Of Mountains and Rivers

Chu Huan cleaned up the iron frame and plates, didn't say a word of extraneous words, just washed his hands silently, and nodded to Nanshan lightly: "Okay, you rest, I'm leaving."

His attitude was too calm, as if he just came to drop by the door casually when he had nothing to do, and after the drop, he patted his butt, turned his head and left.

Nanshan was immediately helpless, until Chu Huan's shadow was gone, he still didn't react in a daze.

Chu Huan used to be lazy, full of food and dark all day long, but that doesn't mean he can't think about people, but there has been no one for him to think about, and now he finally has such a Nanshan, and finally let him The rusty speculative heart has a new place to use.

He was worried that Nanshan had a fever, so he didn't dare to stay together for a day and a night. During this period, Chu Huan had nothing to do except wash and rinse, so he had to doze off like a chicken pecking at rice, and at the same time, he was half asleep and half awake. Calculated his bumpy love journey.

Chu Huan's thinking is relatively clear. For a person with a strong will like Nanshan, everything he decides is a "rock and rock" decision. If others object once, Nanshan will probably strengthen his determination again. After a long time , I am afraid that his idea is really indestructible.

It's better to bask him first, use the combination of hot and cold to play hard to get, and leave enough space for the stubborn patriarch to think wildly.

Of course, the most important thing right now is to collect as much information as possible about the fallen land. If he really doesn't play well and accidentally dies in the fallen land, then all the strategies will be useless.

Chu Huan picked up the grill and planned to go up the mountain to find the elders, but met Yuan Ping on the way.

"Hey, then who, come with me, our patriarch asked me to come and find..." Yuan Ping's voice suddenly stopped, his eyes met the barbecue grill in Chu Huan's hand, his eyes were straightened immediately, and he immediately turned to the serious business. Forgot all about it, "Fuck, what is this?"

Chu Huan lied without batting an eyelid and said, "I made the utility table myself."

Yuan Ping was very angry: "Fart! The oil hasn't been cleaned yet!"

Chu Huan pretended not to hear, and the old god asked on the ground: "Your patriarch is looking for me? Where is he?"

Yuan Ping looked at him quietly: "He who eats alone will die."

Chu Huan: "Is it on the side of the holy spring or on the mountain gate?"

Yuan Ping: "He who eats alone will die alone."

Chu Huan stopped, and stood still under Yuan Ping's resentful gaze. Finally, Yuan Ping's only remaining rationality struggled to emerge, and he reluctantly pointed the way to Chu Huan: "The mountain gate Level one."

Chu Huan turned around and left, striding like flying, Yuan Ping chased after him relentlessly, humming like a mantra: "Whoever eats alone will have retribution."

Chu Huan snorted through his nose, and Yuan Ping had an idea, and blurted out: "Those who eat alone, beware of being fucked for the rest of their lives!"

Chu Huan: "..."

In this way, he led Yuan Ping, who was covered by a dark cloud, to the first checkpoint at the front of the mountain gate. Ruge was already waiting there, and the elder with the goat face of the mountain guard was also there.

Just as Chu Huan was about to step forward, he suddenly heard a "hissing" sound from above his head. When he raised his head, he almost came face to face with a fist-sized snake head.

Even though Chu Huan was not afraid of snakes, he couldn't help stepping back half a step at his feet—the snake was as thick as a human's arm, limply climbing on the rocks, hanging down like a rope, and its triangular head spat out snake letters one after another.

Such a big poisonous snake is rare. The next moment, the big poisonous snake came over shaking its head, shamelessly put its triangular head on Chu Huan's shoulder, and rubbed it affectionately.

... Such a cheap poisonous snake seems to be rare.

Only then did Chu Huan realize that the snake looked familiar. He held the snake in his hand and looked at it carefully for a moment. After reading and comparing all the patterns on its body from beginning to end, he dared to come to a conclusion and recognized that this was the snake that was caught by him. Praise the handsome little poisonous snake.

This growth rate is really amazing, Chu Huan couldn't help asking: "Did you eat chemical fertilizer while I was away?"

When he left, the little poisonous snake was only as thick as a finger, and it could get into his sleeve calmly, and it was only a small ball when coiled up, which could be used as a bracelet. It's already running in the direction of the behemoth and it's out of control!

The little poisonous snake didn't realize that its tonnage was different now, and still tried to wrap itself around Chu Huan's wrist, but tragically found that there was no place for its stalwart body, so it had to settle for the next best thing, and slowly wrapped around Chu Huan's wrist. Chu Huan put his head on his shoulder in aggrieved manner.

The little poisonous snake "hissed" to express dissatisfaction, and the tip of its tail flexibly swung around his waist.

When Yuan Ping, who was like a repeater, saw the snake, he immediately shut up, and carefully put a distance between himself and Chu Huan.

The first checkpoint of the mountain gate is high and steep, and the hunting mountain wind blows people's hair up and down. When Chu Huan walked up, he saw that this place can have a panoramic view of the entire mountain area. It is a natural and excellent sentry post.

