The setting sun sinks behind the distant mountains, casting its last rays of light.
Whoosh~~
The night wind brought with it a chill as it blew through the swaying woods. Under a large rock embedded in the hillside, there was a burning fire contrasting with the hazy moonlight. An old donkey lay on its side against the rock, blinking his eyes in boredom as he looked at the owner and four scholars beside the campfire over there.
"Master, how long do you think it will take us to get back to the Central Plains? We have just finished one place and now we are on a road that has no end in sight."
Taoist Toad held the red rooster bowl and calmly drank a mouthful of porridge. In the corner of his eye, Wang Feng whispered and threw a dry branch into the fire.
Crackling sparks rose up.
Lu Liangsheng, who was sitting in the middle, closed the book and raised his head to look outside. In the night, there were withered grass and sparse forests, and the dry soil was raising dust. After being used to the beautiful mountains and rivers of the Sui Dynasty, this place seemed desolate anyway.
Thinking about it, he smiled, looked at the four people who had melancholy expressions on their faces, and scooped another spoonful of porridge for them.
"As long as we follow the east direction, we will be able to return. Besides, I can travel much faster with magic than ordinary people can with their legs. Of course, that is, if we don't get delayed along the way."
"Oh, right, Liangsheng." The Toad Taoist suddenly put down the exquisite little bowl and turned his head to the toad: "Master just remembered, where is the mermaid who was on the same boat with us?"
“… in the sea.”
After his master's reminder, Lu Liangsheng remembered that there was another mermaid from the East China Sea. He had previously considered it impossible to return by sea, and the other party could not stay away from the water for too long, so he had no choice but to release her back into the sea. While watching the local customs and people along the way, he almost forgot about the other party.
"Dahai has finally figured it out. He should be on his way back to the East China Sea by now."
Lu Liangsheng forced a smile on his face. Seeing that the atmosphere was dull, he simply took out a chess set that had not been used for a long time from the bookshelf. With the help of the firelight, the Toad Taoist walked to the side without hesitation, picked up the black piece, raised his toad face, and swept across the four scholars opposite in a heroic manner.
"Who wants to play chess with me?!"
The four of them looked at each other, pushed and shoved each other a few times, vying to play chess with the Immortal Toad. Lu Liangsheng chuckled twice, then picked up the book again and started flipping through it.
The next morning, the few of them had a simple meal and packed their bags. Lu Liangsheng rode on his old donkey and continued to head east with the four scholars. On the way, they met a group of traveling merchants and traveled together for a few miles. The old man leading the caravan introduced himself as a Greek who had crossed the Mediterranean to Egypt. He had just unloaded his goods in Egypt and was preparing to take some specialties to Sassanid Persia. Seeing that the five people got along well, he kindly gave them some advice.
"You need to go east, so be careful."
"What's wrong?"
"Persians and Arabs haven't been getting along very well lately, so just don't let religion get involved in anything."
"Is that so..."
Lu Liangsheng was dressed like an Egyptian at this time, and tried his best to speak in that tone. When the road split at the intersection ahead, he saw Persian cavalrymen wearing open Hu clothing and pointed hats, with bows and swords slung around their waists. The Greek merchants who turned to another intersection hurriedly lowered their heads and took off their hats.
Tap tap tap~~~
The sound of horse hooves gradually approached, and soon they passed the other side and came in front of Lu Liangsheng and others, took a few glances, and then continued to move forward.
Hoooo ...
One of them suddenly stopped, stroked the horse's mane, tilted his head and asked in Greek. Lu Liangsheng smiled and responded calmly. Hearing the accent, the Persian nodded, kicked his horse's belly, galloped away, caught up with his companion in front and rushed away.
After separating from the Greek caravan, Wang Feng and the other three who followed the old donkey finally caught up and asked in a low voice: "State Master, what did that team of barbarian cavalry say just now?"
