Chapter 256: Raojiang Trip (I)

One hundred thousand mountains.

This stretch of mountains and rivers along the southwestern border can in no way be called a "forbidden area" if you only look at the scenery.

There are so many magnificent scenes in the entire Ten Thousand Mountains. Even though snow is already falling in the north, it seems that it still has no effect on the cascading waterfalls in the southwest, forming rainbows of varying sizes after the rain.

Looking from the top of the mountain, you can see tens of millions of birds gathering on the steep cliffs, huddled together like a snow-white ink painting hanging on a mural.

There is also a steep path that can only be used to climb the mountain. From here, you have to slowly climb up to the dangerous peak. The road is extremely difficult, but if you grit your teeth and reach the top, you can step into a large stone platform. The view suddenly becomes clear, as if the top of the mountain was cut off by a sword immortal thousands of years ago. Standing there, you can overlook the world and listen to the whispers of the immortals in the sky.

A purple-haired girl with silver ornaments on her head sat cross-legged on the edge of the cliff of Dashiping, holding her face and quietly looking at the smoke rising from the kitchen at the foot of the mountain. There were bamboo houses standing from time to time among the dense towering ancient trees, and the smoke floating up into the sky was rising from the bamboo houses.

As for looking further away, one can only see the sea of ​​clouds and diffuse fog. As the sun sets, it seems that a layer of golden coat is covered on the gas, whether it is clouds or fog, sparkling with golden light, which is spectacular and refreshing.

However, for the purple-haired girl at that moment, these scenes that were enough to make her cheer when she was young seemed to just float past her eyes, leaving nothing behind.

Her body was covered with all kinds of things, including a warm wooden flute, a small wine-red gourd hanging from her waist, and some embroidered bags, sachets and other things, no less than five or six things in total.

In addition, there was a small basket that could be carried on both shoulders standing next to her, and on the top was a hat that looked like the one for traveling. Although it was used to protect against wind and rain, it was just enough to cover the things in the basket.

But as the girl took off the hat, she could see that there was nothing valuable inside that could not be shown to others, but a basket of snacks that filled most of the basket. But if she looked closely, she could see that in the corner of the basket, there was a soft-bodied insect with faint golden fireflies flashing on its body, lying quietly and motionless.

It is hard to imagine that such a large basket of food could be carried up to this dangerous peak by the small body of a young girl.

As the sun sets in the west and the sea of ​​clouds rolls in, the purple-haired girl chews her favorite snacks bit by bit. But after eating a mountain of food in one breath, she still feels like chewing wax. So she simply continues to support her face with her hands, looking dejectedly at the sky in the distance that is getting darker and darker, and sighs deeply.

Soon, the sound of flapping wings was heard in the sky. A medium-sized gray falcon hung down in the distance and stood on the branch of an ancient tree, staring at the girl with its eyes rolling. It was obvious that it wanted to get closer, but seemed to be afraid of the girl and did not dare to come forward.

"Xiao Hui, come here."

The purple-haired girl held her cheek, obviously not surprised that the falcon could find this place. She just spoke softly without turning her head.

The falcon was a little surprised, but it actually understood human language. It flapped its wings and landed next to the girl, looking at the sea of ​​clouds that seemed to be hanging on the edge of the cliff, and tilted its head.

"I can't escape your eyes every time."

The girl stroked the fur on the falcon's head and sighed, "You are so powerful, can you help me find someone?"

Falcon turned his head and looked, with a gleam in his eyes, as if he wanted the girl to give him whatever orders he wanted.

Unexpectedly, after hesitating for a while, the girl finally looked up at the sky, which seemed to be right in front of her, and said quietly: "Forget it, it's so far away, you will definitely not be able to find it, and I have to go out myself..."

The last few words were spoken in a noticeably lower voice.

The falcon heard it clearly, but it did not understand. It spread its wings and flew away. All the snakes and insects in the Hundred Thousand Mountains were its prey. Where could it not go? What could it not find?

But it was immediately startled by the pain. It turned out that the girl had ripped a feather off its back and was spinning it in front of her eyes.

The falcon's neck was locked up due to the pain, but it dared not utter the slightest sign of dissatisfaction. It could only crouch aside with its wings folded, not even daring to move its eyes.

At this time, the falcon's owner finally climbed up the steep path in the distance. Although he was not tired, he pretended to be out of breath, supporting himself with his hands on a large rock and leaning on it to rest.

Falcon turned around and stared resentfully at the young man with a blue feather earring on his left ear. He felt really bitter but couldn't express it in words.

The young man also saw the eagle feather being held and spun in the girl's hand, so he gave a bitter smile and put his hand in front of his mouth, signaling the eagle not to make any sound.

