In the Ju'an Pavilion, in addition to Ji Yuan's jar of Renjianzui, there were braised noodles with offal, date cakes made by Zao Niang, and a plate of dates to go with the wine.
There are nine dates in this small plate, each of them has a faint fiery red luster and is surrounded by spiritual energy, as if hidden in a fiery red mist.
Lao Long was not polite at all. He ate the noodles with the marinade like Ji Yuan, put some offal into his mouth, and then picked up the wine glass and took a sip.
"Hiss..."
Drinking this wine brings back countless memories to the old dragon's mind, from the hard training of the Chijiao to his transformation step by step. The life of a dragon has its ups and downs, hardships and splendors. The more profound the memories, the stronger the taste of the wine. And in the ordinary moments, the taste of the wine seems to be even better, with all the ups and downs, hardships and splendors in it.
“What a great wine! It’s really delicious!”
"That's natural."
The two men reached out and picked up the fire dates. Ji Yuan took a bite out of it, and the fragrance instantly lingered on his lips and teeth. The extremely delicious date flesh produced spiritual energy like endless juice when chewed. Wherever an inch of the flesh passed, it was as if a spiritual spring was opened in his mouth and internal organs, and the sounds of the world and the wind and clouds were echoing in his heart.
Lao Long was not in a hurry to eat, but just looked at the jujube carefully.
"Few people know about this fruit, even fewer can see it, and even fewer can taste it. This is the legendary Xuanling Fire Date in the Three Realms today. Some say it takes a thousand years to mature, while others say it takes 1,800 years to mature."
Ji Yuan turned his head to look at Zao Niang, who spoke with a smile.
"The rumor that Lord Dragon said is both right and wrong. Although all the jujubes on the tree are already red, there are only a few hundred that can be called mysterious and spiritual. Normally, if the tree grows naturally, it may not be ripe in two thousand years. But if I am willing, I can absorb the spirit of heaven and earth, the energy of wind and clouds, and the essence of the sun and moon, and I can make it mature in a hundred years of hard work."
Ji Yuan tapped the cup with chopsticks, glanced at Lao Long, Lu Shanjun, Hu Yun and Zao Niang, and spoke very seriously.
"Well, let's go with the 2,000-year rule next time we have the chance."
“Hahahahahaha…”
Lao Long was also amused. He stuffed the red dates into his mouth and chewed them with a crunching sound. In terms of deliciousness, few things in the world could compare to it.
After finishing eating a date, Lao Long sighed.
"I didn't expect that this Wuliang Sword Tomb was not built by you, Mr. Ji, but by the Qingteng Immortal Sword itself."
Lu Shanjun, who was holding the bowl of noodles, swallowed the noodles in his mouth and explained at this moment.
"When the world was first established, Master almost exhausted all his energy. However, the world swallowed up the power of the ancient land, and the changes in the world began. The ancient land continued to collapse, and the dormant hostility was revealed. It was silent for less than a hundred years, and the world was in chaos again. At this time, we had already lost contact with Master, but the Qingteng Sword appeared beside us, the unworthy descendants, and its sharpness for decades ended at Wuliang Mountain."
Hu Yun quickly took over the conversation.
"I know, I know. That year at Wuliang Mountain, Sister Bai borrowed the power of the Green Ivy Sword and actually displayed Mr. Ji's Heavenly Sword Force, beheading the wild beast in one fell swoop. Then, after the sword fell, the Green Ivy Sword remained there. Sister Bai guarded the mountain for a long time but couldn't call back the Green Ivy Sword. I had a feeling at the time that Mr. Ji would not come back for a long time."
Ji Yuan drank the wine in the cup, and his vast vision seemed to be looking into the distance through thousands of mountains and rivers, looking at the thousand-foot peak in Wuliang Mountain that looked like a long sword.
"What happened to the world at that time is no longer my business. I just knew that my time was up, so I prepared some backup plans. I only left the sword to guard my body for a hundred years."
The old dragon sneered.
"Hey, it's a good thing they have been guarding for more than a hundred years, otherwise you might not wake up."
"Yeah, I didn't die. How upset would those people who hate me to the core be if they knew about this?"
Ji Yuan also made a joke.
Lu Shanjun's expression was serious, and Zao Niang's expression was not very good either.
"If Master really passed away, and I, Lu Shanjun, didn't even get to see him for the last time, wouldn't that make me an unworthy person?"
"gentlemen!"
Lao Long also drank the wine in the glass, sighed and helped Ji Yuan out of the predicament.
"Firstly, Mr. Ji couldn't bear to see people like us who were close to him feel sad. Secondly, Mr. Ji's reputation was enough to suppress the universe at that time. No matter what evildoers there were, the name Ji Yuan was a demon in their hearts. It was understandable that they quietly found a place to 'sleep'."
"It can be considered as living in your hearts."
After Ji Yuan finished saying this, he picked up a piece of meat and was about to put it into his mouth, but his wrist was grabbed by Lao Long. The latter used great strength, as if he wanted to crush Ji Yuan's wrist, and even leaned close to his face and whispered.
"Ji Yuan, next time you want to die, you'd better let us know, otherwise some people will really wait forever!"
Zao Niang picked up the wine jug and poured wine for Ji Yuan and Lao Long, and said something quietly.
"So what if you know?"
Lao Long glanced at Zao Niang, sighed, and let go of her hand.
"The changes in the earth veins, the chaos of evil demons, the contention of hundreds of schools of thought, the rise of the heavens, the coexistence of the three realms... In just six or seven hundred years, so many things have happened between heaven and earth. As the saying goes, heroes are made by the times. How many talented people have emerged, and how many things that were once glorious have risen and fallen. After experiencing so many things, your name, Mr. Ji, has completely faded from the vision of ordinary people."
