The breeze caressed the woods beside the road, and the sound of bronze bells tinkled from the west of the official road.
On the main road heading east, merchants and pedestrians passing by saw eight burly men from afar. They avoided them and watched them pass by.
Behind the "human wall", a scholar dressed in a blue shirt and white robe sat sideways on the old donkey's back, holding a bamboo slip and carefully reading every word on it in the sunshine.
On the swaying donkey's back, a little green smoke floated out from the slightly opened door of the bookshelf. The Toad Taoist was lying in the inner room, supporting his head with his hands, gently shaking his webbed feet hanging outside the door, humming a little tune, and from time to time he took a puff of his pipe, and puffed out a smoke ring that floated outside with satisfaction.
"Master, our next trip should be to Qishan to return the magic weapons and elixirs left there to the various sects to ease the tension."
Lu Liangsheng raised his head from the bamboo slips, waved his sleeves to fan away the smoke, and looked at the fields along the road. There was a Taoist figure digging in a mud hole over there, and it seemed that he had caught something and stuffed it into the cloth bag around his waist.
The scholar looked for a while, then retracted his gaze and looked at the bookshelf. Outside the small door of the compartment, the short legs hanging outside stretched straight, then hung down weakly. After a moment, the lazy voice of the Toad Taoist was heard.
"It's up to you. What belongs to me is yours. If you want to give it away, just give it away."
“Relationships are also a science.”
Hearing this, Lu Liang was afraid that his master would misunderstand him, so he rolled up the bamboo slips and clapped them in his palms, explaining: "There is a saying in "Strategy" that if you use profit to drive others, they will be sharp weapons, and if you treat them with courtesy, you will cut their tongues... In fact, to put it simply, it means 'one who eats someone else's food should be grateful, and one who takes someone else's money should be grateful.' However, these things originally belonged to others, and returning them to their original owners can still bring good karma."
After coming out of Luohe Town and building the stone tablet, Lu Liangsheng went to the river to wash, changed his clothes, tied his hair neatly with a silk scarf, and sat on the back of an old donkey, holding a bamboo slip and talking freely. Passing travelers looked at him, then shook their heads and left, continuing on their way.
"What a handsome scholar, talking to himself, I'm afraid he's crazy."
"If you walk a lot further back, you can see everything. I just came from Wanglong Cliff, and they said there was a dragon over there... He's just a crazy scholar. Don't pay any attention to him. Just leave."
Hearing the words of the passerby, Lu Liangsheng stopped talking, smiled and unfolded the bamboo slips again, holding it in his palm to read. This was the middle volume of "Records of Protecting Spirits in Mountains and Rivers of All Rivers". So far, he had only read the seventh line in the middle column. Some of the content mentioned in it was something Lu Liangsheng had never seen in "Boundless Mountains and Seas". According to the previous considerations, it should be the magic array that was eliminated.
"So these three volumes are useless? However, Qin Xujia is a capable man. Could it be that he was the one who conceived the Myriad Spirits Formation on the boundless mountains and seas?"
But the time doesn't match.
"Mr. Lu, it's almost time to light the fire and cook!" Sun Yingxian came back from the fields over there. She jumped up and somersaulted, landing steadily next to the old donkey. She patted the yellow cloth bag at her waist, which was bulging. The toad in the bookshelf also pushed open the small door and stuck his head out to take a look.
"frog?"
"It's not even summer yet, where are the frogs from?"
The Taoist waved his hand, took out a palm-sized crab and an eel, and stuffed them back.
"These things dig holes and spend the winter there. If you throw some bait, they will desperately dig through the soil and come out. You can catch them easily."
Seeing the rich harvest, Toad Taoist nodded and said, "Then eat them later. It's better than nothing."
He retracted his head and slammed the small door shut.
Lu Liangsheng looked at the sky. The sun was right overhead and the sunshine at the end of spring was warm. Somehow, when he got here, the air had less moisture, so he also felt a little hot.
"Uncle Pan, why don't we just find a place to rest nearby and have lunch before continuing on our journey."
"That's what I've been waiting for!"
Lu Pan took a sip of water. Although his body was different from that of an ordinary person, he was not out of the ordinary. The group of eight people left Luohe Town early and got on the main road. They had not rested along the way. He immediately asked everyone to rest at the edge of the forest in front. They put on their weapons and bags and threw them on the ground, then sat down on the grass and lay down comfortably.
Lu Liangsheng also pulled the old donkey over, loosened the reins and patted its head: "You are also smart. Find some grass to eat on your own. Don't go too far."
