Chapter 60

Ever since this group of people escaped back, other markets and small strongholds should have been in similar situations. One after another, fiery red command arrows shuttled back and forth in the rain curtain, delivering messages.

And the most important of these was counting the number of people.

About an hour and a half after they returned.

A command arrow with a cluster of fiery red chicken feathers inserted on top shot through the rain curtain toward Qilihe Market.

Everyone knew that a decision had been made.

Someone picked up that command arrow symbolizing a promise, on which was written this passage:

"Meet at the west bank of the Zui Jiao Bridge at the west valley mouth at the Hour of the Sheep. Those who can avoid miasma come here to meet, enter the valley to find corpses, about 120 bodies."

Everyone passed the command arrow to each other.

Cheng Yunqi also looked at the command arrow.

This matter was not unexpected. Miao people pay the most attention to the dead, and have an extremely high obsession with funerals.

Cheng Yunqi also remembered the words of Grandfather Munai at this time,

"Sometimes it will rain for months. At this time, the dead buried in the ground will come back to life."

This is corpse transformation.

Therefore, Miao people pursue tree burial.

This tree burial is to wrap the corpse with a type of rush unique to the Miao border and place it on the crown of a new tree under twenty years old to cut off the Yin Qi and prevent corpse transformation.

And now, there are more than 120 Miao corpses in the valley of Rantao Mountain, and the rain is still falling. I don't know when the flash floods will bury them all underground.

"I'll go!"

The one-eyed man said, "I have practiced turtle breathing and can hold my breath for three hours."

"But peach mud miasma doesn't just kill by breathing; your skin and flesh will also rot."

Someone reminded.

But the one-eyed man just smiled, "I should be able to resist for a while."

"I'll go with you!"

The speaker was a Daoist from Qinglong Cave. A piece of skin had been shaved off his cheek; it could be seen that if he hadn't dodged quickly, his head would have been shaved off.

Everyone just looked at his disheveled appearance and knew that he had just come out of Rantao Mountain, so they naturally disagreed.

"I have refined the Lone Star Cold Pool Miasma, which can be used for self-protection, and I know the situation inside."

That person stood up, came to the side of the one-eyed man, and did not allow others to persuade him further.

"Count me in too!"

Everyone looked at Cheng Yunqi, very surprised.

Cheng Yunqi was in a low mood and tried his best to pull his mouth into a smile, "Why, don't you all think that this poor Daoist only knows how to draw talismans in the market and doesn't dare to go to the front to do real work? Since I can refine filth for everyone, I can naturally protect myself in the miasma."

Everyone looked at each other, and finally, it was the one-eyed man who said,

"Studio Master Cheng, Daoist Cheng, it's not that we doubt your magic power, but because you are not from the Miao border. You are just wandering around and happened to settle here, just hanging your name here to collect remuneration. And this trip of ours is voluntary; there is no remuneration. If we do well, it means bringing back the brothers' corpses; if we don't do well, it means burying ourselves there too. What are you going for?"

Everyone was puzzled and looked at Cheng Yunqi.

Cheng Yunqi pinched a formula with his left hand, his index and middle fingers closed and curled, every two knuckles forming a right angle, his thumb hooking the tips of his ring and little fingers, like a gesture of raising a hand to knock on a door. He placed one hand in front of his left chest, his palm tilted toward the front right. This was the "Heart-Knocking Formula." The person pinching the formula used this formula to indicate that the words to be spoken and the things to be done next were worthy of the heart and worthy of the Daoist sect. "Now there are Miao border friends fighting with the demon sect, and they were ambushed by crooked villains, resulting in being buried under the peach mud, unable to return home for burial. I am collecting corpses for my friends. Does this need any other reason?"

Hearing this, the faces of the Miao border crowd changed, and someone asked again,

"Studio Master Cheng, you are a Han person, and we are Miao people. There is both a difference in bloodline and a difference in sect. We have only known each other in this market for a few months, yet you want to risk your life to collect corpses for our clansmen. Is it worth it?"

Cheng Yunqi then said, "Can't we become friends in a few months? Can't Han people and Miao people become friends? Can't the Daoist sect and the side sects call each other brothers? My parents and teachers never taught me like this."

