He sits on the ground like an old monk all day long. , which made Li An very hurt.

What he had to face today was a newly arrived mole.

The earth mole looks like a sheep with four horns, its teeth and claws are like sharp edges, and it eats people.

This is the description of the soil cricket in "Records of Experiences from Foreign Lands" compiled by Wang Ziwei.Just two words of "cannibal" are enough to express its ferocity, and its sharp teeth can only bite off an adult male's arm.

On one side are evergreen trees in the animal pen, and on the other side are extremely ferocious beasts.How is the result?God knows.

The fight begins immediately, and everyone waits with bated breath.Except for Li An, who was sitting quietly above, a short and fat man hurriedly ran to Li An, panting.

The short man named Zhao Ying was one of the first veterans to work with Li An. Not only did he have a sinister appearance, but he also aimed at being "the most humble" as a person. He was so wretched that he couldn't speak.

After giving Zhao Ying some time to breathe.

"Is it done?" After giving the short man a look, Li An looked at the center of the animal pen again.

"That's it, that's it. I gave that boy twice the amount, and the sand cow has to be turned over even after he eats it." Zhao Ying rubbed her hands with a flattering look on her face. "Then boss, what is that..."

"Don't worry, you won't be short of money." Before Zhao Ying could say anything, Li An knew what he meant.

"Ah... ha, thank you, brother." After saying that, Zhao Ying ran away.

After Zhao Ying left, Li An seemed to have thought of something.

"Today is the eighth day of May, which is not very auspicious..." Li An murmured as he looked at the center of the animal pen.

The iron door on the left side of the animal pen was opened first, and a vague figure walked out of the darkness.He walked very slowly, like an old man, but his blurry figure was very upright.The moment the figure walked out of the iron gate, under the scorching sun, everyone saw the familiar him again - a head of thick and long black hair, the forehead hair covering his eyes, and his face was a little dirty because it had not been washed seriously for a long time.He was about seven feet four inches tall, probably no taller than his crown. He was wearing a rough cloth with many holes in it, obviously from previous wrestling matches.His hands hang down naturally, with long chains attached to them, like a prisoner.He walked very slowly, but with every step he took, he kicked up a lot of dust and dust.

The crowd in the stands above looked at him and couldn't stop shouting in Bei Xia's unique Qiang language: "Black hair! Black hair! Black hair!..." But the boy nicknamed Black Hair didn't do anything. Feeling the slightest sense of glory from the shouts, he walked to a position near the center, stopped, and quietly waited for his opponent to appear.The sun was shining and the hot steam was moving, making everything around him seem unreal. He slowly wrapped the iron chain around his hands around his right arm. The iron chain rubbed against the ground, causing smoke to rise.

On the other side, the iron door has not yet risen, but there is a strange sound coming from inside. There is a man above who nodded after seeing the eyes of the man who was also wearing the same clothes on the opposite side, and then the iron door rose.

A sheep-like beast walked out, staring at the black hair with ferocious eyes, as if looking at its own food, but in fact, in its eyes, the person in front of it was its food.But neither of them moved at all. They were so deadlocked that under the scorching sun, some obese spectators even started to sweat.At this time, the black hair shook his hands, and the iron chain swayed. When the mole opposite him saw this scene, he let out a suppressed roar. The next moment, he rose up from the ground and rushed towards him like a whirlwind. It has black hair and sharp teeth that come together up and down, hoping to completely crush the prey in front of it at the moment of contact.

Dust and smoke billowed from the ground, and the audience on the stage began to cheer noisily because of the attack of the mole. However, the black-haired man, who was the protagonist of this gladiatorial fight, remained indifferent to the attack of his opponent.And when the sharp teeth of the soil bug had touched the black hair's right shoulder, the black hair's right hand hit it on the right abdomen like a heavy stone. The soil bug let out a low roar of "Woo", then rolled and landed on the sand. above.But at the same time that the mole was knocked away, the tips of its teeth also successfully tore into pieces the simple cloth on the black-haired right shoulder, and even left a scarlet mark on the right shoulder.The black-haired man raised his left hand and placed it on his right shoulder, then withdrew his right hand, looked down at the scarlet blood on it, and quickly clenched his fist.

