At 6:29 a.m. on May 3, on a road in a suburban area in N city.
The earth is still in a peaceful state, as if it has not yet woken up from a sweet dream at night.
The sun has risen, steaming up a light mist in the air.
Probably because it was still a holiday, and it was still early, there were very few vehicles on the road. It seemed that only the birds chirping on the telephone poles were left in the world, inadvertently welcoming the last light before the end.
Suddenly, a faint roar of an engine sounded in the quiet morning light. Far away on the road, in the direction of N city, a black spot faintly appeared, and as time went by, this black spot also appeared. It's constantly getting bigger.
It was a black Ducati that was driven to extreme speeds. Wherever it passed, the roar of the engine was like the roar of a wild beast, as if it was trying to wake up this still-drowsy world.
There was a young man wearing a gray hooded sweater prostrate on the driver's seat of the motorcycle. The morning breeze became howling fiercely at high speed, hitting the young man's face like a wave.
It seemed that even the wind wanted to hinder his progress.
But the young man was not distracted by these things. His peach blossom eyes were full of determination and he did not let go of the accelerator in his hand at all.
"Six-thirty, it should be just in time..."
Zhang Heng whispered to himself, slightly adjusting the direction in his hand, and drove the motorcycle into a narrow fork in the road.
The terrain of N city is mostly hilly, with large and small mountains scattered all over it. Although the altitude is not very high, it is still a mountain after all, which will increase the difficulty of development invisibly.
Therefore, local governments mostly adopt a laissez-faire attitude towards these mountains. Unless development is necessary, they allow residents to develop autonomously.
The branch road that Zhang Heng turned into just now is one of these countless hills.
Looking from a distance, this hill has only one forked road up the mountain, and not long after it separates from the main road, it disappears into the lush trees, giving it a feeling of being hidden in the wild.
After entering the mountain forest, Zhang Heng slowed down and maintained the speed of the motorcycle at forty yards per hour. At the same time, his eyes kept looking around, as if he was looking for something.
But the surrounding mountains and forests were quiet, and the towering trees seemed to be an unchanging background. The only thing that changed was the road under the tires, which changed from new and smooth to old, and then from old to tattered.
As Zhang Heng continued to go deeper, the road for motorcycles became narrower and narrower, and even the cement on it became extremely perfunctory. There were cracks everywhere and overgrown weeds, like Abandoned by civilization.
Even the roar of the engine became strange at this moment. It seemed that even the motorcycle under Zhang Heng's crotch felt that this land was incompatible with it and urgently wanted to leave here.
"arrive."
The motorcycle stopped beside a winding path. Zhang Heng glanced at the stone tablet beside him, compared the scene in front of him with the scene in his memory, and then spoke.
With a gentle step, Zhang Heng climbed up the steps along the path. As he went higher, the weeds and shrubs on the steps became more and more prosperous. In exaggeration, they were even covered with spider webs. At a glance, it was clear that no one had passed by this path for a long time. .
After walking about two to three hundred steps, a not-so-wide platform appeared in front of Zhang Heng. The entire platform was paved with bluestone slabs, and it looked full of time.
There is a small temple in the center of the platform, probably due to its age and disrepair.
The wooden pillars used for support had long since rotted and broken, and even half of the roof had collapsed, making it look dilapidated.
As for the statues enshrined in the temple, they are missing. The altar is empty, covered with old cobwebs and thick dust.
The path up the mountain seems to have been built for this dilapidated temple. Now that the temple is dilapidated, the path is naturally deserted and no one walks on it.
If ordinary people come here, they can at most be curious about the origin of the temple and lament the changes of time.
After Zhang Heng glanced around the temple, he paced back and forth along the lines on the bluestone slab, as if he was measuring something or looking for some mark.
After walking around in circles three times, Zhang Heng's eyes lit up, and then he chose a certain direction and continued walking towards the mountain.
However, in front of him, there were only clumps of weeds and shrubs, and no roads at all.
But Zhang Heng seemed to be completely unaware. He closed his eyes, stretched his arms forward, and began to crawl on the slippery muddy ground.
Like a weird lizard, it quickly climbed up the mountain.
Despite the crawling posture, except for the young man's palms and feet, the rest of his body did not touch the mud. At best, it was only stained by dew on some plant leaves.
In Zhang Heng's feeling, the weeds blocking his progress seemed to automatically give way to both sides, and crawling on both hands and feet allowed him to find a vague path in the darkness.
After walking forward in the darkness for about five minutes, Zhang Heng suddenly felt that the ground that his right palm touched was no longer soft soil, but a large hard object. A cold feeling rushed in from the palm of his hand, making him involuntarily Shivered.
But Zhang Heng's heart became hot at this moment. He opened his eyes and saw that what he was touching with his right hand was a square bluestone step. A relieved smile finally appeared on the young man's face.
