Ranger's anecdote

"Speaking of which, the mountain not far from our village, in the haunted oh." The owner of the teahouse, when serving tea to the only customer in the store, said so.

This is not the boss lady intentionally said some horror legends to scare customers. Quite the contrary, the boss lady is in response to the customer's request, will say so.

After all, the guest's request is "boss lady, please give me a cup of tea, by the way, also tell me about the strange things in this neighborhood".

Hearing such a request, the boss lady stunned to re-assess the amazing customer in front of her. From her appearance alone, she was just a young girl of about 10 years old, but from the way she moved her hands and feet, she exuded a weathered sophistication, completely different from the mischievous urchins in the village.

In addition to herself, followed by her white dog, but also their identity directly exposed - this is definitely with the "demons and monsters" of these alien people. That's why the boss lady thought hard and responded seriously to her question.

"Haunted? How is it haunted?"

The young girl was immediately interested, did not care about the temperature of the tea, picked up the cup and sent the hot tea into the mouth, and was scalded straight tongue, like a panting puppy.

The boss served a cup of cold water to relieve the young girl's "tongue out of hell torture", then sat next to the young girl, said: "I also heard from others, not seen with my own eyes. It is said that there is a ghost on the mountain, seems to be a rich and noble person in life, due to the military chaos led to the destruction of the family, they fell into the grass into the mountain bandits, robbing in the area. After death as a ghost, wandering in the mountains, will be encountered as a thief to take away his belongings."

The young girl huffed and puffed on the hot tea while listening to the boss lady tell the story. After hearing the story, she gulped down the warm tea and said, "Okay, let's go to that mountain next!"

The boss lady was startled and said, "Little sister, that mountain is very dangerous, it is better not to go."

"Don't worry, I can still handle a mere ghost. By the way, I want to buy some pastries as dry food."

It seems to be more of a concern than the ghosts, or hungry stomach.

The boss lady wrapped a few steamed buns in paper and handed them to the young girl, saying uneasily, "Little sister, what kind of person are you anyway, are you specifically going for 'demons and devils'?"

The young girl leaped up easily, rode on the back of the giant dog, and said to the boss lady, "My name is Ming Cun, and I am a ranger, both a ranger and a chivalrous guest, and a tourist."

Walking through the haunted mountains, Ming Tseun ate his steamed bun while watching the surroundings. But no matter whether he looked left or right, this was just an ordinary mountain.

The mountain seemed to regard Mingentian as a long-lost visitor, and arranged for birdsong and flowers, and the warm sunshine, which was a good time for a nap.

She ignored all the beautiful scenery around her and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Ghost, are you there? If you're there, call me back!"

"Do you think you're looking for a lost child?" The giant dog Khung said helplessly.

Coming to a platform located halfway up the mountain, the wind blowing in the face became a little cooler, and the wind was mixed with the smell of wood chips. A few steps further, the weeds were sparse, exposing the barren ground. The ground is scattered with wood for construction, enclosing the city a horseshoe-shaped, it seems to be a former camp of mountain bandits.

Nowadays, this place is just a pile of discarded wood, and the scene of mountain bandits sitting around the campfire, drinking and eating meat, can only continue to exist in imagination.

Ming Mei searched the camp, trying to find any clues. Xiao Tian relied on his sense of smell and experience to determine that the camp was destroyed a long time ago, even before the teahouse owner's wife was born.

There were more unanswered questions. Ming Chuan sat on a log that had fallen to the ground and said, "Since the mountain bandits were eliminated a long time ago, why are the people around here still afraid of this place? And who could the ghost on the mountain be? The mountain bandits?"

"Enemy attack? Has the enemy appeared?"

A figure appeared in front of Ming Cun and Xiao Tian, a middle-aged male clad in battle armor looked around while yelling, and finally locked his gaze on Ming Cun: "Are you the spy sent by the enemy army?"

The first time someone said that, Ming Diao was surprised: "What is a spy, is it delicious?"

A soldier meets a foodie, and food is the only thing that comes out of his mouth.

Xiao Tian hurriedly stepped between the two and said, "The war is over."

As if the defenders of the city were finally expecting reinforcements, the old soldier instantly put away his murderous aura and nonchalantly made it to Ming Cun's side, saying with a big smile, "Aiya, I'm too old to remember things."

"Old man, why are you on this mountain?" The tone of Ming Duan's question was like a granddaughter pestering her grandfather to tell a story.

"I was ordered to guard this mountain and block the enemy's attack. As long as they dare to come, I will kill one, two and a pair!"

Facing this old guy who only talks about war on paper, Xiao Tian was disdainful: "This is never a battlefield, who are you fighting with?"

"Bastard!" The old soldier jumped up in anger, "How dare you question the general's deployment, you are simply demonizing the people, I will cut you down to sacrifice the flag!"

The old soldier touched his whole body and finally realized a small problem: "Where is my sword? Losing your armament on the battlefield is a big crime!"

"Jumper." After Xiao Tian left a comment, he stopped paying attention to the veteran who was jumping up and down.

"Old man, don't rush yet." Ming Duan pressed the old soldier against the log, "How about this, you sit here for a while and think about strategy. We'll help you find the saber."

"Good." The veteran soldier finally calmed down, only his ADHD turned into a shattered mind, "It feels, like I forgot something ......"

