“Uhhhh—”
Looking at the little duck curled up under its belly, its light yellow fur still stained with sticky egg white, Toad Taoist's skin tightened instantly, and he padded up his webbed feet and jumped up, running away.
The duckling curled up on the ground tilted its head with a "chi" sound, stood up, and stepped on the smooth floor with its two slender feet as it moved towards the toad. It curled up beside it, closed its eyes, and shrank back to the ground.
"Hehe, old toad, I think you are my mother."
It was rare to see the Toad Taoist being disgusted, so Sun Yingxian grinned and raised the spoon: "Eat it quickly, no matter how small it is, it's still meat."
Looking at the newly hatched little yellow duck lying beside his master, Lu Liangsheng also smiled. No wonder those wild ducks were so ferocious and kept chasing his master. It turned out that the little ones were about to hatch.
It's good this way. Having a cute little thing pestering the master may make the old man more kind-hearted. No matter how fierce the master was in the past, no matter whether Monk Zhenhai said that he wanted to eat him to heal his injuries when he accepted him as a disciple, at least in these years, he rarely showed such ferocity, which shows that the master was not an unforgivable person from the beginning.
Looking at the vegetables in his hand, with a smile on his face, he sometimes thought that if it was the girl he loved or his relatives who were killed, maybe... he would also go crazy.
After picking the vegetables and handing them over to Old Sun, Lu Liangsheng walked out of the alchemy room and went upstairs to call Lu Pan and others to have dinner. This attic was just one of the three buildings in Zishan Temple. It was luxuriously furnished. The eight people were dazzled by the choices, but when they saw their nephew coming up to call them, they temporarily selected a few rooms.
After dinner, Lu Liangsheng went outside. Since the temple had a new name, the original three words "Zishan Temple" could not be retained. He jumped, touched the water surface with his toes, drew out the Yuelong Sword and erased the words engraved on it.
As for re-carving it, he would have to wait until the day of the grand sacrifice. He sheathed the sword and was about to leave when he heard a series of footsteps outside.
With a flash of his body, he arrived at the mountain gate below.
"Why are there soldiers coming?"
Outside, a "fire dragon" stretched straight over, and more than a hundred soldiers holding torches were divided into two rows. The weapons on their waists collided as they ran, and they ran over in unison with rumbling footsteps.
In the light of the fire, the leader was a man with shiny armor, sharp features, and a short, majestic beard.
He let out a "whoosh" and saw a figure in a green shirt and white robe standing at the mountain gate with one hand behind his back. He quickly turned over and jumped off the horse, dragging his cloak with a look of joy on his face, and walked quickly forward and cupped his hands.
"Mr. Lu, do you still remember me?"
People who practice cultivation have very good eyesight and can still see things in the dark, not to mention the burning torch illuminating the young man's face. Lu Liangsheng walked down the stone steps, looked at the other person, and saw the sword at his waist, then he remembered who he was.
"Li Yuan!"
"Sir, do you still remember?" The man was indeed Li Yuan. After not seeing him for many years, his appearance and figure were very different from when he was a teenager. Just as he was about to bow again, Lu Liangsheng, who was far away on the stone steps, appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye and held him up with his hand.
"Looking at his appearance, I almost couldn't recognize him."
Lu Liangsheng smiled and pointed to the sword with a chrysanthemum flower scabbard and a tiger head ornament on his waist, "Recognize it first."
Ha ha!
Li Yuan on the opposite side was a carefree person. He laughed out loud when he heard the joke. On the way here, he was still thinking about how to talk to Mr. Lu, but now he let Mr. Lu lead the conversation in a more relaxed manner, without any airs of an immortal.
Perhaps this is what a hermit master is like... he thought.
"By the way, night has already fallen, why did you suddenly bring troops here?"
"Sir, it was His Majesty who asked me to come here, saying that you have great magical powers and are naturally not afraid of those who are not knowledgeable. However, it is inevitable that some people who do not know the truth will come here to enjoy the scenery and disturb your practice."
The two exchanged greetings for a while before Lu Liangsheng asked why he brought troops here. The latter replied respectfully, then turned around and waved to the team behind him. More than two hundred soldiers immediately divided into two groups holding torches, and lined up on both sides of the Wanshou Temple gate, standing straight with their swords pressed down.
