In the village of Yamashita, in a low thatched hut with earthen walls, an old woman is making homemade earthen incense.

Like Song You, she had a wooden incense table, about the size of a single desk, with a flat wooden board about a foot wide on top of it, on which was an awl tied with a pile of red paper about three fingers wide and more than a foot long, which was used to roll incense, and below it was an incense trough filled with spices. A closer look at the spice reveals a few familiar ingredients, which have been beaten into corn-sized grains with a greenish and yellow color.

But seeing that the old man shoveled up the spices with a bamboo piece about the same length as the red paper, poured out a neat long strip on the red paper, then took out a bamboo skewer, folded it a few times and sealed the top of the red paper, rubbed it with his hands, and rolled up the whole incense very skillfully.

Then stick the bottom of the earthy incense, and an earthy incense will become.

Such an incense roll down, calculated by seconds, is only ten seconds, and the old man's movements are smooth, every component is just right, it is really a pleasure to watch.

Song You stood quietly beside him and did not make a sound.

The old man was full of silver threads and concentrated.

The room was filled with the fragrance of herbs, and the light shone obliquely through the window, and the subtle incense floated in the air, and all at once both sides took shape.

Even the heart of the three-flowered cat is very quiet.

Thirty sticks of incense were rolled up quickly.

The old man counted carefully, bundled it with thatch and handed it to Song You:

"Little sir."

"Thank you, old man."

Song You respectfully took it.

This kind of incense is the thickness of a finger, much thicker than the fine incense in the city, and it is not easy to hold it in your hand, but in fact, thirty sticks are only sold for six yuan, and the highest cost is this rough and inferior red paper.

Song You paid some more money, which was counted as a reward for the old man who had told him the ingredients of the earth incense earlier, and then thanked him and left.

Don't look at this incense as cheap and can't be sold at a high price, but in the Taoist temples that Song You has dealt with, many Taoist priests like to use this kind of homemade incense, and most of them especially like to use their own hand-made incense.

After pouring your heart and soul, you can understand ghosts and gods.

Leaving the village, Song You walked onto the main road and turned back to the village temple. He only kept three of the thirty incense sticks, and the rest were placed in front of the statue of Wang Shangong.

There are borrowed and returned, and there are taken and given.

I was in a good mood and continued on the road.

Now it has changed from one person to one person and one cat.

Sanhua Niangniang was very honest at first, maybe because she was not familiar with Song You, she only followed him honestly, keeping her distance unhurriedly. Soon its nature was liberated, and it began to run a few steps to the front from time to time, and then turned back to look at Song You, standing still from time to time, looking down at the weeds on the side of the road, smelling and smelling, and from time to time being attracted by butterflies or birds in the air and stopping, and when Song You walked away, it trotted quickly to catch up.

With it so noisy, the journey is not so boring.

didn't go far, and encountered a checkpoint, Song You showed his degree, and he successfully passed the level.

As mentioned earlier, the merchants and people in the rivers and lakes have their own methods, and people like Song You also have their own special paths.

In this world, religion is also controlled by the imperial court, and each dynasty has its own differences, specifically for Dayan, in fact, the management of religion is much stricter, and the biggest difference from the previous dynasty is that the privileges of ordinary palaces and temples are reduced.

For example, various taxes are no longer exempt.

However, after all, this is a world with ghosts and gods, and for those cultivators who have the Tao in their bodies, they still need to be respected.

Therefore, Dayan has a two-level degree.

The ordinary degree is a piece of paper with symbols drawn on it, writing the issuing authority, Taoist temple, and personal information, stamped with a large seal, and it needs to be pressed in a box, otherwise it will be damaged. This kind of degree can be obtained by monks and Taoists who are serious about the eight classics.

The other is an excerpt.

If you get this fold, it proves that you have something to some extent, or that you have something from the elders of the school, and you have a certain amount of tax exemption. Considering that there are frequent demons and ghosts in the world, and some practitioners have a hard need to travel all over the world to debate the scriptures and discuss the Tao, this degree also has the role of a guide, and in addition to itself, it can also carry five disciples to follow.

