Zhao Feng dug some wild vegetables, washed them in the mountain spring, took some spring water, returned to the place where Li Huan rested, built a bonfire, and cooked a pot of beautiful wild vegetable fish soup.
"It's so delicious. I didn't expect your cooking skills to be comparable to the royal chefs in the palace!" Li Huan ate happily.
Zhao Feng took out a jar of amber wine, and the two of them drank it to their heart's content. As the sky gradually darkened, for the sake of safety, Li Huan set up a formation around the bonfire, which even a high-level master could not break through for a while.
While Li Huan was setting up the formation, Zhao Feng used the remaining food and wine to reward the three-headed snake with cockscombs. If this little guy hadn't blocked the last assassin, it's hard to say who would have won.
"Li Huan, with this little one and your formation, we can have a peaceful sleep tonight!"
"It's just such a tiny bit. It's not that Jin Niang looks down on it, but Jin Niang's formation is more reliable!"
Zhao Feng didn't care and lay down next to the bonfire to rest. The three-headed snake stared at Li Huan dissatisfiedly for a while and then swam away.
When resting at night, Li Huan was like a child, nestling on Zhao Feng's shoulder and quickly fell asleep.
Zhao Feng stayed up all night and practiced the True Dragon Fighting Qi. This auxiliary technique was of great help to him. In addition, he continued to practice the technique of warding off evil spirits and subduing demons to enhance his ability to deal with demons.
The next day, at dawn, Zhao Feng and Li Huan heard a loud folk song coming from the distance. Although they could not understand it, they understood that it was people in the mountains going out to work.
The place where Zhao Feng and Li Huan rested happened to be the only way out of the mountain. Soon, with the sound of chaotic footsteps, a group of mountain people came down from the mountain carrying burdens.
"Everyone, there are two outsiders here. We haven't had outsiders come to Meihua'ao for a long time!" Li Huan said, pointing to Zhao Feng, who was standing in the middle of the road.
Zhao Feng went up to meet him and raised his fists: "Dear neighbors, where is this place?"
The old man at the head bowed and said: "This place is called Meihua Ao. The mountains on both sides are Meihua Mountain and Menghu Mountain."
"This place belongs to the northern border of the Daxia Dynasty! But no one outside knows about our Meihua'ao."
As the old man spoke, he looked Zhao Feng and Li Huan up and down: "The two of them don't seem to be citizens of Daxia. They must be strangers brought to us from afar by the divine light!"
"I have a good eye! I don't know how to leave this place. Could you please give me some advice?"
The old man shook his head, and other mountain people shook their heads too. Zhao Feng and Li Huan were a little disappointed but didn't take it to heart.
"Old man, where are you going with the gifts?" Zhao Feng continued to ask.
As soon as Zhao Feng's words came out, all the mountain people's faces suddenly turned ugly.
Finally, the old man said: "Two of you, let's be honest. Although Meihua'ao is a paradise, it is not peaceful. More than a hundred years ago, the tiger demon on Menghu Mountain did evil and caused trouble in our Meihua'ao. Later, an outside immortal came
After defeating the tiger demon, this immortal will stay here and ask us to pay a tribute every year!"
Zhao Feng nodded without comment. Li Huan understood what Zhao Feng meant and took a few steps forward: "My father-in-law, can you let us meet the immortal?"
"this?"
The old man turned around and whispered to his companions for a while, then said: "You two, remember, when you get to the place, don't talk or move!"
"Please don't worry, father-in-law!"
Zhao Feng and Li Huan followed the old man and his group of mountain people, admiring the scenery in the mountains along the way. It was very leisurely.
After walking all morning, everyone walked out of the mountain path. In front of them was a farmland. The crops were growing luxuriantly. It looked like there would be a bumper harvest this year.
Near the farmland is a wide river. At the bend of the river, a river temple was built.
Everyone came to the River Temple and neatly placed all the things they picked up on the open space in front of the River Temple.
"I sincerely invite the Immortal to accept the tribute!"
The old man led the mountain people to pray and began to return home. Zhao Feng and Li Huan were still following behind.
Halfway through, Zhao Feng whispered to Li Huan: "Go back and take a look, I will continue to follow!"
"Okay, Jin Niang has exactly what she means!"
Seeing that no one was paying attention, Jin Niang turned around and disappeared into the farmland on both sides of the road. Zhao Feng found a stone, sat down, took out food and started eating and drinking.
"Brother, it gets dark early in the mountains, you have to catch up as soon as possible!"
"Thank you for your concern, husband!"
Zhao Feng responded and watched the old man lead the people away before he stood up. After waiting for a while, Li Huan returned.
"How is it? Did you find anything?" Zhao Feng asked softly.
"It seems that there is at least one outsider like us here. I guess he is playing tricks!"
Li Huan said, pointing to the way: "Should we follow up and have a look?"
"Let's go and take a look. We'll have a good idea!" Zhao Feng said.
So the two people followed the old man and his group leisurely.
Before it got dark, the two of them saw the Meihua Ao that the old man and his party had mentioned.
"Is this a small mountain village?" Li Huan saw Meihua Ao, turned to look at Zhao Feng, and couldn't help but feel suspicious.
