The wilderness path was sparsely populated. A fire was burning in the kitchen. The waiter took the firewood and handed it into the stove.
As the smoke from the cooking stove rose, the sound of copper bells came from afar.
The waiter stood up and looked at the innkeeper who was counting on the abacus in front of him. The latter was busy counting the beads and seemed not to notice the waiter looking at him. He just responded simply.
"There are guests coming, what are you standing there for?"
The guy turned around without saying a word and looked at the two people and a donkey coming over on the muddy road. He quickly pulled the rag off his shoulder, trotted to the side of the shed, stretched out his hand inside, and invited the two people to come over.
"My two guests, please come in, please come in!"
After tying up the quiet old donkey, Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist sat down on a nearby table and chairs. While shaking off the snow on their bodies, they asked:
"What dishes are in the store?"
"Don't be disgusted, my dear guests. This is a small restaurant in the mountains. There aren't many good chefs. Most of the dishes are exotic flavors."
The waiter diligently wiped the small table in front of the two men and after reading out the names of the dishes, Lu Liangsheng ordered a few dishes at random and asked the kitchen to serve them quickly.
"We are both exhausted from the long journey and are extremely hungry and thirsty. We hope you can get there faster. Thank you in advance, little brother."
The waiter saw that the scholar was polite, but the Taoist priest next to him said nothing, played with his chopsticks, retracted his gaze, responded with a smile, put the rag over his shoulder, and trotted back to the store. When passing by the counter, the shopkeeper wearing an earmuff raised his head, looked at the waiter, and then buried his head to continue making accounts.
While the brush was vaguely outlining, the waiter had already carried the dishes from the kitchen, walked out of the inn door and came to the shed outside.
"My dear guests, your dishes are ready. This is the fresh and fragrant asparagus, red boiled pig heart, and hot millet rice..."
Even though there were no other customers or pedestrians around, the waiter still shouted out the names of the dishes loudly and brought several plates of dishes and millet rice to the table one by one.
He handed over the chopsticks attentively and did not leave. Instead, he stood by the table with the tray, watching the scholar and the Taoist pick up the food and put it into their mouths.
When the express was brought to his lips, Lu Liangsheng suddenly stopped and looked at the waiter.
"What else, little brother?"
The guy raised his lips to a smile and shook his head.
"It's okay. I have nothing to do, so I'll just stand here." Then he added, "Sir, please eat quickly. The weather is cold and the food will get cold quickly."
Behind him, inside the paper window of the inn, there were shadows and light footsteps. The shopkeeper behind the counter also stopped writing and turned his head slightly to look at the figures sticking to the window.
"The magic circle has been set up, and these two people can't escape..."
Just when he was about to wave his hand and order his men to charge out, suddenly, Buddhist chanting was heard in the distance, accompanied by the sounds of golden cymbals, suona, and wooden fish.
The shopkeeper frowned and gently put down his hand.
"Don't panic yet, it seems like quite a few people are coming."
The scholars and Taoists who were eating outside put down their chopsticks and looked in the direction of the Buddhist chanting. A long line of people were spreading out on the muddy road between the woods.
There were rows of Buddha amulets and Buddhist staffs, and maids in navy blue plaid robes walked on both sides of the front, scattering white petals, which fluttered down and spread across the road.
The waiter standing outside had a strange look on his face and subconsciously looked inside the inn. The innkeeper frowned.
"Where did this group of weird monks come from..."
At this moment, the spreading strange team stopped outside the inn, and a female voice came from the sedan chair with a crane-shaped roof and high curtains. Two maids came over and opened the curtains to the left and right. A pair of black-haired hands stepped out first and stepped on the white petals.
"Good! Good!"
A thin old monk in a yellow cloth robe and a long-eared monk's hat came into everyone's sight. He held up his fearlessness seal and looked at the inn expressionlessly, not even glancing at the scholars and Taoists who were eating over there.
"People are trapped in a sea of suffering, and have suffered great hardships, yet they still refuse to turn back. Good! Good!"
The shopkeeper walked to the door and his eyelids twitched. This old monk had no human aura, no demonic aura... nothing at all. It was so weird.
"I wonder where you are from, Master, and what are you doing here?"
"People are trapped in a sea of suffering, and have suffered great hardships, yet they still refuse to turn back. Good! Good!"
However, the shopkeeper's answer was a repetition of the previous sentence.
Snowflakes fluttered and fell gently, and the two sides suddenly fell into a strange stalemate.
…
A little further away, on the other side of the muddy road, two rocks seemed to be looking at the scene happening at the inn, but they were holding chopsticks in their hands, putting food into their mouths and chewing.
