At the foot of Taihang Mountain, the mountain ghost rode on a horse and looked into the distance.

Shen Qiu and Qingqing's figures were no longer visible.

Gongsun Yu had mixed feelings in his heart, and after losing his family and sister for more than ten years, he once again felt accompanied by friends.

Although he and Shen Qiuqingqing have only been together for a month, in the final analysis, he is only a young man of twenty-four or five years old.

Being accustomed to solitude does not mean that you are willing to be lonely.

As a human being, you still can't abandon everything and live only for yourself.

The mountain ghost stood outside the pass, and after a long time, he took the reins of his horse, turned and walked back, as before, and crossed the reckless Taihang alone.

He sealed a little tenderness in his heart, and pushed himself back to the indifferent state of mind that a lone mountain ghost should have.

After a few hours, the mountain ghost returned to the hillside where he lived.

He also did not tie his horse, but drove it into the woods.

Hunting the Northern Dynasty thieves alone in this Taihang Mountain all the year round, this horse is indeed useless for him.

Gongsun Yu returned to his room, and after a while, he walked out of the room with a few books, and walked around the hillside for a week, and after making sure that no one was prying eyes, the mountain ghost came to the back of the hillside.

That night, where Shen Qiu took his sword.

Nearly 300 zhang on the periphery, there is a steep cliff.

The mountain road leading there is difficult to walk, the narrowest point, only one person is allowed to pass, down is hundreds of feet of cliffs, once you fall down, it is the end of broken bones.

The mountain ghost was accustomed to this road, and he carried the Chengying Sword on his back, and his steps were like flying, like an ape in a mountain stream, and he quickly crossed this cliff and reached the edge of the cliff.

He didn't stop, he tightened the sword behind his back again, and climbed down the steep cliff like he was climbing a rock with his bare hands.

This mountain wall is also peculiar.

From a distance, it is like being cut open by a sharp weapon, nearly 90 degrees parallel to the surface, there is no grass or flowers on it, and it is bare, if you miss one step, you will inevitably fall.

But the mountain ghosts are already very familiar with this place.

He climbed downward, and with every step he could accurately step on the stones that could support his body, like a tiger swimming on a wall, only to see the black shadow all the way down, and the time of the pillar incense fell into a platform in the center of the cliff.

The platform was also only for three people to stand, and the mountain ghost's fingers caressed the mountain wall behind him, and when he pushed it hard somewhere, a crack was pushed open.

The mountain ghost turned sideways, step by step into the narrow crack, he walked forward a few feet with his short body, and the mountain wall suddenly opened up.

There is a cave in this place, it is a stone chamber in the mountain, which must have been deliberately excavated.

The area is not very large, the cube of the mountain stone is nearly 20 zhang on the left and right, and there are sharp stones like a cave on the top of the head, and there is a depression like a pool in the center of the stone chamber.

Gongsun Yu took out the flint, moved vertically, jumped around the stone room, lit the lamp fixed on the wall, and the whole stone room was bright.

There seems to be a bronze mirror reflected in the rocks overhead, allowing the firelight from all sides to converge in the center of the stone chamber.

In the near-dry pool, there are strange blue reflections.

This is the secret of the mountain ghosts.

It is also the map that Lu Bujian found from the so-called "immortal ruins" on the periphery of Taihang, and the direction that he finally points to.

Gongsun Yu grew up outside the Taihang Mountain, he was born in a Chinese family when he was a child, and his life was not very poor, his parents often told him that there were immortals living in the Taihang Mountain.

When he was 6 years old, he fled into the mountains with his sister and was helped by the mountain people.

On a certain occasion when he went out hunting with the mountain people, Gongsun Yu accidentally fell into the stone stream in the deep mountains of Taihang and found the way to this place.

That entrance is still 3 days away from here, and it is already the deepest part of Taihang Mountain.

However, after Gongsun Yu grew up and turned into a powerful ghost in the mountain, the entrance was blocked by him with a huge stone, and the only thing that led to this immortal relic was the cliff behind the hillside where he lived.

There are still some stored items in this stone chamber, but most of them have fallen into disrepair.

The mountain ghost's shadow sword was found in this stone chamber, and with the light of the fire reflected in the stone chamber, Gongsun Yu took a few steps forward, and in the depths of the stone chamber in front of him was a closed giant stone door.

On the stone door, there are some sword dance figures, which are quite expressive, and the characters in them are all fluttering with sleeves, holding a shadow, posing with a variety of different sword moves.

Gongsun Yu's ghostly swordsmanship was learned from these 64 pictures.

But under the sword move, outside the stone gate, there is also a sarcophagus, which is blocking the road to the stone gate.

Gongsun Yu held Chengying in his hand and bowed to the sarcophagus.

He was illiterate when he was young, did not know the words left on the sarcophagus, lived alone in the mountains, and was quite taboo about ghosts and gods, so he naturally did not dare to disturb the immortal sleep here.

