"Bingtang~~Hulu!!"
“Affordable pottery jars! Passers-by may want to take a look. If you don’t need to put anything in it, you can put it in your room as a chamber pot! ”
“… calligraphy and paintings, calligraphy and paintings by scholars, mounted and hung on the wall, will be valuable after a hundred years. Don’t miss it~~”
The sun sets over the western city walls, casting a dim glow on the bustling long street. The noisy voices can be heard on the second floor of the inn, and the rays of light shine through the window lattices.
"Fuck them... 100,000 people... Even if they were 100,000 pigs, I wouldn't be able to kill them all in half a year if I used magic."
"Tuo'er, he used the Xuanyuan Sword, combined with the power of his Kunlun Mirror, and it was gone in just a few breaths. The combination of the two is hard to be matched by any force in the world. Even if he doesn't have the Xuanyuan Sword now, with his current strength, he can still look down on the world."
"Quick, show me the Xuanyuan Sword. I have never seen what a divine weapon actually looks like."
Amid the noise of eight men drinking and making noise next door, Old Sun put down his cup, got up from the stool in a hurry, lifted up his robe and ran to the bookshelf. Next to the Moon Sword, there was a wide scabbard hanging, which was simple and profound. The Taoist stroked it with his fingertips for a few times as if he was caressing the skin of his lover, took a deep breath, said "Good sword!" and grasped the hilt...
Then, a golden light suddenly appeared.
With a bang, the whole person flew backwards. Lu Liangsheng dropped the wine glass, dodged from the stool, rushed to the back of the Taoist, supported his back with both hands, and finally caught him. The two of them piled on top of each other and slid backwards to the wall. The open window frames next to them were buzzing.
"I... I said it... Old..." The Taoist covered his chest in pain and couldn't finish his words. He stood up by the wall and looked at the Xuanyuan Sword on the bookshelf over there, where the golden light had dissipated. "Old Lu, how come you are okay with it?"
Lu Liangsheng patted the dust off his robe, walked out from behind him, and said with a smile: "This Xuanyuan Sword is protected by a scabbard, and no one else can touch it. You forgot the scabbard. I got it in the cave where Xingtian was buried last time in Changyang Mountain. I can use it, right, Master?"
Turning his head to look at the square table over there, the Toad Taoist had a wine glass on his head, and a loach was wriggling in his mouth, which he swallowed up. "Liangsheng, please take the cup back and put it away first, and then ask the master."
When Lu Liangsheng hurriedly went over to take the wine glass, the Taoist priest walked over rubbing his moustache. He did not dare to touch the Xuanyuan Sword again and just squatted opposite to watch it carefully.
"I thought judging by his appearance, he was not bad..."
As he was speaking, there was a knock on the door. The Taoist stood up and looked at the scholar sitting at the table. The latter put down his wine glass, thought for a moment, and knew who had come.
Squeak~~
Lu Liangsheng opened the door and saw Yang Su, dressed in a Taoist robe and carrying a magic sword, standing outside. He was looking at him with a smile. After a moment, his smile froze and he looked the scholar up and down.
"Hey, your cultivation..."
"Duke Yue, please come in. We will discuss cultivation later."
After returning the greeting, Lu Liangsheng stepped aside and invited the old man in. Yang Su stroked his beard and ate heartily at the table. The Toad nodded. He had seen him before and knew that he was quite spiritual, so he said hello.
The Taoist priest and the black-skirted tree demon in the room also looked familiar. He bowed and was about to sit down. But before he sat down, he seemed to sense something and subconsciously turned his head to look at the bookshelf in the corner. His eyes suddenly widened and he pointed at the Xuan-Yuan Sword hanging on it.
"Friend Lu, how come you have this sword?"
"It's a long story." Lu Liangsheng closed the door and walked back to invite him to sit down, put out some drinks, and told him the whole story.
"… That day, I could see that Tuo'er abandoned the sword and left because he didn't want to make things difficult for me. Perhaps, there was another reason why he left the Xuanyuan Sword with me."
Yang Su had just listened for a while about the calamity of heaven and earth. As a famous commander and court official of the Sui Dynasty, how could he not connect any clues when hearing what the scholar said
"Master Yuwen was afraid of being discovered, so he left this sword unnoticed. He wanted you to use Xuanyuan to deal with that Master Wuyuan?"
"Very likely."
Lu Liangsheng filled his glass with wine, filled his own as well, and lifted it up to clink glasses with the other's.
"… He said that this formation is used to resist the catastrophe of heaven and earth, but he did not reveal anything about Master Wu Yuan. His evasive words made it clear that it would be difficult for me to deal with it alone. The things that the Fire Prayer Cult did a few years ago, tens of thousands of women and children were put into pottery jars for human sacrifice. How can such a person save the world?"
Yang Su covered his sleeves and drank the wine in the cup. He thought for a moment and said, "Fellow Daoist, what you said is wrong. If the calamity affects all things in the world, even the most evil people will be implicated. Maybe he has his own way to save the world."
