In the depths of Daxing'an Mountains, on the upper reaches of the Wuming River.
Here, the Wuming River gradually diverges into small rivers, piercing the mountains like capillaries, drawing water from the mountains.
For herdsman Liu Shunfu, these rivers are the fields he harvests.
After autumn, as he passed by the village to host the Dragon King Sacrifice, those sacrifices would eventually fall into his pocket along these small rivers.
It's just that this year's harvest is much worse than previous years.
Partly because the Blackwater Dragon King was injured, Liu Shunfu had to put most of the sacrifices into its mouth so that it could recover as soon as possible.
The other part is because there is little rain this year, the crops in the mountains cannot be kept alive, and livestock is particularly precious this year.
Villages outside the outer Xing'an Mountains like Longxinggou are doing better. The situation in the deep mountains is not so good.
In the middle of the night, Liu Shunfu waited at the mouth of the river with a canoe.
Jiunianggou is the most remote village here. The Dragon King Sacrifice has just been held. According to the rules, sacrifices will be thrown into the river this evening.
The sacrifice floated here along the current, around this time.
Liu Shunfu didn't have much hope for tonight's harvest, because he had lived in Jiunianggou for a day before.
The situation of Jiunianggou this year is like a mirror in his heart. If people don't starve to death in winter, it's not bad.
At this time, on Liu Shunfu's shoulder, there was a starling bird that was wrapped up like a rice dumpling.
Xiao Ba stared at the water without saying a word.
"The Lin Family Phoenix, don't be afraid. My Dragon King is under the water." Liu Shunfu whispered, "Speaking of which, it met one of your ancestors more than a hundred years ago. According to my grandfather, the black dragon and the black phoenix, The friendship is not bad. You are considered an old friend to it. With this kind of incense, it will not hurt you. "
"Old man, you are so funny." Xiao Ba said, "I'm still afraid of this broken snake? You call it up, and see if I don't peck it until it blows out."
There was a turbulence on the water surface, and a huge snake head poked out of the water, slowly turned its head in front of the canoe, and looked at each person and bird on the canoe.
The pair of eyes on the snake's head, with their pupils erect, looked extremely ferocious.
With a sound of "poof", a stream of water shot out from the snake's mouth, impartially, drenching the little Ba on Liu Shunfu's shoulder, but Liu Shunfu was not touched by the water at all.
Xiao Ba was stunned.
"Hehe." Liu Shunfu smiled, "Although my dragon king can't speak, he can still understand human speech. Whether you scold him or praise him, he knows it very clearly."
After spraying the water injection, the snake's head slowly came in again, until it touched the bow of the canoe, and then stopped.
The head of this huge black water dragon king is as big as a container truck, almost touching Xiao Ba's cheek.
Xiao Ba was not afraid at all, and shouted: "Old man, if you have the ability, take off the bandages on my body, and I will fight this broken snake for three hundred rounds!"
The Black Water Dragon King tilted his head, tilted his head to look at Xiao Ba for a while, and then spat out the snake letter.
Its snake letter is thicker than a bucket, but the force of spit it out from its mouth is very slow.
The giant snake gently licked Xiao Ba's abdominal wound, then wrapped it in a serpentine shape, and sent Xiao Ba to its head.
"It recognizes you and likes you very much." The envoy of the Dragon King smiled and said, "Fenghuang of the Lin family, don't reach out and hit the smiling face."
Xiao Ba stood on the head of the Black Water Dragon King, silent for a while, then slowly squatted down, gently pecked the head of the Black Water Dragon King with his beak, and said: "Well, Ba Ye, I am also a reasonable bird. Dragon King hello."
The two huge eyes of the Black Water Dragon King blinked, and another stream of water spit out from his mouth, which landed on the distant river.
Xiao Ba tilted his head, somewhat puzzled by the behavior of the Black Water Dragon King.
"Puff! Puff! Puff!" Three more streams of water fell on the river.
"Are you... kidding me?" Xiao Ba understood a little.
The huge snake's head moved up and down, as if nodding.
"Hey, I'm not a child anymore!" Xiao Ba turned his head in disgust, "Dragon King, you are so childish."
"puff!"
"It's fine, it's fine."
