The wind stopped and the rain stopped. The long-lost sunshine appeared in the sky, dispersing the dark clouds. The long street was muddy and wet. The news that the county government was going to demolish all the Wutong Temples and even the Dragon King Temple had spread early this morning. The city was immediately in an uproar. Regardless of the wet streets and the muddy and flooded streets, the people went to the streets to inquire about the news.
“… Dare to demolish the temple of Wutong God. Our county magistrate is really not afraid.”
"I think we have to tear it down. Rumor has it that the Five-Directions God is not a good god at all. He specializes in seducing decent women."
"Humph, what do you know, young man? The Five-Power God can also bring fortune. If the county magistrate doesn't perform this play well, he will arouse the indignation of his followers!"
"Hey, stop talking, here it comes!"
Someone shouted, and then the sound of galloping horses was heard on the long street leading to the county government office. In a moment, a team of dozens of knights wearing rare armor and holding swords came galloping down the street, followed by the county government's runners and constables.
Seeing this scene, the disappearance was naturally confirmed. The onlookers hurriedly took back what they had seen and excitedly told their neighbors. For a while, the believers who worshipped Wutong God and Dragon King Temple shouted and obstructed them. They were arrested by the yamen runners and constables and put into jail. Only then did they behave themselves a little, but they still gathered from a distance and cursed the government officials who were demolishing the temple.
"Why are you demolishing our temple? You are committing a sin and you will be punished sooner or later!"
“… You guys are so stupid, why don’t you tear down the private school too?”
"You guys over there, you can scold me, but don't bring me to school. My child is still in school. Mr. Jin is a pretty good person! Don't bring this up in school! Be careful or I'll beat you up!"
"Mr. Jin is over there, be careful if you hear it, and continue to scold those who demolished the temple!"
…
All the commotion did not prevent the temple from collapsing. Those who had come to see the excitement did not stay any longer. They looked at the time and had to go home for dinner, so they dispersed in groups of three or four. On their way back, they talked about the demolition of the temple with great interest.
"Who knows, those people in Huaitong Town who believe in the Wutong God may come here tomorrow with their weapons."
"Who said it wasn't? Why would the county magistrate demolish the temple for no reason?"
"… You can't say that. Didn't you see a mighty general standing next to the county magistrate? He looks like a general under the governor, or he is from the capital."
"Oh, let's stop talking about that... Let's talk about something else. Oh, by the way, someone just mentioned demolishing the school. Temples and schools are two different things. These people are really good at making random connections."
"Humph, you are just angry. It's just a barking dog. If you really want to demolish it, Mr. Jin will be the first one to refuse!"
A few people who were talking about what they had seen today walked past the willows by the lake. They paused for a moment and heard the tinkling of copper bells. A figure leading an old donkey came over from the Taoist temple in front. He leisurely turned to the path by the lake, and was looking at the lotus leaves by the lake and the scenery in the distance with his hands behind his back.
Scholars are treated with kindness here, and when those people saw that it was a scholar in a blue shirt and white robe, they liked him very much. When they wanted to pass by him, they did not forget to smile back and bow to him.
The scholar who was looking at the lake view turned around and bowed to them in return. Then he took out writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone from the bookshelf, set up his easel and sat down.
The breeze blew through the willow branches. Lu Liangsheng ground the ink, put it aside, picked up the brush, dipped it in it, and then fell on the blank scroll. While watching the lake view take in his eyes and remembering it in his mind, he walked quickly and windingly with his wide sleeves held up, leaving behind a bleak autumn scenery of Jinhu Lake.
Squeak~~
The small door of the bookshelf was slightly ajar, and the Toad Taoist was hanging outside with his two short legs, nodding his head. When the wind blew, he shook his head violently and tried to open his eyes. Seeing that no one was around, he climbed down the rope to the ground, spread his webbed feet and ran to his disciple.
"Liangsheng, why do you stop here? Why don't you go into the city and stay in an inn and order a table of good wine and food?"
"Finish this painting first."
Lu Liangsheng picked up the Toad Taoist priest and put him on his shoulder. "The Five-Power Gods are just some small monsters. It won't be difficult for Yuwen Chengdu to deal with them with my seal. The real powerful one is the old dragon in the lake in front of us."
