In the evening, the train from the direction of Laohai finally arrived, and we saw Lao Tang at the exit of the station. Since the last trip to Xiangxi, Lao Tang and we are also brothers who have experienced life and death, and have a lifelong friendship.

Lao Tang is still the same, wearing a Mao suit, looking like a "master" like a master in the world.

When we met, we sighed and sighed at each other's feelings of longing after parting, or because of my fate, I was destined to have no friends. Because Chen Xianyi is my senior brother, I treat him like brothers, and when it comes to making friends, if I think about it, there is only Lao Tang alone.

The only friend in this world, and still a friend of life, this friendship is naturally extremely precious.

I asked him what he had been busy with all these years, and why he didn't come to Jiangxi to find us?

Lao Tang told us that since he returned to Shanghai in Xiangxi, he has been running around all over the country, and he also wanted to come to Jiangxi, and asked a friend to come to Xuantang to inquire about my current situation, but he learned that Xuantang had been closed for a long time and I didn't know where to go, so he didn't come.

I thought about it, at that time, I had been looking for the Ancient Realm Lake like a headless fly outside, so he asked someone to look for me in the Xuantang to see the gate closed.

In this way, we chatted about our respective recent conditions, got out of the station, and returned to Xuantang.

When I arrived at the Xuantang, there were no outsiders, so I asked about the words on the map of the Ancient Realm Lake. Ask him what the words on the map are all about.

When Chen Xianyi saw me asking about this, he also approached with great curiosity and looked at Lao Tang.

However, Lao Tang did not immediately tell us about the text, but asked me to take out the three volumes of maps and show them to him first.

Lao Tang is also considered his own person, so I naturally will not refuse his request, so I immediately took out the three volumes of the map of the Ancient Realm Lake, combined the three volumes into one, and spread them out on the table.

Lao Tang stared at the map for a while, and then his expression slowly became excited, and he shouted: "This is true, this is true, it turns out that those things recorded in the text are actually true, is there really such a fairyland in the world?" ”

Seeing that he suddenly became so excited, I thought he must know something, so I hurriedly asked him, "Old Tang, do you see something?" ”

Lao Tang nodded excitedly and said, "Do you know that the island drawn on this map is actually the legendary Penglai Immortal Mountain. ”

"Huh? Penglai Island! Hearing this, Chen Xianyi and I were both stunned. Because this so-called Penglai Immortal Mountain has always existed only in ancient mythological stories.

In ancient mythology, Penglai Immortal Mountain is a sacred mountain similar to Kunlun Mountain, and it is the place where the legendary immortals live. The myth and legend of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea originated here. Since ancient times, it has been a fairy land for emperors to seek immortals and visit medicines.

According to legend, a long time ago, there was a very big abyss in the eastern part of the Bohai Sea, people called it Guixu, and the water of rivers, lakes and seas from all over the country flowed to Guixu, but no matter how much it flowed in, it always remained at a level, so some people said that Guixu was a bottomless pit. It is said that there is a fairy mountain in Guixu, this fairy mountain lives with immortals, there are birds and flowers in it, there are lakes, rivers and streams, just like a fairyland, the gods fly around in this fairy mountain every day, free and unrestrained. Among them, there are records of Penglai Immortal Mountain in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and "Feng Zen Book", which depicts this mountain vividly, so it has attracted countless people who have sought immortal medicine in the past dynasties, and they all want to go to that immortal mountain and seek immortality.

According to historical records, after Qin Shi Huang unified the six countries, in order to seek the eternal stability of the Great Qin and his personal immortality, he came here to find the sacred mountain and ask for the elixir of immortality. He stood on the seashore and looked at the sea, only to see a red light floating at the end of the sea and sky, so he asked the Fang Shi who was driving with him. Fang Shi replied: "That's Immortal Island!" ”

Qin Shi Huang was overjoyed and asked what the name of the fairy island was. Fang Shi couldn't answer for a while, and suddenly saw aquatic plants floating in the sea, and when he had an idea, he replied with the grass name "Penglai". "Penglai", "Pengcaoartemisia" also. It is said that this is how the name of the sacred mountain of Penglai came about.

Fang Shi claimed that there were immortal elixirs on the sea, and eating immortal elixirs could lead to immortality, so Qin Shi Huang successively sent Xu Fu, Yanren Lu Sheng and others into the sea to seek immortal medicine.

However, none of the people sent by Qin Shi Huang to find medicine were gone. It is said that Xu Fu and the others did not find Xianshan in the end, but came to settle in present-day Japan.

