In the melodious sound of the bells, the boys and girls by the stream have risen and walked to the lake, and their servants or friends have put the prepared river lamps into the water.

Forty river lanterns, floating slowly on the water.

One of them is shaped like a lotus flower, twice as large as an ordinary river lamp, and the light on it is swaying, which is particularly eye-catching in the group of lights.

That is the lamp put by He Qiong, which is the brightest in the bright moonlight, and compared with other river lanterns, it is as conspicuous as the stars holding the moon.

River lanterns poured into the lake, and the sparkling lights on the water surface swayed, which were particularly beautiful under the moonlight.

The boys and girls were fascinated by such a beautiful scenery.

They knelt down by the stream and prayed to the bright moon.

"Senior sister, what wish did you make when you put on the lamp?" Guo Hong secretly came over and asked in a whisper.

He Qiong glanced at Cao Shouzhen, who was sticking out his head next to him, his face was slightly red, and said, "I won't tell you!" ”

At this moment, there was a sudden rumbling sound, and the huge strange stone was moved to the side, revealing a dark hole!

The cold moonlight dispersed to the ground, and the stone steps leading down the cave could be faintly seen.

Wang Daoyuan was nervously lying next to Liu Yuanjing, his body kept twisting, and he took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat on his forehead.

Liu Yuanjing glanced at him and asked, "Lord Wang Guan is unwell?" ”

"No, no......" Wang Daoyuan saw Liu Yuanjing glaring at him, feeling as if there was a devouring tiger beside him, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly changed his words and said: "...... Yes, it's a little uncomfortable......"

Liu Yuanjing's face softened, and he twisted his hair and said: "Since it's uncomfortable, don't hold on, come here, and send Wang Guan back to his house!" ”

Wang Daoyuan was willing to leave at such a critical time, and hurriedly said: "No, no, no...... I'm just in a hurry to go to the toilet! ”

He was indeed so nervous that he felt the urge to urinate, so he took this opportunity to hide for a while and calm down.

Qi Yuanyi glanced at it, and scolded with disdain in his heart, the secret road is really muddy and can't support the wall.

Led by an elderly Taoist priest, the forty boys and girls who participated in the trial walked up the stone steps into the cave.

Their relatives and servants remained by the lake to wait.

Guo Hong quietly mixed around his senior sister, hiding under Cao Shouzhen's armpits, and He Deng and another Taoist were in charge of guarding the door, and only glanced at him before letting him go.

The inside of the cave was all the way down, and everyone did not speak, only the sound of footsteps and the murmuring of water in the distance.

Soon they came to the side of the dark river, where there was no road, and three wooden boats were docked on the trestle on the bank.

Forty boys and girls were led by four Taoist priests on two boats.

Guo Hong didn't expect this to be the case, the two boats were crowded, and he couldn't get in!

He Qiong was also a little anxious, Guo Hong had an idea, took advantage of the crowd's busyness, quietly climbed onto the last boat, and hid in the cabin.

The six chief priests finally came in and got on the boat that Guo Hong was hiding.

According to the past practice, if the priests did not come, the boat could not be moved, and it was used for the rescue of outsiders in the event of an accident.

The boat went first, followed by the other two.

They lit torches, but no one made a sound, and the atmosphere was depressing.

Guo Hong was lying in the cabin when he heard the sound of paddling outside, and after a while, someone suddenly shouted, and then seemed to be hitting something in the water with a pulp and a slight rod.

Someone said: "Calm, it's just a dragon, and it hasn't reached the trial site yet, so don't kill it, just drive it away!" After a few more moments, the striking stopped.

Then another section was drawn, which seemed to be on the shore, and forty young men and girls came ashore, and the sound was relatively noisy.

At this time, the cabin door opened, and Liu Yuanjing's voice came: "Don't hide, come out." ”

Guo Hong knew that he was discovered by the master, so he climbed out, and when he saw the six chief priests with torches, they all looked at him with a smile, their faces were red, but they asked, "How does the master know that the apprentice is inside?" ”

"It's going to be so small to divert attention, of course the teacher hears your breathing, in fact, we know you're in it as soon as we get on the boat."

Guo Hong smiled and hurriedly ran to the master's side, but he didn't dare to say anything more.

He followed Master to the shore, and when he saw Cao Shouzhen squeezing his eyes at him in the crowd of trials, he grimaced at him.

At this time, the shore was brightly lit, and I saw that the cave was high and deep, and the stalactites hanging above were like the sharp teeth of a beast, pulling out a long shadow, which looked a little gloomy.

The current of the dark river is not very fast, it is more than three zhang (ten meters) wide, and it is so dark that you can't see the depth below.

However, their boats are not small, so the river should not be too shallow.

There are also rocks outcropping out of the water in the river, which have a variety of shapes.

"There are too many reefs in the lower section, and it is impossible to sail, I sent my ancestors to set up a plank road here, but it is very old, and some places are no longer reliable, so everyone supports the rock wall with one hand, and pulls the people behind them with the other, in a group of two, and there is a good response." Liu Yuanjing said.

The trialists were told before they set out, and they all understood the rules, so no one made any noise, wrapped the things in their hands and hung them on their backs, and then went up to the plank road on the stone wall not far away.

"Master, why don't you build bridges on these reefs, but build plank roads on the rock walls, isn't that even more troublesome?"

Liu Yuanjing listened to Guo Hong's question, shook his head and smiled: "Disciple, you take a closer look at those reefs." ”

Guo Hong looked at it for a while, found nothing unusual, and was puzzled, Liu Yuanjing picked up the pole standing on the side of the boat and went to the nearest reef.

After the reef was hit, it suddenly slipped away, and the underwater waves swelled and sank violently!

"Do you see clearly? This is the Dragon! They lie on the surface of the water, like a reef, and it is difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake. The boat crashed into it at night and was in danger of capsizing. ”

Zhang Shoujing next to him also said: "Dragons are docile on weekdays, lay eggs between May and August, have a violent personality, and will take the initiative to attack people and animals, don't look at their size is not too big, but they can drag a buffalo to the bottom and bite it to death!" ”

The dragon is the Yangtze crocodile, the Tang Dynasty is widely distributed in the hills and swamps from Huguang to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, at this time it is August of the Gregorian calendar, in its breeding period, the female crocodile in order to protect her offspring, become extremely fierce, very aggressive.

Guo Hong hadn't seen the full picture of the dragon until now, and all he saw just now was its spine scale armor that was out of the water.

Liu Yuanjing grabbed his hand and got on the plank road.

The other Taoist priests were all carried in pairs, but Wang Daoyuan was at the end and found that no one was with him.

"See, Wang Fatzi is asking for himself!" The other two main priests of the Nine Truths Temple whispered to each other.

Wang Daoyuan moved cautiously on the plank road with a big belly, he looked at the quiet dark river and countless "reefs" below, took out his handkerchief and kept wiping his sweat, and he no longer had the demeanor of the abbot of the famous mountain.