The mountains stretch forward in a continuous manner, and there is no end in sight. There is a village at the foot of the mountain, and the house at the entrance of the village has not been built for a long time, and the wall facing the sun is particularly smooth. At this time, more than a dozen children about eight or nine years old were divided into two teams, and the people in the two teams lined up against the wall, everyone put their hands in their sleeves and hugged them in front of their chests, and squeezed one by one from both sides to the middle, screaming in their mouths, and the people who were squeezed out turned around and ran to the back of the line, and continued to squeeze towards the center.

The tallest child standing in the middle suddenly jumped out, and the children behind him could not hold their feet, and fell forward one after the other, stacking on top of each other, and the children in the other team burst into laughter. The children who fell to the ground got up and chased after the tall children, shouting: "Ergouzi, you are so Laipi, I won't 'squeeze the oil residue' with you next time." ”

The second dog smiled and dodged, and stopped laughing without running a few steps. Everyone looked along and saw a carriage coming slowly, driven by an old man in gray, shrinking his head and nagging: "This road is too difficult to walk, loss, loss, this ghost is ......"

The carriage stopped, and a young man in a blue shirt jumped out of the car, the young man stretched out his hand to the carriage, and a man in brocade slowly got out of the carriage with the support of the young man, and a woman in green helped him get out of the carriage together. The blue-shirted young man ignored the old man's nagging, walked towards the children, and asked, "Little brother, is this Zhujia Village?" ”

Ergouzi replied first: "Yes, who are you looking for?" What's the matter? The young man smiled at the children, walked back to the carriage, and said to the man in brocade and the woman in green, "Brother Yan, Sister Ouyang, we have arrived." ”

The group was Zhu Ziping, Yan Yue and Ouyang Lan, and four days ago, they rented a carriage and hid in the carriage and went out of Lu'an Prefecture. Half a day later, the old man who drove the car asked people about the location of Zhujia Village, left the post road, and drove the car to a small road. The path is tortuous and difficult, and the old man who drives the car complains bitterly along the way.

Yan Yue took out fifteen taels of silver and handed it to the old man who drove the car: "The old man has indeed suffered in the past few days, and the old man is asked to accept the silver taels." The old man who drove the car was not polite, put away the silver taels, turned the head of the car and went back.

Several bold children gathered around and looked at the three of them curiously. Ergouzi looked at Ouyang Lan and smirked: "My sister is from the city, right?" My sister is so beautiful. Zhu Ziping asked, "Do you know where Zhu Zhi's family is?" Everyone shook their heads blankly, and Zhu Ziping suddenly remembered that his father had been away from here for more than 20 years, and of course these children didn't know, so he asked again, "Have you seen an uncle you don't know these days?" And they all shook their heads.

Ouyang Lan said: "Brother Zhu, why don't we go to the village and ask?" Zhu Ziping nodded, Ouyang Lan helped Yan Yue, and the two dogs jumped up and led the three of them to the village.

I didn't go far when I heard someone ask: "Ergouzi, what are you naughty?" "A middle-aged man in his forties, wearing an old sheepskin jacket and a soap strip belt around his waist, walked out of the house.

The second dog shouted: "Dad, how can there be, I brought this beautiful sister to find someone." Zhu Ziping hurriedly asked: "Uncle, do you know Zhu Zhi's family?" ”

Zhu ...... Will? The middle-aged man was stunned for a long time, staring at Zhu Ziping, and then at Yan Yue and Ouyang Lan, "Who are you?" Ouyang Lan responded: "This uncle, we are accompanying Brother Zhu to find his father." ”

"Brother Zhu...... Daddy...... "The middle-aged man looked at Zhu Ziping, "Your name is Zhu Ziping?" Zhu Ziping bowed: "Exactly, how do you know?" You are? ”

"It's really Ping'er! Your name is still from me, 'people are silent, and the level is not flowing'...... After so many years, I, I thought you were long gone......" The middle-aged man hugged Zhu Ziping, choked up, and seemed to think of something for a while, pulling Zhu Ziping to the house hurriedly, and whispered, "Ping'er, follow me into the house." ”

Entering the house, the middle-aged man looked at Zhu Ziping carefully, and sighed with tears: "It's really like your father, Ping'er, where is your father?" "My dad is fine, are you?"

