Night falls, at the extreme northern end of the border, in Black Rock Village.
Unusually, the sight of the primitive stone village with bonfires burning in every house was no longer there. As if by tacit understanding, the villagers went to bed early to sleep on the kang as soon as the sky darkened. The wooden doors everywhere were closed and quiet.
The children in the village may have also sensed the vague tension in the air, and they all calmed down and did not dare to make any noise.
All the villagers in this village belong to the same family, and all have the surname Qi.
At this moment, in the village chief's house in the center, in the darkness of the main house, the old village chief was anxiously talking to his son in a low voice about the troublesome things that had happened during this period.
Because this Black Stone Village is too close to the lifeless Abyss Boundary River, affected by the erosion of water vapor that continuously evaporates outward, the soil within a radius of nearly a hundred miles cannot support a single plant of food.
Not only can't we grow food, but we don't even have the most common flowers, plants, or trees. There are rubbles everywhere, and the groundwater cannot be used for drinking. Even if we distill it using traditional methods, it won't work.
There is no greenery, clear water, and no birds or animals, so there is no way to obtain food sources through hunting.
The reason why the ancestors of Shicun rashly chose to build a village and settle here was mainly because they took a fancy to a black mineral produced in the Jiehe River that was not available in the outside world.
This mine is called Abyss Stone. Because it contains relatively rare and extremely pure yin-attribute heaven and earth aura, except for a very small number of yin spirit root cultivators who need it, it is also widely used in constructing formations. It is a valuable resource.
of rare treasures.
Here, Black Rock Village relies on it to exchange living materials with external purchasers to survive.
Half-demon people do not have the ability to spiritual seal, and even the probability of spiritual root germination is far lower than that of the human race. The rare appearance of a cultivator means that the upper limit is destined to be low. Naturally, he cannot go down to the river to collect this thing in person.
As the saying goes, good fortune and misfortune depend on each other. Fortunately, they are somewhat related to the demons on the other side, which provides a glimmer of possibility for conflict-free communication.
With the persistence of their ancestors, over time they secretly established some secret cooperation with some desperate demons who only cared about their own interests, and indirectly obtained abyss stones from the demons on a regular basis.
Those demons risked being discovered by Lingshan Holy Land to resell them, so the asking prices were always high.
So they were like cheap errand middlemen in the black market, secretly reselling the abyss stones secretly collected by the demons from the other side all year round to human merchants, earning only a meager fee for their hard work.
The demons naturally do not want the Abyss Stone to flow into the hands of hostile races, but it has been difficult to completely and effectively contain it due to practical conditions.
The Dawu Dynasty clearly refused to allow these half-demons within the territory to continue to communicate with the demons out of human morality. Only because this kind of smuggling was generally more beneficial than harmful to Zhonghuangzhou, the imperial court turned a blind eye.
Close one eye and basically acquiesce.
In this way, this black stone village has been able to thrive and thrive.
The output of abyssal stones is not high, and the distance between the two sides of the boundary river is extremely wide and can only be sent by demons with sufficient strength from the opposite side. Therefore, secret meetings are usually held once every six months or so.
After the meeting is over, the Majin will give the next meeting time. If something goes wrong, the Majin will not wait for the next meeting, and the Majin who comes to deliver the goods will never stay for one more day.
They kept this secret very well. Only the old village chief knew the time. The location was revealed to the devil on the same day using a special contact method after he arrived at the shore. It was different every time.
Blackstone Village has always purchased supplies for the whole village once every six months. It's not that they don't want to, but every time a foreign caravan passes by, they only bring this amount of goods.
This was done deliberately in order to successfully acquire the Abyss Stone. After all, only their village was in urgent need of basic food and water that took up space and was worthless.
This foreign caravan will only choose to take a detour when it learns that a new abyssal stone has been released.
The agreed trading day is approaching. If we miss the batch of abyssal stones in front of us, the whole village will have to tighten our belts to wait until the next round in half a year. Without new abyssal stones, the caravan will not come.
And now that they can't go out, the situation is undoubtedly very bad.
The old village chief's son is named Qifu. He has a strong personality and a simple mind.
When he talked about the tight blockade situation that Black Rock Village was currently experiencing, he felt extremely angry.
