Zhang Xiaoyu rested for a while on the stone steps leading into the town, then stood up and walked towards the town.
The color of snow in the town is not obvious. Occasionally, there is a thin layer wrapped on the green tiles. It does not look like snow or frost, but looks like some sparsely falling white flowers.
The alleys in the small town are very old and cramped. Although there is only some snow hanging on the eaves, Zhang Xiaoyu always feels that there should be some sporadic dripping sounds in such a place.
Then I remembered it was snowing, not raining.
An old man from a small town who got up early walked over from the other end of the alley, holding a pot in his hand.
Zhang Xiaoyu wisely stepped aside and leaned against the wall to let the old man pass.
The hunched old man walked over, but turned back and looked Zhang Xiaoyu up and down.
"Are you from Huai'an?"
Zhang Xiaoyu shook his head and said with a smile: "I am Lu Mingren."
The old man was stunned for a moment, then looked at the smile on Zhang Xiaoyu's face, sneered and said, "You fart, how can Lu Mingren not cover his ears."
Compared to Huai'an and Huangliang, two places that often come into contact with each other, the country at the extreme northern end of the Youhuang Mountains, which is hidden in the wind and snow all year round, obviously has no sense of existence.
The world's impression of them has become simple and crude.
When walking in the wind and snow all day long, it is natural to cover your ears to prevent freezing.
Zhang Xiaoyu smiled softly and said: "Since the old man knows that I am not Lu Naruto, why do you still ask?"
The old man said: "What if you are from Huangliang?"
Naturally, there are people in Huangliang who wear white clothes, and there are also people who carry sword scabbards. Both types of people are very rare. When these two characteristics are put together, they are naturally very few.
Zhang Xiaoyu nodded and said: "It makes sense, so why do you ask this?"
The old man held the repulsive pot, looked at the spots on Zhang Xiaoyu's white clothes over and over again, and then said slowly: "Are you a pig butcher?"
Zhang Xiaoyu shook his head.
"Then it looks like it's human blood."
Zhang Xiaoyu looked down at his white clothes. Although the blood had turned black, it could still be seen that they should have been bright red once.
"Yes, I killed many people, and they were all from Huangliang." Zhang Xiaoyu said with a soft smile.
The old man didn't show any fear, but said with some regret: "If you are talking about those people who went north with the wizards from the south, then naturally they deserve what they deserve."
Zhang Xiaoyu became interested, leaned against the wall and looked at the old man and said, "How to say it."
"After finally calming down for some time, they are going to provoke such a thing again. They are simply stupid to the extreme." The old man probably thought it was an extremely stupid thing. He stood in the narrow alley and spat out excitedly. Drooling.
Zhang Xiaoyu took a few steps back, nodded and said, "It makes sense, but old man, please don't get excited yet."
The old man became more and more indignant. He came back with a pot, pointed with his finger and said: "Not to mention Da Chu, even Huang Liang happened a thousand years ago, although we people still talk about it We Huangliang people, you Huai'an people, and they Luming people, but who doesn't know very well that we are all Dafeng people?"
Zhang Xiaoyu glanced at the pot swinging in the old man's hand and nodded sincerely.
"Yes, I'm right. I don't know what illness they have. Besides, isn't our Majesty Kamigawa also from Huangliang? Uncle, please calm down. It's really not possible. Let's go and get rid of the things in our hands first. Okay?"
The old man thought for a while and said, "Okay, let's solve it here."
Zhang Xiaoyu was stunned for a moment, looking at this small alley, although it was cramped, shabby, and the stone slabs under the feet were uneven, but at least it was not very dirty. Is it really okay to just settle it here?
The old man seemed to finally understand something. He looked at Zhang Xiaoyu strangely and said, "Did you think this was that thing?"
Zhang Xiaoyu said dullly: "Isn't it?"
"Fuck you! This is the wine I just made this morning. I plan to sit in the back for a while!"
The old man was probably also a bad-tempered person when he was young. He would either fart or fart your mother.
Zhang Xiaoyu reacted and apologized sincerely: "I'm sorry, I was wrong."
