"It's a pity that the divine power... is a little weak."
Lu Liangsheng looked at the outline of the huge building in the distance and was a little shocked. He could see it from here, so he could see how big it was standing in front of him. The warm wind caressed his hair and robe. No matter what, he had to go and take a look first to find out where this place was and which country's territory it belonged to.
He collected his thoughts and snapped his fingers at the four scholars who were still looking at the scenery along the river.
"Let's go and take a look."
"Hey, wait a minute, Imperial Master."
The four men who washed their faces with water from the river tidied their clothes and appearance, then hurriedly caught up and followed beside them. Looking at the road that was obviously man-made, the four scholars had some worry on their faces.
"Master, we can't communicate with each other. If they also ask for proof of identity, won't they throw us all into prison?"
At the side, Wang Feng, the leader of the four, nudged Zhang Ti who was speaking with his elbow, "With the Imperial Master here, how could he go to jail? Besides, how can we, the scholars of the Great Sui Dynasty, live in poverty here? Wouldn't that be embarrassing for His Majesty who is far away in the Great Sui Dynasty?!"
Lu Liangsheng ignored them and pushed aside the branches hanging down by the roadside. In front of him was a gentle slope covered with yellow sand. A shepherd wearing a hood and waving a whip was driving a flock of sheep.
Baa~~~Baa~~~
The sheep, which were covered like snowballs, were neighing one after another on the slope. The shepherd, who had only one pair of eyes exposed, also saw a group of people in strange clothes walking slowly along the road. The fabrics were so exquisite that he could not take his eyes away.
Knowing that there was a language barrier, Lu Liangsheng did not ask any questions. He just smiled at the wary shepherd and raised his hand to greet him.
This action scared the shepherd on the opposite side, and he shrank back holding the wooden stick he was using to herd the sheep.
Seeing this, Lu Liangsheng smiled apologetically, prepared to leave, turned around and continued to move forward to take a look at the city and market here. Just after taking two steps, he suddenly stopped and clapped his other hand with a sound.
'How could I have forgotten.'
Regarding the language barrier, there seems to be a passage in "Nan Shui Shi Yi" that records that when two local dialects were unclear, a Taoist priest created a magic that could allow people speaking different dialects in the two places to learn the language of one of them and even understand it.
'Hmm... let me think about it.'
Lu Liangsheng stood there for a long time, tapping his fingertips. The four scholars standing on both sides of Lao Lu wanted to say something but stopped themselves. They had to wait patiently. After a while, Lu Liangsheng clenched his palms, walked to the bookshelf, took out a few talismans left for him by Sun Yingxian, took out one and crumpled it into a ball in his palm. A ball of fire burst out with a bang, and then the fire disappeared, leaving only a pile of ashes.
'I don't know if it will have the same effect.'
Recalling the content in "Nan Shui Shi Yi" and the spell recorded therein, Lu Liangsheng's lips moved quickly, and he spread out the black ash in his hand and blew it towards the shepherd.
The wind started to blow.
Ashes flew away from his palm and formed a black cloud that floated towards the shepherd. The latter was so scared that he dropped his stick and turned to run. The black smoke chased after him and instantly penetrated into his seven orifices. Lu Liangsheng stretched out his hand, pinched off a 'little tail' dragged by the black cloud, and then closed his eyes.
His spiritual consciousness extended along the wisp of black smoke, and the same thing gathered over there. After a moment, he slowly opened his eyes at the soft calls of the four scholars, nodded to the four people, indicating that everything was fine, and with a flick of his robe sleeves, he put away the spell and walked towards the shepherd with the mentality of giving it a try.
Meow~~
The flock of sheep scattered, panicking to avoid the stranger who was approaching. The man could not move at all, only his eyes slanted in his eye sockets, staring at the slowly approaching figure.
Suddenly, a voice rang out: "Don't be afraid, we are just lost travelers."
