Shigang Village.

This is a small village in the mountains of Caihuagou.

A few miles away from the village, the small forest behind the mountain is quiet and deep, and there are few people, and in an open field in the middle of the grove, a huge mountain rock stands abruptly, and at this moment, on the mountain rock, there is a thin figure sitting cross-legged.

It was a boy who looked to be only eleven or twelve years old, with a young and thin face, slightly dark, facing the morning light on his back, his eyes slightly closed, and his expression serious.

It's just that his hair looks a little unkempt, and he is wearing a coarse cloth shirt, so you can see at a glance that this is just an ordinary boy from a mountain village.

The boy sat cross-legged on the big stone and remained motionless until noon.

At noon, the scorching sun was in the sky, and even the small forest with the shade of trees was filled with the summer heatwave, and the boy sitting on the stone began to sweat on his face, and finally couldn't help but open his eyes that had been slightly closed.

The boy wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked at the sunlight pouring down from among the leaves, and then jumped down from the stone nearly a few feet high, his movements light and vigorous, and he looked extremely relaxed.

The boy walked around behind the big rock, and sat down in the shadow where the sun could not shine, and at some point he had a small stick in his hand.

In front of him was a sand table that he had made out of himself, and it seemed that he used it a lot, and the sand was finely broken and smooth.

I saw that the young man first leveled the sand table with a wooden stick, then frowned as if he was recalling something, and after a while, he drew on the sand table with a wooden stick.

On the sand table, the boy gently drew a series of strange symbols with a wooden stick, and he seemed to have no idea how many thousands of times he had drawn these symbols so repeatedly, and it seemed that there was no trace of sluggishness.

After filling the sand table with strange symbols one by one, the boy leveled the sand table with a wooden stick again, and then continued to draw.

Two hours later, the movement of the wooden stick held by the young man changed, and the original symbols became lines that could not be seen in the trajectory, and as more and more lines appeared, the whole sand table was like a maze that people could not see the truth.

He seemed to be addicted to it, but before long, his hands slowed down, and he struggled to draw, and the lines he drew began to stagnate, and his forehead was like a waterfall of sweat.

The next moment, when he was halfway through a curve, he finally couldn't support it, the wooden stick in his hand fell, and the young man panted and leaned against the big stone, looking up at the sparse sunlight in the forest, and an innocent smile appeared on his dark face.

"Today I have made progress again, no matter how difficult it is, as long as I persist every day, I can always continue to improve, and I will not be far from Xiaocheng. ”

The boy muttered to himself, rested against the stone for a moment, then sat up again, leveling the sand table again.

This time, the boy wrote the names of a bunch of herbs on the sand table, and the font was crooked and ugly: half of Polo grass, one part of imperial blood grass, and one part of heather...... Heart Pills...... Two parts of withered leaf grass, half a tael of snake letter grass, and seven petals of winter thorn flowers...... Corpse Worm Pill ......

The sand table was densely packed, full of names of various medicinal herbs and plants, and some of them had never been seen even by the most knowledgeable village chief in the village.

After the young man leveled the sand table again, he got up and pulled out a woodcutter from behind a big tree that was much larger than his arm.

This is his daily task, go up the mountain to cut wood, otherwise there will be no firewood tomorrow.

Although his father is the only blacksmith in the village, he can be regarded as worry-free, but the imbalance of income consumed by ironwork still makes the family barely support, so every day he will go to the back mountain to chop wood, which can slightly reduce his father's burden.

Although the big head looked thin, his arms were surprisingly large, and in less than a moment, he had already cut out a huge bundle of dry wood.

The woodcutter flicked to his waist, skillfully carried the dry wood, and trotted towards the village below the mountain.

The sturdy little figure swooped across the small forest, as light as a monkey descending the mountain.

"The skinny monkey is back? Ouch, child, you are still growing your body, carrying such a big bundle of firewood, be careful not to flash your waist! Lao Zhang is really, why let the child chop so much at once!"

When an aunt in the village saw the big head carrying a bundle of firewood that was much bigger than her own body, she immediately screamed, her words were full of concern, and she complained about the father of the big head by the way.

"Skinny Monkey...... Skinny Monkey ......"

When the children in the village saw Datou, they happily called Datou the nickname that the villagers had given him since he was a child, just because he was too thin since he was a child, like a malnourished little monkey.

The big head didn't think it was a pestle, and carried the firewood into the house with a smile on his face.

My father had come back from work, my mother had cooked the meal, and my six-year-old sister was staring at the door with chopsticks in both hands, and jumped up with excitement when she saw the big head coming back.

"My brother is back, so I can eat. ”

"If you are hungry, you can eat first, you have to wait for your brother. "The mother of the big head, Wang, doted on the sister of the big head.

The big head put down the firewood, washed his hands, walked over and touched his sister's head, and sat down at the dinner table.

"Don't carry so much firewood next time. The father of the big head sat across from him, and he was concise and to the point.

