By midsummer, heavy rains hit the warm area for several days in a row, and a white mist rose between the winding mountains.
Rustle, rustle…
Feet and hooves stepped on the thick fallen leaves, and from time to time there were a few excited donkey brays echoing in the mountains, from west to east, the old donkey chewed grass with its ears shaking, and its swinging tail brushed the bookshelf hanging on its hip. The open small door was pushed back, and then opened by the Toad Taoist with a bang.
"Try another one?"
Toad yawned, untied the rope around his waist, climbed over the donkey's back, jumped over the mermaid sitting cross-legged on it, came to the donkey's head, and sat down cross-legged.
"Liangsheng, are we out of Tianzhu yet?"
There were still branches wet with raindrops. Lu Liangsheng walked a few steps, closed the book, raised his eyes and saw that the dark clouds were gradually dispersing. When he turned around, he could see a few white streaks faintly in his newly tied hair.
"I don't know where to go. It will take several days to cross the mountains and hills... Well, it shouldn't be too far."
After walking for a while and coming up the muddy slope in front, the view became much wider. He called Wang Feng and the other three to come over to rest, and he found a relatively clean place to sit down and continued to flip through the book in his hand.
The Toad Taoist slid down the donkey's mouth, grabbed the reins and pulled, landing steadily on the ground. He walked over with his webbed feet, raised his toad face, and looked at his disciple's focused profile.
"Liangsheng."
"What's the matter, Master?" When Lu Liangsheng looked away, the Toad Taoist raised his webbed head and nodded his round webbed head to the side of his head, "What's wrong with your hair? Why are there more white hairs?"
Not far away, four people blowing fire sticks looked over together.
Well…
Lu Liangsheng was stunned for a moment, looked at the four people over there, then pulled out a few strands of white hair from his bun and let them hang on his forehead to look at them carefully, and said with a smile: "Maybe I've been worrying about too many things recently, so it has grown without me noticing."
"snort."
Toad Taoist disagreed with this and turned his head to the side: "Isn't there enough for me to worry about? How can there be nothing?"
"Master, are you worried?" The scholar looked up and down at the toad, and a smile appeared on his lips, but he quickly suppressed it: "Master... you are hairless."
"Uh... that's right."
The Toad Taoist looked down at his belly, where his webbed feet were not visible, stretched out his webbed feet and touched his bald head. He squinted his eyes and stared at his apprentice for a while, then turned around thoughtfully, stroking his chin and slowly walked away, even ignoring the words of his apprentice behind him, "Where is the master going?"
From the dense forest of winding and hanging vines came the sounds of birds singing and monkeys crying. The Toad Taoist, wearing a short coat and with his flippers on his back, jumped onto a blue stone. He glanced into the wet crevice, jumped down, continued to walk forward with his flippers on his back, and sighed.
…Alas, I am the only one who is worried about you as my disciple.
Toad didn't believe Lu Liangsheng's explanation at all. How could a cultivator have white hair due to excessive hard work like ordinary people? There must be other reasons.
It’s just that the disciple doesn’t want to say it.
"Where can I find some herbs or something tonic... Or food is fine."
The toad's mouth muttered softly, and the Toad Taoist stuck his butt out and pulled aside the grass, peeking inside. After a while, he climbed up a tree, stretched out his webbed feet to feel for the bird's nest on the treetop, but found only a few feathers. He jumped down the tree, walked a little further, and saw the gurgling water. He ran to uncover the stones by the stream, and turned out a blue crab with its fangs and claws bared. After a moment, he waved his webbed feet and threw it back into the water with disdain.
"It's not enough for me to eat."
Suddenly, there was a rustling noise in the bushes behind me, and a few "cuckoo~~" sounds were heard. The next moment, a big head with a red comb popped out, and a jade beak. Its ferocious eyes also noticed the big toad standing by the stream, and it rushed out, revealing a colorful feather. The pheasant was quite large, a little taller than a person's knee. It tilted its neck with its comb waving, and the low "cuckoo" cry became more and more urgent. Its wings on both sides spread slightly, and its thick and sharp claws dug the ground hard, scraping up a layer of mud, and pounced over ferociously.
