Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 460 Baoji
The fire was under the mountain forest and looked very far away, but in fact once it spread, it was impossible to escape with human feet.

Xue Bai held up his telescope and looked around. He saw three mountain peaks in the east, which were as clear as jade bamboo shoots. One side of the mountain was covered with huge rocks that were as flat as a knife or an axe. They stood thousands of meters tall and looked extraordinary.

He then asked a subordinate who was familiar with the area: "Can I board there?"

"Lang Jun, that is the main peak of Chencang Mountain, Yuanshi Tianzun Peak. You can go up there."

"go!"

The northwest side of Chencang Mountain is completely made of rocks, which cannot be burned by fire. To climb the mountain, you can only go around it from the back, which is also extremely steep. There are roads. According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Wen of Qin hunted a chicken here, which flew to the top of the mountain and turned into a stone chicken, so he built a temple to worship "Chen Bao".

Xue Bai led everyone on the road in a hurry, splitting the thorns on the road with knives and axes, and finally saw the trail up Chencang Mountain. It was said to be a trail, because few people usually walked on it, and both sides of the road had been occupied by vegetation. Many places were even completely covered. Break.

"It's overheated!"

The fire had already caught up behind them, the heat wave was coming, and the smoke was filling the air. The only good thing was that the wind was blocked by Chencang Mountain like a wall, and the fire dragon slowed down its attack speed and wrapped around both sides of the mountain.

"Cough cough cough..."

"There's no way!"

The people who survived were not safe. The forest below had been completely ignited. The fire was salivating at them, spitting out a greedy tongue of fire at them from time to time.

"Mr. Lang, let's go quickly. There is Lingguan Pond in front of us."

Two piles of green logs are nailed to this side of the bridge, and a small bridge made of rattan wood is tied to the iron eaves with faucet heads as thick as teacups. On the cliff on the other side, the bridge head is tied to a large tree that grows outward and is rooted inside the rock. Because the soil layer is not thick enough, the roots of the Qiu Pan are exposed, like an iron plow hanging on the rock.

"Okay... okay." Li Longji took a few breaths, patted Xue Bai's waist, and encouraged him: "Good saint grandson."

The smoke had already drifted over, and everyone had no time to rest and continued climbing upwards.

Pass through the sword to split the stone, and ahead is the King of Hell Bian.

There was no movement in the nunnery at this time. I don't know if it was deserted or the nuns inside saw the fire and ran away.

Xue Bai then turned around, supported Li Longji, and led him up this dangerous passage.

Although Xue Bai's tone was calm, his eyes showed some sadness. After counting the number of people, there were only six people left. He took out a pen and paper and wrote down the names of the deceased so that he could pay for them when he returned.

Xue Bai then looked at the man who was acting as a guide.

When they got closer, they discovered that the stone wall was cracked in the middle, revealing a stone crack, which was no more than half a step wide, allowing only one person to pass through. It was indeed like a sword chopping it out.

On the other hand, there was a belt dropped at the entrance of the nunnery, shining with jade light, like an official's belt. I wonder how there could be such an object in the nunnery?

After walking a little further, we reached between two giant peaks again.

When he was at a loss, Xue Bai grabbed the sole of her foot with one hand and sent her forward and out of the hole.

"The Qinling Mountains are much higher than the Guanzhong Plain."

They didn't care to take a closer look, and hurriedly soaked their clothes in Lingguan Pond, wrapped their mouths and noses with wet cloths, and continued to avoid the fire.

On the contrary, it was Li Longji, who was skilled in bow and horse when he was young, but now he is old and weak. He lost his strength halfway up the climb. His foot slipped and he was hanging there.

Seeing his vision suddenly brighten up, Yang Yuhuan turned over and sat up, patting his chest and feeling shocked. He finally knew why this place was called "King of Hell", and thought that he had really been a white snake.

Squeezing into the sword and splitting the rocks, there was water dripping on the head. It was the snow on the mountain that melted and flowed down the cracks. It is also because the water flows all year round, and the stones in the sword split stone are not sharp and will not cut them.

