At night, Suowu Mountain is towering and continuous, and the vastness is endless.

And the Ghost Crying Gorge is only two or three zhang wide, but it is a forced split of Suowu Mountain into two.

"There is no reason to go out of Cannes. ”

At the end of the two thousand miles of Devil's Cry Gorge is the world's first Xiongguan Kangcheng.

Compared with Kyoto, Shangyang, Nanjun, these famous cities with thousands of years of history, Kangcheng does not have too long history, the city was built only 1,400 years, it is a border town that developed with the establishment of the Xin Dynasty, it is the location of the Xin Dynasty's Western Wilderness Capital, and the four border cities such as Dafeichuan, Stone City, Yak Valley, and Arrow Furnace are collectively called the West Wilderness and Five Stops, guarding the extreme west of the empire.

Cannes used to be a pearl on the side plug, prosperous for a while.

In the cold night, Cannes is lonely, and it has lost the vivid color of the prosperous times of previous years.

Two years ago, there was another storm between the Western Wilderness and the Xin Dynasty, and the Western Wilderness took the lead in attacking, raising an army of 100,000 to attack the Dafeichuan, Stone City, Yak Valley, and the four fortresses of the Arrow Furnace under the jurisdiction of the Western Wilderness Protectorate.

Because of the arch guards of the four fortresses, Cannes is considered the second line of defense, although it is also rumored, but it is quite stable.

The cold wind blew across the long street, rolling up some dust and dead leaves, and swept across the end of the street. There was a faint cry in the wind, and I don't know whose son's son was bleeding outside the plug.

In a dilapidated courtyard in the west of the city, the doors and windows blown by the cold wind "creaked and creaked". Crows also make noise in the dead trees.

There was a firelight reflected on the walls, the wind came and went, and the flames were a little messy in the cold wind.

"Grunt" was the sound of boiling spirit grass juice.

A young man of about fourteen or fifteen years old, somewhat emaciated, sat in front of the fire, holding his chin in one hand, frowning, as if thinking about something, and holding a black burning stick in the other hand, fiddling with firewood, as if trying to tame the flame dancing in the wind, so that the spirit grass juice in the medicine jar could be boiled earlier.

"Hmm" Shen Buyi sighed softly, and directly grabbed the handle of the somewhat reddened medicine jar with his hand, poured the spirit grass juice into the medicine bowl with several gaps, blew the spirit grass juice slightly, and drank the spirit grass juice in the medicine bowl in one gulp.

"Medicine jar, isn't it hot?" a hoarse old voice sounded in the northwest corner of the room.

"This pair of spirit grass, I'm afraid you've been boiling it for two hours!"

"Grandpa Bing, you know that you have become a good doctor after a long illness, and you have drunk the spirit grass juice more times, and you have poured the spirit grass juice more times, so there is no hot feeling. ”

"Shen Buyi, I have been to your dilapidated yard for six years, over the years, as long as you have leisure where you go to Suowushan Mountain to pick spiritual grass, the spiritual grass you pick is nothing more than some dragon blood Ling, anchovy grass, blue blue laurel and other strong physique spiritual grass, I advise you to die that heart, your congenital meridians are broken, even if you find the best Tianluo flower in the world, there is no way to make your meridians accessible, after listening to me, I will continue to study the way of the Fu Seal, even if you can't become a great road, at least you can learn a technique, and live in this world is not。 ”

Shen Buyi stared at the firelight, as if pondering something.

Seeing that Shen Buyi was speechless, the old man continued:

"Although I am just a blind warlock who walks the rivers and lakes, but I am also well-informed, you can listen to me, aren't those exorcism charms you drew a few days ago, aren't they not bad? I believe that in time you will definitely be able to have extraordinary achievements on this path. ”

Speaking of this, the old man seemed to think of something, and asked coldly:

"By the way, it's not easy, a few days ago, the old man had nothing to do, where did you put the 'Fire Extension Talisman' and 'Fire Curtain Talisman' that the old man had nothing to do?"

