Shu Guan has always known that there is a temple on the mountain.
When he was thirteen years old, he went to the cave to see the temple.
And that temple was used by the villagers of Taoyuan Village to worship the immortal who brought them here more than two hundred years ago.
However, this temple was not built by the villagers of Taoyuan Village. It was originally in the cave. After the first villagers came to live here for a few years, it was accidentally discovered by a villager when he went up to the mountain to hunt.
The villagers of Taoyuan Village did not know the origin of this temple. When they discovered this temple, there were only some simple furnishings in the temple and no statues were enshrined.
At that time, the villagers could not help but guess whether this temple was the place of spiritual cultivation of the immortal, so they built a statue of the immortal in the temple. On every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, the villagers would devoutly bring various offerings and walk through a rugged journey. The difficult mountain road took a whole day to worship the immortal.
Perhaps it was not to pray for blessings or protection, nor to eliminate disasters, but simply to express respect and gratitude to the immortal.
This situation lasted for decades. After the original Taoyuan villagers gradually died, the number of visits by the new generation of Taoyuan villagers began to decrease.
For the new generation of villagers born and raised in Taoyuan Village, the Immortal is more of a legend from their parents. They have never seen the Immortal, nor have they experienced the despair of living in troubled times, and the immediate aftermath. The ecstasy of being rescued followed, so it was difficult to have the kind of admiration and gratitude that our fathers had for that immortal.
And going to the temple on that mountain is indeed a very difficult task.
So as time goes by, year after year, the number of visits to Xianguan by the villagers of Taoyuan Village inevitably becomes less and less.
It’s not to say that the villagers are ungrateful, it’s just human nature.
Taoyuan Village is isolated from the world. The people living here may be simpler and more honest than the people outside, but they are not completely pure and innocent little white rabbits. They are also greedy, sneaky, petty, and careless. In human nature, They also have no shortage of dirty and dark things.
Most of the time in Taoyuan Village, the weather is smooth and the climate is pleasant. The people living here naturally have no worries about food and clothing and don't ask for help. In this case, praying for immortality and worshiping gods is not so necessary.
In Wang Erniu's generation, few people would go to the fairy temple. That is to say, village elders like Wang Erniu would only prepare some offerings and go to the fairy temple on the mountain every four or five years. In the middle of worship, sprinkle and sweep.
Shu Guan had been there once. After he heard about such an immortal temple, he went to take a look. Except for a clay statue covered with dust and hung with many cobwebs, there was nothing else inside.
But this time, the severe drought finally reminded the people of Taoyuan Village of the temple and the statue in the temple.
There are not many old people alive in the village who actually experienced the severe drought more than 40 years ago.
The drought that year came out of nowhere and ended without any warning. The only thing everyone knew was that the last rain was brought by the old cripple.
The old cripple, who was still young at that time, went to the Immortal Temple on the mountain alone because of the serious drought in the village. He prayed in front of the Immortal Statue and helped Taoyuan Village get nectar from a long drought.
However, this matter was said by the old cripple himself. No one saw it, and no one else could prove it.
Therefore, for many years, people in the village have been doubtful about this matter. This time, unless there was really no other way, Wang Erniu approached the old lame man with the mentality of treating a dead horse as a living horse doctor.
…
At dawn the next day, a group of more than 30 people set off from Taoyuan Village.
The leader is Wang Erniu, the patriarch of Taoyuan Village, plus the old cripple who is the most important person in praying for rain this time, and several village elders in the village who can talk about things. Of course, the premise is that these village elders cannot be too old. At least I can still walk on the mountain road for half a day.
There are also about twenty of the strongest young men in the village, who are responsible for carrying the offerings to the immortal up the mountain.
The offerings were prepared overnight yesterday, totaling one pig, one sheep, and various fruits and dishes. Now that the drought is becoming increasingly severe, these things are not a small burden for Taoyuan Village.
Wang Erniu hesitated and struggled all night, and finally kept the cow he was planning to slaughter.
For the isolated Taoyuan Village, cattle are very important livestock, sometimes even more important than human life.
And Shu Guan is also in this team.
Shuguan is sixteen years old this year, but he is already the best hunter in Taoyuan Village. He has followed the old cripple throughout the mountains and forests around Taoyuan Village since he was a child. No one is more familiar with everything in the mountains than him.
The cliff cave hiding the Immortal Temple is located halfway up the cliff, and the mountain road to get there is extremely rugged and difficult to navigate.
