The sky is slightly bright, the rooster has not yet crowed, the sun is shaking gold, and the moon cage quicksilver is probably to describe the scenery of the town in the morning and evening.

Xia Chengyi got up from the futon early in the morning, opened the door of the house, picked up the broom next to the door and began to sweep the snow in the garden, piling them up on the side of the yard. Then he brought a brazier and placed it in the small courtyard with soft soil, lit three pillars of incense on it, and bowed in three directions. This is also a part of worshipping the three gods, Xia Chengyi has always had a heart of awe for ghosts and gods, when he was a child, his mother told him that there are not only their worldly mortals in this world, but also the mountain gods and ghosts in the mountains.

After Xia Chengyi did this, he began to practice walking piles in the morning sun as usual, this set of piles was learned by him from the blacksmith shop Li Shi, although he has not yet become a formal introductory apprentice, but Xia Chengyi still stole a lot from Li Shi, plus the young man's eyesight and memory are excellent, just a glance will keep the steps of the pile in mind.

The boy began to walk up the piles in the courtyard, and after a quarter of an hour, the boy would stop for a while, and so on until he was sweating profusely and exhausted. If there are others watching here at this time, you will definitely be able to see the strange appearance of the young man at this moment, the young man's steps are like a silver waterfall pouring down, and the momentum is heavy. The surrounding body is covered with golden wisps, like a golden body of the law minister.

Xia Chengyi wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, turned his head to look into the house and found that Xia Yao hadn't gotten up at the moment, so he retracted his gaze and put the back basket in the corner on his back. We trotted all the way to a stream southwest of the town, which Xia Chengyi found by chance.

The surface of the water is crystal clear, you can see the scene under the water at a glance, the herring fish in the water are wandering, the creek bed is covered with pebbles of different colors, different sizes, different shapes, if you are raised high in the sun, you can find that the stone is crystal clear throughout, the starlight in it is dotted, there are gold filaments such as thin snakes winding, faintly appearing.

Xia Chengyi lifted his trouser legs and stepped into the stream, the water level of the stream was not high, but the turbulent water in winter still made the mentally prepared young man gasp. He placed the basket on the bluestone by the stream, tied the basket around his waist, and bent down to look intently at the herring fish swimming in the water. The tender flesh of this fish, known as herring, is an excellent ingredient for soup, and because it does not have the grassy smell of other river fish, it is loved by the people of the town.

Xia Chengyi's eyesight is excellent, and after a while, he caught three herring fish the size of a palm, made ropes with reeds and dog tail grass picked from the shore, and tied a knot on the three fish strings and threw them into the fish basket. Xia Chengyi put the basket on his back and stepped on the clear stream and walked to the shore step by step.

There was a rustling sound in the grass in the distance, Xia Chengyi pushed aside the grass and saw a white deer standing on the bluestone when he came, the white deer was crystal clear, smooth as fat, and the body was glowing with a trace of white light, dazzling, like pebbles under the stream.

The white deer was lowering its head at the moment and slowly drinking the stream water, and when he saw Xia Chengyi appearing, he didn't show a panicked expression.

Xia Chengyi was not annoyed when he saw that Bailu ignored him, he was used to seeing wild fowl in the forest in the mountains, he pointed to the other side of the stream, and smiled at Bailu: "I'm going to the other side, I didn't mean to disturb you." ”

Bailu seemed to understand Xia Chengyi's words, raised a pair of eyes containing aura and glanced at him, turned sideways to get out of the way, as if saying that you want to go over and hurry up.

Xia Chengyi was slightly stunned, he didn't expect this deer to be so humane. So he hurriedly trotted to the shore, put down his trouser legs that were lifted high, and turned around to look for the white deer just now, only to find that the white deer he saw just now had disappeared, leaving no trace, as if it had never appeared.

Xia Chengyi scratched his head and said to himself, "Could it be a ghost?" ”

————

Xia Chengyi carried a heavy basket all the way through the streets and alleys, and on the way, he passed by Grandma Sun's breakfast shop and bought a cage of six meat buns to go home.

Grandma Sun's meat buns have been famous for a long time when the teenager was still young, and at that time, due to the shyness in his pocket, the teenager could only smell the aroma of meat from a distance whenever he passed by the morning shop. Every time Grandma Sun saw the thin black boy, she would smile and ask Xiao Chengyi if she was hungry, Grandma Sun still had a lot of freshly out of the basket here that couldn't be sold, so you can take them home and share them with your sister. But the thin black boy just shook his head and smiled shyly each time, then turned and ran away.

