"Liang Sheng?"
Taoist Toad ran past the thatched cottage, climbed up a nearby rock, and looked at the floating figure over the old pine. Then, in the woods outside the mountain, Hong Lian, in a white dress, floated over the treetops, swayed for several feet, and landed lightly on the edge of the cliff. Her embroidered shoes kicked the hem of her skirt as she slowly came over.
Looking at the scholar floating in the air, with some worry in his eyes, he whispered:
"Master Toad, has the young master reached the state of spiritual enlightenment?"
The spiritual realm is a realm reached by those who practice Taoism in the world of the living. Hong Lian didn't know much about it. The toad next to her also shook his head, hugged his flippers, and had a serious look on his face.
"Don't look at me. I'm not sure either. Judging from the spiritual energy around him, it should be... done."
The hesitant words faded away into the old pine tree. Lu Liangsheng, who seemed to be standing in the air above the clouds, closed his eyes and stood on the ground as if his feet were real.
"The Divine Realm..."
While muttering these three words, Lu Liangsheng's hands hanging at his sides could not help but clench one by one, clenched into fists and pressed hard on his thighs. The difference between humans and cultivators is the golden elixir, and the difference between cultivators and cultivators is the primordial infant. The realm of spiritual connection is the difference between elevating the cultivator to the level of comprehending the way of heaven and communicating with the gods with spiritual consciousness.
Feeling the spiritual energy surrounding his body, he slightly raised his face and took a breath. The spiritual energy swirled around him for a while and then penetrated into his body like lightning, making Lu Liangsheng feel calmer than ever before. It was as if the mountains and rivers seemed to come alive again out of the silence.
"... Liangsheng should have reached the spiritual realm, but he is still a little bit behind me. If it were me at my peak, it would be a piece of cake. For example, I had to be careful when talking to that wolf demon..."
"Little ghost girl, I'm talking to you, please pay attention..."
On the rock, that was the Master's voice. He was holding his flippers, looking up with a serious expression and talking to Hong Lian who was beside him.
Whoosh whoosh~~
The mountain breeze blew, and the old pine trees swayed gently, sweeping their branches. Lu Liangsheng closed his eyes and turned his face slightly. He could hear the imperceptible sound of the sea of clouds rolling among the mountains in the distance beyond the cliff.
Birds flew across the bright sunshine and landed on nearby branches, chirping crisply. Under the tree, in the thick layer of fallen leaves, insects were rustling and wriggling. A squirrel with a big tail ran across the leaves, jumped onto the tree trunk, and quickly disappeared among the lush branches.
A little further away, spring water seeped through the moss and fell to the ground from the cracks in the rocks. Following the splashing water, Lu Liangsheng saw countless roots in the forest absorbing nutrients from the soil. The dripping mountain spring gathered into a river and flowed down the mountain, along with fields, wells, houses, and faces of people having a banquet.
The father was busy picking up food, the mother was holding chopsticks and preaching to others, the Taoist was in a wedding gown, his face was flushed, Lu Pan and the other eight people were bare-chested and trembling their muscles, red candles were burning in the house, and the sister covered with a red veil was sitting on the magpie bed, swaying from side to side, reaching out to grab the food on the table and stuffing it into her mouth, then sitting back down.
Everything around him seemed like a picture scroll painted out from Lu Liangsheng's mind.
"This is the spiritual realm... I can perceive everything around me without using any magic, but I don't know how far I can 'see'."
Concentrate your mind and return to your body.
"It's time to go down."
Lu Liangsheng opened his eyes, and his mind moved. His body seemed to be lifted by the wind and slowly descended to the edge of the cliff. He waved his sleeves and stretched out his hands. The eight scrolls floated around him until they shrank one by one and flew into his spread sleeves.
Over there, the Toad Taoist stretched out his two short legs and sat on a rock, concentrating on calculating with his flippers.
"Foundation building, golden elixir, Nascent Soul, spiritual communication... I was spiritual communication, elixir formation, shapeshifting, spiritual cultivation, devouring things, demon king..."
He didn't even notice the apprentice's shadow covering him like a dark cloud. Hong Lian, who was standing beside him, smiled and bowed.
"Hong Lian congratulates you, young master, on achieving the Great Dao."
“The road is still a long way off.”
Lu Liangsheng picked up the toad that he was still thinking about, held it in his hand and put it on his shoulder, then walked towards the thatched cottage with the woman beside him. After a few steps, he stopped, turned around and bowed to the old man behind him to express his gratitude.
"Thank you for protecting me from the wind and rain for two years and helping me practice."
"Why?!"
At this time, the toad, who had almost figured it out, suddenly raised his head and opened his eyes wide.
“… He is only one level lower than I was back then.”
After he finished speaking, he looked around and realized that he had landed on his apprentice's shoulder. "Liangsheng, where are we going?"
