White Bone Monkey King

Fifty miles away from the capital, there is an unknown mountain.

Zhang Gao is a hard-working charcoal seller. His livelihood is to burn charcoal and sell it to wealthy families in the capital. Winter is coming soon, and those wealthy families have begun to stockpile charcoal for the winter, so the price of charcoal is also changing day by day. .

Today Zhang Gao got up early again and went into the mountains to chop wood for charcoal burning.

However, as the price of charcoal increased, more and more people went into the mountains to cut firewood, and the forest trees were gradually cut down, leaving only sparse crooked-neck shrubs.

Charcoal is also divided into colors. Charcoal that has a pungent smell and is not resistant to burning cannot be sold for much money, so most of them are kept at home for winter use.

Only the best charcoal that is soft, dark in color, and has less smoke and less irritation can be sold at a high price.

The highest quality is smokeless charcoal, which is the best.

In order to make better-quality charcoal and sell it to the truly wealthy nobles who spend a lot of money, Zhang Gao decided to stay away from the crowd today and go deep into the jungle to find good wood.

His family has been selling carbon for generations and knows how to find good raw materials.

The weather in autumn was unpredictable, and a sudden strong wind made him unstable. He and the newly chopped firewood fell down the hillside, and he fell unconscious.

When he woke up from the coma, he found many abrasions on his body and pain all over his body. Fortunately, the firewood he chopped today was still there. Thanks to the dry firewood on his back as a buffer, there were only a few skin abrasions on his body, which was not serious. .

But the joy of regaining it quickly disappeared from his face.

Zhang Gao found that he didn't know how deep he had rolled down the hillside. When he looked up, he saw dense bushes, like dark clouds covering the sky. The surrounding environment was gloomy, and the dense forests were overgrown with weeds. This was the depths of the wilderness where there were no traces of people.

The biggest taboo in the mountains is getting lost.

Sweat dripped from Zhang Gao's forehead, which caused excruciating pain to the wounds, but he could no longer care about the flesh wounds. As a mountaineer who relied on the mountains to survive all year round, he was well aware of the dangers of spending the night alone in the wilderness.

Although he was panicking inside, Zhang Gao was mature and calm. He chopped down a tree with a hatchet, distinguished the north and south directions based on the width and width of the annual rings, and then walked out of the mountain.

It's just that a person is driving very slowly in the wilderness. While he has to pay attention to snakes, ants and wild beasts in the mountains, he has to keep waving a hatchet to clear the way. This consumes a lot of energy and physical strength for a person. Before long, Zhang Gao Panting from exhaustion.

But the strong sense of crisis prevented him from stopping to rest.

The environment in the mountains is already darker than the outside world, so it gets dark earlier than outside. At this time, the view in the mountains has become very poor, and the sounds of wild beasts are gradually increasing. Zhang Gao knows very well that there is not much time left for him, and it will be dark soon. blacken.

He no longer hopes that he will be able to walk out of the mountains today. He only hopes to find a cave for him to spend the night, and then find a way to get out of the mountains tomorrow.

Just as the sky was getting darker and darker, and Zhang Gao was getting more and more anxious, suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a faint fire in the corner of his eye.

When he came to his senses and looked again, the faint fire was gone.

Is it my imagination... Zhang Gao gritted his teeth, put down the dry firewood, climbed up a big tree with skillful movements, and took advantage of the terrain to observe. He was immediately happy to see that there was indeed a family in the forest in the distance.

He was like a drowning man who suddenly grasped the life-saving straw, ignoring why there were people in the deep mountains. He only thought about finding a place to stay for the night before it got completely dark.

The old forest in the deep mountains was overgrown with thorns and old vines. Zhang Gao couldn't remember how many times he fell, but he finally reached the place where the fire he had seen before was completely dark.

