The Stairway to Immortality

The window of a guest room on the second floor of the inn was wide open, and the sound of children's laughter and slapstick came from inside.

The dog also staggered out of the hut, and roared anxiously without tying his trouser belt, "Eat slowly, wolf cubs, I haven't eaten a bite." There

were three people in the house, one was eating steamed buns in his hand, one was chewing slowly with meatloaf, and the other was eating a handful of fried dough sticks.

"Are you still human, leave me some, leave me some big brothers, you can't eat enough just to drink porridge, you are all brutes, eat slowly, leave some" Dog Dan yelled angrily, and frantically pounced on the dining table.

A breakfast is in full swing, the dog egg is barely half full in the snatching of the three people, a table of breakfast is also eaten, and the guy who cleans up the dishes and chopsticks is also admired in his heart, these four and a half children can indeed eat.

After the meal, the four of them sorted out everything and walked out of the gate of the post station, Zhao Shiyu carried the bamboo box on his back, Dog Dan, Er Wang and Xiao Chai carried their own small baggage, and the four of them stood outside the door and waited.

The convoy of horses was lined up on the street outside the post station, and Er Wang looked at the long convoy blankly and said to himself curiously, "How do you feel that there are so many carriages, is it the convoy when we came?"

A thin old man bent over, wearing an iron hat, slowly walked from a distance, he called out with a smile, "Come on, dolls, let's get on the car, we will leave immediately, I don't care who is left behind!"

When the four children heard this call, they immediately followed the old man with the iron hat into a carriage with two horses and reins, and when they got into the carriage, their eyes lit up, the carriage was spacious and comfortable, and the car was padded with animal skin blankets, and they just sat down to see the dart master riding outside the window, and the flag of the Zheng family firm was planted in the carriage, and the flag fluttered in the wind, looking from the front to the back, the front was the red flag, the middle was the yellow flag, and finally the blue flag.

"Iron hat old, iron hat old, we have a lot more carriages, and the flags are different, what's going on?" Zhao Shiyu asked the iron hat old curiously.

"Hahaha, this is a mix of three caravans, borrowing our name to take the official road, and the shopkeeper has made a fortune again" The old man in the iron hat sat in the carriage, looked back at the children and said with a smile.

At this time, I heard the front of the four big horses on the car, standing up a person is Zheng Lao, he proudly and proudly shouted, "Go, Ruth Baicai, Baibao come in"

and then everyone shouted in unison, the sound wave is like a wave of the ocean until the end, this momentum attracted many passers-by to stop and watch, the convoy slowly moved, the post station is very close to the city gate, a turn to go out of the city, standing on the car board of the four children, suddenly saw a slightly chubby boy jumping to look at this side.

"It's Dunzi, it's Dunzi, look, he's here to see us off" The sharp-eyed Xiaochai hurriedly shouted, and the four of them all waved and shouted to Dunzi, and the carriage slowly entered the city gate.

"Dunzi, you are good, when we come back to see you, we will miss you, you work hard at your fifth uncle's house, learn more skills, and wait for us to come back to play with you" Zhao Shiyu shouted.

Dunzi waved his hands and cried, choked up, looked at the four little friends and couldn't say a word, and when the carriage arrived in front of him, he followed the carriage.

"Look at your cowardly appearance, we are not going back, the ladies are still crying noses, Mo Laobai named you, Qian Liyun, Qian Yunli, are you telling you to stand on the clouds and cry your nose, go back, Dunzi, we will come back to play with you" The dog said with a grimace, comforting and sarcastic.

Zhao Shiyu, Xiao Chai and Er Wang also coaxed Dunzi like this, calming his emotions, walking Dunzi didn't cry anymore, and gradually showed a little smile, he followed the car, looking at his partner in the car, there were tears on his face, that kind of reluctance made people feel sad.

"I'll wait for you, four bastards, I'll miss you, I'll definitely stay in Ancheng, waiting for you to come back" Dunzi followed the convoy out of the city gate, only then did he ease his heartache, he stopped and raised his head and shouted, looking at the figure of Dunzi getting smaller and smaller, Zhao Shiyu and they breathed a sigh of relief, so what, they could only silently bless Dunzi in their hearts.

"Dunzi is so blessed, his fifth uncle has four daughters who have no sons, they raise Dunzi as a child, and the four sisters and aunts all treat him as a treasure, and this inn will be returned to Dunzi in the future, this is what Songtao told me when he came back, don't worry" The old man in the iron hat took a sip of wine and said with a smile.

The dog looked flattering, leaned on the iron hat and said, "This guy is not blessed, how can he be happy with the iron hat old, see the scenery all the way, eat game all the way, hahaha is beautiful." On

the old carriage of the iron hat, he began to laugh and play again, and the old man of the iron hat happily took a sip of wine, a puff of cigarettes, and shook the pony whip happily, and there were these four children in the car, so there was no shortage of laughter.

