"Then let me whisper, you can bear with me. A long time ago, there was a legend that there were all kinds of demon beasts in the ghost forest, in order to prevent the demon beasts from rushing out of the forest to harm people, the imperial court sent a large army and mages to clean up, and at the same time sent 100,000 people to open the mountain to take stones to build Liangcheng, there was no such city. ”

It is said that the army fought several battles in the forest, and the battle was dark, and finally the defeat and retreat were able to stabilize the situation. Hey, fighting while repairing the city, there are hundreds of earth mages to make a move, which greatly reduces the time for building the city, or the battle is over, the city is not good, and the back will be hanging. When the city is built, half of the 100,000 people will be killed or injured, hey, it's so miserable. ”

"When a dozen people die, they can't help but want to run for their lives, can they wait until they are halfway dead?" Shi Keqi asked.

"When I was working, I was supervised by the army, I was immediately killed when I escaped, and when I slept, I was watched, and I lived almost the life of a prisoner, and at that time, the situation was too critical to do anything. The demon beast is going to die and rush out of the ghost forest, and I don't know how many people will die. ”

Dian Xiaoer continued: "No one has seen any demon beasts now, they have been hundreds of years, and the days have been the same day by day, but a strange thing happened in the hunter village living on the edge of the forest a month ago, no one who went into the depths of the forest could come back alive, not even the family members who went in to find it. ”

"After reporting to the official, the army went into the place where the accident occurred, and it was said that there were really demon beasts infested, and it took a lot of people to kill the two heads, but they didn't show it to the people, and they tightly covered this matter. In the next few days, there was a lot of speculation, and people were panicked. Seeing this, the government ordered that the matter should not be discussed, and violators were arrested and beaten on the 20th board. ”

"After a month like this, nothing happened again, and slowly life returned to the previous peace, after all, it was the countrymen who died, and the city was protected by tall walls, and everyone was much more relieved, but the government still did not revoke the ban. I told you, officer, you must not go around discussing and spreading, in case I track it down, my ass will be lost. ”

"How big is the Ghost Shadow Forest?" Shi Keqi asked, ignoring the shopkeeper's request for confidentiality, after all, he had promised not to spread the word, such a small thing, would not be like a vegetable market aunt who promised over and over again.

"I don't know how big it is, no one crosses it when you go to the left, you can reach the border with Xiangzhou when you go down, you don't know if you go up, all the cliffs are cliffs, and some peaks are covered with ice and snow all year round. In my opinion, the area of this forest is certainly not smaller than that of my Northern Zhou. ”

"Little second brother, you said it very clearly, thank you, let me rest first, you can leave. Shi Keqi picked up the silver and handed it to the shopkeeper with both hands.

He took the silver and thanked him repeatedly, went out happily, gently brought the door to the door, and at the end, solemnly explained: "Don't tell anyone." Seeing Shi Keqi nodding, he left with confidence.

Shi Keqi released Xiaolan hidden in the baggage, usually lived in the store and pointed out, and explained to the shopkeeper: This is a four-legged snake, non-venomous, non-biting, etc., originally found a carpenter to make a basket, but after it was dismantled three or two times, the idea of letting it stay in the basket honestly can only be stopped.

The only thing that asked it to hide it was to hide it honestly, and after the thousandth and first exchanges, I finally got its permission.

In fact, it doesn't matter if you take such a small ancestor around, there are more people who raise fierce dogs or even beasts as pets, and when they go out, the owner is not shocking according to the ferocity of the pet or optimistic or locked.

There was no law in the Northern Zhou Dynasty that said that pets could not be brought on trips, and the official acquiesced and the people were more open. There are some special characters, such as mages carrying strange beasts and strange monsters, and knights carrying birds of prey fighting beasts, and the store can't manage it if they want to.

As long as you don't scare away the guests and don't hurt anyone, you still have to entertain those who should be entertained, and even the strange people with fierce beasts scare away other guests, and in order to prevent some of the bad tempered uncles from demolishing the store, they also have to greet them with a smile.

If the shop is demolished, it is useless to report to the official, these high-ranking people will either run away or stay in place, with the few pieces of material in the small local government, it will be good to keep themselves from being dismantled into parts.

Shi Keqi didn't like the shopkeeper or the second brother to ask a few times, for fear that he would bite someone and not find the owner, so he usually hid Xiaolan first when he ate in the store.

But then again, whoever makes Xiaolan look like a snake, even if it's a small snake, even if the adults are not afraid, the children will always be a little afraid.

When the shopkeeper fetched hot water and brought it in, he suddenly found a little blue snake grinning at him on the table, and he was so frightened that he was trembling, and the coarse porcelain basin he was holding almost fell to the ground.

Shi Keqi reluctantly caught Xiaolan and said to him: "This guy is not poisonous, don't be afraid, put the water on the table." ”

As a well-informed and well-informed guest who has seen too many strange guests, the gold medal Xiao Er quickly stabilized his mind, and a thought turned in his mind: a small snake is just a small snake, if it bites, he can pinch it to death in minutes.

He stepped forward and placed the basin on the table.

The room seemed to be full of fishy wind, and a huge blue serpent hovered over the table, its lantern-sized eyes glowing with cold light, and its huge barbed tongue was swallowed.

