Chirp~~Chirp--
The morning light passed through the gaps between the trees, light dust was flying, and two birds side by side landed on a branch and chirped crisply, breaking the tranquility of the early morning. Lu Liangsheng woke up, stretched comfortably, and gathered up the books that were scattered around him.
The birdsong around me suddenly stopped.
A black shadow broke through the air with a loud bang and flew to the treetops. A bird fell straight down. In mid-air, only a few feathers were left, swaying and floating down.
Under a tree, the Taoist picked his ears, stuffed the fainted bird on the ground into his pocket, patted the bulging yellow cloth bag, and whistled as he walked back. Occasionally, he would run to the bushes and weeds to pull out a few wild vegetables and herbs, and stuff them all into his waist.
After a night's rest in the camp, a bonfire was lit again in the curling green smoke. The Taoist boiled water, plucked the feathers and cleaned the internal organs of seven or eight birds he had shot, and threw them into the pot along with wild vegetables and stirred them. Then he called everyone else to get up.
Not far away, the old donkey lying on its side grunted, neighed twice, got up from the ground, ran to its owner's side with the bookshelf on its back, changed direction, and moved the bookshelf closer.
Lu Liangsheng put the books inside and stacked them, then opened the small door at the bottom. The Toad Taoist covered himself with the quilt and felt the cool breeze in the early morning. He scratched his face, stretched out his webbed feet and grabbed the small quilt that had slipped half open, pulled it to his chest to cover himself, turned to the inside, and continued to sleep soundly.
He closed the small door with a smile and called out, "Old Pig, Qian Wei, it's time to wake up. We have to rush back to Chang'an in the afternoon."
Faintly hearing the word "Chang'an", Zhu Ganglie, who was sleeping on his side with his elbow resting on his head, flapped his ears, gnashed his fangs and murmured: "Chang'an... beautiful girl... slurp..."
Then, he suddenly opened his eyes, sat up holding the nine-toothed rake, and looked around.
"So we haven't reached Chang'an yet... Let's sleep a little longer..."
He mumbled in a daze, threw away the rake, and lay on his back with his big belly exposed. After a moment, he fell into a dream again. From the treetop nearby, Zuo Zhengyang, dressed in leather armor and black boots, descended. He stretched out his hands to pull out two long swords stuck in the ground, and while putting them behind his back, he watched the pig demon on the ground holding the big black-haired hand to his mouth and kissing it with a smacking sound.
He shook his head, tied up his long knife, walked to the campfire and sat down, looking at the sky which was gradually turning blue.
“Is there really a red glow in the sky?”
The Taoist stirred the soup pot, scooped a spoonful, dipped his finger in it and put it into his mouth to taste it, then covered the pot and passed a few twigs into the fire.
He turned his head and twirled the tip of his mustache.
"You don't know Mr. Lu yet. When has anything he said ever been false? Don't you think so?!"
Over there, Lu Liangsheng patted the old donkey's head and told it to eat grass nearby. He nodded to his disciple who had woken up and the Wuman Shelong, then walked over and sat cross-legged next to Zuo Zhengyang.
"You may not be able to see it for the time being." The scholar looked up at the sky. The red light with its tail was hanging outside the azure and floating clouds just like before, but it was clearer now.
"I have searched all the ancient books I know of, but have not found a single word about this thing. We can only wait and see whether the blood spirit formation set up by Master Wu Yuan is really effective."
"Friend Lu, do you really believe him?"
Zuo Zhengyang picked up a branch and threw it into the fire, then shook his head: "Zuo doesn't believe it."
Beside him, the Taoist who was stirring the soup raised his head, snorted, and echoed.
"I don't believe it either. That guy has killed many people. He is the demon soul of Pudu Cihang, and the magic array is made of 100,000 lives. It is obviously the way of the devil. It is better to believe in Buddha than to believe in him."
