In the treehouse, which was three feet high from the ground, a swarthy young man sighed, sat up and relaxed, and looked down at the leafy roof of the treehouse, which was shining with a ray of sunlight, which he had spent a long time making up.

It didn't seem to have slept enough, so he lay down and turned over, and the leaves of the Lingshu tree covered by the quilt exuded a faint fragrance.

Looking around, there were only two barrels and a bell, and he smiled wryly, and quickly got up and jumped out of the treehouse.

Lingshu is a kind of ancient tree endemic to the locality, and the highest one is more than ten zhang. I heard the old village chief say that this kind of tree can grow infinitely to the sky, and even bloom and bear fruit, and the fruit is extremely delicious.

However, in the eyes of the teenager, the legend is that the biggest use of this tree is to make a quilt from leaves, a fishing rod from a branch, and a leaf bud to remove water.

Not far from the treehouse is a large sparkling lake, known locally as Shuijing Lake, the water of the lake is clear but bottomless, because the surface of the lake is like a mirror that can only see the reflection of the blue sky.

It is precisely because of this that the lake is so mysterious that Shuijing Village has inherited a method of testing young people, and only through the trial can they be qualified to go out of the village and explore the outside world.

The young man's name is Chen Mu, the family is an ordinary family in the village, a family of five, with an older brother and a younger sister, usually the life of the family is very hard, but because there are several large lakes around Shuijing Village, the water is abundant, fish and mussels can be eaten as food, and the family is also comfortable.

Xiao Chen Mu has dark skin and looks very ordinary, looking like an ordinary peasant child. But his heart is much more mature than his peers, and he has been yearning for the outside world since he was seven years old, dreaming of one day being able to get out of this small village.

Of course, only his family knew about his thoughts. Otherwise, it will definitely make the people in the village feel stunned, a yellow-haired little kid would have such a strange thought.

A child about the same age as him only knows how to fish and swim, and when he becomes an adult, he also lives a life of marrying a wife and having a baby to fish, and ends this life plainly.

At noon, Chen Mu sat on a big stone by the lake with a hat on his head, holding a turquoise branch found in a tree hole, which looked like a branch but the color was not the same.

Tie the fishing line and hook, and he made a fishing rod out of this branch, which is so beautiful.

There is no one around, and Shuijing Village is forty miles away from Shuijing Lake, and for some reason there is almost no fish caught in this lake, and the water depth is bottomless, so the village moved to other large lakes with abundant water a long, long time ago.

Eight days ago, an outer disciple of Xuanqing Sect came to Shuijing Village and discussed with the village chief about Xuanqing Sect's recruitment of inner disciples. In addition, the disciple is Zhao Niu, who went out through the trial ten years ago, and is also from Shuijing Village, and it is through this person that Chen Mu learned the trick to passing the trial, which is "persistence".

Xuanqingmen is a great sect of cultivation in the southern part of Jinzhou in the Xia Kingdom, and it is rumored that the elders of this sect have cultivated immortality. But the old village chief obviously doesn't believe in immortality, in his opinion, the illusory thing of cultivating truth is completely floating clouds, and Xuanqingmen is just a place to strengthen the body, cultivate the heart and surname, and learn the French style.

Zhao Niu entered this Xuanqing Gate by chance fifteen years ago, and was an inner disciple for three years, but because of the poor qualifications of the root surname, he was sent to the outer door to be a small innkeeper, and the so-called evaluation qualification was Zhao Niu himself did not know.

After running the inn business for a few years, I have some savings, and at the same time, I have gradually been recognized by the outer door of Xuanqingmen. This time I went back to the village to take over the important task of recruiting people from Xuanqingmen, a total of two places, it doesn't matter what the conditions at home are, the kind of children who can endure years of meditation and cultivation. If one of them can become an official disciple, he will have the opportunity to be transferred to the largest inn in the town to become the treasurer.

After all, he is a person from Shuijing Village, and after so many years of human sophistication, he knows that he repays the kindness of nurturing, and he had already decided before he came, and only the people in the village could enjoy the only two places.

But the reaction of the villagers was very bland, no matter what Zhao Niu said, he only opened the door once every three years to accept apprentices, and after entering the door, he could glorify his ancestors, but no one was willing to take the child away for him, which surprised Zhao Niu.

Although Zhao Niu's character is guaranteed, children over the age of eight and under the age of twelve are still ignorant, so how can parents rest assured.

Five days ago, Zhao Niu came to Chen's house, Chen's father warmly entertained him, Chen Mu has been standing attentively by his father's side to listen to Zhao Niu tell about the ups and downs he has experienced in the past few years, for the eight-year-old he These stories may be far away from him, but in his heart he has long had the idea of going out, maybe it is related to his bizarre encounter a year ago, these are not important, he has made up his mind to go to Xuanqingmen with Zhao Niu, make money for the family, buy beautiful clothes for his sister, practice skills for himself, for the agreement a year ago.

Under the grapevines in the backyard of the Chen family, there were three teenagers, Chen Mu with his elder brother Chen Xing and sister Chen Bei. "Second brother, my brother knows that you have long wanted to go out, you must seize this opportunity this time, and my brother will fully support you. When my brother makes money from fishing and hunting, I will go to Xuanqingmen to see you!", "Second brother, you don't have to worry about it at home, I will take care of my father and mother, and when you are successful in your studies, you must come back to see me...... Don't forget that!".

Several children finally gathered around and cried, and Chen's mother looked at these children in the house, her eyes were red and swollen, and her eyes were dull and thinking about something.

Three days ago, Chen's father discussed with the village chief to let Chen Mu conduct a trial in advance, although he didn't want his son to leave, but he was very pleased that the boy was so young and ambitious. Of course, Chen's father also knows that the trial is not so easy to pass, and his son can pass the trial at such a young age, so he will definitely have a great future when he goes out to learn the arts.

Today, Chen Mu sat on the shore of the beautiful Shuijing Lake for another whole day, and there was no expression of disappointment on his childish face, only a smile of persistence. It was dark, he looked at the beautiful starry sky, thinking about something, the lake was so quiet, there was no trace of fog, and the stars in the sky were faintly reflected.

"Compete with the sky" Chen Mu suddenly sighed, and then lay on the grass and continued to stare at the sky in a daze. An eight-year-old child is in such a state of mind that this small village may have let him go.

His fishing rod had been stuck in a crack in the rock, and a red rope had been tied to the fishing line, which had been attached to the bell in the treehouse, and that unknown beasts would haunt him in the middle of the night, as his father had warned him that although there were no large beasts near the village, it was always dangerous to sleep on the grass.

Chen Mu returned to the tree house and checked the only two small wooden barrels in the house, one was full of dried fish, and the other was half of the dried fish.

"It's been eight days, and I haven't caught a single fish, and if I eat the second bucket of dried fish, my trial will fail," Chen Mu said to himself, but he still insisted on seeing it on his not handsome face.

He covered the fragrant leaf quilt, thought about the wild life skills taught by his eldest brother, thought about his sister's cute and sweet smile, and fell asleep.

Suddenly, an unknown beast screamed, Chen Mu stood up wrapped in leaves, and looked around through the gap in the tree house, only to see that the surface of the water mirror lake was flooded with circles, and the reflected starry sky flashed like fireflies, and it seemed that white fish were spitting on the surface of the water.

Chen Mu had already raised his heart to his throat, and he was so nervous that he hurriedly cut the red rope connected to the bell, for fear that he would make a sound.

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