Walking into the narrow mountain road, it is winding and winding. On the hard stone walls on both sides, abrupt rocks protrude from time to time. If you are not careful, you may hit your head on it.
And looking around the stone wall, there are still drops of water dripping in many places, and the most places have gathered into a small pool. On the top and bottom of the stone wall, in the dark place, there are a lot of green stone moss, which fills the air with a slightly moist and cool smell.
Ghost Li and Xiaobai made many twists and turns, and managed to get out of this mountain road that has been around for an unknown number of years, and saw the sun again.
On this day, the sun was rising, and it looked quite sunny after the cloudy weather of the previous few days. As soon as they came out of the dark mountain path, under the sunlight, Gui Li and Xiao Bai couldn't help squinting their eyes, feeling the light from the sky, as if it still had a beautiful halo, shining on their eyes. body.
After a while, after the eyes got used to it, the sound of bustling people in the distance gradually came. The two of them looked forward, and saw a bright and bright sight in front of them. Surrounded by mountains, there was a piece of fertile, flat and open land in front of them.
Houses with a strong Miao flavor rose up one after another, either built on the hillside, or closely connected. There is also a clear stream, originating from the deep mountains in front, meandering through this paradise-like land. Many Miao people's houses are built on both sides of the stream.
On the surface of the water, from a distance, the Miao people have built three bridges, but they are all different. One is a wooden bridge, which is the simplest. a bridge now.
As for the other two, both are stone bridges, but they are also more flavorful. A large stone, rough and solid, lay flat on the stream with a narrow water surface, and then built a bridge with thick stone slabs, which is a simple and practical bridge-building method here in southern Xinjiang.
But the last stone bridge is made of small stones, and it has no piers. It is an arch bridge, and every stone is closely connected, passing across the sky and flying over the stream. It's really strange to appear here.
Gui Li saw these in his eyes, and his heart moved, but he didn't show it on his face. He and Xiaobai continued to walk forward, and the crowd became more and more lively. Most of the people around were talking in the native language of the Miao people, Gui Li could only hear a babble in his ears, and couldn't understand a single word for a long time.
Xiaobai walked beside him, looking around, most of the Miao people he met around looked at them, because he saw their faces, he looked a few more times, but there was no particular hostility. After walking a few steps, she whispered to Gui Li: "It seems that the southern border has become much more peaceful these years."
Gui Li was startled, puzzled, said: "What's wrong?"
Xiaobai said: "When I came here, ordinary Miao people looked at outsiders as if they were facing an enemy, and their eyes were even more vigilant. At that time, the five clans fought fiercely and cruelly, and fights between clans broke out from time to time. , if outsiders dare to come to Qilidong, if they don't have self-defense skills, they will probably be in danger. But judging from today's situation, the number of fights has probably decreased a lot in these years."
Gui Li nodded slightly, looking around, they were already walking among the Miao people at this moment, this avenue was on one side of the stream, on one side were many houses closely connected by the Miao people, on the other side was the clear river water, and there were many green trees on the bank. Trees lined up.
At first glance, the Miao people's houses are mostly built of wood, and the style is completely different from that of the middle earth. They are boxy and unpretentious, and there are hideous animal bones hanging on the front door and the edge walls of the house. It is common, and it is probably a custom of the Miao people to show the bravery of the owner of the house.
There are Miao people selling stalls on both sides of the road, but most of the things they sell are wild animal fur and raw meat. After walking a few steps, you will see one or two stalls selling small jewelry, jade and other playthings.
Xiaobai smiled and said: "The furs here are all high-quality goods, and the price is very cheap. If you want to buy a few here, it will be very cost-effective."
The corner of Gui Li's mouth twitched, but he didn't say a word, and walked straight forward. Walking slowly to the bank of the river and looking down, the river water is extremely clear. Standing on the bank of the river, you can also see the rocks under the surface of the stream, and there are countless big and small fish swimming and frolicking in the water.
In the distance, there seemed to be birds passing by, fluttering their wings and landing on the water surface, raised their heads and looked around a few times, then folded their wings comfortably and swam lightly on the water surface.
Everything in the world is surprisingly harmonious in this place.
Xiao Bai walked over slowly, and at some point, Xiao Hui, who was on her shoulder, poked his head out curiously, and looked down the stream.
"What should we do now?" Gui Li said indifferently.
Xiaobai pondered for a while, and said: "However, it has been three hundred years. If the person back then had not practiced like us, he would probably have passed away. Let's look for the place where the person was at the beginning."
Gui Li silently nodded, "Where is he?"
Xiaobai smiled slightly, pointed forward with his hand, and said, "There."
Gui Li raised his head and looked up, suddenly startled, he saw that where the little white finger was, it was in the depths where the Miao people lived, a stone building built on the mountainside, far higher than ordinary Miao people's houses.
Gui Li frowned, said in a low voice: "Altar."
Xiaobai smiled and said, "Not bad."
Gui Li groaned silently, but felt a little anxiety in his heart, not because of anything else, but because the altar is located in the southern border region, and it has a special meaning.
