If you can't eat grass, you will be eaten

Han Xiu turned his head and found that the speaker was a hale and hearty old man, with his hands in his sleeves, walking towards them steadily.

"I haven't heard the name Tianchihai for a long time." The old man said slowly, "Even if it is me, I only heard my grandfather tell the story of Tianchihai by chance."

"Grandfather once said that the Tianchi Sea is the sea in the sea. If you want to find the Tianchi Sea, you must first go to the surface of the sea." The old man told Han Xiu and the others in detail everything he knew, "I found the area where the Tianchi Sea is located. , dive further, and find the key to open the gate to enter the real Tianchi Sea."

"Wow, it's so complicated?" Yingcao said with emotion, "Old man, if we go to the sea to find it, how can we be sure which sea area is the area where Tianchi Sea is located?"

The old man lowered his head and groaned, as if he was thinking about how to answer. After a while, he said, "I don't know too well. I remember my grandfather took me on a boat when I was young. When we passed the sea, he pointed out I have seen it. Although the sea surface is the same as other places, that sea area gives me a very special feeling. Apart from that, there is no other difference."

"Old man, so you know where Tianchi Lake is? Then can you show us the way?" Banruo asked.

The old man looked up at Banruo, shook his head and refused: "I am too old to go to sea. I just heard that you are looking for Tianchi Sea, so I came here to tell you. Now I have told you everything I know. , I should go home now."

The old man wanted to leave after finishing speaking, but Han Xiu stopped him subconsciously: "Don't go, old man, you look like an old man when you walk like flying. You are so healthy, you can go to sea with us without any problem. You just You just need to walk with us, you don’t need to worry about anything else.”

The old man didn't turn around, but the pace of leaving gradually slowed down, and he still muttered in a low voice: "The old man is getting old, and he has a grandson to raise. It's really not suitable for going to sea."

A silver ingot with sufficient weight was placed in front of the old man.Ibaraki stared at the old man: "Is it okay now?"

The old man looked at the shiny silver, and the hesitation on his face deepened.The hand in the sleeve was also shaking constantly, as if he really wanted to accept the ingot of silver.But he turned his head away in the end, acting like he didn't see anything.

Ibaraki took his hand back, and the expression of regret on the old man's face was very obvious.Then Ibaraki took out another ingot of gold from his bosom: "This ingot of gold is enough for you and your grandson to eat for several years."

The old man couldn't help it this time, and there was obvious emotion on his face.He glanced sideways at Jin Zi several times, and finally said: "I can go out to sea with you, but I can only provide a general direction, and I'm not sure whether I can find Tianchi Lake."

"Yes." Ibaraki looked at the old man and answered blankly.

"Can you swim? If you fall into the water, the old man will not have the strength to rescue you." The old man continued to ask.

Ibaraki turned his gaze to the others, and everyone shook their heads unanimously. Ibaraki turned his head and said expressionlessly, "You don't need to save me."

"By the way, there is also a boat. My family has it. I can give it to you, but you have to rely on yourself to row the boat. Hey, the old man is old and has no strength." The old man said as he walked towards Ibaraki until he was near It was very close before stopping.

"Okay." Ibaraki's tone was a little impatient.

Hearing this, the old man quickly pulled out his hand from his sleeve, and took the gold from Ibaraki's palm.

Before everyone saw his movements clearly, they realized that the gold in Ibaraki's hand was gone.The old man had already hidden the gold in his sleeves, and his hands were deeply in the sleeves.

"Let's go, all come with my old man. My family's boat is parked at the pier in front." The old man walked steadily ahead and brought them to the pier. "This is our family's boat." The old man's hands were still tucked in his sleeves, he folded his hands together, and moved in one direction, motioning them to look that way.

At this time, almost all the fishermen had returned, and there were many boats, large and small, parked at the pier.In the direction the old man pointed, the largest ship was parked.

Everyone happily walked towards the boat, and just as the deer boy was about to get on the boat, the old voice behind him quickly shouted: "Wrong, wrong, it's not this one, it's the boat next to it."

Only then did everyone realize that there was an ordinary-sized boat parked beside them, but because the boat was too big to block their sight, they didn't see the boat.

"Old man, isn't it? Can this boat really take people?" Yingcao looked at the old man in shock, with disbelief written in her eyes, "Although this boat is not small, it can fit a few of us. But it It's covered in moss and obviously hasn't been used for a long time, so is it really safe to go to sea?"

"Yes, yes." The old man disagreed.Everyone was silent for a while, but still boarded the moss-covered boat. At this moment, they all agreed that they had stepped on a thief boat.

The board made a "squeak" sound under the force, and Yingcao moved on the deck tremblingly, with an expression like she was about to cry: "Is it true that the board will not be crushed by me?"

Just as Han Xiu wanted to comfort her, Ibaraki next to her said, "No."

"Great." Yingcao felt relieved and resumed his normal walking posture. The next moment, the wooden plank under his feet was overwhelmed, and it shattered with a "click".

