Cangqing Mountain, Jade Shoot Peak, in the sinkhole.

The moonlight was like water, pouring down from the rock crack on the top of the cave, in the midst of the clear light, Chu Qing sat on the stone bed, the ice blue clothes looked particularly bright, the white face was slightly closed, and the thick eyelashes trembled slightly, as if there was a trace of expectation, as if there was a slight nervousness.

The water droplets dripping from the rock wall on the side slid intermittently into the water urn next to the stone bed, making a tinkling sound.

Suddenly, Chu Qing opened her eyes, raised her hand and clenched the placket on her chest, panting heavily, as if she had seen something extremely terrifying, the beads of sweat oozing from her forehead shone slightly in the moonlight.

Was it late at night? But I felt like I was just sitting still for a moment.

Chu Qing was stunned, and slowly walked to the opposite side of the stone bed, almost sticking his face to the stone wall, frowning slightly, with slender fingers, gently stroking the huge word "pass", from the fingertips came a cold cold surprise, nothing unusual, and carefully looked at the stone wall for a while, Chu Qingfang turned around and walked out of the cave, looking around for a long time, and he didn't know where Xiao Jiu went.

The mountain breeze blew gently, perhaps because Fang had sweated while meditating, Chu Qing suddenly felt cold and unbearable, and couldn't help but tighten his clothes, and walked back in the direction of the house by the moonlight.

Walking through the quiet bamboo forest, he came to the empty and lonely house, raised his hand and pushed open the door of the guest room and walked in, Chu Qing glanced at it. The moonlight poured in through the window lattice, and the whole room seemed to be covered with a gentle veil, and the tables and chairs in the room were clearly visible.

Chu Qing walked to the table and lit the oil lamp, and a warmth suddenly rose and flowed in the room.

"Coo", Chu Qing frowned, only to remember that he hadn't eaten anything for a whole day, and raised his eyes to see, in addition to the beds, tables, chairs, and furniture, there was a bluestone floor and carved window lattices, where was there anything to eat?

"Go to the other rooms and have a look. Chu Qing had an idea in his mind, paid attention to it, and walked out of the door with great anticipation.

The first thing she came to was naturally Feng Shuzhu's study, because this was the first room she came into contact with after all. Knowing that there was no one inside, he reached out and pushed the door in. He saw that the oil lamp on the bookcase turned on itself, and the flame turned from yellow to blue after a few beats.

Chu Qing walked over curiously, leaned down and carefully examined the oil lamp, and saw that the lamp was about a foot high, like made of fine copper, divided into three layers, at the bottom is a circular lamp holder, connected to the cylindrical lamp body, and then about an inch up is a bulging oil can, and the upper part of the oil pot is connected to a tray, at this time the lamp flame in the tray is burning quietly, except for the age, it is no different from ordinary oil lamps.

Chu Qing pursed her mouth a little disappointed, and accidentally found a piece of rice paper full of handwriting on the bookcase, so she reached out and took a look, it turned out to be left by Feng Shuzhu.

"Leave a bowl of jujubes, you can eat one a day, and you will be naturally satisfied."

As soon as he finished reading it hastily, the rice paper burned out of thin air in his hand, so frightened that Chu Qing hurriedly threw it to the ground, and before he could step on it with his feet, the rice paper had burned out, but there was an extra large porcelain bowl on the ground, which contained red dates, all full, glowing with bright and sweet light.

Surprise flashed in Chu Qing's eyes, she squatted down, raised her hand to pick up Wan, pinched up a jujube, looked at it again and again, and as soon as she put it to her mouth, she melted away, as if she hadn't eaten anything, but there was a trace of sweetness left between her lips and teeth, and the hunger in her stomach was even more dissipated.

Chu Qing smiled when she got it, as if she had obtained a treasure, she also wanted to stay again, but got up with the bowl of dates and walked towards the guest room with a jump, but she didn't notice that not far after she left the study, the oil lamp in the room went out again.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

In the early morning, it was drizzling, maybe it was the sound of light raindrops that disturbed the light dream, Chu Qing rubbed his eyes and woke up, looked around, then turned over and jumped out of bed, slowly walked to the window, gently pushed the window open, and suddenly a moist air with a fresh fragrance rushed to the nose, which was refreshing and refreshing.

