Let’s borrow a ray of sunshine

In the village at the foot of the mountain, in a low thatched house with earthen walls, an old woman was making homemade incense.

Like Song You in the temple, she had a wooden incense table, which was about the same size as a single desk. On top was a flat wooden board about a foot wide, with a pile of sticks about three fingers wide and more than a foot wide stuck on the board with an awl.

The long red paper is used for rolling incense, and underneath is an incense trough filled with spices. Looking closely at the spices, you can vaguely identify several familiar raw materials, which are beaten into corn-sized particles, showing a greenish-yellow color.

s color.

But I saw the old man scooping up the spices with a bamboo piece about the same length as the red paper, pouring out a neat long strip on the red paper, then took out the bamboo stick, folded it a few times and sealed the top of the red paper, and used his hand to seal the top of the red paper.

With one rub, the whole stick of incense was rolled up very skillfully.

Then glue the bottom of the earthy incense and a stick of earthy incense is ready.

Rolling up a piece of incense like this takes only about ten seconds in seconds, and the old man's movements are smooth and every bit of force is just right. It is really a pleasure to watch.

Song You stood quietly beside him without making a sound.

The old man has silver hair all over his head and is dedicated to his work.

The room was filled with the fragrance of herbs, light shone in from the window, and fine fragrance was floating in the air, and both sides suddenly took shape.

Even the calico cat's heart is very peaceful.

This is how the world describes rock climbing.

Song You looked carefully, not only at the painting style and craftsmanship, but also at the facial expressions of these gods. It seemed that he could see a glimpse of those long gone eras.

The calico cat glanced at Song You while eating.

"So high!"

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter."

"I wanna go."

Now from one person to one person and one cat.

Go up through the mountain forest, go up diagonally along the two-foot-wide cliff path, and reach the top, where you will find the famous hand-climbing rock.

This section of the cliff is perpendicular to the ground, and the path is entirely based on the natural cracks on the cliff and man-made excavations. It is a path less than a person's height. The wide part may be three or four feet, and the narrow part can only allow a person to hug it.

Walking across the cliff is dangerous, and you have to bend down the whole way, otherwise you have to use your hands and feet.

People become ghosts after death, and ghosts are naturally weaker than humans.

"Are you going to eat?" the calico cat asked him, "Miss Sanhua will help you catch two more."

The oldest one is probably thousands of years old.

But what is even more beautiful is not the sunset, but the dreamlike colors that appear on the horizon after the afterglow of the sunset fades and the top of the head dims.

After passing this level, the scenery along the road has changed greatly. The mountains on the left are no longer gentle and have become tall and steep. On the right, they remain the same as before. The road follows the stream and passes through the mountains. Every time Sanhua Empress thinks

To see the top of the mountain, you have to raise your head to the highest point.

"It's cloudy and rainy, ghosts cry at night..."

"I rarely listen to them."

"Taoist priest, why don't we go down?"

Getting this discount proves that you have something, or that an elder of your former master had something, and there is a certain tax-free limit. Considering that demons and ghosts appear frequently in the world, and some practitioners have the stubbornness to travel around the world to debate scriptures and Taoism

needs, so this ultimatum also serves as a guide. In addition to himself, he can also bring five disciples to follow him.

Song You stared blankly, fascinated.

Thirty sticks of incense were quickly rolled.

"Hmm..." The calico cat suddenly jumped up again and accurately caught an insect. This time Song You saw clearly that it was a locust, and it only said to Song You, "Anyway, the three-flower empress will follow you."

It's because I'm ignorant.

Even though this incense is cheap and cannot be sold at a high price, many Taoist priests in the Taoist temples that Song You interacted with liked to use this kind of homemade incense, and most of them especially liked to use the incense rolled by themselves.

"It's out of the way."

After leaving the village, Song You walked on the main road and returned to the village temple. He only kept three of the thirty incense sticks, and the rest were placed in front of the statue of Wang Shanggong.

"Hand climbing is indeed a shortcut, but not many people have used it for a long time. This road is very dangerous, wet and slippery, and the mountains are often haunted by demons and ghosts, with ghosts crying and wolves howling every night. But people often go up to play, and they all

We go there during the day and come back during the day. No one dares to spend the night up there." The old man kindly said to the young Taoist priest, "It's too late now. If you want to see the scenery, you should go up there tomorrow. If you want to go up there, it will be before dark.

