Oh... Oh... Oh oh oh~~
The sky was dark and the clouds in the east were just beginning to turn pale. The loud crowing of roosters could be heard from the backyard of the inn. The merchants who traveled far and wide to sell their goods got up early and shouted at the store to serve them food.
Suddenly, there were footsteps in the corridor on the second floor, voices shouting in the hall below, and the sound of a kitchen knife chopping vegetables in the kitchen in the backyard.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, Lu Liangsheng still opened his eyes tiredly, his chest and abdomen felt heavy. Upon closer inspection, he saw Mu Qiyu lying on his chest, his little mouth moving from time to time, and many roots around his body hanging down weakly.
Feeling that the magic power consumed last night had returned to its normal state, Lu Liangsheng guessed that Qiyou used his magic power to nourish him late at night. He glanced at the tree demon who was still sleeping, and the Toad Taoist who was snoring with his belly rising and falling, and then went down to the ground.
I clenched my fists hard and punched the air once or twice. Wow, it was powerful!
Lu Liangsheng gently moved the woman away, placed her on the wooden pillow, covered her with a quilt, fetched some water to wash up, went downstairs to buy three bowls of porridge and a few flatbreads, put them on the table, and shouted towards the bed.
"Master, get up, it's time for us to get going!"
On the bed, the toad who was soundly sleeping scratched his belly, kicked off the quilt and turned sideways to face inside. After a moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and felt his body lighten, and began to dance in the air.
"Put the Master down~~"
Lu Liangsheng woke up the master in his hand, put him on the table, broke off a piece of cake and handed it to him, "Hurry up, Master may have time to go back to the cave."
The toad holding the half-cut cake yawned, and after waking up, he was no longer sleepy. He smacked his lips, took a bite of the cake, and moved his mouth slowly and leisurely.
"Just go, it doesn't matter to me, as long as there's food to eat."
Hmm~
As the master and the disciple were talking, Qiyou woke up on the bed. She clenched her fists and stretched comfortably. Her black gauze dress outlined her graceful curves. Her long black hair was scattered over her shoulders, reflecting the sunlight coming in through the window lattice, which was quite stunning.
She sat on the edge of the bed with her feet on the ground, smelled the fragrance of breakfast on the table, ran over with a smile, and was about to grab some to eat, but was hit on the hand by Lu Liangsheng's chopsticks.
"Wash yourself!"
"oh!"
Mu Qiyu raised her red lips slightly and stuck out the tip of her tongue at the calm Toad Taoist. She jumped to the copper basin, stroking her black hair, and reached into the water to draw half a basin of clean water. A layer of mist immediately flowed on her face, and then she spit it out into the basin along her black hair. The water in the empty basin slowly rose again.
"I'm done~"
The tree demon shook his head, and without caring about Lu Liangsheng's look, he sat aside, took the bread and soaked it in the porridge, opened his red lips, took a light bite, and the stains of porridge overflowed from the corners of his mouth.
Following Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist priest, they often went out into the wilderness, so there was no way they could eat elegantly.
After the man and the two demons had a light breakfast and checked out, they packed up their bookshelves and luggage, and fixed the old donkey's hindquarters. Lu Liangsheng held the reins and walked through the long street towards the west gate of Chang'an. It was already bright in the sky, and the common people who had gotten up early to make a living passed by the scholar leading the donkey.
Soon, they were out of the city gate. The Hu merchants from the west drove their camels, smelling fishy. They were loudly scolded by several passing Central Plains merchants and rushed to the side of the road to let them pass first. Amid the scolding, shouting, and the sound of camel bells, Lu Liangsheng, dressed in green and white robe, stopped on the official road.
The scholar looked back at the bustling Chang'an City, smiled slightly, shook his head, and pulled the old donkey back west.
I didn't expect that there would be so many variables in this trip. I was conferred the title of **Yao Ling Xian Zhenren and became an official in the court... In fact, there were other reasons why Lu Liangsheng agreed to this.
He cultivated moral virtues and brought benefits to the common people.