"How could it take so long? Have we climbed this high?"

Ahead is another huge rock, like a copper wall and an iron wall.

"There is a road, it is a sword splitting stones."

Ahead is a thousand-foot cliff, below is a cliff of ten thousand feet, and only a small bridge is swaying over the deep stream.

After running for more than thirty steps, there was a gap in front. Two peaks stood upright, sandwiching a steep and straight mountain road, with a rusty iron rope hanging on it. After passing through the gap, there is an old wooden sign next to it. The inscription on it is barely legible: "Three peaks are as sharp as a chip. Those who want to climb to the top must use iron ropes to climb up."

Suddenly, a scream rang out, which lasted for a long time until it gradually became inaudible. Someone had dropped the Bianstone of the King of Hell.

Gao Lishi is old and still needs help from others, so he can only worry at the bottom.

"what!"

It is a stone cave on another cliff, shaped like a tiger's mouth. Because the height of the cave entrance is limited, people cannot walk through it and can only crawl on their stomachs, moving like a snake, so this place is also called "Snake Passage".

Xue Baiben was worried that Yang Yuhuan was too weak to climb up, so he asked her to go up first and followed behind. Fortunately, Yang Yuhuan has been practicing dancing for a long time and has flexible skills. Recently, she has become much lighter.

She was so frightened that her face turned pale.

After climbing in, I found that the inside was not flat, with a sloping slope. What was even more shocking was that after turning the corner, you could see the cliff below it. If you couldn't climb anymore and slid down, you would be buried in the abyss.

"what!"

This is a natural mineral spring, clear and cool. There is a stone kiln not far from the pool. It was built with stone and wood into a temple. On the temple, the three words "Gu Gu'an" are written crookedly.

It should drink water here in the summer and hibernate here in the winter. Today, it was disturbed by the fire and woke up early. Unfortunately, it quickly slipped over the rocks and disappeared, refusing to lead them to escape.

But I don’t know if I will be cooked by the mountain fire if I hide here.

Yang Yuhuan suddenly screamed and stopped. Xue Bai bumped into her, and when he looked up, he saw a huge black python wriggling above the stone wall, which was extremely terrifying.

"His Majesty!"

Yang Yuhuan crawled for a while, his arms were sore, but the cave was too low and he couldn't even lift his butt. When the slope ahead became steeper, she caught a piece of wet moss in her hand. She couldn't use her strength and her body began to fall.

By noon, as flames began to break out below, they finally spotted a small pool.

"Is there any other way?" Yang Yuhuan asked softly.

"No, this is the only bridge leading to Yuanshi Tianzun Peak. It's called the 'Black Tiger Bridge', also called the 'Naihe Bridge'."

"Why is it called 'Naihe Bridge'?"

There is no need to answer this question. The warrior pointed to the opposite side and said: "There is the Jade Emperor Cave over there. After passing through the cave, the mountain road is easier to walk. There is no vegetation below, so the fire must not be able to burn here. Well, the stone at the entrance of the cave is very Looks like a general, right? It's called 'General Stone', like the general stationed at Nantianmen..."

While talking, Li Longji had already crossed the bridge first.

"Wang Liugen, Tang Laosi, follow up."

Then two people quickly followed and guarded Li Longji.

The wind blew the vine bridge and swayed, which looked very scary.

Although Gao Lishi's surname was Gao, he was very afraid of heights. He pushed himself all the way here, and finally felt that his legs were weak. He sat down holding on to the stone wall behind him and said: "As long as the saint is fine, this old slave can only be sent here."

"General Gao." Xue Bai helped him up and said, "Just close your eyes and get through it."

In this situation, encouragement is useful. Gao Lishi stood up, took a few deep breaths, and said, "I'll be the last one."

"it is good."

Xue Bai then asked Yang Yuhuan to go first.

Li Longji had already walked tremblingly to the other side, supported the big tree and got off the bridge, crawling towards the Jade Emperor's Cave. As an emperor, he seemed to have returned to the throne of the Jade Emperor.

