Lu Xiaoxian pulled up the snow rabbit's two long ears and fiddled with them. The rabbit staggered with its mouth slightly open, twitching occasionally, as if it had been knocked unconscious by the palm thunder just now.
"Where's the reward?" The Taoist exhaled white air, rubbed off the word "imperial" written in cinnabar on the palm of his hand, and moved his face closer, but was pushed away by Xiaoxian.
"Let's see how it goes later."
The girl raised the rabbit in her hand and trotted on the snow to the Lujia Village in front. The fields were covered with white, and the silver-white snow paved the view. In the distant village, children in warm clothes were chasing and playing. They picked up snowballs and threw them to each other. One of them hit the back of the naked strong man in the dam. The few snow stains on the back instantly turned into white mist and floated into the air.
"ha!"
"Hey!"
The eight big men in Lujia Village were extremely sturdy. They practiced the body-building method taught by Lu Liangsheng day and night, summer and winter. Their bulging muscles were red and steaming. Even when chopped by swords, not even a white mark was left on their skin and flesh.
Feeling the chill on his back, Lu Qing turned around and saw several children over there, including his son. He laughed and scolded, "Go back and ask mom to cook a pound of meat for me to eat when I come back!"
The stone chain whistled in the air as he raised and lowered it, and his arm muscles seemed to have stone balls rolling around inside them, which made the kids' eyes go wide.
After hearing what the adults said, one of the older children yelled, "Run!"
A group of children ran to the other side of the drying dam to play.
Lu Pan retracted his horse stance, looked at the child playing snowballs, and raised his chin.
"Would you like to pick a few and train with us?"
"It's still early." Lu Qing thought for a moment and threw the stone lock into the sky. "I still need to discuss this with Liangsheng."
After saying this, he stretched out his other hand and casually caught the falling stone lock, continuing to hold it up and down, appearing relaxed and at ease.
"It's time to change to something heavier."
Lu Pan took a sip of water and sat on the stool: "Then ask someone to buy a few for the stall owner in the city some other day."
In his sight, he saw a man and a woman carrying two or three wild rabbits back from outside the village, and he shouted to the figure in the Taoist robe, "Master Sun, come and practice!"
"Even if all eight of you were tied together, you would still not be a match for me!"
Of the two people over there, Sun Yingxian rolled up his sleeves and put on a mustache, "No one in this village can surpass me except the great scholar Lu!"
Suddenly he paused, turned his head to look at the girl beside him, and whispered.
"Not including you."
"Hmph, you're smart." Lu Xiaoxian dropped one rabbit, picked up the other and turned away, "Come back early for dinner, or I won't make shoes for you."
"yes!"
The Taoist priest, who had received the imperial order, was in a good mood. He rolled up his sleeves, stepped on the ground and rushed towards the eight people opposite him. There was a crackling sound, like rain hitting banana leaves, a violent storm, and the sky was dark...
Leaving behind the noise of ping-pong, Lu Xiaoxian ran into the small courtyard, called her mother over, took a knife, and went to the back of the house.
There was a rustling sound in the vegetable garden as the mother and daughter passed by. Taoist Toad poked his head out to look at the mother and daughter, and saw that the white hen was gone. A smile immediately broke out on his face, and he ran into the eaves with his long tongue dragging.
He peeked into the room through the crack in the door and called out softly, "Liangsheng?"
There was no response from inside. He pushed open the gap with a creak, carefully stretched one leg in, tightened his belly, and slowly moved in along the door frame.
The room was quiet, with no sign of the apprentice.
"Hmm..."
“Hehe… Hahahaha—”
Toad hummed twice, and as the door closed, he saw the edge of a book sticking out from the edge of the desk, and the hum turned into a chuckle, and then... he burst into laughter.
"I finally have a chance to get the treasure back."
His smile faded, and he walked to the desk with a serious face. He raised his head and looked around. He bent his legs, and the next moment, he kicked off and bounced up, clinging to the table legs, and climbed up onto the table with a rise and fall of his head.
He walked to the book, opened the cover, revealing a folded painting. Toad Taoist's eyes showed excitement. He looked around, lay down on the painting of Zishan Temple on the paper and took a deep breath.
"My treasure!"
After saying that, he pushed his head towards the painting and half of his body was instantly submerged in it. His two legs were hanging outside and he pushed hard against the table, but he just couldn't get in.
"That woman's..."
The toad, half of its body buried in the painting, cursed vaguely inside, and then kicked its two short legs wildly on the table a few times, and then spread its legs apart and dragged on the table.
“… Liangsheng, come quickly, Muqiyou, the tree demon! I’m stuck!”
In the room, the bookshelf at the end of the bed was silent and responded without any sound. Toad called a few more times, and suddenly he heard the voice of his apprentice in the yard outside, and he stopped talking abruptly.
"No, if someone saw me sneaking around, wouldn't it be embarrassing for me?"
In an instant, the two drooping legs pushed hard on the table, twisted the body, and turned the book in one direction. One of the frog's webbed feet, which was still outside, hooked the cover of the book, and with its butt toward the window frame, it gently closed the book.
At this moment, the door creaked slightly.
Lu Liangsheng and Qi You were chatting and laughing when they came in from outside and pushed the door open.
"In the future, you can also take root in the mountains. There is a spirit gathering formation I have set up there. The spiritual energy is rich and suitable for cultivation."
After entering, he called out, "Master."
Seeing that the small door of the bookshelf compartment was open and only the black-patterned gourd was still there, I thought it had gone somewhere and didn't pay much attention to it. I walked to the desk and was about to pick up "Boundless Mountains and Seas" to look at it, but when I saw the extension of the picture, I felt a sense of weight on my body.
The tree demon in black skirt hung on him, smiled and raised her chin, put her arms around Lu Liangsheng's neck, and shook her head.
"Old demon, Qiyou won't go to the mountain. It's more comfortable to be with you. It's too deserted over there. There are so many people here. They are all having fun."
"Be obedient."
Lu Liangsheng was somewhat helpless about her. Even though her soul was damaged, she was still a monster with thousands of years of cultivation. He was afraid that she could not withstand her cultivation and started to cause trouble. By then, the whole village might not even have anyone to attend the banquet.
"Did you see a fox over at Koizumi Mountain? She is also practicing there. Only by practicing hard can she restore your memory."
Qiyou continued to shake his head: "No!"
She even clamped the scholar's thighs with her legs, causing Lu Liangsheng to stagger and fall to the edge of the bed. They almost fell on the couch together.
"Young Master!"
Outside the courtyard, Hong Lian's voice was heard. In the sunlight, a woman in red clothes, with her long sleeves rolled up, walked into the courtyard with lotus steps.
On the desk in front of the window, Taoist Toad, half of his body wrapped in a book, sighed.
As if anticipating what was going to happen, he moved his body again, folded his legs together, and slid them into the pages of the book, leaving only half of his buttocks exposed.
"It's a Shura field... Tsk tsk."
The door opened and Lu Liangsheng had already stood up. Hong Lian, who was standing at the door, still had a smile on her face, but it was just a short smile. Then she looked at the woman in the black dress hanging on the scholar and was stunned.