In the middle of summer, the sky is clear and blue.

In the northern part of Yushi County, Huangzhou, there is a large forest.

In the afternoon, when there is no wind, the temperature outside the woods is extremely hot, but in the leafy woods, it is a little quiet, and only occasionally one or two sounds or movements of birds and beasts can be heard.

The sunlight shines through the cracks of the branches and leaves, casting dappled light and shadows on the ground in the woods, and a clear forest stream meanders and flows, and the crisp "whooshing" sound very pleasant.

Suddenly, from the upper reaches of the stream, there was a faint humming voice, accompanied by the sound of flowing water hitting stones, which seemed to have a unique charm, and sounded very pleasant.

As time passed, the singing approached, and the humming became clearer.

A moment later, a figure appeared beside the stream, a young man dressed in gray cloth, about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a bright gaze shot from his lacquered eyes, and his face and eyebrows were unusually cold.

The boy carried a large burden on his back, and in his right hand he held a long strip of something about three feet long, wrapped in a light blue coarse cloth on the outside, and the other end was placed on his right shoulder. The boy walked slowly along the side of the stream, humming softly.

The scorching sun was in the sky, and the heat was steaming and surging on the ground.

On the overgrown barren slope, there was a gray-white figure walking, who was rushing from Huangzhou City to Shuxian Bianyao. At this moment, he walked in a hurry, but from time to time he stopped looking around, as if he was looking for something.

It was winter when we set off from Huangzhou City, and it was now July. After a nine-month journey, he passed through Xuecheng County, Linghu County, Xiyang County, Hanjiang County, and Lu County, and just entered Yushi County a few days ago. As long as you pass through this county and pass through a "chaotic plain", you can reach the destination of this trip - Shuxian.

To say that Bian Yao was able to cross five counties in nine months, it was entirely thanks to the map given to him by the Night Corpse, and the itinerary marked in it was relatively safe and very fast. Except for encountering some fierce beasts and low-level alien beasts, he did not encounter any danger.

On the way, as long as he encounters a crowded place, Bian Yao will take out the burden from the space bag and pretend to be a displaced ordinary person. For ordinary people who don't have cultivation qualifications, dream cultivators have always disdained him and won't pay attention to him at all. Even if you are sometimes laughed at and teased, it will never cause major trouble and danger.

After coming to the top of the slope, Bian Yao stopped and wiped the sweat stains on his face. When I looked up, I saw that there was a large forest not far from the hillside. Suddenly, the bitter face overflowed with surprise, and the frowning brow also relaxed.

Bian Yao pressed a little harder under his feet, and his figure suddenly rushed out. He ran down the hill and sprinted toward the woods.

After about a moment, Bian Yao scurried into the forest, avoiding the direct rays of the sun overhead, and threw himself into the dense green shade. He didn't go deep into the forest, only swam in the edge for a while, then climbed a big tree more than ten zhang high, leaned on the thick branches, took out a jar of spirit fruit wine and drank it, and then closed his eyes and recuperated.

In the south of Huangzhou, every summer is very hot, especially around noon, if a low-level dream cultivator is directly exposed to the hot sun and rushes, even if he walks slowly, he can only last an hour at most and will collapse, let alone run under the scorching sun.

On a summer afternoon, the clock is slowly passing.

About two hours later, suddenly, a strange squeak came into Bian Yao's ears, and he suddenly opened his eyes, and looked up at the top of his head.

I saw a chubby adult "three-tailed mouse" squatting on the branch less than a zhang away from the top of his head, and his two front paws were holding a fist-sized green fruit to nibble. This rat is a strange beast, more than twice the size of the average squirrel, with brown fur and three fluffy tails about two feet long, which swing up and down one after another.

Bian Yao saw the strange beast "Three-Tailed Mouse" for the first time, and felt very novel and interesting, and he couldn't help grinning when he looked at it.

The "three-tailed rat" noticed that he was being stared at, and suddenly stopped flicking his tail, and the three big furry tails all stood upside down, and at the same time glared at the pair of thief's slippery eyes, and looked at Bian Yao vigilantly, and from time to time showed two fangs at him as a threat.

In this way, the confrontation between the man and the mouse lasted for about ten breaths, and Bian Yao couldn't help but start to move, he wanted to catch the three-tailed rat. Along the way, the passion has long been exhausted in the long distance, although the unfamiliar environment can also be attractive, but the novelty is no longer there, and he will always find some fun for himself from time to time when he is a teenager.