One of the two people following him had already got off the bridge and followed him; the other got off the bridge and grabbed the swaying vine bridge so that Yang Yuhuan could come over and shouted: "Tang Laosi, you follow. saint."

"know."

Because of Li Longji's words of "good saint grandson" and his attitude of passing the throne to Li Cong, everyone really supported each other along the way.

At this moment, a figure suddenly emerged from the Jade Emperor's Cave and pushed Tang Laosi.

"what!"

The huge man immediately fell off the cliff.

Even Li Longji was shocked at this time. He turned around and saw a familiar figure.

"Yang Guozhong?"

The man who came out was really Yang Guozhong, with disheveled hair.

It turned out that he had been resting in the nunnery before, and when he saw the fire, he also fled up the mountain, one step ahead of them.

"Your Majesty! Hurry!"

Without saying a word, Yang Guozhong held a dagger and immediately pounced on Wang Liugen, who was still holding the bridge. The dagger struck hard.

"puff."

Although Wang Liugen was suddenly attacked, he still grabbed Yang Guozhong's hand with his backhand, roared, and wanted to throw Yang Guozhong off the cliff.

He was very strong, and when he exerted force, the muscles in his arms seemed to burst his clothes. But Yang Guozhong was also tall and stocky. He was holding the tree root tightly with one hand and desperately twisting the dagger in his hand with the other.

Blood continued to flow from Wang Liugen's wound and dripped towards the cliff, which caused his strength to begin to drain away.

At the other end of the bridge, Xue Bai was blocked by Yang Yuhuan and wanted to squeeze past her to the front, but the bridge was too narrow. She held on to both sides with both hands and refused to let go, so he couldn't squeeze through.

"Yang Guozhong! There is no second way down the mountain over there!"

Yang Guozhong's face was red, and he was afraid that Wang Liugen would throw him down, so he yelled: "Your Majesty!"

Li Longji just took a steady breath, looked at this scene, leaned over and picked up a piece of gravel.

"There is only one person in Yang Guozhong!" Xue Bai shouted: "There is only one way to climb this mountain. Your Majesty still doesn't order him to stop?!"

This threat made Li Longji hesitate for a moment.

"Sage, don't believe him." Yang Guozhong said, "The old nun said there is another way down the mountain. I will take you to Shu County."

Li Longji then looked at Wang Liugen.

"saint?"

Wang Liugen, a common man, never thought that he would be able to look into the eyes of a saint in his lifetime. He was startled and said: "Yang Guozhong is a traitor..."

Before he finished speaking, the stone in Li Longji's hand hit him hard on the forehead, causing his head to bleed.

"Oh!"

"saint?!"

Li Longji didn't seem to hear this call full of expectations. For him, what he saw in front of him was just a pariah and a traitor. All living beings are like ants under his feet. How can people hear the sound of ants?
Another big stone was lifted up.

Wang Liugen's eyes widened, and he was still in a daze as he watched the saint holding up rocks with both hands and throwing them at him.

Although he wanted to follow Lang Jun to force the palace to rebel and launch a coup, in his eyes, it was nothing more than asking the old and confused saint to abdicate and become the supreme emperor, not to mention that the saint had already agreed...

"Oh!"

"Li Longji!" Xue Bai was furious and shouted: "How dare you?!"

Wang Liugen had no strength left. He let go of his hand and fell into the abyss.

Only the roaring echo was left on the cliff.

"Li Longji! Li Longji! Li Longji..."

Li Longji swayed, held on to the rock wall, and shouted: "Broken bridge."

Yang Guozhong quickly leaned over and began to cut the weakest point of the vine bridge.

Li Longji originally just gave orders, but when he saw that Xue Bai had taken one of Yang Yuhuan's hands and was about to go around in front of her to cross the bridge, he quickly picked up a sharp stone and stepped forward to help Yang Guozhong cut the bridge.

"Saburo!"

A tender cry came over, and he turned around to see Yang Yuhuan standing on the bridge, pitifully begging him for mercy.

