In the village at the foot of the mountain, in a low thatched house with earthen walls, an old woman was making homemade earthenware incense.
Like Song You in the temple, she had a wooden incense table, which was about the same size as a single desk. On top was a flat wooden board about a foot wide, with a pile of sticks about three fingers wide and more than a foot wide stuck on the board with an awl. A long piece of red paper used for rolling incense, with an incense trough filled with spices underneath. Looking closely at the spices, one can vaguely distinguish several familiar raw materials, which are beaten into grains the size of corn, showing a greenish-yellow color.
But I saw the old man scooping up the spices with a bamboo piece about the same length as the red paper, pouring out a neat long strip on the red paper, then took out the bamboo stick, folded it a few times and sealed the top of the red paper, and used his hand to seal the top of the red paper. With one rub, the entire incense stick was rolled up very skillfully.
Then glue the bottom of the earthy incense, and an earthy incense is ready.
It only takes about ten seconds to roll up such an incense stick. The old man's movements are smooth and every bit of force is just right. It is really a pleasure to watch.
Song You stood aside quietly without making a sound.
The old man has silver hair all over his head and is very focused.
The room was filled with the fragrance of herbs, light shone in from the window, and subtle fragrance was floating in the air, and both sides suddenly took shape.
Even the calico cat has a calm mind.
Thirty sticks of incense were quickly rolled.
The old man counted the numbers carefully, tied them up with thatch and handed them to Song You:
"Little sir."
"Thank you, old man."
Song You took it respectfully.
Each stick of this kind of incense is as thick as a finger, which is much thicker than the fine incense in the city. It is not easy to hold it in your hand. But in fact, thirty sticks only cost six cents, and the most expensive one is this rough one. Poor quality red paper.
Song You paid a little more money as a reward for the old man who told him about the local fragrant ingredients before, thanked him and left.
Although this incense is cheap and cannot be sold at a high price, many Taoist priests in the Taoist temples that Song You has dealt with like to use this kind of homemade incense, and most of them especially like to use the incense rolled by themselves.
Only by pouring your heart and soul into it can you understand ghosts and gods.
After leaving the village, Song You walked onto the road and returned to the village temple. He only kept three of the thirty incense sticks, and placed the rest in front of the statue of Wang Shanggong.
Something is borrowed and something is returned, something is taken and something is given.
Feeling better, I continued on my way.
Now from one person to one person and one cat.
Sanhua Empress was very honest at first, maybe because she was not familiar with Song You, so she just followed him honestly, keeping her distance leisurely. Soon its nature was freed, and it began to run a few steps forward from time to time, and then turned back to look at Song You. From time to time it stood still, lowering its head to smell and smell the weeds on the roadside. Attracted by the butterflies or birds in the air, it stopped. When Song You was far away, it quickly trotted after him.
With it being so noisy, the journey was not so boring.
Not far away, they encountered a checkpoint. Song You showed the ultimatum and successfully passed the checkpoint.
As mentioned before, traveling merchants and Jianghu people each have their own methods, and people like Song You also have their own special ways.
In this world, religion is also controlled by the court, and each dynasty is different. As for Dayan specifically, the management of religion is actually much stricter. The biggest difference from the previous dynasty is that the privileges of ordinary palaces and temples have been reduced.
For example, various taxes are no longer exempt.
But after all, this is a world with ghosts and gods, and we still need to respect those master practitioners who practice the Tao.
Therefore, Dayan had two levels of ultimatums.
An ordinary certificate is a piece of paper with talismans drawn on it, writing the issuing institution, Taoist temple and personal information, and stamped with a big seal. It needs to be pressed in a box, otherwise it will be damaged. This kind of ultimatum can be obtained by serious monks and Taoists.
The other is a fold.
Getting this discount proves that you have something to some extent, or that an elder in your school once had something and has a certain tax-free limit. Considering that demons and ghosts appear frequently in the world, and some practitioners have a hard need to travel around the world to debate scriptures and Taoism, this ultimatum also serves as a guide. In addition to itself, it can also bring five disciples to follow.
It can be regarded as preferential treatment for master practitioners.