He looked at the people around him, standing, lying down, and said again,

"I know Hu Jinliu; he looked for gold essence for me and led me to Qinglong Cave. I know Bai Heqiao; he accompanied me to practice swordsmanship until late at night. I accidentally injured his arm, but he pointed to the wound and taught me how to exert force. I know Dong Tiandang; his family planted flowing dew leaves and specially brought them for me to taste. I also know you, He Qiumo; you knew I practiced swordsmanship and once brought three sword manuals to exchange for talisman arrows with me, but I heard that this was something you specially exchanged with others using the heads of the demon sect, and you, Gaoshan Xiang, you, Hai Jinqi, you, them, who is not my friend?"

Everyone listened to Cheng Yunqi's words, their faces first showing incomprehension and doubt, then seriousness and solemnity, then smiles appeared, and finally they laughed loudly,

"Exactly! Exactly! Collecting corpses for friends is truly a great principle!"

The one-eyed man, who was Hai Jinqi, even laughed until tears came out of his only remaining eye.

Cheng Yunqi also smiled. When he was young, his father taught him that a gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall, and when he left the mountain, his elders reminded him not to take risks outside. He had always listened to it and kept it in his heart, but at this time, risking his life to collect corpses for friends was definitely not among these two.

Thus it was decided.

Only these three people from Qilihe Market went; others had no means, and going would just be dying in vain.

=9+Book_Bar

Cheng Yunqi also left the dog in the market. The miasma there was heavy, and the dog was still a mortal, so it couldn't go and couldn't help.

The three people packed up simply, brought weapons and herbs, left the market, and went straight to Rantao Mountain.

————

Rantao Mountain is located at the southwest border of the Miao border and the Southern Wilderness, covering an area of two or three hundred miles.

The most peculiar thing about this mountain is that it grows full of peach trees. Except for low flowers and grass, there are no other miscellaneous trees, from which one can see the domineering nature of this peach tree.

Some say this peach forest was transformed by the peach wood sword of Lu Zu in the Tang Dynasty, some say this peach forest was transformed by the walking stick of Kuafu in ancient times, and some say it was formed by the heavenly flat peaches ripening, falling, taking root, and sprouting.

But no matter what the origin, although the peach fruit of this peach forest is fragrant and sweet, it has no effect of prolonging life. Thus, this hundred-mile peach forest in the deep mountains naturally has no one to come and pick it specifically.

Since no one picks it, how many can birds and beasts eat? So every year peaches bear fruit, every year they ripen and fall, one batch after another. After a thousand years have passed, the peaches on the ground rot into mud, new peaches and old mud, fragrance and stench entangled together. Added to the hot and humid southwest, water soaking and sun exposure, after a long time, miasma poison actually grew.

This mud was stained with miasma poison, and in turn seeped into the peach trees, making this peach forest a poisonous forest. Later, just the fragrance released when the peach blossoms bloomed became a miasma poison with no small power. And the fruit borne by the peach trees became even more poisonous. Poisonous peaches fell into the mud again, further stimulating the toxicity, becoming a mud miasma that even cultivators of the Second Realm did not dare to touch easily, completely making this place a dead land.

This is also the origin of the name Rantao Mountain.

Only at the west valley mouth of this Rantao Mountain, a large river flows through. The large river carries water and wind, diluting the miasma in this area a lot, resolving the natural death energy with natural vitality, so this place became a treasure land in the hearts of people collecting miasma in the Miao border and Southern Wilderness. Every year when the peach blossoms bloom, they have to fight to compete for a good position.

Upstream of the west valley mouth, leaning toward the Miao border side, there is a large bridge crossing the river, called Zui Jiao Bridge. Legend has it that when a dragon walked the river, it came to this place, was intoxicated by the fragrance drifting out of Rantao Mountain, lingered and did not want to leave, transformed into a bridge, and only wished to stay for a long time, hence the name.

And in this miserable wind and bitter rain today, one after another, figures darted out from the Miao border jungle and gathered at the head of Zui Jiao Bridge.