National Division

In the southwest, there are mountains, deep forests and dense trees. It is the most sweltering time of the year.

Qi Jun dragged his stumpy legs up a slope, couldn't hold on any longer, and slowly sat down on the ground while leaning on a tree.Pus had already flowed from the wound that was tied tightly with cloth strips, and the wound deteriorated faster in a humid and hot place than outside.

A gust of wind passed through the forest, and Qi Jun shivered abruptly. He knew that he had a fever, and his body was chilled, but his lips were cracked and bloody.But the water sac and the medicine sac were empty, and the vegetation in the mountain was rich in water, but he didn't dare to eat it casually.

A snake crawled past him, Qi Jun clenched his short knife and tried to stab it down, but his vision was already a little blurry, the knife missed, the snake flew away from the grass, and disappeared in the blink of an eye, but Qi Jun used too much force and fell to the ground.

With his face pressed against the wet grass, Qi Jun smiled wryly.He left the capital with his stick and light car Jian Cong, but was ambushed when he entered the southwestern mountain area. It seems that the news of his early departure from the palace still could not be concealed to the end.Naturally, he had already thought about the countermeasures after his whereabouts were leaked along the way, but even if he tried his best, he couldn't imagine that there would be a tiger waiting for him in this mountain. The tiger was killed by him, but the horse had already been pounced on. He was killed, and his leg was also scratched by the tiger's claws.Seeing that if he can't get out of this mountain again today, I'm afraid he will end his life like this tiger.

His body gradually became colder, but there seemed to be a fire burning in his throat.Qi Jun pressed his lips to the wet grass, regretting that he didn't cut a few pieces of tiger or horse meat. Raw meat was difficult to swallow, but at least it had some moisture.But now—he closed his eyes slightly—he didn't even have the strength to walk back and cut the flesh.

I don't know how long it took, Qi Jun's somewhat confused consciousness suddenly became slightly clear, and behind the big tree next to him, there was a soft rustling sound, as if something was slowly approaching.Qi Jun lay motionless on the ground, even his eyelashes were still half-drooped, but his fingers holding the dagger tightened.

The first thing he saw was a dirty hand, with dirt under the nails, but it was a human hand.The hand swayed slightly before his eyes, and then moved to his mouth and nose for a try.Qi Jun held his breath, and after a while, he withdrew his hand, and a mud monkey climbed out from behind the tree.

It is definitely not an exaggeration to say that it is a mud monkey. The person who crawled out looked like a half-grown child. He was wearing a loose robe that could no longer be seen in color, and the hem was torn to pieces. The peeled branches are coiled, with grass leaves falling on them besides the soil, and the face is even more black and green, like a pig that has just rolled in the mud, only the whites of the eyes are clean.

The mud monkey came out from behind the big tree, took a good look at Qi Jun first, and muttered in a low voice: "I'm dead... Offend offend, I'll just take you some dry food, and I'll read a few more scriptures for you in the future." ..." As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to untie the dry food bag on Qi Jun's waist.As soon as he tore apart the dry food bag a little, Qi Jun suddenly opened his eyes and clasped the thin wrist.

"Wow!" Qi Jun's "bombing corpse" made the mud monkey yelp at the top of its lungs, thumping like a frog scalded by boiling water, reaching out to grab something from its lower back but in vain. "Taishang Laojun is as urgent as the law! Jiang Taigong has no taboos here! All those who are fighting are in the front line! The evil spirits retreat!"

Qi Jun clasped the mud monkey's wrist tightly, watching him recite and gesture coldly.After tossing and tossing for a long time, the mud monkey probably found that he couldn't get rid of Qi Jun's grasp no matter what, and finally stopped panting.The two stared at each other for a moment, and it was Qi Jun who spoke first: "Who are you?"

"Ah!" The mud monkey fell to the ground with a plop, "You, you are not a ghost! You are so frightening."

"Who are you?" Qi Jun frowned and asked again, "When you see the wounded and don't help, you still want to take advantage of the fire!"

