Cloud of the Qing Dynasty

"Oh, is that so?" Zhang Chi reached out and took off the short gun pinned to his back, and stretched the gun barrel with a twist, "Where did you come from so confident that you can silence me?"

He knew that Ah Wu's martial arts were not very good, at best, he could still fight in that kind of closed small cottage, even if he fought alone, he might not lose, let alone Mu Liuyun was next to him, as long as the two of them fought Mu Liuyun won't just sit idly by if he gets his hands on it.

Sure enough, seeing him pull out his iron spear, Mu Liuyun emerged from his hiding place and leaped towards the two without touching the ground.

Ah Wu didn't know whether he reacted quickly, or was prepared in advance. Seeing the situation was not good, he made a false move and turned around and ran. It seemed that he planned to get rid of Zhang Chi and Mu Liuyun by virtue of his familiarity with the terrain.

The terrain here is very complicated, the ground is high and low, uneven, and there are stalagmites several feet thick everywhere. Even in broad daylight, it is like a maze, not to mention at night, as long as one or two turns, the people behind cannot see the front. Where is the person.So even though the sky was so dark that Zhang Chi couldn't see his feet clearly, and he didn't know if he would step on some poisonous snakes or traps, he still followed closely.

Zhang Chi's thinking was very simple, as long as he could delay A Wu by even one or two steps, it would be enough for Mu Liuyun to catch up and capture this spy alive.However, such a momentary difference in thought caused unimaginable consequences-just as he was chasing after the first corner, Ah Wu suddenly kicked him with a flying kick, and Zhang Chi subconsciously blocked him with a horizontal shot, and he was caught. He kicked back two steps, unexpectedly stepped on the ground, and fell into a deep pit where he couldn't see his fingers.

It turns out that there is a bottomless tiankeng hidden here with a small opening and a big belly. The half-moon-shaped opening is less than one foot wide, so it is difficult to find it in the dark night.

Zhang Chi was in the air all of a sudden, and he only had time to utter a short exclamation before falling straight down.

Mu Liuyun, who followed closely behind, could see the general landscape clearly even in the dark night, but everything happened so suddenly that he didn't even have time to remind him, so he could only watch helplessly as Zhang Chi was kicked down. , but because it was only a few steps away, it was too late to rescue him.

Surprised and angry, Mu Liuyun slapped Ah Wu across the air, and sent Ah Wu flying horizontally. In the deep pit, Shi Zhan fell down quickly, and finally caught Zhang Chi's hand before Zhang Chi fell to the bottom.

Mu Liuyun held Zhang Chi in his arms and turned around. With a push of luck with both palms, he threw Zhang Chi upwards, buffering his falling momentum. He was about to perform lightness kung fu, but it was too late.

No matter how deep the tiankeng is, it will fall to the bottom at this moment. Fortunately, the bottom of the pit is a pool of water instead of stones. Otherwise, even a master like Mu Liuyun would not be able to escape the fate of falling to his death on the spot. It was impossible not to be injured when the place fell down. The moment Mu Liuyun entered the water, he felt as if someone had slapped his back hard. The huge impact made him lose consciousness all of a sudden.

Because Zhang Chi was thrown up by Mu Liuyun, he fell into the water after losing the momentum of his fall. He was not injured, but he couldn't see anything in the pitch blackness before him, so he could only thrash about in the darkness. During the struggle, he seemed to have caught Mu. He quickly grabbed the corner of Liuyun's Taoist robe, trying to pull Mu Liuyun to the surface of the water, but there was a strong suction in the water that sucked them down continuously.

Zhang Chi went upstream desperately, but he couldn't resist the suction at all. What worried him even more was that Mu Liuyun didn't seem to move at all, dragging him down like a rock, but He couldn't let go, so he could only try his best to find a way out for the two of them.

Holding his breath soon reached his limit. Zhang Chi was tormented by the pain of lack of oxygen and the emotions of fear and panic, making every second of his struggle extremely long. He died here in vain, but no matter how hard they struggled, they were still sinking, and there was nothing they could do.

***

When Zhang Chi woke up again, the sky was already bright, and the sun shone on the rocky beach in front of him, exuding a warm glow, but it couldn't drive away the coldness on his body at all.

Zhang Chi found that most of his body was submerged in water, and there was no pain anywhere in his body. He coughed and vomited a few mouthfuls of water, struggled to move his limbs, and then saw that he was holding a piece of water tightly in his hand. The rags torn from Mu Liuyun's Taoist robe.

Memories flooded into his mind in an instant, he remembered that he was kicked down the tiankeng by A Wu, Mu Liuyun jumped down to save him, and then fell into the water with him.

This master of the Shangqing Palace grew up on the top of Huashan Mountain, and he was not good at water. Judging from the height of the two people's whereabouts, Mu Liuyun was likely to be knocked out the moment he fell into the water, and then was swept in by the whirlpool... …

Zhang Chi didn't dare to think about it anymore, he got up in a panic and looked around. Since he was washed out by the water, maybe Mu Liuyun could be just as lucky.

But as far as the eyes could see, Mu Liuyun was nowhere to be seen.

The place where he woke up seemed to be the outlet of an underground river, a deep pool with constant spring water gushing out, and the water gushing out of the pool converged into a stream less than knee deep and flowed out.

It seems that after he fell into the water, he was washed to this unknown place through the underground river.If Mu Liuyun is also washed out like him, no matter whether he is dead or alive, he should be beside him now. This creek is too shallow, and there are pebbles scattered in it, it is impossible to wash people farther where to go.

