there is someone behind me

In November, Zixiao Mountain ushered in the first snow in winter.

In fact, the Lintian Terrace is covered with snow for about half a year, but it is different from the snow scene seen at the bottom of the mountain.

The entire Zixiao Mountain barrier is covered in silver, and in the valley at the foot of the mountain, a thin layer of white snow has been stepped on with various footprints. A big yellow tiger occupies a protruding rock to enjoy the rare sun in winter. .Beside the stream next to the tiger, a spirit turtle stretched its head and was basking on its back.There was an orange cat following behind the spirit turtle, poking its head, as if trying to stretch out its claws to grab the turtle's back.

As it approached noon, the sun was getting better and better. Many animal spirits came out of the woods one after another, and there were also mountain spirits and wild monsters who turned into prototypes and gathered together to talk about new gossip.

"Zhizhizhi, have you heard? There will be another ceremony to sacrifice to heaven." A squirrel held a bag of melon seeds brought in from the villagers at the bottom of the mountain, and said while chewing: "Who is going to sign up this time to be the guide?" Spirit beast? Take me one, I want to rub off the spiritual energy on the little elder."

The bat hanging on the branch moved its body, approached the squirrel and said, "Did you say that this year's reward is to use the little elder's aura?"

The squirrel threw away the melon seed husk: "I didn't say anything. But the little elder likes furry guys. I think I happen to be furry. When the time comes, I will find a chance to hug the little elder's thigh, and it will be a success."

Hearing the words, the bat demon looked at himself, barely getting close to Furry, but compared with the squirrel's big fluffy tail, the fur on his body was too shabby.

The vixens smiled and said, "We've all signed up. It's also very interesting to tease other monks."

Zhou Ling came from a distance, heard the vixen's words, and said, "Still molesting? Who said last time that human monks have elm heads?"

"That's about Ning and Xiaodaochang, he's scarier than a straight man of steel." One of the male foxes complained coquettishly: "I've never seen a man like him. Is it because the woman I pretended to be unattractive? Or He's just plain frigid."

Zhou Ling couldn't hold it back, and burst into laughter with a "puchi": "He has seen your tail and ears, and he is a kind Taoist priest if he didn't take out a talisman and pat you on the head."

The male fox jumped out of the haystack and turned into a beautiful boy: "Little elder, don't all human beings have animal ears and tails now? I'm like this..." The erect ears in his hair and the tail protruding from his back They moved together: "I'm like this, isn't it attractive?" As he said that, he wanted to take two steps forward, leaning on Zhou Ling to get closer.

Another fox with sharp eyes saw a figure in the distance, and quickly dragged Mr. Fox into the grass: "Brother, run quickly. Elder Fengjian is here!"

In the blink of an eye, all the vixens were gone.

Zhou Ling turned around and saw Ling Xiaozi dressed in white, he waved his hands and said, "Little uncle, here."

Ling Xiaozi approached.Zhou Ling was wearing a red dress today, laughing at Yan Yan, as if he had become a spirit from a burning peach blossom.

The two came down the mountain to catch the strong men.Every year, the sacrifice to heaven is set on the day before the Prime Minister of the Year, that is, the first day of the new year.The first day of the new year of this year is at the beginning of February, and now it is mid-November, and there are still two months of preparation time left.There are few adults in Zixiao Mountain, so it is necessary to catch mountain spirits and wild monsters to do labor in order to hold a big sacrifice.

In contrast to the spiritual monsters, Zixiaoshan still pays attention to humanity, for example, first to see if there is any reason to sign up by yourself.Zixiao Mountain is willing to pay some reasonable rewards to the mountain spirits and wild monsters who take the initiative to sign up for the grand festival—for example, the last grand festival allowed the monsters to practice in the spirit gathering array on the main peak when the moon was full.

Zhou Ling took out the contract talisman paper from the Qiankun bag, holding a cinnabar pen in the other hand, and the monsters who voluntarily signed up came to sign the contract with their paw prints.

This time Zixiaoshan gave a gourd emperor liquid as a reward. Zhou Ling didn't quite believe it when Xuan Xiaozi dug out the dusty jade gourd from the storeroom.What is Emperor Ointment?That is no ordinary moonlight essence, but something that can only be contained in Gengshen Yeyuehua.

To put it bluntly, this thing has been produced for a long time, and it is rare, and it is something that monsters covet.

There are many good things in Zixiao Mountain, but this one is not only placed in a tattered box, but also piled up in the corner of the warehouse. The box is broken, and the container inside is even dusty.At first, Zhou Ling didn't believe that Xuan Xiaozi, who wished to wipe the treasures in the Treasure Pavilion twice every day, could stuff really good things in such an inconspicuous corner.Until Xuan Xiaozi lifted the lid of the jade gourd in order to prove himself.

I don't know how others feel, anyway, Zhou Ling smelled a mellow smell, like the opening of a good wine that has been buried for many years, and the smell alone makes people feel drunk.

Not to mention monsters, Zhou Ling himself can't wait to go up and snatch the jade gourd.

Xuan Xiaozi’s original words are: “When I was young, I pretended to give it to a girl, but the girl believed in Marx and thought I was a magic stick, so we broke up. After I came back, I threw it in the warehouse. I never thought it would come in handy after so many years.”