There was a "clang", the basin hit the ground, and hot water spilled all over the ground. The shopkeeper was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, his eyes glazed.

Seeing him like this, Shi Keqi hurriedly went over to help him pinch him, and gently patted his face and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

As if hearing the human voice, the shopkeeper's sloppy eyes slowly focused, and after a while, he looked around in a panic, but he didn't see the terrifying giant snake, he rubbed his eyes, or no, and a heart finally returned to his chest.

Shi Keqi asked a few more times, and he was very clear, and hurriedly waved his hand and said: "It's okay, it's okay, the guest officer is really sorry, Shicai was dazzled and knocked over the basin, I'll clean it up and go to get a basin." ”

"Oh, it's okay...... , why are you paralyzed again. Shi Keqi saw that the shopkeeper had already stood up, and just wanted to walk away, but he sat down on the ground again.

He raised a hand, pointed his index finger at Xiaolan, and said in his mouth, "How did it become so small?"

"What's getting smaller, what are you fed on?"

The shopkeeper shook his head, the person was much more sober, and finally stood firm, holding on to the table and said: "Just now I saw a giant snake, which scared me into weak legs and feet, and this blink of an eye is gone, and your snake is magnified tens of thousands of times like this." ”

"Guest officer, please wait for a while, I've gone to fetch water. After saying some words, the shopkeeper felt his strength regain and got up and left, leaving Shi Keqi confused.

When everything was done and he rested at night, the shopkeeper carefully recalled the scene, it was not a snake at all, like a legendary dragon.

Could it be that this guest was carrying a small dragon, if it was true, it would be amazing, but unfortunately without wings, it could not be a dragon without wings, he thought.

The legend of the dragon has endured throughout the continent, and even spread more and more gods, from the emperor's ministers to the peddlers' pawns.

But in the eyes of a thousand people, there are a thousand different and identical Hamlets, there are too many differences, just take the same, Hamlet must be a person, not a bird or a beast, not a monster.

He must be a prince, not a beggar who sings the Lotus Fall. The core of the story is the story of court revenge, not the story of court derailment.

You can't go wrong with these most basic things.

Dragons in the eyes of people also have a few things in common, such as huge wings that can fly, lizard-like but many times larger heads, sharp claws and sharp teeth, and at least one ability, such as breathing fire and spitting mist, such as clouds and rain.

The illusion that the shopkeeper saw fit these things in common, except that he didn't see the ability.

The next day, Scoch asked him for directions, and went out to buy dry food and some necessities to enter the forest.

Out of the inn and walk along the East Street for 400 meters to the City God Temple, the free trade market of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, where there are a variety of things and things, all kinds of snacks, fresh fruits and vegetables, necessities for clothing, food, housing and transportation.

Although Liangcheng is not big, the geographical location is remote, and the city god temple is naturally average, but after all, after hundreds of years of multiplication, the war of the barbarians has not burned this city, and Liangcheng has become a prosperous border city from scratch.

With the City God Temple as the center, it radiates 200 meters around, all of which are three-storey buildings, and most of the first and second floors are shops, and people come and go here every day from early morning to afternoon.

Small traders in the countryside go into the city to sell melons, fruits and vegetables, and some people go to the city to shop for things, and there are not many foreign merchants and tourists.

People in the city need to buy daily consumables for a day, at least more than half of the people like to come to the City God Temple to shop, here is a complete set of things, many people are lively, it is the most prosperous area in Liangcheng.

The north of the city is the military camp station, most of the families in the army also like to come here to buy things, of course, like many cities, Liangcheng also has two trade markets in the east and west of the city, but it is a pity that it has long been squeezed by the city god temple to survive, deserted, only some nearby residents who are too lazy to walk patronize.

Shi Keqi walked in it, full of court official words, because his grandfather had taught him to say this kind of thing since he was a child, it sounded unhindered, far more pleasant than walking around and hearing miscellaneous local dialects.

The people of Liangcheng are basically the descendants of the army of demon beasts that year, and the army is a place where official language must be spoken. If an officer with a foul tongue gives an order, few of his subordinates can understand it, and it will be fun in battle.

And in Liangcheng, if you see a child controlling a clumsy little native to play, don't be too surprised, the child's distant ancestor may be a soil mage.

Xiaolan was originally carried by Shi Keqi to walk, and when he bought two large bags of fried noodles and a few packets of well salt, he lay on his own shoulder. Occasionally, I wanted to jump down and walk along, but after being scolded by Shi Keqi a few times, I drooped my head and sat honestly on my shoulder.

But there are also advantages to this, the local traders are very shrewd, and they can tell who is from outside the city with a few words, and even more powerfully, they can know at a glance. The price of outsiders is a little higher, which is called killing pigs, which means slaughtering customers, and it is suitable for children to be used throughout the country.

But the cute and stupid little blue grabbed the master's clothes with his two paws, and the other two small paws kept waving, hissing in his mouth. Although the pet is small, it looks really extraordinary, all of which suggest that the owner is not an ordinary person, and the trader weighs it in his heart, or honestly quotes a reasonable price.

Even local thieves stay away, and snake players can't afford to mess with them.