He said with a slight exaggeration: "You are bullying us too much. It has been ten days and he still won't let us out. Not to mention the life-threatening work, even in terms of meals, we should be given enough food and water, day by day.
The little water they brought is not enough for me to take a bath alone, and the rice is only enough to cook porridge for a starving person..."
During these days of being surrounded by the imperial army, although supplies were delivered to the village every day, the amount was only enough to meet the needs of the people, and was far from being self-sufficient as before.
The more he spoke, the angrier he became, and his volume suddenly became louder.
"They say it's for our own good. What kind of devil is hiding in the village now? I haven't seen them come in to find him for so many days!"
The old village chief was startled by the sudden and loud words. He was afraid that the wall had ears, so he quickly covered his son's mouth.
He hit him hard on the head before letting go, and said in a low voice: "Stupid Qing, don't die!"
Qi Fu was still a little unhappy, but he knew that there were things he couldn't say, so he honestly kept his mouth shut.
Looking towards the entrance of the village, the old village chief sighed softly, and arranged with a little helplessness: "Tomorrow, daddy will visit again and see if he can be accommodating and find a reason to get permission to go out... At worst, the village will have to be shut down."
The living security has been improved in place.
You kid, please stay calm during this time and be careful of the trouble that comes from your mouth. They are probably not coming for us after all. There is no need to destroy the harmony that has been built up by generations of hard work!"
Qi Fu was so upset that he simply ignored the scolding and went back to his room to take a nap.
Soon, the deafening sound of snoring could be heard.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Why did I give birth to such a heartless and stupid guy like you..." The old village chief shook his head upon seeing this, wondering whether the village could continue to pass on smoothly in the future.
Another worry.
…
It was night, and the military tents outside the village were lit with torches everywhere.
Under the illumination of lamps and candles, Shen Jiangli, who was sitting behind the military case, was carefully wiping the Dark Phoenix Gun in his hand with a clean coarse cloth, while listening attentively to what the female soldier next to her said about the superiors temporarily removing one of their military doctors and the general who would be sent tomorrow. Here's a brief update on a new military doctor who has temporarily replaced you.
After the female soldier finished her report and retreated, her eyes moved slightly and a smile appeared on her lips.
"Is he actually an ordinary military doctor? It saves me the time to entertain him..."
She came from an ordinary family in the small Qingshan City, and only stayed in the Red Cloud Sect for less than a year. She had never known much about the rumored Secret Master.
Remembering that the old senior had promised her when he left that he would have the court send a professional secret hunter as soon as possible to help her uncover the true intentions of the demons' frequent sneak activities here recently, she couldn't help but wonder about this man who was about to arrive as a military doctor. How useful are the characters actually?
Thinking of all the suspicious signs of the demons recently, she once again turned her sharp gaze towards the Abyss River.
Her intuition told her that that was the key to the answer to the question.
In the middle of the night, without alerting anyone in the military camp, Shen Jiangli changed into night clothes and quietly left the military tent with a gun alone, stalking like a ghost.
Under the dense darkness of the night, far away from the military camp, she only glanced at the hazy Black Stone Village not far away, illuminated by the firelight of the military camp next door, and stopped paying attention.
The reason why the imperial army blocked Black Rock Village on the grounds of "receiving a harboring tip" was just to give the demons on the other side a false impression, thereby reducing their sensitivity to the incident of their sudden long-term stay, and trying to avoid it as much as possible. To alert the snake.
On the one hand, it is for the convenience of being nearby to secretly investigate the mystery, and on the other hand, it is also a precautionary measure in case the demon really makes a big noise here one day that threatens the stability of the border.
It's just for show, so it appears to be real. In fact, it has nothing to do with Black Rock Village itself.
She was the only one in the entire military camp who knew about this.
Not long after, he sneaked alone to a certain bank of the boundary river.
Looking at the vast river surface that was shrouded in boundless poisonous mist due to the continuous upward emission of black gas, Shen Jiangli's expression did not change. He was familiar with the road and resolutely chose to risk his breath and break in. After a while, the tall back disappeared into it.
An hour later, she hurriedly returned to the shore, and her breathing suddenly became rapid and messy.