Old Dragon smiled and looked at Ji Yuan.
"I know you will say that you would love to have it, but if you think that no one remembers you, you are very wrong. No matter if it is the most advanced of the hundreds of schools in the world or the major sects of immortals and Buddhas, as long as they are inherited from that era, the people in charge must know about you. On the contrary, among the gods in heaven today, few know your name. It's interesting to say that some masters in the blessed lands sometimes use this to mock the gods in heaven as just newborn calves..."
Lao Long talked a lot about Ji Yuan, and Ji Yuan found it interesting. Well, his name had created a chain of contempt.
The two old friends haven't seen each other for many years. One wants to listen and the other wants to talk. Although Lao Long is not a person who likes to listen to gossip everywhere, after all, so many years have passed, and there are so many things to talk about that it would take days and nights to finish.
When Hu Yun went out to return the bowl, he couldn't help sticking out his tongue outside the door. He hadn't seen Lao Long very often, but he knew that Yinglong Jun was a silent and majestic person. Today he was a chatterbox.
"Mr. Ji is indeed amazing."
As he was thinking this, Hu Yun had already walked out of Ju'an Pavilion and happened to run into a man wandering nearby. This man was slightly plump, with a ruddy complexion and a small mustache. His clothes were not fancy but the workmanship and materials were extremely sophisticated.
Hu Yun's appearance was like a hazy walk out of the alley. Most people would just ignore him, but the middle-aged man noticed Hu Yun and was slightly surprised.
Hu Yun glanced at the man and left with the food box. The man was slightly stunned, his eyes flickered for a while, and then he quickly chased after him.
"This girl looks like a cultivator, right?"
“I guess so.”
Hu Yun's steps were very fast. Although he was walking slowly, he was approaching the entrance of Tianniufang at a speed far beyond that of an ordinary person, and the man was able to catch up easily.
"The girl is holding a food box, but are you staying overnight at this family's house?"
"My last name is Wei, my ancestral home is Desheng Prefecture, and I often come to Ning'an County. I am very familiar with this place. May I know who you are, young lady?"
Hu Yun ignored him and quickly walked to Sun's noodle stall. There were not many customers at the stall at the moment. Sun's father was not there either. No one knew where he had gone. Only Sun Yiqiu was watching over the stall. Hu Yun placed the food box on a table and greeted him casually.
"We've finished eating, come and clean up."
"okay."
Sun Yiqiu hurried over, opened the food box and took out the bowl and chopsticks.
The man next to him looked at the dishes, then at the noodle stall, and spoke again with a smile.
"Young lady, you are not from Ning'an County, right? I heard that the former residence of the ancient sage of literature is in Tianniufang, but it has long disappeared due to the passage of time."
Hu Yun still ignored the man. Sun Yiqiu leaned close to Hu Yun and asked in a low voice.
"Miss, is there a pervert bothering you? Do you want me to help you call someone from the government office?"
"Need not."
Hu Yun took the change, picked up the lunch box and turned to leave. The man wanted to chase him, but when Hu Yun took a few steps past the Tianniufang gate, he disappeared from his sight, as if he was following air.
"What a clever trick!"
The man frowned and quickly returned to the noodle stall. At this moment, Sun Yiqiu was about to wash the bowl in which he had eaten the noodles.
"Wait a minute!"
"ah?"
The man hurried over to Sun Yiqiu, grabbed a stack of used bowls while the other was in a daze, leaned in and sniffed them gently. After a few breaths, he took away the two bowls on top, sniffed the middle bowl carefully, and then took out a pair of chopsticks and sniffed them.
Sun Yiqiu felt a little scared by this scene. This guy must be sick. Not only is he a pervert, he is also a pervert!
The man's face showed surprise. There was a faint but very special fragrance on the bowl. He looked sideways at the sky, and thought of the previous scene of dark clouds, and his heart trembled slightly.
Ambergris!
Ambergris is a nice-sounding term. To put it simply, it is the saliva of the king of water, that is, the saliva of a real dragon. It emits a strange fragrance. Few people in the world know about ambergris, but men can identify it by its subtle smell.
After coming to this guess, he took out one or two taels of silver and slapped it on the table.
"I bought these dishes and chopsticks."
Before he finished speaking, the man had already left quickly with the dishes and chopsticks, which made Sun Yiqiu's eyes widen. What a strange person and strange thing.
Just as Sun Yiqiu picked up the silver and looked up again, he suddenly found that the man was standing in front of him, almost touching his face. Sun Yiqiu was so scared that he trembled violently.
"Ouch hey—"
"Sir, you left, didn't you?"
Sun Yiqiu looked at the other end of the street. The man had already run far away, but how come he suddenly came back to him? He was really scared.
The man was looking Sun Yiqiu up and down.
"Hey, shop owner, your aura is turbid and like the wind and clouds are stirring. I'm afraid you're going to be involved in something big in the near future!"
The man glanced in the direction of Tianniufang, thought for a moment, took out a yellow brocade bag from his arms and handed it to Sun Yiqiu.
"Inside this brocade bag is a talisman, and inside it is a blessing copper coin. It may help you at a critical moment. Don't lose it, and don't show it to others easily. Just keep it close to your body."
"A spell?"
Sun Yiqiu took the brocade bag and looked down at it, then he unsealed it and looked inside. It was indeed a folded talisman, and what was wrapped inside should be the so-called blessing copper coins.
"Sir, this... hm?"
In such a short time, the man was only a small figure in the distance on the street. Sun Yiqiu looked up and down the brocade bag again and found small words embroidered on one side, which he could not help but read aloud.
"The mountains are surrounded by clouds and fog, and one can see the turbidity and clarity of heaven and earth."