As the morning light grew brighter, I searched all night but found nothing.
There was only a fire and nothing else left at the scene.
Judging from the way the fire was arranged, at least he was not a refugee or any other ordinary person.
Rougu came back in the morning light and wanted to suggest leaving this place and finding another place, but she found that Shen Xu fell asleep again, sleeping very deeply.
The candles in the room burned out, and Rou Gu stood beside the bed, quietly looking at the sleeping man on the bed.
His brows were furrowed and there was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, which showed that he had slept badly, and Rougu couldn't bear to wake him up.
After a long time, Rougu sighed softly, turned around and left.
It had been snowing outside the house all night, and the snow was deeper in the courtyard. Rougu closed the door softly, turned around and saw several subordinates standing in front of the wooden house on the other side, holding the game they had caught overnight, waiting for her instructions.
"Let's cook it," Rougu said. "Close the doors and windows tightly so that the smell doesn't get too strong."
"Yes." His subordinates accepted the order.
Rougu watched them go about their business, turned her head and looked to the other side, paused, then walked out of the courtyard.
After passing through a small forest, Rougu stopped on the edge of a cliff, with Long Yuan beneath her.
The surrounding mountains are covered with snow, and the ancient trees are vast. The snowflakes are sent into the dragon abyss by the long wind, and the thousands of pure white snow seem to be swallowed by the netherworld and disappear in an instant.
Regardless of official history or unofficial history, the earliest written records related to Long Yuan in history can be traced back to the battle between Wei and Zheng 1,100 years ago.
At the end of the Xia Dynasty, the princes attacked each other. After nearly thirty years of disputes and annexations, the two great princes of Wei and Zheng were left fighting for the Central Plains.
At that time, the people were in dire straits, and people were dying of hunger all over the land. The world was far more miserable than it is today. Many people fled to the mountains one after another to escape the war and strife.
Longdan Mountain was not called Longdan Mountain at that time, it had not been named, and the road condition was not as good as it is now. In addition to the rolling green ancient forest, there were also ferocious birds and beasts that appeared from time to time.
It was at that time that Long Yuan was discovered in the mountains. During several subsequent earthquakes, Long Yuan was like a mouth that opened wider and wider, cracking open in the earth.
Information was difficult to spread, so many people in the world came to listen to Long Yuan's story as curious commentaries. However, for some princes, generals and ministers in the peaceful and prosperous years, they were very interested in it.
For thousands of years, Longyuan has been visited by many people. Some people are afraid to leave, while others want to find out.
Six hundred years ago, someone left a dark hall here. The dark hall was on the stone wall under Longyuan. Now, Shen Xu wants to find this dark hall.
Rougu narrowed her eyes and stared at the abyss. The cold wind roared from all directions, and it was really hard for her to imagine how she could go down.
What's more, Shen Shu is in such a body now.
I hope everything goes well and gets better.
Rougu said very softly from the bottom of her heart.
The long wind carried the frost and snow, passing through the sky above Rougu's head, climbing over several mountain peaks, and blowing towards the Yuanhe Sect.
A hoarse teenage voice broke the silence.
"I'm back! I'm back! I'm not dead! Help!!"
Zhili used his last strength to run up the hillside quickly, stood outside the mountain gate, and shouted with his hands in the shape of a trumpet.
A few disciples were the first to run out. When they saw the young man wearing a bamboo hat, one of them stopped and turned back to find the sect leader and steward. The others gathered around him. Some of them cried with joy. When they reached out to hug the young man, they realized that his face was haggard. Pale, with all the blood gone, and the wounds on the shoulders, turbid and dirty, a bit hideous.
"It's great to be alive," Zhili said, "but I'm about to die. Please help me in quickly and save me!"
"Okay, hurry up!" Several disciples shouted hurriedly.
"Come!" Zhili turned around and said, "Come too!"
Everyone followed his gaze and saw a slender and straight young man walking up the slope.
In the morning light, his face was handsome and elegant, and frost and snow fell on his hair and shoulders like pear blossoms.
"I won't go in," Xia Zhaoxue said, "Give me the hat."
"You're not coming in?" Zhili said, "Then what did you come to the mountain for?"
"I think it's more important for you to go in first and have a look at your injury," Xia Zhaoxue said.
"You're not passing by, are you?" Zhili said.
"Bamboo hat." Xia Zhaoxue spread his big palms.
Zhili took off the bamboo hat, handed it over and said: "Seeing that you are in a hurry, you should have something important to do. When you have some free time, you can come here at any time and get what you want. I will talk to Old Sect Leader Pei, and then...
"
Having said this, Zhili stopped himself.
He suddenly realized that such wording was very wrong.
The other party never asked for anything in return from the beginning to the end. Instead, he kept mentioning things related to interests over and over again, which seemed too...
Xia Zhaoxue put on his bamboo hat and said, "Farewell."
"Okay," Zhili said, "goodbye."
Xia Zhaoxue turned and left.
Zhili yawned and was about to go back, but suddenly he was stunned and turned his head to look at Xia Zhaoxue's back.
Thin, tall, and very upright, this back view...
"Ah!" Zheli said with a flash of inspiration, "I remembered it! No wonder he looks familiar to me. It turns out he looks like the portrait left by my senior sister!"
With that said, he was about to chase Xia Zhaoxue.
The doorman beside him quickly grabbed him.
"Heal your wounds first!"
"You are seriously injured, let's go back first!"
"It just looks similar, not necessarily the same!"
…
Zhili didn't really catch up.
He looked at the heavy snow and the almost disappearing figure with some sadness.
After all, they just look like...
Although the face and back were similar, Zhili knew that the man in the senior sister's painting was no longer in this world.
So sad.
…
…
There are many ways to go down the mountain.
There are two main roads with straight stone steps and nearly five small roads.
Although it snowed heavily all night, it did not erase the messy footprints on the snow.
Xia Zhaoxue chose the most remote trail.
In fact, he should stay and ask why Emperor Xuan Yan led people to leave the mountain overnight, but he was really afraid of the young boy's mouth.
After going down the mountain, he would look for a piece of clothing first, and he could ask for it himself.
But as if it was destined somewhere, what he thought was exactly what he saw.
A young soldier wearing armor was coming up from below, walking slowly and thoughtfully, with a tall and thin figure and a steady pace.
As if he sensed someone, he paused slightly and raised his head.
His face was dirty and covered with dirt, but when he lifted it up to the light, he could still see that his skin was fair and his facial features were deep and handsome, which was rare and good-looking.
With many years of experience in the military and people-knowing, Xia Zhaoxue recognized the soldier's martial arts skills at a glance, and without any hesitation, the first reaction in his mind was to take advantage of the terrain to strike first.
He kicked the old tree on the roadside with great force. The frost and snow accumulated on the tree were about the size of a fist and fell one after another. The thicker snow blocks also fell down with a crash.
