Of Mountains and Rivers

Chu Huan felt something passing by him, and he only had one thought in his mind: "It's too late!"

But the crow's mouth was effective even if he didn't say it—the next moment, the crying sound in his ears seemed to be equipped with a loudspeaker, and in it, Chu Huan found that he couldn't breathe.

At first, his chest seemed to be blocked by an unknown membrane, and the inhaled air was blocked in the trachea, refusing to go any further.

Afterwards, the air seemed to have turned into a ball of mud, and it was impossible to suck it up with just the slight strength of the breath.

He was not the only one like this, Chu Huan saw Yuan Ping not far away holding his chest tightly with both hands, gasping for breath like a fish out of water.

And at this juncture, this person actually stopped with great enthusiasm, out of breath, and took a chance: "If... if this world is... idealistic, isn't it..."

Chu Huan knew what he was thinking just by looking at his virtue—Yuan Ping had a whimsical plan, and planned to "imagining that he didn't need to breathe" to reach the state of tortoise breath that really didn't need to breathe.

But it seems that he might not be able to breathe, Guixi is not far away.

Chu Huan thought to himself: "It's a fart, idiot!"

He and Ruge grabbed one of Yuan Ping's shoulders as if they had a tacit understanding, forcibly pulled him up and dragged him away.

As breathing became more and more difficult, Chu Huan's eyes began to blur. He knew that it would not take long for the brain to be hypoxic, and the brain would suffer irreversible damage. Become a vegetable.

But where should they run?

Where……

At this moment, the rope in Chu Huan's hand was suddenly pulled violently. When he turned his head, he saw Nan Shan gesturing to him. Looking along Nan Shan's line of sight, Chu Huan saw that the tree was full of dead people. There seemed to be a wind in the mountain forest where the fruit trees were planted, and the treetops swayed in unison there.

But how can there be wind here?

If something goes wrong, there must be a monster. Chu Huan's first feeling is that something is wrong, but he has no time to think about it according to his first feeling, and if he hesitates any longer, he may be suffocated here.

The group had no choice but to rush towards the fruit forest.

If this situation is a bit evil, there seems to be a strange enchantment in the fruit forest. The moment one steps into it, one can feel the breeze blowing against one's face.

Chu Huan only felt that his lungs were like a plastic bag that had been evacuated. After cutting a gap, it swelled up quickly, almost bouncing him back from the critical line of death.

Chu Huan's eyes went dark, and he knelt down on the ground, his ears were buzzing, and his heart was beating like thunder. At this moment, let alone asking him to think carefully about the origin of the wind, he was completely unconscious, full of energy on the screen He didn't get down.

The wind in the fruit forest is not an ordinary wind. It is extremely cold and bitter. Once inhaled, it drove straight into his lungs like a knife. The smell of blood, I can't even cover it.

Nan Shan came over staggeringly, and lifted Chu Huan's face lightly, his palm was a little rough because of the thin calluses, he hugged Chu Huan's head and fumbled around as if looking for some psychological comfort.Chu Huan's chest rose and fell uncontrollably, and he grabbed Nanshan's wrist, but he couldn't speak. His hands seemed to be unable to support his body anymore, and he leaned softly on Nanshan's body, sucking his body hard. That bit of human warmth.

Luge suddenly spoke behind him. At this moment, even the patriarch of the gatekeeper was panting wildly, and his voice seemed intermittent: "Why... how can there be wind? Isn't this the trap?"

"I don't know." Nanshan recovered relatively quickly, stretched out his hand to hold Chu Huan in his arms, and patted him on the back, "I'm afraid the wind here is not good—are you feeling better?"

Chu Huan shook his head, managed to stop his cough, stood up with Nanshan's arm, feeling that his legs were still weak: "You... you... the physical fitness of the mountain guards is really against the sky..."

I don’t know what kind of fate this unintentional remark had. Anyway, it was easy to please Nanshan. In such a dangerous place, Nanshan’s worrying mood miraculously became a little more comfortable, and he stroked Chu Huan’s hair with a smile. .

