Volume 1: Winds Rising From the Mountains and Swamps Chapter 27: Feeling Homesick
The bonfire on the ground flickered, and the shadows of horses and people were like ghosts.
"Hush, hush, hush——" After a burst of excited horse neighing, more than a dozen horses appeared one after another.
The people on the horses were majestic and stern. Their eyes were like knives, examining the panicked people on the ground.
Shopkeeper Xiao and others didn't know why and were uneasy.
After the people on the horses whispered for a while, someone gave an order and everyone got off the horse. Each of them gathered the horses and went to the side to take care of them. Some people searched around with weapons, and several people walked towards the bonfire.
Shopkeeper Xiao hurriedly got up, a little at a loss. Ma Hu and Wang Er also looked at each other.
Among the people who came, an old man with a red robe and a long beard stepped forward, bowed to Shopkeeper Xiao and others, and said: "It's late, it's inconvenient to walk! Let me rest here, sorry for disturbing you!" The old man's voice was low and old, but full of energy.
Shopkeeper Xiao's expression eased, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He hurriedly bowed his hands in return: "We are both away from home, and meeting is fate! Please make yourself at your own convenience, old sir!"
The old man nodded, and when he sat down with a few people around the campfire, he raised his eyes slightly, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes, sweeping over Shopkeeper Xiao and others. He saw Ma Hu and Wang Er holding weapons, but he didn't care.
"Old sir! I have drinking water and dry food here, don't know...?" Shopkeeper Xiao said with a smile and flattering.
The old man did not respond, but just shook his head slightly, and his entourage had already delivered the water bag and dry food.
"Haha! That's good! That's good!" Shopkeeper Xiao laughed dryly a few times, took a few steps back in boredom, and sat down a few steps away from the campfire. Ma Hu and Wang Er also quietly moved back. The old man driving the carriage naturally guarded his carriage and dared not say a word.
"Old Ma! Everything is ready!" A loud voice sounded, and a young man in his early twenties came over with a few people. Two people followed him to the campfire, and two others went to find a place by themselves.
The young man had a tung-colored face, a straight nose and a square mouth, a pair of leopard eyes that were bright and powerful, and a majestic appearance. After he finished speaking carelessly, he sat down next to the old man, stretched out his hand to tear open his clothes, opened his chest, rolled up his sleeves, took the water bag handed by his companion, raised his head, and splashed water. After drinking the water, he stretched out his hand to wipe his mouth, and said it was refreshing.
"Second brother! Try this, this meat jerky is more crispy after being roasted by fire!" A fair-looking man next to him handed over a string of meat jerky.
The second brother took it without hesitation and chewed it, nodded and hummed: "Not bad! It's delicious, and it's even better with wine!"
"Hehe! Second brother! It's not too late to drink it after returning." The fair-looking man was 10** years old and looked very smart. After secretly glancing at the old man in red robes, he smiled and said to the second brother.
The second brother laughed and was about to speak when a shout came from behind him.
"Country boy! Get out of the way!"
Everyone couldn't help but look in the direction of the voice. They saw two burly men standing in front of a big rock far away from the campfire, gesturing at a country boy sitting on the ground. The boy was in tattered clothes and his expression was unclear. He just stood up silently, did not argue or refute, and slowly walked to another place where no one was and sat down.
The second brother and his friends saw it, shook their heads and smiled as if they were not surprised, turned around and continued to eat and drink.
Lin Yi found an open space far away from the crowd and sat cross-legged with an expressionless face. The country boy who was driven away just now was naturally him.
This group of people was noticed by Lin Yi when they were eighty feet away. Until this group of people came close, together with the panic of Xiao the shopkeeper and others, he saw it all and pretended not to know.
