Chapter 357: Contest of Wills

As Ji Yanxin expected, Qi Yun and the others were indeed trapped in the ancient tree cave in the hinterland of the Desperate Valley.

The water in the hollow of the tree was cleared by them, and when it rained heavily, the clothes on them were wet and dry, dry and wet, not to mention the feet, which were always damp and had red rashes on their feet.

In order to ensure that there were shoes to wear once he could leave, Qi Yun asked Ji Yankun and Huazi early to take off their shoes and hang them on the wall of the tree hole.

The three people and one dog were crammed into a narrow tree hole, not eating well, not sleeping well, the original strong black panther, the meat on his body had fallen off a bit, thanks to Qi Yun's hands and feet, and took advantage of the wooden box to float over, and dragged one back, which was full of canned meat, so as not to let everyone chew and swallow raw rice.

Except for Qi Yun's ability to fly eaves and walk on walls, and he was able to climb onto the branches of ancient trees to breathe, Ji Yankun, Huazi, and Black Panther could only be trapped in the cave and were in an irritable mood.

Qi Yun had firmly fixed the wooden barrels to the dense trunks of the trees for shade from the sun, and when he climbed on the trunks for the first time after the earthquake, he was very happy to find that all the barrels were intact.

Easily hugged a bucket into the tree hole, greedy Ji Yankun hurriedly filled the wine in a canned box, and drank a few big sips, and Huazi, who was overwhelmed by the wine, also drank some in order to relieve his fatigue.

This wine is very strong, and if you don't drink much, you will feel fluttering, as if you are driving through the clouds. Eating canned meat and drinking a little wine is the most comfortable refuge.

People are not as cold and frost-resistant as dogs, but dogs are not as determined as people.

No one knows how long it will be trapped, and it doesn't dare to eat and drink at all, and after being trapped for a long time, the panther gradually loses patience and becomes manic.

Several times, the black panther couldn't help but jump out of the cave, but it was blocked by Qi Yun and Ji Yankun, and lit a section of herb rod to let it smell the smoke, and it would gradually quiet down.

It rained for several days, and the wine in the cave had already been drunk, and even the skin that had sunk to the bottom was fished out and eaten.

On this day, as soon as the rain stopped, and when the moisture on the tree trunk was dried by the wind, Qi Yun walked up the tree again, ready to carry a barrel of wine into the cave by the way.

Ji Yankun and Huazi were very sleepy, the rash on their feet was blistered, and it was extremely itchy, which made them upset, I don't know how long such an inhuman day will last-

The two of them were annoyed, sleepy, and tired, where could they still take care of the black panther, the black panther with fleas on his body had itchy skin, restless, roared in a low voice, and rushed towards the entrance of the cave again, waiting for Ji Yankun and Huazi to react, they pounced on the entrance of the cave and reached out to grab it, but it was too late.

The black panther flew out of the tree hole, landed on the ground, and fell into the mud, it kept struggling, Ji Yankun shouted loudly: "Black panther - don't move!"

Hua Zi pleaded with tears: "Black Panther, don't move, the more you move, the deeper you fall!"

The usually obedient, psychic black panther doesn't listen to anyone at all at the moment, and is still struggling, staring at the mouth of the tree hole with big frightened eyes, that gaze is full of pleading, full of despair-

After a while, the panther only showed one head, and even that head gradually sank into the mud. Hua Zi cried bitterly, scolding that he shouldn't just take a nap by himself and didn't take care of the black panther, Ji Yankun's eyes were full of tears, and he felt guilty.

Qi Yun rode on the trunk of the tree and sighed deeply, although the black panther was just a dog, but everyone had been together for several months, and they had already been close comrades-in-arms and brothers, and no one treated him as a beast.

After a long time, Qi Yun carried the wine barrel into the tree hole and said, "Don't be too sad, for the black panther, it may not be a bad thing, it is finally free! It is different from us, and the limits of what it can bear are also different——"

"Mr. Qi—we, can we still get out? You can tell the truth—if Hengzhi is dead, I won't wait, and I will go with the black panther as a companion—" Huazi looked at Qi Yun with tears streaming down his face.

Ji Yankun shouted: "Huazi, what are you thinking about?"

"Brother Kun, don't stop me, I must ask the words clearly, otherwise, I won't be able to survive!" Huazi said his inner words bitterly, after all, he is young and can't stand big things, it's really normal, he can survive until now, it's not easy.

"Huazi, you put 10,000 hearts, we are only temporarily trapped here, and we will definitely be able to get out alive! After a lot of time, do you care about staying up for a few more days?" Qi Yun comforted Huazi bitterly, handed him a can of wine and a box of wine, and continued: "How lucky we are, although we are trapped here and can't move, we still have meat to eat and wine to drink, if we are in the city and buried under the reinforced concrete, then we will shout that every day should not be, and the earth is not spiritual!"

Huazi drank a box of wine in one go, his mood gradually quieted down, thinking about it, he felt that what Qi Yun said was indeed reasonable, if he was really in Jindu, where his life was at this time, he didn't know yet!

According to his own judgment, Ji Yankun knew that if he wanted to go out, he had to wait for the first half of the month to not rain, and the sun was strong every day before he could go down from the tree hole to the ground.

Qi Yun and Ji Yankun looked at each other silently for a moment, touched a wine, and they silently reached an agreement that no matter what, they would take Huazi out, even if he would become a burden and hinder their footsteps, they would never leave him alone.

Huazi didn't know the inner activities of Qi Yun and Ji Yankun at this moment, under the catalysis of alcohol, they were drowsy, and they snored everywhere.

