The first month has passed, and unknowingly, it has been more than a month since the opening of Dunhuang, Hong Jun felt uneasy in his heart, and as he gradually went deeper into Taihang Mountain, this uneasiness became more and more intense. Sometimes, he suddenly had the idea of turning back with Li Jinglong, and sometimes he hoped that this road would never end.
It seems that as long as we are isolated from the world, many things will not happen, and there is no need to worry.
They left their horses in the meadow, passed through the sky of Taihang Mountain, followed the ancient road thousands of years ago, and climbed up the mountain. The sky was vast, and the only sound came from a few birds. When the dry food was finished, Hong Jun was by the stream, teaching Li Jinglong to fish. Hong Jun nailed the fish in the water with a flying knife, and Li Jinglong caught it again, lit a fire to grill the fish to eat, and there were many unnamed fruits and wild mushrooms in the forest. That's how Hong Jun came down the mountain.
"That's the mountain." Hong Jun pointed to the snow-capped mountains in the distance.
The destination is finally approaching. In Li Jinglong's eyes, almost all the mountains look the same. The two prepared food for three days, and Hong Jun took him, turning left and right in the forest, looking for the mark he made when he went down the mountain. He climbed up the cliff along the tree.
The wind is very strong, and this is the first time for Li Jinglong to climb the mountain with bare hands, especially the place where Yaojin Palace is located, and only birds can reach it. He stands side by side with Hong Jun on the cliff. Hong Jun is used to climbing up and down, but I'm afraid Li Jinglong stepped on the wrong foot, so he held his hand tightly.
In front of a narrow wall, Li Jinglong wiped off his sweat, and Hong Jun looked up at the top of his head. Hong Jun threw out the hook rope, hung it on the rock in front of the cliff, climbed up for a while, settled down, and threw the hook rope down again. , Pull Li Jinglong up.
"Your house is so high up!" Li Jinglong thought it was an ancient temple on the top of a mountain, but he didn't expect that there was no road.
Hong Jun said: "The scenery above is very good! Come on!"
Then Hong Jun threw the hook rope upwards, so that every time he threw a section, the two of them climbed up a section. Li Jinglong knew that Hongjun's kung fu of flying over eaves and walls was actually practiced in this way.
When I got close to the clouds, the top of my head was covered with ice that had been frozen for thousands of years, and there was only one person standing on the half-mountain. Hong Jun and Li Jinglong were almost huddled and stood together to rest. The two stood on a two-foot-square convex rock in front of the cliff, panting for a while.
Hong Jun flicked the hook again, but all the ice above his head collapsed earth-shatteringly.
"Be careful!" Li Jinglong immediately turned around and hugged Hongjun tightly. The ice waterfall collapsed, and Hongjun's heart was beating wildly.
The falling ice and snow just happened to pass over the two of them and fell into the deep valley. After a while, Fang's voice faded away, and the two breaths intertwined. Looking at each other for a long time, Hong Jun felt that both he and Li Jinglong had reacted. Li Jinglong's one was almost domineering against him. With a smile in his eyes, Li Jinglong pressed his hands on the cliff and looked at him maliciously.
"What does it feel like to be hugged like this?" Li Jinglong was still in the mood to tease him, "Say, have you already taken a fancy to your brother?"
Hong Jun blushed and said, "Don't play tricks on me!"
Hong Jun only moved a little, and Li Jinglong yelled immediately, almost falling, Hong Jun hurriedly grabbed him, and it was too late and then soon, some ice and snow fell from the top of his head, Li Jinglong put his arms around him again, and the two of them went to the top of their heads together. Look. After several times in a row, the ice layer finally slipped almost, and Hong Jun threw out the hook again.
When going down the mountain, Hong Jun was directly sent by Qingxiong to the foot of the lonely peak, but he has climbed this road before. If there is only one person, he can go up and down. If Li Jinglong is brought along, the difficulty is obviously higher. few.
As the sun was setting, Hong Jun climbed to a cliff where he rested his feet, and hung down the rope. Li Jinglong couldn't help slipping, and came up with difficulty.
