National Division

There is an old saying: Looking at the mountain runs to death, which means that you can clearly see the mountain, but you still have to go a long way to get there.Now, Qi Jun understands the meaning of these words, knowing that the mountain that Bai pointed to seems to be close at hand, but after walking for a full day, he only reached halfway up the mountain, and it will take half a day to climb up the mountain, let alone say. .

"Ouch!" Seeing a clear and shallow stream of water, Zhibai sat down first, "Let's rest here tonight." Qi Jun dragged his injured leg and was still supporting himself, so he couldn't do it yet.

After walking for a day, Qi Jun also felt very strenuous.But Zhibai's medicine is better than he expected, not only the wound on the buttocks is no longer painful, even the wound on the thigh is much better, the wound is even slightly itchy, this is to shut up Scab, a sign of new flesh.

"It looks like we will be able to enter that mountain tomorrow." Qi Jun leaned against the tree and slowly sat down, with the dagger in his hand, he cut off a piece of bark from the tree behind his back, leaving a mark.

"Yes—" Zhibai scratched his hair, "Actually...you don't have to hurry, this medicine can last for a day..."

"Naturally, the sooner you can get the medicine, the better." Qi Jun smiled slightly, "I've got the medicine, and I have to rush out of the mountain."

"Ah, yes, yes." Zhibai replied with a guilty conscience, got up to pick up firewood, "First light the fire, boil the water and I will change the medicine for you."

Qi Jun stared at his busy figure, sneered secretly, and then leaned against the tree trunk and half closed his eyes.He grew up surrounded by stars since he was a child, so he would not do such things as lighting a fire and boiling water. He knew that there was something wrong with him, so he was happy to let him do the work.

Qi Jun's water bag is made of high-quality calfskin. After filling it with water, it is set on the fire and burned. As long as there is still water in the bag, the cowhide will not burn out. After a while, the water inside has boiled away. He tore off another piece of clean cloth from his middle coat, first scalded it with boiling water, then let the boiling water cool down, put some salt in it to dissolve, and then used the warm salt water to wipe Qi Jun's wound carefully.

The salt water killed the wound, as if thousands of needles were piercing it, but the skin and flesh of the wound no longer had the purple-black appearance when it rotted, and showed a bright red color again.Zhibai cleaned the wound, chewed the last bit of herb in the cloth bag and applied it on the wound, re-wrapped it properly with cloth strips, and wiped the sweat from his head: "If you change the medicine two or three times like this, the scab will probably heal." .”

Qi Jun was also sweating from the pain, and he was relieved at this time, and was about to speak, suddenly there was a soft rustling sound from the tree trunk around him, Qi Jun turned sideways, and only heard Bai shouted "no" in his ear , the dagger in his hand had already been thrown out, nailing a snake's head to a tree.This snake looks green all over its body, just like the vines on the tree, it is really hard to distinguish.Qi Jun pulled out his short knife, saw that the snake was not dead yet, he chopped off the snake's head with another knife, and said with a smile, "It's an extra dish." He threw it to Zhibai casually.

Zhibai was caught off guard, and was thrown into his arms by a snake, and immediately spread his hands at a loss: "This, this—why did you—kill, kill..."

Qi Jun saw that his face seemed to be a little pale, so he couldn't help laughing: "Are you afraid of snakes? They are all dead, and they won't bite people anymore. If I don't eat some meat, I don't have the strength to go." Baidu took the bag of dry food, and in the name of frugality, he used mushrooms, grass sprouts and wild fruits to satisfy his hunger. He still had injuries on his body, so he couldn't hold it any longer. He pointed at Zhibai, "Look at that. Snake skin should be inedible, you can peel the skin, you can roast or stew it as you like." He is good at killing snakes, but he doesn't know how to make this snake to eat.

If Zhibai's face hadn't been covered with black and green grass juice, it would have been extremely wonderful. Even so, Qi Jun could also see that he was looking miserable now, so he couldn't help raising his eyebrows: "Why?" Seeing Zhibai Roasted white mushrooms are very skilled in peeling wild fruits. They should be used to it. Could it be that a snake can't do it?

