When we reached the central part of Zhangzhou, the terrain began to change compared to the past.

The terrain near the south becomes visually magnificent, with a large difference in elevation and layering like a masonry chiseled step. From the flat ground, the miasma swamp rises abruptly above the broken walls, layer after layer of rocks protruding outwards with vines and shrubs, and the green intervals reveal a knife-like rugged gray-white mountain, and at the foot of the mountain there are carved stone pillars left over from ancient times.

At the top of the cliff, a narrow walkway has been carved out of the mountain, and under the clear sky, a line of birds flies far away, small as scattered gravel on a blue background, and the surrounding cliffs are even more magnificent.

At this point, waterways have become a viable option. Beneath the huge cliffs, the swamps covered with duckweed have begun to reach this area at a depth sufficient for boating. However, only the most adventurous will choose to go by boat.

The swampy waters, which are covered by mountains, have a terrifying inky black, and most of them are obscured by the sun's rays that shine through the central crack in the middle of the day, and the sound of frogs is always heard after the midsummer rains.

From time to time, a huge lotus leaf half a meter wide is touched by something under the water and sways violently, and when you look around, you can only see a huge dorsal fin cutting through the water surface and quickly disappearing into it, leaving only a faint ripple to continue to swing.

The Japanese merchants chose to walk the waterway only if they were brave enough to do so, and they often carried a bag of polished rice with them as they passed by, and they scattered it into the water in an orderly manner during the boat.

The uninformed Lamanite scholars thought it was a culturally related ritual when they heard about this life, but according to a few words of misunderstanding, they passed it on as "the best harvest of the year is offered to the god of water and prays for good weather in the coming year". But in fact, according to the ancient records of Heren, this is actually some kind of method to scare off dragons.

There is a dragon in the abyss, and the "abyss" in human language refers to the deep and bottomless waters. The legendary dragon of Crescent Island does not like to live in volcanoes and snow-capped mountains, but swims in the water, which convinces the Lamanites that he is a snake rather than a beast. Some of the Lamanites believe that the dragon in the legend of the Wajin is some kind of giant snake that lives in water, and the legend of the attack on people has been deified for a long time - but in short-

Sammy's practice is based on an ancient legend of the Wa people, because the dragon's body is covered with scales, and if a maggot grows under the scales, it will be painful but helpless. Therefore, sprinkling white rice, which is very similar to maggots, into the water can make the dragon afraid and not attack the ship.

It is not clear how useful this assumption is, but it is clear that even with this "incomparably reliable" guarantee, most people still prefer to take the road carved out of the cliffs by land.

Walking all the way from the lowlands to the top of the cliff, after actually stepping on, you will find that after thousands of years of polishing, this place is far wider than when you look below. Five or six carriages in parallel were still not too much of a problem. There is a guardrail near the cliff, but because the road is too long, the lowest cost wooden pillars are used to symbolically block it with thick hemp rope.

This kind of guardrail can only make people realize that this is the boundary of the cliff wall, but it does not really play a role in preventing the cliff from falling, not to mention that the hemp rope has fallen into disrepair and in some places has dried up and become brittle, as if the wind will break if it blows gently.

Falling from here, even if you don't consider the various stupid black shadows in the abyss, just a drop of tens of meters directly on the water surface is enough to make people faint and drown. Therefore, most of the pedestrians stayed as far away as possible, and only a few of them, like the young martial arts children in gorgeous costumes that they saw when the group came over, would meaninglessly show off Wu Yong, deliberately standing very close and shouting loudly, for fear that others would not see them.

In the country of the moon, which has been peaceful for a long time, in addition to drunken fighting, doing such stupid things is probably the biggest cause of death for young samurai.

When a group of more than 100 people and nearly 200 people walked by, one of the young warriors who were pretending to show their martial prowess was so startled that he almost didn't fall, if it weren't for his partner reaching out and pulling it, he was afraid that his life would be lost.

One of the ronins under Ryunosuke's command glanced at him, and I don't know if he felt that his face was dull or something, but this young man actually looked like he was going to spread his anger here. Fortunately, I was pulled by my partner.

But even so, his scolding did not stop, and his remarks were roughly the same as when Henry and his party came to Zhangzhou before, and the young samurai scolded Narumi and Yajiro and others, all of them scolded what age they wore armor and weapons, etc., obviously only traveling in Chinese clothes is the norm for Japanese samurai today.

Yajiro, Narumi, and the others looked at the young samurai who could only use their tongues in a dark and complicated manner, and their arms protruding from the sleeves of their wide costumes were slender and white, making people wonder if they could still wield their swords. There were even servants with large and small bags and paper umbrellas nearby, presumably worried that the scorching summer sun would hurt the noble skin of the samurai.

Ryunosuke and his entourage were obviously accustomed to this kind of day, so they didn't pay attention to it, and just continued to move forward.

Walking the road on the cliff away from the ground, the absence of miasma makes people's minds a lot clearer, and the whole team seems to walk much faster. But they were only halfway there, and they should have almost turned left and headed east. Because continuing to move forward like this is the sphere of influence of Pingshan County, and the group will have to take a detour from now on, and can no longer take the national highway.

Half of the journey had already consumed most of the day, and just as the sunset was gradually setting and the time of the demons came, Ryunosuke and the others, who were going to the mountain, were stopped by an old medicine man with white hair.

"It's better for the samurai adults to wait until the day to get on the road, there are quite a few human-faced birds on this mountain. ”

Regardless of whether he was old and dizzy, he couldn't see that Ryunosuke and the others were ronins and not serious samurai before he opened his mouth to stop them, this kind of kindness was quite rare for Ryunosuke and his party. Therefore, after thinking about it, he also informed Narumi and the others who were traveling behind, and when he heard about the so-called human-faced bird, our Luoan girl immediately thought of the monster named Harpy, which also existed in Rigal.

