there is someone behind me

The main hall of Taichu Palace is filled with a scent of sandalwood, combined with the damp smell brought by the raindrops in the air, forming a unique Qingyuan rhythm.

The copper bell under the eaves made a crisp sound under the influence of the wind. Ling Xiaozi stepped into the hall and saw the current head who was offering incense to the statue.Xuan Xiaozi was dressed in Tsing Yi, his hair was tied up with a jade hairpin, his back was facing Ling Xiaozi's movements smoothly, licking sesame oil, and cutting candle wicks was perfect.However, as soon as he turned around, all his dusty temperament was fed to the dogs.

"One afternoon, how long has Xi Chen and the others been back, where have you taken Ling'er?" Xuan Xiaozi rolled up his sleeves and was about to come up and twist Ling Xiaozi's ears.The latter's face was calm, and he made a wrong step, dodging the pincer attacks from the left and right sides of the senior brother.

Ling Xiaozi blocked Xuan Xiaozi's hand: "Take Ling'er in the hot spring, and now I'm asleep."

Xuan Xiaozi glanced at him suspiciously: "What kind of hot spring are you soaking in during the daytime?"

Ling Xiaozi lowered his eyes: "He didn't wear enough clothes, and he was freezing when he went up the mountain."

As soon as Tong Yuzi heard that Zhou Ling was freezing, she immediately leaned over and asked, "Did you catch a cold?" Zhou Ling was in poor health when he was a child, and he was fine when he was not sick.

Ling Xiaozi: "After soaking in the hot spring and sleeping, it should be fine."

In the main hall, only inner disciples above the true generation were present, Xuan Xiaozi waved his hand, and everyone turned to the side hall at the back of the hall.

Xuan Xiaozi walked a few steps on the spot with his hands behind his back and said: "Recently, Zixiao Mountain is experiencing troubled times. Everyone must cheer up and pay more attention to the mountain. Linger's place should be left to the younger brother to take care of. I suspect, The people who went up the mountain these two days were sent by Qi Qiao."

Liu Chenzi said: "The patrolling disciples caught intruders in the outer mountains and seized the things in their hands. Among them, there is a stone slab that is very similar to the stone slab that Ning and they brought back. The initial judgment is from the same place. The stone slab The stone is very strange and has a spirit-absorbing effect, and the murals and text on it need to be revealed under spiritual power. It is not yet known what they want these stone slabs for.”

Ling Xiaozi asked: "Can the content on the slate be deciphered?"

"The two stone slabs cannot be spliced ​​together, and the content obtained is incomplete and limited. Except for a few words that can be judged to be sacrificial vocabulary written in cloud seal carving, only some portraits of people doing sacrifices can be seen." Xuan Xiaozi As he spoke, he took out two pieces of rice paper and spread them on the table.

On the rice paper is the content of the copied slate.On the first one, you can see an altar, which towers into the sky, engraved with many patterns of auspicious clouds, and a gate is exposed on the top.The second picture shows a group of people dressed in fine clothes kneeling towards the altar. In this picture, there is only a base of the altar, and there is no ladder extending upward.

The picture was copied by Rong Yuzi. She said: "I have never seen such a way of offering sacrifices to gods, without even the most basic tribute. And the altar, even if it is depicted in an exaggerated way, shouldn't lead from the ground to such a high place." The place."

Either only the Heavenly Gate appears in the clouds, or a statue of a god is enshrined.This is the line that separates God from man.Not so on the slate, which connects mortals and gods with a towering altar.It seems that only mortals can reach the peak and enter the other side of the gate of heaven by climbing up the stairs.

Xuan Xiaozi stared at the painting for a while, and said, "Maybe that's not the fairy world? During the prehistoric period, since Nuwa created man, for a long period of time, humans and gods lived together in China without distinction. Later, the prehistoric world was broken. Under the Dao of Heaven, people, gods, and ghosts are their own boundaries. What Zixiao Mountain guards is a fragment of a prehistoric continent that has not yet disappeared. If the murals on the stone slabs are worshiped, they are not an illusory fairyland, but a prehistoric one with traces. What about the legacy?"

"Uncle Master." Xi Chenzi said solemnly: "You mean...but besides Zixiao Mountain, there are scattered fragments of the prehistoric world."

Xuan Xiaozi: "It is gone now, but the age of this stone slab is still thousands of years ago. The piece of prehistoric relics guarded by Zixiao Mountain is considered to be the largest piece among the fragments, and it has shrunk by nearly half after thousands of years. The rest are scattered The sporadic small pieces have probably disappeared under the laws of heaven."

"Then Qi Qiao really said that Zixiao Mountain guards the secrets of the upper realm." Tong Yuzi said: "Could it be that he mistakenly took the fragments of the Great Desolation as the passage to the upper realm?"

Xuan Xiaozi: "It is very likely that this is the case. Qi Qiao claims to be seeking immortality and asking, but he doesn't know that he is already deeply infatuated."

When they talked about communicating, Ling Xiaozi had been silently watching the content of the copy.He said, "The function of the slate is to open the red and yellow channels?"

Xuan Xiaozi thought for a while: "Maybe, maybe not. After all, we only have two stone slabs, and we can't figure out its specific use yet. We can only put it away first, and then destroy it after we find out the purpose and make sure it is correct."

Ling Xiaozi nodded, as if thinking of something: "Those spirits in the mountains should also be useful."