The wind was blowing, her clothes were fluttering, and she stood in the sky. She really matched the fairy in the colorful feathers, and she was so beautiful.

He had let her hang herself before because he had no choice but to cut the rope now, but he was making a desperate effort not to abdicate. Even if he fights to the death, why should he spare a woman?

With just one glance, Li Longji quickly lowered his head to cut the vine rope.

"Brother?" Yang Yuhuan shouted: "Brother, please stop!"

"Stop? How could I stop?!" Yang Guozhong kept moving his hands and smiled crazily: "I've climbed so high. If I let go, I will fall down and be shattered to pieces!"

Looking at his excited look, it seemed as if Xue Bai had fallen to death and no one could stop him and the saint from continuing to climb up.

They have to keep climbing, the farther away from all living beings, the higher and nobler they become.

They want to go to heaven.

One side of the vine bridge was broken, and it was shaking more and more. Yang Yuhuan was so frightened that he hugged Xue Bai tightly and refused to let him pass. He cried and begged: "Go back...go back...please..." This After a delay, Xue Bai obviously could not reach the other side and could only retreat.

"Walk."

"Quick!" Yang Guozhong became more and more excited and shouted: "Throw Xue Bai to death!"

His whole body was exerting force, and his back was rocking back and forth, like a wild boar trying its best to climb a tree.

Finally, there was a "click" and the bridge broke.

"what!"

Yang Yuhuan screamed, holding on to the bridge rope tightly, and was smashed against the cliff by it.

Her delicate hands could not grasp the thick vines and slid downwards.

But when she thought she was certain to die again, Xue Bai grabbed her wrist.

Their eyes met, and she could no longer tell how many times he had rescued her. She could only feel that his arms were so strong, and he stopped her falling with a strong lift.

"Xue Bai!"

On the other side, Li Longji turned around and shouted in an emperor's domineering tone: "Let go of my Taizhen!"

Xue Bai didn't bother to respond, the sweat on his forehead rolled down and dripped on Yang Yuhuan's face.

"I'll tell you again, I'm right!"

Li Longji took back the promise he made to Xue Bai before dawn, raised his fingers to the sky, and made a sound like thunder.

"I started the Yuan Dynasty and established the world. I corrected laws and punishments, established rites, music, laws and rituals, swept away evil spirits, and created peace. How prosperous the culture and governance are! My martial arts are the same as those of Hua and Rong, Xibo competes with Yuguan, and Beidi competes with Yansai. The barbarians worship Danqi, and before they sing songs and fight, such a saint can be wrong!

His voice echoed in the deep stream, as if it could be heard all over the world.

"I have long seen that Li Ying has heresy in his heart. In the Wei Jian case and the Du Youlin case, I did not wrong Li Heng. Did you see it? He really turned against me! And you, you are not my grandson. You are pretending to be. You have evil intentions. Transgression deserves death!"

Li Longji rubbed his face, rubbed the tiredness off his face with his palms, and cheered up again.

"I will go to Shu County, work hard to govern, and recreate a prosperous world. As for you, you are just a bad example like Empress Wei and Taiping. If you eliminate them, you are not worth mentioning..."

After he finished speaking, Xue Bai was still hanging on the broken bridge pitifully.

The fire at the bottom of the mountain is getting bigger and bigger, and it has a tendency to burn here.

"Sage, let's go." Yang Guozhong whispered, "Whether he is smoked to death or falls into the hands of King Zhong, he will not survive."

Li Longji quickly passed through the Jade Emperor Cave and patted the general stone as if to tell it to guard the Nantian Gate.

~~
The wind was so strong that Yang Yuhuan's wrist was already painful from Xue Bai's stranglehold.

She was thinking, if she was still going to be caught by Li Heng in the end, maybe it would be more pleasant to fall off the cliff and die?

But Xue Bai still pulled her onto solid ground.

His body is as solid and reliable as the earth.

The flames suddenly burst into flames.

Smoke began to fill the air.

"Mr. Lang, I'm afraid it's not safe here yet. You have to keep climbing up."

