In the empty stone cave, a fishy wind blew in my face.
Wow!
The moment the flame went out, it lit up again in the lantern, emitting a light blue glow. This was Lu Liangsheng's little lighting trick. The light reflected on the stone platform across the top of the cave, where the huge snake head lay motionless.
The Toad Taoist was stunned for a moment, turned around and walked away with the gourd on his back without saying a word. At this time, Lu Liangsheng's voice was heard.
"Master, it looks like shed snake skin."
The toad took a few steps, then stopped and returned to his disciple's feet, nodding seriously.
"Master has already guessed it."
The light in the cave was dim, and it was difficult to see clearly at a quick glance before. But now that I looked carefully, it was indeed as Lu Liangsheng said, the motionless snake head was just a shed skin, and there was no real snake here.
"Master, let's go up and take a look."
Lu Liangsheng picked up the lantern, kicked his feet, and shot to the platform, landing on the side of the snake head skin bag, stirring up a lot of dust.
Dust was flying in the pale blue light. The scholar brushed away the dust, raised the lantern and looked forward. On the shed skin of the snake, the outline of scales could still be clearly seen, coiled around this stone platform and extending into the cave.
"This snake skin looks like it's been there for quite a few years. I think after the woodcutter saw it, the snake went to another place to practice in the past few decades. Master, what do you think..."
He lowered his eyes and saw no figure of Taoist Toad nearby. He quickly walked to the side and shone the lantern downwards. He saw Toad standing below with a sullen look on his face, staring at him with eyes wide open.
"Remembering your teacher, quack."
His legs bounced up and down in place.
"It's so high here, do you think I can jump up?"
The robes fell down and made a sound. Lu Liangsheng came down from above. He picked up his master and put him on his shoulders with some embarrassment. He said, "I was a little excited and forgot."
With a leap, he stood on the platform again. With a grunt, the Toad Taoist hugged his disciple's arm and drew it to the ground. He clapped his flippers, carried his apprentice behind his butt, and looked at the snake skin that was like a mountain to him.
"This white snake is so big and still sheds its skin. If it is still alive, I am afraid it will turn into a dragon, or it will soon become an immortal. It is really not suitable for it to stay in this mountain."
With his experience as a demon, it was not difficult for Toad Taoist to guess where the giant snake had gone. At the beginning, he had also cultivated his demon body to the extreme, and his body was so huge that an ordinary mountain could not contain it, not to mention that it needed a place with abundant spiritual energy.
"The only mountain in Shu that is full of spiritual energy is Emei Mountain." Lu Liangsheng frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "This snake demon is practicing peacefully and is harmless to others. Since it has left, there is no need to pester it. Master, let's take a look inside."
The Toad Taoist raised one of his webbed feet to stop his disciple's calf as he was about to take a step. He excitedly took out the purple gold gourd behind him, unplugged it, and aimed it at the snake skin wrapped around the stone platform.
While the scholar was puzzled, he lifted up the gourd with his webbed feet and said:
"Ordinary snake skins are good choices for medicine. This snake demon's skin can be made into pills and is also a great tonic. How can we waste it? Even if we don't make pills, it will be very chewy when mixed with meatballs. It can also be filled with thick soup. When you take a bite, the soup will overflow and your mouth will be filled with a refreshing feeling!"
After he finished speaking, a gust of wind suddenly came out from the mouth of the gourd, sucking it in with all its might. The coiled snake skin broke into pieces and flew into the gourd quickly with the suction force.
The Toad Taoist jumped up, put the cork on, put his hands on his big round waist, and wiped his forehead: "Okay, when you go back, I will make you a pot of snake skin meatball soup!"
As he said this, he put the gourd on his back and walked forward, listening to his white belly.
Lu Liangsheng smiled and shook his head, letting his master do what he wanted. However, he decided to forget about the snake skin meatball soup. When he thought about the shed snake skin, it looked like human dandruff...
