boom-
Spring thunder rolled across the sky, and a leaden rain curtain covered the Qixia Mountain with a layer of white mist. The spring sowing in the fields stopped, and the villagers ran back with their farm tools, cursing that the rain came at the wrong time.
The sound of rain poured down on the mountains and forests, making crackling sounds. In the misty water vapor, the silhouette of a donkey flashed through the woods. It leaped up the rugged foothills as if it were flat ground, passed over rows of old trees tied with faded red ropes, and stopped at a thatched cottage in front. It shook its mane and splashed rain everywhere.
"Master Toad is back so early today?"
A graceful woman in plain clothes and a straw hairpin walked out of the room holding a dustpan, sifted the broad beans in it, shook off the ashes, and put it on the wooden rack under the eaves. While she tilted her head to speak, her black hair brushed across the dimples on her cheeks, giving her a delicate and charming temperament.
Over there, the Toad Taoist slid down the rope and walked into the eaves. He uttered a muffled "hmm" and walked into the room with his flippers clacking.
The lights in the hut were warm yellow, and the food was ready on the table. Toad Taoist looked outside gloomily. The spring thunder had been exploding and had not stopped since he came back. For monsters, no matter what realm they were in, they were extremely afraid of thunder.
"That mother's... will it ever end?"
Looking at the food in the bowl, the toad suddenly sighed, put down his chopsticks, jumped off the table, fell down with a thud, and then climbed up as if nothing had happened, put on his flippers and walked to the door. He saw the water curtain hanging from the eaves falling down, and a few cold drops splashed on his face.
"I don't know what will wake Liang Sheng up. I can't even enjoy my meal."
He sighed, took a small paper umbrella by the door, opened it and walked into the rain, heading towards the cliff over there. Raindrops fell on the umbrella. Under an old tree on the cliff over there, Hong Lian was humming a tune softly, using the paper umbrella in her hand to cover herself and the silver-haired figure sitting next to her. When she heard footsteps, she turned her head and looked at the Toad Taoist who was also holding an umbrella. A pair of dimples appeared on her cheeks.
"Master Toad, are you done eating?"
"No appetite." The Toad Taoist also came over and sat down. He raised his toad face and looked at his disciple's figure. His face was gray and full of wrinkles, with half a foot of white beard growing on his lips and chin. His silver hair was gently blown by the wind and fell on both sides, falling on his dusty shoulders. He closed his eyes and looked peaceful.
Several years passed in a flash, and his disciple had not changed at all except that he was getting older day by day. If he had not been able to sense the vague aura, he would have thought that he was dead.
During these years, for fear of accidents, he dared not let anyone know, nor did he dare to contact the Taoist priests in Chang'an, for fear that Li Jinhua and Lu Laoshi who knew the news would be worried and rush back thousands of miles away. If they encountered any trouble on the way, the Toad Taoist priest would not know how to explain when his disciple woke up in the future.
"Ah, he looks older than me."
Toad propped up his chin, retracted his gaze and looked up at the raindrops outside the umbrella, "Why would I accept a disciple like you?"
As I looked in the direction, dark clouds covered the sky, rolling and undulating, with constant rumbling thunder. Under the shining of lightning snakes that cut through the gaps in the clouds, I could vaguely see human figures arranged in the clouds. Compared to when I was at the foot of the mountain, I could see it more clearly at this moment on the cliff.
The Toad Taoist's eyes became fierce. He stood up with an umbrella, walked to the edge of the cliff and looked at the lightning and thunder.
"What's going on..."
The words were whispered softly, and Hong Lian followed. When they looked up at the sky with the Toad's gaze, blue-white lightning flashed with a crackling sound and accompanied by thunder, illuminating the dark clouds. Among the clouds, human figures with flags flying and riding on the clouds appeared.
"The gods in heaven?" Nie Honglian had never experienced the incident in Donglai, and had only heard of the Four Generals of the Sea Demon Family from Toad and Lu Liangsheng. They were gods guarding the South Gate of Heaven.
boom!
