call-
The strong wind blew the woods wildly, and the green leaves on the thatched cottage rustled. The Toad Taoist held a piece of broken biscuit in his hand, stretched out his two short legs, and lay on the window frame on his webbed feet to look outside, his cheeks puffed up, chewing the biscuit crumbs.
"What's wrong with the old lady's sacrifice technique? Why do you have to go through so much trouble to owe others a favor?"
Inside the fenced courtyard wall, three young men, Yuwen Tuo, Li Sui'an and Qu Yuanfeng, had their hair flying in the wind. They raised their arms and covered their cheeks with their sleeves, and subconsciously huddled in the corner to avoid the wind.
Through the gaps in the swaying fence, several streams of spiritual energy were seen in the open space outside, dragging their long tails and wandering around the magic circle. Lu Liangsheng flipped his fingers and the swimming spiritual energy once again rushed into the Yin-Yang magic circle to nourish Hong Lian, relieve her burning pain, and offset some of the Taoist's magic that specifically targets ghosts.
"Qing Huai Bugeng": Nourish the living things of plants and trees with spiritual essence, prevent their exhaustion, and prolong their lives by going against the will of heaven and allowing them to be reborn.
This method is also partially effective when used on humans and livestock, but it cannot achieve the same complete effect as plants and trees. It is also the same for nourishing the yin body, but it is the only method Lu Liangsheng thinks is suitable at the moment.
"Hong Lian, hold on!"
He gritted his teeth and squeezed out a cry. Inside the magic circle, Hong Lian, who was enduring the burning of the magic circle, had her hair disheveled and her face revealed a sinister green color, showing the state she was in when she died unjustly. Her eyes were fixed on Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist who was maintaining the magic circle in front of her.
"The evil spirit is coming out!" Sun Yingxian looked at the Rakshasa evil spirit and couldn't help shivering.
On the other side of the magic circle, hearing this, Yang Su clenched the magic cone in both hands, and magic patterns bloomed, pressing against the gloomy ghost energy that had been pulled to his back.
He kicked the hem of his robe aside, took a step forward, and at the moment when he thrust the sharp point of the magic spike into his body, he shouted:
"Friend Sun, shock her soul. The more chaotic the better!"
The three souls and seven spirits were in chaos, and he had just locked onto the evil spirit. The other person's puppet technique of reversing yin and yang was like fishing in troubled waters, and he took advantage of this moment of chaos to separate Hong Lian's Rakshasa evil spirit.
Over there, Sun Yingxian's arms were tense as she was making finger gestures, her eyes were wide open, fine threads of blood were spreading out, and her clenched teeth suddenly opened wide with saliva dripping from them.
With a turn of his fingers, the talisman paper placed in the octagon on the ground floated up. The Taoist bit his index finger and flicked the blood bead towards the magic circle, the moment it touched the apricot yellow light film.
Eight talismans exploded with flames.
"Uhhh—"
In the formation, Hong Lian's soul was shaking, and she screamed miserably. The air seemed to be distorted in the sky, causing ripples. The three young men hiding behind the fence covered their ears, their eardrums buzzing from the vibration.
The three souls and seven spirits all became blurred and spread in all directions at this moment. The magic weapon in Yang Su's hand glowed with a faint light. He pushed it with his palm and it directly sank into the blur. He clenched it and pulled it back. The tip of the cone pulled a human figure out of it and flew backwards. The figure was dragged in the air and struggled, screaming miserably.
"Go in!"
Yang Su roared, pulled and pushed with his hands, pointing the tip of the spike at the painted skin spread on the ground, and using his magic power to urge the dragged out Hong Lian's evil spirit to go inside.
The deflated painted skin on the ground began to swell up gradually as the human figure struggled to enter it, as if it were being inflated, and a black, evil aura pounced on the human face.
"Still want to resist?!"
Yang Su's magic power sank and pressed towards the painted skin, but his eyes glanced at Lu Liangsheng who was gathering his magic power to recover his breath, and his gaze fixed.
