Chapter 2 Chapter One Eight Thousand Miles
The night was getting dark, Xinghan was speechless, and Lin Feng rustled.It was pitch black all around, and Tuobaye stepped on one foot deep and one shallow foot, holding the surrounding trees with one hand, and walked down the mountain carefully.I couldn't help wondering whether Shennong's whole body had hardened at this moment, and felt sad again and again. He touched the three books and the Shenmu Order in his arms, and said to himself: "The senior entrusted me with a heavy request at the end of my life, and I must fulfill it for him no matter what. He said that this matter is of great importance, involving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, but he doesn't know what it is." What happened? Who is the Qing Emperor of Yuping Mountain?" A cloud of doubts surged up in his heart, and the entrusted responsibility and strong curiosity were intertwined, which revived his spirit. Nanji Mountain is so high that if you go down the mountain step by step in the dark, you will not be able to reach the bottom of the mountain even at noon the next day.What's more, Tuobaye had walked the mountain road for a day and hadn't had a good rest. It was midnight and he was exhausted.Tuobaye walked for a while, feeling more sleepy, and his eyelids gradually became heavy.Inadvertently, his foot slipped and he fell down immediately. Tuobaye felt dizzy and dizzy, he rolled down rapidly, his body kept bumping into tree trunks and stones, changed direction in severe pain, continued to fall, and suddenly hit his head hard on a rock, fainted immediately, and then did not wake up personnel. I don't know how long it took before Tuobaye woke up leisurely.He opened his eyes, only to see the moon hanging in the sky, shining brightly, and the shadows and branches of the trees above his head seemed to be crushed down.Tuoba Ye felt pain everywhere on his head and body, and he stretched out his hand to rub the back of his head, but unexpectedly, as soon as he moved, there was a rattling sound from his lower body, he sank suddenly, and then fell several feet down! Tuoba Ye was startled, he grabbed a thick and long vine with both hands, and hugged it with all his strength, the momentum of his fall had just slowed down a little, and he fell more than ten feet before he was able to stabilize himself.Tuobaye was still in shock, and turned his head cautiously to look down. After seeing it, his soul flew away.It turned out that he was hanging in the air on the cliff! Below him are only the branches and vines growing on the cliff, intertwined into a net, supporting him comfortably.Below is Longtan, and the cold and green atmosphere can still be felt after Lao Gao is separated.More than ten feet away on the left, the Longqiu Waterfall pouring from Longyayan is like a sky river, and it has turned into a drizzle all over the sky. Occasionally, the night wind blows, bringing water droplets, which is cool to the bone. Tuobaye has always been bold, but this time he couldn't help but feel hairy.He turned left and right, surrounded by solid rocks and cliffs, covered with moss, slippery.It is at least tens of feet away from the lowest cliff top, and it is as difficult as climbing to the sky.And the Longtan is more than a hundred zhang high from here, not to mention the extreme coldness in the Longtan, I don't know if there is any monster, if you fall from this height, even your head will be broken into four petals in the water. He arched his body, put his feet on the vines, freed his left hand, and touched the Shenmu Ling and the three books in his arms, seeing that none of them were lost, he felt a little relieved.But the bamboo flute I made by myself did not know where it fell, and I was quite annoyed. Seeing the bright moon gradually sinking to the west, time flies, his hands were sore and unbearable, sliding down little by little, Tuoba Ye was anxious, and thought: "It's fine to die here, but the great entrustment of the senior will be delayed because of me. If hundreds of thousands of lives are really at stake, that would be extremely bad!" Tuobaye took a deep breath, tried to calm down, closed his eyes and thought.He suddenly remembered the Shennong Dan given by Shennong, hooked the vines tightly with his right hand and feet, put his left hand in his arms, touched the sheepskin bag, and took out one with his index finger and middle finger. Under the moonlight, the purple soybean-sized pills looked nothing special.Before Tuobaye had time to think about it, he threw Shennong Dan into his mouth.Shennongdan melts in the mouth, a warm current rolls down from the throat, and reaches the whole body in an instant.Tuobaye felt a burst of heat suddenly rise in the dantian, sweeping the whole body like a prairie fire, the heat from the dantian went straight to the stomach, liver and gallbladder, heart, throat, and finally went straight to the top of the head.The heat reached the top of his head, like a Jiao