After landing on the ground, the mole quickly got up, shook off some of the dust on its hair, revealing a terrifying face, then stretched out its long and slender tongue to twist and wipe the blood on its teeth, and instantly pounced on the black-haired man again. , different from the first attack, it chose to extend its claws forward, head to head, and pressed down with its entire body.Its sharp claws and sharp teeth in its open mouth looked as if they were about to devour the black hair.The black hair gritted his teeth and pulled up with both hands.The iron chain between his hands blocked the bite of the soil bug without any deviation, but he was knocked back by the momentum of the soil bug and was pressed to the ground. The two arms of the soil bug were also received. Claw's gift, blood immediately flowed out.

On the ground, the mole was pressing on him, and his sealed mouth still did not stop invading, wildly dreaming of "kissing" the black hair.The black hair was disgusted by the smelly liquid flowing out of its mouth. He kicked with his right foot and hit the mole in the lower abdomen.The soil crickets and the smelly liquid flew out from above the black hair and landed on the sand above the black hair's head.

The black-haired man stood up, and no one saw the frown on his face covered by bangs. The clothes on his body were already torn to pieces, and countless bright red wounds were exposed, but he didn't pay attention to the wounds that were slowly bleeding out. First, he wiped off the sticky liquid on his face with the still intact clothes on his hand. It seemed that the liquid really made him sick.The soil mole that landed on the ground did not get up as quickly as before. It lay on the ground, liquid from its mouth was still flowing out, and the land below it was also covered.In fact, these liquids are just normal secretions produced by soil crickets after contact with blood, and are not poisonous. However, no one present knew about it, because those who knew had already died under the teeth and claws of soil crickets.

The black-haired man still did not take the initiative to attack. He seemed to be as stable as a mountain. In fact, it was because the chain wrapped around his right hand was too heavy. Running was not only labor-intensive, but also easily dislocated if his hand was hanging down. He had consumed a lot of energy in the previous battle. .

Sitting above was Li An, who was sitting relaxedly, but looking at the face below was not at all relaxing.He murmured: "It seems almost done." He began to frown slightly.

At this time, the soil mole had stood up again. It did not choose to attack again, but the smell of blood flowing from the black hair kept tempting it. It tried its best to control its thirst for blood, and its whole body was shaking violently.Gradually, the hair on its body began to turn gray, its body became incredibly larger, and its aura kept rising, killing people unexpectedly.

The black-haired man tilted his neck, realizing that the real bloody battle was coming next.Suddenly, the mole moved, but its speed was far beyond normal. It passed through the left side of the black hair in an instant. The black hair thought he had reached the extreme level of calmness, but the swiftness of the mole still made him lose consciousness for an instant. He tried his best to He ducked away, but there was still a bright red blood stain on the left side of his face.The mole changed direction the moment it landed, and charged towards Black Hair. One blow hit Black Hair's back, and his flesh and blood were instantly mutilated.The black hair fell to his knees, holding his hands and taking a big breath, but the mole didn't give the black hair a chance, leaping towards the black hair and landing like a tiger.

The black-haired man gritted his teeth and raised up with both hands. His whole body actually bounced up to avoid the attack of the mole. At the same time, his hands changed in the air, and the iron chain covered the head of the mole.The mole felt the pressure on his neck and ran hard to break free, dragging the black hair to the ground alive.The black-haired man gritted his teeth and exerted his strength with his arms. The iron chain locked the mole tightly. The mole made a "woo" sound and kept shaking its head to break free. There were faint signs of being broken free from the iron chain.The black-haired man kicked the mole in the back with all his strength. He closed his eyes and used all the strength in his body, causing veins to pop out.

Gradually, the resistance of the earthworm became smaller and smaller, and finally passed out completely and died on the ground.The black-haired man exhaled loudly and stood up, raising his right arm to slap the mole that fell to the ground.Finally, he knelt down beside the corpse of the mole and whispered: "Remember, beasts must never fight with people." Seeing this scene, huge cheers broke out in the venue, even though most of the cheers came from the winner. .When Li An saw this scene above the stands, his whole face was so gloomy that water dripped from his face.He called the servants around him and said coldly: "Get Zhao Ying for me..."

The black-haired man who had just managed to survive was thrown into his own cell, which was cold and dark.He was lying on the ground, motionless as if he were dead, and a patrolman outside the cell, seeing this scene, banged the iron door of the cell vigorously, making a "boom boom boom" sound, and shouted loudly: "Hey!"

But the black hair remained motionless, and the guard opened the iron door of the cell while wondering, "Is he going to die?"

Zhao Ying crawled to the ground in front of Li An and bowed before him. He knew in his heart how "gentle" the big brother in front of him would be if his subordinates made mistakes.

"I need an explanation."

Li An sat on the chair and bent down, looking at the man kneeling on the ground like a winter melon in front of him with gloomy eyes.

