The Wanshou Temple was brightly lit. The old donkey crawling under the eaves shook its long ears and straightened its neck to look at the night outside the mountain gate.
Inside the door panel illuminated by the light, Qi You propped up his chin and looked around. With a flick of his finger, the moth fluttering on the table flew away.
'Boring.'
The Taoist squatting by the table was hit on the face by a moth that flew over. He scratched his face, stuck out his butt and continued to turn the page.
"Old Lu, that won't work. My dead master left me a crappy book that only talked about zombies... but not corpse demons."
Old Sun raised his head and said, "Old Lu?"
Seeing that there was still no response from the other side, he waved the book in front of Lu Liangsheng a few times. The latter turned his head away, came to his senses, and smiled.
"I was so absorbed in watching it that I didn't hear it."
As he said this, Lu Liangsheng's eyes were still on the pages of the book.
This book was taken out from the palace when he was searching for evil stars. It also contained some records about folk rumors. He knew very little about zombies, so this book could be considered as a supplement to his knowledge.
"Your master's Taoism is authentic, and it should be mostly about zombies... As for corpse demons, I have never heard of them, and there is no record of them in several ancient books..."
Looking over there at Yan Chixia, the bearded man wiped the edge of his sword and raised his head: "Corpse demon is just a name for a realm, not a type. Of course, we can't find it."
Lu Liangsheng nodded and agreed with what Yan Chixia said, and then discussed with the Taoist about how to deal with the situation. After all, being invulnerable to swords and guns and knowing Taoism made him different from the old man outside the Hegu County City.
"Let's see what we need to prepare. The usual black dog blood, cinnabar, and talismans are needed... Especially what kind of imperial edict should be written on the talisman. Old Sun should know it well. In terms of exorcising demons, I am actually not as good as him."
Sun Yingxian tilted her eyes slightly, snorted, and raised her chin slightly.
"That's good to know. Catching ghosts and demons is my specialty. As for the corpse demon, just wait and see."
On the other side of the seat, Zhu Ganglie, with his big belly, picked his nose and flicked off a sticky mass. This old Sun, after a compliment, he didn't even know his last name. He didn't even learn the Tianpeng Curse properly. Sigh, I'd better help him out later. Among all the gods and Buddhas in the sky, only I, an old pig, have the heart of a bodhisattva...
For the next while, the attic was quiet for a while. The Toad Taoist hugged his flippers, leaned against the purple gold gourd, and dozed off. Suddenly, his eyes half opened, and he turned his head to look outside the door. The scholar who was reading a book next to him closed the book and put it on the table, then got up and walked outside.
The lanterns were swaying under the eaves. The old donkey stood up on all fours and stood next to Lu Liangsheng. As if he had sensed something, dark scales emerged from his skin. In the blink of an eye, he turned into an elegant and slender unicorn. Arcs of electricity flashed in his lion's mane, and his long snout opened to reveal his fangs. He growled and snarled, as if reminding his master.
"It looks like something's going to happen tonight..."
Lu Liangsheng stretched out his hand and pressed it gently on its mouth and nose, then looked at the swaying forest between the mountain gates below with a slightly frowned brow. He came out just now because he sensed that the incense and soul of the City God Ji Xin disappeared in the city, but did not dissipate. It must have been severely damaged and shrunk back into the clay sculpture in the temple.
"The City God of the capital, who has been worshipped for nearly a thousand years, is no match for a corpse demon."
From the story told by Yan Chixia when he came back, although the corpse demon was difficult to deal with, it could only flee in panic with the joint efforts of two people. It was impossible for it to last more than a few rounds at the hands of the City God.
Seeing Lu Liangsheng standing under the eaves and Old Donkey ready for battle, Yan Chixia, the Taoist, Qiyou, Zhu Ganglie, Li Sui'an and Shelong followed out one by one and lined up behind him.
