Changbai Mountain is located in the northernmost part of the northern frontier of the Dashun Empire, stretching for thousands of miles from east to west, it is not only the national boundary between the Dashun Empire and the northern Hu people, but also the boundary between the Central Continent and the Northern Continent under the vast heavenly dome.

As the name suggests, Changbai Mountain is covered with snow all year round, and even at noon on the hottest days of summer, the snow on the mountain cannot melt at all.

Only in the gentle mountains can hardy plants grow, and the vast white land of tens of thousands of miles is dotted with green that represents life, so that the suffering human beings here can live.

At the foot of Nalan Peak, in the town of Ningku, hundreds of such suffering human beings live.

On March 18, the 42nd year of Dashun Wude, for those who have lived in Ningku Town for 16 years, it is an ordinary day as thousands of days and nights before, the sun will still rise in the east and set in the west, and the moon will still rise at night, and if the sky is clear, you will be lucky enough to see those few but unusually bright stars in the sky.

Of course, the weather will still be cold, they will still have a shortage of warm clothing, and there will still be not enough to eat.

But Yi Wenjing didn't think so.

He got up before dawn, brushed his teeth with the bony horsetail toothbrush that had been carefully kept for more than ten years, then changed into the cotton robe that he was willing to wear during the New Year, and then walked out of his courtyard and trotted all the way to the earthen walls of the town built to prevent the attack of wild wolves.

The early spring morning was unusually cold, although it was not as cold as the cold winter, but it was not as cold as Jiangnan, and the knife-like wind blew from outside the city, blowing into Yi Wenjing's clean and bright, finely workmanship, but obviously not as warm as animal skin, he spasmed like a sheep's horn wind.

However, even so, Yi Wenjing did not walk down from the windward city wall, but retreated to the next best thing, entering the same simple wooden corner tower that did not shelter from the wind, stretching her neck and looking into the distance.

It wasn't until the sun completely jumped out of the sea in the Eastern Regions, pouring thousands of rays of light on this vast land without reservation, and by the way, also lit up a mountain west of Ningku Town, that Yi Wenjing saw two black horses galloping out of the col he had been looking at and galloping in the direction where he was.

Yi Wenjing was overjoyed, stumbled down the corner tower, came to the simple city gate, stretched out his almost frozen hand, and trembled to lift the hard and heavy crossbar on the city gate.

The passengers on the two black horses had already dismounted, and when they saw the gate of the city, which was less than three meters high, open, they immediately led their horses inside.

Yi Wenjing stood at the gate of the city with a smile on her face, and when she saw the leading black man walking towards her, she hurriedly stepped forward to pick up the reins in the big man's hand.

The big man shook his head at him, and with a flick of his hand, he threw the reins in his hand to the equally swarthy man behind him, and then, he laughed, revealing two rows of fine white teeth.

"Brother Yi has been in Northern Xinjiang for 16 years, and he hasn't blown enough of the wind in Changbai Mountain, or is it that Big Brother's physique is no longer afraid of the severe cold of this Ninggu Town?" Although he said this with a smile, the slightest reproach in the black man's words was fully revealed, and it also showed his concern for Yi Wenjing's body.

"Where did Brother Dai come from? I'm just worried that His Royal Highness the prince has an edict coming, and I am afraid that it will be disrespectful to accept the edict in a bearded suit, although the body is cold, but when I go out and drink strong wine, the blood in my body is boiling, but it's okay, it's okay!" Yi Wenjing smiled and explained to the big black man, and at the same time a warm current rose in his heart - or his own brother was sympathetic to himself.

This black man's surname is Dai Mingzong, and he is the escort officer of the student field of the Academy of Scholars who cheated in the field sixteen years ago, and 300 people were exiled by His Majesty the Emperor at the same time to Changbai Mountain in Saibei

It's just that along the way, there were many disasters, prisoners and officers and soldiers supported each other, lived and died together, and formed a deep friendship, and since then, the two have been called brothers, and there is no longer the estrangement between literati and warriors, prisoners, and officers and soldiers.

