"Mr. Lu, the Dust-Cleaning Pool is over there, please follow me."
Outside the green forest, the entrance disappeared. Only a woman in a yellow dress stood on the side, looking at the scholar in front of her, as well as the tall and fat pig demon and the toad on the old donkey's head.
Smiling, he leaned forward and bowed slightly: "You guys come along too."
"Liangsheng, where are you going?"
The Toad Taoist climbed up the rope and jumped onto the donkey's head. He raised his flippers, tensed his body and looked around. The green forest was swaying gently in the breeze, without any sound.
"Have you seen the Mother of Mount Li?"
"Yes."
Lu Liangsheng nodded, straightened his robe, took out the wooden couch that had been shrunk by magic, as well as the body of his disciple and the life-extending lamp on it from the bookshelf on the old donkey's back, and held them carefully in both hands.
"Mother, we have agreed to treat Yuan Feng. Let us follow this girl."
Zhu Ganglie rubbed his hands excitedly, pulled the old donkey over and came forward.
"What else can I say? I, Old Pig, can't wait any longer. Female Bodhisattva, I will follow you. Lead the way quickly."
Cough cough!
Above the old donkey's head, the Toad Taoist coughed twice, and pointed his round webbed head at the scroll hanging on his waist, reminding the pig demon, shouldn't he be loyal
Over there, the woman in yellow lowered her head and chuckled, motioning for Lu Liangsheng to follow. She stepped lightly in her embroidered shoes, lifted the hem of her skirt and walked ahead to lead the way. The pig and the toad who were arguing behind her hurriedly followed, skirting the edge of the green forest and turning onto the grassy slope. The obstructed view unfolded in front of them. A crooked banyan tree stood alone in the sea of grass, swaying and dancing slowly.
After walking across the grassy slope and climbing a short hill on the opposite side, the woman in front stopped walking, turned sideways, and whispered, "Mr. Lu, we're here."
Just in front of Lu Liangsheng, there was a green cliff, with a pine tree waving at the corner to welcome guests. A clear spring drew a curtain of water from the ravine beside the tree and fell into a pool below. Under the sunlight, the undulating water surface flashed with reflections of the sunlight, and it was sparkling.
Wow!
Following the sound of water, Lu Liangsheng looked at the pool. It was probably the Dust-Cleaning Pool that his mother mentioned. The water was clear and he could see a few red carps spitting out bubbles on the surface of the water, then sinking to the bottom in the ripples caused by the movement of their tails.
"Girl, where is the stone platform in the water that my mother mentioned?"
Lu Liangsheng looked at the water surface and there was no stone platform at all. When he turned around and asked the woman, the latter raised her hand and smiled and pointed to the pool.
"Please look, sir, isn't that it?"
Turning his gaze back, he saw that a green jade stone had appeared on the originally empty water surface. There were carvings of flowers, birds and ancient trees around it, and it was glowing with spiritual light. It was obvious that it was not an ordinary object.
Lu Liangsheng said no more. He put the wooden couch in his hands on the ground, cast a spell to restore it to its original size, and walked over to pick up the swollen body of his apprentice.
"Yuan Feng, you are saved. I will celebrate your success when I come back!"
After saying this, he turned and walked into the pool, splashing water, and approached the stone platform step by step. He stopped at a waist-high level, then gently placed Qu Yuanfeng on the green jade platform and waved his robe to sweep away the stench.
Watching the white mist gradually appear on the water surface and spread to the stone platform, wrapping around the corpse, Lu Liangsheng tidied the armor for his apprentice and wiped his cheek.
"Just wait here with peace of mind. I will be back soon. The news of your death in battle has probably spread. After I leave the mountain, I will go and tell your second senior brother Yuwen Tuo about it, so that he won't get angry and give birth to demons, which will affect his cultivation. At this time, there are still many people who care about you, such as your master. Even though he is a demon, he heard the news of your death..."
Lu Liangsheng said with a smile, looking away, and what he saw was that Toad Taoist got a branch from somewhere, tied a fishing line that had not been used up in the past to it, tied a couple of grasses on his body, hid by the side of the pond, fishing for red fish in the pond, and from time to time nervously glanced at the woman in yellow who was entangled by Zhu Gangli.
"… Never mind. You don't have to worry about them. Just take good care of them here."
After saying a few more words, Lu Liangsheng came back, pinched his fingers and waved a spell over his body. The water stains on his clothes, pants and feet turned into water droplets and flew away, returning to the pool without a drop left.
He collected the lamp on the wooden couch and put it on the bookshelf, then bowed to the woman in yellow and said goodbye. He turned around and called out to the short figure staring at the green grass, "Master, I'm leaving!"
