Walking into the narrow mountain path, twisting and turning, on both sides of the solid stone walls, rocks would occasionally pierce out, if one was not careful, one's head might hit on it. And looking at the surroundings of the stone walls, many places still had water droplets dripping down, the place with the most water droplets even gathered into a small pool. Above and below the stone walls, in the dark places, there were quite a number of greenish stone moss, making the air filled with a slightly damp and cold smell. Ghost Li and Xiao Bai after many twists and turns, with great difficulty they turned out of this unknown number of years old mountain path, once again saw the daylight.
This day, the sun had just risen, a departure from the gloomy weather a few days ago, it seemed rather sunny. They had just walked out from the gloomy mountain path, under the sunlight, Ghost Li and Xiao Bai could not help but squint their eyes, feeling the sunlight shining down from the sky, as if carrying a beautiful halo, shining on them.
After a moment, when their eyes adapted, the bustling noises from afar also gradually travelled over. The two of them looked forward and saw that the view before them suddenly became clear. Surrounded by mountains, there was a fertile, flat, and open land in front of them. One by one, houses with a strong Miao flavour rose from the ground, either built against the mountains or closely connected. There was also a small clear stream that originated from the deep mountains in front of them. It flowed through this paradise-like land of land.
Quite a number of Miao houses, were built on both sides of the stream. And above the water, looking from afar, the Miao people had built three bridges, all of them were different, one was a wooden bridge, the simplest, two huge logs tied together and laid horizontally on both sides, it was considered a bridge.
As for the other two, they were both stone bridges but they had more flavour. One was built with huge rocks, rough and solid, laid horizontally across the narrow stream, and then using heavy stone slabs to support it, it became a bridge, it was the simple and practical way of building a bridge in the southern border. However, the last stone bridge was made of small stones. Moreover, there were no piers, it was an arch bridge. Every stone was tightly connected to each other. It crossed the air and flew over the stream. It looked completely like a bridge from the Central Plains. It was really strange that it would appear here. Ghost Li saw all of this, his heart was moved but he did not show it on his face. He and Xiao Bai continued to walk forward. The crowd gradually increased and it became more and more lively.
Most of the people around were speaking in Miao language, Ghost Li only felt that it was gibberish and could not understand a single word even after half a day. Xiao Bai walked beside him, looked around, many of the Miao people around them looked at them, because they were unfamiliar faces, they took a few more glances but there was no special hostility. After a few steps, she quietly said to Ghost Li, "Seems like the southern border has become much more peaceful these few years." Ghost Li was surprised, did not understand, said, "What is it?"
Xiao Bai said, "When I came here that year, when the ordinary Miao people saw outsiders, each and every one of them looked like they were facing a great enemy, their eyes were even more on guard. At that time, the competition between the five tribes was fierce and cruel. Fights between the tribes were not uncommon. If outsiders dared to come to the Seven Mile Cave and did not have any self-defense skills, they would most likely be in danger.
But looking at today's situation, I'm afraid there have been fewer fights in the past few years. " Ghost Li nodded slightly, looked ahead, right now they were already walking in the middle of the Miao people, this main road was on one side of the stream, on one side were many Miao houses that were closely linked together, on the other side was the clear river water and on the bank were many rows of green trees.
At a glance, the Miao houses were mostly built with wood, the style was completely different from the Central Plains, squarish, simple and unadorned, and savage animal bones were hung at the house corners, the more ferocious the beast, the more common it was, most likely this was the Miao people's custom, to display the bravery of the house owners.
Both sides of the road had Miao people setting up stalls to sell but most of the things sold were wild beast fur, raw meat, after a few more steps, they saw one or two stalls selling small jewellery and jade wares and other playthings. Xiao Bai smiled and said, "The fur here are all top quality goods and the prices are very cheap, if you want, you can buy a few here, it will be very worth it." Ghost Li's lips moved but he did not say a word, walked straight ahead. He slowly walked to the riverbank and looked down, the river water was extremely clear, standing on the riverbank, he could see the rocks under the water, the number of big and small fishes swimming and playing in the water was even more uncountable. From afar, there seemed to be birds flying past, flapping their wings and landing on the water surface, raised their heads to look around and then leisurely folded their wings and swam lightly on the water surface.