However, after breaking up that year and 16 years after parting, the two met worlds apart.

Yi Wenjing was exiled and imprisoned in Ningku Town, and the ban was sixteen years, although there were friends in the middle to rescue him, but all of them were soft-spoken and to no avail.

Dai Zong returned to the capital of Dashun, but his official fortune was prosperous, and he was promoted one after another, and now he is already a third-class guard with a knife in Da Nei, and he is a fifth-rank official.

Recently, Li Qing, the ninth prince of Dashun, inspected Changbai Mountain and looked at the Hu people in the Northern Regions.

Today is the second visit he has scheduled.

Ninggu Town is not big, and Yi Wenjing's house is not far from the city gate, and the two of them said a few words, and they quickly saw the gate of his family courtyard.

It is said to be a gate, but it is just a gap in the middle of an earthen wall, and a dead tree trunk is buried in the ground in the middle as a threshold.

Tethering the two black horses to the stake in front of the door, Dai Zong and the swarthy man behind him followed Yi Wenjing into the courtyard.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, a strong bloody aura rushed into the noses of the three people, and Dai Zong couldn't help frowning and looked towards the place where the bloody smell was emanating.

At a glance, Dai Zong and the man behind him froze at the same time, his body was slightly stiff, and his feet refused to move as if they were nailed to the ground.

On the west side of the courtyard, next to the earthen well under the earthen wall, a young man in a short animal skin was holding a jet-black dagger dissecting a half-human-long, unusually strong blue-yellow roe deer, the dagger moved very smoothly in the roe deer's body, fast and unusually fast, but with a special rhythm.

In a short time, the whole skin of the roe deer was peeled off, and the flesh and bone were separated, and it was rare that there was no flesh on the bones of the roe deer, and the internal organs were separated, and there was no damage at all.

"That's how it is to solve the cow, right?" Dai Zong couldn't help but admire when he saw the young man finish dissecting the roe deer.

When the boy heard the voice, he rubbed the jet-black dagger twice on the animal skin next to him, inserted it into the leather sheath tied around his trouser leg, and straightened up.

As a result, Dai Zong and the others saw a fair and clean face of a young man who was somewhat similar to Yi Wenjing, but much younger, with a childish young man's fair and clean face between his eyebrows, and a pair of black and white eyes, which were smart but did not lose a trace of calmness and ability formed by the experience of life and death.

"Isn't it Uncle Dai from the capital?" The young man's gaze quickly swept over the faces of Dai Zong and the swarthy man behind him, and finally landed on Dai Zong's face, and he asked crisply.

"Exactly!" Dai Zong looked at the young man with a smile and nodded.

"Poof!" When the young man heard this, he immediately knelt on his knees, bowed in front of Dai Zong, and solemnly kowtowed.

This kowtow is not the usual three kowtows from the younger generations to the elders, but a more solemn and sincere nine kowtows.

"This kid, the etiquette is heavy, heavy!" Seeing the young man bow to himself, Dai Zong hurriedly stepped forward and reached out to pull the young man's arm - the nine kowtows are indeed more polite to him, you know, even his own uncle can't deserve such a big gift.

However, under the pull, Dai Zong unexpectedly did not pull the young man up, but instead dragged himself, and his body sank a little - the young man's arm strength was a little beyond his expectations.

The young man stubbornly kowtowed to Dai Zong nine times, stood up and said, "Uncle Dai, it's not that the etiquette is heavy, but that Uncle Dai deserves this ceremony." ”

"Oh, I deserve this gift, tell me, why should I receive this gift?" The young man's words and unusual arm strength aroused Dai Zong's interest, looking at the young and immature eyebrows and eyes, looking at the trace of calmness and ability that should not belong to his age, he couldn't help but be interested, and asked jokingly.

