Chapter 6 Chapter 6: Glazed and Red Pine in the Dark

The trees on the north side of Daze seem to be slightly smaller than those on the south side, but they are denser and more luxuriant. Although the vines on the south side are full, you can still see the shape of the trees, and this is like algae and kudzu. Even the gaps between the trees are entangled, and at first glance, it looks like walls of various forms in the jungle, towering into the clouds.A little into the depths of the woods, the dazzling sunlight suddenly disappears, the forest is dense with mist, and the cold air is threatening. The scenery a few steps away is already dark and hard to distinguish, only some gloomy outlines can be vaguely seen. Although it is daytime, it is indistinguishable from nighttime. respectively.

Several people crossed the swamp and continued to go north. After walking for a while, Bu Xiaoluan felt cold and tired, so they set up a bonfire in the forest for a little rest.Qianli Zishi has been serving Xiaoyan, weeping secretly.However, Xiaoyan's expression was calm, talking and laughing with everyone all the way, it seemed that he was not hindered at all. Xiangsi picked up some dead leaves and was about to add them to the fire, but by chance, through the smoke and dust of the campfire, she saw Xiaoyan holding a branch and gently poking the fire.The moment he leaned over, uncontrollable pain flashed across his brows, and a layer of greenness was faintly covering his face.But it was only for a moment, and when he looked up, his pale face looked perfect again.

Xiangsi couldn't help asking: "Your Highness, you..." Qianli Zishi turned his head and gave Xiangsi a cold look, with a hint of cold hostility in his eyes. Xiaoyan seemed to be lost in thought, and didn't hear her words. Xiangsi still wanted to say something, but the fallen leaves behind her suddenly made a shrill sound.At first she thought it was a bug or snake, but she didn't look back, but she saw Bu Xiaoluan looking behind her in panic, as if there was something extremely scary standing there. Xiangsi turned around in shock, and a pair of familiar green eyes suddenly jumped into view.

That was the Firefox lying on Mandala's shoulder! At that moment, the fear and surprise in Xiangsi's heart dissipated along with the gloom in the depths of the eyes, leaving only endless confusion, a kind of confusion as if she didn't know where her body came from or where her heart was going. She only felt that her eyes and even her whole body and mind were occupied by these two clusters of green light, and everything around her seemed dim under the light of this green will-o'-the-wisp.After an unknown period of time, she gradually realized that she had turned to the southwest to stand at some point, and what surprised her even more was that there was a small crescent-shaped lake at the corner of the jungle to the southwest.

As soon as Xiangsi raised her head, she found that Zhuo Wangsun and others were beside her, and they were also looking at the lake not far away.Lovesickness is like waking up from a dream: muttering "Why are we here?" Zhuo Wangsun frowned slightly, but did not answer.Bu Xiaoluan looked back at her puzzled, and said, "We were chasing that fire fox together just now, and we were led to the lake after chasing for a long time. Don't you remember, sister?" Xiangsi looked around in a daze, and said, "Impossible... Then, where did that Firefox go?" Bu Xiaoluan seemed to think her expression was very strange, and looked at her for a while, and said: "It escaped, we saw it escape into the lake with our own eyes, and it made a splash, and we haven't seen it until now."

Xiangsi shook her head in disbelief, suddenly felt a burst of exhaustion, and could no longer speak. Yang Yizhi looked at the lake, frowned and said, "It will always follow us." "Wow-wow--" A sound of water suddenly came from under the silent lake. The water waves pushed away a circle of ripples, and the reflections of the trees suddenly became messy.The ripples became bigger and bigger, almost covering the entire water surface, and countless blisters also floated up from the water. Before Xiangsi came back to her senses, a group of people had already floated up from the water.

There are men and women in this group, they look very young, but they have tattoos, dark skin, protruding lips and teeth, high cheekbones, extremely ugly, only a pair of eyes, which are abnormally bright.They are extremely short in stature, like children. This group of people seemed to be a group of aboriginal fishermen, but they didn't carry any fishing tools on their bodies. Their whole bodies were submerged underwater, with only a pair of green eyes showing, silently watching the stranger not far away, their expressions looked strange. Not friendly.In any case, however, it was a joy to see that neither a monster nor a Firefox emerged from the water.

