A few drops of rain fell on the window frame. Amid the sound of slight breathing, Lu Liangsheng gently moved the woman away, put her aside and covered her with a quilt.
'This tree demon is really heavy...'
He looked at the tree demon who occasionally stuttered, then turned around and took in the furnishings in the room. There was a yellow pear wood desk with inkstone, paper and pens, and two pairs of bamboo chairs were placed on both sides of the wooden carved chess table. At the door, there was a pot of six-petal pink flowers on a brown lacquered wooden frame with long legs, which gave off a faint fragrance.
"I never expected that these people would decorate their own houses so elegantly."
Lu Liangsheng couldn't tell what kind of flower there was at the door. He had other things to do right now, so he gently opened the door and walked out. Outside was a long corridor, with the right side close to the mountain wall, which was carved with cloud patterns and tripod mother images. There were stone lamps hanging every five steps.
"Where are the Master and the others?"
After walking along the corridor, he didn't plan to go upstairs to take a look. He went down the wooden stairs, still wondering why he saw other people. Sun Yingxian, with a bulging yellow cloth bag tied to his shoulder, came out from a corner of the stairs where Lu Liangsheng had come down, with two bags in his hands, which he had found from somewhere, dragging on the ground and taking them out.
"What are you pretending to be?"
The Taoist dragged two large bags out of the door, put them on a stone platform in front of him, and took a breath.
"How can you go back empty-handed after entering a mountain of treasures?"
He wiped the sweat from his chin and looked back at the scholar who was walking out.
"You know what, the people under the Fire Prayer Sect have quite a few good things. There are piles of elixirs in bottles, and there is also an alchemy furnace with a handful of freshly refined medicine in it. I don't know what it is used for. I can't hold it all with both hands. Old Lu, hurry up and follow me down to get some more."
“No hurry.”
Lu Liangsheng walked out of the attic and came under the eaves. He stretched out his hand to pick up the big bag beside him. It was already dawn at this time. The whole picture of the mansion was clearly visible under the leaden rain curtain. The four-story attic with upturned corners was built against the mountain. The cliff was leaning against the wall, and a solitary tree with branches hung obliquely on the roof. In the sound of the dripping rain, rainwater accumulated on the glazed tiles on the eaves dripped down the eaves, creating a scene of pearl curtains falling on a plate.
"This mansion has good feng shui."
Sighing, Lu Liangsheng retracted his gaze and looked around: "Where are Zuo Qianwei, Yan Chixia, and my master?"
"As soon as the sun rose, Lao Zuo and Lao Yan started searching the place."
The Taoist sat on his pocket, took out two golden and soft cakes, and handed them to Lu Liangsheng: "They found several rooms where women were imprisoned, and there were several alive..."
At this point, even the heartless Sun Yingxian sighed, took a bite of the cake, and said while chewing:
"Those women said that there were originally more than 20 of them, but within a month, they were the only ones left. As for those who died, no one knew where they were thrown away."
Lu Liangsheng looked at the rain curtain hanging from the eaves in front of him and fell silent. There are more than a thousand ways to practice Taoism in this world, and some of them require a woman's pure yin body.
However, with the cultivation level of Saint Fire Mingzun, I think he does not need women at all. It should be that his group of guardians or believers use women as human cauldrons for cultivation.
well…
Then I have avenged myself for both the dead and the living.
"By the way, where is my master?"
Putting aside the matter of the group of women for the time being, Lu Liangsheng then remembered that the Toad Taoist was nowhere to be seen either. The Taoist spread his hands and said, "I don't know... He went with me before, and then I didn't see him..."
Crash! Bang! Bang!
Suddenly, there were several rustling noises coming from the pocket at Lu Liangsheng's feet, which convexed and concave a few times, and a toad face printed on the silk cloth emerged.
"Liang... Liangsheng... please let me out..."
