Laba.

In the early morning, the county seat of Gusu is already very lively, the streets in the city are lit up, and every household gets up early to slaughter cattle, sheep and livestock, worship ancestors and gods, and pray for a good harvest and good omen in the coming year.

Waxers, hunting together. It means hunting in the field to obtain birds and beasts, and worshiping ancestors and gods.

Therefore, on the day of Laba, since ancient times, the folk have gone to the suburbs and mountains to hunt, hunting birds and beasts to worship their ancestors and gods.

However, in the past, the scale of hunting in Gusu City was not large, and only some Orion and Heroic Youth would symbolically go to the mountains to hunt. After all, the people of the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River have long lived on the countryside, and there are very few people who can hunt with bows in the mountains.

This year, Gusu City will hold the first Jianghu Conference of Wu County, which is naturally different from previous years.

Wang County Lingqin led the officials of the Yamen and the gentry of Gusu City and Countryside to preside over the Laba sacrifice ceremony in a high-profile manner on the west tower of the county seat, and enjoyed with the people of the city.

After the sacrifice, he announced that the disciples of the major gangs would go hunting in the Qionglong Mountain to celebrate this year's Laba Festival.

In the evening, a bonfire party was held directly in Xukou Town at the foot of Qionglong Mountain to enjoy the delicious food of hunting.

The four major gangs and the small gangs that had already gathered at the west gate of Gusu City, and thousands of disciples of the rivers and lakes, like the surging tide released by opening the gates, galloped one after another, raising more than ten miles of smoke and dust, and rushed to the Qionglong Mountain Range about dozens of miles away in the western suburbs of Gusu City to hunt.

Of course, there were only about a few hundred young heroes on horseback. And most of the other ordinary Jianghu disciples don't have horses, they can't ride horses, and naturally they can't talk about the identity of Jianghu heroes, they can only walk to rush over.

...

Su Chen, Ah Chou, and Miss Anu made an appointment to go hunting in Qionglong Mountain, and they met at the gate of Xicheng early, and finished watching the grand Laba sacrifice presided over by the county order.

"Young Master Su, Brother Ugly, let's go too!"

Miss Anu was dressed in a refreshing white suit, riding a white-hoofed black horse that was quite a divine horse, and said with a smile.

What made Su Chen and Ah Chou a little embarrassed was that the other young heroes were riding high-headed horses, but the two of them didn't ride horses.

The horses in the Gusu City Horse Market are quite expensive, any ordinary horse costs thirty or forty taels of silver, and the first-class horse is more than one hundred taels.

Anu seemed to know this, and ordered two first-class masters to escort them and bring two prepared blue-maned horses. There are also small bags of barbecue game seasoning cloth bags on horseback. For this trip to Qionglong Mountain in Laba, she prepared a lot of things.

"Thank you, Miss Anu. It's just that we... Can't ride a horse!"

"These horses are trained and docile. Both of you are top-notch and very good at it, and you can easily control them. Ride dozens of miles to Qionglong Mountain, and you can almost learn it. ”

"Okay, let's try it. ”

Ugly jumped on a green-maned horse, and it took a lot of effort to control it.

"Brother Chen, Sister Anu, you two are out to wander anyway, not for hunting, just slowly travel all the way to the mountains and rivers. I'll rush to Qionglong Mountain first, hunt a few hares and pheasants and come back, and let's roast wild game in Xukou Town in the evening!"

Ah Chou squeezed his eyebrows at Su Chen, said hello to Anu again, and then quickly rode a blue-maned horse, jogging all the way, chasing after the young masters such as Tianyingmen Hanshu and others, and headed towards Qionglong Mountain.

Su Chen stepped on the stirrup and rode a blue-maned horse.

He has excellent perception and can observe any movement of the blue-maned horse. Although it was the first time I rode a horse, I pulled the reins of the horse and walked dozens of steps, and I got used to it.

He and Anu each rode a group of horses and went to the Dome Mountain without hurrying.

Behind them were two first-class expert guards from the Yanyu Building, who followed unhurriedly on horseback, responsible for protecting Miss Anu's safety. However, the two expert guards rode on ordinary horses.

However, they are not so much going hunting, but taking advantage of the rare leisure of Laba, riding horses to the Qionglong Mountain to enjoy the mountains and rivers and relax.

...

An hour later, the two arrived at the foot of the Dome Mountain.

The Qionglong Mountains, located in the western suburbs of Gusu, are the crown of the mountains on the east shore of Taihu Lake. The sky-shaped dome is pale in color, steep and deep.

When you arrive at the Dome Mountain Range, as far as the eye can see, it is a large mountain range. Countless trails spread through the mountains and mountains, heading to the peaks.

The mountains on both sides of the trail are mostly dense forests.

There are more prey in the depths of the mountains, and it is easy to catch large beasts such as wild boars, elk, antelope, and even bears, blind bears, tigers, leopards, jackals, and so on.

"Master Su, those two guards are too much of an eyesore to follow, get rid of them, and let's take a walk in the mountains by ourselves. ”

Anu whispered to Su Chen.

Su Chen nodded.

The two of them then galloped on the sheep intestine trail in the mountains.

Their mounts are first-class horses, and once galloping, they are extremely fast, compared to the best light masters.

In addition, the terrain of this sheep farm trail is complex, and there are many forks, so if you are not careful, you will go up to another trail. If you want to turn back again, it will take a lot of effort.

The two of them quickly left the two first-class guards far away, and they were angry and scolded from afar, but they couldn't catch up.

