burning lamp

The climate in the southwestern mountains is warm and humid. Although it is winter, the flowers and plants are blooming luxuriantly. Xie Fengshu is biting a bamboo leaf and sitting cross-legged on the grass in front of the bamboo house.

Now he has returned to his usual lazy look, watching a group of monkeys jumping goats on the grass in front of him, while recalling the sudden killing intent when he faced the Chi You stone statue just now.

Maybe it's because of Wuming Mountain, which is separated from the world by the sea of ​​clouds and mist. Xie Fengshu hid quietly on the mountain for hundreds of years.

He thought for a while without a clue, then looked down at his wrist in boredom.

The place that was held by Jiang Chen just now.

Jiang Chen didn't have much strength, or no strength at all. He just lightly touched Xie Fengshu's wrist, and it only took a moment, but his fingertips were so cold that Xie Fengshu always felt the chill. Still in his hands.

Xie Fengshu felt that Jiang Chen should have noticed something.

Xie Fengshu turned around.Xiaoxi felt that there were too many people outside, so she went back to the house for an afternoon nap; Jiangchen didn't know where she went.

The death of the son-mother-ghost, the wooden tablet of Wu Chu, and now a stone statue of Chi You, the mysteries have been one after another since the descent from the mountain.Xie Fengshu tried to sort out the connection bit by bit, when a figure suddenly blocked the sunlight in front of him.

Xie Fengshu raised his head, Yan Xia held a pottery bowl filled with clear water in his hand, and handed it to Xie Fengshu.

"For me?"

Yan Xia nodded, her voice was very low: "It's too hot here."

She was not fluent in Mandarin, she seemed to be afraid that Xie Fengshu would not understand, so she pointed at the sun again.Xie Fengshu took a sip of the water, raised his eyebrows at Yan Xia, and said, "It's so sweet."

Actually it was just a bowl of clear water, but his tone was exaggerated, Yanxia couldn't help laughing because of his teasing, revealing two dimples at the corners of her mouth.Xie Fengshu also smiled, and pointed at the other children who were playing around not far away.

"Aren't you going to play?"

Yan Xia also took a look, then shook her head: "Brother said he would take care of you."

The two brothers and sisters were very passionate, afraid that the guests from afar might make a mistake, Xie Fengshu couldn't help laughing, and inadvertently lowered his head to sweep, and saw the small wooden sign tied around Yanxia's waist again.

He patted the grass: "Would you like to sit for a while?"

Yan Xia hesitated for a while, and sat down on the grass in front of Xie Fengshu, Xie Fengshu said: "You and your brother speak Mandarin very well."

Yan Xia raised her head in embarrassment, and replied in a low voice, "Aniang taught it."

"Auntie?"

Yan Xia nodded: "Aniang is the same as you, coming from outside the mountain."

Xie Fengshu was taken aback, and immediately understood what she meant: "Isn't your mother a clansman?"

"No. My grandfather said that my mother came in spring. My father went hunting and met my mother who was attacked by a black bear in the mountains. My father shot and killed the black bear and brought my mother back."

It is probably a man of a different race and a girl in distress, similar to the story of a hero saving the beauty in a storybook.Yan Xia spoke very slowly, Xie Fengshu finished listening, and asked again: "Where are your father and mother?"

"Taken away by the mountain god."

Yan Xia raised her head, her small face was almost transparently white under the sun. "Since I was born, my mother has been in poor health. My father went to the cliff to gather medicine and never came back. My brother said that my father was taken away by the mountain god. That winter, my mother was also taken away by the mountain god."

Xie Fengshu was startled, unable to explain what was in his heart.The afternoon sun was a little too hot, he sat up straight and covered Yan Xia with a shade, and said softly, "You have a good brother."

Yan Xia raised her face proudly: "Everyone in the clan said so—" She paused, then lowered her head and whispered: "Except Uncle Bayin."

Bayan.

Xie Fengshu's expression changed: "Who is this Uncle Bayin?"

Yan Xia looked at Xie Fengshu with some puzzlement: "It's uncle, father's younger brother, my uncle."

She thought that she made a mistake because she was not familiar with official dialect, and looked at Xie Fengshu timidly: "Isn't it right?"

"Yes." Xie Fengshu smiled reassuringly at the person, and asked again, "Is Uncle Bayin in the clan now?"

Yan Xia hesitated for a moment: "I had a quarrel with Grandpa the day before yesterday. It was so fierce. I went hunting in the mountains and haven't come back yet."

There are many dangerous roads in the southwestern mountains, and it is common to go hunting in the mountains for a day or two and not return. Xie Fengshu paused and asked, "Why doesn't uncle like your brother, can you tell me?"

Yan Xia replied truthfully: "It seems that it is because he doesn't like A Niang. He often said that people outside the mountains are not good people, and A Niang is a monster from outside—"

Yan Xia hadn't finished speaking yet, remembering that the big brother in front of her was also from outside, her face flushed immediately, Xie Fengshu saw her embarrassment, and smiled innocently.

Yan Xia lowered her head and whispered: "My aunt is not a monster, my brother said, she is the most beautiful person in the world."

