The continuous drizzle of early spring caused ripples in the lotus pond. The green carp pecked away the duckweed and swung its tail to hide in the deep water. The rippling water reflected a man dressed as a scholar in a green robe walking by the edge, and an old donkey followed behind him, leisurely swinging its bald tail.
Lu Liangsheng raised his head. In the leaden sky, there was a towering and continuous city wall. The continuous rain washed away the mottled bloodstains on it.
The collapsed city gate was repaired, and people could be seen rushing in and out. The soldiers guarding the gate were now wearing Sui Dynasty armor and holding long weapons, and they sternly checked the passers-by and merchants.
"We can see that the people can come and go freely, it seems that Yang Su is good at commanding the troops."
After looking from afar for a while, he turned around and walked to the corner of the intersection. Less than two miles away, he could see the City God Temple in the distance. There were also Sui Dynasty soldiers patrolling nearby. When they saw Lu Liangsheng leading the old donkey, they would also take a few glances.
Lu Liangsheng walked up the moss-covered stone steps. The scent of sandalwood in the temple was much less than last time. There were still a few pilgrims inside who insisted on burning incense and worshiping. When they saw the scholar, they forced a smile and nodded at him.
Next to the pilgrims, there were children playing around the pillar. When they saw their father greeting the gentle-looking man, they couldn't help but wave at him and laughed while hiding behind the pillar.
However, after a moment, the child's smile froze and he rubbed his eyes vigorously with the back of his hand. Not far from the main hall, a cloud of smoke filled the air and the person who was smiling at him over there cupped his hands.
"Lu Liangsheng has met the City God."
The smoke quickly gathered, revealing the outline of a figure, which then solidified into Zhou Yu, wearing a white robe with cloud patterns, smiling and bowing in return.
"I could sense a majestic aura coming this way from afar, and I knew it was you, so I came out to greet you."
"Nothing is better than waiting for the Three Treasures Hall. This time I came here to ask a favor of the governor."
After some pleasantries, Lu Liangsheng frankly explained his purpose. The City God invited them to come, and the two of them walked side by side under the eaves as if no one else could see them.
Over there, the child holding onto the eaves pillar stared with wide eyes, watching the scholar disappear along with a blurry figure. He was so frightened that he didn't even hear his father coming to call him to leave. When his ears were pulled, he came to his senses, pointed at the place before, and his words became stammering.
"Dad... the person who just... nodded to you... has disappeared... in an instant."
The man looked around the temple and found that the scholar seemed to have disappeared. He clearly saw him come in. Besides, the temple was not big, with only two or three small halls, so it was impossible to hide anyone.
Thinking of the horrible thing, he got goose bumps all over his body and pulled his son out. On the way through the temple gate, Zhou Yu passed him by. He looked at the father and son as they left, then turned his gaze to Lu Liangsheng beside him.
"Then, what is the purpose of your visit, Mr. Lu?"
Lu Liangsheng pursed his lips, stopped, and raised his hands towards the other party.
"Lu Liangsheng came here to seek a ghost's reincarnation, but that ghost has now become a Rakshasa."
For ghosts to enter the underworld of Mount Tai for reincarnation, the first hurdle is the City God. If it was an ordinary ghost, Zhou Yu would have no problem cutting in line and showing some mercy and passing through. But when he heard the word "Rakshasa", his brows couldn't help but frowned.
"Rakshasa..."
He groaned and then shook his head: "I can't help you with this matter. Master Lu is also a cultivator. He should know that evil spirits kill people and turn into Rakshasa, and never reincarnate. This is the law of the underworld and the law of heaven. I, a mere City God, cannot change it."
"… "
Lu Liangsheng fell silent. He was surrounded by old firs with green branches and a donkey chewing grass in the distance, taking a leisurely walk. After a long while, he sighed.
"The governor can't do anything?"
"Mr. Lu, you think too highly of me. Although I am the city god here, I have been abandoned for a long time and do not have much divine power. Besides, this is the rule of heaven."