None of the five people in the car cared about it, the piece of red jade on Zhao Shiyu's waist had a strange appearance, and the eyes of the Luan-tailed Fire Feather Bird on the jade suddenly turned, flashing a trace of light, as if the bird was about to live.

The four children in the carriage were very naughty, and in order to see how many caravans there were, all four of them climbed onto the roof of the carriage shed, and counted them with their hands on the pergola.

Twenty dart masters in front, each riding a tall horse, heroic front to lead the way, Song Tao walked in the front, his smug narcissistic appearance, people look extremely annoying, there are dart divisions on both sides of the horse convoy riding horses back and forth, the number of dart divisions behind the convoy is the largest, they are responsible for taking care of important goods.

The horse-drawn convoy marched through the forest, crossed the valley, and kept moving forward all the way, until the sun was about to set down the mountain, the convoy was ready to rest, the carriage surrounded a clearing, everyone got off the car, ready to make dinner to eat, tonight's game is even richer, venison, wild boar, hare meat, pheasant, and fish, Zheng Lao specially invited two Anseong chefs to cook delicious food for everyone, this time the salt transported on the car, so the taste will be more delicious.

The four children were quite satisfied with this meal of game, each loosened their trouser belts, gobbled up, and the dog took a roast rabbit leg in one hand, and grabbed the croquettes on the plate with the other hand, and his face was full of oil when he ate it, and he opened his mouth and said with a smile, "Dunzi, this thing wants to see us eat so many good things, and I am not envious to death."

Zhao Shiyu nodded in agreement, and then said, "Let's go like this for a year, let's enjoy it slowly, haha, it's so cool to have big fish and meat every day."

Er Wang also squinted and smiled and said, "This is to raise the three of you as pigs, I am responsible for letting you go, haha, I am a good hand at herding sheep and pigs."

Xiao Chai drank the broth, smiled and learned the way the pig eats, and kicked the two wangs with his feet, the old man in the iron hat looked up at the sky with a wine jug in his hand, smoked a cigarette and drank wine, but he didn't know what to think in his heart.

When everyone was talking and laughing and eating happily, three big horses came in the forest in the distance, and there were three masked men in black sitting on the horses, with red cloth strips on their wrists, Zheng Lao squinted and got up with his hands behind his back, five bodyguards stood up around him, Songtao walked in the front, and the people around him continued to eat.

The three big horses stopped at a distance of dozens of meters from Songtao, Songtao clasped his hands into fists and smiled, "Where do friends come from, look familiar, get off the horse and eat a few glasses of water."

One of the three masked men responded with a fist, "Brother Song, don't come unharmed, it's good not to see you for many days, business is doing well, there are more people, and there are more cars, congratulations."

Zheng Lao squinted his eyes and didn't wait for Song Tao to speak again, and hurriedly said, "Brother of Qiyan Mountain, this time I am in a bit of a hurry, this time I won't bother you heroes, there are some gifts here to tell the big boss, next time I will go to the house to eat and drink, this small gift must be accepted."

A bodyguard walked out behind Zheng Lao, holding a plate of silver ingots in his hand and a few animal skins on his shoulders, and slowly walked to the three black-clothed men, raising his hands to offer gifts.

"Thank you Zheng Lao for your almsgiving, I will convey your words, bother, let's continue to eat" The black-clothed masked man put the silver taels into the leather bag, put the animal skin on the horse's back, and casually untied the red cloth strip on his arm and threw it to Songtao, and then the three of them pulled the reins of the horse, beat the horse and turned to leave.

Song Tao took the red cloth strip and tied it to the flagpole, turned around and walked to Zheng Lao's side, and several people returned to the wine table, sat down and continued to drink wine and eat meat.

"Don't look at it, these three are bandits from Queyan Mountain, they came to ask for tolls, wait for us to leave the border of Min Kingdom, and then walk for a day to their territory" The old man in the iron hat looked up at the night sky, but explained to the four children.

Erwang walked to the old man in the iron hat, squatted down and asked, "I heard them say that this time we are taking the official road, not taking the original route, why do you have to give them tolls?" The old

man in the iron hat took a cigarette and slowly replied, "If you don't give it, you will offend them, maybe one day they will come to rob us with knives and guns, there is a saying that it is better to offend the king of Hades than offend the little ghost, and it is not very good to give a little money for a safe journey." Xiao

Chai and Goudan also came over, and they had to tell the old man about the bandits in the mountains, but Zhao Shiyu sat in place but did not move, he was holding the red jade card in his hand and looking at it, thinking about the things in his dream last night, can people cultivate to become immortals? I have never heard the old man tell it when I am so old, and the story of the immortal is only told by Mo Lao, plus the cloth scroll I have seen.

