'You're eating without waiting for me. Please save some for me...'
In the mountain village where smoke was rising from cooking fires, a few children were playing and eating in the dam with bowls in their hands. Suddenly, they saw a toad standing there, running in from the village entrance, panting, and quickly ran to the small courtyard with a fence.
"It seems to be Brother Liangsheng's house."
"Hehe, he was carrying a big gourd on his back. Why didn't I see him carrying it today?"
“Maybe there’s something delicious in there.”
"Hey, he disappeared."
Amid the sound of several children talking, I ran along the fence into the courtyard and saw Li Jinhua drawing water from the water tank. She subconsciously jumped into the vegetable garden. When the woman carried the wooden basin into the kitchen, the sound of washing dishes could be heard.
"It's over. I didn't make it."
He stuck his head out to take a look, and saw an old white hen walking past the donkey shed, spreading its webbed feet and rushing to the opposite eaves. At this time, Wang Banxia's voice slowly rang out in the room.
"Hehe... I am very famous in Fushui County. People give me the title of 'Wang Banxian'. Many nobles in the city come to me to ask about my wealth and future. I also ask them to go to my master's temple to worship and burn incense."
In the room, Lu Xiaoxian was rather curious about what was happening outside, while the Taoist priest next to her yawned as he listened. He now had some understanding of this method of observing qi, but he was not as good as Wang Banxia in that he only practiced this one method.
"If you want to go to the city, I'll let the Japanese Taoist go with you." The Taoist curled his lips, and when he saw the Toad Taoist rushing into the eaves and reaching the door, he didn't care and waved his hand generously.
"Buy whatever you want, and I'll pay for it."
It was probably with words like these that the girl was made happy, and they went out together. Over there, Lu Liangsheng, who was standing in front of the desk writing and drawing, was looking at the portraits of Hong Lian and Qi You on the scroll, adding some details. After the Taoist and his sister left, he started asking about other things.
"You are in the city and well-informed. Have you heard anything else?"
He was referring to the news from the north.
The old man understood what it meant. He stroked his gray beard, thought about it, and stood up by holding the handle of the chair.
"I heard from the rich people in the city that they were selling grain to the north. The imperial court seemed to be buying a lot of grain. Could it be that they were going to..."
The tip of the brush that was decorating the paper stopped, and Lu Liangsheng handed the brush to Qi You beside him. He looked up at the old tree outside the window and frowned slightly.
"There should be a war. I heard about the Turkic invasion on my way back last fall. I can't think of any other reason for such a large-scale grain collection except for war."
Speaking of war, he couldn't help but think of his two disciples who were far away in Chang'an. Yuwen Tuo was a member of the royal family of the previous dynasty and would not go to the front line, but the youngest disciple wanted to be a general and might volunteer.
'Forget it.'
Lu Liangsheng shook his head and put this thought aside. Since he had already decided to let go and let his three disciples go out on their own to find their own way, he should not have interfered.
Qu Yuanfeng was under the influence of his 'Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain' formation, so going up would be considered bullying, so there shouldn't be any danger.
He looked at "Boundless Mountains and Seas" placed on top of several books. Besides, he had other important things to do. The wars in the world were the affairs of the imperial court. As long as they did not invade the country and cause hardship to the people, he would hardly pay attention to them.
After chatting with the oldest disciple in front of him for a while and sending him away, he turned around and saw the toad sitting cross-legged on the edge of the bed with his flippers in his arms.
"Uh... When did Master come back?"
“You just remembered your master?” The Toad Taoist hugged his webbed feet and snorted coldly, then turned in another direction.
"I was talking to Wang Chengen for a while and forgot that the food for Master is still here."
Lu Liangsheng took the exquisite small bowl placed next to the book, uncovered the plate on it, and found it was a little cold. He placed it in his palm and heated it with his magic power. After a while, hot steam rose up and a fragrance emanated.
After blowing away the floating hot air, the scholar sat down beside the bed and handed it to Toad Taoist.
"Master, calm down. Look, the food is all here."
Toad tilted his head slightly, snorted coldly and turned away, then listened to his disciple continue talking behind him.
"My mother cooked braised pork. She picked the best meat and put it in the master's bowl. It was fat but not greasy, and it was tender in the mouth. There was also fish. Hong Lian picked out all the fish bones and coated it with spicy sauce..."
cluck~
The toad swallowed a mouthful of saliva, turned his head, glanced into the bowl, then stretched out his webbed feet to take the small bowl to his arms, blew the hot air off the fat, rolled his tongue around it and put it into his mouth, oil flowing over the corners of his mouth.
It was probably because the delicious food took his breath away, he nodded with satisfaction, smacked his lips, and savored the taste.
"Your mother's craftsmanship has improved again. This is really rare."
Seeing that his master had recovered, Lu Liangsheng smiled and chatted with him. Seeing his expression, Toad Taoist thought that he couldn't stand the delicious food and snorted.
"Master, I am here to taste the food. After all, as you know, I am an expert in food."
"Yes, Master is right."
With a smile and a few compliments, Lu Liangsheng's mind was on "Boundless Mountains and Seas", and he said, "Well, Master, enjoy your meal." Then he returned to his desk and unfolded the long pages of the book. The slightly glowing normal lines of the painting on it had extended into the formed Sichuan-Shu painting, but did not go any further until they reached the mountains near a few intertwined waters, and no signs appeared.
