As the saying goes, "Looking up the mountain is like running to death, but although Gu Xun and his party have already entered the mountain, the journey is still quite long.
The Minshan Mountains stretch for hundreds of miles, with countless mountain tops, including peaks thousands of meters above sea level.
For countless years, the Shushan clan has been hiding there. Although it cannot be said to be completely isolated from the world, it can still be said to be inaccessible.
The rugged and difficult mountain roads have cast a natural protective barrier on Shushan Mountain.
However, this barrier not only hinders enemies with evil intentions towards Shushan, but also restricts Shushan's own development.
For so many years, Shushan's population has been limited to a few thousand people. Any more would exceed the tribe's capacity.
Food, land, housing, etc... are all limiting factors.
This also makes them absolutely powerless to resist once they encounter a truly powerful violent organization, such as a certain state power.
Although sending troops to these mountains is a very thankless task, the will of the royal power will not be hindered for this reason.
………………
After walking on the rugged path among the mountains for an hour, the elder who was leading the way said to Gu Xun beside him, "Haha, we are almost there. Shouldn't the young man be in a hurry?"
Gu Xun was indeed bored when he walked, but he was not in a hurry. He grinned nonchalantly and said, "It's not that bad."
"However, the location of the noble tribe is indeed a bit too remote and hidden."
The great elder stroked his long beard under his chin and explained with a smile, "Our ancestors escaped from the world and found such a hidden place in order not to be affected by the changes in the world."
Hearing this, Gu Xun once again pretended to evade, "Well... in that case, is it inappropriate for a few of us to visit?"
The great elder shook his head, lowered his head with an unknown meaning and said with emotion, "Shu Mountain is already in troubled times, and it is precarious, so I don't care about one or two more foreigners."
Gu Xun thought for a while, and according to his previous outspoken personality, he should ask more questions at this time, so he said:
"The noble tribe is in trouble now. Is there anything I can do to help?"
When the great elder heard this, his cloudy eyes couldn't help but scan the three people of Gu Xun.
A young man with good skills, a handsome man and woman who are not familiar with martial arts... there is always a feeling of incompatibility.
In the end, he was not aware of the hidden strength of Gu Xun and Yan Fei, but maybe it was because they were not serious in their disguise, or maybe it was for other reasons, which gave rise to some suspicion.
But the old man didn't pay too much attention. As he said just now, Shushan is already in trouble, and it doesn't matter if there are two more people with evil intentions.
If there is really a problem with this group of people, it may be more beneficial to Shi Qing to let them in than to blast them away directly, so as to prevent the child from feeling depressed when he looks back.
For now, the Great Elder knows how difficult the dilemma facing Shushan is, but he doesn't think that just three or two people can cause much trouble.
"Haha, the troubles in Shushan are due to ourselves. I'm afraid the guests can't help much, so I won't say it out loud and it will upset a few of them." After the great elder changed his mind, he withdrew his gaze and declined Gu with a smile.
Search request.
Gu Xun also showed a belated look and said with a smile, "It was Gu who was abrupt."
Shi Qing on the side just thought it was Gu Xun who was talking too fast and didn't think much. To avoid embarrassment, he interrupted, "Great Elder, you showed up so quickly before. Did you stay near the entrance the whole time?"
The Great Elder nodded slightly, "Since I received your warning reminder from Qing'er, I have gone to the outer entrance and am ready to meet you at any time."
Periphery... After hearing this, Gu Xun thought that the defense in Shushan was very interesting along the way.
Near the entrance, he found few guards, only a few hidden sentries.
After walking along the way, there were no guards arranged, just a small number of warning sentries.
It was not until the great elder told him that he was almost there that he encountered waves of patrolling guards.
Although it is said that the manpower should not be too scattered to avoid being defeated one by one, but it is not necessary to gather all the combat units to guard the door, right?
It’s not like we’ve determined that an enemy is coming to attack, so we have to shrink our defense line.
Hmm...a defense plan for an unknown reason.
Then the elder asked Shi Qing how his life was outside and chatted about some daily trivial matters.
Neither of them mentioned a word about the mission Shi Qing was performing when he went out, until the group actually arrived at the location of the Shushan tribe.
Just like the name of Shu Mountain, their entire tribe is built on the mountain.
But having said that, it is located in the Minshan Mountains, and it is unrealistic to leave the mountain...
The buildings of the entire Shushan tribe are mainly made of stone and wood, and the architectural style is relatively rough and simple. There are basically no gorgeous and tall buildings, and they are all residential buildings.
These buildings are basically built from the foot of the mountain to the middle of the mountain. Men and women, as well as the elderly and children, can be seen coming and going everywhere on the streets. However, their dressing style does not match the architectural style. They are a bit ornate, and most of them have silverware.
Dress up.
From this point of view, this is just a little-known paradise-type secluded settlement, nothing special.
However, as long as you look up the mountain road, you can intuitively feel the extraordinary nature of this tribe.
Compared with the lofty mountains that can be seen everywhere in Min Mountain, this mountain peak, where the people of Shu Mountain mainly depend on for their livelihood, is not high. It can even be said to be relatively short. Gu Xun roughly estimates that its altitude is less than one thousand meters at most.
, which can be converted to at most three hundred feet.
However, on the top of this mountain, there stands a towering giant tree with golden leaves and bright red body.
It was noon at this time, and the clouds and fog in the mountains had almost completely dissipated. Under Gu Xun's astonishing eyesight, the tree could reach almost one-third of the mountain, and its height was at least thirty to fifty feet.
Based on the size of the mountain and the size of this tree, even Concubine Yan and Zhang Han, whose eyesight is far inferior to his, can clearly see its existence.
Zhang Han couldn't help but widen his eyes, trying to see as clearly as possible, and murmured unconsciously, "This...is this a tree?"
Although the shadow of the tree in his eyes was not that big due to the distance, Zhang Han still knew that if he really came into contact with this towering giant tree at close range, its actual size would be a bit...
It's beyond his imagination.
I'm afraid it's higher than some hills...
Concubine Yan had seen the records of the Fusang Sacred Tree more than once at Yin Yang's home, and knew that the tree was huge - more than fifty feet tall, with a diameter of nearly ten feet, and the crown of the tree could cover a radius of one mile.
There is plenty of scope.
It is precisely because of the extremely large size of this sacred tree that the Yin Yang family is unable to take it away from the mountains.
If it is a plain area, Donghuang Taiyi can still try it. Just find more labor, and hundreds or even thousands of people will do it slowly.
But transporting it from the rugged and difficult-to-walk Min Mountain... this may require tens of thousands of civilian labor, not only to transport the trees, but also to dig mountains and open roads.
Apart from the imperial court of a country, among hundreds of scholars, probably only farmers with a huge labor force can do this.
