Wen Jiubai glanced at me and said slowly, "Taoist Ling Xiao is not actually a Taoist priest."
"Really?" I was a little surprised.
"When I first met him, he was a priest beside the princess." Wen Jiubai said, "He was the princess of the country that I destroyed that you saw in your dream. A long time ago, I was still very young, At that time, my thinking was also very thin, and my actions were even more thoughtless, completely reckless and impulsive."
Although I can't imagine Wen Jiubai and the word "reckless" together, judging from the murals I saw in front of the sacrificial altar, he did have such an incredible period of recklessness.
"At that time, I knew too little, and the world was too big. Therefore, I also made an unforgivable mistake, that is, thinking in a partial way." Wen Jiubai admitted frankly, "I have been betrayed before, I have felt the deepest malice in the human race, and I was tortured by human beings. So at that time, I was afraid."
"Scared?" I asked in surprise. I thought that Wen Jiubai would say words like hatred or anger, but I never expected that this word came out of his mouth.
"That's right, I was scared." Wen Jiubai said calmly, "The fear of the human race made me start to escape. In the end I fled to a mountainous area far away from the Central Plains, rested there, and made up my mind to live forever. No contact with humans. However, when I was young, I didn’t know that this was impossible. After about a few decades, a small country was established there, called Qingqiu country.”
"I've never heard of such a country," I couldn't help saying.
"Of course you haven't heard of it." Wen Jiubai smiled, "In that era, human beings hadn't gained control over the world. Like all creatures in the world, they shared the world's resources equally , and even writing has not yet been born, so there will be no written records, and what has been handed down is only legends."
Is it... so early
"Even if it is a legend, there are still some vague records that have been handed down, such as this." Wen Jiubai stood up, walked to the bookshelf beside him, glanced around, and took out an old thread-bound book from it, and opened a page , read Road.
"The fifth volume of "Yi Shi" quotes "Gui Zang" saying: "Chi You ascended the Jiunao Kongsang, and the Yellow Emperor killed him in Qingqiu." And "Sui Shu·Yangdi Xia" also records: "The appearance of Qingqiu, salty Xiuzhigong, the shore of the blue sea, and Zhengshuo.'Although most of these records are guesses and fabrications by later generations, there are also facts. Interestingly, the only fact in these records is now regarded by later generations as It's the imagination of the ancients."
"What is it?" I couldn't help asking.
"That's 'The Kingdom of Qingqiu, and there are nine fox tails.'" Wen Jiubai closed the scroll in his hand and looked at me. "In ancient books, almost all books that mention the word Qingqiu will mention me." The name. Nine-tailed fox and Qingqiu are almost inseparable, and later generations even gave the nine-tailed fox the title of "Qingqiu's Fox."
I smiled embarrassingly, "That's natural, because you destroyed that country."
"Yes." Wen Jiubai smiled, without blaming me in his tone, he stood up and put the book back to its original place, "But as time goes by, people's memory gradually fades. Human beings are like this It is a species that is very easy to forget. People forget why Qingqiu country comes to mind when mentioning the nine-tailed fox, and why Qingqiu country has anything to do with the nine-tailed fox. No matter how sad or tragic the history, as long as time Long enough, and people forget and repeat what they have done before."
I was taken aback, observing Wen Jiubai's expression, "What did they... do to you?"
Wen Jiubai was surprised for a moment, then smiled, and poked my nose with his hand, "As expected of you, Gu Yu. You are really sensitive."
I couldn't be happy with his compliment at all, so I slapped his hand away and said, "Okay, can you just answer me honestly?"
Wen Jiubai seemed to think about it for a while, "If you say it, you should be able to see it directly."
"Huh?" I didn't understand what he was saying.
"Close your eyes." Wen Jiubai said suddenly.
"What-"
"Okay, just listen to me and close your eyes." Wen Jiubai said without doubt.
I had no choice but to do as he said, closing my eyes very nervously. I felt Wen Jiubai approaching me, and then his forehead was pressed against mine.
What is this for
Just as I was about to ask, a sharp headache hit me, followed by a feeling of dizziness, and soon, some memories that didn't belong to me came to my mind.
———————
"It hasn't been raining lately."
Two farmers walking on the dirt road with hoes on their backs were chatting. They seemed to have come back from farming in the field, but their expressions were sad.
Another person also echoed: "That's right, why is there a sudden drought in this season? It's so strange, it's been almost a month without a single drop of rain, and if things go on like this, our crops will all be destroyed." Burned to death by the sun."
"Alas!" the first farmer sighed, "Isn't everyone saying that there must be something wrong to prevent us from having a good life? There are only a few fields in this poor place that can be planted. If it doesn't rain, won't it keep us alive?"
"Needless to say, there must be evildoers nearby!"
At this moment, a voice came from far and near.
"Third! Fifth! Not good!!"
A farmer ran over from a distance in a panic, shouting and panting, "The big thing is bad!"
"What's the matter?" The third and fifth children asked anxiously after hearing this.
"What happened?"
"Monster, monster!" the visitor said out of breath, while gesticulating, "The pockmark next door ran up the mountain to hunt, but unexpectedly, he found the monster! Hit like a mountain!" , with nine tails! Ah!"
"What?"
As soon as the faces of the third and fifth children changed, they immediately dropped the hoes in their hands, and ran up the mountain with the people coming.
The three climbed up the mountain with great difficulty, bypassing many jagged rocks and tangled branches, bent over and carefully approached a large cave from behind.
As soon as Lao San and Lao Wu passed by, they found that many villagers they knew had gathered under the bushes, and they were all secretly lying behind the bushes and observing the dark cave.