There is an element of shirking responsibility, but what Zhou Yu said is also true. The City God seems to have great power in the human world, but he is ultimately under pressure from the underworld, and even above that is the Heaven. It is impossible for the City God to go against Heaven.
Seeing that the scholar beside him was silent, Zhou Yu hesitated for a moment and tried to ask:
"Is that Rakshasa ghost your relative?"
"That's about right."
The two of them sat on the stone steps at the gate of the courtyard, quite casually. Lu Liangsheng picked up a dead leaf and turned it over in his hands, recounting Hong Lian's experience.
"Hong Lian was unfortunately sold to a theatre troupe when she was young. Later, all her family members died. She finally had a good life, but was brutally murdered again. Eventually, she turned into a ghost and killed people for revenge. But later, she killed a bandit in a mountain village for my family and Lujia Village, which led to this fate... Speaking of which, I owe her too."
As the city god of this place, Zhou Yu had a very clear understanding of the grudges and kindness of ghosts. Upon hearing this, he laughed and said:
"She turned into a fierce ghost with grudges in her heart and killed several innocent people. That is killing without reason. The Hong Lian you mentioned had a grudge in her heart and wanted to torture and kill her enemy, but she implicated an innocent person. She is guilty of this. Although those mountain bandits brought it upon themselves, it is the business of the human government. Once they are involved in human lives, they are Rakshasa and cannot be changed."
After hearing the City God's explanation, Lu Liangsheng knew that if he continued, the other party would not agree, so he pursed his lips and laughed too.
"What about those who lived a life without regrets or shame?"
"Mr. Lu, you want to talk about your mentor uncle, Mr. Hua, right?"
Although the City God cannot investigate the details of the living, the dead are under the jurisdiction of the City God, and everything about their lives will be revealed in the book. He naturally knew the details of the old man who died in Tianzhi City, and it also connected the teacher-student relationship between Lu Liangsheng and him.
"Your teacher was a man of great virtue and integrity, and he has already been reincarnated."
Lu Liangsheng's hands trembled slightly, and dead leaves floated to his feet. Hearing the news about his mentor, he was somewhat excited.
"Then where is my mentor now?"
"Find out more about it. It's useless to look for him. He won't remember you." Zhou Yu hooked his hand and took the dead leaf in his hand. "But it doesn't hurt to tell you. Now he is reborn in Gucheng County, a family named Cui who is old and wants a child. You should start over. Don't look for him. It's against God's will to make him remember his past life."
"I know that."
Lu Liangsheng was not a reckless person. He felt indescribably happy to know that his mentor had been reincarnated as a human being and had a good home.
"Although Hong Lian's matter has not been resolved, at least my trip was not in vain."
Although the task was not accomplished, he still stood up, bowed to the City God Zhou Yu, said goodbye and left. When he went down the stone steps and called the old donkey, Zhou Yu suddenly spoke on the stone steps.
"It's not possible to reincarnate a Rakshasa ghost, but there are other ways."
Lu Liangsheng turned around holding the reins and saw Zhou Yu walking down the stone steps with his hands behind his back, handing him the dead leaf.
"When a person's soul withers, it will eventually disperse. Building a temple to worship her may help. However, you have to remove the evil spirit from her body, or you can influence her."
After saying this, his figure blurred and dissipated, turning into a cloud of thin smoke and flew back to the temple.
Build a temple to worship...
Lu Liangsheng looked at the dead leaf in his hand which had regained its vitality and knew that it was the City God giving him some advice. He held the leaf in his hand and bowed towards the temple gate again.
"To strip away the evil spirits is to strip away Hong Lian's past sins... Build a temple to worship her, and let her cultivate through ghost cultivation to become a true deity."
Thinking of this, Lu Liangsheng felt a headache again. He was not someone who understood the mysteries of this, and he had no idea how it worked.
When you can't get what you want, you have to trouble the City God.
There were still a few pilgrims passing by. They were quite surprised to see the scholar bowing towards the temple gate. They looked around and there was nothing there. When they turned back, the scholar and the bald old donkey beside him had disappeared in an instant.
"I saw a ghost outside the City God Temple in broad daylight... Ouch, I have to go into the temple and pray!"