"Hey, you lied to me by holding your breath first, and I still treat you as a dead person." The mud monkey said plausibly, "You are dead, how can I help? Since you are dead, the dry food is useless. It’s better to use it to live someone else’s life, and you can also cultivate a blessing in the afterlife.”

Qi Jun raised his eyebrows slightly: "I'm asking you, who are you and what are you doing in this deep mountain!" The people here must have other plans when they run into the mountains.Qi Jun looked him up and down, and suddenly stretched out his hand and pulled a cloth bag covered under the mud monkey's tattered clothes. The bag was not tied tightly, and a few grass leaves were exposed, emitting a smell mixed with mud. The smell of medicine: "Are you picking medicine?"

"Ah... oh..." The mud monkey rolled its eyeballs and grinned, revealing a row of glutinous rice white teeth, "Yes, yes, I am a herb collector. This big brother, please let go, your hand is about to break."

Qi Jun was unmoved, and just used his free hand to tear off the strip of cloth on his leg: "Since you know medicine, please help me look at the injury." This mud monkey is full of lies, look at his exposed Although the wrists were also dirty, the parts that were not stained with marl juice were white, clearly not a herbal picker who had been exposed to the sun.But the herbs in the cloth bag are real. Among them, there is a smell of notoginseng, which is a good medicine for stopping bleeding and promoting muscle growth. When Qi Jun practiced riding and shooting in the palace, he would inevitably get injured. He also used this medicine. When he took the cloth bag, he could smell it. The smell of Panax notoginseng shows that this mud monkey still knows a little about herbal medicine.If it was normal, Qi Jun would never let a liar of unknown origin heal his injuries, but now in this deep mountain and old forest, if he drags on, his leg will be useless, and he can only be regarded as a dead horse. Horse medicine.

There were three straight parallel wounds on Qi Jun's thigh, all of which were skin-turned meat rolls, oozing pus due to inflammation, which looked quite scary, but the mud monkey just glanced at it lightly, and stretched out its hand to rub it instead. He twisted the blood-stained cloth.

No matter how hard he can endure, Qi Jun is still the crown prince of a country. He has been raised with gold and jade since he was a child, and some habits still cannot be changed.For example, this time when he traveled in modest clothes, the outer robes were made of coarse cloth, and even the shoes were replaced with hemp shoes worn by traveling merchants, but the material of his obscene clothes was white silk woven by the weaving workshop in the palace, which was more common in the market. White silk is thicker and softer.The cloth strip binding the wound was torn from the top. Although it was dirty and smelly, it was still as soft as silk when twisted in the hand.

The mud monkey pinched the cloth lightly, his eyes moved slightly, then he turned his hand to press Qi Jun's wound, and clicked his tongue a few times: "Is this wound caught by a wild animal? I said this big brother, you I have to let go of my hand so that I can help you bind your wound."

Qi Jun looked at him calmly for a while, then let go of his hand: "It was caught by the tiger's claws."

"Tiger's paw?" The mud monkey looked down at the wound on his leg carefully, smacked its lips and shook its head, "The tiger's paw is very dirty, I'm afraid this piece of skin and flesh won't be able to keep it, we have to burn it with fire, or it will rot inside , even lost his life.”

Qi Jun raised his hand and threw the dagger to him: "Then cut it."

The mud monkey hurriedly caught the dagger, twitched the corners of its mouth, and rolled its eyes: "Brother, you don't look like a local. Are you a traveling merchant?"

Qi Jun nodded bluntly: "He's from the capital. It's also the first time. He wanted to collect some tea leaves, but he got lost, got separated from his family, and met a tiger again. How about you, little brother? Go out to collect medicine by yourself?" The mud monkey looks thin and small, just like a fourteen or five-year-old half-grown child.

"Oh, hehe——" the mud monkey grinned again, "Yeah, I lost my way while gathering herbs, and I finished all the dry food on my body..." He said, scanning Qi Jun's waist with his eyes dry food bag.

