Zhu Yushi was frightened all night, and did not fall asleep until the dawn appeared. Before he fell asleep, he heard a "knock" on the door, and Jia Yinyang's sharp voice came into his ears, "Hurry up, otherwise you won't be able to rush to Baimao Valley at noon." Zhu Yushi had to get up from the bed groggily, and really wanted to go back to the bed and sleep in the dark. Jia Yinyang smiled: "The first night was like this, you will definitely be able to sleep well tonight." Zhu Yushi said fiercely in his heart: "Nonsense, I will definitely be in bed tonight." Jia Yinyang saw that he was stunned there, and urged: "Wash your face with cold water in the jar, and you will be refreshed." Zhu Yushi dragged his heavy legs to the outside of the house, only to find that the four old Miao men had returned, each of them holding a sickle in their hands, carrying a basket behind their backs, and the basket was filled with bottles and cans, and they didn't know what to do. Zhu Yushi rubbed his face vigorously with cold water, and Jia Yinyang pointed to a basket and sickle full of jars on the ground and said, "Carry it on your back and follow along." Zhu Yushi had no choice but to carry the basket and follow them.

The group walked out of Guwang Village and walked down the mountain, passing by the lock demon village and the Yellow River village, the soldiers who were training hurriedly made a way, Gao Xuan and Yang Tan greeted them with a smile, Jia Yinyang and his party ignored it and walked straight over. Zhu Yushi found that these hall masters, the village owners didn't seem to dare to provoke Jia Yinyang, and anyone who saw him stayed away.

The group descended from Zulong Mountain and went deep into the dense forest. The forest is full of thorns and weeds, which are connected with the trees to form a barrier. The old men of the Miao nationality who led the way skillfully drilled left and right in the forest, seemed to be very familiar with every grass and tree, and their skills were very agile, and those thorns and weeds could not even touch the corners of their clothes, and sometimes waved their sharp sickles, and the things that blocked the way fell in response to the knife. Jia Yinyang was leisurely, holding his hands behind him, like a leisurely stroll. Zhu Yushi was miserable, his pants were hung by thorns, his face and hands were also wounded, and the basket behind him tripped over the branches from time to time, pulling him to walk for a long time, and after a while, he fell away from Jia Yinyang in front of him, he was unwilling to become a burden, and endured and struggled forward. Jia Yinyang didn't wait for him, he just took care of his own. Zhu Yushi complained bitterly in his heart, looked back at the way he came, where could he still tell the way back, cold sweat broke out on his back, and he desperately cut off the thorns and vines, only by following them could he get out of this dense forest.

There was a sudden flower in front of his eyes, Jia Yinyang didn't know when it appeared in front of him, he was stunned at first, thinking that Jia Yinyang was coming back to find him, and he was happy in his heart, but he looked at Jia Yinyang's cold eyes, and screamed "Wow". It turned out that Jia Yinyang was holding a spotted poisonous snake in his hand, the poisonous snake was less than three inches away from his cheek, and his bloody mouth was terrifying. Jia Yinyang sneered: "I came to look for you, but I came to the door by myself." The poisonous snake seemed to be particularly afraid of Jia Yinyang, and desperately twisted its body to escape. Jia Yinyang smiled, took out a jar from the basket behind Zhu Yushi, stuffed the poisonous snake into it, and put the lid back tightly. said: "If you don't want to die, follow quickly, don't let the teacher save you a second time." Zhu Yu was shocked and hurriedly said, "Yes." ”

They walked in the forest for two more hours, and with the experience just now, Zhu Yushi paid attention everywhere, checked around, and his clothes were hung in tatters all the way, like a flower child. Jia Yinyang and the four old men stopped and went, although they were very impatient with him, they couldn't leave him alone. Zhu Yushi felt very uncomfortable, and let a group of old people wait for him. He also found that Jia Yinyang and the old men couldn't understand all the words they were talking about, and asked, "Master, what are you talking about?" Jia Yinyang said: "We are all Miao people, and what we speak is naturally Miao language." After another half an hour, he finally came out of the woods, and saw a vast muddy meadow in front of him. Jia Yinyang said to Zhu Yushi: "This is a swamp, follow me." Zhu Yushi nodded again and again. When crossing the swamp, the Miao elders scattered, picked up the jars from the swamp, looked at the contents, then plugged the lid and put it in the basket, and then took out the empty jar in the basket and put it back. After passing through the swamp, the jars in each man's basket were replaced by thirty percent. Zhu Yushi asked, "Master, did you put the empty jar here, and after a while, the poison will go in by itself?" Jia Yinyang glanced at him and said, "Finally said a decent word, but just an empty jar is not enough, and a special spice is added for the teacher, which is dedicated to the appetite for poison." ”