She purposely changed the location of her exploration tonight, but once again failed to find any results. The shock of reality forced her to temporarily place some of her hopes on the military doctor who would arrive tomorrow.
He shook his head slightly and said softly: "I hope he is really useful..."
After that, he gave it up and returned to the military camp.
After changing out of my night clothes and going to bed to rest, less than two hours later, at dawn, there were female soldiers outside the tent, whispering reports inside.
"Lord General Wei, the new military doctor is reporting outside the door."
"Take him to the medical tent, I'll go there later." Shen Jianglei stood up in a hurry, not having time to think about his fate.
Regardless of anything else, the position of a military doctor involves protecting the lives of soldiers. Even to stabilize military morale, she should go see him in person. This is a necessary routine in the army.
…
At dawn, the master and servant He Gu successfully arrived at the outskirts of the military camp.
They walked to the gate and explained their purpose clearly, and handed over the court documents proving their identity according to the rules. Then the two of them just stayed there and waited for the message inside.
He was granted entry in a moment, and what surprised him was that it was a female soldier who came out to deliver the message and lead the way.
It's not that he has any prejudice against women, it's just that he asked Yun Ying next to him yesterday and just learned that the military camps here are basically all men.
The main reason is that the people on the western border are demons who eat flesh and blood and have no principles. Once captured, women will die faster than men.
In Zhonghuangzhou, as long as they can practice, there is no difference in strength between men and women under the same conditions. Under the huge attraction of the lucrative and promising military promotion system, the number of female cultivators who go to the border to serve as soldiers is naturally not a small number.
Where fighting is not a matter of life, compared to the western border, the other three borders are obviously more worthy of consideration by female cultivators.
Unless you have a decisive idea of taking a wrong approach and urgently need to obtain maximum benefits in a short period of time, you will risk your life and survive.
After all, greater risks also represent greater opportunities for military success, and the West Border is undoubtedly a typical example of those who take desperate risks.
That's why he felt a little surprised.
This was the first time for He Gu to see this kind of serious cultivator organization that was different from sects and had more disciplined actions. He felt something new and fresh.
As we were introduced into the military camp, we gradually saw female soldiers one after another on the road. It looked like there were at least a dozen of them.
Although the number is not large in proportion to the total number, it is enough to attract attention in the special environment of the western border.
A little confused for a moment, he subconsciously couldn't help but turn his head to look at the cloud shadow beside him.
Unintentionally on the part of the viewer, but intentional on the part of the recipient, Yun Ying, who had a serious look on his face just now, could not help but blush slightly when he noticed the young master's suspicious gaze.
Only because the empress intended to leave it to the young master to practice as much as possible in aspects that were not extremely dangerous, she did not know the details of this garrisoned army in advance. The previous answer was also based on the west military camp she had visited in the past. made under circumstances.
However, this place is completely unique and completely different.
As the first servant who has always served Her Majesty the Queen loyally, it is natural that she cares most about her professional performance as a trusted maid.
She was slightly flustered. She desperately wanted to explain but was restrained by her rationality due to the circumstances. She was really anxious and ashamed, and was a little confused in a rare way.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Of course, He Gu did not mean to blame. Seeing his rare expression of shame, he was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but smile.
He stopped teasing her and immediately withdrew his gaze that seemed very "oppressive" to her, but in fact he had no such idea at all.
Yun Ying secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but his heartbeat was still a little erratic, which he didn't care about for a long time.
Perhaps due to his status as a military doctor, everyone including the guard at the gate and the female soldier who was leading the way as well as the soldiers passing by on the road smiled and showed their kindness simply and politely. Apparently, they all knew what he meant.
face identity.
He Gu habitually smiled politely and warmly every time.
After a while, the female soldier leading the way took them to a tent with a large military flag with the word "medical" hanging at the door.
He turned around and explained: "Doctor Gu, Mr. Lei will be here in a moment. You go inside and wait. This is the medical tent. There is always a doctor accompanying the army. It happened that he was borrowed in an emergency yesterday, so he will have to worry about it temporarily in the future.
You are welcome."
"It should be." He Gu nodded and replied with a smile.