As she said that, as if she was afraid that Xie Fengshu would not believe it, she repeated it again: "The most beautiful, there is a portrait of her at home, which was drawn by Dad." The posture of pulling people to take a look.

Xie Fengshu nodded solemnly at the child, and replied seriously: "Well, your aunt must be very beautiful."

Yan Xia smiled embarrassedly, just like Yan Nan, her eyes sparkled when she smiled, like a deer, Xie Fengshu patted her head.

"go to play."

Yan Xia glanced at the little friends who were playing around, finally nodded, got up and ran towards her friends, Xie Fengshu patiently told her behind her: "Run slower."

Xie Fengshu turned his head when he saw Yan Xia entered the crowd.He looked around and was about to go back to the bamboo hut when he happened to see a white robe in the bamboo forest not far away.

It turned out that he ran there.

Xie Fengshu had nothing to do, so he simply waved his hand at the forest, got up and went there too.Jiang Chen in the bamboo forest withdrew his gaze until Xie Fengshu came to him.

There was no one around, Xie Fengshu said directly: "I know who Bayin is, he is the uncle of Yannan and Yanxia, ​​but their relationship is not good—tsk, this paragraph is a bit long, I will tell you when I get back .”

"Also, it stands to reason that the Xingluo mingpan is an immortal artifact. If it were here, I should be able to detect its breath, but after walking around the village for so long, I didn't feel it at all."

He shrugged helplessly towards Jiang Chen: "Could it be that the death of the son mother ghost has nothing to do with the compass, and we came to the wrong place?"

He said a lot, and when he stopped, he realized that the person in front of him hadn't said a word. At this moment, when he calmed down, there was only the rustling of the wind blowing through the bamboo leaves.

Xie Fengshu coughed in embarrassment, and asked, "What did you find?"

Jiang Chen nodded, squatted down/turned over a piece of dirt.

The soil was wet and stained Jiang Chen's fingertips. Jiang Chen didn't care, took off a little soil and put it on the tip of Xie Fengshu's nose.His hands were slender and well-defined, so suddenly approaching, Xie Fengshu subconsciously leaned back.

Jiang Chen's hand stopped in mid-air, and he raised his eyes to look at Xie Fengshu.Xie Fengshu was inexplicably guilty, he laughed and said, "I'll just take it myself."

As he spoke, he wanted to take the mud from Jiang Chen's hand, but Jiang Chen withdrew his hand a little.

Under Xie Fengshu's bewildered expression, Jiang Chen paused, and finally said: "Dirty."

"..." Xie Fengshu looked at the mud on Jiang Chen's hands, and asked in disbelief, "Are you afraid that I will get my hands dirty?"

Looking at Jiang Chen's calm eyes, he felt a little impossible.Jiang Chen was silent for a moment, then said: "This soil is very strange."

Xie Fengshu's attention was drawn back, he no longer struggled, and lowered his head to smell the dirt on Jiangchen's hands.

He smelled it for a while, and realized something was wrong.

The wet soil should have a damp and earthy smell, but the soil on Jiang Chen's hand has a dry and pungent smell, similar to sulfur.

Like scorched earth.

Xie Fengshu frowned and raised his head, looking at the bamboo forest all over the mountains and plains.

On the scorched earth, there is life.

Xie Fengshu squatted down to pull out a young bamboo that just sprouted under his feet.

It is estimated that the landing time is not long, the bamboo has just reached the calf, very slender.Xie Fengshu was very patient, digging down bit by bit, the smell of scorched earth became stronger as he went down, and after half a cup of tea, Xie Fengshu finally dug to the bottom of the bamboo.

empty.

Without roots or stems, a new bamboo is just like a stick stuck in the soil, but it is green and green, and the bamboo leaves are swaying in the wind.

Xie Fengshu straightened up and turned to look at Jiang Chen: "...What do you mean?"

Jiang Chen also shook his head.

Xie Fengshu thought of a possibility, and Jiang Chen seemed to guess it before he even made a sound, saying: "There is no ghost aura, no monster aura, they are all human."

It's true, among the three, Xie Fengshu had the most contact with the Wu Chu tribe, and he didn't notice any evil in them, they were all fresh.

"Just wait and see." Jiang Chen had already walked down the mountain, "Bayin is in the village now?"

"No, they said they went into the mountains."

Xie Fengshu followed behind Jiang Chen: "Where's his wooden sign?"

Jiang Chen took out the wooden sign from his sleeve and handed it to Xie Fengshu.

The wooden sign was as clean as new, and the blood stains on it were gone. Normally, Xie Fengshu would never have thought about it, but what happened just now was still vivid in his memory. In the blink of an eye, Xie Fengshu suddenly realized: "You are in the cave. If you refuse to hand over the sign to me, you also feel dirty?"

Jiang Chen paused, Xie Fengshu was shocked and waited for the other party's answer. Suddenly, the ground under his feet trembled slightly, and the sound of horseshoes could be heard from afar.

Jiang Chen raised his eyes and looked in the direction of the voice: "They are back."