Humming folk songs in his mouth, the waiter in this small tavern in the wilderness calmly and leisurely carried a wooden square plate with a plate of side dishes and two bowls of rice wine to the two guests outside the tavern. This tavern

It's a remote tavern located outside a remote village in a remote town, and it doesn't see many customers all year round.

The shopkeeper came to this small village on a snowy day a few years ago. He lay down under the cypress tree at the head of the village and was piled into a living snowman by the thick snow. The next morning, the shopkeeper came to the village.

Several children were playing around, and the little guy named "Huzi" was being pushed under the cypress tree by the little girl in red clothes in front of him. He stepped back and stepped on the face of the "snowman" under the tree. At that time, under the tree

Suddenly a half-human face appeared. Several little ones thought the snowman had become a spirit, and immediately started crying and looking for their elders.

As a result, when several young and strong men in the village rushed to the scene with "weapons" such as hoes and sickles, they saw a man standing up from the snowdrift and stretching. The man saw the man in front of him.

The crowd looked at him with strange eyes, and touched his bare head for no reason. Then, he put his palms together and bowed to the people in front of him, saying: "My name is Chen Xuannan, my Buddhist name is Kuchan, I used to be

A monk."

People saw that his clothes did not look like a monk, he still had a trace of heroism between his eyebrows, and his accent did not sound like a local. Most people thought he was a young man in trouble from the south. Although he did not look like a good person, he did not look like a bad person, so they ignored him.

In the next few days, the young man named Chen Xuannan stayed under the big tree at the head of the village and did not move around. Passers-by saw him either sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, lying in the snow and dreaming, or looking at the sky in trance.

.

Until one day, a little girl in plain clothes with a small basket woven from green bamboo on her arm skipped through the entrance of the village. The town is called Lihua Town, located in Tiangan Prefecture. People in the Tiangan North Territory have believed in it since ancient times.

Pear Blossom Town is naturally no exception to Taoism, so there are many Taoist priests who conquer demons and seek fortune-telling, but there has never been a monk without long hair.

Chen Xuannan's appearance caused quite a stir. A few days ago, the little girl also learned from the children in the village that a strange man who claimed to be a "monk" suddenly appeared at the entrance of the village. Therefore, she saw her eyes closed under the tree.

Chen Xuannan, who was dressed in white and had no troubles, was sitting and reciting unknown scriptures. The little girl was very curious, so she leaned close to her little face, blinked her two big eyes and stared curiously at this person.

Monk, but the focus seemed to be on the monk's bald head. The bald man in white didn't seem to notice it. After about half a stick of incense, the little girl couldn't restrain her curiosity and actually reached out to touch his head. At this time, Chen Xuannan

I just happened to open my eyes and saw the little girl's "immortal caressing her head" action, and then their eyes met.

"Female donor, what are you doing?" Chen Xuannan glanced at the little hand above his head and asked.

The little girl in plain clothes did not answer when she saw this. She was stunned for a moment, and then quickly realized that she seemed to have done something impolite and that both the person and the person had stolen the goods. She had no choice but to surrender and quickly took back her little hand hanging above Chen Xuannan's head.

. He also quickly moved his little face away, and the scenery in his eyes became like the toes of the little cloth shoes he embroidered. There was also a faint blush on his face, as if a child who had done something wrong was waiting for the judgment of an adult. His head

Then she recalled the face of the monk in white that made her a little jealous. It was indeed a handsome face. Whether it was in a small town or a village, the little girl had never seen a man with such an appearance, and she couldn't help but secretly secretly see it in her heart.

I thought: "It turns out that men can be so good-looking." Then the blush that quietly appeared on my face became a little deeper.

The monk in white didn't say anything, so the little girl bent down and pulled Chen Xuannan's arm.

"Female donor, what are you doing?"

"Grandpa said that if you do something wrong, you must apologize to others."

"No need, female donor. It's okay."

"No, I'll take you to my house to eat the dumplings I made."

Chen Xuannan refused repeatedly and did not want to leave with the little girl in plain clothes.

This little girl in plain clothes is named Tang Wanchu, and she is only 17 or 18 years old this year. She has grown up in this village as long as she can remember, and she and her grandfather have each other. My grandfather opened a tavern. Although there are few customers, after working in the village,

The adults were happy to drink a few glasses of wine in the tavern. However, Mr. Tang's health has become increasingly declining in recent years. He is often bedridden and often coughs up blood. The little girl was also sad for several days, so she asked

The best doctor in the town came to the house to diagnose Grandpa. There were about half a hundred old doctors in the town who shook their heads and sighed when they saw the illness of the old man surnamed Tang. They gave Tang Wanchu a prescription to treat the cold and left.

The little girl was overjoyed and thought that as long as she took the medicine according to this prescription, her grandfather would get better soon. The medicinal materials in the prescription are not rare. Most of them can be collected in the mountains near the village, and a few medicinal materials can be found in the mountains near the village.

Although they cannot be picked in the mountains, they can be bought in the drug stores in the town. So Tang Tang often goes to the mountains to pick some and bring them back. Most of the medicinal materials are kept by Tang Tang for Mr. Tang to make medicine for him to drink. If there are too many, they are sold to the drug stores in the town.

, all the few copper plates sold were reserved for Mr. Tang to buy the remaining medicinal materials.

After about half a stick of incense, Tang Wanchu really couldn't do anything about the stubborn donkey monk. He let out a "hum" and returned home with his little basket, leaving the white-clothed monk alone to sit under the tree and touch his shiny head.

