Li Longyan returned home and rushed to the backyard in high spirits. When I went to the backyard, I saw that my father Li Ji was bringing a large pot of soup to the table.

Li Longyan ran over to take a look, saw that the soup was as clear as water, and the snake meat was better than snow, and said happily: "Daddy, is the snake soup ready?"

Li Ji nodded. Xia Bai couldn't help but smile and said, "You're really in a hurry to come back." The two of them drink snake soup, but they have a heart!"

Li Ji took three bowls and filled them with each other. Li Longyan held a bowl to his mother, Xia Bai frowned and said, "I don't drink it, you both drink it." Li Ji said to his son: "Forget it, I have been persuading for a long time just now, she is afraid to drink, it seems that this pot of soup is only enjoyed by the two of us." ”

Li Longyan smiled, no longer persuaded him, drank the bowl of soup, and ate a piece of bread. Then he took out a paper bag from his bosom and opened it, and it was the second snake. He smiled and said, "Wang San and Cui Wu said that their family can often eat snakes, so they gave me this snake as well." ”

Li Ji took the dead snake, looked at it, and suddenly said "Huh", showed a surprised look, and asked Li Longyan: "Who killed this snake?"

Li Longyan said: "Yes...... It's the three of us!"

Li Ji stared at him and said, "Long Yan, don't lie, you didn't kill this snake, did you?"

Li Longyan was taken aback, I don't know how his father would find out, if he told the truth, he would inevitably reveal Xia Shiyu's secret, and immediately said: "Why not, the three of us found it under the dragon head stone and beat it to death with a stick." ”

Li Ji thought for a while, nodded and said, "Okay, it's not early, you can wash and go to sleep, remember to do it three times." Li Longyan agreed, and went back to the room to rest.

Xia Bai saw that Li Ji's face was different, and couldn't help asking, "What's wrong?"

Li Ji sighed and said, "I'm afraid Long Yan has met a master tonight. He put the snake on the table, pressed the snake's head with his fingers, and said, "This snake is not injured all over its body, but its skull is shattered, but its skin is intact.

Xia Bai stared at it, pressed the snake's head with a chopstick, and said, "If that's the case, the skull has been completely shattered, and this person has such a strong internal force!"

Li Ji said: "The snake before was really killed by them, the snake's skin was open and messy, and the way this snake died was very different. ”

Xia Bai groaned: "Who will come to this poor and remote place?"

Li Ji said: "I don't know...... I think it's better to check it out. ”

Xia Bai nodded and said, "It's okay." Big brother, be careful, don't let people notice. Li Ji nodded, turned and went out.

He came out of the door and went straight in the direction of the dragon's head stone. At first, he walked very slowly, and when he was in a desert, he took out a black scarf from his bosom and covered his face, and quickened his pace, and in a moment he reached the hillside. He came to the dragon's head stone, looked closely, and suddenly raised his eyebrows, picked up a small handful of dirt with his fingers at the mouth of the snake cave, put it on the tip of his nose and sniffed it, and a look of surprise appeared in his eyes. He pondered for a moment, then took out a piece of cloth to wrap the dirt and returned home.

*

Early the next morning, Li Longyan woke up. After he finished washing, he ran to the kitchen to build a stove, boiled a large pot of water, and put a few big white steamed buns in the steamer rack. Then he came to the courtyard, faced the rising sun, stood firmly on his feet, and began to practice every day.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, hugged his hands in front of his lower abdomen, and made a "hum" and "woo" chirp in his nasal cavity, and after more than ten sounds, he clasped his hands with ten fingers behind his head, and slowly bent his body backwards until the top of his head almost touched the ground.

His hands were flipped from the back of his head to the front of him, his fingers were still interlocked, his arms were straight, his palms were facing forward, he was making a pun to clamp the spine, his sternum was raised forward, his arms were pushed back, and he heard a gurgling sound, and the two shoulder blades behind him suddenly rose high; Li Longyan let out a long breath, leaned forward, hugged his left leg, kicked his right leg backwards, the soles of his feet were facing the sky, and after a while, he withdrew his right leg and kicked it backwards with his left leg.

With such a posture after posture, Li Longyan practiced straight for half an hour. After the last pose was done, Li Longyan stood up straight, shook his arms, and jumped a few times in place. When he looked at the sun, it had risen high.

Li Ji Xiabai also got up, took out steamed steamed buns from the kitchen, and a few plates of peanut sauerkraut, pickled meat and eggs, and placed them on the small table in the courtyard, beckoning Li Longyan to come over for breakfast.

Li Longyan ran over and sat down, grabbed a steamed bun and took a few bites, and said, "Daddy, how many steamed buns are there at home?"

"There are more than a dozen, what are they for?"

"I told Wang San and Cui Wu that we were going to go into the mountains to hunt rabbits and grouses in the next two days, and I wanted to bring some dry food. ”

Xia Bai said on the side: "What are you doing with rabbit and grouse, what are you doing with dry food, is it possible that you plan to spend the night in the mountains?"

Li Longyan said: "That's not necessarily, it's just that I'm afraid that rabbits and grouses will be difficult to find, so I have to look for them all day and bring some dry food to make it more convenient." ”

Xia Bai said: "You guys are playing off-road, there are tigers and big bears in this Hidden Dragon Mountain, how can you enter casually? The eldest son of the old Ji family was scratched by a tiger a few years ago, did you forget?"

