Pick up the Dragon

His subtle expression did not escape Li Yi's eyes, who looked at him more and more strangely, as if he wanted to find some flaws in his face.

Peng Yu's brows moved slightly, and his expression unexpectedly calmed down again. He seemed to have found a reasonable excuse for himself. He raised his hand to interrupt the other party's unspoken question, and cleared his throat: "I think it's a bug, because I heard The sound of something scraping against the bottom of the boat, if it's a fish, it's a crash at best."

Li Yi: "Are you so sure?"

Peng Yu said without hesitation: "Of course I am sure, because..."

He stopped abruptly in the middle of his speech, and finally "outspoken" failed to defeat "scruples". He turned his head in embarrassment and avoided the question very abruptly.

Li Wei was almost helpless by his hesitant to speak, and wanted to ask him "what can't be said?", but he couldn't bear to scold him, so he pinched his fingertips hard to stabilize himself. Emotions, changed the way and continued to test: "Are you afraid of bugs?"

"No," Peng Yu sighed, "If I was afraid of bugs, I would have been scared to death when Peng's mansion fished out bugs."

He stood up and took a few steps slowly on the spot, feeling that the cold sweat on his body was about to be dried by the night wind, and his cold hands and feet were gradually warmed up by the dragon's breath to keep out the cold.After thinking about it for a long time, he opened his mouth: "I can't explain this matter in a word. If you really want to know, it's okay for me to tell you, but...wait for the day, I really don't want to talk about it now."

When he said this, Li Yi really couldn't continue to ask, so he nodded kindly: "Okay."

In view of Master Peng being frightened by the unidentified creatures that appeared, the Dragon King decided not to continue to deal with it on the boat. He picked up one man and two birds to find Jiu Yuan. The latter was about to return after sweeping a snack street with Qian Yue. , couldn't help but froze for a moment.

Immediately, he noticed Peng Yu's not-so-good-looking face and obviously depressed interest, and swallowed back the question that rolled to the tip of his tongue, and pointed forward: "There is an inn ahead, shall we go there?"

It was rare for Jiuyuan to make a timely suggestion, and Peng Yu gave him face very happily, and went to the inn with still weak steps to get a room.

Qian Yue held a pile of fresh and hot snacks and asked him if he wanted to eat, but Peng Yu didn't even lift his eyelids, and just waved his hand and closed the door.

She couldn't help being stunned, staring at the closed door for a long time, then turned around and asked Li Yi, "What's wrong, young master?"

Li Yi didn't answer her, but thought for a while: "You follow me."

Qian Yue suddenly became more puzzled, not quite understanding what happened to the two of them when she went out for a midnight snack—although the time was indeed a bit long.

Perhaps it was because Li Wei's expression was too solemn, Qian Yue couldn't help but become serious, stuffed the fragrant snacks into Jiu Yuan's arms, bid farewell and caught up with the Dragon King.

The two walked to the next door one after the other. Li Wei put on a sound-proof barrier and said straight to the point: "Can I ask you a few questions?"

Qian Yue unconsciously straightened his back: "You ask."

Li Yi: "How long have you been at Peng's house?"

Qian Yue glanced at him suspiciously, not understanding why this man suddenly asked such a question, and replied out of politeness: "In 12 years, I was taken in by the master when I was six years old, and I have been at Peng's house since I practiced martial arts. Big brother Hu of the Ugly Caravan, but it’s only been a few months with the young master, you know.”

Li Yi nodded: "Then you must be very familiar with the Peng family's affairs?"

Qian Yue: "You can also put it this way, the Yi Chou caravan is not far away every time it does business, I have returned to Peng's house a lot, and the news is better--what do you want to ask?"

Li Yi: "Did your young master often go south?"

Inexplicably, Qianyue felt that this question was a bit wrong, so he hesitated before saying: "Yes, I will go south about once every two years, but although the young master can adapt to the southern climate, he doesn't like it very much, so the time spent each time It’s not long, and I’ll be back in about two or three months.”

Li Yi asked again: "Then when was the last time he went south?"

Qian Yue: "About three years ago."

Li Yi's fingers tapping his knee paused slightly - three years ago, the "17 years old" that Peng Yu said was right.

He raised his head: "then why didn't you go again in these three years?"

As soon as he said this, Qianyue looked at him with a look of wariness - when he asked "the last time", Qianyue was a little suspicious, but she didn't have time to think about it, and while the other party paused, she replied After thinking about it, I feel that these strange problems must be related to the young master's abnormal behavior tonight.

So she didn't answer honestly, but took a step back and put up a little guard: "Why are you asking this?"

The more she didn't answer, the more it confirmed Li Yi's guess. He narrowed his eyes slightly and continued to ask: "The last time he went south three years ago, did something bad happen?"

