Of Mountains and Rivers

Holding the patriarch's scepter in both hands, Hua Guduo ran up to Nanshan, yelling in a shrill voice: "Patriarch! Patriarch!"

Xiaofang yelled at her: "Who told you to come out, go back!"

Hua Guduo dared to challenge her own father when she came out of her mother's womb, and the wind that trotted over brought a menacing fighting spirit.

"I'm 12!" she announced aloud. "I'm not with the brats. I can guard the hills."

Nan Shan took over the scepter, and did not speak harshly, but frowned slightly at her: "Go back."

Speaking of which, Nanshan has a very patient and gentle temper with the children of the clan—at least he is much more patient than Chu Huan, and rarely speaks loudly to them.However, compared to his father's big slap like a palm fan, the patriarch's slightly displeased eyes can always deter those cubs better.

Hua Guduo met Nanshan's eyes, the originally three-foot-high arrogance shrank into a bean-sized spark, and then flicked and extinguished, she watched his face carefully, not daring to be presumptuous at all, she rubbed her toes on the ground on the instep. He dawdled for a moment, then walked back ashamedly as he said.

At this time, the mist that was originally floating in the entire settlement of the Liyi tribe was driven away by something, and it must have been man-made by some means.The white mist that was driven away lingered and condensed outside the tribe's village, forming a quadrilateral with a round sky and a square. At first glance, the village seemed to have an extra circle of chaotic walls.

All children under the age of 14 in the clan were gathered in the courtyard of the patriarch's house, and a circle of adults headed by Spring stood guard on the periphery, and everyone wore armor and sharpened.

The spring is orderly and orderly, and the command is determined. For a while, people in the Liyi tribe are roaring, dogs are barking, birds are screaming, and horseshoes are running not far away. curl up together.

"How could it be so fast? How could the door open just after the fog? Did something happen to the gatekeeper? Why didn't there be any warning over there?" Xiaofang quickly followed behind Nanshan, asking questions one after another. There seemed to be a machine gun in his mouth. Suddenly, he stopped, as if thinking of something, he shouted at Nanshan's back, "Oh no! Patriarch, where is the king?"

Nanshan strode towards the direction of the Wucheng Wall, without stopping: "It's okay, I've already sent him away."

Xiaofang didn't react for a while: "Go...go? Where did you go? I thought he...he would..."

"Stay here to accept the 'ritual'?" Nanshan stopped at the boundary of the Wucheng wall, he turned his head, and Dashan, who followed him silently, immediately handed him a torch, the beating flames were reflected on Nanshan's handsome and calm profile On the way, he paused, and then said, "Chu Huan clearly told me that he would not stay, so I didn't mention the 'ceremony' to him."

Xiaofang stared her oversized eyes into balls: "You...didn't mention it?"

Nanshan squinted his eyes and looked at the thick fog, his face looked dignified. At this time, the sorrow of parting that sent Chu Huan away in the early morning had disappeared from his face. When he mentioned this, Nanshan was even a little thankful: "Fortunately, he walked enough Happy, if it's slower, I'm afraid..."

"But how can you not mention it? Sigh! Patriarch, the benefits of the 'ceremony' are beyond their imagination. Why didn't you tell him? If he knew, maybe he would be willing to continue Stay, don't you always want to..."

Nanshan glanced at him indifferently, and Xiaofang immediately silenced herself in a well-trained manner, looking no better than his 12-year-old daughter.

A handful of long hair from Nanshan's temples fell from the hairband behind him, and hung on the broad and strong shoulders. He touched the head of the scepter that Chu Huan had glued lightly, and then smiled slightly. Closing his eyes, he took it off again.

He took the emerald green gemstone in his hand, played with it for a while and put it away carefully. Then, Nanshan lit the scepter with the torch that Dashan handed over.

The patriarch's scepter was made of unknown material, and a ball of indifferent flames appeared on the top. The fire was like an aurora on ice, carrying a mysterious and dry chill.

I saw that the light was getting stronger and stronger, and soon, it penetrated into the dense fog. In the lingering fog, the cold firelight was like a lighthouse that tore apart the dark night, and alone illuminated the white mist lightly. a lot.

This is probably the only thing in the entire family that can penetrate fog lighting.

"Shall I tell him to lure him to stay and make him like my father?" Nanshan whispered to himself under the silent firelight.

Xiaofang was speechless.

Nan Shan lowered his eyes, as if he wanted to turn the page: "Don't talk about this matter again."

While talking, the group of horses in the clan finally ran back through the thick fog. Xiaofang swept her eyes and suddenly asked with some doubts: "Strange, patriarch, where is your white horse king?"

Nanshan: "I let Chu Huan ride away."

Xiaofang was taken aback: "What? Then... that's just in time for this time, how should it come back? The mountain is about to be closed, and the passage to the other side of the river has been opened. What if it can't find it?"

"If you don't come back, you won't come back." Nanshan handed the flaming scepter to Dashan, "If it doesn't come back, the horses will choose a new horse king by themselves. What kind of mind are you following?"

Dashan seemed to be holding a torch, holding a scepter in both hands, there were already a dozen women waiting by the side, and each of them was holding a human bone in their hands—compared to ordinary human bones, these bones seemed to be thicker , The bone quality is also extraordinarily thick, the bone cavity is almost solid in the middle, and a layer of uniform phosphorescence shines on the surface.

Dashan put the fire from the patriarch's scepter on the bones held by each woman, and one end of the bones was also lit, and the same light that could penetrate the thick fog came out, but the gloomy light floated on the top of the bones, Rather than fire, it looked more like a cloud of hallucinations.

The women inserted every bone on the edge of the white mist city wall, and solemnly saluted those bones with ancient etiquette.

