Xu Huaigu had already reached the second level of cultivation on Fengtou Mountain, and was only a short step away from the third level. But it was this small step that he had not taken even after practicing hard at Fengtou Mountain for a year.
During several years of practice, he also accumulated some experience.
If you just practice hard without the support of travel and knowledge, and practice without cultivating your mind, it will be difficult to break through the three realms.
That's why he decided to leave Fengtou Mountain and embark on the road north again.
His destination is still the Fuyao Sect in the north of East Fuyao Continent. As the largest sect in the continent, the Fuyao Sect has an extremely profound foundation. Only there will he have a greater future.
However, the fact that he secretly left Fengtou Mountain could not be hidden from the mysterious and unpredictable Feng'er.
Feng'er even looked for him once when he came down the mountain.
Originally, Xu Huaigu thought that Feng'er came forward in person and that something big had happened. What made Xu Huaigu dumbfounded was that she just asked Xu Huaigu to take out all the banknotes on her body, saying that she would store them on the mountain, because she was afraid that one day the mountain would be in a hurry to use money.
Probably because he had lived as a bandit in the mountains for more than ten years, Feng'er also got a little bit of gangsterism, so he forced Xu Huaigu to give up all his wealth, in the name of letting Xu Huaigu experience the hardships of life on the road.
She also said with a smile that this could be regarded as a way to cleanse the sword with the worldly dust, and the sword would be faster and sharper in the future.
Although Xu Huaigu didn't believe her remarks about cleaning the sword, the great monk said, "What does worldly gold and silver matter?"
Xu Huaigu immediately gave all his wealth to Feng'er, waved his hands, and embarked on the road north.
Who knows that it is easier to use money than to make money.
Along the way to the north, Xu Huaigu really didn't find a suitable way to make money.
Apart from catching a few wild animals while passing through the barren mountains and forests, and earning some copper coins after selling them, he really had no other way to make money.
Xu Huaigu felt very regretful, but since he had given away the money, it would naturally not come back, and he would have to suffer the consequences.
…
In a mountain stream deep in the mountains, gusts of cold wind blew, blowing down a few small stones from the cliffs on both sides, and rolled down.
There is a small river in the mountain stream. The river is not wide, but in this mountain, the water flow is extremely fast. Every time it flows around the corner, it will stir up a whirlpool of snow-white waves.
The cliffs on both sides are covered with green vines of different thicknesses and a thick layer of moss. From a distance, they look like a vertical green waterfall, which is breathtakingly beautiful.
A tall man stood in the mountain stream, wearing two swords and a black turban. His long hair was exposed behind the turban and fluttered wildly in the mountain wind.
He took the turban, forcefully opened the turban that had been loosened by the strong wind, and wrapped it tightly again.
The moment he opened his turban, a biting cold wind blew in his face and got into his collar, making him shiver.
He quickly covered his scarf, wrapped it around his neck, and complained: "What the hell is this place? It's still so cold in spring. They also said that there are ancient swords left by immortals with inscriptions on them. Isn't it just the broken stone walls on both sides? There are no inscriptions anywhere. ?”
Complaints were complaints. He rewrapped his turban and started to move forward. He kept glancing at the stone wall next to him, trying to find the famous stone wall with the inscription "山砠水 cliff".
The man rushing in the unknown mountain stream was Xu Huaigu. He had been away from Fengtou Mountain for ten years.
It was still the coldest time of spring, but he was only wearing an old leather jacket. Fortunately, thanks to years of exercise, his body was very strong and he was not made sick by the severe cold in spring.
He heard someone say in Huanghu City, which he passed by a few days ago: There is a mountain range to the west of Huanghu called Huangqi Mountain. There is a mountain stream in the mountain stream, and there is a long river in the mountain stream, which directly flows into the Qishui River in Dongfuyao Island. .
Both sides of the mountain stream are surrounded by dangerous cliffs. One of them is engraved with the inscription "Shan Laishui Cliff". It is said that it was carved by a swordsman from Dong Fuyao Island with his natal flying sword.
That piece of carving is very old, it is said that it has a history of thousands of years, and the name of the swordsman who carved it has been forgotten. But even so, the majestic characters "山砠水 Cliff" on the cliff still stand.
That momentum, that coercion, that sword energy that goes straight up to the sky is really heart-pounding!
These were the exact words of the little roadside beggar in Huanghu City. When he said this, he looked proud, as if he had carved these words.
Xu Huaigu looked at the little beggar who only started to speak after receiving two copper coins like an idiot. He danced and gestured how magnificent the four engraved characters were, and spattered all over Xu Huaigu's face.
Xu Huaigu had no interest in calligraphy itself, but when he heard that the characters were carved by the sword immortal with an ancient sword, he suddenly became interested.
Maybe there's still some sword spirit left in it from the ancient sword?
Maybe it will help your own practice.
It just so happened that his temporary destination, Xingqing, the capital city of Dayu Kingdom, was also on the bank of Qishui River. After going to that short sentence, he could go to Qishui River along the river, and then go down the river to reach there. It is located in Xingqing, the largest city in the southern part of Dongfuyao Island.
