133, a journey of thousands of miles

The so-called secondary forest is a forest system that is re-formed after the primitive forest land is destroyed. If it takes a long enough time, the secondary forest will return to the state of the primitive forest land and achieve a new balance. However, if external interference always exists, the characteristics of the secondary forest will be very obvious.

The destruction of the original forest system may be due to natural causes, such as fires, but more because of man-made logging. The forest they passed by today is obviously different from the previous few days. There are not many lush trees, and the larger plants are sparsely distributed, mixed with many shrubs and large grasses.

While Ding Qi was speaking, everyone saw a tree stump. The flat fracture was obviously not lodged due to natural reasons, but was sawed off by someone. This shows that people often come here to chop firewood or pick various mountain goods.

These days they have been walking along the surface of the earth, and other tributaries of the mountain continue to flow in, but the water level of the stream is not too large, and they can always find a suitable place to wade through. When they arrive in this valley, there is already a river with a considerable water level. Although the riverbed is wide and many places are not deep, it is difficult to wade through if they can't swim.

Since he discovered traces of the activities of the indigenous people, Ding Qi looked around again and pointed to the front and said, "Let's try climbing the top of the mountain. Maybe the village can be seen in the distance."

After lunch by the water, they climbed the mountain in the afternoon, and finally saw traces of people. This side of the mountain is a gentle slope, with not many tall trees, large areas of bushes and green carpet-like grass, and various unknown wild flowers blooming.

There is a plain under the hillside, with some hills still distributed, and there are obviously artificially cultivated fields among the hills. After entering the plain, the river spreads out like a fan, and forms many large and small lakes between the fields and hills. Some rivers and ditches are obviously artificially excavated along the terrain.

At the end of the plain are continuous mountains, and the mountains seem to be not as high as this one. There are villages close to the mountains, and you can see a lot of houses. There are four villages here, closest to the distant mountains, and the village they are the farthest, the largest. The other three villages surround the surroundings in a shape of a pin, and they are almost the same distance from Yang Village.

The lake has green plants and open flowers. It is hard to see clearly in the distance, and the nearest one should be lotus flowers. There are larger lakes with small boats. It is not too late to say this time, but there are no people in the fields where you can see clearly.

Bi Xuecheng asked nicely: "Why are there no one working in the field and pond?"

Ding Qi shook his head and said, "It's not that there is no one, but you can't see it. The places you can see clearly are at the foot of the mountain. It's still far from the village, and there are still people in the fields closer to the village. Don't forget the dark night here. The villagers should all rush back to the village before the night comes. But it's getting late now, and they won't stay away from the village."

Ye Yanxing: "Master, are we rushing to the village now?"

Ding Qi shook his head and said, "Don't worry, you've arrived at a popular place. Let's find a campsite first, take a shower and change your clothes, clean and tidy yourself first, and go to the locals to inquire about the situation tomorrow."

They walked in the mountains for almost a month, but fortunately, Ding Qi was leading the way in front of him with a machete, and he was not walking fast, so he did not look like a beggar. Before they came, they were wearing high-top mountain boots, which were of good quality and strong. They also prepared a pair of light casual shoes.

Lu also took a bath and washed clothes. It was a little troublesome for a girl Meng Huiyu, but it was easy to deal with. Found a safe and suitable place, and the three men were guarding each other and not peeking around. But Meng Huiyu felt a little embarrassed. But she also liked to be clean, but fortunately the climate was good, so if there was no such condition in winter.

While it was still early, the few people turned around and walked down the mountain, first found a suitable camping site, and then went to the stream to find a suitable bathing place. After finishing their work, it was almost dark, so they quickly set up a fire to make dinner, and the last box of canned beef I brought was finally eaten.

While having dinner, Meng Huiyu asked, "How far have we walked?"

Ye Yanxing: "I can't remember it all over and around, but I feel like I have a few hundred miles away. I have never walked such a long way in my life!"

Bi Xuecheng: "How old are you? How old are you? How long are you still in this life?"

Ye Yanxing asked back: "Have you walked such a long way?"

Bi Xuecheng shook his head and said, "Of course there is no more. It feels like it's almost a thousand miles away! The ancients said that 'a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step', and we are almost rushing to Beijing to take the exam."

