The apprentice is tempted every day on the edge of madness

The intertwined clumps are criss-crossed, winding and rich in aura, which attracts many mountain spirits and wood monsters. The weather is getting cooler and covered in silver. There are more people and villages here.

Natural selection, many of the same kind of trees died later either due to felling, natural disasters or the urge of time, and finally there was only one withered, gray and decayed tree that seemed to be dying. This tree was born in the world Gradually, she became wise, but she also became lifeless and seemed to have no intention of surviving.

"Chop it up," one suggested.

There are more and more people in their village. Seeing that the weather is going to be cold again, they need to find ways to survive the winter and expand the area. It is more convenient to cut down this tree and start a fire.

A person reached out and touched the thick and old branches of the tree, and seemed to sigh: "It's all about survival. It's not easy for this tree to survive until now. Uncle Lin, let's keep it."

The person called Uncle Lin shook his head: "You are soft-hearted."

"But the sorceress said that this tree is not good." You said humanely.

"Which witch?" The man sneered and patted the tree trunk. "The sorceress of the host family is still clamoring to worship it."

So the tree was left behind. Although it had spirituality, it didn't empathize with emotion, but it knew in its heart that it was this young man who saved itself, so it couldn't help but pay close attention to him in the future.

The young man's life is very monotonous day after day. When he is free to fill his stomach, he will choose to sit under the tree and have a rest. When there is no one, he will talk to the tree for a while as if talking to himself.It's nothing more than homely nonsense, and a lot of it is asking and answering, and even complaining about it when I'm in a bad mood.

It was boring, but all this was new to the tree, and no one had ever spoken so much to it.

In late autumn, the man came less frequently. He complained to the tree that he was busy collecting food, but the weather was getting colder and there was no fruit to eat on the mountain. up.So the tree frightened the nearby animals at night, and there was a strange scene of many wild boars and goats spontaneously rushing to the young man's house.The young man's courtyard is not big enough to accommodate too many animals, and the tree regrettably releases many of the extra creatures.

The next day, the young man who opened the door early in the morning was startled by the things in the yard. The most in the yard were pigs, chickens and sheep. Seeing him approaching, instead of running away, he turned towards him like a fool Depend on.Gu Fan rubbed his eyes desperately, only to confirm that all this is not his own dazzle.He settled them with great joy, and distributed many things to the neighbors nearby.

Sure enough, the young man came again in the afternoon, and he told the tree about today's windfall, with a joyful expression. The tree was infected by his emotions, and the leaves all over the branches were rustled by the wind.

The trees became bigger and more lush. Two years later, in the spring, that person suddenly stopped coming for a long time. Spring and summer are the most frequent seasons for young people to come. Why didn’t he come again? ?

Crowds of children cheered and played around the big tree, babbling and laughing, very lively, but the tree was still thinking about that person in its heart, thinking about it, it became a kind of empty loneliness, even the children It is difficult to bring him enough energy with his laughter.

So the tree sneaked into the young man's dream at night, asking why he didn't come to see him.

The young man seemed to be taken aback by his sudden speaking, he stuttered and couldn't speak clearly.

"You, you... are you a monster?"

"……do not know."

"Monsters can become human, so can you become human?"

Transformation?The tree had only heard of it, but he had never tried it himself, so he turned into a man exactly like the young man.

"Wow." The young man was startled, he was inevitably afraid, but curiosity prevailed again, he walked around the tree a few times, kept looking at his other "self", and saw that the other party was as motionless as a tree On the contrary, he was not very timid.

"...You can really change. My name is Gu Fan. Do you have a name?"

He shook his head.

"It's unbelievable like a dream."

It's a dream, the tree thought.

"Why... didn't you come?" Shu was not used to speaking yet, but his voice was very clear.

Perhaps in the dream it was easier to accept such things as 'a tree suddenly turned into a person and came to him'. The person sat down on the lawn as before, and said with some regret: "I want to get married."

"...Get married?" Shu repeated Gu Fan's mouth.

Gu Fan was a bit shy, and said embarrassingly: "I fell in love with a girl, and I want to marry her, so that I can be with her every day."

"Then you get married, will you still see me?"

"Of course." Gu Fan's eyes shone brightly, as if completely immersed in sweetness. "I will come to see you when I get married."

Shu felt relieved, and he left Gu Fan's dream.

However, earlier than expected, Gu Fan leaned against the tree, he looked a little lonely, and said to the air: "...I dreamed of you one day, and you can become a human..."

You have come to see me at last, thought the tree.