Afterwards, a young man with flowing white hair just stood quietly in the distance, looking at the lonely back of the girl sitting there with a complicated look in his eyes, but he did not rashly go up to talk to her and sighed in his heart.

In fact, if one is a girl and the other is a young man, the age difference between the two is not that big, only two or three years old. However, the young man looks gentle like an older brother, and he seems to be much older and more mature than the girl.

But when they were young many years ago, there was not such an awkward atmosphere between the two, which made the young man look for her hard but did not dare to approach her and talk to her casually.

The two grew up together since childhood. Although they cannot be said to be childhood sweethearts, they are also childhood sweethearts. In the past, the person the girl trusted the most, besides her father, might be this white-haired young man.

But as the young man's adoptive father gradually won over the power and hearts of the people in the Hundred Thousand Mountains of Raojiang, his poison skills became more and more advanced, and he always had to deal with some shady things as a young official. Although the girl knew very little about it, it did not prevent the relationship between the two from drifting apart.

Although the young man wanted to try his best to mend the relationship, as the most popular Gu King in the Ten Thousand Mountains became increasingly ill, the Poison Lord, as a vested interest, gradually gained control over people's hearts, and the relationship between the two finally became impossible to mend.

Because no matter how the young man explained, the girl always believed that her father's illness was caused by the poisoner, and the young man who did not support her was naturally regarded as the opposite.

Thinking of this, a bitter smile appeared on the white-haired young man's lips.

How could he support her?
Not to mention that he and the Poison Master, who was known as one of the Two Saints of the Ten Thousand Poison Cave, were adoptive father and son, and that all his abilities were bestowed upon him by him. Even his respected status as Junior Sacrifice Official was obtained because of him. Morally, how could he betray his adoptive father?
The Poison Master devoted himself to the Poison Cave and was even willing to sacrifice his own body to cultivate poison. With such a clear conscience and such selfless actions, how could he, as an adopted son, doubt his adoptive father?

Even when the Gu King was seriously ill, his elder brother, Lord Poison, did not hesitate to break the rule of the Ten Thousand Poison Cave to stay secret and not connect with the Central Plains, and went to Shu alone to seek medicine. All the drug testing methods were tried by Lord Poison himself. This brotherhood is witnessed by heaven and earth, could it be fake?

The white-haired young man was not shaken by the girl's repeated insistence, and he had also privately searched for the so-called truth, but he could not find any evidence, not even a clue. This shows how open and honest the Poison Master is.

Moreover, a few months ago, when the Poison Lord asked King Gu to go to Southern Border despite his serious illness, the girl was furious, so the white-haired young man gave up all the affairs of the village and went to protect King Gu in person. One night, he even had the courage to ask King Gu himself whether the disease that made people weaker was the result of someone with ulterior motives in Rao Border.

But even so, the Gu King himself said that his illness had nothing to do with anyone, which reassured the young man.

In this case, of course the young man could only blame the girl for being unreasonable, a misunderstanding caused by years of prejudice against the Poison Master. Although these words were not spoken out loud, once they were made, the white-haired young man could only think so.

Therefore, in the past two months, as the Gu King could only rest in bed, the relationship between him and the girl reached a freezing point. Not to mention talking to her, the young man could not even see her in person under normal circumstances. He could only endure it silently.

If the girl had not shown up in the village for several days in a row, the white-haired young man who had been worried about her would not have sent his falcon to search all over the mountain. Fortunately, he finally found it on this "viewing platform"... While the young man was standing behind and thinking silently, the girl in front had already thrown the feather lightly off the cliff, and after watching it disappear in the clouds, she threw a few small stones and suddenly made a sound.

"Youchuan."

The white-haired young man suddenly raised his head, and then chuckled as calmly as possible: "Are you tired from playing? It's getting dark soon, should we go back to the big village? The Gu King is also worried about you..."

"Don't use my dad as an excuse." The girl didn't even turn her head. Her tone was surprisingly calm. She didn't childishly correct the word "we". Compared to usual, she seemed like a stranger.

"I just want to ask you two questions. First, if my father can't wake up at all, will Chi Li let you be the 'King of Gu'?"

After listening to this question quietly, You Chuan did not care that the girl called his adoptive father by his full name. He just chuckled and said gently, "Adoptive father has already sent people to the Central Plains and further north to ask for medicine. The Gu King will be safe."

"Answer my question." The girl remained calm.

You Chuan was stunned for a moment, then hesitated and said softly: "No, even if the Gu King... you are the Saint, the next Gu King will only be you."