But now, he can also understand some words, and the mysteries of the immortal family that plagued him in the past can finally peek into one or two.

He took out the books from his bosom, and by the dim light of the fire, he compared the words on the sarcophagus with the words in his hand that were embellished with pinyin phonetic transcription.

After three incense sticks, the mountain ghost finally compared these words.

His fingers moved over the sarcophagus, word by word:

"The people of Taihang Mountain, seeking immortal fate but can't, suffering from the catastrophe of the sky, sitting here."

"Leave the inheritance of the Taoist weapon, and those who are destined will get it."

"Anyone who learns my shadow swordsmanship is a descendant of Taihang Xianmen, I hide the shadow sword trick in the coffin, and those who hold the shadow sword can break the coffin and take it, which is the introduction to the fairy gate."

"Those who have achieved great cultivation can open the shadow stone wall and observe the sword intent left by the sword masters of the past dynasties."

"If you have the posture of reaching the sky, you can realize that my immortal family lacks a sword codex."

"A thousand years ago, there was a cultivation calamity, the gate of heaven has been broken, and the head of the sword master insisted on going his own way, which led to a catastrophe from the sky, so that all of us practiced for a hundred years, but only the dream was shattered."

"Tell future generations, you must fear heaven and earth, and never do anything against the sky again, the eldest disciple of the sixty-third generation of the Chengying Sword Master of Taihang Xianmen, leave a letter here."

After reading these messages, Gongsun Yu thought for a moment, he knelt in front of the sarcophagus, knelt three times and knocked nine times, and then got up to break the coffin and take the Chengying Sword Technique.

However, when he got up, he found that under the sarcophagus, there were other messages, which made the mountain ghost's heart suddenly tighten.

He had been to the stone chamber countless times before, but he had never found it.

But the handwriting is also completely different from that of the sarcophagus owner, as if it was left by a later person.

But look at the dust that covered the nick, it had been left for a long time.

He flipped through the book, compared the handwriting, and whispered:

"All beings seek immortals and give birth to white hair, and their dreams are empty. It's better to let go of the world, and the game is in the dust. ”

A limerick poem that is not very outstanding, but it is more like an emotion.

At the bottom of that verse, there is another line.

Gongsun Yu swept away the dust, and he saw the last message.

"Zhang Moxie's view is here, this thing is incompatible with me, and it is ominous to use it, and it will be left for future generations."

"I also inform that the sword intent of the main sword shadow sword of the past dynasties is fierce and impressive, and the sword heart is not clear, so it must not be opened at will, and future generations should be cautious!"

The mountain ghost's eyes immediately widened.

"Zhang Moxie?"

------------------------

From the southern foot of Taihang Mountain, to the nearest town, in modern society, even if you ride a bicycle, it will not take more than 2 hours.

But now, it has been 2 days since Shen Qiu and Qingqing left the foothills of Taihang Mountain, but they still haven't encountered even a settlement that can be called a town.

It can be said that there is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles, and the white bones are exposed in the wild.

Well, a little exaggerated.

There are still small villages, but these villagers who live near the mountains are really not friendly.

Shen Qiu exchanged silver for food, and he would be driven out by them with suspicion, fear, and disgust.

The experience was terrible, but Shen Qiu wasn't angry.

Because the people here have plenty of reasons to hate outsiders.

The experience of the mountain ghost boy is just a microcosm of the life of the people near Taihang Mountain in the past 20 years.

In March of the 6th year of Zhengding, 17 years ago, almost 18 years ago, the Northern Dynasty invaded the border of the Southern Dynasty, and the Southern Dynasty lord Zhao Hu personally led an army of 200,000 to resist the enemy near Taihang Mountain.

The two sides were at a stalemate here, and the war lasted for seven months.

The people's livelihood in the Taihang area is withering, and it is almost a ghost.

The parents and family of the mountain ghost also died tragically at that time, and there were nearly hundreds of thousands of people who died tragically together.

What's even more terrifying is that in the 7th year of Zhengding, just after the end of the war, after those who fled the famine returned to their hometowns, a great plague broke out in this place.

According to what Qingqing heard from the play, the military disaster and the plague made not one of the survivors of this generation survive.

That terrible experience has made the Taihang generation have not recovered after 16 years of life.

The people here hate the Northern Dynasty and the Southern Dynasty.

It's a land of hatred and chaos.

The quietest and most peaceful place here is actually a mountain village sheltered by mountain ghosts, and those mountain people call themselves mountain ghost followers, so that the south and the north do not dare to disturb them at all.

Shen Qiu's fierce god brother actually became a signboard for shelter.

This can be seen how chaotic the Taihang generation has become.

And because of the trend of Taihang Mountain, the Northern and Southern Dynasties each controlled about half, which led to the fact that to this day, the pioneers of the Southern and Northern Dynasties will break out a skirmish here from time to time.