Ji Yankun looked at Huazi, who was sleeping heavily, and said to Qi Yun, "Let him sleep well, sir, let's have a good drink today!"

"Hehe, we have to learn to store grain for the winter, but we can't be happy for a while!" Qi Yun said with a smile.

"There is wine today and drunk today, tomorrow is sorrowful and tomorrow is sorrowful! Mr. is a free and easy person, how can he be tied up by worries?" Ji Yankun looked at Qi Yun with a light smile, Qi Yun smiled: "Brother really understands Qi, it's just that, since the game has started, let's have a good drink, it's a miracle that we can get to where we are today - presumably, we can create a bigger miracle!"

"It's still Mr. open-minded, fortunately with you, otherwise, I can't guarantee that I won't be as fragile as Huazi!" Ji Yankun felt it, glad to be with Qi Yun, he only believed in two people in his life, one was the eldest brother Ji Yanxin, and the other was Qi Yun, but as long as any of them were there, his heart would be very steady, no matter what difficulties he encountered, no matter what environment he was in, he would not panic.

"Ah Kun, it's nothing, do you think your eldest brother and I are not afraid? It's just that we are ashamed to show it in front of you, but anyone who has flesh and blood and life not only has seven emotions and six desires, but also has fears and worries-" Qi Yun drank wine and smiled bitterly.

Qi Yun thought to himself: Brother, you only see my calm appearance, where can you see the depths of my heart - I also have a weakness, my weakness is my unsuccessful son Qi Hong, I am worried about his life and death all the time, worried about his future - this kid will be a scourge in the future, but, as a father, I have no way to stop him-

Qi Yun is a person who has studied the Book of Changes, he can roughly speculate on a person's fate, Qi Hong was born not long ago, worried that his uncle Xiao Wang would come to the door to take revenge, he calculated the fate for his son, and came to the conclusion that he could grow up smoothly, he was relieved.

After learning the news that Qi Hong was kidnapped by the people of Snow Wolf Valley, Qi Yun pushed a hexagram to Qi Hong again, showing that he was still alive and would not lack glory and wealth in the future, but he had done many evils in his life. His heart is full of fears, and he will kill himself if he commits many acts of injustice, which is the end of the eternal and unchanging wicked.

Qi Yun thought that Juan'er and Zhuzi were still alive, but he had never pushed them to the hexagram, and the more his fate was calculated, the thinner he became, and without Ji Yanxin's permission, he would not violate his principles and tell them fortunes in private.

Judging from the physiognomy alone, Juan'er and Zhuzi are both people who have had a rough life and many disasters-

"Sir, what are you thinking?

Qi Yun retracted his thoughts and said with ease: "I'm thinking about the way back—"

"Sir, might as well come and listen, let's discuss?" Ji Yankun wanted to borrow language to improve the dullness in his heart, just drinking and not talking, it was very unpleasant.

"Okay, I'm also thinking about it, and it's time to discuss, otherwise, when it's time to go, everyone hasn't prepared for anything. Qi Yun deeply agreed, planned in advance, and was prepared.

"Where do you think we should start to prepare, sir?" asked Ji Yankun.

"Originally, we discussed boiling the rice into rice balls and taking it away, but now it seems that it is impossible to complete it. Qi Yun's words made Ji Yankun feel puzzled, thinking, why can't it be done?

Qi Yun saw Ji Yankun's puzzled expression, knowing that he couldn't figure it out, and explained: "I'm very worried that there is a problem with the water quality here, and it is no longer drinkable.

"Oh, is it so terrible?" Ji Yankun's eyes widened, and he deeply felt that in the vast world, everything was too mysterious, and what was clean and safe a moment ago might become poison in an instant.

Qi Yun said: "The earthquake was originally caused by the compression of the earth's various plates, the intensive activity of the earth's crust, flash floods, shuttling through the cracks in the rocks, many harmful substances gathered in it, the originally clean drinking water was polluted, and there were many rotting corpses, and the water source deteriorated, so it was undrinkable." ”

"Sir, according to what you say, if there is no water, what should we do, how can we get out?" Ji Yankun looked at Qi Yun worriedly, and felt that he was forced to go up to Liangshan, just as Huazi said, horizontal and vertical is death.

"Don't be in a hurry, we can only take one step at a time, since God has opened a door to the world, there must be a way for us to live!" Qi Yun took a sip of wine with confidence.

Even if Qi Yun said so, he couldn't dispel the worries in Ji Yankun's heart, the most terrible thing was not to face the predicament, but to rack his brains and not be able to think of a way to deal with it.

"Ah Kun, when we leave, we can't bring too much food, we should travel lightly to conserve our strength, but in this way, we will face hunger and cold, now that it is autumn, the weather will get colder and colder, no one can say how long this road will be and how long we have to walk-" Qi Yun poured out the difficulties he was currently facing little by little.

Ji Yankun sighed and asked, "Sir, in your opinion, how long will it take?"

"It's as short as March or May, or as long as a year and a half—no matter how long it is—it's impossible to say! I once walked in the mountains for more than a year before I walked out—" Qi Yun's words made Ji Yankun's heart half cold, and he understood that Qi Yun was not alarmist.

"Don't worry too much, let me think about it again, think about it again-" Qi Yun comforted Ji Yankun, his mind running quickly.

Qi Yun and Ji Yankun, neither of them noticed that Huazi woke up, with tears in his eyes, listening to their conversation-

...

(Nine-headed Bird Academy)