"No, it's nothing." Zhibai smiled wryly, and tremblingly carried the snake to the edge of the stream to peel and clean it, while muttering non-stop.

This snake was very fat, and after roasting for a while, it gave off a strong aroma similar to chicken. Qi Jun's stomach was already rumbling, and he grabbed a piece of it unceremoniously and munched, seeing that Zhibai only ate roasted mushrooms and The wild fruit couldn't help asking: "Why don't you eat it?"

"Ah? Oh, I'm afraid of fishy smell." Zhibai looked around while eating, looking absent-minded.Seeing him like this, Qi Jun became vigilant: "What's wrong?"

Before the words were finished, a gust of wind blew, carrying an indescribable stench, Qi Jun suddenly turned his head to look, and Zhibai had already shouted: "Run!" There is no shadow.

Qi Jun glanced over and found nothing at first.The sun was already slanting to the west, and the forest was dark, and there were vines everywhere, which made it look like a piece of brown-green.It was only after a while that he realized that between the brown and green, something as thick as the mouth of a bowl was sliding from one treetop to another. Despite the huge body of this thing, it was so light that even a thin None of the branches were broken, and when it hung between the treetops, it looked like a particularly thick vine, approaching him silently and swiftly—it was a giant green snake, at least four feet long, with its head and tail invisible. .

When his eyes touched the pile of green snakeskin by the stream, Qi Jun suddenly understood the reason for Zhibai's sad face at that time, and even guessed the reason why he had to bring him to this mountain.Obviously, this mountain is the territory of this giant snake. No matter how Zhibai wants to go into the mountain to get something, he has to deal with the snake first.And more obviously, Zhibai didn't have this ability, so he got Qi Jun.It would be best for Qi Jun to kill the snake, but the most likely thing is that he was swallowed by the giant snake, and Zhibai slipped into the mountain when the giant snake swallowed him, and got what he wanted.

"This bastard!" Qi Jun squeezed out a few words between his teeth, clenched the short knife in one hand, and pulled out a burning branch from the fire with the other, staring at the giant snake.His leg was injured, so he couldn't run past the snake at all, he had to fight to live or die.

The giant snake slid lightly onto a big tree closest to Qi Jun, and its huge snake head hung down without a sound. Perhaps it was afraid of the fire, the giant snake shook its head slightly, but did not approach immediately.

Afraid of fire?Qi Jun's thoughts turned, and he immediately lit the grass in front of him.The mountains in the southwest are too humid, even in autumn, the vegetation is still lush, it is difficult to light an open fire, but there are bursts of thick smoke, which somewhat drives the giant snake back.However, the giant snake soon realized that it was in the downwind, and immediately spread its long and thick body, moving from tree to tree, and circled to the windward side.

"You bastard, wake up!" Qi Jun knew that something was wrong, kicked off the crutches on the ground, and sneered, "Come on, I don't believe that Qi Jun will die here today!"

Naturally, the giant snake couldn't understand human words, so when it climbed upwind, it hung half of its body from the branch, swung its head, and suddenly shot over, the snake's mouth opened suddenly, and its two jaws were almost split. As soon as the scarlet letter stretched out, it was already in front of Qi Jun.Qi Jun shouted violently, and stabbed the torch in his left hand towards the mouth of the snake. As expected, the giant snake was a little afraid of the fire, and the whole snake head dodged to the right. Qi Jun had been waiting for this moment. On the snake's left eye.

This knife was planned for a long time before he made it, it was really ruthless and accurate.No matter how awake the giant snake is, it is just an animal, and it is naturally afraid of fire. I saw Qi Jun had a torch in his left hand, but he didn't notice that there was a dagger hidden in his right hand, and he was stabbed by the dagger with a puff.The snake skin was tough and not easy to cut, but the eyeballs were not protected by leather armor. Suddenly, blood spattered. The giant snake let out a sharp roar and shook its head. They all flew upside down, and the short knife held tightly in their hands was pulled out from the eye socket of the giant snake, with a huge eyeball on the tip of the knife.