The two sides confronted each other for a while, and Yang Yi took a step forward, drawing a half arc with his fingers parallel to his chest. The group of fishermen remained silent, and after a while, an older-looking man pushed aside the crowd, swam to the shore, and drew a half-arc back to him, as if to respond.The expressions of the other fishermen also eased a little, and they popped up, but they seemed to be far less hospitable than the people of Wuzhen, they were still floating on the surface of the water, looking at the approaching people suspiciously, as if they would immediately dive into the water and escape if they were slightly alarmed .

Yang Yizhi chatted with the person who swam to the shore for a while, then turned around and said, "Miss Acacia, let me borrow your jewelry." Xiangsi didn't seem to understand: "Jewelry?" Yang Yizhi nodded and said: "These Xishe people live by water, they are suspicious by nature, but they are extremely greedy for money and profit. If foreign guests don't greet them with precious jewels, it will be difficult for them to be allowed to enter their territory." Xiangsi was a little embarrassed: "I...", but he still refused to act.She is casual by nature, she never wears jewelry all over her body, but most of the hidden weapons hidden in her sleeves are carefully made of agate pearls, they are just unlucky weapons for soldiers, how can they be given as gifts?

Qianli Zishi reached out to untie a pearl from the hair bun, handed it to Xiangsi and said, "Miss Acacia is a beautiful woman, so there is no need to pollute her beauty with vulgar things. I also ask the girl to hand over this turbidity of Zishi to Leader Yang." .” Xiangsi blushed slightly, took the pearl and handed it to Yang Yizhi.That bright pearl was round and pitch black, about the size of a longan's eye. Under the sunlight, the black light flowed and flickered unsteadily. Although it was only one, it was already priceless. Yang Yizhi shook his head and said: "Miss Qianli's jewels are precious, but this group of Xishe people are interested in profit, but they don't know the goods. As long as they are colorful and transparent, they will regard them as rare treasures, and they will blindly count them. I wish everyone could get one, Miss Qianli's black pearl, I'm afraid it will be regarded as a stubborn stone in vain in their eyes."