He had arrived at Huangqi Mountain yesterday evening, and after a night's rest, he began to look for the engravings.
However, this mountain stream was really weird. He walked from sunrise to sunset without reaching the end of the mountain stream.
Fortunately, the carving is not at the end of the mountain stream. After a day's trek, he finally saw the majestic characters "山砠水 cliff" on the stone wall from a distance as the sun set.
Xu Huaigu stood under the stone wall with a fascinated face, looking up at the four big characters.
The four characters "山砠水 cliff" are more than 30 feet high. Xu Huaigu is as weak as an ant under the prominence of the big characters.
He first lamented the magnificence of the four words in his heart, but when he began to savor these words carefully, his face began to become a little confused, and then became more and more ugly.
It is true that the four words "mountain, water and cliff" are huge, but that's all. At least in Xu Huaigu's opinion, there is no swordsmanship at all.
To understand the artistic conception of a word, you need to look at the strokes of the word. The strokes of these four characters are rounded and deliberately unnatural, and lack the sharp edge and freedom that swordsmanship should have.
This should be just a carving by later generations. The legend of the ancient sword carvings was actually made up by others to attract tourists to come here.
Xu Huaigu was quite disappointed.
The engraving that I had been looking for for several days was such a fake, and it was inevitable that I would be disappointed.
But when he thought about the problem carefully, he laughed to himself.
If it were really the words engraved by the ancient sword's sword intent, how could it be exposed in the wilderness like this? Even if there were no great monks who wanted to take it for themselves, the mountain would have been trampled by the people who came to pay homage. How could it be that no one cared about it?
If I had used my brain more, I wouldn't have been deceived like this.
He suddenly remembered what Feng'er had said to him four years ago.
Whenever you encounter anything in the world, remember to think more about the ins and outs. Maybe it is useless and useless most of the time, but after you develop this habit, you will feel like a clear mirror when you see people or things, and you will be able to do things with ease.
It's easy to say, but difficult to put into practice.
He shook his head, looked at the blazing sunset on the horizon, and sighed helplessly: He had to spend the night in this wilderness again.
Then he found a flat spot by the river, wrapped his body tightly in clothes, and sat down. Without a bonfire, he could only rely on his body to survive the cold night.
Before it got completely dark, he took out another piece of yellow paper from the cloth bag he was carrying behind him and started studying it.
The crumpled yellow paper was a map of East Fuyao Island.
The map was very old, made of some kind of inferior paper, it was very yellowed, and there were white spots of mold in the corners.
The writing on the map is also very blurry. Only a few large countries and large sects can be vaguely seen, and the rest of the small countries and small sects cannot be clearly seen.
Xu Huaigu had a headache when he looked at this map. Many places had been omitted by the person who drew the map. It took him a while to roughly figure out his location.
He is still located in the middle of Dayu Kingdom and has not yet arrived in the capital to celebrate. Further north from Dayu Country are Yamato Country, Liusu Country and the northernmost Fuso Country.
Fuyao Sect is located in Fusang Kingdom, which is still almost three thousand miles away from his current location. According to his traveling speed, he will have to visit mountains and rivers along the way, which is estimated to take close to two years.
However, he was not in a hurry. The decision to become a disciple was not finalized yet. Deng Zhiyuan only said that he would consider it again, and may not accept him as a disciple.
And she also told Xu Huaigu to see more of the mountains, rivers, and scenic spots in East Fuyaozhou on the road. After all, in a short time, East Fuyao Continent will fall under the flames of war, and by then the current rivers and mountains will be nothing short of spectacular.
Thinking of this, he sighed again, thinking of his parents who were still in Jiangyuan and Zhang Xiaohe who was in Qingling. When the war breaks out, what should they do?
My strength is still too weak. If my cultivation level can be higher, I can take my parents and Zhang Xiaohe away from Dong Fuyao Continent and go somewhere else, which will also settle my worries.
As he thought about it, he fell into a trance and fell into sleep before he knew it.
In his dream, he remembered the carvings of "山砠水平" again, and complained in his sleep vaguely: "Whatever the carvings are, they are all deceptive, and they are not as good as the words written by Mr. Chu."
Xu Huaigu turned over and continued talking in his sleep.
…
Starting from the mountain stream where Xuhuai Valley is located, the line of sight has been rising, through the dark night sky, to the sea of clouds dyed ink by the night.
Looking down from the sea of inky clouds, the mountain range is like a canvas. It is not just one mountain stream, but many narrow mountain streams are like painting on the mountain range, cutting this mountain range into countless sections.
The mountain streams are connected vertically and horizontally in all directions, which is the cursive script of the four characters "山砠水 Cliff".
This cursive script uses the earth and rocks of the mountains as ink. The handwriting is flowing with clouds and water, dancing dragons and phoenixes, cutting the rocks without any stagnation, which is extremely chic and elegant.
Who else but the unknown swordsman from ancient times could come up with such a skill?
Xu Huaigu was still sleeping soundly, unaware that he was already in the sword.