"Is there any other way to get over the cliff?"

"No more, there is only this bridge."

"How was the bridge built?" Xue Bai asked.

A thin warrior immediately stepped out from the crowd and said, "Mr. Lang, I have a way."

This man's name was Feng Liu, and he was from the Fengshi town in Yanshi. He was from the same hometown as Tang Seng, but he was as active as Sun Wukong. He loved to hear the book "Journey to the West" written by the scholar the most.

He was good at climbing. After thinking about it, he pulled up a rattan rope as a protective rope on the edge of the rattan bridge. Everyone saw that he was struggling and stepped forward to help.

"I'll take off this rattan rope, tie it around my waist, swing it to the other side, and then climb up again."

It sounds very simple, there are only three steps, but when everyone looked around, they saw that he was pointing to a protruding bush under the cliff opposite, and they were speechless for a moment.

Gan Liu said again: "When I go over and tie the rattan rope, you can hang on it and slide over."

Everyone became even more silent.

Gao Lishi even closed his eyes, he would never pass.

Gradually, the fire blackened the General's Stone on the other side, and the stone standing here turned black from then on...

~~
"Sage, this is the 'heart-returning stone'. Climb up from here and you will reach Hunyuan Peak, the highest point of the East Peak. Once there, you can safely escape the fire."

"How to get to Shu County?"

"I stayed at the aunt's nunnery below last night and asked the old nun. After climbing from Hunyuan Peak to Yuanshi Tianzun Peak, there is an iron temple on the top. There is food in the iron temple, and you can rest for the night. And Yuanshi Tianzun Peak is located at the top of the mountain. There is a thrilling place in the north called 'Kite Turning Over', where you have to grab an iron rope and climb to the west peak of Yaowang Mountain."

"A kite turns over? How can I get over it?"

Holding only an iron rope and crossing the deep cliff like a kite, Li Longji felt despair after hearing this, and finally regretted not returning to Chang'an with Xue Bai first.

Maybe it would be easier to get out of Chang'an through power tactics.

"Yang Qing, do you have anything to eat?"

"Have."

Yang Guozhong took out a hard piece of Hu cake from his arms, looked at Li Longji's mouth, and was surprised that the saint had lost several teeth overnight.

He even brought a water bag, but it was already empty.

"There is spring water over there. I will fetch some for the saint. The saint can go to the front to rest. There is a stone bed there with a stone cliff covering it. I just lay there..."

"Thanks to Yang Qing's carefulness, I will be richly rewarded when we get to Shu County."

"I only wish the saint peace."

Yang Guozhong held the water bag and went to fetch water. Chencang Mountain was rich in water resources, and there was a Black Tiger Pond not far away.

He squatted by the pool and looked down the mountain. In the distance, he could see the Wei River flowing in the Guanzhong Plain.

It was already dusk, and there were blazing fires all around, but they were all under his feet.

Yang Guozhong felt that this scene was very similar to the situation he faced in the court. After climbing high enough, he was also roasted on the fire. Then, only climbing higher can solve the problem.

Suddenly, there were footsteps behind him.

Yang Guozhong jumped up like a frightened antelope and exclaimed: "How did you get here?!"

"Take it!"

"Go away!"

Yang Guozhong threw out the water bag, turned around and ran away. However, the mountain road was steep and the front suddenly narrowed, becoming a plank road running along the cliff.

As soon as he set foot on the plank road, a lot of sand and gravel fell down. The plank road was used by the emperors in the past when they offered sacrifices to heaven. Not only was it in disrepair, but it was not as broad as Yang Guozhong's shoulders. He was almost frightened and his body He shook and stopped.

"Keep running."

Xue Bai caught up slowly, with some scratches on his face and body, and a bruise on his forehead.

"You killed two of my men. If you don't dare to run away, I will use your head as a sacrifice to them... Run away!"

After speaking, Xue Bai suddenly cursed.

Yang Guozhong was so frightened that he almost fell. He took a step back and was about to walk onto the plank road. He hesitated, but still took it back.