"So the real identity of the 'ghost' is the soldier who died in battle in the past?" Ming Chuan said in a complicated mood.

Even after walking far away, Xiao Tian's contempt for the veteran soldier remained undiminished: "Don't take it lightly, that guy is hiding a lot of things from us."

"But, looking at him, it doesn't look like he's lying."

"There are people who are so committed to acting that they end up believing even themselves."

Xiaotian had seen more people and things than the ones Ming Cun had encountered in his life, plus the ones he had dreamed about in his dreams. Therefore, she had trust in Xiao Tian's knowledge of people. Only this time, she hoped that Xiao Tian had looked away, otherwise, the kind of false glory of martial artists that the veteran held would be too sad.

Keep wandering around the same mountain, even the most beautiful scenery has its time to get tired of seeing, and therefore can confirm is that there is no difference between this place and ordinary mountains, except for the presence of ghosts.

"Just go back and say to the old man that we did not find the knife he imagined?" Xiao Tian half relented and half suggested, "Only, just in case he can't stand the stimulation and transform into an evil spirit."

Mingdian, however, showed a surprising insistence: "I want to look for it again. I think that if we find the knife, we might be able to prove something."

"Then how will we find it?" Even though she was helpless, Xiao Tian would still accompany her to the end.

"If I were to hide something in the mountain, I wouldn't choose a place where it would be easy to be found. Xiaotian, let's look from the sky."

Xiaotian used his "air stepping" ability and carried Mingdian to the middle of the sky as if she were ascending. Compared to being on top of a mountain, it was better to have a bird's eye view of the earth from the sky. Soon, Mingdian found the hidden location, a valley surrounded by small mountains.

Entering the bottom of the hidden valley, the place was clearly not shady, but it was so gloomy that one could not breathe. Soon, Mingdian found, the source of the Yin Qi, a large pile of graveyards, and in front of the graveyards, there was a knife sticking straight into the ground.

"There really is such a knife." Xiaotian said with some disbelief.

Ming Duan tried to pull out the knife, but it seemed to have taken root and was tightly entangled with the earth, unwilling to leave.

Xiaotian instructed, "You can't use brute force like that. You have to insert the knife further down to loosen the soil inside, so that it is easy to pull."

Following Xiao Tian's method, Ming Diao easily pulled out the knife. It was a rather old saber, and its heavy weight was too much for him to handle, so he had to use his strength to move it.

Just after he stepped out of the hidden valley, he found the old soldier sitting at the entrance of the valley, and wondered how long he had been here.

Ming Duan asked curiously, "You know this place? Then why don't you go in?"

The old soldier replied rightfully, "I can't go inside. I forget who made the rules and why I can't enter. But I just can't go in."

As expected of a soldier, military orders are like mountains to the point where a rule that you can't do it means you can't do it.

"We found this inside."

Ming Diao handed the knife to the veteran in front of his eyes. Surprisingly, the veteran, who was previously anxious about the missing knife, was extraordinarily calm at this moment, and only said "Well, this is the knife" gently.

Meishuan was confused: "Don't you want it? I don't want to put it back again. It's too heavy!"

"Yeah, it's a real one, not a kid's toy."

As if making a huge realization, the veteran took a deep breath and took the knife. The familiar touch, the pulse that pulsed from the blade, struck the veteran's soul, and the memories that had been dusted off, opened up.

"Perhaps, this is the will of God. The heavens sent you to free me."

The old soldier told Mingdian and Xiaotian, the story of his life -

The old soldier was a soldier, a shameful deserter, to be precise.

He took off his heavy battle armor, left behind his comrades who lived and died with him, and abandoned the glory of a martial artist, and the only thing he did not let go of was the sword that his family had asked someone to beat before he left.

Fleeing to a village far from the battlefield, the veteran hid the knife, pretending to be a fleeing stranger, and was taken in by the local rich man, becoming a crofter.

Only, this is not a paradise, every harvest time, the nearby mountain bandits will come to fight the autumn wind, a year's hard work is so swept away nine out of ten.

Taken away, not only the harvest, but also hope and courage. The villagers, who could not fight against the bandits, could only give up their labor as a silent resistance.

The old soldier wondered if he could do something to guard something.

He found a knife and went up to the mountain in the night, and killed the bandits one by one while they were celebrating the "good harvest" and drinking.

After that, the old soldier buried all the mountain bandits, and left the knife and the previous memories together in the bottom of the hidden valley.

From then on, there were no more mountain bandits in the mountain, but one more hunter.

After the story was told, the old soldier raised his head and inquired, "Am I, even now, still a deserter?"

Looking at Xiaotian, who had been pretending to sleep with his eyes closed, Mingdian replied, "This cannot be denied. But for the people here, you are a hero who got rid of violence and peace."

The old soldier smiled in relief. Then, the old soldier and his sword, together with the spirit child, dissipated into the sky and the mountains.

Walking down the mountain, Xiao Tian asked, "It's over, isn't it? His life."

"Not yet, oh. I want to spread his story to the nearby villages." Looking up at the all-embracing sky, Ming Cun said, "The first one to tell is the teahouse owner's wife."

"I see that you want to eat steamed buns."

"Telling stories is the main thing, steamed buns ...... are only incidental!"