"I think there must be something unusual in the place where the 'image' appears, in Mengding Mountain," I said.

Xiang Feng didn't speak, and sat there silently.

"What could it be?" I muttered, "It's too foggy to see anything clearly, I wanted to go down and see, but it's too steep... Feng: What are you thinking? ”

"Didn't think about anything, you continued."

I twisted my earlobe repeatedly with my hand and thought, "Look at the situation, Boss Cao and the two of them, they know what is hidden there... The person next to Boss Cao, if he is not particularly capable, that is, he knows how to summon that 'image'..."

"Ah Leng." Xiang Feng suddenly spoke.

"Huh?" I let go of my hand twisting the earlobe, "What's the instruction for the handsome guy?" ”

"That Boss Cao, what does it look like?"

"Boss Cao? It's just..."

I gestured with my hand and described the general appearance of Boss Cao to Xiang Feng.

After listening, Xiang Feng nodded, "I've seen Boss Cao and the two of them..."

"Oh?"

Xiang Feng said, I went to buy breakfast in the morning and walked for a while, and two people came out of the hotel building, carrying bags and trekking poles, and got into a black car...

"You mean, they came out of that hotel?"

"Hmm." Xiang Feng said, "Neither Master nor I have met Boss Cao, and at that time, I suspected that they might be with the person who took the bronze man, and asked Master if he wanted to go with him." Master thought about it, didn't let me follow, and said to wait... Ah Leng I think..."

"What?" I asked.

Xiang Feng glanced at me, "The bag the two of them carried may contain that bronze man..."

"Bronze Man..."Suddenly, my heart lit up, "You mean to say that they took the bronze man to Mengding Mountain, and what I saw, the 'image' in the fog, was summoned by the bronze man?" ”

"Hmm."

"Bronze Man..."

I muttered as I thought of when I was hiding by a tree, condescending, and seeing the man take something out of his bag...

"If that 'image' really relied on that bronze man to summon it, then the 'image' must be related to the Ran clan... At that time, I saw that in the 'image', the man wearing a headdress and wearing a strange costume raised his weapon in his hand and pointed to the west, could it mean that ..."I looked at Xiang Feng, "Does it mean that the residence of those remnants of the Ran clan is somewhere in the west?" … Ah Feng, you think..."

"You say."

"Mengding Mountain is at 30 degrees north latitude, whether it is from Mengding Mountain to the east or west, it is on the line of 30 degrees north latitude. I think my speculation just now must be correct, the remnants of the Ran people we are looking for are hidden in a deep mountain somewhere in the west of Ya'an city at 30 degrees north latitude! …”

This is a major discovery!

Xiang Feng and I spread out the map and pointed west along the 30th parallel of north latitude from the city of Ya'an with our fingers... Erlang Mountain of Qionglai Mountain Range is located on this line, Erlang Mountain is the watershed of the Qingyi River and the Dadu River, both of which are tributaries of the Minjiang River, the Qingyi River is in the east of the mountain, the territory of Ya'an, the Dadu River is in the west of the mountain, and the territory of Luding County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, that is, the place where the Red Army's Long March 'flew to capture the Luding Bridge'...

Thinking back to the 'ghost realm', the old man of the dead ghost said that his ancestor Yang Xiansheng was lost and walked along the tributaries of the Min River... That 'tributary', if it is not the Tsing Yi River, then it must be the Dadu River... On the map, I drew a circle with a pen in a mountainous area between two rivers at 30 degrees north latitude... Xiang Feng and I both felt that the remnants of the Ran clan were likely to live in the circle marked on the map...

"Ah Leng, let's go, let's go and tell Master."

"Hmm!"

We went to the hotel and found Master, and I told Master what I had found, as well as the speculations of Xiang Feng and me. Then, I showed Master the circle I had drawn on the map...

"Master, you and Ah Feng, the two people you saw in the morning, one of them is the boss Cao, now, have the two of them returned to this hotel?"

"Didn't see it back." Master said.

I thought about it for a moment and said, "I'll go to the parking lot and have a look..."

I walked around the parking lot of this hotel, and I didn't see the black car that Boss Cao and they were in...

The person who fought with the master that night and took the bronze man must still be in this hotel, but I don't know why he didn't come out. And Boss Cao and the two of them, after leaving Mengding Mountain, did not return to the hotel, I don't know where they went... Now it is completely certain that the reason why Boss Cao and his gang got the bronze people to come to Ya'an is related to those remnants of the Ran clan...

After analyzing the three of us, Master, Xiang Feng, and I, we all thought that the person who had fought with Master had stayed in the hotel since he came to Ya'an. And Boss Cao and the two took the bronze man to the west to find those Ran Min... We decided, let's not stay here anymore, what is this person who has fought with Master, when will he come out of the hotel, don't care about him for now, what we have to do now is to track down Boss Cao and the two of them, and find out the whereabouts of those remnants of the Ran clan...

