"Uhhh..."
In the night sky, a silhouette like a kite with a broken string streaked across the moonlight with a series of screams, and fell into the woods below. The dense branches and leaves swayed wildly up and down, fell heavily to the ground, and stirred up a circle of fallen leaves.
After a moment, the blood-stained fingers trembled and pressed to the ground. The guardian of the Fire-Praying Sect grabbed a handful of dry leaves, propped himself up with trembling hands, and sat down against a nearby tree. There was a bloody hole as big as a fist on his chest.
Whoosh… Whoosh…
"Luckily, the life-saving talisman that Ming Zun gave me can last for two hours. If we hurry... get back to Ziling Mountain, we will be saved."
He gasped violently, looked down at the bloody pit, and slowly stood up with the help of the tree trunk. If he were a cultivator without the life-saving tiger talisman, he would have been killed by the sword just now.
"It's actually a magical sword with spiritual consciousness... It must be a highly skilled cultivator... Coming to Ziling Mountain?"
"Oh no, this might have been leaked... Hurry and notify the other three guardians."
The pain in his body was unbearable, but his mind was exceptionally clear. He quickly thought of several possibilities, threw away the magic tools he had with him, and stumbled to cast a spell. His movements became noticeably faster, and then...
With a dull thud, the man, before he could pass between the two trees, seemed to have hit an invisible wall and flew back.
There was a rustling sound as the leaves swayed softly and a thin mist filled the forest. He could vaguely see flashes of lightning in his eyes and a unique sound of hooves stepping on fallen leaves slowly approached, which was completely different from the aura of the immortal sword before.
"What... thing..."
An instinctive fear arose in his heart. The Fire Prayer Sect monk swallowed the blood foam and stood up from the ground. As he murmured, a low dragon roar was heard.
Roar-
The mist swayed, and a body taller than a human walked gracefully in the mist with all four limbs. The roar of a dragon was mixed with the shaking of copper bells.
Ding ding ding…
"This... this is... a unicorn..."
The Fire Prayer Cult monk opened his eyes wide, and in the mist in front of him, he saw a sturdy and elegant unicorn beast slowly appearing. It shook out the dense lion mane on its neck, and its two whiskers under its chin swayed gently in the wind. It walked out of the mist step by step. The pair of antlers on its head were particularly eye-catching, showing a terrifying majesty.
Crack!
The long ox tail puffed the air, the dragon head swayed, the tiger eyes flashed with cold light and looked at him indifferently, bared his fangs, and then opened his mouth: "Roar--"
The dragon roared loudly, stirring up the fallen leaves that rustled and fell on the monk. His weak body could not help but retreat and hit a tree trunk.
"Ahem..."
The pain in his chest was unbearable, and the monk coughed up blood. "There is actually a unicorn in this place..."
However, when he raised his eyes, he saw a figure in green and white robe on the side of the unicorn beast, holding a scabbard.
"Who are you... Do you know that the Holy Fire Master is standing behind me..."
Lu Liangsheng put his hands behind his back, and the sword flew back through the gap between the swaying branches in the air, and went straight into the empty sheath in his hand. Without saying a word, he closed his eyes, turned around and left.
On one side, a unicorn with its mane fluttering opened its long snout and kicked its hooves, and its elegant body instantly turned into a blue-white lightning.
The last word "Zun" uttered by the Fire-Praying Cult monk who was leaning against the tree trunk suddenly turned into a sharp scream of "Ah!", and a bloody mouth full of fangs appeared in his eyes, closing it!
The screaming stopped abruptly.
The cold moonlight filtered through the gaps between the branches and shone onto the ground. The shadow whose head was bitten struggled a few times, and then the sound of broken bones was heard in the air, and a stream of blood rushed out from the broken neck.
The blue-white lightning appeared again, and under the tree, the headless corpse fell to the ground with a bang. The unicorn beast dragged a streak of lightning and chased after its master in front.