For his father's words, the big head just responded with a hmm, and continued to obediently bury his head in the meal, and then began to listen to his parents' nagging.

The big head is actually not big, on the contrary, he is very thin. From a small weak body, he looks even thinner, and his head is actually not big, and he looks extremely normal, which is not worthy of the name.

Speaking of which, Datou's name was just given to him by his father.

Datou's father is a well-known blacksmith in the Caihuagou Mountains of Huolin Town.

The craftsmanship passed down from his ancestors, coupled with his big hands and a good hand, and he also has a pair of big ears that are much larger than normal people, which is very eye-catching, and his father is kind and honest and approachable.

Therefore, all those in the vicinity who wanted to make agricultural tools, whether they were rich officials or village commoners, were willing to come all the way to ask his father to make iron tools for them.

Therefore, the grandfather of the big head naturally named his father Zhang Daer.

The origin of the name of the big head was given to him by his father when he was born, just because his father hoped that when he grew up, he would have a smart head and get ahead of this poor village.

Datou's father didn't want to let him go to the private school in the town to learn to read and write, but it was almost where the children of high-ranking officials and nobles went, even if he had accumulated money for many years, it was not enough to send Datou to a private school.

Therefore, after years of hope and hard work, the father of the big head has also seen it, and he can't enter a private school, so let the child go out of the world as soon as possible.

Some time ago, a distant cousin from the previous generation who was still a little related by blood wrote that his son had become a small housekeeper in a small restaurant in Huolin Town, and if the father of the eldest head was willing, he could send the child to the restaurant to follow his cousin, and it would be good to be a junior in the hall.

The father of the big head thought about it for a long time, he saw that the child was weak and poor since he was a child, and the idea of passing on the ancestral iron-making skills to the big head was also dispelled, and he didn't want the child to suffer that sin, so it was better for the child to go out to see the world, which was much better than nesting in Shigang Village in this ravine all day long.

I think it's feasible, so I discussed it with the mother of the big head Wang for a while, Wang's woman is not easy to object, and there is no better way, the child is the mother's heart, although going out away from the parents, it is inevitable that there is a concern in my heart, but I have no choice but to agree.

When his father told Datou about this, Datou reluctantly objected:

"Father, mother, the child doesn't want to go out yet, and he doesn't want to leave you and his sister. ”

Datou was nine years old that year.

When the parents heard his words, they turned sideways with a smile, their eyes filled with tears, and they were relieved that their children were sensible early, but they were a little helpless.

At this moment, the parents brought it up again in the nagging.

Now that Datou is eleven years old, they all hope that Datou can come out early and learn some skills with his cousin.

Who parents don't want their children to get ahead and return home?

The eldest cousin is much older than him, and he is already in his thirties, and being able to become a small steward of a restaurant in the town can be regarded as a career of hard work.

Therefore, Datou's parents hope that Datou can also work hard in the future, become a small steward of the restaurant, and marry a daughter-in-law in the future, have hope, and be content.

And by the middle of next month, the big head's cousin will also come over, ready to take the big head over, so that he can take care of it.

"Father, mother, brother are leaving us?"

The big-headed sister is delicate and cute, and she was originally eating food in small bites, but at this time she raised her little face and asked with red eyes.

"Xiaoya, if my brother doesn't leave, my brother will watch you grow up and be sensible. The big head touched his sister's head and comforted.

"Father, mother, the child really doesn't want to leave you, do you have to go to that restaurant?"

"Child, your father and I both know that you are reluctant to leave us, this can't be blamed on you, you have never been out of this poor place since you were a child, and you are inevitably afraid. Wang touched the big head's head dotingly, sighed and said, "But child, you always have to go out, and your cousin takes care of everything in the town, the town is not far from our village, you can come back to see if you have time, your cousin will come to pick you up in the middle of next month, what else can't you think of?"

"Okay, father, mother, when my cousin comes, I'll just go with him to town. Looking at the expectant eyes of his parents, the big head reluctantly agreed.

Hearing the big head's words, the big head's father, "Ba Da" had a pipe in his mouth and tears in his eyes, and the big head's mother hid her face and wiped her tears.

It was night, and the big head was lying on the bed, thinking about the expectation in the eyes of his parents during the day, and he couldn't help but sigh softly in private, and his heart was hesitant.

During the day, Datou wanted to tell his parents that he wanted to get out of this small village in the ravine and see the world outside, but he didn't want to go to the small restaurant in the town, but he wanted to go to the heavenly immortals that everyone is said to be known about on weekdays, the immortal mountain sect where those immortals are located, and the immortals who can fly around in the sky without a trace are his dreams.

He didn't dare to tell his parents, this was the biggest secret in his heart, and no one knew about it.

I quietly listened to the nagging conversation of my parents next door, and the "click" of my father's pipe.

The big head buried his head hard in the pillow made of grass seeds, and pressed the musty quilt tightly around his neck, and recalled the symbols and lines drawn during the day, as well as the names of the herbs, and soon fell asleep.