The branches of the five colleges were widely distributed in the 36 prefectures of the Great Qianhuang Dynasty.

There are hundreds of places for school recruitment competitions.

Generally speaking, the scope of the school recruitment competition is a state or some highly influential regions.

Take Dingjiang Mansion, where Qin Luo is located, for example, there are Jiuhua, Red Hill, and the land of mountains into three states. Jiuhua Prefecture alone includes six counties: Nanling, Fayuan, Chongyang, Yuanjiang, Yiyang, and Hanzhong.

The land of a county is so vast that ordinary people can't get out of here in their lifetime, so as a county town, there are basically five major college branches stationed...... This also forms a kind of symbol of the county center.

Nanling County is the location of a branch of Jiuxiao College, and it is also the location of the school recruitment competition in Jiuhua Prefecture.

In late autumn, the yellow leaves of the trees are swept away by the autumn wind overnight, and Changyang Road seems to be painted with a layer of gold.

Changyang Road is an ancient official road, the main road from east to west across the Jiuhua region, countless branches......

With the beginning of school recruitment, there are gradually more pedestrians on Changyang Road, most of whom are young teenagers, either alone or in groups......

Although their personalities are different, they are all arrogant and confident, so it is not good to compete, provoke, and be lively on the official road this way.

Occasionally, the team of the academy passes by, which will cause the teenagers to yearn for it and perform desperately, hoping to have a way to be able to do so before the school is recruited.

Under this bustle, the four teenagers from Qianlong Village are also one of them, namely Qin Luo, Ning Xue, Xiao Chu, and Xu Wei.

They set off from Qianlong Village half a month ago, officially embarking on this first step to the outside world.

In order to be more experienced, no one in the village followed.

As for the other children in Qianlong Village, they do not participate in the school recruitment competition in Jiuhua Prefecture, led by Shi Yu, led by Chong Ting'er and Shi Qianshan, they need to go to the rather distant Lintian Mansion to participate in the local competition, because this time the school recruitment assessment of Dingjiang Mansion is more than a month faster than other provinces for some reasons, so they are almost set off at the same time......

Therefore, only Qin Luo and Xu Wei were assessed in Jiuhuazhou, and Ning Xue and Xiao Chu each had their own reasons for not participating, but they were just on the way.

At this time, on Changyang Road, the appearance of the four people was quite embarrassed, which attracted sideways glances and ridicule from pedestrians.

The girls are okay, their clothes are still relatively neat and clean, but Qin Luo and Xiao Chu are a little miserable, with tattered clothes and pants, and their faces are dusty like beggars, I don't know what happened to them along the way......

"Phew" Qin Luo spat out a mouthful of dust in his mouth and complained, "What kind of map did my father give, this is too outrageous, let us go through the three mountains of Tongshi, and we were chased by a group of demon beasts until yesterday, it is really enough." ”

Half a month before leaving, Qin Shan had handed everyone a map to Nanling County, at that time Qin Luo was not happy with his father's intimacy, but who would have thought that on the first day of leaving Qianlong Village, Qin Luo and the four of them couldn't wait to complain to Qin Shan, "What kind of ghost map is this." ”

The map given by Qin Shan is a very ancient map, and many of the roads in the map have long been abandoned after the changes of time, so this has also caused the four of Qin Luo to get farther and farther away from the main road of Changyang......

As for the three mountains of Tongshi just mentioned, there was originally a post station marked on the map, but when the four of Qin Luo overcame thorns and went through a lot of hardships to arrive, they found that they were already overgrown with vines, and no one was there for a long time.

No one cares, but no one has ever told everyone that the three mountains of Tongshi have long been the world of demon monkeys, and when everyone was about to leave, the post station was surrounded by hundreds of monkey spirits......

This is not bad, under the joint efforts of everyone, these monkey spirits who are only first-order demon beasts are not so troublesome, so in the case of unknown directions, they still choose to believe in the map, and as a result, they broke into the lair of demon monkeys...... When the huge chimpanzee, which was about five meters tall, roared in front of everyone, even the gentle and lovely Xu Wei couldn't help but let out a sound of anger, and Qin Luo even looked up to the sky and roared.

"Is there a father who cheats his son like you?"

......

After that, it lasted for five days of pursuit, and finally yesterday Qin Luo and the four escaped from Tongshi Sanshan, asked passers-by on the side, and after learning the route of Changyang Road, they finally got back on track today.