He has been to southern Xinjiang many times in the past. Although he has not paid attention to the customs of southern Xinjiang because he is full of worries and is focused on finding the mysterious black witch tribe, he still knows some basic things.
In the borderlands of southern Xinjiang, the Zhuang, Miao, Tu, Li, and Gaoshan tribes are divided into lands, and because of different tribes, they each believe in different gods and religions. The place is the altar.
The altar has a lofty status among the tribes in southern Xinjiang. In the eyes of most tribes, most of the time, there is no difference between the words of the wizard in the altar and the words of the great and mysterious gods. In the past, when the five clans fought fiercely, every time they fought, they had to consult the wizard in the altar, explain the situation to the gods, and get permission from the gods—that is, the great wizard himself, so that the clan patriarch could start a new war.
From this, we can see what kind of status the altar and the wizard inside have in Southern Xinjiang! As far as he knew, these wizards rarely received outsiders.
Gui Li was silent for a moment, then turned his head and said to Xiao Bai: "That is the altar of the Miao people, the person you mentioned, could it be..."
Xiaobai smiled lightly, and cut him off: "That's right, what I saw here three hundred years ago was that the great wizard of the Miao people used the method of resurrection, and was about to be taken away by the mountain spirit and ghost. People were rescued."
The great wizard of the Miao people...
The corner of Gui Li's mouth twitched again. If the wizards in the altar had a high status among the tribes in southern Xinjiang, then as the wizards with the strongest magic power and the highest status among the wizards, the great wizard who conveyed the will of the gods with his own mouth every time was simply an ordinary tribesman. The gods in the eyes are enlightened.
If someone dares to offend the great wizard, Gui Li has no doubts at all, all the Miao people in the land in front of him, and even all the Miao people in the entire southern border will rush to fight him desperately.
Xiao Bai looked at Gui Li with great interest, and said with a smile: "How, what shall we do now?"
Gui Li glanced at her, only to see the rising sun in the morning falling on her face, as if reflected, with a touch of tenderness.
Without saying a word, he turned around and walked slowly towards the altar halfway up the mountain.
Xiaobai smiled and followed.
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This place is called Qilidong, so it is naturally quite large, and it is said to be the largest settlement of Miao people in the southern border. As they went deeper, they saw more and more Miao people.
From the relatively large road they walked on, branch paths continued to extend sideways, like a big tree spreading its branches and leaves.
Guili and Li looked from a distance, the road under their feet directly extended towards the altar in the distance, so they saved the trouble of asking questions.
It's just that as they got deeper and deeper, more and more Miao people noticed what they were doing, and there were whispering voices around them. After about half a cup of tea, they came to the foot of the tall mountain of the altar.
Then, they stopped, not because they hesitated, but because Miao soldiers stationed at the foot of the mountain stopped them.
Gui Li felt a little restless in his heart, but the situation in front of him was not unexpected. Originally! As the supreme sacred altar of the Miao people, it would be strange if it was not strictly guarded.
There are quite a few Miao soldiers guarding the foot of the mountain. At first glance, there are at least a dozen strong and strong men standing on the road leading to the mountainside from a distance or near to guard.
At this time, the two Miao men standing in front of them were standing in front of them. They were wearing ordinary Miao clothes. The difference was that they had a wooden armor made of tough wooden vines on their chests, and they held long-handled sharp spears in their hands. , it seems that this is the difference between Miao warriors and ordinary Miao people.
The two Miao people looked Gui Li and Xiao Bai up and down for a few times, and then most of their eyes fell on Xiao Bai's beautiful face for a while, and then they loudly said: "Ji Li Ji Li Hu Lu Lu, gua la Gualaluhu..."
Gui Li turned his head to look at Xiao Bai, Xiao Bai shrugged his shoulders, and said: "Don't ask me, I have been imprisoned for so long, how can I remember these local words?"
Gui Li was silent, turned his head, pondered for a moment, and said: "We have something important to do, we want to meet your great wizard." Because he has something to ask for, so it is rare for him to speak at this moment, and he is somewhat polite.
However, it is obvious that this place where the Miao people live together is far less civilized than the guy who runs the inn in Tianshui Village, who is proficient in Chinese language. Hearing what Gui Li said, the two Miao people frowned even more. Looking at each other, they even picked up the long-handled sharp gun in their hands, with a serious face, and shouted loudly: "Huhuluhuhuhujili..."
Gui Li was dumbfounded and didn't know what to do for a moment. To be honest, he traveled here and there for Baguio for ten years, searching everywhere for the whereabouts of the Black Witch tribe. Now he finally got some clues, but was blocked by these Miao warriors. I want to overthrow these people directly, rush into the altar to find that great wizard, and let him heal Baguio.
It's just that he is no longer the young man who didn't know the world at the time, and he knows that he must not be impulsive at this moment, otherwise, if he becomes stiff, it may backfire. But he hesitated for a moment, because he couldn't understand the words, he pointed to the altar located halfway up the mountain with his hand, and said in a friendly voice: "We want to go to your altar to meet the great wizard."