Ding Qi closed his eyes at this time, and looked like he was staring at something, and suddenly said, "If we count the straight line distance, we have only walked a dozen kilometers, almost between twelve kilometers and thirteen kilometers."

Bi Xuecheng exclaimed: "So short! How is that possible?"

Meng Huiyu whispered, "Master is talking about straight-line distance." Then she asked, "Master, have we really walked so far? So what is the curve distance?"

Ding Qi: "It's more than three hundred miles, and it's also more than one hundred and sixty kilometers. We walked along the water and circled several large S-shaped shapes back and forth in this mountain."

Ye Yanxing: "Have you taken so many detours?"

Ding Qi: "This is a stupid method and a smart method, because we don't understand the terrain here at all, nor do we know where the water will flow. It's hard to walk on the steep mountains, but it's much slower to walk straight lines on the plains, and we have been delayed for seven or eight days, not every day."

They did delay the road because it was raining in the mountains. Although they brought ponchos in their backpacks, it was not a wise decision to cross mountains and ridges in the rain. Maybe if they slipped under their feet, they would fall or even fall into the deep valley. So they simply stayed in the camp during the day to practice.

Ding Qi felt very lucky. At least no one was sick or injured along the way, and the mountains could always find suitable camping sites. The place they found on the hillside on the first day was like a half-open grotto under the empty cliff. Although this mountain was not everywhere, as long as the road was far enough, it could be found almost every day.

The mountains in this area also have deep caves and complex pores. However, Ding Qi would not find such a place to camp. One afternoon, they entered a large cave, walked to a large cave hall, and then retreated. The smell was very bad, and the ground feces were piled up. Without looking up, they knew that the cave wall was full of white-winged dragons that were active at night.

The night here is so deep that many animals must also hide in caves, so it is best to choose a place where you can see clearly at a glance to avoid unknown dangers. Fortunately, you can always find such a place, which has to be said to be lucky.

When camping at night, Ding Qi and Yu Dingshi also "communicated" with the caves under the rocks. The caves can't speak, so how can they communicate with people? This is not easy to explain in words, and it is a feeling.

For example, if you want to get started, you should regard the things you have to do as living. When practicing secret methods outside the world, you should pay attention to empathizing with the world. Even if you don’t use the word “telepathy”, this is a psychological phenomenon.

When the cultivation of Fangwai's secret technique reaches the realm of Xingshen, this feeling is even more obvious. To feel the will of heaven and earth, you must first feel the breath of the surrounding environment. The cave cannot speak, but it seems that it can tell you something.

This is a pure spiritual experience. Ding Qi seemed to have seen it a long time ago through time. If there were 50,000 Taiping Armys who had really entered Qingaotai, they would have been scattered in different places in this outside world, and they might be everywhere. In such an environment, the primary survival task is to find a suitable camp and prepare for long-term persistence.

But there is no natural camping site that is so easy to find. The established military and civilians can quickly gather and then build some places suitable for temporary camping based on the terrain, such as digging out such spaces under the rock formations on the hillside. Why didn’t they look for plains or villages? Because there were no villages at that time, and the people in the mountains didn’t know where the plains were.

The fields and villages I saw on the high slope today should be the result of the remnants of the Taiping Army's army transforming the environment after they walked out of the mountains and ridges. Before they came, the plains should have been primitive jungles.

Large herbivores like Sibu, who are good at running, are actually more suitable for their survival, but now they can only be seen in the deep mountains. It is not because the plains suitable for reclamation and residence are occupied by humans. Ding Qi sat in the stone niche and empathized with the stone wall, which may be a sense or a speculation. He believed that these camps in the mountains were left by his predecessors.

Ding Qi was closing his eyes and pondering, and then heard Meng Huiyu ask, "How can Master remember it so clearly for one hundred and sixty kilometers?"

Ding Qi opened his eyes and answered two words: "Heart plate."

The secret method of the square outside is to enter the realm of observation, and the practice of observing the realm of observation begins with the "heart book", from the "heart book" to the "heart world". In fact, it is learned from the psychological skills learned by Ding Qi and the Fengmen Heart Plate Technique. The body and mind are one world, and only by empathizing with the world in which one can experience and sense another world, and then rely on the mind to sacrifice the things that refine your hands to break through to the micro realm.