"It's fine up there." Hong Jun said, "We have passed the clouds, and there is no ice on the top, so let's rest overnight."
Li Jinglong's right hand was still shaking a little after the battle in Mogao Grottoes, and he immediately sat on the cliff side by side with Hong Jun. When the wind blows, the sea of clouds disperses, and the setting sun shines golden. Looking out from the west side of the isolated peak, you can see the vast land of China, with winding mountains and thousands of miles of plains beyond the mountains.
"It's so beautiful." Li Jinglong murmured, "It's not in vain to toss these times."
Hong Jun replied in ecstasy: "When I was very young, my only wish was to leave Taihang and go to the 'world of mortals' that Qingxiong mentioned."
"What do you think now?" Li Jinglong looked sideways at Hong Jun.
Hongjun's youthful brows are so clear, with longing on his face. Li Jinglong seemed to see the original Hongjun, the clear and clean Hongjun. After leaving Chang'an, he became depressed for a while. This made Li Jinglong puzzled, and when he sat on the high mountain and watched the sunset, the former him came back.
"The world is very good." Hong Jun murmured, turned his head and laughed.
Li Jinglong draped Hong Jun's shoulders as the setting sun shone.
"What's so good about it?" Li Jinglong asked again.
Hong Jun thought for a while, and said confusedly: "I don't know."
"When I was young, I wanted to learn skills and cultivate immortals." Li Jinglong said in a trance, "I wanted to go to a mountain where no ordinary person can go, and worship a master with strong skills. But you want to come to the world, to this world of mortals."
"Qingxiong said, it's not fun on the mountain." Hong Jun said strangely, "The world is fun. If you learn the skills, don't you want to come back to the world? Otherwise, why would you cultivate immortality? What's the point of staying on the mountain for a lifetime? ?”
Li Jinglong laughed quickly: "Of course I don't want to learn skills just to show off to ordinary people."
Hong Jun asked: "In order to protect Shenzhou? I have never seen a world where demons are raging. In these years, Shenzhou has always been peaceful and prosperous. What makes you believe that the book Di Renjie left behind?"
Li Jinglong had answered him a long time ago, but if he continued to ask, he would also start to feel a little confused. He has always been very persistent in this idea, even if he was ridiculed by everyone for believing in strange powers and chaotic gods, and worrying about nothing, he never changed.
Now think about it, why
"It's destined." Li Jinglong finally said, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have met you."
Hong Jun said "um", and leaned on his shoulder, the setting sun sank into the horizon, and the stars rose. At this moment, Hong Jun's mind was extremely calm, and he no longer had many worries.
At dawn the next day, Hong Jun started climbing again.
Climbing to the top of Taihang, this is the last and most difficult section. There are often five or six feet of stone walls, and there is no leverage, only cracked rock gaps. Hongjun tried several times and hooked it with a hook Climbing up the cracks in the rock, and then inserting a throwing knife into the cracks and hanging by hand, dragging Li Jinglong up. Let him also hold the throwing knife like a steel wedge nailed to the rock wall, and climb up slowly, foot by foot.
Surrounded by clouds and waterfalls, rising and falling, Li Jinglong struggled to grab the flying knife and said, "Hong Jun... I'll ask you one last question..."
"What?" Hong Jun looked down from a height.
"You didn't... climb the wrong mountain, did you?" Li Jinglong looked down at his feet. At this moment, he was holding a flying knife nailed into the cliff in one hand. At the foot of the foot, after the clouds and mists dispersed, an unreachable land appeared.
Falling down like this would instantly shatter his body to pieces.
"If you climb up, you won't be able to come down!" Li Jinglong said.
Hongjun: "..."
Hong Jun didn't think about this question, he came back to his senses, and immediately said: "Should...not..."
"… Bar?"
When Li Jinglong heard this answer, he almost couldn't get up and fell down.
Hong Jun grabbed the flying knife with one hand, threw out the hook rope with the other hand, and hung it on the high platform protruding outwards on the top. Holding the hook rope, he flew around, kept pulling the rope, and climbed up a few times. He let out a long breath , stood on the high platform, but was suddenly shocked and nearly fell down.