But after a little inquiry into the description, the people on both sides immediately realized that this bird of Crescent Island was similar to the only custom of Rigal, and the others were very different.

The more formal name of Rigal's so-called harpy is the Harpy, and the Church classifies them as subhumans along with the goblin category. Refers to the presence of humanoid outlines, but low intelligence, only savage instincts, difficult to communicate, and unable to understand the existence of civilized races. The Crescent Bird is a bird through and through, and is collectively known as the owl, which is also known as the owl as the people of Rigal.

The human-faced bird is a large owl that lives in small groups in mountainous areas, with an average weight of about 30 kilograms. And people think that this kind of bird is unknown, a large reason is that this size of birds is relatively lazy, unlike large birds of prey of about 10 kilograms, which tend to live on small and medium-sized birds and small mammals, this kind of oversized birds prefer to pick prey with limited mobility or live directly on carrion.

In other words, in times of peace, they like to pick and choose the old and weak women and children of human beings, and in times of war, the dead bodies of these birds tend to hover in flocks.

Heavily armed men in the prime of life are generally not the target of human-faced birds, but after all, they are flying creatures that are difficult to defend against. And they are accustomed to eating dead corpses, and their claws and beaks are full of toxins, and even if they do not die directly in the attack, those who are scratched and pecked will often have a high fever and finally die.

Today's Japanese pharmacists and doctors believe that it is just an ordinary large bird of prey, but its inhuman face and cunning and strange characteristics have still accumulated many legends for thousands of years. There are still many people in mountain villages around the country who believe that the human-faced bird is a monster rather than a natural product, especially in combination with the high mortality rate of children in this era, it is said that they will imitate the cry of a baby at night, attracting the devastated mother who has lost her child and goes into the mountains and forests to besiege and eat.

The old medicine man's suggestion was finally accepted by everyone after a little consideration, and in return for this kindness, Narumi and the others invited him to come to their camp to rest together.

Pharmacists who do not have their own medical clinics are a common presence in the countryside, and they generally settle in the mountains where herbs can easily grow relatively far from the villages. Outside, a field was opened to grow common herbs, and a grinder and various tools and materials for making ointments and powders were placed in the house. After harvesting and processing the herbs regularly, they are loaded in large wooden backpacks with many small compartments, and they are sold in the nearby mountain villages and exchanged for daily necessities.

Such people also generally play a role similar to the position of scholars in the countryside. Because serious scholars were more difficult to reach, either in the academy or in the Chinese mansion, the same more knowledgeable pharmacists would be relied upon by the countryside to judge some issues.

The elders learned to be silent about many issues, and even when they arrived, he didn't see the uniqueness of Henry and the others, but politely thanked Narumi for the hot tea and sat down near their campsite.

A group of nearly two hundred men camped on a flat area near the pass, and coincidentally, just before dusk was about to end, a group of young warriors who had been pretending to be on the edge of the cliff also approached, and they seemed to be in the same direction.

Five young samurai dressed in fine clothes with a handful of swaggers and four attendants passed by the group with large bags and small bags, and they seemed to be planning to take advantage of the darkness to go on another journey. The ronin under Ryunosuke next to him was told the young samurai that the mountain was full of human-faced birds, and the entourage on the side turned pale and immediately began to dissuade him, but the samurai disciple who was almost scared to fall off the cliff before seemed to be competitive because of such a thing, and he had to go up the mountain.

"Let you see the spirit of an authentic samurai!" Throwing off such a sentence, he brushed his sleeves and walked into the darkness, and then it took almost a minute before a sentence came from the darkness, "Hurry up and light the lamp for Uncle Ben, isn't it impossible to see the road." ”

Behind him, the anxious and angry but helpless entourage rummaged through the boxes and cabinets of large bags and small bags, and finally turned out a paper lantern, and the moment it was lit, seeing the family crest on it, many people under Ryunosuke whispered.

There is an open book on a circle, and in the middle of the circle is written the article composed of the word "Xuan" is the family crest of the Chinese people in Pingshan County, although there is a slight gap with Long Zhisuke when he was in power, but it can still be seen that the identity of this line of people can be seen.

It's just that this line of young samurai obviously didn't know the reason, and most of the people who heard the whispering thought they were laughing at themselves. Gritting his teeth and even his words became more angry, only one of the young female attendants with short hair bowed apologetically to their side on behalf of their lord, and then hurriedly followed.

"It's really a classic gentleman. Our Loan girl sighed.

This little episode didn't affect much, although there was a risk in the mountains and how unreliable this group of people looked, but after all, it was just a meeting in the water.

Although these young samurai were young, the average age of these young samurai seemed to be seventeen or eighteen years old, and they were the age at which they should bear the consequences for their actions.

Tell them that they are still at risk and still insist on going their own way, then there is no need for them to follow the guards or something, because first, they must take risks themselves, and secondly, the other party may not accept this kind of kindness.

It's one thing to get paid for the commission, and if you don't get paid, you have to go up and wait for others to look at you coldly, even if you don't know the world like our doctor, you will definitely not be able to open this kind of mouth.

It is okay to say that the world is hot and cold, and people are indifferent, but after all, everyone is a person struggling to survive, not a hero who has an immortal body in a fairy tale and can always arrive in time.

"It's hard to persuade a ghost who wants to die. Old Joe said as he filled the campfire with a piece of firewood.

All they can do is hope that these young people will not encounter any difficulties.