The toad lying on the scholar's shoulder carefully looked at the beautiful lake scenery that was gradually taking shape in his painting, and found that apart from the scenery, the entire painting was extremely small, and even the entire Jin Lake was faintly included in it.
"Are you going to use the painting to set up the formation?"
Lu Liangsheng kept his hands busy, staring at the painting of water waves and lotus leaves, with a smile on his face, "We have to make some preparations to win every battle, but I don't want to hurt the old dragon's life, so I'd better pull the demon star energy out of him first."
The scholar smiled, and suddenly stopped writing. He pointed at the ground with his fingers, and a thought came to his mind. He silently said, "This is the land. Please come here."
Under a willow tree, a cloud of white smoke rose up, and a five-foot-tall figure came out, fanning his hands and coughing while leaning on a cane, as if choked by smoke. He walked over to the side of the scholar who was painting, stroked his white beard with a smile, and raised his hands: "This gentleman has cultivated supernatural powers. I congratulate you! Congratulations!"
"No, I am sorry to bother the land master to come here."
"It's okay, sir. You are so gentle and polite, which is rare." The land god sat down on a large bluestone nearby with the help of his crutch. He was too lazy to ask the monks to call him out. On weekdays, he stayed in the land god temple. He was very depressed, so it was quite comfortable for him to have someone to talk to.
Perhaps he was a little uncomfortable sitting there, so the land god smiled and tapped the top of his staff to shrink the stone under him. "Sir, did you come up to me? Do you have anything to ask me?"
The toad lying on Lu Liangsheng's shoulder rolled its eyes and blew its whiskers... I called you up just to ask a question, so just answer it. There's no need to be so polite.
The scholar glanced at his master, said nothing, then turned his face to the land god opposite and smiled:
"There is one thing indeed."
As he spoke, he pointed to the large lake behind him and said, "God of Land, do you know where the old dragon in this lake came from?"
On the opposite side, the land god looked at the lake where the scholar pointed for a while, nodded, stood up from the bluestone, with a puzzled look on his face. He had been the land god here for many years, so he naturally knew it well.
“… This lake is called Golden Lake, and there is indeed an old dragon in that lake, who has been there since he became a land of old age.”
The old man stroked his white beard and closed his eyes to think for a while. It seemed that his consciousness returned to the temple and he was looking through the land book. After a while, he opened his eyes.
"That dragon has probably been cultivating here for 1,200 years, and is known as the Golden Dragon King. But in fact, it is a dragon with green scales and a white belly that has attained enlightenment, not a real dragon from heaven. However, although it has attained enlightenment, it has never done anything that would harm heaven or earth, and it has been living in harmony with me, so I will just let it go."
One thousand and two years
Golden Dragon King?!
Lu Liangsheng, who was sitting in front of the easel, was stunned for a moment when he heard the time when Lao Long was practicing. At the same time, the toad on his shoulder narrowed its eyes at the name.
At this time, a humble voice sounded: "This classmate is really good at calligraphy and painting."
Hearing this, Lu Liangsheng turned his head and saw a scholar in a green robe, staring at his painting with a smile, coming from the other direction of the lake. As if he couldn't see the land on the other side of the stone railing, he leaned on a cane and bowed politely.
"My humble student, Jin Huaian, was a little reckless just now. I hope my classmates won't blame me."
The land god over there was interrupted in the middle of his speech. He shook his head with an unsatisfied look, then turned into a puff of white smoke and descended into the ground. When Lu Liangsheng saw the land god leaving, he had to stand up and talk to the scholar. After taking a look at him, he found that the other party did not have any magical powers and was just an ordinary person.
Most of the time they met people with the same interests and came over to talk. The scholar was one of them. He looked at the beautiful scenery of Jinhu Lake, which had already taken shape, and praised it with envy. As they were both scholars, he couldn't help but talk to Lu Liangsheng about some academic matters, and Toad Taoist almost fell asleep again after listening to him.
After a long while, Jin Huaian stood up and said goodbye with a satisfied look on his face.
"Classmate Lu, if you are free, you can come to the private school in the city to find me. I am always here."
Lu Liangsheng smiled, walked him a few steps, and said with a cupped hand, "Okay, when I finish my work, come and sit down when you have time."
