When they heard about the house, which was not small, everyone was nervous. The house was in the deep mountains, and it was the deep mountains that King Liang had banned people from entering 20 years ago. It was hard not to think that it was very meaningful.
Qin Fang frowned and chose a tree to climb. Qin Fang climbed, and Captain Lu and others also climbed the tree.
There was indeed a house in the south. From their angle, the house seemed quite large, but they couldn't see anything else because it was hidden among the trees and weeds.
Everyone got down from the tree, and Captain Lu looked at Qin Fang: "General?"
Qin Fang said: "Tao Shan and I will take five people to investigate, you go and call for help to surround this place. The house is far away from here, so we can't observe what's going on here. Unless we have been discovered by someone when we arrived at the Beast Mountain, then if we have been discovered by someone by then, we have already alerted the enemy, so it doesn't matter if we call for more people."
Captain Lu: “Yes.”
Captain Lu led the remaining five soldiers down the mountain. He went to the eastern suburbs military camp to call for help, while the five soldiers called their other companions on the mountain to prevent them from going deep into the mountain and causing other noises.
Qin Fang and the others continued to move forward. To be honest, this step-mountain road really leads to the house in the south. However, looking at the shape of this step-mountain road, it means that the people in that house have been walking for a long time. After passing the step-mountain road, it changed to a stone slab road, which was very flat.
Tao Shan: "General, Dong Xiao is watching us secretly."
Qin Fang: "Well, good, it should be a wild animal, ignore it." The eyes of wild animals are different from those of humans. Those who can stare at them without making any noise in this place are wild animals. If it is a human, they will be discovered by them when they get close. After thinking for a while, Qin Fang explained, "Under normal circumstances, wild animals will not actively attack people, unless they are hungry, feel threatened, or the mother is lactating. If a human or other animal approaches it, it will also attack because it wants to protect the baby. However, some wild animals are exceptions, such as tigers."
When Qin Fang was a child, he often went to the mountains to play, so he knew a little about the wild animals in the mountains. Later, he served in the army at the border and went hunting, so he naturally summed up a set of ideas of his own. "Do you know why wild animals don't actively attack people?"
Tao Shan: “Why?”
The other soldiers were also puzzled.
Qin Fang said: "Because people are afraid of wild animals, and wild animals are also afraid of people. In this world, people are the masters. Wild animals don't catch people to trade, but people catch wild animals to trade. So even though they are beasts, in the consciousness of beasts, they also know that we humans are strong and dangerous. Therefore, unless there is a special situation, they will not actively attack people." This is actually similar to the psychological tactics in war. When two armies fight, if they are not sure, they will test each other. But between humans and animals, there is no need to test each other, because humans have already taken the dominant position.
After hearing what Qin Fang said, Tao Shan and the others felt relieved. However, they were still cautious in case of the beast Tiger Prince who was monitoring them.
However, they are right to be cautious, but here, you can rest assured. Lions live in grasslands, so they are the king among animals, but they are the king of grasslands. Tigers are also the king among animals, but they are the king of the forest. Therefore, there has always been controversy over which one is the king of beasts, lions or tigers, because they live in different places and there is no way to compare them.
Here, lions are not allowed to exist, so the only beast Qin Fang considers dangerous is the tiger. However, the tiger's living habits make it unlikely for it to come out at this time, because tigers basically come out at night to look for food, and they basically sleep during the day.
Therefore, Qin Fang told the soldiers to be at ease and not to pay attention to the wild animals that were secretly watching them. Of course, being at ease and not paying attention does not mean being careless. In the wild, it is still necessary to be cautious.
The pedestrians walked for another quarter of an hour before they reached the so-called house. However, they were all dumbfounded. Because the house was surrounded by weeds and it was impossible for people to live there. So no matter how you look at it, it seems incredible.
One of the soldiers asked, "General, is there a trap here?"
Qin Fang said: "I don't feel the popularity here. Tao Shan, you stay here to guide us, and the rest of us can follow me in."
"Yes." One of the soldiers came to Qin Fang and said, "General, I will lead the way."
Qin Fang didn't want to take the risk of asking his own men to take the lead. He said, "You get behind me." If they encountered danger, he would be able to deal with it because his kung fu was better than the other party's.
The soldier was slightly moved: "Yes."
Qin Fang walked in front, leading five soldiers along the mountain road. Tao Shan hid outside, watching them go in, and was worried again, but there was nothing he could do, as he had to leave someone outside.
It's true that Qin Fang and his companions were very careful on this road, but with Qin Fang's sharp intuition, he really didn't notice anything unusual here. No matter how you look at it, it's just an abandoned yard. Oh no, it's a Taoist temple. They arrived at the door of the house and saw the plaque: Changshou Hall.
