Boom boom boom…
The thunder became more and more frequent, and streaks of lightning broke through the gaps in the clouds and danced wildly, illuminating the entire sky. As the dark clouds floated away, they slowly came towards this side. Amidst the countless lightning strikes, the ends of the branches fell off the large trees at the foot of the mountain, and exploded into two pieces, starting a fire in the rain.
"Master, you and Hong Lian go back to the thatched cottage."
Lu Liangsheng, with his white hair and long beard, gently wiped the burnt spots off Toad Taoist's body, and the pain that was originally numbed by the lightning disappeared from his body in an instant.
Toad Taoist stood on the ground, looked at the electric snakes rushing over there, and said, "Is it okay for Liangsheng?"
"It's just a lie."
Slow and hoarse words floated out of the white-bearded lips. Lu Liangsheng watched his master spread his flippers and ran away with Hong Lian. Then he slowly turned around and looked at the lightning that was falling like tentacles outside the cliff. He bowed heavily without saying a word.
"Liangsheng, why are you so polite? It's time to respond to the calamity!" The Toad Taoist who ran to the thatched cottage, turned around with his flippers fluttering, and shouted at the figure who was bowing to Tianlei.
“It’s a disaster!!”
The next moment, electric snakes weaved, thunder rolled in, countless lightning branches broke out of the dark clouds, and everyone's sight fell on the cliff.
At the edge of the cliff, a faded green robe fluttered in the wind. Lu Liangsheng stood up, and shadows emerged from his body. The Black Turtle, Bifang, Si, Xihen, and Qinchong faced the sky in all directions with their fangs and claws bared.
Touched by thousands of falling thunders.
boom!!
The exploding stars turned into a circle of air waves that instantly spread around, and the sky and the earth became white.
The foothills were shaking. The people of Lujia Village at the foot of the mountain were eating with their families or sitting under the eaves waiting for the rain to stop. Then... a vast expanse of white light pierced their eyes. The ground beneath their feet shook violently, the houses trembled, and some people even sat down on the ground.
"The earth dragon is turning over—"
"Get out of the house!" "My eyes!!"
The sudden strange phenomenon came and went quickly. The white light faded from sight. Many people rushed out of the house holding their wives and children, standing in the rain and looking at the dark clouds on the other side of the mountain and the flashing lightning. It took a long time for them to recover from the shock. It was a long time before someone spoke.
"Did an earth dragon just flip over? It scared me to death."
"We haven't seen these strange things in Qixia Mountain for many years. Is something going to happen?"
"Bullshit, what nonsense are you talking about? Liangsheng has set up a magic circle. Not to mention ghosts, even monsters don't dare to come in."
"There is a fox in Xiaoquan Mountain..."
"That was captured by Liang Sheng and used to suppress the magic circle. What do you know? Stop talking and go back quickly. After dinner, we will have more work to do after the rain stops."
"How can I do this? My legs are shaking."
"Stop talking, go see how the old man is doing."
Amid the sound of people whispering to each other gathered at the village sunbathing area, the lightning on the western foot of Mount Qixia, which was covered with dark clouds, gradually weakened and the sound of thunder was much smaller than before.
Patches of woods and fields were tilted, the thatched hut collapsed to the ground. Hong Lian was trembling all over. She hid in the water tank and didn't dare to come out. After a while, she finally popped her head out and looked outside. She saw the Toad Taoist lying limp on the ground, his tongue tilted and foaming at the mouth. His limbs were twitching and his consciousness was blank.
The stagnant rain began to fall again.
At the edge of the cliff ahead, his pale hair and beard were dancing in the wind and rain. Lu Liangsheng held up the seal with one hand. Water stains dripped down his hair, cheeks, and robes, turning into water vapor that swirled around.
Countless falling lightning bolts hung in the air, interweaving on the Kongtong Seal. The flowing light floated, and the sculptures of the Five Heavenly Emperors on it became clearer and gradually had colors.
The old pine trees rustled, and the rain accumulated on the tips of the leaves fell to the ground. At that moment, a slight "pop" sound was heard. Lu Liangsheng, who was standing on the edge of the cliff, had his eyelids trembled slightly, and he slowly opened his eyes. The sea of clouds, dark clouds, lightning, and foothills he saw seemed to be peeled off bit by bit in his sight, turning into stars and dissipating.
The mountains, the sea of clouds, everything around, are still the same as before, but they are not the same as before. It seems that I can see their flow and emotions, how they came here, and where they will scatter.
The god has gone, cutting through the illusion.
"So... this is Lu Yuan's original realm."
Kill the void!
…
As Lu Liangsheng whispered, countless electric snakes suspended in the sky disappeared into the Kongtong Seal in the blink of an eye, then they were put into his sleeves. He swept his eyes over the mess around him and slowly raised his hand and flicked his sleeves. The soil in the crooked forest gathered together, the tree trunks straightened up, the short branches and leaves fluttered up and closed along the broken tracks without leaving a trace; broken pieces of rock, large and small, flew back from the depths of the sea of clouds and re-embedded; the collapsed thatched cottage was also restored one by one to its original appearance in the scholar's memory.
What comes into view becomes a painting, transforming the virtual into the real.