Seeing the old donkey swinging its bald tail and leisurely chewing grass nearby, Lu Liangsheng took off his water bag and took a sip, then sat under a tree and took the bamboo slips to continue reading. On the other side, the Taoist threw out a fire talisman to ignite the bonfire, and Lu Pan helped to build the stove and set up the pot. He was still a little confused about what happened in Luohe Town before, and didn't know how to start, so he gestured randomly with his hands.
"Liangsheng, that place always felt eerie. Was there a ghost there? When the stone tablet was finally completed, I seemed to see someone flying into the tablet in the wind."
“Indeed, there is.”
Monsters had appeared twice in Lujia Village before, so Lu Liangsheng had no need to hide it from them. "However, ghosts are different from monsters. They have no physical form and are hard for ordinary people to see. Especially Uncle Pan and the other uncles, whose yang energy is too strong, it is even harder to see them. We even have to stay away from you to avoid being hurt by your yang energy."
Hearing the scholar's answer, Lu Pan widened his eyes, pointed a finger at himself, and opened his mouth slightly: "Are we so powerful?" As he said that, he clenched his fist, slammed it on his palm, and licked his lips thoughtfully.
"If we encounter any evil spirit in the future, can the eight of us just rush at it?"
Lu Liangsheng smiled and nodded: "Didn't you uncles try it that day in the deserted house in Weishan Town? Wouldn't the yellow-skinned man have difficulty escaping from your eight-circle power and was captured by you?"
"That's true, hehe."
Lu Pan laughed on his rugged face, stood up and walked to the campfire, looking at his arms and chest from time to time, and raised his fists. He turned around and showed his muscular arms to his nephew, then called the other seven people over and told them what he knew, which immediately caused a burst of laughter. In front of the Taoist priest, he showed off his hard and thick muscles.
The spring breeze is gentle and the spring days are pleasant.
There were still many pedestrians and vendors on this official road. When they saw a group of rough men, they didn't dare to rest and left as if they were fleeing.
After resting for a while and having lunch, everyone started again. After walking along the official road ahead, there was another undulating mountain road. However, Lu Liangsheng discovered something interesting: many merchants coming here would sometimes turn to a small road beside the mountain road and go into the woods, then come out from the other side and return here to continue their journey.
Being somewhat curious, I followed them to take a look. It was on the way anyway and wouldn't delay the trip. The forest wasn't very big and it was quite cool once inside. There were quite a few people gathered on the other side of the cliff, all of them were travelers and merchants from all over the country, as well as knights of the green forest standing with swords in their arms, and the noise was deafening.
"I heard that there is a deep pool with blue waves below the cliff, and there is a dragon lying in it."
"Who told you that? I've been here a few times and never saw it. But once I saw a stream of mist flying past like an arrow."
“… Hey, my dear brother, that is the water sprayed by the old dragon, playing at the bottom of the pond.”
A forest man holding a knife spat out the grass roots in his mouth, snorted, and laughed: "I don't believe it. If there really is a dragon, wouldn't we be meat in its mouth if we stand on this cliff? It doesn't come to eat us, so it's probably just someone's making it up and spreading rumors."
There was someone nearby, who quickly waved his hand.
"Oh, don't say that. Someone really saw it. At that time, they even saw a pair of dragon horns sticking out of the water."
hiss-
There was a sudden gasp from all around.
…
Lu Liangsheng stood outside the crowd, leading his old donkey, listening to their vivid descriptions. He glanced toward the cliff a few times and found that the scenery was no different from that of the Zhou Dynasty, with no dragon or demonic aura lingering around.
'It's just a legend...'
Just as he was about to ask Lu Pan and the others who were listening attentively to leave, he suddenly saw a middle-aged man with a majestic beard and wearing a black robe. He was standing not far away with his hands behind his back, listening to what everyone was saying like a spectator. He seemed to notice that Lu Liangsheng was looking at him, and turned his head with some surprise in his eyes. Then he nodded slightly, as if to say hello.
'This person...'
Lu Liangsheng had been observing closely since he entered Taoism, but when he came in, he did not notice such a person. Judging from his demeanor, he was not a businessman or a traveler on the road. Instead, he seemed to be someone who was bored and came here specifically to listen to stories.
"Mr. Lu, what are you looking at?"
The Taoist saw that he had a strange expression, so he came over and looked around in the direction Lu Liangsheng was looking.
"Nothing?"
"Already gone."
The middle-aged man who was originally standing in the direction Lu Liangsheng was looking at disappeared when he looked again the moment the Taoist called him.
"Could it be that there really are still dragons?"
With a puzzled look, he once again looked towards the so-called Wanglong Cliff and suddenly discovered a crowd of people. Above each person's head, there was a wisp of white mist that floated up and flew out of the cliff.