The corner of Xuan Xiaozi's mouth twitched: "Then I will leave it to you to tell them what to do and what not to do."

Don't think that mountain spirits and wild monsters are as easy to manipulate as ghost servants, they are all clever.He is the top leader in making trouble, and when he is doing business, he adds to the chaos like a husky having fun.

Ling Xiaozi: "...Okay." Judging from the length of his silence, this is obviously not an easy task.

"Is there anything else?" Xuan Xiaozi glanced at the crowd: "If not, let's go."

Ling Xiaozi turned around and left, Qi Chenzi glanced at his back, unable to figure out what he was thinking.His little uncle, I really don't remember that there are two people from the Gu family still climbing the mountain?

"Qi Chen."

Suddenly being called by the head of the sect, Qi Chenzi shrank his head: "Huh?"

Xuan Xiaozi: "Your eyes are wandering, your expression is wretched, what are you thinking?"

Xi Chenzi quit, what do you mean by looking wretched?He straightened his face and said, "Uncle Master, I am a decent person."

"Oh." Xuan Xiaozi gave him such a response without even raising his eyelids.

Qi Chenzi pointed at Ling Xiaozi who had already stepped out of the main hall door with his chin: "Little Martial Uncle's worried family sent two more people over."

When the headmaster heard about the Gu family, he also frowned: "What are you doing every day? Don't send invitations to the Gu family for a few days this year."

"Then what about these two now?" Xi Chenzi asked.

Xuan Xiaozi said: "Where is the person? Why didn't you see it, and haven't come yet? Then stop at the foot of the mountain."

Xi Chenzi: "It took a lot of times to go up the mountain. Let Linger rectify it. I'm afraid I'm still climbing the stone steps now."

Xuan Xiaozi flicked his sleeves: "Then climb up and talk about it."

Okay, then there is no need to discuss this matter today.Not everyone can climb the 99 steps of Zixiao Mountain. Without the guidance of Zixiao Mountain gatekeepers or wearing the special Qingxin Talisman made by Zixiao Mountain, it is easy to enter the illusion by mistake during the climbing process. .It often feels like you have walked thousands of steps, but you are actually still standing still.It is almost impossible for a person with an unstable mind to climb a mountain successfully.

……

In the middle of the night, the light rain turned into a downpour.

Gu Xinghe and Gu Ling were cold and tired, sitting on the steps with straight eyes.Obviously, I had already counted to the top, but when I turned around, I found that I was still halfway up the mountain.Even more desperate than this, they didn't even have a place to shelter from the wind and rain.There are cliffs on both sides of the stone steps, and there is a dense forest at the foot of the mountain. From time to time, there is a flash of light, and I don't know what danger is hidden in the mountain forest.

Gu Xinghe couldn't take it anymore, it was totally different from what he thought.He and Gu Changsheng are blood brothers, he should not be treated like this.Seeing that Gu Xinghe fell into a violent mood, Gu Ling just looked at him coldly.

It is generally recognized in the metaphysics circle that Gu Changsheng was born with outstanding talent and was taken away by Zixiao Mountain, but few people know the truth is not the case.Even in the Gu family, only Gu Changsheng's parents and the head of the Gu family knew that there was a vision in the sky when Gu Changsheng was born, and the newborn baby didn't cry or laugh, but just looked at the people around him coldly, and was swept away by his eyes. There seemed to be a mountain of blood and bones flashing in front of the person's eyes, it was a feeling of being surrounded by the trembling of death.

At that time, no one thought that this child was auspicious, and it was not an exaggeration to say that he was the reincarnation of an evil spirit.

However, the arrival of Zixiaoshan Taixuzi changed this problem.Taixuzi hugged Gu Changsheng and said that the second son had a predestined relationship with Zixiao Mountain, and he would have great fortune in the future.

At that time, the Gu family was eager for someone to take the child away, not to mention that the other party was the head of Zixiao Mountain at the time.

As for Changsheng's name, it was just chosen casually after Tai Xuzi said, "This child is suitable for asking for immortality", rather than any good wishes.

It was rumored that Gu Changsheng was born with a fairy bone after he was taken to Zixiao Mountain.The Gu family compiled the story along the direction that everyone in the metaphysics circle guessed, and it became the version that is now widely circulated in the metaphysics world.

Gu Ling knew this because she overheard the conversation between Gu Yuanda, the head of the Gu family, and Gu Qiliang, Gu Changsheng's biological father.Gu Yuanda told her to go to the study, she was about to knock on the door when she heard Gu Qiliang arguing with Gu Yuanda about sending his youngest son to Zixiao Mountain.

Gu Qiliang was unwilling to send Gu Xinghe up the mountain, but Gu Yuanda insisted on going his own way.The two broke up unhappy.

Seeing Gu Xinghe's irritable and embarrassed look, Gu Ling thought, there is really no comparison between him and Elder Feng Jian.The thought instilled by Gu Yuanda that the two are brothers will definitely become a shackle that crushes Gu Xinghe after meeting Gu Changsheng himself.

The difference between cloud and mud is nothing more than that.

Thinking of Elder Feng Jian's indifferent face, Gu Ling clenched her fists tightly.She must succeed, she doesn't want to go back to the Gu family, even if she does go back, it has to be in a glamorous way, where everyone in the Gu family greets them with smiles.

However, the drowned chicken Gu Ling didn't know at this time that her dreams were shattered faster than the plans in her mind.