Of course, this only refers to the first half of the journey. Once you get to the back, there is almost no path. You can only hold on to the vines on the cliff and step on the uneven rocks.
This is why many years ago the old lame man said that he went to the fairy temple to pray for rain alone. Many people in the village didn't believe it. It was very difficult for a normal middle-aged man to go up to that cliff cave, let alone one. Crippled.
And even if what the old cripple said was true, he might have been able to go up there decades ago, but now that the old cripple is too old and frail, it is no longer possible.
So this time, two people, Shu Guan and Wang Dahu, used bamboo recliners tied to wooden sticks to help him carry him up.
The group set out early in the morning and finally arrived at the cliff cave around noon. Everyone rested at the entrance of the cave, drank water and had something to eat, because they had to walk a long cave passage next.
Shu Guan stood at the entrance of the cave, chewing dry food and looking up at the entrance.
There were dense spiderweb-like vines on both sides of the cave, as well as below, but the cliff above the cave entrance was bare.
The entire cliff is bounded by this cliff cave. The vegetation below is lush, but there is no grass growing above.
The cliffs around Taoyuan Village are like this.
This is actually a very unreasonable thing. How can the same cliffs, rocks and soil be completely different? What's more, it is such a clear difference, and there is a vague sense of incomparable determination.
This is an extremely indescribable feeling, but people who see these cliffs for the first time feel awe-inspiring inexplicably.
Shu Guan squinted and looked at the cliff above. A few hundred meters further up, there was the top of the cliff. If he could reach the top of the cliff and climb over the cliff, he could get out of this cage-like valley.
Unfortunately, the cliff is as smooth as a mirror, and even a dexterous ape cannot climb it.
So these hundreds of meters of cliff are the natural chasm.
The valley where Taoyuan Village is located is isolated from the outside world.
But no matter how you look at it, it’s unnatural...
This is by no means a naturally occurring scene.
After living in Taoyuan Village for sixteen years, Shu Guan increasingly felt that this remote mountain village had something weird and inexplicable hidden under its peaceful and ordinary appearance.
At this time Wang Dahu came to him.
Shu Guan left the card game last night at the end of Haishi, that is, around eleven o'clock. It was mainly because Zhang Yadan left first. Shu Guan suddenly felt that it was not interesting, so he also left.
However, Wang Dahu seemed to have been fighting with his brothers all night, so he had a pair of dark circles under his eyes today and looked depressed.
"Mazi, do you think Grandpa Lame can really ask for rain?"
Wang Dahu asked Shu Guan in a low voice.
When they were young, Shu Guan and Wang Dahu were in conflict with each other. They both disliked each other. Wang Dahu relied on the fact that he was two years older than Shu Guan and often regarded bullying this little pockmark as his greatest childhood pleasure.
But now Wang Dahu is Shu Guan's younger brother.
A time traveler always has to recruit a few younger brothers.
This was Shu Guan's original intention to take the initiative to improve relations with Wang Dahu a few years ago.
He had no choice but to collect it in Taoyuan Village.
However, Wang Dahu is the son of the clan leader Wang Erniu. Among the young men in the village, apart from Shu Guan, he is considered a very capable one. If nothing else, he will be the next clan leader.
Taking in such a little brother will make your life in Taoyuan Village more comfortable in the future.
Upon hearing Wang Dahu's question, Shu Guan's first reaction was to shake his head flatly.
This is not scientific at all. No matter how powerful the old cripple is, he is still not powerful enough to make artificial rainfall.
Just as the words reached his lips, Shu Guan paused.
Standing at the entrance of the high cliff cave, looking at the small mountain village in the valley below, and thinking about some seemingly ordinary but vaguely weird details in this valley, Shu Guan was suddenly speechless.
After a long time, he turned his head, stared at Wang Dahu, and asked a question seriously.
"Dahu, have you ever thought about leaving here and going outside one day?"
"What?"
Wang Dahu looked at him blankly, as if he didn't understand Shu Guan's question at all.
Shu Guan raised his hand and pointed to the smooth mirror-like cliff above, and said what he just said again.
"Have you ever thought about climbing over these mountains and seeing the outside world?"
This time, Wang Dahu finally understood Shu Guan's words.
Then it was Wang Dahu's turn to be silent for a long time. Finally, this sturdy young man from the mountain village answered Shu Guan's question with a hoarse voice filled with despair.
"I thought about it before, but then... I didn't dare to think about it anymore."
Because there is no hope, I dare not think about it!