Yuan Ping put his hands on his knees like a dead dog, bent himself into a big shrimp, and asked weakly, "Shall we take a detour?"

"Detour." Nanshan came down seriously, and looked back at the fruit forest that was shaking silently, "But even if you take a detour, it's hard to say what you will encounter ahead..."

As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of wind suddenly swept in. The wind came for no reason, and went straight to the subject—the flame on the gatekeeper patriarch's scepter.

Nanshan's reaction at that time couldn't be described as unpleasant. He turned his back suddenly and blocked the gust of wind with his back. The flames on the scepter trembled violently and struggled, but it was still getting weaker and weaker—the wind seemed to be conscious and unconscious. Coming for no reason, penetrating through every hole, he swirled arrogantly in front of Nanshan, still refusing to let go of the crumbling flames on the scepter.

Chu Huan almost suspected that this was a trick set by the enemy: first let them suffocate, and then force them to run towards the windy place without distraction. The ultimate goal is to wipe out their protective umbrella in one fell swoop when they are relaxed for the rest of their lives. —Extinguish the flames on the scepter.

And what they can choose is whether to be suffocated to death by choking their necks, or to be swallowed into the shadows in one gulp.

In desperation, Nanshan slammed the flame onto his chest, and with a "呲啦", the smell of scorched human flesh came out immediately, and his expression twisted violently.

At the same time, the flesh and blood of the mountain guard seemed to be some kind of fuel, making the faltering flame come back to life tremblingly.

The cold wind swirled around, and then suddenly dissipated... as if it had never been blown.

Everything happened too fast, and by the time anyone realized it, there was already a terrible scald on Nanshan's chest, the center was scorched black, and the surrounding area was covered with blisters.

Chu Huan's scalp exploded: "Fuck!"

He grabbed the scepter and stuffed it into Ruge's hand, trembling with distress: "You...you...you don't hurt, do you?"

Nan Shan stood aside and forced a smile at him: "Don't look, let's go first."

Chu Huan's face was gloomy, without saying a word, he grabbed Nanshan's wrist without any explanation, forced him to press him on a stone, opened the medicine bag at his waist, searched for a long time, and found out that he didn't know anything, so his nose was not his nose The eye is not the eye and asks: "Which one can be used for burns?"

Nanshan opened his mouth, but before he could make a sound, Chu Huan stopped him halfway: "Stop talking nonsense with me, tell me which one works."

Nanshan was like a big cat that had been taught a lesson, worried in his heart, but innocent in his eyes. He didn't dare to resist where the spirit of the head of the family had been thrown, and he obediently pointed to a small bottle.

Yuan Ping stood aside, thinking that since he secretly regarded Chu Huan as a friend, he should show something. After struggling for a long time, he finally decided to let go of his face, stand in a team, and help Chu Huan slowly: " That's right, Patriarch Nanshan, you don't know what you'll encounter ahead, you'd better deal with the wound first, sharpening the knife is not a mistake for woodcutters."

Unexpectedly, Chu Huan was just talking about it, and didn't take his affection at all, and sent him a sentence without looking back: "Use your nonsense."

Yuan Ping: "..."

Luge watched the flame on the scepter, and said coolly, "It's too late to flatter."

Chu Huan dealt with the scald on Nanshan's chest like embroidery, which was inevitable and would hurt him from time to time, but Nanshan didn't dare to say a word, while gritted his teeth and endured it, while looking up at the direction he came from—even though there was something wrong with it. He couldn't see anything because the hill was in the way.

When Nanshan remembered that the clansmen were still in the mountain gate, on the only piece of peaceful land in the besieged world, although they could not see or touch, they always seemed to have confidence in their hearts, like a thick shield behind them.

Apart from the clansmen, for Nanshan, Chu Huan who was always under his nose made him feel at ease.

