"How strange!" said Meng Jiang, "there are only evergreen plants such as pines, cypresses, and ferns, and so on, and how come there are no deciduous trees, such as locust trees and poplars?"

"In this season of blooming in the mountains, there are no flowers here!" Wan Qingye was also puzzled. "There are no peach blossoms, no apricot blossoms, no spring bushes, no lilacs. ”

"Look at these green mountain pillars, they are not high, but they can't be climbed when you look at them, but the whole peak is not steep, and it is not difficult to climb up from this gap, but it is blocked by these steep pillars. Liang Qingshan said to Wan Qingye.

"The gap between these mountain pillars is not big, you see the widest place, it is only about twenty zhang, the smallest column gap, is it seven or eight zhang wide?" Liang Qingshan looked at it carefully and said.

"I think there must be a formation in this Emperor Mountain, and there may be a little-known secret. Zhu Yingtai said to Liang Qingshan. Because she remembered some legends about Emperor Mountain that her father told her when she was a child, and also remembered a series of yin and yang mistakes encountered in Jingwu Mountain, this mountain is so mysterious and alternative, it must have hidden secrets that no one knows.

"Meng Jiang!Yingtai!Is this Emperor Mountain still climbing?, or let's make a big turn and go around?" Liang Qingshan asked the two of them.

"Climb, we've all gone down the mountain, we still want to see what miracles this mysterious mountain top will have?" replied Meng Jiang.

"I'm a staunch progressive. Zhu Yingtai said.

"Then let's climb!Fifth Senior Brother!" Wan Qingye said to Liang Qingshan.

In fact, Wan Qingye also wants to climb. Because the peaks of this Jing Chu generation are too mysterious, and every mysterious mountain has deeply attracted him, maybe the key to the decryption of this generation of mysterious peaks is hidden in this Emperor Mountain?

"Okay! We'll explore this mountain, but we have to make some preparations. Liang Qingshan said to everyone, "See that blood-skinned maple tree under Danqing Peak! Let's go cut some blood-skinned maple branches." ”

At the foot of the mountain under the Danqing Peak a hundred zhang away, there is a blood-red red maple forest with branches, and from a distance, it is more dazzling than the red flowers of the peach forest.

"Do you know what to do with cutting maple branches?" asked Zhu Yingtai.

"Be a signpost. Meng Jiang replied.

"That's smart!Jiang'er!" Wan Qingye said and gave a thumbs up.

"I don't need you to pat the horse! crazy stupid boy!" Meng Jiang turned his eyes to look at Wan Qingye and said with a smile.

The four of them went over and cut dozens of three-foot-long blood-red maple branches, cut one end into an oblique tip, and tied them into two bundles with fern vines, and Liang Qingshan and Wan Qingye carried a bundle on their backs. He cut off two thick wooden sticks with wrists thick and two or three feet long to use as hammers, and the two of them carried one in one hand, and then walked towards the Emperor Mountain.

"Remember! After a while, we entered the mountain, and the four of us could not be separated. Liang Qingshan said to everyone, "First, I am afraid of getting lost, and second, I am afraid of some monster beasts and pythons." ”

"Fourteenth Senior Sister!Jiang Er!Aren't you afraid of strange demons and giant pythons?" Wan Qingye asked them with a smile.

Zhu Yingtai and Meng Jiang glanced at each other, smiled, and said, "The two of us are good at kung fu, right?" Besides, what about you two martial arts masters of the Qingyang faction, what are you afraid of monster pythons?"

In fact, the two of them made eye contact with each other: "Don't scare us with the monster python, Miss Ben is also a cultivator and martial artist, how can you be intimidated by you two stinky men." ”

"Remember! I opened the road in front, Meng Jiang and Yingtai followed, and the old eight broke off. Every 100 zhang of distance, nail a red maple as a road sign. When you encounter corners and places where it is easy to get lost, you should also nail one. ”

Liang Qingshan stared at it again, and the four of them walked cautiously up the mountain.

It's an uphill climb, but it's not too steep. Tall pines and cypresses cover the hillside, and it is cool to walk in the forest. Everywhere there are dead pine needle cypress leaves and pine flowers, which are soft under your feet. In the sparse shadows of the trees, on the soft sun-lit slopes, there are sparsely grown nameless grasses with a few small white, yellow, or purple flowers. Except for a birdsong or two flying overhead and their own voices, all that remained was silence.

"There are mountain beasts!" Meng Jiang suddenly exclaimed.

Everyone hurriedly stopped, followed Zhu Yingtai's fingers and looked ahead, only a squirrel-like animal with a fiery red coat stared at them in surprise with faint brown eyes seven or eight zhang away, but it was three or four times larger than an ordinary squirrel.

"It turned out to be a fire squirrel, it's fine. Zhu Yingtai said.

"You can see that the only thing in its eyes is to show us surprise, as if there is no malicious intent!" Meng Jiang said.

"Anyway, it didn't make offensive or hostile moves against us," Liang Qingshan said, "don't provoke it, let's hurry up the mountain." ”

The high mountain pillars were bypassed one by one, and Wan Qingye tried to jump a few times, but the steep mountain pillars were close to straight, and he couldn't climb them at all. Among the four people, Liang Qingshan's light skills are the best, try to jump a few times, the highest can only jump to five or six zhang, I don't know if the mountain pillar is too steep and slippery, or there is really a formation, sticking to the pillar wall can not stand, so I have to fall back to the ground. The four of them had no choice but to climb up the hill between the pillars. But the pillars of the mountains blocked their vision from afar, and they could not see where the summit of the mountain was, so they could only climb forward and climb up by feeling.

