At noon, the scorching sun hung in the sky.

In the distance, the green hills continued to stretch to the end of the line of sight, the peaks were towering, reaching into the sky, the mountains and forests were verdant, the branches and leaves of the trees were becoming more and more tender in the sunlight, and in the shade of the trees, a caravan passed through the forest, and there was a burst of frolicking.

The group sat in the carriage and talked and laughed, all of them were dark-skinned strong men, and on the carriage were neatly stacked clay altars, faintly wafting the faint aroma of wine. At the back of the car sat a ragged teenager, holding a mud jar, pouring a mouthful of wine into his mouth, followed by a violent cough.

The big man around him laughed at the young man, the young man was ashamed, scratched the back of his head embarrassedly, and without saying a word, he put the mud altar back into the carriage, sat at the back of the carriage by himself, looking at the endless mountains in the distance in a daze, and the big man who was traveling with him seemed to be used to him like this, and they talked about the world.

"It was as if I had come to a strange place. The boy murmured, as thin as a mosquito.

The caravan made its way forward, making its way through the dirt roads through the woods. Suddenly, the sun shone down on the boy, and the boy squinted his eyes slightly, and found that the convoy had stepped out of the shade of the trees and stepped on the bluestone paved road. The young man raised his hand to block the dazzling sunlight, and a big man next to him smiled when he saw this: "The sunshine in the red city is indeed spicy, we should be able to buy this batch of drinks at a good price." ”

The young man was silent, just looked at the big man beside him, and the big man was not surprised, and continued: "When you get to the Red City, you can get off there, the Red City is prosperous, it is easy to eat there, we are all servants, whether to keep you or not is not our master." ”

The young man nodded, thanked him, and moved from the back of the car to the front of the car.

In the distance, a mud-red city appeared at the end of the bluestone road, this stone road had many forks, and the caravan seemed to be walking on the main road, along the way there were some other caravans from the branch road in the shade of the trees into the main road, not far from the city, the road was already full of caravans, and the endless flow towards the red city.

Seeing the city gate, the caravan stopped, and the big man beside the young man said, "We'll send you here, take care." ”

Hearing this, the young man jumped out of the carriage, followed the example of a big man, and hugged his fists to thank him. The caravan slowly drove into the city gate and disappeared from the young man's sight, who looked at the huge city wall in front of him in a daze, a little stunned.

"Here... It shouldn't be Huaxia. The young man looked at the crowd at the gate of the city, and their quaint clothes, and then looked at the mountains in the distance that almost stretched all the lines of sight in front of him, and muttered involuntarily.

"!" scolded in a low voice, and the young man walked slowly towards the city gate.

The boy's name is Qingliu, he woke up two weeks ago, and found that he was in a deep mountain and old forest, even his clothes became strange, and the surroundings were deserted, but his memory of how he came here was blurred, and what was even more strange was that the sun here first shone on his body like a needle, and the pain was terrible, and it took several days to feel better, but he also felt numb and uncomfortable.

Qingliu is in this deep mountain, hungry for wild fruits, thirsty for mountain springs, alive like a wild man.

It was only two weeks, the plain clothes were tattered, and the face was dusty, and finally found a dirt road, and walked along the dirt road for a long time, and luckily met a caravan, which was the caravan that had just left, and begged them to give him a ride, and the big men of the caravan saw that he was in rags, and thought that he had been attacked by mountain bandits, so they took him on the way.

At first, Qingliu kept asking people where he was and how to get home, but no one could answer him to the questions he asked, and everyone thought he was scared stupid, so they simply ignored him.

The caravan was going to Hongcheng, Qingliu couldn't even tell the direction, so he lied that he was also going to Hongcheng to make a living, and now that Hongcheng had arrived, Qingliu had no reason to go all the way with the caravan, so he parted ways.

Qingliu walked slowly to the gate of the city, but was stopped by two strong men at the door, Qingliu was puzzled and looked at the two big men suspiciously.

"Tariff, a miscanite. One of the big men said angrily.

Qingliu was still at a loss: "What is a mangshi? I don't have any money." ”

"One person, one stone, those who do not pay taxes are not allowed to enter the city. The big man said in a loud voice.

