The autumn night wind blew across the foothills. The distant mountains were only eerie outlines on the horizon. In the dim woods, there was a gentle rustling sound of fallen leaves.
A small raised mass of leaves was flying forward rapidly, with the sound of horse hooves galloping behind it. It passed through the gap between two trees, and the figure above jumped up and flew forward. It drew its sword in the air and took steps, shaking a large tree nearby.
"Demon, let's see where you are going!"
As the roar rang out in the woods, the figure moving forward fell down, and a thin knife in his hand sank into the ground with a bang. Zuo Zhengyang twisted his wrist, changed the direction of the blade, and pulled it upwards towards the raised ground, causing mud, sand and fine stones to splash left and right.
The cracks in the cut ground extended rapidly.
Bang!
In front, a mound of earth exploded, and a figure broke out of the ground and jumped directly to the branches above. Sun Yingxian was hanging below, covered in dust and dirt, looking at the captain of the police.
"You are so persistent... I have never killed anyone before."
Zuo Zhengyang swung the thin knife in his hand, slightly lowered it to the ground, and said sharply: "Since you haven't killed anyone before, then you should come down and surrender, and follow me back to the government office."
"I said you... Bah!" The Taoist held the branch in both hands and shook it twice: "I have never killed anyone, why should I go to the government office with you? If I go, won't I really become a murderer?!"
A yellowing leaf fluttered down from the shaking branch. The moment it landed on the ground, Zuo Zhengyang's call also sounded.
"Whether to kill someone or not is up to the county magistrate to decide!"
In an instant, he took a step forward, and within a few steps, his entire figure turned into a residual shadow. His footsteps flew and collided with the Taoist under the tree branch. Sun Yingxian let go, his body fell, and he suddenly pushed out with a palm.
The blade split the branches, the cold light tore through the air, and countless leaves fluttered like butterflies, but then the Taoist pushed out with his palm, and there was a loud bang.
The invisible energy in the air was shaken, and ripples appeared on Zuo Zhengyang's robe.
However, the Taoist's palm power was imprinted on the tree trunk, and he directly pushed his body back, avoiding the chopping blade. He turned around twice in the air before landing. He looked back and raised his chin with pride.
"If I were the murderer, you would be dead by now."
Zuo Zhengyang landed on the ground with his back foot, and the slender blade of the knife cut through the air, trembling with a soft hum, "I'm afraid you're not much better."
There was a hissing sound in the air over there, it was the sound of cloth tearing.
Sun Yingxian lowered his head to look at his chest and his eyelids twitched. There was a half-foot long knife wound on his chest. If the other party had tried to kill him, he would probably be dead by now.
He quickly raised his hand and waved: "Then let's consider it a draw!"
Then he bowed: "Goodbye!"
He used the escape technique again to drill into the ground, excavating the soil and fallen leaves, and in the blink of an eye he disappeared into the woods and went far away.
Watching the other party leave, Zuo Zhengyang did not continue chasing him. Instead, he looked back at the big tree with the top chopped off. The five fingers of the Taoist's palm were clearly imprinted on it.
"It's really not this person..." He frowned slightly, sheathed his knife, found a horse, climbed on it, and looked at the constables under his command who were chasing after him.
"Come with me to the village again."
After saying this, he led his men back on the original path. At this time, the eastern sky gradually turned pale, and the first ray of morning light of late autumn shone through the gaps in the clouds. From the distant village, the sound of roosters crowing and noisy and bustling voices of people could be heard.
The golden morning light shone on his eyelids, which looked red. Lu Liangsheng slowly woke up from his coma and smelled a scent of medicine.
The tearing pain in his body made him unable to get up. He opened his eyes and saw his mother sitting under the eaves outside the door, tending to the fire. Lu Xiaoxian was beside him, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan. He opened the lid of a small pot and heard the sound of boiling medicine. He turned his head and saw his brother who also turned his head to look at him. He shouted in surprise, "Mom, brother is awake."
The woman quickly got up and walked into the house.
Lu Liangsheng still struggled a little and was supported by his mother to lean against the head of the bed. His scholar's robe had been changed.
"Don't move."
Li Jinhua gave him a warning, then turned around and called to the little girl at the door, "Xiao Xian, quickly pour me a bowl of warm water."
The little girl outside the door nodded and ran quickly to the kitchen. When she poured the warm water over, the woman also poured the medicine into the bowl, held it in her hand and shook it gently to make it cool faster.
