The setting sun shines over the city walls. Beside the lotus pond, the reeds sway gently in the wind.
A carriage drove up and stopped at the mountain gate. Lu Liangsheng got off the carriage and went straight back to the Taoist temple. Yan Chixia took Li Sui'an to the square beside the pool to discuss sword-riding skills. Seeing his master coming back, the latter hurried forward to greet him.
Lu Liangsheng held up his hand and asked him to stand up. He glanced around and did not see Toad Taoist basking in the sun in the attic like he usually did.
"Where is your master?"
"Oh, Master, Taoist Sun, and Old Pig are all in the room. I wonder what they are doing." Li Sui'an shrugged and went back to continue discussing kendo with Yan Chixia. Lu Liangsheng went into the attic and looked for the room Sui'an mentioned.
Pushing open the door, what came into view was a small pot on a large round table, boiling and emitting hot steam. Sun Yingxian was squatting beside the table, holding a fire talisman and blowing hard towards the stove to make a flame. Zhu Ganglie was sitting on a chair plucking the feathers of a wild duck. Toad was wearing an apron and tapping his webbed feet, stirring the soup in the pot with a wooden spoon. A bamboo basket covered with a blue cloth was placed next to it.
When the three heard the door open, they all stopped what they were doing and turned to look.
"You..." Lu Liangsheng looked at them speechlessly.
Cough cough!
The toad coughed twice, threw the wooden spoon aside without leaving a trace, jumped down from the books with its flippers on its back, and moved its mouth towards the Taoist who was squatting next to it. Old Sun stood up, looked at the boiling pot, hid the fire talisman behind his back, and laughed.
"The mushrooms have been stored for too long and don't taste good, so I thought I'd prepare them before you come back so you can eat them as soon as you get back. You see how much I care about you..."
On the table, the Toad Taoist glared at him, took off his apron, and changed the subject: "Liangsheng, why did you come back so early after going to the palace?"
Lu Liangsheng moved his eyes away from the basket. Actually, it was not that the mushrooms inside could not be eaten by everyone. After all, his mother gave them to him. He went to the basin rack to wash his hands, came back and sat on the stool, took out the magic ball from his sleeve and held it in his palm.
"Master, Lao Sun, Lao Zhu, you should be familiar with the things inside this, right?"
Sun Yingxian came closer to take a closer look, then stared at the toad, who looked serious, "Liangsheng, this is the breath of the demon star. I can smell it even through the magic power. How did you get it?"
"It's Prince of Jin Yang Guang..."
As he spoke, the scholar told the three of them the whole story. Zhu Ganglie also sat down. After talking for a while, the Toad Taoist walked back and forth on the table with his webbed feet on his back, squinting his big eyes.
"It's neither a ghost nor a demon nor a monster, and it has a certain amount of wisdom. It may be difficult to find the scattered fragments. I don't know where it came from, and I have never tasted it..."
Lu Liangsheng stopped what he was doing and turned his head to look at his master. The Taoist priest and Zhu Ganglie also looked over. The Toad Taoist priest, who was walking back and forth with his webbed feet and talking, stopped and looked at the three people who were all looking at him, his expression frozen.
"What are you looking at me for..."
As he said this, he picked up the wooden spoon on the table again, waved the spoon in response to the looks of the three people, and said, "Even though I have eaten countless things in the past, I have never tasted this thing. Let's forget it."
"How can we just let it go? You'll know the origin of this thing once you taste it..."
Before the Taoist could finish speaking, Lu Liangsheng raised his hand to interrupt him. It felt a bit disrespectful to test this kind of thing on his master.
"Let's talk about this later. Let's stew the mushrooms and the old duck that my mother gave me first, and ask Daoist Yan, Sui'an and the others to come and have a taste."
Hearing the main person's approval, the Taoist and Zhu Ganglie excitedly continued to do what they had just done. After plucking the duck feathers, the old pig leaned over the window and roared outside. The three people who were discussing kendo below came up in a hurry, and together with Qiyou, they gathered around the table and looked at the mushrooms and old duck in the pot.
