The Taoist walks and stops, and his steps are slow.

The cat, on the other hand, walked and stopped at different times, often trotting for a while, sometimes running in front of the Taoist, sometimes falling behind.

If he is a little behind, when he is far away, he often stretches his neck to look at him, and when he can't see it, he quickly trots to follow. If they go before him, they often stop, look back at him, and see that he has not followed, so they have to stop and wait for him.

"Taoist priest~"

The cat waited for the Taoist again, she raised her head high, her head and eyes turned with the water birds flying in the air, but her mouth shouted Taoist.

"Huh?"

"Are we going to find the guy with the surname Dou?"

"Sanhua Niangniang Bing Xue is smart, I admire it." The Taoist is immersed in the world of this painting, but he also answers patiently.

"But where is he?"

"That's a good question."

The Taoist also moved his gaze down from the sky to the mountains ahead.

The mountains are magnificent, and the foot of the mountains is far away.

Just from the size that can be seen on the painting, there are at least dozens of miles from left to right, and when you look at it again, you can not only look at the painting, but also go to the outside of the painting—just like when you first arrive in the painting, you can see a lake that does not exist in the painting, and at this time, looking in the north-south direction, there are also mountains that are not in the painting, and I don't know if you can go out and where you can go out.

In any case, just looking at the area in the painting, the foot of the mountain is dozens of miles long, the villages are scattered, and there are tens of thousands of families, so how do you know where Master Dou lives?

"If you can't find it, forget it."

The Taoist said to the cat.

"Oh......"

The cat didn't seem to care too much, shook its head, took small steps, and went to the front to pounce on the insects.

Song You raised his hand, and as he walked, his fingers ran over the ears of reeds.

It's finally the end.

In front of it is a vast fertile field.

From the end of the reeds to the foot of the mountain in the distance, whether it is a field or soil, it is like a checkerboard lattice, and the ridges and paths crisscross it, and occasionally people walk on it.

It seems that there are really people......

The Taoist still didn't slow down, didn't hurry, and walked forward along the path.

It wasn't until he met an old man who was driving back with a cow that he saluted:

"This old man."

When the old man heard the voice, he turned around and saw that it was a Taoist in a Taoist robe, but he was a little surprised: "Is it a Taoist leader?" It's quite a face. ”

"When I first came here, I was born naturally."

When the old man heard this, he turned his head to look at the mountain in front of him, and then he withdrew his gaze and looked at the Taoist: "Is it the first time for the little Taoist to go down the mountain?" But the little old man often goes up the mountain, why hasn't he seen the Taoist? ”

Song You followed his gaze.

It sounds like there is also a Taoist temple on that mountain, and it seems that there is only this Taoist temple here.

"Come from the outside and look for the deceased."

"From outside!?"

The old man was suddenly startled and looked at him with round eyes.

"Exactly."

The Taoist replied truthfully.

The old man's sunken eyes stared straight at him, and then at the cat beside him, and then asked, "How did you get in?" Where did you get it from? ”

"Aren't there very few outsiders here?"

"This is a land outside the world, how can outsiders enter?"

"It's a coincidence."

Song You was very surprised when he saw that he was old, and he was afraid that he would be too excited, so he had to bow and say: "In the next surname Song Mingyou, practicing in Yizhou, he is definitely not a bad person, and when he came here, he was very surprised, and wanted to ask his uncle about the situation here." ”

"Oops!"

The old man was surprised.

It is a rare thing for outsiders to come here, and then look at this Taoist master's calm expression, he is not surprised in his tone, he talks properly, and he feels even more extraordinary, I am afraid that he is a master of cultivation.

The old man immediately became a little more respectful.

"Where is the Taoist going?"

"I don't know."

"Then invite the Taoist chief and the little old man to come, let's talk while walking, and we can entertain the Taoist chief." The old man grabbed the ox rope and waved at him, signaling to follow him.

"Why bother my husband?"

"Why not? Come on, come on! ”

"It's better to be respectful than to obey."

The Taoist didn't dare to refuse, so he had to bow again, and then followed the old man and asked: "When I first came here, I was very surprised, and I wanted to ask the old man, where is this place?" ”

"No name."

"What about this mountain?"

"We just call it Cangshan."

"How many villages are there under the mountain?"

"I'm afraid there are dozens of big and small, and the old man lives in Xiaobei Village, so go straight ahead."

"My husband said that this place is a place outside the world, but I don't know when you came here? Or have they lived here for generations? ”

"I heard the old man say that he came here in the early years of Dayan, and at that time there were only houses here, and no one lived here." The old man walked hunched over while leading the green ox, "It was said that it was to avoid some war or some taxes, and then we settled here." ”

It sounds like they are new to warfare and taxation.

"Have outsiders come all these years?"

