Ding ding dong —
The sound of copper bells echoed in the mountains at dusk. The gradually red glow shone on the broken mountain peaks. Lu Liangsheng raised his head while leading the old donkey, looking at the flattened mountaintops in the distance.
That was what he cut off with a sword when he fought with Lu Yuan in Wujiang Mountain two years ago. Mosses had already crawled over the bookshelf. Listening to Hong Lian and Qi You chattering in the bookshelf, Lu Liangsheng called down the goshawk flying overhead. The hawk flapped its wings and descended, then transformed into a boy who ran towards him happily, shaking his wide sleeves.
"Master, what are you asking Qingfeng to do?"
Lu Liangsheng stroked his hair and asked as he continued walking forward:
"What kind of monster is occupying Wu Se Manor?"
"They are three weird guys, and they are quite skilled." Qingfeng raised his little face and counted them with his fingers: "One is tall and strong, with a full beard, like a tiger, and the other two are tall and thin, one has a long beard, and the other has a goatee..."
Listening to the little boy's description, Lu Liangsheng turned his head with confusion in his eyes. Why did these three monsters sound so familiar
After looking at the boy beside him, his eyes couldn't help but look at the vaguely visible building in front of him. Soon, a mossy bluestone staircase meandered down. It was wet because of the rain here. As he approached the mountain gate, under the perception of the spiritual realm, he could feel three familiar demonic auras coming from the Taoist temple, as well as rustling voices.
"… Big brother is right. My three brothers have settled here. When our cultivation level improves, we can go anywhere!"
"I just don't know where that little kid went to get help. What if he was a person with high cultivation level? Wouldn't my three brothers..."
"How advanced is your cultivation? Can it be as advanced as that of the scholar last night?"
The sturdy man with a thick beard rested, stood up, waved his rough big hand heroically, and looked at his two brothers with stern eyes.
"... In fact, if my three brothers work together, we can still defeat Gongsun Liao. If our cultivation is not damaged, we can still fight with that scholar..."
Ding-ling-dang~~~
As he was talking, the sound of a copper bell rang out from outside the nearby mountain gate. When the two demons sitting under the eaves turned their heads, the big man who was still talking stopped talking at the word "war", raised his voice towards the other side, and waved his palm: "Look at me, I haven't finished talking yet, why are you looking over there!"
Seeing that the two monsters did not react, he slowly turned his head along their line of sight, and his expression suddenly froze. The person walking up the stone steps outside the mountain gate was a scholar leading an old donkey, wearing a green shirt and white robe, standing there with a smile.
There was also a boy with a small bun beside him, pointing at him and saying, "Master, it was these three who bullied me and robbed the Five Colors Manor!"
As soon as the little guy finished speaking, he heard three consecutive sounds of knees hitting the ground.
The three demons standing under the eaves lowered their bodies one by one, knelt on the ground, and raised their hands above their heads skillfully. The sturdy man in the lead changed his ferocious expression and forced a smile.
"Great Immortal!"
The deer demon quickly whispered: "Spare my life..."
It really is the three of them... They changed their human forms, but their tone of voice remained the same.
On his way here, Lu Liangsheng was still wondering why the monsters that occupied Wuse Manor sounded so familiar. Now that he saw these three monsters, he didn't know whether to smile or continue to have a cold expression on his face.
Over there, the tiger, deer and sheep demons lowered their heads as if they felt something and raised their faces slightly. The setting sun cast human shadows and spread over, obscuring their vision. They couldn't see each other's expressions in the shadows. The sheep were so scared that they dared not speak, and poked the tiger demon in the middle with their elbows. The latter had always been courageous and asked in a low voice.
"Why is the Immortal here?"
As he asked this question, he caught a glimpse of the boy holding his hands over there. He wanted to slap himself in the face, so he quickly clenched his fists, full of energy.
"So this is the residence of the Great Immortal. The three of us saw that the little boy was outnumbered and worried that he couldn't defend the residence, so we volunteered... The Great Immortal doesn't believe it? Look, we haven't touched the Dharma Realm inside the temple. We are just guarding outside."
"You can't touch me." Qingfeng crossed her arms and glared at them fiercely.
Lu Liangsheng raised his hand to stop Qingfeng from saying anything, and looked at the surrounding buildings. The Taoist temple attic that was destroyed in the initial battle had almost been repaired, and now it looked much better. He waved his sleeves and spoke softly to the three monsters with his back to them.
"I am not a great immortal, nor am I a master. I am Lu Liangsheng, the national teacher of the Great Sui Dynasty. You have never harmed anyone. I believe you. You have occupied this place by force, but I cannot let you three monsters go so easily..."
When the tiger, deer and sheep heard this, they looked at each other and kowtowed without waiting for the scholar to finish. "Thank you for your mercy, Master. We three brothers are willing to be punished. Why not punish us to leave the Sui Kingdom and flee to other places, never to set foot in the Middle Earth again?"
After talking for a while, regardless of whether the scholar opposite nodded or not, he got up and turned to run. On the bookshelf on the side of the donkey's buttocks, a small door opened and the Toad Taoist stuck his face out. The three demons who came over sensed the familiar demonic aura and screamed "Ah--". They stumbled towards the mountain gate and ran farther and farther away in the setting sun.
The rosy glow of the sunset shone through the mountain gate, casting shadows on the ground. Qing Feng stood on tiptoe to look around and saw only three small black dots left.