"Old Lu, how did you find out something was wrong over there?"
"I didn't notice it at first. I just wanted to test it out. After the illusion was over, I clearly felt that the waiter had traces of magic power."
The two stones standing on the roadside were Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist who performed the sleight of hand, while the one in the shed outside the inn was the illusion performed by Lu Liangsheng.
After realizing something was wrong, another scroll was added in just in case, which led to the current scene.
"The only cultivator who has a grudge against us is Zhu Ziyi... well... it should be only them."
Lu Liangsheng put down his bowl and chopsticks and hung the two paintings on a nearby tree. After all, a hero cannot defeat a crowd, so there was no need to put himself and the Taoist priest in danger.
He waved to the Taoist who secretly replaced the dishes on the table.
"Let's go, let's go."
Leading the old donkey and going around the inn in front, Sun Yingxian took the two plates of food and quickly ate a few more bites, then followed quickly behind.
Right now.
Zhu Ziyi, who also used a magic trick to transform himself into a shopkeeper, looked at the old monk in front of him for a while. When he could no longer maintain the stalemate, he removed the magic trick and suddenly stretched out his hand. The window behind him exploded with a bang, and the magic sword flew into his hand.
He slashed the sword at the figure in meditation, and then... the old monk and the long dragon parked on the side of the road turned into dots of starlight and scattered.
"Illusion, that scholar... Oops!"
Zhu Ziyi tilted his head and swung his sword diagonally at the scholar and Taoist priest sitting at the table over there.
As he expected, the moment the reddish sword energy touched the two of them, it turned into shattered starlight and slowly floated to the ground, and even the dishes on the table disappeared.
Without the protection of their master's magical power, the two scrolls were exposed in front of Zhu Ziyi. With a hissing sound, they were torn off. Zhu Ziyi raised his palm and made a gesture with his fingers, and a green light shot out.
"You can't run far, chase!"
Previously, the magic circle in Heliangzhou was destroyed by that scholar, and they thought that the other party had died in the thunder tribulation. They inquired for a long time until the other party left the city, and then they knew that not only was he not dead, but his cultivation had improved. However, if he attacked in Heliangzhou, the monks who heard the noise would definitely come over, so they chose such a place.
As for the fat monk, he has the Wanfo Temple behind him and an old bald donkey to support him, so he can't do anything to the other party for the time being.
"But this scholar is different..."
Zhu Ziyi was flying, muttering to himself softly, and his speed increased significantly again. He was approaching the first small realm of the Golden Core Stage, so naturally he was not afraid of the mere foundation-building stage.
On the muddy road in the forest, big trees were shaking. More than a dozen figures in pursuit jumped onto the branches, kicked off, and the accumulated snow fell to the ground. They had already gone to a farther direction.
On the dirt road ahead, the accumulated snow and wet soil swirled under the old donkey's hooves. Lu Liangsheng pinched his fingers to shrink the distance into an inch. The Taoist priest sat on the back, his hair swaying in the wind. He held the creaking bookshelf with one hand and used the other hand to stick talismans of the magic of speed on the donkey's buttocks.
"We are running out of talisman paper!!!"
Lu Liangsheng used his magic to avoid the wind blowing in his face, took out the map and took a look at it.
"If we continue down, we will soon reach the Tianzhi area of the capital. Zhu Ziyi has a tracking spell. If we don't break it, he will know where we are."
Tap tap tap…
The donkey's hooves moved madly, stirring up a cloud of dust as it rushed across the road. The donkeys chased each other one by one, running south along the Liujin River.
By this time their magic power was exhausted, and the old donkey they were sitting on was so tired that it stuck out its tongue, and white foam splashed into the air and floated backwards.
Although they had created some distance between them, Lu Liangsheng knew that it would be useless no matter how far he ran unless he broke the opponent's tracking spell.
"Old Sun, I have an idea."
As he was thinking, the old donkey slowed down. Lu Liangsheng felt a hard object in his sleeve, pulled it out and threw it back.
It was the tentacle of the centipede monster.
The Taoist grabbed it firmly in his hand and shouted, "How to do it?"
"Lead Zhu Ziyi's tracking spell up there."
As he was speaking, the magic of shrinking the earth into an inch was exhausted. The old donkey stuck out his tongue, saliva was dripping from the tip of his tongue, and he knelt on all fours and fell to the ground with a bang.
Lu Liangsheng slowly descended and squatted to check the donkey, but he was exhausted. He felt relieved, stroked the old donkey's mane, sat down aside and took a quick rest, while his eyes also turned to the Taoist in front of him.