Everyone walked out of the swamp and walked for another hour, it was almost noon, Jia Yinyang beckoned everyone to rest for a while before leaving. The old people of the Miao nationality took out dry food and distributed it to everyone, and Jia Yinyang said to Zhu Yu: "Don't make a loud noise when you arrive at Baimao Valley later, be careful with every step, be careful that even scorpions will come out of the ground." Zhu Yushi answered, ate dry food and continued to move forward. He found that the more he walked, the less grass and trees he had, and the surrounding area was full of bald mountains and white sand, and there was no end in sight. The team was led by Jia Yinyang, and no one dared to surpass him. Jia Yinyang's expression was grim, his small eyes were bright, staring at the road with all his attention, not letting go of any clues.

Suddenly, the sand surface moved slightly, as if a light wind was blowing, he immediately waved his hand to let everyone stop, picked out a purple jar from Zhu Yushi's basket, opened the lid, and placed it horizontally on the ground, so that everyone squatted far away without making any sound. After the half-pillar incense passed, the sand surface next to the jar bulged suddenly, and a palm-long red scorpion came out, first circled the jar, and tentatively approached the mouth of the jar.

Zhu Yushi, who was hiding on the side, looked attentively, leaning forward with his center of gravity, but he didn't notice that the white sand under his feet was very slippery, he stumbled and made a slight movement. The scorpion immediately stopped its movements and hurriedly burrowed into the sand. Jia Yinyang scolded, "Idiot." "Arrows flew up, and when the scorpion was almost in the sand, he pinched the tail pincer with two fingers, lifted it sharply, threw it into the jar, and tightened the lid. Jia Yinyang turned his head to Zhu Yu and said, "Clumsy, almost lost his life." Seeing Zhu Yu's blank face, he explained: "That's the 'white needle scorpion', the poisonous needle on the tail is as long as the embroidery needle, and it is extremely aggressive. His poisonous needle can pierce the sole of your shoe in the sand, making it impossible to prevent you. The only way to deal with this 'white needle scorpion' is to subdue it in advance, and if you miss a single blow, run for your life. Zhu Yushi was so frightened that he could only nod.

Everyone continued to move forward and came to a depression surrounded by mountains, this is the end of the road, the sand is vast, the terrain is extremely low, Jia Yin Yang said: "This is the White Hair Valley, be careful." He is leading the way, following a specific route to retrieve the jar full of poison and put the empty jar in its place. When an old Miao man was taking the jar, Jia Yinyang hurriedly shouted in Miao language, and the old man suddenly didn't dare to move, and slowly retreated. Jia Yinyang stepped forward and cautiously bowed down, and went to take the jar half-buried in the sand with one hand, just lifted a little, and suddenly an object suddenly came out of the bottom of the jar, only pounced on his wrist, Jia Yinyang was already prepared, and the jar in his hand was slashed in the air, and the thing not only did not pounce, but got into the jar by itself. Jia Yinyang told Zhu Yu that the thing in the jar was 'Qingguang Snake', and was attracted by the smell of spices, because it was very ferocious, and the other poisons in the jar were bitten to death, and it came out of the jar again, hiding at the bottom and waiting for other prey to come to the door. An hour later, they had replaced all the jars. Jia Yin Yang said: "This time it's bad luck, it's not a big poison, let's go back, we must rush back to the swamp before dark, and we must not spend the night here." ”

On the way back, Jia Yinyang talked to Zhu Yushi about the origin of Gu art, although Gu art is the symbol of the Miao people, but not all Miao people can use Gu, only the 'Gu Miao' clan understands Gu art, the number of Gu Miao clan is very small, they reject outsiders, do not obey education, Jia Yinyang is the first person of Gu Miao clan Gu art, and is named 'Gu King'. When he joined the Blood Sword Castle, he brought seventeen Gu masters with him, but most of those people were folded in the 'White Hair Valley', and only these four old men remained. Jia Yinyang said that he must rush back to the swamp before dark, not because it is difficult to walk, but because the swamp will become thin and soft after the sun sets, and the places that can usually walk will become unwalkable, and if you go in, you will definitely die. This is not the most terrible, if you can't cross the swamp, then you can only spend the night in the White Hair Valley, the night is quiet and cool, it is the time when poisons are infested, no less than 10,000 kinds of poisons will come out to hunt, no one can survive in the valley for a night.