Different from ordinary cultivators who use the formation fire equipped with alchemy furnaces to refine elixirs, doctors, like Tianji practitioners, belong to a small number of niches outside of the cultivator. They can greatly increase the success rate of alchemy and refine some high-level rare items.
elixir.
It's just that the training threshold of a doctor is much lower than that of a Tianji practitioner. If he has one of the two spiritual roots of fire and wood, he can use special methods to forcibly plant the Tao Yun of the corresponding attribute type that he lacks to form "Tao Yun" in disguise.
"Pseudo-double spiritual roots", you can practice the way of a doctor from then on.
You must know that except for some special Tao Yun that does not belong to any attribute, the ordinary Tao Yun with attributes needs to match the spiritual root attributes of the cultivator. In other words, his physique must be special enough to be highly capable of the other attribute that is lacking.
The affinity to avoid backlash death during retrograde planting.
The first time a cultivator planted Tao Yun was during the Fourth Realm period. The second type of Tao Yun was far more dangerous than the first time. Only after cultivating to the Seventh Realm and mastering the power of space and being able to carve out a small space in the Dantian can one have the conditions to plant it.
Minor in Dao Yun.
Forcibly planting a kind of Tao Yun that does not suit your spiritual root attributes will inevitably greatly affect the effect of subsequent use. In many cases, it cannot be used except for refining medicine. However, if you want to become a doctor, you must use such precious Tao Yun planting opportunities.
As a sacrifice price.
This will lead to the fact that the acquired combat advantages of doctors are always less than that of other people. Therefore, the combat effectiveness of doctors is generally weaker than that of ordinary cultivators at the same level.
Naturally, He Gu is not a real healer yet. Perhaps when he obtains the Wood Spirit Seal and masters the power of the Wood Spirit, he will be able to become a healer without any difficulty. After all, he will have the real "Fire and Wood Spiritual Roots" by then.
Just as he has now become the only perfect diviner who is not afraid of shortening his life by identifying the master of the Heavenly Secret Stone and the Heavenly Secret Guapan, at that time he was undoubtedly the most perfectly gifted doctor in history!
Before coming, the empress had already given him a large amount of ready-made elixirs when handing him the jade slips of key information. In addition, the genuine doctor in the medical tent had also been transferred, so of course there was no need to worry about being exposed.
The three of them entered the medical tent, which was quite tidy and concise, and the air had a faint smell of elixir.
The female soldier poured hot tea for He and Gu and went out first. He Gu sat comfortably and drank tea, not in a hurry.
Yun Ying stood quietly behind him and did not sit down to drink tea together.
Knowing her nature, and the general was coming soon, he didn't ask her to sit down.
Yun Ying was still very concerned about the incident on the road. At a certain moment, she explained in a low voice very seriously: "Young Master, I have never been in contact with this army before, so I was talking about the situation in other military camps on the western border.
After all the words were said, there was an intelligence deviation that should not have occurred..."
Although he didn't expressly apologize, his tone was almost the same, which changed the atmosphere a little bit.
The introspective attitude that was taken too seriously made He Gu almost unable to adapt, and he couldn't help but feel a little helpless.
But he turned around and smiled slightly, then changed the topic naturally and did not expand on this topic at all.
Touching his chin with one hand, he pretended to be like a curious baby, and suddenly asked very seriously: "Sister Yun Ying, do you think that 'Master Lei' will be a boy or a girl?"
Yun Ying was briefly confused by the abrupt question, and then she subconsciously began to think about the young master's question.
After a moment, she replied rigorously: "When I just passed a corner, I saw a female soldier on each side of the main tent not far away. According to the current situation, there is a high probability that the general will be a woman."
"Then I think it is more likely to be a man. If something is unexpected at the beginning, the result will most likely be unexpected again. This is based on experience." Seeing that changing the topic has a good effect.
, He Gu said deliberately and confidently.
As he spoke, he became excited for a moment, turned sideways and looked up at the woman behind him, and suggested casually: "How about we make a bet, and whoever wins will agree to something not too excessive, how about?"
She vaguely felt that the young master would definitely lose, but because of the small mistake just now, Yun Ying was a little bit less confident in her own intuition today.
Seeing the young master looking at her confidently and expectantly, she couldn't bear to offend him, and finally chose to trust the young master's judgment.