Xiangsi said: "Then, where can we find so many colorful and transparent things?" Yang Yizhi looked at the group of Xishe people, frowned and remained silent. Zhuo Wangsun said indifferently: "A group of unruly people in the wilderness, why bother?" Xiangsi said: "Could it be that Mr. wants to forcibly break through?" Zhuo Wangsun said indifferently: "I'm just passing by, if he doesn't offend me, that's all." Xiao Yan said: "What if these Xishe people offend Mr. Zhuo?" Zhuo Wangsun said: "Whoever offends me will die." Xiaoyan withdrew his gaze from the depths of the lake, and said slowly: "The wild people in the deep mountains have nothing to do with the world, why does Mr. Zhuo want to kill him like this?" Zhuo Wangsun said: "Blocking the road and asking for money is no different from robbery. What's the use of keeping such a fierce and stupid people if they don't kill them?" Xiaoyan shook his head and said: "Mr. Zhuo, greed is innate in their hearts, it is natural, it is not out of malice, although they are too persistent, but who in the world is not obsessed? Or obsessed with fame, or love, or life and death , the six of us, traveling thousands of miles to this savage land, don’t we all have an attachment in our hearts? The same attachment, how can there be a distinction between high and low? What’s more, the things they like are worthless in the eyes of Mr. This rare treasure is extremely difficult to find. These people have accumulated for generations, but only a few grains. These Xishe people suffer from greed day and night, which is already a punishment from heaven. Why not be free from suffering for a while?" Zhuo Wangsun smiled lightly and said, "Since Your Highness has a solution, I just need to wait and see." Xiaoyan looked back at the villagers in the water. They seemed to have heard the disputes among the people, and they were even more frightened. Their whole bodies were submerged in the water, but a pair of eyes on the water surface were staring straight ahead, showing greed, as if they wanted to escape, but He couldn't bear to part with the stranger's gift, and his expression was extremely painful. Xiaoyan sighed, and couldn't bear to look any further. Xiangsi asked suspiciously: "The jungle here stretches for thousands of miles, and even rocks are rarely seen. Where can I find the jewels they want?" Xiaoyan smiled slightly and said, "Resin." Xiangsi looked up and saw that there were indeed many pine trees in the forest. The old trunks had cracked black skin and some bright yellow weeping resin hung on them.However, those resins have been smudged by the moisture in the forest, and their brilliance has dimmed. What's more, the resin is only one color, so how can it be colorful and transparent?Acacia was waiting to ask again, Xiaoyan flicked his robe sleeves, several cold lights suddenly appeared, and went straight to the branches of the pine tree, in a trance, I saw a lavender light curtain the size of a bowl shuttling through the forest, like wearing purple flowers Butterflies perch on every flower branch for a while, and have returned to his hands.Xiao Yan clasped her palms in front of her chest, and surrounded Zi Wu in her palms.The purple air was spinning rapidly between his palms, getting faster and faster, and gradually there was a soft crackling sound, as if something in the air mass was being roasted and burst by high temperature. And the outer layer of the purple mist shone with cold light, as if it was covered with a thin layer of ice.The cold air radiated from his sleeves and gradually expanded, forming a huge ice mist outside the purple light, which circulated densely and enveloped Xiao Yan's entire body. Under the alternate tempering of ice and fire, several iridescent brilliance gradually appeared in the purple light, and there seemed to be many tiny bright spots shining faintly.Xiaoyan's wrist sank, and there was a crisp sound. First, the white light on the outer layer split a very thin crack from it as if the spring ice had just melted, and spread rapidly, and the whole thing was broken into pieces. His palm soared into the air, and as it rose, it swelled rapidly.Seeing that it had swelled to the size of a cloud, it stopped its upward momentum, paused in the air, trembled a few times, and suddenly burst into the air. For a moment, it was like a thousand-layered purple lotus spreading out in midair, slowly drifting away, from thick to light, from light to nothing.Hundreds of crystals of colorful light fell from among the purple clouds, like a rain of seven-color beads. As soon as Xiao Yan raised his hand, the bead rain was like quicksand in an hourglass, gathering silently into his sleeve, and it was all absorbed in his sleeve in a short while.Qianli Zishi held out half of the brocade with both hands, and waited by the side.Xiao Yan flicked the sleeves of his robe slightly, and there was already a pile of colorful broken beads on the brocade, which could not stop rolling in the sun. Xiaoyan said to Yang Yizhi: "These gravels, please donate these gravels to the people of Xishe country." Yang Yizhi didn't answer, took the brocade and walked towards the lake.All the Xishe people in the lake stared at the bag of gravel in Yang Yizhi's hand with greedy eyes, as if they had forgotten their fear. Yang Yizhi handed the brocade bag to the leader while making the circle-drawing gesture just now.The man let out a shriek of ecstasy and snatched it away.Yang Yizhi whispered a few words in local dialect, and the group of fishermen showed joy and swam towards the lake. They were surprisingly good at water, like loaches in the water. Those people shouted with joy, passing the bag of gravel around non-stop. Everyone held it in their hands and pressed it to their chest, and stroked it for a long time before handing it over to others.However, they still seemed to be wary of the guests, and they didn't dare to get too close. They just lined up and walked towards the jungle to the southwest, looking back at everyone from time to time, as if they were leading the way. The village of Xisheren is very different from that of the people of Wuqi.They built low houses with round logs along the shore of the lake, with round roofs and square walls. Most of the places near the foundation were built with gravel to form a large pool, which was filled with clean water, soaking most of the wooden houses in the water. There are only five or six such houses in the village, and they are far apart from each other. Coupled with the twists and turns of