When the remnants of the tribe returned to the tribe from Kannai more than a year ago, they resumed their constant struggle to survive.

As far as the Youyu tribe is concerned, the consequence of the loss of more than 8,000 young people is that the life of each tribe has become more and more difficult in the past year or so.

For there were fewer herders, fewer hunters, fewer fishers, and even fewer people to plunder other tribes.

Originally, the entry battle once every ten years was the most important source of replenishment for the various tribes, but this entry not only achieved nothing, but also caused the tribe to lose too much population.

In just one year, everyone on the grassland has suffered from the consequences of the defeat in the war.

And the misfortune is not alone, but at this time, locust plagues began to emerge everywhere in the grassland.

Those locusts flew all over the place where water and grass were once abundant, and ate the grasslands everywhere.

In the months following the locust plague, desertified land appeared everywhere in what should have been a vast grassland.

The carcasses of countless birds and animals lay on the bare sand, and they could not attract a scavenging vulture. The corpses were slowly shriveled and decayed under the sun.

In the tribe, cattle and sheep are also starving to death every day, and the horses that should have galloped on the grassland are also skinny and can't bear to look at them directly.

In the Golden Tribe, Old Zhemu received the little heads of various tribes in the yurt every day, listening to them tell about the misfortunes of their respective tribes.

When no one was around, he was also restless, and whenever he had time, he would stand on the high slope south of the tribe and look farther south.

A year ago, when Xiao Jinxing returned to the tribe, he immediately disbanded the people and let them return to their respective tribes.

And he himself didn't say anything to Zhemu, but after going to the shaman hall to meet the witch, he led Zhezhe, Ayi'er, and Xin'er to suddenly disappear from the tribe.

Only the dog, the dog that had been given to Xin'er by himself, ran back to Zhemu's yurt.

It followed old Jemu every day, waiting for the return of its master.

"Xiao Jinxing, if you don't come back, people will starve to death on the grassland."

Old Zhemu muttered to the south.

It's just that even he didn't realize that he had regarded Xiao Jinxing as the only one to rely on in his heart, otherwise, how could he know that Xiao Jinxing would be able to solve the famine on the grassland when he came back.

(1 year ago)

"A hundred miles north of Lingzhou in the Qin State, in the depths of the Qinlan Mountains, there is a small road leading to the northern frontier.

Because this road is extremely difficult to walk, the Di people have never used this road to go south on a large scale for hundreds of years.

However, the Black Ice Platform of the Qin State has sent people to explore the northern Xinjiang from this road many times, although there are not one out of ten people who can come back, but after all, they still get some information

According to rumors, along the Northern Xinjiang Trail through the Qinlan Mountains to the north, you will arrive at a flat wilderness, surrounded by swampy mud land, which looks like a grassland on a clear day.

In reality, however, the Pathfinders couldn't get too far from the sides of the path, as a deep swamp hiding under the grass was waiting for them at any moment.

If it's cloudy and rainy, the surrounding area will reveal a dark mud pool and a thick white fog rising from the mud, which will make the eye feel eerie when you gaze at it.

After walking dozens of miles to the north, you will arrive at the northern forest, where dense forests are thick, and all kinds of trees cover the sky and tower.

The Di tribes on both sides of the road can be found here.

The exploration sergeant could not walk in the big in order to avoid the Di people

On the road.

But when they enter the forest, terrible things will ensue.

The surviving exploration sergeants shuddered as to the horrors they had seen: a man walking and suddenly being caught from a tree by a spider the size of a millstone;

Suddenly dragged into a hole by a huge earthworm-like thing that burrowed out of the ground;

There was a huge bloody hole in the skull of the remains of the Di people who had become human cadres;

Ants as big as a small man suddenly ran out from both sides of the woods.

What's even more terrifying is that sometimes a team of sergeants is on the march, and they will suddenly be attacked by humanoid beasts.

They move and attack very quickly, often silently stabbing the sergeant from the tree with sharpened wooden spikes, and then holding the head of the sergeant who is not dead and gnawing on it.

This strange beast was two people tall, and its whole body was densely covered with fluff, but there was not a single hair on its head, and its eyes were as big as bells, and its mouth was as big as a basin, as if a face was a mouth except for its eyes.

They have flat noses with only two small holes, and their teeth are extremely sharp, especially the two sharp teeth at the upper and lower corners of their mouths, and they are bleeding from gnawing on raw meat.

When the remaining sergeants saw the enemy and stabbed the beast with swords and guns, they almost escaped like ghosts, and almost no one could see the direction in which they were fleeing.

When the sergeants chase into the dark forest, their "giggling" laughter grinding their teeth can be heard in all directions.

When I looked back again, I suddenly found a strange beast holding the wounded soldier who had not finished eating, the wounded soldier was not dead, and kept howling in pain, and the sharp sound of the teeth rubbing against the human bones when the beast gnawed made the rest of the sergeants frightened.

Some pathfinders were lucky enough to leave the forest unscathed without encountering any of these monsters.

When they came to the outside of the forest, the path stopped at the quicksand and diverged east-west, the north was a vast sea of sand, and the road to the west and east was a forest with quicksand on one side, and I don't know how many dangers awaited them.