Zhou Ling's mind was full of the mellow fragrance of Emperor Liujiang, and he casually comforted Xuan Xiaozi: "There is no fragrant grass in the end of the world, why bother to fall in love with a single flower. Although you are a little older, you are young at heart. Maybe there is a twilight love gone?"

Xuan Xiaozi: "..."

Because Zhou Ling was about to make a move, Di Liujiang finally went to Ling Xiaozi to keep it for him.The little uncle is a strict person, no matter how coquettish and cute Zhou Ling is, he won't give if he says he won't.

There are many monsters who come to sign up, but most of them cannot change form.Anyway, it's just a job of leading the way, and it doesn't matter if it's a humanoid or not.

Seeing more and more paw prints on the contract, Zhou Ling thought: Liang Liang, I'm afraid he won't be able to taste the authentic emperor's ointment.

There is only such a small jade gourd in total. The more spirits that sign up, the more water will be mixed in when they are sent out. If Ling Xiaozi is not still around, Zhou Ling would like to ask the spirits who have not registered yet: "Don't sign up! Now, with so much water, how can there be any smell."

It's a pity that Ling Xiaozi was staring at him, Zhou Ling could only silently count that the emperor's fluid was getting weaker and weaker...

Didn't it mean that there have always been very few ghosts who voluntarily signed up?That's why Ling Xiaozi came with him. His role was to violently catch a wave when the principle of voluntariness was not enough to make up a strong man.But now it seems that there is no need for Ling Xiaozi to do anything.

What Zhou Ling didn't know was that the reason why the spirits were willing to sign up wasn't for the small bottle of Emperor Ointment—it doesn't matter if the bottle is small, but they have to add water?Who wants it—it's because of what the squirrel spirit said, to find a chance to go to Zhou Ling's side and inhale two mouthfuls of spiritual energy.

Such a rich and pure aura is much better than the dilute Emperor Ointment.

Go down the mountain happily, and go up the mountain with a sad face.Seeing Zhou Ling's expression, Xuan Xiaozi thought that the activity of arresting young men was not going well.He pulled Ling Xiaozi into a corner and asked, "What's the matter? Xiao Ling'er won't let me go, didn't I ask you to be a thug together? Why—it hasn't worked yet?"

Ling Xiaozi said: "No, it went well."

Xuan Xiaozi: "Then what's the situation with this frowning face?"

Ling Xiaozi took out the jade gourd and showed his face: "Emperor Chou's ointment mixed with water will be divided up, he won't be able to drink it."

Xuan Xiaozi: "..."

Two months passed quickly.Zixiaoshan wiped the mountain gate and the stone tablet outside the barrier, ready to welcome the spectators of the ceremony.The invitations had been sent out three days ago, and they were sent by the spirit bird. As for whether they could be delivered, it depended on the mood of the sky and the spirit bird.

The Zhoujia Village at the foot of the mountain has been extremely lively these past few days, with more people coming and going than usual in a whole year.Those who have cassocks wear cassocks, and those who don't have them try to look like masters of Chinese studies.Fortunately, this is in the deep mountains and old forests, if it is left outside, it will definitely be a big news that can be searched on Weibo.

As in the past, because of the uncertainty of the invitation, Xuan Xiaozi took pictures of the outer disciples on Zixiao Mountain to set up a table in Zhoujia Village and take turns to be on duty.Just in case someone missed the invitation to make up for it.

The Wu family in Xiangxi was the first to come.The person who received the invitation said that this year was sent by the spirit bird again, so the Patriarch of the Wu family directly took a few juniors out to Zixiao Mountain.Invitation?If it does not exist, it is better to come to the door to make up one.

After filling up the invitations, the Wu family also added a little income to the village—because it was not time to go up the mountain, they could only borrow and live in the village.The Patriarch of the Wu family is well-known in the circle for his smoothness. He seems to be friendly with everyone, but he is actually a complete neutral.He came a few days early, and he already inquired about all the things he wanted to inquire about. He knew who was invited and who was not invited for this festival.

The day to go up the mountain is approaching.The Zhou Family Village was crowded with people, and there were two families who contracted all the news before going up the mountain.

One is the Gu family in Jinling, and the Ma family in Northeast China.

But the Liu family, where everyone in the metaphysics world had been talking about watching the excitement, didn't make any noise at all.

Because only one person came to the Liu family——Liu Zihong.Well, this one has a pretty good relationship with the little elder of Zixiao Mountain, so there is no trouble.

Without the fun of the Liu family, something else popped up immediately.Ma's family and Gu's family came to Zhou's village one after another.The Patriarch of the Ma Family came to the Reissue Office of the Invitation and said, "Please ask the Taoist priest to help me reissue the invitation."

The young Taoist priest on shift didn't know him, so he asked as usual, "Which one is yours?"

The head of the Ma family said: "The Ma family in the northeast."

As soon as the words came out, the list of reactionary invitations for the disciples on shift gave a pause: "Which one?"

The Patriarch of the Ma family repeated it again.

The shift disciples combined the list: "Oh, you are not on the list. Please continue to work hard next time."

The Patriarch of the Ma family froze in place.What does it mean if it is not on the list, continue to work hard in the next session?Isn't this the same as saying that your Ma family's skills are not good enough, and that you are not invited by Zixiao Mountain?