This time, Qian Yue didn't even ask rhetorical questions, and took another step back, showing obvious resistance: "I have no comment. If you really want to know, you shouldn't come to trick me. You should ask the young master yourself."

After she finished speaking, she directly retreated to the door and opened it, and said coolly: "It's getting late, it's better to rest earlier if you inquire about these things."

Jiu Yuan was holding a pile of snacks, and poked them outside the door in a funny shape, and finally waited for Qian Yue to come out, but saw that she walked away quickly without even looking at him, so he froze in place without embarrassment, and said in his heart What's wrong with this girl?Before, she dragged him around happily all the way, why did the Dragon King make her ignore "eating" with just a few words?

He silently lamented a woman's heart needle, which is not something that "Fan Long" like him can figure out. He felt that he really should go to Master Peng to learn from him, and learn from his successful experience of soaking in the Dragon King.

The dragon guard didn't seem to realize that his dragon king and Qianyue came from different genders.

He stood there in a daze for a while, then broke into the Dragon King's room with a lot of things in his arms, and humbly "asked the teacher": "My lord, why did you offend her?"

"Huh?" Li Yi looked up at him, but didn't intend to explain, and waved to him, "Come here."

Jiuyuan didn't know why, so he habitually followed orders and walked up to him, but the other party snatched the things in his arms without saying a word.

Jiu Yuan: "..."

He really couldn't hold back his wailing: "Wang, I bought that for Qian Yue."

Li Yi rolled his eyelids coolly: "Why, is she still in the mood to eat?"

Jiu Yuan had no choice but to shut up, wondering why it sounded so awkward when he said this - obviously the king was the culprit, why did "the villain sue first"?

Li Yi picked and picked from the pile of snacks, first opened a bag of hemp balls, picked one up and put it in his mouth to chew: "It's delicious."

Jiu Yuan: "..."

The dragon guards who felt redundant had a miserable night on the roof of the inn. One of the three downstairs didn't sleep well all night, one didn't close his eyes at all, and the other played with red and yellow beans for half the night, and finally lay down like a dead body. all over the place.

Early the next morning, the one who hadn't slept was the first to go out, and Jiu Yuan went up to meet him and asked, "My lord, shall we leave today?"

"Let's go," Li Yi said without thinking, "Why not?"

An hour later, the four of them repacked their luggage, found a nearby ferry and bought a boat, and slowly sailed towards the waters where the vision had occurred on the Lijiang River.

Peng Yu slept all night and seemed to be revived with full blood. He gnawed on a bun that he hadn't finished breakfast, and commented on the scenery on both sides of the strait: "It's a bit late to come here at this time, either two months earlier, or wait for the spring of the next year. Now... the green hills are not green anymore, and there is no snow in this area, and it is also in the dry season, so there is really nothing to see."

Li Yixin said that he didn't come here to enjoy the scenery, if he didn't look for Suqueling, he wouldn't want to run around.

Peng Yu pressed the last big mouthful of steamed stuffed bun into his mouth, stuffing his cheeks bulging, and said vaguely, "Fortunately, you are here this year, otherwise it would be so cold to the bone when you swim in the river this season."

Li Yi didn't hear what thoughts and feelings he wanted to express by saying this, so he looked at him and said nothing.

Peng Yu sat down next to him, picked up the red bean and put it on his lap, stroked its hair for a while, and cut to the point after a disagreement: "I think I can answer the question for you now."

Li Yi sat up straight.

Peng Yu seemed to catch Qianyue looking at him from the corner of his eye, but he didn't tilt his head, he still stared straight ahead, not looking at the village or behind the store, and said, "Do you know 'Gu'?"

Li Yi obviously didn't expect this beginning, and he couldn't help being slightly taken aback: "Gu?"

Peng Yu nodded: "The land of ancient Chu believed in voodoo, but after Chu was destroyed, the art of voodoo has not declined, and gradually formed a shaman clan that lives on it, living in the deep mountains and old forests all the year round-three years ago I followed When the caravan passed through Chu, they ran into a group of witches."

Li Yi listened carefully, and the boat sailed slowly across the river, and no one spoke for a while.

Peng Yu: "We were originally on a commercial road, so we shouldn't bump into them, but somehow it was such a coincidence that they seemed to have a broken ox cart and couldn't walk on the road, so we asked if we could borrow our carriage to drive them for a ride."

"Before that, I had never been in contact with the Witch Clan. I only heard some rumors about them occasionally—you know that I am a heartless person. Usually, I don't take this kind of thing to heart, and forget it when I hear it. "

He lowered his head and glanced at Hongdou: "At that time, the eldest brother of our team leader was surnamed Ding, and his name was Ding Er. Although his name didn't sound good, he was a very nice person. He told me not to pay attention to those witches. They are not from the same way as us. Maybe you I don’t know why I provoked them, and let you see if I disagree with you.”