It can be regarded as preferential treatment for those who are masters of cultivation.

However, after a long time, this kind of degree will inevitably proliferate, and it can't explain anything now.

After this pass, the scenery on the side of the road has changed greatly, the mountain on the left is no longer gentle, it has become tall and steep, the right side has been the same as before, the road follows the stream through the mountain, every time Sanhua Niangniang wants to see the top of the mountain, she has to tilt her head to the highest.

"It's so high!"

Sanhua Niangniang said.

"Have you ever seen such a high mountain?" Song You sat on the stone eating steamed cakes and asked.

"Nope."

The three-flowered cat turned its head to look at him.

Song You seemed to remember this time, and hurriedly broke off a small piece of the steamed cake in his hand that he hadn't bitten, and bent down to hand it to the mouth of the three-flowered cat.

The three-flowered cat only stared at him stunned.

At this time, a bug buzzed and flew in front of it, and the three-flowered cat just raised its front paws, and firmly grasped the flying insect in the palm of its hand, and then saw it send its claws to its mouth, and when Song You saw it clearly, he could only see the translucent wings of the flying insect in his mouth.

The three-flowered cat was eating while looking at Song You.

“……”

It's that I'm ignorant.

Song You silently withdrew the hand holding the steamed cake.

"Do you want to eat?" Sanhua Cat asked him, "Sanhua Niangniang will help you catch two more." ”

"No, I don't eat bugs."

"It's delicious."

"I got it."

"Where's the mouse?"

"No need, thank you."

"Hmm......"

"Have you heard of Sanhua Niangniang?" Song You ate steamed cakes and asked, "There is a place in front called Hand Climbing Rock, which is particularly steep, but the scenery is excellent." ”

"What is a hand climb?"

"That is, you have to climb to get past a section of the walled path."

"How do you know?"

"I lived in the temple a few days ago and listened to what those Jianghu people said."

"I rarely listen to them."

"It's interesting."

"Are we going there?"

"I want to go."

"Hmm......" Sanhua Cat jumped up suddenly, and accurately caught a worm, this time Song You saw clearly, it was a locust, and it only said to Song You, "Anyway, Sanhua Niangniang will follow you." ”

Song You nodded.

The sun is setting in the west.

When Song You asked about the third local's house, he had finally come to the bottom of the hand-climbed rock.

The old man who made the lantern wore a bamboo hat, stood at the door of his house, pointed to the cliff on the left and said to Song You: "This is the hand climbing rock." ”

A man and a cat looked up.

A thousand-foot cliff seemed to be in front of them, so close that for a while there was nothing else to see in front of them except this high mountain cliff.

"Hand climbing rocks is indeed a shortcut, but not many people have been walking for a long time. The road was dangerous, wet and slippery, and the mountains were often haunted and haunted, and ghosts cried wolf howls every night. But there are often people who go up to play, and they all go to play during the day and come back during the day, and no one dares to spend the night on it. The old man kindly said to the young priest, "It's too late, if you want to see the scenery, you should go up tomorrow, if you go there, you must come back before dark." ”

"Dare to ask the old man, how long will it take to climb up?"

"It takes an hour to climb up, and an hour to come back, and if you go down from there, to the end, it will take two hours."

"An hour, ......"

Song You calculated, it's still too late.

The old man glared at him dissatisfiedly: "You want to go up tonight?" You have to walk in the dark at night, there are really ghosts on this mountain. ”

"It's out of the way."

People die and become ghosts, and ghosts are inherently weaker than people.

"Even if you're not afraid of ghosts, it's dangerous to walk at night." The old man continued, "For thousands of years, countless people have died in this place. ”

"The old man will sell me a lantern."

"I only have lanterns, no candles."

"It's okay."

"You Taoist priest don't listen to persuasion!"

Song You just smiled, spent sixteen yuan, and bought a simple lantern from the old man, the common shape, the bamboo frame is slender and lightweight, and the paste on it is a layer of off-white paper, some yellowish, without other decorations.

A man and a cat walked along the path up the hill.

"It's cloudy and rainy, and the ghost cries ...... night"

Song You muttered, a smile on the corner of his mouth.