Thinking that this so-called Penglai Immortal Mountain only existed in myths and stories, and even Qin Shi Huang sent people to find it, I couldn't help but be shocked and asked: "Old Tang, are you sure you are not mistaken, this island on the map will really be Penglai Island?" You must know that this so-called Penglai Immortal Mountain only exists in mythology, and it does not exist at all in reality. ”

Chen Xianyi also felt that this matter was too mysterious, and asked with some surprise: "Old Tang, how do you know that this island on the map is Penglai Island?" ”

Lao Tang saw that the two of us didn't believe it, but he still looked affirmative, pointed to the words on the map, and said, "Because the text on it is about Penglai Island." To tell you the truth, I didn't dare to believe it when I saw Penglai Island written in the text, but now that I see your three-volume map, isn't it a small island above the sea? In other words, the Gujing Lake you are looking for is on Penglai Island. ”

As soon as I heard this, Chen Xianyi and I were dumbfounded, and our hearts suddenly fell to ashes, and I said, "If this Gujing Lake is really on Penglai Island, then everything will be in vain." Who can find Penglai Mountain, which only exists in mythology, not even Qin Shi Huang. ”

Chen Xianyi also said: "In reality, there is no Penglai Island at all. Could it be that this so-called map of the Ancient Realm Lake is also used by Hebo to deceive the people of the world? ”

At this time, Lao Tang was thoughtful, silent for a moment, and then said: "In my opinion, Hebo did not lie to us, this map should be true." Because in those texts, he recorded the location of Penglai Island, and also recorded the method of going to Penglai Island, and the details were so detailed that it was as if Hebo had really been there. ”

"Huh?" Hearing this, I became curious, and hurriedly asked Lao Tang what the words in the map were written.

Chen Xianyi was obviously confused by Lao Tang, and couldn't help but say angrily: "Damn, can you sell it less!" ”

Old Tang smiled, and then told us the words on the map sentence by sentence.

The first few paragraphs of the text are about Hebo writing about his drawings, these things have been told to me by Chen Xianyi before, and the original text is not much different from the general meaning of what Chen Xianyi said before.

The text in the second half records the location of the ancient lake. It says that hundreds of miles east of the Bohai Sea, there is a realm of ruins, which is a bottomless valley in the sea, which is the place where all the waters converge, which can pass through the netherworld and the universe. There is a turtle in the ruins, the turtle is humped on the back of a fairy mountain, named Penglai, there is a fairy lake in the fairyland of Penglai Island, it is the ancient lake that is, and it can become an immortal when you go to it.

However, this Penglai Immortal Island is usually not visible, it is dispersed into gas, gathered into shape, ethereal, unpredictable. Only on the night of the full moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival every year, the turtle will come out from the deep and secluded realm of the ruins to look at the moon, and then the sacred mountain on the back of the turtle will appear in the world.

When we heard Lao Tang explain this place according to the text above, Chen Xianyi and I were both very surprised, because this thing is really amazing, and it is almost mysterious to say that it is unpleasant, and it is not realistic at all.

Just imagine, in a bottomless valley in the sea, there is a turtle, camel a Penglai Island, every Mid-Autumn Festival full moon night, this turtle will come out, and then Penglai Island will appear. No matter who listens to this, they will think that this matter is too. Will it be true? I believe that as long as it is a normal person, it will only be heard as a mythical story, and only a fool will believe it.

Thinking of this, I said to Lao Tang: "This is too mysterious, I'm afraid it's not true." ”

Chen Xianyi also said: "A turtle can hump a mountain? Old soup, do you also believe this? ”

Lao Tang didn't think so, he smiled, pointed to the words on the map, and said: "Don't worry, Hebo also recorded his journey to Penglai Island in great detail here, if he hadn't been there, it would have been impossible to write it in such detail." ”

After saying this, Lao Tang didn't reason with us, and continued to point to the words behind us and talked to us.

Sure enough, as Lao Tang said, the next thing is Hebo's experience of going to Penglai Island. The text is written in Hebo's own statement, he first came out of the Bohai Sea, traveled hundreds of miles, and came to the realm of returning to the ruins. The ships returning to the ruins sink into it, and the birds fly and fall, and no one can enter. However, there is a mountain in the place of returning to the ruins, this mountain is dark and boundless, pure yin and no yang, so it is called Yin Mountain.

He climbed Yin Mountain, at this time it was the night of the full moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moonlight illuminated the endless dark ruins, and then he saw a beautiful fairy mountain rising and appearing from the ruins more than ten miles away. This is Penglai Island.

When he pointed to the words on the map and read it here, Lao Tang turned his head and smiled: "Look, Hebo has already seen Penglai Island." ”

To be honest, I still didn't believe that all of this could be true at this time, and I still only listened to it as a myth in my heart. However, I am also full of curiosity about these so-called Hebo's self-descriptions recorded in the text. I can't help but wonder about the results. So he asked: "What about the back, how did Hebo go to Penglai Island later?" The ships returning to the ruins sink into it, and the birds fly and fall, and no one can enter. And Hebo is more than ten miles away from Penglai Island, how did he get there. ”