Prologue

On the fifth day of the first month of March, it was cloudy.

The morning light lit up from the east, gradually illuminating the land, crossing the towering and undulating Tianyin Mountain Range, and sprinkling into the Xilu City at the foot of the mountain, illuminating this lively and prosperous city, reminding countless people in the city that it was the beginning of a new day.

The young man Shen Shi woke up naturally.

When it was about to dawn, he lay on the warm quilt and did not move, just quietly looking at the roof of the house. It wasn't until the morning light outside finally penetrated into his room that he sat up from the warm and comfortable bed, stretched, lifted the quilt and got out of bed, walked to the window, and gently pushed the two windows open.

A fresh morning breeze blew in from the courtyard outside, with a slight coolness and the faint scent of grass in the courtyard. Shen Shi stretched out his arms and expanded his chest, took a deep breath, and then subconsciously raised his head to look into the distance, and what caught his eye was the majestic undulating figure of the Tianyin Mountain Range, and of course, the gray clouds that had gathered all year round and shrouded the mountain peaks.

Will it be a good day today?

He looked blankly at the majestic mountain, and after a moment he turned back and sat down at a desk beside him against the window wall. The furnishings in this room are simple, with a bed and a wardrobe at the foot of the bed, a desk by the window, and a few large boxes that stand out from the table, and other than that, there are only books.

The large shelves, which occupy an entire wall, are divided into seven tiers, and are filled with old and new books, many of which at a glance are worn, and seem to be constantly being flipped.

Compared with the table in the daily people's house, the desk in Shen Shi's room will be a little longer, placed on the left side of the window, and there are three large boxes stacked on both sides of the table, a total of six, all of which are woven of gray-brown rattan, which looks strong and square, and they almost reach Shen Shi's chest, and I don't know what is inside.

Sitting at the desk, Shen Shi calmed down, and then with a faint face, he reached out and took a piece of white paper that had been carefully cut into three inches wide and four inches long on the side of the table, and put it in front of him. The pen, ink, paper and inkstone on the table are all complete, and Shen Shi also did it himself, adding water to grind the ink, and when he was ready later, he took the pen and dipped it in ink, and began to put the pen on the paper.

The black ink appears between the white paper, and the finger holds the pen shaft, moving softly, without the slightest tremor all the way down, and it seems very stable. And the handwriting moved calmly and smoothly, as if he had already practiced countless times of writing and drawing at this moment, and he was already familiar with it. It's just that the appearance of this young man's writing is beautiful, but in the end what is formed on the white paper is not ordinary words, but a strange and distorted pattern, some are simple and complex, different, ordinary people at a glance can hardly understand what these strange patterns mean, it is said that it is a ghost drawing but some people will believe it.

Despite this, Shen Shi still painted quietly, a total of ten different twisted patterns before and after, looking extremely difficult, ordinary people are a little dizzy just looking at it, but he is extremely skilled in painting, there is no hesitation between the lines, and I don't know how long he has been practicing.

Shen Shi breathed a sigh of relief, put down the brush in his hand, rubbed his wrist, looked at the white paper in front of him full of strange patterns, examined them one by one, and nodded with satisfaction after a while, then stood up, picked up the white paper and walked to the big box on the left, and opened the lid of the box on the top.

I saw that the boxes were stacked on top of each other, all of them were white pieces of paper of the same size as his hand, almost piled up in this large box, and each white piece of paper was also painted with those strange patterns.

Shen Shi gently put today's five pieces of white paper into it, his eyes stayed on the white paper in this box for a moment, then closed the lid of the box, and looked at a total of six large boxes on both sides of the desk, and the corners of his mouth slowly revealed a smile.

Then he looked back outside the house, and under the hazy sky, the huge mountain range was still silently towering in the distance.

※※※

On the other side of the courtyard outside the house, outside the railing of a secluded corridor, in the morning breeze with a little coolness, behind the green fence and the grass and flowers, stood a short and fat man, who was quietly staring at the young man behind the window in front of him, watching him get up and open the window, watching him smile and lazy, watching him practice painting, watching him smile calmly, and a little youthful self-satisfaction, stroking those big boxes, although they contained useless white paper, but it took many years of work, perhaps it was his most precious treasure.

He looked at the young man quietly, his eyes were bright and clear, and there was a faint memory and warmth in the depths of his eyes. At this time, Shen Shi walked to the window, and quickly saw this man when his eyes turned, and a smile appeared on his face, and he beckoned: "Dad!"