Lei, exploding above his head.Tuobaye couldn't help but opened his mouth to shout "Ah", and a stream of purple gas spewed out from his mouth. Tuobaye was surprised and surprised, he felt hot all over his body, looking down, the skin of his arms was undulating like waves, as if there were stormy waves surging below.The skin quickly turned from white to red, and then to purple. After repeating this for a meal, the strange heat circulated around his body seven times before it gradually faded away.The skin also gradually turned from purple to red, and from red to normal skin color.But Dantian can still feel a ball of heat jumping up and down.Tuobaye's spirit was greatly lifted, his expression was shining brightly, and he felt that his whole body was full of strength.Surprise and surprise mixed in his heart, and he couldn't help but yelled three times.The call is loud and loud, and it is still loud in the mountains and valleys in the silent night.Birds on the clifftops flew in fright and sang.Tuobaye was very proud, he never thought that he had such strength. Feeling excited at the moment, full of confidence for no reason.He suddenly remembered that he was in the forest on weekdays and saw monkeys swinging and grabbing branches, and he had an idea.Right now there is no other way but to give it a go.He tucked in the wooden plaque book panacea in his arms, and tied it tightly between his chest and abdomen. Then he clenched the vines with both hands, and slid down quickly, with his toes constantly pausing on the cliff to slow down a little. Tuobaye could only feel the wind whistling in his ears, and the branches and vines were constantly scraping against his face and body, causing him severe pain.But at the moment of life and death, I can't care too much.While looking down, he saw that the vines were close to the end, he quickly reached out to grab other vines, swung his body, and continued to slide down. After a cup of tea, Tuobaye was quite proficient, and when the vines changed, they also drifted leisurely, showing the calm attitude of a monkey.He was both nervous and excited, and couldn't help shouting and singing. Unexpectedly, before she was happy for a long time, there was a sudden change.Only twenty feet away from the Longtan, suddenly there was a loud "hula la", and the water surface of the Longtan shot more than ten feet high, and a huge black monster flew up from the pool, heading straight towards Tuoba Ye fiercely. rush away. Tuobaye was shocked, before he had time to lower his head to see what was coming, he was hit hard by the monster, and his whole body seemed to be smashed apart, his internal organs were overwhelmed, and his body was thrown high.The monster let out a long howl, it seemed to be quite happy, it followed like a shadow, and rushed towards it again, just as Tuobaye Fang fell down, he was thrown up into the sky again by the impact.Repeated this many times, the monster cheered even louder. Tuobaye was tossed upside down in the air, thrown up and fell down quickly, trying to concentrate on watching.The whole body of the monster was black, like a cow but not a cow. It had a pair of huge fleshy wings, and it jumped quickly in the air.A pair of ball-like horns grew on the top of the monster's head, and it was these horns that made him so ugly. When Tuobaye turned around in the air, he suddenly invoked the energy of his dantian, clenched his fists, and punched the soft flesh between the monster's horns.The monster lowered its head and bumped into it, without even looking at it, it came forward by itself, and hit it right away.After Tuobaye took Shennong Dan, his meridians were first opened, and his divine power was greatly displayed. With one punch, he already had amazing strength. The soft flesh between the horns is also the weak point of the monster. The monster roared in pain, fell heavily, hit the rock wall, stumbled, and fell into the Longtan.Tuobaye's fists were hot and painful, but he was inexplicably surprised. He never thought that he could defeat such a huge monster with his small fists.But the person was in the air, before he had time to grab the vines and branches, he fell straight into the icy Longtan. When his body was still a few feet away from the Longtan, he already felt the piercing cold air. Tuobaye shivered wittily, and the deep blue water rushed towards him, and with a splashing sound, the water splashed everywhere, and people rushed towards the forest. The cold pool sinks deep. The thunder was too fast to cover one's ears, and the accident happened too fast. Before Tuobaye could react, he sank several feet below the Longtan.Cold water poured in from the nose and mouth at the same time, the whole body seemed to be in an ice cellar, with hands and feet flailing wildly in the water. But Tuobaye's water skills are excellent, and he just took the pure yang elixir, and his blood was boiling. After a while, he was able to swim freely in this icy pool and open his eyes to see. The