So it's not unreasonable to just say it's a pot.
The old man took a deep breath. Seeing Zhang Xiaoyu being so sincere, he didn't care anymore. He waved to Zhang Xiaoyu and sat down in front of someone else's house.
Zhang Xiaoyu thought for a while and sat over, but still looked at the pot in the old man's hand warily.
The old man looked around, then stood up and took off the Qinsegu musical instrument under the eaves of the house, and used it as a cup to pour wine.
Zhang Xiaoyu was stunned by this set of actions.
The old man placed the wine on the steps aside and pushed it to Zhang Xiaoyu, "If you don't have a cup, just drink from this." He then drank from the wine bottle as he was doing.
It looked like there was indeed alcohol in it.
However, when Zhang Xiaoyu picked up the musical instrument cup, he still smelled it cautiously. Seeing the old man's angry eyes, Zhang Xiaoyu laughed and said, "No, no, I'm just kidding."
After all, this behavior is equivalent to questioning that someone else is drinking urine.
It looked very novel, and the instrument that could barely be used as a cup was not that dirty. It was probably exposed to wind and rain, and it was always washed clean every day. There were just a few grass strands in it, but Zhang Xiaoyu didn't care. He took a big sip directly.
The old man drank wine and started talking again.
"You all know whether His Majesty is from Huangliang or Nanchu. I don't know what kind of rebellion they have caused. A bunch of idiots! If I were still there..."
Zhang Xiaoyu raised his eyebrows, looked at the old man and said, "You used to be a Nanchu witch?"
The old man said: "That's not true. I used to be a small corps commander in the 800,000-strong sea garrison black armor."
Zhang Xiaoyu complimented: "It's amazing."
The old man could naturally see that Zhang Xiaoyu's compliment was very hypocritical, but he didn't care.
"What if I'm still in the south and rebel? I'll fucking rebel first."
"Hahaha."
Zhang Xiaoyu's smile this time was very sincere.
The old man drank his wine and smiled proudly.
"But uncle, don't you know why they want to go north?"
"I know, why don't I know? When they passed by Yaofeng, they still instigated us to go together. I'm not a fool. Is that goddess really coming? Who knows? Besides, what if she comes? If the goddess of Huangliang really comes for the sake of the world, will she first encourage the 800,000 troops who are safely guarding the extreme south to go and die?"
The old man drank wine angrily and said, "I heard that they are going to rebuild the temple next year. How can we recreate the era of blind dates between humans and gods? Shit, if blind dates are useful, I will be alone for so many years?"
"..." Zhang Xiaoyu hesitated for a while and said, "Is there a possibility that the blind date they are talking about is not the kind of blind date you think?"
The old man waved his hand.
"It's all the same."
The old man drank heavily, and the wind from the distant mountains blew the fine snow, and at the same time, it also blew the strings hanging in the town.
The alley was melodious and soothing.
The old man squinted his eyes and looked into the distance, but he became quiet.
"Forget it, forget it, let them make trouble on their own, but don't make yourself angry."
Zhang Xiaoyu smiled softly and said nothing more while drinking.
The old man looked at the musical instrument in Zhang Xiaoyu's hand that was about to run out of water, and picked up the wine bottle in his hand.
"More?"
Zhang Xiaoyu sighed and said, "Forget it, uncle, did you add bitter grass in this?"
The old man nodded.
Zhang Xiaoyu was extremely impressed.
Wild flowers are used to make tea, and bitter bark is used to make wine. Huangliang people probably don’t know why they like to drink this way.
Some people said it came from the long-abandoned Demon Suppression Division in Kyoto, while others said it came from the Xuanfuyuan in Yaofeng.
Zhang Xiaoyu drank the wine in the instrument, then stood up, looked up at the eaves, and said, "How to hang it up."
"Hang it as you like, as long as it doesn't fall off."
Zhang Xiaoyu then hung it up casually, and the little Qin Se Gu, who had just finished filling the wine, began to ring in the wind.
"It's amazing."