Then... it disappeared into the suddenly opened mouths of several toads.
The Toad Taoist's head became huge. He chewed for a few times with his cheeks puffed up, then he remembered something and suddenly opened his mouth, spewing the pheasant and its sticky semen onto the ground.
"How dare you act so presumptuous in front of me? Do you really think you are the old hen from Lujia Village? I will eat you without blinking an eye."
Pieces of chicken feathers fell from the air. The pheasant's feathers had been completely stripped off. It was struggling on the ground. Toad Taoist dragged it by the chicken claws and threw it into the stream to wash it. He picked it up and dragged it behind him. He walked back out of the forest and returned to the place where he rested. A bonfire had already been lit.
"You four, stew this chicken."
The Toad Taoist nodded slightly, threw the pheasant over, turned around and took out some seasonings from the bookshelf, put on the white apron, put on his flippers, and walked towards the fire.
Lu Liangsheng, who was reading under a tree, raised his head and looked at the huge pheasant being ripped open and gutted by four scholars with swift hands and feet, and then marinated with seasonings to remove the smell. He looked a little surprised.
"Master, did you catch him?"
"You underestimated me, didn't you? If the little Taoist priest could catch him, why can't I?" The Toad Taoist pushed a stone over, stepped on it, took the wooden spoon handed to him by Wang Feng, and stirred the boiling pot. "From the looks of this chicken, it should be a little monster from this mountain. It is a tonic. Look at my cooking skills."
After stirring it for a few times, she took out the prepared seasoning from her apron pocket, ground it gently with her round webbed head, and sprinkled it into the water one by one. Lu Liang was afraid that he would accidentally fall in and become a dish...
The boiling water gave off a fragrant smell. The tasteless boiling water slowly turned into a pot of thick soup. The pheasant, which had been chopped into dozens of pieces long ago, was put into the pot by Zhao Tang and Ma Liu. The four of them gathered around the pot, drooling as they looked at the chicken pieces inside.
Soon, the thick chicken soup cooked over high heat was ready. Lu Liangsheng came over following the aroma, took the bowl and chopsticks, took a sip, and frowned slightly. The four scholars opposite him also ate a few pieces and couldn't help but look at each other.
"It's weird. It smells really good, but why does it taste weird?"
"It's good to have something to eat, especially since it was made by Immortal Toad himself. Be content."
"That's right, eat."
The Toad Taoist held the frog's web under his lips and coughed twice, then glanced at his disciple beside him and said, "It's a spirit, so the taste may be a little strange, and the smell cannot be suppressed, but it doesn't matter, just eat it quickly."
Lu Liangsheng looked at his master doubtfully, but still picked up some and put it in the bowl, and ate a few more bites. It was just as his master said, the flesh and blood of the monsters was more delicious and tender than that of ordinary poultry, and the size was also very large, comparable to the fish and shrimp raised in the Qixia Mountain using the Spirit Gathering Array.
'When we get back, we might as well make a magic circle specifically for nourishing livestock. If possible, we can promote it throughout the nine provinces of the world. Then we won't have to worry about famine...'
Afterwards, after finishing their meal, they continued eastward along the route they had taken. By the afternoon, they had already crossed three mountains. As the sun was setting, they stood in the red glow and looked out from the top of the mountain at the endless overlapping mountains and the endless dense forests. The four scholars sat down on the ground, feeling despair in their hearts.
The western clouds seemed to be burning, dyeing a bright red. They barely walked down the top of the mountain. Suddenly, they heard faint singing. Lu Liangsheng, leading the old donkey and taking four scholars, hurried in the direction of the sound. In the dense forest ahead, they saw an old man carrying several bundles of firewood and walking towards the dirt road on the other side.
“Father-in-law!!”
Hearing the song which he could not quite understand, Lu Liangsheng felt extremely familiar with it, as it was obvious that the words in the song were from the southwestern dialect of Kyushu.
'Finally back to the Sui Dynasty...' he thought.