The scholar looked at the slowly descending mountain path ahead, tilted his head slightly, and smiled:
"Of course I'm going down to the wedding banquet, but I don't know if there are any empty seats."
"It must be gone." Hong Lian walked in front with her hands behind her back, and occasionally drifted out of the mountain, picked a wild flower, blew away the petals and let them fly away.
"However, we can ask Taoist Sun to set up another table."
"he?"
The Toad Taoist priest, who was leaning against his disciple's ear, seemed to have forgotten about calculating his realm. He snorted, "The betrothal gifts are still on credit. I have never seen such a shameless person."
Hong Lian turned her head and looked over here, raised her finger with contempt, the toad smacked his lips, sat down with his big eyes wide open.
"What are you looking at? I am not a human being."
"That's just as shameless."
"Who said I don't have any? You little ghost girl, you've only received a few days of incense, are you going to heaven?!"
"It's been several years of incense..."
Listening to the argument between the master and Hong Lian, Lu Liangsheng did not interrupt at the right time. He took a quick step and when he landed he was already at the foot of the mountain. He entered the village and saw the children who had finished their meal early were chasing and playing. When they saw the scholar with the toad on his shoulder, they showed joy on their faces and ran over to him in a swarm.
"Uncle Lu!" "Let us play with the big toad."
"Does it jump far?"
"When can I attend your wedding?" "I heard it can recognize the door and go back by itself, is that true?"
A group of half-grown children were the new additions to the village in recent years. In terms of seniority, Lu Liangsheng was indeed an uncle. One of the children, from Erniu's family who got married last time, was running around naked.
Lu Liangsheng touched the heads of the children and told them with a smile that these were living creatures and they could not be played with at will. The children heard his gentle voice and somehow agreed with him in their hearts. They happily took their friends to play somewhere else.
Over there, the villagers who were still enjoying the banquet saw the scholar approaching and many of them stood up with their bowls in hand.
"Liangsheng, why are you coming down the mountain just now? Come on, I still have room for you, come sit down and eat."
"Come over here, there are still plenty of dishes."
There were a lot of chattering words coming from them, and Lu Liangsheng didn't know how to respond to them one by one. He bowed to them and pointed to his parents who were sitting over there.
"There's still room over there, just help yourself and eat."
The villagers around looked at Li Jinhua and gave up the idea of inviting their nephew to come over and sit down. The wedding banquet became lively again. Lu Liangsheng also went over and sat next to his mother. He picked up a pair of chopsticks that no one had used and put a dish into Li Jinhua's bowl.
The woman looked at the piece of meat in the bowl and muttered, "He still remembers to come back." She picked up the meat and put it in her mouth to chew, as if to forgive her son for not showing up for half a year.
After the banquet, most people dispersed in twos and threes, leaving only a group of village women to clean up the mess. Lu Liangsheng walked back to the yard with his parents. The Toad Taoist burped and walked into the bookshelf compartment, swaying on his flippers.
Squeak~~
The scholar who pushed the door open smelled the scent of the room he hadn't returned to for a long time, took the book he hadn't finished writing last time, and sat down comfortably at the table.
Suddenly I thought of someone and asked, "Where is Qiyou?"
Hong Lian walked into the room, took the inkstone, mixed it with water and started to grind ink. She supported her chin and said, "I don't know. I haven't seen her for a long time. The last time I saw her was with Yanzhi." Then she quietly watched Lu Liangsheng holding a wolf hair brush and writing one word after another on the paper. She blinked curiously and spoke again.
"Sir, these are all magic techniques? What are they used for?"
As the pen tip moved across the paper with a rustling sound, Lu Liangsheng looked intently at the contents of the handwriting, some of which were techniques from "Qinghuai Bugeng" that involved refining the body, exorcising evil spirits, and saving lives.
In the past two years, when he had time to suppress the demon stars and improve his cultivation, the scholar still remembered what Yang Jian had mentioned to him about the Demon Suppression Division. He summarized some small tricks or practical skills that could be used without the need for cultivation, which was the foundation of the Demon Suppression Division.
“… It’s very useful, you’ll know later.”
As Lu Liangsheng explained with a smile, a war horse came galloping on the mountain road outside Qixia Mountain. The man in gray clothes riding on the back wiped his forehead, occasionally stopped the horse, and asked the nearby teahouse about the direction of Lujia Village and the name of the Lu Lang from Qixia Mountain. After verifying it, he took a few sips of cold tea and continued to move south along the mountain road.
Probably I want to reach the Lujia Village in Qixia Mountain mentioned by Your Majesty before the sun sets.
At this time, the sunlight slanted and gradually sank over the mountain.
Wow wow —
In the midst of the fallen red, an old crow stood on a branch, uttering a creepy cry, staring at the knights rushing on the road below.