In the early morning, in the village at the foot of the mountain, chickens croaked and dogs barked, and wooden doors kept opening and closing, making creaking sounds.
The village was a bit noisy today. Amid the hustle and bustle of conversation, a group of young men walked to the open space at the entrance of the village, bent down to tie their leggings, and then checked bags of dried medicinal materials.
They were about to set off, crossing mountains and ridges, to do business in a human city hundreds of miles away.
Although the village is hidden deep in the mountains and is almost isolated from the world, it still purchases a small amount of supplies from the outside world every year, such as seeds, farm tools, ironware... and pens and paper for children who are willing to learn to read.
The old village chief and many old and weak women and children knelt in the sacrificial hall and prayed silently towards the withered yellow bamboo leaves, hoping that the young and strong would have a safe journey.
Theoretically speaking, if you leave the Beishan boundary, you will leave Shenzhu's territory, and you can only seek blessings when encountering problems.
But for so many years, the team that went out to trade has never had any trouble, and they all managed to survive the occasional setbacks in the end.
Therefore, the villagers firmly believe that even if they are away from home, as long as they are pious enough, they can still receive the blessing of the sacred bamboo.
"There are no clumps of divine bamboo, and there is no trace of it..."
The children didn't like the solemn atmosphere in the memorial hall, so they sneaked outside, got close to the young adults, and listened excitedly to their stories about the outside world.
There is a city as high as a hill outside. Hundreds of thousands of people can gather in the city. It is many times larger than the village and has many interesting places.
There are all kinds of strange people in the city. If you are lucky, you can see a body refiner who can kill a tiger with one punch, and a Qi refiner who can blow people away with his mouth. Those are all high-ranking practitioners.
Of course, there are also all kinds of ferocious and cruel demonic birds and beasts that are scattered outside the city. They will grab children and run away, taking them back to their lairs to gnaw them all away.
The children's faces turned red and white, and their moods alternated between longing and fear.
The ten-year-old child who was trapped in the mountains was now standing in front of a man, pulling and pulling, trying to grab a bag of herbs and put it on his shoulder.
"Dad, I'm really old now. I can go out and see the world."
"Don't cause trouble here." The man was busy and slapped the child on the forehead.
"Xiao Fei, according to the rules of the village, you can only go out after you get married and have a baby. Where is your baby?" A few young people nearby joked.
After hearing this, the ten-year-old child named Xiao Fei immediately turned around and shouted to his little friend:
"Who wants to have a baby with me?"
The friends were horrified after hearing this, and both men and women ran away one after another, causing everyone to burst into laughter.
"Get out of here, you're an embarrassment." The man couldn't laugh or cry and kicked Xiao Fei's ass.
Xiaofei took a few steps back and shouted again: "Dad, when you enter the city, don't forget to buy candied haws on a stick. I've been craving it for a year."
The man waved his hands helplessly.
"I'm hiking in the mountains——"
The melodious singing sounded and the team set off.
More than a hundred kilograms of medicinal materials plus luggage were carried on the shoulders of these young men, but they seemed to have no weight, and it did not affect their rapid progress at all.
The team kept going all the way and disappeared deep into the mountains in an instant.
"I really want to go out and have a look." One child muttered, "The village is too boring."
Zhu An's mind swept over and heard this sentence, but didn't care.
People's minds change and they yearn for freedom. He was also a human being in his previous life and could understand, so he had no intention of turning this village into a prison.
According to the rules in the village from generation to generation, generally only those who are married and have children can go out for a walk. If you have worries, you will go home sooner or later.
But if you really want to say goodbye to the mountains and completely integrate into the outside world, you can.
All he had to do was swear to the withered yellow bamboo leaf in the sacrificial hall and forget about this village and everything in the past.
Once you choose to leave, you can't look back. Zhu An didn't want too many outsiders to know about the existence of this village.
The farewell song was long and still echoing in the sky. Zhu An was observing the life in the village as usual.