On the high platform, a man stood in front of him.
As the strong wind blew, the man's fiery red royal robe flew up, and his long belt fluttered like a phoenix feather, one of which had already been broken. His royal robe was loose and loose, draped over his shoulders, his face was indifferent, and his golden pupils stared at Hongjun.
It was Chongming.
Hong Jun looked at him for a long while, and forgot what to say in an instant, and finally called "Dad" in a low voice.
"Hong Jun!"
Li Jinglong shouted underneath: "Are you okay?! Where is the person?"
Hong Jun came back to his senses, quickly put down the hook rope, and pulled Li Jinglong up. Li Jinglong was out of breath, and his outer robe was hung up in a mess. When he draped Hong Jun and straightened up, he suddenly became nervous when he saw Chongming.
"Chong...Chong Ming Shibo." Li Jinglong hurriedly clasped his fists in salute.
"Do you still know how to come back?" Chong Ming said what Chao Hongjun said.
Hong Jun just stood silently without speaking, Chongming looked at the two of them, snorted coldly, turned and left. Hong Jun was about to catch up, but a young man came over beside him, and said in a low voice, "Your Highness."
"Your Highness, this way please."
"Father! I have something to ask you!" Hong Jun said to Chongming regardless of what the attendant said.
Chongming stopped and said in a deep voice: "There will be a chance." Then he spread his wings, turned into a phoenix, and flew to the distant palace with raging fire.
The place where the two climbed up was a platform outside the main hall of the Yaojin Palace. There was a pool on the platform, and a plane tree was planted beside the pool. Li Jinglong put away the rope, and the teenagers came to invite the guests to come in and rest. Hong Jun felt lost, Li Jinglong said: "Hong Jun, please speak carefully, don't quarrel with your father."
Hong Jun could only nod and sighed.
In any case, it felt good to go home. He took Li Jinglong out of the main hall and passed the garden along the corridor. Li Jinglong saw that there were many unnamed fairy grasses and celestiaceae, and asked, "You planted them all." ?”
"I planted it before." Hong Jun thought for a while and said, "Shall I show you around?"
"Go back and clean up first." Li Jinglong smiled, "Don't worry."
The Yaojin Palace covers an area of tens of thousands of hectares, and the servants in the palace are all young and young girls in the form of birds. The number is nearly a thousand. The palace is made of Hetian jade. Hetian jade! Li Jinglong has been dumbfounded. Daming Palace, Xingqing Palace, Huaqing Palace... Although the imperial palaces in the world are luxurious, they are far from this level. The entire Yaojin Palace is divided into East, West, and Middle Halls. Each hall has scattered corridors, carved railings and painted buildings, which are earlier than Han architecture.
The attendant led Li Jinglong to the west hall. There was a peacock feather pattern similar to Hongjun's jasper feather on the door of the hall. Even the drinking utensils were also glass cups. There were also many gold-plated wares, soft smoke yarn, and the shelves for books were also leaflets. red sandalwood.
"Li Changshi." A young man entered and said, "The water is ready, here are your clothes."
Li Jinglong picked it up and took a look, and suddenly saw that in just a quarter of an hour, Yaojin Palace actually made a set of replacement clothes that were exactly the same as his martial robe, but the brocade was used, and the material was better.
"I'll do it myself." Even if Li Jinglong's family had a big business, he had never experienced this extravagant ostentation before. After taking a bath, he changed his clothes. In the Yaojin Palace, the teenagers must be birds. Pants for easy spreading of wings. The clothes made for Li Jinglong were dark purple military trousers, clogs were specially prepared for him, and the upper body was a thin dark jacket.
It is strange to say that the top of Taihang Mountain is not cold at all, it is as warm as spring and summer, presumably because of the presence of Phoenix.
"Li Changshi, this way please." The teenagers came to invite someone again.
