Ferry
Chapter 116 Ferry
Twenty-three days later, Li Wuxiang arrived at the edge of Wuyue Zhenxingdao Parish - the boundary was a big river and a cliff.
This big river has a name in the Shijie Collection, called "Huhe". He initially thought that this was because the river happened to be the dividing line between the parish and other areas, hence the name. However, after seeing the river, Li Wuji had doubts about his thoughts.
In his previous life, he also liked to watch the river. In the middle of the night, listen to the sound of the river flowing by the deserted river, or in the daytime, in the silent forest, look at the people playing by the river through the gaps in the leaves.
What he has always disliked is that most of the rivers in his city are in chains - both sides of the river are solidified by gray and lifeless concrete embankments, without pebbles, shoals, or lush aquatic plants.
And this river protection reminded him of those rivers - the river was so wide that when looking at the other side of the river, it was almost impossible to see clearly because of the mist stirred up by the rapid river. But it is such a big river, and the banks on both sides are actually high and steep stone walls. The drop from the water surface is as high as three people, almost straight up and down. There is absolutely no place for ordinary people to climb up and down.
The stone wall was gray-black and looked exactly like the stone he had seen along the way. But the stone embankment on the shore is not naturally formed, because there are no gaps at all and it is quite smooth and flat. But no matter how carefully Li Wuxiang looked, he couldn't find any traces of cutting and splicing. It seemed to be a completely miraculous work of nature.
This should have been created by the Taoism of the Five Mountains Zhenxing Dao, and even this river may have been created by them. They were already good at this kind of thing, but he didn't expect it to get to this point... How long is this river? How many people and how many years will it take?
The only advantage of such a river is that it makes it easy for him to find Pan Muyun and Helianji.
There is a ferry by the river, also made of gray-black stone. Two rows of shacks were built on both sides of the road leading to the ferry. They looked old. Some carriages and horses were parked under the shacks, and dozens of people sat in groups on the roadside, chatting and resting.
When Li Wuxiang saw Pan Muyun and Helianji, they were each carrying a load, dressed as salesmen, and there was a third pair on the ground.
The two of them sat on the floor, each holding a melon segment in their hands, eating until their chests were full of juice. The other hand is holding a cattail leaf fan, fanning it while driving away mosquitoes and flies. Their hair was originally tied up very neatly, but now they looked unkempt, as if they were traders wandering around the market. After seeing Li Wuxiang, he immediately waved and shouted: "Come! Come! Come this way!"
The people around him looked at him distractedly, then turned away, chatting among themselves.
Li Wuxiang walked to them, lifted up his skirt and sat on the ground, letting out a long breath.
Pan Muyun looked at him with a smile: "How was it on the road?"
"It's quite peaceful. I heard a lot about it, but I didn't expect the river guard to be like this."
Pan Muyun nodded: "You came faster than we thought, and we only arrived yesterday. Don't blame us for not stopping and waiting for you. Thousand-mile tracking is also a lesson that we swordsmen need to practice. Now it seems that you don't need to practice it."
Then he pointed to the side: "That burden belongs to you, we are all salesmen now. In your burden are some pickled vegetables, melons and dried fruits. Just think about where you are from. It will be easy for you to answer when someone asks. You don’t need to be very careful, the people at the ferry won’t care and won’t be able to figure it out.”
"Is it someone from Zhenxing Tao who is taking us across the river?"
"Yes. But we won't be monks, but we also know that we may not be dealers. According to their own words, the territory of Zhenxingdao lacks nothing but some novel gadgets. If you want to cross the river, you have to hand I need something good. I have a coffin nail in my hand, and he has a ghost bead in his hand. Is there anything strange about you?"
have. The "Immortal Slough" transformed by Zhao Puppet, but it's hard for him to take it out - it might become "alive" once it leaves the secret realm. Li Wuxiang thought for a while, reached into his arms and touched it, took out a handful of white beards, unfolded them and showed them to the two of them: "Is this okay? I got it off a monster. It was too late at the time to see clearly. , I only took a handful and let it run away, but it is still different. "
The two came over to look at it and each took one. I pulled it first - a piece as long as my forearm, it was three or four times longer and still kept pulling. Helianji let out a sigh, took out the knife from his waist, put the beard on a small stone and cut it - but he couldn't cut it, and it rolled around under the edge of the blade. It wasn't until he exerted all his strength that the blade of the knife deflected and cut off a small section diagonally.
