In the early morning, the mist drifts, the river is leisurely, and the green water is eastward.

There is a village on the bank of the river, and after someone in the village dies, they often choose to build a grave on the wilderness near the river, plant willow sticks, and gradually grow dozens of willow trees.

Although the willow trees are not tall, they are not shallow, the bark is like an old snake, and the willow is full of novelty.

Some people from the village came with firewood knives, selected those young willow branches, cut some of them, and sent them to the new grave.

The relatives of the deceased wept at the new grave, and some wept loudly, and the cry spread across the small river, as if to disperse a lot of mist.

On the other side of the river, in the forest, Su Hanshan sat cross-legged on the ground, holding a clay pot in both hands, and turned his head to look at the grave pile on the opposite bank.

There were seven or eight new graves, and most of the people in the village were helping near the graves, some bringing some paper money, some bringing linen and white cloth.

Strips of white rags hung on the willow branches, fluttering like layers of spirit-summoning flags.

"The third uncle's house is gone, and he didn't stay up in the morning?"

"Alas, the third man is only this age, what can I do in the future, his uncle will raise it, right?"

"The daughter of his uncle's family also had a bad deal a few days ago, and I don't know what to do, let's help out, which family makes more porridge, call him in the door to eat, and make do with it for a while."

When the villagers helped to bury them, they also kept talking in a low voice.

Su Hanshan had been listening to it for a long time, and he had pieced together the whole picture of this matter in his heart.

About six or seven days ago, a small gang that often walked around the neighborhood got government documents out of nowhere, and under the guise of searching, they broke into the homes of people in these villages, demanding money and goods, and catching chickens and geese.

If there are handsome daughters-in-law and daughters-in-law, those people will move their hands and feet, and all the villagers who dare to defend them will be directly pushed down by them, and some will be severely beaten by them, and they will swallow their breath one after another in a few days.

"Those people are also under the command of Kuanggutang?"

Su Hanshan frowned, "Compared to the people who have been tracking us down during this time, the difference seems to be too big?" ”

During this time, the people who tracked down the three of them were mainly black-clothed riders, each with a long sword at their waist, and their actions were capable.

Su Hanshan has tried a few, and he is basically sure that each of them can at least split out a sword qi that is nearly a foot long, the swordsmanship is ruthless and accurate, alert and fearless of death, and he also wears an extremely sharp iron whistle on his body, which is very difficult to whistle at every turn.

But those people acted arrogantly and ostentatiously, and they would not deliberately bully the people in small villages and towns.

Even the charlatans who followed the actions of these black-clothed riders later, although they were dressed differently, it could be seen from their demeanor that they all had the momentum of neat orders and focused goals.

"Those black-clothed riders should be the third hall of the Kuanggu Hall, so the people and horses of the Sword Hall are all the elites who are strictly trained and selected by the general altar, and of course they can't look down on the little income from bullying the villagers in the countryside."

Li Chaoyang was grinding the medicinal powder, his eyes also looked at the grave on the other side, and explained, "The people who followed them later should be the people of the seven factions of the Prime Minister's Mansion, saying that they are the seven sects, but in fact, they are simply private soldiers trained by Shi Miyuan for many years, and when the action is not achieved, they will not be too distracted." ”

"However, whether it is the third hall or the seven factions of the Prime Minister's Mansion, the number of people who can go out will not be too many, and I estimate that there will be no more than eight hundred."

"Recently, we have encountered more and more signs of searching, I am afraid that it will take three to five thousand people to disperse everywhere to have such a momentum, and the extra manpower must be the group of peripheral gang forces that tend to be inflammatory."

Those small gangs, although they really want to get closer to Kuanggutang and Shi Xiangye, they usually don't have much use for them, and with their own strength, they don't dare to be too arrogant.

The recent actions of Kuanggutang and Xiangfu have made them see a great opportunity for the fox to fake the tiger, of course, they must seize this opportunity and make a fortune desperately.

"We Fuyao Mountain could have been used as a deterrent to wandering people, but recently because the news of the old man has leaked out, those bastard sects that are fishing in troubled waters are moving closer to our hinterland, forcing us to retreat, which is useless!"

When Li Chaoyang said the end, his tone was full of indignation, and the strength of his hands to grind the medicine increased a little more, crushing the branch-like medicinal materials into fine slag, and he wanted to throw them into the clay pot on the side of Su Hanshan.

Uncle Zhang hurriedly stopped him: "This can't be added directly." ”

When Su Hanshan observed the situation on the other side of the river, he did not forget to boil the medicine in the clay pot.

Uncle Zhang opened it slightly and took a look, the medicine in the clay pot was as thick as ointment, and there were hot bubbles, but there was almost no smell of medicine, and he knew that it was time to get hot, so he took the clay pot and went to the side to be busy.

He used this time to wash and dry the sheep intestines as a membrane, first put in the medicinal powder, and then added a little ointment with bamboo slices, and quickly tied it to form a small pill.

In the blink of an eye, three or four balls the size of jujube kernels had already been made by him and placed on top of a piece of linen beside him.

Su Hanshan sat in place, as if he had fallen into a kind of contemplation.

"Recently, we have indeed encountered more and more searches, in the early days in order to rush to the road without noticing, now it seems that they are using a means of imminent departure, unknowingly, limiting the scope of our movement."

