“… If people are kind, I will treat them kindly… If people have no grudges, evil will not arise on their own. I will treat people kindly…”
The autumn wind blew the yellow leaves off and floated into the pond, silently creating a circle of ripples. On the side of the huge rock engraved with the words "Longevity", a young scholar with a turban on his head, holding a scroll, walked past the children sitting on the futons and whispered softly, "... The only way for a person to establish himself is through virtue..."
The children sitting cross-legged on the cushions, wearing small Taoist robes, smiled with puzzled expressions, and few of them could understand what was said. Not long after, Lu Liangsheng rolled up the book and tapped the head of a child who was secretly dozing off, which immediately caused the children around him to laugh.
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand. Just listen more and you will understand it naturally when you grow up."
Lu Liangsheng was not angry. Instead, he smiled and reached out to rub the child who had been hit. "… Learning these things will not be useless. Okay, my lessons are over today. Put the mats away and put them back in place. Then wait here for the eight masters to come and teach you some physical exercises."
The children nodded hesitantly, and when they saw the gentleman leave, they cheered and picked up their futons and ran to the attic on the right.
Lu Liangsheng looked back at them and couldn't help laughing. He brought these children into the temple without setting too many rules, nor did he follow the famous sects to find some leaders or elders. He just wanted to teach some children so that these orphans who had lost their parents could have the skills to support themselves. But before that, they had to read more books on morality to enrich their minds, so that they would not learn magic and do evil in the future when they went out. That would be a slap in the face.
After half a month of getting along, these orphans who lost their parents were generally relatively mature and sensible. Even if they didn't understand the principles in the books he talked about, they would listen quietly. As long as they kept them in mind, they would spread them implicitly in the future and use them as a principle for going out, so there was no need to worry about too many troubles.
It can even give the same ideological education to the next generation of these children, so there is no need to worry about them going astray. Of course, this is only what Lu Liangsheng hopes for. No one can predict what will happen if that happens.
"Old Lu, it seems that listening to your preaching is not as popular as listening to me and your eight uncles."
The Taoist squatted under the shade of the tree, together with the Toad Taoist lying on the small recliner. With dark eyes, he looked at the scholar holding the scroll. He touched the tip of his whisker and said with a smile: "Last time, I cast a shadow-drawing magic on them. These kids still remember it. When they see me, they call me master and I feel very comfortable. Hehe!"
On the small recliner, the toad opened his eyes, tilted his face, looked at Sun Yingxian, who was smiling so hard that his eyes were squeezed into slits, and snorted: "… Your eyes don't hurt? What's the art of drawing shadows to reveal demons? It's because you got beaten up badly by that black pig."
"What do you care? I'm happy to do it!"
The man and the toad started arguing again. The technique of drawing shadows to reveal demons that Sun Yingxian mentioned was just some magic tricks that he found in the book left by his deceased master, which could be used without magic power. However, there were no demons around to show him how to do it, so he had to find Zhu Ganglie. However, he ended up showing his true form in front of all the children. That night, Zhu Ganglie blocked him in the room and beat him up...
Lu Liangsheng looked at the two of them staring at each other, shook his head, and took Mingyue who was following behind him back to the attic where they lived.
Here, Hong Lian, in a white dress, was looking at the painting of horses galloping back and forth on the screen. When the scholar came in, she stepped forward and took the book with one hand, then turned around and handed over the tea that had been prepared. With a smile on her face, she watched Lu Liangsheng drink the tea.
"Master, have you finished teaching today? How are they learning?"
"I don't understand." Lu Liangsheng put down the tea bowl, sat on the stool, and looked at the future arrangements written on the paper. There was a smile in his eyes, and he seemed to be in a good mood.
"But don't worry, they are still young and may become great in the future."
"But, I think they are pretty good." Hong Lian looked at the pool outside, following Lu Pan and the other eight people as they exercised and cultivated their auras. "Sir, you see, they are more serious than the other. Maybe you didn't teach them well."
Lu Liangsheng, who was looking at the contents on the paper, was slightly stunned for a moment, "Really?" However, when he saw the dimples on Hong Lian's lips, he could not help but see something, and he pointed his finger repeatedly: "Hong Lian has also learned to tease?"
Hong Lian stuck out her tongue and made a face: "Young master knows." As she spoke, she swirled in her white skirt and turned around with a smile and floated over to the screen, then entered the moving painting, riding on a large brown horse and waving a whip.
The scholar withdrew his gaze, sat on the stool, looked back at the group of little people who followed Lu Pan and the other eight people and shouted "Heha!" in the autumn sun, and raised his eyebrows.
"Is there really something wrong with my teaching method? Forget it, let's change it later. Let these children get familiar with this place first. Well, before going to Su and Liu states, take them to get to know the temple first. Otherwise, I don't know what trouble will happen once they leave."
