The moon is faintly above, and the night in the maple forest is particularly peaceful. This world isolated at the top of the wilderness seems to be an existence forgotten by the world. The fallen leaves are falling, and they start again and again.
The cracked dead branches sounded like thunder in the fire, and scattered sparks were blown up by the wind and extinguished before they could go far. Mo Guyuan leaned against the tree and slowly turned the hare on the Xuanyuan Sword in his hand, roasting it back and forth. His eyes were a little distracted and he was lost in thought.
The two people beside them stared at the game on Mo Guyuan's sword, salivating. The two of them had been trapped in this maple forest for many years and often ate nandina bamboo to satisfy their hunger. Occasionally they would catch wild game in the mountains and eat it with their mouths open. Now, it was the first time in their lives that Mo Guyuan was so deft and clever. The two of them just I wish I could catch game every day so that Mo Guyuan can show off his skills. He is really greedy.
"Ah!" An exclamation brought Mo Guyuan back from his thoughts. He looked up and saw that the old dog's face was slightly red. He happened to catch Mo Guyuan's gaze and instantly turned his head to the side.
"I can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. Tell me what you call Shouwu." Mo Guyuan said with a dumb smile.
"The dog jumped over the wall in a hurry," Gang Ling said with a smile.
Mo Guyuan was stunned for a moment, with a funny look on his face. When he was a child, his family was poor and he didn't go to school much. This gangling didn't seem to be much more educated than him. The three of them had been exploring the maple forest for nearly half a month. Mo Guyuan also knew that the old dog was named Shouwu, and that the woman in white was named Gang Ling. The cat and the dog had known each other many years ago, but they didn't know that they were They didn't say why they ended up living in this maple forest, so Mo Guyuan didn't bother to ask.
After more than ten days of exploration, the three of them had a general direction. As long as they were fast enough, they would have a high probability of finding the tenth tree and marking it. However, it would be even more difficult to find the second spot. . Because once the second mark is wrongly drawn, the first mark will also disappear. What is even more difficult is that once those two hours arrive, everything will be in vain. The three of them tried for several days in vain. And return.
Shouwu and Gang Ling had nothing to do. Seeing that Mo Guyuan was persevering and refused to give up, they had no choice but to accompany him. After all, the efficiency of the three of them was still much faster. As for whether it was for Mo Guyuan's craftsmanship, it remains to be seen. .
Mo Guyuan slowly sprinkled the condiments, and the scent of cumin spread. The two Shouwu Gangling seemed to have recovered their true bodies, lying on the side and staring at the hare with wide eyes, their eyes shining brightly. After a while, Mo Guyuan handed over the horizontal sword, but the two of them jumped back in excitement, and their faces turned pale.
"Master Mo, Grandpa Mo! Please don't use this sword as a target all the time. Are you treating me to food or killing me?" Shouwu sighed with a frown.
Mo Guyuan paused, and then looked at the black Xuanyuan Sword, as if he had never regarded it as a real sword, but because he used it conveniently, he regarded it as the one he kept in the kitchen at home in the past. The black fire tongs inside are almost the same. Hearing the words of the Shou Wu, Mo Guyuan didn't know what he thought of. He took off the hare and threw it to the two of them. He slowly wiped the oil on the sword with his sleeve.
Xuanyuan Sword is still inconspicuous, just like the black iron, but it feels warm in Mo Guyuan's hand.
"Shouwu, is it enough for you to just eat a rabbit's butt?" Gang Ling glanced over and asked.
"It's not like you don't know that I like to eat everything from my butt, and chewing the meat from other places makes my teeth hurt."
"But the game these days is not as good as before."
"Isn't it just a weird thing with some salt and seasoning? That's it. I just eat the butt, and you eat the rest." After dividing the spoils of Shouwu, he moved quickly and started to chew on it.
Opposite him, Mo Guyuan looked at Shouwu amusedly. After getting along with each other, these two people actually looked vicious and cold, but they didn't have bad intentions. The two occasionally quarreled and quarreled, and occasionally got into fights. However, Mo Guyuan saw in his eyes that most of the time it was Shouwu who suffered, and his sadness was insignificant to outsiders.