"Puff puff!"
"Old man, you take care of it."
"puff!"
"Old man, look at the river, your business is coming!"
After Xiaoba finished speaking, Liu Shunfu, who was showing kindness on his face, finally turned cold and looked towards the direction of the river.
This estuary is the confluence of the river near Jiunianggou and the Wuming River.
At this time, under the moonlight, Liu Shunfu vaguely saw a few things floating on the river.
Holding the canoe closer, he finally saw clearly that it was a sacrifice.
Eight pigs, three cows, twelve chickens, twenty ducks, and nine geese.
"Why are there so many!" Liu Shunfu was stunned, "Send these things out, what will they do for the winter?"
Then he figured it out, with a wry smile on his face: "It seems that this Jiunianggou has pinned all its hopes of surviving the winter on the Dragon King, and that's why it took out all the wealth of the entire village. It's over, this deal will pay off." gone."
After saying this, Liu Shunfu shook his head for a while, and said to the Black Water Dragon King who was playing with Xiaoba on the river: "Stupid, you are busy this winter, and there are more than 400 people in this village, it is not easy to support them! "
"puff!"
Liu Shunfu's whole body was drenched by the river water.
…
On the first night in the Outer Xing'an Mountains, Lin Shuo began to regret taking Wei Xingshan with him.
This mercenary leader's ability to walk in the wild is far beyond ordinary people, but even so, Lin Shuo felt that he slowed down the trip to an outrageous level.
In one day, Lin Shuo traveled 20 kilometers on the map.
If this continues, it will take at least two days to reach Jiunianggou. This has not taken into account the fact that Wei Xingshan will be physically exhausted later and the speed will be even slower.
Wei Xingshan collapsed by the campfire at this moment, breathing like a bellows.
"When I was in the army, as long as I had two legs in field training, I wasn't afraid of anyone." Wei Xingshan panted, "Are you two human?"
Lin Shuo broke off a branch, threw it into the bonfire, and glanced at Wei Xingshan: "It's obviously my own food, but I blame others."
"Actually, Team Wei is already very good." Anne sat across from Lin Shuo with her knees crossed, and said, "Although we have only advanced 20 kilometers on the map, this is a winding mountain road. I estimated today Our actual distance is close to fifty kilometers."
"That's why I don't think you two are human." Wei Xingshan complained, "It's okay for Mr. Lin, I don't care how fast he runs. Miss Anne, how did you do it? I see you walking today, that is so familiar with the road Son! Why, have you been here before?"
"No." Anne smiled.
"Then how did you do it? Today I followed Mr. Lin on a mountain road, and my lungs almost exploded." Wei Xingshan looked puzzled, "You didn't see many people today, you were all jumping around in the wild, How did you keep up with us?"
"Mountain roads are for the convenience of people walking. Due to the limited terrain, many times we have to look far away." Lin Shuo said indifferently, "Her technique is called 'listening to the mountain'. As long as you put your ear on the foot of the mountain and listen for a while, the whole building will The surface structure of the mountain is all in her mind. In addition, she is flexible and ignores the obstacles on the mountain, so it is actually easier for her to pass every mountain than us.”
"Listen to the mountain?" Wei Xingshan stared at Anne with wide eyes, "Miss Anne, don't you, like Mr. Lin, also belong to the door?"
"Yeah." Anne nodded slightly, "But I'm far from Mr. Lin."
"I didn't expect that." Wei Xingshan shook his head, "Mr. Lin acted like a hermit before, and I can understand that he is a member of the family. Miss Anne, you studied abroad when you were young, and you look like a modern urban woman. in the door."
"People in the door should also keep pace with the times." Anne smiled, "If you don't accept new things and just embrace the old ways, you will soon be eliminated by the times."
"Miss Anne, if you say that about Mr. Lin, my old Wei can't stand it anymore!" Wei Xingshan said with a smile, "He's a little old-fashioned, but he's very capable!"
"Captain Wei!" Anne gave Wei Xingshan a hard look, "You know exactly what I mean."
"Old Wei." Lin Shuo shook his head, "You have the energy to pick things up, you might as well save your energy and take a good rest. Tomorrow, I won't be waiting for you on the way."