'Hmm?, is this stuck?'
"It's no use just thinking about it here. Why not send your soul in and have a look?" The Toad Taoist stood on the bedside cabinet, rolled up the rice grains around his mouth with his flippers, yawned calmly, and sat down.
Lu Liangsheng thought about it and thought that he might be able to see something if he went in. He turned his head and called the tree demon who was scribbling on a piece of paper with a brush to help protect him. In an instant, he pressed his sword finger to his forehead.
"Out of body!"
The outline of a human figure rushed out of the body, passed through the sunlight shining in through the window lattice, and in the blink of an eye it entered the painting. The endless darkness receded from the field of vision. In the light of the painting, Lu Liangsheng overlooked several surging rivers below and a long mountain range behind him. Seemingly not far away, the Dharma light was like a giant dragon across the sky, hanging in the clouds and shining.
But they don't continue to move forward, or they fall down.
After looking at each other for a long time, Lu Liangsheng roughly guessed two possibilities. Maybe there was no altar in the mountain or in the water, or maybe the original altar was destroyed.
After a while, the soul came out of the scroll and returned to the body, telling Toad his guess.
The latter burped, walked back and forth with his two short webbed feet folded behind his butt, and nodded.
"It may be as you think. This thing is connected to this world. I must go to Sichuan to see what it is like."
"That's what I thought."
It is common to practice Taoism, travel far away, or hide in the mountains. Lu Laoshi and Li Jinhua have come to terms with it, but it is a pity that they did not have a grandson.
The news that Lu Liangsheng was going away had not spread in the village. Wang Banxia heard the news from somewhere and was waiting in the yard early. When he saw the scholar coming out with some clothes packed, he hesitated for a long time. When he saw Lao Lu coming out and setting up the bookshelf, he hurried forward.
"Master..."
"What's up?"
Lu Liangsheng took the reins, hung the donkey's head, stroked the mane on the back of the old donkey's neck, and looked at him sideways. The latter suddenly reached out and took the reins hanging under the donkey's mouth.
"Cheng'en wants to go out with Master and take a walk..."
Fearing that he would be rejected, he hurriedly added: "Although Cheng'en cannot see, he has mastered the art of observing qi and will definitely not slow down the master's progress."
"I thought it was something else. You have indeed been in Fushui County for many years. Since you want to go out with me, then go ahead. Some people won't follow you either."
Lu Liangsheng still had Wang Banxia holding the reins. As he spoke, he glanced at the Taoist priest under the eaves. Over there, Lu Xiaoxian raised his foot and kicked, then tilted his head to look at Sun Yingxian who was standing by the old tree.
"Hiss~~I am in the rear, you don't understand."
The Taoist priest held his ankle and jumped a few times on the spot, tears welling up in his eyes from the pain. He jumped onto a stool and sat down, waving his hand shamelessly.
"Go early and come back early."
Lu Xiaoxian was so angry that she grabbed the broom from the wall and chased after him, causing chaos in the yard.
In the yard, Lu Liangsheng asked Banxia to lead the old donkey and wait outside. He talked to his parents and then went to the village to say goodbye to Lu Pan and the eight big men who came to see him off.
"I'm going to Shu. Old Sun is a bit unreliable. The villagers in the village still need the help of you uncles."
"Liangsheng, just go ahead and don't worry."
"Yes, there are eight of us here. We can deal with the other small demons and monsters. If that doesn't work, we still have the Taoist priest."
"Hey, when can we go out with you to see the world and show off our power? I heard Chang'an is very big."
"Yes, maybe in the future, Liangsheng will have to rely on his eight uncles to support him."
After chatting and giving some instructions, Lu Liangsheng was escorted to the village entrance by the eight people. Mingyue, who was almost seven years old, saw the teacher coming out and came forward, wanting to follow him.
"No, you stay in Qixia Mountain to guard the magic circle. If you have nothing to do, go to Xiaoquan Mountain to talk to your mother."
Lu Liangsheng stroked his head gently, and Mingyue felt that the thought of following him out faded. She raised her little face and nodded.
"Well, Mingyue will listen to you, sir, and will definitely protect Qixia Mountain."
In the distance, the old donkey's braying and Wang Banxia's cry were heard. Lu Liangsheng smiled and patted the child's thin shoulder: "This is like a little man. Good performance. Next time the master goes out, I will take you with me."
Having said this, he bowed and said goodbye to the villagers who were seeing him off at the village entrance, then turned around and walked towards the road outside the village. Over there, Wang Banxia was pulling the old donkey with sweat all over his face. Inside the shaking bookshelf, Toad Taoist tied two ropes, patted them with relief, sat by the door, knocked on his pipe a few times, and shook out the ashes inside.
"Let's go."
Lu Liangsheng walked up to them and snapped his fingers. The old donkey shook its head, shook off the old man, grunted twice, followed behind its master, and rang the copper bell around its neck.
There was a soft tinkling sound, and the sun shone brightly.
Lu Liangsheng walked to the side of the road. Far away on the foothills, a figure in a red dress was standing on the top of a tree, looking over at him. In the sunlight, a smile appeared on his handsome face.
He waved goodbye to Hong Lian and set off again.