He just sat silently by the bed, not saying a word.
Lu Liangsheng looked at his mother, hesitated for a while, and finally said: "Mom, actually I..."
"Mother knows." Li Jinhua blew away the steam from the medicine. "You are my child, how could I not know anything? I have never seen you learn to read, how come you suddenly know it? And that Lu Erlai, he stole our chickens during the day, and the next day he grew chicken feathers. If the gods were so powerful, there would be no suffering people in this world."
Lu Liangsheng smiled a little embarrassedly: "It turns out that mother already knew about it... I thought I hid it well."
"What a fart."
Li Jinhua poked her son's head with her finger and said with a smile: "Only your honest father would believe it."
"hey-hey."
"Still laughing? How can you laugh when you look like this? I heard from your uncle Pan and the others that all the bandits were dead? Did you kill them, or..."
The woman glanced at the scroll on the wall, and Lu Liangsheng followed her gaze. The beauty in the painting actually blinked at her and smiled with the corners of her lips raised.
No matter how bold and smart Li Jinhua was, she was still quite wary of such things.
"Mom put the medicine here for you."
After saying this, he quickly got up and left the room, but not long after, he suddenly came back, took out the worn incense burner, inserted three incense sticks into it, and placed it in front of the scroll.
Seeing the puzzled look of the ** Lu Liangsheng, Li Jinhua walked out while saying: "Even if you are a ghost, you still need to eat."
Although Lu Xiaoxian at the door was a little timid, she still came in and bowed to Nie Honglian in the painting.
Then he looked at Lu Liangsheng, snorted, turned around and walked out, imitating his mother's tone and said: "Ghost sister saved me, I will pay my respects to her, it's not a big deal."
Lu Liangsheng watched his mother and sister leave, and took the book on the bedside with a smile. Since he couldn't get out of bed anyway, he could just flip through the book to kill some time.
Just as I turned a page, the door closed without any wind.
When the boy put down the book, Nie Honglian sat next to him holding a bowl of medicine with a smile on her face. She was probably very happy about what the mother and daughter had just done.
"Actually, I stayed because of your mother and your sister. Looking at them, I feel like I'm still alive."
"You are still alive, otherwise, who am I talking to?"
Lu Liangsheng took the medicine bowl, took a sip, and frowned bitterly, "Who prescribed this medicine? I don't seem to be injured... I just overused my magic power."
Seeing the boy's bitter expression, Nie Honglian smiled even more brightly. She was only sixteen years old and still had the nature of a girl. She blew hard into the bowl.
"It's cold, drink it up in one gulp."
"I'm not stupid."
Lu Liangsheng put the bowl aside, tilted his head and looked around the room, but didn't see any familiar figure.
"Hong Lian, have you seen the toad that is often in the house?"
"You call your master a toad?" Nie Honglian covered her mouth and chuckled, "I knew it a long time ago. I saw your master when you were coming back from the night journey that day."
At this point, Nie Honglian raised her face, touched her chin with her slender fingertips, and hummed for a while: "When your father carried you back, your master quietly checked your injuries, then left without a word, carrying a gourd on his back."
"Gone?"
Lu Liangsheng was a little unconvinced. He frowned and looked out the window. Noisy voices were still coming and the golden morning light was pouring through the window lattice.
On the Qixia Mountain far in the west, the Toad Taoist mentioned above was carrying a gourd on his back and a special small bag around his waist. He was searching inch by inch along the foot of the mountain, muttering softly in his frog mouth.
"How come I have become like that foolish disciple... a goody-goody?"
Frog used his webbed feet to push aside the weeds that were taller than him. In the cracks between the rocks, he found a plant with small red fruits. He pulled it out by the roots, sat on the rock, turned the gourd on his back to the front, and was about to stuff the unknown plant into the gourd's mouth.
The mound of earth in front of him came rapidly like a gopher digging the ground, and with a bang, it hit the rock under him. A muffled "Ouch!" voice was heard under the mud, and the next moment, a head covered with mud popped out.
On the stone, Toad Taoist was also startled by the sudden appearance of the human head and jumped up reflexively.
"Hiss... It hurts so much."
Sun Yingxian covered her head and wiped the mud off her face, and saw a toad standing on one leg, holding a gourd in one hand and raising and spreading the other hand, standing on a stone.
The man and the toad looked at each other strangely.