The sky turned white, and the white rainbow in the distance gradually disappeared.
Xia Zhichan put away the oil-paper umbrella, stepped on the slightly moist ground, and walked back to the temple that had been burned into ruins.
Nan Er, who was trying to hide from the rain, sat in the dark temple gate, leaning against the stone wall, curled up and looking like he was taking a nap.
He was woken up in the middle of the night, and then he was killing corpses and zombies. It took a lot of physical strength, and he didn't get enough sleep, so he kept napping.
The fire in the temple was extinguished by a sudden rain at night, but not all of the stone gables collapsed, and some of them were still standing strong.
After being roasted by the fire, the gable wall still has a certain temperature. Although the mountain wind is howling and the light rain is falling, it can still bring some warmth to people.
Nan Er originally planned to use the mountain gate to shelter from the rain, but he did not expect that he was almost knocked down by the fatigue after relaxing, and sleepiness kept hitting his consciousness.
So he was in a daze, his consciousness constantly wandering between sleeping and not sleeping.
Xia Zhichan looked at Nan Er who was napping. Instead of calling him in a hurry, she found a stone nearby and sat down casually to wait.
Jiang Qin left anyway. She came here just to say goodbye to Xia Zhichan, not to travel with him.
After she entered the Dengtang realm, her master wanted her to retreat in the mountains for a period of time to completely stabilize her realm. But Jiang Qin, who didn't say goodbye to Xia Zhichan properly, was always restless. Even when he was practicing, he often got distracted and couldn't concentrate completely. There was really nothing he could do about his apprentice who was obsessed with the world, so Jiang Qin was specially asked to go down the mountain to find Xia Zhichan.
In fact, it is not necessary to leave immediately after meeting, but Jiang Qin is afraid that once she stays with Xia Zhichan for a long time, she will not be willing to go back to Qingxiu. And Xia Zhichan also understood that under the current situation, it was the best choice for her to let Jiang Qin go back, so he did not try to persuade her to stay, but just watched her leave.
Only this time, there was a proper farewell.
The sky gradually grew brighter, and the black night was gently pulled away by a pair of hands, allowing the bright sun to slowly rise behind the mountains.
Xia Zhichan was lowering his head and wondering what he was thinking. Suddenly his ears twitched and he heard the sound of animals running through the forest. Judging from the sound, it was probably not small animals such as rabbits and foxes.
He didn't move, but stared in the direction of the sound.
"Yawn - it's already dawn. That guy Xia Zhichan won't take Fairy Chang'e to the woods."
The morning sun shone down and Nan Er, who had only been sleeping lightly, woke up. He rubbed his eyes and said casually.
"I'm not as dirty as you are..."
Hearing Nan Er's remarks, Xia Zhichan frowned and said casually.
"Ouch! You are here, then..."
When Nan Er heard the other party's voice, he realized that what he just said had been heard. He just made a haha and changed the subject and asked:
"Where is your wife?"
"Let's go back to the mountain to do some spiritual cultivation."
Xia Zhichan glanced at Nan Er, and then cast his gaze to the mountain forest aside. Although Nan Er couldn't hear it, he had already noticed that the animal making the noise was getting closer and closer.
"What are you looking at?"
Nan Er followed Xia Zhichan's gaze, but only saw the unchanging mountain forest. He scratched his head in confusion and walked up to Xia Zhichan to block the latter's view.
Xia Zhichan didn't say anything because he had already seen the figure emerging from the forest, but Nan Er's back was turned so he didn't notice it.
call……
It was the sound of breathing, and the surrounding branches were bent. The dead branches were wet from the rain at night, and they almost made no sound when stepped on them.
Nan Er felt the breathing behind him, which was obviously not human, so he screamed inwardly while subconsciously drawing the knife.
Maybe it was really because he was too tired that his perception did not recover for the time being. After all, the physical and mental fatigue would not disappear for a while.
When he turned around, he saw a horse face.
According to folklore, bull-headed and horse-faced souls are the seducers of the underworld. They are responsible for seducing the souls of the dead and taking them to hell to be judged by King Yama. The good ones will be blessed and reincarnated into a wealthy family, the evil ones will be punished and reborn as one of the six animals, and the small and good will be punished. The evil ones continue to be reincarnated as adults and suffer in the human world.
call……
Ma Lian's nostrils expanded and he snorted so hard that all the breath he exhaled hit Nan Er's face.
Nan Er was in a daze for a moment, thinking that he had passed out, and the underworld sent a bull-headed horse face to seduce his soul.
But he quickly calmed down and rubbed his sore eyes to make his vision clearer. Only then did he see that the opponent was not the legendary bull-headed horse-faced creature, but an ordinary horse.
After taking a closer look, he discovered that the horse was actually the military horse he had been riding since leaving Jiangcheng. Looking back, he could still see the horse Xia Zhichan had been riding.
Good horses have good spirits. Although they sensed something scary and left early, when everything was over, they knew they would return to the original place to find their master without calling.
"What a good horse. He knows how to come back to us."
Nan Er quickly stepped forward and pulled the reins, stroking the horse's mane and saying with a smile.
"The horses are back too, so let's continue on our way."
Xia Zhichan shook his sleeves, pulled his horse, and was about to get on, but as soon as he sat on the saddle bridge, he heard Nan Er's complaining voice:
"No, you have to be on your way so early in the morning. Even if you are made of iron, you don't know whether you are thirsty or hungry. I am made of meat, and now I am tired, sleepy, thirsty and hungry."
Nan Er didn't want to leave. He was now like a poor long-term worker who had worked for a landlord for a day and ended up not only not caring about his meal, but also planning to give up the promised wages.
