In the distance, the streets were in chaos. Amid the shouting of fear, the birds flying across the sunlight were startled and changed direction. They cried out and flew over the leafy sycamore trees below.
The branches and leaves of the phoenix tree sway gently, making a rustling sound.
The Toad Taoist priest in a long gown was lying on a small recliner basking in the afternoon sun. Hearing the birds singing, he lazily turned over, his short legs twitching from time to time.
He smacked his lips, and then one of the toad's eyes suddenly opened. He was stunned for a moment, as if he felt something. In an instant, he sat up and looked in a certain direction.
He quickly jumped off the recliner, folded it up, and laughed: "Good, that's just what I want."
He excitedly picked up the folded chair and ran to the bookshelf, stuffed it into the small compartment, and looked back at the wall.
"Little ghost girl, pack your bags quickly, we are leaving."
The scroll is moved by no wind.
Nie Honglian stuck her head out, blinked, and tilted her head as she looked at the toad carrying the map axis on its back.
"Master Toad, what happened?"
"Leave when I tell you to, and pack up quickly."
After saying this, the Toad Taoist tied the diagonally hanging rope tightly, climbed onto the desk, jumped onto the window frame, and whistled.
A donkey's bray came from behind the side yard. After a moment, the old donkey came over happily, wagging its tail and chewing grass slowly. It raised its long mouth and blew a few puffs of air at the toad on the window frame.
Huh, huh, huh…
There was also some chaos in the Min Mansion. Outside the crescent-shaped door, a panicked servant ran over, heard the donkey's bray, and slowed down. In his peripheral vision, he saw two bookshelves floating out of the door and hung on the donkey's back.
The servant stopped immediately and rubbed his eyes hard. The bookshelf was already on the donkey's back.
"Is it haunted?"
The next second, a black shadow jumped out of the window and landed on the donkey's head. It pinched the donkey's ears, stuck out its long tongue, let out a long laugh, and let the old donkey rush out of the crescent gate.
"Oh my god! The toad has become a spirit!"
Seeing the black shadow clearly, the servant howled and fell to the ground. He saw the old donkey carrying the bookshelf running to the front yard with a grunt and passing through the corridor. The oncoming maid threw the tray in her hand, and the soup splashed on the face of the guard next to her. Amid screams, the chaos extended all the way to the gate of the mansion.
Tap tap tap!
With its hooves churning, the old donkey broke through the gatekeeper's obstruction and ran excitedly on the main street of the mansion, its mouth wide open and its tongue hanging out and dangling.
The Toad Taoist grabbed the donkey's ears, glared at the old donkey with his toad eyes, and stepped down hard with his webbed feet.
"Don't imitate me!"
Ahem~
The old donkey trembled, and the toad's eyelids trembled as well. He had a bad feeling.
"Again."
As soon as the word "come" came out, his flippers slipped and he fell down along the donkey's head, dragging the rope and hanging on the old donkey's neck.
"That woman's..."
The toad hugged its webbed feet across its chest with an expression that said 'I knew it would be like this', and its head kept bumping against the donkey's neck.
In the distance, at the inn, a pair of huge footprints still remained on the street.
Lu Liangsheng, dressed in a scholar's robe, held a jar of wine and sat on the roof of a high restaurant. He drank the wine gulp by gulp, looking at the Jianchun Gate in the distance with his drunken eyes, which was missing a wall. His robe fluttered in the wind, and the wind brushed his face, making him a little sober.
"Liangsheng!"
Hearing someone calling him, Lu Liangsheng turned his head slightly. Under the eaves, Min Changwen leaned half of his body out and looked at him.
"Minister Min, come and drink with Liangsheng."
Lu Liangsheng took a step, and when he landed, he slapped the eaves with his other hand, turned his body in mid-air, and fell to the second floor. The shopkeeper and the waiter, who were originally busy tidying up the tables and chairs, cried out, hugged each other, and hid in the corner.
The scholar came in, smiled drunkenly, and handed over the jar of wine.
"After drinking, you don't have to think about any troubles."