In desperation, Qingliu had to stand aside and watch the passing crowds enter the city in turn.

He found that every person who entered the city would give the big man a stone the size of a mud-red thumb cover, one for each person, no more, no less.

"What kind of manstone is this?" Qingliu muttered.

Probably, this is the money here, but the shape is really peculiar, and Qingliu also understands why the caravan selling alcohol does not take him into the city with him, and if there is one more person, he will have to pay one more stone, and the caravan is naturally unwilling to pay the customs duties for him.

Qingliu is squatting at the gate of the city, without the mangshi, you can't enter the city, the city gate has always been guarded, and it is impossible to sneak into the city.

After a long time, Qingliu reflexively walked towards the woods, not that he didn't want to enter the city, but he was hungry and had to find something to eat. Although it is a little primitive here, there are barren forests everywhere, but there are many wild fruits in the barren forests, and they can finally satisfy their stomachs and not starve to death.

Qingliu temporarily settled on a tree in a forest not far from the red city, this tree is full of red and bright fruits, I don't know what kind of fruit it is, but the taste is very delicious, the fruit of this tree, enough to eat for a day or two, when I first came here, Qingliu was the same, when it was almost dark, I climbed the tree, and then put a torch in the tree, although I still felt very scared, but I could barely get by.

After finding some broken grass, Qingliu climbed up the low tree, folded the branches, and made a place for himself, and just finished it, it was dark.

Qingliu lit a torch, stuck it in the treetops, took out the bright red fruits picked from the trees, and looked at the red city while biting it.

In the distance, the Red City is brightly lit and full of people, while the outside of the Red City is pitch black, and the green stream here is like a little firefly in the dark night, which is really lonely.

Looking at the bright red city, Qingliu unconsciously began to be in a daze, unconsciously... He started to feel homesick, he knew that he was different from others, that he didn't belong here.

Drowsiness hit, Qingliu slowly closed his eyes, and muttered, "No matter how much it is, live first, live." ”

In the early morning, the first rays of sunlight shone on Qingliu's emaciated face, and he slowly opened his eyes and began to look around. I haven't eaten meat for a week or two, Qingliu only feels that he is very greedy, but he hasn't seen much animals in the past two weeks, and after eating wild fruits for two weeks, Qingliu, who is already thin, feels even more emaciated.

As usual, he took out a red fruit, which was considered breakfast, and was biting, when the sun shone on a stone, and the reflected light reflected into Qingliu's eyes, attracting Qingliu's attention.

The stone not far away was a muddy red glow, shining in the sunlight, which was very strange. Qingliu jumped down from the low tree, took the uneaten red fruit in his mouth, and ran over.

When I got closer, I saw a mud-red stone the size of a bowl, and a weed glowing red next to it. Qingliu looked at the stone carefully, and found that it was exactly the same as the mangs demanded by the guards at the city gate.

It's just that the people of them only paid the size of a thumb cover, and this stone is the size of a bowl.

"Picked up the money?" Qingliu muttered as he took a bite of the red fruit in his hand.

Throwing the red fruit in his hand, Qingliu picked up the stone and held it in his hand to look at it carefully. But the stone that was still glowing red just now was not shining at this time, and it looked like it was just a mud-red stone, which was a little less lustrous than those paid ones.

Qingliu was annoyed for a while, but turned his head to catch a glimpse of the weed next to him, Qingliu picked it up in his coat pocket and walked towards the city gate.

Qingliu walked to the gate of the city, it was still the two big men from yesterday, Qingliu walked to a big man with the stone in his hand, and said, "That... I picked up a piece of this size today, can you let me into the city?"

"Primordial Miscanthus Stone?" the big man muttered as he glanced at the stone in Qingliu's hand.

"This piece of original mango stone can be worth fifty or sixty mangs, you go to the city to change it to mangdian, and then pay the city tax. The big man next to him also saw the stone in Qingliu's hand and said loudly.

Qingliu didn't seem to understand, nodded Mu Ne, and was about to enter the city, when the big man in front of him pressed on Qingliu's shoulder, startling Qingliu.