The girl snorted and laughed without even turning her head, but You Chuan, who understood her best, couldn't understand what she meant. Just as he was about to think about it, he heard the girl ask again: "Second question, if I'm not in Raojiang, will you take care of my dad like I do?"

"Of course I will." You Chuan almost blurted out the question, and then slowly said: "Actually, I can't say that I take care of the Gu King. I am just doing what a junior should do."

The girl turned around. In the sunset, her face was pretty and clean, her eyebrows were playful and cute. She didn't look that elegant, but it was this playful and coquettish temperament that made her a girl that everyone liked.

You Chuan was just feeling happy when he saw the girl speak expressionlessly again: "I mean, will you be like me when I was here? No matter what Chi Li wants to do to my dad, will you chase him out like I did and protect my dad from harm?"

You Chuan frowned and keenly caught the message: "Where are you going?"

The girl didn't reply, she just stared at him.

You Chuan was helpless and hesitated for a while before finally speaking his mind: "Chi Meng, everything that my foster father did to the Gu King, whether it was testing medicine or fighting poison with poison, was all done to make the Gu King's body recover. It is impossible..."

The young girl Chi Meng still had no expression on her face, but there was a hint of anger between her brows: "Why do you always speak for that poisonous bastard!"

You Chuan was stunned, lowered his head and was silent for a moment before answering: "Because my adoptive father is not what you think. Everything he does is for the Ten Thousand Poison Cave. Although some things are indeed biased, Raojiang has gone from constant disputes and wars to the current situation, which requires some special measures. You can't magnify all of my adoptive father's shortcomings because of these."

After that, he added: "As an aside, my foster father and the Gu King are brothers, and he never married. He has always treated you as his own daughter. Even though you hate him so much, has my foster father ever said a word to him? You..."

He hesitated for a long time before finally speaking softly: "You've gone too far, Chi Meng."

Unexpectedly, the young girl Chi Meng was not angry at all. Instead, she remained calm. However, she no longer looked at You Chuan, but at the sea of ​​clouds in the distance: "I heard from grandma that my father can no longer control the Gu."

You Chuan was stunned.

The old lady that Chi Meng mentioned was, of course, not just some simple old woman, but a witch doctor from Shennong Valley. She was a recognized witch doctor in the Ten Thousand Poison Cave. After the King of Poisons fell seriously ill, his body became increasingly weak, from strong to thin, and then slowly became skinny. But even so, his superb skills in controlling Poisons remained unchanged.

This was the first time You Chuan heard that the Gu King was unable to control the Gu, and this was absolutely top secret. But apart from this point of view, it also indirectly showed that the Gu King's illness had deteriorated to the extreme.

It is not difficult to understand why Chi Meng has been so worried these days and why he often disappears.

"Godfather, he..." You Chuan spoke subconsciously, but fell silent immediately. In fact, the fact that even the doctor Gu Po Po couldn't cure the disease meant that no one in the entire Raojiang could cure it.

Chi Meng looked at him and snorted: "If Chi Li really has a clear conscience, why doesn't he dare to tell me where my uncle and the others went?"

You Chuan was speechless. The uncle that Chi Meng mentioned was one of the five most capable subordinates of the Gu King, and he was also the top Gu Master in the entire Ten Thousand Poison Cave except for the Gu King.

He had no choice but to continue with his previous explanation: "Gu Zun and the others were sent by my adoptive father to the southern border to carry out a secret mission..."

Chi Meng raised his head high, with a look of sarcasm in his eyes: "Even my dad doesn't know?"

"Since it's a secret mission..." You Chuan had no choice but to explain.

Chi Meng narrowed her beautiful eyes, not even bothering to look at You Chuan. She looked back down the mountain, legs swinging, and said, "Grandma said that there is a legend about a bad commander in the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains. He is very capable and may be able to save my dad. I want to go find him."

You Chuan was suddenly stunned and opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly he understood the two questions the girl had just asked.

He wanted to say something but didn't know how to say it.

At the edge of the cliff, the girl Chi Meng had already stood up, picked up the basket, and walked straight past the stunned You Chuan.

"I hope you remember what I said just now. I, the saint, can only rely on you now. Since you said Chi Li is a good man, then you'd better let him be a good man."

"You go back by yourself."

The girl's voice no longer had the coldness from before, and seemed to have returned to normal, but she walked past him without stopping.

You Chuan stood in place, his slender figure was cast a long shadow by the setting sun and then merged into the darkness.

The falcon came over and pecked at You Chuan's boots, as if asking him to chase Chi Meng.

You Chuan ignored it and just muttered to himself: "Godfather, he must be a good man..."

He turned around and looked towards the steep path, but the purple-haired girl had already gone far away, and no one knew where she was going.

Maybe the north.

(End of this chapter)