Tap tap tap…
The huge hoof prints pressed down the fallen leaves in the forest and caught up with Lu Liangsheng, who was holding a sword and his hands behind his back in front of him. He jumped and danced happily, spit out something in his mouth, and rolled to his master's feet.
It was the monk's head.
"Although I told you to kill him, I didn't ask you to bite off his head." Lu Liangsheng took out a silk handkerchief and wiped the blood from the corner of the mouth of the unicorn. He shook it casually, and it grew bigger in the wind and wrapped up the head on the ground.
"It's bloody and smells fishy."
roar!
The unicorn beast lowered its neck and roared at the human head on the ground, and stamped its hooves hard, probably because it was not happy that such a villain could have his body intact, so it argued with Lu Liangsheng.
"I know, I know. Why don't you just stop being a Qilin and be a fellow named Zhe in the Shanhai Tuzhi." Lu Liangsheng took the wrapped head in his hand, shrunk it to the size of a fist, put it on the bookshelf on the ground, and patted the Qilin beast's chin.
"Change back!"
Roar!
The unicorn let out two deep breaths, and stared viciously at the blood-stained package on the bookshelf. In a blink of an eye, its dark scales faded away and disappeared under its skin. Its slender body also slowly shrank, turning into an old donkey as tall as a human waist.
The bookshelf was placed on its back, and Lu Liangsheng jumped over and sat sideways, reaching out to pat the donkey's buttocks.
"Let's go, it's time to meet up with Lao Sun and the others."
Hum hum hum~~~
The old donkey raised its head and neighed in the breeze like before, kicked its hooves, and quickly turned into dust and rolled away into the distant wilderness.
Dark clouds moved around, blocking out half of the bright moon. The ground covered with weeds and rocks seemed to be covered with silver frost, and a long trail of smoke rose up and flew away in the direction of Ziling Mountain. On the back of an old donkey, Lu Liangsheng tried to call out to his master in the bookshelf compartment.
Soon, the voice of Toad Taoist was heard from the compartment under the bookshelf.
"Master is digesting the flesh and blood of the fish monster. It is a critical moment. Don't say more to me."
"I was thinking that we'll be arriving at Ziling Mountain soon... Oh, forget it, Master, just go into seclusion."
Amid the whistling wind, Lu Liangsheng pursed his lips, turned around, and drove the old donkey along the official road to a muddy path. A moment later, he ran along the foot of a mountain in front and headed straight to the southeast.
Suddenly, a familiar magical power flashed by, as if guiding the scholar.
"Old donkey, follow me."
Sure enough, following the direction of the magic power, in the distance, among several piled-up rocks, Zuo Zhengyang was leaning against the rock wall wearing a bamboo hat, and Sun Yingxian was sitting cross-legged with a red face. At the highest point, Yan Chixia jumped down carrying a wooden box. When he saw the old donkey that stopped and the scholar who landed, he stretched out his whiskers and greeted them with a cupped hand:
"Friend Lu!"
"Meet Brother Yan."
Lu Liangsheng returned the greeting and nodded to Zuo Zhengyang. At this time, the Taoist priest gathered his energy, jumped off the stone, walked over quickly, and asked in a low voice:
"How is Junyang City?"
Over there, Zuo Zhengyang looked over and Lu Liangsheng nodded.
"Just as Qian Wei expected, I have already killed a person from the Fire Prayer Sect when I came here."
This was an explanation. Immediately, he looked at the Taoist priest and asked, "How long will it take for you to be struck by lightning now?"
"Don't ask, it will be soon anyway."
The Taoist's face was red as if his magic power had been suppressed to the extreme, and wisps of white gas emerged from his body and head from time to time. It was obvious that he was trying to suppress it deliberately, but he was almost unable to hold it back.
He rubbed his hands vigorously and took two steps back and forth.
"I haven't experienced a thunder tribulation before, so I'm a little nervous... I even went to that goddamn house and called you my mother. It was a little too stimulating... Wait a minute, I'm going to take a shit first... and relax."