water pool was not as deep as imagined, and no other monsters were seen around.Tuobaye escaped from death, overjoyed, stretched his body comfortably in the water, and dived back and forth.After swimming eastward for a while, I suddenly found that the bottom of the pool not far away was shining brightly. When I got a closer look, it was actually full of pearls, which complement each other. Tuobaye had already breathed his last breath, and was about to swim to the surface, when he suddenly saw a white monster with its neck raised and howling amidst the jewels in the southeast.The monster walked towards him, but after a few steps, it was tightly held by the steel chain as thick as a baby's arm, and could not move any further.Tuobaye didn't have time to look, so he quickly floated up, rushed out of the water, and took a deep breath with his mouth open. Longtan is surrounded by cliffs on three sides, and faces the valley and grass on one side.At this time, the moon was already hanging on the treetops on the mountainside in the west, and the snow-white moonlight shone on the Longtan, rippling with cool light.On the northwest bank, the bull-like monster was shaking its head, shaking off the water drops. Hearing the sound, he immediately raised his head and saw Tuobaye staring at it. He groaned in fright, turned his head and spread his hooves, and fled in an instant. disappeared without a trace. Tuobaye laughed out loud, feeling very proud.Thinking of the underwater monster, I became curious, wondering if it was the dragon horse mentioned by Shennong.So he took a deep breath and plunged into the water again. This time I was more comfortable in the water, and my field of vision was wider and clearer.The white monster looked like a white deer, except that its body was covered with fish scales, and a pair of gills grew on its gills, opening and closing.There is only one antler on the top of the head, the eyes are fiery red, the neck is quite long, and the two dragon whiskers on the lips are constantly dancing. The monster's neck was tightly locked by a white steel chain as thick as a baby's arm, and it could only walk within a radius of three feet.Seeing Tuobaye go and come back, the monster was very excited, rushed towards him unceasingly, was restrained by steel chains, raised its head and raised its hooves, roaring endlessly. After all, Tuobaye was young and had never seen such a spirit beast before, so he didn't know good or bad, so he couldn't help but feel uneasy.But seeing it bound by a huge lock, looking at him helplessly, and screaming unceasingly, he couldn't help feeling pity.Tuobaye has suffered a lot since he was a child, so he can empathize with others when he sees them suffer, and it is easy to arouse sympathy.At dusk, I met Shennong on the top of Nanji Mountain, and because of this, I got acquainted with him and formed a romantic relationship.Seeing this monster imprisoned at the bottom of the pool at this moment, he compared his heart to his heart. If he was imprisoned here, even if he was not drowned, he would be depressed to death. Tuoba swam close to the monster, carefully looked at the thick steel chain, and thought about how to untie it.The steel chain seems to be made of hundreds of refined steel and other things, under the shining pearls, it shone with a light red luster.Tuobaye gritted his teeth and pulled hard a few times, but the steel chain did not budge. Although Tuobaye took Shennongdan, firstly, he had no foundation, and he didn't know how to use it for nothing; secondly, this steel chain was cast by a strange person decades ago, mixing seventeen kinds of metals from the North Sea. Not to mention Tuobaye, even a top-notch player in the arena can't break the steel chain empty-handed. Tuobaye had no choice but to float to the surface to take a breath, and then dived to find other ways.Tried back and forth more than ten times, but finally found no way.The monster also seemed to be quite depressed, grunting in a strange way, dejected. Tuobaye glanced at the corner of his eyes, and suddenly found a few meters away, in the darkness, there was a strange light that flickered, but the glare was stronger than pearls everywhere.The monster seemed to be very frightened, and took many steps back for no reason. Tuoba Ye was very surprised, he didn't know what was there that made it so frightened, so he swam towards it. When he swam closer, he realized that it was actually a blue-gray iron sword, inserted obliquely into the soft mud at the bottom of the pool. From the outside, there was nothing unusual about it, but he didn't know where the previous glare came from from the sword.Tuobaye lifted the sword lightly, and pulled out the sword. The sword was actually an ordinary iron sword no more than three feet long. It had been submerged in water for a long time and was full of rust.Only the word "Wufeng" is engraved on the hilt.Since it has no front, it is not very sharp after all. Tuoba Nohara wanted