The night wind blew the flags, causing them to swell and flutter. The soldiers patrolling the city walls held their weapons, exhaled hot air and rubbed their hands.
"It's so cold..." "Look at the moon. It will be sunny again tomorrow."
"It's a severe drought again. People can freeze to death at night. When will it end?" "Stop talking. Just patrol a little longer and then you can take a break."
A cold wind suddenly blew over the top of the city. Several people holding their weapons were shivering with cold. They used torches to probe around and under the city, but found nothing.
"Gone, gone, nothing happened."
The investigating soldier turned around and called out to his comrades behind him, and continued patrolling forward.
The wind blew into the city, and in the dim streets, two figures flashed by, stepping on the eaves of the houses and slowly descending to the ground.
"Zhu Ziyi actually wanted to kill someone with someone else's knife... But when I came here last time, he was quite kind."
"That's because you were too lazy to meddle in other people's business and didn't disrupt their business, so we didn't cause any trouble to you."
"Hey, hey, hey... This shows that I won't seek death."
"Is that the same? Disha Yinhuo is their..."
After passing through the alley in front, they arrived at the inn. As the two of them walked quickly, Lu Liangsheng was halfway through his words when a voice came from the darkness in another alley.
“This way…this way…” It was the voice of Taoist Toad.
"Sir... here."
Lu Liangsheng grabbed the Taoist priest and turned his head to look at the alley where the sound came from. An old donkey was wagging its tail in the dark alley and looking sideways. Above his head, the Toad Taoist priest was sitting and waving at them.
"Sir."
Nie Honglian floated down from the courtyard wall, greeted the scholar, glanced outside with her beautiful eyes, and spoke first.
"A group of ascetics broke into the room of the inn. Fortunately, Master Toad noticed it and left first."
"Hehe, now you know how powerful your master is, right?"
Above the old donkey, the Toad Taoist was carrying a black-striped gourd and hugging his flippers: "In the past, my master had countless enemies. He was able to escape only because of his agility. How dare a few young cultivators show off in front of me? If my cultivation is restored, a sneeze can make it rain heavily in the northwest."
Seeing that the old toad started bragging again, the Taoist quickly hid aside, took out the yellow silk bag, and counted the few yellow talismans one by one. After coming here, he actually forgot to replenish them, and now he could only use dozens of them.
"This is troublesome... If the fat monk starts fighting with them, there won't be enough."
Hong Lian and Toad Taoist blinked their eyes: "Who are we fighting? The group of people just now?"
However, Toad suddenly reacted and looked at his apprentice.
"The little Taoist priest mentioned a monk. Is he the one we met last time?"
"Yes, his Buddhist name is Fajing, and he is a monk in Wanfo Temple, but he has left the temple to practice..."
Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey over and hid in a safe place first. As they walked, he told the truth.
"… The monk's master, whose Buddhist name is Zhenhai, is the old monk that Master mentioned?"
After turning a corner, the toad stopped at the back door of a small courtyard. The toad lying on the donkey's head twitched its mouth slightly and quickly moved its flippers.
"No, don't think too much about it."
On the side, Lu Liangsheng also breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good. By the way, Master."
At this point, the scholar thought of the Disha Yinhuo mentioned by the monk. After all, although Master Toad boasted all day long, he definitely had some knowledge.
"Earthly Evil Fire?"
The Toad Taoist stood up from the donkey's head, rubbing his chin with his webbed feet and looking up at the night sky with a pair of eyes.
"… I have some impression of it. It seems to be just a small spell."
"Master, do you have a way to break it? The monk said that the drought in the northwest was caused by this formation."
Seeing that his master spoke so easily, Lu Liangsheng felt a little hopeful. He also hoped that the northwest region could be stabilized and fewer people would die.
Over there, the toad with a shriveled expression shook his head.
"Although it is a small formation, once it is set up to cover the entire Heliangzhou, how can it be easily broken? However, the person who cast the spell is really powerful. He can think of this method to create chaos and take advantage of the opportunity to kidnap people..."