Ruge touched the snake's head, handed it a hand, and let the snake swim up to him, and without being polite to Chu Huan, he said straight to the point: "I heard from Yuan Ping that you plan to go to Xiangdi."

Chu Huan nodded happily: "Yes."

The goat-faced elder snorted coldly beside him: "I think you are going to seek death."

Chu Huan gave him a magnanimous look, smiled and swallowed the three words "old idiot" into his stomach without vomiting it out.

After a pause, Ruge looked at Chu Huan seriously for the first time, and asked, "Does Nanshan know about this?"

"I don't know, I don't intend to let him know."

Ruger seemed a little surprised.

He has never had a good impression of outsiders. Although it has been a long time since that incident, but thinking of the foreign men recruited by the former patriarch of the mountain guards, the heart-pounding hatred still seems to be vivid in his memory.

But...he glanced at Chu Huan's eyes, and thought to himself: "Perhaps Nanshan has a better vision than his mother's?"

Ruger pointed to the small stone table and a circle of low stone stools at the first level: "Sit."

Several people sat down around the round table, only Yuan Ping stood far away, staring at the snake on Ruge without blinking, his face turned blue.

Lu Ge, a reptile lover, probably couldn't imagine that there are people in the world who are afraid of snakes. He greeted unconsciously, "Yuan Ping, why don't you come here?"

Hearing this, Yuan Ping met Chu Huan's teasing gaze, and took a look at their patriarch. Then he found a corner farthest from Luge with his hands and feet, and shrank himself into a ball.

The elder tapped Chu Huan's thigh with his cane, beckoning him to make room, and then sat down. He slowly took out a few strange-shaped pieces of wood from his dirty belly pocket, and measured the diameter visually. About five centimeters, with different patterns engraved on it, it is likely to be some kind of characters.

Chu Huan looked at it curiously, but didn't reach out to touch it rashly - he deduced that it might be a divination tool.

The elder bent down and took out a huge tree root-like thing from under the stone table. It was also very old, and a thick layer of pulp had formed on the outside. The shape of the "tree root" was very zigzag. The middle is empty, with several round openings on it, long and narrow, as if there are several pipes inserted, and a small bell is hung on each "pipe", which is unknown.

The elder stuffed the wood chips with written characters into the long tube one by one, with his eyes closed and his face solemn.

Don't look at him looking thin and dying, but his strength is not small. The elder raised the "root carving" with both hands above his head without much effort, chanted words, and danced on the spot. .

Chu Huan stared dumbfounded at the old goat dancing the Great God. At first, he thought it was funny, but slowly, Chu Huan felt that the walnut hanging on his chest seemed to resonate mysteriously with the other party's dance steps. He couldn't explain clearly. But I could feel it—the elder's dance steps matched the frequency of his heartbeat step by step.

Hearing the elder's roar, Chu Huan was startled, and then he came back to his senses.

Luge cautiously stretched out his hand to the carving, and the delicate snake that had grown into a big poisonous snake slowly swam down Luge's arm and went straight through the slender opening of the "root carving". After entering, the bell rang, and there was a "jingle".

What kind of custom is this?

Chu Huan had heard of tortoise shells, he had heard of Liuyao—he thought to himself, "Is it possible that this Liyi clan wants to use snakes for divination?"

Several people's eyes were all fixed on the "root carving", listening to the occasional rustling of the snake inside, only the elder closed his eyes, with a look of vicissitudes of life on his thin cheeks, and spoke silently. Resign yourself to fate.

After a long time, a second bell rang from the root carving, and the bell tied to a certain port was touched. The elder opened his eyes and saw a snake swimming out from an exit on the "root carving", holding a snake in its mouth. A piece of wood.

Luge gently pinched the snake's head: "Little green, spit it out."

But Qingxiu Snake dexterously swayed its soft and boneless body suddenly, broke free from Luge's hand, rolled itself into a ball, buried its head in it, and refused to come out.

Ruge was very surprised, but the elder spoke in a long voice: "Whether you look or not, it's the same. What's going to happen is waiting for you in front of you. Can you avoid it by pretending not to know? You An uncivilized stupid snake!"

The little poisonous snake didn't know if it understood. Anyway, when the elder said so, it entangled with itself for a while, and finally raised its head slowly, swam to Chu Huan, opened its mouth and took the piece of wood in its mouth. Spit in front of Chu Huan.

Chu Huan took it and opened it, and saw a strange figure engraved on the back of the wood chip, which had the charm of ancient Chinese hieroglyphs. He suspected that this was the real writing of the mountain guard clan, so he turned to the elder and asked, "What is this?"

The elder glanced at it, but didn't speak for a while, his eyebrows twitched.

"It means 'dead ground,'" Ruger explained on the sidelines.

After saying a word, several people fell silent.

Yuan Ping even forgot his fear of snakes for a moment, leaned forward slightly, and asked, "Patriarch, what does death mean?"

The elder's cheeks twitched a few times, as if he couldn't understand why there was such a stupid gatekeeper who couldn't even understand such straightforward words. He stretched out his crutches and tapped Yuan Ping's leg, and said coldly: "What does 'dead place' mean? A dead place is a place where there is no burial, a place where people never return!"