… It turns out that Yuwen Tuo was taken away by you. Regardless of whether it was unintentional or not, you made me look bad in front of my brother.
The thought flashed through his mind, and when his magic power was used to seal the evil spirit, he slightly retracted two layers.
The sound of the wind gradually died down, and the branches and leaves that were shaking wildly around stopped moving. The Taoist hurriedly retracted his magic, and the vague ghost shadow in the Yin-Yang Bagua magic circle condensed again, and he suddenly knelt down on the ground weakly.
"Hong Lian!"
Lu Liangsheng ran over, looked at the woman with a faint sinister aura around her, and stretched out his hand, passing straight through her.
"Sir... I'm fine..."
Having lost one soul, Hong Lian was so weak that she could not condense the Yin body she had before. She knelt there, her long black hair sliding open, revealing her pretty face. She raised her head and looked at the man in front of her with a smile.
"I feel like... I no longer have any evil thoughts in my mind."
"Don't move."
Lu Liangsheng walked to the side, picked up the umbrella, and opened it above her head. Hong Lian turned into a wisp of green smoke and flew into it. After a moment, the clouds that blocked the sunlight dispersed, and the bright light cast a mottled light on the cliff, swaying on the ground.
"Daoyou Lu!" Yang Su folded the painted skin and handed it to him: "Remember to keep it properly. As for the rest, you don't need my help to build a temple for sacrifice, right?"
"Lu Liangsheng thanks Lord Qinghe for his help."
After saying this, he bowed to the other party, put the painted skin back into the house, opened the umbrella, used his magic power to pull Hong Lian back into the painting, lit a stick of sandalwood, inserted it into the incense burner and placed it under the scroll.
"Well, I have helped a lot. Some people may have forgotten it."
The Taoist priest folded up the Yin-Yang Formation diagram while tiptoeing towards the house, causing the three young men in the yard to laugh secretly. When Li Sui'an saw his master coming out, he quickly pulled the other two and sat back at the desk to continue reciting classics silently.
Lu Liangsheng walked past the three of them, smiled and bowed to Sun Yingxian.
The Taoist rolled up the magic circle and stuffed it into a cloth bag, then laughed and waved his hands.
"Forget it, forget it. We are too familiar with each other. It's uncomfortable to receive your courtesy."
The two joked for a while, and Lu Liangsheng invited Yang Su, who was just watching on the side. The sun was shining through the clouds and mist, and the three of them walked to the old pine tree, conjured up stone benches and tables, and some wine, and sat down to drink and chat with the sea of clouds and the rolling ridges in the mountains as their companions.
The Toad Taoist who was lying in front of the window snorted, then jumped off the desk with his flippers on his back.
"Such a pleasant scene, but you didn't even mention bringing your master along."
Muttering to himself, he climbed onto the bed with his short legs, groaned loudly again, lifted the quilt, crawled in, covered himself with the quilt, and soon began to snore softly.
The sun was gradually setting, and Yang Su, who was still chatting and talking about Taoism with Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist priest, suddenly put down his wine glass and stood up.
"I was so happy to be talking to you two fellow Taoists that I almost forgot that King Jin is still in the village. It's getting late now and we have to hurry back to Fushui County. I'm afraid I have to say goodbye today!"
"Your Highness, I won't try to keep you here. I'll send you off, Lord Qinghe!"
"I'll sit for a while, I won't see you off."
Leaving Sun Yingxian behind, Lu Liangsheng and Yang Su walked past the thatched cottage together. They saw the three young men sitting on the seats, twisting their buttocks back and forth. Their patience was gone today, so they waved and asked the three of them to go down the mountain.
"Hurry up, hurry up! I'll show you a set of flying swords when we get down the mountain."
Li Sui'an urged Yuwen Tuo and Qu Yuanfeng, bowed to the master and Yang Su who were walking slowly, and the three of them ran quickly to the mountain path.