"Gang Ling, tell me about your eating habits. It is simply a shame to our demon world." Shouwu pointed at Gang Ling and said with contempt.
"I'll say it again! I'm different from you. If you don't like it, get out of here. I'm a lady!" Gang Ling cursed Xiang Shouwu with overwhelming momentum. Shouwu was frightened when he heard this. He didn't dare to hesitate for a moment. He quickly stood up and moved away from Gang Ling. He also muttered, "Why don't we just eat some meat? What order should we follow? Peel first, then remove the hair, and then we should." Eat the meat first and then the bones. Is it necessary? It’s so comfortable to take a bite and you are still a lady. Even a tiger will be afraid of a cat like you.”
Behind him, Gang Ling had already kicked towards Shouwu's head. Mo Guyuan, who was sitting in the middle, was rarely in a good mood after seeing the two fighting. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind, and he immediately sat up from the ground, his whole body stiff, and his eyes looked at the Shouwu with a bruised nose and face in surprise.
"That's right! Why didn't I think of the order? Since it is a Taoist formation, there must be a sequence for breaking the formation, and the order cannot be messed up!"
In front, the Shouwu ghost was crying and howling, but Gang Ling saw Mo Guyuan's inexplicable behavior and didn't know why, so he put his hands on his hips. Although his height was only in front of Mo Guyuan's knees, his momentum did not drop.
"Boy Mo, what do you want? It's none of your business to teach this bitch a lesson!"
Mo Guyuan was stunned for a moment, then rolled his eyes and said, "Gang Ling, you are a big lady. Rough work such as fisting and kicking is indecent and not suitable for you. Leave the physical work of teaching an old dog to me."
Upon hearing this, Gang Ling slowly rubbed his chin and muttered, "Young Master Mo's words make sense."
The night is dark and eerie, and the unknown meaning is even more frightening. Shouwu trembled as he looked at Mo Guyuan who was pressing closer to him, feeling inexplicably frightened.
"If you didn't tell me earlier, do you know that I will be driven crazy by this maple forest these days? If you tell me the order earlier, you will die! If you tell me earlier, you will die..." In the maple forest, people continued intermittently. There were whimpering sounds, rising and falling.
In the early morning a few days later, there was mist in the forest, and frost and dew covered the grass leaves, crystal clear. Mo Guyuan took a long breath. The climate here is about the same as that of his hometown. During these days, he has not forgotten to practice meditation. Apart from taking time to find the secrets of Fenglin, he usually spends his sleep and rest practicing the Huangting Sutra, and his cultivation has improved. I am not too afraid of the cold weather.
"We have basically made a clear survey in the past few days. According to the directions of the five elements of the Bagua the day after tomorrow, we must start from the first mark. Metal, wood, water, fire and earth, the exchange position belongs to gold, the purpose is in the west; the earthquake position belongs to wood, located in the east ; The Kan position belongs to water, and the direction is north; the Li position belongs to fire, and it is located in the south; and the last place is the earth direction of Kun position, which is in the southwest. Among them, we should pay special attention to the two attributes of gold. In addition to the exchange position, there is also the northwest direction. In addition to the earthquake position, there is also the Xun position in the southeast. Finally, besides the Kun position of the earth attribute, the Gen position is in the northeast. Among the three of us, Shouwu is the fastest, and Duiqian and the two are due. Here you go, I will go to Zhen Xun and Gang Ling in the Kan position. Once the two attribute golds are the first to open Shouwu, you can rush directly to the departure position where the attribute fire is and wait. The last two Kun Gen places will be taken care of by me and Gang Ling. We We must seize the time. Fenglin will refresh the marked position in two hours. After we arrive at Jinmushui, we will send signals to each other and turn them on in turn. This will save us most of the time to rush to the last two positions. Gang Ling, can you remember the water level by then? Hurry directly to the direction of the soil. The last two areas of the soil are just in case. You and I should split up to avoid wasting all our efforts," Mo Guyuan said slowly.
"Understood" Gang Ling and Shouwu said in unison.
"According to the order of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, our main difficulty is that we must open all eight formation gates within these two hours to lift the restriction. Time must not be delayed!" Mo Guyuan emphasized again.