"Child, I'm your second uncle Zhu Xiang...... In the year of your father's accident, I heard the sound of killing at the other end of the village, and I followed the sound to find it, only to see that your mother, brother and sister had been killed, and your father and you did not know where to go. This mountain village is far away from the government, I know that no one will take care of the official, and three people were buried, and I feel very sad, I don't know what powerful people your father has provoked. For several years after that, people from the village often came here to hear about the search for some artifacts. Alas, where did this barren mountain come from...... Ping'er, is your father okay? ”

"Second uncle, I heard my father talk about you...... My dad is fine, why didn't he come here? "No, when did he come? …… However, this mountain road is not easy to walk, and it may be delayed on the road, so wait a few more days to see. Do you want to stop at my place, or do you come to see at home? "Second uncle, I want to go to the house to have a look."

Under the leadership of Zhu Xiang, the three of them came to the other side of the village, only to see a three-room bluestone-based thatched hut, very simple, and the gate was also locked. Zhu Ziping twisted the door lock, pushed the door open, and a burst of dust came to his face. Zhu Xiang still had tears in his eyes: "I have locked this house for twenty-one years, and I can't bear to come in at ordinary times." ”

Ouyang Lan found a broom leaning against the door and cleaned it. Zhu Ziping walked around the house, and then asked, "Second uncle, can you find a three-bed quilt?" We're going to stay here for a few days. Zhu Xiang nodded: "I'll look for it in a while, Ping'er, I'll take you to the grave to worship." ”

On the hillside behind the village, there are one large and two small graves, Zhu Ziping knelt in front of the big grave, tears welled up: "Mother, although Ping'er doesn't remember your appearance, but over the years, I often ask my father where you are, but every time I ask my father, he always holds back tears and sadness...... The child now knows that you have died at the hands of those men, and I will avenge you...... Mother, the child has come to see you, can you hear me? He kowtowed again and again, lying on the ground for a long time and was reluctant to stand up.

☆☆☆☆☆

At this time, Zhu Zhi was in Mushan Town, Qingyang County. Mushan Town (now Miaoqian Town) is located in the west of Qingyang County, the northern foot of Jiuhua Mountain, looking south, you can see the strange peaks of Jiuhua Mountain. These days, Zhu Zhi came all the way from Tongling County, and there was not much money left in his bag, so he found a simple inn to live in the evening.

There is a noodle restaurant not far from the inn, Zhu Zhi walked in, took out thirty wen and asked for a bowl of noodles, there were not many people in the noodle restaurant, and the old man who sold noodles sat at the door and sighed: "The current monks are all strange, they don't eat vegetarian noodles anymore." Zhu Zhi's heart moved, and he asked, "Old man, what's wrong with the monk?" ”

"Who doesn't say it, these days, a group of people, I don't know if it's a real monk, I don't even look at my noodle restaurant, just now there was a little monk, I thought he was here to eat noodles, how do you know that I took a look and left, alas......"

As the old man was talking, he saw a little monk about fifteen or sixteen years old, thin and thin, wearing a black robe, hurriedly running from the door, jumping into the house with his body folded, and hiding under Zhu Zhi's table with his cat waist. The table was already low and covered with a tablecloth, and it was not easy for the little monk to be found hiding in it.