He clicked his tongue and said: "It's really strange. It can catch up with the sword line. It hasn't absorbed the essence yet, and it still looks like hair. Where did you get it? Let's go look for it when we get back. This counts. What a treasure.”
Li Wuxiang scratched his hair: "It's on a snow-capped mountain, in a mountain valley. I can't remember which mountain it was. It was too late at that time, and I lost my way. I didn't find my way again until dawn."
Pan Muyun smiled: "You, Senior Brother Helian, are joking. The Sword Sect is as close as brothers, but brothers must also settle accounts. It's you who discovered it, and it's yours. If you don't ask others to help, others can't rob you. Yes, it's always been this way Like. Since that thing will run away when frightened, you can deal with it yourself. When you get to Youjiuyuan, you can share it. This thing is really good. I don’t know if it can be added to the sword line. You can do it later. Look for it again.”
After saying this, he gnawed the melon clean in a few mouthfuls and threw it on the ground: "I have to tell you something. Have you read all the things about the Six Mysterious Sect's territories in the Collection of World Explanations?"
Pan Muyun's behavior reminded him of a colleague from his previous life. He can be regarded as the big brother who brought him into the industry. He has a good character and an easy-going temperament. He can provide all necessary help, but at the same time he assumes that the people around him are at the same level as his own ability. He never asks "if it can be done", but takes it for granted. requirements and instructions.
Looking at it now, swordsmen should be a similar group of people - once they enter the swordsman's door, they are all regarded as dragons among men by default.
To be honest, if he hadn't been so skinny now, eating less, drinking less, and sleeping less, he might not have had the time and energy to read all of The World's End Episodes before.
He nodded: "I have read it. It is said that the territory is very large, and it is blessed by the divine power of the emperor. The practitioners of the Six Mysterious Sects will also be blessed by the divine power."
"Yeah. The book doesn't explain it in detail. Let me explain it clearly to you." Pan Muyun's expression became more serious, "Our sword sect, and even the thirty sects' cultivation, in the final analysis, all rely on ourselves. We absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and store it in our body. Then use various methods to figure out how to use the energy in your body.”
"The Six Mysterious Sects are similar to us when refining qi. The difference lies in their divine blessing. Sometimes when we do things, we have to invite the true spirit to go down to the lower world. We invite it from the Lingshan Mountain. It takes time and effort to invite it up, and we may not get it every time. . But across this river is the Xuanjiao parish. There is no need to invite Xuanjiao disciples to use magic in the parish."
"Let's put it this way, every spell they use on the territory of the diocese, you should regard it as a gift from their emperor or the spirit god under the emperor's throne, and it is extremely powerful. But once the Xuanjiao disciples leave the diocese, they will We are only half capable. Our Sword Sect has been fighting against the Six Mysterious Sects for so many years, just because of this——"
"Out of the diocese, none of them at the same level can beat us. Once inside the diocese, our sword sect's skills are pretty good and we can be considered equally matched, but the people of the thirty-sixth sect have to be slaughtered. Because in the diocese There is a true god, but we don’t. When we start fighting, we are not only fighting against humans, we are also fighting against the true spirit of the Six Mysterious Sect.”
"You killed Zhenxing Dao's walking in Ranshan before, which is a great thing in everyone's eyes, but I have to remind you that if Xu Daosheng was on the other side of the river at that time, things would not be that simple. Junior Brother Li, we must be careful when we cross the river."
Li Wuxiang nodded slowly. What Pan Muyun said solved a long-standing doubt in his mind - the territory of each of the six mystical sects is actually equivalent to a country with a vast territory. There are no external enemies, and there are cultivators to help, and the Sword Sect is now sparsely populated, with only a hundred people. Why has it not been wiped out, but everyone outside the diocese is afraid of it and does not want to offend?
It turns out that it comes down to the matter of "divine blessing"... You can't beat me when you come out, and I can't beat you when you go in. Naturally, this is the current stalemate.
No, it cannot be considered a stalemate.
Xue Baoping said that more than a hundred years ago, Jinshui was very far from the parish of Zhenxing Tao. It is still not close now, but it is only two months away.
The territory of Liubu Xuanjiao is expanding. On a longer time scale, the living space of Jianzong is slowly being compressed. If there are no major changes, sooner or later there will be nowhere to go.
besides--
Li Wuxiang was silent for a while and then said, "Senior Brother Pan, I have something else to do."
"You tell me."
"When I met Xu Daosheng in Ranshan before, he said that he knew from the swordsman... that is Senior Brother Lou that there is a treasure in the illusion of Ranshan that can go to Youjiuyuan."