In last night's dream, everything that the old man with the black shadow Tong Muhe said should be true, right? What kind of thing is that soul sucking and cultivating gems? Zhao Shiyu held the red jade card in his hand, looked at the Luanwei Fire Feather Bird, and thought to himself Could it be this red jade? Thinking about the small purple basket stone hanging around his neck, as well as the pearl and the green warm stone around his waist, which one is the soul sucking gem?

"I must go to the place where the immortal cultivator lives" Zhao Shiyu thought in his heart, his determination became bigger and stronger.

At this time, Zhao Shiyu suddenly thought of the old man in the iron hat, and his old man had a belly of stories and adventures to ask him, and immediately got up and ran to the side of the iron hat, who was telling the story of bandits and robbers.

"Hey, speaking of these bandits, there are also good and bad, there are moral, there are also unreasonable direct knife robbery, the caravan is their best prey, but also the main source of feeding them, this war years, most of the bandits are soldiers who escaped from the barracks, and a few are thieves who rob houses, because they are afraid of the encirclement and suppression of officers and soldiers, and hide between the mountains and fields, officers and soldiers come to suppress bandits, they pull out the camp and hide, the powerful bandits, relying on the mountain to become the overlord of the mountain. The

old man in the iron hat took a puff of cigarette and continued, "The caravan pays them gold and silver, and they can safely pass through their territory, this time we take the official road, and the soldiers have cleaned up the area around the official road to ensure that there are no bandits, so that there is no need to spend tolls, so they are all rushing to go with us, which is safe and saves money, and also saves a lot of travel time, and there are many benefits to be able to take the official road, so these two families should pay us some fees."

Zhao Shiyu nodded to show that he understood, he wanted to say something in his heart, so he changed the topic and asked, "Iron hat old, iron hat old, you are away all the year round, and you have seen a lot, have you ever seen a fairy?"

This question was very abrupt, and the old man in the iron hat was also stunned after hearing it, and the dog and Erwang and Xiaochai also looked at Zhao Shiyu in the same way, Zhao Shiyu smirked and scratched his head.

"Mountain spirits, wild monsters, fairies, spirits, I have heard a lot, but I have never seen it? Hey, a few years ago, I walked with the shopkeeper to a place called Wuha Mountain, that day at noon the sky was clear, suddenly a monster flew out of the mountain, the head looked like a dog, the body was like a snake, there were two people sitting on it, a man and a woman, they saw us passing by, only to see the woman on the monster waved her hand, and disappeared in front of our eyes in the blink of an eye, this should be a fairy, right?" said the old man in the iron hat with a cigarette.

After the old man of the iron hat finished speaking, Zhao Shiyu suddenly remembered a monster drawn in the cloth scroll, and the dog-faced beast must be this.

The old man in the iron hat straightened his waist and shook his head, as if he felt very comfortable after a few strokes, Xiao Chai hurriedly helped pinch his shoulders and beat his legs, and the old man in the iron hat stretched his legs comfortably, and said, "Let me tell you one more, how about going to sleep after telling this story?" This is also what I heard, in the mountains and forests of the Yue country, an old man who played wood saw three immortals with his own eyes, and a fairy bird."

The old man in the iron hat stretched out his hand and pointed to the red jade plate on Zhao Shiyu's waist, and said with a smile, "This old man is still a friend of the shopkeeper..."

I must have to find a way, where to learn immortal arts, to become a flying immortal, as for the future.

Iron Hat Old Talk is very energetic, unconsciously, the people in the camp are lying down to sleep, someone also brought the animal skin mat, seeing the four children listening to the energetic, the person did not disturb the consciousness put down the animal skin cushion and left, and when the story is finished, the Iron Hat always told them to sleep, Zhao Shiyu and they also went back to their own place to sleep.

The four and a half sons did not fight tonight, but spread out the animal skin mats, and obediently lay down and looked at the stars in the sky.

"I also want to see what the gods are like, at least tell others about it, it will be enviable" Xiao Chai was still a little excited after listening to the story, pointing to the sky as if he could touch the stars.

Goudan pouted and blinked his eyes and said, "People can see immortals in this life, and that is only when these people in the convoy can see it, and they can see it all year round over the mountains and mountains, coming and going to various countries, and they may be able to see it, but I think the iron hat always said, how can it be so like a real immortal."

Zhao Shiyu rested his head on his arm, put his other hand on the red jade card, and said while touching, "Wait until I go to be a fairy and show you." The

partners laughed at Zhao Shiyu, at this moment a meteor flew in the sky, and the four children were thinking about the story of the immortals, the Luan-tailed fire feather bird on the red jade card, the bird's eyes turned and then bent into a crescent shape, it seemed to be laughing.