Li Jinglong thought to himself that Hong Jun asked them to call him that, so he nodded, followed the guide, and casually glanced at the open door. There is Hongjun's library, a martial arts room with straw men and grass pigs for practicing flying knives, and a pharmacy with a built-in tripod and mortar.
Hong Jun also just took a bath, his hair was cut short, and his head was wet. Yaozu is not like ordinary people, and there is no rule that his parents should not damage his body, hair and skin. Short hair makes him look more energetic. After returning to Yaojin Palace, he also changed into a pair of navy blue silk trousers, shirtless as usual. A teenager was adjusting the color and painted a dark blue tattoo-like pattern on his left chest.
His skin is fair, his abdominal muscles are well-defined, and his chest muscles are very beautiful. After painting patterns, he looks even more sexy as a teenager.
"... Let's make a hot spring here sometime..."
Hong Jun was talking to the teenagers, but no one answered him. Hong Jun talked to himself, and told them a lot of what he had seen and heard down the mountain, especially the hot springs in Huaqing Palace, which were very comfortable to soak in.
The teenagers were afraid that they would take his words and cause him trouble again, so they all remained silent.
"And the food at the bottom of the mountain is very delicious." Hong Jun said again, "Occasionally let the cook change it."
Li Jinglong looked at him in the mirror with a smile, and Hong Jun blushed when he saw him coming.
"They usually wear it like this." Hong Jun replied, "Why don't I put on my shirt."
Li Jinglong waved his hands hurriedly, but didn't speak, and looked Hong Jun up and down. Hong Jun was a little nervous when he saw him, and he seemed to be inexplicably excited.
"What are you looking at?" Hong Jun didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Look at your beauty." Li Jinglong said.
Although there are many young men in Yaojin Palace, they are all handsome, but they are not as handsome as Hong Jun. There is a clear and clean breath naturally between his eyebrows and eyes.
The attendant painted a pattern of feathers on Hongjun's left shoulder and left chest, and brought a jade pendant to wear around his neck, and someone came to pass the news that His Majesty invited the guests to dinner.
As the sun set, Li Jinglong went to have dinner. Presumably Hong Jun had just returned home and had to spend more time with Chong Ming, so he didn't have to accompany him. Unexpectedly, Hong Jun hurried over again not long after.
"I don't know where Chongming has gone." Hong Jun said, "I'll eat with you."
The attendant served the food, which was a strange bowl of rice, with fish and tofu soup, eggs fried with leaves and a little meat.
"Egg." Looking at Li Jinglong's expression, Hong Jun knew what he was thinking, and said, "It's not my father's egg."
Li Jinglong: "..."
"Can you lay eggs?" Li Jinglong asked suddenly.
"Even if it's a monster, I'm a male!" Hong Jun couldn't laugh or cry, "The female only lays eggs!"
Li Jinglong was just teasing him, saying: "If you give birth to a little Hongjun like you, it would be fun to think about it."
Hong Jun signaled Li Jinglong to eat quickly, both of them were hungry, but the "rice" in the bowl was not steamed rice, it was fragrant in the mouth, but the taste was extremely rough.
"The rice is still so hard." Hong Jun was so choked that he stretched his neck. Li Jinglong hurriedly filled him with soup, and then took a bite, saying, "Isn't this bamboo rice?!"
Hong Jun doesn't know how precious bamboo rice is. Li Jinglong's heart is in the world, and the only person who can steam bamboo rice into rice is Phoenix. And it is probably the only one that can make bamboo rice so unpalatable.
"What kind of meat is this?"
"Rabbit." Hong Jun said, "I caught it under the mountain."
Li Jinglong knows why Hongjun is like a hungry ghost at the foot of the mountain, no matter how much he eats, he can’t get enough to eat. The reason is that the dishes in Yaojin Palace are very light, with almost no oil and salt. Even if the matsutake is fried with rabbit meat, only the rabbit itself is used. The fat comes out of the oil, not to mention the sauce, and not to stir-fry with high heat.
"The rabbit is so cute." Hong Jun said, "How can it be so unpalatable? It's a waste of money."
Li Jinglong: "..."
