Silas Lin and the Lost City of Souls Chapter 8

In June, the summer heat is approaching and the sun is scorching.

In the past few days, it has been extremely hot and muggy, many rivers have dried up, and all the crops in the fields have withered. The whole city is only looking forward to a heavy rain. If this rain does not come, there will be a severe drought.

Tobias Li came back from working in the fields, covered in sweat. As soon as he got home, he poured water on himself and fanned himself vigorously in the main room.

"You dog--save some water!" Barnaby Li poured him a small glass of cold water.

"It's your turn to go in the afternoon." Tobias Li drank the water, wiped his mouth, and said to Barnaby Li, "Take care of the sun until it turns into a dead dog."

"Bah," Barnaby Li said, "I can walk for a whole week today. You should hurry up and catch up. If the two of us can go to cultivate immortality, we won't have to suffer this bird penalty anymore."

Tobias Li sighed and said, "It's easy to say."

There is no rain in January, and the land in Fujian, Guangdong and Guizhou is bare for thousands of miles, and it looks like another year of famine. I don't know how many young people are like these two brothers, hoping to pass the imperial examination by chance, escape from the human world, and live a life of immortals.

Watching the sun come to the center, Barnaby Li said: "Let's go find Brother Lin for dinner."

---Brother Lin's family naturally has no food, so they have to bring it. This has been the case every day for the past two months.

When they went there, Silas Lin was practicing his sword under the tree.

A three-foot poplar tree branch held a sword flower at an angle. The two brothers looked at it outside the door for a long time, but they could only see the five basic moves of point, thrust, chop, slash, and tease. There were no fresh sword moves.

---In fact, it's not that Silas Lin doesn't want to practice other things. This little fool's body is really weak. He has been eating and drinking regularly for two months, but he hasn't seen any improvement. He can't even dance on a tree branch without being out of breath, let alone The complex sword moves.

He was a little dizzy, and when Li Ji Feo and Li Ya Feo came looking for him, he put down the branch and returned to his room.

These days, the two brothers often come to him, sometimes asking about Qi, acupuncture points and other things, sometimes just coming to play - speaking of it, this is the first time someone has come to play with him.

In his previous life, when he was six or seven years old, he saw that other people had friends, and he was envious and wanted to have one or two playmates. It's just that it's all just thinking about it. He has been following his master as long as he can remember - it is said that the master took him from the orphanage. As for how this old man who insisted on wearing long hair and wearing robes in modern society could successfully adopt a child, how did Silas Lin manage to adopt a child? He couldn't even think of it, so he always thought that he was stolen from the orphanage by the old man.

After being stolen out, he started memorizing sword manuals and learning exercises at a very young age. The things his peers talked about... he didn't understand at all. He had never even seen it on TV. Therefore, he didn't know how to talk to the people around him or what to say. Children all play together. Once a person has no friends at the beginning, he will not have any in the future.

Later, after graduating from elementary school and entering junior high school, he could finally barely keep up with the pace of modern life, but he had become withdrawn to a certain extent and no longer wanted to interact with others. As time went by, his ability to talk to himself became very high, and he became very good at talking to himself. Others become mute.

When he arrived here, life in the village was simple and the same, and the two brothers were very honest. They laughed and joked in front of him all day long, and gradually they became familiar with each other. As long as they did not touch him at close range, Silas Lin could be with them. Being at peace with each other is a rare experience.

We continued to live in peace for a few days, and it was about to be the day of the imperial examination.

The Mavis sent the three of them to the entrance of the village and said to Tobias Li and Barnaby Li: "You two are useless. I don't care what your exam results are. Don't lose Xiaoshu!"

Barnaby Li said with a smile: "Don't worry, mother, we will hold him in check!"

Silas Lin looked at this scene and thought for a while. He had never been lost before. He didn't know why he left the impression that he was easily lost. He was a little confused: ...

The Mavis cast her eyes on Silas Lin, worried: "Look! He looks like he's not listening to everything again! Isn't it going to be gone if you let go!"

"He's listening!" Barnaby Li excused him, "He just doesn't know how to make expressions and seems a little dazed!"

The Mavis made a sound, took a few steps forward, and said to Silas Lin, "Follow me!"

The distance was too close, Silas Lin was a little stiff and nodded silently.

The Mavis was then satisfied, waved her hand and let them leave.

Ning'an Prefecture is a small county, only a dozen miles from the southern suburbs to the center of the city. They each rode a gray donkey and walked side by side on the dirt road. Silas Lin brought an extra bamboo hat---this is what the Mavis knew. He was not in good health and was specially added to prevent him from getting dizzy from the strong sun.

Silas Lin was being carried along by a donkey while looking at the scenery along the road.

When I first entered the city, the streets on both sides were sparse and the houses were low and old. They were all old wooden and mud houses and were not very prosperous. After passing an archway and arriving in the inner city, I saw the rather impressive government offices and shops gradually appeared along the streets. , selling some fruits and snacks, shouting one after another, quite interesting.

When we almost arrived at the examination room, it started to feel like there was a lot of traffic and a lot of people. The examination room turned out to be an open space dozens of feet square with a green brick floor.

Looking past the black crowd of heads, Silas Lin saw a very tall bamboo pillar standing in front of him, with a green flag hanging high on it and the inscription "Shangling Examination" written in large characters. The participants sat on the ground with this bamboo pillar as the center.

Barnaby Li: "This is really embarrassing."

Tobias Li nodded.

Silas Lin thinks so.

But when almost everyone arrived, he felt that the perfunctory and simple place was not without reason - there were not even 5,000 people in Ning'an Prefecture, and there were only a thousand who came to take the exam. I'm afraid all the young people come here to try their luck. Shanngling Academy only recruits a thousand people a year throughout Southern Xia, but the number of people who take the Shanling Examination is hundreds of thousands. It is really not easy to arrange the venue carefully and conduct detailed assessments in reality.

Barnaby Li pulled out a hemp rope from somewhere, tied one of Silas Lin's wrists, and tied the other end around his waist, saying: "There will be a lot of people later, and if you really lose it, my mother will probably kill you." I hang it up and fight."

At this time, the drum beat three times, the noisy crowd quieted down, and a strong and powerful voice was heard in the distance: "Get up!"

With the bamboo pillar as the center, milky white complex formation patterns suddenly spread out on the bluestone, and after a moment, the light shone brightly.

Silas Lin's consciousness was suddenly pulled. After a feeling of weightlessness, he opened his eyes again and found himself on a mountain road filled with morning mist. There was a stone on the roadside with "Dream of Shanngling" engraved on it.

He climbed up the stairs, and after dozens of steps, he turned a corner and suddenly reached the top of the mountain.

The sun was rising on the top of the mountain, and the morning breeze was refreshing. A very kind-looking man in blue appeared in front of him. He cupped his hand and said, "Fellow Taoist, please sit quietly."

Silas Lin sat quietly.

"Where is Taoist friend's home?"

"Minzhou, Ning'an Prefecture."

"What is your Taoist friend's name?"

"Silas Lin."

"How old is Taoist friend this year?"

"fourteen."

"It's true that a hero comes from a boy."

After that, the man in blue continued: "Fellow Taoist, please close your eyes."

Silas Lin closed his eyes.

"Fellow Taoist, please meditate."

Silas Lin meditated.

The man in blue smiled: "You poke and jump, my fellow Taoist is really obedient."

Silas Lin: ...

The IQ of this examination system is quite high.