Leading the old donkey and following the woman along the same route back to where they came from, Toad Taoist quickly put away his fishing rod, looked at a red fish lying on a rock, its mouth opening and closing to spit out bubbles, and with a bang he kicked it back, then he ran after it with his webbed feet, dragging the fishing rod and fishing line.
"Wait a minute, old man!"
He jumped up, grabbed the swinging donkey's tail, and climbed up like a swing. He finally climbed over the bookshelf. The old donkey and the scholar stopped walking. Lu Liangsheng raised his head slightly and looked in the direction of Cuilin. A gentle and kind voice came with the breeze.
"Liangjie Mountain is the Five Finger Mountain, located in Hezhou. The east is called Xin Sui, and the west is the Hu people. There is a divine monkey in the Jishi Mountain Range. Don't see it in its true form, and don't tell me my name. Go, and come back after seeing that my brother is safe."
Lu Liangsheng bowed towards Cuilin, Zhu Ganglie also bowed quickly, and the Toad Taoist reluctantly clasped his hands. The next moment, his vision blurred, and when it became clear again, he heard voices of people. The surrounding mountain roads were winding and lined with lush trees. A man and two monsters had arrived under a big tree outside the Old Mother Temple on Mount Li.
Boom—
The bronze bell rang from the distant bell tower of the main hall. Seeing tourists coming and going on the mountain path, Zhu Ganglie quickly cast a spell to conceal his appearance and said in a buzzing voice:
"My mother is so boring. She didn't even ask us to stay for a meal before leaving. She even sent us to a crowded place to embarrass us."
"You only care about eating!" The Toad Taoist rolled his eyes, slid along the rope to the bookshelf, swung a few times, opened the small door, went in, stuck out his toad face and called out.
"When we get to the city to eat, call me Master again!"
Then, the small door was slammed shut with a bang.
Lu Liangsheng shook his head, chuckled, and pulled the old donkey to the Old Mother Temple. Since he was already here, he might as well go in to burn some incense and pay his respects. Although he had just taken on an errand, it was at least to resurrect his apprentice's body.
The temple gate has flying eaves and colorful arches, and pilgrims come in and out.
The scholar bought three incense sticks at the door, came to the big cauldron outside the temple, lit it, raised it above his head and bowed three times, then respectfully inserted it into the cauldron. Many pilgrims nearby burned incense and prayed, some had their fortunes interpreted, and some travelers from far away listened to the temple keeper tell some myths about the Old Mother of Mount Li.
"… My mother is known as the Jade Purity Saint Ancestor Ziyuanjun. It is said that King Xuan of Qi's wife Zhong Wuyan was enlightened by my mother and helped her husband govern the country. In the past, the First Emperor… hehe… was punished by my mother. So, when you arrive at Mount Li, don't speak nonsense."
The temple keeper has a loud voice, which attracts tourists to worship and burn incense. It is also of great benefit to him to increase the incense offerings, so his voice is naturally loud.
After Lu Liangsheng finished his greetings, he stood up and left.
"... Haha, you know, there are many differences between this Lishan Mountain and other places. It can be seen that there are not only blue dragons and white tigers, but also celestial toads as sculptures..."
Hearing this, the scholar who had walked a few steps suddenly stopped, turned his head to look at the temple priest who was speaking, and listened to the next half of the sentence.
"… As we all know, Mount Li was transformed from the mount of Nuwa. In the past, the ancestors here not only worshipped bird and deer patterns, but also something you would never imagine, that is the toad pattern. Back then, when I was young, I heard my grandfather talk about it. When he was young, he heard that there was a toad sculpture in the Old Mother Temple. It was said that the First Emperor took it away, and then the Qin Dynasty was gone, and no one knew where the toad sculpture ended up. If it were put in the present, it might be taken to another temple to be worshipped."
Toad carving…
Lu Liangsheng listened for a while and walked outside. Zhu Ganglie was already waiting there with his old donkey, licking a candied haws. A peddler beside him looked at him eagerly, hesitantly wanting to reach out his hand but not daring to.
The scholar took out two coins and paid the peddler, took the reins from the pig demon, frowned, and looked at the small door of the bookshelf.
She said to the person beside her, "When you saw my mother, she was a beautiful woman?" "She usually looks like an old woman, don't be fooled." "... You don't know, my mother is extremely beautiful..."
Lu Liangsheng didn't hear a word he said. What he remembered in his mind was what Zhou Zhen from Hegu County said.
The old man's words came to mind.
'… Several decades ago, there was also a big toad in the palace, but it was a sculpture of a golden toad looking at the moon. Unfortunately, it was stolen later. It was obtained accidentally by the founding emperor of the Chen Dynasty when he was young.'
The master doesn’t know his own origins... Could it be that he actually came from Mount Li
Thinking of this possibility, Lu Liangsheng shocked himself.