The sea of clouds was rolling. Birds flying across the sky landed on the old pine trees on the lonely peak, chirping and preening their feathers.
Under the leafy branches, on a moss-covered rock, Lu Liangsheng sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, feeling the mountain breeze blowing softly by his ears and the subtle changes in the ups and downs of the sea of clouds in the distant mountain stream. His state of mind was like a drop of clear water falling into a pond, causing ripples to spread.
All around, eight scrolls unfolded, revealing words about strange beasts from the mountains and seas, various aspects of human life, or wandering clouds and startling dragons, hanging in the air and emitting a magical light.
The mountain breeze blew past the scholar, and amid the rustling of leaves, Lu Liangsheng opened his eyes, a light blue light flashed in his pupils, he raised his hand and made a gesture with his fingers, which then fell to his abdomen.
The Qilin cloak hanging outside the cliff seemed to have shed its silk thread and was guided to fly into the scholar's body one by one, irrigating his limbs, bones, and internal organs.
Ever since he solved the secret left by Lu Yuan, this Qilin cloak was no longer open to him without any defense. During the two years, while using the spirit gathering formation and the vast energy in the mountains to suppress the red-glowing demon star, he discovered that the magic power contained in the cloak was much higher than that of his Nascent Soul Realm.
"If I could absorb the magic power and refine it for my own use..."
Once this thought arose, it could not be shaken off. Over the past two years, in order to suppress the red-glowing demon star, most of the time he had spent was transforming the cultivation level in the Qilin Cloak. Taking into account the fact that the demon star was leveraging his cultivation level to raise it, it only took him a year to advance past the Nascent Soul stage and enter the first small realm before becoming a god, 'Breaking Delusion'.
And now, he has even passed the second small realm of 'Concentration'.
Lu Liangsheng exhaled, and flipped his palm with his fingers, increasing the magic power guided by the Qilin Cloak, making his five senses sharper, so that he could clearly hear the lively music and dancing coming from the village outside the mountain.
"Today... seems to be Xiaoxian and Laosun's wedding day... As a brother, I should show some consideration."
He stretched out his hand to one side, and a black shadow that had been lying quietly on the rock smacked its lips, suddenly opened its eyes, rolled off the rock, and fell on the crawling white old hen with a bang.
Over there, the silent boulder cracked, and the fine jade chips mixed in it peeled off and rose into the air, then squeezed together with a "crackling" sound, and turned into jade balls as big as fists.
The scholar, without even looking at the jade ball, twisted his fingers, causing the condensed sphere to rub and twist. The next moment, it became a jade statue of a man and a woman worshiping each other.
"go-"
After he spoke softly, Lu Liangsheng waved his outstretched hands with the sound of his robe sleeves. The jade statue of a man and a woman worshipping each other turned into a stream of emerald green light and flew out of the mountain, disappearing in the morning sun.
…
The morning sun rose high in the sky, shining on the outline of the mountains, covering half of the distant village. Smoke slowly floated out of the chimneys. The village was noisy with voices, and the sound of suona and gongs continued.
The wedding procession came out of the village, circled Beicun and Honglian Temple, then turned back from the other side, entered the village, and worshipped the ancestors of Lujia Village at Shaiba. The villagers made a lot of noise and laughed, and pushed the groom who got off an old donkey to carry the bride home.
"You, a Taoist priest with a pointed face and monkey cheeks, are truly blessed by cultivation."
"… You should thank me. If it weren't for that blow, you wouldn't have stayed in Lujia Village."
"Stop talking, good times don't wait for anyone, let me carry Xiao Xian back home to get married!"
"The old lady from the Li family might hit me with a stick later!"
Almost every household in the village is related, so there is no harm in laughing and joking. The old donkey with red flowers on it grunted and neighed twice, as if to urge the Taoist on its back to get off.
"Everyone, remember to have a few more drinks later!" "I'm sorry for the wait..."
Sun Yingxian, dressed in a bright red wedding gown, climbed down from the old donkey's back, cupped her hands and kept bowing to everyone around her, her mustache almost standing up from smiling. She ran to the bridal sedan and shouted respectfully through the curtain towards the inside.
"Xiao Xian, your husband is squatting down. Hurry up and get on the sedan chair. I will carry you back."
As he spoke, he lifted the hem of his robe and squatted at the entrance of the sedan chair. The matchmaker waved a silk handkerchief at the village women who were watching the excitement nearby and said jokingly, "Oh, look how anxious the groom is... I'll lift the curtain for you and invite the bride."