Bian Yao's body slowly leaned forward, slowly adjusting his legs and feet, trying to put on a position that was convenient for attacking. However, the "three-tailed mouse" was very alert, and did not give him a chance to prepare at all, and suddenly dropped the half-eaten fruit, turned around and jumped towards another tree.

The three-tailed rat escaped like this, which aroused Bian Yao's playfulness. He bent his knees and kicked the thick branch under his feet, and his figure suddenly bounced up diagonally, and then pounced on the tree next to him, and chased after the three-tailed mouse.

After resting in the trees for most of the day, Bian Yao's spirit and physical strength were fully restored and full of vitality! A man and a mouse jumped left and right in the woods, staging a boring chase scene, and the branches in the forest kept being pressed down and bounced up.

Bian Yao was in a high mood, and his face was full of excitement! In terms of speed, he was a little faster than the three-tailed mouse, but that little thing had the advantage of body size, and the flexibility of his body was even higher than his own. How to say that the three-tailed rat is also a presence that wanders in this forest all day long, and is naturally very familiar with the environment here, it jumps up and down quickly and smartly, flashes left and right, and can always throw off the pursuers at a critical moment, turning danger into a disaster.

Before you know it, a quarter of an hour has passed, and the speed and agility of the three-tailed rat have decreased, but Bian Yao has hardly changed.

In the past, when he practiced with the night corpse, he often shuttled through the woods, let alone ran on the plains. For physical arts, and related breakthroughs in endurance and physical limits, the old ghost once took him for special spiritual training. And in the past nine months, Bian Yao has gone through a variety of complex geographical environments, although he still has not broken through to the realm of dream madness, but his physical skills have really improved a lot compared to when he was in the imperial city.

As the body moved, there was a faint sound of "whoosh" in his ears, but Bian Yao was only focused on the three-tailed rat and had no time to care about anything else. Seeing that the speed of the three-tailed rat was gradually slowing down, and his flexibility was becoming less and less than before, he was secretly happy in his heart!

The distance was getting closer and closer, and Bian Yao suddenly accelerated, and his body suddenly sped up.

He slammed his foot on the trunk of the tree in front of him, and with the force of the instantaneous rebound, he flew up and drew a small arc in front of the three-tailed rat fleeing.

The three-tailed rat suddenly realized that the direction of his escape was intercepted, and he failed to brake for a while, let alone turn around, but rushed forward by inertia. Bian Yao took advantage of this opportunity and quickly reached out with his right hand to grab the neck of the three-tailed mouse, but the speed was very unfortunate to be half a beat slower, and his fingers only touched one of its tails.

Suddenly, a cold light with a gray shadow shot from the oblique side!

In the blink of an eye, the cold light sank into the three-tailed rat's body and struck it at the nearby tree.

In an instant, Bian Yao's pupils dilated suddenly, and his heart was shocked! His right foot kicked sharply at the nearest tree trunk, soared backwards, and landed steadily on the branch of a tree behind him in a half-squatting position.

The three-tailed rat is dead! It was pierced through the body by a sharp sword and nailed to the tree!

The gray shadow of Fang Cai jumped up, and the probe easily drew the sword, and at the same time grabbed the body of the three-tailed rat with a flick of his hand, and held it tightly in his hand.

The gray-clothed young man looked sideways at Bian Yao, glanced at him expressionlessly, didn't say a word, held the sword in one hand and the three-tailed mouse in the other, turned around and walked away.

"Sword cultivator?" It wasn't until the gray-clothed young man walked ten zhang away that Bian Yao whispered and reacted.

Judging from Fang Cai's skill and speed, the strength of the gray-clothed young man was several points inferior to that of the little barbarian girl in Huangzhou City who didn't like to talk! The sword cultivator in the sword cultivator has a realm level equivalent to the dream walker in the dream cultivator.

Bian Yao's current cultivation was at the peak of the late stage of the Dream Walker, and if there was a conflict, he was not sure if he would be able to defeat the other party, at least the other party's speed should be above him! He blinked in confusion, jumped down from the tree, and followed the young man.

After a while, the gray-clothed young man came to the edge of the stream and thrust his sword into the ground. Pulling out a short knife from his waist, the boy quickly and skillfully skinned and disemboweled, and finally washed the three-tailed rat in the flowing stream.

Bian Yao stood quietly two feet behind the young man, leaning against a small tree, watching silently.