Back at the guesthouse, we hurriedly packed our things and we set off. Uncle Yang said that he was still young, so he liked to play with us young people, and cheekily squeezed into our car.

Out of the city, we drove west, and it was raining all the way, drenching, and I didn't know when it was going to rain. The gloomy atmosphere penetrated into the car, the atmosphere was a little depressing, although we were getting closer and closer to the ultimate goal of coming to Sichuan, but for some reason, I didn't feel any excitement in my heart, but a vague sense of unease... Thirty degrees north latitude, the mysterious ancient Shu people, the ancient curse... From time to time, these things come out of my mind, entangle my thoughts, and make me have no intention of talking to the people in the car...

Emotions are contagious, and everyone in the car doesn't speak.

"What's the matter, all of them are sullen?" Finally, Uncle Yang couldn't help it.

Xiaoqing yawned and said vaguely, "Sleepy..."

"Xiao Leng, sing a song to everyone, and raise your spirits."

"I can't sing."

"Yuxin sings."

"Not in the mood."

"Hey, these young people..."

"Uncle, sing it." Morningstar said.

"I'll sing it, I'll sing it, I'll think about it... Aren't we going to Erlang Mountain, shall I sing you a song that suits the occasion? ”

"Okay," a few of us said weakly.

Uncle Yang cleared his throat, "Erlang Mountain, even if you are ten thousand feet tall... The People's Liberation Army's iron-clad Han is determined to be as strong as steel, and to build that highway to Tibet... Uncle, how am I singing? ”

"Uncle Cousin, what kind of thing are you singing, if you were there during the road construction, you wouldn't use explosives at all, and if you sang like this, the mountain would immediately collapse..."Xiaoqing said.

"You have the ability to sing!"

"I don't! …”

Uncle Yang and Xiaoqing made such a fuss, and the atmosphere was a lot more relaxed.

At about three o'clock, we came to a county in the west of Ya'an. Here, it is already on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Uncle Yang sang in the song just now, the famous Sichuan-Tibet Highway, passing through the county, the ancient Sichuan-Tibet Tea Horse Ancient Road site is also here, the Red Army was stationed here during the Long March.

After parking the car, several people went their separate ways, went around the county, bought some necessary equipment for entering the mountain, and some food that was convenient to carry.

After meeting with Master and the others, the rain continued to fall.

"Master, shall we settle down in this county town tonight and rest for one night, and then set off again tomorrow, or shall we continue walking?" I asked.

Master looked at his watch and said, "We will have to stay here for another night, and we will get as close as possible to the circle you drew on the map, and it is best to settle down in a village in the mountains and ask the villagers to see if we can find any clues about those Ran people... Leng'er gave me the map..."

The Master stared at the map for a while, then pointed to one place and said, "Let's go here and settle down..."

A few people got into the car and continued west, and at about four o'clock, we came to a small town located on the Tsing Yi River. This town is located in a remote area, surrounded by dense forests, no developed scenic spots, and relatively little arable land, so the economy is quite backward. The only guest house in the town, looking dilapidated, the water and ground of the courtyard have long been cracked, and grass grows in the cracks.

By asking the old man who boiled water at the guest house, we learned that there were villages to the west, east, and south of the town.

Master gathered everyone together and said, "We are not here to travel, and every day of delay will make the villagers in that nameless mountain village in Taihang Mountain more dangerous... In this way, the three girls stay in this guest house, and the six of us men, work hard, in groups of two, each go to a village, to see if we can find any clues that are useful to us, do you have any opinions? ”

Everyone had no opinion, so the master divided us into groups, he and the old man Yang's friend, the old man Cui in a group, Xiang Feng and the old man Yang in a group, me and Uncle Yang. The six men left the guest house and went their separate ways.

The rain was still falling, and the sky was covered with dense layers of clouds. Uncle Yang and I walked along a muddy path all the way to the south, but we saw the mountains in the distance, and the forests on both sides were like the sea. The vegetation in western Sichuan is very different from that in the Taihang Mountains, except for pine trees and bamboo, most of the rest can't even be named by Uncle Yang.

As it got dark, we came to a wide stream. After stepping on stones to cross the stream, and after walking for a while, we came to a village.

Smoke mixed with water mist drifts on the roofs of tiled houses, making the village look mysterious and tranquil. The enthusiasm of the Sichuan people is no less than that of the mountain people in the Taihang Mountains.

We went to one of the houses and said that it was a tourist from afar who wanted to spend the night, but the man agreed without saying a word. The family had already eaten, and when they learned that we hadn't eaten dinner yet, they immediately redid it for us, smelling the aroma of bacon wafting from the kitchen, Uncle Yang was naturally happy with a wrinkled face, and kept swallowing saliva...