Xia Chengyi trotted all the way back to the house on West Street, and before he got close to the house, he saw a tall young man sitting in front of the threshold, leaning against the locked door, yawning boredly. After Zhong Quan saw Xia Chengyi, he got up in a hurry, dragged his arm and walked to the house, not forgetting to take the largest meat bun from the cage of steamed buns and stuff it into his mouth, and kept chattering: "I tell you, this time our brother is bound to get rich!" ”

Xia Chengyi rolled his eyes, broke free from the clutches of the tall boy, put down the back basket and shouted towards the inner room: "Yaoyao, get up and eat!" ”

It took half a ring in the room before Xia Yao's response came.

Zhong Quan sat on Xia Chengyi's hard wooden bed, while Xia Chengyi moved a small bench to sit in front of him, and asked with some curiosity, "What did you come to me early in the morning for?" What about Zuo Shuwen? ”

After the tall boy poured a bowl of water, he slowly spoke: "Zuo Shuwen, that kid doesn't know where to go, and when he came to knock on his house, there was no response, don't care about his business first, I'm here to tell you......"

The tall young man paused in the middle of speaking, and then whispered after looking around: "The court sent an official to inspect our town, and I heard that the official's hat is scary, and it seems to be called ...... in the imperial court."

Xia Chengyi sat on a small stool and watched the tall boy wait for the next step.

Zhong Quan scratched his head, and after thinking about it for a long time, he still didn't remember what that official position was called, so he waved his hand, quite like a general commanding ten thousand armies on the battlefield, and said arrogantly: "You just need to know that the official hat is big enough, and the Lu Shenstick over there in the township school has to call him an adult when he sees him." ”

Xia Chengyi frowned slightly, and said: "Mr. Lu is Mr. Lu, what kind of god stick is not a god stick, you have more respect for Mr. Lu." ”

Zhong Quan pursed his lips and muttered in a low voice: "Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu, are you his son, you are more affectionate than anyone else." ”

Xia Chengyi was silent, for the town's township school Mr. Lu Ran, Xia Chengyi respected him from the bottom of his heart, and it was thanks to Lu Ran that Xia Yao was able to enter the school to study.

The township school in the town was originally funded by several big families on East Street, if it is judged by ordinary schools, the height of the shackles is not something that ordinary poor families like Xia Chengyi can afford, but Lu Ran just collected three pieces of bacon from the young man. Lu Ran originally wanted the boy to also enter the hall to listen to the lecture, but Xia Chengyi hesitated, firstly, he may not really have time to listen to Mr. Lu's lectures as an apprentice in the blacksmith shop, and secondly, he felt that it was enough to let Xia Yao sit on top of the academy. Although he didn't read much, he also understood the truth that there was no shortage but inequality. In the end, the middle-aged Confucian saw the young man's hesitation, and said with a smile that if he was free in the future, he could come over to listen to one or two, and the young man quickly nodded and agreed.

Zhong Quan bent his elbows, exerted his strength slightly, raised his hands on the bed board and raised his buttocks high, his feet left the ground, and continued with Xia Chengyi: "I heard from the mother-in-law and aunts in Hedong that the main purpose of sending him here this time was to escort a group of children from the Immortal Mansion down the mountain to practice. ”

Xia Chengyi was a little puzzled, what does the imperial court have to do with them?

Zhong Quan saw that Xia Chengyi still looked stunned, and said seriously: "Didn't you think that if we could be selected by the immortal family mansion and get the identity of a disciple, wouldn't we be able to soar into the sky in the future?" ”

Xia Chengyi shook his head, and said with a glance: "How can the immortal family immortals on the mountain be so easy to become, it is better to guard your own one-third of an acre of land in a down-to-earth manner." ”

The tall young man who had been in that posture rolled his eyes, and said with some hatred: "No wonder they say that you Xia Chengyi is a person who can't hold on to his wealth, even if he has money, he will leak everywhere." ”

Xia Chengyi was silent.

The tall young man scratched his head, perhaps realizing that his words just now were a little ugly, got up and went to the ground, but there was no guilty words, and after snorting in the room, he patted his chest and said to Xia Chengyi: "After I enter the wealthy sect in the future, I promise to take you and Zuo Shuwen to eat and drink spicy food, and then I will find you a cardigan girl with ten or eight points, not to mention the little woman who carries water every day at the head of the village, even the Oiran in the green building is inferior by two points!" ”

At this time, Xia Yao opened the curtain of the inner room and walked out, still wearing the shabby red jacket, and looked at Zhong Quan with a pair of autumn eyes: "What is a cardigan lady?" ”

As soon as Zhong Quan was about to open his mouth to explain to Xia Yao what a warm quilt girl was, he saw Xia Chengyi's whole face on the side darken, and his already dark face looked even darker.

Xia Chengyi tugged at the corners of his mouth and explained: "It's nothing, it's just a kind of clothing worn by women, and it is called armor because of its resemblance to armor." ”

Zhong Quan was dumbfounded, and somewhat admired Xia Chengyi's ability to open his eyes and say nonsense.