Jingshi is equivalent to a key to open the door. After sensing the outside world, you can maintain this state at normal times and regard Jingshi as that world. This is the process of sacrificing the mind and refining. As long as you do it, the next thing becomes simple, and you can walk in with Jingshi.

Cultivating to Yin'e Realm is actually a training of clear self-awareness, and it is accompanied by the wonderful spiritual consciousness. Jingshi no longer needs to be held in his hand. It is one with the body and mind, and is part of the "I".

Further practicing to the realm of Xingshen Realm is truly empathizing with the world, which is equivalent to the extension and rediscovery of self-consciousness. The secret techniques outside the square are different from other secret techniques circulating in the world. Ding Qi can feel the so-called increase in magic power, but it does not pursue any magical powers, but it is just to explore and discover unknowns outside the square.

In fact, the cultivation of each level can be endless. It is like observing the body state or entering the micro state. If you have not broken through the next level state, you can continue to practice and master it more and more proficiently.

The Qin Gaotai is so vast that Ding Qi cannot influence and feel the will of the whole world at the moment, but it does not mean that he has not broken through to the realm of Xingshen, nor does it prevent him from continuing to explore a higher realm.

So what is the next realm after practicing Fangwai's secret technique to the Xingshen realm? Ding Qi has given it a name, or borrowed the secret technique of the eight major sects of Jianghu to call it the Xinpan realm. He even vaguely felt that finding the portal to go out on Qingaotai is probably the key to whether he can complete the Xingshen realm and break through to the next realm.

Ding Qi has actually been practicing for more than 20 days, and he is concentrating his mind. Although he does not know the scene of the entire Qin Gaotai, as long as he walks, he will clearly present the soul, like a world that is unfolding, and also like a three-dimensional time and space picture.

After walking out of the mountains and ridges, Ding Qi found that they had made such a big circle. But this was impossible. Who knew how many bends the water would turn in the mountains and rivers, and they could not make any purposeless moves in the mountains and fields. It is even more impossible to find a direction to go straight, and many places cannot climb or cross.

Ding Qi's speed has been unfast these days. On the one hand, it is because the road is difficult to move, and he also has to protect the three disciples behind him, and on the other hand, it is because he is concentrating the heart plate. It is precisely because the soul has such a heart plate that he knows how far he has walked now, and if the terrain is roughly apart in a straight line, it is roughly a kilometers away.

The principle of the Fangwai Secret Method Concentrating the Heart Plate is not complicated, and several disciples have practiced the introductory skills. Taking this opportunity, Ding Qi explained it in detail to them, which can also give them a clear understanding of their future cultivation trajectory.

After dawn the next day, they packed up their equipment and backpacks and tried to dress them cleanly and neatly, at least they didn't look so embarrassed, and their energy and physical strength were adjusted to the best state. No one knew whether the indigenous people here could deal with them. Maintaining in the best state could prevent accidents. In short, try not to cause mistakes and avoid conflicts.

Shortly after dawn, there was no one in the fields nearby, but smoke from cooking was rising from the village in the distance. When they walked down the hillside, they could see someone coming out of the village. Although they could not see the outline of the human figure clearly, they could also see small dots moving outwards, and many people came in this direction.

"Master, there are actually sunflowers here. Are they wild?"

Ding Qi: "The possibility of pure wildness is not very high. It should have been brought in by someone at the beginning, and later it grew in the wild."

Sunflowers grow on the hillside, and they are scattered in irregular areas, like wild ones. Sunflowers were introduced in the Ming Dynasty and became an important oil crop. Sunflower seeds quickly replaced the status of watermelon seeds and pumpkin seeds, becoming the most common snack. They can be eaten raw and can be more fragrant when fried.

It would be entirely possible if someone from the Taiping Army brought sunflower seeds and then sowed them here. This is the outside world, and there may be sunflowers at the beginning, but this possibility is not great. Because they have not seen them in the mountains for so many days, they only saw them on hillsides that are close to the crowds, and it can be seen that they are not the original species here.

The plains under the hillside were crisscrossing the water system, and there were obvious roads between the fields. They found the largest road. There were many small bridges on this road, and they were basically brick bridges, made of large square bricks. They walked for about an hour with their bags on their backs and finally met a group of people on the road.
Chapter completed!