It's June, it's hot, and the rugged mountain roads are foggy. A young man vigorously waved the seemingly rough short knife in his hand, and from time to time he cut off the wild vine branches that blocked the way around him, and a little helplessness flashed between his eyebrows.

The young man had long dark hair, a turban was simply tied behind his head, a square face, under thick eyebrows, deep eyes revealed a trace of wisdom and perseverance, and the corners of his mouth showed a hint of stubbornness.

The body is well-proportioned, the skin is slightly dark, and the naked upper body is covered with water droplets, I don't know whether it is sweat or dew. The bulging muscles in the shoulders and arms show off their strength.

The bottom pair of shorts was already soaked, and several patches were stacked on top of each other to look thick. With two big feet and a pair of bast shoes, and a rattan basket containing some unknown herbs on his back, he walked extremely smoothly in the mountains, and seemed to be accustomed to the environment in the mountains.

It may be because the fog is too heavy, the visibility around the area is very low, and there are many trees in the mountains, and the soil is wet and soft, so it is quite difficult to walk.

The young man's name is Yang Lin, and he was born in Dongshan Village at the foot of this mountain. Dongshan Village is located in the northeast corner of Dongyu Mountain, which is very remote, sparsely populated, and lives in poverty.

Yang Lin's father, Yang Yiming, is the only blacksmith in the village and the only person in the village to go out of Dongyu Mountain.

The iron tools and instruments he built are even more refined and durable, and many outsiders come to the village to buy the iron tools and weapons he made, so he is also famous in the nearby villages. And his mother is plain and simple, she teaches her husband and children at home, and takes care of the house in an orderly manner.

Yang Lin also has a brother and a younger sister, who frolic and play together in normal times, and are happy when they arrive! Yang Lin has been smart and strong since he was a child, he began to read and write at the age of two, he can memorize articles at the age of three, and he learned archery and practiced his fists and feet with the hunters in the village at the age of four.

Seeing that he was smart and strong since he was a child, his grandfather loved him very much. My grandfather was a doctor in the village, gentle and elegant, kind and generous, and he used some herbs picked in the mountains to treat the people in the village, and was very respected by the villagers.

The three Yang Lin brothers and sisters have been urged by their parents and grandfather to study and practice martial arts since they were children. Yang Lin listened to his father's stories outside the mountains, and also wanted to learn some literary and martial arts as soon as possible, so that he could see the mountains and rivers outside.

Every day, I got up early and ran around the foot of the mountain a few laps, read and practice calligraphy with my grandfather in the morning, studied medicine in the afternoon, and went up the mountain with my grandfather to collect medicine and identify herbs. At night, he practiced martial arts with the village hunters, and he practiced in the middle of the night. At the beginning, my grandfather was afraid that Yang Lin was young and his body couldn't bear it, but after a long time, he found that Yang Lin learned everything very quickly, although he couldn't reach the depth of the fire, but he also looked good, and his body was extremely strong.

Because he was born with infinite strength, when he was five years old he was stronger than a six-year-old child, and children of the same age in the same village grew up with him, and when they had a little free time, they would get together to dance with guns and sticks, climb high and low, and chase and fight also caused a lot of trouble, for which they were not less nagged by their mothers.

This day, after reviewing the book in the morning, my grandfather instructed Yang Lin and his eldest brother to go up the mountain to pick a few commonly used herbs for later use. After eating at noon, Yang Lin saw that his eldest brother was sorting out the medicinal materials, but he was afraid that he would not have time to go up the mountain to collect medicines, so he came over and said hello: "Big brother, you are busy here, I can go up the mountain by myself, and I will come back after dark!" After speaking, he was about to leave with the vine on his back.

The eldest brother was weighing a small pile of medicinal herbs in front of him, and when he heard his brother's voice, he remembered something in his heart, and hurriedly shouted: "You wait a minute, the green fruit the size of a jujube that you picked on the mountain last time, will you go and see if there is anything else this time?" You go up the mountain this time to pick more, so that grandpa and our parents can also taste it!" Yang Lin responded with a "yes" and went out to the mountain.

I don't know how many times I have stepped on this mountain road, Yang Lin estimates that even if he closes his eyes, he can calmly go up and down the mountain. Humming an unknown tune all the way along the mountain road, Shi Er brandished his father's short knife and chopped down the branches and vines that seemed to be an eyesore. The mountain path is gradually blurry, and the sun above is gradually blocked by the trunks of the trees, and the grass under the feet can start to look a little slippery through the scattered sunlight scattered by the branches and leaves.

Yang Lin slowed down, looked up at the direction of the leaves on the trees above his head, and the short knife in his hand cut off the branches and vines sticking out of the roadside neatly, muttering in his mouth: "This grass grows too fast, the branches and weeds that were cut down a few days ago are now almost covering the road, it's really troublesome." ”

While walking and thinking, I don't know how many times this road has been walked, I remember that it is extremely familiar, but today I don't know why, the original trees, flowers and plants suddenly increased, blocking the road, otherwise it would be estimated that it would have arrived at Monkey Ditch earlier. Along the way, I don't know how many trees were cut and how many wild vines were split, Yang Lin also felt a little unbearable, and his body was already covered with sweat.

After walking for a while, a mountain stream appeared in front of me. Yang Lin raised the corners of his eyes, haha, ran to the mountain stream in three or two steps, bent down and sank his face into the water, and drank the water in a big gulp.

I felt that I was full before I straightened up and looked around, at this time the sky was already a little dark, I don't know if the sun was blocked or if it was really going to be evening.

