According to the Records of the Underworld, the island where the Ghost Mother Kingdom is located was originally called Shuoyue Island. It got its name because it is slender from east to west and narrow from north to south, resembling the Emei Moon.
And because the sea around the island is covered with rock pillars sticking out of the sea, Shuoyue Island looks like stars holding the moon, so it is also called Pengyue Island.
However, the island is crisscrossed by rivers, densely covered with swamps, and there is not much land that can be cultivated. Therefore, when the feather people were desperate, the ghost mother was very generous and generous to give them a mountain as a place to live.
The place where the Feather People live now is only twelve miles away from Xiaoyu Mountain City. According to the book "The Chronicles of the Underworld", the mountain is hundreds of feet high, and halfway down the mountain are cliffs that look like they have been chopped by axes.
The cliff is difficult for ordinary people to reach. But it is completely different on the mountainside. The land is fertile, not steep, and there are not many rocks.
The most amazing thing is that there is an ancient banyan tree that is a hundred feet high standing on the top of the mountain. The dark gray trunk requires a hundred people to surround it. Countless rusty brown aerial roots hang down from the branches, and the huge crown covers three to five miles.
The entire giant tree looks like a giant umbrella.
At a glance, the branches and leaves on the tree crown are like a fence and a green barrier.
The Feather People now live on this thousand-year-old giant tree. And this mountain is also named Gumu Mountain.
An hour later, Xiao Shizhu and the others arrived at the foot of Gumu Mountain. Xiao Shizhu stood on the roadside, looking up at the top of the mountain immersed in the darkness of night, and asked King Kong next to him: "The lower half of this mountain is full of cliffs.
It's a cliff, how do we get up there?"
"Ten years ago, in order to make it easier for businessmen to go up the mountain to buy Yuren Yunwu Tea, a plank road was built that can reach the top of the mountain." King Kong replied.
"Can't we let the feather people come down and pull us up?" Xiao Shizhu, who was breathing heavily because of the long journey, asked again. He had been idle during this period, and his physical strength dropped rapidly, and he was not as good as before.
"I'm afraid this won't work." King Kong replied, holding a torch and walking in front of him, saying, "Sir, I'll light the way for you." After saying that, he walked forward slowly.
Xiao Shizhu, who was quite frustrated, shook his head and called Qinyuan and Tiankuixing to follow him quickly. After a while, they followed King Kong and set foot on the plank road leading to the mountain.
Most of these winding plank roads are made by first cutting out a stone path about half a foot wide along the stone wall, and laying wooden beams and wooden boards across it. A few are made by drilling holes horizontally in the cliff wall to insert thick wooden beams and add diagonal braces below.
Then lay thick wooden boards on top, and add iron chains or wooden railings to the side of the road.
The entire plank road that stretches for several miles and winds around the mountain wall is like a giant dragon winding up the mountain. When walking on it, accompanied by the creaking sound of the wooden boards, it always feels a bit shaky.
The higher he went, the more intense the sense of fear and tension that surrounded Xiao Shizhu's heart became, so that he had to stick to the cliff and move forward slowly and cautiously with his hands on the rock wall to feel a little more at ease.
.At the same time, I couldn’t help cursing in my heart: “It’s those feathered people who can fly, otherwise you have to walk on these plank roads every time you go out, and you will have to have a heart disease in a few years.”
It took them about half an hour to reach the mountainside. Not far ahead, they saw a cylindrical stone square at the end of the plank road. When they got closer, they could see auspicious clouds and birds carved on the cylinder with the torch in Vajra's hand.
A relief sculpture of a bird, with the words "Feather People Village" written on the stone square. Two feathered men holding spears stand in front of the stone square.
As soon as they saw Xiao Shizhu and the others, the two feathered men showed a trace of nervousness on their faces. At the same time, they pointed their spears at each other and yelled: "Stop, who are you?".
"I am here to recruit brave soldiers on the orders of the Ghost Mother." Xiao Shizhu, who was out of breath from climbing the mountain, bent over and said. At the same time, he took out what he had just got in the afternoon and wrote: "Ghost Mother Country"
The golden square token with the characters "Rebel General" was handed to the eyes of the two feathered men and said: "Let your village chief come here to see this general."
The two Yumen carefully looked at the token in his hand, and after seeing that it was indeed the general token of the Ghost Mother Country, they hurriedly bowed their hands to him and said, "I didn't know it was the general who came to visit, but I hope you can forgive me." on their faces.
Immediately, guilt and respect emerged.
"Stop talking nonsense and call your village chief." Xiao Shizhu waved to them and hurriedly warned: "Ask him to find someone to carry the slide pole. This general can't walk anymore."
"Yes." The two feathered men answered in unison, and then one of them turned around, flapped his wings behind his back, and flew towards the top of the mountain.
After Xiao Shizhu passed through the stone square, he came to a small semicircular platform behind the stone square protected by a stone railing. He stood on the edge of the platform and looked down the mountain, but when he saw the wind blowing above and the cliff below, he quickly subconsciously realized
Take two steps back.
At the other end of the platform, there are stone steps built along the mountain, slowly going up towards the top of the mountain. On both sides of the end of the stone steps, there is a stone statue of a feathered man about one foot high. The one on the left has an angry look, with his chest and belly exposed.
, holding a simple sword. The one on the right, with kind eyebrows and kind eyes, is wearing armor and holding a wooden staff with nine snakes engraved on it.
"The ancestors of the feather people." Seeing him looking at the two sculptures in a daze, Qin Yuan flew over and landed on his shoulder, saying: "It is said that they are the earliest feather people in the underworld. The martial one on the left,
The good doctor on the right."
"Are they still alive now?" Xiao Shizhu turned to look at Qin Yuan and asked.