Li Yi heard the word "Gu" again, and felt that what happened next might not be trivial.

Peng Yu smiled slightly: "Actually, I was a little hesitant at the time, and I planned to refuse, but there was a very young girl in those witch tribes, who was about ten years old, with very big eyes, staring straight at me. Looking at it, it looks very pitiful."

"Besides, those Wu tribes seem to be active outside, they speak official Chinese very well, and communicate with us smoothly. I think they may not be as mysterious as the rumors say, and they may be ordinary people. What misunderstanding did they have?"

As he spoke, he sighed slowly, and after a pause, he continued: "They took a little girl, and the boats and carts are exhausting. Without the ox cart, it must be difficult to travel. I discussed with Brother Ding and decided to take them together." Procedure."

Li Yi interjected softly: "Then they counted on you? Will revenge be rewarded?"

Peng Yu spread his hands helplessly: "How is it possible, we have no enmity or grudge - in fact, all the way is safe and sound, we drove them for a long way, because the journey is boring, and the caravan people like to chat, then A few members of the Wu tribe would occasionally pick up a few words when they heard it, and then they gradually chatted."

"Unfortunately, it's really unfortunate. It rained heavily in those few days. A section of the business road we walked was blocked by rolling rocks from the mountain. We had to go around or walk through the mountain forest path. It was getting late at that time. We chose None of them are easy—there are a lot of poisonous insects in the woods in summer, and sometimes miasma. Although we have prepared medicine, it is always difficult to deal with those highly poisonous things."

When he said this, he suddenly stopped talking. Li Yi didn't wait for the next sentence for a long time, and couldn't help asking: "And then?"

"Then..." Peng Yu smiled wryly, "Those Wu clansmen may have offered to let us take a small path to thank us for carrying them, saying that they have elixir specially used to evade the poison in the forest, and they took it out for us. We divided one by one, and said that we would be guaranteed to pass through the forest without incident, and we would be refreshed, sweeping away the tiredness of the day."

Hearing this, Li Yi felt that everything was calm and stable, and the atmosphere was even harmonious and friendly. Unexpectedly, the next moment Peng Yu stretched out his hand and tightly grasped the side of the boat, and his relaxed expression just now faded away.

He lowered his eyes and said, "It's my fault. If I hadn't said that sentence, nothing would have happened. When I think about it now, I want to go back and strangle myself in my dream."

"I think their elixir is really fresh, so I joked casually, 'It would be great if you have such a good medicine and sell it. You can make money and benefit others. People who often go to the mountains and forests will be happy to buy it'. Said 'If you want to sell, I will be the first to buy at a high price, I want as much as I want, and I will not refuse'."

Li Yi twitched his eyebrows, and felt that there seemed to be something wrong with these words, but after thinking about it carefully, there seemed to be nothing wrong.

Peng Yu: "At that time, I was really naive. I thought that there was nothing in the world that could not be solved by 'money'. Is there a deal—their expressions changed as soon as I said it, and everyone looked at me in unison, especially that little girl, I really will never forget that look in my life."

"In an instant, I felt that I might have gotten into trouble. Brother Ding was the first to react, and quickly exposed the problem, asking each of us to swallow the pill in front of them, and then pass through as fast as possible. That forest parted with them at a fork."

"I asked Brother Ding why they looked at me that way, and he said that they might think that we were too greedy, or that the medicine spread, and anyone who could travel unimpeded in the mountains and forests threatened their survival, thinking that we wanted to Bad for them."

"The world can learn from me, I really don't mean that," Peng Yu wiped his forehead, "Brother Ding also said that witches and people hold grudges, even though they didn't say anything when we parted, they said goodbye to us politely." —He said we couldn't stay any longer and had to hurry, so the caravan drove all night and went a long way."

He took a deep breath again: "It was the rainy season at that time, and the road conditions were bad. We stopped and went, but we were thousands of miles away from Chudi and crossed the river. Brother Ding said that there should be no danger after the river, and we were all exhausted. , just find an inn and live in it.”

"We stayed in the hotel in the morning, and nothing happened until dusk, so I relaxed my vigilance and laughed at Big Brother Ding for fussing over a molehill, but who knew it would be nightfall..."

When he said this, his whole body tensed up. Li Yi obviously felt the panic in his eyes, and even his breathing was a little messy: "We were sleeping soundly at night, and suddenly someone screamed. After I woke up, Because there is no lamp in the room, I can't see anything, I can only hear..."

"I heard something crawling towards me, like the sound of countless tiny claws scraping the floor, densely packed, getting closer and louder..."