The sky gradually brightened, and the morning light was like gold powder, slowly sprinkled on the broken roof ridges and eaves tiles, and also passed through the broken roof and shone into the abandoned house.
Mo Chen rummaged through the bag again and found a paper scroll. Xiaodong cleaned up the things on the ground, and then unfolded the paper scroll.
This piece of paper is not too big, only about two feet long and one foot wide. It appears to be a topographical drawing.
"This was obtained by accident before. It is the map of Tianjian City."
Xiaodong regained his energy, and quickly concentrated his mind to take a closer look.
"At that time, I got this by accident in a shop that sold used books. The picture is only a rough idea. It should be drawn by someone who has been to Tianjian City. Later, I asked the master and added some content to it."
But Xiaodong couldn't see much difference, it can be seen that when the senior brother added later, the pen was very precise and ingenious.
"From this point of view, Tianjian City is not too big..." Xiaodong has already been to Beifu City, so there is inevitably a comparison. Beifu City was built in the arctic region of the Northwest, among the high mountains, and there is no shortage of land. Usually, if the weather is good, you can see the snow-capped peaks not far away when you open the windows.
"That's right." Mo Chen said: "Although I don't know how Tianjian City is suspended in the air, it may be due to formations, or it may be due to other reasons. But no matter what the reason is, the bigger the city, the bigger the city must want to float. The more difficult it is to be empty, so Tianjian City is actually not very big."
This is not very big, of course it is relative. There are at least thousands of people in Tianjian City. These people have lived here for generations and rarely communicate with the outside world. Many people have never stepped out of Tianjian City in their entire lives, and they also have a natural rejection and contempt for outsiders.
"Tianjian City has an outer city and an inner city. There are also some ordinary people in the outer city. They don't have spiritual roots and cannot practice, but they reproduce in Tianjian City from generation to generation, relying on people who practice Taoism to survive."
In Beifu City, ordinary people and monks live together, and the relationship is quite harmonious, not to mention attachment or non-attachment. Moreover, Beifu City is not that closed, at least there are no restrictions on entering and exiting with tokens.
"This should be the outer city." Mo Chen observed the terrain, judged from the disappearing stars and the rising sun just now, and lightly tapped on the paper: "We are here now."
Xiaodong looked at the point that the big brother marked on the map.
Now that I know where I am, I feel more at ease.
It wasn't until dawn just now that Xiaodong finally believed that he wasn't in a dream.
It's not a dream, but reality is weirder than a dream.
"At this moment... it must be dawn in Beifu City. If Master and the others find that the two of us have disappeared out of thin air..."
Mo Chen patted his head: "Don't worry, I still have the Zongmen badge on me. Although I may not be able to go back for a while, Master can also know that our lives are safe, so he won't be too concerned."
"Then, Master won't come to see us, will he?"
Even Mo Chen couldn't say this well.
Master should be able to sense that their lives are safe, and he should also be able to sense their approximate location.
Will you find...
This is simply a certainty!
Master has been really troubled recently, and the blows come one after another. At a time like this, we lost our apprentices, one big and one young, so it's no wonder the master didn't look for them.
Thinking of how this Xiaodong is still having fun, he can laugh: "If we don't see us at dawn, it's probably because Brother Jiang went to look for us first, right?"
What will Jiang Fan see then? The two quilts were made, and the clothes, shoes and socks they had taken off were still placed beside the bed. Brother Jiang will definitely be at a loss by then, right? With no clothes or shoes on, the two barefooted people disappeared out of thin air...
"Then why is there no one here?"
Just now, the senior brother made a brief inquiry outside, and Xiaodong also looked out.
This is an east-west road, and there are houses of similar shape on both sides of the road, but from the street to the end of the street, there is no sound or trace of people at all. Some houses seem to be in good condition, and some are older than the house they are staying in now. To break.
Where has everyone gone
It looked like the houses hadn't been lived in for a long time.
Didn't it mean that people in Tianjian City have lived here for generations and do not communicate with others? Isn't it said that this is a good place like Xanadu
Then why is it so dilapidated here? What about people? Where has everyone gone
Mo Chen was not very surprised by the incident: "Actually... Xanadu is just a legend. Master once mentioned it to me. He heard about it when he came to Tianjian City at that time. It is very difficult for people here to have offspring."
Of course, it is not easy for a cultivator to have offspring, but the original people living here should be ordinary people.
"It's the same for ordinary people." Mo Chen said softly: "Maybe the avenue in this world is always fair. If you get something, you have to lose something to make up for it. In Tianjian City, because of the abundance of aura, ordinary people here People in other places have less illness and pain, and live longer, but it is often difficult to conceive children. It is not easy for a couple to have one child. It is almost rare to have two or more. There are many Just don't have kids."
No children... After that generation, the population will of course become sparse.
"But Tianjian City is not happy for outsiders to enter..."