"That's easy to say." Qi Jun's body felt cold for a while, and his spirit was a little sluggish when he raised it just now. He barely clenched his fists to support himself from falling, "I have dry food here, but I lack water."

"Oh." The mud monkey looked around, pulled out a few grasses on the ground, shook off the soil on the roots and handed it to Qi Jun, "This one can still be chewed, and there may be water if you walk forward. This wound has to be ablaze."

Qi Jun lowered his eyes and looked. The grasses looked inconspicuous, but the roots buried in the ground were as thick as a finger, white and full of water.He tentatively put it in his mouth and took a bite. A stream of juice rushed into his mouth with an earthy taste. It seemed a little sweet when he tasted it carefully. It immediately moistened the palate and tongue, making him chew without hesitation... …

Half an hour later, smoke rose by a stream with dead branches and fallen leaves.

"Ahem——" The mud monkey raised his head from the smoking fire, his eyes were red from the smoke.Qi Jun is not much better than him, everything in this forest is damp, even if there is a fire, it took a lot of effort for the two of them to make this fire.

The mud monkey put the short knife on the fire and burned it back and forth several times, then picked out several herbs in the bag and chewed them in its mouth, then tore open Qi Jun's pants with a sneer, and cleared his throat: "Here, Brother, you have to dig out all the carrion from your wound."

"Yeah." Qi Jun casually grabbed a branch and bit it in his mouth, "Let's dig."

The hot short knife cut across the skin, Qi Jun bit the branch in his mouth tightly, beads of sweat dripped down his face.The mud monkey's hand was actually very steady and fast, it cut off the rotten flesh from the wound in a few strokes, picked up a burning branch from the fire, and pressed it on the wound.

Qi Jun let out a dull scream, grabbed the root of the tree next to him with one hand, his muscles tensed up, and the ground collapsed, and the root as thick as his fingertips was forcibly pulled out by him, and Qi Jun's body shook. Crooked, fainted.

A smell of burnt fragrance caused Qi Jun to slowly open his eyes, and what he saw was the sky covered by trees and leaves. A few stars twinkled in the gaps between the leaves, and it was already night.

Qi Jun sat up abruptly, subconsciously touched his waist but found nothing, and suddenly his heart tightened—would the mud monkey take dry food and run away while he was unconscious?But he immediately found that the fire not far away was still burning hot, and the mud monkey was roasting some mushrooms on a branch, and when he heard the movement, he turned his head and grinned: "Are you awake? You have slept long enough, are you hungry?"

Qi Jun's stomach gurgled twice in response to the occasion, and he also slept for two or three hours depending on the weather, no wonder his stomach was singing empty city tricks.He turned his head to look, and the wound on his thigh had already been wrapped up with new cloth strips, green juice leaked from the cloth strips, and there was also a smell of medicine.The wound was still painful, but it didn't feel numb before. Instead, it felt a little cool, obviously the herbs were right for the disease.After a little movement, he suddenly felt a cooling sensation on the back of his thighs, and even the wounded part of the staff had been smeared with herbal medicine.Thinking that the mud monkey took off his pants when he was unconscious, Qi Jun's face became hot, and his eyes when looking at the mud monkey became complicated.

But the mud monkey didn't notice his expression, and happily moved over with the mushroom in his hand: "Come here to skewer the mushrooms and fill your belly."

The color of the mushrooms has turned yellow, and the roasted juice is sizzling. Although it is only sprinkled with a little salt, it is still fragrant.Qi Jun didn't think much about it, took a bite first, swallowed it, and asked, "Where's my dry food? Roasted food is also good, and it's better than this."

This is knowingly asking.As soon as the mud monkey stood up, Qi Jun found a bulge under his ragged robe, which was his dry food bag.Sure enough, the mud monkey patted his waist with a smile: "Here is the dry food, but the forest is huge. I don't know when I can go out, so I have to save some food. I also took out some bird eggs, which are being stewed in the ashes." , enough to eat."