I don't know why, seeing this name, Qin Fang was more willing to directly believe that this was a Taoist temple. But who would build a Taoist temple here? King Liang
Qin Fang couldn't think of anyone except King Liang.
"Everyone, get ready to sneak in." Qin Fang reminded softly.
The door of the Taoist temple was open, or rather, the door had fallen to the ground due to its age, and there was no door at all.
However, just after entering the Taoist temple and walking a few steps further inside, I heard a sound. The rustling sound was the sound of iron chains being pulled on the ground.
Qin Fang: "Be careful, there's something moving inside, it might be a person." The obvious sound of the chain rubbing against the ground meant that there was a person moving, so the possibility of it being an animal was extremely small.
So, there are many people here.
Qin Fang drew his knife: "Hide well and get ready for the response. I'll go take a look."
"yes."
Qin Fang sneaked in quickly and came to the place where the sound came from. He came to the window and could see the situation inside at a glance, because the window was old and could not block the view inside. But that was why he was surprised. The person inside was not visible. He had disheveled hair, his hands and feet were tied, and he rolled on the ground, so there was a sound of iron chains rubbing against the ground.
He rolled around for a while, then lay flat on his back again.
Qin Fang looked at it, really puzzled. Then he looked at the situation in the room, which looked like an alchemy room. Oh, there was a piece of meat on the ground, bloody raw meat.
Qin Fang found that there was no one else in the room except for the man tied with chains. He climbed through the window with light movements. Just as he was about to walk over, he suddenly heard a noise outside and saw a figure coming in quickly from outside. Qin Fang held the knife tightly in his hand. What he feared would come true. The one coming in quickly was a tiger. However, this tiger was very old and its old age was very obvious.
The tiger roared and stood in front of the chained man.
As the tiger roared, the soldiers came to the window and asked, "General?" When they saw the tiger through the window, they were all shocked. "General, what happened to the tiger?"
The man in chains was also startled by the noise. He got up from the ground, then looked at Qin Fang, then at the tiger. The confused guy didn't seem like a normal person.
"Roar..." The tiger did not take the initiative to attack, which was not in line with its habits. Generally speaking, when a tiger sees its prey, it will pounce on it directly. Tigers are ferocious, and they are the best in terms of speed and strength, which are incomparable to humans.
Even though the tiger in front of him was very old, it shouldn't be staring at Qin Fang with such vigilance.
Qin Fang had no intention of killing the tiger. In this dilapidated Taoist temple, especially after the commotion, no one else showed up, which meant that the chained man... and the tiger were the only ones in the temple
The man in chains is tied up and cannot move, so how can he survive? Look at the raw meat on the ground. Is the tiger feeding the man in chains
Thinking of this possibility, Qin Fang found it even more incredible. Qin Fang temporarily did not want to kill the tiger. He found that the tiger had no intention of attacking him. So, he put the target in the chain: "Excuse me, do you understand what I am saying?"
“Please… Excuse me… Can you… Can you understand me… What I’m saying?” The other party’s voice was very hoarse, and this hoarseness sounded like the sound of a broken throat.
Qin Fang asked: "Who are you? Why are you here?"
"Who... who?" The Chained Man looked at Qin Fang, "Who... who are you?"
Soldier: "General, isn't this a fool?"
Another soldier said, "You are the fool. If he were a normal person, would he be here?"
Qin Fang: "Go search the other rooms and see if you find anything."
"Yes." The five soldiers left immediately.
"Fool... idiot?" The Chained Man shook his head, "I'm not a fool... I'm not, I'm... Immortal, I want to make the elixir of life. Yes, yes, yes, I want to make the elixir of life..." As he spoke, the Chained Man walked around the house, "Where's the elixir? Where's the elixir of life?"
Qin Fang thought for a moment and asked, "Are you a Taoist priest? Are you making elixirs here?"
The chained man listened, his eyes brightened: "Yes... yes, yes... I make medicine, I make the elixir of life."
Qin Fang: "Do you know King Liang?"
King of Liang
The Chained Man was thinking doubtfully, then his eyes lit up: "King Liang asked me to make medicine. King Liang... King Liang wants to be immortal..."
Qin Fang came to some conclusions based on the words of the man in chains. This Taoist temple was built by King Liang. The man in chains should be a Taoist priest captured by King Liang to make elixirs. The reason why he was captured instead of invited was because he was tied up with chains. King Liang had been dead for twenty years, so this man was captured twenty years ago, which means that he was most likely tied up here for twenty years. But how did he survive for these twenty years? Did this tiger feed him