After a careful inspection, everyone soon found out the cause of the accident in which the horse was frightened and lost control.

It is probably caused by two factors.

The carriage was loaded with too much luggage, and the hay was placed together with some food rations. Some of the hay inevitably had some pungent smell, as it had just been used to feed the horses.

In addition, the carriage was parked in a bad place, right under a forest. Just when the lame old servant was feeding the horse, a strong light hit the horse's eyes, causing irritation.

Then by coincidence, the horse got frightened and lost control...

As for the second reason, Zhao Rong knew something about it. Horses do have poor eyesight.

Moreover, even the dragon horses on the mountains, these mounts actually have the potential to get out of control.

Zhao Rong was a little speechless about his luck, but an accident of this magnitude could not hurt him even if there were a few more horses.

Instead, the old servants were very unlucky. They were already old and weak, and were knocked around badly, staggering all over the place. The disfigured old servant even kept coughing until Zhao Rong left.

Although Zhao Rong was a cautious person, he did not continue to be suspicious.

After this accident, he and Zhang Huizhi lost interest in drinking.

After Zhao Rong comforted and cared for his brother Xia Huizhi and the old servants, he returned with Uncle Xiaobai.

Next.

Zhao Rong followed the large Fengshan army and traveled for half a day, and then camped in a county town at night.

Nothing happened overnight.

The next day, the team continued their journey.

During the banquet, Dugu invited Zhao Rong to a banquet again, but the latter refused on the grounds that he was busy.

Finally, in the evening of the second day.

The moment the last ray of sunset disappeared in the sky, the large army finally arrived at the territory of Jiyue Mountain.

On a wasteland full of snow-white 'Nine Heavens Cold Palace Flowers', the people who had been running around all day looked up and gazed ahead:

In the distance, there is a high mountain.

On the top of the mountain, there is a snowy moon.

If you are at the top of a mountain, you can probably pick the moon with one hand.

…

Moonlit night.

The wasteland under the mountains is vast and boundless.

Looking around, there are thousands of tents with lights.

It was late at night and most of the lights were off.

The few remaining tents with lights on were like fallen stars from the sky scattered across the wasteland below the Moon Festival Mountain tonight.

In the camp, the crackling sound of burning wood in the farm fire, the clashing of armor and weapons of patrolling soldiers, and the faint sound of Hulusi coming from nowhere broke the silence of the wasteland that had lasted for thousands of years.

In the southwest corner of the camp, inside a large tent.

At this time, there was a slender figure sitting there, with a bright lamp in front of him, lighting up the tent.

The figure of the young scholar in front of the lamp was reflected on the felt wall behind him.

His thin face looked focused and determined in the candlelight.

At this moment, he was staring at the bright light, silent.

His eyes didn't blink, as if he was... in a trance.

"I say, Gui, do we really have to make it so gloomy?"

At a certain moment, the young Confucian scholar couldn't help but complain.

"Oh, Master Zhao feels lonely. Fine, call Zhao Qian'er and Su Qingdai over to practice together. For Master Zhao, they can just come to him at will."

As usual, the sword spirit praised Zhao Rong sincerely, then sighed and said:

"Alas, it's a pity that there is no desk here tonight. Mr. Zhao can't give full play to his strengths and teach them."

Speaking of this, Gui's tone was full of regret.

Someone: “…”

"Ahem, stop talking nonsense. Let's hurry up. We finally persuaded Qian'er to sleep with Qingdai tonight. Now we can practice seriously."

Zhao Rong coughed a few times, stared at the candlelight in front of him, and said seriously.

Gui mercilessly exposed the truth, "Are they really asleep? If you don't listen to me and turn on the light too brightly, those two girls will see you and will probably sneak in again to test Mr. Zhao's profound knowledge."

The young scholar's expression relaxed and he took a slight breath.

Play to your strengths? Learn from your knowledge?

Hiss, why does it feel like Gui is getting more and more dirty... Or is it me who is dirty and believes everything I hear... He thought a little guiltily.

"Okay, let's just keep the atmosphere gloomy, and let's start practicing quickly."

Zhao Rong looked serious and urged in his heart.

"Don't be in a hurry. Close the door tightly and don't let them in."

Gui still felt worried.

“…”

Zhao Rong's old face turned slightly red. He stood up and checked again, closing the door, leaving no gap this time.

Well, he was just short of putting up a sign at the door saying "Qian'er and Qingdai are not allowed to enter."

Zhao Rong returned and sat upright.

"Gui, I have already followed your instructions and have realized my true nature. Can you teach me that mysterious technique from the outer world?"