There were a total of seventeen horses, seventeen people all had martial arts skills, and only one of them looked familiar. It was the old man in red robes who was called Ma Lao by Qin Buyou in Taiping Town. The few people guarding around were all strong men in their twenties, with brisk steps, nimble hands and feet, and familiar appearances, hiding in the night without making any sound. The rest were also young people in their twenties, sitting in groups of three or five in the open space, drinking water and eating dry food. Except for the old man in red, all these people were armed, and only the old man had long and powerful breathing, restrained spirit, and good internal strength. Among these people, he had the highest martial arts.
Lin Yi was originally sitting under a big rock in the dark. When everyone arrived, no one paid attention to him. Now he has his own world in his inner breath, sitting there like a stone, and even the old man did not notice the abnormality of this country boy.
However, these people attracted Lin Yi's attention. Among the horses these people rode, there were ten horses with small wooden boxes made of sandalwood behind their saddles, which were very exquisite. After checking them one by one with his spiritual sense, he found that the wooden boxes were all filled with a piece of jade that was almost cut. However, what he saw unexpectedly surprised Lin Yi. One of the jades in the wooden box actually had spiritual energy fluctuations.
Lin Yi hurriedly used his spiritual sense to penetrate the wooden box and carefully examined it. The jade was easily penetrated by his spiritual sense. In the jade that was about a foot long and a palm thick, there was actually a small stone core containing spiritual energy. The stone core was crystal clear and translucent, and the spiritual energy was majestic and moving, just like the spiritual stone in his Qiankun bag.
This surprised him!
How could these people carry spiritual stones with them? Why is this spiritual stone different from the one on his body, but wrapped in jade? Among the wooden boxes carried by ten horses, only this piece of jade contained spiritual stones.
Like peeping into someone else's body, Lin Yi felt a little uneasy. When he was thinking about the origins of these people, someone came to drive them away.
This group of people looked for a flat and dry place to rest, but Lin Yi didn't care about it. When two people approached him, he was still a little puzzled about their intentions.
The speaker was a young man of about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a dark complexion and narrow eyes. He was shrewd and rebellious. He put his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist, and a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth, telling the country boy who was occupying the space in front of him to get out.
Lin Yi was angry, but he didn't bother to argue. He buried his head and made way for the matter.
He seemed not to hear the sneer behind him. He just thought to himself, who are these people? What do they want the spirit stone for? Thinking of all the things he had encountered before, Lin Yi fell into deep thought.
The next day, before dawn, the group of people on horseback had left. Lin Yi and Shopkeeper Xiao followed closely behind. At noon, several people stopped to rest for a while, and then continued on their way. After the hour of Wei, Shopkeeper Xiao showed a happy expression and said cheerfully:
"There are still more than ten miles to go to Tianping Town. I hope you all have worked hard on this trip. I will give you another red envelope later, haha!"
"Thank you very much, Shopkeeper Xiao!" The old man driving the cart and Ma Hu were also very excited.
"Brother Lin, there is a fork in the road not far ahead, which is the road to Xiaotian'ao." Shopkeeper Xiao twisted his body and said energetically.
"The shopkeeper is right. There is a mountain village only more than ten miles to the west." The old man driving the cart also echoed.
Lin Yi smiled and nodded in thanks. For some reason, when Xiaotian'ao was not far away, he was pulled by something inexplicable in his heart.
After parting with a few people, looking at the small road in front of him between the hills, Lin Yi's feet were a little weak.
He took a deep breath, his face became more solemn, and he slowly walked forward.
The road of more than ten miles is very short. It only takes a cup of tea to walk from one end to the other.
The road of more than ten miles is also very long. In the past sixteen years, he has not seen the end of the road. What does it look like...
Xiaotianao is a place he has never wanted to think about. And, that only appears in his dreams... his parents...
There are hills, trees, or streams on both sides of the road... Lin Yi doesn't know and can't see.
Only the small road under his feet stretches forward, leading him forward step by step as if he has lost his soul.
I don't know how long he has walked, maybe he will reach the end in one step.
Lin Yi stopped woodenly. His eyes stared blankly ahead.
Surrounded by green mountains, smoke from cooking is curling, and a few dogs bark up and down.
A small mountain village is reflected in the eyes...
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