Outside the window, the rainwater dripping down the eaves of the promenade was like beads with broken threads, drop by drop, falling to the ground and scattering in all directions. The bamboo forest not far away has been washed and brushed up, adding a bit of verdant green, and a few bamboo shoots have broken through the soil in the forest, one by one wrapped in a brownish purple coat, with pale yellow spikes, like a tender doll.

The rain has become lighter;

The wind has become lighter.

Chu Qing looked out the window distractedly, "Ding Dong...... Ding Dong ......", the sound like spring water, interrupted her thoughts, it turned out to be the rainwater that flowed down the eaves and fell to the sky sea under the eaves (note: the water tank placed in the ancient courtyard was used to accumulate water. ), the sound that came out.

Chu Qing Huo Ran remembered the sinkhole in the back mountain, the magical "passing" word wall, and the illusion she saw...... , gently bit his lower lip, blinked his eyes, and after thinking about it, he resolutely made a decision, and walked towards the back mountain again under the slight drizzle.

After entering the sinkhole, Chu Qing walked onto the stone bed again and sat down again against the big word "pass". In the rhythmic sound of the spring water in the cave, the wall of the word "pass" began to gradually move away from itself, and the surrounding symbols and words began to jump again, shaking and mingling.

Gradually, Chu Qing's consciousness began to dissipate again, until the word "pass" in front of him disappeared. There was a white expanse in front of him, and then there was a barren desert, and the snowflakes on the desert fell all over the sky, like goose feathers, one after another, and a woman in white stood with her back to herself, standing in the wind and snow......

"Is the poor scholar here? I know you're in there, come out quickly, hehe, if you don't come out, I'll eat up your dates." The voice came from outside the cave, a little old and a little naughty, Chu Qing heard that he was going to eat all the fire dates, he was in a hurry, and he walked out of the illusion at the time, and without stopping for a moment, he jumped out of bed and walked out of the hole.

Not far from the cave, I saw an old man wearing an old Taoist robe wearing green cloth and a bun on his head, standing about sixty years old, looking dressed as a Taoist priest.

Chu Qing looked carefully and saw that the old man was about the same height as himself, although his beard and hair were all gray, his face was like a child's face, especially a pair of eyes with restrained spirit, a brown cloth bag diagonally straddling in front of him, and he was playing with his beard while holding a jujube bowl.

Seeing Chu Qing come out, the old man was slightly stunned, but he turned his gaze around and continued to shout to the cave: "Poor scholar, come out quickly, or I will eat your dates." ”

Chu Qing was very angry when he saw his attitude of ignoring him, but he felt curious, so he asked, "Are you looking for Big Brother Feng Shuzhu?"

"Feng Shuzhu?" Hearing this, the old man's eyes turned a full circle, and then he seemed to suddenly remember, and then said: "Yes, it's that poor scholar, I haven't called his name for a long time, I almost forgot." By the way, who are you, little girl? Isn't the poor scholar in the cave? Where has he gone?" he spoke very quickly, as if he were going to finish all his questions at once.

Chu Qing listened to him crackle a lot, and finally waited until he spoke, and his childlike heart rose sharply for a while, and he didn't answer the old man's question, but his lips were slightly pursed, and he said, "Why should I tell you, then who are you?"

When the old man heard such a question and answer, not only was he not angry, but he showed an innocent and bright smile on his face, and said: "You little girl, it's really interesting, so how about giving you a jujube every time you answer my question?"

Chu Qing thought about it, immediately opened his eyes, and said angrily: "That was originally left to me by the eldest brother!"

"Big brother, who are you, and why are you here? If you don't tell me, I'll eat a date." As he spoke, the old man really picked up a jujube, put it in front of his nose, and made a gesture to eat it.

When Chu Qing saw it, she was very anxious, because she knew that the fire date would melt in her mouth, so she didn't dare to snatch it rashly, and after thinking about it, she couldn't tell the other party that she was a little demon in the form of a new human, and she was injured by the old demon of the beetle hole and was healed here. In a hurry, he replied without thinking: "I am his handmaiden." After saying that, Chu Qing almost couldn't believe her ears, she couldn't wait to bite off her tongue, and regretted it in her heart, saying that it was not good to say that she was a maidservant, as if she was very humble.