As long as he can see Chu Huan, he feels that even if he is in the mountains of swords and flames, his heart is calm.

It may be due to the short contact time, or it may be that the temperature of the fire on the scepter is not high enough. Nanshan's burn looks scary, but it is not very serious. Chu Huan took care of his injury, and then he was slightly relieved.

Several people discussed the route briefly, and finalized a plan to immediately bypass this suffocating valley and prepare to start again.

This time, they slowed down quite cautiously. Chu Huan remembered what the elder had told him, smiled wryly, and said: "If the so-called 'falling place' is really a place swallowed by a consciousness, then it should be considered a place by now." Watch us."

Yuan Ping suddenly said, "What did you hear in the valley just now?"

"It was silence at first," Chu Huan said. "Then it was crying. It started from a child and gradually became one. I feel that they are holding a collective mourning event."

"Isn't it a terrified scream? Changed?"

Chu Huan raised his eyebrows in confusion: "Well, but it was precisely because of the change that I felt something was wrong—oh, the expedition team didn't even have an instruction manual..."

As he spoke, several people walked up the fruit forest, walked to a high place, and detoured around the ridge. Chu Huan's voice fell silent, and suddenly, the mountain under his feet seemed to tremble.

earthquake?

They were on the mountains, and there were no buildings nearby to smash people, so it would be nothing to be surprised about if there was a real earthquake-but the earthquake happened in a landslide, so people had to cheer up.

The few people who were walking in a hurry all stopped suddenly, not knowing what happened.

They became frightened birds, trembling at the slightest disturbance, ready to run wildly again at any time, Chu Huan felt tired for a while, and felt that the valley in front of him seemed to be difficult to get through, and there would be problems no matter how they walked.

Ever since he knew that the scepter would burn out one day, even though Chu Huan was a bit slow to plan and then act, he couldn't help but feel anxious-the god knows what will happen to them once the scepter is burned out.

The slight vibration spread, and a thick mist began to cover the entire valley. The cottages and people in the valley were all buried below, and gradually disappeared. Looking down from a height, it was like A billowing layer of malicious clouds.

The dense clouds gradually separated into dark and shallow traces, and gradually built a black and white picture. The thick clouds seemed to be alive, and the patchwork picture was lifelike. The whole valley seemed to be a black and white TV, "playing" the image of a certain place.

Yuan Ping's throat moved with difficulty: "This is..."

This is the "sacred mountain" where the mountain guards and gatekeepers live.

On one side, the mountain gate was closed, and the cloud behind the mountain gate was pale, which probably represented the faint white light of the holy spring, while the surrounding area was as dark as ink and bottomless, representing the encirclement of the trapped land that they could not escape.

Chu Huan confirmed once again that the shadow that swallowed up the world is definitely conscious, and "it" knows their ins and outs clearly!

The shaking was still going on. At this time, they saw from a height that the darkness began to encroach on the mountain gate. The place of light centered on the holy spring became smaller and smaller, and the light became weaker and weaker, like a bird's nest that was about to overturn. The crumbling eggs in the middle.

Chu Huan's chest trembled violently, as if he heard the silent wailing from below, as if he heard the great mourning of the mountain and the mountain spring crying together, the sorrow and despair were as real as his own experience, which made him understand that what happened in the valley was not just an image.

With the movement of the dense clouds, the huge picture scroll that seemed to be laying out became more and more clear, the mountain gate, the mountain peak...everything was clearly revealed.

There is an old man with a goat face whose back is about to be bent into a full stop, a bald boy who is not as tall as his cane, a thick woman with a bow and arrow in her hand, a bearded man whose braid is cut off in the middle... and even those who have not had time to clean up. The clean corpses of the same clan, the warriors who have always refused to stay away from the mountain gate...

Nan Shan was so wide-eyed that he almost rushed down regardless, but was hugged by Chu Huan: "Nan Shan, Nan Shan!"