Min Changwen's previous shock calmed down a little. Looking at the frustrated and drunken young man in front of him, he seemed to want to say something but stopped himself. He did not reach out to take the jar of wine.
"Right now, you've gotten into big trouble. I'm afraid your career will be in jeopardy..."
“Hehe…hahahaha…”
After hearing this, Lu Liangsheng chuckled, put away the wine jar, raised his head and took another sip of wine, feeling the burning sensation flowing through his throat, and staggered past the Shangshu.
"Master Shangshu, do you think there is a place for a magician like me in the court?"
At the end of the sight, on the broken street, an old donkey was running towards this side in the distance, and there was a black shadow hanging under the donkey's neck, waving at him.
Lu Liangsheng withdrew his gaze, shook his head and turned to look at Min Changwen.
“… I don’t think so.”
He paused for a moment, then raised his hands while holding the jar of wine.
"Sir Shangshu, if you encounter something irresistible in the future, you can come to Qixia Mountain to find me. Goodbye."
"Liangsheng!"
Min Changwen chased after him, but the scholar behind the guardrail had already jumped out of the building. When he got to the front of the guardrail, he saw the scholar lying on the donkey's back with one leg raised, running towards the outside of the city, and in the blink of an eye he reached the end of the street.
"Young man with lofty ambitions knows no sorrow, he studies hard for you.
No one cares about Heliang's people, while the foolish emperor in the court is drinking and talking happily.
My relationship with Chen ends today, I bring wine and hang sword to seek the immortal fate. "
The poem could be heard from afar. Min Changwen leaned over the fence, slapped the guardrail heavily, lowered his face and said, "Alas!"
"Your Majesty... What on earth did Lu Liangsheng do wrong?!"
The bronze bell rang and faded away with its clear sound.
We walked through the intertwined streets and alleys, passed through the city walls, and went to the green fields where the spring breeze blew. Soon after, we stopped by a small river.
Lu Liangsheng staggered down from the donkey's back, walked to the riverbank step by step, and splashed cold water on his face.
"Master, what should I do next?"
At this moment, there was confusion in the words.
"Wait for the master to come down first..."
The Toad Taoist priest hung on the donkey's neck, struggled to untie the rope, and fell to the ground with a loud bang. He patted the dust off his coat, put on his flippers, and walked to his disciple with a clatter.
"Although I don't know what happened to you, there is always a way out. This is how I got through it. There was a time when I was as discouraged as you. Later, I thought that no matter whether you are a human or a demon, you must be open-minded. Only by being open-minded can you live longer. Don't you think I am living a good life now?"
As he spoke, he patted the scroll on his back and said, "This is the second way."
Lu Liangsheng looked at the sparkling water reflecting the setting sun, and although he felt unspeakable pain in his heart, he still smiled.
"Thank you for your comfort, Master. Looking at the ups and downs of the waves, I suddenly felt that I was very similar to them... upside down, sometimes down, sometimes up..."
"But they won't fall down." Taoist Toad patted his disciple's knees and they looked at the water together.
"Well, they won't fall down."
Having said that, Lu Liangsheng picked up a stone and threw it into the river, causing ripples.
"Master, let's go and leave here."
Taoist Toad breathed a sigh of relief.
… I finally convinced you. If you are so discouraged that you don’t take me to Northern Zhou, I will have to walk there on my own two feet.
…
Boom…
The sound of horse hooves could be heard in the streets. After the chaos in the city and the palace, the army had already started moving. News came from the palace that there was a demon casting a spell. It turned out to be a scholar named Lu Liangsheng, and even his portrait had been painted.
The infantry searched house to house in the city, and more than a thousand cavalrymen were divided into several groups and galloped across the fields, tracking down people who resembled the portrait.
"Quick! Follow—"
"drive!"
Along the official road south of Tianzhi, a group of more than a hundred cavalrymen were separated to take the mountain forest path.
After the beginning of spring, green fields stretch as far as the eye can see.