After clearing the snake skin off the stone platform, we walked deeper into the area beyond the range of the swaying pale blue light. We could see a slightly smaller stone platform covered with dust. There was a stone pillar on each side. The pillar on the right was either knocked down by a giant snake or collapsed due to age, with half of it broken off and lying on the ground.
"Is this the second altar?" Lu Liangsheng frowned as he glanced at the empty stone platform.
This time, there was no bronze coffin with the head of an ancient god placed on it like in Changyang Mountain. There was nothing in the middle. Could it be that the things here were stolen before we came here
No, no one probably knows what these things do.
Lu Liangsheng stretched out his hand to touch the stone platform, and found his fingertips were covered with a thick layer of dust. He stared at the stone platform in silence for a moment, and suddenly raised his sleeves and flicked them upwards. A breeze flew out from his cuffs, blowing away the layers of dust and dirt on it. He saw dense magic patterns on it, and a magic array pattern right above it, with mountains and cloud patterns engraved on it.
"As expected..."
The Toad Taoist took one step along the stone platform and climbed up with great effort. He held up his flippers and lowered his head to look at the magic patterns on it.
Over there, the scholar tilted his head to look at his master: "Master, did you see anything?"
Toad Taoist raised his head and took a deep breath, staring at the magic patterns on the stone surface. His eyes became serious, and then... he shook his head.
"No!"
"The master still had a heavy expression on his face."
Over there, the toad swung its webbed feet, snorted, and nodded, "Even this master can't understand it, so it's so heavy. Think about it, since I started practicing, I have seen all kinds of scenes and encountered all kinds of things. I have defeated countless enemies. This stone altar and the Ten Thousand Spirits Formation are not even known to this master. It shows that the door is too... Liangsheng, what are you doing?"
In front of the stone platform, Lu Liangsheng swung a short blade across his palm, and scarlet blood dripped along the edge of his palm onto the stone platform's magic pattern. Then drops of blood fell densely, spreading along the gaps in the carvings. The dense and dark carvings gradually outlined the red magic pattern. The scholar explained:
"The meaning of the altar is that there must be a sacrifice. There is a head of Xingtian for sacrifice in Changyang Mountain, but there is none here, which means there is a lack of sacrifices. I have driven it with blood, so it should be possible. After all, it is not the blood of an ordinary person. What's more, "Boundless Mountains and Seas" is in my hands, so it must be related to the altar here..."
The next moment, as Lu Liangsheng spoke, the blood-stained magic pattern seemed to have recognized the sacrifice and absorbed the blood. The magic circle directly above it lit up with magic light and extended rapidly along the pattern. The moment it took shape, a beam of light shot out to the top of the cave and sank into the mountain.
Lu Liangsheng used his magic power to erase the scar on his palm. While it was healing, he clearly felt that the magic line of "Boundless Mountains and Seas" began to move, and a smile suddenly appeared on his face.
"Master, the Dharma line is moving."
The Toad Taoist held his webbed feet and curled his lips: "You guessed right." He then turned around, climbed down the stone platform, and was about to let his disciple take him away when his webbed feet landed on the ground. Suddenly, a scream of "Ah!" came from outside the cave.
It was Wang Banxia’s voice.
"Liangsheng, go and take a look!"
When the Toad Taoist stood up and spoke, the scholar beside him nodded, left the lantern behind, and leaped towards the dimly lit cave entrance in the distance.
The figure disappeared in the darkness. Amid the sound of wind in the cave, the Toad Taoist walked to the lantern hanging on the ground. With a solemn expression, he put his webbed hands behind his back and slightly tilted his head to look in another dark direction.
"Come out, I can sense your evil aura before you even enter this cave."
"hehe… "
A female voice chuckled in the darkness. Outside the range of the pale blue firelight, the outline of an octopus with a huge belly was reflected on the cave wall. It descended with a light clattering sound, and then it transformed into a human figure. It tiptoed, twisted its waist, and swayed as it walked to the edge of the lantern range.
A hoarse yet charming voice came out of her red lips.
"Haha... As expected of you, Taoist Purple Star. It's been a long time since we last met."