Beauty Jianghu

Chapter 2 A scholar encounters a soldier

The villagers were surprised when they saw a dead body lying in the coffin. Yang Shucheng told the story of the incident. The villagers carried the dead bodies, swept them with grass, and buried them in mass graves.

Put Father Yang in the coffin. Yang Lao Niang said to Yang Shucheng: "Your uncle is in Luoyang City. Go and tell him to see your father for the last time. In addition, the robber has said that he will come to find you again. You will stay at your uncle's house." , don’t come back.”

Yang Shucheng agreed with tears in his eyes. Yang's uncle was doing business in Luoyang City, so the whole family moved there. The journey was long and the round trip took several days.

Yang Shucheng returned to the bookstore, checked the books, and prepared to take a few books to the city. I picked up the "Collected Works of Tao Yuanming" and opened it. An old piece of paper fell out of it. I picked it up and saw that it was a map with winding mountains and rivers drawn on it. On the left side was a map of the treasures of Fu Gua Cult.

It is indeed the treasure of Zhenpai!

Because of this treasure map, his father was killed because of exhaustion. Yang Shucheng felt resentful and was about to tear up the map. On second thought, he folded up the treasure map and stuffed it into the cracks in the wall, and then used loess to fill the cracks. It's not easy to spot the map hidden here from the outside.

On the morning of the next day, Yang Shucheng carried a package, rented a horse, said goodbye to his mother and sister, and rode north.

At this time, it was the fourteenth year of Chongzhen. The government imposed excessive taxes and severe droughts for many years. The people were in dire straits, thieves appeared in droves, and wars were going on everywhere.

There are some groups of thieves who are very powerful. They gather hundreds of people and make a living by robbing people. Every time they come to a village, the villagers flee in all directions.

Yang Shucheng chose the high road just to be on the safe side. We have been walking for three days, sleeping and sleeping in the open air along the way.

Walking on the road that day, I saw a mountain range lying in front of me on the horizon. It was vast and lush with trees. Yang Shucheng knew that he could not go around, so he had to ride forward.

After walking for more than an hour, we entered the mountains, but on both sides we saw thousands of peaks reaching into the sky, ancient trees and strange rocks, and springs and waterfalls competing for water. It was a bit wild and interesting. Normally, Yang Shucheng would have shaken his head and recited some poems. At this time, he passed with fear.

Just as he was feeling frightened, suddenly, a dozen men came out from the roadside, holding knives and sticks, blocking the way.

"Oh my god..." Yang Shucheng turned his horse's head and ran back. After just a few steps, he was surrounded by this group of strong men. Some were holding the horse's head, while others were pulling on the saddle. They could no longer escape.

A strong man stretched out his hand and pulled Yang Shucheng off his horse, pulled the package from his back, and opened it. There were several pieces of clothing and more than a tael of silver.

All the strong men shouted, and they were all happy. The mountains were far and near, and hungry people were everywhere. Every time they robbed them, they were just rags. Today, they finally robbed a fat sheep.

Yang Shucheng was originally scared, but it was important to save his life, so he had to beg for mercy: "Heroes, take the package and let me go." He was still thinking in his heart that he would have to go to Luoyang City.

"I won't spare you." A strong man raised his knife and struck Yang Shucheng on the head.

"Wait a minute." A strong man who looked like a leader shouted, "Boy, are you a scholar?"

"I've been reading poetry books for several years. Just spare me if you're a good man."

The leader said: "I admire scholars the most. We were originally good people, but we were also forced by the government to rebel. Now we are famine every year. If we don't go to Liangshan, there is no way to survive."

"Yes, yes..." Yang Shucheng strongly agreed with him.

The leader said: "I think you are also weak. It would be a pity to kill you. Just follow us up the mountain."

"My father is dead. I will go to Luoyang City to inform my uncle. When I come back, I will come to see all the heroes." Yang Shucheng begged for mercy.

The leader laughed and said, "Now that there is famine every year, if someone doesn't die one day, what's the big deal if someone in your family dies? If you don't go up the mountain, I'll have to kill you and end everything."

Yang Shucheng saw that they were all ferocious and killed without blinking an eye, so he had no choice but to agree to wait until they reached the mountain and then look for an opportunity to escape from the mountain.

This group of strongmen led the horse and asked the leader to get on the horse and sit down. With Yang Shucheng escorted, the group walked along the rugged mountain road toward the deep mountains to the west.

The leader sat on the horse, seemed to be very interested in Yang Shucheng, and asked: "Boy, what is your name? Where are you from?"

Yang Shucheng had no choice but to tell the truth.

"I don't change my name when I'm sitting, and I don't change my surname when I'm working. My name is Zou Cheng, which is the same as your scholar. Remember it." This strong man is quite generous.

After walking west for more than an hour, we have entered the depths of the mountains. I saw heavy rocks, deep ravines, dense ancient trees, and roaring monsters. Once you enter, you don't know when you can get out of the mountain.

Yang Shucheng was panicking. "We're here." The leader, Zou Cheng, pointed to the sky with his hand on his horse, and saw a mountain peak reaching into the sky, towering over the mountains. "This mountain is called Laojun Mountain, and it is said to be the place where I practiced alchemy. Scholars, do you know?"

Yang Shucheng said: "This is my first time passing by, so I really don't know. But I still know who I am."

The leader Zou Cheng laughed loudly and led everyone towards the mountain step by step. After walking for half an hour, we arrived at the foot of Laojun Mountain and walked up the mountain along the narrow path. Finally, when we walked up to Laojun Mountain, we saw a broken wall and a temple that had collapsed and was now a den of thieves.