However, as time goes by, this kind of ultimatum will inevitably spread, and now it can no longer explain anything.
After passing this level, the scenery along the road has undergone major changes. The mountains on the left are no longer gentle and have become tall and steep. The right side has remained the same as before. The road follows the stream and passes through the mountains. Every time Sanhua Empress thinks about it. To see the top of the mountain, you have to raise your head to the highest point.
"So high!"
Sanhua Empress said.
"Has Sanhua Empress ever seen such a high mountain?" Song You asked, sitting on a stone and eating steamed cakes.
"No."
The calico cat turned to look at him.
Song You seemed to have just remembered it, and quickly broke off a small piece of the steamed cake in his hand that he had not bitten, and bent down to hand it to the calico cat's mouth.
The calico cat only stared at him blankly.
At this moment, an insect buzzed past it. The calico cat just raised its front paws and firmly caught the flying insect in the palm of its hand. Then it raised its paws to its mouth. , when Song You saw clearly, he could only see the translucent wings of flying insects beside his mouth.
The calico cat glanced at Song You while eating.
"..."
It's because I'm ignorant.
Song You silently took back the hand holding the steamed cake.
"Are you going to eat?" the calico cat asked him, "Miss Sanhua will help you catch two more."
"No, I don't eat bugs."
“Very delicious.”
"I understand."
"Where's the mouse?"
"No, thank you."
"Well……"
"Have you ever heard of Sanhua Empress?" Song You asked while eating steamed cakes, "There is a place ahead called Hand Climbing Rock. It is extremely steep, but the scenery is excellent."
“What is hand climbing?”
"It's a small path cut into a wall that you have to crawl through."
"How did you know?"
"I stayed in the temple a few days ago and listened to what those Jianghu people said."
"I rarely listen to them."
"Quite interesting."
"Are we going there?"
"I wanna go."
"Hmm..." The calico cat suddenly jumped up again and accurately caught an insect. This time Song You could see clearly that it was a locust, and it only said to Song You, "Anyway, the calico cat will follow you."
Song You nodded.
The sun sets in the west.
When Song You asked about the third local house, he finally arrived at the foot of the hand climbing rock.
The old man weaving lanterns wore a bamboo hat and stood at the door of his house. He pointed to the cliff on the left and said to Song: "There is a hand-climbing rock up there."
One person and one cat looked up.
A thousand-foot cliff seemed to be right in front of them. It was so close that for a moment, nothing else could be seen except this high mountain cliff.
"Hand climbing is indeed a shortcut, but not many people have used it for a long time. This road is very dangerous, wet and slippery, and the mountains are often haunted by monsters and ghosts, with ghosts crying and wolves howling every night. But people often go up there to play. We go there during the day and come back during the day. No one dares to spend the night up there." The old man kindly said to the young Taoist priest, "It's too late now. If you want to see the scenery, you'd better go up there tomorrow. If you go up there, it's better before dark. Must come back.”
"May I ask the old man, how long does it take to climb up?"
"It takes an hour to climb up, and it will take another hour to come back. If you walk down from there, it will take two hours to reach the bottom."
"An hour..."
Song You calculated it, and it was still too late.
The old man glared at him dissatisfied: "You want to go up tonight? Then you have to walk in the dark at night. There are really ghosts on this mountain."
"It's out of the way."
People become ghosts after death, and ghosts are naturally weaker than humans.
"Even if you are not afraid of ghosts, walking at night is still very dangerous." The old man continued, "For thousands of years, countless people have fallen to death here."
"Old man, please sell me a lantern."
"I only have a lantern here, no candles."
"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter."
"You Taoist priest don't listen to advice!"
Song You just smiled and spent sixteen cash to buy a simple lantern from an old man. It had a common shape. The bamboo frame was slender and light. It was covered with a layer of off-white paper, which was a little yellowish, but nothing else. decorate.
One person and one cat went up the mountain along the path.
"It's cloudy and rainy, ghosts cry at night..."
Song You murmured, with a smile on his lips.
This is how the world describes rock climbing.
Go up through the mountain forest, go up diagonally along the two-foot-wide cliff path, and reach the top, where you will find the famous hand-climbing rock.
