"The eight of us are here to patrol the mountains. Follow Liangsheng and take a look. We'll pass that hill and walk across this ridge... Be careful of the evil spirits or they'll kill you... ah..."
"Liangsheng, watch your step, slow down."
The sunlight shone through the woods on the mountain, mottled through the gaps between the trees, fell to the ground, and swayed slightly in the wind. A line of eight sturdy men carried knives and sticks, humming a tune loudly, protecting the scholar in the middle, and carefully crossed a stream.
Few people come here, and there are messy weeds on the hillside. Walking among the eight big men, Lu Liangsheng can still feel the refreshing mountain air when he breathes it into his body even though he has no cultivation. The magic circle here should have not been touched by anyone.
"It's just ahead."
Lu Pan walked in front and stretched his neck, pointing in a direction not far away. The sound of the waterfall and the pool, accompanied by the chirping of birds in the morning, became clearer and clearer.
Walking up a gentle slope, I heard a clear child's voice shouting, "Sir!"
A small figure jumped down from an old tree on the gentle slope, with a circle of branches on his head. When he saw the scholar in front of him, he happily ran to grab Lu Liangsheng's arm and shook it, looking around with his little head to see if the wretched Taoist followed him.
"No need to look, it's not coming!" Lu Liangsheng roughly understood what was going on. It was just a boy's act of protecting his mother. Then, he touched his head.
"I want to meet your mother."
"Well, sir, come with Mingyue." The boy Mingyue nodded happily, took two steps, turned around, and said to the eight big men behind him: "You are not allowed to come."
The eight people shrugged their shoulders. Lu Xi said, "If you don't want to come, then don't come. It's rare!" Then he snorted, and he and Lu Pan and the other seven people dispersed, found a shady place, sat down to cool off and rest.
Lu Liangsheng followed Mingyue as he walked across this gentle slope. In the sunlight, a "silver ribbon" rushed down and fell into the pool below. A layer of white mist lingered on the rippling water. On a big rock on the shore, a crawling red-haired fox with its tail curled was basking in the morning sun. Its slightly opened long muzzle exhaled a wisp of mist that flew to the white mist on the water surface, and slowly swam back to its mouth, pulling it.
Her footsteps rustled as she stepped on the fallen leaves. Yanzhi's long ears trembled, and she closed her long kiss. She tilted her head and saw her son wearing a circle of branches, jumping back from outside. Behind him was a familiar figure, who jumped off the green rock on all fours, and a puff of green smoke rolled up from the bottom of the rock, revealing a beautiful woman in a red dress and white skirt, with her long black hair tied up high behind her head. She walked towards the scholar with a swaying step, and bowed to him.
"Yanzhi, I'm honored."
"You and I have known each other for many years. There is no need to be so polite."
Lu Liangsheng stretched out his hand to help her up, then called Mingyue to come over and sit on a big rock beside the pond. He waved his sleeve and asked the mother and son to sit down and talk as well.
"I came here to see how the magic circle is doing. Is there any sign of loosening?"
"My benefactor, that's not the case." Yanzhi held Mingyue in her arms and sat down on the side opposite the scholar. She smiled and looked at the waterfall and the magic circle scroll behind her, and said with a smile: "I have been practicing with the spiritual energy flowing through the magic circle. It is getting more and more abundant day by day, and there is no sign of loosening."
Having said that, she carefully looked at Lu Liangsheng opposite her. She could not sense his magical power. There were faint beads of sweat on his handsome face, as if the person sitting in front of her was an ordinary person. If his behavior and conversation were not the same as before, Yanzhi almost thought that there were other monsters who had transformed into Lu Liangsheng's appearance to deceive her.
Could it be that the benefactor did not use any magic power and walked up here on foot
Or has it been that the benefactor has already begun to secretly conform to the Way of Heaven and return to his original nature
During the moment of absent-mindedness, even though Lu Liangsheng had no cultivation, he could still see some clues from Yanzhi's eyes. However, he had never intended to hide it from her this time.