If Mu Liuyun can't be found anywhere, Zhang Chi has to think about the even more terrifying possibility-the underground river may have many branches, and Mu Liuyun may have been brought deeper underground by the current, and will never be seen again. There is a day to come up.

Just having this thought made Zhang Chi feel breathless. If it wasn't for his carelessness, if it wasn't for saving him, how could Mu Liuyun meet such a fate? Such an excellent Mu Liuyun, the person he loves so much, How could he accept such a result because of his death?

Regardless of the exhaustion and pain in his body, Zhang Chi stood up and plunged into the pool. Regardless of whether it was useful or not, he only had one thought in his mind, no matter whether he lived or died, he must find Mu Liuyun.

He dived into the pool over and over again to search, and was washed out by the current over and over again. His body was full of bumps and scratches from stones. He didn't know the pain. The extreme anxiety prompted him to keep trying until he was too tired to stand up. When he got up, he could only kneel weakly on the shallow water beach.

Zhang Chi covered his face, and let out a desperate cry from his throat. He didn't know whether it was water or tears that flowed between his fingers, and he even had the idea of ​​jumping off the pool with a stone in his arms to die with Mu Liuyun.

Suddenly there was the sound of something falling to the ground, Zhang Chi turned his head in amazement, and saw a girl in a coarse cloth dress covering her mouth and looking at Zhang Chi in surprise, the bamboo basket in her hand fell to the ground, and a few fruits rolled down one place.

Zhang Chi got up numbly, and saw the girl running back suddenly, shouting as she ran, "There's one more, there's one more!"

"There's still?" Zhang Chi suddenly had a glimmer of hope in his heart, he didn't care to think about it, he stumbled after the girl on the water.

***

The girl ran towards a few men wearing coarse cloth or animal skins, and when those men saw Zhang Chi, they surrounded him. Zhang Chi grabbed one of them without hesitation, and asked eagerly, "Did you find out about mine?" companion?"

The few people who looked like savages at first glance nodded repeatedly and spoke something in a heavily accented language. Zhang Chi, who was so anxious, didn't have the patience to distinguish, and followed them to a simple hut made of bamboo, wood and mud.

As soon as he entered the door, Zhang Chi saw the pale Mu Liuyun with his eyes closed, lying on the bamboo bed covered with an animal skin blanket, his wet hair was disheveled, and his clothes were taken off to dry.

Zhang Chi rushed to the side of the bed, and carefully placed the back of his fingers on Mu Liuyun's neck. Feeling the pulse under the skin was still beating, he took a deep breath, wiped the corners of his eyes and smiled in relief.

Mu Liuyun slowly opened his eyes, seeing Zhang Chi standing in front of him with good arms and legs, he smiled weakly at him.

"You're still alive..." Zhang Chi grabbed his hand and said with a choked voice, "Fortunately, I didn't kill you."

"Don't say that it's not harmful." Mu Liuyun said weakly, "I'm here to save you, you're not dead, this is the best result...cough cough..."

"You're injured!" Zhang Chi became nervous.

"It's okay, just keep it for a few days." Mu Liuyun frowned and said, "I'll sleep a little longer, you should change your clothes first, don't catch a cold."

It was obvious that Mu Liuyun's physical condition was not good. Zhang Chi wanted to withdraw so that he could rest quietly, but when he turned around, he saw that this small house was full of people in simple clothes, some of whom were touching their Taoist robes carefully. The moiré patterns embroidered on it kept exclamating, and some held Mu Liuyun's Zhishui sword, studying it over and over again, as if they had never seen a sword before, and accidentally cut their fingers by the sharp blade. , making a fuss and exclamation, and some crowded around and whispered to watch them, as if they had never seen outsiders in their life.

Zhang Chi was very speechless, and invited all the onlookers out of the room with a good voice, closed the door woven with rattan and bamboo, and said to them: "Thank you for saving Liuyun."

The leader waved his hand and said, "You're welcome, we didn't save him, we just picked him up by the water, just like we picked you up, he looked weak, so we brought him back."

"I still want to thank you for your kindness. I'm Zhang Chi. I haven't asked your names yet."

"I am Tamarin, the patriarch of this tribe, and these are people from our tribe."

"Tribe?" Zhang Chi looked at these people curiously. He had also seen some completely uncivilized barbarians living in remote mountains and forests isolated from the world, and the people in front of him looked even more primitive than the barbarians in their clothes. Some, they wear clothes made of animal skins or burlap, but they are not barefoot like the barbarians, but wear straw sandals, and their hair is tied into a bun with grass vines or branches like the Han people, and they can speak with a strong accent It is full of strange contradictions, not to mention that these people make such a fuss about them and their things.

"Or...how do you say that word? Village? Yes, village, it doesn't matter what it's called anyway." Tamarin said, "Guest, you need to change your clothes, or you'll get sick. We don't have anything good here. Clothes, don't dislike them."

The girl who was scared away by Zhang Chi had already brought him a dress made of animal skin. The wet clothes felt cold and heavy on her body. Zhang Chi really wanted to change out of the clothes, but seeing the dozen or so people around her, they all stared blankly. They watched him like watching a monkey, even including a few little girls and women, so he had no choice but to say: "Women, can you avoid it for a while?"

These people looked like they didn't understand, Zhang Chi said it again in a more common way, and Tamarin suddenly realized: "Oh, that's right, everyone go out first."

Zhang Chi was speechless again.