"Zhao Feng, this is a small mountain village, it's almost like a city!"
Zhao Feng nodded, calmly, thought for a while, took out a mask, put it on Li Huan's face, and played with it for a while. Li Huan's appearance changed drastically, while Zhao Feng used another mask to change his own appearance.
The so-called Meihua Ao is a valley with plum blossoms in full bloom and many plum blossom trees growing there. The area of this valley is not small. It is much larger than the Menghu Mountain where Zhao Feng and Li Huan descended. The Menghu Mountain covers a much larger area.
A rough estimate is that it's at least a thousand or two thousand miles away.
In this Meihua Ao, there are small mountain villages dotted here and there scattered in the valley. The number of people in each small village varies, from as many as a thousand to as few as two to three hundred.
Zhao Feng and Li Huan did not enter through the valley entrance, but took a detour, intending to climb over the mountain and enter Meihua Au.
While walking, Zhao Feng heard a familiar voice coming from the front:
"Brother Meng, there are foreigners here again. In order for us to continue to cooperate, we have to follow the old rules and it is up to you to step in and become them!"
"No problem, old village chief, leave these matters to me!"
Zhao Feng and Li Huan came quietly. It turned out that this was an inconspicuous hill near Meihua Ao. A mountain temple was built here. The old man was meeting with a masked man under a towering tree in front of the temple.
Secret conversations with strangers.
"Zhao Feng, this person is the person I saw during the day!"
"So that's it. This old village chief colluded with outsiders. It is estimated that most of the tribute will fall into this old village chief's pocket."
As soon as Zhao Feng finished speaking, the masked man Li Huan had seen slapped his waist, and most of the tributes that the old man had brought to the River Temple during the day appeared under the tree.
"Stick to the old rules, let your tiger go down the mountain after a while!"
"I know, the old village chief can rest assured now!"
Neither the old village chief nor the masked man thought that the tiger they hoped to deceive the people of Meihua'ao had already been chopped by Zhao Feng's sword.
At this time, Li Huan accidentally stepped on a dead branch. The old village chief left immediately, and the masked man disappeared.
"How cunning!" Li Huan whispered.
"Don't worry, he can't run away!" Zhao Feng said with confidence.
Afterwards, the two people continued to walk in a big circle and returned to the mountain temple. They waited until midnight before someone came up in the dark and moved all the things left by the masked man.
That night, Zhao Feng and Li Huan stayed in the deserted mountain temple. Early the next morning, before it was fully light, they entered Meihuaao.
Meihua'ao is different from other small mountain villages. In addition to the small mountain villages dotted around the valley, there is a sizable town on the flat land in the center of the valley.
In the town, there are many people engaged in a variety of businesses, and teahouses and restaurants can be seen everywhere.
Zhao Feng and Li Huan sneaked into the city, dressed just like the locals, found a breakfast shop, and sat down to eat breakfast.
"Jin Niang, the towns here don't have city walls. This is really strange!"
"Zhao Feng, since it's the tiger demon that's causing trouble, what's the use of building a city? Besides, what we've seen is just superficial, who knows what secrets there are here?"
"Yes!" Zhao Feng nodded and agreed with Li Huan.
After eating and drinking, the two began to walk around the town. In order to attract other people's attention, the two often changed their appearance.
After walking around a lot, at noon, the two of them found a wine shop and sat by the window on the second floor.
As soon as the two of them sat down, they heard someone at the next table say: "It seems that we can no longer live in Meihua'ao!" A middle-aged man spoke with a very helpless tone.
"Why, are you leaving?" the man sitting opposite the middle-aged man asked in a low voice.
"So what if we don't leave? In just over ten years, Meihua'ao has changed drastically. Most of our tribesmen have left, and we are the only ones left here!"
The other person stopped talking and just drank. Soon, another man and a woman came up and sat next to the middle-aged man.
"Brother Yan, Brother Wu, you have been here a long time ago!" A woman said, her voice was really pleasant.
"Miss Ning, you and your wife are late!" The middle-aged man seemed a little bored, and he was always talking absent-mindedly.
"Brother Yan, do you really want to leave?" the woman asked.
"Yes, I have sold the shop and plan to go to Pingchang!"
"Go to Pingchang!" The other three people looked at the middle-aged man in surprise.
The man who came with the woman said, "Pingchang is not much better than Meihua'ao, so why bother, Brother Yan?"
Zhao Feng and Li Huan didn't think the words at the next table were valuable. They turned around and were about to greet the waiter. Suddenly, there was a rush of footsteps downstairs.
The middle-aged man's expression changed drastically. He stood up suddenly and pointed at the three people at the table: "Okay, Yan regards these three as his confidants, but he didn't expect to be betrayed by you!"
The middle-aged man said with a mix of sadness and anger on his face, sneered, walked quickly to the window, and jumped off the second floor.
The middle-aged man was just an ordinary person who didn't know any martial arts. When he jumped, he fell head first and died at the door of the restaurant, causing chaos in the bustling street.
After the chaos, a group of people gathered on the street to watch the excitement. Zhao Feng suddenly felt that there was something wrong with the three people at the next table.