Li Longyan said: "Alas, alas! We don't go into the mountains, we only play around the Longtou Stone, how can we meet tigers and bears!"

Xia Bai said: "Even if you don't go into the mountains, you can't spend the night in the mountains, you have to come back at night!" Li Longyan said: "Okay, come back at night." ”

Li Ji said: "If you want to learn to hunt, you can't do it." I see that you are practicing at the right time, your posture is already round, and your luck can cooperate, but I don't know how much your strength has increased. Thou shalt shalt smite a rabbit and a grouse, and thou shalt use a bow and arrows, and go and fetch the great bow and show it to me. ”

Li Longyan was overjoyed, ran into the firewood room, and took out a big bow that was more than four feet long.

Their family does not make a living from hunting, and there is no bow and arrow in the family, just because they cured the eldest son of the old Ji family of the hunter in the village two years ago.

If this bow is to be full, it needs more than 100 catties of strength.

Li Longyan came to the courtyard, holding the bow in his left hand, and clasping the strings with two fingers in his right hand. Li Ji Xiabai glanced at each other, his eyes were happy, and when he looked at Li Longyan, he saw that he pulled the bow three times again, and then stopped.

Li Ji was very pleased, and said, "Very well! If you can draw this bow, this bow will belong to you, and in the future, you will practice the art of archery, and if you can beat the rabbit and grouse, tell your mother to cook well, and give me wine." Xia Bai glanced at him and said angrily: "Gluttonous ghost!"

After the three of them finished breakfast, Li Longyan was excited to practice archery. Li Ji found a piece of wood from the firewood house, made him an arrow target, and nailed it to the courtyard wall. Li Longyan practiced from morning to afternoon, and he had a first understanding of the art of archery. It's just that the bow is really powerful, Li Longyan practiced for a while and rested for a while, more than a hundred arrows were shot down, and his right arm was swollen and sore.

When Li Ji went to the backyard to look, he saw that he was already struggling to draw the bow, so he ordered him to stop, saying that this archery technique could not be achieved overnight, and that he could practice it for half an hour every day. He then took out a bottle of plaster and applied it to his arm. This plaster has the effect of invigorating blood and dissipating stasis. Li Ji stretched out his fingers and rubbed a few acupoints on his shoulders and arms, and Li Longyan suddenly felt a great reduction in soreness.

After dinner, Li Longyan slipped into the kitchen, wrapped seven or eight steamed buns and two large pieces of salted meat, put them in a cloth bag, and carried a burden behind him. I wanted to go out, I thought about it for a while, and then I went back to the house and took off the big bow, took five long arrows and put them in the quiver, and put them on my back together, and then went out and ran to the cliff.

The five or six miles of mountain road is very rugged, and it is a night walk, although Li Longyan's footsteps are not slow, but he also walked for half an hour, fortunately, his internal strength is quite rooted, but he does not feel tired. In the past, he would not dare to walk this night road in the mountains alone, but at this moment, with a strong bow and arrows, he has strengthened his courage.

When he got to the bottom of the cliff, he went into the cave in the woods, and saw that there was no one inside, and when he looked at the jar, there was less dried meat and fried rice. He came out of the cave, and went all the way to the bottom of the cliff, and called out a few times, but there was no answer. Looking around, I only saw the forest and the cold moon was clear, and Xia Shiyu seemed to be no longer here.

As he was wandering, he suddenly heard a long laugh from someone on the top of the cliff, and one of them said loudly: "Li Longyan, have you arrived?"

Li Longyan said happily: "Yes! Is it Uncle Xia?" Looking up, I saw a person standing on the top of the cliff, with a wide robe and big sleeves, and fluttering hair, and the figure was Xia Shiyu.

Li Longyan was so surprised, he didn't expect this old man to be able to climb this cliff.

I only heard him laugh and said: "Little ghost, you bullied my old man yesterday and couldn't get up this cliff, and today I will come up to let you take a look! Haha! You came just in time, and the top of this cliff is so fun." Come, I'll show you something first. As soon as his hand was raised, something was thrown down, and the bones rolled in front of Li Longyan.

Li Longyan looked down, and couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, what kind of fun thing was that thing, it was actually a dead man's skull, and the white light under the moonlight was miserable, and he was very afraid of people. Li Longyan was taken aback, raised his head and shouted, "This ...... Is this what you found on the top of the cliff?"

Xia Shiyu smiled: "Yes! In addition to this guy, there are some strange things, do you want to come up and take a look?"

Li Longyan was very scared, but when he thought that there were still dead people's corpses on this cliff, it was really strange, and the young man's spirit of exploration and exploration finally prevailed, and he couldn't help blurting out: "Okay!"

Xia Shiyu threw down a fist-sized stone from the cliff and shouted, "There is a silk rope attached to the stone, you tie it around your waist, and I will pull you up." ”

Li Longyan picked up the stone and looked at it, and sure enough, there was a thin silk cord tied to it. The silk cord was green all over, about the thickness of a little finger, and Li Longyan pulled it with his hand, feeling extremely tough. At that moment, according to the old man's instructions, he tied the silk rope around his waist and tied a few dead knots firmly.

Xia Shiyu said: "You also bring the skull of the dead man." Li Longyan hesitated and said, "What are you doing with it?" Xia Shiyu said: "It's useful." Young man, what are you afraid of!" Li Longyan gritted his teeth, grabbed the skeleton, only to feel a tightness around his waist, and his body rose in the air, and he was pulled off the ground by Xia Shiyu.