The two rode their horses more than ten miles away, shook off the guards, and laughed heartily before gradually slowing down.

Now there are many Jianghu disciples involved in hunting in the mountains, and it is easy to be injured by mistake.

For the sake of safety, Su Chen did not go into the depths of the mountain, but just walked with Anu on the sheep intestine trail at the foot of the outer mountains of the Qionglong Mountain Range, and took away the woods.

"Master Su, there are a lot of mushrooms in this mountain forest! Pick some back, go to Xukou Town at night, and make mushroom soup to drink. Game and mushroom soup are the best. ”

Anu couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw the mushrooms all over the mountains.

"Okay, don't pick those brightly colored, prickly smelling mushrooms, they're usually poisonous. ”

Su Chen said immediately.

Before they knew it, the two rode to a small forest.

Anu happily dismounted, and at the edge of the moist mountain forest, he packed the mushrooms he picked in a cloth bag.

Su Chen also got off the horse and helped pick up mushrooms. He learned medicine from Master Li Kui, learned mushroom identification, and threw away all the mushrooms that could not be eaten.

Anu was picking mushrooms, and seemed to be thinking about something in her heart, and she stopped talking. After thinking about it for a while, she finally mustered up her courage and said, "Master Su, in a few days, in the Yanyu Building, the Gusu City Oiran Conference will be held... Can you come and see it?"

"Uh, Oiran...?"

Su Chen was used to taking a moment of attention, alerting to the movements around him.

Suddenly, his ears moved, and he vaguely heard the sound of two people talking in the grove dozens of feet away, which sounded a little familiar.

Hearing two familiar voices, he frowned.

"Shh

Su Chen stretched out his finger and silenced Anu.

He listened again.

"Ding Thirteen, this matter is very important, there can't be any leaks, otherwise this Dao Master will not be able to spare you. ”

"Don't worry, Dao Ye, I will definitely handle this matter properly! When this ticket is finished, I will be able to earn money for eight lifetimes, and I will never have to worry about running out of money in the future. ”

The two men whispered in the woods.

Su Chen couldn't help frowning, he didn't know what the two of them were discussing in secret.

However, he heard these two voices, which were Qinghe Dao Chang and Ding Shisan.

Su Chen couldn't help but be surprised.

He had earlier discovered that the two had colluded with the Hanshan Taoist Temple to rob the money of the Li family, a rice merchant in the county seat. This time, I actually bumped into Qinghe Dao Chang and the water bandit Ding Thirteen again.

This is really a coincidence, these two people don't know what kind of shady things they are conspiring at the foot of this vault mountain, and they want to rob which family's money?!

Su Chen listened with his ears pricked up, wanting to listen to more conversations between the two and see what they were talking about.

Anu was also listening, but she didn't hear anything, but she had some doubts in her heart. Inadvertently stepped on a dead branch on the wooded floor, making a soft "click" sound.

The sound of the dead branch breaking was quite crisp, and it immediately alarmed the two people who were talking secretly in the dense forest.

"Who?"

"What people!"

With a loud shout, a tall and thin old Taoist priest with a cannon in Tsing Yi flew out of the forest with a gust of hunting wind.

His left arm sleeve was empty, one arm was missing, and he carried a breeze sword at his waist, his eyes were shining, and his temples were high and bulging, and he was obviously a first-class top master.

Immediately behind, a sturdy middle-aged water bandit figure, armed with a water splitter, suddenly jumped out of the small woods.

Su Chen recognized at a glance that these two people were none other than the head of the Qinghe River and the leader of the water bandits, Ding Shisan, the acting master of the Hanshan Taoist Temple.

Qinghe Dao Chang rushed out of the grove and saw a young disciple wearing the costume of the Medicine King Gang and a woman in a white shirt, leisurely picking mushrooms at the edge of the woodland.

Anu was startled, and hurriedly hid next to the two horses behind Su Chen, looking at the two people who rushed out of the woods in surprise. If the situation is not right, it is better to flee immediately on horseback.

Qinghe Dao Chang frowned, and he didn't know if the two people in front of him heard the conversation between him and Ding Shisan just now.

"Master Dao, since we were bumped into by these two people, they deserve to be unlucky. At this juncture, you can't leak any rumors, and you'd rather kill the wrong one than let it go. ”

Ding Shisan showed a fierce and hideous look, and shouted fiercely.

"Ding Thirteen, don't delay here, go back quickly. Just clean them up here, otherwise you will be seen by other people passing by in the rivers and lakes, and the dirty water of this Taoist master will not be washed away by jumping into Taihu Lake. ”

Qinghe said coldly.

"It's okay, then the Taoist master will send the two of them on the road. I'll go back to errands and take my leave!"

Ding Shisan stared at Su Chen and Anu fiercely, turned around and got into the woods, and rushed towards Taihu Lake.

He wasn't worried.

Qinghe Dao Chang is a first-class late peak senior master in the rivers and lakes of Wu County, killing two young people to kill their mouths is like pinching to death ants, a piece of cake.

The so-called first-class late peak realm refers to the fact that the middle dantian has reached the highest realm, and there is no way to cultivate.

The so-called senior means that it has been more than twenty or thirty years since he reached this cultivation realm. In terms of martial arts proficiency and combat experience, he is extremely proficient.

Even if he is a first-class peak master of the same level, he may not be the opponent of Qinghe Dao if he lacks martial arts proficiency and combat experience.

Under the seven great masters of Wu County, the Qinghe Dao Chief is the top-level master on the rivers and lakes.