Hearing Qin Luo's complaint, Xiao Chu's face was yellow and white, and he glanced at Qin Luo, and said mockingly, "Did you get the wrong map?"

This sentence was repeated countless times by Xiao Chu along the way, and he was deliberately angry with Qin Luo. But there is no way that his father is so unreliable, and Qin Luo can't refute anything...... "Okay, Brother Chu, don't talk about it." Xu Wei saw that Qin Luo's face was extremely depressed. "Let's find a place to rest, it's going to be dark soon, I want to take a shower" Xu Wei looked at her dirty clothes and couldn't help but say with a bitter face.

Even Ning Xue didn't look like a show, her brows furrowed, and she nodded, agreeing with Xu Wei's words.

She didn't want to sleep in the wild anymore......

And when they looked around, they saw that the main road was completely deserted, and there was not even a single person to inquire......

Xiao Chu spread his hands, didn't know the way, and didn't know where there was a post station.

Qin Luo was a little weak-hearted and said, "Eh, why don't you ...... Looking at this?"

As he spoke, he spread out his left hand, only to see a gray ring on his index finger flash, and a yellowed drawing appeared on the palm of his hand.

The Yuan Ring was given by Qin Shan, but most of the space was sealed, and it could only be broken when it reached the corresponding strength.

Seeing that Qin Luo took out the damn map again, everyone went berserk in an instant......

"Didn't I let you tear it?" "Brother Luo's map is too pitiful. "Don't look at ......"

......

All kinds of complaints buried Qin Luo's voice, Qin Luo could only smile, and said cautiously, "It's not that you can't find a place to rest, there is always a reference on this map, right?"

"I don't look at it, there is a yarn reference value. Xiao Chu sneered.

Xu Wei and Ning Xue nodded their heads, this map really scared them.

Qin Luo said embarrassedly, "Isn't it that we didn't find the main road, now that the map and the main road are on the same page, isn't it easy to judge the true and false roads?"

There seems to be some reason for it, even Xiao Chu frowned slightly, his face was full of dissatisfaction, but he couldn't say anything to refute it.

In the end, everyone decided to listen to Qin Luo's words and believe in the map once......

Time passed little by little, the afterglow of the setting sun was emitting the last bit of light of the day, and everyone searched for the past according to the comparison between the map and the main road, although they did not get lost, but the villages marked on the map were all gone......

Until Qin Luo finally made a decision to go to the branch road, the branch road is too complicated, and it is not so easy to judge after leaving the main road, so he can only rely on the map of the pit man, but there is no way, the dead horse should be regarded as a live horse doctor......

The moon was dark and the wind was high, and the mountains gradually became silent, and the wild beasts returned to their nests to rest...... Qin Luo was sweating profusely as he looked at the map, he didn't dare to look back, because he knew that there were three pairs of eyes staring at his back with a cold glow, making Qin Luo like a thorn in his back......

Finally......

The last section of the branch road disappeared into the grass in front of him, and there was no way out, Qin Luo looked at the villages marked on the map that should be in front of him, and then looked at the towering giant trees in front of him, full of irony.

"Hey, Qin Luo!"

Xiao Chu's cold voice came, and Qin Luo's body trembled.

turned around with a smile on his face, only to see Ning Xue Xiao Chu's face showing a cold light, even Xu Wei staring at him expressionlessly.

"Hey, you see that bird flying!" Qin Luo, who intended to change the topic, undoubtedly failed.

The snow was full of elements, and Xiao Chu was also smacking his knuckles......

"Bell ......"

It seemed to be the sound of striking iron, which seemed very abrupt in this quiet night.

Some of the people couldn't believe their ears, and they all kept quiet and listened carefully......

"Bell" "Bell" ...... It's not an illusion, the voice is very rhythmic, everyone looks at each other, brushes aside the bushes in front of them, and follows the sound to find it.

An ancient exhaust mountain road appeared in front of everyone, Qin Luo and the others stood here, looking into the distance, only to see the smoke curling, the lights were bright, the houses were scattered, and the sound of striking iron came from there...... Xu Wei and Ning Xue looked at each other and smiled, while Qin Luo patted his chest wildly, very happy.

Xiao Chu looked into the distance, raised his eyebrows slightly, and said calmly, "You are saved." ”

The crowd crossed the trees to the village, and their smiles faded away, because the village felt so strange.

The white smoke lingers in the air, giving people a hazy feeling, and the occasional breeze blows to bring a hint of coolness.

