"Clang-Clang-Clang-Clang!"

In early autumn, the morning bell echoes.

The bells sounded one after another, and dewdrops shook from the bell that had been silent for a night, flowing down, forming a stream, dripping on the young boots of the monk's clothes and ringing the bell.

Since a new bell ringer came to the bell tower in the south corner of the town, in addition to the monotonous bell sounds on time, Taoyuan Town has been extremely regular one hundred and eight bells in the morning and evening.

However, the perseverance of the bell cannot dissipate the white mist that has been shrouded in Taoyuan Town for many years.

The same is true today.

From the first rooster crow downstairs, Ouyang Rong finished ringing one hundred and eight times in a regular manner, put down the bell ringing wood, raised his head and took a deep breath, then picked up the sweat towel on his neck and wiped his forehead.

Standing on the bell tower and looking out, the view was covered with fog, and you could only see the nearby eaves, so wet that they were covered with moss.

However, after he finished ringing the bell, the noise of the early rise of the townspeople gradually amplified in their ears.

It's a new day.

Today should be a sunny day, with autumn sun rising.

However, Ouyang Rong looked up and saw that, as expected, Qiuyang was isolated outside by the white mist that enveloped the town. Looking out from the high building, he could only see the hazy round outline, like the yolk of a poached egg.

Next to the big bell, the young man in monk touched his chin. In this position, he habitually supported the hidden bronze mask.

A "dull" face, a little distracted.

It has been twenty days since Ouyang Rong came to this Taoyuan Town. Unlike A Qing who was taken away by the snow candle, Ouyang Rong, as "Brother", was put down by this blonde lady on the way and placed in a bell tower in this small town called Taoyuan.

Regarding the new disciple's "Brother", Zhunxiu's words are as precious as gold. He only left one sentence before leaving in the early morning that night:

"Wait honestly."

Ouyang Rong lived in this town for no reason. I remember that early that morning, a fellow villager in the town came to him and took him to eat a special fish croaker and fill the lotus root. He also set up a bell ringing work, and all the food and accommodation were in this bell tower.

Apart from the small amount of wages paid every ten days, there was no order. Ouyang Rong went to find someone again, and he had no chance to meet the busy hometown fellow again.

For an energetic person like Ouyang Rong, the work of ringing the bell is not very tiring. He is also a person who cannot rest. In addition, he comes to a new environment and is full of curiosity and desire to explore. Ouyang Rong went downstairs to find a new job.

It is an inn on the west side of the bell tower, which is also close to the Fangmen. Its name is also tacky, and it is called Hongchen Inn. Ouyang Rong finds a job as a servant in it.

Commonly known as a chore, he is responsible for buying groceries, running errands, and getting off the carriage for the settled guests. Anyway, he should do whatever he has. Just have some eyesight. The wages are paid every day. Although the boss's wife is poisonous and the horse-faced aunt looks no longer beautiful, she is also a refreshing master.

Ouyang Rong just needs to maintain his dull character who is not good at speaking and cannot give up his fart. In the past ten days, he has not encountered any messy things.

The boss lady should like diligent people, well, the premise is that the strong guy... occasionally give him a few more coins and give him a charming look.

However, Ouyang Rong is second to this, wages and charming eyes. What is important is that restaurants and inns have always had a high mobility, so he can collect some information silently...

Lean on the railing on the top floor for a while, looking around the scenery, and silently wiped the non-existent sweat with a sweat towel.

In fact, with the physique of Ouyang Rong's seventh-grade Qi Refiner, he rang the bell one hundred and eight times, and was a piece of cake, and it was far from the point of breathing and resting.

But every time he finished ringing the bell, he still showed a tired and resting expression, like an ordinary rough man.

Ouyang Rong looked at the Hongchen Inn next to him.

Early in the morning, the restaurant was already busy, and a new passenger called out impatiently that the waiter opened the yard door and parked the carriage. However, the waiter also had a bad temper, with a smile on his face but scolded him in dialect. Fortunately, the passenger couldn't understand...