In the afternoon, Lu Liangsheng gathered these two hundred children together, walked around Wanshou Temple and told them the origin of this Taoist temple. When they heard the words "Holy Fire Master", "Purple Mountain Temple" and "included in the painting", they did not react much. They just thought it was magical and listened to it as a story.
But later, when Sun Yingxian told them about demons, they became interested and their ears almost pricked up.
"Evil things are hard to identify with the naked eye. One should look at the surrounding environment, such as trees, soil, water, and living things. Evil spirits are contaminated by these four things. It is hard to deceive people..."
Among these children, some hesitantly raised their arms and said, "Master Sun, what about that... what about that toad basking in the sun over there?"
Sun Yingxian glanced at the toad that turned over on the small recliner, "You have to call that old toad master!"
On the recliner, Taoist Toad, who was basking in the sun, seemed to have heard the words. He quickly turned over and sat up straight, coughed dryly, and looked at the group of children who were walking over with a serious look.
I heard the respectful voices of “Hello, Master!”
The Toad Taoist nodded solemnly and waved his webbed feet at them. As soon as they left, he relaxed his tightened belly back to its original state, yawned lazily, and continued to lie on the recliner and sleep soundly.
Afterwards, the Taoist priest led the group of children to the eaves and pointed at an old donkey lying dozing off not far away. "This is your Imperial Master's mount. Even though it is just a donkey, it can transform into something like the Qilin in the painting. It looks just like that."
A group of children shook their heads.
Old Sun smacked his lips and simply snapped his fingers at Old Donkey: "Come on, show them your face and give them some electricity."
Under the eaves, the old donkey opened his eyes lazily, and when he saw it was the Taoist, he closed them again. There were two "crackling" sounds on his bald skin, and some sparks popped out, but he was too lazy to pay attention to it.
'This old donkey...' The Taoist stood there awkwardly, and yelled into the building: "Master Lu, do it yourself, I can't do it!"
However, what responded to him was a pretty face appearing from behind the tightly closed window frame. The children were so scared that they screamed and huddled together. Ghosts are sometimes scarier than monsters. After all, this is what the old people in the village often talk about.
Hong Lian poked her head out and hushed, "Master Sun, the young master is writing. He will be traveling far away to Su and Liu states soon."
“So soon?”
The Taoist scratched his hair, looked back at the kids, and waved: "Come on, I'll show you something more exciting."
Many children followed suspiciously, and when they saw the furnishings in the hall, such as the moving screens and the glowing porcelain vases, they exclaimed "Wow" one after another.
Walking through the hall and coming to the stone steps leading underground, the group of children, who had not yet recovered from their time outside, faced the legendary monster for the first time.
Looking at Zhu Erniang, the half-human, half-spider figure hanging on the dome, spitting silk threads, waving her eight legs, pulling countless spider silks in all directions, her compound eyes blinking on her pretty face, some timid children rolled their eyes and fainted without a sound. Others were not much better off, they grabbed the Taoist's robe and hid behind him, or huddled together, covered their eyes and lowered their heads, not daring to look.
"What are you afraid of? Open your eyes!" Sun Yingxian pinched the youngest child to wake him up, and lifted him up by the collar. "Look carefully, this is the spider spirit. You should call her Second Mother from now on. The robes and shoes you are wearing were knitted for you by her thread by thread."
More than two hundred children filled the basement. Looking at the spider silk all around and the shoes and socks formed in the hands of the spider spirit, their little hands subconsciously wiped off the silky, warm clothes on their bodies. Although they were still very scared, they finally dared to take a few more glances.
Afterwards, when I came out of the basement, I wanted to call Zhu Ganglie out to let these orphans get to know him, but unfortunately, Old Zhu had gone to Xifenglou to be the chef and had not returned yet.
Lu Liangsheng made such arrangements probably to prevent some children from being unable to resist their curiosity and sneaking into the basement when Lu Pan and others were not paying attention when he and the Taoist priest left and getting scared. Instead of that, it would be better to let them see it clearly, which would not only eliminate their curiosity but also give them a more intuitive understanding of the monsters.
…
The sky was sinking and gradually becoming gloomy.
After watching more than 200 children from Wanshou Temple being taken away by Lu Pan, in the attic, the Taoist wiped his back with a magic sword, counted the yellow talismans and put them in the cloth bag. Seeing Lu Liangsheng packed his luggage, came out with a bookshelf and put it on the old donkey's back, he followed him out and pinched his finger joints hard, making a series of "cracking" sounds.
“When the time comes, let me hit that old dragon a few more times!”
"what ever."
Lu Liangsheng put the scroll away, sat horizontally on the donkey's back, and continued to walk slowly to the mountain gate below with the old donkey. In the shaking bookshelf, the Toad Taoist priest drooped his eyelids, looking at the street scene passing by in confusion, as if he was sleepy again.
Ah Er Ang hum~~~
The old donkey neighed excitedly, stamped its hooves high, and carried the scholar leisurely along the noisy street, heading south.