Qiushui Country, with its vast territory, is an extremely powerful country among the southern countries.

Its land is vast, with dense mountains and rivers, and there are two major plains in the east and north.

The plains are fertile and produce a lot of grain, so many populous states in Qiushui are located on these two plains.

In the southern part of the Autumn Water Country, it is a place where mountains gather.

It was sparsely populated, with few important cities, and was not valued by the imperial court. Over time, the prefecture and county here became the poorest and most backward place in the Qiushui country.

In this way, the northern country is rich and prosperous, while the southern country is vast and sparsely populated and barren.

If you drive into the southern country of Qiushui, where the mountains are scattered, and then continue to travel thousands of miles south, through a mountainous area, you will see a desert that stretches for thousands of miles.

Because this desert is winding and twisting, it is thousands of miles long, and it is difficult to see its head and tail, therefore, it is also called the snake desert by the people of Qiushui country.

The snake desert is like a dividing line, separating the mountains of the southern country of Qiushui horizontally.

This desert is extremely far-reaching, and the people of the Qiushui Country in the north have never successfully crossed the desert to the other side.

They only knew that on the other side of the desert was a much larger mountain and river, but who had told the story of it, even the longest-lived wise men, had no way of knowing the origin.

For hundreds of years, those who tried to explore the snake desert would eventually get lost in the desert, buried and swallowed by the wind and sand, and turned into skeletons. Those who escaped by chance were also deeply frightened of it and did not dare to step into it again.

There are rumors among the people of Qiushui that the mountainous area south of the Snake Desert is actually not the territory of Qiushui Country, but a mysterious place that has been forcibly included by the successive lords of Qiushui Country to expand their territory.

Now, if you open the territory map of Qiushui Country, you will see that in the map, the large area south of the snake desert is marked with many unheard of mountains and peaks, rather than any cities, counties and towns.

The closest populated place to the snake desert is a border town called 'Sand Ridge'.

The town of Sandridge is a remote town with a population of less than 1,000, and it is bordered by mountains on one side and desert on the other. Overlooking the mountains, forests and deserts are yellow and green, which is quite gorgeous.

The townspeople are all pioneers who moved from the north.

Since their ancestors settled here, they have lived for a long time and slowly multiplied. For hundreds of years, the inhabitants of this area have lived simply by selling the fruit of sea buckthorn, a unique plant on the edge of the snake desert, for more than a dozen generations.

this day.

Outside the entrance of Shaling Town, several children who had just gotten out of school walked out one after another to a forest outside the town.

The woods are about two miles long, right next to the desert, and children are frolicking as they walk, as if they are ready to go to the edge of the desert to play.

"Da Zhuang, your slingshot is so beautiful, give me something to play with."

Among the children, one of them was a little shorter, about seven or eight years old, and a fat man with a tiger's head was entangled beside him, staring at the object in the other's hand with eager eyes.

The fat baby raised the slingshot in his hand high, shook his head, and replied:

"Don't give it, don't give it, this is what my father made for me himself! Little Liuzi, won't you ask your father to make one for you? ”

"My father doesn't do it for me, he only knows how to drink and play mahjong, and he hasn't been home for many days, so you are kind and pitiful." Xiao Liuzi pouted with a bitter face.

Da Zhuang's eyes rolled, and he secretly glanced at the hemp candy stick faintly exposed in the other party's bookbag, and pretended to be calm:

"Hmph, that's not going to work. Unless, unless you trade two hemp candies with me! ”

"Ahh It's too dark! I'm only playing for a short time and I'm going to exchange two hemp candy? Xiao Liuzi complained bitterly.

Da Zhuang immediately became anxious, and shouted at the top of his voice: "What's wrong with the two hemp candy!" You have so much in your bag, can't you give me a little? ”

"Shhhh

Xiao Liuzi was afraid that the other children behind the two of them would hear that there were snacks in their bags, so they hurriedly covered Da Zhuang's big mouth with his hands.

"Phew! What a stink."

Da Zhuang almost gagged, hurriedly broke Xiao Liuzi's dirty hand away, and spat a few mouthfuls on the ground.

Xiao Liuzi scratched his head and smiled awkwardly: "Hey, hey, don't think about it, Da Zhuang, I washed my hands just now."

As he said, if Da Zhuang believes it, he will have a ghost.

He almost spit out the spittle before he said angrily: "If you don't change it, you won't change it, who knows if there's anything dirty on your hemp candy stick, you can keep it and eat it slowly!" ”

"Don't."

Xiao Liuzi instantly wanted to cry without tears, let out a sad cry, and followed behind the other party with his head down.

Between words.

The children finally walked through the woods and outside, looking at the endless desert in the distance, all excited.

"Wait until I pick some sea buckthorn berries and go back to the merchant to exchange sugar for food!" Da Zhuang said happily.

At the same time, a child standing behind shouted at him:

"Da Zhuang, you have to protect us, you are the only one of us who has a weapon! If you run into a youkai, you'll have to run it off! ”

"Don't worry, looking at the whole desert, this slingshot is also a first-class weapon! Whoever comes, who dies, just pluck the fruit, and don't forget to share a little later. ”

Da Zhuang waved the slingshot in his hand, carried the gravel in his trouser pocket, patted his chest and assured a few friends.

"Da Zhuang is so powerful, he will definitely be a martial artist when he grows up!"

"That's it, in the future, we will all follow Brother Zhuang, and good fruits are indispensable to eat."

In the boasting of several companions, Da Zhuang was full of ambition and gradually lost himself.

"That's that, I'll show you a little hand first, so that you know what a marksman is!"

Da Zhuang turned his head to look at the children behind him, smiled, and then took out a small gravel from his pocket.

"Look, there's a little blue bird in the tree, see how I knock it down!"

As Da Zhuang stretched out his hand and pointed in the distance, several children looked in the direction of his finger, and sure enough, they found a blue bird with gorgeous feathers on a tree not far from them.

The bluebird stood in the treetops, unresponsive to the noise of several children.

It just stood there silently, its two spiritual eyes staring into the depths of the desert, as if observing something.

"Hey! That stupid bird, eat me with a bow! ”

Here, Da Zhuang was already ready, he held a slingshot, pulled hard, squinted one eye and aimed at the target, and shot the stone bullet out accurately.

Sou!

A sound broke through the air, and the stones flew like arrows towards the bluebird in the treetops.

Almost at the same time, the blue bird, which had been facing the desert, seemed to realize something, and turned its head in the direction of several children.

(End of chapter)