Golden Greenery

Yang Yi lived in the mountains for a long time, so long that he finally wanted to go to Chang'an City again.

He had already converted the thatched hut into a wooden hut three times because the first two were damaged. The plum tree in front of the door died and lived again, then died again, and now it is alive again.

A long time ago, when he was still in the Yulin Guards in Chang'an City, Yang Yi learned to count and how to remember the days. Although he learned slowly because of his stupidity, he could still learn it after more than ten years.

Yang Yi recorded the days on the mountain wall and remembered them very clearly.

It has been 79 years since I returned to Zhongnan Mountain from Shu, and 103 years since I first met Lao Yuan. If I count from the days when I can remember clearly, it has been 113 years since I came to this world.

enough! It was enough for Yang Yi to confirm that he was indeed immortal, because he was still the same as he was 113 years ago, without any change.

Yang Yi didn't know if there were immortal people in this world, but his former senior brother Yuan said there were no, and that both Peng Zu and Ge Hong were just legends. And even in the legend, they only live long enough, but they are not immortal. When they reach the age they should be old, they will still become a piece of dry firewood. The book calls that chicken skin and gray hair.

And it may not be known whether Yang Yi will live forever. After all, people who are over a hundred years old may actually exist in this world, but it is really unheard of to have an ageless appearance and body over a hundred years old.

Therefore, Yang Yi is basically certain that if he is not an old turtle who has become a spirit, he will definitely not be a person in this world.

who I am? Where do I come from? What am I going to do?

Because he was afraid of death, Yang Yi had never taken a step northward from Zhongnan Mountain in the past 79 years. He was afraid of running into acquaintances in Chang'an who knew him. When he had to buy something, Yang Yi would rather walk south from the mountains and buy enough at the market in Lantian County when it was getting dark. There is a river beside the market, called Zhashui.

Yang Yi always goes there several times every year because he is not short of money.

Eighty-three years ago, when he carried his senior brother Lao Yuan and his Tiangang Sword back to Shu, he also carried away the gold of the thief Zhang Zhongjian. He didn't memorize them all because there were too many and he couldn't carry them. Yang Yi is not a greedy person.

Although it is not a lot, it is enough for Yang Yi, who lives a simple life, to spend more than a hundred years.

It is not easy to buy things directly with gold. When exchanging gold for copper coins, Yang Yi would go to the Han Yin Mansion further south. In the Sui Dynasty, the place was called Ankang.

Anyway, Yang Yi will never go north, because Chang'an is to the north.

Eighty-three years ago, not only did Yang Yi take away the gold of the dead ghost Zhang Zhongjian, but Yang Yi also took away his Longquan Sword.

Because he was afraid of death, because he regretted that he didn't know any martial arts and was being slaughtered by others, and because he was sad that he could not help his senior brother Lao Yuan with even one move, Yang Yi had to practice martial arts and use the sword no matter what.

He still remembered some of the sword moves taught by old Yuan, because he didn't have many things in his mind, just like a roll of white silk, but if he drew something on it, it would be very clear.

The clearest thing is the fight between Lao Yuan and the dog thief Zhang Zhongjian 83 years ago. It was the most unforgettable and profound scene in Yang Yi's 113 years.

Yang Yi was so stupid that he couldn't master the "front-facing sword hanging" that he should have learned with only half a cup of tea in a month, so Yang Yi practiced for two months and mastered it.

In the 79th year of Zhongnan for the second time, Yang Yi also practiced swordsmanship for 79 years. Senior Brother Yuan said that he was too playful and didn't practice hard when he was a child, so it took him three days to master that set of basic swordsmanship.

Yang Yi spent twenty years. And he hasn’t practiced it all yet because he didn’t memorize it all.

Then he began to practice the moves from memory when Lao Yuan and the gangster Zhang Zhongjian competed. Year after year, he practiced wherever he thought. He didn't know if there were any rules. He was probably practicing blindly.

But practice is better than no practice.

If it were anyone else, if he had practiced for seventy-five years, he would have been a great martial artist who could dominate the world. Yang Yi had practiced for seventy-five years and finally killed an antelope.

When the antelope in the mountains is in heat, it will fight whenever it sees a living thing, as if it owes it money. It will not spare you until it fights you off the cliff.

Four years ago, Yang Yi met such an estrous gazelle on a narrow road. With no way to run, he stepped on the mountain wall and jumped into the air and stabbed it with his backhand.

Winter is long in the mountains, and Yang Yi ate more than 300 kilograms of dried antelope meat for a whole winter, which made him almost vomit. However, now he still runs when he sees an antelope, runs when he sees a bear, and climbs a tree when he sees a wolf and a wild boar.