Hearing this, Lu Liangsheng hurriedly turned the bag upside down and poured out the large and small medicine bottles inside, along with several medicine pestles. The Toad Taoist had his long crooked tongue squeezed inside, with one leg on the medicine bottle and the other pressed underneath. He was dug out by the scholar, who took a few breaths, picked up a jade pestle for pounding medicine from the ground, and chased the Taoist to beat him.
"I just wanted to see what you were packing, and you packed me in as well!"
The Taoist ran ahead, covered his hair with his hands, and turned back to shout, "It's dark inside, and I'm carrying a lot of things, so I can't see!"
"Damn it, you're scolding me for being short, right—"
"Your mother, you can't see it in the first place!"
…
Seeing his master chasing the Taoist priest out of the roof and into the rain, Lu Liangsheng waved his sleeves to cast a spell for them to shelter from the rain. He was about to return to the hall to see if there was anything else in the attic. It would be best if he could recover the things that were stolen from his master before. As for the gold, silver and jade, he could exchange them for copper coins and silver and distribute them to the poor people nearby.
Ding ding…
The sound of an old donkey's neck bell rang out from the other side of the mountain gate. In the leaden rain, Zuo Zhengyang and Yan Chixia were wearing straw raincoats. The old donkey walking in front of them was covered with two sets of spliced wooden leaves to block the rain. The two men and the donkey came up from the mountain gate together, and when they saw Lu Liangsheng standing at the door with a smile, they went over to bow and greet him.
"Brother Daoist Lu, you are awake. Come here. I just bought some cakes from the city, as well as some wine and food. It is a rainy day, so let's gather together, light a small fire, drink some hot wine and eat some meat. It's perfect!"
Yan Chixia was a generous person. He took off his straw raincoat and hat, and opened the oil-paper packages in his hands. There were several small pottery jars full of snacks, but they were a little cold.
"Hahaha, that's fine! I'm hungry too after waking up!"
Lu Liangsheng shouted to the toad and the others who were still chasing after him in the rain curtain outside, "I'll call you when the meal is ready."
So they folded a few stools under the eaves and used them as wood to make a bonfire. They tied a few pottery jars to a wooden stick, hung them there, and warmed them over the fire.
It was a rare and pleasant time. The food and wine were heated up, and the tree demon who was still sleeping in the room was awakened. A group of people sat down together, drinking and chatting.
During the conversation, Lu Liangsheng learned that it was she who gave him the energy last night and transformed into a spiritual root tree to press on him to stabilize his soul. He immediately stood up and bowed to her.
"Don't bow, don't bow. What's the point of thanking others, old demon? I don't remember my name. Why don't you give me a new name? You gave that little green snake a name, so I want one too!"
The Toad Taoist picked his nose and said, "What's the use of a name? It's not as prestigious as mine. I've lived a thousand years in vain."
Zuo and Yan took their wine bowls and took a sip, cheering loudly. Although they were still not used to associating with monsters, they knew that this tree monster and the toad holding the bowl by the fire were also good monsters... Well, they should be considered good monsters, anyway, they had never seen them do evil.
Once the grudge was resolved, Lu Liangsheng felt relieved and did not refuse. He stood up, waved his sleeves, walked past the crowd, and looked at the rain curtain filled with moisture outside the eaves.
"Well... you are a tree demon. There are people with the last name Mu in this world, which is perfect. As for the name... your spiritual roots are not from plants or trees. You live in the quiet mountains, and sing alone in the sky."
He clenched his fist and tapped it lightly on his palm, then said with a smile: "Let's take the surname Mu and the given name Qiyou. It's also quite smooth to call you Qiyou on weekdays."
"Qiyou...Qiyou..."
The black-skirted tree demon tilted her head and muttered softly. Although she didn't quite understand why it went through so much trouble, and didn't understand the meaning behind it, she felt it was still quite powerful.
"Then... Old Monster, I will call you this from now on!"
Suddenly she threw herself into Lu Liangsheng's arms, hugged his neck with clear voice.
"Old demon, my name is Qiyou!"
"Haha... OK."
Lu Lang patted her on the back and said with a smile, "The old demon's name is Lu Liangsheng."