to use this sword to break the steel chain, but after seeing it, he was disappointed and threw the sword away.The sword floated in the water for a while, then fell obliquely.Tuobaye was about to turn around, but was stunned by the scene in front of him.I saw that the Wufeng sword was like a weak willow supporting the wind, it drifted and fell into a huge rock at the bottom of the pool, the depth was more than a chi. Tuobaye's spirit was lifted, he swam to the edge of the sword, held the hilt with both hands, and pulled out the sword forcefully.At that time, a ray of moonlight slanted into the depths of the pool, Tuobaye turned the blade of the sword, and a dazzling light flashed immediately, he raised his hand to cover his eyes, and slowly moved his palm away, he suddenly saw two engraved on the sword. The small characters glowed with a golden halo under the moonlight.Looking closely, it turned out to be the word Shennong! In shock, Tuobaye almost choked on water, and immediately floated to the surface of the water with his sword in his arms.At this time, the moon will sink to the west, the morning stars will be sparse, and the sky will be extremely dark. After a while, the sky will be bright. Tuobaye looked carefully under the moonlight, the blade of the Wufeng sword really had the word Shennong on it, and when it was turned around, the other side of the sword also faintly had two words: Kongsang. This sword was originally the sword of Fairy Kongsang, the saint of the Mu clan, more than 200 years ago, and it is also one of the seven great artifacts of the Mu clan.When Fairy Kongsang met Shennong in the East China Sea, the two fell in love at first sight.Fairy Kongsang gave the Wufeng Sword to Shennong to talk about lovesickness.Shennong engraved the names of the two on the Wufeng sword with his diamond fingers, as a testimony of their unswerving love.But the saints of the five clans must be virgins and never marry for life.For this reason, Fairy Kongsang was exiled to Tanggu by the elders of the Mu clan.But Shennong, as the emperor of the gods, could not break the covenant of the five clans and save his beloved. He could only witness Fairy Kongsang crossing Tanggu eastward and getting drunk alone on the top of Nanji Mountain.That day, his heart was ashamed, and he threw Wufeng Sword into the Longtan.Unexpectedly, this sword had been sleeping at the bottom of the pool for two hundred years, but it was discovered by Tuobaye who strayed into Longtan on the day when Shennong transformed into a feather.The fate of the two is really due to fate. Of course, Tuobaye was not only the origin of this sword, but when he saw the word Shennong, he also guessed that this sword must have a deep connection with Shennong, and he was surprised and happy beyond words.Thinking of the owner of this sword, he might have turned into a solid rock on the top of the mountain at this moment, and suddenly felt sad from his heart.He climbed to the shore, held Wufeng Sword in both hands, knelt down and clapped his head three times towards the top of the mountain, sighing endlessly. As the moon sinks to the west, the sky will be bright.Tuobaye was determined to rescue the monster as soon as possible, so he went to look for Ryoma and subdue it on the road.He jumped into the water again, held the sword in his mouth, swiped his hands, and soon came to the monster.When the monster saw the Wufeng sword in his mouth from a distance, it was terrified, and it backed up until it reached the bottom of the cliff.There was a wailing cry from his mouth, but he didn't have the majestic posture he had at the beginning. Tuoba ambition thought: "This sword must be a sharp weapon for subduing spirit beasts, that's why it is so afraid." Thinking of this, he held Wufeng sword in his left hand, put it behind his back, walked forward slowly, stretched out his hand there The neck of the monster kept stroking.The monster was very frightened at first, but it didn't dare to dodge. It shrank its head and let Tuobaye stroke it.After a cup of tea, the monster saw that Tuobaye was smiling all over his face, but he kept rubbing his neck without any malice. His fear lessened and he began to relax. Tuobaye was overjoyed and thought: So this spirit beast is no different from ordinary animals.Just like Ah Huang in the past, at first he was very aggressive towards me and kept barking, but after getting close for a while, he became good with me. When the monster was completely relaxed, Tuobaye almost held his breath to the end, so he swung the Wufeng sword and slashed down on the steel chain with all his strength.Seeing him swinging the sword, the monster hissed and ran to the left, stretching the steel chain straight.With a flash of light, Tuobaye heard a muffled sound of "Peng" in the water, his palms were numb, the tiger's mouth was cracked, and the Wufeng sword flew from his hand.The impact force of the blade and the steel chain set off a shock wave in the water, pushing