there is someone behind me

The scorching sun seemed to be scorching the earth. At noon, there were not even people on the mountain road.Zixiaoshan's group changed from taking a taxi to walking, and came to the nearest village outside the mountain gate.

The small village does not have an official name, and most people in the village are surnamed Zhou, so it is called Zhoujia Village.Zhoujia Village is basically isolated from the outside world, and it has only been connected to the outside world in the past ten years, but it is not a flat asphalt road, but a dirt road stepped on by people and mules.It didn't rain today, so the road was fine.

Zhou Ling remembered that there was a canteen in this village, and the owner had a big black dog. When he was eleven or twelve years old, he always wanted to steal the dog back to the mountains, but he never had the chance to carry out his plan.On the day he went down the mountain, the big black dog came to see him off.Then he successfully defrauded two ham sausages from him.

As if he knew that he could eat something good again today, Zhou Ling saw the big black dog lying at the entrance of the canteen running towards him wagging its tail, and made a coquettish sound of "Woooooo" when it came to him.

Zhou Ling was in the stage of being excited to see everything and feel kind. When he saw the familiar big black dog, he not only squatted down and touched its dog's head twice - which made the orange cat in Ning He's arms very dissatisfied - but also never I took out a few dollars from my bag and went to the canteen to buy two ham sausages.

The scene of unpacking the ham sausage and feeding it to the big black dog seems familiar.

Ling Xiaozi took two steps closer, and the shadow enveloped Zhou Ling and the big black dog who was eating happily.Zhou Ling was still angry about what happened before, so he ignored it, Ling Xiaozi glanced at the big black dog.

The big black dog chewed the ham sausage for a while, then swallowed faster, took another ham sausage from Zhou Ling's hand in one bite, and quickly got into the room.

Zhou Ling: "..." Dogs have such a strong desire to survive these days.

Yuan Qinghe turned his head and said to his master: "Dahei is almost mature and always wants to lie to eat, and the little elder bought it for him. Why don't I have snacks to feed?" His master Yi Pingzi thought for a while and said: "Maybe because, you're not furry?"

Ling Xiaozi pulled Zhou Ling up from the ground, and said the same thing: "Xieyang is not good."

This is the last thing Zhou Ling wants to hear now!Breaking away from the little uncle's hand, he said aggressively to his disciples and grandchildren: "Going up the mountain, I want to climb the 99 steps before dark."

Ren Zhenzi made an estimate and said, "I see Xuan." But Zhou Ling had already walked several steps.

Ling Xiaozi had a headache for his grown-up nephew, who was not easy to discipline, and he was worried that he would walk ahead alone, so he could only use his eyes to signal his disciples to follow quickly.

People in Zhoujia Village don't believe in Ma Zhe. They have been protected by Zixiao Mountain for generations, which is the first threshold for the outside world to get in touch with Zixiao Mountain.The villagers have seen the Taoist spells of the Taoist priests on the mountain—the older generation even thought it was the skill of the gods—they are wary of outsiders who enter the mountain, and they also provide some convenience for those who come to visit Zixiao Mountain from the metaphysics circle. .

Two days ago, a group of people fought at the gate of their village, and some of them took away the things that others escorted.This is a rare thing. Few people dare to provoke troubles on the ground of Zixiao Mountain. Isn't that just asking for it?

The village chief waited for the day before yesterday, and finally he got the people from Zixiao Mountain.Although he came back to the mountain from the outside, it did not prevent the village chief from making a small report.

"Master Ling Xiao." The village head stopped Ling Xiaozi, "Two days ago, a group of people clashed on the mountain road outside the village. It seemed that they were trying to snatch a box. During the conflict, the box was knocked over. I picked up some things that they confiscated." He said and handed over a jade pendant with a broken horn in his hand.

Ling Xiaozi reached out to take the jade pendant, looked it over carefully for a while, and found that this somewhat familiar jade pendant belonged to Zixiao Mountain.

The common shape of a safety buckle, a small jade ring hollowed out in the middle, and the upper and lower ends are worn with red strings.Every child who grew up in Zixiao Mountain has one. It is not a particularly valuable item, but each one is made by the elders of the master.The red rope is dyed with cinnabar, and amulets are engraved in the safety buckle. It cannot be used as a powerful magic weapon, but it symbolizes the elders' blessings for the younger generation's healthy and safe growth.

Ling Xiaozi looked at the jade pendant in his hand that was covered in dirt and had its horns broken, and said to the village chief, "It's nothing, they can't enter the mountain. If there are any strangers coming these days, I'll send someone to run up the mountain. "

"Okay." The village head replied, watching Ling Xiaozi and his party go up the mountain.

Go past Zhoujia Village, and then walk about two kilometers before you actually come to the outer gate of Zixiao Mountain.The dense forest is lush, the trees are towering, and the harsh sunlight is covered a lot.I don’t know when the stone tablet was erected in the forest. The stone tablet is so tall that it is more than three feet apart. The inscriptions engraved on it have long been mottled and weathered.

The light of the mountain protection formation flashed past, and Zhou Ling and his party entered Zixiao Mountain without hindrance.

When a platform of bluestone slabs appeared in front of the eyes, and then there were stone steps that could not be seen at the top.Someone sprinkled rice grains on the stone slabs, and a group of birds were scrambling for food, not afraid of humans coming in from outside the mountain gate.

"Is your master coming to feed the birds again?" Ren Zhenzi asked.

Yuan Zhenzi replied: "Probably."