"My uncle saved my parents sixteen years ago, if my parents had an accident, Yi Jun, who was still a baby, would naturally not be spared, this is a life-saving grace. Then when I arrived in the town of Ningku, my uncle gave my father an extraordinary black iron dagger, without which I would have gone out hunting and had at least two lives in danger, but fortunately this dagger saved my life, which was equivalent to Uncle Dai's life. Three life-saving graces, Uncle Dai naturally has to accept my three bows. The young man who called himself Yi Jun was like a river, and the crisp sound of the jewels falling on the jade plate resounded, and Dai Zong was shocked and delighted when he heard it.

Sixteen years ago, Dai Zong and Yi Wenjing were separated in Ningku Town, and indeed gave Yi Wenjing the Xuantie dagger he carried with him because of safety considerations.

As the name suggests, the Xuantie dagger is made of Xuantie, and Xuantie is a very rare metal in the Five Domains Continent, which is harder and heavier than ordinary mortal iron, and the same volume of Xuantie is almost three to five times the weight of ordinary iron, and the weapons made from it are more tough and sharp, and any Xuantie blade can reach the sharpness of blowing hair, but it is not easy to collapse because of its toughness.

However, it is also because it is too heavy, and the long knives and long swords created by ordinary people cannot be wielded, and can only be used by ordinary people to create short blades such as daggers and hand-held stabs.

This Xuantie dagger was indeed Dai Zong's favorite thing when he was young, and when he returned to Kyoto, he was even more distressed for a while, not because Dai Zong was stingy, but because he felt that such a good dagger in the hands of a literati like Yi Wenjing was like a good article in the hands of a martial artist like him, which was tantamount to a pearl and jade dust.

At this time, hearing Xiao Yi Jun's words, this dagger was actually used by Yi Jun, helped him hunt, and saved his life twice, Dai Zong suddenly became extremely happy, and looked at Yi Jun's eyebrows and eyes and felt more pleasing to the eye, so he also felt more pity and love.

"Xiao Jun is right, brother, the dark iron dagger you left behind is useless on me, but it shines on Xiao Jun, he is now a well-known hunter in this Ninggu Town. Listening to Yi Jun's words, Yi Wenjing, as a father, was also very proud, and opened his mouth to explain to Dai Zong.

"A well-known hunter?" Dai Zong was stunned again, and then immediately understood the reason why Yi Jun's arm strength was extraordinarily large, it was the extraordinary arm strength that he had practiced by drawing a bow all year round!

"You hunted this roe deer?" Looking at the blood-red meat that had been dissolved into pieces under his feet, Dai Zong's tone was softer, and his eyes were more gentle, and he had long lost the sharp meaning of being blown by the mountain breeze of this Changbai Mountain.

"No!" Yi Jun shook his head, but he didn't wait for the puzzled look on Dai Zong's and the two faces to appear, then turned around, pointed to the wolf skins hanging on the earthen walls around the courtyard with his hand, and said, "Those are." ”

"Those?" looked in the direction of Yi Jun's finger, his eyes fell on the wolf skins, and the faces of Dai Zong and the swarthy man behind him changed again.

There is no shortage of two or three meters long in those wolf skins.

Counting the time sixteen years ago, Dai Zong has been to Changbai Mountain twice, especially this time with the Nine Emperor Princes to patrol the territory, he has not gone into the mountains to hunt, and knows the power of these wild wolves in Changbai Mountain-that is, he himself, and he is not sure to deal with a giant wolf two or three meters long one-on-one.

And his Dai Zong's martial arts in the inner guards are not weak, although they are not the strongest, but they are also among the top ten, of course, some people with special functions are not counted among them.

Although the Xuantie dagger is different from the ordinary dagger, cutting gold and jade, and sharpening iron like mud, those giant wolves in Changbai Mountain are not standing there and letting you cut them, on the contrary, they are extremely flexible, fast, and good at forbearance, and often attack unexpectedly, and the degree of ruthlessness is not inferior to that of some fierce tigers.

Thinking of this, Dai Zong couldn't help but be in awe when he looked at the young man.