Tuobaye far away. Tuobaye surfaced, took a breath, and dived into the bottom of the pool again.The monster at the bottom of the pool has disappeared, and the steel chain has been cut off and dragged to the ground.But the Wufeng Sword was broken in two, the half of the sword's edge went straight into the rock, and the other half lay across the bottom of the pool.Tuobaye picked up the Wufeng sword, feeling lost in his heart, he didn't expect that the sword turned into a broken sword after being dug out for only a moment, he felt quite apologetic.He held the broken sword in his mouth and swam up. When Tuobaye went ashore, Fang Shi felt sore and limp all over, exhausted.He thrust the broken sword aside and fell heavily on the grass.The things that happened on this day were unimaginable, and strange things happened one after another.He has lived for more than ten years and has been wandering for a long time, but the sum of all his experiences is not as thrilling as it is today.Just as he was thinking wildly, he suddenly heard a strange roar, turned his head and looked, and saw the white monster at the bottom of the Longtan rushing out of the jungle on the left, rushing towards him like a gust of wind! Tuobaye was taken aback, and was about to reach out to pull out Wufeng Broken Sword, but was thrown to the ground by the monster! The monster's two front hooves clamped Tuobaye's sides, making him unable to move at all. It tilted its neck and looked down at him. The monster's eyes were like fireballs rolling around, its mouth was open and its teeth were bared, in a daze. He almost stared at him for a while, thinking a little.Tuobaye smiled wryly, thinking that this is really self-inflicted. The monster suddenly raised its head to the sky and howled, seeming to be very happy; it suddenly lowered its head, opened its mouth wide, and pressed down on Tuobaye's head.Tuobaye closed his eyes, thinking he was unlucky, and regretting Shennong's great trust. Tuobaye suddenly felt something wet rubbing against his face and forehead, and gusts of hot air sprayed directly onto his face.Tuobaye opened his eyes, and saw that it was the monster's tongue licking his face, and he was amazed.He thought to himself: "Could it be that this monster still has a cleanliness habit and needs to wash the food first?" But the monster licked him for a long time, but there was still no sign of biting him, it just stuck out its tongue and licked him, and made a humming sound from its mouth and nose, which seemed to be harmless.The heat from the monster's breath made him itchy, and he couldn't help laughing out loud.The monster shrank its neck back, tilted its head to look at him, and grinned loudly, as if imitating him. Surprised and delighted, Tuobaye tried to stretch out his hand and stroked its neck and head.The monster didn't flinch, it squinted its eyes and let him caress, like a gentle and tame puppy.The monster turned its head and stuck out its tongue to lick his hand, very affectionately. Tuobaye was overjoyed, thinking that this monster knew what was right, and he was grateful for the picture.Tuobaye hugged the monster's neck, and the cold fish scales felt very comfortable against the skin.The monster was very happy, it kept shaking its head and tail, and laughed out loud.Tuobaye couldn't help laughing, patted it on the head and said, "You're a quick learner, I'll teach you how to speak next time." Feeling absurd, he laughed.One person and one beast are relative haha. Tuobaye hadn't slept all day, he was extremely exhausted, and he escaped from death again, full of joy, his heart gradually let go, and his sleepiness quickly surged up.After a while, he fell asleep with the monster in his arms. When I woke up, it was already noon the next day.The sun is shining brightly, blue sky and white clouds, surrounded by cliffs, and Longqiu Waterfall is like a drizzle, falling all over the sky.Looking up like this, it seems to be overlooking a deep well.For a moment, Tuobaye didn't know where he was.He rubbed his eyes and got up from the grass. The Longtan was surrounded by blue waves and cold light, surrounded by exotic flowers and plants.Beside him, a white unicorn deer covered in fish scales was staring at him with fiery red eyes. Seeing him wake up, he cried happily. Seeing this unforgettable monster, Tuobaye recalled the events of yesterday one by one.Seeing the scorching sun hanging in the sky, and remembering Shennong's great trust, Tuobaye yelled "Oops", jumped up, touched the books in his arms, luckily they were all there.I don't know what kind of paint was used to write the characters on the sheepskin book, but after soaking in water for a long time, none of the characters were blurred.None of the fifteen Shennong Dan in the sheepskin pouch was lost, but the Shenmu Ling was even harder, with a metallic sound when knocked. Tuobaye opened the "Da Huang Jing", searched for Nanji Mountain according to the map, searched carefully around