The lonely temple, without even the sound of insects, suddenly appeared grand and majestic, and the more it looked, the more it looked like the place where the imperial master was.
Li Yuan turned around and raised his hands: "Yuan and these two hundred soldiers will be waiting here for your orders, sir."
“Actually, it’s not necessary.”
Glancing at the soldiers on duty, Lu Liangsheng probably understood Yang Jian's intention, which was to ask these soldiers to help build the altar for sacrifice...
However, seeing the look in Li Yuan's eyes, he did not want to embarrass him, so he paused and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, are you afraid that I will say that he is wasting the people's manpower by hiring soldiers? Forget it, since you are here, you don't have to do any strenuous work. In this way... just help me transport some stone materials from outside the city."
Li Yuan slapped his thigh.
"Just listen to what you said, sir, and I'm ready!"
Obviously, a large amount of stone was needed to build the altar. As soon as Lu Liangsheng finished speaking, dozens of ox carts and donkey carts came slowly over under the shouts of the soldiers. A group of soldiers rushed forward and moved down the stones of all sizes with nimble hands and feet. The stones were flat and smooth, and were covered with dust, so they must have been taken from other buildings.
"Sir, do you have any further instructions?" Li Yuan asked.
"Just leave it there. Soldiers don't need to do the rough work of building the platform. You can go back and have a rest."
Lu Liangsheng looked at the stone pestle that was getting higher and higher, sent away Li Yuan who was chasing him, and returned to the temple. Lao Sun and Lu Pan had already gone to bed, and he didn't know where his master was in the attic.
He randomly found a bedroom, lit a candle, spread out the scroll, and had some ideas on how to build a high platform. He waved his hand to get the brush, and under the dim light, he put down the blue ink.
Rustle…
In the quiet room, the candlelight flickered gently. Qi You floated over from the bookshelf to take a look, then pouting and lying on the bed, supporting her chin, and yawned listlessly.
The cool breeze blew in through the window, and the flickering firelight illuminated the side of Lu Liangsheng's face. He looked intently at the pen he was waving, and simply sketched out a number of little people with different appearances, old or young, who were densely packed on the paper in different poses.
…
The moonlight outside the window was as still as water, with ripples occasionally forming on the branches and leaves of the birch trees.
In a corner of the building, the Toad Taoist bared his fangs and approached the little yellow duck sleeping in the corner step by step with saliva dripping from his mouth. The little duck opened its eyes and moved closer happily. The ferocious toad stretched out its long tongue and then retracted it, staring blankly at the little duck that was not afraid of him.
Finally, I patted the little head with my webbed hands and sat down with it.
The wind blew under the eaves, making the sound of wind chimes. Outside the mountain gate, Li Yuan, sighing a little, held down the hilt of his sword and sat on a rock by the lake, looking at the gently swaying reeds. The two hundred soldiers still stood at their posts holding torches.
At the other end of the city, it was already late at night when Min Changwen finished dealing with official documents. He declined the maid's help and walked to the backyard with his hands behind his back. Thinking of the strange things he had seen in the afternoon, he found it difficult to fall asleep. He walked along the long corridor and came to the window where the warm yellow light was still on. He could hear his daughter reading softly.
The old man looked for a while, then finally sighed, shook his head and left.
…
The lake was rippling. Inside the Wanshou Temple, the painting illuminated by the lights was filled with little figures holding tools.
Lu Liangsheng put down his brush and ink, pushed open the window, took the scroll in his hands and unfolded it, then blew away lightly. A chirping sound came out of the painting, and the still little figures turned their heads and waists, waved their arms, and jumped out by leaning on the paper drills. Like scraps of paper, they fluttered outside along with the scholar's breath.
"This way, it should be faster."
Looking through the window lattice at the bright moon behind the dark clouds in the night sky, Lu Liangsheng blew out the candle, lifted the tree demon on the couch and went inside. Then he went up, and his soul floated out of his body, dividing his magic power far away, instructing the little people in the painting to go to the stone pestle and start carving.
…
"Nanshui Shiyi" records: "In Heiyao Lake, someone was practicing witchcraft and killing several people. When the soldiers tracked down the murderer, they found that he was already dead and his body was broken into several pieces. On the ground, there was a paper figure holding a sharp weapon, which turned into ashes and scattered."