Lu Liangsheng watched in silence as Old Sun filled the bowl and handed it to Zuo Zhengyang. Amid the faint aroma of rice and meat, he reached out to take the bowl of porridge handed to him by his apprentice Li Sui'an.
After taking a sip, he said, "I don't really trust him either, but right now, there is no other way but to wait and see. If possible, when I return from the south, I will visit Chengyunmen and try to unite more people."
As he spoke, he used chopsticks to pick up the bird meat in the bowl and put it aside. He would be able to eat it when the master got up later.
The small pot was boiling, and in the waves of hot air, the snout of the sleeping Zhu Gangli fluttered slightly, and his sleepiness was instantly gone. Following the smell, he slowly sat up and ran over here. The Taoist turned aside with the bowl in his arms, and the old pig glanced greedily into his bowl.
"You want to make me hungry to death? Really? I'll do it myself!" He shouted, took the pot off the fire, blew on it a few times, and scooped the food into his mouth with the copper spoon.
The morning sun was rising, the woods were swaying in the wind, and the only sounds were laughter and eating.
On the back of the old donkey that was munching on grass, the bookshelf suddenly creaked open.
The small door of the compartment was pushed open with a bang, and the short figure shot out like an arrow and landed on a large rock below. The toad clenched its webbed fists, its face showed anger, and a loud sound was heard.
"You are such a coward, you really think I can do nothing to you... nothing..."
The shouting suddenly died down. The six people around the campfire, including Lu Liangsheng, and even the old donkey all looked over. The toad standing on the stone with webbed fists was stunned for a moment, and looked around a few times, "Uh... what, it's the second day?"
After reacting, he quickly put his fists behind his back, stuck out his round belly, coughed dryly, and looked at the tree cage and the sky.
"It's a nice day today."
He muttered to himself, turned around and went back inside. He smelled something and his stomach started to growl. He turned back again with his flippers on his back, jumped off the stone, walked over on his flippers, and sat down cross-legged next to the scholar.
Lu Liangsheng put the bird meat he had selected earlier into a bowl and brought it to Toad Taoist.
"Master, you didn't fall anywhere yesterday..."
"No, don't ask."
The Toad Taoist held the bowl, turned to the side, grabbed a bird's leg, put it in his mouth, and ground it slowly.
"Don't you think about it? Your master is so powerful. How could I be so easily fooled by a little demon? Your master deliberately paralyzed it, preparing to take it down in one fell swoop when it was relaxed..."
There were birds singing softly in the woods and flickering firelight. Several people were sitting around a toad, holding a bowl and waving his webbed feet as he chatted.
"… Thinking back to the past, I was so majestic. The little demon from yesterday was not even worthy of carrying my shoes. I vaguely remember that when I was surrounded, there were huge crowds of people, magic weapons blocked out the sun, and the sound of magic shook the sky."
Those words seemed to bring back memories of the past.
Soon, after finishing breakfast, they packed their bags and put out the campfire. Then they set out on the journey back to Chang'an. They walked slowly and leisurely. In the blink of an eye, they and the old donkey had gone more than ten feet away under the daylight.
The sky was tilted, and the western clouds in the afternoon were glowing a fiery red. A group of people had just arrived at the west gate of Chang'an and were walking along the long street, where the voices of people were noisy and bustling.
Zhu Ganglie, who had concealed his pig demon form, was looking at the most prosperous city in the world with a rake on his shoulder. He opened his eyes wide with curiosity and looked around. Even though it was almost dark, he could still see people coming and going on the long street.
At the door with the flag of the inn hanging, the waiter was holding a rag and shouting loudly. In front of a stall not far away, a vendor carefully placed a clay figurine in the hands of a chubby child. The child took the copper coins handed over by a man who looked like a housekeeper, smiled and clasped his hands together, and watched the guests leave. At the corner of the alley, two children were holding windmills to see who could blow faster. After a while, the mother who rushed out of the house pinched her ears and lifted her up from the ground and took her back home...