the map, and saw the word Yuping Mountain marked on the southwest direction of Nanji Mountain.Mirage City is located in the north of Nanji Mountain near the sea.Recalling what Shennong said, this place is more than two hundred miles away from Yuping Mountain and more than two thousand miles away from Mirage City.If you can't find Qingdi, you will turn from the south to the north, and the distance will add up, at least 2,500 li. If you want to arrive within seven days, it will be really difficult to reach the blue sky.I don't know where is the dragon and horse mentioned by Shennong? Looking around at Tuobaye, the clear water in the Longtan overflows over the boulder piles on the bank, and converges into a stream in the depression, winding southwest, and flowing through the valley in the southwest.Where the stream passes, the aquatic plants are still luxuriant. Based on the experience gained by Tuoba's wandering in the wild for a long time, the vicinity of this stream must be a place where animals haunt and drink water.Unexpectedly, he stretched his neck and watched for a long time, but no animal appeared. Tuobaye secretly wondered, could this be the Valley of Death?So where did the flying cow monster escape from last night? Tuobaye and the one-horned deer walked southwest along the stream. After walking for about half an hour, they finally saw a few dragon-headed and horse-body monsters drinking water by the stream.Tuobaye was overjoyed, thinking this must be the dragon horse that Shennong said!As long as you tame one, you can travel thousands of miles a day, and complete the important task within seven days, it's no problem. Tuobaye was about to run away, but the one-horned deer roared and galloped towards the dragon horse. The speed was so fast that it was as if a strong wind and lightning were blown around him suddenly.Tuobaye was greatly surprised, but strange things were yet to come.When the dragon horses heard the unique roar of the one-horned deer, they immediately looked up and saw the one-horned deer rushing towards them, so they ran away in fright. The one-horned deer rushed in front of the little dragon horse in an instant, without even looking at it, it ran straight, but after a while, it caught up with the two strong dragon horses. endlessly.The one-horned deer gave a strange roar, and the two dragon horses immediately fell down, screaming in a low voice. Tuobaye opened his mouth wide, unable to close it. It turns out that this one-horned deer is the white dragon deer, the spirit beast of the water clan. It is fierce and difficult to train, extremely ferocious, and runs like flying, far better than dragon horses.This white dragon deer caused many harms along the coast of the East China Sea decades ago, and was subdued by a strange man who passed by here with seventeen mixed gold ropes, and was trapped in the Longtan.For decades, the white dragon deer killed many spirit beasts at the bottom of the Longtan, especially dragon horses.The surviving spirit beasts, except for a few stubborn ones, all moved far away, even Longtan dared not approach. Although Tuobaye didn't know the truth, he also guessed that this one-horned deer was very strange.I didn't expect that the underwater monster I rescued out of sympathy by accident was so amazing.It is as if there is divine help in the dark. Bailonglu was free after being trapped for decades, and he was in a great mood. Instead of biting the dragon horse, he turned around and looked up at Tuobaye, showing off proudly.Tuobaye laughed loudly, whistled at it, and Bailonglu immediately rushed back. Tuobaye patted it on the head, made love to it for a while, and sharpened the remaining seventeen alloy cables on the neck of the white dragon deer with the Wufeng Broken Sword, and repeated it more than ten times before the steel chain broke off.The White Dragon Deer screamed happily, rubbing its head and neck back and forth on Tuobaye's body, and rolled its wet tongue towards Tuobaye's face again. Tuobaye hurriedly dodged, and said with a smile: "I've had enough of my tongue. Brother Lu, I want to ask you to take me to Yuping Mountain, how about it?" Bailonglu seemed to understand what he said, nodded repeatedly, and Make that haha sound. Tuobaye was overjoyed, and using the moves taught by Shennong, turned himself onto the deer's back, and shouted: "Let's go!" The white dragon and deer hissed, raised their hooves and galloped, and ran for more than ten miles in an instant.In the valley, only Tuoba Ye could be heard screaming "Slow down, slow down!", and the sound became farther and farther away, and finally disappeared. The sun is shining brightly, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, and the Longtan Valley has returned to tranquility. The flying bull monster ran out from nowhere, probed its brain for a while, and confirmed that the white dragon deer had gone far. Amidst the cheers, it jumped heavily into the dragon pool, splashing Lao Gao's water.