I was so surprised to see that he had a bag full of gold, and he said that if he caught the snake, the gold would be given to us. I had never been to the cave before, and my snake catching skills were not good, so I didn't dare to go alone, so I immediately gathered the villagers and told them about it. Most of the people agreed, saying that they would be able to build a new house as soon as they got the gold. But there are still a few older generations who say that the snakes in the cave are mountain gods, which can bless our village with sufficient snakes and cannot be caught. ”

But this bag of gold is so attractive that some people immediately objected that our village had a living by catching snakes, and that any mountain gods and mountain gods were all superstitions. Besides, even if it is a mountain god, they can't earn so much gold by catching snakes for a lifetime. ”

So almost the men of the whole village followed me up the hill to catch snakes, and the young man followed. When we came to the cave, no one dared to rush in. The young man suddenly said that whoever catches the snake first will be rewarded with an additional gold ingot. When a few timid guys heard this, they all rushed into the cave, and we waited outside, but it didn't take long for screams to come from inside, and we were anxiously shouting and waiting outside, and finally none of the people who entered the cave came out. ”

The old man's voice was hoarse, he took a sip of water and continued: "The guy who went in also has relatives outside, and their relatives are even more anxious. Everyone looked at the dark entrance of the cave, and none of them dared to enter it again. Some people also say that the mountain god is angry. Everyone stood at the mouth of the cave in fear, waiting for the people to come out, and for the snake to crawl out on its own. When the man who bought the snake saw that no one dared to go in, he offered to reward anyone with two additional gold ingots if they caught the snake. Immediately, two more middle-aged men who wanted money and their lives wanted to go in, and the people outside persuaded them, and they said that they were experienced and experienced, and they had to go in even to save the people inside. ”

But soon after they entered, there was a series of screams, and their relatives immediately collapsed on the ground in fright, crying. Suddenly, everyone heard the sound of a snake crawling, but the sound was loud, like a big snake crawling. Sure enough, the head of a giant snake suddenly poked out of the hole, and the head of the snake was the size of half a hole, and the two people outside the hole bit and swallowed it. ”

As he spoke, the old man remembered what was sad, his eyes were covered with tears, his voice became more hoarse, he coughed a few times, and then continued: "Everyone was so frightened that they fled frantically. I ran and my legs became weak, and I was scared, so I couldn't run anymore, so I hid behind the grass and rested for a while, and looked at the mountain god cave with courage, and was shocked to see that the big black snake was surrounded by red patterns all over its body, as if it was the snake that the young man said he wanted to catch back to fight snakes. What surprised me even more was that the young man was still standing at the entrance of the cave and said to the snake, 'Hei Hyun, they have done this to you, do you still want to stay here to repay the favor and protect them?' The black serpent hung his head down for a moment, and then suddenly he became a little snake and lay down in the young man's hand. ”

"I immediately understood that we were calculated by this guy. At that time, I was so frightened that I hid in the grass and crawled down the hill, and I had climbed far enough to dare to get up and run away. When I came home at that time, I thought that fortunately there was still gold, which I could use to compensate the relatives of the deceased, but when I opened the baggage, I was completely stunned, where was there gold in the baggage, it was all stones! ”

"In the days that followed, no one in the village ever caught a snake, and even the things planted in the field were thin and small.

Qiao Zimei sighed after hearing this.

Ling Zixuan gritted his teeth and said: "If you don't get rid of the monsters, there will be difficulties in the world!" ”

The old man shook his head: "Actually, there has always been a legend in our village, and this legend has been passed down for hundreds of years, so no one knows whether this is true or false. Legend has it that hundreds of years ago, there was a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl in our village who found a bloody little black snake on the mountain, because she was born in the snake catching village, so the little girl was not afraid, and caught it home, because she was afraid that the family would sell the snake, so she hid it and lived with it. After some time, the snake's injuries were healed, and it was also discovered by the family, who saw that the snake had strange patterns and would definitely sell the snake for a good price. But the little girl had feelings for the snake, and resolutely refused to let it, so she hid up the mountain with the snake in her arms, and hid the snake in a cave on the mountain, which was the cave of the mountain god I just said. ”

After the girl went up the mountain, no one saw her again, and her father and mother went up the mountain many times to look for her, but they were disappointed. Later, some people saw this snake in the cave many times, since the snake appeared, the snake source in the village is much more sufficient, all the snake catchers can return with a full load, and the things grown in the ground are also very fat, so the snake is worshiped as the mountain god, and many people go to burn incense and worship it. And that snake seems to be really immortal, and in my generation, when someone encounters it, it is still so small and unchanged. Except that when we went up the hill to catch it, it became bigger than a python, and that was the last time we saw it. ”

When the old man's story was finished, he picked up the cup and drank from it.

Hao Tianlin said: "If you don't catch it for money, there will be no such consequences." ”

The old man wiped away his tears and said in a hoarse voice: "Perhaps, this is retribution!" ”

They sat down a little longer, and then they all dispersed, and the old man went back to his room and rested.

