The Mangshan Mountains are high and densely forested, like a great wall of steel between Luoyang City and the Hetao Plain.

Influenced by the freehand style of Luoyang City, most of the towns built according to Mangshan are also extremely prosperous, of course, this prosperity is only compared to the uninhabited Mangshan, if compared with Luoyang City, in fact, there is not much difference from the uninhabited land of Mangshan, they are all in the countryside.

Most of these towns are located around the three major mountain roads of Mangshan, which is equivalent to being located in the major transportation hubs, and they earn some money from business travelers.

In addition to the three major mountain roads, there are many villages in the Nuoda Mangshan Mountain, and most of the people living in these villages are some ordinary people, even if there are one or two cultivators, the cultivation level is also pitiful, but it is enough to guard the peace of a village and a village.

Among the countless villages in Mangshan, Qingyan Village is just an ordinary one.

The so-called relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, relying on the water to eat water, most of the people in the village are people who dig in the mountains, and their ancestors have lived by hunting for generations.

At sunset, an old hunter with a bow and arrow on his back and a dagger hanging from his waist was rushing to Qingyan Village with a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy.

The young man was strong and powerful, and his sharp eyes flashed with an unruly light. Like an old hunter, the boy carried a bow and arrows and a dagger from his waist, which was also an essential tool for every hunter who hunted in the mountains.

The young and old hunters did not carry the prey on their shoulders, and there was not a trace of blood on their bodies, and it seemed that today was another day when they did not catch their prey.

The young man's right hand rubbed the dagger on his waist, and he said angrily: "Grandpa, do you really have the land of mountain gods in Mangshan?"

The old hunter shook his head, "I've been in Mangshan for most of my life, don't be a mountain god land, even if it's a water monster mountain spirit, I haven't seen half of it." Who knows if there is!"

The young man kicked the stones on the side of the road, lowered his head and said, "We sacrifice so many prey to the land of the mountain god every year, but we have never seen the land of the mountain god bless us. I don't want them to bless us with good weather, I just want to bless us not to go home empty-handed every time we go into the mountains, so that we can fill our stomachs, is this difficult?"

"We haven't caught prey for more than half a month. If it continues like this, it won't be long before the pot will be unopened at home. ”

The young man's words were full of anger, both helplessness against reality and indignation at the inaction of a mountain priest.

The old hunter's eyes full of wisdom were full of ancient wells, and he was neither angry that he had not caught his prey for half a month, nor anxious because the house was about to be unable to open the pot.

There are not many people of his age in the village. Many of his contemporaries were either buried in the belly of the beast at a young age, and their bones were gone. Either it has been eroded by time and turned into a piece of loess.

He was able to live to this age because of more than luck.

Along with life and death, he can do many things calmly.

The old hunter said in a flat voice: "I have experienced even more difficult days than now, but I

No, too, it's gone. ”

The boy was speechless, he had heard too much about the old hunter's story every night in the fireside talk, and he had heard a lot from the mouths of the villagers.

The old man is the best hunter in Qingyan Village, and he knows the habits of animals in the mountains and forests of Mangshan well, even he has not caught prey for more than half a month, and the other hunters in Qingyan Village may be even more unbearable.

The old hunter said, "We guys who are digging in the mountains are essentially no different from those fierce beasts. It's just the law of the jungle, and you have to rely on yourself. If everything had been pinned on the land of the mountain gods, we would have starved to death. ”

The young man said with some annoyance: "In that case, then why do we still use so many prey to sacrifice to the mountain god every year?"

The old hunter pointed to his heart and said, "Ask for peace of mind." ”

The boy didn't know what to do for a while.

Worship the mountain god is to seek peace of mind.

The young man asked, "Then is there really a landscape god residence in this world?"

The old hunter replied truthfully, "I have had it for generations, but I have never seen it. ”

The boy asked again, "Are there any ghosts in this world?"

"Ghosts?"

The old hunter asked rhetorically.

The boy nodded.

The old hunter looked at Qingyan Village under the sunset, Qingyan Village was golden and beautiful under the sunset.