In this way, all the trees, mountains, and rivers in the mist have a faint shadow again.

There was a creepy roar in the distance.

Nanshan: "Tell everyone, from now on, a group of ten people will patrol in formation..."

"Patriarch!" Before he could finish speaking, he was suddenly interrupted by a woman's hoarse voice behind him. The woman staggered up to him, panting heavily, "Patriarch, patriarch..."

Nanshan reached out and grabbed her arm, at least not letting the woman's knees go limp, and knelt down in front of him: "What's wrong?"

The woman said to him in a tearful voice: "Ankaraiye is gone!"

"Anka Laiye" is the name of the little bald-headed Liyi tribe. It is longer than the original name when translated into Chinese, so Chu Huan and the others didn't remember it, so they had to self-sufficiently give their children a nickname. It's called 'little bald head'.

Nan Shan grabbed the woman's arm tightly: "When did it happen?"

"Morning, very early in the morning..." The woman almost collapsed. At this time, the patriarch was like her backbone. She could only rely on the strength of Nanshan's hands to hold on, holding back the tears that flooded her eyes several times. Going back, she had a hard time giving birth. Ten years after she got married, there was only one child like little bald head, so how could she not be in a hurry?

"There is one less pig in the family, but, but the pigsty is plugged in, he must have released one and rode away, and then closed the pigsty... He, he usually likes to fight with those stupid things Let's play together," the woman's nails dug into her flesh, and her breath violently writhed in her chest, "Patriarch, where do you think he will go? Has he already..."

Nan Shan frowned tightly, and he took the scepter handed back by Da Shan: "Tell some people to follow me, hurry up."

In the river, Chu Huan swallowed a mouthful of blood foam.

The monster had already fallen on its back, and the stench of blood splashed all over the white horse. Chu Huan raised his hand and pressed his ears, while relieving the tinnitus, while observing the monster in the water at close range - the shallow river surface just barely covered the monster dead body, it could never be an animal living here.

Chu Huan had never seen or heard of this kind of monster, and it was unlikely that it came from this side of the river.

Then it should... come from the Liyi tribe.

Is it raised by them?Or what happened to them?

And if it entered the water from the Liyi tribe, does that mean that they hit it by mistake, and it shouldn't be far from the other side.

Chu Huan observed that these monsters rushed towards him against the direction of the current, so the most sensible choice for them so far is to also go against the current.

The smell of blood in the water may attract other things, and they must leave as soon as possible.

The white horse seemed to have understood his mind, and under Chu Huan's command, it immediately spread its hooves and quickly passed through the water.

At this time, Chu Huan heard a low sobbing sound, he looked down, the little bald head was lying on his shoulder, crying softly, he seemed to have just realized that his friend was gone Way to go down with him.

When the little bald head encountered death for the first time, he was at a loss, but he also seemed to vaguely know that now is not the time to be mischievous, so he just tightly clutched Chu Huan's lapel - none of the clansmen would wear it. This kind of soft and cumbersome shirt, which seems to be broken if pulled, is already the only thing he can rely on at this time.

"Your parents don't know how anxious they are." Chu Huan said suddenly.

He obviously doesn't know how to speak in a coaxing tone, so he has no choice but to treat the three or four-year-old kid as an adult, regardless of whether the other party can understand or accept it, and say to him in an equal way: "You patronize yourself. , have you thought about this problem?"

This time, the little bald man didn't laugh at his strange accent. He heard the reproach in Chu Huan's words, felt unprecedented grievances, and looked up at Chu Huan with tears in his eyes.

Chu Huan suddenly pulled the reins of the horse suddenly, the white horse was caught off guard, its front hooves leaped high, and it let out a long neigh. them.

Chu Huan calmly stabilized his horse, and said to the little bald man, "Did you see these? I don't know if it's a mutated crocodile, maybe it came here, maybe it was in the river—how do you judge yourself?" capable of crossing the river alone?"

The little bald man choked out in fright.

Chu Huan: "Don't cry."

This time, he didn't pretend to be fierce, nor did he use soft words to coax him, but just uttered three words in a flat tone, and the little bald man immediately held back his tears, and didn't dare to say a word.

Chu Huan leaned on the horse, lowered his center of gravity, constantly adjusted his angle, and at the same time said in the little bald man's ear: "Since it is something you are not capable of, why do you want to do it?"

The little bald head nestled in his arms, and said softly, "Your Majesty..."

Chu Huan: "Don't act like a baby, let me ask you something - what else can you do besides acting like a baby?"

A monster suddenly jumped up from the water, opened its bloody mouth and bit Chu Huan down.

Holding the child, Chu Huan had already stood up from his horse. In his hand, the spike almost became an embroidery needle that could be threaded freely. As soon as he lowered his body and retracted his horse, the white horse galloped out resolutely, and the giant teeth of another monster passed him by, colliding with the one just now.

Chu Huan wanted to cover his ears, but he had to take care of the bear in his arms, and it was too late, so he had to suffer this sonic attack duo.

He took a deep breath, shifted his attention skillfully, relieved the severe pain in his chest, and said to the little bald head sternly: "Your behavior is not called a hero, but a troublemaker, understand?"

At this time, the white horse had inevitably bumped into the third monster head-on, and the monster jumped and bit, and Chu Huan's sharp stab was desperate.

Monsters and cold weapons face to face.

With a "poof", the spike pierced through the monster's open upper jaw, a gap the size of a fist and not full of teeth, its head was stabbed across the face in an instant, and Chu Huan turned over in the air with his strength Falling 360 degrees, just sitting back on the back of the white horse passing by at high speed.

The little bald man was stunned.