He laughed heartily here, and he didn't deliberately suppress his voice, the short and fat man, that is, Shen Shi's father Shen Tai, waved to Shen Shi with a smile, Shen Shi opened the door and ran over, ran to the corridor here, and came to Shen Tai's side.

Shen Tai reached out and touched Shen Shi's head, and asked gently, "Are you tired?"

Shen Shi shook his head and said with a smile: "I'm not tired, I'm used to it." ”

Shen Tai smiled and said: "The five elements of yin and yang and ten kinds of runes, rare and difficult, complex and distorted, even in the cultivation realm, there have always been few people involved, it is really not easy for you to persist in painting for seven years at a young age." After that, he seemed to think of something again, groaned slightly, and said,

"Although the art of talisman is only a small path and is not valued in the cultivation realm, if you can persist and make progress in the future, it may not be able to become a reliance on your cultivation path. Dad has urged you all these years, and in the final analysis, it is also for your good, don't blame me in your heart. ”

Shen Shi smiled, shook his head and smiled without saying a word, looking at the expression on his face, he was carved out of the same mold as his father, Xiao seemed to be incomparable.

It's just that Shen Tai was stunned for no reason, and another familiar figure seemed to float in front of him.

After a while, Shen Tai seemed to wake up from a certain distant memory, shook his head, and said with a smile: "Let's go, today is a good day, let's go and pay homage to your mother and have a good talk with her." ”

Shen Shi agreed, followed his father and walked towards the front hall, but he looked up at the sky while walking, the haze and light gray sky, overcast and cloudy, just like a normal day.

※※※

Light smoke curled up, wafting between the three pillars of incense, Shen Tai Shen Shi father and son were standing in a secluded quiet room at the moment, in front of them was an incense case, on which a spirit card was enshrined, from top to bottom simply wrote the number "Shen Men Bai's Spirit Position".

A small incense burner in front of the spirit card, at this moment has been inserted a little incense, the two of them stand quietly in front of the incense case, on weekdays have always been a smiling and smiling short and fat man, at this moment rarely restrained his smile, silently stood in front of the deceased wife's spiritual seat without saying a word, quietly staring at the spirit card.

As for Shen Shi, he stood behind his father, folded his hands and bowed to the tablet three times, his lips moved slightly, as if he was saying something to the spirit seat of the deceased mother in his heart.

There was silence in the quiet room, until Shen Tai suddenly spoke, and suddenly said in a flat tone: "Little stone, remember what I told you?"

Shen Shi's body trembled suddenly, as if the muscles in his whole body suddenly tensed at that moment, and he suddenly raised his head and looked at his father's back. Shen Tai didn't look back, he was still standing there with his back to him, his eyes staring at the spirit card on the incense table.

"Remember ......" After a while, Shen Shi replied in a low voice, but for some reason, there was a bit of difficulty in the words.

"Good. Shen Tai nodded slowly, paused, and then said, "It's today." ”

Shen Shi looked at the calm figure of his father in front of him, and the corner of his eyes flickered, but he found that his hands, which seemed to hang down at his side at random, had clenched their fists tightly at some point, and the force was so fierce that even the joints were faintly white.

"Daddy. Shen Shi screamed softly, a complicated and worried look on his face, but then he stopped talking.

Although Shen Tai didn't turn around, he seemed to feel something, and after being silent for a while, he said softly: "Three days ago, I received a letter from Elder Song inside the door. Speaking of this, Shen Tai paused, and a trace of inexplicable smile flashed across the corners of his mouth, like a sour bitter smile, with a little bit of pain, and finally a little hidden hatred.

He turned around, looked at Shen Shi, looked at his only son, his own flesh and blood, and said softly: "They have already taken back the quota for entering the mountain and cultivating the Tao for you and transferred it to the Wang family. ”

Shen Shi's breathing stagnated in an instant, the corners of his eyes twitched involuntarily a few times, Shen Tai took a long breath and said, "We have no way out, little stone." ”

Shen Shi slowly lowered his head, and after a long time, he said softly, "I understand, Dad." ”

Shen Tai stared at his son, and suddenly stepped forward, holding him in his arms, and wrapping his arms around his body, as if he was afraid that as soon as he let go, his son would leave him forever. And Shen Shi gritted his teeth, the muscles on his face trembled slightly, and he said in a low voice: "Dad, it's okay, I'm not afraid." ”

Shen Tai closed his eyes, and then, little by little, he let go of his arms, lowered his voice, and said in words that only Shen Shi could hear: "You go now, everything will be done according to what we said before, and wait for me at the butcher." ”

Shen Shi nodded heavily, took a deep look at his father, who had been dependent on him for more than ten years, and without hesitation, he turned around and strode out of this quiet room.