"There is nothing around here. No matter how thirsty or hungry you are, you can only endure it. Listen to me and walk along the mountain road here. You will reach a small village in less than an hour. Let's go there to buy some food. .”
Xia Zhichan didn't even give Nan Er a chance to refute. He urged his horse and ran down the mountain path.
"It will take another hour..."
Nan Er reluctantly climbed onto the horse's back. He urged the horse weakly, and the horse under the seat reluctantly followed Xia Zhichan's footsteps down the mountain.
He was sitting on the horse, and he didn't know if a sudden inspiration came to his mind, and he suddenly felt that something was wrong.
"That's not right. There is a village an hour down the mountain, so why did we stay in this ruined temple last night..."
Nan Er sat up straight and looked at Xia Zhichan in front. Before he said anything, the latter seemed to feel it and deliberately urged the horse to run quickly.
"I...no, Xia Zhichan, stand still for me!"
It's okay that he didn't say it. As soon as he said these words, he saw Xia Zhichan in front of him, who was quietly accelerating forward, waved his riding whip, and the horse screamed violently, then spread its hooves and started galloping.
This can be said to be self-inflicted. In Nan Er's view, Xia Zhichan's behavior was a sign of complete guilt. He ignored his hunger and urged his horse to catch up.
He cursed as the horse ran.
But Xia Zhichan, who was running faster and faster in front, turned a deaf ear and allowed the horse to open the distance between herself and Nan Er.
It was originally an hour's journey, but the two of them rushed their horses and arrived in half an hour.
There is a small wine shop near the entrance of the village, but because of the New Year's Day, although the door was open and there were people, there was no sign of wine. It seemed that the wine shop belonged to the people who owned it. This is the wine shop and the place where they live.
Nan Er stopped his horse, glanced at Xia Zhichan's horse that was already tied at the door, and could only walk inside unconvinced.
Although the wine shop was not open, some simple wine and food were still available. Behind the house was where he lived, and there was also a kitchen stove. Seeing that Nan Er was generous, he prepared some wine and food for him.
Nan Er was about to eat, but found that although he saw Xia Zhichan's horse at the door, he did not see Xia Zhichan himself when he came in.
He held up his chopsticks and scratched his head depressedly.
…
Knock knock knock.
With a creak, the shabby wooden door was opened. The rough farm man looked at Xia Zhichan, who was standing at the door in extraordinary clothes, and asked with some confusion:
"Who...are you looking for?"
"Anyone passing by, please ask for a glass of water or wine to quench your thirst."
Xia Zhichan's current location is at the other end of the village. He doesn't know what method he used. Even Nan Er didn't notice when he left.
"Oh, passerby, come in then."
Although the peasant man looked at Xia Zhichan, who had an outstanding temperament and looked like a rich man, with some surprise, he did not refuse, but instead welcomed him in.
Although the farmers in the small village are illiterate, they treat others sincerely.
"Where did this little brother come from? How did he come to our small mountain village..."
Because it was the first day of the Lunar New Year, the man happened to be sitting in his hall drinking, and there were two plates of side dishes on the table to go with the wine.
As he asked casually, he took a pottery bowl and poured a full bowl of wine for Xia Zhichan.
"Me? I came from the mountains over there. I only came here because I took the wrong path."
Xia Zhichan was not in a hurry to drink. He first pointed in the direction in which he and Nan Er were going down the mountain, and saw a surprised expression on the farm man's face.
"What are you talking about? You came to that man-eating mountain, are you kidding me? Little brother, you don't know, countless people have entered that mountain for decades and never came back. Even the corpses were not found. "
The man said truthfully.
"Hahaha, there's nothing scary about a man-eating mountain."
Xia Zhichan was smiling when she suddenly saw the curtains in the room move, and a five or six-year-old boy came out of it, with a runny nose and gnawing fingers.
"Silly boy, what are you doing here? Didn't you just have dinner?"
The man did not shy away, pointing to his child and said to Xia Zhichan:
"This is my son. He has been a fool since he was a child. He can't speak and can only cry out when he is hungry. I don't know if he was reincarnated by a starving ghost."
"Liu Dazhuang, you are the one who was reincarnated as a starving ghost!"
The woman's shrill curses came from the back room.
"Hahaha……"
Xia Zhichan looked at the blushing Liu family man, smiled, and waved the silly child to come over.
It's strange to say that this child usually doesn't even listen to his parents and would only come over when he was hungry, but Xia Zhichan waved and he came over obediently.
"Brother Liu, your son is not a fool, nor is he reincarnated as a starving ghost. I think he is a literary star who has descended to earth. He will pass the imperial examination and become an official in the future."
As Xia Zhichan spoke, she patted the child's head gently, and moved the sleeve of her left hand, as if a gust of wind blew out of the sleeve, falling right on the child's face.
"Hey, little brother, you are really good at being obedient. My grandfather's grandfather was a rough man in our family who couldn't read a word. How could we give birth to a son of Wenquxing?"
The man just thought it was Xia Zhichan joking and waved his hands.
Xia Zhichan held the child's shoulders, turned him towards the Liu family man, pointed at the man who was still drinking and asked:
"who is he?"
"My daddy."
These three words frightened Liu Dazhuang so much that he dropped the bowl in his hand. He stared wide-eyed and hugged his son.
"son!"
"Daddy..."
"Oh...this is really..."
The man carried his son who could talk into the back room, and then he heard the child's loud cry, followed by the woman's voice crying with joy.
It wasn't until the Hanzi family was over happy that they remembered Xia Zhichan.
But he quickly went to look, only to find that the other party had long since disappeared.
The wine bowl on the table is empty.