Gui did not answer Zhao Rong's question, but directly said: "Where is the water from the Zhengguan Well that you fetched? Take it out first."

Zhao Rong frowned slightly, took out three bamboo slips from his sleeve, and placed them in front of him one by one.

The sword spirit was quiet for a while, then suddenly laughed: "Oh, you asked me for this outer-world technique, but haven't you already seen it?"

"I saw it? Where is it?"

Zhao Rong clutched his sleeves and looked around the dark rooms.

The sword spirit said slowly: "It is in the lake of your heart."

Zhao Rong was stunned.

"Close your eyes."

The voice of Gui suddenly rang in my ears.

He closed his eyes in response.

The next second, there was no wind in the tent, and the candle in front of the young scholar suddenly went out.

It's dark.

The dark room is silent.

Zhao Rong, with his eyes closed, felt the rotation. Although he did not open his eyes, he felt that the surrounding space seemed to have been turned upside down.

He was confused at the moment, but he did not make any noise to disturb the sword spirit.

After waiting quietly for a moment, the voice of Gui came leisurely.

"Why are you still keeping your eyes closed? Open them."

Zhao Rong was suddenly stunned at this moment and forgot to complain, because with his eyes closed, he felt that he was stepping on a soft surface, like... grass?

In addition to the voice of a sword spirit, he also heard the clear sound of a lark.

In the distance, there seemed to be the sound of children playing and reading aloud...

Zhao Rong also felt the breeze on his face and smelled the pleasant fragrance of flowers.

The young scholar quietly raised his eyelids, and after opening his eyes, he saw a scene that looked like a paradise.

He was standing in a meadow of flowers.

It's a sunny day overhead.

There is green grass underfoot.

There is bright spring scenery before our eyes.

A gentle and refreshing breeze was blowing, ruffling Zhao Rong's white Confucian robe and black hair.

The flowers are passionate, the soil is gentle, and the sunshine is kind.

It’s like April on earth.

"Where...where is this?"

Zhao Rong was stunned and looked around.

There seemed to be a vast, calm lake not far away, and the grassland beside the lake where he was standing was also very large.

“This is the heart lake within your Ajna chakra.”

Gui paused and explained again.

"Well, actually, the scenes in the heart lake are ever-changing, but I used a little magic to make it concrete so that you can see it. Well, you can regard these scenes as the real projection of some memories and thoughts deep in your heart lake."

Zhao Rong turned his head and looked in the direction where the sound of children laughing came from.

There were swings bouncing under the trees, some familiar little figures, and their familiar childish voices...

"Memory projection..."

Gui's voice came again, "Well, understand it however you want. You can think of it as a dream. Just stay awake and realize that these are all illusions. Don't try to understand or investigate, otherwise you will easily fall into delusion and self-doubt..."

Zhao Rong pursed his lips and nodded.

I took a look at the scenery in the distance as if I was on a spring outing.

Then he looked around, but there was no one nearby.

Gui's voice sounded like someone was talking next to him, very close.

Just don't know where it is.

Zhao Rong touched his chin.

By the way, isn't Gui a sword spirit? That's the soul state. I remember it said before that it was in his brow chakra, so can it be seen now? Uh, could it be that Gui is an invisible soul floating around him?

The young Confucian scholar suddenly made a strange move.

He stretched out his hand forward, and then... scooped up the air around him.

Just like playing hide-and-seek when we were kids.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Gui Jingjing was speechless.

Zhao Rong smiled brightly, "Um, are you around?"

"Get lost! If you dare to touch me, I will throw you into the lake to feed the evil dragons!"

Zhao Rong: “…”

He sighed and said, "Is it necessary to be so formal? We are just friends, we should at least pat each other on the shoulders and shake hands... So, you mean you are here too? Ahem, where are you? Let me see..."

Zhao Rong blinked and looked around.

Gui said angrily: "Get lost!"

"Now that I'm here..."

Zhao Rong touched the back of his head and said a little embarrassedly: "Ahem, why does it feel a bit like a face-to-face meeting with an online friend? A strange sense of déjà vu."

"What online friend meeting?"

"Ahem, it's nothing. Well, being able to meet online friends in person is a very good relationship."

“…”

The sword spirit was skeptical.

Although it didn't quite understand what Zhao Rong meant, it found eight out of ten strange words that came out of his mouth to be inappropriate.

As for the remaining two... Gui felt that 'how dare he?' and 'he really dares'... these words, like Young Master Zhao, should not appear in this world.

Therefore, phrases like "meeting online friends in person" are probably not good terms.

