The group sat on the sand camel beast and slowly walked out of Juxian Town, leaving only a dense line of footprints and a few car marks behind them.
Han Ling'er and Qu Wuming walked side by side at the back, talking and laughing along the way.
Hu Baye and a few people who secretly admired Tong Xiangyu gathered around Tong Xiangyu's sand camel beast and chatted.
Wei Yixian and his apprentice Mo Tong sat quietly in the carriage of a large car. They would not come out until they needed guidance. It was easy for people to forget their existence.
After leaving Juxian Town, there are endless hills as far as the eye can see.
It’s midsummer in August, and walking among these hills, you don’t feel the summer heat at all. The rainy season has just passed for more than half a month, but the thatch all over the mountains and plains has already begun to turn yellow.
The howling wind blew through the soil slopes that were sparsely covered with withered yellow thatch, and passed over the short ravines that were washed out in the rainy season, letting out bursts of plaintive whimpering.
On the gentle and low loess slope, only when you get closer can you see that there are still many low grasses on the ground, stubbornly clinging to the ground and growing in this desolate world. Occasionally, there will be some shrubs with sharp thorns growing in clumps in the ravines. When the strong wind blows, it makes a rustling sound, as if to remind everyone that it still exists here.
"Look at those shrubs, they seem to have small yellow fruits on them!" Han Ling'er said excitedly, pointing to a shrub not far away.
"That's called sea buckthorn," a chef walking in front of Han Ling'er said without looking back. "We also call it 'sour'. When there is frost in autumn, it turns orange-red and is very sour."
"I want to try it!" Upon hearing this, Han Ling'er reached out and took Qu Wuming's hand and shook it.
"Okay, you wait." Qu Wuming jumped up from the sand camel beast and swept towards the patch of sea buckthorn. After a while, he picked a branch full of yellow fruits and came back.
Han Ling'er took the sea buckthorn branch, carefully looked at the densely packed but exquisite and cute yellow fruits, and gently picked one while avoiding the sharp thorns on the branch.
"It's so sour..." Han Ling'er was so sour that she trembled all over after eating the sea buckthorn. She hurriedly spit out the sea buckthorn in her mouth, making Qu Wuming next to her and Tong Xiangyu, the chef and others who had been waiting to watch the fun burst into laughter. .
"Sister Ling'er," Tong Xiangyu pulled the reins of the sand camel beast and said with a smile, "We don't eat this directly on weekdays. After it has been frosted, we pick it off, mash it, and mix it with sugar. When you drink water, it’s sour and sweet.”
"Hmm," Han Ling'er felt like her teeth were falling out. She quickly took the water bag from her waist and rinsed her mouth, and then said, "It's so sour. I've never eaten anything so sour..." With that said, he was going to throw away the sea buckthorn branch.
"Don't throw it away, it's a pity." Tong Xiangyu took the sea buckthorn branch and handed it to the sand camel beast's mouth.
The sand camel beast sniffed slightly, stretched out its tongue and rolled the sea buckthorn branch covered with spikes into its mouth and chewed it. There seemed to be a satisfied expression on its face...
…
Five days later, there was no road under the feet of the group.
In other words, there was no road here before, and a new road was extending under everyone's feet.
With the footsteps of the sand camel beast, walking among the hills that seemed to have no end in sight, the journey gradually became a bit boring.
At Hu Baye's suggestion, a few people would occasionally gather in the carriage to play dice, drink, and pass the time. More people gradually became silent. Even Han Ling'er chose to sit cross-legged. I closed my eyes and meditated in a carriage, rarely going out to eat.
…
In the blink of an eye, it was more than ten days later.
The surrounding scenery finally changed.
The khaki hills have turned into an undulating yellow line on the horizon, gradually receding behind everyone. Looking around, there is only endless yellow sand left, stretching as far as the eye can see. Occasionally, some dead vines and old trees stand alone in the desert, proving that this was once a lush land with water and grass.
Along the way, we occasionally encountered individual caravans heading deep into the desert in order to take shortcuts. We did not speak to each other, but each passed by at a distance with vigilance, and then watched each other leave.
In a large car, Tong Xiangyu, Han Ling'er and the old man Wei Yixian each occupied a corner and sat quietly. At this time, the two women's eyes fell on a few copper coins in front of Wei Yixian.
Wei Yixian was seen holding a compass in one hand, densely engraved with strange characters, while the other hand kept calculating, and from time to time he picked up copper coins and dropped them repeatedly. After repeating this several times, Wei Yixian finally stopped calculating, raised the curtains of the car and shouted loudly forward: "Turn the team and move forward to the left!"
"I got it!" Hu Baye now found gambling and drinking boring, so he volunteered to ride on the sand camel beast at the front and became the leader of the team. However, the person who was really responsible for guiding the way was It was still Wei Yixian who had been staying in the carriage. Tong Xiangyu and Han Ling'er didn't want to be exposed to the sun, so they hid in the carriage. The three of them chatted occasionally on the way, but they were not very lonely.