Yuan Ping frowned, glanced at Chu Huan, and hesitated to speak.

Chu Huan stretched out his hand to catch the wood chip in his palm and played with it for a while, then smiled: "It makes sense, isn't it a place of death if it falls? Can I keep this sign?"

The elder looked serious, and asked Chu Huan: "Knowing the result, do you still want to go?"

Chu Huan smiled and said nothing, the meaning is self-evident.

Here, Lu Ge, the elder and gatekeeper patriarch, did not persuade Chu Huan. The only one who could say a few words was Yuan Ping. From Huan's smiling expression, Yuan Ping knew that everything he said was a waste of words.

In the end, he didn't waste his words, he just leaned back heavily, thinking: "This kid is a bastard who eats weights, so he has made up his mind."

From this point of view, Chu Huan and his patriarch of the mountain guard are really a natural match.Yuan Ping suddenly sighed, he didn't expect Chu Huan to be so generous.

The elder pondered for a moment: "Even if you want to go, it is impossible to avoid Nanshan's eyes and ears."

Chu Huan had thought about this a long time ago, and he said: "This is easy to handle, won't your mountain gate turn back again? When the time comes, you hold him back for me, and I can take the opportunity to stay here."

The elder blew his beard and stared at him: "Idiot!"

Ruger sighed, and explained in a deep voice: "It's not that simple-do you know why the holy mountain is called the holy mountain, and why the mountain gate automatically reverses itself twice a year?"

Chu Huan had thought about this question a long time ago.

The living environment here is extremely harsh, and with Nanshan's temper, it is impossible for him to leave the gatekeepers here at a fixed time every year and transfer to the other side to live a stable life.

In other words, for the mountain gatekeepers, there must be some irresistible restrictive factor, just like the mountainkeepers cannot leave the settlement too far after crossing the river. This unknown factor will restrict their coming at that moment. At that time, you must pass through the mountain gate.

"Because of 'angry'." The elder said, "When the mountain gate is turned upside down, our family must turn back with the mountain gate to the other side of the mountain gate. The river is connected to the outside world. It is turned upside down twice a year so that the mountain guards can pass on their anger. To this side—this is why only the blood of the mountain guardians can communicate with the holy spring, we mountain guardians are the bridge connecting life and death, so when the mountain gate is turned upside down, no matter where we are, we will be sent back.”

If the sinking land is likened to a polluted water area, then only this mountain has a mouth leading to other worlds, and clear springs and living water will flow in continuously.

Chu Huan didn't understand, so he said, "What does that have to do with me?"

The elder clasped Chu Huan's shoulders with his claw-like skinny hands, and stared at him sharply with his eyes: "Boy, you haven't shown any signs of 'freezing' until now, and you still believe that you are just because you were killed by Mu? Is it as simple as Tai took a bite and then drank two mouthfuls of blood? If my guess is correct, no matter what form you take, there must be the blood of the Mountain Keeper on your body."

Having said that, before Chu Huan could say anything, Yuan Ping called out first: "Isn't this even more impossible? I watched him grow up so much, and the ethnicity 'Han' was written on his ID card. "

After he finished yelling, he realized that Chu Huan was thoughtful and didn't answer.

Yuan Ping was stunned for a moment, he looked at this, then at that, and asked with some uncertainty: "No...it can't be true, right?"

"I really don't know about this," Chu Huan explained in a low voice, "Actually, I was not born to Chu Aiguo."

"But the blood of the mountain guard on your body is either very little, or something else has happened." The elder said, and looked at Chu Huan critically.

Chu Huan's physical fitness is far worse than that of the mountain guard, which is not only reflected in the speed of wound healing, but also can be seen with the naked eye - although he thinks he is in good shape, he is far from being as strong and full of vitality as the mountain guard.

Most importantly, his side of the mountain gate does not seem to be bound by any boundaries.

Elder: "When the time comes, do you know if you will be forcibly sent away by the mountain gate?"

Chu Huan was silent.

The elder thought for a while, and then said: "Besides, if you are going to the sinking land, I plan to call the shots and exchange blood for you. Nanshan has always favored you anyway, and I will definitely not disagree."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at Luge: "Chief Luge, do you have any objections?"

Of course Ruge had no objection, the three of them looked at Chu Huan with six eyes.

Just as Chu Huan was about to speak, an unreasonable thought popped up in his mind - no.

why not?

Chu Huan paused, and he couldn't think of any reason to refuse because of emotion and reason, so he could only conclude that this was definitely not his own idea.

Chu Huan didn't answer, he lowered his head and held the small walnut hanging on his chest, wondering if it was his illusion, he felt that the walnut was getting slightly hot again.

Chu Huan: "No..."

The elder was taken aback, he didn't expect that Chu Huan looked like a dog, and there was a hole in his mind!

Even Ruger raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Chu Huan picked the walnuts and threw them to the elder: "This is what your holy object said—elder, what is this thing you gave me?"