The effort was not great, and three people strode to the door, all wearing brown robes, and the three looked around, and one of them said, "Strange, where is that kid hiding?" ”

"It's not like you're hiding in this noodle shop, is it?" Glancing around, he said, "I'm not here, I may be hiding in front, chase after me!" ”

After a while, the little monk quietly poked his head out and asked Zhu Zhi, "Are they gone?" Seeing Zhu Zhi nodding, the little monk was about to get out, hesitated for a moment and then shrank back, as if talking to himself, "Wait a little longer, these monks of West Jiuhua are very hateful." ”

Zhu Zhiwen unconsciously had a good impression of the little monk, and bowed his head and said, "Little Master, don't be afraid, I'll take you to a place." Zhu Zhi went out to look outside, and when he saw that there was no one around, he called the little monk out.

Just a few steps out, I saw three brown-clothed monks walking out of the dark, and said with a smile: "Little monk, where are you running this time?" Seeing that the situation was not good, the little monk quickly took out a stack of objects and threw them to the ground: "I'll give it back to you!" "Pull your legs and run. There were already two monks blocking the way and grabbed him, only to see the little monk kicking his legs wildly, shouting: "Let go of me, let go of me." My master will definitely not spare you when he comes later......"

"Let him go!" But it was Zhu Zhi's cold voice. The monk on the side was stunned, and punched, Zhu Zhi gave way sideways, and kicked out with his left foot at the same time, the monk fell to the ground, holding his stomach and screaming in pain, the two monks couldn't take care of the little monk and rushed over. Zhu Zhi didn't wait for them to get closer, he had already jumped forward and flew up, kicking his legs towards the two of them, "bang, bang" how far the two of them flew out, almost hitting the little monk.

The little monk had already gotten up, and stepped forward to pull Zhu Zhi: "Uncle, run away, there are many of them." The two quickly fled to the shadows, and seeing that no one was chasing them, Zhu Zhi asked, "Little Master, why are those monks looking for you?" ”

"Uncle, don't call me Little Master, just call me Dao Feng. I don't know how many of these West Kowloon monks have come recently, and my master asked me to keep an eye on them here and pay attention to their whereabouts. Just now I took advantage of the three of them and stole their degrees, but I was discovered. After a pause, he said, "Isn't it a dream that the Western Sect wants to snatch my Eastern Sect's nine-colored lotus?" ”

Zhu Zhi asked, "What nine-colored lotus?" The little monk rolled his eyes: "I see that you still look like a good person, and you saved me again." But it doesn't matter if I tell you, a lot of people already know about it. ”

Originally, Buddhist scriptures record that King Jizo Bodhisattva had a dream of a large lake during his meditation period, and the lotus flowers blooming in the lake were nine colors and shone brightly, so they were called nine-colored lotus flowers. Two months ago, the nine peaks of Jiuhua Mountain, such as Tiantai, Ten Kings, Lotus Blossom, and Tianzhu, suddenly all emitted a faint color, and some people rumored that on the ninth day of the fifth month, there will be a nine-colored lotus flower on the mountain.

Jiuhua Xizong also heard the wind early, and the abbot Guangjing, the sect leader of the West Sect, thought that this flower was a holy relic of Jiuhua Sect, and the effect was supernatural, and it could not be enjoyed by Dongzong alone, so he sent people to East Jiuhua to wait early. On the side of the couch, how can others be allowed to snore, Dongzong is naturally unwilling to be plotted by others, although he is confident that the number of disciples of Dongzong exceeds 10,000, and he is not afraid of others to rob him.

It's just that seeing that there are more and more people in Qingyang County and there are many chaotic phases, I expected that on the ninth day of the fifth month, it will inevitably cause more trouble, but I don't dare to be careless, and send many disciples down the mountain to investigate and take strict precautions. This little monk Dao Feng is one of the disciples who sent him, he followed the three monks, and when he saw them talking wildly, he quietly stole their degree, which is the identity certificate of the monk, and if there is no degree to enter and exit the city gate, there will be a lot of trouble if the government investigates.

After listening to this, Zhu Zhi felt that this little monk was very interesting, and asked, "Little Master, what should you do now?" ”