If the power of the court could be exercised to benefit the people of the world, it would not be a bad thing. But I think that we will not be able to live so happily in the future.
"Ah, suddenly I'm a little envious of that guy Old Sun."
Bang!
Just as Lu Liangsheng finished saying this, the mud beside the road ahead suddenly broke open, revealing a face covered in mud, and then it broke out of the soil.
Well…
Lu Liangsheng opened his mouth slightly, looking at the Taoist priest with a pointed face and monkey cheeks, covered in mud, patting the dirt off his body, and he could hardly speak.
"Have you been here all this time?"
"What? I have something extremely important that I forgot to take, something my master left for me." Sun Yingxian wiped off the mud on his moustache, quickly passed the dazed scholar, squatted in front of the bookshelf behind the old donkey, opened the compartment above, and let the toad, who heard the noise, open the door and stick its head out from the bottom.
"Didn't you go back to Qixia Mountain? Why are you still here?"
The Taoist pushed the toad's head back, fished out a booklet hidden under several academic books from the compartment, and patted it twice.
"Fortunately it's still there."
He didn't know when the Taoist hid something there, but when he heard it was a book, Lu Liangsheng became interested.
"What book?"
Over there, Sun Yingxian quickly put the book into her arms and turned around: "You won't be interested, okay, you are busy, I will go first..."
She had just taken two steps after waving her hand and hadn't even finished her words when Lu Liangsheng grabbed her neck and pulled her back.
"Since you are here and haven't left yet, then accompany me on a journey west. I have discovered an interesting place."
The Taoist was being pulled by him, and his cultivation was not as high as the other party, so it was useless for him to struggle. Hearing the Toad Taoist's angry voice, he looked at Lu Liangsheng suspiciously.
"Mr. Lu, you will find something interesting? Guess whether I believe it or not."
"There are many new and interesting sights on the way west. You may as well take a look. There are also many Hu Ji on the road."
"What's so good about a Hu woman? Her body hair and body odor are too strong..."
“But it’s exotic.”
"Yeah, that's true... Hey, wait, I haven't agreed to go with you yet."
…
The autumn sun shines across the fields. The official road extends westward from the capital. The mountains gradually become rugged and desolate, and the landform becomes increasingly barren with more and more sandstorms and strange rocks.
In the northwest, vegetation is sparse and grain production is not abundant, so the people are naturally tough. Each village is built in the shape of a mountain stronghold to protect against wild beasts and robbers. Over the years, small groups of Turks have come here to take advantage of the situation, making the situation even more bleak.
Among the mountains with sparse vegetation and trees, four figures carrying bookshelves on their backs climbed over the high ridges, wiped the sweat from their foreheads, and looked into the distance. All they could see were endless loess mountains. The wind and sand blew past them whimperingly, and all they could feel was desolation and barbarism.
"That's good. Now you know where the county seat we're taking office is?"
"I told you to hire a guide, but you didn't listen? Who can I blame?" "Of course I blame Ma Liu. He said we should be on guard against others. Not only could we be assassinated on the way, but he also took over the four of us as officials..."
"Why do you only blame me? Zhang Ti also nodded."
"Nonsense, I mean don't go out at night, let's go out during the day, we won't run into any weird things."
"It's disrespectful. You and I are both officials. How can you say such things?" As the eldest brother among the four, Wang Feng waved his hand to ask them to stop arguing. While looking around, he suddenly pointed forward.
"There is a forest over there. Let's go and have a rest."
"There won't be any wild animals in the woods, right?" Zhao Tang suddenly slapped his forehead and smiled foolishly on his round face: "I'm overthinking it. It's daytime..."
"Then hurry over there. The weather is very hot. Let's rest for a while and cook a meal. Then we can go on the road and ask someone."
"Okay, I'll listen to you, big brother!"
The other three responded in unison, tightened the ropes on their shoulders, lifted the bookshelf, and trotted excitedly to the woods over there.
In the distance, sunlight shines through the gaps in the trees, light dust dances, and the outline of a dilapidated building can be vaguely seen. Not far away, there is a high mound of earth, like a large grave.