Mai Ke and a group of more than 40 people, starting from Guigang, first traveled 80 kilometers eastward, and then returned to the seat of Guiping County, and then did not stop, and went straight to the north. After another sixty kilometers, we reached the foot of Bauhinia Mountain.

The two-hour march was a tiring task, even though everyone was on horseback. Of course, Mai Ke and Sven and the thirty-six servants were fine, but Hong Xiuquan and Zeng Yuzhen were a little unbearable. Fu Changlong and Huang Yukun, two scholar-type people, are miserable. Especially Director Fu, the body that has been destroyed by the big smoking addiction is not something that can be recovered immediately after the addiction is solved.

Mai Ke looked at these people with a smile, and said in his heart: "Let me give you a little test first, so that you can deeply understand the importance of the foundation of the body." If we don't improve our physical fitness quickly, how can we cope with the more arduous wars in the future?"

Further on, it was no longer possible to run on horseback, so everyone dismounted and rested for a while.

When everyone was resting, Mai Ke was not idle. He raised his eyes to see the mountains in front of him. Roughly speaking, the topography that enters the field of vision can be roughly divided into three levels.

Starting from the foot of the road, it stretches forward for about a mile, and is a rolling hill. The hills are lush and green, with all kinds of vegetation and trees, and there are no tall trees to be seen. Where the grass is shallow, there are often tree stumps exposed, and there are traces of axe chiseling on them.

Behind the hills are mighty tall trees, and their thick bodies are neatly lined up, like mighty soldiers guarding the cottage. This queue is so deep that the eye can't fathom it, and only the oily green canopy is getting farther and farther away until it melts into a dark green.

Farther away, towering peaks, boulders and ancient trees, and clouds swirling around the landscape. In addition to the clouds, trees, and stones, there is also a waterfall that rises out of the sky, falling vertically from the peak of Wanzhang.

Due to the clouds and fog, countless large trees separated him, and Mai Ke was not sure how far away the peak was.

At this time, Zeng Yuzhen had already relieved her breath and walked to Mai Ke's side to introduce the situation to him.

The hills in this area also had the same tall trees as the woods in front of them, if not taller, because the soil in the hills was more fertile.

After the cutting and burning of charcoal by these charcoal burners for generations, the shallow mountains in this area have become bald, and they can only be cut down but not planted, and can only advance deeper and deeper into the mountains.

The tall trees you can see in the front are the ones that can be cut down recently and used as a source of material for charcoal burning. It was also a place for hunters to hunt.

Speaking of this, Zeng Yuzhen immediately came to life, "Mai Ke, do you like hunting? If you like it, I can take you to do a guy." I'm a good hunter. You don't know, the prey inside is large, medium and small. ”

Mai Ke was a little moved. He likes to participate in all this kind of competitive thing. It's a pity that in later generations, hunting was a strictly restricted activity, and he really didn't fight wild beasts seriously. Of course, capturing enemy dogs doesn't count.

"Okay! We'll wait until we're settled. "Strictly speaking, Mai Kezi is not the modern kind of people who love animals, and those people love animals as much as they love people, or even more. Of course, he will never abuse animals, and he will not harm animals unless he is forced to do so.

Zeng Yuzhen pointed to the looming mountain peak in the distance, and said to Mai Ke in a low voice: "The entrance to that secret place is near that peak. I also went in thirty years ago. ”

"Mai Ke, can I ask you for something?" Lao Zeng's voice lowered again.

Seeing Mai Ke nodding, he asked in a whispered voice: "I only told you this secret." I'll try my best to find the entrance path today, and if I do, it doesn't matter if everyone knows it. If you can't find it, don't let anyone know. I only believe in you. ”

Mai Ke understood Lao Zeng's entanglement very well, so he solemnly agreed to him.

Then, Mai Ke gave an order, and everyone continued to move forward and stepped on the hilly area. Zeng Yuzhen led the way in front, and everyone followed on foot in the back. said that he led the way, but in fact there was no road at all, and it was all up to Lao Zeng to rely on his memory to avoid the dead end more smoothly.

Horses in this area are simply not able to ride. There are often more than one person up and down the hill, and people pulling horses can barely get through. If you ride on a horse, even if you go on the horse, you have to fall off. It will even cause people to turn on their backs. So Mai Ke simply forbade anyone to ride a horse.

This hilly area is only about a mile, and it took everyone half an hour to get to guò. Although Zeng Yuzhen knew the way, he also led two wrong sections of the road, so he had to go back and find another way.

However, they tossed and turned, but prepared the way for return. After more than 40 people trampled all the way, a trail was formed.

Before coming to the middle level, seeing the imposing tall trees in front of them, closely lined up in line to block the way forward, everyone couldn't help but look at each other: How did this pass?

Mai Ke judged the situation and knew that it was impossible for everyone to cross this arbor area together. Even people can barely get by, and horses can't get by.

So he made a quick decision, leaving Hong Xiuquan, Huang Yukun, and Fu Changlong, and arranged for nine servants to protect them here. At the same time, all the horses were left behind. Mai Ke himself led the twenty-seven servants, as well as Zeng Yuzhen and Sven, to move forward.