Even Emperor Yang Jian, surrounded by a group of guards, came closer with a long sword in his hand, looking around vigilantly. Sun Yingxian rolled up the Taoist book and tapped the scholar's arm: "Old Lu, what happened?"
"The City God Ji Xin's spirit was torn apart, but fortunately, thanks to the continuous burning of incense, it has reunited and returned to the temple to recuperate."
Lu Liangsheng told everyone about this and also expressed his doubts. He used his fingers to quickly deduce the changes in the city. As he got to the back of the story, his fingers seemed to be held back by something invisible and he suddenly raised his head.
"Something bad has happened."
However, just as he finished speaking, several soldiers on duty at Hibiscus Pond rushed up the stone steps leading to the mountain gate, stepping on the bluestone slabs.
"Your Majesty, Imperial Master, outside... outside, many people are rebelling!"
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Yang Jian walked forward with his guards and asked, "Can you verify whether there are any troops among them?"
"I don't know... The Duke of Yue sent scouts to inform us."
Lu Liangsheng asked the soldier to wait aside, then turned around and raised his hands to the emperor: "Your Majesty, don't worry. Since the Duke of Yue is on his way, it means the problem is not that serious..."
The scholar said some words to comfort the old man. In fact, he guessed in his heart that the rebellious people were simply corpses infected by corpse poison. According to the content of the book he had just read, they should belong to the category of low-end walking corpses. They died not long ago, their limbs were not yet stiff, and their skin, flesh, tendons and bones were also very soft. They had not absorbed any negative energy or resentment into their bodies, so they were not difficult to deal with.
…Just thinking about the many people in the city being bitten to death and turned into zombies, Lu Liangsheng clenched his hands under his wide sleeves, and a series of "cracking" sounds were heard.
"Old Lu?"
Lu Liangsheng did not hear the Taoist's call next to him. He just looked at the darkness in the distance and whispered, "I heard it." Then he turned around silently and went back to the attic. He walked into the room and took out several scrolls that had been hidden in the bookshelf. Some of them were painted before, and some were painted casually in his spare time.
He grabbed the Yuelong Sword hanging on the bookshelf, held it in his hand, and with the leather reins on the hilt shaking, he turned and went back downstairs, walked straight to the stone steps, stopped at the last section, drew out the sword with a slight clang, and threw it towards the mountain gate below.
"Guard this place well."
"You only remembered me when you encountered trouble!!"
The voice of Pu Du Ci Hang was heard from the Yue Long Sword. The sword body still consciously hung over the gate plaque. The leather reins were attached to the middle of the gate, and the tip of the sword hung downwards below the plaque.
Lu Liangsheng stared at the mountain gate for a while, and threw the scrolls in his hands into the night sky. As if they knew where they should go, they floated down into the nearby woods, quietly clinging to the tree trunks, displaying the paintings on them one by one.
… the headless Marquis of Guanting, multiple white-robed swordsmen, and “Soul Burial in the Underworld”. The strange beasts in the boundless mountains and seas no longer needed the scroll as a medium for support. Besides, there was a large tuft of light yellow monkey hair in Lu Liangsheng’s sleeve pocket.
It shouldn't be difficult to deal with the zombies.
"Old Jiao, something unexpected has happened in the city. I'll have to trouble you later." Lu Liangsheng stood in the Taoist temple and raised his hands towards the lotus pond outside the mountain gate from a distance.
After a while, the sound of the wind whistled and bent the forest, and the sound of Dharma came from the other side of the lake.
"Don't worry, Brother Lu, I know what to do!"
"grateful!"
Lu Liangsheng lowered his hands and looked at the several defenses that had been set up. He spread out his palms and a paper crane suddenly appeared. He threw it into the air and whispered instructions, which was also an order.
"Go to Yuwentuo's house and ask him to come quickly."
The paper crane nodded at the scholar as if it had spiritual power, flapped its wings on both sides, rolled up pieces of starlight, and disappeared in the direction of the city.