When they returned to the swamp at dusk, Zhu Yushi obviously felt that the swamp was much softer, and in some places it was as if he had stepped into the mud, and he might sink after standing on it for a while. Fortunately, there was no danger in walking over, Jia Yinyang said: "I almost couldn't get over, if it weren't for your kid being delayed on the road, how could it be so thrilling." Zhu Yushi was ashamed and apologized again and again.

They returned to the dense forest full of thorns, and Zhu Yushi walked for a day, only to feel that his legs were as heavy as lead. He really admired these Gu Miao old men, who were still so vigorous until now, so he asked: "Master, these seniors are not young, don't they have wives and children to take care of? Zhu Yushi said: "Have they challenged the master?" Jia Yinyang said: "As a teacher, as a Gu King, it is inevitable to accept the challenges of other Gu masters, if you defeat a teacher, you can become a new Gu King, if you lose, you will let the teacher put Gu on your body, and always obey me, and give them the antidote to delay the Gu poison and let them live on a regular basis, this is the price of challenging the Gu King." Zhu Yushi exclaimed: "Could it be that those four seniors are ......" Jia Yinyang snorted coldly: "Not only them, the seventeen Gu masters in the past were all there, and no one dared to challenge them as teachers since then." Zhu Yushi shuddered and said, "Master, isn't it too cruel to do this, delaying people for a lifetime." Jia Yinyang said disdainfully: "This is the rule set by Gu Miao's ancestor, any failure has a price, if you can't afford it, you don't have to challenge, and the martial arts master duel is also your life and death, why don't you say cruel?" Zhu Yushi was speechless for a while, speechless.

Finally returned to Zulong Mountain in the evening, Zhu Yushi was too tired, his legs were numb, and he lost consciousness, but he was not tired. When he went up the mountain, he was just in time for dinner in other villages, and Zhu Yushi's stomach immediately 'growled', thinking that he could swallow a cow. After returning to the Gu King Village, Jia Yinyang ordered them to take out the jars in the basket and put them into the four small black houses, saying, "Let's all go back." The four old Miao people saluted him and left. Zhu Yushi said: "Master, what are we eating?" Jia Yinyang said: "When passing by the lock demon village, the teacher asked Gao Xuan to send two bowls of noodle soup, isn't this coming." I saw a soldier walk into the cottage with a tray, there were two bowls of hot mutton noodles on the tray, and before they were served, Zhu Yushi's saliva had flowed out, and he saw that the wide noodles were covered with mutton, chili, coriander and green onions, which was a great temptation for him who had not eaten for a day. Zhu Yushi thanked him and ate the noodles, completely ignoring the appearance of eating. The sergeant of the lock demon village said with a smile: "These two bowls of noodles are instructed by the master of Gaozhai to add too much, please use them slowly." After the soldier left, Jia Yinyang sat down beside Zhu Yushi unhurriedly, and when he saw him gobbling up, he said, "I can't eat so much for the teacher, so I'll give you half of it." Zhu Yushi's mouth was stuffed with noodles, and he nodded, "Thank you, Master." Jia Yinyang gave him half a bowl, and then began to eat. Zhu Yushi ate the whole bowl of noodles to the bottom, and there was no soup left. Suddenly, I saw Jia Yinyang eating very slowly, eating noodles one by one, chewing and swallowing slowly. Zhu Yushi immediately fell asleep after eating, and said, "Master, do you have any other orders?" Jia Yinyang said lightly: "Go to sleep, you have to get up early tomorrow." Zhu Yushi was surprised and said, "Are you still going to Baimao Valley?" Jia Yinyang said: "Don't go, tomorrow I will teach you Gu refining for the teacher." Zhu Yushi breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That disciple has retired, and the master has rested early." Jia Yinyang nodded. Zhu Yushi ran back to the house with a cigarette, threw his clothes and shoes to the ground indiscriminately, and collapsed on the bed shirtless. Although the poison in the house was still there, the sleepiness was far greater than the fear, and after lying down, the limbs relaxed, and the head was dizzy, and then I realized that it was so comfortable to lie on the bed, and I fell asleep in a moment, making a heavy breathing sound.