the terrain, sometimes it takes almost an hour to walk. Each house is very spacious, and each room can accommodate dozens of people to live at the same time, and each surname family lives in the same big house, and several generations live under the same roof.Whenever there are more children and more houses, and the house is not enough, a new one will be built based on the original wooden house, and then the wall will be opened, so that it will be expanded from generation to generation, and the family will never be separated. Seeing that it was getting late, Yang Yizhi asked Xisheren for a night. Although Xisheren showed embarrassment at first, he finally agreed, but he wanted them to be a group of two and stay overnight in the big houses of different families in the village.Do as the Romans do when they go to the countryside, they followed the villagers of each surname back to the house.Yang Yizhi stayed at the village chief's house; Zhuo Wangsun and Bu Xiaoluan stayed at Kun's house in the north of the village; Xiaoyan and Qianli Zishi stayed at Bighead's house in the south of the village; Xiangsi followed the girl into the house by wading into the water, and saw that the house was extremely humid, and the tables and chairs were all submerged in the water, half floating and half sinking. There was nothing on the table, but there were some large and small wooden barrels and gourds floating on the water. Cooked food, rice wine and fruits are stored in it. Anyone who stretches out their hands can grab a bucket and eat it. It seems that although these Xishe citizens are greedy and stingy, they are still very generous in eating. The room was very large, with no walls and doors in the middle, only supported by some pillars. In order to prevent the pillars from being soaked in water and rot, the bottom of the pillars was coated with a bright red paint-like substance.There are no beds in the house, only many canoes are parked at the north corner of the big house, connected to each other by vines as thick as a human arm.These canoes are all made of a large tree that several people hugged and split in half, and then dug a deep pit that can accommodate one person. This is where Xisheren rests at night.Some can only accommodate one person to lie on their side, while others are slightly larger and can accommodate two people. It seems that they are the marriage beds of husband and wife.Those marriage beds were also connected with ordinary wooden beds. It seemed that the Xishe people were used to living together and had no desire for privacy. Xishe is extremely short in stature, but the wood used is huge and abnormal. It looks ridiculous from a distance, as if an otter drilled a small hole for shelter in a fallen tree, or like a giant coffin with three coffins and three outer coffins in the ancient burial. . The girl led Xiangsi to a boat bed in the corner of the house, and handed her a lampstand made of screw shells, which contained half a box of shellfish oil.After lighting the shell lamp, Xiangsi realized that the boat bed in front of her was actually very delicately made.Various patterns are engraved on the bed, most of which are fish, dragons and algae. There are many small grooves dug on the thick bed wall, and some food, tools, shells and other ornaments are placed there. Dried moss looks very cozy.The hull is only slightly higher than the water surface, and a small groove is dug out on the right side, and more than ten green strings are nailed with wooden nails.Looking carefully, there are many wooden barrels and gourds tied to the other end of the rope. It seems that as long as you lie on the bed and stretch out your hand, the food and wine will automatically come to your mouth. On the spur of the moment, Acacia looked around, only to find that there was also a red silk thread on the left ship wall, but it was much thinner than the green thread on the right, and it was impossible to detect without looking carefully, and there was nothing tied to the end of the red thread. In the water, but do not know what to do. Xiangsi was about to pull up the red thread, but found that it seemed to be nailed to death under the boat bed. Just as she was about to find its source, a middle-aged man shouted in the room, and other Xishe people put down their work one after another. , wading to the boat bed. Xiangsi thought that pulling the red thread made her master unhappy, and was about to apologize, but saw that those Xishe people didn't seem to be looking at her, and went straight to the bed one by one, turning over into the wooden pit.As soon as they lay down, they reached for the barrels in the water and began to eat and drink on their backs.For a time, nearly a hundred people spoke together, and the sound of chewing and eating was endless, which was quite funny.Xiangsi listened for a while, and couldn't help but move her index finger, and was about to pull some food to rejoice with the owner, when the middle-aged man shouted again, and there was a splashing sound of putting the wooden barrel back into the water, followed by everyone The oil lamps on the boat bed were blown out, and after a while, there was no sound in the room, as if the group of Xishe people had already fallen asleep. Xiangsi had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​supper, and pulled the soft moss quilt to cover her body. Although the tree pit looked a little small, it was very comfortable, and she could have a good sleep with her legs curled up, comforting the fatigue of many days . At this moment, there was a sudden sound of water in her ears. Startled, Xiangsi sat up, but saw Qianli Zishi standing in front of her.She looked haggard, her eyes were red and swollen, as if she had just cried.Xiangsi said in shock: "Miss Zishi, why are you here?" Qianli Zishi's voice was hoarse, and he said: "Zishi has an urgent matter, I need to ask Miss Acacia for help, if I go late, I'm afraid it will be too late." Xiangsi said: "What's the matter? Does Your Highness know?" Qianli Zishi shook his head and said: "This matter was purely entrusted by Zishi himself, and he did not tell the young master. You don't need to ask, you will know when you go." After saying that, he bowed deeply, turned around and walked out . Xiangsi got up and said: "Miss Zishi, please be gentle, don't disturb the master." Qianli Zishi turned around, gave her a cold look, and said, "Don't you know Miss Xiangsi, they can't hear you. Once Xisheren falls asleep, even if you tear down this house, you won't wake up." Come."