Su Hanshan said in a low voice, "It's like an open pocket, tightening it tighter and tighter, until finally, completely blocking the way and surrounding us." ”

Li Chaoyang took out a map that he had read many times recently from his arms, and said: "In my opinion, most of them are going to make a final ambush at Feilai Peak, and if they go further, they will soon touch the most densely populated area of them, and they must try to break through today, interspersed horizontally, until they can bypass their encirclement." ”

Zhang Shuwei also nodded secretly at this conclusion.

The world is big, the mountains are mixed, and many times, the person being tracked is in the game, and it is difficult to detect the abnormality.

But after all, Zhang Shuwei was older than the rivers and lakes, and he noticed the abnormality earlier than the two young people, although he didn't have a clear answer in his heart, he had already prepared for that strange premonition.

For a while, every time they passed through a town on the road, they would purchase a lot of medicinal herbs and accumulate them.

At the beginning, he still had the intention of treating Su Hanshan's injuries, but he didn't expect Su Hanshan's injuries to heal so quickly, so he simply asked Su Hanshan to use the unique techniques mentioned and the way to hone his internal strength, use his internal strength to cook medicine, and control the heat.

Li Chaoyang was in charge of grinding the medicine, and Zhang Shuwei reconciled it with his own hands.

While boiling and sifting, filtering and concentrating, repeating these similar but different steps, accumulating hundreds of catties of medicinal materials, plus the pills carried by Zhang Shuwei himself as an introduction, finally came up with such a clay pot of ointment.

When these ointments are made into pills, they are not used to cure people, but to break through!

The number of pills was piling up at a speed that was visible to the naked eye, and when Uncle Zhang was busy slightly, he suddenly heard Su Hanshan exhale a very heavy breath.

"We avoided clashes with them in the early days because they all carried iron whistles and bamboo whistles, and there were a lot of hunting dogs, so once we fought them, it was easy to get into a long series of troubles."

Su Hanshan said slowly, "Now that we have gone deep into this, if we want to break through, the possibility of encountering a series of tracking strikes is higher, and there will be more masters." ”

"If we get together to break through, I'm afraid that in this process, we will be repeatedly consumed by others to consume our internal strength and energy until we are caught."

Li Chaoyang immediately understood, and said solemnly: "You want to act separately?" ”

Uncle Zhang raised his head slightly, stared at Su Hanshan, and after a while, he said: "What you said makes sense, but if you want to deliberately divert attention, let the old man take the opportunity to abscond, not to mention how the old man feels, those trackers may not be able to detect it." ”

Su Hanshan only smiled: "If I leave directly now, you two won't be able to stop me at all, and you won't be able to change my mind." ”

"But if you're talking to us, it means that you also know that this idea may not be so good, and it is very risky."

Li Chaoyang hurriedly said, "Merging and breaking out, breaking out separately, there are all troubles, at least we are together, and there is a response." ”

Su Hanshan said gently: "I talked to you in the hope that you could agree, so that it would be better to cooperate." ”

Li Chaoyang was still persuading him, but Zhang Shuwei lowered his head and made the pill, the speed was faster than before, the ointment would soon be exhausted, and the sheep intestines were about to run out, which was actually just right.

When the last bit of ointment was scraped off, Uncle Zhang spoke up slightly: "Xiao Su, you said in the tea shed that the fortune teller would run there when there was an opportunity for you to improve your martial arts." ”

"The old man can feel that the purpose of your trip to the rivers and lakes seems to be just to discuss the spine exercises, and at this point, the old man and the collection of books in Fuyao Mountain can really help you. But ......"

Uncle Zhang's eyebrows twitched slightly, his white beard raised slightly, and he said solemnly, "If you yourself are robbed in this turmoil, even if I successfully go to Fuyao Mountain, you won't get the reward you deserve." ”

When Li Chaoyang heard this, he fell silent.

He has never liked to say such things, as if all the things of everyone, all the wisdom, perseverance, and hard work can only be sharp, and people don't seem like people, but like minions of something invisible.

But after all, he is Li Qiumian's disciple, and he has seen too many things since he was a child, and he has to understand in his heart that often words like this are more convincing, because this is the reality.

Selfish people are only for self-interest, they don't care about ideas, and people who are affectionate have to worry more about reality, so the truth of reality is applicable to all kinds of people and things, and it can make people succumb the most.

"When I was in my hometown, because I had concerns, I wanted to do many things but couldn't do them, at most I could only do some of them, and I had to hide my head and cover my face and look forward to the future."

Su Hanshan didn't answer directly, but said something rambling.

"At that time, even when facing inevitable risks, I had to think twice, and I felt that just letting myself step into danger had failed the care of many people."

"But now, a lot of things have gotten better, and to be honest, I feel like I've repaid something, and I don't have as many worries as I used to."

"Although I still don't want to live up to the people who are good to me, I don't want to live up to myself either."

Su Hanshan said with a smile, stood up, faced the flowing water, and revealed an unshakable determination in his gentle and smiling words.

"Old man, your knowledge, acupuncture and the collection of books in Fuyao Mountain have all been prepared for me, and I will definitely get the reward I deserve."

"It's just that, in addition to doing things for pay, I have to do something that doesn't matter in return, purely as I please!"