Wang Gu'an thought that if he touched the stones during the day, he could start from Ji Chenru's side and go upstream to the covered bridge. So tonight he chose to go further upstream than the place where he first entered the water, so he would be far away from the covered bridge and the green stone cliff called Qingniubei in the local dialect, which was the place where Wang Gu'an first saw the girl in green. He also missed the meeting with Ye Dan and the supervisor.
On the other side of the covered bridge, a plaque with the four characters "Feng Sheng Shui Qi" was hung high.
The man in the white robe and jade belt was nominally the supervisor of the dragon kiln, but in fact he was the most powerful vassal king of Dali. Under his leadership, Ye Dan came to the bottom of the steps of the covered bridge. Before coming, he not only bathed and changed clothes in the official office, but also wore a sachet and a dragon-shaped jade pendant of ordinary material, which was dull in color and inconspicuous. On the contrary, the old dragon rain jade pendant, which was more outstanding in terms of texture, appearance and meaning, was forced to be taken off by the man and was absolutely not allowed to be worn.
Ye Dan held three incense sticks in his hand, and the boy stood at the bottom of the steps, at a loss.
Ye Jingchan, the prince of Dali, turned around, stretched out his hand, and gently twisted the tops of the three incense sticks with two fingers, and the incense was lit.
The man said casually: "After kneeling down, face the plaque, kowtow three times, and stick the incense on the ground, and it's done."
Although Ye Dan was full of doubts, he still knelt down and kowtowed three times with the incense in his hand as the "uncle" who came down from the sky said.
Although the man said it lightly, after the boy knelt down, his face was solemn and complicated. Looking at the ground where the boy kowtowed, he revealed a deep hatred.
After inserting three incense sticks into the ground and getting up, Ye Dan asked, "Is it okay to burn incense here?"
The man smiled and said, "It's just a ceremony. Don't take it too seriously. From now on, learn to act according to the situation, otherwise you may be too busy in the future."
The man put away his smile, "But don't forget that this covered bridge is your... Dragon's Rise Place."
Ye Dan's lips were black and blue, and he didn't know if it was frostbitten by the late spring cold. The young man pretended to be relaxed and said, "These four words should not be used casually, right?"
The man patted his stomach with one hand and held the white jade belt around his waist with the other hand. He laughed and said, "It's natural to be like this in the capital, but it's okay here. There are no temple dogs or wild dogs. No one will catch me and bite me."
Ye Dan asked curiously, "Are you also afraid of being criticized?"
The man asked back: "I have fought all over the mountains and hills in the Dali Dynasty and have no rivals. If I have nothing to fear, wouldn't it be more comfortable than the man sitting on the dragon throne? Boy, do you think this is reasonable?"
Ye Dan thought about it for a while, hesitated, and still made up his mind to ask: "Are you hiding your strength and biding your time? Or are you keeping the enemy at bay?"
The man laughed dumbly, pointed at the sharp-edged young man, shook his head and said: "You dare to say these rebellious words, you don't know the importance of the matter. In the future, whether you go to the capital, you should go to a fairy mansion on the mountain to avoid the limelight. I advise you not to be so reckless, otherwise you will definitely be in big trouble."
Ye Dan nodded and said: "I remember."
The man pointed to the golden plaque, "Wind and water, wind and water, I ask you, water, how to rise?"
Ye Dan said straightforwardly: "I don't know."
The man muttered, "Knowing what you know and not knowing what you don't know is knowledge. What a bullshit, scholars are so cunning that they have to fart in many twists and turns."
However, facing the young man, the man had to be a little more elegant, "If I remember correctly, in the past three thousand years, no matter how big the flood in your town was, the highest water level of this stream has never been higher than the tip of the rusty sword."
Ye Dan asked in confusion, "The old man who lives over the Iron Lock Well in Xinghua Lane often tells us this under the locust tree. Is there really a mystery in this?"
The man pointed to the far distance, which was the exit of the stream from the mountains, and smiled, "Snakes have their own paths in the mountains and forests, and rats have their own paths in the houses. As for the rivers and streams, dragons have their own paths."
The man retracted his finger and patiently explained, "In many other places in the Dali Dynasty, there are actually many customs of hanging swords under bridges, but those copper coin swords, peach wood swords or talisman swords can often stop mountain dragons and forest pythons from entering the river once, but they can never stop them a second time. Even many people who hang magic swords are shallow in Taoism, and they can't withstand the power of the river once, but instead anger the dragons in the flood. Therefore, after the flood, the bridge that could have been saved collapsed, and the sword disappeared. Only this sword here..."
The man said halfway and fell silent.
Ye Dan had been holding back and didn't ask any more questions.
The man sighed and said, "Only this sword, from the first day it was hung under the bridge, was not used to target any dragons entering the river, but was used by the saint to suppress the exit of the Dragon Locking Well. The so-called exit is the deep pool under the bridge to prevent the dragon's qi from overflowing and dissipating too quickly, so as not to force this small world to break. "
Ye Dan asked pointedly: "Is the last real dragon in the world dead?"
Ye Jingchan smiled and said: "In the dragon-slaying battle three thousand years ago, countless Qi-refining masters died, and even the saints of the three religions and the masters of hundreds of schools also fell. Do you think that all of them are stupid, or that the saints have lived like dogs at such an old age? They deliberately kept the last real dragon and raised it like a common flower, bird, fish and insect?"
Ye Dan retorted: "Maybe it is impossible to kill the real dragon completely? We can only use delaying tactics and cannibalism. Although I don't know the original intention and plan of the saint thousands of years ago, I guess that the real dragon is definitely not simple!"