The old hunter took an old pipe from his waist and lit it. He took a sharp breath and exhaled a smoke ring.

"Ghosts and landscapes are such things, I would rather believe in them than believe in them. Although we have never seen them, we cannot deny their existence. ”

The old hunter patted the bow on his shoulder, it was his old companion, and he didn't know how long he could carry it.

The old hunter said to the young man, "It's like going up to the mountain to hunt, although we don't catch the prey, we can't be that there is no prey on the mountain." The Shanshui Shrine is like this prey, although we have not seen it, but we cannot deny their existence. ”

The boy smiled, the metaphor of the prey is good.

The young man straightened his bow and followed the old hunter towards Qingyan Village.

As for whether this world is really a landscape god mansion, he doesn't care so much now.

Even if there is really a landscape god in this world, this day is still your own after all, and you have to live it.

Contrary to the destination of the old hunters, a handsome middle-aged man came out of Qingyan Village, and the middle-aged man happened to hear the old hunter's words.

The middle-aged man stopped and exclaimed: "The old gentleman's words are reasonable, there are so many absurd and strange things in the world, we can't deny their existence because we haven't seen them." ”

The old hunter clenched his fist at the middle-aged man.

The boys did the same.

Qingyan Village rarely has outsiders coming, and the people in front of them are the first time they have seen them.

The middle-aged man also hurriedly returned the gift.

The old hunter stroked his beard and smiled, "A man who is like that fierce beast in the mountains, what can he say, let my brother smile." ”

The middle-aged man smiled: "The old gentleman has to ignore what he said, how can people be."

There is still a big difference between man and beast. ”

The boy asked, "What's the difference?" ”

The middle-aged man glanced at the young man and said, "Even if it is the same as scavenging in the mountains, there is still a big difference between humans and fierce beasts." ”

The middle-aged man pointed to his head and said, "The most essential difference between humans and fierce beasts is here. People are called human because they have thoughts. Fierce beasts only know how to dig in the mountains, but people know why they want to dig in the mountains. ”

The boy nodded thoughtfully.

The old hunter looked at it all with a smile.

The middle-aged man said goodbye to the old hunter with a smile, and said some blessings in his mouth, all of which were some nice words, what is the old man who should be strong! What will he be able to hit the prey tomorrow! The old hunter is eyebrows and smiles.

The old hunter looked at the back of the middle-aged man with a smile, and when he met in Pingshui, he was lucky to be able to say a sentence or two, and if he got together and dispersed in the end, it would be even more fortunate.

The old man stroked his beard and looked at the back of the middle-aged man in the sunset, shining with golden light, like a god.

The old hunter said for no reason, "What a familiar back! How do I feel like I've seen this back when I was very young!"

After thinking about it, the young man exclaimed, "Grandpa, do you think that this person is like the clay statue enshrined in the mountain temple?"

The old hunter and the young man glanced at each other, and the shock in their eyes was unconcealable, and they quickly fell to the ground, kneeling down.

......

......

Dongluo stood in front of the Mangshan Mountain Shrine, tilted his head and said to Xue Nianci: "Do you want to go to the incense?"

Xue Nianci's wheelchair returned to its normal form, close to the mountain shrine, and there were many people coming and going, all of whom were good men and women who came to the mountain shrine to burn incense. If you really let the wheelchair walk on six legs, it will definitely attract a lot of strange eyes.

Xue Nianci chuckled: "Go into the mountains to burn incense, since you can enter the mountains, then you should go and burn a stick of incense." ”

Dongluo nodded and walked towards the Mountain Shrine with Xue Nianci.

Just didn't take a few steps, but was stopped by a middle-aged man with a handsome appearance who looked like a rich boy's brother.

The middle-aged man shook the folding fan in his hand in the winter and said quietly: "The two of you are also here to burn incense! I see that the two of you are not locals, I will quietly follow you, the mountain shrine here is not effective at all, and the two of you go to burn incense It will be a waste of sesame oil money." ”

Xue Nianci said with a strange look in her eyes: "We just have something to ask for, but according to the meaning of Brother Tai, this mountain god seems to be the god who receives sesame oil money but does not do anything, which makes people a little embarrassed......!