Soon, night fell outside and the house was filled with the noise of people drinking soup and chatting. Toad held the red rooster bowl, took a sip of the thick soup, patted his knees calmly, and hummed the little tune he learned from Hong Lian.
The lights flickered. Lu Liangsheng put down the bowl and thought about the demon star and... He suddenly remembered something and slapped the table. The room suddenly became quiet. The Taoist, Zhu Ganglie, Yan Chixia, Li Sui'an and Shelong were so scared that they looked at the scholar with their bowls in hand.
"Master?" Li Sui'an called softly.
"I remembered something." Lu Liangsheng talked about going to the palace today and hearing Han Qinhu talking about Zuo Zhengyang. The scholar knew the latter's character very well. Since he wanted to come, he would definitely come. Now the fleet that went to the south has returned to Chang'an, but Zuo Zhengyang is nowhere to be seen.
"Shangzhuguo returned to the capital. Zuo Qianwei originally returned with him. It is said that an evil star descended, so he left the fleet and came here alone by land... I am always a little worried."
The Taoist leaned to one side with the bowl in his hand, looked out the window and took a sip of soup: "I am tired from the long journey and have not felt like moving recently."
He snorted, took the wooden spoon from the pot, scooped another bowl, looked at Lu Liangsheng and said:
"Besides, he's such a big man, do you still need to worry about him?"
Lu Liangsheng frowned. What the Taoist said was correct. Zuo Zhengyang was a former constable and now he has embarked on the path of cultivation. With the Fire Spirit Pearl by his side, how could he suffer a loss
But it is always disturbing when there is no response for a long time.
On the side, Yan Chixia spat out a piece of duck bone and said, "After dinner, I will go out of the city to look around. I feel uncomfortable staying in the city, so I'll go out for some fresh air."
Well, Lu Liangsheng still has to think of a way to get the demon star fragments in Wanshou Temple and check on Yang Guang to make sure that no evil spirit has entered his body. Since the Taoist is unwilling to leave, Yan Chixia is the most suitable person, after all, he is more familiar with Zuo Zhengyang.
Before dawn the next day, Yan Chixia put on the wooden box and said goodbye to everyone.
Lu Liangsheng, Toad Taoist, and Sun Yingxian sent him to Quchifang. They watched the big man with a curly beard walk across the long street towards the south city. They did not go back to the Taoist temple until he was out of sight anymore.
The morning light broke through the gaps in the clouds, and the golden south stretched out. Among the rolling hills, there was an extinguished bonfire with wisps of green smoke floating in the air. On the nearest tree, leaves with dewdrops hanging on them were swaying, and when the wind blew, they fell straight down.
With an inaudible "pop" sound, the figure who was taking a nap against the tree trunk raised his only arm to wipe the water stains on his forehead, opened his eyes and woke up.
He squatted beside the extinguished campfire, reignited the flames, took out a few pieces of dried meat, strung them on tree branches and roasted them, and stared at the burning flames in a trance.
On the way to Chang'an heading west and north, the evil star fell to the earth and Zuo Zhengyang was helping out everywhere, which delayed them for a lot of time.
"The demon star has disappeared. I don't know how things are going in Chang'an or how Daoist Brother Lu is doing."
He turned the branch in his hand, the dried meat became hot and fragrant, he put it in his mouth and tore off a piece of meat, and was about to take a sip of the wine bag from his waist.
In the direction we came from, the birds that were originally singing softly in the morning light in the woods suddenly cried out in panic, flapped their wings and flew out in a black mass, wandering in the woods.
Under the tree, Zuo Zhengyang, who was tearing dried meat, stopped chewing and turned his head slightly to look in the direction where the birds were feeling uneasy. Over there, a figure was flying quickly through the woods, with heavy footsteps and a smell of corpse lingering all over his body.
The other party seemed to have also noticed the one-armed figure under the tree, stopped, and his eyes became fierce.