So, these houses are all deserted because no one lives in them
Mo Chen went on to say: "There are few people, so there are no people living in the old houses here. Even if there are still owners, the place is gradually deserted, and they don't want to live here anymore. I heard from Master that the most people are from the outer city. In the east and south, there are still people trying their best to move into the inner city, and it is said that the aura of the inner city is more abundant than that of the outer city."
"Ordinary people are like this, but what about people who practice Taoism? Are there more or less people in the inner city?"
"It shouldn't be too much."
Mo Chen looked at Xiaodong, and then at himself: "We have to be seen by others when we go out with our clothes... That's not easy."
Xiaodong took it for granted: "We don't have their token." I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to move forward.
"Got to change the outfit."
Xiaodong was curious: "What kind of change? To pretend to be an ordinary person?"
"No. There are not many ordinary people here, and they all know the basics of the local area. The sudden appearance of two unfamiliar faces is even more suspicious."
Don't pretend to be an ordinary person
Could it be possible to pretend to be a disciple of Tianjian City
Xiaodong just guessed like this, but Mo Chen really said: "It's more suitable for us to pretend to be people from the inner city."
At first Xiaodong didn't understand why he had to pretend to be a person from the inner city. Normally, it should be much easier to pretend to be an ordinary person than a monk.
But when they really walked out of the ruins and started to meet people, Xiaodong understood.
What the brother said really makes sense.
There are fewer and fewer ordinary people in Tianjian City every year, and they live in a concentrated place. Not to mention they all know each other, at least they all know each other by face. Brother Xiang's appearance and demeanor, even if he changes his disguise, people will become suspicious. But they were dressed in the same attire as the disciples of Tianjian City, so no one dared to stop and ask questions in the outer city.
Brother is really smart.
However, it can also be seen that the people in the inner city of Tianjian treat these people in the outer city with arrogance and condescension, without any scruples at all.
They headed towards the southeast, and when the first person appeared in sight, Xiaodong was extremely nervous, his heart was pounding, his mouth was dry, for fear that people would recognize them as Xibei products at a glance.
That person also looked a little old, wearing a white cloth robe with a hemp woven belt on the outside, this dress was placed outside Tianjian City, it looked like a filial piety.
When he saw Mo Chen and Xiaodong walking over here, he bent over quickly to salute, and retreated to the side to make way for him.
"..." This is completely different from what Xiaodong thought at first.
Xiaodong followed the elder brother and walked past this person calmly. When passing by that person, Xiaodong was so nervous that he almost had hands and feet.
As a result, the man's head was hanging down all the time, and he didn't straighten up until they had walked a long way.
"He didn't see that we were right?"
"He didn't even dare to look at us."
Think about it carefully, the big brother is right.
That person really didn't dare to look at them, he only saw the clothes from a distance, and quickly bent down to avoid them, as if he was afraid that if he was too late, he would cause trouble to his upper body.
It was broad daylight and the sun rose.
Now Xiaodong was sure that what he saw in his dream was Tianjiancheng. Because this clear and clear sky is exactly the same as what I saw in my dream.
More and more people came out for activities.
Most of them wear undyed cloth clothes, and hemp thread is often used for knotted shoes, which shows that this should be their daily wear, not filial piety clothes for trivial matters.
Really different.
Why are you all dressed like this? Is there no dye to dye clothes
… Uh, maybe it is.
Tianjian City repelled outsiders, and probably the business was not flourishing. Or maybe it's a traditional custom of the family, so I'm used to wearing it like this.
Mo Chen and Xiaodong traveled all the way, most people respected them, no one dared to ask their background, let alone ask them if they had a badge.
But Xiaodong's heart was always worried and he didn't dare to relax.
Mo Chen was much more generous than him, he didn't look like a guilty outsider at all, his calm look was like... as if he was really a disciple of Tianjian City.
Mo Chen naturally took out the gold leaf to buy some things, and the shop owner showed no sign of change, but he was a little embarrassed and said that he couldn't get the change.
Mo Chen waved his hand to signal that it was over, and the shop owner thanked him with a happy face.
Mo Chen entered a calligraphy and painting shop, and there were books in the shop, but there were very few books, except for two books that were similar to Shuowen Jiezi, which were very simple and plain books, and a few books that were similar to scriptures.
After leaving the shop, Mo Chen said: "There is only such a bookstore in the outer city."
"Don't people here read?"
"Reading is of no use to them."
I stay in Tianjian City all my life and don’t go anywhere. My grandparents have been doing the same job for generations. Their lives are closed and their vision is narrow. It really doesn’t matter whether they study or not.
"Do you think their clothes are strange? The people here are all dressed the same as their ancestors, and they haven't changed."
Xiaodong felt that he didn't like this place.
For nothing else, just...
This place is like a pool of stagnant water, and time seems to have stood still here. (to be continued)