After a second thought, he finally fell to his knees and cried bitterly.

"Abai, we are sworn brothers!"

Xue Bai waved his hand and asked the two men to go over and tie up Yang Guozhong.

"Abai, don't be like this. Do you remember that we have been drinking in Nanqu? How many times have I informed you, how many times have we lived and died together, how many sincere reminders... Noble Concubine, I am your brother... Please forgive me."

"Stop howling. Where is Li Longji?"

"The saint is over there on the stone bed."

Gao Lishi ran over again, only to see crumbs of Hu cakes and a tooth scattered on the stone bed.

They searched the area carefully and did not see Li Longji. It seemed that he climbed to the top of the mountain alone on the plank road.

It was already dark at this time, and the firelight at the bottom of the mountain was not enough to illuminate the shadows of the plank road. It was very dangerous to walk in the dark.

Fortunately, Li Longji couldn't escape in such a situation. It was so dark that he could only stop after crossing the plank road. If he hadn't crossed the plank road yet, he might have to wait there all night.

Yang Guozhong refused to shut up, and took the opportunity to beg Xue Bai for mercy, saying: "A Bai, listen to me, I am useful. Shall I take the saint back to Chang'an with you? I am the prime minister, and most of the officials in the court are My men can help you defend the city."

"Shut up."

"Oh, did you know? The saint has issued a decree to summon Chang Qing to lead the army of Anxi as King of Qin." Yang Guozhong gave out a useful piece of news.

"Feng Changqing? Where are you?"

"It's almost time to reach Hexi..."

Because there was still a fire burning under the mountain peak, it was not cold at night. Xue Bai tortured Yang Guozhong for a long time, and then fell asleep on the stone bed.

He was running around for days, and no matter how alert he was when he fell asleep, he would inevitably fall into a deep sleep.

In his dream, he vaguely felt someone pillowing his arm. Later, the sound of drums came from the bottom of the mountain, waking him up. When I woke up, my arms were still a little numb, but I saw no one and only smelled a faint aroma.

It's still dark, it's time for the fourth watch.

Xue Bai stood up and saw Yang Yuhuan sitting on the edge of the cliff with her arms folded in a daze. She heard the noise, looked back, her eyes blurred with tears in the moonlight.

He sighed and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"The Tang Dynasty."

Xue Bai sat over, looked at the scene of mountain fire, and murmured: "Let it rain."

"They say I'm a disaster. You can save me for a while, but you can't save me for the rest of my life."

"Speak of disaster. The emperor indulges in pleasure. If there is no Yang Yuhuan, there will be Li Yuhuan." Xue Bai said, "I can't save you in this life, but as long as I can save the Tang Dynasty, who will remember to kill you."

"You pronounce my name?"

"She's not a royal concubine anymore."

Yang Yuhuan was stunned and felt a little relaxed.

suddenly.

"Oh oh oh-"

A loud cockcrow woke everyone up, the sound was loud and clear.

Xue Bai was a little surprised and asked the guide: "Are there chickens on such a steep mountain?"

Gan Liu was also very surprised and said: "It doesn't sound like a pheasant to me, it sounds like a domesticated chicken. Are there people raising chickens on the mountain?"

"How can anyone raise chickens on the mountain and still be able to croak like that... The only one is the stone chicken that Duke Wen of Qin presented on the top of the mountain."

Everyone found it funny after hearing such remarks.

At dawn, they carefully crossed the plank road, climbed to Hunyuan Peak, and then detoured back to Yuanshi Tianzun Peak. As expected, they saw the stone chicken still standing on the top of the mountain, looking out at Guanzhong after thousands of years.

But Li Longji was not seen.

"Look! What is that?"

Everyone went over to take a look and saw a row of blood characters with flying dragons and phoenixes written on the wall of the iron temple in front of them.

"The treasure land of Chencang is home to the mountain bird and the sacred rooster; the crow of the stone rooster is a sign of auspiciousness; help me to avoid disaster, and God bless the Tang Dynasty."

(End of this chapter)