Li Wuxiang thought about this matter for a long time, whether he should mention it or not. But after parting with the two of them, I thought about it for a few days, and now after listening to Pan Muyun's words just now, I feel that I can speak out.
With the Sword Sect's style, they shouldn't be able to do anything like robbery. And there is no need for him to hide this matter into trouble and put himself in an embarrassing situation in the future.
The two swordsmen looked at each other, and after a while Pan Muyun said: "As long as that thing doesn't fall into the hands of outsiders, you don't have to worry - is it where you are?"
"yes."
"Then don't worry, you will have to go to Youjiuyuan sooner or later. There are not many of these things, but they are not particularly rare either." Pan Muyun paused, "How should I put it regarding Senior Brother Lou? Everyone has their own approach. Right. No one knows all about Zhenxingdao. Even if he says it, it may not be what he wants to say. We all believe him."
This kind of trust made Li Wuxiang feel a slight warmth in the talisman in his chest and abdomen. But he had to say something else, even if he thought that the two swordsmen in front of him could think of it——
"What if it's the worst case scenario?" Li Wuxiang looked at him, "Outside the parish, people know that if a swordsman is killed, they have their own comrades to avenge him. People in the true Tao should also know this, right? If they are How about using Senior Brother Lou to set up an ambush?”
Pan Muyun was silent for a moment, looked at Helianji again, and then said: "Maybe. But, remember when we were in Deyang, I told you that we should go ahead and there are things to do on the way. What we have to do will be done later. You will know when you go to Youjiuyuan, but for now I can only tell you that when encountering this kind of thing, we naturally don't just throw ourselves into the fire."
"What we know now is that Senior Brother Lou is trapped in Guancheng - across this river and then across the cliff is Guancheng. We all know the situation near Guancheng from You Jiuyuan. Your Senior Brother Zeng He replied to our letter a few days ago. He is also in Guancheng now, but I don’t know what the situation is. I will ask him again when I get there. "
"As I say, be careful. Things like setting up an ambush also depend on their abilities. Until the last moment, you can't tell who set up an ambush for whom."
When he said this, he suddenly heard three faint gong sounds from the other side of the river. The crowd on the ferry road immediately quieted down for a while, then stood up, picked up their things, and rushed to the shore to see.
After a while, a ferry came over from the other side.
Li Wuxiang has taken three boats in these days, some large and some small. To put it in a good way, they are full of ancient charm, which completely conforms to his preconceived ideas about the world. To put it in a bad way, they are all very rough, swaying when crossing the river, and the hull is also dilapidated, as if it will capsize at any time.
But this boat slowly approached the ferry, and he was slightly stunned when he saw it.
Helian Ji looked at him like this, couldn't help laughing, and patted him on the shoulder: "Just look at it a few more times. The things in the parish are more beautiful than ours, but when you go there, you will know that it is just a beautiful appearance, but rotten inside."
He was right, the boat was indeed beautiful.
The long hull, with a flat and wide deck, stood four men wearing half-body scale armor, who looked like garrison soldiers.
But what surprised him was that the hull was painted. Light blue, and red paint below the waterline.
This appearance... was very different from the ships outside the parish. Xue Baoping had said before that the parish was "more prosperous" than the outside, but from the subtle details of this layer of paint, it was almost two different worlds.
And the people on the ship - in addition to the four armored soldiers, there were three sailors walking on the deck. Most of the people in this world that Li Wuxiang saw along the way were shriveled and skinny, with numb and tired expressions on their faces. Even in a big city like Deyang, it was rare to see happy expressions on the road.
And the sailors on this ship were all tall and strong, and they even laughed and joked with the four armored soldiers, and they didn't seem to have any worries. He, Pan Muyun, and Helian Ji all looked decent. However, when he looked at the group of vendors on the ferry in front of him, he felt that this group of people was naturally different from the few on the boat in terms of appearance and physique.
With the power of the Six Departments of Xuanjiao, there is no need to specially select people to do superficial work. What should the Guancheng in the diocese look like?
Li Wuxiang couldn't help but take a closer look at the people on the bow, but this time, he found that the armored soldier standing in the front was also staring at him. When the boat got closer, he saw the man's appearance more clearly--
Zeng Jianqiu? !
How did he get into this group of people? !
Sorry, sorry, I'm very busy today and I'll be very busy tomorrow, so tomorrow's update should also be at this time! Sorry, sorry!