Hou Yi arranged state affairs, packed up the details, and joined hands with Chang'e to start the road to the moon.

After a few months of journey, the two came to the foot of Song Mountain.

As the Songshan Mountain among the five mountains, the east and west are undulating, and the dragon beams; It is tall and majestic, the momentum is extended, and the peak is flat and open like the cover of a treasure building. Surrounded by a hill like a broken bridge, the east leans on the Yellow River city; It is bordered by the ancient capital of Luoyi in the west. south by Yingshui; It is bordered by the Yellow River to the north. The peaks are continuous, and the clouds and mist are bright; The river is magnificent and beautiful, the saga is open, known as the Zen source of the beautiful scenery of Songshan Mountain, and the clouds, rain and snow are admired. The afterglow of the echo of the hollow valley is like the morning bell and dusk drum of the temple, ethereal to the vulgar thoughts at the bottom of the soul; A simple person will produce a kind of philosophical caprice, and you will become ethereal and simple when you are complicated by the glitz and glitz of reality; If you stand on the peak and look into the distance, the vastness and vastness of heaven and earth will make a person who is confined to paranoia and narrow-mindedness get out of the self-enclosed trap and escape into the realm of ethereal and far-reaching.

On this day, the two walked hand in hand in Yuzhou City, walked into the city, a smell of corpses permeated the entire Yuzhou Street, crying and screaming filled the sky above Yuzhou City, and people on the ground carried the corpses and the wounded in twos and threes and walked in frustration.

Hou Yi grabbed a person and asked, "This little brother, what is going on here?" ”

The pedestrian replied, "You are from a foreign country, don't you know?" Last night, the monster came to hurt people again. ”

Hou Yi asked, "What monster?" ”

"The monster dragon head and tiger claws, human face and beast body, the size of a room, the mouth of the fire dragon, see the house to burn, see the person to catch, come many times, each time to kill and wound countless people, we once also set up a guard, thinking about killing it, helpless too strong, the sword can't reach the front of the body, more than 20 people, in the end only I and the other 2 people survived." After the pedestrian finished talking, a trace of horror appeared on his face.

"Do you know where that monster came from?"

"I don't know, I only know that it comes from Songshan, its existence, a radius of 50 miles does not grow an inch of grass, everywhere I go, the fire burns day and night, everyone doesn't know what to do, everyone gives it a name called suffocation."

"Why haven't you moved somewhere else?" Hou Yi asked curiously.

"We've lived here for generations, and where are we going! Some time ago, I heard that there was a more vicious monster not far from Songshan, which was even more ferocious than suffocation. Anyway, running away is death, and this is also waiting for death, rather than running away, it is better to wait for death here. The person who came said helplessly.

"Does this monster come at night?"

"Yes, every time it comes in the second half of the night when people are asleep, so we have a lot of dead and injured every time, and everyone can hide during the day, but not at night."

"I'm going to meet you tonight, can you spend the night in our city!" Hou Yi said.

"Our house is almost burned, I'm afraid there is no place for you, by the way, there is a dragon temple on the edge of the city, you can go there to spend the night. (Before Buddhism, totems were believed in various places, and the dragon temple mentioned here should be a form of the snake as a totem.) ）”

After the pedestrian finished speaking, Hou Yi thanked him and took Chang'e to walk in the direction of the pedestrian's guidance, looked from afar, only to see a relatively intact five buildings standing in the east of the city, sitting north and facing south, made of earth and stone, the top adopts a wood and stone structure, a circular bronze vessel was erected in front, a python-shaped sculpture hovered upwards on the top, and the auspicious clouds were carved below, like the clouds driving the fog.

Hou Yi pushed open the door, the moment he stepped in, a smell of turbidity and mildew hit him, the cobwebs were dense, directly opposite a snake-shaped Tengyun mural, and an offering table below, the fruits and meat enshrined on it were already moldy, mosquitoes were raging, and the incense had already become ashes, and no one had come to worship this totem temple for a long time.

Hou Yi and Chang'e found a place to clean up, although it is still not only human, in this world where people and nature compete for living space, it is not easy to have a place to live.

Hou Yi sat on the ground, hugged Chang'e into his arms, and sat quietly.

After a while, Hou Yi finally spoke: "Concubine Ai, let you walk out of the palace with me, you have suffered a lot of grievances, and I really can't bear to sleep in the open every day." ”

Chang'e looked at Hou Yi affectionately, her red lips were not opened, and she said: "No, I am willing to accompany you to the ends of the earth, grow old with you, go through the hardships of life together, and share a better world." ”

Hou Yi hugged Chang'e tightly, and after a few months of fatigue, she was finally able to sleep beautifully.

In the blink of an eye, the night has arrived, the slightest coolness enters the room through the gap, the whole city is silent, it seems that only the sound of the wind blowing sand and dust, the bright moonlight is unexpectedly beautiful, and the holy one is not a little impurity.

Suddenly, a roar resounded throughout Songshan, and then, the gongs and drums rang out in unison, and the entire Yuzhou City suddenly boiled, shouting, screaming, crying, and scolding suddenly resounded all over the world, and the streets ran wildly, and then some houses were blazing and burning, accompanied by a hissing crackling thought.

Hou Yi was excited, quickly put on his coat, picked up the bow and quiver, pulled up the sleepy Chang'e and ran out.

Just arrived on the street, only to see a monster next to nothing running towards this side, where it passed, the pedestrian was kicked away several battles, fell to the ground heavily, life and death are unknown, exhaled the flame will block everything burned out, nothing can stop its footsteps, not a pillar of incense, the monster has come to Houyi about 20 meters away.