"Oh, seriously."

A certain sword spirit said in a very unconvincing tone.

"Why would I lie to you? Well, usually when netizens meet, they have to bring some gifts or something. Forget about razor blades and other controlled knives. Well, did you bring any gifts?"

Zhao Rong rubbed his hands.

"Haha." The sword spirit sneered and paused, then narrowed its eyes and said, "Does it count if I give you a pool of evil dragons?"

"Are you sure this dragon is cooked?"

“…”

Gui thought about it and nodded, "Familiar? You will be familiar with them soon. Don't worry, I promise you will become more and more familiar with them in the future."

"Then we have to take a look at it quickly."

Zhao Rong smiled lightly and didn't leave anymore.

He suddenly heard the familiar sound of children playing.

The young scholar on the grass was quiet for a moment, then turned and walked in that direction.

Not long after, he saw the three small figures as he had expected.

Running on the grass on the hillside.

One of them was a little girl, wearing a white, chest-length skirt, with a delicate and lovely face.

There was also a little girl, wearing a light green maid's outfit, with double hair and a cute round face.

The two little girls are obviously beauties at first glance.

But at this moment, there were many stains on their fair cheeks and some beads of sweat on their white foreheads. They were running with someone in front of them to fly kites, and their little faces were flushed with heat.

Xiao Qingjun and Xiao Qianer both have short legs. They are chasing the boy in front of them with bright eyes and full of smiles.

Zhao Rong stood aside with his sleeves rolled up and watched quietly for a while.

He seemed invisible in the eyes of these three familiar yet unfamiliar children.

They were laughing and playing, running past Zhao Rong as if they didn't see him.

Zhao Rong's face was calm as he listened to the giggles of Xiao Qingjun and Xiao Qian'er.

Occasionally he would lean sideways to make way for them who were chasing him.

If there were outsiders at this time, they would notice that Zhao Rong's eyes were only on the two little girls among the three children...

Xiao Qingjun and Xiao Qian'er were chased and ran away.

After a while, they held each other's chubby little hands, sat on the swing and were pushed up and down by someone.

With her feet straight and her skirt fluttering in the air, she laughed and lit up the wind around her...

The young scholar watching on laughed.

At this time, the swing gradually stopped and the man stopped pushing it.

"…Hey, you two stupid girls who haven't read a single book, don't disbelieve me! What are you laughing at? In the lake ahead, there really is a big evil creature suppressed by our Confucian saints. Yes, it's the man-eating dragon and other monsters in the storybooks. They are suppressed by books that are bigger than mountains."

The boy suddenly left the swing, jumped to the side, pointed at the vast lake in the distance, and introduced it to the two little girls on the swing with a serious expression.

"What, Qingjun, you're asking me why the saints don't reason with these beasts? How stupid! Aren't the saints' principles all in books? Pressing them down with a mountain of books is like letting them read by themselves. What do you mean by convincing people with reason?"

The boy leaned back, put one hand on his waist, and waved the other hand forward proudly, speaking proudly.

The two little girls hugging each other on the swing tilted their heads and smiled at each other.

The young scholar who was watching on the side finally turned his gaze away from the two little girls and looked at the young but arrogant big boy.

At this moment, the boy pretended to sigh.

"Ah, but these evil dragons and demons are too powerful. They are getting bigger and bigger by drinking the lake water every day. They don't like to study. The saints' teachings can't suppress them. The evil dragons are about to break free and be born. Oh, our backyard of the Duke's Mansion is going to be in turmoil...

"Hey, you two little girls, don't be so silly. After they run out of the lake, they will definitely eat you first. Well, they will eat Qian'er first, you are the thinnest, so you are an appetizer. Then they will eat Qingjun, your butt has been getting fatter and fatter recently, so you have to chew more..."

"Ahem, you're finally scared, right? It's okay, don't be afraid! With me, Zhao Rong, here, they can't hurt you."

"Well, even the most powerful saint can't suppress these evil dragons. But when I study hard and grow up, I will definitely be more powerful than the saint in the book. By then, I will use greater "truths" to suppress them to the bottom of the lake, and they won't be able to raise their heads..."

The boy spoke boldly and was full of energy, pointing at the calm lake in the distance.

The young scholar standing quietly by looked in the direction of the boy's finger.

The next second, he turned around gently and did not stop.

The young scholar walked towards the calm lake.

This is the garden hill behind the Duke's mansion from his childhood in his memory.

He was familiar with the sunshine, the grass, and the fragrance of flowers.

But there are other things that don't belong here...