The Xifu begonia in the temple was planted by the great god Yu Yan in the past, and now it has been more than a thousand years old, towering to the sky and the branches and leaves are sparse. Pink begonia flowers flutter in the wind, slanting down on cracked branches, overheads, and glazed tiles on rooftops.

The abbot of the Yu Yan Temple, Lady Chiyo, held the jade gyu in her hand, slowly stepped through the vermilion door, and was saluting the statue enshrined in it, and silently praying in her heart that the gods would be clear and spiritual, and that the fortune of the country would be prosperous, and the people would be protected from natural and man-made disasters, as well as the coming year. Chang Feng, who wore a black hat on his head, loudly announced the completion of the ceremony, and the group of goddess officials who were in the prime of life immediately covered their faces with their sleeves and stepped onto the stage one after another to the sound of a social drum.

They are all carefully selected from the branch temples in various cities in Yunzhou, all of them are like flowers and jade, and they are in good shape. I saw that they held colorful feathers between their hands, stood on their jade feet during the dance, and recited to each other the songs left over from the temporary generation of the gods.

At this moment, the vermilion wall of the temple was already crowded with people, and the black crowd occupied the entire mountain. These young people worked tirelessly to come from all over the country to see the Begonia Flower Ceremony. This celebration was originally created by Xu Aiwan, the twelfth monarch of the Yue Kingdom, when choosing a concubine, but later it was widely spread among the people, and gradually evolved into a triennial event in Lianyue City.

At the same time, the girls who came to the meeting were in the shade of the begonias, and received wooden plaques from the temple wishes one by one, and each wrote a poem on it, and noted the name. The wooden plaque on the left side is written with the first half of the poem, and handed over to the temple to hang it on the begonia tree in Qingyuan Mountain, while the wooden plaque on the right side is handed over to the girl for her own custody, as a token of recognition with the destined person. After this, they will wear veils and walk in groups, from the vermilion lacquer temple gate, to the Qingyuan Mountain outside the city to enjoy the flowers.

It is not until dusk that the young people who participate in the begonia flower festival can go up the mountain.

Thousands of wooden signs hanging on the begonia trees are dangling in the wind, and the thin red ropes entangled with each other involve the karma of many people. The young people were able to take down their favorite wooden plaques from among the branches and use the residual poems on them as evidence to find their favorite in the vast sea of people.

If the girl who was talking to the young man was willing to take off her veil, she intended to associate with him, or if she was not, she shook her head and declined. At this time, if the young man bends over to salute after seeing the other party, and re-ties the wooden card in his hand to the begonia tree, it means that he does not like the other party.

It's a pity that in this way, the two can only leave Qingyuan Mountain with regrets. The presiding over the establishment of this meeting rule in the past dynasties is also to warn future generations: the love between men and women is not child's play, and you must not take it lightly. Moreover, every 100 steps here, there is a temple to patrol there to prevent the young people from having bad intentions. If anyone dares to take advantage of the opportunity to commit adultery here, they will be expelled from the country and sent to the government.

In addition, the original intention of the temple to hold the Begonia Flower Ceremony in Qingyuan Mountain is to let men and women who have not yet married marry each other with poetry. In all kinds of tender poems, but the good people are in front of them. If the two are really happy, how can they care about the right or wrong of the poem.

The twilight was full of smoke and twilight. The lanterns among the flowers are lit up by the temple 祝 one by one, and there seem to be thousands of fireflies in the mountains and fields far and near. The dense lights dispelled the darkness around them, causing the red men and green women to stop walking in the meantime. At this time, a petite girl showed a surprised gaze, and hurriedly beckoned to the woman behind her: "Sister, come on, it's so beautiful here!"

The girl's name was Mozi, her short hair was shoulder-length and her skin was like cream, and her smiling lips were slightly showing tiger teeth. She wore a red shirt embroidered with arabesques, and the high-soled clogs made a clattering sound on the way.

And when the purple-veiled girl approached Moko, she couldn't help whispering to her, "You're always so anxious. I saw that she was wearing a long jacket with a pine collar and a golden horse face skirt with a pink background, and the skirt was decorated with gold silk embroidered with a fine hibiscus pattern. Her thick hair was swaying in a gilded bun, and the jade-encrusted tassels that fell down were swaying slightly.

At this moment, the mountain stream is murmuring, and the begonia branches and leaves on the shore are luxuriant. The stars reflected in the clear stream look like the Milky Way. Rows of pink round lanterns are suspended from the flowers with blue ropes, silently emitting a hazy light, embellishing the quiet night in this area.

"Drunk poetry, sword and dancing flowers, the white head lives up to the youth. Nangong Huiyue, with a purple veil on her face, was silently reciting the remnants of the poem on the lantern, and her face shrouded in a veil was faintly visible. Mozi suddenly stepped forward and grabbed her arm, raised her chin slightly, and asked, "Oh, sister, what do you see that?"

There is a stone path between the begonia forests on the other bank, and a stone tower about half a person high is placed on both sides. The gourd-shaped tower is densely covered with fist-sized stone caves, filled with many stones that look like pebbles. They were glowing yellowish at night, falling to the ground through the well-shaped bamboo mesh sieve above the hole.

"Well, it's a fluorite tower. This fluorite is born from the creation of heaven and earth, which contains a strong spiritual power of heaven and earth. Once it is split into two sections, it can be astigmatized and heated, which is extremely magical. "It's just that this item has always been scarce and expensive, and it is divided into good and bad by its color and appearance." And this is more expensive than purple fluorite, and it can even be worth gold. After hearing this, Mozi suddenly pursed his lips and said, "This world is really unfair, how can even stones be divided into high and low?"