"Ah, Grandpa Bing, a few days ago, you weren't greedy and wanted to fight tooth sacrifices, so I sold your few talismans to those merchants in the Western Wilderness, and then exchanged them for roast chicken, roast goose, and burnt knife wine, grandpa, those things are all in your stomach. ”

Shen Buyi said with some humility.

But his eyes kept on looking at a small hole in the corner of a section of the wall under the broken bed, where he seemed to be hiding something dear.

As if to cover up something, Shen Buyi said again:

"Grandpa Bing, you also know that in the past two years, the people of the Western Wilderness have attacked the city and seized the land, and everything in Kangcheng is expensive, and the spirit crystals obtained by selling those talismans and seals are not enough to spend. ”

The old man didn't seem to care about the few sigils anymore, but said:

"Boy, the old man tells the truth, although you can't practice, but the talent of drawing talismans, the old man is only seen in his life, why do you have to go to the method of practicing the body, although the method of the talisman is cold, but under the intensive study, there will be success. ”

"Grandpa Bing, that's not what I wanted. ”

"What do you want, the literature and martial arts you learned, and the goods are in the emperor's family?"

"Confused, not to mention that you can't practice, even if you have atmospheric luck, pass through the meridians, and cultivate the so-called supernatural powers in those academies, it's just a little Dao'er. ”

"Grandpa Bing, it's not what you think, besides, I want to try it too. ”

Shen Buyi said with some determination.

"Young man, as soon as you enter the academy, it is as deep as the sea, 'the height of the temple is worried about its people, and the distance of the rivers and lakes is worried about its monarch', you must know that you are just a child of a poor family, and if you want to win the future in the name of the monk, this road is not easy to walk. ”

"It's better to wander the world with the old man, enjoy the joy of mountains and rivers, and live happily in the rolling red dust. ”

"Ah, Grandpa Bing, you're still wandering the world. I read in the book that Daxin is rich in resources, and ordinary people can't exhaust one-twelfth even if they exhaust their lives, how can you take me to the end of the world?"

"Hmph, young man, you have to eat bite by bite, and the road is to go step by step. ”

"Forget it, 'under the whole world, it is not the king's land', since the imperial court has opened the way to obtain scholars, as long as it passes the assessment, I believe there will be a different situation. ”

The old man was silent. Alone in the corner, without saying a word, as if thinking about something.

"Hopefully tomorrow will have a good outcome. ”

Shen Buyi hoped in his heart, then shook his head again, and then walked straight to a clearing next to the old man.

I saw Shen Buyi bending down, and with both hands he grabbed a shoulder from the ground covered with grass, which was sewn with coarse cloth, and many vertical cavities were densely sewn on the shoulder, like a thin bamboo pipe, which was filled with river sand, and weighed about forty or fifty catties.

After Shen Buyi put the shoulder on himself, he began to squat non-stop, and when he squatted to the limit, he jumped up suddenly.

This is the method of practicing the body that Shen Buyi learned from a book called "Martial Arts Training". The book says that if a person is weak and wants to have a physique like steel and iron bones, he first needs to take the spirit grass juice boiled by dragon blood ling, anchovy grass, blue blue gui and other spirit grasses, and then while the spirit grass juice has not been absorbed by the body, he needs to use the training method of refining into steel to temper his body so that the medicinal effect of the spirit grass juice can be fully exerted, so as to achieve the effect of strengthening the body.

In fact, those dragon blood ling, anchovy grass, and blue blue gui are also sold in the Lingbao store in Cannes City, but the price is higher.

Shen Buyi was already very poor, and it would not be an exaggeration to describe him as a disciple of the four walls, if he hadn't taken in the old man over the years, and followed the old man to paint and sell some exorcism talismans, town house talismans, and fire extension talismans...... and so on, earning some scattered spirit crystals to make a living.

