The moonlight was as dark as water, and the sound of barking dogs could be heard from the streets. Lu Liangsheng walked out of Yuwen Tuo's residence and whistled into the alley. An old donkey hummed and trotted over with the bookshelf on its back, and followed its owner slowly through the thin mist.
The two disciples both have their own ideas and Lu Liangsheng doesn’t have much to say about the paths they want to take. How far they can go and how they want to go will ultimately depend on them.
The man and the donkey gradually walked into the fog.
Late at night in the city, the only shop that had not yet closed was the inn. A waiter was dozing off on a square table with his arms resting on his head. When he heard a few knocks on the door, he walked over in a daze and opened the door. He saw that the people knocking on the door were a scholar and an old donkey, so he invited them in.
"Sir, there is a room upstairs. I will take you there right away... hooray..."
As he spoke, he yawned, picked up the lantern and walked up the stairs. Lu Liangsheng bowed and said, "Thank you for your help." He followed the waiter up to the second floor. At this time, the entire inn was quiet. From time to time, snoring could be heard from the room, which was not very soundproof. Occasionally, you could vaguely hear a woman's muffled groan...
The guy walking in front was used to it. He rubbed his eyes and turned his head to the side.
"If you need anything, I can help you find one or two..."
"That's not necessary."
After opening the door, Lu Liangsheng thanked the waiter and handed him a few coins as a tip. "Young man, just help me take care of the donkey when I get there."
Outside the door, the shop assistant weighed a few copper coins in his hand, and promised with a smile to take good care of the donkey in the backyard. He went to the backyard, tied up the old donkey, and diligently moved the bookshelf up before going back to take a nap.
After everyone left, Lu Liangsheng closed the door, touched the wick with his fingertips, and a bright yellow flame bloomed from the oil lamp, illuminating the entire room.
Squeak~
The Toad Taoist pushed open the small door of the compartment, stretched lazily, bent and kicked his legs, jumped up, lay on the edge of the bed, kicked a few times in the air, and finally climbed up, fell down comfortably, and lay on the bedding.
"Liangsheng, take a rest early."
"Well, Master, go to sleep first."
In front of the window, Lu Liangsheng put down the oil lamp, took out "Boundless Mountains and Seas", opened it, sat down and carefully observed the painting on it. With the help of the light, he took out the map paper he used in the past and compared the two back and forth.
The maps used in the past were only rough, but the map in "Boundless Mountains and Seas" starts from Zishan Temple and extends to the surrounding areas. There are significant differences in the topography of Helingzhou between the two.
"According to Yang Su's previous speculation, sealing Zishan Temple is considered to have activated this atlas, and the restored topography should not be so different from the map on paper."
Lu Liangsheng frowned slightly. As he was thinking, the terrain, which was originally only two fingers long and wide, suddenly extended a little in his eyes. In the subtle details, he could see that the white paper structure was stained with blue ink, as if an invisible brush was outlining the mountains, but the speed was extremely slow.
'If I use mana to infuse it, will it speed up?'
Thinking of this, Lu Liangsheng pinched his fingers and a faint light flashed from his fingertips, lightly tapping on the Zishan Temple on the paper. The light blue light drew countless lines, which quickly spread along the tiny grooves on the paper. The blue ink that was originally slowly outlined gradually accelerated in the scholar's eyes.
The painting quickly meanders to form undulating mountains and forests, and even occasionally depicts a few flying birds spreading their wings and flying across the mountaintops. The whole painting begins to come alive, with towering cliffs, dead trees, and old apes leaning against the mountainside, dancing and crying loudly towards the distant foothills.
'This is the mountain outside Heling Prefecture.'
Lu Liangsheng recognized the mountain outlined as the big mountain he passed after passing Niutouji. However, the small town of Niutouji was not included in the pictures outlined later in the album.
I suddenly had a vague guess in my mind.
"This may be the landform of mountains and rivers in ancient times."
At some point, the Toad Taoist's faint voice was heard. Lu Liangsheng said "hmm". His guess was just as his master had said, and he turned his eyes away.
At the corner of the table, the frog's webbed feet struggled to climb up. The Toad Taoist hung outside and kicked a few times, then stuck his head out. When he saw his apprentice coming over, he glared with his toad eyes.
"Why are you turning around so quickly? Turn back!"
Well…
Lu Liangsheng turned his eyes away speechlessly, and his gaze fell back on the book. There was a rustling sound nearby, and he heard the Toad Taoist's indifferent voice.
"alright."
Here, the scholar looked over again and saw the Toad Taoist with his coat open, revealing his white belly, and with webbed feet, walking towards him with a serious expression.
He started speaking again and said what he had just said.
