The Xiao Bai family has lived in Xiaojia Village for generations, and has a history of thousands of years. The village is surrounded by an S-shaped curved river. There is a flat land on both sides of the river, and then there are rolling hills in the distance. The name of the river is Yunxi. Above the curved Yunxi is the village head, where there are relatively few people living. The Xiao Bai family lives at the village head. The lower reaches of Yunxi are where the villagers live. The population in the lower reaches is relatively concentrated, and there are three ancestral halls. I heard that the family tree is enshrined in the largest hall in the middle of the village.

Almost everyone in Xiaojia Village has the surname Xiao, and the villagers are more or less related to each other.

Jianzi Peak is on the highest mountain ten miles away from the end of the village.

When Xiao Bai passed by the end of the village, she saw a disheveled beggar lying on the roadside in the sun. The beggar was wearing tattered clothes, and his hair was so tangled that his face was hard to see. Xiao Bai knew that this was a collateral uncle of the village. Ever since she could remember, this uncle had always looked so disheveled. Every day, he would either lie down at the entrance or the end of the village. He was not seen begging everywhere, but just wandering around the village.

Xiao Bai looked at his great uncle and continued to head towards Jianzi Peak.

However, he didn't know that the beggar who had been lying there silently watched Xiao Bai's receding back for a long time before turning over and continuing to lie down.

As the guardian of the village, his mission is to protect the village.

At noon in summer, the sun is scorching. On the distant mountains, all kinds of trees are wilted and drooping, looking dried up, as if they will die at any time. However, the trees on the Sharp Peak are slightly abnormal. They are green and tender, and as full and energetic as if they have just been watered. Because they are too energetic, they look strange!

Is there something special about this place? Could it really be a magical place?!

Xiao Bai shook her head, shaking off the absurd guesses in her mind. She sneered and continued to climb up.

The earth lost all the colors of the various spring flowers, leaving only a thick green. When I was almost climbing to the top of the mountain, it suddenly started to drizzle. The drizzle formed a white water net obliquely, covering the whole sky and earth. There was a vast white mist everywhere. Only some dirt roads and small trees could be seen nearby. The mountains in the distance could only be vaguely seen with their faint outlines, like a splash-ink landscape painting, with only a few arcs lightly added at the top of the mountain.

Walking on the stone steps of Jianzi Peak, the originally dead branches nearby were bare at the bottom, but new buds began to sprout at the top, as if the dead trees were coming back to life in spring. A few birds fluttered around in the woods, chirping around her. The higher she climbed up the mountain, the more birds surrounded her. There were also squirrels that were not afraid of strangers, which quickly climbed down from the nearby branches and slowly approached her.

Xiao Bai paused to look at the squirrel creeping closer, wondering, Is it asking for food? But I don't have any food with me? I really want to touch it, but will it bite me? If a squirrel bites me, do I need to get a vaccination?

Xiao Bai gently stretched out her hand to the little squirrel. The little squirrel was frightened by her outstretched hand and stepped back. Seeing that she had no ill intentions, it continued to move forward and slowly pushed the pine nut in its claws forward.

"Is this for me?" Xiao Bai fell silent as he looked at the pine nuts in his hand. Was this a scam? Or a bribe?

The little squirrel watched Xiao Bai collect his melon seeds, jumped a few times on the spot, then slowly moved forward, put his thin claws on Xiao Bai's trouser legs, and stared at Xiao Bai with his big black eyes, as if saying, look how cute I am, adopt me quickly.

Xiao Bai looked at the squirrel steadily, was silent for a moment, and silently put the melon seeds into his pocket:

"Thank you! You're a good squirrel, but I don't keep squirrels."

After giving the squirrel the good guy card, Xiao Bai took the reward "pine nuts" and walked forward without looking back.

The squirrel that stayed where it was was stunned. Looking at the figure scurrying forward as if fleeing, it jumped up and squeaked in anger! How could she just take the squirrel's benefits and leave? What a scumbag! Bah, bah, bah, what a scumbag!

The birds around were flying around, their chirping louder than before, as if they were all condemning a bad woman for deceiving the animals and bullying the squirrels too much!

After shaking off the squirrel, Xiao Bai climbed the stone steps on the mountain road for another hour, and finally saw the ancient temple that the villagers talked about.

No matter what, she still wanted to come and find out what this ancient temple was like that the villagers and her mother had talked about.

This is a veritable dilapidated temple.

The temple is located halfway up the Jianzi Peak. A triangular cave was carved out of a cliff. In front of the cliff is a U-shaped river. There is only a special narrow path leading to here. It is more like a cave than a temple, but there is a bronze tripod, a Buddha statue, and thick incense ash inside.

Xiao Bai was attracted by the dilapidated bronze tripod in front of her at first sight. She still remembered that the villagers said on the way back that someone had tried to steal the bronze tripod many times but could not move it.

She approached and examined the tripod carefully. It wasn't very tall, and the yellow copper had long lost its shine, now covered in patches of green rust. There were several pits and dents on the tripod, and the space between the three legs was covered in dust and cobwebs. Only on the inside of the two ears, which stood out from the mouth, could one see a slight trace of light, which stood out. This was the mark of human friction, indicating that many people had tried to steal the tripod many times before, otherwise the ears wouldn't have been polished to such a bright shine.

Xiao Bai reached out and touched the bronze tripod. The tripod was cold. He tried pushing it hard, but it didn't move at all.

Although the temple is small, it seems that many people have visited it. You can smell the smell of fireworks at the door, and there are a lot of ashes from burnt incense.

Xiao Bai looked at the Buddha statue in front of him, which was embedded in the stone wall. It had been completely blackened by years of smoke and fire and its appearance could not be seen. He didn't know what kind of Buddha statue it was. It seemed to be quite old. The whole Buddha statue was carved out of stone. There was a large stone platform carved out of huge stone in front of the Buddha statue. There were lit red candles, as well as various fruits and candies on the stone platform.

Xiao Bai looked around. It was just an ordinary, run-down temple. What was so magical about it?