The people gradually dispersed, and the children shouted, three here, five there, trotting out all the way, the most innocent age, even in this deep and desolate Gu land, maybe the outside world is more attractive than these seemingly plausible tricks. Mu Qi'er www.biquge.info is also leaving, but he is different from those children, he is not leaving because he is going to go to wave this splendid age, he will soon go to the bamboo shoot cave to help mine stones, that is the place he hates the most.

Since the pair of old men who loved them the most left one after another, as the outcasts they picked up, they could only follow Gu San, the only one of the old man's sons who was willing to take him in, to beg for some life. He doesn't like such days, and he has never heard of a nine-year-old child who likes such days, his adoptive father Gu San is a well-known fear of his daughter-in-law among Gu people, some people say that it is because he has no ability, Mu Qi'er thinks, maybe his adoptive father just thinks differently from others, he is too calm, like a bottomless water, not happy with things, not sad with himself, sometimes Mu Qi'er naively thinks that his adoptive father may be older than the old lady. And the adoptive mother is different, or on the contrary, she is vulgar, and she is also a bit of a Hedong lion's roaring style, often losing her temper because of some small things, Mu Qi'er has been taught many times, but the strange thing is that the adoptive parents get along very well, maybe fate is so wonderful. Thinking of this, Mu Qi'er couldn't help laughing, he was really ignorant, and he dared to arrange the rights and wrongs of his parents.

patting the non-existent dust on his body, Mu Qi'er walked out of this cave, it was dark outside, standing on the edge of the cave and looking at the deep black that he couldn't see below, Mu Qi'er stretched out his arm that was a little pale because he had not seen the sun all year round, and climbed the familiar layer after layer of folding and crossing ladders on the edge of the cave entrance, towards the way home. The journey was very long, even if Mu Qi'er was already familiar with this way home, it took two full hours to vaguely see the faint light emanating from his cave.

Mu Qi'er and their cliff tribe live in the stone caves between the mountain walls, which is also the living environment of most Gu people, most of these stone caves are natural caves, and some are artificially built, and the Gu people who can perfectly create comfortable caves on the stone walls are respected as cave masters, and enjoy a transcendent status in the Gu people tribe. The Ya tribe is centered on the stone cave where the old lady lived, and it is distributed among the mountain walls in a strip, and Mu Qi'er's home is undoubtedly quite deserted, only less than a few hundred meters closer to the place where the slaves of those tribes live. Facing the faint light in the cave, Mu Qi'er slowly descended from the vine ladder and stepped into his own stone cave. The stone cave is not big, and it is not like those big Gu people who have the distinction between the inner and outer caves, only a distance of ten zhang, barely enough for Mu Qi'er to move with his parents and younger brothers and sisters, the cave is very quiet, at this time the younger brothers and sisters are probably already asleep, Mu Qi'er slowly walked towards the cave while thinking, the cave is not big, and after walking a few steps, he saw his father who was smoking a dry cigarette and sitting.

"I'm back, hurry up and pack up and go to the bamboo shoot cave in a while, you eat something first, and we'll leave in a while." Gu San looked at this child who was not related to him and said calmly, there was no cordiality in his words, nor was he estranged, he was very calm, as if he was just a responsibility, and it had nothing to do with love. Mu Qi'er snorted and walked inside, wanting to take some fern roots stored at home to fill the already empty stomach.

"Finally back, I don't have to listen to the old man's nonsense anymore, outcast, you are the eldest child in the family, you have to help the family do more work, don't eat all day long." The mother, who was taking care of her sleeping younger siblings inside, hurriedly said when she saw Mu Qi'er coming back, and there was some dissatisfaction with the old lady in her words. Mu Wai'er didn't respond, he just walked quickly to the stone platform inside and grabbed two handfuls of fern roots that were stored at home for winter food and walked outside, for this nominal mother, Mu Wai'er didn't have a good feeling, sometimes he often used this way to express his dissatisfaction, and the mother was never angry, just scolded the little rabbit cub and it was almost over, Mu Wai'er was sometimes very confused, shouldn't the bad stepmothers in those mountain miscellaneous records be more evil, this is a question that Mu Wai'er has never understood, Why does he obviously hate himself and his adoptive mother just speak harshly but never really miss himself in this family, if he can't understand it, he doesn't want to, this is Mu Qi'er's biggest advantage in himself, he never thinks about things that don't matter, he just looks forward very practically, and never fantasizes about the so-called beauty of the other world.

Mu Qi'er walked to the entrance of the cave and sat down, looking at the deep and dark Gu Sea below, living in the mountain wind, gnawing on the fern root he just got in his hand, it was very bitter, yes, it was very bitter, even if he had eaten it for so many years, it was still very bitter, but Mu Qi'er knew that if Gu San and his wife hadn't taken him in, he would probably have to live a precarious life like those slaves who were only a few hundred meters away. Therefore, although Mu Qi'er was very bored and unhappy, he never refused any request from Gu San and his wife, whether it was for gratitude or to survive, he had to go. Taking over the rattan basket and stone shovel from the adoptive father who had already cleaned up on the side, Mu Qi'er climbed the vine ladder at the entrance of the cave and walked towards the bamboo shoot cave, the distance was actually not long, the Gu people who begged for life in the edge of the cliff tribe lived around the bamboo shoot cave, the Gu people were born in the heaven and earth, living on the stone wall, naturally facing the situation of lack of material materials, lack of decent tools, and few people were fortunate enough to embark on the cultivation road that is said to be nine days to catch the moon and five seas to catch turtles. Almost all the stone utensils are mined from the naturally formed bamboo shoot caves between the mountain walls, and families like Mu Qi'er rely on mining stalagmites in the bamboo shoot caves again and again to trade them to the merchants of those tribes in exchange for daily necessities. Along the way, both father and son were surprisingly silent.