This is how the world describes the climb of rocks.

Climb through the mountains and forests, and go diagonally up along the two-foot-wide cliff path to the top, where you will find the famous hand-climbed rock.

This section of the cliff is perpendicular to the ground, and the path is entirely based on natural cracks in the cliff and artificially carved into a path that is not high enough for a person, and may be three or four feet wide, and narrow enough for a person to walk dangerously against the cliff, and the whole time he has to bend over, or he will have to use both hands and feet.

Sanhua Niangniang is relaxed, which has no effect on it, and Song You is going to have a much more difficult time.

Not only do you have to bend down to move forward, but you also have to worry about falling down.

Trekkers who are not afraid of high mountains and long roads, the mountains and rivers give back with the most amazing scenery.

From this point of view, the ravine below is covered with greenery, like a dark blanket, and there are occasional unknown trees on the cliffs, which do not know where they have taken root, and they grow tenaciously against the cliffs, blown in one direction by the mountain wind for many years, as if to welcome brave climbers.

What is surprising is that in such a thrilling place, the predecessors not only carved such a road here, but also carved countless cliff carvings overhead and on the cliffs.

There are scriptures of transcendent souls, and there are statues of gods that suppress evil spirits, many of them are beginning to blur a little, and the years are flowing on them, and they have witnessed groups of people who have passed here for thousands of years, and I don't know if they can continue for another thousand years.

Song You walked slowly, not only carefully, but also slowly admiring the precipitous scenery below, or looking up to meet the gods on these stone carvings.

These cliff carvings span a large period of time, so they have different painting styles. Some gods have a strange painting style, some gods have a feminine painting style, and some gods deliberately highlight a strong physique, these are the people's fantasies about the image of the gods at that time, reflecting the social atmosphere and folk preferences of different periods, from which we can probably judge which dynasties these stone carvings come from.

The oldest is probably thousands of years old.

Song You looked carefully, not only the style and craftsmanship of the paintings, but also the eyebrows and eyes of these gods, and seemed to be able to see a corner of those times that had gone away.

Perhaps in a certain era, when this road has not been abandoned and people still walk often, there will really be countless demons and ghosts here who take advantage of the terrain to block the road and ask for their lives, and the gods on these stone carvings are blessed by the people's wishes, and they really shock the demons and monsters in this mountain.

Suddenly, I had an idea in my heart that maybe it would not only be difficult to dig and bend forward with both hands and feet, but also to make the people who had passed by since then bend down in front of these statues that suppressed demons and evil spirits, and maintain a little respect.

It's getting darker.

Song You stopped at the highest point and sat on the edge of the cliff, his legs hanging down naturally, blowing the mountain wind, determined to spend the night here tonight.

Today, there is no rain, but the sunset is like blood, and the sky is full of red clouds.

In this era, there are not a few people who love to travel, many scholars and writers are keen on natural landscapes, according to the old people at the bottom of the mountain, people are often attracted by the dangerous scenery on the hand-climbed rock, and are not afraid of the danger of climbing and playing, but very few people dare to spend the night on it.

In Song You's opinion, they really missed a lot.

But what is more beautiful is not the sunset, but the dreamlike colors of the sky when the afterglow of the sunset has faded and the sky has dimmed.

Like blue but not blue, like purple and red, like pink and white, gradually turning into a gentle evening glow.

The darker the sky, the more beautiful the horizon becomes.

Song You looked at it in a daze, fascinated.

In this world, pure natural scenery and magic are the few things that can attract him, because there are only a few things in his heart, and this world is no more boring than the other.

"Daoist, aren't we going down?"

"No, I won't."

"It's dark."

"Hmm."

The mountain wind blew a little cold.

Song You was still sitting on the edge of the cliff, admiring the colors of the sky and the silhouette of the mountains at his feet, and suddenly seemed to remember something, so he reached out and picked up the lantern he had just bought, lifted the lantern with one hand, and twisted it with the other hand on the distant horizon, pinching a little nothingness and throwing it into the lantern.

In an instant, the lantern lit up with a dreamlike light like the horizon.

And borrow a touch of sunshine to cool off the long night.