The Southern Dynasty lost more and won less, after all, it was not as strong as the northerners who came out of the land of suffering, and the Southern Dynasty was not properly seated, and the people resisted more.

The power of the court is used internally, and it is natural to pull the crotch to resist external enemies.

In short, in the eyes of this kind of hatred and suspicion of the locals, Shen Qiu and Qingqing, who were a little unbearable, galloped on horseback, and finally walked out of the Taihang generation in the early morning of the fourth day.

It is less than a week away from Luoyang City, the capital of Henan.

But the two of them were already tired and tired, and they urgently needed to rest.

True Qi is not omnipotent.

What's more, what the two of them practiced was not a good exercise, and the true qi of the Jianghu Heart Method was okay to use to warm the body, but it was too much worse when used in other aspects.

Shen Qiu rode on his horse and took a look at the environment on the side of the post road, which was a hilly area, and there was a hill visible in the distance.

It is called Funiu Mountain, which is said by Qingqing.

She followed her master through Luoyang City a few times, and heard that there was a group of bandits on Funiu Mountain.

"There's a forest over there, and I'm camping here tonight."

Shen Qiu said to Qingqing, who looked tired:

"You set up the tent, go sleep for a while, and the senior brother will cook dry food for you."

"It's dry food again."

Qingqing covered her face and wailed.

She said to Shen Qiu half complaining, half coquettishly:

"Can you add some meat, I want to eat meat, I have a toothache from the bite of dry food."

"It's good to eat some."

Shen Qiu glared at Qingqing, when she left Taihang before, she was still a little sullen, but soon a solid state sprouted, and after leaving the mountain ghost, she had a little temper again.

Shen Qiu put on the shelf that a senior brother should have, and while knocking on Qingqing's little brain, he said bitterly:

"You've seen it before, how miserable the people over there are! Eating one full meal a day is a luxury, and you can eat three dry meals a day. ”

"yes."

Hearing the senior brother talk about what he saw and heard a few days ago, Qingqing was also a little concerned.

She grabbed the reins of her horse and galloped to the edge of the forest, which was about fifty feet away from the post road, and the tent was pitched in the woods, sheltered by trees, so that it was not easy to be found.

She took out the folded tent from her horse pocket, well, this thing was also "given" to Shen Qiu by the "enthusiastic" black-clothed guards.

"I boast of following my master, and I can be regarded as seeing most of the Southern Dynasties."

Qingqing couldn't lift his spirits and said:

"But even the poorest and most chaotic Qilu land I have ever been to is much better than Taihang's side, although the government doesn't care about things there, but there are right and wrong villages and peerless masters who are unevenly pressed, and the people's lives are still rough."

"But here, this side is really terrifying, in the Taihang Mountains, if there is no mountain ghost brother to town, I'm afraid it will not be much better than outside the mountain."

"So."

Shen Qiu jumped off the horse, threw the two horses on the tree, and said to Qingqing, who was deftly arranging the tent:

"Do you think those mountain people worship mountain ghosts because they have nothing to do when they are full?"

"If you want other people to support you, you have to do something that is beneficial to them, Gongsun Yu protects the safety of one side, and only asks for rice and grain every month, and I am tired and panicked for him."

"Senior brother, you just care too much about everything."

Qingqing nailed a few bamboo nails into the ground, smashed them with Shen Qiu's Yanling knife scabbard, and then propped up the tent, she lay down in it and laid out the futon, poked her head out, and said to Shen Qiu, who was observing the surroundings:

"I think Brother Mountain Ghost is good, what he does is right, and it is also right to kill the dog thief of the Northern Dynasty, he is so good to us."

"Alas, speaking of which, before we left, where did the mountain ghost brother say he was taking us?"

"Don't ask, little kid."

Shen Qiu grabbed the bow and arrow used by the black-clothed guard, and said without looking back:

"I'm going to try my luck and see if I can catch a few rabbits."

"Senior brother! Catch a few fish, and besides, the picture left by Master is gone! ”

Qingqing hid in the open hood, wrapped herself in a flower quilt, and shouted:

"I just found out!"

This just wrapped the green little flower quilt, which she finally exchanged for broken silver in the Taihang area, although it was old and made of homespun cloth, but it was very clean.

She also changed into a cloth skirt worn by a little girl, and she dressed up like a handsome little village girl.

Although there is still a gap with the clothes worn by Qingqing in Suzhou, there is no need to wear patched clothes.

"That rotten thing, if you lose it, you can lose it."

Shen Qiu waved his hand impatiently, and he said:

"I gave you the whistle, and when you are in danger, you blow the whistle, remember?"

"Wow!"

Behind Shen Qiu, a sharp whistle suddenly sounded.

He looked back, Qingqing was holding a bamboo whistle in his hand, and was looking at him with a smile on his face, this stupid girl, haven't you heard the story of the wolf coming?

Well, I don't think I've heard of it before, so forget it, I'll tell her about it another day.

This stupid girl.