That... Earthly Evil Fire Formation, I remember that I was the only one who knew how to use it... No, no...
While the Toad Taoist was thinking, Lu Liangsheng also fell silent, staring at the scroll on the bookshelf without blinking.
The female ghost Hong Lian looked at the two of them boredly, then looked at the Taoist who was squatting in the corner and packing his things. She floated to the stone steps of the back door, sat down holding up her skirt, supported her chin with both hands and sighed.
…
The cold wind blew through the dry grass and rolled across the dry ground. In the city, there was the creaking sound of wooden wheels turning.
Several carriages drove slowly through the streets of the city. On both sides of each carriage, there were talismans painted with cinnabar rising and falling. In a moment, they were approaching. The soldiers on the city wall and at the gate seemed to be unable to see these carriages and passed straight through the closed city gate in front of them.
There were six carriages leaving the city. Each carriage had a person driving the horses. The speed was very slow, but in the blink of an eye, they had passed several feet.
In the distance, among the dead trees on the hill opposite the rain-praying platform, a fat figure stood up from the stone, looked closely at the rain-praying platform standing in the darkness, and bowed to the Buddha.
Originally, the building that was used to save people from suffering has become a cover for doing evil.
Fajing stood up straight, the string of Buddhist beads on his shoulders and neck slid slowly, then he paused on the ground, kicked his feet, and rushed towards the road below.
The shaft of the carriage left a track, and the heavy carriage swayed. The driver seemed to sense something and pulled the reins.
A figure fell from the sky to the ground with a bang, splashing up countless dust.
Xilulu-
The horse neighed loudly, and the frightened people stood up and pulled the reins, pulling the monk off the carriage. The other five carriages behind stopped at the same time.
Hiss!
Bang!
The door curtains of the carriages were torn open, or the roofs were directly broken open, and figures rushed out one after another and landed on the ground. The leader stood in the middle, with a long sword emitting a faint red light. With a "hum" sound, he swung it sideways, and the tip of the sword hung on the ground.
"I finally got you here."
It was Zhu Ziyi. He tilted his head and looked at both sides of the monk.
"What about the ignorant scholars and Taoist priests? Don't you have the courage to come?"
In front of him, there was a figure that looked like Maitreya, his monk's robe fluttering in the wind. Fajing raised his face, raised the fearlessness seal, bowed slightly, and then took a step forward.
"Buddha has mercy on me—"
The Buddha's name spread like the tide.
Far and near, the crowd of disaster victims outside the south city gate heard the Buddhist chanting and woke up from hunger, drowsiness and numbness. They stood in the darkness and looked around.
"Did you hear it just now?" "Yes, I heard it... I suddenly felt refreshed."
"It seems to be the Buddhist chant of a monk."
"Where did this monk come from? He can't be the one who stole the child."
The soldiers in the city were also alarmed. The soldiers with bows watched the victims vigilantly. Even the prefect in the government office was awakened. He quickly put on his clothes and ran to the top of the city wall with his men, fearing that any disturbance would cause an uprising outside the city.
The streets were filled with the sounds of people and horses, a chaotic yet orderly past.
Lu Liangsheng stood in the dark alley leading his old donkey, watching the city's yamen runners and soldiers pass by. He quickly crossed the long street with the Taoist priest. The Buddhist chant just now was recognized to be the voice of Monk Fajing.
Using magic to penetrate the city wall, the scholar pinched the scroll in his hand, and the moment the magic power was infused, the soldiers on the city were still looking around, and suddenly a huge beast shadow rose into the sky and was at the same level as their sight.
A huge eyeball slid and turned to look at them, scaring the soldiers so much that they fell to the ground, then got up in a panic, screaming in fear.
roar-
The bloody wind roared and rolled. More than a dozen monks who were surrounding the monk outside the city turned around and looked back. What caught their eyes was a ferocious beast slowly approaching. Its claws easily sank into the ground, leaving claw marks.
roar!
Another loud roar.
The appearance became clear.
The green mane was like steel needles, the beast's mouth was full of fangs, its bloody mouth was wide open, and sticky saliva was left that soaked into the mud.