Qi Jun fell to the ground. Even though his body was thick with grass, he fell completely. There was pain in his chest, a bloody smell gushed up from his throat, and his injured leg was even more painful. It seemed that the wound had opened.He knew that it was a critical moment, so he didn't care about anything else. He turned around and ran towards the densely wooded area. He heard the sound of clattering behind him. The giant snake curled up on the ground and rolled a few times. He raised his head and chased after him, with a thick and long body What he passed was no longer as silent as before, but a rampage with astonishing momentum, scattering broken branches and leaves all over the ground.

Qi Jun gritted his teeth and held on, but he was hit really badly just now, and he limped and ran for a while, already feeling that his chest was stuffy and his eyes were black, and he knew that if he ran any further, he would pass out first. There were two big trees growing side by side, and there was only room for one person in the gap between them. Immediately, he stood between the two trees and turned around to face the giant snake.Although Emperor Jing'an valued literature over martial arts, as a rule, there were masters in the palace who taught martial arts. They were all good guards, some of them went to fight and hunt with the late emperor, and they had some experience in dealing with wild animals.Qi Jun is eager to learn, and treats these horse bow masters very politely. Naturally, these masters are willing to teach him more things.Although Qi Jun, as the crown prince, felt that he would probably never be able to face any beast alone in his whole life, but since His Royal Highness is willing to listen, what's wrong with talking more?Even if you don't need it, letting His Highness be a fresh listener will only benefit your future and not harm it.

There is such a guard here, his family is a hunter, and he has some family-passed tricks to deal with wild animals, such as encountering pythons in the mountains.In fact, the guard himself has never experienced it, he just told Qi Jun what his ancestors said.Most hunters who enter the mountain like to wear a cigarette pipe on their backs. Boa constrictors hate the smell of smoke oil, and if they smell it from a distance, most of them will not move forward.If they do meet, pythons are different from snakes, although they can bite, but they are best at wrapping their bodies around their prey until the bones are broken and tendons broken before swallowing from the head.Therefore, if you encounter this thing, you must find a way to avoid being entangled by it. For example, standing between two trees is an excellent way.

Sure enough, the giant snake chased after it. First, the snake's head retracted, and it hit Qi Jun's chest. Qi Jun's footsteps went around behind the tree by mistake, and the giant snake twisted and was about to entangle itself.Qi Jun circled the tree once, and then got back between the two trees.No matter how long the giant snake was, it couldn't wrap both trees around. Even if it did, it couldn't wrap its tail around Qi Jun, so it had to wrap its tail around a tree, raise its head, and bite again.But it was blind in the left eye, so it was always inconvenient. One person and one snake walked around the two trees for a long time, but they still couldn't stand.

As the night was getting darker, Qi Jun only felt that his thighs were numb from the pain, and his feet were gradually softening as if he had stepped on cotton. Even with these two trees, he could only deal with the giant snake for a while longer. Can't escape the fate of being swallowed.Gritting his teeth, Qi Jun stood firm on his heels and turned around, advancing instead of retreating, and stabbing the snake's mouth with a short knife in his hand.

The blood splattered, and Qi Jun's knife slashed deeply across the upper jaw of the giant snake. The giant snake flicked his tail in pain, and slapped him out again.At this moment, Qi Jun no longer had the strength to get up, and watched the giant snake crazily rushing up. He stretched out his hand and scratched randomly, and tore a cloth bag from his waist.This cloth bag is old and torn, it is actually Zhibai's medicine bag, and I don't know when it was stuffed on him.At this time, he didn't care too much, raised his hand and threw it at the giant snake.

The cloth bag was thrown halfway, the opening of the bag fell apart, and some yellow-green powder spilled out from inside, just on the head of the giant snake, filled with an indescribable stench, and the giant snake's huge body rushed violently. Dun, as if he hated the smell very much, kept shaking his head, not caring about attacking Qi Jun for a moment.

Qi Jun knew that this opportunity would not be long, so he was about to get up from the ground, when he heard the sound of the bowstring falling to the ground, and a feathered arrow flew like lightning from the oblique stab, and just shot into the right eye of the giant snake, almost piercing through the brain. Pass.The whole body of the giant snake curled up, and it let out a whistle-like whistle from its bloody mouth, its tail whipped the ground crackling, and the grass blades flew.

