Zhu Cheng at the Zhu Mansion was still worried about his father being angry, fearing that he had delayed his father's important affairs. But when Zhu Yanxu came back, everyone in the Zhu family found that the old man was refreshed and in a very good mood, and even spoke more gently than usual.
Over at Ju'an Pavilion, Ji Yuan returned to the courtyard only after Zhu Yanxu disappeared. Then the faint noise in the courtyard suddenly exploded.
"Huh... He finally left!" "Yeah, yeah, this guy is just right!"
"That's right, we'll be waiting until the sun sets!" "An old man who came uninvited!"
"Oh, I'm dying of suffocation!" "I'm dying of suffocation too!"
"You can't hold it in as long as I can." "You fart, but I can't hold it in as long as I can!"
"What kind of cakes did he bring?" "From Miaowailou, the kind that the master likes the most."
"Oh, that's very thoughtful!" "He's an official." "Hua Diao, and Hua Diao!"
"What's Huadiao? Can it be as good as the wine in the master's thousand-dou pot?"
…
All the chattering came out from the jujube tree. It was because of Zhu Yanxu's arrival that the little characters, who had been silent for half the afternoon, began to chatter.
Ji Yuan rubbed his forehead, did not scold them, and walked into the yard to admire his afternoon work.
The ink of these four characters has dried up long ago. Ordinary people will only think that the characters are beautiful at first glance. Even those who truly understand calligraphy will find them amazing. However, if they stop and look closely, they will not be able to see anything. This is because although there is a skill in these four characters, the charm is restrained and not obvious.
But this plaque is indeed not that simple. Now that the most critical upper half of "The Wonderful Law of Heaven and Earth" has been completed, Ji Yuan's practice has almost naturally transformed into it. During this period of time, observing the small characters has also benefited him a lot in the study of words.
So although these four words are neither a written decree nor a more powerful imperial edict, they bring out more than just the name of a courtyard, but also its meaning.
Holding the plaque, Ji Yuan returned to the gate of the courtyard again. He held the plaque up with one hand and pushed it upwards. The wooden plaque flew up by itself and was hung in its original position.
"Not bad, a new look!"
He smiled, walked into the yard, closed the door, then sat at the stone table, took out the stack of letters and began to read.
Among these letters, there were indeed two from Monk Huitong, one from Lu Chengfeng, three from Du Heng, and there were many from the Yin family, probably about twenty or thirty.
Ji Yuan at Daliang Temple already knew the contents of Monk Huitong's letter. He opened it, glanced at it, and put it aside.
I opened the remaining letters one by one. They didn't talk about big things, but some stories and requests for answers, but most of them were about family matters. I couldn't help but smile while reading them.
Of course, letters cannot include everything that happens in life, but by reading these letters, Ji Yuan seemed to feel what had happened over the years and witnessed the growth of the second son of the Yin family.
. . .
Nearly a thousand miles away, above the Yucui Mountain, a paper crane was flying rapidly on a gust of wind. At this moment, the paper crane flapped its wings so fast that it left behind a series of afterimages, and its flying speed reached the peak of its life so far.
When the little paper crane reached a foggy spot in Yucui Mountain, its speed slowed down and the frequency of its wing flapping returned to normal.
Floating high in the sky, looking down, there was a large area that was almost entirely white, but the little paper crane, who had been here once, knew that below was the entrance to the Yuhuai Holy Land maze.
After descending some altitude and flying around the fog for a few times, the paper crane did not enter from the center of the fog, but circled somewhere on the edge and plunged into the fog headfirst, just like crashing into a large ball of marshmallow.
Unlike ordinary mountain dwellers who easily get lost, the flying trajectory of paper cranes is extremely clear. They circle around and turn left and right, sometimes forward and sometimes backward. In short, they never fly in a straight line. The maze of Yuhuai Mountain seems to be useless in front of them, at least that is the case with its confusing function.
About half an hour later, the little paper crane flew out of the area where the fog was the densest and entered an area where the fog was relatively thinner.
The paper crane landed on a big rock, twisted its body and looked up at the sky around it, but didn't see anything. So it tilted its head and looked around, and finally twisted its paper head to the lowest position and looked at the big rock beneath it.
"Dong... Dongdongdang... Dongdangdongdangdong..."
Sometimes crisp, sometimes harsh sounds spread across the valley, sometimes soft, sometimes loud, intermittent and regular.
"Click... click..."
The sound of cranes calling was heard from the sky, and after ringing a few times in the sky, it faded away.
"Boom... Boom... Dangdangdang..."
This strange noise continued.
Not long after, a gentle woman in feathered clothes came out of the fog and looked towards this side from afar. After searching around for a while, she finally found a small paper bird on a huge rock. The bird was pecking at the rock and had already dug a shallow hole as deep as a fingernail.
“Could it be a paper crane?”
This fairy crane is the one who had a past relationship with the Wei family. Although the fairy crane's turn to guard the mountain is almost up, it is still her turn now.