A group of strong men walked into the temple. They had been walking for two hours. They were all so tired that their backs ached and their stomachs were ravenous. They sat down on broken straw mats to rest. Two other strongmen made a fire to cook.

The meal was ready soon, and it was just porridge cooked with wild vegetables. The leader Zou Cheng also filled a bowl for Yang Shucheng and broke off two branches to use as chopsticks. When Yang Shucheng came here, he had no choice but to follow the local customs and eat the wild vegetable soup with a branch.

At night, Yang Shucheng was in the temple, sleeping randomly on the straw mat with other strong men.

The strong men were so satisfied with Yang Shucheng's business that they didn't go down the mountain to do business for several days.

The strong men sat outside the temple, basking in the autumn sunshine and feeling that their lives were quite comfortable.

In the afternoon of this day, there was a sudden shout and a group of officers and soldiers rushed up the mountain. The strong men hurriedly picked up their swords and sticks and fought with the officers and soldiers. This group of strong men was no match for the officers and soldiers, and they were killed in pieces.

"Retreat towards the mountain." Leader Zou Cheng led everyone to run towards the back of the mountain. Yang Shucheng was also bundled up and ran to the back of the mountain. The victorious officers and soldiers were unwilling to give up and pursued him closely.

The leader, Zou Cheng, had no choice but to lead everyone up to another mountain to resist.

The officers and soldiers in that group were outnumbered and powerful. When they saw strong men resisting, they took their bows and arrows and shot up the mountain. They heard the sound of "swish, swish, swish..." and then heard the screams of "ahhhh...". Most of the strong men here are dead.

Seeing the critical situation, the leader Zou Cheng quickly led the rest of the group and ran towards the mountain peak. The officers and soldiers chased after them like a shadow, and until the end, only the leaders Zou Cheng and Yang Shucheng were left.

The leader, Zou Cheng, picked up Yang Shucheng and ran towards the top of the mountain. When we ran to the top of the mountain, we were in a panic and found ourselves in a desperate situation. Surrounded by cliffs, there was only one mountain path leading to the bottom of the mountain. And a group of officers and soldiers rushed up the mountain. It was impossible to escape even if they had no wings.

"Help, I'm not a robber." Yang Shucheng raised his hands and ran towards the officers and soldiers.

With a "swish" arrow, it shot towards Yang Shucheng.

The leader Zou Cheng grabbed Yang Shucheng and avoided the fatal arrow.

"Do you think they will spare you?" the leader Zou Cheng shouted.

Yang Shucheng still didn't believe Zou Cheng's words, and then a burst of feather arrows came over him. They shot at him regardless of good or bad.

The leader, Zou Cheng, pulled Yang Shucheng to avoid the arrows.

"What should I do?" Yang Shucheng couldn't help but ask.

"What good will happen if we fall into their hands? All my brothers are dead," he paused and then said, "I have to go find my brothers and I can't care about you."

Yang Shucheng didn't understand, but saw Zou Cheng turn over and jump off the cliff.

Yang Shucheng was hesitating when a burst of arrows covered the sky and shot him. If he had to be shot into a hedgehog, how could he open his mouth to argue? Instinctively, he turned around to avoid, stepped on the air, and turned over and fell off the cliff.

The person was in a coma in mid-air. He only felt that his body was blocked and he lost consciousness.

After a while, he woke up. Yang Shucheng felt that his body was wandering. Could it be that he was already a soul? He quickly looked sideways and was so frightened that he was in mid-air, surrounded by clouds and mist, and found that his body was hanging on a pine tree.

This pine tree saved Yang Shucheng's life.

Yang Shucheng slowly turned sideways, and the pine tree made a click, as if it was about to break. How could Yang Shucheng move again?

Yang Shucheng looked sideways and saw that this pine tree grew in the gap of the cliff, and its roots were exposed outside the rock.

Yang Shucheng slowly climbed to the root of the pine tree, and then he felt safer. Only then did I realize that there seemed to be a cave in the gap, with the entrance blocked with gravel.

Yang Shucheng used his hands to open up the gravel, and sure enough, a sizable hole was revealed. Yang Shucheng climbed into the cave.

As soon as he climbed into the cave, Yang Shucheng was scared out of his wits.

There was a skeleton lying in the cave.

Yang Shucheng stayed for a while and then began to observe the condition of the surrounding stone walls.

On the stone wall on the right, there is a line of words engraved on it. If you identify it carefully, it says "the place where treasures are buried".

Could it be that I encountered a treasure map again!

To the right of the writing, there is a wall with a different color than the surrounding ones. Yang Shucheng dug open the stone wall with his fingers. There was a small hole inside, and there was an oilcloth bag. When he opened the bag, there was a thin book inside.

Yang Shucheng picked up the book and looked through it. The first page said "Sword of Immortality".

Yang Shucheng couldn't help but think, what kind of sword of immortality is there? There is famine in the world now, officials are corrupt and ruthless, mourners are everywhere, and the people are in danger, so where can there be any sword of immortality?

I didn’t look at the sword manual, but after flipping through it a few times, it read “Tai Qing Qigong”. Yang Shucheng was not interested in it, so he put the cloth bag into the basket again, turned around and looked at the pile of bones, thinking that he was the owner of the sword manual.

At this point, Yang Shucheng's family has a treasure map of Fu Gua Sect and a secret book of swordsmanship, but he is in a small cave in mid-air, neither touching the sky nor touching the ground. How can he escape from the mountain?

Yang Shucheng crawled at the entrance of the cave. Clouds were flying outside the cave and the sky was blowing. Looking down, he saw a deep canyon with peaks standing like walls. He was so frightened that his hands and feet were weak.