The next morning, Luo Tianchu opened his eyes and found that he had fallen asleep while meditating, just like last night, but when he woke up, he found that his inner breath was still running. He got out of bed, washed up, sat down at the table and continued to read "The Art of War" and "Liutao". He had memorized these two books yesterday, but there were too many words in "Liutao", and he didn't remember some places in detail. He looked at it for another hour, and only after he was completely familiar with it did he come to Gongsun Mingyue with the military book. After Gongsun Mingyue opened the door, he saw that he was holding a book in his hand, and said with a smile: "I finished reading it so quickly?" Luo Tianchu said: "After reading it, please give more guidance from the military advisor." Gongsun Mingyue took him to the study and said, "These two military books belong to the 'Seven Books of the Martial Arts', which are must-read for generals. Although "The Art of War" is only 5,000 words, it is broad and profound, and every word is exquisite, and it is worthy of repeated scrutiny by the generals. "Liutao" advocates "cutting down chaos and prohibiting violence", "fighting without fighting", emphasizing that "the form is human and I am invisible", and "the seer sees the weak and the enemy", which actually illustrates the importance of right and strange. The use of equipment is particularly important for the establishment of the armed forces, and it is very worthy of reference. Luo Tianchu nodded yes. Gongsun Mingyue smiled slightly, and asked him twenty questions in a row, Luo Tianchu answered them fluently, and also put forward his own opinions, which made Gongsun Mingyue secretly appreciate, very satisfied, and said: "It is rare to understand so thoroughly in one day, but these two military books are the foundation of military management, and you must remember to be word for word, I will give you half a month to memorize, is it a bit hasty?" Luo Tianchu said: "I think I have memorized everything, and I also ask the military division to take the school examination." Gongsun Mingyue was slightly surprised and said, "I'll listen to it." ”

In fact, Gongsun Mingyue knew that he had very good qualifications, and he also saw that he had a sense of self-satisfaction in his heart, and he had the intention to suppress his spirit, as long as he memorized a wrong word, he had to warn him well. Luo Tianchu cleared his throat and began to memorize the "Beginning of the Strategy" of "The Art of War", Gongsun Mingyue thought that he must be wrong if he couldn't recite ten sentences, so he picked up the book and listened to it. But when Luo Tianchu memorized the fifth "Potential Chapter", Gongsun Mingyue's face changed color slightly, and he never memorized a single word until he memorized the whole article. Gongsun Mingyue just wanted to praise him for two sentences, but he didn't knock and didn't hit, and directly recited "Liutao". Gongsun Mingyue was taken aback, knowing that "Liutao" has more than 20,000 words, and it is not easy to understand after reading it, and he can't do it by reciting it word for word in a short period of time. After half an hour before he finished reciting the full text, Gongsun Mingyue exclaimed: "I have seen what it means to be well-read and strong today. Luo Tianchu said modestly: "Don't dare to be." Gongsun Mingyue said: "Nothing to do, I'll tell you a story, once upon a time there was a family surnamed Li in Luoyang City, there was a prodigy in the family, and he could compose poems at the age of three, and his father Li Yuan was very happy, so he took the prodigy to go around the alleys and show off everywhere. Relatives and neighbors were also very envious, praising the child for being smart. Li Yuan believes that children are prodigies and do not need to study at all. Ten years have passed in this way, and the prodigy's level of poetry writing is still at the age of three, and he is not much better than children of the same age. After another five years, Li Yuan found that his children's poetry was far inferior to that of children of the same age. Luo Tianchu got up and said: "If a smart person doesn't work, sooner or later he will be surpassed by a diligent person, don't worry, I will study hard and never be proud." Gongsun Mingyue was pleased: "Sure enough, it's a little thorough." ”

Gongsun Mingyue got up and came to the long case, took out a scroll as wide as the long case, unfolded it on the long case, and said, "Come and see." Luo Tianchu recognized it as a map, and Gongsun Mingyue explained: "This is the current situation map, you see that the Great Song Dynasty is in the south, the Jin State occupies the north, Tubo is in the west, Dali is in the southwest, and the Western Xia is in the southeast." We are located between the borders of the Great Song Dynasty, the Jin Kingdom, and the Tubo Kingdom, and you see that the place marked by this red pen is our ancestral Dragon Mountain. Luo Tianchu said: "We are here in the land of four wars, and we are very close to the border of the Jin Kingdom." Gongsun Mingyue nodded and said: "Yes, fortunately, we have eight hundred miles of Qinchuan as a barrier, and there are monks on Chencang Road, so these fortified city barriers can be safe for the time being, but in times of peace, we have to plan for the long term." Luo Tianchu said: "We have raised so many soldiers in the Blood Knife Fort, are we preparing for war?" Gongsun Mingyue smiled slightly, and said noncommittally: "Judging the situation is the best policy, you can keep this map." ”