The mounts of Gu Shengchao and Tian Mang grazed and rested on the grass by themselves. Although the grass in winter was withered and dry, they could still replenish their physical strength.
When the horses saw them coming out of the woods, they ran towards their owners at the same time. Their big heads rubbed against each other in a very affectionate manner.
After simply eating something, Gu Shengchao asked: "Brother Tian, which direction should we go?"
Tian Mang looked at the mountains: "We can only go west along the foot of the mountain. In about ten days, we will see a mountain that looks like the side of a human face. Then we can walk straight into the southern desert for two days, and then we can safely reach the West Cold Country. .”
"My little brother once stayed in a caravan. I couldn't get lost with the help of Polaris at night. How many days will it take for us to cross the desert now?" Gu Shengchao considered that the dry food and water bags they brought with them only left one day's needs. I want to get out of here as soon as possible.
Tian Mang shook his head: "No, it's a forbidden place. No one can get out alive. I don't know how many caravans disappeared there. The road I mentioned was found by other caravans on their own adventure. We spent money to find it." We learned about it. Even so, we only dare to leave after it snows in winter, and we will definitely not take risks at other times."
"Forbidden place?" The ancient sage was shocked. This was the first time he had heard of such a place.
The two got on their horses and chatted while walking. After Tian Mang introduced him, Gu Shengchao had a general understanding of him.
The desert is so vast that not only do business travelers never return, but even the surrounding cattle and sheep stay away and rarely go there to graze. People all know that place is a forbidden place, so they basically choose to avoid it.
Even if it is a detour, people only do it in winter. Especially in summer and autumn, everyone stays far away and avoids it.
Tian Mang worked as a porter when he was young. He followed the team and chose to take a summer adventure. He was walking normally along the foot of the mountain. The man exploring the path at the front suddenly started slashing wildly with his knife like crazy. His own people tried to dissuade him but also raised their swords to chop him. Not long after, the man who tried to stop him was also infected. He pulled out his sword and died with the man.
The people following behind felt dizzy and did not dare to move forward and turned around to run away. Only then did they escape the disaster.
Every year, a very few people who do not believe in evil forces break in, but they never return, and their whereabouts have never been seen since.
Tian Mang led the way, and the two of them basically walked along the mountain range.
That night, they were in a hurry to get the Night Pearl. In order to distract the pursuers, they let go of the heavily laden horses. The dry food they brought with them had long been eaten. Fortunately, they could catch pheasants and hares on the mountain, which could relieve their urgent needs.
The two of them walked stop and go for more than ten days, and Tian Mang gradually became anxious: "Oops, we seem to be lost. I remember that the mountain peak that looks like a human face should have been there a long time ago, but I can't find it."
"We always go along the foot of the mountain first. It is unlikely that we will get lost. It is right in front." Gu Shengchao comforted him.
Tian Mang doubtfully walked forward with Gu Shengchao for another two days. Looking at the collapsed rocks next to the cliff, he suddenly realized: "I understand, that mountain peak is very old and must have collapsed and ceased to exist, so we can't find it." arrive."
"It's already too late anyway, so let's go back and look for it." Gu Shengchao believed in Tian Mang.
The two returned and searched for three days. They encountered several mountain collapses, but Tian Mang had no way of identifying them.
After calming down and discussing for a long time, they decided to stock up on more food and water, choose a place close to the one Tian Mang knew, and venture south across the desert.
After two days of walking in the desert, it was almost noon on the third day. Tian Mang pointed to the distance and said excitedly: "This road is correct. Have you seen the city in front of you?"
A tall city is revealed in the sky ahead, covered by clouds, making it ethereal and illusory.
"I saw it." Gu Shengchao was also excited and ran towards there on horseback.
However, after the two of them rode on horseback for two hours, the city still stood vaguely on the horizon as far as the eye could see.
Gu Shengchao felt vaguely that something was not good, so he broke off the horsewhip grass on a flat and conspicuous place and dropped half of it.
The two of them ran towards the city for nearly an hour. The ancient sage's sharp eyes spotted half of a riding crop discarded on the ground.
Picking it up and connecting it with the one in his hand, they fit together seamlessly.
"A ghost beating a wall?" Tian Mang was horrified to see this.
He jumped into the air, summoned his sword and stood on it to look at the heights. The city in the distance was still looming, surrounded by the boundless desert, and nothing else.
"Trouble, we mistakenly entered a forbidden place." Tian Mang fell on his horse and his voice was trembling.
Gu Shengchao looked around and saw that the sky was gloomy. Although he could not see the setting sun, he knew that the sunset was coming.
"This place is really weird. We might as well rest where we are to conserve our strength. We may be able to pass here at night by using the stars to identify the direction." Gu Shengchao suggested.
Tian Mang was helpless: "That's fine, this is the only thing we can do now."
As night falls, layers of mist rise from the desert, making the already dark night even darker.
Needless to say, the sky is full of stars, and it is difficult to see anything even ten steps away.
There was a sudden fog in the winter night, which was not a good sign no matter how you thought about it. Gu Shengchao and Tian Mang were both a little uneasy.
The ancient sage released his senses, and found that there was no other aura within ten miles, so he felt a little relieved.
suddenly.
Ten steps away.
Two figures appeared.
"who?"
Gu Shengchao and Tian Mang held swords in their hands at the same time, stood there and shouted in horror.