Another loud thunder sounded, as if it exploded beside someone's ears, and frightened Nie Honglian so much that she hurriedly took two steps back. She was just a ghost living in the temple, absorbing incense and restoring her body. If a god from heaven came down, she would be subdued.
"There's no need to panic. These gods can't come down."
Toad Dao moved his webbed feet, squinted his eyes and looked into the clouds. He knew a little about the Ten Thousand Spirits Formation, so he was not worried that these gods would be able to come down directly like that.
The rain lines swayed and fell obliquely in the wind. In the clouds above, there were bursts of thunder and flashes of lightning. The figure standing in the middle gradually obscured the clouds. At a certain moment, Toad suddenly felt a palpitation and was about to suffocate. There was a loud thunder, and the clouds on that side lit up with colorful colors. There were dots of light descending from the dark clouds, like meteors dragging tails, densely packed, flying down from the sky, and falling straight towards the land of Kyushu.
In the heavy rain, it is difficult for ordinary people to see such a scene. It is just like the past when people gathered at home to avoid the rain, eating and chatting with their wives and children. In the distant north, the spring rain is continuous. On the muddy road in the mountains, three fast horses are running wildly in the rain, splashing mud and water. Suddenly, one of the horses stopped with a "whoosh". Hongfu girl and the bearded man who were running in the front turned around to look at him.
"Pharmacist, what's wrong?"
Amid the crackling sound of falling rain, Li Jing rode on his horse and looked up at the sky where the rain lines were connected. He seemed to see a faint light passing through his sight, like a pagoda, and disappeared in an instant.
Raindrops fell into his eyes. The young man named Li Jing smiled and lowered his head. He kicked his horse's belly, shouted "Go", caught up with the two people in front, and came to the middle and spoke softly.
"I changed my mind and decided not to go back to Chang'an... The world is so big and there are still many things to do."
As the words fell amid the sound of rain, numerous streams of light that ordinary people could not see passed over the heads of the three people and flew in all directions.
…
The light scattered and faded away.
On Mount Qixia, the Toad Taoist standing on the edge of the cliff had his eyelids twitching wildly and he cursed anxiously towards the sky. He knew that these gods were about to descend to the world, but he didn't expect them to come so soon.
"Damn it, there are so many of them. No wonder you wanted to come down to earth. It turns out that heaven is so crowded."
Jumping and cursing, the Toad Taoist suddenly fell to the ground.
There was a flash of lightning, and a streak of electric snake meandered down. The edge of the cliff where they had just been standing exploded, splashing up countless broken rocks that rolled down into the sea of clouds below the cliff.
The wind blew and the rain swayed, and the surrounding mountains and forests fell and swayed.
The toad got up and continued to curse, and then... another bolt of lightning came down with a "crackling" sound, and the toad's bulging eyes suddenly widened even more, its long tongue tilted, its limbs stiff and tense, and its slender bones were clearly visible in the bluish-white lightning. When the lightning faded, black smoke rose from its body.
The moment he fell, an old hand reached out and caught him. Hong Lian, who was dodging the lightning, had surprise in her eyes and ran over in the rain.
“Young Master!!”
His pale hair and beard fluttered gently in the wind, his tightly closed eyes opened, and there seemed to be a flash of lightning in his cloudy pupils. Dust and fallen leaves all over his body fell to the ground as he stood up.
"Master, don't stand under a tree during a thunderstorm."
"Liang Sheng?"
The charred toad opened its eyes, its mouth grinning almost to the back of its neck. In the direction it looked, an old man with silver hair and beard and a pale face also smiled.
"Master, Liangsheng is here."
There was a loud thunder, and a streak of lightning fell from the clouds and headed straight for the cliff. The old figure raised his sleeve and flicked it, and his palm deflected the lightning, which fell on the nearby cliff. Gravel, smoke and dust rolled down with a ping-pong sound.
Dark clouds rolled in, the blue-white lightning gradually turned into bright yellow, and a thunderstorm came.