The teenagers waiting on the side only listened to Hongjun complaining, Hongjun ate some casually, and then stopped, asking: "Have you eaten?"
Someone finally answered these words, and everyone replied that they had eaten, Hong Jun asked them to go out separately, and they didn't have to come and follow, and Li Jinglong didn't have to accompany them, so the birds spread their wings and flew away.
"Zhao Zilong didn't come back." Li Jinglong said.
Hong Jun said: "It's just right, otherwise it will be scolded." He went out to search for tea, found half a bag of bamboo leaf green tea, soaked it in a glass cup with boiling water, handed Li Jinglong a cup, and the two sat on the porch to watch the moon . It happens to be a full moon tonight, and the moon on the Taihang Mountains is big and round, blowing in a gentle breeze, like a fairyland on a summer night.
"This place is so beautiful." Li Jinglong said.
"Time flies too." Hong Jun replied in a low voice. He didn't want to go back when he didn't go home, and he couldn't bear to leave when he got home.
"How do you pass the time at home?" Li Jinglong asked, "Is your spell taught by Chongming?"
"Reading, causing trouble." Hong Jun said, "Chongming likes to sleep in the main hall. Qingxiong is here, and he will play with me for a few days."
"There are so many birds without your friends?" Li Jinglong asked.
"They don't know how to speak." Hong Jun said, "It's not that they don't know how to speak, but... they have only cultivated for decades, and their spirituality has not yet developed. They have become human beings with my father's spiritual power. Everyone can simply help and do things. Something, not as smart as foxes. Teach them what to say, and they will say what to say. We usually see big monsters, and ghost kings are transformed from humans, so there is no need to practice spirits. For three hundred years, the hostility has not subsided."
"Zhao Zilong didn't talk with you?" Li Jinglong said again.
"It was afraid of being scolded, and said it was driving me into trouble." Hong Jun joked, "My father said, if you teach me badly again, he will make it into grilled fish."
Li Jinglong remembered that when he walked through this gilt and jade palace, he seemed to see the figure of Xiao Hongjun, running back and forth between the rooms.
Hong Jun put down the glass cup in his hand, the green tea reflected the full moon in the sky, the breeze blew, and the wind chimes in the corridor rang in unison.
Hong Jun said: "Thank you for accompanying me home, Chang Shi."
He stood up and walked through the corridor under the moon without saying a word. The moonlight shone on his naked half body. Li Jinglong didn't look back, and suddenly said: "Hongjun."
Hong Jun turned his head at the end of the corridor and looked at Li Jinglong who was still sitting in front of the corridor with his back turned to him.
Li Jinglong was silent for a long time, seemed a little nervous, playing with the glass cup with slender fingers, a small moon was reflected in the cup.
"Will you accompany me back to Chang'an?" Li Jinglong smiled sadly, "I always feel that after you come back this time, you will never leave again."
"Yes." Hong Jun said without thinking.
When Li Jinglong was about to look up, Hong Jun had disappeared at the end of the corridor.
He walked through the sycamore forest, and the wall he often faced, and couldn't help but stop. His heart was beating extremely violently, which made him suddenly a little at a loss.
He stared blankly at the wall, not even knowing why he blurted out.
"Your Highness." A young man said, "Your Majesty, please."
Hong Jun hurriedly turned around and ran to the main hall quickly.
The main hall was burned by him last time, and it has been completely repaired. It is no different from the original one. The front of the hall is supported by several stone pillars, and the bright moon shines behind it. The throne on the high place is still empty. A sycamore tree was planted by the pool, and a person sitting under the sycamore tree was Chongming.
Hong Jun slowed down and came behind the plane tree.
When he was a child, Chongming used to sit by the pool with his back against the plane tree like this, while Hongjun slept on his bare chest, sleeping all night long.
He remained unchanged, and time seemed to have nothing to do with him.
"What do you want to ask, just ask." Chong Ming said in a deep voice.
Standing behind Chongming, Hong Jun said in a low voice, "I've found out the cause of my parents' death."
Chong Ming said: "Very good, lived up to expectations."