"Goodbye!"
The scholar opposite heaved a sigh of relief, clasped his hands heavily, then turned around and walked away. Perhaps because he was meeting someone with similar interests, he seemed happy on the way back with a bounce in his steps.
"It seems that he is just a scholar who likes to discuss academic matters."
After watching the other party leave, Lu Liangsheng sat back down. It was a pity that the land god had already returned to the temple. It would be somewhat embarrassing to call him out again. "I'll call him tomorrow."
Thinking about this, the Taoist priest came back around the lake shore holding two tree branches, threw them aside and raised his chin, "I have found the center of the formation. When you have almost finished drawing it, we can set up the formation."
"Um."
At the moment, Lu Liangsheng had lost interest in painting, so he simply put away the easel, took out the seal from his arms and handed it to Sun Yingxian.
"There is still the Dragon King Temple that has not been demolished. Take my seal and go to the city to meet Yuwen Chengdu. He will naturally listen to your instructions. Have him demolish all the Dragon King Temples by the lake as soon as possible!"
"When you need errands, ask me to do it." The Taoist took a sip of water, pressed the cork back hard, snatched the seal from the scholar, and put it in his arms, "When we return to Qixia Mountain, I will tell your sister!"
After the Taoist priest left, Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey onto the official road and walked slowly towards Huai Ling in front of him, also looking at the toad lying on his shoulder with drooping eyes.
"Master, the land god just mentioned the name of the Golden Dragon King. Do you seem to know him?"
On the shaking shoulders, the Toad Taoist opened his eyes and snorted coldly.
"Defeated general!"
After hearing these words again, Lu Liangsheng showed a wry smile. How many monsters and humans had his master fought against in the past
As night fell, the lights in the city lit up and illuminated the streets. The Taoist entered the city and walked quickly through the long street. Suddenly, he subconsciously stopped and looked towards a certain place in the city. "Evil spirit?"
Then he patted his head and said, "Who cares what kind of monster it is? When Mr. Lu comes to the city, all monsters will be gone. I don't want to worry about it anymore."
…
A few long streets adjacent to the Taoist temple, there is a building with bright lights. Through the window lattice, a man who looks like a scholar is quietly reading a book.
If Lu Liangsheng were here, he would be able to recognize that this person was the scholar he met by the lake before.
A gust of wind blew in through the slightly opened window. As the lights flickered, soft footsteps suddenly sounded outside. Jin Huaian raised his head and saw a beautiful figure walking by the window and knocking on the door.
"You're here."
The scholar showed joy on his face and quickly opened the door to let the woman in. The flickering firelight illuminated the woman in an apricot-yellow dress. Her hair was swaying like jade beads. She twisted her slender waist and walked into the room leisurely. Just as Jin Huaian closed the door, the woman suddenly knelt down.
"Sir, I am coming here tonight to see you for the last time."
"This... this... what's going on? Get up first."
The scholar frantically tried to help the other person up, but he couldn't lift her up. He just kept swinging his hands around and thinking, "What happened? We were so happy, like fish in water..."
"No, I want to say goodbye to you, sir."
The woman's voice was sad, tears rolled down her cheeks, and she whispered, "My father has provoked an enemy, and now he has come to our house. My family is in great trouble, and I am afraid I will not be spared either."
"ah?"
Jin Huaian squatted down on the opposite side, held up the pretty face of the woman, wiped away her tears with his hand, and said anxiously, "What should we do? Let's report to the police."
The woman shook her head, and the jade hairpin swayed with the beads.
“… Reporting to the police won’t save us…” At this point, he paused and reached out to grab the scholar’s arm: “But you can help.”
"Me? I'm powerless... How can I help?"
Seeing that the woman was about to cry again, Jin Huaian panicked, "Tell me, tell me how I can help you, you get up first."
The woman stopped crying, stood up and followed the scholar to sit on the stool, but her hands kept holding on to him. In the firelight, she forced out a smile. Seeing her tearful appearance, Jin Huaian mustered up his courage and asked:
"What do you think I should do?"
"My family's great enemy has come to Huailing today. He is a scholar with an old donkey by his side. He is also a scholar like you. If you go and ask him for help, perhaps he can resolve this disaster for my family..."