Shen Tai's gaze fluttered with his son's figure, until his back disappeared, and until his footsteps finally disappeared, then he slowly turned around and faced the spirit tablet on the incense table again.

The light smoke swirled, as if the handwriting on the tablet was a little blurred.

Shen Tai's clenched right hand slowly spread out, and in the palm of his hand, there was a small jade hourglass with a little green, only about an inch and a half long, and the delicate white sand flowed and dripped silently in it, but the appearance looked quite shabby, and the luster was also very dim, it was a worthless gadget that was worth a few years.

He stared deeply at the little jade hourglass, then raised his head, looked at the spirit card, suddenly smiled, and said, "Xiaobai, you have to bless our son." ”

※※※

This year is the year when the human race opened the pole, overthrew the Heavenly Demon King Court, which was once extremely powerful and ruled the Hongmeng Realms for a long time, and abolished the demon calendar to create the human calendar, it has been 10,766 years.

The vicissitudes of time have flickered like a white horse, the sages have passed away, the war has subsided, and the tragic and indescribable battle of demons has gradually become a topic that people only occasionally reminisce about the past after dinner.

Laughing and talking, recalling the great cause of the six saints of the human race, laughing at the defeat of the demon race in the past.

On the day of the collapse of the country, when he fled in panic, thinking about the final decisive battle in the past, millions of Terran monks were overwhelming, surrounding Tianhong City, the magnificent and extraordinary imperial capital of the demon clan. In the heavens and on earth, the murderous aura is full, the six saints stand in the clouds, and between the vertical and horizontal waves, the lives of countless living beings are wiped out, and the blood flows adrift. In the sea of corpses and blood, the last remaining trace of qi in the Heavenly Demon Court was finally buried in the ruins of the huge palace.

Ten thousand years later, outside the labyrinth of deep ruins, in the dead of night, it is said that people can still hear the mournful cries of countless yin spirits who have died unexpectedly.

It's just that the years in the world have finally turned a new page.

Except for the few remnants of the demon clan who escaped, the last and most elite combat power of the demon clan, including four of the five heavenly demons, were all wiped out in that battle of the Tianhong Imperial Capital. The remnants of the demon clan are like lost dogs, and they are not allowed to escape back to the demon world where the demon clan originated with their lives. However, in the face of the Terran pursuers who were chasing after each other and intent on cutting the grass and eradicating the roots, the demon clan was forced to sacrifice the demon with the blood of the demon clan's secret method at the cost of the life of the last powerful demon, self-destruct the Zhen clan's artifact "Yin Netherworld Tower", and turn the only way to the demon world, the "Green Spirit Realm", into a yin and evil dead sea where the living soul enters and must die, which only blocked the Terran pursuers, but at the same time, if they are confined to that demon world, they will never return.

In the blink of an eye, thousands of years have passed slowly, and the once amazing and brilliant peerless characters cannot stop the erosion of the years, leaving only countless monumental statues erected by future generations, which will be passed on forever in the Hongmeng world. And under the ten thousand years of the human race, it has become more and more prosperous, especially the Dao cultivation pioneered from the era of the Demon War, after countless generations of strange people and elite human races, it has long been far better than the previous generation. In this life, it is even more self-respecting, and all the demons of the alien race are suppressed, and they can only hide their whereabouts and survive, and they are completely unable to compete with the powerful human race, especially those Terran monks who are as many as stars and extremely powerful at the same time.

This year is the 10,766th year of the human calendar, and it is also a prosperous era of the human race.

This year, the Yin Sea of the Blue Spirit Realm still permeated the entire realm, separating the two clans of the human and demon clans that were as deep as the sea, and it seemed that it would continue like this forever.

This year, among the one hundred and eight realms of Hongmeng, the legendary ten heavenly realms are still ethereal legends, the demon world and the Qingling world that has turned into the hell of the Dead Sea are silently hidden in the corners of people's memories silently, and the vast and boundless Hongmeng main realm is the head, and the remaining ninety-six worlds, large and small, are all under the control of the human race.

This year, Shen Shi was twelve years old.

For him, the road of life is turbulent and about to turn a new page.

(A new book, a new life and a new beginning...... There will be one more later, and there will be three more on the first day today. ）