On the right back of the gray-clothed boy was a large baggage, a scabbard, and a light blue coarse cloth. Half a foot to his left was a small pile of dry wood, apparently cut from dead wood. Two thick wooden sticks in the shape of "Ya" were inserted on both sides of the pile of wood.

With little effort, the boy got up from the brook, stooped down and took out a handful of fine grains of salt from his baggage, and sprinkled them carefully and evenly on the three-tailed rat's body. When he had done this, he walked over to the pile, picked out a thumb-thick stick, threaded the three-tailed rat from head to tail, and then put the ends of the stick on the two sticks. Immediately afterward, he lit the pile of wood with a flint and began to grill the meat of the three-tailed rat.

Back to the stream, the gray-clothed boy pulled out his sword, reached into the stream, gently wiped it with his hand, and put it into its scabbard. Carrying his sword to the fire, he thrust it into the ground, then sat up cross-legged and closed his eyes.

From beginning to end, the gray-clothed young man didn't speak, as if Bian Yao didn't exist! As for Bian Yao, who was standing against the tree, he was secretly guessing in his heart how likely it would be that the young man was a mute?

Bian Yao stared at the young man for a while, and then moved his gaze to the three-tailed rat that was being grilled by the fire, he swallowed his throat, and inadvertently revealed a greedy look. It had been a long time since he had eaten this kind of barbecued game, and he had always eaten spirit fruits to satisfy his hunger during this trip.

It didn't take long for the wood below to make a "sizzling" sound as the grease dripping from the three-tailed rat's body, and at the same time emitting a burst of meat aroma.

Bian Yao hesitated for a long time, then suddenly walked to the opposite side of the gray-clothed young man, and said, "Hey, divide me in half!"

Hearing this, the gray-clothed young man opened his eyes, stared at Bian Yao for a few breaths, and finally replied coldly: "Why should I give it to you!"

"I found out first, you suddenly came out and snatched my things, I'm only asking you half of it now, it's already very good!" Bian Yao said without changing his face.

"What's the use of finding out first! I don't have the ability to catch it, if you want to blame yourself, blame yourself!" the gray-clothed young man's tone remained unchanged.

Bian Yao's face was slightly red, and he paused before he spoke: "I was going to capture it alive, and I didn't think about killing it, otherwise I would have caught it a long time ago!"

"I don't care if you want to catch you alive or dead, I'm just looking for food!" the young man in gray still had the same lukewarm attitude.

"Divide me in half!" Bian Yao repeated his previous words, but he didn't have much confidence.

"No!" the boy glared at him, his voice cold and resolute.

"Or else. Bian Yao rolled his eyes and suggested: "This time you will share half of me, and next time I catch something, I will also share half of you!"

"There is no next time!"

Bian Yao was silent for a while, then suddenly sat down cross-legged opposite the young man, took out a handful of green fragrant fruit and ate it by himself, his mouth kept making noises, and his face showed an expression of enjoyment.

When the gray-clothed young man saw an extra handful of spirit fruit out of thin air in his hand, he couldn't help but flash a strange light in his eyes, and then he "snorted" again and did not speak.

"Do you want to eat it? I'll exchange the spirit fruit for you. Bian Yao pursed his lips and finally decided to take a step back.

"Okay, a hundred spice fruits!" the young man's answer was crisp, direct, and unkind.

"Do you know how much food can be exchanged for a hundred green fruits in a restaurant?" Bian Yao couldn't help laughing, and he felt a little amused at the young lion's big mouth.

"I only know that in the great desert, half of my three-tailed rat meat can be exchanged for a human life!" The young man's unchanged cold tone made Bian Yao feel crazy!

Bian Yao closed his mouth and roughly calculated, when he set off from Huangzhou City, counting the piles of spirit fruits that the old ghost gave him at the end, there were nearly 30,000 spirit fruits of all kinds in the space bag. Now, nine months have passed, and now there are only about 5,000 spirit fruits left in his body.

"Okay! a hundred!" Bian Yao agreed after a moment's consideration.

So the gray-clothed young man stood up, walked to the side, took his big burden, took out an empty bag from it, and said, "Put it in here." ”

Bian Yao's mind moved slightly, and a hundred bixiang fruits appeared in the baggage.

The gray-clothed young man silently counted and confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the hundred green fruits.

"You're a sword cultivator, right?, why don't you have a space bag?" Bian Yao asked curiously.

"Sooner or later, there will be!" The gray-clothed young man lowered his head and buttoned up his burden and tightened his mouth.