"Go back and I'll deal with you later!"
"Rouge, the best rouge, even the Hu girls from the Western Regions can't let it go!"
"Uncle over there, come up and play..."
In the brothel with big red lanterns hung up, the madam was waving her handkerchief and greeting the incoming guests with a smile on her fat face painted with powder, the powder was falling down.
Old Pig, who walked past the door, raised his head and stared at the group of beautiful girls leaning against the fence on the second floor. He seemed to have seen a new world and was about to walk in, but was stopped in time by Lu Liangsheng and pulled back.
"Old Pig, you want to kill someone!"
Zhu Ganglie, who was dragged back, narrowed his eyes and stared for a long time, sighing: "It would be great if these women were monsters."
The Taoist priest beside him trembled his ears when he heard this.
…
Walking through the bustling and bustling West Market of Chang'an, with the sound of pipa playing and singing, and the enchanting eyes revealed through the dancing veil of a Hu girl, the group, who should have finished the walk in half an hour, was dragged by the old pig until dark before returning to the Hibiscus Pond.
As soon as he returned to Wanshou Temple, Zhu Ganglie put away his weapon and ran to the highest attic. He looked out through the fence at Chang'an, which looked like a galaxy of stars. The lights of thousands of homes were reflected in his eyes, and he couldn't help but sigh.
"I, Old Pig, think this is the fairyland!!!"
The Taoist priest beside him rolled his eyes when he heard this.
"You speak as if you have been to the fairyland."
"Haha." The old pig patted his belly, looked at the lights of thousands of houses like the stars in the sky, and just laughed twice. The night wind blew by, and the sound of wind chimes tinkled, above the heads of the man and the monster, and above the eaves.
The one-armed figure lay on the rooftop, lying on the tiles, listening to the bickering of the two people below. He took the gourd with a smile, took a sip of the wine, and looked at the starry night sky. Beside him, there were only two cold long swords quietly keeping him company.
There was a slight heat in the early summer wind. The sound of wind chimes caressing the eaves was heard. I squeezed into the lighted window of a room in the attic. Toad Taoist was rubbing his arms and calves, humming a little tune as he sat in front of the wardrobe, choosing clothes. From time to time, he turned back and called Qiyou to help him take a look.
In front of the window frame illuminated by the flickering lights, Lu Liangsheng spread out the map of Chang'an. With a stern look in his eyes, he swept over the city walls, the mountains and ditches all around, and traced them with his fingertips.
Like a tiger crouching at its desk.
'Although I don't know what kind of catastrophe that day is, it's always a good idea to at least set up a barrier first.'
As for what kind of magic circle to set up, the scholar was a little hesitant for a moment. The candlelight reflected his handsome profile. After thinking for a while, he finally took up "Qinghuai Bugeng" and started flipping through it.
Wow~
Amid the sound of pages turning, Toad Taoist changed into a short suit, climbed onto the desk, put up his flippers, poked his head to take a look at the contents above, and shook his head.
"Liangsheng, I have given you a book that contains all the spells that I know. If you want to find something, just ask me directly."
Over there, a focused face withdrew his gaze from the pages of the book. Lu Liangsheng put the book down and turned his head. He told Toad his thoughts truthfully. The latter narrowed his eyes and listened quietly for a while before speaking.
"I have learned too much, and I can't remember some of it... You should just look through the book."
As he said that, he turned around and said, "Liangsheng, the great catastrophe of heaven and earth, no matter what kind of demon or ghost it is, as long as it has a body and a soul, it is not to be feared. The truly powerful ones are those invisible and formless things... Forget it, you can handle it yourself and go to bed early."
"Master, please go to bed early."
The lights were dim and there was a slight snoring sound coming from the wooden pillow of the bed. Lu Liangsheng continued to flip through the book for a while and listed out several applicable magic arrays. As for what the master had just said, it was just a guess about what might appear in the future.
It is necessary to set up a magic circle in Chang'an first.