Ouyang Rong finally wiped his face, turned around, slowly climbed down the stairs, and it was time to go back to the inn to work.

Speaking of which, Ouyang Rong has a natural sense of direction. Most of the places he has been to can return the same way. So on that rainy night, on the way from Donglin Temple to be taken out by a snow candle, although most of the time they walked through the wilderness, crossing the bridge and taking boats, and circling the mountains and waters, compared to Aqing, who had a confused face, Ouyang Rong paid attention to the route along the way and kept it in his mind.

He was sure that this Taoyuan Town was not in Jiangzhou, and was located on the southwest side of Jiangzhou, close to Lingnan Road, or simply Lingnan Road, but he didn't know which remote prefecture or county it belonged to Lingnan Road.

But one thing is certain. Taoyuan Town is very deep into Yunmengze and is located very remote. Walking further inside, there are swamps and lakes that are rarely visited. It is probably a mountain market closest to Yunmeng within a radius of 100 miles.

The fireworks in the secular world can only stop here.

When the tentacles of Luoyang's imperial power arrived here, only the weak "fine beards" of the establishment were left.

Anyway, Ouyang Rong lived for a while and did not find any public servants in the town. He did not see any patrol and call the updates at night. The updates were arranged by several wealthy families in the town, and they were only responsible for their respective liberal arts.

In addition to foreigners with strong mobility, the permanent residents of Taoyuan Town can be roughly divided into nine surnames, with strong clan awareness. The restaurants and shops in the town are all opened by people of various clans, so the old tribe leaders of the village are the most effective.

I don’t know if there is a mayor designated by the government. Perhaps it is also a village head of a certain surname. However, the name given by the government is probably as unsatisfactory as the emperor in the hearts of the townspeople.

Real village autonomy.

From this point of view, the town is indeed quite like a paradise.

As Ouyang Rong climbed down the stairs, he thought silently.

He has not yet reported the news to Xunyang and mobilize the power of the government.

First, it is easy to expose the information when sending messages. Second, the current situation is stable and stable, which is the best solution.

These days, Ouyang Rong has carefully searched all his memories and has a vague impression of the three-character name "Taoyuan Town".

It should be that when Liulang ordered the governments of the surrounding states to mobilize the forces of the surrounding states to investigate the Yunmeng Jianze Mountain Gate, this name was mentioned in a piece of information submitted by Liulang, but there were also many prefecture and county place names with it - all of them were close to Yunmeng Daze on the map.

It was mixed in at that time and was inconspicuous.

Here we have to talk about Yunmeng Daze. It is not a swamp, but a general term for an ancient lake group. The word Meng means "lake" in the Wuyue dialect. It has swamp areas inside, but it is more of a vast water surface, with thousands of islands scattered, as complicated as a maze.

I even heard some rumors about fishermen who had missed the depths. In the depths of Yunmeng Lake, some islands are as huge as land, making people unable to see at a glance...

When Ouyang Rong was searching, he browsed the county annals of various places and found no half of the Yunmengze map, all of which were sporadic records.

But he had a brief estimate that Yunmengze now stretched at least nine hundred miles.

However, in some ancient books, Yunmeng Ancient Ze was even larger in the pre-Qin period. Ancient books recorded that it was endless and looked like the sea. It even exaggeratedly described it as comparable to the North Sea and attracted pre-Qin alchemists to find immortals... Anyway, the Spring and Autumn Period was definitely more than nine hundred miles away.

The universe, sun and moon, the world change. After the divergence of the Yangtze River system and the accumulated influence of the activities of the people in Jiangnan over the past thousand years, the scope of Yunmeng Daze has greatly shrunk.

But the nine hundred miles of Yunmeng is still a deterrent.