I saw the big man grinning and said: "Remember to pay taxes after changing the mangshi, Yimang, the rules are the rules, remember." ”

Qingliu nodded sharply and ran into the city.

In the Red City, Qingliu stood at a street corner, looking at the bustling crowd, and couldn't help but be stunned.

This street is supposed to be a small bazaar, full of stalls and selling all kinds of things. Qingliu walked to a stall and stopped, it was a small stall selling barbecue jerky, and there were many golden grilled meats on the stall, and the aroma was so fragrant that it went straight to the nose.

"Goo. Qingliu swallowed the saliva overflowing from the bottom of his tongue, he hadn't eaten meat for two weeks, and he suddenly saw barbecue, which was really a little unbearable.

When the barbecue vendor saw him stop in front of him, he smiled and said, "Little brother, do you want to buy barbecue?"

The hawker's words immediately pulled Qingliu back to reality, except for three red fruits in his pocket, there were no mangs, Qingliu swallowed his saliva again, asked the vendor about the location of the mango shop, and did not forget to ask the vendor to leave him a piece of the best barbecue before leaving.

Walking through the bazaar, in front of a shop, Qingliu stopped, and in front of him was a marble with two large characters carved on the stone: Mangdian.

Qingliu straightened out his tattered clothes, held the original mango stone in his hand, and walked in.

There were only two people in the shop, an old man sitting at the counter, and a young shopkeeper standing in the middle of the shop. Seeing Qingliu walk in, the young shopkeeper stepped forward and said, "Little brother, please come in." ”

After Qingliu stood still, he asked, "Little brother came to our Mangdian, are you here?"

Qingliu threw the original mango stone in his hand and asked, "This thing, can you exchange it for money?"

"Money?" the shopkeeper wondered.

"That's it. Qingliu scratched the back of his head and said.

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "It's a change of stone, it's easy to say, please here." ”

Qingliu followed him to the counter, only to see the shopkeeper pick up something that looked like a mirror, take a picture of the original mangostone, and then said, "Little brother, you have this piece of the original mango... It is the most inferior original mango, can it be exchanged for forty mangs, can it be exchanged?"

Qingliu asked, "Didn't the big man at the city gate say that he could change fifty or sixty mangs?"

The shopkeeper smiled awkwardly and said, "Forty-five mangs, it can't be more." ”

Qingliu suddenly reacted, this was bargaining, and waved his hand: "It's changed." ”

The shopkeeper took the original mangshi from Qingliu's hand, took out a small cloth bag from the counter, loaded it with mangshi and handed it to Qingliu: "Little brother, the mangshi are all inside, welcome to visit next time." ”

Qingliu took the small cloth bag, checked it and didn't count it, and was about to walk out, when the old man at the counter asked out loud, "Little brother, wait." ”

Qingliu paused and turned his head to look. The old man at the counter smiled and asked, "Little brother, there is usually a mango medicine next to the original mangshi, can the little brother have mango medicine?"

Qingliu scratched the back of his head, took out the weeds picked next to the stone from his coat pocket, and asked, "Is this it?"

The shopkeeper took a step forward, took the weeds and looked at them, and said, "Qixia grass, there is really miscanthus medicine." ”

"How much is it worth?" asked Qingliu with a squint sideways and a smile at the old man.

The old man at the counter smiled and stretched out a slap and said, "Fifty." ”

Qingliu counted with his fingers, and said, "Add the original mangshi just now, make up a hundred, fifty-five lines?"

The old man smiled and nodded, turned around and leaned back against the counter, and said no more.

The shopkeeper put the mango medicine into the medicine cabinet, took the cloth bag in Qingliu's hand, stuffed it into the mango, and handed it to Qingliu. Qingliu took the cloth bag, checked it again, and then walked out of the mangdian satisfied.

Out of Mangdian, Qingliu first went back to the city gate to pay the city tax, the big man at the city gate smiled and patted him on the shoulder, the painful Qingliu grinned for a while, after paying the tax, Qingliu rushed to the barbecue stall non-stop, ordered five pieces of barbecue in one breath, and sat down on the edge of the stall and gnawed it.