"Handmaid?" the old man repeated in surprise with widening eyes, lengthened his voice, and then added: "When did the poor scholar become so generous that he actually had the money to buy a handmaiden, oh yes, I haven't seen him for a year, and I can't imagine that he has become a rich man." After speaking, the old man didn't think deeply, he sent his hands forward, and handed over a bowl of jujubes, and then said, "Okay, little girl, the jujubes will be returned to you." ”

For the sudden change of the old man, Chu Qing couldn't believe it for a while, hesitated for a moment, and then timidly stretched out his hand to pick it up, he really didn't expect his bowl of rations to return to his hand so easily, a smile appeared on his face, and Fang Cai's anger had disappeared, and he secretly thought that this old man was really interesting.

"Is the poor scholar really not in the cave? I'm here to play with him. The old man said, glancing into the sinkhole again.

When Chu Qing heard this, she was surprised, an old man of such an age was actually looking for someone to play, and he felt very funny in his heart, but he barely controlled his smile and said, "Big brother has gone to meet friends, so who are you?"

The old man didn't ask where Feng Shuzhu was going to meet friends, but smiled on his face and said happily: "My name is Yuan Wuxi, what is your name as that little girl?"

"My name is Chu Qing. ”

Chu Qing ...... Well, that's a nice name. Yuan Wuxi repeated, and then said with a smile: "Shall I take you to catch the crane?"

When Chu Qing heard this, she didn't understand for a while, so her eyes widened and she asked in surprise, "Catch ...... Immortal...... Crane?"

Seeing Yuan Wuxi behind his back, he walked back and forth two steps in front of him, searched around, and then said: "Little girl, you don't know yet, that poor scholar has raised a big crane, it seems that you haven't seen it either." Hmph, every time I come it runs away early. ”

Chu Qing was a little confused, thought for a while, and said, "You're talking about Xiao Jiu, so what are you doing with it?"

"Xiao Jiu, who is Xiao Jiu?" Yuan Wuxi rolled his strange eyes and seemed to think for a long time, but he didn't seem to come up with a result in the end, so he continued, "Little girl, don't you know, that crane grows very big, if you catch it, you can ride on its back and fly to the sky, and you can sleep when you are sleepy." After speaking, he added: "Riding a crane to watch the sunrise, you haven't played it." ”

Yuan Wuxi's description was like a river, and Chu Qing listened to it and his mind was also beautiful, fantasizing about riding on the back of a crane, soaring in the sky, shuttling through the forest, and running towards the red sun, and his childlike heart could not help but rise.

"But ......" Chu Qing knew in her heart that the crane that Yuan Wuxi was talking about was Xiao Jiu, but it seemed that the other party didn't know about it, and he didn't want this strange old man to catch Xiao Jiu, so he stood up again for a while, and inadvertently raised his eyes to see the sky, and immediately remembered the enchantment, so he thought of how this old man entered the enchantment? So he asked curiously: "The enchantment was laid down here by the eldest brother, uncle, are you...... How did you get in?"

"Enchantment?" Yuan Wuxi was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then looked around, and said, "When will there be an enchantment here?"

Chu Qing's eyes slowly widened, and said, "In order for me to practice here for forty-nine days, big brother he ......" suddenly realized that he had exposed an unspeakable ugly thing, and stopped halfway through his words.

Yuan Wuxi's eyes were smart, and he had already heard that Chu Qing had something unspeakable, but he didn't ask in detail, but stroked his beard and smiled: "In southern Xinjiang, I have seen the locals train an animal called an elephant, which has such a big ......", while saying Yuan Wuxi measured it with his hand, and then said: "The strength of the elephant is very large, but the locals can lock it with only a very thin iron chain." As he spoke, Yuan Wuxi raised a little finger and shook it.

Chu Qing's eyes widened and she asked curiously, "Why is that?"

"Hehe, because the elephant was chained by people when it was very young, for the baby elephant, this chain cannot be broken, so when it grows up, it thinks that it can't break the chain. Yuan Wuxi said as he glanced at Chu Qing with a sneak peek, as if to say Do you understand?