"Of course not." Qin Yuan shook his head and said in a slightly regretful tone: "In ancient times, they followed the gods to the human world, and then they took the feather people to side with the good gods. In the end, they died in the battle, and their souls
She was also destroyed by the evil god. At that time, the feathered person on the right used her superb medical skills to heal many humans."
"Oh, that's it." Xiao Shizhu replied casually after hearing this.
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw several feather people descending from the sky and landing in front of him. The leader was an old feather man who looked like he was over fifty years old, with a weathered face and two sunken eyes.
, deep and bright, looking very divine. He was dressed in rich clothes, and the wooden staff he held tightly in his hand looked the same as the one in the hand of the stone statue not far away.
"I didn't know that the general was visiting late at night, but I couldn't go far enough to greet him. I hope the general will forgive me." With that said, the old man knelt down to King Kong.
Xiao Shizhu, who had a black face, said angrily before Jingang could speak: "I am the general." The old Yuren was stunned when he heard this, looked up at him, smiled, and said: "This
Sir, don't make old jokes. If you can't pick your shoulders or lift your hands, how can you be a general?"
"It's true." King Kong stepped aside, pointed at Xiao Shizhu and said, "This is the rebel general who was personally appointed by my Lord this morning."
"Ah?" Old Yuren was startled again, his face suddenly turned pale, and a look of embarrassment appeared on his brows. He quickly turned to kowtow to Xiao Shizhu, and said repeatedly: "General, forgive me, general, please forgive me.
The eyes that cannot recognize Mount Tai are small people who have eyes that do not recognize Mount Tai.”
"Alas." Xiao Shizhu sighed helplessly, then stepped forward to help Lao Yuren up and said, "Forget it, there's no need to kowtow for such a trivial matter."
"Has the sliding rod been brought up?" he asked immediately.
"It's coming, it's coming." The old feather man hurriedly waved to the feather people behind him and scolded: "Hurry up and carry the general."
When two of the strong Yumin heard this, they hurriedly carried the sliding pole forward, respectfully asked Xiao Shizhu to sit on it, and then carried him to the top of the mountain with the old village chief.
Along the way, I saw layers of terraced fields on both sides of the road, filled with lush green tea trees, and the air was filled with a faint fragrance of tea. Fireflies danced among the trees, forming dots of fluorescent lights.
The beautiful scenery twinkling at night echoes the stars in the sky.
Sometimes you can see groups of feathered men, holding torches and farm tools, shuttling back and forth among the tea trees.
"Old man, what are you doing?" Xiao Shizhu pointed at the feathered men who seemed to be patrolling and asked the village chief: "Militia?".
"Yes." The old Yumin village chief glanced at the direction of his finger and said, "Our tea cultivation has gotten better and better over the years. Occasionally, someone comes to steal the tea, and we have to send villagers to take turns patrolling." After speaking,
No more words.
After a while, everyone followed the village chief to the top of the mountain.
I saw an open and flat land on the top of the mountain, about ten acres in size. The Yu people laid stone slabs on the ground to make it a square.
In the middle is the place where the giant tree is. When you look closer, you can see that the roots of this towering ancient tree are as deep as dragon skin and cracked rock. And even the smallest tree roots require three people to surround them.
Next to the roots of the tree, there is an eight-foot-square spring pool, which is three feet wide and one foot deep. It is surrounded by white marble railings. Standing at the railing, you can see that the water in the pool is clear and green, and water of different sizes gushes out everywhere from the bottom of the pool.
The beads are clustered in clusters and strings, really like thousands of dendrobium beads.
Looking up at the tree again, there are many exquisite wooden houses of different sizes built among the branches. They are arranged layer by layer among the branches. The firelight shines from the carved windows of these houses.
A series of simple wooden pavilion paths connected these houses. However, there were no stairs or anything built on the tree trunk, and Xiao Diazhu had no wings, so he couldn't go up to get a full view.
They had no choice but to follow the old village chief to a stilted building on the ground on the east edge of the square.
Entering the main room, I saw that the furnishings in the room were extremely simple. There was a fire pit in the middle and straw mats were spread around it. There were some pots and jars in the corners of the room, and I didn't know what they contained.
After the old village chief asked the villagers to get some food, he welcomed Xiao Shizhu to the guest table, then sat down on the guest table and asked, "I wonder what the general's name is?"
"My surname is Xiao." After Xiao Shizhu answered, he looked at the wrinkles on the other person's face and asked: "Old man, what is your surname?".
"I'm from Yu, so my surname is Yu, and my given name is Man." Yu Man stroked his beard and said, "The young people in the village all call me Uncle Man."
"Oh, hello, Uncle Man." Xiao Shizhu called out with a respectful look; if he wanted to recruit troops, he would inevitably trouble the old man in front of him, so he should be polite and courteous. In addition, he didn't think about being polite.
What a general's airs.
"Uncle Man, it's like this." After a pause, Xiao Shizhu said again: "I have been ordered to go to Wu Zhiqi, and I need the help of the Yu people. The ghost mother has also agreed to my request for expansion.
I’m here to expand an army.”.
"What?" He had just finished speaking when the old man looked at him blankly and asked, "Who is going to fight?". His eyes were full of disbelief, mixed with a trace of fear.
"Wu Zhiqi." Xiao Shizhu knew that the other party would be surprised, but he did not expect that it would be incredible. He suddenly became curious and asked hurriedly: "What's wrong?".
"Oh, it's not that I don't want to help you." Uncle Man trembled slightly and said: "We Yumen are not martial at all, and we were chased by Wu Zhiqi back then and had nowhere to go, so we came here as a last resort.
For this reason, the lives of thousands of feathered people were lost." At this point, Uncle Man suddenly shut up, and Wu Zhiqi's voice rang in his mind: "Get out or die!" His body moved involuntarily again.