Originally, the lights of the house and the scene of little cooking smoke were already quiet when Qin Luo and the others approached, as if everyone had fallen asleep in a short period of time......

Even the sound of striking iron is gone.

Xu Wei tightened her body and leaned closer to Ning Xue's side.

Qin Luo frowned slightly, always feeling a bad feeling, looked at Xiao Chu and said, "Do you want to go in?"

Xiao Chu did not respond, but walked to the entrance of the village, squatted down, and removed all the weeds from a stone tablet......

"Abundance Hope"

Qin Luo muttered to himself, "Is this village called Fengwang?"

Ning Xue's delicate body was shocked, her expression became surprised and dazed, and Xu Wei on the side looked at her suspiciously, not knowing what was going on.

Xiao Chu got up and shook his head at everyone, Qin Luo knew that this village was too weird, even Xiao Chu felt that something was wrong.

After all, under normal circumstances, the village monuments of which village have been covered by weeds, and they have not been cleaned up?

Although cultivation is to face difficulties and go up in danger, you must also do what you can, otherwise you will be looking for death......

This is not called fear, this is wisdom, impulsiveness will only lead companions into the abyss.

What's more, as long as Xiao Chu judged that the situation was critical enough to be avoided, the probability of death was usually more than ninety percent...... Qin Luo trusts Xiao Chu very much at this point, after all, Xiao Chu dares to bet on all men as long as he has a 20% chance of winning, and he doesn't dare to bet on what kind of strength he has.

He was about to say to everyone to leave, but Ning Xue walked straight towards the village......

"Tonight...... We stayed here. The ethereal voice sounded a little trembling tonight.

Qin Luo frowned slightly, just about to say something. But he was interrupted by Xiao Chu waving his hand, he looked at Ning Xue's back, thought slightly, turned his head to Qin Luo and said, "Let's go." ”

Qin Luo nodded helplessly, turned to Xu Wei and stretched out his hand, he knew that Xu Wei was more afraid of this kind of rather supernatural thing, Xu Wei's face was slightly red, but he also diluted a little scared, he grabbed Qin Luo's arm with both hands, and the two walked towards the village.

Xiao Chu followed, and when he came to the gate, he glanced at the corner of his eye, as if he had seen a red flower, and his puzzled expression flashed, and he immediately walked into the village.

......

The village was unusually quiet in the middle of the night, with the footsteps of the people rattling, and the doors of the houses on both sides were closed, and there was no light in sight, as if there was no one here......

Ning Xue seemed to be looking for something, and her expression looked expectant and a little ...... Cringe.

"What is she afraid of?" Qin Luo thought so, not understanding, you must know that even if it is a hundred ghosts refining souls, Ning Xue's expression is also very strong.

finally

She stopped in front of a room.

Qin Luo saw that it was a two-story building, and it said Shanju Restaurant.

There is even a restaurant in this village.

Qin Luo and the three of them looked at each other in amazement, after all, this village is not on Changyang Road, this is a wilderness, what is the meaning of the existence of the restaurant.

I saw Ning Xue caressing the door of the Shanju Restaurant, her eyes were full of tears, and her expression seemed to be happy and sad, very contradictory......

Qin Luo and the others looked at each other, not knowing what was going on, but seeing that Ning Xue was in such a state, it was not easy to step forward and disturb them.

After a long time, Ning Xue's mood finally eased, her white sleeves gently wiped the remaining tears from the corners of her eyes, looked at the door in front of her, and exhaled deeply.

"Knock knock. ”

Ning Xue knocked on the door under the surprised gazes of Qin Luo and the others......

"Squeak"

The door slowly opened, and a wrinkled arm carrying an oil lamp stretched out, accompanied by a not bright light, only to see a white-headed old man carrying his back, draped in a shabby dress, and staggered out with one hand and a cane......

Seeing the snow in front of him, the old man's expression was not abnormal, and he glanced at Qin Luo and the others behind him, his wrinkled skin wrinkled slightly, and he said with a trembling voice...... Ahem...... Do you want to stay in the hotel? cough cough cough ......."

The old man's health is not good, but he can't cough in a few words, which is sympathetic.

When Ning Xue saw the old man, tears burst into her eyes, and she said in a choked voice, "Live in the hotel, two." ”

The old man nodded, turned around and walked into the house, and Ning Xue followed.

