The floating clouds in the night sky obscured the crescent moon, and the cold silver light dimmed in people's field of vision. Listening to the gentle sound of waves in the Hibiscus Pond, Li Yuan got up from the stone, and faintly heard different sounds from the water and wind.
'Um?'
When he turned around, the soldier guarding the mountain gate suddenly drew his sword from his waist, raised his head and shouted, "What is that?!"
The night wind blew through the woods. In the sight of Li Yuan and the soldiers who rushed over in search of the sound, groups of pale human figures flew out from the mountain gate with a giggle, landed on the ground, and wielded mattocks, chisels, and hammers that were smaller than human thumbs, and swarmed over to the pile of stones.
"This... What the hell is this..."
Li Yuan looked at the group of little men running past him, subconsciously took a step back, raised his sword with a clang, and shouted to his subordinates who were surrounding him: "Don't move, be careful of being hit by a spell!"
The soldiers who were rushing over with long weapons and swords stopped when they heard the order. When they were a little further away, they could see clearly what was running on the ground. Their faces were instantly more horrified than if they had seen a ghost. They all looked at Qianniu Beishen over there.
"Don't mess around, it might be Mr. Lu casting a spell."
Seeing these little paper figures walking towards the pile of stones, Li Yuan quickly raised his hand to tell them not to move. The magic sword in his hand was also attached with magic power. Although he could not use it, it made him more sensitive than ordinary people. He tilted his head to look at the empty mountain gate. In the night, only the birch trees on both sides were swaying gently in the wind. He quickly bowed and saluted.
"Is this technique performed by the master?"
A group of soldiers nearby looked at the empty mountain gate and looked at each other in confusion. Could it be that Mr. Lu was a ghost
The next second, a sound suddenly rang out in the air.
"I cast a spell to create these little ghosts. Don't panic. Just do your duty and return to your posts."
In the air, Lu Liangsheng's soul floated at the mountain gate and was invisible to ordinary people. As for why he called those paper figures "little ghosts", he actually didn't know how to call them. "Nan Shui Shi Yi" only wrote about the casting process, and rarely wrote about their names.
Moreover, these little ghosts in the paintings were not aware and needed his magic power to guide them to do things. After sending the soldiers over there, Lu Liangsheng used his magic power to attack the little ghosts in the pile of stones. They wielded stone-cutting tools, smashing down the stone chips and digging out the foundations, or more than ten of them worked together to carry heavy stones to pave the foundation.
This was how he used his magic power to control the scroll Taowu and his several clones who learned sword skills. With the previous foundation, building the altar was not a difficult task.
While drawing away the magic power, Li Yuan, who was standing on the river bank, put away his sword. Hearing the familiar voice, he breathed a sigh of relief and ordered the soldiers to go back to their posts. He also stood near the mountain gate. On the other side of the stone pile illuminated by the continuous torch light, there were densely packed little people dragging boulders that were larger than themselves, carving the rocks with clanging sounds. The mysterious scene fascinated him.
The lake water circled against the shore, and in the misty white fog rising from the lake, it seemed as if a huge monster was swimming and peering over here. Soon, the sky in the east turned pale, and the sound of the surging water died down. After a night of silence, Chang'an gradually heard the voices of people.
The people in Quchifang and Qinglongfang, which are closest to Furong Pond, got up early. Those who were washing rice, buying vegetables, and fetching water gathered in small circles to talk about the strange things.
"Did any of you hear it in the afternoon?"
"What did you hear?"
"It was a loud noise. I was cooking in the house at the time and there was a loud bang on the ground. I was so scared that the bowls I had placed on the stove fell to pieces."
"What do you mean by listening or not? I live not far from the Hibiscus Pond. You can go and see it. When I got up this morning, I saw a new temple on the other side of the lake. There was also a platform. Oh, it's so high. I estimate it to be about 100 to 200 meters high!"
"It appeared overnight?"
"I'm afraid it appeared at about dark yesterday afternoon and is related to the loud noise."