Most importantly, all the sergeants who arrived here developed some diseases, starting with fever and dizziness, and after a while bleeding from the nostrils and falling out of hair.

So those who were able to get to this place began to turn around.

I don't know who was the first to build a wooden monument on this "D" shaped road, and wrote his name and when and where he returned.

After that, the sergeants who came here also did the same, and set up a wooden tablet that read, "Qin people xxx stopped here in the xxx year of the Great Zhou calendar, and there was only one person left in a group of xx people." ”

"Chu people xxx, little good travel, do not listen to the mother's advice to expand the land here, a line of xx people died because of me, erected a monument and swore to return, the books I watched left history, thinking that I Shenzhou Wanshi Taiping" ......

For hundreds of years, the wooden monuments left by these pathfinders have stood like forests in the foreign land of northern Xinjiang, so people call the end point of the northern frontier exploration "Northern Xinjiang Stele Forest".

And the sergeants who were able to return to Lingzhou with a hundred deaths, although they were able to obtain rich wealth, they often did not live for a few years.

Most of the deceased had pale skin and visible blood vessels, teeth fell out, and bones broke when touched, and their shape was tragic and abnormal.

However, after all, hundreds of years of border exploration have always allowed the people of the Qin State to focus on the Xiaoguan of Yuanzhou in a down-to-earth manner, without worrying about being attacked on their backs.

However, Lingzhou is the gateway to the only passage in the north bordering the Di people, and the Qin State still deploys a lot of troops here. ”

Zhezhe, Ayi'er and Xin'er followed Xiao Jinxing's footsteps, walking in this endless forest and listening to Xiao Jinxing tell the story of the people of Qin.

"Brother Xiao, what you said about those spiders and villain-like ants with big grinding plates are true

Yes?

Why didn't Xin'er meet one along the way? ”

Xiao Jinxing turned his head to look at Xin'er's serious face on Zhezhe's back, and couldn't help but smile slightly:

"I also heard these things from my teacher when I was a child, and my brother has never seen them."

After saying that, he turned his head to Ayi'er to the side, and when he saw that she was contemplative, he shook his head lightly, telling her not to think too much.

Zhezhe also laughed on the side:

"Xin'er.

There are many beautiful and terrible legends on our grasslands, if you want to hear them, then I will tell them to you, okay? ”

Xin'er thought about it for a long time, and then said with a smile:

"It's okay, Uncle Zhezhe, even if what my brother said is true, I'm not afraid of them, they will listen to Xin'er.

Those legends and stories, Uncle Zhezhe will tell them to Xin'er in the future. ”

After finishing speaking, Xin'er lay on Zhezhe's broad back and closed her eyes.

The three of them glanced at each other, and they all showed a wry smile.

The three of them wanted to deliberately hide the matter from Xin'er.

According to Xiao Jinxing's meaning, this matter should be told to Xin'er when she grows up, so as not to bear a huge shadow in Xin'er's heart at a young age.

And once Xiao Jinxing's plan can be successful, then Xin'er will never have to know these things.

"Brother Xiao, Ayi'er and I only walked this road once, and we didn't encounter the things you said at that time.

I think it must be the Immortal Heaven who is protecting us.

It's just that Di people took the initiative to say that the Qin State has now relaxed the garrison of Lingzhou, could they be planning to harm you in this matter, otherwise why would they take the initiative to tell you about it.

Brother Xiao, don't blame me for talking too much, the heart of defense is indispensable,

When Ayi'er and I took you back to the grassland, Lingzhou Pass was heavily guarded.

Had it not been for your blessing, let us change into Orion's clothes and do what you tell us, I am afraid that our lives would have been lost there. ”

Zhezhe waited until the Xin'er on his back fell asleep, and then asked cautiously.

He was afraid that he would be like Xiao Jinxing again, and when he told the two of them the story of the Northern Xinjiang Trail, he was overheard by Xin'er, who woke up.

As a big leader of the Yu people, Zhezhe has never been willing to lie, and even if it is a white lie, he is not willing to try it even once.

Xiao Jinxing smiled slightly when he heard this, he understood what Zhezhe meant, turned his head to look at the sleeping Xin'er, and then shook his head lightly and said:

"Youchongren didn't lie to us, at that time, they told me that the purpose of this road was just to let me know that if the worms invaded, they could hide in Qinlan Mountain, so naturally they mentioned the existence of this road.

Moreover, they did not know that we were going to enter Qin from here.

Besides, if there is a person who has the intention of doing evil, they don't have to tell me that this summer is the time when the worms are not in the big forest, so that we can avoid danger.

I always felt that Qin Lan and Sumeru were a barrier to the worms, and there were some secrets there. ”

Speaking of this, Xiao Jinxing happened to walk to a place where the trees were slightly sparse, he looked up at the distance and suddenly smiled:

"Zhezhe, Ayi'er, look at it."

Hearing this, the two followed Xiao Jinxing's gaze and looked into the distance, only to see a majestic mountain range appear in the faint distance, and it appeared in everyone's field of vision.