"This is really the right place..."
The moment Zhang Heng stepped up the bluestone steps, the chirping of insects and birds that had been around him all disappeared, as if he was isolated from the outside by something, leaving only tranquility.
Regarding such sudden changes, Zhang Heng's face showed no fear, but a little more curiosity.
But he knew his mission, and now was not a good time to study these changes.
After simply cleaning the dirt on his hands, Zhang Heng immediately walked up the steps.
Although these steps are covered with moss, you can still faintly see the traces of knives and axes. It does not look like they were carefully carved by craftsmen, but rather they look like they were chopped with some sharp instrument.
The number of shrubs and weeds has decreased sharply. Tall trees grow one after another on both sides of the steps. The tree crowns block out the sky and block out almost all light, leaving only sparse holes that barely provide space for pedestrians. Lighting to move forward.
After walking in this deep and peaceful environment for about ten minutes, Zhang Heng's brows gradually wrinkled.
He seemed to be on an uphill climb.
It was obviously a hill, but the steps under my feet seemed to be endless. Although the route was winding and not straight, it seemed that something was wrong after walking for more than ten minutes and still not reaching the end.
Since he felt something was wrong, Zhang Heng simply sat down on one of the steps. After breathing for a few seconds, he seemed to have made up his mind.
The young man stood up from the steps, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly toward the top of the steps.
"Junior Zhang Heng! Come and ask to see the two descendants of Guiguzi!"
Although he was shouting, Zhang Heng's voice was not loud, but there was a faint richness in it, which seemed to be very penetrating.
After repeating three times, Zhang Heng stood on the spot with his fists clasped, his body slightly bowed, and he looked extremely respectful.
However, there was still silence all around, and even the voice Zhang Heng shouted before seemed to be hidden in the dense forest, without any response.
But these did not affect Zhang Heng's continued respectful actions.
Although he felt a little uneasy now, after all, the surroundings were so quiet that he could hear the hum of the inner rotor in his left arm.
Just when Zhang Heng was about to lose his patience, a burst of friendly laughter came from the forest, carrying a gentle breeze. An old man in a plain white tight-fitting robe seemed to appear out of thin air and stood in front of Zhang Heng. in front of.
"Young friend, you really want to meet and learn. You actually know about our Guigu sect, but you are here to compare notes? It's a pity that he is a man, hahahaha..."
The old man was slightly chubby, with thick eyebrows and black hair, and a small goatee on his chin. He had a smile on his face and looked like he was only sixty or seventy years old.
The white robes matched with the tone of the old man's words, which made him look like a hermit master. However, the weapons in this master's hands were somewhat beyond Zhang Heng's expectation. He caught a glimpse of them without any psychological preparation, and he couldn't help but feel... The corners of Zhang Heng's eyes twitched, and a disharmonious feeling emerged from the bottom of his heart.
Because the weapon in the fat old man's hand was not a sword, but a blue-black triangular harpoon.
"Uh haha... Dare I ask if your senior is [Zong] among the descendants of Guiguzi? Senior Li Baiyi?"
Seeing that his expression was about to lose control, Zhang Heng hurriedly clasped his fists, lowered his head, and asked.
"That's right, I didn't expect that my little friend knows my name. I am the successor of the [Zong] sect under Guiguzi's sect, and so is Li Baiyi."
As he spoke, the smile on the old man's face became warmer and warmer, as if he had met a close friend he had not seen for many years, and his joy was beyond words.
"Um... as far as I know from this junior, there are two sects from one master in Guigu, one is [vertical] and the other is [horizontal]. May I ask, senior, where are the descendants of this [horizontal] sect?"
Zhang Heng carefully looked at the expression on the other person's face, and after confirming that the other person was really happy, he cautiously said the next words.
Unexpectedly, as soon as these words came out, the old man who was still chuckling suddenly stopped talking, and the warmth on his face froze on the spot.
Silence returned to the forest, and an awkward atmosphere quickly spread between the two.
"Hmph! Are you here to see this old ghost Zhou Qi?"
Zhang Heng's words seemed to arouse displeasure in Li Baiyi's heart, and he quickly changed his expression and snorted unkindly.
"No, this junior is here to look for the two seniors. Now that I have seen the successor of the [vertical] sect, but not the [horizontal] sect, I have doubts in my heart, so I asked, if there is any offense, I hope that the seniors will forgive me! "
After saying that, Zhang Heng saluted the old man in white with his fists raised, his movements full of apology and not disrespectful at all.
Seeing that the young man in front of him did not mean any disrespect, the slightly fat old man's expression softened and he coughed lightly.
"The old ghost is practicing swordsmanship up there. Come with me."
Before he finished speaking, the fat old man tapped his toes, jumped up several bluestone steps, and walked towards the mountain...