The leading rider, who seemed to be a lieutenant, was galloping, with his brows slightly furrowed when he cracked the whip. He could vaguely see a donkey walking slowly on the muddy road in front of him, with a figure lying on its back leaning on the donkey's neck.
When I got closer, I saw that he was wearing a scholar's robe.
"Scholar in front, stop!"
He shouted loudly and cracked the whip to urge his horse to speed up. However, seeing that he was still 25 feet away from the opponent and could not catch up with him, the lieutenant was also terrified.
"What a monster! He was clearly close, but in the blink of an eye he was in front again."
Then, he raised his hand.
The cavalrymen behind him drew their bows and loaded arrows, and the creaking bowstrings were stretched taut, pointing at the old donkey in front and the scholar on its back.
On the donkey's back, Lu Liangsheng raised his arm and a stream of wine flew out from the mouth of the jar and fell into his mouth. His other hand suddenly threw out a piece of paper with a winding portrait painted on it.
With a slight swish sound, the drawing paper passed through the sunset glow and floated away. As if dizzying, in the sight of the pursuing cavalry, it suddenly turned into a huge winding shadow.
It has green scales and fangs, cold pupils, and it coils on the road. Its densely packed scales ripple like the surface of water as it twists and turns its body.
“Ouch—”
"careful!"
Shouts rang out among the cavalry. The soldiers at the front hurriedly pulled the reins and looked at the giant snake with half of its body erected high in the air in horror. Someone shouted, "Don't be afraid, it's an illusion!"
Next second.
A long snake, which was as big as several men could hug, pounced at him like lightning. Its upper and lower jaws opened to the extreme and it swallowed up the man who had shouted, as well as the other two cavalrymen, along with their horses.
Xilulu-
The lieutenant stared in amazement at a kicking horse leg, which was swallowed up quickly by the snake's mouth. Then he reacted, dropped his bow, grabbed the reins, and turned the horse's head to gallop madly in the direction from which he came, shouting:
"withdraw!"
The remaining cavalrymen were also terrified. They pulled the reins to change direction, squeezed their horses' bellies anxiously, and galloped behind.
Whoosh whoosh.
After running two miles, the lieutenant turned around and saw that the snake was not chasing him, so he stopped his cavalrymen, took a breath and rest for a while, calmed down a little, asked one person to go back and report, and then led the others to look for it again.
"Oh."
Coming back along the muddy path, there was no trace of the giant snake in sight, and even the scholar who had been lying on the donkey's back was gone.
"Look, why are there suddenly a few more trees here?!"
A cavalryman suddenly pointed at a place near the mountain wall and shouted something. As scouts, they were very sensitive to the terrain. When they came, there were only a few scattered trees on the roadside, but now there were a few more.
When the lieutenant dismounted and drew his knife, he approached and vaguely heard a groaning sound from inside.
"Chop the tree apart!"
The cavalrymen dismounted, drew their swords and chopped hard, but no wood chips flew. The tree was hollow, and there was only one person trapped inside. Looking at other trees, the same was true. They were the cavalrymen who had been swallowed by the giant snake before.
"They're not dead, they're still alive."
The lieutenant breathed a sigh of relief and was about to mount his horse to continue the pursuit when he seemed to hear a sound. He turned his head to look at the other side of the muddy road. On the other side of the lake, he could faintly hear the sound of tinkling copper bells.
As the sun sets, the scholar lies on the old donkey's back, with a wine jar hanging from his body and one foot hanging down, swaying gently and humming a newly composed tune vaguely.
“I stagger and fall… like the waves, with all my grievances, I laugh it off… I stagger and fall but refuse to fall…”
The wine went into his mouth, then overflowed from the corners of his mouth and splashed onto his shoulders.
"… I know the secrets of wine best…"
The lieutenant watched the man and the donkey walking further and further away in the sunset glow, and forgot to chase them for a moment. However, when he heard the groan of his unconscious companion, he suddenly reacted and chased them to the lake with a knife.
"We thank you for showing mercy, sir!"
Ding ding dong…
The setting sun was red and the sound of the bells disappeared.