Otherwise, he really couldn't make a living at a young age, so he didn't have any extra spirit crystals, so he could only secretly go to the foothills of Suowu Mountain to collect medicinal spirit grass, like that kind of Tianluo flower, Shen Buyi also knew that it was the best spiritual grass for physical training, but to collect Tianluo flowers, you had to enter the depths of Suowu Mountain, but there were as many fierce beasts in the mountain as dogs, so Shen Buyi could only collect some ordinary physical training spiritual grass at the foot of the mountain that was not too dangerous, which was better than nothing. After all, it's a pity not to want your own life to die.

Shen Buyi kept jumping, feeling the sour feeling of exhaustion, and the decoction in his abdomen generated a stream of heat, moisturizing every inch of his muscles.

After Shen Buyi finished a thousand jumps, his face was already flushed and sweating profusely, and he felt that the sweat had soaked the shoulders on his body that were filled with river sand.

But he did not stop, gritted his teeth, and walked to the northwest corner of the house, where stood a wooden stake about seven or eight feet high, one end deeply embedded in the earth, as if it had taken root, and on that stake there were many protrusions that were very sharp.

Shen Buyi threw the already soaked shoulder to the ground, and then hit the thick wooden stake with his body, and the acupuncture points all over his body collided with those sharp bulges, and the flesh and blood were blurred.

After the training, Shen Buyi carried a large wooden bucket of ice water from the house, put it into a red clay tank, and then soaked himself in the cold and biting water.

If it is not broken, it is not easy to stand, Shen Buyi is born with a physique that cannot be cultivated, this time he wants to take a look at the Taoist scholars, to see if his efforts over the years, these years of perseverance, have allowed his body to reach the minimum threshold of the imperial court. As for whether he will be admitted, he didn't take it too seriously, he was born with everything, is he just a waste of firewood?

"When I was six years old, someone diagnosed me that the congenital meridians were broken in as many as 17 places, and I couldn't practice in this life. It's my life, but I just want to try. ”

"Mother, you are underground, do you know that the child's heart is very bitter? ”

Shen Buyi sat on the edge of the bed, put on his shoes, walked to the window, pushed the lattice a little, and let a cold wind penetrate the room, and he felt the biting cold.

Shen Buyi turned his head to the old man and said:

"Grandpa Bing, I'm going to Daotong Plaza early tomorrow morning to participate in the qualification assessment, so I won't be able to buy you baked cakes tomorrow. ”

"Go ahead, now that you've decided, it's better to go and see. ”

"Is it just to go and see? It seems that Grandpa Bing is not optimistic about me either!"

Shen Buyi's heart was also confused.

Seeing that Shen Buyi was speechless, the old man was silent for a while and then said:

"It's not easy, if the evaluation results are not satisfactory tomorrow, how will you deal with yourself?"

Shen Buyi blew the cold wind silently, did not answer the old man's question, his hair bun was a little messy in the cold wind, and his thin cheeks were also a little red, but Shen Buyi was still leaning against the window, looking at the cold wind in the broken yard.

.....................

The next day, the morning sun slowly spread down from the top of Suowu Mountain, driving away the winter chill and warming the earth and the whole Cannes.

Shen Buyi walked out of the dilapidated courtyard, walked out of the chaimen, and walked out of the alley, his steps were slow and a little heavy, obviously sleepless all night, his eyes were not big, bloodshot, and his face was as pale as the snow on the top of Suowu Mountain.

Last night, I couldn't sleep, and my mind kept flashing the appearance of my mother and the words of my mother before she died:

"Your father was a big man. ”

In the past, Shen Buyi thought that his mother said this sentence because his mother was dying and said it nonsense in a confused consciousness.

Until a few days ago, someone sent him an identity spy with He Bida, and asked him to take the big exam as He Bida.

Although seeing the three words of He Bida, Shen Buyi felt very disgusted, and remembered many unbearable pasts in his heart, but after some hesitation and struggle, Shen Buyi still decided to participate in the qualification assessment, although according to the laws of the Xin Dynasty, Shen Buyi's current identity is not able to enter the imperial court at all levels of education and cardinal institutions for life.