Ren Zhenzi: "Tell Master Uncle to give up, the hoopoe with the blue crown last time was really caught by my apprentice and grandson."

Yuan Zhenzi: "You are not afraid of being beaten to death by him."

Zhou Ling looked at the bird for a while, then turned his head and said, "Since when did Song Yu like playing with birds? Doesn't he like playing with tortoises?"

Yuan Zhenzi said: "Master, the tortoise he raised became a spirit three years ago. After letting it go, the master felt that the tortoise is too easy to breed intelligence, so he wanted to change it to raise it."

Zhou Ling: "...Oh, then I suggest that he raise another apprentice. This one is not easy to become a master, oh no, it is not easy to ascend."

Yuan Zhenzi and others: "..."

Qing He raised his head and said, "Little Elder, do you really want to climb up in one go?"

Zhou Ling glanced at the stairs, swallowed silently, it was not easy to go back on his words immediately, so he said: "That's right."

Qing He's face collapsed: "Then you take a step first, I'll come back later." He raised the cat in his hand and said, "I'll go and put Xiao Huang in the valley."

Zhou Ling watched him walk away with the cat in his arms, and wanted to be with him very much, so that he could take a ride with some kind of flying spirit to the main peak of Taichu.But now, he could only watch Qing He's figure walk away slowly until it disappeared.

Most of the 99 steps are hidden in the mountains and mist.The first thousand knots were fairly easy to climb, and I even had the energy to pay attention to the mountain scenery on both sides of the steps.There are squirrels peeping on the branches with their eyes, bold macaques jump directly on the steps to observe the people going up the mountain, and the chirping of birds resounds high and low among the shadows of the trees.

This is the Zixiao Mountain that Zhou Ling is familiar with, a place where he will not get lost if he walks with his eyes closed.However, it is extremely high.Climbing up is very difficult.

At the [-]th step, Zhou Ling began to pant.He slowed down his pace, and then found that the two old men Ren Zhenzi and Yuan Zhenzi, and the two middle-aged men Yipingzi and Changpingzi were all as normal as they were, neither blushing nor panting.Not to mention the young, mature, and young people who walk at the end like a walk.

So after working on it for a long time, he is the least useful?Zhou Ling followed his breathing rate and secretly made up his mind that from now on, he would get up early and do morning classes with everyone. After the morning classes, he would run up and down the mountain. He also wants to be a man with abdominal muscles, not a whole piece of Xiaobai chicken!

At the third thousand level, Zhou Ling stopped on the buffer platform for at least a quarter of an hour.He sneaked a glance in the direction of the little uncle, and just as his eyes drifted over, the other party looked over.Zhou Ling was so frightened that he turned his head quickly.

Ren Zhenzi frowned, feeling that there was something wrong with the two of them.So he looked at Ling Xiaozi: "Little master, what happened to you and the little elder?"

Zhou Ling immediately pricked up his ears, for fear that Ling Xiaozi would say something explosive.

Ling Xiaozi was very calm, and said lightly: "I'm disobedient, I'll discipline you a bit."

Ren Zhenzi nodded. The issue of the little elder's disobedience is indeed a headache. Don't rush to the front and always refuse to listen to advice. I don't know if it is because Linghu has been raising him for a while. He is curious like a cat. of.It's not easy to deal with lower seniority, but now the only people in Zixiao Mountain who are higher than him are the head master Xuan Xiaozi and Fengjian elder Ling Xiaozi.The grand elder of Yuntai, Qichenzi, is Zhou Ling’s junior, and the law enforcement elder at the mirror stage, Chong Xiaozi, said “I’m going to accept my apprentice” and ran away for decades without returning. Now I can only know him by the soul lamp. Still alive and kicking.

Zhou Ling clenched her fists tightly, her earlobes were so red that they could bleed.Feeling ashamed and angry, he couldn't do anything, he could only "hum" to express his dissatisfaction, and then continued to climb the mountain.Others of course followed without pressure.

Four thousand steps, I don't really want to climb.

Five thousand steps, eyes dazed.

At the [-]th step, Zhou Ling sat down on the steps and began to regret why he had to die to start climbing the mountain in the afternoon, and set a flag to arrive before dark.

The sky was getting dark, and Zhou Ling was immersed in thinking about life, exuding a melancholy atmosphere.No one urged him, anyway, everyone knew he couldn't crawl.It is already a rare situation to climb up [-] steps in one breath today.

Zhou Ling was thinking like this... thinking... and fell asleep.

Ling Xiaozi stepped forward, walked up to Zhou Ling, turned over and squatted down.Yuan Zhenzi helped Zhou Ling onto Ling Xiaozi's back.

Tossed by such a big move, Zhou Ling struggled with his heavy eyelids for a while, half-opened his eyes, and when he saw that they were all acquaintances, he closed them boldly and fell asleep.

The broad shoulders of the little master uncle is also a place Zhou Ling is not unfamiliar with. Extremely sleepy, he subconsciously found a comfortable position, rubbing his head on the opponent's shoulder and neck, and a few scattered strands of hair rubbed against Ling Xiaozi's neck. itch.

Ling Xiaozi turned his neck, and Zhou Ling's lips brushed against the side of his neck.

Without Zhou Ling to take the lead in the charge, Ling Xiaozi and others climbed the mountain nearly twice as fast.This is also the result of Ling Xiaozi carrying Zhou Lingtu behind his back.Finally, before the end of the evening class at Zixiao Mountain, it was the turn of today's gatekeepers to run in happily to report: "Master, Elder Fengjian and the others are back."