Amid the sound of rushing water, the scholar began to speak.
"Yanzhi, you and your son have been here for many years. In the past, I still had some skills, so I could take good care of you. But now I have no power or skills left. If something happens, I'm afraid I won't be able to take care of you anymore."
Mingyue still didn't quite understand what was going on. Yanzhi was surprised and asked, "My benefactor, how did you lose your cultivation?"
"It doesn't matter anymore."
There was no need for Lu Liangsheng to talk to the mother and son about the matter involving his master. He bent down, scooped up the clear water from the pond, took a sip, and let out a sigh of relief.
"In fact, I feel somewhat relieved after losing my cultivation..."
His eyes fell on the mother and son.
"... I came here to tell you that you don't need to stay here anymore. If you want to leave, you can leave at any time. You don't have to worry about what I said about taking Mingyue in and letting you guard the magic circle here."
He paused, then smiled: "You are free."
On the other side, Yanzhi was silent for a while, then gently pushed Mingyue aside and stood up, folded her hands in front of her stomach, and bowed from a distance: "Mingyue and I are lucky to have been taken in by the benefactor, so we can survive until today. I have no way to repay this kindness. The benefactor has lost all his magic power, so I will take good care of Qixia Mountain for him."
"And me!"
Mingyue raised her hand, picked up the small gourd at her waist, and shook the small stones inside. The gourd made a few creaking sounds. "Sir, I can do it too. I'm very familiar with the spirit gathering array."
Lu Liangsheng had taught the child how to control magic circles before, and he didn't expect it to come in handy today. Seeing that the mother and son were willing to stay, he was happy.
After chatting with the mother and son for a while, he took Mingyue and Lu Pan and the other eight people went to the other two hills where the magic circle was set up. He taught them some tricks that were originally set up in the spirit gathering array, such as how to cast spells quickly, how to make illusions more realistic, how to save mana when driving illusions, and so on. It was already past noon, so the group found some game in the mountains to satisfy their hunger and then returned to the village.
Lu Liangsheng went to the Qixia Mountain in the west alone. Even though he still had the foundation for practicing Taoism, he had to return to being a mortal. After walking on the mountain road for a whole morning and climbing the Qixia Mountain in the west, his clothes were soaked from head to toe as if they were soaked in water.
Sitting down on a stone by the roadside to take a breath, the scholar saw the red ropes he had tied that year on the trees along the way, but their color had faded due to wind and rain.
Looking at the winding mountain road outside, the sea of clouds is rolling and undulating among the distant mountains. In the sight, the Qixia Mountains stretch for dozens of miles with no end in sight.
It's hard not to sigh in a funny way.
"That's where I met my master. I just wanted to learn how to read, but I ended up learning how to cultivate. Now my cultivation is gone. I've come a long way in the blink of an eye."
Lu Liangsheng smiled, supported himself on his knees to stand up, and then walked up. In the sunshine, the old pine tree on the peak was still there, and under the swaying pine branches, the tomb of his mentor uncle Hua Gong was still there. The thatched cottage not far away, without the restraint of magic, had branches and leaves growing everywhere, swaying in the wind, and there was no sign of doors or windows.
"Hmm? Didn't the Taoist say Mu Qiyou was here? Why is he not here?"
I walked to the thatched cottage and the small courtyard and looked around. Apart from the traces of the magic circle left over from refining the Yuelong Sword two years ago, there was nothing else different.
The mountain breeze blew gently on the yellow leaves in the surrounding woods. In the silence, the vines that made up the fence moved and quietly grew along the ground. Dozens of vines shot up in an instant and wrapped around the scholar's ankles and arms.
“Old demon!!”
Lu Liangsheng struggled for a few times and suddenly heard the shout. He turned around and saw a figure rushing out of the thatched cottage, throwing itself into his arms and rubbing against his warm chest vigorously.
"Old demon, you just came back. I missed you so much!"