Qin Luo and the three of them glanced at each other, obviously Ning Xue knew what was going on, and they still looked inexplicable.

But they still believe in Ning Xue, believe that she will not harm them, and there is still basic trust after being together for four months......

Anyway, it was useless to think too much, so Qin Luo and the others followed into the house.

Come to the hall, the decoration here is very simple, the light source of the whole building is only the old man's oil lamp, it looks dim and gloomy, it is said to be a restaurant, but the tables in the hall add up to only three or four, and obviously have not been wiped for a long time, cobwebs are everywhere, occasionally there are a few movements in the corner of the table, look carefully, it is the mouse is looking for food......

Cold sweat broke out on Qin Luo's forehead, is this really an inn?

I saw the old man recording the room number one by one, and handed over the key to the snow......

Well, I'm going to have to stay here tonight.

After opening the room, the old man limped away on crutches, taking the only light source with him.

After Ning Xue handed one of the two keys in her hand to Qin Luo, she left with Xu Wei, and their room was on the first floor.

I wanted to ask what was going on, but seeing that Ning Xue didn't have the intention to answer at all, I still don't want to be bored......

I looked at room number 203, heh, it's still on the second floor.

Looking at the staircase full of holes, Qin Luo swallowed and spat, this step on it will not break

"Babble...... Babble"

Stepping on the stairs, the wooden plank made an uncomfortable sound, and I always felt that the wood could not bear it in the next second.

"Whew"

Finally came up, Qin Luo took a deep breath, and he was so frightened when he went up the stairs.

"Open the door, what are you doing?"

Xiao Chu's voice came, Qin Luo blinked his eyes, looked downstairs, then looked at Xiao Chu in front of him, and blinked again......

"How did you get up?"

"Jumped up. ”

“......”

Okay, Qin Luo admits that he can't be an idiot, this is just a two-story small building, that is, anyone who is at the middle level of the mortal rank can jump up, and as a heavenly spirit body, he actually went to walk the stairs that were almost shattered......

When I opened the door, the dust that had accumulated for a long time drifted away, and there were two wooden beds inside, and the quilts and mattresses were all in the cabinet on the side, but fortunately, the sleeping things were still relatively complete.

......

The night was getting deeper, but Qin Luo and Xiao Chu couldn't fall asleep over and over, after all, in this weird environment, it was strange to be able to fall asleep. Qin Luo put his arms on his head and looked at the moonlight outside the window and asked, "Xiao Chu, what did you say happened to the snow today?"

Eighty percent of the odds are related to relatives. Xiao Chu said lightly.

"Relative, is this village her home?" Qin Luo shook his head slightly

"No, I think she's expecting to find something?"

Xiao Chu nodded, "It's unlikely to be her home, her knowledge shows that her background is by no means an ordinary family." ”

Qin Luo took out an item from his arms and put it in front of him to play with it casually, "Why think so much, anyway, she is our friend, Xiao Chu, don't analyze Ning Xue, if she really wants to say something, she will tell us." At the end of the words, Qin Luo's tone was quite serious.

Xiao Chu was not dissatisfied, and said softly, "Don't worry, I don't have so much effort to analyze my friends." ”

Qin Luo smiled slightly, "I really hope that I can go to Nanling County tomorrow, that school recruitment competition can't wait for me." ”

Xiao Chu also smiled indifferently, and glanced at Qin Luo......

Suddenly, his body sat up from the bed, and his face changed greatly and looked at Qin Luo.

Qin Luo looked at Xiao Chu suspiciously, sat up as well, frowned, and said, "What's wrong?"

Xiao Chu stared at the item in Qin Luo's hand with an ugly face, his fingers trembled violently, and said, "Where did you get this thing?"

Qin Luo raised his hand in confusion, it was a beautiful red flower, the shape was quite bizarre, the flower was like a dragon's claw, with a bulb, and a apiflor at the top......

Qin Luo said, "This is picked at the village gate, I think it's very beautiful." ”

Seeing Xiao Chu's face pale, his expression seemed to be stunned, Qin Luo jumped directly from the bed, shook his shoulders and said, "What's wrong with you, what is this flower?"

Hearing Qin Luo's words, Xiao Chu gritted his teeth and said, "Scene of death, flower on the other side!"

"Boom!"

"Ahh

"Whoa!"

"Sister Xue!"

Suddenly, a cacophony of voices resounded through the quiet night.

With Xu Wei's panicked voice, this night could not be calm......