Ancient vines cover the sky, old crows chirp, and the old temple is isolated on the barren mountain. What kind of house is this? This is an old temple in the mountains. The walls of the old temple are covered with vines. The two wooden doors are cracked and faded. The paint on the temple door has long been indistinguishable. The color makes it impossible to tell whether this is a Buddhist temple, a land temple, or a temple dedicated to other gods...

As the old saying goes, one person should not enter the temple, two people should not look at the well, and three people should not hug the tree. Zhang Gao swallowed dryly and found that he could no longer secrete saliva because of thirst...

The wide gap in the old wooden door that did not close tightly could not withstand the bright lights in the temple. The light of this light was like a delicacy in the world, constantly tempting Zhang Gao to open the door and see what was inside.

Being hungry, cold and completely dark, Zhang Gao did not hesitate for too long. He gritted his teeth and climbed up the steps, then carefully lay down behind the crack of the wide door and looked inside.

The temple is not big, and you can go directly to the main hall through the crack of the door. The lights and candlelight come from the main hall.

The main hall was open and the candlelight was dancing. Maybe it was because of the angle, but Zhang Gao still couldn't see what gods were enshrined in this temple.

The harder it was to see clearly, the more people's hearts, driven by curiosity, wanted to see clearly. Even Zhang Gao himself didn't notice that his body's center of gravity was shifting to the temple door. The temple door was suddenly pushed open hard, and Zhang Gao Gao lost his center of gravity and rolled into the temple.

Zhang Gao screamed in pain and looked behind him in panic and confusion. Just now, he felt as if someone had pushed him hard from behind, but when he turned around, he saw nothing. Outside the temple door was darkness beyond his reach.

"Does...does anyone have a family..."

"I...I am...Zhang Gao from Zhangjia Village at the foot of the mountain. Because...I lost my footing and fell down the hillside...I want...to borrow...to stay...at...the temple for one night..."

After Zhang Gao got up nervously, he spoke stumblingly.

However, the temple was empty and silent, with only the candlelight flickering on and off, which seemed to reflect Zhang Gao's nervous state at this moment.

"Is there anyone..."

"Excuse me, does anyone have a family..."

"I...I want to stay overnight..."

No one responded in the main hall.

Zhang Gao looked back at the completely dark forest behind him. He really didn't have the courage to stay alone in the dark forest with tigers and leopards looking around. Finally, he bravely approached the main hall cautiously.

The yard was more desolate than he imagined. It was full of fallen leaves and weeds. A few mossy old tree roots from unknown sources were breaking through the bricks and stones. The ground was bulging, and Zhang Gao almost tripped.

When Zhang Gao stumbled to the outside of the main hall, he shouted several times nervously, but still no one answered.

"If...if it is inconvenient for the host...I will only stay in the courtyard for one...one night...I will not enter the temple to disturb the peace of the temple..." Zhang Gao was timid and in the end did not have the courage to step into the main hall.

Zhang Gao was tired and cold. For some reason, as soon as he entered the mountain temple, his eyelids felt like they were filled with lead and he couldn't open them. He felt very sleepy.

Even Zhang Gao didn't know why he fell asleep. He had a nightmare, dreaming that there were countless pairs of eyes staring at him in the hall behind him...

Just as he dreamed about his eyes, Zhang Gao woke up instantly!

Zhang Gao stretched out his hand and touched his back. The clothes on his back were wet. He was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat in the cold autumn mountains, and he suddenly lost all sleep.

Just at this moment, outside this old temple in the mountains, there was a strange sound of dead branches being trampled. Zhang Gao suddenly jumped up in fright, with chills all over his body, and his eyes revealed panic and fear.

The candlelight outside the temple gate was blocked, and someone stood motionless outside the temple gate.

squeak——

As the temple door opened from the outside, the thin-cheeked bone shrinker walked into the temple. He seemed to have known that Zhang Gao would appear in the temple for a long time. When he saw Zhang Gao, he was not surprised at all and said: "You have never been late. Why are you late today? Did you encounter any accident on the way? The real owner of this temple."

Zhang Gao had a confused expression on his face.