Must come back.”

It can be regarded as preferential treatment for masters of spiritual practice.

The calico cat turned to look at him.

"Are we going there?"

Song You just smiled and spent sixteen cents to buy a simple lantern from an old man. It had a common shape. The bamboo frame was slender and light. It was covered with a layer of off-white paper, which was a little yellowish, but nothing else.

decorate.

It seems blue but not blue, it seems purple but not red, it seems pink and white, gradually turning into the gentle evening glow.

"No, I don't eat bugs."

"Little sir."

“Very delicious.”

"Quite interesting."

"It takes an hour to climb up, and another hour to come back. If you walk down from there, to the end, it will take two hours."

Sanhua Empress was very honest at first, maybe because she was not familiar with Song You, so she just followed him honestly, keeping her distance leisurely. Soon her nature was freed, and she started to behave from time to time.

I ran a few steps to the front, then looked back at Song You. From time to time I stood still, lowering my head to smell the weeds on the roadside. From time to time I was attracted by the butterflies or birds in the air and stopped. I waited until Song You had gone away.

, it quickly trotted to catch up.

Not far away, they encountered a checkpoint. Song You showed the ultimatum and successfully passed the checkpoint.

"It's a small path cut into a wall that you have to crawl through."

Trekkers are not afraid of high mountains and long distances, and the mountains and rivers give back the most amazing scenery.

"I only have lanterns here, no candles."

With it being so noisy, the journey wasn't that boring.

"Has Sanhua Empress ever seen such a high mountain?" Song You asked, sitting on a stone and eating steamed cakes.

As mentioned before, traveling merchants and Jianghu people each have their own methods, and people like Song You also have their own special ways.

In this world, religion is also controlled by the imperial court, and each dynasty is different. As for Dayan, the management of religion is actually much stricter. The biggest difference from the previous dynasty is that the privileges of ordinary palaces and temples have been reduced.

When Song You asked about the third local house, he finally arrived at the foot of the Hand Climbing Rock.

Song You took it respectfully.

Feeling better, I continued on my way.

Something is borrowed and something is returned, something is taken and something is given.

Suddenly there was an idea in my mind, maybe using both hands and feet, bending forward is not only difficult to excavate, but also to allow people who pass by to bend down and maintain some respect in front of these statues that suppress evil spirits.

A thousand-foot cliff seemed to be right in front of them. It was so close that for a moment nothing else could be seen except this high mountain cliff.

Each stick of this kind of incense is as thick as a finger, which is much thicker than the fine incense in the city. It is not easy to hold it in your hand. But in fact, thirty sticks only cost six cents, and the most expensive one is this rough one.

Poor quality red paper.

There are many people who love traveling in this era. Many scholar-officials and writers are keen on natural mountains and rivers. According to the old people at the foot of the mountain, people are often attracted by the dangerous scenery on the hand-climbed rocks and are not afraid of dangers to climb and play, but there are very few people.

Dare to spend the night up there.

But after all, this is a world with ghosts and gods, and we still need to respect those master practitioners who practice the Tao.

Perhaps in a certain era, when this road was not abandoned and people often walked there, there would really be countless demons and ghosts taking advantage of the terrain to block the road and seek their lives. The gods on these stone carvings, with the blessing of the people's wishes, were truly frightening.

Looking at the monsters and monsters in the mountains.

"Thank you, old man."

At this moment, an insect buzzed past it. The calico cat just raised its front paws and firmly caught the flying insect in the palm of its hand. Then it raised its paws to its mouth.

, when Song You saw clearly, he could only see the translucent wings of flying insects near his mouth.

Song You murmured, with a smile on his lips.

"May I ask the old man, how long does it take to climb up?"

"Have you ever heard of Sanhua Empress?" Song You ate steamed cakes and asked again, "There is a place called Hand Climbing Rock ahead. It is extremely steep, but the scenery is excellent."

Empress Sanhua said.

"Don't go down."

In this world, the pure natural scenery and the magic of gods and ghosts are the few things that can attract him, because only these few things make this world no less boring and boring than the other world in his heart.
To be continued...