Qi Jun took the opportunity to roll aside, and the giant snake wanted to pounce upon hearing the sound, but four black shadows had already rushed towards it, three of them threw torches at the giant snake, and one helped Qi Jun up: "Your Highness! It's too late!"

"Not too late." Qi Jun's chest was throbbing, but his heart returned to the real place. He raised his hand to wipe the blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth, and smiled coldly, "Don't worry about this thing, follow me to chase people!" The Feather Arrow is lacquered with the secret poison of the palace. No matter how big the snake is, it will only be a matter of time before the snake dies from the poison. Now he is going to chase Zhibai to see what kind of tricks that kid is playing!He dared to use the dignified prince to fill the mouth of the snake, if he didn't skin the kid like that snake and cramped, all his efforts today would have been in vain!

With these four guards, it is not difficult to track Zhibai's whereabouts.The guards had wound medicine on them, and they re-bandaged the wound on Qi Jun's leg, and helped him swallow a elixir to stop bleeding. Two guards took the lead to follow them, and the other two hurriedly walked away. He cut down branches to make a stretcher, and carried Qi Jun up to follow.At dawn, he had climbed to the top of the mountain.

The sky was already dark, Qi Jun stood on the top of the mountain and looked down, suddenly startled.There is a small valley in front of you, with sparse vegetation and a small lake at the bottom of the valley, like a blue gem, quietly inlaid on the emerald.But what surprised Qi Jun was not the beautiful scenery in the valley, but a scorched earth pit by the lake. The grass around the pit was scorched, which was extremely eye-catching beside the blue lake.At this time, the lake water had already been poured into the pit, and from a distance, something seemed to be floating up and down in the water.Qi Jun's eyes were sharp, and he saw it at a glance: "It's Zhibai!"

Sure enough, Zhibai had already taken off the robe that was about to be torn into rags, and was jumping up and down in the water for a while, but he didn't know what he was busy with.A sneer appeared on the corner of Qi Jun's lips, and he waved his hands, and several guards quietly carried him from the forest and covered him gently.

Only when he got close did he realize that Zhibai seemed to be fishing for something.His water skills are obviously mediocre, and the water in the pit only reaches his chest, but he is clumsy, it is very difficult to dive down.However, when Qi Jun and others dived into the valley, he seemed to have found what he wanted, and he plunged down for the last time, only to see two white feet kicking like ducks on the water for a long time , he floated to the surface of the water with a happy face, and he didn't even rush to go ashore. He washed the things in his hand in the water first, and looked carefully at the sun.Qi Jun saw what looked like a black stone from a distance, but there was a faint golden light glowing against the sunlight, and he couldn't help but feel another stir in his heart.

Zhibai wiped the stone on his chest, climbed ashore, carefully put the stone into a cloth bag and tied it around his waist.Even though it was just a palm-sized stone, his belt dropped heavily, which was obviously much heavier than ordinary stones.But Zhibai didn't care, he happily took off his soaked clothes, squeezed the water, and slapped off the leeches that crawled up his body, and was about to put on the ragged robe first, when someone behind him chuckled: "Zhibai Little brother, what are you busy with?"

Qi Jun's voice was soft, but Zhibai's ears were covered with goosebumps. He didn't even look back, and wanted to run away, but the four guards had already cut off his retreat, and he was killed in a few strokes. He fell to the ground, and the cloth bag around his waist was taken away and presented to Qi Jun.

"This, it seems to be my dry food bag?" Qi Jun took the cloth bag and tossed it lightly. The weight inside was unexpectedly heavy. He took out the stone and took a closer look, only to see that it was pitch black. It is hard, like stone but not stone, like iron but not iron, as if it has been burned in a fire. There are small round pits all over the surface, and there are densely packed gold stars shining in the pits reflecting the sunlight.The smile on Qi Jun's face became colder, "Brother Zhibai, what kind of good thing is this that makes you so busy? Could it be—" He stared at Zhibai, and said word by word, "Isn't it the star iron that flew from the sky? "The earthquake happened in this valley. There was such a large scorched pit on the ground, and such a strange thing that was neither gold nor stone was fished out of the pit. Qi Jun has already determined that this must be the star that Ma Mingzi said. iron!