“Miss, there are no carriages on Qingqiu Mountain.” Lan Xuan looked down at me.
I understand. No one has ever come up to Qingqiu Mountain, and no one can enter this place. The people here don't go out either; they don't need carriages, so why would they need to prepare them?
"May I ride a horse, young lady?"
I nodded. What difference does it make whether it's possible or not?
"Hengzhi, go and fetch the horse, quickly, lest that person come back again." Lanxuan said softly to the person beside her, then turned to me, "People in this palace can only leave if they die, please forgive me, young lady. It's just that the master instructed me to tell you the way to Danxue Mountain, so the master left in a bit of a hurry."
"My master also said that you should eat the flesh of a nine-tailed fox before going, to avoid being harmed by the evil spirits. Furthermore, he instructed that a white dog and some rice be prepared for you as offerings to the gods. He also said that the path has been cleared, so you can proceed with peace of mind. There is a bird on Danxue Mountain with five-colored feathers and exquisite patterns. Its head is inscribed with the word 'Virtue,' its wings with 'Righteousness,' its back with 'Propriety,' its breast with 'Benevolence,' and its belly with 'Trust.' This bird drinks only morning dew, eats only tender bamboo shoots, and perches only on thousand-year-old phoenix trees. You can ask this bird to guide you to my master."
“This is the road to Danxue Mountain. If things go smoothly, it will take about two months to travel at a fast pace.” She bent down and put the map into her bundle. “My master has left a horse that can travel a thousand miles a day, but this horse is difficult to control, so it will probably take some time.”
The woman who had led the horse returned. The horse was handsome and strong, but its eyes were full of untamed spirit. On its back was a bundle, which probably contained everything she had just instructed.
It took two people to push me onto the horse's back. The horse was indeed fierce and immediately leaped, almost throwing me off. Fortunately, I held on tightly to the horse's neck and didn't fall.
"A rope was tied to the saddle, which the girl wore around her waist to prevent her from falling off."
I hurried over to check, and sure enough, it was there. I quickly stopped it from jumping up again and tied it tightly. It stayed close to the horse's ear for a long time, but I didn't know what to say to comfort it, so I had to pull it back and hold the reins firmly.
As I rode away, I couldn't help but look back. A palace was shrouded in flickering lights, and a few women, dressed like fairies, stood there. Only Ji Mo, dressed in black, stood with his hands behind his back. He looked in the opposite direction from me, leaving me only with his back to me, his broad, sturdy back filled with loneliness and desolation.
He doesn't know I'm leaving, and that's good.
Perhaps it was just my imagination, or perhaps it was a fleeting connection of minds, but as I turned back, I seemed to catch a glimpse of him turning to look at me. But I didn't stop, not even glancing back at the receding palace. I was afraid that if I looked any longer, I would never be able to leave.
That day, I hugged the horse's neck and cried all night long.
The silhouette of Ji Mo will be the last time I see it in this life. If Fu Xi insists on taking my soul, I'm afraid I won't have an afterlife. So, no matter what happened in our past lives, for all eternity, all that will remain for each other is that silhouette.
The nights in the South are so cold, it turns out.
Perhaps the horse was somehow sentient, for after that night, it never again tried to throw me off. But I often lost my balance and would throw half of my body off the horse's back, leaving a deep mark on the rope around my waist. Fortunately, I had no feeling there and it didn't hurt.
With this Pegasus, the journey seemed to have been shortened considerably. The originally agreed-upon two-month period had already passed in the blink of an eye, half a month having gone by.
I dragged myself along, barely managing to offer sacrifices to the gods. The horse had already lowered its body, and I was about to help myself onto its back when suddenly a blinding light appeared before my eyes. My eyes are extremely sensitive to light, so I immediately raised my hand to shield them, but it was still unbearable. The horse, remarkably considerate, used its body to shield me.
The instant a shadow fell before my eyes, I almost blurted out "Dong Li".
He was always the one who shielded me from the sun; he was also the one who taught me to tie my hair up, cover my face, and wear a straw hat.
However, he is not here at this moment.
As I was sighing to myself, something suddenly flashed before my eyes. I squinted and saw that it was the shimmering dragon scales.
Could the true dragon be located in Danxue Mountain?
I was taken aback. However, when the bright light subsided and I looked more closely, I realized it wasn't a real dragon, but a mountain god with a human head and a dragon's body. I nodded slightly to him, but he didn't even glance at me. He turned and leaped into the heavens, disappearing in an instant.
Looking up, the mountain road in front of me appears wide and flat, and with a quick glance, I see a large expanse of sycamore trees.
The sturdy and upright sycamore trees almost made me forget to mount my horse.
It will not perch on anything but a thousand-year-old parasol tree.
With great effort, I dragged myself onto the horse's back, and it galloped away without me needing to whip it.
Which of these thousand-year-old parasol trees has grown for over a thousand years? I can only search for them one by one, wandering aimlessly through this grove. A thousand years—I wonder how many generations that is, how much essence of heaven and earth it can absorb.
I don't know if the forest was too vast and boundless, or if I had simply lost my way, but I rode my horse onward until the sun began to set, still unable to leave the woods. The next day, I again rode from sunrise to sunset, and gazing at the high-hanging stars, I lay on the ground, tracing the shape of the Milky Way. I had heard that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl separated the two sides of the Milky Way, but I didn't recognize the stars of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl; I could only look at the Milky Way and contemplate the legend.
Day after day, night after night, after seven whole days and nights, I finally found the largest tree in the forest. I fell off my horse and fell into a deep sleep under that tree. I was only jolted awake by the smell of burnt coals that filled my nostrils.
This smell reminds me of the day the Gui Fang attacked the capital. I was treated like a demon by Basilji Yu and placed on a fire, ready to be burned alive.
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