After climbing for nearly two hours, I saw a 30-zhang high mountain pillar. Turning around this large mountain pillar, you will see a relatively flat oval summit with a diameter of 50 or 60 zhang. A circle on the top of the oval mountain, surrounded by eight mountain pillars outside, two of the eight mountain pillars are thirty zhang high mountain pillars standing opposite each other, and the other six are small mountain pillars more than ten zhang high. On the inner side wall of the mountain pillar, there are bare ochre rocks and no vegetation. On the inside of the pillars, on the ground of the oval summit, that is, around the dome, there are rows of tall pine and cypress trees, but these pines and cypresses are broken branches and stumps, as if they have been burned by mountain fires, and many of the ends of the branches have died. In the middle of the dome, there are no trees or protruding rocks and pillars within thirty zhang square, only flat ochre-red rocks and mountain soil, as if they have been charred, and the surface is covered with sparse weeds.

"Looks like we're at the top. Meng Jiang said.

"We'll have to find a way through!" Zhu Yingtai said, and ran to the gap in a mountain pillar on the left.

"I'll look on the other side!" Meng Jiang finished speaking, and ran to the other pillar gap on the right.

"Eighth Senior Brother, let's look for each side from the largest mountain pillar opposite. Liang Qingshan said to Wan Qingye.

"Hey!" Wan Qingye sighed and said, "With these two senior sisters here, we can't even turn back to the peak halfway." ”

In a short time, all four of them returned.

"It's all down the mountain. Meng Jiang said impatiently, "Except for a few fire squirrels, I didn't see anything." ”

Eight mountain pillars enclose eight gaps, all of which are the way down the mountain, except for the intersection that they just went up the mountain, the other seven do not know where they lead, let alone which one to take.

"It's no wonder it's called Emperor Mountain! it's really strange!" Wan Qingye said suspiciously.

"I think it should be called Emperor Sleepy Mountain. Zhu Yingtai said jokingly.

Liang Qingshan went to go in circles again, staring closely at the tall pine and cypress trees. He found that many of the trees grew in rows, as if they had been transplanted. Some are four or five trees in a row, and some are three or four trees in a row, but three or four trees in a row often have an extra gap in the middle, as if one or two trees have been dug out in a long row. The direction of each row is not completely consistent, and the oblique row is crooked, making it difficult to distinguish.

"There are those who are connected, and there are those who are broken. Liang Qingshan thought silently in his heart. He suddenly remembered the gossip Yin and Yang that the master had drawn and talked to him, and he memorized the 24-character hexagram mnemonic song backwards: "Qiansanlian, Kun Liuxuan, Lizhongxu, Kanzhongman, Dushang, Xunxia, Zhenyangyu, and Gen Bowl......";

"Kou Wei Ze is the mouth!" he whispered, "What is the mouth? ”

"Have you found the way down the mountain?" Wan Qingye had already stood beside him at this time, and he didn't even feel it.

"Not yet. Eighth Senior Brother, you go to the gap on the right side of the largest mountain pillar on the opposite side and inspect the arrangement of the big trees on the left side of it. I'll go to the pillar to the left of it. ”

Liang Qingshan came to the left gap of the pillar stone on the left, and looked at the big tree carefully, there were five trees in the innermost row, although there were only four trees in the middle row, but there was a dead tree stump on the far right, counting it, it was also five, and the outermost row was four, and one was missing in the middle. The combination of three rows of trees is exactly a " " symbol.

"Lian-Lian-Lack-", Liang Qingshan whispered silently, "It's missing!" ”

"Eighth Senior Brother!" Liang Qingshan shouted, "Can you tell how many rows and rows there are in that big tree at the mouth of your gap?"

"There are three rows!five in each row!Very regular!" Wan Qingye replied loudly over there.

"Alright, Yingtai, you and Meng Jiang go to the mouth of the big mountain we just climbed!" he shouted loudly, "yes! That's it! nail the conspicuous red maple pole! Then take our things! Come to me!"

"Dry one for two, three for three, four for four. Liang Qingshan used the thumb of his left hand to count on the little finger, ring finger, middle finger and index finger, and talked to himself as he counted.

"Fifth Senior Brother, what kind of spell are you, does it work?" Zhu Yingtai asked her.

"This is it!" Liang Qingshan said affirmatively. "Here, put up another signpost here. ”

None of the three of them objected, because they had no other good plan, so they followed Liang Qingshan down from this gap.

Walking down the dome of the mountain peak, less than thirty zhang away, they encountered the mountain pillar again, and if there was a mountain pillar, they were faced with the problem of choosing which side of the mountain pillar to go from, so Liang Qingshan taught them how to check the arrangement of trees according to the " " symbol, and found a red maple pole on this side of the mountain pillar, and then went down. In this way, three mountain pillars were crossed in a row by this method, and they were all unimpeded.

"Fifth Senior Brother, your method is really quite clever, what kind of method is this?" Wan Qingye asked him curiously.

"Yin and Yang gossip!" Liang Qingshan replied truthfully.

The three of them really admired Liang Qingshan, and began to put a high hat on him, and Liang Qingshan was also complimented. Meng Jiang and Zhu Yingtai rushed to check the tree column, Wan Qingye rushed to nail the road signs, and Liang Qingshan looked like a son-in-law, looking at ease and morality.

After passing five mountain pillars in a row, when he reached the sixth mountain pillar, Meng Jiang checked and searched, but he couldn't find a tree column with the same symbol. Liang Qingshan finally went to both sides of the pillar stone to take a closer look, but it was indeed not. That's weird!