While gnawing, Qingliu's head calculated, a hundred mango stones, the barbecue cost twenty-five, one piece of the city tax, and there was seventy-four left, and then looked at his tattered clothes, and so on, I had to buy another clothes, and I had to buy a few more barbecue meats for dinner... After all the calculations, the miscanthus is really pitiful.

After eating the barbecue, Qingliu went to buy a set of clothes, spent thirty miscanthus stones, and made Qingliu meat hurt for a long time, Qingliu couldn't help but sigh, poor!

Changing into clean clothes, Qingliu sat on a bluestone step, thinking about what he should eat in the next few days, after eating barbecue, Qingliu no longer wanted to eat wild fruits outside the city, but he didn't have many mangshi, eating meat and eating a day could eat him poor and die on the street, Qingliu could only sit on the bluestone slab and constantly count the mangshi in his bag, thinking about whether to ask where to collect people, find a job so as not to starve to death on the street.

Suddenly, there was a noise from the corner of the street, and Qingliu involuntarily stepped forward to take a look.

At the corner of the street, four teenagers stood in pairs, looking like two groups of people were about to fight.

"Han Chuan, you stay away from Qianyue Qianxue in the future. I only listened to one of the young men in white.

The young man opposite him laughed and said, "Qianyang, your two sisters didn't say anything, what are you doing with it?"

"Qianyang, I just entered the monarch realm yesterday, you are optimistic. The young man beside the young man in white said angrily.

I saw that as soon as his voice fell, he flew forward, and in three steps, he deceived himself in front of the two young men opposite.

"Bang!" The young man named Qianfeng put a palm on the chest of a young man, and he didn't know if it was Han Chuan or Han Shan, and then another hand knife slashed at the back of the neck of another young man.

"Hongmang, Junjing!" exclaimed a passerby.

A breath made people wake up like a dream, Qingliu blinked his eyes and looked at the young man named Qianfeng in a daze. The young man looked like he was only fifteen or sixteen years old, the same age as himself, and two blows hit two teenagers surnamed Han hard, which was really a bit unbelievable.

Qingliu just saw that between the thousands of hands, there was a faint red light flowing in the palm of his hand, and a fluttering palm was printed, and the young man surnamed Han was like being hit hard, which made Qingliu puzzled.

At this time, the corner of the street was already full of passers-by, and only one passer-by said: "Ah~ The little cub of the thousand families is amazing, he is only so big, and he has already entered the monarch's realm." ”

Qingliu hurriedly rushed to the passer-by's side and asked in a low voice, "That, may I ask, what kind of thing are you talking about?"

The passers-by around looked at Qingliu with a brush, many rolled their eyes, and some even laughed: "Whose little hairy child doesn't even know about the cultivator." ”

"Cultivator?" Qingliu couldn't help muttering, "What is this?"

"Who hurt my young master?" shouted loudly, but a few big men were squeezed into the corner of the street, and they couldn't help but shout angrily when they saw the two young men surnamed Han lying down.

When Qianfeng heard this, he said to a few big men: "It's me, Qianjia Qianfeng, when your young master wakes up, tell them that if you harass my sister again, next time it won't be as simple as being injured, Qianyang, let's go." ”

Qianfeng Qianyang was about to leave, but he heard a big man led by him say in a deep voice: "Young Master Qianfeng, you injured my young master, you just left, I'm afraid we won't be able to explain it when we go back." ”

Hearing this, Qianfeng turned his head and smiled, stretched out Bai Xuan's right hand, a faint red light flowed in his palm, and said softly: "You... Can you keep me?"

"Hongmang, have you arrived at the monarch's realm?" the big man exclaimed.

Qianfeng put away his smile, turned around and wanted to leave, but suddenly looked sideways at Qingliu, raised his hand, and said slowly: "Forgive me for being presumptuous, dare to ask Brother Taizun's surname?"

Qingliu looked dazed and pointed to the tip of his nose: "Me?"

Qian Feng looked at Qingliu's reaction, couldn't help laughing, and said, "Exactly." ”

"My name is Qingliu!" Qingliu grinned and replied.