Yingcao's entire face was wrinkled together, wanting to cry, but he said in a trembling voice, "Didn't you say you won't be trampled on by me? How could this happen!"

Ibaraki turned his face away in embarrassment, and stopped talking.Han Xiu also swallowed the words that he wanted to comfort Yingcao, because he suddenly remembered that Yingcao looks weak, but in fact he is very strong.

Although the wooden board had aged, according to his observation just now, the wooden board should still be able to bear the weight of an ordinary person.The foot that Yingcao stepped into the air just now may be because he walked too hard.

For the sake of their safety, let Yingcao continue to maintain this state and walk carefully on the boat.

Of the six people on board, except for the old man, everyone rowed in turn, and they sailed out of the shore in a short while.The old man sat quietly on the boat, occasionally pointing the direction, very relaxed.

The old man was sitting with his eyes looking in all directions, and happened to see the sweaty fireflies rowing a boat, and couldn't help but said to Ibaraki who was resting beside him: "Young man, although you are missing an arm, you are still a boy, why not?" It can make a weak girl row a boat, go and replace him."

Hotaru hurriedly waved his hand, expressing that he didn't need to help, Ibaraki looked at the sweaty Yingcao and felt a little uncomfortable, so he walked up to Yingcao and held out his left hand to him.Yingcao hugged the paddle, shook her head hastily, moved towards Hannya who was closest to him, and silently refused Ibaraki's help.

Ibaraki felt more uncomfortable in his heart. He approached Yingcao, grabbed the oar with one hand, and said coldly: "The speed is too slow."

The paddle in Yingcao's hand was taken away, and he looked up at Ibaraki, but Ibaraki was against the light and couldn't see his expression at all.

Hotaru gave up her position to Ibaraki in a shy way.He sat next to Prajna, and the two rowed together.Seeing this scene, Ibaraki felt even more unhappy, but he had no reason to let them separate, so he could only be secretly annoyed.

The sun was setting lower and lower, and the light was getting dimmer.Everyone has not found the sea area where Tianchi Lake is located, so they want to go back to the shore to rest for a night, and come back to look for it tomorrow morning.But the old man said hurry up, let them persevere, Tianchihai is near here in his memory.

Everyone thought that they had been rowing for such a long time, and the old man also said that Tianchi Lake was nearby, so why not look for it again.

Everyone swayed on the sea for a while, and the sky was almost completely dark, and it would really be dark if they didn't return to the voyage.

When Han Xiuxiu was hesitating whether to return to the voyage, the amber beads hanging around his neck suddenly lit up.He glanced down at the bead and remembered its origin.This is a lucky bead given to them by Zashiki Doji.

Holding the bead, Han Xiu silently thought: Maybe we can find Tianchihai after a while?Suddenly, the finger holding the lucky bead felt a tingling pain.Han Xiu immediately changed his mind and wanted to leave.This time, the lucky bead stayed quietly in Han Xiu's palm, emitting a slight light, which was gentle and harmless.

Han Xiu made a final decision: "It's so dark, I can't see anything, go back first, and look for it tomorrow." The old man seemed unwilling to bother to come back tomorrow, and wanted to persuade them to continue looking, but Han Xiu's attitude was very firm. , as if knowing something.

The old man's persuasion was fruitless, so he had to follow them back.On the way back, he seemed a little sullen.Before they got back to the shore, the sky was completely dark, leaving only the dim moonlight.After a while, dark clouds drifted past, even the moonlight disappeared, and now I really couldn't see my fingers.

"Plop!" The sudden sound of falling into the water startled Han Xiu, and Han Xiu walked towards the direction of the sound, wanting to see what happened.

"Help! I can't swim!" The deer man's voice came along with the sound of water. Han Xiu was very anxious, but it was useless for him to be anxious, because he couldn't swim either.

Han Xiu was quick to wit, picked up the oar beside him, and pushed it forward with all his strength, half of his body leaned out of the boat: "Grab the oar!"

Suddenly, Han Xiu felt a thrust behind him trying to push him into the water.Han Xiu turned his head in astonishment, and the old man was standing behind him.

But the strength just now is not like the strength that an old man should have. "Plop!" Han Xiu fell into the water.Then there were two more "plops" and "plops", and Yingcao and Banruo were also pushed down.

No wonder the old man wanted to ask them if they would have water. It turned out that he had plans to murder them for money!Ibaraki grabbed the old man's hand: "This is not an old man's hand."

The dark clouds gradually left, and the moon showed its face.Under the moonlight, although it was not clear, it could still be seen that there were no wrinkles on the old man's hands. They were a pair of young people's hands.

Dark clouds floated in again, blocking the moon.The old man sneered, seized the opportunity to trip Ibaraki, and pulled his robe smoothly.

"Hmph! The clothes are so heavy, and the gold and silver are all here, then you are useless." The man repeated his old trick, and when Ibaraki couldn't see him clearly in the dark, he tripped him again and threw Ibaraki Also pushed down the water.

Just when the water flooded his head, Ibaraki suddenly lost consciousness.