With a smile in his cloudy eyes, Lu Liangsheng turned around and looked at the thatched cottage, the woman who was waiting eagerly over there, and the Toad Taoist who had woken up with his head covered.
The rain melted around him, forming a ball of water vapor. He looked like a god in the clouds. He took a step forward and arrived in front of the hut. He looked at Hong Lian in front of him, reached out and stroked her cheek, his voice gentle.
"Thank you for your hard work these past few years."
Feeling the warmth of the man's palm, Nie Honglian rubbed his hand, lowered her head slightly, inhaled through her nose, shook her hair and shook her head vigorously, raised her face and smiled: "It's not hard for me. It's all worth it to see you talk to me again."
Cough cough!
A cough was heard from below. The Toad Taoist, holding his flippers, asked, "Where is my master?"
Lu Liangsheng smiled, took two steps back, and bowed to the toad under the eaves, "Master, thank you for taking care of Liangsheng in the past few years, and also for taking care of Qixia Mountain for me."
"That's more like it." The Toad Taoist turned around and nodded with satisfaction. Then, he looked his disciple up and down.
"By the way, after surviving the thunder tribulation, what realm are you in now? Wait, let me think about it."
"Zhan Xu! Lu Yuan's realm back then."
The old man's unique voice was speaking softly. Lu Liangsheng made a move, and the pens, ink, paper and inkstone in the thatched cottage seemed to have spirits. They jumped off the table by themselves, cheering and jumping for joy, and ran into the bookshelf. The bookshelf shook, and the four corners suddenly stretched out, turned into four legs, and rushed out.
"Liangsheng, how did you do this?"
There are thousands of magic spells, but Toad Taoist has never seen one like this one that can directly grant spiritual consciousness in his long life. He walked around the bookshelf excitedly.
"Liangsheng, it would be fun to give this spell to my master."
"Master, there is no way I can teach you this." Lu Liangsheng took a blank scroll from the bookshelf and looked at the thatched hut in front of him. A picture of the thatched hut quickly appeared on the blank scroll, and even the toad and Hong Lian were on it. The next moment, the toad in the picture looked around, Hong Lian hummed a song softly, and the clouds on the distant foothills floated slowly, showing vitality.
"I realized the truth and gained the truth. What I saw was a painting. Then I used the painting to possess spirits and turned it into a real object. This is my innate magical power."
At this time, there was a rustling sound in the woods. The old donkey, sensing the scent of its master, poked its head out, spread its hooves and ran towards this side happily, hopping around Lu Liangsheng and swinging its tongue.
"It's been a long time."
Lu Liangsheng touched its muzzle and smoothed the mane off its neck: "We're leaving soon, are you still willing to go with us?"
A'er!
The old donkey nodded excitedly, turned around and rushed into the thatched cottage, took the reins in his mouth and lifted the bookshelf on the ground into the air with his hind legs, and landed it steadily on his back. He then handed the reins in his mouth to Lu Liangsheng.
hehe…
After stroking the old donkey's head and putting his master on the bookshelf, Lu Liangsheng put on the reins, called Hong Lian, who was still a little dazed, and led the old donkey down the mountain.
In the distance, the small village at the foot of the mountain was immersed in the rain, with smoke rising slowly from the chimneys.
Soon, the spring rain gradually stopped, and the dark clouds dispersed, revealing the sun.
Lu Liangsheng walked into the village alone. After not seeing him for several years, there were new changes. The children in the private school had been replaced by a new group. The middle-aged teachers all had gray hair and their eyesight was not as good as before. They needed to stand close to the book to see the handwriting clearly and read it slowly for the naughty children below to follow.
The clear sound of reading came from the window. In the sunshine, Mr. Lu walked over with difficulty, leaning on a pear wood cane. He sat on the armchair, moved his toothless mouth, closed his eyes, basked in the sun after the rain, and listened to the sound of reading inside.
With my eyelids closed, I felt the sunlight being blocked by shadows. I raised my eyelids and saw an old man with white hair and beard fluttering in the wind standing in front of me.
"Liang Sheng?"
He could vaguely recognize some of the outlines of the face he had seen since childhood. Mr. Lu was a little excited and wanted to sit up, but Lu Liangsheng gently pushed him back down. Without saying anything else, he put his hand on Mr. Lu's wrist and passed some spiritual energy to him to nourish the old man's internal organs.
"Taigong, take a good rest. Liangsheng is leaving."
"Liangsheng, don't go!"
Lu Taigong shouted in haste, and suddenly opened his eyes, only to find that he had just had a dream. There was no one in front of him. This exclamation attracted the women and children who were chatting in the sunbathing area. The old man shouted to them: "Did I see Liangsheng just now?!"
The group of wives, both young and old, looked around, shook their heads and went back.
"Grandpa is old."
"She must have missed Liangsheng so much that she had this dream."
"Alas, Aunt Li and the others also went to Chang'an and haven't been back for many years."
"I asked someone to bring back a letter a few days ago, and I asked Erniu's kid to read it to us."
"Oh, by the way, did you notice that Taigong has become more fluent in his speech?"
"Really? I don't think so."
…
Ding-ling-ling~~~
The sound of copper bells could be heard faintly across the fields, then faded away. Someone who heard it stood up and looked around, but there was nothing outside the village.