"Who helped me get this identity espionage?"

"Mother doesn't hate that surnamed He, so when I handled the identity espionage back then, did I register my name with Shen Buyi?"

"Could it be that my father was really a big man. ”

Shen Buyi kept doubting in his heart.

Under the sun, Shen Buyi's shadow was slender and thin, and the warm sunlight only stretched his stiff body a little, but his heart was full of questions.

"If my father is a big man, why am I so low?"

"Since my mother said that my father was a big man, why was my mother tragically beaten to death by that man?"

"Since he's a big man, why don't he miss me when I'm fourteen years old and haven't seen him once?"

"It's not easy, brother, are you going to buy baked cakes again so early?" a pleasant and crisp voice sounded in his ears.

Shen Buyi raised his head, only to see a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl dressed in green standing on the side of the road, her pink face as smooth as jade, and a pair of blue eyes shining with the sparkle of stars in the starry sky.

"Yes, Sister Aduo, I'm going to participate... Shen Buyi suddenly stopped talking.

Because he suddenly thought that if he told Ah Duo that he was going to participate in the assessment, then maybe Ah Duo would not laugh at him, but the grandmothers around Ah Duo would probably laugh off their big teeth, saying that he was crazy, and it was understandable that other people would go to the assessment, like he was just an illegitimate child who was ridiculed since he was a child, a wild seed, a lowly child, according to the laws of the imperial court, even if Shen Buyi is a genius, he will not be able to enter the school, since he can't go to school, what's the use of him going?

So Shen Buyi hurriedly said, "Yes, I'll go buy baked cakes." ”

"Ah, it's a pity, it's not easy brother,"

"I've already gone to buy baked cakes just now, and I wanted to buy a few more, and by the way, I also sent a few to Brother Buyi to make breakfast. But it's a pity that the boss told me that because of the shortage of materials now, there is no way to make a living in making baked cakes, and today it will be closed. ”

Ah Duo blinked his sapphire eyes a few times, and said to Shen Buyi with a smile.

Ah Duo has a pair of eyes that are different from those of the Xin Dynasty, the people of the Xin Dynasty are all black, and her blue eyes are the same as many people from the Western Wilderness who live in Cannes and do business, they are all blue, but the only difference is that Ah Duo's eyes are bluer, more transparent, and sparkling with stars.

Shen Buyi once heard the steward of the big family who bought Adona say:

At first, his master originally planned to buy Ah Duo to be raised as a singing and dancing girl, but later he slowly discovered that Ah Duo had a sparkle in his eyes, so he asked someone to investigate Ah Duo's origin from the slave traders who sold Ah Duo in the first place. ”

Because in the Western Wilderness region, only the royal family in the tribe will have sparkling stars in their eyes, and only after exploring can they know that Ah Duo is the princess of a certain tribe in the Western Wilderness. ”

"When Ah Duo was still in infancy, the tribe was wiped out by several other tribes in the Western Wasteland, all the men were killed, and all the women were used as slaves, and Ah Duo was brought to Cannes by slave traders at that time to sell. ”

Kangcheng was originally an important border town, and it was also an important place for border trade between the Xin Dynasty and the tribes outside the Sai, and merchants had always gathered and flourished.

One hundred and eight tribes outside the Saiwai occupy a vast wilderness and are not civilized.

Among these many tribes, the Western Wilderness is the most powerful and fierce, and it is the real overlord of the Wild Land outside the Saiwai, so since ancient times, the rulers of Middle-earth have used the clan name of the Western Wilderness to refer to the vast land west of Kangcheng.

The Western Wilderness is a transcendent existence, and other weak tribes have to snort on it, cling to its wings to survive, and are often drawn by it to follow its conquest.

If they do not comply, they often threaten to exterminate each other, and the Xihuang tribe often provokes the contradictions between other weak tribes, so that they attack each other to achieve the goal of weakening each other and strengthening themselves.