"Don't worry. With my speed, it won't be a big problem to break through the Golden Gate first and then rush to the fire position," Shouwu said confidently.
"Okay, then we will act separately. When we reach our destination, we will use the beacon smoke as a signal." After saying this, the three of them separated and rushed away quickly without any hesitation.
The autumn air was crisp. Mo Guyuan raised his head and looked at the sky. He prayed silently in his heart that there wouldn't be any accidents this time. It has been almost a month since he traveled here. Not to mention the fairy world, he has not even left this deserted island. It's really I don’t know how to proceed in the future.
There are mysterious crises hidden everywhere in the world of immortals and demons. No matter what, you must be careful next time to avoid ending up in the current situation again. Looking back to the northwest, he saw that after a while, the smoke was gradually rising. Mo Guyuan was no longer vague, marked the maple tree in front of him, and rushed toward the southeast.
In about half an hour, the three parts of Jin, Wood and Water were fully opened. Mo Guyuan started to fly in the opposite direction. He believed that Shouwu was already rushing to the fire position at this moment, and the last wooden door was rushing towards Kun. position, Gang Ling goes to Gen position.
Beacon smoke came from the south, and Mo Guyuan, who was running quickly, was overjoyed. There was only half the time left. It seemed that this time it was not a big problem. After arriving a moment later, he quickly remembered Kun's position. He let out a long breath in his heart. Now only Gang Ling was left. The last bit of soil was buried.
I don't know how much time passed, but Mo Guyuan silently calculated the time in his heart. According to Gang Ling's speed, he should have reached Gen position by now. Why was there no movement after half an hour? Feeling uncertain in his heart, he decided not to be vague and rushed to the final destination in person. Just as he was about to leave, a surprised sound came from behind him.
"Why are you here? Where is Gang Ling?"
Mo Guyuan looked back and was slightly startled. The person coming was none other than Shouwu.
"I am in charge of the Kun position, and Gang Ling is in the Gen position."
"Impossible, I just came from Gen position and didn't see Gangling. I thought you two had changed places," Shouwu muttered.
Mo Guyuan was shocked and said, "You didn't open the Gen position?"
"Of course not. According to the prior agreement, if I open it without authorization, everything will be messed up."
"Oops, now only the Gen position on the Gangling side is left. There has been no movement for so long. I'm afraid there might be some accident. Let's go over quickly." Mo Guyuan turned around and flew over. Behind him, Shouwu was inexplicably sluggish, looking into the distance. The walking figure suddenly remembered something, and immediately rushed after him.
Gen sat under a big maple tree, and Gang Ling sat down with his legs crossed, his head buried in his knees, his body trembling, and he didn't know how long he had been hiding here. For a long time, I heard a few shouts from the forest. Just as Gang Ling was about to turn around and leave, he was hurriedly caught by Shouwu who had been looking for him.
"Gang Ling! What are you doing?" Shouwu shouted and asked. Behind him, Mo Guyuan hurried over and looked at Gang Ling with the same confusion.
"You can't go out! You can't go out! Isn't it good here? It's carefree. Once we go out and meet Yaozhao again, we will die. We will die!!" Gang Ling seemed to be losing his mind and going crazy, trying hard to get Shouwu away. , trembling and falling to the ground.
Shouwu's face suddenly turned pale, and he stayed where he was for a while, not knowing what to do as he looked at Gang Ling's devastated look.
"What's wrong with her? What's wrong with her?" Mo Guyuan slowly walked to the two of them and asked softly.
Shouwu looked at Mo Guyuan, with a slightly bitter smile on his ugly long face, which became increasingly ugly, but Mo Guyuan had never seen Shouwu look like this.
"Earlier, you also knew that Gang Ling and I were cat demons and dog demons who had become spirits. Before we entered this maple forest, Gang Ling was the forbidden doll of that beast. We lived a miserable life for hundreds of years. On the day of his death, Gang Ling's cultivation was gradually depleted by the torture of Yongzhu, but the beast still took pleasure in it. Almost all the demons on the island who were not as good as him died in his hands in the end. In order to escape, Gang Ling had to sneak away from that beast's claws while he was sleeping, but who knew that Gang Ling's every move had already been seen by Yongzhu, and not killing her was nothing more than deliberately teasing Gang Ling. We are trapped in this maple forest. For decades, that Tao Zhu did it intentionally. Maybe to a big monster like Tao Zhu, we are just clowns. Killing us is like crushing an ant." When he said this, Shouwu didn't know that he hated himself. Wuyou still had hatred for the big monster, so he punched the trunk of the maple tree in front of him.