Heaven and earth living things, in this place, were strangely harmonious. Xiao Bai slowly walked over, Xiao Hui who had unknowingly ran back to her shoulder, curiously peeked its head out and peered down the stream. "What do we do now?" Ghost Li indifferently said. Xiao Bai pondered for a while and said, "No matter what, it has already been three hundred years, if that person did not have our level of cultivation, most likely he would have passed away, we better first find the place where that person was."
Ghost Li silently nodded, said, "Where is he?" Xiao Bai smiled, pointed to the front and said, "Over there." Ghost Li looked up and was suddenly stunned, the place where Xiao Bai was pointing, was deep in the Miao settlement, a stone platform building built halfway up the mountain, far taller than the ordinary Miao houses. Ghost Li frowned, quietly said, "Altar." Xiao Bai smiled and said, "That's right." Ghost Li was silent but his heart was burning with anxiety, not because of anything else but the altar in the southern border region, had a special significance. He had been to the southern border many times in the past, although because he was preoccupied with other matters and wholeheartedly searching for the mysterious Black Shaman Tribe and did not pay much attention to the southern border customs but some basic things, he still knew.
In the southern border borderlands, Zhuang, Miao, Tu, Li and Gao Mountain five tribes, governed according to their territories, or because the tribes were different, they each believed in different deities and religions but among the tribes, there was a place specially for worshipping their deities and ancestors, which was the altar. The altar in the southern border region, had a lofty position, in the eyes of most of the tribes, most of the time, what the shaman in the altar said, and the great mysterious deity's words, was no different.
In the past, when the battle between the five tribes was at its fiercest, every time there was a war, they had to first consult the wizard in the altar, explain the situation to the gods, and get permission from the gods, that is, the Great Wizard. Only then could the tribe leaders start a new war. From this, it could be seen, the altar and the shaman in it, what kind of position did they have in the southern border! And these shaman, as far as he knew, rarely received outsiders.
Ghost Li was silent for a moment, turned to Xiao Bai and said, "That is the Miao people's altar, the person you are talking about, don't tell me …" Xiao Bai smiled faintly, cut him off and said, "That's right, three hundred years ago, what I saw here, was the Miao tribe's great shaman using the Soul Return Great Skill, rescued a Miao person who had one soul and three spirits taken away by the mountain spirit." Miao people's great shaman... Ghost Li's lips twitched again, if the shaman in the altar was said to have a lofty position in the southern border tribes, then as the shaman with the strongest power, the highest position, every time personally conveying the deity's decree, the great shaman, was simply the deity in the eyes of the ordinary people. If anyone dared to offend the great shaman, Ghost Li did not doubt that all of the Miao people in this land, even all of the Miao people in the entire southern border would rush over to fight with him. Xiao Bai looked at Ghost Li with interest, smiled and said, "So, what do we do now?"
Ghost Li glanced at her, saw the rising morning sunlight falling on her face, as if refracted out, carrying a faint warmth. He did not speak a word, turned and walked towards the altar halfway up the mountain, unhurriedly. Xiao Bai smiled and followed. This place was called Seven Mile Cave, naturally the area was rather large and it was also known as the largest Miao settlement in the southern border, as they went deeper in, they saw more and more Miao people. From the larger path that they were walking on, small paths continuously branched out to the side, like a big tree spreading its branches and leaves.
Looking from afar, the two of them could see that the path under their feet directly extended towards the altar in the distance. Thus, it saved them the trouble of asking for information. Just that as they gradually went deeper, the number of Miao people who noticed their actions increased, whispers rose and fell around them. About half the time it took to drink a cup of tea, they reached the foot of the tall mountain where the altar was. Then, they stopped, not because they hesitated but because the Miao soldiers stationed at the foot of the mountain stopped them.
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