The middle-aged man folded the fan in his hand, pointed to the road down the mountain on the side of the middle road of Mangshan to the Hetao Plain, and said without changing his face: "Don't be embarrassed, don't be embarrassed at all, from now on go down the mountain, go north for more than 100 miles, there is a big desecration into the sea, there is a water god palace there, the water god Niangniang is much more effective than the broken mountain god in the broken mountain shrine, that is called a request." ”

The middle-aged man leaned his head into Xue Nianci's ear and whispered, "I don't tell ordinary people."

Oh!"

Xue Nianci laughed, "Brother Tai is not particular about pulling incense for the Water God Palace elsewhere in front of the Mountain God Shrine! ”

The middle-aged man squinted his eyes and said, "I'm afraid! Don't you have to earn some money to support your family?" ”

"Then I'll believe in Brother Tai once, if this incense doesn't burn, I will definitely offer a little more sesame oil money, presumably the water god Niangniang will definitely read you a good word, and share more with you." ”

The middle-aged man's expression was still unmoved.

Xue Nianci turned her wheelchair and walked out of the crowd with a glance towards the still cloudy and misty winter fall, and went down the mountain along the mountain road leading to the Hetao Plain.

When Dongluo and his party quietly disappeared on the top of the mountain, a short old man holding a peach tree crutch suddenly appeared next to the middle-aged man.

The short old man said in a low voice, "Shanjun, just let them go?"

The middle-aged man shook his fan lightly and said, "Then what do you want to do? Wait for people to demolish your land temple, and then you will dedicate your hundreds of years of treasures, and then respectfully send people away?"

The short old man shook his head and said, "Shanjun, that's not what you mean, it's just that Mrs. Fan sent a letter asking you to help keep them for a while, even if you don't do anything, you can leave them to eat and drink on the mountain, and he is willing to accept your love." There are also scholars of Zhao University and the newly promoted Huang Shangshu, who have written to ask you to help intercept the King of Han for a period of time. ”

The short old man said a little anxiously: "But not only did you not intercept them, but also pointed out a clear way for them, if you let Mrs. Fan, Master Zhao, and Huang Shangshu know, we Mangshan will not offend them to death!"

The middle-aged man asked, "Then what are you going to do now?"

The short old man talked eloquently, "As your mountain monarch, please ask the King of Han to stay and have a drink, which will not only delay the time for the King of Han to return to the extreme north for Mrs. Fan and Master Zhao, but will not offend the King of Han too much." ”

The middle-aged man said with some disdain: "You are too short." ”

The short old man asked, "What do you mean by this?"

The middle-aged man said expressionlessly: "You are too short, so your vision is not high enough." ”

"Our Shanshui Divine Mansion only obeys the orders of Qin Tianjian, and he is a hammer for Mrs. Fan and Master Zhao!" The middle-aged man looked down at a mountain of land, and said with a cold look in his eyes: "You are a piece of land, not a dog-legged, you have to be a little tougher to be a god." ”

The short old man said a little anxiously: "But now the attitude of the Qin Heavenly Prison is also ambiguous! This is a great opportunity, if we guess the intentions of the big people in the Qin Heavenly Prison, it is not impossible for Mangshan to be promoted to the Great Zhou Beiyue! If we guess wrong, we are only a little bit of the friendship of the landlord, and we do not know." It's a surefire deal!"

"If you want to guess, you can try it, I won't stop you, maybe you guessed correctly, in the future, the mountain monarch of the Great Zhou Beiyue will be you. ”

After the middle-aged man finished, the figure disappeared from heaven and earth in a trance.

None of the good men and women who burned incense outside the shrine of the mountain god found out that they had been standing by their side before worshipping the god.

The short old man's face was dark, and after standing there and thinking for a moment, he stomped his foot into the earth with some anger.

(End of this chapter) I want to talk about "Extinction" with more like-minded people, and pay attention to "excellent reading literature" on WeChat, talk about life, and find confidants~