This section of the cliff is perpendicular to the ground, and the path is entirely based on the natural cracks on the cliff and man-made excavations. It is a path less than a person's height. The wide part may be three or four feet, and the narrow part can only allow a person to hug it. The cliff is dangerous to walk over, and you have to bend down the whole way, otherwise you have to use your hands and feet.
Sanhua Empress is relaxed, which has no effect on her at all. Song You will have a much harder time.
Not only do you have to bend down to move forward, but you also have to worry about losing your footing and falling.
Not afraid of trekkers with high mountains and long roads, the mountains and rivers give back the most amazing scenery.
From this angle, the ravine below is covered with green shade, like a dark blanket. There are occasionally unknown trees on the cliffs. I don’t know where they are rooted. They just grow so tenaciously against the cliffs, blown by the mountain wind for many years. One direction seems to welcome brave climbers.
Surprisingly, in such a breathtaking place, the predecessors not only carved out such a road here, but also carved countless cliff stone carvings overhead and on the cliffs.
There are scriptures that save the souls of the dead, and there are statues of gods that suppress evil spirits. Many of them are beginning to be a little blurry. Time is flowing through them. For thousands of years, they have witnessed batches of people passing by here. I wonder if they can continue. millennium.
Song You walked very slowly, not only carefully, but also slowly admiring the steep scenery below, or looking up to look at the gods on these stone carvings.
These cliff carvings span a wide range of ages and therefore have different painting styles. Some gods have strange painting styles, some gods have a feminine painting style, and some gods deliberately highlight their strong bodies. These were the people's fantasies about the images of gods at that time, reflecting the social atmosphere and folk preferences of different periods, from which we can probably judge. Which dynasties do these stone carvings come from?
The oldest one is probably thousands of years old.
Song You looked at it carefully, not only the painting style and craftsmanship, but also the facial features of these gods. It seemed that he could see a corner of those long gone eras.
Perhaps in a certain era, when this road was not abandoned and people often walked there, there would really be countless demons and ghosts taking advantage of the terrain to block the road and seek their lives. The gods on these stone carvings, with the blessing of the people's wishes, were truly frightening. Watching the monsters and monsters in the mountains.
Suddenly, I had an idea in my mind, maybe using both hands and feet and bending forward is not only because it is difficult to excavate, but also to allow people who pass by to bend down and maintain some respect in front of these statues that suppress evil spirits.
It was getting darker.
Song You stopped at the highest point and sat on the edge of the cliff, his legs hanging naturally, feeling the mountain breeze, determined to spend the night here tonight.
There is no rain today, but the sunset is like blood, and the sky is filled with red clouds.
There are not a few people who love traveling in this era. Many scholar-officials and writers are keen on natural mountains and rivers. According to the old people at the foot of the mountain, people are often attracted by the dangerous scenery on the hand-climbed rocks and are not afraid of dangers to climb and play, but there are very few people. Dare to spend the night up there.
From Song You's point of view, they really missed a lot.
But what is more beautiful is not the sunset, but the dreamlike colors that appear on the horizon after the afterglow of the sunset fades and the top of the head has dimmed.
It seems blue but not blue, it seems purple but not red, it seems pink and white, and gradually turns into the gentle evening glow.
The darker the sky, the more beautiful the horizon is.
Song You stared blankly, mesmerized.
In this world, the pure natural scenery and the magic of gods and ghosts are the few things that can attract him, because only these few things, in his heart, make this world no less boring than the other world.
"Taoist priest, why don't we go down?"
"Don't go down."
"it's dark."
"Um."
The mountain wind made it a little cold.
Song You was still sitting on the edge of the cliff, admiring the colors of the sky and the silhouette of the mountains at his feet. Suddenly he seemed to remember something, so he reached out and picked up the lantern he just bought. He lifted the lantern with one hand and pointed it at the distant horizon with the other hand. A little nothingness is thrown into this lantern.
In an instant, the lantern lit up with a dreamlike light that was as bright as the sky at that moment.
Let’s borrow a touch of rays of sunshine to relieve the cold and long nights.