When Lu Liangsheng said this, he was also surprised. The words he spoke were not the original Chinese, but a strange accent. He flicked his fingertips, and the shepherd over there was able to move. He rubbed his sore arm, turned around, and was still a little panicked.
"I just want to ask for directions. Where is this place?" Lu Liangsheng gently raised his hand and stroked his numb arm. The shepherd touched his arm in surprise and looked at the person in front of him whom he had never seen before in fear.
"Egypt… the province of Egypt."
Egypt? Province
Although he could communicate with the other party, he was not clear about what the so-called province meant. Lu Liangsheng roughly guessed that it should be similar to a county.
"Are there any merchants from the East here?"
When the shepherd saw the strange man in front of him, his tone was gentle, his previous fear was slightly relieved, and he raised his finger tremblingly and pointed to the front of the road.
"There used to be a market... ahead, it was Kalabsa, where there were merchants from Constantinople in the East..."
Lu Liangsheng frowned. How did the East become Constantine... It seemed that the Sui Dynasty was even further east. He wanted to ask more questions, but the shepherd in front of him could not say much useful things. He hesitated in his words and it seemed that his knowledge was not broad.
'Go to a crowded place.'
After thanking the man, Lu Liangsheng returned to the road and told the four people what he had just said. As long as there was a city and a market, there would be food and sleep. The four scholars were eager to go there and rest up. Enduring the pain in their feet, they followed Lu Liangsheng along the road to the market that the shepherd had mentioned.
Soon, the voices ahead became noisy.
In the distance, one can see a circle of flat-roofed houses made of mud bricks. There are also several skinny men with bare upper bodies mixing black mud. Women are kneading hay into the mud, building bricks into mud and drying them in the sun. Next to it is a newly built house. A child in linen is sitting barefoot on a rock playing. When he hears the sound of a copper bell, he tilts his head and curiously looks at the five people and a donkey coming over here. The men and women who were busy building the houses stopped their work and looked at the strange group of people in front of them.
Lu Liangsheng nodded towards them in a friendly manner. Compared to the uncivilized people he met when he first arrived, these people's skin was not as dark and they looked much more comfortable.
In the past, this half-repaired house was bustling with noise and bustle. In the circular market, there were many interlaced stalls selling unknown fruits and vegetables, as well as things similar to the steamed buns and cakes of the Sui Dynasty, in various shapes placed in winnowing baskets for people to pick. A sturdy woman carrying a clay pot on her head glanced over quickly, then ran to a nearby mud house, holding the pot with the aroma of wine on her head. In the distance, in the wide square, there was vocal singing, and a woman in linen was strumming an upright zither. Not far away, as if inspired by the sound of the zither, several dark-skinned men pulled ropes and used a thick stone pillar to grind the wheat on the ground back and forth.
These scenes convey a unique exotic atmosphere that is novel and novel.
Unfortunately, the market was still quite small. Lu Liangsheng took the old donkey for a walk and asked about the Eastern country, mostly about Constantine or Persia.
It was still early, and Lu Liangsheng continued to go up the river to the nearest city, Karabusa. There were many camel caravans passing by on the way. There were many dilapidated temples and even dog-headed human bodies on the roadside.
"Is this the kind of deity that the people here worship?"
There are also many monsters in Kyushu who have become gods, but most of them appear in human form in the end. There are few like this one with a dog's head and a human body sitting in the temple.
"That's why they are barbarians!" Wang Feng sneered at these weathered, peeling and dilapidated temples.
"Stranger..."
Just as Wang Feng was speaking, a faint voice suddenly came to Lu Liangsheng's ears along with the wind, like a woman's.
"Stranger... Hear my name... Isis..."
In the bookshelf on the old donkey's back, Toad Taoist pushed open a gap, stuck out his toad face and looked out. He also heard the sound and snorted.
"Damn it, I'm going to fight three of them alone!"
Lu Liangsheng smiled at his master, turned his eyes away, followed the direction of the sound, and walked over there leading the old donkey. He also wanted to see what the gods from foreign lands looked like.
Especially, why... so weak.