"Haven't found it yet?"
"Damn it, do you think I can memorize all the books like you?"
At the side, Sun Yingxian's fingers were quickly turning the pages of the book. This was given to him by his master when he was dying. There were many Taoist methods in it, mostly talismans and magic arrays, which were boring and difficult to understand.
After a while, his mustache curled up and he said with a smile:
"Find one, it should be useful."
The Taoist drew a talisman shape on the talisman paper, folded it between his fingers, and muttered something.
"now!"
Hearing this roar, Lu Liangsheng raised his face and saw a light red light circling rapidly above his head. He could not help but nodded.
… That book of Taoist magic probably contains all that Master Sun has learned throughout his life.
"come over!"
When the Taoist priest pointed his two crossed fingers at the tentacles on the ground, Lu Liangsheng was still thinking about the Taoist priest's master. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sun Yingxian suddenly and hastily lift up his Taoist robe, untie his belt, and pull down his pants.
Wow!
A burnt yellow water column drew an arc and poured onto the tentacles, and countless water droplets splashed onto the surrounding snow.
instantly.
The Taoist raised his face and shuddered, pulling up his pants, and sighed, "Great!"
Not far away, Lu Liangsheng was leaning against his old donkey, staring blankly at the water stains on the ground.
"What are you doing?!"
"Isn't that what you meant? To defeat the enemy with the enemy."
The scholar looked at him, blinked, and the corners of his mouth twitched.
"I didn't say that. I just asked you to direct Zhu Ziyi's tracking spell onto these tentacles so that we can get rid of him..."
At this point, Lu Liangsheng was a little troubled. Thinking of Pudu Cihang's cultivation, he slapped his forehead and said, "Let's go quickly. The Dharma Master may be here soon..."
"… "
The Taoist looked down at the tentacles soaked in a pool of urine on the ground and swallowed his saliva.
…
A huge circular altar on the outskirts of Tianzhi.
Inside the curtain, Shuyin's figure seemed to sense something, veins bulged on his forehead, and he suddenly opened his eyes.
Soon, the sedan chair started to ride, flower petals fluttered in the sky, and the procession spread out.
…
"Gu..."
His Adam's apple rolled, and the Taoist turned around: "Well... why don't we leave quickly?"
The two looked at each other.
After a while, a human voice was heard from afar.
"They are just ahead!"
The forest was shaking wildly, and the accumulated snow was falling to the ground. More than ten figures were standing in a row, each holding a magic weapon. In the middle, Zhu Ziyi took a step forward with a magic sword in his hand, his eyes fixed on the old donkey that was crawling on the snow and chewing dry grass under the tree in front.
"Heh... I don't even want the donkey anymore."
Hum-ha, hum-ha, the old donkey blinked his eyes, continued to chew the dry grass, and wagged his tail.
Zhu Ziyi personally led people to hunt and kill, and he had his own power, so he would not use an old donkey from the mortal world to vent his anger. He paused for a moment, withdrew the tracking spell, and with one hand, bent down and picked up a thing with links on it from the ground. It was wet and covered with mud.
... a monster.
"Hmph... Smart."
Perhaps understanding the other party's thoughts, Zhu Ziyi picked up the thing in his hand, smelled it, and frowned.
... Why is there a commotion...
clang.
Dongdong…
Namo Ami... Namo Ami... Namo Ami...
Suddenly, the sound of golden cymbals and wooden fish was heard, as well as a familiar Buddhist sound that entered the ears of Zhu Ziyi and the monks under his command. They all looked towards the snowy wilderness.
Sight ahead.
Countless petals were scattered in the sky and fell on the shoulders of the people who were coming over. Pairs of footsteps stepped on the petals and snow and came over in two long lines. The expressionless maids in black veils and monk hats held up their ritual instruments and staffs and approached. Suddenly, the chanting of scriptures stopped abruptly.
The figures stood there like wooden sculptures, staring straight at the dozen or so monks on the ground.
"Good! Good!"
The crane-headed sedan chair came to the front and was quietly placed on the ground. From behind the high curtain, a figure with a Dharma seal in hand could be vaguely seen, lifting the curtain and coming out.
It was a familiar scene. Zhu Ziyi gritted his teeth and puffed his cheeks.
… You’re doing the same thing again.
The next moment, he issued an order while waving his sleeves and robes, and the monks under his command on both sides silently dispersed and controlled their magic weapons.
"Same magic, how could I be fooled again!!!"
He looked at the skinny old monk standing in front of the sedan chair over there and shouted loudly.