Ling Zixuan slept in the guest room, while Hao Tianlin lay out the floor. Qiao Zimei rested in the sword.

And so the night passed. The next day, the old man cooked a sweet potato for each of them, and after they had eaten it, they continued to Xilin Mountain.

At noon, they came to the foot of the western mountain, and kept their horses in the hunter's house at the bottom of the mountain. Ling Zixuan looked at the steep slope with itching, Hao Tianlin handed him a wooden stick and said, "The mountain road to the west is not difficult to walk. ”

Ling Zixuan remembered that there was an expedition, he took Hao Tianlin and a team of men and horses to climb through Xilin Mountain, the mountain road is indeed not difficult to walk, but the mountain is not small, according to the current climb, it takes dusk to go up to the "Jinlan Gate" on the mountainside. But now that he is injured, he will be very tired even if he walks on a smooth road, let alone climbing a mountain.

Moreover, he had only eaten one sweet potato for breakfast, and now his stomach was rumbling.

Hao Tianlin saw him holding his stomach, so he took out a few meat buns from his baggage and said, "I bought it in the hands of Orion just now, and it's still hot." ”

Qiao Zimei heard that they were going to eat and rest, so she came out of the sword to look at the scenery.

Ling Zixuan took it and ate it heavily. He remembered that when he went out on another expedition, there was not enough food and grass in the army, and the soldiers ate gruel every day, and some soldiers were directly starving and fainting, and they could not fight the battle. Fortunately, when the grain and grass came, everyone was full, and the soldiers were full of strength and spirit, and they won the battle in a few days, after which they ate and drank in the sea of the defeated country for three days and three nights, and after returning home, their stomachs were full for several days.

He couldn't help but smile bitterly, he didn't expect that there would be days of starvation now.

After they had eaten the buns and had enough rest, they continued on their way.

Hao Tianlin helped him, and he walked slowly up the mountain with a stick, unable to see or walk fast. They walked non-stop for about two hours, they were all sweating, Hao Tianlin was fine, but Ling Zixuan, the wounds on his body were stimulated by sweat and hurt and itchy, scratched blood, oozing out of his clothes, and stained his white clothes with dots of blood everywhere, as if he had just been shelved.

Qiao Zimei couldn't look at it anymore, and said, "Lord Wang, don't scratch it anymore, it's all bleeding." ”

Ling Zixuan's arm was supported, and his wrist was still scratching this and that restlessly, and said, "Am I wearing white?" I knew that I would let Hao Zhan wear black for me. ”

Qiao Zimei looked at him and still didn't mean to stop itching, sighed helplessly, went over to grab his tickling hand, and said, "Don't scratch it anymore!" ”

As soon as Ling Zixuan touched her hand, he immediately shook it off as if it had been electrified, and said, "Get up, open up!" He still doesn't like ghosts touching him.

Qiao Zimei glanced at him angrily, and returned to the sword, at least he didn't have to see him angry, and he didn't have to float by himself.

As they walked, they came to a repaired stone staircase, and they walked up the stone stairs, Ling Zixuan felt that the distance was so far, and he felt so tormented.

The sky was getting darker, and the air in the mountains was getting colder.

"Childe, it's here."

As soon as Qiao Zimei heard the word "arrived", he immediately came out of the sword, only to see that at the end of the stone steps was a rather large bluestone door, and the door plaque was engraved with three big black characters of "Jinlan Gate".

She floated over excitedly, not wanting to enter the door, but was ejected by a very elastic protective film, which popped out for a long time, and she floated back to them: "Something is stopping me." ”

Hao Tianlin said lightly: "It's an enchantment." ”

Ling Zixuan said, "Enchantment? How do you know? He now found that Hao Tianlin knew quite a lot.

Hao Tianlin went over and poked the transparent thing with his fingers, the touch was soft and elastic, and there was a feeling of electric shock, and said: "What I read in the book, the basic method of learning the Fa is to cast an enchantment, and the defensive ability of the enchantment depends on the cultivation level of the person who casts the spell. I guess this is an enchantment cast by Nanfeng-kun. ”

Ling Zixuan said: "Neither you nor I have learned spells, and we can't notify them to come out and open the enchantment, so we can't get in, so let's bypass it from somewhere else." ”

Hao Tianlin looked at the left and right sides of the steps, there were cliffs, and he would definitely not survive if he fell.

"Maybe you can only get in through this door." He said.

Ling Zixuan scratched his back: "Then you can only wait here?" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw two black-clad men coming from a distance. Qiao Zimei's eyes quickly returned to the sword.

Two of the men from Edgeworth came to the door and withdrew their swords, one of them had a snarky look and asked, "What are you doing here?" ”

Ling Zixuan asked Hao Tianlin to take a step forward and said, "I'm here to find Nan Fengjun, please ask the Immortal Chief to help me." ”

The man said, "We haven't received any information from Master that someone will be visiting. ”

Ling Zixuan shook his head: "No." ”

The man said, "Then please go back!" ”

When Ling Zixuan heard this, his heart was half cold, how could this person be so rude, no one had ever dared to speak to him like this before.