Nanshan struggled violently, Chu Huan could hardly hold him down, so he had to speak loudly into his ear: "Don't you know how far you have traveled? They are not here at all! What's the use of you going down?"

Nanshan froze suddenly.

Ruge stood motionless by the side, clutching the patriarch's scepter tightly in his hand, the flames on the scepter trembled violently with the silent man's hand, his eyes were almost red drip blood.

They just watched with cold eyes, helpless, watching the dense cloud on the "picture scroll" like a calm monster, swallowing everyone bit by bit with a kind of slow-moving arrogance.

There was not even a process of disappearing, and they were all harvested in a chaotic black mist in the end. The black mist rolled endlessly in the huge valley, as if silently laughing at them from the silence. .

"It" is showing them that "it" is invincible.

Nanshan grabbed Chu Huan's wrist holding him tightly, as if there was no other channel to vent.

Chu Huan heard the "clack" sound of Nanshan's teeth being clenched too tightly, and heard him take a long breath.

Chu Huan turned his head in fear, and found that Nanshan had burst into tears silently.

The tears of a man who never cried are shocking no matter when and where.

Chu Huan stood stiffly for a long time, feeling a little out of breath for a moment, he slowly hugged Nanshan into his arms.

The patriarch of the mountain guard, who was reliable at all times, suddenly turned into a bewildered child, desperately grasping at Chu Huan's life-saving straw.

He didn't cry loudly, his face was full of bewilderment, and in the bewilderment he endured masochistically.

Chu Huan: "It's fake, it's all fake... Aren't we still discussing this fall against our will a few days ago? Maybe it's an illusion created somewhere to deceive you..."

The more Chu Huan said, the more powerless he became. How could this be false?

If it is false, where does the mountain's cry come from?

If it was fake, where did the panicked expressions on the faces of those clansmen come from?

Chu Huan found that he couldn't even deceive himself and others, let alone fool others.

If the mountain of God also fell, and the whole world fell into boundless darkness, would it really be necessary for them to move on?

Can mortals... really conquer the so-called "world"?

Even if they are lucky enough to avoid thousands of impossibilities, if they really win in the end, is there any point?

There are only four people left in this big world, so is there any difference whether they are in the shadow of danger or in the cold sunshine?

The rope tied around his body tugged, it was Luge, who suddenly stood up without saying a word, turned and left.

Yuan Ping held him at a loss: "Patriarch, what are you doing?"

"Go," Luge's facial features seemed to be frozen, "go back."

Yuan Ping: "Wait..."

But what are you waiting for?Yuan Ping was at a loss for words again. The poisonous snake on Luge's shoulder, Xiaolu, seemed to have learned how to read, and slipped down from the gatekeeper's patriarch. Watching Yuan Ping holding someone back.

Yuan Ping no longer cared about being afraid of snakes, he searched his brains and came up with a few pale words: "But we have made this journey so hard, we have already come here..."

Lu Ge turned his head and glanced at him. Although the water ghost-like man still seemed a little taciturn along the way, he had unknowingly gained some popularity, and now the popularity had turned into death again. His eyes were cold , it seemed that no light could penetrate, except when looking at the new gatekeeper, there seemed to be a dull pain in the fundus of the eye, which was immediately sunk in a deeper place.

"It's only half," Luge said blankly. "It's useless to go down. Since the mountain is gone and the gate has been broken, the gatekeeper has no value in existence. Instead of going to 'Shen Xing Island'" Shenyue Island's halfway has become part of this ghost place, it's better to go back and guard by the mountain gate while there are still torches, so many years, it's considered consistent."

Yuan Ping: "But..."

Ruge no longer intended to pay attention to him, and interrupted him with a wave of his hand: "You are a child, you don't understand, don't say it."

Luge looked up at the vast mountain scenery: "Nanshan."

With his back facing him, Nan Shan seemed to have an indestructible bone supporting his back, upon hearing this, he looked back at him slowly.

Ruger finally sighed: "Shall we go back now, or let you rest for a while?"