"I've heard that there have been a few times when outsiders have come." The old man said, "I remember twice, once when I was young, dozens of people came in from outside, and now it seems that they live in Niang'erzhuang." Another time, when I was younger, I heard that people were coming from outside, and this time there were more than 100 of them, and they seemed to live in the southernmost part. ”

"I see......"

The Taoist nodded.

It seems that the people here are not drawn out of thin air, but are put in from outside by each generation of Dou family heirs for various reasons.

"These outsiders have fled, either to fight or something, but when I ask them how they got in, they can't answer. We have a lot of people here and a lot of places, so we will treat them well and settle them down. The old man said to him, "From their mouths you can hear a lot about the outside world. ”

"It's not as good as coming here."

"But it's not, I heard that outside, the food you grow has to be handed over to others, and you have to fight, hold a knife, and kill people." The old man shook his head, paused, and said, "But this place is good, but I have also heard that it is very different from the outside. ”

"What's different?"

Song You hurriedly bowed his hand: "Please also ask the old man to teach me." ”

"It's the same all year round, there's no hot or cold weather, it's all daytime, there's no night, and it's dark every day outside, but really?"

"Really."

"Can't you come out to farm when it's dark?"

"Usually we sleep when it's dark."

"Sleeping together?"

"Yes."

The Taoist replied calmly, as if he was not surprised.

"Really?"

"Doesn't it look like this is it?"

"We can sleep when we want, get up when we think about it, and in some places we have to beat the bell and beat the drum, and we will sleep when we beat the drum, and we will wake up when we beat the bell, and we will just close the curtain." The old man seemed to be very surprised by what Song You said, "But those other people from outside seem to say the same." ”

"What about that grain?"

"Grain is planted in the same way, and it grows very quickly, but it can only be planted in the soil of the field over there, and it does not grow in other places, let alone in the reed fields behind it."

"Why can't you plant it in the reeds?"

"There are gods and monsters in the reeds over there, they only grow like that, they don't grow longer or less, they don't turn green, they can't be cut, and naturally they can't grow things."

"I see."

"It's God!" The old man smiled, "Some people say that we are the garden of the gods, and some people say that we live in a painting, hehe, you say, what is the matter of God?" ”

"yes."

The Taoist smiled and nodded in agreement, and then asked, "Then can I go out here?" ”

"I can't get out, from here to there, ninety-nine-eighty-one miles." The old man pointed to the right from the left, and then to the front from the back, "The farthest back is to the lake, and you can't go down to the lake, and the farthest and farthest in front can only climb to the top of that mountain, and you can't climb over, I heard that it is eighteen miles long." ”

"Can you only live here?"

"That doesn't have to be ......"

"Why not?"

"I've heard that sometimes people walk by, but I don't know why, they just walk past and disappear and never come back." The old man shook his head as he spoke, "I don't know where I've gone." ”

"No wonder there's a fence around the lake."

"Isn't it......"

The old man said as he looked at the young Dao Master.

But he found that no matter what he said, the Taoist who claimed to be from the outside world was calm and calm, and he didn't seem surprised at all. And he, a person who had heard of the outside world before, couldn't help but be surprised by the outside world in his mouth, and the comparison between the two sides was very different.

The old man was more sure of his earlier guess.

So he knows everything, and he says everything.

The Taoist almost knows a little bit about this.

There is only late autumn here, there are no four seasons, only day, no night, eighteen miles long from east to west, eighty-one miles from north to south, not small, but not vast, and the population is far from saturation.

There seems to be a barrier on the edge, and it is impossible to walk through, but occasionally someone can pass through it, and I don't know where it went.

While chatting and walking, we have approached the village.

Looking around, I saw that the houses were neat, there were often beautiful ponds and mulberry bamboos, and I often heard the roosters and dogs barking.

Some people are plowing in the fields, some people are carrying baskets out to pick vegetables, some people are eating with bowls, some people have just woken up, and everyone is happy with themselves, and there is little sorrow on their faces.

The old man was wearing the clothes of the farming period, and he could not see anything, but when he arrived in the village, he could see from the clothes of the young men and women, although they were similar to the outside world, but there were also subtle differences.

It's like the costume accessories that have become popular in the outside world in recent years, and you can't see them here.

The Taoist looked as he walked, and at the same time asked the old man next to him if anyone had come in recently, but the old man shook his head and said he didn't know.

The Taoist originally wanted to find Master Dou, but the place was very wide and it was difficult to find people, so the old man was very enthusiastic and invited him to his home as a guest.

The Taoist excused himself a little, but he didn't want to excuse himself too much, so he answered and went with him to his house.

The old man's family of seven people, hearing that the Taoist came from outside, were very enthusiastic, set up wine to kill chickens, entertained him, and left him to stay at home. They chatted with him one by one, asked about the outside world, and were surprised every time they heard the differences, as if it was unimaginable that there was such a world as the outside world.

(End of chapter)