"He asked me where I was going, and I said to Persia, and then east to see where the east ended."
Lu Liangsheng held the reins and turned back with a smile, "Actually, it doesn't matter what he said. He was just testing our accent. The previous group of merchants mentioned that Persia was in conflict with another country. They were probably afraid that we were spies from that country. Well, these are none of our business. Let's hurry up and get on with our journey."
Looking at the smoke and dust floating in the sky ahead, the scholar said something with a smile, but his brows were furrowed. Under the smoke and dust in the distance, there were faint sounds of hoofbeats, people shouting, and the sound of swords colliding.
Lu Liangsheng pulled the old donkey and immediately changed direction.
"Let's go another way."
The sandstorm blew in, and the four of them covered their faces and squinted their eyes in confusion, "Master, why did you change the route for no reason?"
"Stop talking nonsense. The Imperial Master asked us to move. There must be a reason for that."
"Brother is right. The Imperial Master is such a great man. How can we fathom him?"
Amidst the flattering words, the bright sunshine in the sky gradually dimmed in everyone's sight.
In the direction where the cavalry disappeared, there was the sound of hoofbeats and sparks from the collision of swords. Two groups of cavalry were fighting over there. Among them, five figures were mixed in, pulling a donkey and leaving the battle group, running wildly into the desert.
"Bohayi, let them kill us, let's go!"
“This way!”
The four fleeing men called back the bearded man holding a scimitar, who was leading the donkey, and looked back from time to time. The two groups of cavalrymen were fighting each other, and it was difficult to tell the winner.
The spear pierced through the chest of the Persian cavalryman. The next second, the Byzantine cavalryman holding the spear was beheaded by another Persian cavalryman who rushed over with a scimitar. Blood spurted out from the center of his shoulder and neck, and his headless body fell straight off the horse.
The clouds in the sky dispersed, the sun shone across the earth, people screamed miserably, war horses wailed and fell to the side, the sounds of fighting and shouting stopped, the few remaining Byzantine cavalry with spears killed the Persians who were not yet dead, then remounted and chased in the direction where the men had just run.
"The Arabs are also in the east, and there are also five of them, with a donkey. This group of people must have killed the governor of Karabusa!"
Immediately, the leading knight thrust out his spear and urged his horse to gallop away. The remaining ten cavalrymen behind him shouted and followed closely behind.
…
Rustle…
Donkey hooves and human footsteps walked over the soft sand. Lu Liangsheng, avoiding the fighting in the distance, looked around, walked to a solitary tree not far away, picked up a pen and ink, and recalled the map of Sassanid Persia that the leader of the Greek caravan had shown him before, and there were many big cities in between.
On the other side, four scholars helped the old donkey pull some grass back. Seeing the imperial teacher who seemed to be about to paint, they squeezed each other and ran over.
"Master, do you want to paint?" "I, Old Ma, will grind ink for you."
"Get out of the way! I'm an expert at grinding ink. Let me do it!"
"My three brothers, you are well-read in poetry and books of sages, how could you do such a thing... Let me do it for you and share your worries."
"Get out!" the other three shouted at him.
Lu Liangsheng frowned, annoyed by their noise. When he raised his head, he saw four people over there with smiling faces. He didn't know when one of them stood on the old donkey's side with one hand behind his back. They nodded or nodded to each other and chatted and laughed in an elegant and refined manner.
"The Imperial Master is painting, so it's better for the four of us not to make any noise."
"Well, what my brother said is very true, very true."
These four guys... Lu Liangsheng sighed and was about to start writing when he suddenly turned his head and frowned even more. In the distance, he saw five figures, leading a donkey, who were stumbling and running towards him as if they were being chased by something.
"This... scene, why does it look so familiar?"
In the shade of the trees, Lu Liangsheng passed the five men and the donkey. In the smoke and dust rising from behind, he vaguely saw more than a dozen cavalrymen chasing him, with murderous intent spreading.