Shen Nian scanned the whole village and soon discovered a woman who was three months pregnant.
The woman was leaning against the door, humming softly, caressing her slightly bulging belly, and looking into the distance, hoping that her man would come back soon.
Suddenly there was wind and sand blowing by, and the woman narrowed her eyes.
A light green bamboo leaf flew quietly and stuck to the woman's abdomen, penetrating in like a shadow.
The woman was confused for a while, but when she woke up, she was pleasantly surprised to find that she felt refreshed and all the adverse effects of pregnancy, such as nausea, vomiting, and chest tightness, had disappeared.
She recalled the birth experiences that her mother-in-law and aunts had told her. She would encounter a similar situation when she was just pregnant. She would be blinded by a gust of sand, and then her condition would improve significantly.
As long as this is done, the fetus will be delivered smoothly, without difficulty in labor, and the baby will be healthy and without any disabilities or deformities.
"It's the blessing of the bamboo from the North Mountain." The woman couldn't help crying, as if a big stone had fallen to the ground in her heart. What she hoped for most these days was that the child in her belly would be born safely.
So she held the door frame with her hands, slowly knelt down, and kowtowed to Beishan not far away.
The mountain wind blew up the trees in front of the courtyard, and the tree crowns swayed slightly, as if in response.
"The qualifications of newborns are getting better and better." Zhu An was in a good mood.
During the thousands of years he has protected the village, he has never taught the village any cultivation methods, and has always allowed people to live an ordinary and low-key life.
However, the transformation of the newborn's physique has never stopped.
Every pregnant woman will receive a bamboo leaf to help give birth to a new life and enhance the endowment of the fetus.
Over the course of thousands of years, accumulated from generation to generation, these mortal bodies have been transformed into special physiques——
It seems ordinary and no one can see the mystery, but as long as it is enlightened by Zhu An and nourished with precious medicine, it will transform at the fastest speed.
Once you awaken, you can become a first-class spiritual treasure body in the world.
Nowadays, even if they don't practice, the villagers are in good health. They are all healthy and strong, have good hearing and vision, are not troubled by diseases, and will die without any disease until they are nearly a hundred years old.
Once the physique is fully awakened and the practice is popularized, this small village will be like a blowout, and a large number of strong people will be born in a short period of time.
Just waiting for the right time.
Zhu An looked into the distance and thought for a while, "It feels so fast."
On the mountain, an almost broken cry of surprise sounded.
"Finally got it!"
The panda Wanwan, who was originally beautiful in black and white fur, was almost bald by the willow sticks. His dirty little face was full of snot and tears, but he still grinned and smiled extremely brightly.
It carefully held a piece of bamboo leaf, and looked closely at it with dark circles, as if it was looking at the most precious treasure in the world, and it was reluctant to open its mouth to bite it.
Next to him, the red fox Hongyun glanced enviously, then turned back to look at the leaf it wanted to fight for.
The bamboo leaves were very close to it, only a few feet away, but they seemed so far away that they couldn't reach them.
Hongyun felt powerless but did not give up.
Dozens of generations of little demons from the Red Fox clan traveled between the northern mountains of Qishan Mountain for hundreds of years before they got such an opportunity.
Even if you can't win it, you still have to do your best and leave no regrets.
"I did my best back then." Hongyun in the future should think like this, so that he can face the new generation of little red foxes calmly without being overwhelmed by regret.
"Try your best, try your best..."
Hongyun's mind gradually fell into a trance, and he subconsciously continued to walk forward. Before he entered the willow forest, he fell to the ground with a plop and fainted from exhaustion and pain.
A willow stick stretched out and was gently pushed under the tree.
Zhu An did not tell Hongyun that even if he did not eat bamboo leaves, as long as he continued to be whipped by willow sticks, his physique would be tempered, and day after day, he would eventually be reborn.
Before this was discovered, there were dark days with no hope.
Whether it can survive smoothly depends on the little fox's temperament.