I don’t know if the Miao people understood what he said, but the movement of pointing his finger at the altar halfway up the mountain immediately made all the Miao people around, including the Miao warriors standing farther away and some who followed them, watch. The bustling Miao people became angry, shouting and cursing loudly one by one, and the Miao soldiers even huffed and surrounded them, surrounding them.
Gui Li was stunned for a moment, Xiao Bai whispered next to him: "Too bad, you may have violated a big taboo of their Miao people."
Ghost Li asked: "What did I do?"
Xiaobai looked at the angry crowd around him and said in a low voice: "The altar is a sacred and inviolable place in the eyes of the Miao people. It is not easy to mention it in words, and pointing at the altar is a great disrespect. Zhong Nai is the biggest insult."
Gui Li glared at her, and said angrily: "Such an important matter, why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Xiaobai chuckled softly, seeming to reveal a touch of softness, and said softly: "You have to think about it, I have been imprisoned for three hundred years, how can I remember so much..."
Gui Li was dumb again, for a moment he really felt his head was extremely big.
The Miao people around looked at them after they were besieged, and they didn't show any fear. Instead, they talked in a low voice with a calm expression. The man was still a little anxious, but the woman didn't take the Miao people around her seriously at all. , smiling sweetly, looking forward to the waves.
There are many Miao girls around, seeing Xiaobai's handsome appearance in the field, they secretly envy them for a while, but when they see more Hmong men looking at Xiaobai's eyes shining, the whole audience is shocked immediately, and there is a moment of silence. The voices of li gua la came one after another, and it seemed that this couple of dogs and men insulted the sacred altar, which is an unforgivable crime, and deserves to be cut into pieces and executed lingeringly.
There were a few young men in the middle who couldn't help arguing a few words, saying that it was the man who insulted the altar, and the woman was not wrong, it would be better to kill the man and keep the woman as my wife not too bad wait...
Before they finished speaking, these men were immediately submerged in the group of Miao girls, and were beaten, kicked, or pulled by their mothers, sisters, younger sisters, aunts, third aunts, sixth aunts, and even Miao girls they didn't know. Screaming, or scratching ears, or thumping eyes, or bumping chests, in short, hands and feet all over the sky, howling ghosts and wolves suddenly started, and after a while, there were several plopping sounds, and these men were thrown into the stream with blue faces and swollen faces. Get up and splash.
Miao girl is strong, it can be seen.
Those Miao soldiers didn't seem to expect that these Miao women would be so angry. They were even more angry than the warriors who had to be most loyal to the gods to be qualified to guard the altar. They hated these outsiders who insulted the altar so deeply that they If there is any slight pleading statement, he will be beaten with a stick.
The Miao soldier at the head seemed to be the leader of the dozen or so soldiers, he glanced at the young men who were still crying in the river, coughed, looked at Guili and Xiaobai, his face turned frosty , and didn't even look at Xiaobai, just stared at Gui Li, as if he was afraid that the man would slip away, or that his eyes would slip away, so he couldn't help but say that he didn't understand, and said angrily: "Haha Lulu Lili, quail, chirp, chirp, chirp!"
Gui Li is also very anxious here, although he doesn't know why a lot of Miao women suddenly rushed together in the crowd, arrested several young Miao people, beat them up and threw them into the river, but if they want to come to the Miao people, Most of them have some strange customs, which are not surprising.
But right now, I can't communicate with these Miao people, and just now I accidentally violated the taboo of the Miao people and angered the Miao people. Seeing that there are more and more Miao people around, although he and Xiaobai are both cultivators, and they are not afraid of these Miao people being numerous and strong, but he has nothing to do with this Miao people right now.
In the past ten years, he has gone from hope to disappointment to almost despair, and it is indeed extremely painful. Now that such a good hope suddenly rekindled, he would not let it go easily no matter what. But now I can't speak clearly, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to communicate well when I make gestures. If I violate some taboos of the Miao people for no reason, I will be too wronged.
He stood there, unable to force his way in, even more reluctant to retreat, he was in a dilemma, it was really embarrassing.
But the surrounding Miao people saw that the two men did not repent after making mistakes, and still stood there without saying a word. The man still looked a little anxious, but the woman's smile became brighter, and she seemed to be even more radiant under the crowd watching. She was happy, her smile became more and more charming, and she even smiled at a few Miao men who had been staring at her, and immediately made those men dizzy.
This scene fell into the eyes of the surrounding Miao women, it was as if a pot had exploded, it was really unbearable, the clamor became louder and louder, almost drowning Guili and Li with their saliva.
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Seeing that the crowd was about to get out of control, many Miao women were about to rush forward to give that coquettish little fairy a good lesson, and when she took a breath of bad breath for herself in the name of the god on the altar, she shouted, It came from behind the soldiers guarding the mountain path.
The voice was so thick and majestic that it suppressed the din of many people, and the voice was full of majesty. The surrounding Miao people seemed to recognize the voice, and they all fell silent. Looking up the mountain, it was obvious that this person was very prestigious among the Miao people.