"Master, I think this map records the ancient landforms."
"Master, are you sure?" Lu Liangsheng raised his eyebrows.
"What's that expression?" The Toad Taoist hugged his flippers, then took out another one, nodded and looked at the light, narrowed his eyes and said, "Master, with all your cultivation, how could I lie? I have been to heaven and earth, crossed countless mountains and rivers, how could I not be able to distinguish even a little bit of landforms?"
"But... Master, you've lost your way."
Lu Liangsheng stretched out two fingers and shook them: "Twice again!"
"..." The corners of Toad Taoist's mouth twitched twice, and he waved his flippers vigorously a few times: "Do you have to remember it so clearly!? Huh..."
He took a deep breath and said, "Anyway, my guess should be correct..."
When Toad Taoist said this, he suddenly said "Huh", glanced at the pages of the book, then hummed twice, and turned in another direction.
"See for yourself!"
In front of the desk, the oil lamp was shaking. In the dim firelight, Lu Liangsheng looked at the pages of the book with a frown. The picture outlined on it had extended a lot, then shrank, and continued to spread, including Chang'an where he was at the moment, but there was no city on it.
"Is it really like Master said, that this is an ancient landform?"
The painting connects the vast grasslands, snow-capped mountains and forests in the north, and the deserted area with yellow sand in the west. The only difference is that not far west of Chang'an, there is a mark that looks like a human head between some mountains. Unfortunately, it is too blurry to make out the appearance.
'This place is much different than other places... Could it be the strange place Yang Su mentioned? It seems not far from Master's Qishan... Do you want to go and take a look?'
At the side, Taoist Toad did not dare to get close to the book. He tiptoed to take a look, then retracted his head.
'Strange, why does that place look so familiar...'
He wanted to say something but stopped himself. After all, Toad Taoist himself couldn't remember where the place was, he just felt vaguely familiar with it.
"Damn it, my memory has become so bad, could it be that old bald donkey's fault? Next time I run into him, I will pull out his beard!"
The toad cursed a few times, asked his apprentice to take him back to the **, crawled to the innermost part, pulled a corner of the quilt to cover his belly, and fell into a deep sleep.
The light was dim, illuminating the blank scroll that the scholar had taken out from the bookshelf. Mu Qiyu was startled awake and walked to the edge of the bed and sat down, supporting his chin and looking at Lu Liangsheng who was concentrating on grinding ink and writing.
"What's there to see?"
Lu Liangsheng glanced at her from the side and smiled. He rolled up his wide sleeves, held the brush and splashed the blue ink. On a blank scroll, based on his memory, he drew a man with a long beard floating on his chest, a majestic figure wearing a golden armor and a Qinglong Yanyue in his hand, looking very majestic. He turned the tip of the brush again, and on the other side, he saw a black man with a leopard head and round eyes, holding a Zhangba Snake Spear and glaring angrily.
"I just like looking at it... Old demon, old demon, what are you painting?" Qi You was quite interested in the two majestic figures in the painting. They looked like real people, and even blinked under the infusion of magic power.
Without waiting for the old demon next to her to finish painting, she used her demonic power to go up and try it, but unfortunately the two little figures above didn't move at all.
"This is my way of painting. You can't cultivate it."
Lu Liangsheng tapped the back of the woman's hand with the end of his brush and said with a smile, "The two people above are famous figures from a long dynasty. Now, I'm going to a place, so I'll draw some first and keep them. Maybe they'll be useful."
Qi You supported his chin and said "Oh" softly, watching the scholar continue to write between the two of them. The blue ink outlined the long-eared face, with outstretched arms, holding two swords, as if waving them.
Soon, the oil lamp was about to go out. Lu Liangsheng painted a horse on each side of the three figure paintings. He drew the final stroke and blew on it. Suddenly, three completely different horse neighs were heard in the room.
Xilulu-
The neighing of horses made the inn lively. Many people opened their doors and walked to the corridor to look around, thinking that the horses in the backyard had run in.
In this room, Lu Liangsheng removed the magic power from the painting, looked at the ink that had not yet dried, tilted his head to look at the woman and said with a smile: "Let's stop here, and then we can add some more on the way. Well, it's time to go to bed, Qiyou, you should rest too."
After saying that, he blew out the lamp on the table, returned to the bed, stretched comfortably, and lay down next to his master.
"Old demon..."
Mu Qiyu sat on the edge of the bed and called softly to the scholar on the couch. The room was quiet, no one spoke and it was quite boring. Looking at the old demon who was gradually falling asleep, a faint smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"The old demon has used so much magic power today, well... it's only right for me to help him."
She pressed her knees against the hem of her skirt and the edge of the bed and climbed up...