That antelope was the first time Yang Yi killed a living creature with swordsmanship. It was worth commemorating, but soon there was no need to commemorate it, because he killed another person with his sword, two more people.

Three years ago, Yang Yi went to Hanyin Mansion and exchanged a gold cake for twenty Jingyun Tongbao. He also bought cloth boots and salt and carried it back in a bamboo basket. Two thieves were targeting him, but he didn't know it.

There is actually no clear distinction between thieves and mountain people.

Arriving at the inaccessible pass, the two thieves pulled out daggers from their back waists and asked Yang Yi to leave the bamboo basket behind.

Yang Yi was very obedient. After putting down the bamboo basket, he silently pulled out the Longquan Sword from it.

He saw the two thieves swallowing dry saliva.

He didn't even care to count how many moves he used. He just used those familiar tricks of hanging, drawing, bringing, lifting, blocking, striking, stabbing, tapping, collapsing... He kept showing them, and in a short time he poked both thieves. died.

Yang Yi kicked the bodies of the two thieves down the mountain. It is estimated that they will be eaten clean by wolves in a few days. Of course, before kicking them down, he didn't forget to leave behind the two nice short knives, nor did he forget to take out the dozens of copper coins they had on them.

There is really no clear distinction between thieves and mountain people.

This was Yang Yi's first time killing someone, and he didn't feel scared. Yang Yi is just afraid of death, not afraid of seeing others die.

After killing someone, and it was one against two, Yang Yi felt that he had some self-defense ability, and also had some courage to walk out of the mountain. But he still didn't dare to go north. He went to Shuzhong to visit his senior brother Yuan Tiangang.

It has been more than seventy years, and he wants to visit Lao Yuan's grave and build a new base on the grave. So, he went to Baihe Mountain.

This time it didn’t take a year, and I have been practicing martial arts for more than 70 years. Let’s not talk about anything else. The physical effects of hard work are obvious first. Not only can I walk with flying speed, but I can also cover a lot more distances every day.

In two months, he spent the night from Xiaoxing in Zhongnan Mountain to Baihe Mountain in Zhongshu.

Lao Yuan's tomb does not need to be rebuilt. His tomb was built very lavishly by the folks and tribesmen in his hometown, and it was often cleaned. Yang Yi discovered that Lao Yuan was more famous than when he was alive. Everyone said that Lao Yuan had become a god in the sky.

Yang Yi looked up at the sky, hoping that what they said was true.

After chatting with Lao Yuan for a month, Yang Yi returned to Zhongnan Mountain. It took two months to go there, but five months to come back because he was walking with an old man and the old man walked too slowly.

The old man's donkey is slower than the old man.

Yang Yi and the old man met at Lao Yuan's place, and he also came to see Lao Yuan from afar, so Yang Yi thought at first glance that the old man was a good man.

The old man asked: "Who are you?"

"I can't remember. "

"Where are you from?"

"I can't even remember it."

The old man was obviously satisfied with his answer and nodded with a smile.

"So, are you a senior?" the old man asked him again.

Yang Yi felt that he should be, after all, age showed here, but he touched his tender face, and then looked at the old man with a white beard that was almost dragged to the ground, and felt that he looked like a senior to such a walking antique. Very inappropriate.

"No, you are the senior. Without showing off, I am ninety-nine years old."

The antique old man with a white beard laughed and waved his hand: "I don't dare to take it, I don't dare to take it. Forget it, how about we becoming equals?"

Yang Yi believes that the old man is definitely a good person.

The old man said that he was going to Chang'an, and Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan invited him there. Yang Yi didn't know who these two people were. Judging from their names, they didn't seem to be very powerful.

The old man did not go directly to Chang'an. After traveling slowly with Yang Yi for five months, he came to Yang Yi's wooden house in the mountains and stayed there.

So Yang Yi had to cook for him every day and feed the donkey. After feeding for two months, the old man rode away on the reluctant donkey and went to Chang'an City.

Before leaving, the old man said to Yang Yi: "Don't forget what Yuan Tiangang said to you before he died... Bah, don't forget what he said to you before he ascended. Don't forget that you are not from this mountain. If you think about it, go to Chang'an City to find me. ,I'm waiting for you."

After the old man left, Yang Yi stayed in the mountains for another year before finally deciding to go to Chang'an. It has been more than eighty years since he left Chang'an. Everyone who knew him in Chang'an City at that time must be dead. If there are still people alive, Yang Yi thinks he can discuss it with him: Are you also an old turtle who has become a spirit?

In this way, he walked out of the north of Zhongnan Mountain for the second time and walked into Chang'an City for the second time.

He went to see Lao Zhangtou.

The old man said his name was Zhang Guo, and said that the name should be easy to find.