"Big...big brother. I really don't know, I did put medicine in the food." Zhao Ying raised his head, with a look of fear on his face.

Li An smiled and touched his head. A man touched the head of another man of the same age like a child. It seemed a bit weird no matter how you looked at it.

Zhao Ying was shocked to the point of sweating on his forehead. He no longer knew how to defend himself.

Maybe I have to go down to see my brother.

is it possible?
He lowered his head, and no one could see his terrifying smile.

At this time, a man ran over in a panic, glanced at Li An, and then at Zhao Ying, who was kneeling on the ground with his head lowered, and said, "Brother, the black hair escaped."

Li An squinted his eyes, seeming to think of something, but he saw Zhao Ying whose face was covered in sweat.

Maybe I was thinking too much.

So he asked the man: "What's going on?"

The man answered truthfully: "I just gave Black Hair dinner, and then I found Liang Er lying naked inside. Black hair and Liang Er's clothes were gone."

Li An had a heavy look on his face after hearing this, and pulled Zhao Ying to stand up.

"Take me to see..."

Several people came to Black Hair's cell. There was nothing else on the ground except a straw mat, a chain and a bowl of untouched food.

Li An walked to the food, picked up the bowl, smelled it, and asked, "Where is Liang Er?"

The man named Wang Hu who brought them over replied: "Go and get dressed. I'll be here soon."

Li An hummed, stood up, and turned to look at Zhao Ying.

Zhao Ying was a little scared and quickly said: "Brother..."

Li An waved his hand, indicating that he should stop talking.

"I already know the general story. It's really not your fault. I can only blame my dark face."

Wang Hu was confused when he heard this: "Brother, I see your face is very clean, not dark at all."

Zhao Ying poked Wang Hu with her elbow and whispered: "Idiot."

At this time, Liang Er had already dressed and arrived.When he saw Li An, he was about to kneel on the ground subconsciously.Li An waved and motioned for him to tell everyone what happened first.

Liang Er swallowed his saliva and said: "After the fight today, I was patrolling as usual. When I came here, I saw black hair lying on the ground. Originally, this was not a big deal. It is normal to lie down on the ground to sleep and rest after the fight. But brother, you don’t know something. The guards who know a little bit about the black hair know that the black haired boy is very strange. He never lies down. In the past, no matter how tired he was, he would sit up and sleep. So I thought It was a little strange, so I patted the cell door to wake him up. After patting for a while, he still didn't respond. I was curious if he was dead. After all, this kind of thing is not uncommon in the animal pen, so I opened the cell door. I went to check on the situation, walked up to him, and just squatted down to check if the kid was still breathing, when suddenly he raised his right hand and hit me on the back of my neck, and then I lost consciousness."

Li An listened and frowned. The animal pen was complicated and there was no one to guide him. It was impossible for Black Hair to go out alone. Even if Black Hair had planned it for a long time, how did he know that the food was drugged? .

Li An patted Liang Er on the shoulder and said: "Right now, I still have some things I haven't figured out yet, but you go find your second brother first. The black-haired brother is seriously injured and won't run too far. I call you second brother." Brother, hurry up and take people out to search." After hearing this, Liang Er said good and ran out of the cell.

Watching Liang Er leave the cell, Li quietly squatted down.

"How strange," he murmured.

The black-haired man was running on the yellow sand wearing Liang Er's clothes. He was now leaving Beixi City and running to the southeast.The wounds on his body had indeed not healed yet as Li An said, and blood was still flowing out, but he showed no signs of stopping.

If you run out, you won't know whether you will die or not, but if you stay in the animal pen, you will only end up dead.

The summer is so hot that it makes people’s vision blurry.The black hair was a little dehydrated, but he bit his lip and persisted.

But he found that his steps were getting heavier and heavier, his eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, and the wound on his back was even heavier.

He still kept telling himself:

No, I can't sleep. I'm injured and I'll never wake up again.

I can't die yet!
But in the end, he lay down on the yellow sand on the ground and slowly wriggled forward until his vision disappeared.

And he didn't know that there was a camel slowly approaching him in the distance.There was also a person sitting on the camel, wearing a hat and a green coat, whose face could not be seen clearly.One person and one camel walked through the wind and sand, as stable as Mount Tai, and one person was like a city.

He saw the young man lying on the yellow sand, got off the camel, leaned over and touched the young man's inky hair, then picked up the sleeping young man and threw him on the camel.I only heard the sleeping young man murmuring in his sleep:
"father."

(End of this chapter)