Zeng Yuzhen, who led the way, struggled to find a narrow gap, and his thin body could only barely squeeze through. And no matter whether the front is unblocked, maybe even this flat slit in front of you, the burly person can't get by. Several of the beggars who accompanied him were big-shouldered and round-waisted.

"Let's do light work. Mai Ke said helplessly. With that, he grabbed Zeng Yuzhen and took off, and then stopped firmly on the canopy of the tree, waiting for the other entourage to follow.

Sven can also perform light skills to walk on the top of the tree, but with his apprentice, he must steal if he can be lazy. So Da Niu had no choice but to take him with him, and together with the rest of the beggars, he followed Mai Ke. The twenty-seven beggars who accompanied him were also the best of light skill among them, and those who were strong and heavy were naturally selected just now and stayed behind to take care of their families.

Mai Ke casually opened the flight button of his jacket, and under the guidance of Zeng Yuzhen, the leader flew away in the direction of the deep mountain, and Da Niu and the others carried the highest level of their light skills, barely keeping up.

The further you go in, the denser the woods become, full of huge canopies, endless greenery.

Mai Ke is moving forward and vigilant at the same time, this is the natural reaction of his special forces, he has always been extremely careful about the unfamiliar environment, and beware of anything strange from happening.

Suddenly, Mai Ke felt a slight fluctuation, and he only had time to shout: "There is an enemy attack", and he jumped up.

Everyone was shocked, only to see a yellow shadow swoop towards Mai Ke, almost catching the latter, but fortunately, Mai Ke had the potential to continue to rise, so he did not let the sneak attacker succeed.

The sneak attacker exhausted his strength at the commanding heights, like a meteor, slicing a beautiful arc in mid-air, and plunged into the dense forest.

Mai Ke hurriedly ordered everyone not to move forward, others did not have his ability to continue to rise, and they would definitely be restrained in the same situation. Pause the advance and find out the enemy situation first.

Zeng Yuzhen saw the true face of the sneak attacker between the lightning and thunder just now. He told him that it was a clouded leopard.

These clouded leopards are accustomed to hiding in tall trees and can attack from a high vantage point, even attacking flying eagles in the air.

When they used to hunt, what they were most afraid of was encountering this kind of beast, and they generally avoided it.

And the one I saw today, the others are ordinary, that is, the size is several times larger than usual, he has been hunting all his life, and he has never met such a big guy, it seems that the situation is a little extraordinary.

Mai Ke recalled that there were many beasts in the woods that Lao Zeng had introduced, and he was worried that there would be more clouded leopards and other fierce beasts and even birds of prey lurking in front of him, so he took out the thermal sensor from the equipment bag and surveyed the surroundings, especially the direction of progress.

At first glance, Mai Ke's scalp suddenly went numb. I saw hot spots of all kinds of beasts everywhere, densely scattered around, especially on the way forward.

Looking at their distribution, the most on the ground are the genus of tigers and wolves; the middle layer, that is, the middle waist part of the tree, is also numerous, there are snakes, leopards, and even bears; in the canopy layer, in addition to the clouded leopard, there are more genera of birds of prey, all kinds of eagle eagles have everything, mixed with a few colorful snakes, obviously a species of poisonous snakes.

Mai Ke was already amazed by the number of beasts, and what was even more strange was that they were all in order, like well-trained soldiers. Among these beasts, there are the most cases where beasts of the same kind form a team. Not far ahead, there were ten male wolves lined up, and the wolf heads were all in the direction of Mai Ke and the others, and they were lying there steadily.

Mai Ke knows that wolves are the most lonely, and it is impossible for two wolves to coexist, unless there is a male and a female. Even if there is a male and a female, it will only take a while, and after completing the task of inheriting the lineage, they will immediately go their separate ways, as if they don't know each other.

How did these wolves change their personalities, and ten male wolves lived in peace?

Even more bizarre is yet to come. Although lone wolves are rare, they must be one of their kind. Among these ambushes, there are actually a lot of mixed formations of animals, and the natural enemies in nature seem to have a very harmonious relationship.

On a particularly tall pine tree not far away, a huge poisonous snake and a huge mountain eagle are together, guess what they are doing?

The fierce-looking mountain eagle was gently pecking at the parasites on the snake's body with its huge pointed beak, around the snake's eyes. And the spotted snake was not at all worried about being restrained, and lay there peacefully, its tongue more than a foot long from time to time, and slashed across the eagle's head.

Mai Ke took a closer look, and it turned out that between the swallowing of his tongue, he caught a mountain mosquito that wanted to bite the eagle.

Seeing that this natural enemy of life and death was meticulously thinking about each other and getting along with each other intimately, Mai Ke couldn't help but reverse the cognition accumulated over the years. The tension between humans and animals, and between animals, is not a phenomenon that is unique to modern times.

Mai Ke retracted his thoughts and began to face the situation in front of him. They are not necessarily at peace with us invaders, though they are at peace, unless there is a higher authority to mediate. And this ruler is also the key to the harmony of these enemies.