father snake

Early in the morning, when Shi Xiaochuan was sleeping in a daze, he heard a knock on the door. When he opened the door, it turned out that the patriarch led a young woman over with a wooden bag in her hand. As soon as they entered the house, the woman opened the suitcase, and it was full of breakfast, a plate of steamed buns, a crock pot of thick porridge, plus two plates of radish skins and pickled mustard. It was simple but delicious. Xiangnong, Shi Xiaochuan saw his appetite whetted, and he dragged Tianqiu to sit at the dining table.

Tian Qiu only ate a little of each item before putting down his chopsticks. He seemed to have a bad appetite. Shi Xiaochuan looked at him worriedly. Tian Qiu picked up a piece of radish and put it in Shi Xiaochuan's bowl, "Eat quickly, I I don't like to eat these."

That's right, Shi Xiaochuan thought of the roasted wild boar last night, Tianqiu didn't seem to be very interested in these rice and pasta, of course he could eat it, but he didn't like it, not to mention Tianqiu was originally a random temperament.

Waiting for Shi Xiaochuan to finish eating, Tianqiu asked the patriarch to follow him into the back room, Shi Xiaochuan thought about it, but still didn't follow him.

The matter between Tianqiu and Zhoujiacun has nothing to do with him in the final analysis. Originally following Tianqiu to Zhoujiacun, it attracted a lot of attention from the people of Zhoujiacun. Don't shy away, maybe a little suspicious.

He was walking on the bluestone road in the village. Although it is deep winter, the place deep in the mountains is not so cold. The vegetation is lush and lush, and early spring flowers are blooming in some corners, dotted in the thick green , very nice.

Shi Xiaochuan walked around like this, and after a while, he came to the edge of the village. He vaguely heard the depressing cry coming from the woods. Shi Xiaochuan looked around, hesitated, and then slowly I walked towards the place where the crying sound came from, and after walking for a few minutes, I saw a small figure sitting on a stone with his knees hugged, crying choked up, his shoulders shrugged, his thin body, It was as if it was going to be eaten by this forest.

With a "click", Shi Xiaochuan accidentally stepped on a branch, and the child quickly wiped away the tears on his face, pretending to be fierce and facing Shi Xiaochuan, "You, when did you get here?" here?"

Shi Xiaochuan looked at this child who was only seven or eight years old, staring at the red eyes still full of water vapor, and felt a little funny. He looked at the woods behind him and said deliberately, "I have been here for a long time, and I saw A cat is crying."

"You—" the child jumped up angrily, Shi Xiaochuan walked over, picked a clean place next to him, sat down, didn't speak, just stared at the woods in a daze, the child looked at Shi Xiaochuan in a daze Xiaochuan then lowered his head, not knowing why, and began to cry again, this time he was accompanied by someone, and he cried more and more happily, sobbing, with snot and tears, Shi Xiaochuan stuffed the tissue in his hand to This child, the child snatched it away, wiped away the snot and tears and continued to cry. I don't know how long he cried, probably because he was tired from crying, and finally stopped slowly.

At this time, Shi Xiaochuan seemed to suddenly remember, and asked him, "Why are you crying?"

The child lowered his head and said hoarsely, "I'm dying."

Shi Xiaochuan stretched out his hand and patted his head, "How could it be?"

"When my parents were talking, I overheard. Many children like me in the village have died." The child seemed to be feeling sad, and tears began to roll in his eyes again, "I can't bear my parents. "

Shi Xiaochuan thought for a while, then pulled up his sleeve, "Like this?" He showed the white scales on his arm to the child.

The child looked at him in surprise, "Why do you have it too?"

"Where did yours grow?" Shi Xiaochuan asked.

The child rolled up the hem of his clothes, and there was a large piece of scales on his protruding belly, "That's all, then you'll be fine, look at mine." Shi Xiaochuan simply took off his clothes, revealing The upper body, turned around, and then quickly put on the clothes again. It's such a cold day, it's not fun to be frozen.

"I'm not dead yet, you'll be fine. Besides, Tianqiu—isn't the 'holy ancestor' from your Zhoujia Village here? He must have a way to save you."

The child stared at him blankly, "You have a lot on you."

Shi Xiaochuan nodded, "Yeah, so, don't cry, I'm not afraid, what are you afraid of, just remember, manly man, don't shed tears when you bleed."

"Are you also the child of the holy ancestor?" The child stared at Shi Xiaochuan curiously.

"The child of the holy ancestor?" Shi Xiaochuan frowned and repeated his words.

"You have these things on your body. I overheard the patriarch saying that we are all the children of the ancestors. Some of us grow scales, and some don't. It's because we are like the ancestors. There used to be the ancestors. Don't be afraid of getting scales, later the ancestor disappeared, and those who grow scales are hopeless." The child finished speaking in one breath.

Shi Xiaochuan touched the scales on his hand thoughtfully. He had doubted that he might not be Zhou Ming's son, but he might have similar blood flowing on his body. Otherwise, how could he explain his appearance with Zhou Ming's father? So similar, not to mention the fact that Zhou Ming's ancestral wooden box can be opened with his blood.

He had doubts about these things, and now he saw the villagers in Zhoujia Village, he was relieved. Maybe Shi's father or Shi's mother were the descendants of the villagers who walked out of Zhoujia Village. I also completely forgot about my origins, and I regarded myself as an ordinary person, who gave birth to children and multiplied. From generation to generation, the blood gradually became thinner. When it came to Shi Xiaochuan's generation, there suddenly appeared a phenomenon of atavism.