Up to now, the entire Western Wilderness region, under the deliberate management of the Western Wilderness Clan, has been reduced from one hundred and eight tribes at the peak of history to only thirty-six tribes today.

However, the steps of the Western Wilderness Tribe's extermination of other weak tribes have never stopped, and it is believed that in the near future, there will be only one tribe in the Western Wilderness, that is, the Western Wilderness Tribe, and then the entire Western Wilderness will be the territory of the veritable Western Wilderness Clan.

And whenever there is a war in the Western Wilderness, there will always be many slave traders in the wilderness.

........................

Later, Shen Buyi heard that because of Ah Duo's noble identity, the head of the big family who bought her to be a kabuki no longer allowed people to mention the matter of Kabuki.

Now he has adopted Ah Duo as a righteous daughter, and regards it as a pearl in his palm.

When Ah Duo was raised as a singing and dancing girl, his status was low, and he was often hungry for three meals a day.

One day, when Shen Buyi bought the baked cakes as usual and was about to take them home to eat with the old man. As soon as I turned around, I saw Ah Duo standing pitifully at the corner of the street, a pair of blue eyes staring straight at the baked cake in Shen Buyi's hand, swallowing saliva constantly, and his eyes were full of longing.

...............

Since then, Shen Buyi has to buy a few more baked cakes every day, one for himself and the old man, and one for Ah Duo, until Ah Duo's status in that big family has become noble a few years ago, and he will never go hungry again.

But Shen Buyi still insisted on buying baked cakes for Ah Duo, and Ah Duo only loved to eat the baked cakes that Shen Buyi bought.

"Ah, is it closed? That's a pity, we won't have to burn bread in the future. ”

Shen Buyi said with a smile without regret.

"It's not easy brother, in fact, I came to buy baked cakes early this morning, just to buy you some baked cakes to send over, all these years you bought for me to eat, I remember your good in my heart, in fact, today I also want to see you and say goodbye to you. ”

Ah Duo's voice suddenly became a little low.

"Ah, goodbye, where are you going?"

Shen Buyi asked anxiously.

"Last night, my father-in-law told me that the Junhou Mansion had reached a tacit agreement with the people of the Western Wilderness, and the people of the Western Wilderness allowed those of us who lived in Kangcheng to return to the Saiwai homeland, and the Junhou Mansion had also issued a military order that all the aliens stranded in Kangcheng within two days must leave, otherwise they would be killed. ”

"Ah, is it so urgent?" asked Shen Buyi.

"It's not easy brother, I heard my father-in-law say that the siege of Kangcheng by the people of the Western Wilderness is very serious, and I originally wanted my father-in-law to take you with me, but my father-in-law said that we are out of the Western Wilderness, and we have to endure the strict investigation of the people of the Western Wilderness, and taking you on the road may harm you, and you may still have a chance to stay in Kangcheng. ”

"Thank you for your kindness, now that the war is in chaos, you should be careful on the road. Shen Buyi looked at Ah Duo and said with some sadness.

Shen Buyi hesitated slightly, and continued

"Sister Aduo take care, I hope we will have a chance to meet in the future. ”

"Definitely, not easy brother, you are a good person, a good person is a hundred years old, you must go to find me outside the Saiwai if you have the opportunity. ”

After speaking, Ah Duo took out an object of unknown material, the size of a palm, with a flying eagle pattern from his arms and sent it to Shen Buyi.

Shen Buyi took the object, held it in his hand, and listened to Ah Duo say:

"This is the totem of my tribe, the old man who survived in the tribe a few years ago came to Cannes to find me and gave it to me, and now I will give it to my brother. Pray for immortality to bless the peace and auspiciousness of the elder brother. ”

"How can this be, this is a token of your clan, give it to me. ”

Saying that, Shen Buyi was about to return the object to Ah Duo, but he heard Ah Duo say:

"I returned to my homeland this time, my fate is uncertain, this token, I take it with me, maybe it is a disaster, give it to my brother, and please keep it for me, if we can meet again one day, you can return it to me. ”

...........................。