After saying that, he lifted up his robe and quickly ran behind the rock. Lu Liangsheng smiled helplessly at Yan Chixia and said, "That's it, Old Sun. We still have some time, so why not check the plan again."
Lu Liangsheng was born into a family of scholars, while Zuo Zhengyang was born into a family of constables. Both of them were cautious. The Holy Fire Master had a high level of cultivation, so if they wanted to deal with him, they naturally had to make detailed and prudent arrangements.
Even if the initial attack fails, you must have a complete retreat plan.
"Killing that cultivator would be like alerting the enemy. It would also be a good opportunity to lure the enemy out of its hole and attract the Holy Fire Master away. Then, the Taoist's thunder tribulation would disrupt the magic barrier of Ziling Mountain..."
boom-
While the three were discussing, thunder suddenly sounded in the night sky. Lu Liangsheng raised his eyes and saw bluish-white lightning flashing in the clouds, with a faint yellow light, which was the unique sign of thunder that brought tribulation.
He immediately shouted behind the rock.
"Old Sun, the thunder tribulation is coming!"
The scholar was not slow either. He dropped a bookshelf to the ground and summoned the tree demon who had transformed into a spiritual root tree. According to the previous plan, she had a grudge against the Holy Fire Master and had a high level of cultivation, so it was natural for her to attract the other party.
Lu Liangsheng thought about it and decided that if the other party didn't fall into his trap, the human head on the bookshelf could come in handy, so he gave it to the tree demon.
"Remember, when that man comes out, lead him away. If he wants to come back, entangle him. If he wants to kill you, turn around and run!"
"oh."
The tree demon held the wrapped head in his hand and looked at it curiously. He responded casually, then raised his face and blinked his big eyes at Lu Liangsheng.
"Hey, old demon, what did you just say?"
Lu Liangsheng: “…”
Zuo Zhengyang: “…”
The latter turned his head, approached the scholar, wiped a drop of cold sweat from his forehead, and whispered: "This tree demon doesn't seem very safe, let Yan Chixia lure away the Holy Fire Master."
"Who do you think will go?"
On the other side of the rock a little further away, Yan Chixia came over with a Taoist priest who was pulling up his trousers as he followed. Sun Yingxian tightened his belt while cursing.
"Why are you urging me? I just took half of my shit out and I held it back again... Hey, what are you doing?!"
The Taoist's words turned into panic shouts, and his body was thrown onto the old donkey's back. Lu Liangsheng said, "Thank you for the hard work later." He stretched out his hand and slapped the donkey's buttocks right in the Taoist's sight.
"Take him up the mountain!"
The old donkey turned its neck and looked at the Taoist with disgust. After hearing the voice of its master, it reluctantly moved its hooves and galloped towards the outline of the mountain in the darkness in the distance. Its hooves gradually left an afterimage and accelerated.
Tap tap tap!
"Hey hey hey..."
"Don't be so fast, I still have some stuff in my stomach that I haven't cleared out yet... ah ah... it's going to leak out... damn it... ah ah..."
"Lu Liangsheng, I'm not done with you!!"
In a blink of an eye, the sound faded away into the dark mountains.
Boom—
In the sky, clouds mixed with fluorescent yellow lightning were chasing after us.
Looking at the thunder spreading from the clouds, the tree demon was shaking with fear. This is a common trait of demons. Lu Liangsheng comforted her with a few words, then nodded to Zuo and Yan.
"Let's go too!"
…
At the same time, the dark mountains in the distance looked gloomy, and lightning illuminated the long ridges amid the rumbling thunder.
Between the green fields and mountain walls that are invisible to the naked eye, there is a mansion built against the mountain. Behind the towering white rock gate with patterned mountains, there are bluestone steps that extend straight forward. Birch trees with drooping branches and rockery and waterside pavilions stand in the courtyard of the mansion.
Thunder rumbled in, and lightning flashed across the night sky, illuminating the tall stone tablet in the huge pool.
Carved in red lacquer seal script: Zishan Temple.