Mu Wai'er is nine years old, and there is a grand gathering of Gu people every three years in this Gu land that exudes the smell of seclusion, during which the master will come to the Gu Land to select Gu people who can be driven to give the method of cultivation, and all the Gu people who are associated with it will be taken out of the Gu Land by the Guru if they are still qualified when they grow up to the age of fifteen in the Gu Land, and go to the land where there is the fragrance of flowers, there are bird languages, and it is said that even the air is sweet on the land to ask for a different life for slaves and servants, and this is what Mu Wai'er wants, he wants to tell his adoptive father behind him about his lofty ideals, But I don't know how my adoptive father will respond to him, in this Gu Land, a family like him, a child as old as him, once he successfully obtains the cultivation method, in addition to some pale glory for the family, I am afraid that the rest will only be unbearable expenses. The entire Ya tribe has always had no marginal clansmen to step into that path of cultivation, not only the gap in innate qualifications and education, but also the cost of cultivation alone doomed these clansmen to be obscure.

There was a sound in front of him, and the brightness of the crane interrupted Mu Qi'er, who was thinking wildly, and the bamboo shoot cave arrived. The bamboo shoot cave has long been deep and unspeakable in the Gu people's round-the-clock mining, the original cave has long become an outer cave, many ruthless people in the marginal places have gathered a pile to guard here, and set up a rule, every Gu person who wants to enter the bamboo shoot cave to mine stone must pass their pass first, every Gu person when he leaves here is to hand over thirty percent of his income to these ruthless people, and it is the habit of the Gu people on the edge of these tribes to be obedient, after witnessing some people who want to challenge this rule one after another are returned to the Gu Sea, No one doesn't follow this rule anymore. Mu Qi'er knows the rules, and the old lady once told them that without the rules, they can't make a square circle. Mu Qi'er didn't want to be Fang Yuan, but he knew that he had to abide by the rules, otherwise he would only go hungry, and the so-called ruthless people in the marginal places outside the bamboo shoot cave who guarded the rules would not let unruly Gu people step into the bamboo shoot cave in the slightest. Mu Qi'er and his adoptive father Gu San descended the ladder one after another, and stood in a row in this outer cave, waiting for those ruthless people to put them into the inner hole of the bamboo shoot cave one by one. Soon, many Gu people around came up to greet his adoptive father, Gu San, and even some ruthless people stationed here actually arched their hands towards Gu San. Mu Qi'er was very confused at this time, he felt that there were many things in his adoptive father that he couldn't understand, didn't he say that there were no good people living in this Gu land, so why did everyone respect their adoptive father Gu San so much, this good old man's Gu San. I'm afraid that the reason why everyone is so enthusiastic is definitely because Gu San has a father of a cave master, because those ruthless people will never be polite to the descendants of a cave master who has long been broken.

The people in front of him are gradually becoming scarce, and it is about to be the turn of Mu Qi'er and his adoptive father Gu San to enter the inner cave, Gu San arched his hand at the people around him, and said: "Thank you for your love, Gu San has nothing to repay, if anyone has a sad hurdle, even if they come to me, if they can help everyone, my Gu San will not be ambiguous." At that moment, I went down with the outcast first, and the house was still waiting to boil the pot. "The third master's righteousness", "the third brother is bright", "the third uncle will definitely gain a lot when he goes out" The surrounding Gu people also arched their hands, and they didn't know where to call them indiscriminately, which actually showed a little weirdness. Mu Wai'er followed his father, who took the lead, into the tunnel between the inner and outer caves, the front was unspeakable, surrounded by the crackling sound of torches, looking at the road ahead that seemed to be bright and dark, Mu Wai'er couldn't help but tell his adoptive father Gu San that he had hidden his wish for an unknown amount of time, "Father, I want to wait for next year to participate in our Gu people's triennial selection, I want to practice, I want to get out of this world, to see the outside world, even if it is only a glance, it is excellent, you can rest assured, If I am lucky enough to be favored by my teacher, I will never ask my family to provide me with anything, and I will always come to help you when I am free. ”

"Silly boy, I have long known that you like to listen to the old lady talk about some outside life on weekdays, I didn't expect you to have such ambitions, yes, born in this world, it is always unwilling not to go around, who really has no desires. But what you think is too simple, even if you are really granted the method of cultivation by the teacher, and you don't have a family to support your cultivation, maybe you can still do it, and if you take the time to help me, your so-called practice is just a joke. A cultivator fights with people, with the earth, with the sky, and it is the opportunity of others to win it, and the qi of heaven and earth, if there is no single-minded body, there will be no result in cultivation. Remember, if you are really fortunate enough to embark on the path of cultivation, don't lose that original heart, don't forget, your grandfather was once named "Chop". After saying this, Gu San quickened his pace and walked forward, and the tears that spilled out during the period were bitter or gratifying.

Mu Qi'er looked at his father who was gradually moving away in front of him, and he felt that the back was so majestic and majestic for the first time, and he quickly quickened his pace and went in the direction of his father's travel, with a little confusion and yearning for the future.