Jiangzhou is only one of the dozen states bordering it. This zodiac spans Jiangnan and Lingnan Roads, but it has therefore become a three-in-one area, naturally raising the hermits...

Speaking of which, before, the governments of all prefectures and counties bordering Yunmengze responded to the call of the Jiangzhou lobby and sent people to investigate, but they all got nothing.

Looking back now, this Taoyuan Town is actually a breakthrough, very close to the secret mountain gate of Yunmeng Jianze, which can lock in the approximate range.

However, it is still a bit tricky to reach this point.

Xue Zhongzhu's vigilance was much stronger than he thought. He left him here and only took Ah Qing away.

No wonder there was no wonder that he had searched through various channels such as Longhu Mountain, Jiangzhou government, Jiangnan merchants, etc., but there was no news.

Ouyang Rong pursed his lips and looked south at the vast lake with white white eyes.

He took the time to go to Zhennan the day before yesterday to take a look. Taoyuan Town is facing water, and there is a small pier for fishermen and passengers to go deep into Yunmeng. However, above this vast and endless water swath, white mist is lingering all year round.

I heard from the fisherman that the white fog has always been there, isolating the islands on the water like a barrier, especially the water surface is not calm, and there are many undercurrents and whirlpools that can affect the boatman's judgment.

Therefore, even the oldest fisherman in the town dared not be too far from the land, and it was amazing to be able to return the same way when he went out.

Some bold travelers or people from the world who come here often get lost and never come back. Gradually, no boat owner dares to take on such a job. They are only responsible for renting boats, but do not bring people deep...

The white mist that swam over Taoyuan Town all day long also spreads from the water.

In the past twenty days after Ouyang Rong came, he had never seen the sun for a few times. Only when the yang energy was at its peak at noon did some light yellow sunlight fall on the eaves of the bell tower.

Ouyang Rong thought of a poem for no reason.

The air steams Yunmengze.

Could this white mist be evaporated by the sun?

The work at Hongchen Inn is quite boring, and Ouyang Rong doesn't want other servants to tease the young handmaid and the boss lady at the bucket waist in his spare time.

In the eyes of outsiders, he finished his work like a bottle of oil, received his wages, went to the bell tower in the evening, and simply ate some steamed buns, and went to bed early.

Late at night, a sudden burst of rapid and brief strange sound came from outside.

Ouyang Rong suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed the scroll under the pillow with his palm.

The air is quiet.

He waited for a while, but the strange sound was gone and he didn't give him a chance to listen carefully.

Like auditory hallucination.

Ouyang Rong closed his eyes, but did not let go, and still held the Peach Blossom Land Picture.

This is not the first time.

Several times in the past, Ouyang Rong, who had a very light sleep, was also awakened by strange sounds.

I heard it many times, and to summarize it, the sound was like a collision between a sword and a scream, but it was very short. Every time I was about to listen carefully, it disappeared and returned to silence...

However, once, during the day, Ouyang Rong got up early and went out to ring the bell. He stood at the height of the bell tower and saw a touch of bright red on the bluestone slabs in the distant street. However, it was soon cleaned up by the diligent street cleaners.

As if nothing happened, the town ushered in a new day.

Ouyang Rong remembered that on the first day, the fellow villager who invited him to breakfast seemed to have a reminder to him not go out and go to bed early and get up early at night.

At first Ouyang Rong thought it was bad for public security, but at night, he found that it was quiet outside, as if it was very peaceful.

Later, I also inquired from my colleagues at Hongchen Inn. It seems that it is indeed an unwritten rule in the town if I don’t go out at night.

It was not until Ouyang Rong heard strange sounds in the middle of the night and saw those street cleaners who were used to it that he had thought of some of the taste...

In addition, Ouyang Rong also discovered that it seemed that not only he wanted to find Yunmeng Jianze. There were many strange guests in the town every day, with strange costumes and mixed accents... They were all inquiring about Yunmengze indirectly, as if they were looking for something.
To be continued...