Qi Jun bit the mushroom, and looked at the mud monkey thoughtfully: "It's been a long time, and I still don't know what to call the little brother?"

"Oh——" the mud monkey blinked, and was a little serious, "Just call me Zhibai. Does this big brother have a high name?"

"Qi Yi." Qi Jun replied casually, "Brother Zhibai is now preparing to—"

Zhibai rolled his eyes again: "I'm a herb picker, and I came to the mountains to get some valuable herbs to make a living, but this trip didn't go well..." He didn't answer Qi Jun's question directly, but asked instead , "Brother Qi, what is your plan? You have injuries on your body. Although I have medicine in my hand, it is not enough..."

"How many days will it take to go to the nearest place where someone lives?" Qi Jun heard something in the vernacular, and asked casually while biting a mushroom.

"Then...Brother Qi, your leg is injured, I'm afraid we won't be able to get out for four or five days." Zhibai looked embarrassed, "But this medicine won't last for four or five days..."

"Oh, where is this medicine?"

Zhibai raised his hand and pointed to the south: "I heard that there is good medicine in the mountains over there. I just wanted to see it this time. Who knew that I lost some dry food on the way, and that's why—hehe."

Qi Jun turned his head and looked at the direction of his fingers, his heart moved slightly.That direction was the place where the star iron he had inquired all the way was most likely to fall to the ground.He lowered his eyes and ate the mushrooms, but his mind turned rapidly.

Qi Jun never thought of taking the crown prince to the southwest in a dignified manner, and then sending the local officials and people out to find Xingtie.If he did that—Qi Jun was sure that even if the people from the Ye family couldn't kill him, they would never let him find Xingtie, or they would only let him find a fake.Therefore, his original plan was to take it lightly, and only bring a few of his confidant guards to come ahead of time, and go into the mountain to look for it himself.They had inquired carefully along the way. The earthquake came from the mountain over there. Many local woodcutters and hunters dare not enter the mountain rashly now.And Zhibai went to the mountain to collect medicine at this time, and even pointed in that direction... But if he really came for Xingtie, then he already took his dry food bag, why didn't he take the opportunity to sneak away?

"In the mountains over there..." Qi Jun pretended to ponder, "It seems that we have gone farther, and - I was separated from the guys only after encountering a tiger. I wonder if there are any beasts in the mountains over there?" he said while talking. Quietly looking at Zhibai, he suddenly found what he always thought was wrong. Zhibai's hands had been washed clean, but his face was still black and green, and it was hard to distinguish his face.Looking closely, his face is not mud, but something like grass juice, which was obviously put on it on purpose.Why don't you wash your face while guarding a stream?Could it be that he didn't want people to see his true face at all?

Zhibai coughed dryly, with a look of embarrassment on his face: "In the mountains, there are always snakes, insects and beasts. Brother Qi, you have not entered the deep mountains, did you encounter tigers? Even if we are going out of the mountains now, we dare not say that There are no beasts, but this medicine is indeed—this matter...Brother Qi, you can make up your own mind."

Qi Jun secretly sneered.His dry food bag is now on Zhibai's waist, so he can make up his own mind.

"Brother Zhibai is right...there is a long way to go outside the mountain, and my leg can't be healed without medicine...then let's go that way." Qi Jun pulled out his dagger, "I have to trouble brother Zhibai to find a thick leg for me. Come on, so I can walk on it."

Zhibai breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately jumped up: "I'm going now." Turning around, he went into the woods, until he reached a place where Qi Jun couldn't see, then he put his palm on his chest and muttered, "Wuliangshou Buddha, this person's life is already at the end of the day, if he doesn't meet me, he will die here, and he will be dead anyway... It is not my crime." After reading, he climbed up the tree to break the branches, but he didn't see Qi Jun. He also dragged his injured leg and moved a few steps, and peeled off the bark of the tree next to him at the height of his head in the south, revealing an arrow-shaped white stubble, pointing in the direction they were going.