Chu Qing listened curiously, but still couldn't understand what this had to do with the enchantment, Yuan Wuxi saw this, stroked his palms and laughed and said: "Haha, haha, I said that you little girl, you are really honest and cute, and the enchantment of the poor scholar is the iron chain." ”

When Chu Qing heard this, he thought for a moment and suddenly realized: "Ah, could it be that you mean to say that the enchantment has long since faded?"

Yuan Wuxi easily stopped laughing, and only said with a straight face: "Well, yes, you're not too stupid." ”

"The old man...... Chu Qing frowned slightly, as if she had something to ask.

But Yuan Wuxi didn't pay attention to it at all, but waved his hand and said impatiently: "Oh, I said little girl, you don't want to be an old man, I listen awkwardly, you call me Yuan Wuxi." Without waiting for Chu Qing to answer, Yuan Wuxi raised his eyes to look at the sky again, and said hurriedly: "It's getting late, I think we should leave quickly, that poor scholar came back and won't let you go." ”

One sentence reminded Chu Qing that Xiao Jiu might be coming back soon, but he didn't know much about this old man, what if it was some kind of evil demon, Chu Qing thought so in his heart, and suddenly said in a hurry: "But I still have to wait for the big brother here, why don't you go to the crane first."

When Yuan Wuxi heard this, he also excused himself, as if he was in a hurry, he shot like the wind, stretched out and grabbed Chu Qing's arm, and said with a smile: "Don't be, let me go." ”

Before he finished speaking, Chu Qing only felt that there was nothing under his feet, he had flown up to the clouds, and when he looked down, the Jade Shoot Peak was getting farther and farther away from him, and suddenly there was a white expanse in front of him, and he actually penetrated into the thick clouds, and he could no longer see anything.

He was injured and couldn't use his mana, so he had to let Yuan Wuxi fly with a dizziness, and a few hours passed, not only did the crane not find it, but even the fire dates left by Feng Shuzhu for him were mostly lost.

As the twilight gradually rose, Yuan Wuxi seemed to be tired of flying, and he fell next to a mountain stream.

Chu Qing looked around, only to see the sparkling water of the stream, the strange rocks on the bank, and then the ancient trees towering to the sky, and he couldn't identify the specific location of this barren mountain range.

Yuan Wuxi let go of Chu Qing, came to the stream alone, took a few sips of water with both hands, washed his face again, and said, "Ah, it's so refreshing." Looking back, I saw Chu Qing pouting, holding the only few remaining dates in her hand, as if she was angry, she rolled her eyes, and said: "Little girl, after flying for so long, aren't you thirsty, why don't you come and drink a few sips of water, this stream is really sweet." ”

Chu Qing didn't answer, but deliberately turned his head away.

Yuan Wuxi smiled "hehe", and said: "I don't have the poor scholar's dates, but it seems that there should be a lot of delicacies and game in this mountain." With that, he walked up the stream.

When Chu Qing saw that Yuan Wuxi was leaving, she was anxious, so she shouted, "Yuan Wuxi, where are you going?"

Yuan Wuxi stopped when he heard the sound, turned around and smiled: "I'm going to catch game and settle dinner." Then he looked around, patted his head, and said, "Oh, it's been so long, I don't even remember the direction, and I've never been here." After saying that, he actually walked forward again.

When Chu Qing heard this, he had to follow him, the two of them walked one after the other, and after walking for less than a stick of incense, Yuan Wuxi suddenly shouted in front of him: "There is a house here." ”

Chu Qing followed, raised his eyes and saw that there was indeed an ancient house not far from the stream, but the walls were dilapidated, and the paint of the two black courtyard doors was peeling off, and there seemed to be no lights inside.

Yuan Wuxi stepped forward, stretched out his hands and pushed open the door, and the two of them entered to see that the courtyard was full of dead grass and leaves, and the ground was half a foot thick, and the original path was also buried in the weeds, which was difficult to identify. There are a few peach trees planted in the courtyard, and there are three houses in front of it, the roof of the atrium hall has collapsed, and the interior is covered with dust and cobwebs, and the east door has also decayed and only half of it is left, and the mountain wind is blowing, and the west side is empty.