The old man glanced at Zhang Xiaoyu while drinking and said, "You Huai'an people always make a fuss."
Zhang Xiaoyu laughed.
"Speaking of which, you are a sword cultivator from Huai'an, um? That's what I call you, what are you doing here at Yaofeng?"
Zhang Xiaoyu subconsciously touched the things in his arms, then smiled softly and said, "Come for a walk, I heard that the morning and evening breeze from the mountain stream here is very nice."
The old man nodded with deep understanding and said, "That's true. After I left the extreme south, I passed by here and had no intention of going back."
Zhang Xiaoyu looked at the old man and said, "Is it really so pleasant?"
The old man said with some emotion: "That's not just because of this. It's just that I went to the extreme south when I was twenty and fought at sea for forty years. I probably came back and there was nothing good to see."
Zhang Xiaoyu looked at the old man quietly for a long time and said: "Guard the sea, defend the sea, so what exactly is there in the deep ocean in the extreme south?"
The old man was silent for a while and said: "I don't know, maybe there is really nothing, but people are not at ease. I always feel that there may be no other shore on the other side of such a vast ocean. That is the depth of the ocean, and there may be something dangerous hidden there. .”
Huangliang garrisoned the sea with black armor, which has a history of thousands of years.
There is a clear history that almost runs through this land.
Especially after the Gale Dynasty, most of Huang Liang's troops were concentrated in the extreme south.
"Sometimes we stand on the promontory and look there all day and all night, but we still see nothing, just the sea. I heard that there are 490,000 miles beyond the East China Sea in the north, and there are people who go to the extreme south. I don’t know how many miles, but there is no end, probably because of this, it is called the endless deep ocean.”
"Cape?" Zhang Xiaoyu looked at the old man and asked.
"At the end of the continuous mountains at the edge of Nantuo, there is a very high cliff. Below the cliff is the sea. We call it the Cape."
"So that's it." Zhang Xiaoyu said, and then slowly said, "Maybe there is no end beyond the human world."
Zhang Xiaoyu thought about the legend of the 490,000-mile East China Sea.
"Perhaps there is an end, but when you get there, inches will turn into feet, feet will turn into feet, feet will turn into miles. Then there is infinity, probably further away than separation."
The old man looked at Zhang Xiaoyu and said curiously: "Is this what the north says?"
"Yes."
The old man tilted his head and thought for a long time, then said: "So it is possible that there is an endless deep ocean with only an inch at the cape? But this inch will be infinitely distorted?"
Zhang Xiaoyu raised his eyebrows and looked at the old man and said, "I thought you were just a reckless man."
"Fuck you! I was also a well-known scholar from all over the country back then. I was a student who graduated from the second class in the third year of Xuanxu Fengwu Academy in Xixi Town, Baihe City. It's just that the sea breeze blows too much, which makes my mouth salty and bad."
The old man is still very self-aware.
Zhang Xiaoyu smiled softly.
The old man sighed again and said: "Forget it, such things are not something ordinary people like us can understand."
Zhang Xiaoyu said with a smile: "Maybe the cultivation world hasn't figured it out either."
Just as the young man spoke, he fell silent for a while and said, "Maybe they once understood, but they hid everything again."
The old man tilted his head and looked at the inexplicably melancholy young man, and said slowly: "It seems that you should be a very powerful practitioner in the north."
Zhang Xiaoyu raised his eyebrows and said, "How do you know, uncle, that my reputation has spread so far?"
The old man chuckled and said, "Because you northern cultivators often feel more melancholy as you reach higher realms."
"It's true. When my level is low, I'm just anxious. I'm always worried that I won't be able to finish the road in my life. When my level is high, I start to panic again, worrying about what I will do if I really finish the road in this life."
Which is more cruel, the endless road or the road with no follow-up?
Zhang Xiaoyu didn’t know.
He is still just a man walking on the road.
The old man looked at Zhang Xiaoyu and said, "So how tall are you?"
Zhang Xiaoyu smiled softly and said, "There are four waves of waves."
