Seeing the expressions of the three of them, the old man added: "Oh, I'm talking about the time it takes to walk. You are naturally much faster on horseback now. You can reach the desert in less than half a day. But horses can also run in the desert.

If you don't get up, it will probably take you at least a day to cross the desert. If you can't get out of the desert in one day, you will have to spend the night in the desert."

"Spend the night in the desert?" Allah's boy and Ula Zhitao shouted almost at the same time.

The old man continued: "It is no joke to spend the night in the desert. It is very hot during the day and very cold at night. If there is wind, people may be buried."

"Isn't that terrible!" Ula Zhitao looked fearful.

"It's a bit dangerous." The old man said again: "I think you are riding three horses, so you don't need to cross the desert. You can go around the mountains for a day at most, but it is much safer that way. Especially since you have

Take a little sister with you and let her suffer less."

"That's right, for sister Zhitao, we won't cross the desert." Waiter Anla quickly took over the words.

After listening to their conversation, Alayanzong nodded slowly, "Okay, let's go around the mountain. Thank you so much, old man, for showing us the way, so that we don't have to bump around like headless flies without knowing where to go."

What’s the risk?”

"You're welcome, you're welcome." The old man still had a smile on his face.

"Hey, let me ask the old man, are there any checkpoints in the town ahead?" Whether there are checkpoints is not a problem for Alayanzong, but there are two Ula Zhitao, and he doesn't want to cause more trouble.

"Ah! There are checkpoints and roadblocks, and people are not allowed to come in and out at will. I want to cut some vegetables and provide vegetables for the villagers, so I was allowed to come out. I'm afraid it's difficult for you to pass through the town."

"Is there a way around the village?" Alayanzong wanted to know the way.

The old man pointed the direction and said, "In this way, you go back about ten miles. There is a fork there. Then go east, walk three to five miles and then turn north. If you go all the way, you will not encounter the desert.

It takes almost a day to ride a horse. There is a big mountain in front of you called Piaomiao Peak. Keep walking along the mountain road, only taking the main road, which leads to the northwest, directly to Qiaolu West Bird City."

Ula Zhitao jumped up first, "That's great! Instead of walking through the desert, it's okay to walk for an extra day or two!"

Saying goodbye to the old man, the three of them rode towards the south.

Following the road guided by the old man, the walk went smoothly. We only saw a few small villages and encountered no checkpoints. What surprised Alayanzong was that he did not see anyone in the villages.

At noon, they rested on the edge of a small village. Ala Yanzong went to the village to take a look and found that it was actually an empty village.

Seeing Ala Yanzong walking back with a lonely look on his face, Wula Zhitao, who was sitting on a stone by the roadside, asked, "What are you doing in the village?"

Ala Yanzong replied: "I was surprised to see no one. I didn't expect this to be an empty village."

Wula Zhitao said: "No one seems to have been seen in the small villages we passed by. Are they all empty villages?"

Waiter Anla said vaguely with a piece of dried fish in his mouth: "It's possible. The small village we once lived in only had four or five old people. It was almost called an empty village."

Before he finished speaking, a gust of wind blew and a piece of paper was stuck on the face of waiter Anla. He quickly took it out and saw that it was a round piece of paper money.

He threw the paper money on the ground, and the paper money floated away in the wind, saying, "Unlucky! How come there is such a thing?"

Ala Yanzong looked around and pointed to the east, "Look, there is a cemetery over there. There seem to be many new graves!"

Anla Xiaoer and Wulan Zhitao quickly stood up and looked eastward. There were indeed many new earthen tombs among the tombs. It must be that many people had died recently.

Wula Zhitao hurriedly said: "Let's go, I'm scared, the monsters in the middle of the day are so scary."

Allah's waiter asked: "Are you really afraid? You dare to kill people, you don't even blink when you see a dead body, but you are afraid of a few new graves!"

Wula Zhitao's face was full of displeasure, "That's different! The new grave in an empty village makes my heart tremble just thinking about it. Let's go!" As she spoke, she got on the horse first.

So the three of them continued heading north.

Alayanzong felt a little heavy. He suspected that the people who died in the new graves might have been caused by the plague.

Not long after walking, they did vaguely see the shadow of a mountain. The three of them worked hard to get to the bottom of the mountain before dark, looking for a shelter from the wind so that they could spend the night safely.

Looking at the mountain, I ran to the mountain. Although I had already seen the mountain right in front of me, I still couldn't get to it.

I ran all the way and finally arrived at the foot of the mountain when the sun could still be seen.

A big road ran from east to west. The three men hesitated, reined in their horses, and wandered at the intersection.

Allah's waiter asked: "Should we go west or east?"

Ula Zhitao said: "Wouldn't it be to the edge of the desert to the west?"

Allah's boy pointed to the east and said: "Going farther and farther east, you see that the mountain road also turns south."

Ala Yanzong determined the direction and said: "The old man said that if you don't go through the desert, you have to go around the mountain road. It will take us an extra day to walk on horseback."

Wula Zhitao said doubtfully: "But he said to keep moving forward!"

Alayanzong thought for a moment and said, "The old man may have never walked this road at all. Maybe he has heard about it. If you keep going forward, the road is not always straight, and you may have to make a few turns. I decided

Take his word for it and walk eastward around the mountains."

Seeing Ala Yanzong's insistence, Wula Zhitao and the two had no choice but to follow him.

So he urged Ma to go east again.

Unexpectedly, the east side is just the foot of the mountain. After going around it, there is a road heading north.

The horses ran wildly for a while, and the sky became dark.

Seeing a path heading west, the three people stopped. They had to find a shelter as soon as possible. They couldn't stay overnight on this path. There were horses. They had to find a place with grass so that they could eat well tomorrow.

On the way.

The three of them drove their horses onto the path, and not far away they saw a Taoist temple, and the three of them cheered.

When I came to the Taoist temple, I saw that only the ruins of the Taoist temple were left, as if it had collapsed many years ago. On the door of the Taoist temple, the words "Piaomiao Peak Taoist Temple" could be vaguely discerned.

Ala Yanzong remembered that this was the place where Mo Xu Guyun practiced martial arts.

The three people dismounted and led their horses into the doorway. They saw ruins in front of them. The dilapidated scene was just like the Taoist temple where his master once lived. The houses collapsed and there were almost no intact houses.

The courtyard is large, but it has long been overgrown with weeds, some dry and some new green. The horses were tied up and allowed to graze here first, and the three of them went to find a place to sleep.

There is only a piece of rubble left in the front row of houses. Although there are still a few walls in the second row of houses that have not completely collapsed, there is still no complete house.

Ala Yanzong remembered that he once heard Mo Xu Guyun say that there seemed to be a cave behind the Taoist temple, so he hurriedly walked towards the back mountain.

Sure enough, after walking through a forest, I discovered the cave.

There are still traces of a wooden door once installed at the entrance of the cave, and the door frame remains, but the wooden door has disappeared.

There are stone tables, stone benches, and stone beds in the cave. The cave is about thirty meters deep. The end of the cave has been built with stones and the walls have been plastered with mud. I seem to have heard Mo Xuguyun say in Alayan that this is a crime.

This is the place where disciples who have observed the rules are kept in solitary confinement.
Chapter completed!