Shi Xiaochuan felt that this inference might be the truth of the matter.

He has a very distant blood relationship with this village, so when he saw this child, he felt kind, not only because the child curled up and cried, and had his own shadow.

The two stayed in the woods for a long time until Tianqiu found them.

Shi Xiaochuan took the child by the hand and brought him back to the village, "Don't hide and cry anymore, everything will be fine."

The child nodded and ran back home.

They returned to the patriarch's house, Tianqiu told Shi Xiaochuan, pack up, they are going up the mountain.

Although life in Zhoujia Village must be much more convenient, but there are many people coming and going, it is not easy to calm down and practice, so Tianqiu decided to find his previous residence on the mountain, where it should be much quieter.

After making an appointment with the patriarch, carrying two bags on their backs, the two walked out of the village one after the other and walked deep into the forest.

This time, Tianqiu didn't hesitate, and buried his head in front to lead the way. Shi Xiaochuan followed behind empty-handed. Compared with physical strength, he was not Tianqiu's opponent at all, so he could only hand over all the luggage to him, and Tianqiu was alone. Carrying two bags, he walked in the dense forest with ease, and he could find a way to go where there was no way.

I don't know how long he walked, Shi Xiaochuan only felt that his legs seemed to be filled with lead, and they were too heavy to lift up. Just when he was about to call out to stop, Tianqiu finally stopped, and he stood there , Shi Xiaochuan lowered his head, followed him out of the woods in a dizzy state, stood beside him, looked up, and saw a cliff and chasm in front of him.

Tianqiu pointed to the cliff, "It's right below."

Standing on the edge of the cliff, Shi Xiaochuan might be hundreds of meters high. His vision turned black, and it was the first time he realized that he was afraid of heights. He unconsciously grabbed Tianqiu's arm, "Here, how do we get down here?" ?”

Tianqiu took out a nylon rope from his backpack, tied one end to a tree by the cliff, and threw the other end down the cliff, "I'll go down and have a look first, you stay here and watch."

In fact, Tianqiu didn't use this nylon rope at all, he could go down just by the vines growing on the cliff, but he was afraid that Shi Xiaochuan would be worried, so he tied a rope to comfort him. Shi Xiaochuan lay on the edge of the cliff, watching Watching Tianqiu dangling on the cliff, like a hummingbird, staying in the air, and then seeing him suddenly disappear on the cliff, Shi Xiaochuan pulled the rope nervously, and a voice came from the other end of the rope. With a slight tug, he relaxed a little.

After a while, Tianqiu climbed up again from below, "I found a place, there is a cave there." Tianqiu told Shi Xiaochuan.

Only then did Shi Xiaochuan know that Tianqiu lived on this cliff hundreds of years ago.

After a lot of effort, the two of them finally arrived at the cave safely. Shi Xiaochuan looked curiously at the place in front of him that no one had broken into for hundreds of years. Walking back and forth in the forked road, Shi Xiaochuan soon lost his way. After walking for more than ten minutes, they finally arrived at their destination.

Shi Xiaochuan looked at the small caves in front of him, and felt that there was an illusion of "there are no doubts and no way out, and there is another village under the dark willows and flowers".

This is a small stone cave, surrounded by several small holes, each of which has its own purpose, and there is a small pool in the middle of the big stone cave, surrounded by trees that can grow in such a dark environment. Plants such as certain mosses, ferns, etc.

Shi Xiaochuan followed Tianqiu to the largest small stone cave. After hundreds of years, the stone tables, chairs, stone beds, and even the stone bookshelves are still quietly placed here, without any change. , only the thick dust tells you that time has passed for a long time.

It's not damp at all, not only the stone furniture, but even the ground and walls have been polished, it can be seen that the owner is taking good care of his home.

Tianqiu didn't know what method he used to draw out the water from the small pool, and washed the room little by little. They only cleared out two small stone holes in total. At night, they finally cleaned everything up. Properly, Shi Xiaochuan lit a fire with the dry firewood brought back by Tianqiu, handled the hare he had caught, and slowly put it on the fire to roast. .

The two of them remained silent, and they didn't know how long it would take to avoid practicing. Shi Xiaochuan thought of it, and it seemed that it would be New Year's Eve in two days.

Tianqiu turned into a half-human, half-snake appearance. The snake body was soaked in the pool, but the upper body was lying on the stone next to it with eyes closed. He held the "Snake Book" in his hand, and Shi Xiaochuan looked at it. Go, I don’t know if this counts as cultivation.

He waited for a long time, Tianqiu was still motionless, and the hare on the fire was waiting for no one, so Shi Xiaochuan had no choice but to walk over. Before he got close, Tianqiu flicked his tail soaked in the pool, and the pool was lifted by him There was a wave, and the water "slapped" the stone wall.

Tianqiu looked at Shi Xiaochuan, slowly crawled out of the pool, and moved to the side of the fire.

Shi Xiaochuan handed him one of the roasted rabbits, and then began to chat with him, talking about meeting that child today, and of course mentioned his own speculation.

Tianqiu put down the roasted rabbit, and slowly approached, getting closer to Shi Xiaochuan.

Shi Xiaochuan was forced by his eyes, and slowly shrank back.

"No, you are not the child of the Snake King, you are mine—what you have is my blood." Tian Qiu said in a soft and soft voice, but unquestionable.