Chapter 12 Wutou Ridge
Li Orion pointed to the layers of mountains and explained, "Climbing over Centipede Ridge, you will see Wutou Ridge to the left, Xiaoye Mountain to the right, and behind Xiaoye Mountain is the Xiling Mountains."
Bai Mo nodded. He knew about Xiling Mountain. It was named because there were many tombs in the mountain and it was located due west. It was said that the terrain in the mountain was complex and there were mountain spirits and ghosts hidden there. It was very spooky.
After the Xiling Mountains, there is a plain. It takes a few days to walk to Hejian Prefecture. Not long after, when Li He goes to Hejian Prefecture to take the provincial examination, he will need to pass through the Xiling Mountains. He will also go with him to avoid congratulations. The gangster who was robbed took his life.
At the mountain pass, Bai Mo looked up and saw undulating peaks in the distance. The mountain was still shrouded in fog. The clouds covered the fog and the peaks were looming, looking quite mysterious. Several wild beasts could be vaguely heard. roar.
The big man pushed aside the grass, and a hidden path appeared in front of him.
"The young man wants to go into the mountains?"
The two of them had just walked not far away when a shout suddenly came from behind. Bai Mo turned around and saw an old man holding a sharp ax and carrying a rope on his the old man's beard and hair have turned white, his body is quite strong, and there is a faint woody fragrance coming from his body.
When the old man got closer, he saw the big man in front of Bai Mo, "It turns out to be headhunter Li from Kaoshanping. What a coincidence."
Bai Mo smiled at the old man and said, "Mr. too?"
The old man took a wine gourd from his waist, took a sip, smashed it in his mouth, and laughed, "Old man, I go to Xiling Mountain to chop woodcutters every day, so I can exchange for some wine money. If we are traveling together, why not go together, we can have more Take care of.”
Li Orion glanced at the old man and felt he looked familiar. Although he couldn't remember his name, he was obviously from a nearby village, so he agreed immediately.
The three of them entered Centipede Ridge and followed the path deeper and deeper.
In the deep mountains, there are lush jungles and entangled ancient vines. There are mostly rotten branches and leaves under the feet. The mountain wind blows with a fishy smell.
Swish! Bai Mo swept away a pile of dead leaves with the wooden stick in his hand, and rolled out a beast skull covered with tooth marks. A two-foot-long black snake jumped out of the skull and was stopped by the wooden stick before it could run far away. He took two steps forward with quick hands and eyes, pinched the seven-inch head of the black snake, and shook it casually. The whole body of the black snake seemed to be shaken apart, unable to move, and Bai Mo threw it into the bamboo basket on his waist. .
"What a handsome skill!" The old man on the side couldn't help but look sideways and praised him.
Bai Mo shook his head, thinking of the two centipedes he saw in Yizhuang, and knew that he was still far behind.
He covered the bamboo basket and asked casually, "Why doesn't the old gentleman chop firewood here at Centipede Ridge, but instead goes to the Xiling Mountain in the depths?"
"The trees on Centipede Ridge are owned by their owners. They can't be chopped down. They can't be chopped down."
The old man waved his hands repeatedly, pointed to the distant mountain peaks, and muttered, "Young man, look, this Centipede Ridge belongs to Huang Yuanwai's family, that Xiaoye Mountain belongs to Wu Yuanwai in the neighboring town, and Wutou Ridge belongs to Liu Yuanwai's family. If the old man cuts it down, If you cross the tree in the mountain, I'm afraid you will be sued. The old man outside these officials has a big business, and I can't afford to offend him. If you can get through this mountain, you will be satisfied."
"Huang Yuanwai?" Bai Mo suddenly thought. Huang Yuanwai is the father of Huang Sheng. The Huang family is a big family in Changgu Town. Of course, ordinary people can't afford to offend him. However, he can feed the whole family and I am not hungry. He and Huang Sheng are the same age. , but he was not afraid at all. He beat him to tears several times when he was young.
He looked at the unknown Xiling Mountain and joked, "I often hear people say that there are tree spirits in Xiling Mountain. Aren't you afraid of encountering tree spirits in Xiling Mountain?"
"Tree spirit?" The old man was startled for a moment, and then burst into laughter. "It's all just nonsense from a bunch of idlers. Except for some barren graves of wild beasts, the mountains are very peaceful. There are no tree spirits." The old man weighed the ax in his hand and pointed it at Bai Mo said proudly, "Old man, I have been chopping trees all my life. No matter how good the wood is, if you meet me, you still have to stand obediently and let me chop two axes."
"You are so proud, old man!" Bai Mo looked at the old man's sharp eyes, which actually made him feel like he was a piece of firewood under the axe. He couldn't help but marveled, and clapped his hands in congratulations.
More than half an hour later, after crossing Centipede Ridge, the three of them came to a fork in the road. There were seven or eight more poisonous insects in Bai Mo's waist basket, most of which were centipedes, with green heads, red heads, black heads, and hundreds of legs wrapped around them. They are all different, making a rustling sound in the bamboo basket.
"With the help of headhunters and young people, there are many poisonous insects in Wutou Ridge, so you two should be careful." The old man waved his hands towards the two of them, sang an unknown tune in his mouth, and entered Xiaoye Mountain on the right.
When they arrived at Wutou Ridge, Orion Li had a solemn and anxious look on his face, and he hurried to somewhere in the mountains with Bai Mo.
As its name suggests, Wutuling Mountain has black rocks, and occasionally you can see traps and holes laid by hunters in the Li has been hunting in the nearby mountains all year round and has a lot of experience. He can spot some hidden potholes at a glance.
"Ow"
Suddenly there was a roar of a beast in the distance, it seemed like a jackal or something like it was fighting with other beasts.
The hounds in front of Li Orion all leaned over, looking on guard.
Seeing this, Orion Li frowned and whispered, "Something's not right!"
Bai Mo turned to look in the direction of the beast's roar and asked curiously, "Is there something wrong with this beast's roar?"
"There haven't been wolves in this mountain for many years, otherwise we wouldn't have dared to go up the mountain alone." Orion Li nodded. He looked into the distance and wondered to himself, "Could it be that they ran away from Xiling Mountain?"
He wrote this down and planned to call the hunters from nearby villages to explore the mountain in a few days. As for now, it was still important to find the purple-striped red-horned viper.
He led Bai Mo to turn left and right, and arrived at a shady place. He pointed to the grass in front and said, "It was here that I found the evil boy. This mountain forest is always shaded, and even hunters in the mountains rarely come here." Here."
Bai Mo nodded, took a few steps forward, and used a wooden stick to stir up the grass. When he saw that there were no poisonous insects or wild beasts jumping out, he took a closer look.
"There are indeed insects and snakes nearby, and they are quite poisonous." Not long after, he called Li Orion to squat down and pointed at a few small, inconspicuous black-red fruits in the grass, "This thing is called snake paozi, also known as Lantern fruit is a kind of medicinal material."
When Li Orion was wondering, Bai Mo reached out and picked out a few snake pods and put them in his hand to indicate, "Normal snake pods are bright red in color and have very little toxicity, but these ones are unusual. They only use snake saliva when poisonous snakes are entrenched." It will grow like this if it is nourished. If you follow the growth direction of Snake Paozi, you will most likely find the snake's nest!"
He walked around, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he strode in one direction, "This way!"
Li Orion was overjoyed when he heard this and quickly followed.
The two of them had walked two or three miles when Bai Mo suddenly squatted down and carefully dug out a piece of grass from the soil.
(End of this chapter)