This made the scholar fall silent. Duke Yang Su of Yue was experienced and knowledgeable, so it was not impossible for him to be as he said. However, he was only saving the world, not turning over a new leaf. After that, he would still do his own thing and kidnap people for human sacrifice, just like he did many years ago.
Moreover, the matter has not been fully understood. What is the great catastrophe of heaven and earth? Is the magic circle really used to resist it? What if... Thinking of the red light that reached the sky that day, it must be an extremely evil method.
'I hope I'm overthinking this.'
The three of them, including Toad, were sitting at the table chatting and drinking. Lu Pan and others from next door also came over, dragging Lao Sun to the next door. The noise became even louder, attracting the attention of the guests living in several rooms nearby. They ran to knock on the door, and the moment they opened the door, they saw a burly man with a red face and a thick neck standing at the door, and there were seven muscular men inside, with bare chests, who turned around and looked at them.
At the door, Lu Pan shook his chest muscles and raised his chin towards the other person.
"What is it?"
"It's alright... I just wanted to say, if you guys aren't having enough fun, I'll treat you guys to some more... some more drinks."
After saying that, he turned around and ran away.
"It's inexplicable. Are all the people in the city stupid?"
Lu Pan looked at the man who ran away after saying that, shook his head and muttered before closing the door. The tenant who ran away went to a door with his robe in his hand. Lu Liangsheng listened to the noise for a while and smiled as he poured wine for Yang Su.
"The one who just came over is my uncle. Duke Yue must have seen him before since he came over several times."
"I have seen them, these eight people are not good enough in the monastic life, but in the mortal world, they are first-class warriors."
After the old man had a few drinks, he started to talk a lot. He was always by the king's side and had the honor of following the king. There were fewer and fewer people who could talk to him. Only this young man in front of him, who was much younger than him, was not afraid of his status and even did not mind that the magic he used was mostly extremely evil and insidious.
After saying a few nice words, Yang Su remembered that Lu Liangsheng had said last autumn that he would come to the capital this year.
"Friend Lu, last year you said you would come to Chang'an to serve in the court. Does that still count?"
The scholar nodded, spread his sleeves and toasted.
"Of course it counts. When I enter Chang'an next time, I will ask someone to send a letter to Duke Yue, right?"
Hahaha!
The two men looked at each other, laughed one after another, clinked their glasses, raised their heads and drank it all. Looking at the scholar opposite him, Yang Su felt quite relaxed.
"Since you are here, I will go to the palace to meet His Majesty and arrange for you to enter the court as soon as possible."
Lu Liangsheng had thought about it for a long time about entering the court as a national teacher. Since he had agreed last year, he would not regret it. Besides, the national teacher was not just an official position, but a position to protect the fortune of a country and bring blessings to the people, which was in line with his original intention.
After half an hour, it was getting dark outside. Yang Su explained the rules and regulations for entering the court, and then he said goodbye and left the inn, rushing towards the palace without stopping.
…
As night fell, Lu Liangsheng lit the lamp on the desk in front of the window. The Toad Taoist, who had eaten and drunk his fill, slowly climbed onto the bed, uncovered the quilt, and crawled inside to cover himself.
The lights flickered, Mu Qiyu floated over, pressed against the edge of the bed and moaned softly, then leaned forward a little with her pretty and slender body, supported her chin, looked at the scholar's profile illuminated by the firelight, pursed her red lips, and blew air on his face.
"Old demon, can we sleep together? I haven't held you to sleep for a long time..."
"Qiyou, stop making trouble. I have things to do."
Lu Liangsheng did have things to do. After entering the court as the imperial teacher, the first thing he had to do was to put Master Wuyuan on the agenda. However, one person would definitely not be enough. If the mortal soldiers went there, they would just die in vain. He had to find some help.
Hum~~
Seeing his focused gaze, Qi You raised her feet and rubbed them on his legs. Then, she turned over in a sulky manner and rolled over on the bed, tossing and turning in her arms while holding the quilt.
The night gradually deepened, and soon the room became quiet. The moonlight fell through the open window and sprinkled on the papers covered with handwriting.
The rustling sound of writing stopped. Lu Liangsheng picked up the letter in his hand and blew away the ink on it. He made a gesture with his fingers and moved another blank piece of paper. The blank paper of the latter suddenly showed lines of content.
'Sui'an, Zuo Qianwei, Daoyou Yan, Laozhu, Monk Fajing... including Duke Yue, Taoist, Qiyou, and Master...'
The night wind squeezed in through the window lattice. The scholar looked over and saw Qiyou turning over on the bed, mumbling softly in his sleep. Under the quilt that he kicked open, a dark shadow was hanging by the bed with its tongue hanging out, and its limbs were twitching slightly.
“… Master, let’s just forget it. This should be enough.”
In front of the desk, Lu Liangsheng flicked the wick of the lamp. On the table, several pieces of letter paper had been folded into cranes. In the flickering light, they flapped their wings, stretched their necks to peck at the papers, and flew out of the window together, rushing into the night sky. In the moonlight, they turned into several streams of light and dispersed in different directions.