Especially Gu Shengchao, who clearly did not sense the breath of living creatures, almost lost his soul when two figures suddenly appeared.
The two figures were silent and walked toward the two of them quietly.
Only five steps away, the two of them were even more horrified.
Those two people were clearly their clones. They looked and dressed exactly the same, even the way they held their swords was exactly the same.
Gu Shengchao and Tian Mang looked at each other, and at the same time raised their swords to stab the other one.
What was even more shocking was that the two people were actually two phantoms that passed right through their bodies.
Gu Shengchao and Tian Mang rushed over, staggering a few steps and almost falling.
The two turned back, and the two shadows also turned around and approached them again with staggering steps.
"Brother Tian, don't pay attention to them." Just as Gu Shengchao was about to stop him, Tian Mang had already killed him, slashing at the two phantoms as if he were crazy.
Gu Shengchao sensed the surroundings and was sure that there was no danger, so he stepped forward and tapped Tian Mang's acupuncture points to calm him down.
Ignoring the two phantoms close at hand, the ancient sage concentrated on practicing his Qi.
Gu Shengchao was trapped in the Zhennan Palace by Tuoba Feng using Xiaoyao Fan. He relied on the "Five Soul Array" to crack it. He immediately used the "Five Soul Array" to create an array around the five elements that mutually interacted and restrained each other.
The fog slowly dissipated, and the two shadows gradually became transparent, and finally disappeared into nothing.
After a cup of tea, all the fog within a ten-mile radius dispersed, and a castle appeared out of thin air in front of them.
The castle is about a mile wide, and the gate is open, making it difficult to see clearly in the darkness.
The ancient sage was very puzzled, picked up Tian Mang and walked over.
As we got closer, three big characters were faintly visible on the city gate: Phoenix Castle.
There are couplets engraved on the stone walls on both sides. The fonts are somewhat off, but you can still make them out.
The first couplet is: The phoenix dances across the world, and the second couplet is: Seeking the unparalleled phoenix to travel across the nine states.
Together they are clearly like a phoenix dancing in pursuit of a phoenix, unparalleled in the world.
Gu Shengchao's breathing became rapid. This castle was definitely closely related to the Fengwu Qiuhuang sword technique.
Unable to resist his inner impulse, he wanted to go in and find out, but he couldn't bear to worry about Tian Mang in his arms.
He was breathing steadily and was falling asleep.
Their mounts also followed.
After thinking for a moment, Gu Shengchao waved to BMW Zhuifeng: "Don't come in, just wait at the door."
Zhui Feng seemed to understand his master's words, shook the hair on his body, and stood still.
Gu Shengchao sensed that there was no one inside the city gate, so he carefully walked in with Tian Mang in his arms.
The dim streets were lined with half-collapsed buildings, overgrown with weeds and a depressing and dilapidated scene.
Arriving at the center of the castle, there is a spacious martial arts training ground. Next to it is a tall stone tablet with vague words on it.
Gu Shengchao opened the fire seal and watched.
The above content roughly states that they are all disciples and grandsons of Sima Xicheng. They came here from the Dawu Dynasty to build castles and live there, practicing the Phoenix Dance and Phoenix Sword Technique.
In order to avoid interference from outsiders, magic vines were specially obtained from the two poisonous witch sects and planted around the castle.
Magic vines grow underground and climb everywhere on the grass. Their leaves and flowers have hallucinogenic properties, causing various illusions.
Outsiders couldn't come in. They originally thought they could live in seclusion here.
Unexpectedly, the magic vine grew out of control and later spread into the castle through the underground.
They burned it with fire, dug up the ground and cut off the roots. They tried all their methods to no avail. Seeing that their own people were suffering from it and began to kill each other like crazy, they had no choice but to abandon the castle and stay away from here.
Gu Shengchao walked around to the other side of the stone tablet, which read crookedly: Anyone who wants to be the successor of Fengwu's swordsmanship practice the swordsmanship before leaving, and there will be surprises.
Judging from the smooth appearance of the stone tablet, there were originally no words on it, but later generations used their internal energy to carve it into it.
Gu Shengchao saw that the view here was wide and good, so he put down Tian Mang and walked around.
The martial arts training ground is paved with bluestone slabs and is relatively flat with very few weeds. All that is left of the nearby houses are their collapsed walls, and their roofs are basically gone.
There was a big pit nearby. It felt bottomless in the night, but the edges were smooth.
After running around for days, Gu Shengchao had wasted his time and had long been itching to find time to practice hard.
Taking advantage of this rare free time, he summoned the sword, held the sword in his left hand and used the Phoenix Dance sword technique.
His right hand imitated Tian Mang's appearance, and made hook, lead, lead and other movements in conjunction with the sword in his left hand.
Inadvertently, Gu Shengchao felt that his Dantian was full of energy, as if something was about to burst out.
He guided the movement of his true energy, and with a phoenix cry, a colorful phoenix appeared above his head.
Although it is smaller than the one transformed with the Phoenix Dance Sword, it is still colorful and dancing.
"Who are you?"
The ancient sage Chao was immersed in the joy of cultivating the colorful phoenix. Someone asked him out of thin air. His whole body trembled violently, his true energy collapsed, and the colorful phoenix returned to his body.
Looking closely, a person's head popped out of the air, followed by slender rattan branches that extended into a deep pit next to the martial arts training ground.
"Mom!"
Ancient Sage Chao almost lost his mind and sat down on the bluestone in fear.