The curtain was lifted to one side, revealing Xiao Xian, who was wearing a flower crown and pearl curtains, and was also wearing a festive bridal gown. Her face was covered with a large red scarf, so her features could not be seen. She held the matchmaker's hand, carefully stepped out of the sedan chair, and lay on Sun Yingxian's back, whispering in her ear:
"Looking for such a small sedan chair, my legs are numb from bending, let's go back quickly."
"My husband has no money... By the way, when will Lao Lu come back?"
Sun Yingxian carried her on her back, nodded to the people around her with a smile, and asked a question in a low voice, but Lu Xiaoxian behind her did not answer, probably because there were too many people around and it was difficult to talk.
When there is a wedding in the village, almost every household will have a wedding banquet. Amidst the noise and cheers, children chase after the groom who is carrying the bride, shouting for candy. When they are scolded by the adults at home, some will shout, "Old Sun, if you don't give me candy, I won't let you pass!"
"No candy, no candy, I am just marrying into the family, and I have to pay the betrothal gifts on credit from my father-in-law!!"
The Taoist priest howled at the top of his lungs, then ran towards the courtyard with Lu Xiaoxian on his back, fearing that he would be stopped again and asked for something. He had nothing on him except the wedding gown. Lu Xiaoxian, who was on his back, secretly reached out from her red sleeves and pinched the Taoist priest.
"You're still talking about marrying into the family, I'm afraid I'll laugh at you."
"It's just face. When did your husband get it? I still think I've gained something!"
The Taoist kept laughing, not feeling the pain on his back, and ran into the courtyard in one breath. At the door of the main hall, Li Jinhua and Lu Laoshi were already sitting there, while Lu Pan and eight others were standing on the left and right, urging the two of them to come over quickly.
"What time is it? Why are you still joking around? Let's go to the bridal chamber later. We can even talk until dawn."
The wedding was complicated. The woman there and Lu Laoshi had also experienced it once. They completed the necessary etiquette procedures very familiarly and waved their hands quickly, asking their daughter and son-in-law to return to the bridal chamber quickly.
"Wait, where's your brother?"
There are not many rules in Lujia Village. After going through the wedding etiquette, Li Jinhua called her daughter, who was still covered with a red veil, and cast an inquiring look at Sun Yingxian. The Taoist looked at his mother-in-law with a flattering smile.
"Mom, I don't know what you mean, let's go to the bridal chamber quickly."
"What's the hurry?"
Li Jinhua shouted something, and seeing her daughter covered with a veil over there, she sighed, "You two should go and have a rest first." She walked to the door of the main room and continued to wait for her son whom she had not seen for a long time to come back.
She sat down on the stool angrily. When she saw Lu Panwang coming, the woman glared back at him: "What are you looking at? Go out and have the banquet!"
The last time I saw Liangsheng was last summer. In the blink of an eye, it’s already the spring of third year, and Xiaoxian hasn’t even come back for her wedding. Just wait and see how I’m going to deal with him!
As he was thinking about it, Lu Pan, who had just walked out of the eaves, suddenly raised his head, and someone around him shouted.
"Hey, look, something is falling from the sky!"
Lu Pan took a look and saw something the color of jade, trailing light across the sky. The big man pulled someone next to him away and shouted, "Scatter!"
However, the falling jade suddenly slowed down, and in everyone's sight, the light faded, revealing a pair of people worshiping each other and the bride floating over there.
Lu Xiaoxian could feel a warmth coming through the veil. She heard the Taoist next to her say, "Hurry up and stretch out your hands." She quickly raised her hands, and a warmth spread in her palms.
Under the shaking veil, one could see a pair of jade-like beauties standing vividly on the hands.
"elder brother… "
Xiao Xian muttered softly, lifted her veil, and bowed toward the mountain in the distance where her brother was sitting. The Taoist looked at the beauty, stood aside and bowed as well.
Feeling something in his heart, Lu Liangsheng smiled and closed his eyes again on the solitary cliff between the clouds and mist at the distant Qixia Mountain in the west.
"Master, please go downstairs and have the banquet. I will not go downstairs as I am about to make a breakthrough."
"You should have said so earlier."
The Toad Taoist climbed up the rock again, padded his flippers, looked up at the clouds outside the mountain, turned around and jumped off the back of the white hen, "Then I will go back first, and bring you some food after the banquet!"
The white hen sat down with its webbed feet hugging the chicken's neck. It clucked twice, glanced at the toad behind it, spread its wings, and pounced directly from the edge of the cliff, rushing into the clouds.