At 6:29 a.m. on May 3, on a road in a suburban area of N City.

The earth is still in a state of tranquility, as if it has not yet woken up from the sweet dreams of the night.

The sun had risen, steaming a faint mist in the air.

Probably because it was still a holiday, and it was still early in the morning, there were few cars on the road, and the whole world seemed to be left with only birds chirping on telephone poles, inadvertently welcoming the last light before the end of the world.

Suddenly, a faint roar of engines sounded in the quiet morning light, and in the far distance of the road, in the direction of the city of N, a black dot faintly appeared, and as time passed, this black dot continued to grow larger.

It was a black Ducati that had been pushed to the extreme, and everywhere it went, the roar of the engine was like the roar of a wild beast, as if trying to wake up the still drowsy world.

On the driver's seat of the motorcycle was a young man in a gray hooded sweatshirt, and the morning breeze became fierce under the high-speed movement, slapping on the young man's face like a wave.

It seemed that even the wind wanted to hinder his way.

But the young man was not distracted by these things, his peach blossom eyes were full of determination, and he did not let go of the accelerator in his hand at all.

"Six-thirty, the time should come in time......"

Zhang Heng muttered to himself in a low voice, fine-tuned the direction in his hand, and drove the motorcycle into a narrow fork in the road.

The terrain of N City is mostly hilly, and although the altitude is not very high, it is also a mountain, which will invisibly increase the difficulty of development.

Therefore, the local government has taken a laissez-faire attitude towards most of these mountains, and unless it is necessary to develop them, they are left to the residents to develop independently.

And the fork in the road that Zhang Heng turned into just now was one of these countless hills.

From a distance, the hill has only one fork in the mountain, and it has been separated from the main road not long before disappearing into the lush greenery, which has a small sense of seclusion in the wilderness.

After entering the forest, Zhang Heng slowed down his progress, maintaining the speed of the motorcycle at forty yards per hour, while his eyes kept looking around, as if looking for something.

But the surrounding mountains and forests are quiet, the towering trees seem to be the same background, the only thing that changes is the road surface under the tires, from new and smooth to old, and from old to tattered.

As Zhang Heng continued to go deeper, the road that could be used for motorcycles became narrower and narrower, and even the cement on it became extremely perfunctory, with cracks everywhere and overgrown with weeds, as if it had been abandoned by civilization.

Even the roar of the engine became strange at this moment, and it seemed that even the motorcycle under Zhang Heng's crotch felt that this land was out of place with it, and desperately wanted to leave here.

"Here we are."

The motorcycle stopped beside a winding path, and Zhang Heng glanced at the stone monument on the side, and after comparing the scene in front of him with the picture in his memory, he spoke.

The further he went, the more vigorous the weeds and shrubs on the steps became, and the exaggerations were even covered with cobwebs, and at a glance he knew that no one had passed through this path for a long time.

After walking about two or three hundred steps, a platform that was not spacious appeared in front of Zhang Heng's eyes, and the whole platform was paved with bluestone slabs, which looked full of the atmosphere of time.

In the center of the platform there is a small temple, presumably due to disrepair,

The wooden pillars used for support have long since decayed and broken, and even the roof has collapsed in half, making it look dilapidated.

As for the statues of the gods enshrined in the temple, they are nowhere to be found, and the place where the altar is empty and full of old cobwebs and thick dust.

The path up the mountain seems to have been built for this dilapidated temple, and now that the temple is dilapidated, the path is naturally deserted by no one to walk.

If ordinary people come here, they will be curious about the origin of the temple and feel the changes of time.

Zhang Heng, on the other hand, paced back and forth along the lines on the bluestone slab after scanning the temple, as if he was measuring something, and as if he was looking for some mark.

After going around three times, Zhang Heng's eyes lit up, and he immediately chose a certain direction and continued to walk towards the mountain.

However, in front of him, there were only clumps of weeds and shrubs, and there were no roads to pass through.

But Zhang Heng seemed to be unconscious, closed his eyes directly, stretched his arms forward, and began to crawl on the slippery mud floor.

It's like a lizard with a strange posture, quickly climbing towards a higher mountain.

Despite his crawling stance, the rest of his body did not touch the mud except for the young man's palms and feet, and at best he was only stained with the dew from the leaves of some plants.

In Zhang Heng's feeling, the wild grass in front of him that was hindering his progress seemed to automatically retreat to the sides, and crawling with his hands and feet allowed him to grope for a path in the dark.

After walking in the dark for about five minutes, Zhang Heng suddenly felt that the ground that his right palm touched was not soft soil, but a large hard object, and the cold feeling poured in from his palm, making him shiver involuntarily.

But Zhang Heng's heart was hot at this moment, his eyes opened, and he saw that his right hand was touching the square bluestone steps, and the young man's face finally showed a relieved smile.

"It's really here......"