"Hey, you don't have to tell me. I was shopping at the street corner when a lot of soldiers came. Then carriages came one after another. Later, the whole street was closed. I saw His Majesty's carriage passing by from a distance. It seemed to be going to Furong Pond."
"It's a temple, and it belongs to the emperor. Could it be a manifestation of the gods?"
“… Who can tell?”
Amid the chattering conversations of the common people, the morning light shone through the clouds, pushing away the dark night. Among the official residences in the city, in the mansion with the word "Min" written on the door plaque, Min Yuerou had breakfast, returned to the house, opened the window, and let the morning sun shine in. She picked up the book that she had not finished reading last night, sat down at the desk, and gently flipped through it.
This is a book on academic examinations that I secretly took from Mr. Lu's room when I left Lujia Village that day. It contains his own annotations. His writing is powerful and the content is simple and focused. If I were to be my old self, I would never be able to concentrate on reading these.
"Miss!"
Outside the house, on the veranda, the maid Tu Ling ran to the window quickly, holding up her skirt. Yue Rou looked at her panting appearance and asked softly, "What's the matter? Why are you running so fast?"
The little maid stopped panting, smiled showing a pair of little rabbit teeth, and pointed to the kitchen on the side of the corridor.
"Miss, I just heard from Aunt Wang that there's a very strange incident happening outside. Half the city is almost hearing about it. Many people are heading over there now."
"What's so strange? Could it be that some thief who stole flowers from a man was paraded through the streets as a warning to others?"
Tu Ling opened her mouth exaggeratedly and stared at her young lady with wide eyes, as if she had seen something extraordinary.
"Miss, you didn't say these vulgar... words before... Why did you come back from outside? Don't let the master hear you. Just now, four dark-skinned scholars were scolded by the master and ran away in disgrace."
"The same four as last time?"
"That's right, but this time he's much darker than last time, and his clothes are wrinkled. I heard he was once an official."
Looking at the chattering little maid over there, Min Yuerou was also aroused by curiosity. It was not about the scholar, but about what happened in the city as described by Tu Ling. She was not in the mood to read, so she closed the book, closed the doors and windows, changed into men's clothes, and when she came out, she looked like a handsome young man, imitating someone else, nodding and snapping her fingers at the maid.
"Let's go out and watch the fun."
While no one was paying attention, the master and the servant quickly ran to the back door of the kitchen and sneaked out. When they got out of the alley, the street outside was bustling with people hawking their wares as usual, but there were more people walking in groups of two or three towards the south of the city. Among them were the rare women who had left their homes with their children.
"It looks like there's something really exciting going on. Tu Ling, hurry up and follow us."
The master and servant looked at the alley behind them and saw that no one was chasing them, so they ran into the crowd that came to watch the excitement. When they passed by each other, they saw four people walking inside, whispering to each other.
"What rare thing? Did something fall from the sky?"
"That's right. We are sages and have read books. How can we believe such a fabricated thing..."
"My two brothers, we have seen monsters and sneaky things..."
The two people who were talking in front turned around at the same time and yelled at their shorter companion: "Get lost!"
…
Most of Chang'an was already bustling with noise. As the residents of Qinglongfang and Quchifang told stories of the strange things they had seen, the news spread almost to all the nearby neighborhoods in one morning. In this era, gossip was the most talked about thing, and if it involved mysterious things like gods and ghosts, almost no one could help but be curious.
For a time, even people who rarely moved around on weekdays left their homes. Those who lived farther away even brought dry food with them and rushed out with their friends and relatives to watch the fun. Peddlers and vendors walking the streets brought their belongings early and rushed there as soon as possible to look for business opportunities.
In such an atmosphere, the government was on high alert and had to dispatch a large number of police officers to maintain order and be on high alert for possible incidents of smashing, looting, trampling, etc.
Soon, the people who rushed to Furong Pond saw the outline of the temple from afar in Quchifang, as well as a high platform standing in front of them, before they reached the lake. The lake water was also much more turbulent than usual.
All of them appeared overnight.