"gentlemen."

The swordsman changed back into his original gray cloth and linen clothes, led his black horse, and walked on the official road. The road under his feet led almost straight to the front. The morning fog had not yet dissipated, and there was no end in sight. However, it had always been

Although he was coming and going like the wind, it was rare for him to feel calm now, so he led the horse and walked slowly.

The Taoist and the swordsman, as well as a calico cat and two horses, one red and one black, are the scenery in this early morning.

"When Shu was buying quilt bags in the city, he asked the shopkeeper and heard that the county in front of him was called Lanmo County, and there were demons and ghosts causing trouble." The swordsman said, "The shopkeeper heard that we were going north, so he kept

Advise us to bypass Lanmo County and take another road."

"Lanmo County..."

"yes."

"Do you know what kind of demon it is?"

"I heard it's a rat demon."

As soon as he finished speaking, the calico cat next to him turned his head and stared directly at the swordsman.

Song You also noticed the calico cat's gaze, smiled and said, "Then let's go meet this rat demon."

"Let's go meet this rat demon~"

A county is not a big place. No matter how leisurely Song You and his party were, they could reach the jurisdiction of Lanmo County from Zhijiang County in one day.

In the middle of the afternoon, we already saw the boundary marker.

Slowly it came to dusk again.

The road is still very straight, the hillside is gentle, and the shadows of several figures and the dead trees beside the road are stretched by the setting sun on the left.

Finally there was someone in front.

"Bang bang bang..."

It was a stooped old man, pulling a cart that looked like it was about to fall apart, and walked slowly along the official road.

If it weren't for Song You and his group, he would be the only one walking on the road as the sun sets.

The road was bumpy and the cart shook, making a sound. There were several empty buckets on the cart. When we got closer, we could still see the wet water remaining in the buckets. It must have been used to pour the water on the ground.

return.

The melon gourd originally used for watering was also placed in the bucket, making a clanking sound as the cart shook.

Song You and the swordsman quickly led their horses to the side of the road. They both looked at the old man pulling the cart. The calico cat stretched its neck and stared at the old man without blinking.

"Lao Zhang."

Song You called him out.

"Eh?"

The old man stopped, turned his head, and looked at him with a pair of cloudy eyes.

Seeing that Song You was wearing a Taoist robe and smiling, he looked at the swordsman next to him. The swordsman turned away slightly to show his kindness. The old man withdrew his gaze, looked at Song You again, and then asked:

"What's up?"

"I wonder how far away Lanmo County is?"

"Where are you coming from? Where are you going?"

"The next line is coming from Changjing and going north to the border." Song You answered honestly.

"Want to go into town?"

"yes."

"There are still dozens of miles, we can't walk today..."

The old man's voice was thick and had a long tail.

"Dozens of miles."

"Hey! Dozens of miles!"

"Is there a convenient place to stay nearby?"

"Don't live anywhere you want!" The old man looked at them again and warned, "If you sleep on the roadside on the mountain at night, be careful of being eaten by monsters..."

"Will you be eaten by monsters if you sleep in the wilderness?" Song You asked, "Are there so many monsters here?"

"Then who can say for sure..."

"I see."

It seems that it is not guaranteed to be eaten.

"Follow this road straight ahead without turning. Twenty miles away, there is a temple. You can live in the temple."

"I wonder what kind of temple it is?"

"For Lei Gong and Liu Xian."

"Thunder Lord..."

Song You pursed his lips and then asked: "But which immortal is this Liu Xian?"

"Liu Xian is so powerful!"

"how to say?"

"You'll know when you go there. The sun has gone down, and I don't dare you to tell me. If you want to go, you should hurry up and run over on horseback."

"Then thank you very much, husband."

"..."

The old man waved his hand, pulled the cart and left again.

The setting sun also stretched his shadow.

Song You watched him walk away, then looked away, looked at the surrounding land again, and continued to move forward.

The sound of horse hooves sounded, neither fast nor slow.

"It's been too dry this year." The swordsman walked beside him, walking side by side, "Hezhou has a gentle terrain. Although the land is not fertile, it is considered good land. It used to be one of my Dayan granaries, but I heard

It said there was very little rain in Hezhou last year, and this year it will be better, but not as good as in previous years."

"It's a pain for the people."

"If it doesn't rain, who can do anything?"

"yes."

"Hezhou is pretty good. I heard that in Danzhou in the northwest, there are places where it doesn't rain even a year and not even a blade of grass grows."

"Danzhou..."

Song You sighed and shook his head secretly.

The setting sun got closer to the top of the mountain on the left, the sky quickly turned dark, the world changed from golden yellow to golden red, and a few shadows were almost pulled from the road between the two mountains to the foot of the mountain on the right.

Twenty miles away, the road is flat. If you ride on horseback, you may be able to reach it in less than a quarter of an hour. However, the group's speed is about the same as during the day. They can see the sun slowly sinking under the mountain on the left, and the light in this area also quickly moves from left to right.

It ended, and in the blink of an eye, only the glow was left, and they had only walked a few miles.

The sky and the earth darkened, and the stars above our heads came out one by one.

But the calico cat likes darkness, and also likes the endless wilderness full of mice. At some point, she turned into a human form, carrying her pony lantern, and followed the Taoist.

This lantern is the only light on the ground.

Song You vaguely heard her chirping at the bar, and seemed to be eating snacks while walking, but did not look back.

However, the swordsman was very curious and looked back at her. The generous little girl asked him to eat bacon together. The swordsman felt happy and felt that this was a sign of Empress Sanhua's acceptance of him. He was about to agree, but he thought that his husband was not there at this time.

Eat it, not to mention that the bacon is raw, so I politely declined.

"Definitely next time."

"Okay, okay..."

The little girl nodded repeatedly and returned, then asked: "Why haven't we seen the monster after walking for so long?"

"Aren't there monsters everywhere?"

"There are rats everywhere."

"yes."

"Just an ordinary meat rat."

"Empress Sanhua has a pair of wise eyes."

"Yes."

The little girl held a lantern in her right hand, lighting up the dry dirt road, and held meat in her left hand. She chirped for a while, and then asked again:

"Why hasn't the monster come yet?"
To be continued...