"Master, are you just going to let them go like this?"
Lu Liangsheng walked over to the old donkey with his hands behind his back, put the master at the small door to the ground, turned around and walked to the nearest attic, tapped the air with his fingertips, and a circle of ripples appeared in the air.
"Qingfeng, the injustices in the world do not necessarily have to be dealt with by hand and blood splattered. I remember one year when I was traveling in Sichuan, I met a doctor who died unjustly in prison. But the first thing he thought of was to treat the patient.
For example, there was a boatman who fell into the water after drinking with someone, but he didn’t want to vent his anger on the drunkard, so he continued to ferry people across the river day after day…”
The ripples spread, and feeling the familiar magic power from the scholar, the barrier around the attic withdrew the magic power it maintained. Lu Liangsheng put down his hands and put them behind his back, stepped onto the stairs, and the door opposite opened quietly and silently, revealing the furnishings inside.
Qingfeng followed behind and tilted his head: "Master... did that doctor finally get his revenge?"
"Yes."
Lu Liangsheng stood at the threshold, looked up at the large characters written on the plaque above the door, and said softly, "Master has reported it for him."
The setting sun cast a remnant of red on the western clouds, passing through the clouds and crossing to the border of Shu, in a certain county town. The wet eaves were dripping with rain curtains.
On the long street with bluestone floors, doors were open and lights were flickering in the houses. A man wrapped in a towel refused the copper coins handed over by an old man and handed the written prescription to his wife beside him. Soon, he sent the last patient away, bowed at the door to a pair of ghost messengers holding umbrellas and dragging iron chains who were passing by, then went to the backyard, sat down with his wife with a smile, and took a sip of the rice bowl.
The lights are warm yellow, reflecting warmth.
…
"There is gain and loss. If he had taken revenge and settled his grievances that day, there would be no other life."
Lu Liangsheng walked into the attic, waved his sleeves to sweep away the remaining dust on the tables and chairs, and saw the bookshelves full of bamboo slips stacked on top of each other. He smiled and casually pulled out a scroll to read.
He continued, "… Perhaps what Master said is not entirely right, but many things in the world can actually be solved by different ways of 'killing'. On the path of Tao, we cannot let killing and revenge cloud our Tao heart and nature. We can kill them with reason or with a sharp blade. Confucianism talks about convincing people with reason, but Master's reason can be soft or hard. We don't have to kill all the monsters that still have good intentions. God allows them to exist for a reason."
When Lu Liangsheng saw the little man standing beside him in a daze, he rolled up the bamboo slips and tapped him on the head with a smile.
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand. Just follow me and walk around the world more often, and you'll understand naturally."
"oh."
The ignorant boy covered his head which was hurt by the blow and responded with a cry. The rosy glow outside spread and cast people's shadows slantly. Eight big men put down the big pot, lit a bonfire and cooked food under the command of the Toad Taoist who stood with his hands on his hips.
The setting sun gradually went down the mountain, and the last ray of sunlight shone on the white clouds. Under this sky, countless unfair things arose from the friction between people. Farmers on the ridges of the fields were shouting and arguing over the ditches. Not long after, they made up as before and sat at the entrance of the village chatting about what they had heard outside, the distant city, and the children chasing and fighting each other cried. The older one hesitated while holding the carved wooden ox, and finally returned the toy to the other party.
On a distant muddy road at the foot of the mountain, an old monk who had lost his arm sat weakly on the side of the road. A passing caravan kindly took him with them.
Following the mountain road leading to the Western Regions, on Baihu Ridge, the red fox returned to the mountain holding a corpse, gently placed it on the stone chair in the cave, knelt down and kowtowed three times to her, repaying her past kindness, then turned and left to pursue his own practice in the future.
In the boundless sea of sand, before the sun sets, the demon king, dressed in a cloak, sits in the gravel, watching the vast dust blowing by, thinking of his former master.
Ouch—
The cry of wolves echoed in the desert.
Heading east, the three figures left Wujiang Mountain. Looking back, only the outline of the mountain and the surrounding mountains were left. He decided to go to the west first. Thinking of the words of the master, he felt that the word "national master" sounded majestic. Even if he did not have enough magical powers, it could at least scare people.
... Perhaps, it would be nice to get the title of national teacher.
Chang'an of Sui Dynasty.
In the night, thousands of lights were lit up. Compared with the bustling and lively night market, in the imperial city, the emperor threw the memorial in his hand to the ground after reading it, swept it away with one hand, and knocked over the lamp holder on the table.
"I want to fulfill the last wish of the late emperor, why is Yang Su trying to stop me! This is not allowed, that is not allowed, isn't he just relying on his own merits?! I am so angry!!"
Yang Guang waved his hands, slamming the tabletop with loud bangs, scaring the palace maids and eunuchs serving around him so much that they lowered their heads and dared not breathe. After a moment, the emperor, who was walking back and forth with his hands behind his back, stopped.
"Aren't you just bullying me because I'm young and not as dazzling as the previous emperor?"
He paused, and with his face illuminated by the lamp, he turned to the eunuch who was waiting to announce the decree at the side of the dragon case, "Since that is the case, I will lead the army in person and show my prestige!"
His tone was firm and decisive, and he answered each word clearly in the empty hall.
"Just attack Tuyuhun—"