"I'm wondering, why are all of you sword cultivators so weird. Bian Yao sat back across from the young man, across the fire, smelling the smell of meat, and opened his mouth to say: "I met a sword cultivator before, and he didn't speak all day! ”

The gray-clothed young man stretched out his hand, flipped the three-tailed rat above the fire, and said, "Could it be that all dream cultivators are like you?

Hearing what the other party said, Bian Yao's face froze slightly, and his heart said What I said? Maybe it's because I haven't spoken to anyone for a long time! For some reason, he had an inexplicable feeling about this strange boy of the same age as himself in front of him, and he didn't have much defense against him in his heart.

"I can't call it white food! I found it first, and I've given you a hundred Bixiang Fruit now! It's enough to change the whole one!" Bian Yao said dissatisfiedly, staring at the three-tailed rat above the fire and swallowing.

The gray-clothed young man didn't say anything more, maybe he didn't want to talk more, maybe he just wanted to hurry up and cultivate, he closed his eyes again and continued to meditate.

The cultivation method of sword cultivators is a bit bitter, unlike dream cultivators who can improve their cultivation realm just by sleeping. For sword cultivators of the Sword Demon level, their bodies were already able to absorb the spiritual energy in the heavens and the earth, and refine it in their bodies, turning it into pure sword qi and storing it.

More than half an hour passed, and the aroma of the meat became stronger and stronger, and it was almost ready to eat. While waiting, Bian Yao took out some seasoning from the space bag and sprinkled it evenly on the three-tailed mouse.

The gray-clothed young man opened his eyes, looked at Bian Yao's actions and said nothing, only let out a "grunt" in his stomach.

Put out the fire first, and when it was time to divide the meat, the gray-clothed young man asked Bian Yao to grab the tail and forelimbs of the three-tailed mouse, and he used the sharp short knife to skillfully divide it in half evenly, and generously gave Bian Yao an extra tail.

"Do you want to drink wine?" Bian Yao took out a jar of wine and shook it, and asked with a smile.

"Don't drink it. The gray-clothed young man glanced up at him, then lowered his head again, and focused on biting the half of the three-tailed mouse in his hand.

The gray-clothed young man finished the roast rat meat first, got up and walked to the stream, washed his hands, turned around and pulled the sword out of the ground, wiped the dirt from the scabbard, and carefully wrapped the sword with the light blue coarse cloth.

Bian Yao watched his actions and felt very curious in his heart. In his cognition, sword cultivation always carried the sword behind his back, which looked awe-inspiring and very majestic! But this young sword cultivator wrapped the sword like a hidden treasure and held it in his hand. In fact, from the beginning, he noticed that the young man's sword was just a sword made of ordinary dark iron, which could be bought at any weapon shop in the city, and it could be bought for about a few thousand dream coins!

"Sword cultivators are really strange guys!" Bian Yao said secretly in his heart after biting the last tail.

By this time, the sun was setting westward, and the light in the woods had begun to dim.

The gray-clothed boy picked up two burdens and carried them on his shoulders, and the sword wrapped in cloth was slung on his shoulders, and set off to walk out of the woods.

"Where are you going?" Bian Yao had just finished washing his hands, turned his head and saw that the young man had walked more than ten feet away, and hurriedly chased after him.

"Tree County!" replied lightly to the gray-clothed young man.

"What a coincidence! I also went to Shuxian County, and it happened that we were walking together. Bian Yao shouted happily.

"I don't know you, and I don't like to walk with other people. The boy's voice was still lukewarm, always lacking a little human touch.

"I didn't know each other at first, but slowly I got acquainted! There is still a long way to go from here to Shuxian, and there is a companion on the road, and you can talk when you are bored, isn't it very good!"

However, no matter what Bian Yao said, the gray-clothed young man just kept his mouth shut and didn't want to respond. Half an hour later, the two of them walked out of the woods one after the other.

The sun is setting, and the sky in the west is full of sunset.

Although there is no scorching sun, the residual heat of the ground is still steaming, and the inflammation has not dissipated.

"Don't follow me anymore!" said the gray-clothed young man coldly, and then tightened the burden on his back, and walked into a wild path full of grass with his sword, and stepped into the twilight alone.

Bian Yao stood stunned in place, silently staring at the young man's back, his face full of disappointment.

Under the setting sun, a soft humming sound suddenly sounded, faintly reaching his ears, melodious and beautiful. The song faded away with the figure of the gray-clothed young man, and finally disappeared without a trace.