Looking at Tai'an from the full moon

Yesterday, Chu Yao and others set off along their respective routes after discussion.

Chu Yao and Yixing went north along the official road. He was very familiar with this route. After all, he had walked this road three times, including when he was a child. This time was the fourth time.

The further north you go, the narrower the official road becomes, and the more trees and mountains there are on both sides, majestic and magnificent, stretching endlessly; from afar, it is green and full of vitality. But Chu Yao has no time to appreciate it properly. The road to Beiguan is long, and he must rush back within half a month. And the road to Beiguan, if an ordinary person takes a carriage, it will probably take a month to get there.

So along the way, in order to maintain good physical strength and arrive at Beiguan as planned, Chu Yao, who was usually stingy, was willing to spend money on this journey. They stayed in the best guest rooms, ate the most expensive meat, and except for sleeping for three hours a day and eating for one hour a day, they were running on the road non-stop, and finally arrived at Beiguan successfully after seven days. Although they ate well and slept well in these seven days, Chu Yao and Yixing still lost 7 to 8 kilograms each, and they looked much darker.

"Master, are you sure the dragon whale bone is in the Shenyin Pavilion? I have never heard the Pavilion Master mention it, let alone anyone else."

"I'm sure! You've seen it before. It's in my study. No one knew what it was before, so it was put aside as junk."

Chu Yao and Yixing came to a mountain at the northernmost end of Beiguan, which was called Kaiyuan Mountain. According to legend, Emperor Mingde sent his troops from here and attacked Tai'an City all the way, and finally achieved peace in the world, so the mountain was named "Kaiyuan".

There was no grass growing on Kaiyuan Mountain, and the surface of the mountain was extremely smooth due to the erosion of rain. It was difficult for people to climb on it, let alone stand on it and stay still. Therefore, this mountain also blocked the ambitions of Cangyan State behind it.

Chu Yao and the other person walked to a protruding boulder at the foot of the mountain. There were no patterns or bumps on the boulder. Chu Yao raised his hand and pressed it a few times seemingly casually. Then the boulder slowly moved away, revealing the passage inside. Then the two of them flashed in. This was the entrance to Shenyin Pavilion. If someone followed them, they could easily find the lair of Shenyin Pavilion. But Shenyin Pavilion was not worried about this problem, because Kaiyuan Village at the foot of Kaiyuan Mountain was full of people from Shenyin Pavilion.

There are hundreds of acres of farmland in Kaiyuan Village. The people of Shenyin Pavilion distributed the land to farmers without charging any rent. They only collected some food to feed the people of Shenyin Pavilion every year, and the rest was handled by the farmers themselves. Relatively speaking, because there is no taxation, the farmers here live better than in the capital. In order to prevent foreign enemies from sneaking in, Shenyin Pavilion stipulates that the people of Kaiyuan Village, regardless of gender, must practice martial arts on the first, fifth, tenth, fifteenth, twentieth, and twenty-fifth days of each month. There will be special people to train them. This will not only strengthen their bodies, but also enable them to have a certain degree of self-protection when foreign enemies come, and can also help Shenyin Pavilion defend the city.

The two of them turned on the tinder and walked a few hundred meters inside. Suddenly, the road opened up. They saw seven or eight people standing in front of an iron gate, each holding a spear. These were the guards of Shenyin Pavilion, and this gate was a defensive gate between Shenyin Pavilion and the outside world.

"Young Pavilion Master?"

"Hello, Young Pavilion Master!"

"Young Pavilion Master——"

"Welcome home, Young Master~"

"Hello, Brother Yixing~"

"Brother Yixing~"

Everyone had a smile on their face, and after greeting Chu Yao, they greeted Yixing. Yixing was raised by the old Pavilion Master himself, and was also the personal bodyguard of the young Pavilion Master, so everyone naturally respected him very much.

Chu Yao nodded to them, and exchanged a few words with them while the iron door slowly opened. He also asked about the recent situation in the pavilion, and it turned out that there were only some ordinary things happening. After the door opened, if an outsider came in for the first time, the scene in front of him would definitely shock him.

The entire loft seemed to be built in a hollowed-out mountain. There were four floors in total, and you could clearly see who was on each floor. Although the middle was hollowed out, each floor had just enough thick mountain left to serve as the floor. Metal frames and wood paved the way between each floor. Looking up from below, the entire space looked like an enlarged version of a domino maze.

"It's still the same~"

Chu Yao sighed, then used his Qinggong skills to run directly to the study on the third floor, with Yixing following closely behind him.

"Eh? Isn't that Chu Yao? This kid is back!"

On the way, he was seen by several elders, who called out his name one after another. But time was urgent, so Chu Yao had no time to say anything more to them, and just waved his hand as a greeting.

Chu Yao entered the house and rummaged around, finally finding what he was looking for among a pile of miscellaneous items - a gray, ugly, little man?

Yixing came forward and looked at the thing in Chu Yao's hand with disgust on his face.

“Is this the dragon whale bone?”

The doll in front of me is gray and dull, and its color and structure are indeed a bit like the doctor's description, but the shape...isn't it a little too distinctive?

"This was a test piece I used to practice carving when I was a kid. I didn't have any tools at hand, so I just happened to find this in the warehouse and started carving. I was wondering at the time why there was such an ugly piece of wood and stone in the attic."

"...Fortunately, you, Young Master, showed mercy, otherwise you wouldn't even be able to leave me this."

Chu Yao smiled awkwardly, put the doll in his arms, and the two of them flew away. As soon as they left, a white-bearded old man landed in the study room, looked at their backs as they suddenly left, and started to curse.

"Eh? You little bastard! Why are you leaving right after you got back? Hey!"

However, Chu Yao and his companions flew too fast and didn't notice their grandfather behind them. At this time, the Great Elder also flew down beside his grandfather.

"What's going on? Is Chu Yao back?"

"Well, I don't know what the little bastard and Yixing are doing again. I just heard from the people below that they came back, but they ran away again without even seeing each other~"

The old Pavilion Master spread his hands, looking very speechless. The Great Elder patted him on the shoulder to express his sympathy.

"But looking at his back, he has lost a lot of weight. I guess life outside is not easy for him!"

"Hey, look at you. You were scolding me just now, but now you feel sad again~"

"Humph, don't you also feel sorry for your precious grandson?"

While the two of them were arguing, Chu Yao and the other two had already left through the iron gate. Even the guards at the gate were stunned. How could the young pavilion master come out just after he went in? How strange.

But in general, Chu Yao's side was very smooth. Now he was going back along the same route. If nothing unexpected happened, he would be able to return to Tai'an City in seven days, one day earlier than the deadline given by the old man.