"Two of these three young men were harvested during the severe drought in Heliang Prefecture."
The two of them walked slowly down the mountain, and Lu Liangsheng also talked about the origins of these three disciples. He was a frank person, so naturally he told the twists and turns in a joking way.
"The young man with brown and blue eyes is called Yuwen Tuo. He is very proud and was picked up by a great monk and sent to the Wanfo Temple. He thought other temples were too small to accommodate him, so he was sent to me. He was the same here and became more restrained after a little punishment. The one running in front is called Li Sui'an..."
Yang Su was stunned by the scholar's words, and the rest of his words sounded like a buzzing noise in his ears.
Uh...how reckless.
What should he do now? He was wondering how Lu Liangsheng knew his plan, but he didn't expect there was another reason.
… This time the wrong person is being blamed.
Do you want to talk about what just happened
Yang Su tightened his grip and pinched his thigh.
"No, I can't say it. If I say it, it will seem like I'm judging others by my own standards... and that would be really embarrassing."
'Well, I just wanted to play a trick on him. It's not a trick. With Fellow Daoist Lu's cultivation, it won't be a problem for him... Well, let's not talk about it for now...'
"Mr. Qinghe?!"
Hearing Lu Liangsheng's question, Yang Su came back to his senses, stroked his beard and smiled, "I just remembered something and lost my mind. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Brother Lu."
"No problem."
On this side, Lu Liangsheng didn't care and made a gesture of invitation. The two walked back to the village at the foot of the mountain. Yang Guang, who had been waiting for a long time, hurriedly came up to them and wanted to continue persuading them, but was stopped by Yang Su, who then said goodbye. After all, their purpose of going south was to conquer the entire Chen Dynasty.
“If you care about the world, you should not be confined to one corner.”
After leaving Lujia Village, Yang Su gave instructions to the inexperienced prince, who pursed his lips and looked back at the outline of the mountain village that was gradually disappearing into the distance.
"I understand all of this, but why did Lord Qinghe repeatedly prevent me from speaking?"
Amid the sound of horse hooves, Yang Su wiped the tip of his beard and looked at an old donkey munching on grass on the hillside on one side of the road.
"It's to prevent His Highness from finishing his words. If Lu Liangsheng refuses again and again, there will be no chance to ask him to come out of seclusion in the future. It's better to save the words for next time. If that doesn't work, save it for the next time. In the long run, even if the words don't work, Your Highness can move the other party with sincerity. Even if he doesn't come out of seclusion, it's a good relationship. Why worry that he won't help you in the future?"
Yang Guang blinked his eyes. He was smart to begin with, so he immediately understood the meaning of the words. He bowed to Qinghe Gong, who was half a horse's head behind him, and then glanced in the direction of Lujia Village. He raised the whip in his hand and whipped it in the air.
"Then finish defeating the Chen Dynasty first, and I will come back when I have time. Go!"
With a shake of the reins, Yang Guang rushed forward on his horse. Behind him, a group of guards followed closely, galloping wildly, stirring up a long trail of smoke, and headed towards Fushui County.
…
As the sky darkened, after having dinner at home and testing his three disciples, Lu Liangsheng went up to Mount Qixia with a bowl of food. The Toad Taoist, who had been waiting for the food for a long time, spread out his flippers, climbed up the desk in a hurry, tied on an apron, picked up his chopsticks, sat on a book, and watched the food being placed in front of him.
Ta-da-da, the chopsticks quickly scraped the bottom of the bowl.
The Toad Taoist chewed with his cheeks puffed out and pointed the chopsticks in his hand at the bowl.
"Next time, give me a bigger bowl, and... add more salt, the taste is still a little off."
After watching his master munching on food for a while, Lu Liangsheng turned around and looked at the scroll on the wall. The ink-blue painting of a beauty was emitting a faint blue smoke, and the beauty in the painting spoke.
"Young Master..."
"What?"
In the painting, Nie Honglian's voice was weak.
"Hong Lian... I want to go home and have a look."