Xia Chengyi then pointed to the cage of meat buns that had just been bought, and told Xia Yao to eat them while they were hot, it would be cold after a while, and the buns that had just come out of the cage in winter were cold fast. Xia Yao sighed, copied a small bench and sat down, holding the hot bun in her hand and nibbling it down.

Zhong Quan saw that one of the brothers and sisters was bowing his head and nibbling on the bun, and the other was sitting on the side like a stuffy gourd, and he didn't have the heart to brag and fart, so he made a set of wind demon fists before Shi Shiran left satisfied.

Not long after Zhong Quan left, the town ushered in the first rain of spring, moisturizing things silently and nourishing all things.

The rain falls in the ordinary alleys, and the young trees and new shoots dance in the spring breeze.

After Xia Yao finished solving the remaining four buns in the cage drawer, she couldn't help but burp loudly, and hurriedly covered her mouth and looked sideways at Xia Chengyi on the side, seeing Xia Chengyi wandering, she didn't notice Xia Yao's movement at all before she breathed a sigh of relief.

After Xia Yao took the bowl of water and poured it down, she asked with some curiosity, "Brother, what are you thinking?" ”

Xia Chengyi came back to his senses and joked with a smile: "I'm wondering if Ming'er should buy you a few more buns to eat." ”

Xia Yao blushed all of a sudden, it turned out that all the movements just now were heard by her brother Xia Chengyi, and she thought that Xia Chengyi was in a daze and didn't notice it.

Xia Chengyi turned his head to look, the spring rain falling outside the house fell on the soft soil, Xia Chengyi sat at the door, thinking about an old saying in the town: people eat soil for one generation, soil eats people once, and opening and closing your eyes is a matter of the next life.

In fact, Xia Chengyi heard a lot of rumors about the gods in the mountains from Zhong Quan, Zhong Quan was a master who liked to join in the fun, and whenever the old people in the town sat under the old elm tree and chatted about those fairy masters in the mountains, the young people would squat on the side and eavesdrop on the side intentionally or unintentionally. It is said that the cultivators on the mountain are collectively called qi refiners, but the qi refiners are divided into different camps, there are pure martial artists who practice one breath inside and one breath outside the muscles, bones and skin, and temper a breath of pure true qi; There is also the sword cultivation that walks with the sword, and breaks through ten thousand laws with one sword; There are also soldier talisman masters and Mojia organ masters. Among them, the sword cultivation is the most deadly, there was a sword fairy sword split the East China Sea, blocking thousands of miles of sky, leaving a trench; There is also a sword cultivation sword that opens the sky and soars outside the sky.

At the same time, there are fifteen realms for qi refiners, of which the first five realms are the five qi mansions, which are the five acupuncture points of the human body.

"The one who induces qi, the spirit of heaven and earth, the qi of the acupuncture points, and the qi of the cave court is full."

It is said that the first realm of the Five Qi Mansions is the Qi Channel, and the other four Mansions are the Punch Hole, the Mansion, the Soul Molding, and the Gathering of Spirits, and the naming of the last ten realms is unknown.

The so-called high-rise buildings rise from the ground, and the more solid the foundation of these five realms is, the more solid it will be, and it will only be of great benefit to future cultivation. But this first realm qi is to sift out eighty percent of the number of people, not to mention the next fourteen realms, and every step of cultivating the fifteen realms is like climbing a mountain and crossing a mountain, and it is difficult to move.

Zhong Quan looked full of excitement every time he said this, Xia Chengyi didn't know why the tall boy was excited, and later learned that the tall boy felt that he was born as a good seedling of cultivation, and now he has not been able to practice just because God thinks that his talent is too shocking, so he has not been taken away by a master at the age of fifteen.

The tall boy has always been very confident in his talent, in his words, he is a first-class genius in this world, Xia Chengyi and Zuo Shuwen are separated from him by more than one ravine, if you compare it with the real thing, it is probably the difference between the border river Weijiang and the Qingxi in the town.

A muffled thunder sounded from the layers of dark clouds, like a golden god in armor beating a drum in the clouds, muffled.

Xia Chengyi raised his head and looked at the dark clouds.

Xia Yao lowered her head and played with a piece of rusty iron, her small and delicate fingers rubbing the surface of the iron sheet, and there was a faint golden light in the long eyes of Qiushui.

————

Inside the thatched cottage of a small town school.

Lu Ran, a teacher in the town, finished his teaching early today, and sat alone in a thatched hut, with a freshly completed landscape painting in front of his desk, in which the street scene of the town was played, with children chasing and playing under the old elm tree; There are men who bow their backs and bury their heads in the sky to cut wheat in the crops; There were also women who carried heavy buckets of water from the wells.

After the Confucian scholar in the green shirt finished the last stroke of the painting, his constricted brows relaxed, and the unsmiling teacher had a smile on his face at this moment, he put down the brush in his hand, looked at the thin spring rain outside the window, and said with a smile: "Very good!" ”