But Gu Fan burst into tears: "I was rejected, she avoided me several times."

Shu had never seen him cry, and wanted to comfort him but was afraid of scaring him, but Gu Fan ran away before he could react.

The tree wakes up the drunken mess in the dream, Gu Fan opens it dazedly, eyes still mixed with bewilderment, and asks with some confusion:

"Who are you?"

"I am a tree." The man with a handsome face explained, his eyes as deep as a cold pool are a bit too ancient:

"This is the illusion of my body, I learned it."

"Ah, it's you again... It seems that I'm dreaming again."

"Are you still sad?" asked the tree.

Hearing this, Gu Fan once again burst into tears.

"You want to marry her so much?"

"She's so good, after we get married, we can look at her openly." Gu Fan squatted down and pulled up a small weed with some depression.

"...I'm fine too, so do you want to marry me?" The man's long eyelashes cast a small shadow.

Gu Fan paused for a moment, then raised his head abruptly, meeting those eyes that didn't seem to be joking, he suddenly became a little flustered for some reason.

"Stop joking, you're really interesting." Gu Fan looked away, then plucked the little bud in his hand, and couldn't help feeling a little funny:

"It's the first time I've heard someone praise myself so much... But thank you, I seem to understand why she rejected me."

The man nodded as if he had no emotion, and Gu Fan inexplicably felt an awkward and uncomfortable feeling, thinking that this man was really joking and teasing him.

This is the last time the tree looks for him in the dream.

Later, Gu Fan got married as he wished, and as he kept his promise, he would visit the tree regularly. Later, Gu Fan had two more children, and he brought them under the tree. He would tell these children a little about the tree. Meng, sometimes the children would run to the tree and whisper to the tree when they were amused by the creaking.

Did I ever exist in his heart?The tree sometimes thinks this way, and it doesn't feel lonely anymore.

Time is fleeting, human life is too short for it after all, Gu Fan leaned on a cane and sat back under the tree. Can't bear too many blows.

The old man stretched out his withered and thin hands to caress the huge and powerful tree trunk. The grooves in his hands were not incompatible with the bark on the surface of the trunk. He said to the tree:

"...This may be the last time I will see you."

The tree looked at him, and the leaves whistled out a sad wind and waves.

Only the spirit body came out of the tree, and he escorted the old man home all the way, choosing to stay by his side until the last moment.

The old man was lying quietly on the bed, vitality drained from his body, suddenly, a gleam of light flashed from his cloudy eyes.

"...tree?" The old man couldn't make a sound, only hoarseness overflowed from his voice.

The young and handsome man leaned down, hugged him gently, and shared his life flow with him. The extremely slow and warm trickle passed by. He was careful not to cross too much, just hoping to relieve the old man's strenuous effort .

"...Thanks, I'm much better."

Gu Fan laughed out loud, and tears welled up in his already cloudy eyes: "That's great, you are still willing to come and see me, an old man... I seem to be crying again."

The man was stunned after hearing this sentence: "You know?"

"Whether it's true or not, I can still tell."

The old man reached out and touched the man's black hair, and said slowly: "I have never encountered any danger in my life, but I have suffered all the crimes of living. I thought I was going to die alone, and I could see you at the last moment... I die without regret."

"...Are you lonely?"

The old man shook his head: "I've always been afraid of being alone, but I'm not lonely at all in the last days, thank you, tree."

The man got up and gently held the old man's haggard hand, watching him quietly and slowly closing his eyes until he was completely lifeless.

He continued the state of waiting again, he didn't quite understand what kind of mentality this was, he wanted to wait for Gu Fan to reincarnate.

The trees have become old trees, and the people in the village have changed one after another. They will hang some red cloth strips on the trees, but the trees don't like these cumbersome things very much.These people will kneel down to pray, and burn something in front of the tree, sometimes incense, sometimes unknown paper, and even burn precious food.

The tree felt at a loss, but at this time the messenger of the fairy world conveyed a decree, hoping that he could protect the people in this area, and the heaven would help him to attain the Tao.

The tree does not seek the Tao, but only asks: "Can you find the person you are looking for after you get the Tao?"

"If you have attained the Tao, you will not be limited by your origin. You have to go where, let alone find someone?"

So the tree kept practicing, preventing natural disasters for the villagers, using his own spiritual source to bless this land, and more and more people came to Gu Mu to pray.He was used to seeing people's birth, old age, sickness and death, and understood all kinds of ways in the world, but he still couldn't see that person again.

No rush, he comforted himself so much.

He will always be found.