From that day on, every evening, there would always be a petite figure at the entrance of the village, carrying his own little basket, "disturbing" the monk in white clothes. Most of the time, the girl in plain clothes would bring some food to the monk in white clothes.

At first, the monk in white refused to accept the little girl's gift of food at all costs. Later, as time went by, perhaps he got used to the little girl jumping around every day, so he gradually stopped refusing.

"Monk, what's your name?"

"Chen Xuannan."

"Monk, where is your home?"

"Even the poor monk doesn't know about the female benefactor."

"What female donor? Female donors are so ugly. My name is Tang Wanchu, please call me Xiaowan!"

"Monk, why did you come to our village?"

"Monk, why are you always under this tree?"

"Monk, will you..."

...

At this time, at the stone platform under the Soul Burial Abyss, Zhou Qingmu and Yang Zhao stood on the stone platform looking at the clouds and mist above. The place under the clouds and mist was similar to a cliff. There was only a thick mountain wall behind the stone platform, and the surrounding

But there was no longer a wasteland of bones. The two searched for a long time, but they could not find a way out.

It was dark and bottomless under the stone platform, and the two of them did not dare to go down rashly.

"People who came here before must have died sitting here."

Yang Zhao sat down, looking melancholy.

Zhou Qingmu looked at the abyss beneath him again, sighed, and sat down.

Zhou Qingmu put his sword aside and sat cross-legged, quietly running the Taiqing Concentration Sutra.

Zhou Qingmu's aura was a little disordered at this time, but it was still within the range that Zhou Qingmu could control. Previously, Zhou Qingmu only thought about finding the exit quickly, so he did not adjust his state. But now it is obvious that he cannot get out for the time being, and Zhou Qingmu cannot

Such a waste of time.

The Taiqing Ningshen Sutra is a secret treasure of the Taoist sect. It is not only used for breathing and practicing Qi, but also for stabilizing the mind and exorcising evil spirits.

Zhou Qingmu was previously disturbed by the evil energy contained in his true energy. Although he was fine now, if he did not stabilize the restless evil energy in his body in time, he might have endless troubles.

Zhou Qingmu continued to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and was not affected.

It is enough to prove that there is no problem with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in this world, but why can't Yang Zhao activate the true energy in the clouds and mist above?

This puzzled Zhou Qingmu, who had just embarked on the journey of cultivation.

Yang Zhao on the side also stretched out his hand to feel the spiritual energy of this world. Suddenly his expression changed, as if he had thought of something.

"Zhou Qingmu."

Yang Zhao turned around and called out to the young man beside him who was meditating.

"What's wrong?"

Zhou Qingmu opened his eyes, and after his breathing became normal, he turned to look at Yang Zhao.

Yang Zhao stood up, with joy on his face, patted Zhou Qingmu on the shoulder, and said, "Zhou Qingmu, I know how to get out?"

Zhou Qingmu was a little confused: "What did you find?"

A flame appeared from the tip of Yang Zhao's finger and he made two gestures in the air. The space in front of Yang Zhao suddenly fluctuated. Zhou Qingmu also saw this subtle fluctuation.

"I guess there should be a paradise here! The builders of this place used some kind of formation that not only isolates the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and makes it impossible for people to circulate their true energy. Unless the cultivation level is comparable to that of the owner of this place, it is almost impossible to get out through normal means.

But the stone platform here has a strong spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Usually when this happens, there must be a spiritual vein hidden under the ground or there is a paradise under a certain formation. At first, I was not sure. Until just now I

Using my family's Dao Fire, this space has fluctuated. Although my family's Dao Fire is strong, it is impossible to shake the space with my cultivation. Unless this space is extremely unstable, ordinary spiritual veins cannot cause the space to become unstable.

It trembles, so I am convinced that there must be another cave here. But if this space is just to cover up another dimension, it can be explained."

Yang Zhao explained his guess to Zhou Qingmu with a serious look on his face.

The knowledge Yang Zhao talked about was something Zhou Qingmu had never heard before, which made the young man listen especially carefully.

After all, if you know more about traveling in the world, the road will be easier to walk.

After Zhou Qingmu listened, he replied without hesitation: "So what should we do?"

There was no hesitation, nor did he ask Yang Zhao anything he didn't understand. The young man just asked what he should do.

Yang Zhao looked at Zhou Qingmu with some surprise and grinned: "If you find the formation hidden here, there will be a solution."

Zhou Qingmu lowered his head and thought for a moment after hearing this, but then quickly said: "Does this under our feet count?"

Yang Zhao was startled, and his face became even more surprised. He lowered his head and looked at the stone platform he was standing on, and there were indeed a few vague ancient writings in the dust.

So Yang Zhao squatted down, wiped the dust on the stone slab in front of him with his hand, blew on it again, and stared at the words that appeared for a long time.

After a while, Yang Zhao stood up and praised Zhou Qingmu: "Awesome, this is indeed a formation."

"but......"

Yang Zhao suddenly changed the subject and his expression became a little embarrassed.

Zhou Qingmu asked: "Isn't it this formation?"

Yang Zhao shook his head: "This...I'm not sure, but what I want to say is, I won't break the formation!"

Zhou Qingmu's face froze, and he felt that the person in front of him seemed very unreliable.

Yang Zhao touched the back of his head rather embarrassedly and said, "How about you go down first and I can try to find a way?"
To be continued...