Looking at the gentle stream that stretched around, he got up and walked upstream of the mountain stream, and said to himself: "It's finally almost here, today is really true, I have walked back and forth in the normal day, and it seems that I will walk at night again today! No, I will go to the monkey nest in the monkey ditch in the east to sleep, and drink fruit wine with the monkeys, but I don't know if the monkeys have made some more, and they drank too little last time, and they haven't enjoyed it yet." ”

Walking and walking, there is a small waterhole in front of him, more than ten zhang wide, there is a boulder opposite the waterhole, the boulder seems to be split by a giant axe, there is a crack in the middle of the flat white crack, a thigh-thickness tree grows from the crack, about one zhang high, the branches and leaves are luxuriant, the tree bears some green fruits, it is quite difficult to find behind the leaves.

Yang Lin walked to the tree, reached out and picked a fruit, put it in his mouth, and chewed it. So many years here, this tree has never borne fruit, the last time I came found that this green fruit actually grows, although the taste is a little sour, but it is not astringent when you eat it in the mouth, it is raw under the tongue, moisturizing the intestines, after eating, the stomach always feels like going to the toilet, and the body feels extra comfortable after draining, but there is no feeling of detachment after diarrhea, it is really a good thing.

While eating, Yang Lin picked a large one and put it in the vine behind him, and went back to eat it for his family and brothers. Feeling that it was almost time to eat and pick, Yang Lin wiped his mouth, clapped his hands, walked to the edge of the pool, put the vine on a stone, untied his trouser belt, squatted down, turned his back to the pool, and hummed a small song, "The water of Peach Blossom Beach is a thousand feet deep, I don't need paper to poop." ”

When he was smug, Yang Lin suddenly felt a cold wind behind him, and at this time he was squatting conveniently, unable to turn around, so he could only pounce forward, and when he fell to the ground, he only felt a burst of coolness from his back, as if there was a stream of water flowing down from his back.

Wipe it with a simple piece of thatched paper, get up and lift your pants, turn your head and see that there are no ripples on the waterhole, what's going on?

Yang Lin walked a few steps around the pool, scratched his head, and suddenly bent down to pick up the stone under his feet, and smashed it into the branches and leaves of the big tree opposite, "Let you hide, won't you just drink a few sips of your wine, and you can't disturb me at this time, if you are frightened and fall into the root of the disease, what can you do in the future." ”

shouted a few times, and found that there was no movement around, but out of the silence, and his face couldn't help showing a solemn expression. Slowly walking to the edge of the pool, Yang Lin leaned his head forward slightly and looked underwater. It was getting late, and there was no light in the sky.

Yang Lin stared at the water with wide eyes, feeling as if something was staring at him in the water, a sense of oppression spread from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, and he vaguely felt that something was wrong, so he turned around and picked up the vine and ran towards the road. He hadn't taken a few steps before he heard the sound of water coming from the waterhole, and a low roar came from underwater.

The curiosity in his heart forced Yang Lin to stop, turned around to see a trace of ripples on the surface of the water, slowly retreated behind a boulder, and poked his head out to look at the edge of the pool. The sky was dark, and Yang Lin only looked at the pond vaguely, thinking about what might happen in his mind.

Yang Lin thought silently in his heart, I have been on the mountain for so many years, I have never encountered this kind of thing, I heard my grandfather say that there are several demon beasts in the depths of the mountain, but this is still some distance from the deep mountain, how can there be such a sound. He took a deep breath, blinked his slightly dry eyes deeply, and tightened the short knife in his hand.

Another low roar came from the bottom of the pool, and the splash gradually rose on the surface of the water, getting bigger and bigger, and in the blur, it seemed like a snake's head slowly emerging from the pool. From a distance, it feels the size of a basin and has a single horn on the top of its head. After poking out of the water, the snake's head shook, a few strands of long hair on its head opened, and it looked back and forth without wind, but did not make any sound.

When a pair of sharp snake eyes looked in the direction of Yang Lin, the snake's head shook from side to side a few times, spit out the snake letter, and slowly sank into the pool again. When Yang Lin saw the one-horned snake head, the snake head sank into the water again, thinking that it was just a big python in the water, and he didn't feel relieved.

I remember that two years ago, when I was trapping a hillside with a few brothers and friends, I caught a big python with a head the size of a basin, but there was no single horn on the head.

At that time, he first blinded him with a bow and arrow, and when he was exhausted, he held a short knife and went down to the pit to slash at the python. I also lost this short knife, and I don't know what material it is made of, the scraps are like mud, and I fought for an hour, although I hit a few wounds, and finally killed the python.

After a few people carried the python back to the village, the whole village also ate a snake feast, the snake skin was made into several leather armor, ordinary knives and guns can only leave a shallow mark on the snake skin armor, and they also left a piece of leather armor, and they loved it very much. The most important thing is that although the elders in the family blamed Yang Lin for his recklessness, he was still praised by his father and praised by the villagers for being able to cut such a big python.

Looking at the waterhole, Yang Lin looked at the short knife in his hand, and thought to himself that although there was no bow and arrow around him, but now that he was two years older, and his courage and strength were also better than before, what was he afraid of at this time. Yang Lin put down the vine and slowly moved towards the waterhole.

When he was four or five steps close to the water, he saw that the center of the waterhole suddenly turned up a wave, and a big head with a hawk's beak and white eyebrows appeared on the water, and the big head stretched out his head towards Yang Lin, roared lowly, and swam over. After a few times to the edge of the pool, a huge claw stretched out from the water and landed on the shore, and the whole body also surfaced and walked ashore.