"It's a blessing, I have a place to stay tonight, little girl, you live there, I'll live here in the east." Yuan Wuxi pointed to the west wing, and then to the east wing.

Chu Qing didn't answer, took a few steps forward, pushed open the door behind him, and saw clearly that this was like a daughter's room through the afterglow of the sunset shining through the window.

When Chu Qing saw it, she walked up curiously, stretched out her hand to open the jewelry box, but it was empty, and she was a little disappointed in her heart, and suddenly heard a "bang" from the atrium hall, as if something had fallen off the roof.

Chu Qing walked over curiously, and saw that it was the ridge rafters at the collapse of the hall house, which fell down due to decay and was blown by the wind, and then heard the door of the east wing also creaking with the mountain wind, and glanced inside, and found that Yuan Wuxi had long since disappeared, but he didn't know when he left.

At this time, it was getting late, looking outside the house but seeing the dark clouds rolling in the sky, like a mountain rain was coming, and the light was dimmed, Chu Qing turned back to the house, searched for a long time, and finally lit a dusty oil lamp in the corner, saw the cobwebs and dust all over the house, and secretly thought that he was going to spend the night here, so he went to the yard to find some weeds and bundled them together to make a broom, and simply cleaned the room. After everything was cleaned up, I felt bored, so I sat in front of the lamp, stunned for a long time, suddenly felt hungry and ate a date, and saw that there were only three left in the bowl, so I simply took them all out and put them with me, and threw the bowl aside.

Suddenly, the whole room flashed, and then there was a "boom" There was a thunderstorm, before he could react, he heard the wind and thunder outside the house, the wind mixed with the torrential rain, angrily washed the ridge of the roof, and the rain that fell from the broken window lattice instantly gathered into a river on the ground, for fear that the rain would wet his shoes, Chu Qing hurriedly picked up the oil lamp and jumped on the bed, who knew that his feet had not yet stood firm, he only felt that his feet were empty, and he was caught off guard, his eyes were black and fell into the hole with the broken bed board, he didn't have time to scream, and he felt that he had fallen to the ground, and touched it with his hand, the ground seemed to be covered with hay, and the oil lamp in his hand was also thrown aside。

Chu Qing was about to reach out to pick up the oil lamp, only to hear the sound of "Teng", the poured oil lamp had ignited the surrounding hay, the hay seemed to be burning at the same time, illuminating the surroundings, the flames burned upwards along the cave wall, it seemed to have sprayed out of the collapse of the cave roof, and the flames on the ground also burned to Chu Qing's feet with the hay all over the floor, Chu Qing was in a hurry, and used his hands and feet together in a panic, pushed the hay under his feet away, and retreated to a corner.

All this happened in an instant, and before Chu Qing could think about it, he heard a "boom" again, and the side of the cave wall that had been scorched by the fire actually collapsed, revealing a dark bottomless hole, and there seemed to be a strong suction force inside, sucking the remaining flames in the cave into it at once.

Chu Qing was so frightened that she cowered in the corner, a pair of watery eyes staring at the hole exposed at the collapse of the side wall, deep and dark, and there was a faint unknown voice coming out, the voice was ancient and long, wafting in the air, and it seemed to be getting closer and closer.

When he was in shock, another sharp wind erupted from the mouth of the cave, attacking head-on, Chu Qing was so frightened that he quickly closed his eyes and covered his ears with his hands, but he only felt that the wind was whistling, like a knife, as if some terrible demon had been released and fled from his side.

A moment later, another warm current flowed out of the hole, gently waving, wrapping around Chu Qing's face, as warm as a mother patting a baby's hand.

Chu Qing secretly opened his eyes in surprise, and saw that there was a brilliant light coming from the cave mouth that collapsed on the side wall, and it seemed to be quiet and peaceful inside, but he still had palpitations, so he curled up in place and waited quietly for a long time, and saw that everything was normal, so he carefully spread his hands and feet, slowly stood up, stood up at a distance of about three feet from the entrance of the cave, hid aside and quickly peeked inside, and his eyes reflected a brilliant brilliance.