The two pilgrims were so frightened that sweat broke out on their foreheads. They picked up the incense and candles in the bamboo baskets, lifted up their robes and ran into the City God Temple.
…
The spring rain was continuous. Just as Lu Liangsheng rushed back to Qixia Mountain to surrender the troops from Fushui County, he counted out more than a thousand people, who had already entered the rolling mountains.
"Your Highness, do you really think that Mr. Lu is a great master?"
"Humph, I only respect those who have fought their way through the battlefield."
"… Generals, please don't say such things. Lord Qinghe is also a cultivator, so it's better to be cautious."
Among the rolling Qixia Mountains, the sounds of horse hooves and human footsteps echoed. The colorful flags of the Sui and Yang dynasties were neatly held high in the hands of the flag bearers. Rows of cavalry and infantry mixed troops meandered southward along the road, heading straight for the foot of the Qixia Mountains in the distance.
Boom, boom, boom… Countless footsteps moved forward, and the mountain path was filled with dense sounds.
Behind the raised commander's flag, the three generals who were talking instinctively looked around at the terrain and talked about Lu Liangsheng. Most of them were hearsay and did not think he was anything special.
"We are heading south. Apart from the beautiful scenery, we can't see any fairy-like aura in the Qixia Mountain in front of us."
The general riding on the brown warhorse looked at the steep mountain wall hanging in the air above the branches of the forest, then retracted his gaze. As the horse's back rose and fell, the armor plates on his body rubbed against each other lightly. Under his thick beard, his lips widened in a smile and he said:
"General Han, what do you think? If an army is ambushed here, I'm afraid we will die without a burial place."
"Haha. You guys just die. I will only protect His Royal Highness Prince Jin."
Generals such as Yu Juluo who were nearby also turned their heads and laughed, watching Han Qinhu and Shi Wansui bickering with each other. These were the generals who had followed the King of Jin to the south, who had fought against the Turks, destroyed Northern Qi and Western Liang. Even though some of them were a little older, most of them were veterans who had fought their way through the bloody battlefields. Occasionally, as they had free time like now, they would bicker and joke with each other.
"What do you think Mr. Lu, as His Highness mentioned, looks like? Is he like the Duke of Qinghe, or a weak scholar?"
"Humph, I heard that he looks like a scholar and was once a tribute student of the Chen Dynasty. Maybe he has ambushed an army here and is waiting for Lao Yu!"
"Hahaha, that's just in time. The generals of the Southern Chen army are not brave enough, and the killing is not satisfying enough. If there is another army here, we can kill them to our heart's content!"
In front, Yang Guang looked back at the group of generals who were chatting and laughing in a rough manner, and a smile appeared on his face. With these generals, why worry about not being able to unify the world
As he was speaking, the horse under him suddenly stopped, and he almost fell on the horse's neck.
"What's wrong… "
When Yang Guang said this, the horses of the guards on horseback and the generals following behind him stopped one by one, and circled their horses in fear. At the moment when they neighed, a strong wind blew, and the pebbles on the ground rolled up. The raised dust filled the air and enveloped more than a thousand people.
Wow!
The woods on both sides of the mountain path suddenly swayed violently, the green leaves on the treetops rustled, and flocks of startled birds flew out, circling in the black sky above their heads.
Woo—
A bullhorn sounded from the mountain road ahead of the team. As a veteran in the army, how could he not hear the horn's terrifying message.
"Enemy attack!!"
Shi Wansui galloped on his horse, drew the sword from his waist and shouted loudly. The surrounding soldiers responded and quickly formed a battle formation. The infantrymen holding shields turned down their shields and stood on the ground. There was a loud bang, and Prince of Jin Yang Guang was protected in the formation.
The dust drifted away in the wind and gradually dispersed, revealing in front of the field of vision the same dense and orderly military formation.
The big flag with the word "white" fluttered.
Long spears and bows and crossbows were strung together, and a chariot emerged from the crowd. The cold sword was drawn from the general's waist and pointed.
“Strong wind!”
It presented a scene of fierce and violent smoke.