The old man probably didn't understand, so he said perfunctorily: "Yeah, you're young and you're promising. You're young and you're promising."
If you understand it, you probably won’t be young and promising.
While the two were talking, the door behind them suddenly opened, and a middle-aged man stuck his head out and looked at the two of them with a blank expression.
"What are you doing sitting here?"
Zhang Xiaoyu thought for a while and said: "Talk about life ideals and explore love and peace."
The man was silent and looked at the old man beside him, "You should drink less, old man. If someone doesn't pay attention and dies from drinking around here, we in this alley will be responsible for you."
The old man snorted twice and said, "I think you just don't want to see me happy."
The man looked helpless, simply closed the door and went back into the house.
Zhang Xiaoyu and the old man were probably talking about the ideals of life, love and peace.
As we all know, if you ask ghosts and gods without asking the common people, you will be scolded.
So Zhang Xiaoyu did the opposite and asked the people sincerely.
The old man was almost done drinking. He was probably aroused by the sudden appearance of the man. He stood up, said goodbye to Zhang Xiaoyu, and walked in the direction he came from while carrying the pot.
Zhang Xiaoyu looked up at the sky. Although it occasionally snowed, the sky was much brighter than before.
So after the old man left, Zhang Xiaoyu also stood up and walked outside along the alley.
The town is naturally a small town, but it can also be said to be a large town.
Beneath the foot of this gentle mountain, stretching for more than ten miles, are towns. Some are called Qiuye Town, and some are called Spring Leaf Town. Maybe the people in the town will also think about it when they stand on the mountain and look down. It feels like these scattered towns look like leaves.
The leaves are light and thin, so the eaves on both sides of the streets are not high, just like the old man picked off the Qinse Valley with just a raise of his hand.
Get up early in the snowy mountain town, and live in spring in the old alleys with green eaves.
As Zhang Xiaoyu walked along, the town was sparsely populated. There were only a few people walking sleepily in the alley carrying pots.
There probably isn't really any wine in these pots.
Zhang Xiaoyu looked a little weird again as he thought about the old man holding such a pot to hold wine.
Has that thing been filled with anything else before?
Zhang Xiaoyu didn't dare to think about it anymore.
The town is very long, and it goes along a river in the town that is said to be too small and a stream that is said to be too wide. Although the towns are connected together, there are still some old archways on the streets from time to time, saying such-and-such town. thing.
The young man carrying the scabbard walked comfortably in the quiet snowy town. Occasionally he heard the sound of sawing wood. He didn't know what he was doing. It was probably the Chinese New Year, and he always wanted to add something new to his home. Utensils and stuff.
Of course, it's also possible that he was simply sawing firewood.
As we walked, there was some smell of fireworks in the town, such as firewood or charcoal fire.
There were also some distant noises.
Zhang Xiaoyu stopped at the intersection of the two small towns, looked up at the mountain snow of the human town, and listened to the reassuring whispers of the small town.
The sky is chaotic, hazy and blurred.
The human world is distinct.
Mountains are mountains, water is water, and if you lift the clouds and mists, you will find the foot of the mountain and the top of the mountain.
The connections between the towns are clear. Walking around, you can always find your own alley.
But Li Qinghua.
I probably can't live in this world anymore.
Zhang Xiaoyu smiled softly and thought sadly.
Then when he lowered his head, he froze there.
There was a girl with a haggard face and a sad expression, wearing a blue and white skirt, standing quietly at the end of the street in another town.
"plum......"
Zhang Xiaoyu just said this word in a low voice and fell silent.
Li Qinghua didn't see him, she just stood there quietly holding on to the wall.
Li Qinghua didn't see anything, she just stood there with a dull look on her face.
Zhang Xiaoyu stood in a small town to the north of the archway in a daze.
The writing on the old cyan archway has been a little blurry, with some strokes missing, some fallen leaves, and some old snow covering it.
Yao Feng is the wind of mountain ballads, and it is also the wind of distant places.
The distant wind blew the music of the distant valley, crossing the light snow and falling in the small town.
It's almost full of sadness.