The moment Zhang Heng stepped up the bluestone steps, the insects and birds that had always existed around disappeared, as if they were isolated from the outside by something, and all that remained was tranquility.

For this kind of abrupt change, Zhang Heng's face was not afraid, but a little more curious.

But he knew what he was doing, and now was not the time to study the changes.

After briefly cleaning up the dirt on his hands, Zhang Heng immediately walked up the steps.

Although the steps are covered with moss, there are still faint traces of knives and axes, and they do not look like they have been carefully carved by craftsmen, but rather resemble the shape of being chopped by some sharp object.

The number of shrubs and weeds has dwindled dramatically, and tall trees have grown one after the other on both sides of the steps, their canopies blocking out almost all light, leaving only sparse holes that barely provide light for pedestrians.

After walking in this deep and quiet environment for about ten minutes, Zhang Heng's brows gradually furrowed.

He seems to have been going uphill.

It is obviously a small mountain, but the steps under the feet seem to be inexhaustible, although the route of travel is winding and not a straight line, but after walking for more than ten minutes before the end, it seems that something is wrong.

Since he felt that something was wrong, Zhang Heng simply sat down on one of the steps, and after breathing for a few seconds, he seemed to have made up his mind.

I saw the young man stand up from the steps, take a sharp breath, and shout loudly towards the top of the steps.

"Junior Zhang Heng! Come and ask to meet the two Guiguzi heirs! ”

Although it was a shout, Zhang Heng's voice was not loud, but it faintly revealed a strong force, which seemed to be extremely penetrating.

After repeating it three times, Zhang Heng stood with his fists clenched in place, bowing slightly, and posing extremely respectfully.

However, there was still silence around, and even the voice that Zhang Heng shouted earlier seemed to be hidden in the dense forest, and there was no response.

But none of this affected Zhang Heng from continuing to maintain respectful movements.

Although he was a little apprehensive now, after all, the surroundings were so quiet that he could hear the hum of the rotor in his left arm.

Just when Zhang Heng was about to lose his patience, a kind laughter came from the forest, wrapped in a soft breeze, and an old man in a plain white tights robe appeared as if out of thin air, standing in front of Zhang Heng.

"Xiaoyou is really unseen, and he even knows about our Guigu faction, but he came to learn from him? It's a pity it's a man, hahahaha......"

The old man was a little chubby, with thick eyebrows and black hair, a small goatee on his chin, and a smile on his face, looking only sixty or seventy years old.

The white robe matched with the tone of the old man's speech, it was quite a bit of a hermit master's demeanor, but the weapon in the hand of this master was a little unexpected by Zhang Heng, and he suddenly caught a glimpse without psychological preparation, which couldn't help but make the corners of Zhang Heng's eyes twitch, and a feeling of disharmony arose spontaneously from the bottom of his heart.

Because the weapon in the hand of the chubby old man was not a sword, but a blue-black triangular harpoon.

"Uh-huh...... Dare to ask the seniors, but the [Zong] among the descendants of Guiguzi? Li Baiyi's senior? ”

Seeing that his expression was about to lose control, Zhang Heng hurriedly clenched his fists and lowered his head, and asked.

"That's right, I didn't expect Xiaoyou to know the name of the old man, the old man is the successor of the [Zong] faction under Guiguzi, and Li Baiyi is also."

As he spoke, the smile on the old man's face became more and more warm, as if he had seen a close friend he hadn't seen for many years, and his joy was beyond words.

"Uh...... As far as the younger generations know, there are two factions in Guigu, one faction is [vertical], and the other faction is [horizontal], dare to ask the seniors, where is the successor of this [horizontal] faction? ”

Zhang Heng cautiously looked at the expression on the other party's face, and after confirming that the other party was really happy, he cautiously said the next words.

Unexpectedly, as soon as these words came out, the old man who was still chuckling instantly stopped speaking, and the warmth on his face froze on the spot.

Silence returned to the forest, and an awkward atmosphere quickly spread between the two.

"Humph! You're here to find the old ghost of Week Seven? ”

Zhang Heng's words seemed to arouse the unhappiness in Li Baiyi's heart, but he quickly changed his face and snorted unkindly.

"No, the juniors are here to look for the two seniors, and now I have seen the successors of the [Vertical] faction, but I have not seen the [Heng] faction, and I have doubts in my heart, so I opened my mouth to ask, if there is any offense, I hope that the seniors Haihan!"

As he spoke, Zhang Heng saluted the old man in white with his fists again, full of apologies between his movements, without the slightest disrespect.

Seeing that the young man in front of him really didn't mean to be disrespectful, the slightly chubby old man's face softened, and he coughed lightly.

"That old ghost is practicing knives on it, come with me."

Before the words landed, the chubby old man tapped his toes, jumped up several bluestone steps in one step, and walked towards the mountain......