Because of Han Ling'er, Qu Wuming would sometimes get into the carriage to joke and brag with Han Ling'er and Tong Xiangyu. With Qu Wuming's knowledge and experience, casually telling stories about past adventures would be very exciting. Even those Wei Yixian sometimes listened with great interest. However, Qu Wuming's move was not entirely to relieve the boredom of Han Ling'er and the others - in Qu Wuming's heart, he always felt that Wei Yixian was a bit mysterious, and always wanted to inquire about his situation during the chat, but he never made any progress.
Therefore, Qu Wuming would later pester Wei Yixian to tell everyone's fortunes.
Wei Yixian always found various reasons to refuse at first, but later he couldn't resist Qu Wuming's persistent pursuit, so he agreed to make a fortune for everyone.
"Sister Tong, come first!" Han Ling'er pushed Tong Xiangyu gently and looked at Wei Yixian expectantly.
"Okay, let me tell Shopkeeper Tong a fortune first." Wei Yixian smiled as if he was resigned to his fate, took out the copper coins used for daily fortune-telling from his arms and held it in his hand.
In these days, Qu Wuming and others have long been accustomed to Wei Yixian's "copper coins" - they seem not to be made of brass, but made of some special material, resembling gold but not gold, resembling jade but not jade, falling on The carriage board jingled, and the sound was as crisp as celestial music. The two sides of the "copper coin" are engraved with different styles of runes, and the words used are like tadpoles, crooked and very weird.
"Please also ask Shopkeeper Tong to give me something personal for a long time, or a drop of blood." Wei Yixian stretched out a palm and said.
Tong Xiangyu thought for a moment, took out an embroidery needle from the bag beside her, pricked her finger and squeezed out a drop of blood.
"Okay." Wei Yixian raised his hand and the drop of blood flew up to the ground and landed on a copper coin. After a burst of red light, it disappeared.
Wei Yixian held a handful of copper coins tightly in his hand and muttered something. After a moment, he opened his hand and a handful of copper coins fell on the carriage.
After the last copper coin stopped rolling, Wei Yixian's fingers began to count.
After more than ten breaths, Wei Yixian slowly opened his eyes and said: "In the beginning, my heart was wandering in Linglong, lonely and waiting for the right person. Once I changed my life, my life skyrocketed, and I never envy the immortals until I reach the ninth heaven."
Tong Xiangyu couldn't help but froze when she heard this.
Han Ling'er on the side was a little confused and asked hurriedly: "What do you mean? Please explain it quickly!"
Wei Yixian shook his head with a smile and said: "It's necessary. Those who understand will understand naturally, and those who don't understand will understand when the time comes. Don't tell the truth when you see through it. This is my principle of divination for others. If you explain it too clearly, I will be punished by God."
"I'm so unhappy! Come on, tell me your fortune!" Qu Wuming stretched out his hand, and he didn't know when he had broken his fingertips and squeezed out a drop of blood.
"Okay, okay!" Wei Yixian sighed helplessly, grabbed the copper coins on the ground, and used them again...
"This..." Wei Yixian looked at the copper coins scattered on the carriage board, counting them with his fingers, but his brows furrowed tighter and tighter, as if he had encountered some problem.
"What's wrong? What do the hexagrams say?" Qu Wuming actually didn't believe in these divination techniques. He always felt that they were a way to deceive foolish men and women - even if they were cast by cultivators. At this time, I was pestering Wei Yixian to tell fortunes, just to pass the time when I was bored and to explore Wei Yixian's background. At this moment, seeing Wei Yixian's serious expression, he hurriedly asked with a hint of joking.
"Is it because of a special fate? I can't figure it out?" Wei Yixian muttered without looking at Qu Wuming at all, instead staring at the copper coins below.
"Can't it be calculated?" Qu Wuming was amused in his heart, but he said, "Your name of 'One Immortal' is not meant to fool people, right? Haha..."
"Impossible!" Wei Yixian frowned, reluctantly picked up the copper coins, muttered something in his mouth, and threw them down again. By coincidence, the scattered copper coins were distributed exactly the same as last time, "Eh? That's weird! ... …I still don’t believe it!”
With that said, Wei Yixian put away the copper coins, took out a pot from his bag, and said, "Give me another drop of blood!"
Qu Wuming laughed loudly when he saw this and said, "I'm talking about fortune telling. Others use tortoise shells and money to tell fortunes. How can you use a pot of fortune telling? Are you trying to teach me how to tell fortunes?"
"Is my divination method comparable to those ordinary divination techniques?" Wei Yixian held up the divination chips and urged, "Hurry, a drop of blood!"
"Okay!" Qu Wuming also seemed to be interested. He took out a gold needle from the storage ring and pricked his finger, and squeezed out a drop of blood again.
Wei Yixian took out an arithmetic stick, dipped it lightly in the drop of blood, recited the magic formula silently in his mouth, and used the arithmetic stick as a pen and the blood as ink to draw a magic circle on the floor of the carriage.
Not long after, a Bagua array pattern drawn by fine blood lines appeared on the floor, about a foot in diameter. It seemed to be breathing. It flickered on the floor and emitted a soft red light. People on the side could see Tong Xiangyu looked surprised, thinking secretly in her heart.
Immediately afterwards, Wei Yixian held the bamboo tube with both hands, closed his eyes, moved his lips, and muttered something. After a long time, he opened his eyes and poured out the whole pot of calculations in one fell swoop.