Hegu was familiar with the appearance of this paper bird. Although she didn't know if it was the same one, it should be a paper crane created by the magic of a great and powerful master, so the paper crane represented a special meaning.
Seeing clearly that it was a paper crane, He Gu did not dare to delay and quickly appeared. She approached the big rock in a few steps. Seeing He Gu coming, the paper crane stopped what it was doing with its mouth and looked up at her.
Hegu bowed to the paper crane and asked.
"Excuse me, did you come to my Yuhuai Mountain specially?"
The paper crane nodded, flapped its wings and flew up, landing on Hegu's shoulder. It turned its head to look at her and then stopped moving. Hegu guessed that it meant for her to take it to Yuhuai Holy Land.
He Gu also took a quick look and found no evil spirit on the paper crane, so she flew into the sky, carrying the paper crane into the Yuhuai Mountain formation and headed towards the Yuhuai Holy Land.
The news that Ji Yuan sent a paper crane to deliver the message soon reached the ears of the Great Immortal who was now on duty at Shuyun Tower, and he directly asked Hegu to bring the paper crane to the roof of Shuyun Tower.
After a period of time, there were not only two great immortals on duty on the roof of Shuyun Tower, but also a group of cultivators including Qiu Feng and others, and the paper crane was in the palm of Great Immortal Ren.
The paper crane looked at the wide-robed immortal cultivator who was sitting peacefully, and some fragmented fragments flashed through its memory, as if this person had originally wanted to burn it with fire.
"I already know what Mr. Ji meant. Now I'll tell you. According to this paper crane... uh..."
Master Ren was halfway through his words when he seemed to feel that the paper crane was looking at him with a strange look, although it was clear that the paper crane did not even have eyes. He frowned and spoke casually.
"According to the message from the paper crane boy, Mr. Ji will come to visit my Yuhuai Mountain in a while. This is Mr. Ji's first time to visit my Yuhuai Holy Land, so we need to treat him well. Mr. Ji also seems to be going to the Xianyou Conference in Jiufeng Mountain, Hengzhou in the northern border, and he is interested in going with us!"
Master Ren subconsciously looked down at the paper crane in his palm and felt that when he said "paper crane boy", the strange feeling of the little paper crane staring at him disappeared, or rather, it became much softer.
Yangming Zhenren, who was sitting cross-legged below, spoke almost immediately.
"Uncle Master, although the invitation to the Xianyou Conference has been sent to our sect a long time ago, we at Yuhuaishan have not attended the conference for two decades."
"But Mr. Ji wants to go!"
There were other immortal cultivators interjecting from below.
"Well, since Mr. Ji wants to go, I think I can go this time, too. It's even a good opportunity. Even though the conference is boring, there are many like-minded people there. It would be nice to show Mr. Ji's name and make an appearance!"
Qiu Feng's words may seem cliché, but they coincide with what many people think.
"Junior Brother Qiu is right. Junior Brother Ren, the events of more than a hundred years ago were also the business of Grandmaster Ziyu. It has been so long, there shouldn't be any problems. Why don't we send a message to Yuzhu Peak and ask for their opinions?"
Another great immortal at the side spoke, which made everyone nod their heads. Soon the news spread to Yuzhu Peak in the quiet area of Yuhuai Mountain.
In addition to deciding to go to Jiufeng Mountain this time, Yu Huaishan also thought that since Mr. Ji had returned to Ju'an Pavilion, it would be unethical and unreasonable to just wait for him to come to the door, and Yu Huaishan should go and visit him.
After much deliberation, the heavy responsibility finally fell on the two immortal cultivators, Qiu Feng and Yang Ming. They would each bring a disciple with them, namely Wei Yuansheng and Monk Yiyi. In addition, Ju Yuanzi, who had a high level of cultivation, would also go with them.
The little paper crane had already left Yuhuai Mountain one step ahead of time and was flapping its wings quickly towards Ning'an County. The magic power applied by Ji Yuan on its body had not yet been completely exhausted, so its wings were still flapping quickly.
It was late at night in Ning'an County, with stars twinkling overhead. Ji Yuan was sitting in the yard drinking Huadiao wine with cakes from the temple building, smiling as he sipped.
'I met villagers during the day and saw ghosts and gods at night. This trip home is just like my trip home for the New Year in my previous life...'
As I was thinking this, there was a knock on the gate.
“Boom boom boom…”
"Mr. Ji, Song Shichang is here to visit. Is it convenient for us to meet him?"
The old City God of Ning'an County outside the courtyard gate looked up at the plaque above his head while speaking. It was obviously newly written today, and the words were full of calligraphy charm, but it seemed to be just a name, and there was no magical skill contained in it.
Ji Yuan quickly walked to the gate of the courtyard and personally opened the door for the old City God. The two sides greeted each other when they met.
"How are you, old city god?"
"Hello, Mr. Ji!"
"Come in!"
"good!"
Ji Yuan wanted to offer a gift to Buddha, so he used the things Zhu Yanxu had brought before to entertain the old city god.