In an instant, clouds and smoke billowed around them, and a burst of golden light shone beneath their feet. The entire maple forest swayed, and a gossip pattern kept spinning under everyone's feet. The surrounding area was bright. Shouwu murmured, "Fuck you, did you open the Gen position with just one punch?"
Mo Guyuan smiled bitterly and shook his head. If Gang Ling didn't want to leave, of course he wouldn't force it. Now that Hu Liqing has entrusted him, he must fulfill the immortal grandfather's instructions even if the road ahead is difficult and bumpy. Moreover, this also involves the safety of the three realms. Can he Mo Guyuan did not dare to slack off in the matter that Hu Liqing had entrusted him with his life.
"What about you?" Mo Guyuan asked.
"I used to be just a stray dog in the demon world. I haven't been able to behave like a dog in hundreds of years. I came to this wilderness just to eat and wait for death. It's the same wherever I go. Gang Ling doesn't want to leave, so I'll stay here with you. She's fine." Shouwu grinned at Mo Guyuan and said.
The light of the maze began to fade, and the clouds and mist slowly rolled in. Mo Guyuan stood there and looked at the two of them, speechless for a long time, feeling suddenly confused, but he couldn't explain why.
I remembered that one night Mo Guyuan once asked Shouwu where the scars on your face came from. At that time, Shouwu's face was fine and he didn't care that they were caused by fighting with others. Now I think it must have been injured by that Yongzhu, Mo Guyuan Yuan didn't expose it, but he was filled with admiration in his heart.
"Hey, that brat won't have a chance if he doesn't leave," Shouwu reminded Mo Guyuan by smashing a piece of nandina at him.
"See you later!" Mo Guyuan said solemnly, clasping his fists, turning around and flying towards the outside of the forest.
"Hey, who cares?" Shouwu muttered as he looked at the retreating figure, but still waved his hand towards the distance.
A small package suddenly hit Shouwu's head inexplicably. Uncle Shouwu covered his head and was about to yell at anyone who dared to offend him, but he saw that the package looked familiar. When he opened it, he saw that it was Mo Guyuan's carry-on bag. There is a salty bar condiment, and there is a line of crooked small words on the cloth: "There is a saying in my hometown that if you want to capture a girl's heart, you must first capture her stomach."
Shouwu held the package in his hand tightly, lowered his head, and his eyes were slightly red. After a long time, Shouwu calmed down and slowly walked to Gang Ling, leaned over and stretched out one hand, saying, "Let's go."
Gang Ling woke up from his nightmare in a daze. He looked up and saw that ugly long face smiling gently at him. Behind him, the wind rustled the leaves.
"Where to go?"
"My century-old black maple stick was destroyed by that brat, so of course I have to find another one!"
"I was stupid before, but I'm still stupid now. Why do I stay here!"
"Isn't that what you said? It's carefree here, and it's so dangerous outside. If something happens to me, wouldn't it be fatal?"
"If I stay here, I'm afraid I'll die of old age here, and I won't be able to go out again for the rest of my life..."
"Forever...fortunately I have you..." Shouwu murmured in a daze.
"What are you muttering about? If you speak louder, you will die!"
"Ah! It's nothing. I was thinking that I saw several hares and pheasants when I reversed the Five Elements just now. Should we go catch them?"
"You! You're stupid! Hurry up!"
Gang Ling stood up and took Shouwu's hand, and they walked away into the wind.
Shouwu didn't know that when he stood alone in front of her that day to greet Yaozhu, he was already an unparalleled hero in her heart. She felt that the most beautiful face in the world was Shouwu's face, where it was written Filled her.
When they met for the first time, the two of them just glanced at each other. It had nothing to do with romance, it was just a moment of passion in a certain year and month.
Shouwu doesn't understand, but fortunately he has a lifetime to understand.