After shaking his head, the man nodded, "You are half right, the real dragon is undoubtedly dead, as for its true identity and symbolic meaning, the three words "not simple" can definitely not bear it. "
Ye Dan hesitated to speak.
"In short, all the planning and countless efforts of Dali are just for the sake of 'making a fortune' and for the future cause of going south."
The man took the lead to walk up the steps and said slowly: "If you ask me why the saints wanted to kill the dragon for three thousand years, I can't answer you. But if you ask why you were left here and why you are the noble prince of Dali, I can tell you the truth in detail."
Ye Dan lowered his head and couldn't see his expression clearly.
The young man didn't ask, so the man naturally didn't take it for granted. When he reached the top of the steps, he turned to face the town, "Be more generous in the future. You don't think it's cheap to fight with Ji Chenru and others, and even have the intention to kill them?"
Ye Dan sat at the top of the steps, looking to the north with the man, and asked a completely unrelated question, "Is our Dali at the northernmost tip of Dongbaopingzhou? "
The man nodded and said, "Well, we have been regarded as northern barbarians for nearly a thousand years. Now we have won a little respect because of our strong fists."
Ye Dan still lowered his head, but his eyes were burning.
The man named Ye Jingchan said calmly, "When you arrive in the capital, be careful of a man nicknamed "Embroidered Tiger."
Ye Dan was confused.
Ye Jingchan smiled and said, "He is now our Dali National Master, and he is also the teacher of your brother. Dali has been able to expand its territory from 70 counties and 800 cities to 140 counties and 1,500 cities in the past 50 years. This man has half the credit. "
Ye Dan suddenly looked up.
The man smiled, "Boy, you guessed right. "
The man also sat on the steps, with his hands on his knees, looking into the distance.
The other man's contribution to the expansion of Dali's territory was obvious, far away and close at hand.
At this moment, Ye Dan was trembling all over and his scalp was numb.
After a long silence, Ye Dan suddenly said: "Uncle, although I have the intention to kill Ji Chenru, I even considered making a deal with Fu Nanhua of Laolong City and asked him to find a way to kill Ji Chenru. However, I never felt that Ji Chenru was qualified to be on an equal footing with me, even if he has a long family heritage. I killed him just because I felt that killing him would not cost me much, that's all. "
Ye Jingchan became interested, "So, do you have another knot in your heart? "
The young man touched his neck and remained silent.
————
It was the middle of the night and everything was quiet.
There were still people walking on the streets of the town. She was slender and thinly dressed. When she walked past the iron lock well in Xinghua Lane, she gritted her teeth. When she passed the archway, she kicked the stone pillar hard. Finally, she came to the old locust tree with lush branches and leaves. According to the old man, it was unknown how long this tree had lived, and no matter when the dead branches fell, they would never hit people. It was very spiritual.
The girl came to the bottom of the tree with a swagger. Of course, she was quite dismissive of these statements.
She opened the ancient book borrowed from her son and began to "follow the map".
She called out the names one by one, like a general inspecting the troops in the autumn on the battlefield.
When her mouth was dry, she stopped calling the names, holding the local county annals that Ye Dan called "the book outside the wall" in one hand, pointing at the locust tree with one hand, and looked up and cursed: "You are shameless, aren't you?!"
There was silence, and no reply.
The girl immediately stamped her feet and cursed, "Four surnames and ten clans, let's start with the four surnames, Lu, Li, Zhao, and Ye, you four major surnames, be smart and sensible, hurry up, each surname must drop at least three locust leaves, one less locust leaf, I, Wang Zhu, will never let you go in this life! After I get out, I will deal with you one by one, no matter whether you are young and strong, or women, children, old and young, anyway, you are all a group of ungrateful wolves who can't be tamed, and you are still justified in being ungrateful?!"
The girl was panting with scolding, holding her waist with one hand, still cursing, "People with the surname Ye, who is the biggest contributor to the Dali Dynasty being able to have your surname? Don't you know? Are you playing dumb with me? Believe it or not, once I get out, I will let anyone with the surname Dali, Lu, Zhao, or anything else, but not Ye? ! "
"Each of the ten major families will have two locust leaves, and the rest of the ordinary families will have at least one. Of course, if anyone has the guts to bet, the more the better, and I will make him rich in the future!"
"The Cao family among the ten families, yes, the Cao family that produced the bastard Cao Xi! This bastard did all kinds of disgusting things back then, and he was full of bad water when he wore open-crotch pants! In addition to the two locust leaves, you must give me one more as a supplement, otherwise I, Wang Zhu, swear that after I get out, I will make sure Cao Xi has no descendants! How dare he pee in the well? How did such a wicked ghost become the true monarch of a country? ! "
"And the Xie family, your family produced a guy named Xie Shi, right? Well, I have some friendship with him. If it weren't for me, he would have been washed away by the flood, so it's reasonable for you to give him one more locust leaf? "
In the distance, Liu Chunshui quietly looked at the scene under the locust tree, without saying a word.
Like a strict father who only knows how to punish his children by beating them, he felt helpless when he saw a child who was getting more and more spoiled as he grew older.
But when he saw the girl constantly flipping through the book, and then the locust leaves that left the branches fell between the pages of the book, Liu Chunshui felt relieved.
After a thousand words, Liu Chunshui finally just murmured: "After leaving home, be good."
The girl seemed to have sensed something and looked back suddenly.
There was no one.
The girl was lost, shook her head, stopped thinking, and turned back to continue scolding the locust tree.