"Silly girl, everything is rare and expensive, and it has been the same since ancient times. Emi continued to explain to her, "The only vein of purple fluorite in the world is in the North Sea, which is a forbidden place in various countries. Not to mention that trespassing on the forbidden land is a felony of killing the head, and this alone is difficult to get to the sky. Although the yellow fluorite is not as valuable as this, the two fluorite towers are worth a few gold bracelets. ”

"It seems that Chiyo's mother-in-law has spent a lot of money and thought for this begonia flower ceremony. ”

"yes, it's a bit unexpected. However, it is said that the daughter of the castle lord also participated in this year's Begonia Flower Festival, so Chiyo's mother-in-law asked him for an extra thousand taels of gold. ”

"I said why it was so grand, it turned out to be stained with other people's light. ”

"You little girl is so sharp-toothed, beware that you won't be able to marry in the future. ”

"Then I will be with my sister for the rest of my life. ”

"You're not shy, who wants you to come with you?" At this time, Ezuki saw Moko approaching the mountain stream alone, and lifted her skirt to prepare to cross the water, and hurriedly shouted to her: "Beware of snakes in the water, why don't you come back quickly?"

"Sister, the lanterns and begonias over there are very good-looking. It's easy for us to come out, so you can go with me. Mozi suddenly stopped, turned back to her, and said, "The water near here is shallow, so my sister can just rest assured that she will follow me." After hearing this, Huiyue suddenly smiled and said, "You little girl has a lot of tricks, and you always want to toss me in a different way." ”

Then, she hunched slightly to support the begonia tree beside her, and slightly tilted one foot back, and slowly took off the crow socks wrapped around her feet. I saw her carry the pair of mahogany clogs in her hands and slowly dip her snow-white shin into the cool water.

After a while, Mozi suddenly let out a frightened scream, and then turned around and ran to Nangong Huiyue, who was walking to Shuiyang. A large splash of water fell on both of them at the same time, and she almost fell to the ground due to the stumbling of the rocks in the water. Nangong Huiyue stretched out her hand to hold her steady, and asked busily, "What the hell is going on?"

"Sister, it looks like someone is sneaking a peek at us. His eyes were red, like a monster. Moko shuddered in her arms, her face filled with fear she had never seen before. Nangong Huiyue shuddered when she heard this, and suddenly felt creepy. Her gaze followed the tips of the foam's fingers, but she didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

Unexpectedly, at this time, the begonias between the fluorite towers fell red all over the path, and the dark flowers behind them suddenly rattled in the depths. A dark shadow that could not see clearly jumped in the dark, causing the cuckoo that lived here to let out a terrible cry. The two of them immediately looked at each other with hands, and then ran to the shore with a scream.

The cunning rabbit in the bushes, the ears slightly moved to hear the footsteps. The wind shakes the green trees and the moon shadow is sparse, and only the fragrance of begonias is the same. The young man who had caught up with him suddenly rolled over and got up, and the stones caught between his fingers had already flown out. The wounded hare lay among the dead leaves and struggled, and kept croaking. The young man stepped forward and picked it up, the corners of his mouth rising slightly.

Murong Ye was young and weak, with sword eyebrows and starry eyes, and was more than seven feet long, and there was still a little tear mole under the oblique part of his right eye. I saw that he was wearing a collared white undershirt and a crimson bottom, and a dark coat decorated with mountain and sea patterns on his shoulders. The long, dark hair was tied with a blue ribbon and placed behind his back, and the breeze swept through the hair that spread across the sides of his forehead.

The thin smell of blood came with the wind, and a woman's faint cry for help wafted from afar. Immediately afterward, Murong Ye looked at Youdao figure running towards here, and immediately pressed his hand on the hilt of the sword. However, the person who came turned out to be an old temple in a scarlet robe, which made him let down his guard.

"Uncle, why are you so panicked?" This is, the old temple Zhu looked back behind him in horror from time to time, his thin face was still trembling slightly, and he replied in shock: "Hou Sheng, get out of here quickly, there is a monster over there that is devouring people." ”

"Where?"

"Well, it's over there. Lao Miaozhu pointed him in the direction with trembling fingers, and instructed him kindly: "That monster's Taoism is quite successful, and a dozen of us can't defeat it together." The old man advises you not to be strong, so as not to encounter accidents. The situation is urgent, I have to hurry to the City Lord's Mansion to get some reinforcements. After the two said goodbye, Murong Ye prepared to leave here. But after three or four paces, he heard the miserable cry for help coming from behind him again. Murong Ye suddenly stood on his feet and glanced there.

Bonfires burned in the mountains, and the light of the fires shook in the wind. At this moment, a young woman was firmly tied to a begonia tree, and at her feet lay about twenty dismembered corpses. The youkai sat on the side of the campfire, its dark orange eyes shining brightly.

It was a vicious ape demon. His dark blue cheeks were covered with bark-like folds, and his slender body was covered with dark brown hair. In its hand it held a scythe covered in red rust, with several layers of white shroud wrapped around the hilt of the three-foot-long blade.

There was a murdered woman in a pool of blood, her eyes reflecting the color of the night sky. The ape demon slice open her abdomen with a scythe, pulled out the bloody entrails from it, and devoured it as if no one was there.

Murong Ye hid in the thick shadows deep in the flowers, and slowly drew his sword out of its sheath in secret. The intricately textured sword body was overflowing with moonlight, which made the ape demon suddenly notice this, and his expression seemed to be shocked. I saw it tilt its head slightly and look over, and the two rows of cold teeth suddenly grinned to the ears. And he brushed aside the lush branches and walked unhurriedly towards the other party. Seeing this, the tied woman shouted to him with tears in her eyes, "Run, you will be killed by it." ”