There was a bit of chaos in the Li Mansion. After a while, figures holding torches ran out from the side yard. The first few figures on horseback passed the crowd and shouted, "Follow us!"
Xilulu-
The horses neighed loudly. Li Shimin and his brother Li Jiancheng looked at each other and unconsciously wanted to be one step faster than the other. They squeezed their horses' bellies together and urged them to run out of the alley at the side yard and onto the long street. At this time, the street was already empty. They whipped the horses and with a "crackling" sound, they galloped wildly on the street with a few riders and more than twenty guards.
"drive!"
"Third brother, you can only rely on your two legs. He hasn't gotten far yet. Hurry up and catch up!"
The torches lit up the area, and the sound of horse hooves and footsteps spread across the lonely street outside the palace. Soon, a figure running in front was seen. Li Shimin shouted again, "Go!" He cracked his whip and shouted over there, "Da De, go back with your second brother and apologize to your father!"
"Da De, I am your elder brother, please come back with me!" Li Jiancheng, who was riding side by side with him, also shouted.
In front, a child walking quickly with a long sword in his arms looked back and laughed, then ran even faster. Among the cavalrymen chasing from behind, there was also a guard who was good at riding horses. He rushed forward first, his horse galloping wildly, and when he was about to catch up, he reached out to grab the child by the collar.
"My lord, I am sorry for the offense!"
In answer to him, a skinny face turned sideways, and the short figure suddenly leaped up and punched the horse's head backwards. With a dull bang, the warhorse screamed, and its huge body stopped forward and fell to the ground. The guard sitting on top was thrown forward and fell heavily to the ground, rolling over a dozen times like a piece of soft meat before stopping.
With his broken feet, he jumped over the unrecognizable guards. Li Xuanba slowed down his pace, not even looking at the man on the ground who was seriously injured. He turned back and stuck out his tongue, made a face at everyone, then spread his feet and quickened his pace again, went into an alley next to him, and soon disappeared into the darkness.
"Whoa!"
Li Jiancheng stopped his horse, looked at the alley that was only one person wide, whipped it hard, and urged the rest of the people to continue chasing along this side.
"Whoa!" Li Shimin slowed down behind, glanced at his brother who was chasing after him, dismounted to check on the injured guard, and called for someone to come and take the injured back to the mansion first.
"Tell the steward to find a doctor and tell him what I said."
"Yes! Second Young Master!"
The accompanying guard bowed heavily, picked up his unconscious companion on the ground and put him on the horse's back. After he left, Li Shimin felt relieved and continued to lead his men in pursuit.
At the same time, Li Xuanba, who was running down the street late at night, rushed out of the alley and ran along the familiar path towards the location of the land temple. He didn't care about the sounds of horse hooves and footsteps chasing him around. As long as the old man accepted him as his apprentice, he would find him. The worst that could happen was that he would go back and get a beating from his father.
It was dark ahead, but I could vaguely see a faint light that was still on. He was grinning, revealing a row of yellow teeth, and his saliva was hanging from the corners of his mouth, floating behind him like a thread.
The wind blew through the dilapidated temple in the distance. The crooked window frames creaked and swayed in the night wind. The burning fire inside bounced off spots of sparks. Amid the occasional sound of turning pages, the Toad Taoist scratched his belly and turned over with the quilt between his webbed feet.
Lu Liangsheng stopped turning the pages of the book. Hong Lian, who was supporting her chin, turned her head slightly and looked at the temple gate, her brows slightly furrowed.
"Sir, someone is here. It looks like the ugly kid from before."
As he spoke, he turned into a wisp of green smoke and floated into the bookshelf. The next second, the temple door opened and the wind blew in, causing the old donkey crawling under the wall to open his eyes, but then closed them out of boredom and continued to sleep.
"Old man... Old man, here I come again!"
The figure rushed in, running towards him with the wind. As the bonfire flickered, Li Xuanba was quite excited to see that the old man was still here. He handed over the sword in his arms horizontally.
"Here, this is my father's sword. It was given by a master and is extremely sharp. Xuanba will give it to the old man. How about the old man also teach me magic?"
The Xuanhua scabbard and hilt were brought into the candlelight range. Lu Liangsheng felt a sense of familiarity when looking at the sword, especially the growling tiger head with bared teeth on the hilt. He touched it with his fingertips and felt a slight magical power spreading throughout his body. He couldn't help but laugh.
"Isn't this the one I gave to Li Yuan? This child's surname is Li, so it seems he is his son."
Smiling, he pushed the weapon back and waved his hand: "Xuanba, take it back. Since it is given away, how can it be taken back? As for your wish to become my disciple, forget it. If we are destined to be together, we can talk about it later."
"You won't accept me?" Li Xuanba was stunned for a moment, holding the sword and looking at it, then pointed at himself, and then kicked his legs in the air a few times: "My second brother said that I have amazing bones, one in a million. Many people in the city wanted to accept me, but I refused. Even the generals in the army wanted to take me in as a disciple."
"If you don't want to receive it, you don't want to receive it."
Lu Liangsheng heard some noise outside and it seemed that he could not stay here any longer. He stood up, closed the book, waved his sleeves to roll up his master who was sleeping soundly on the mat and put him on the bookshelf. He asked an old donkey to carry the book onto the shelf and walked straight to a wall. In Li Xuanba's sight, his body blurred and disappeared.
"It went through the wall?" The child ran forward hurriedly and touched the wall hard, thinking it was fake. He yelled "Ah--" and punched the wall. With a loud bang, half of the wall collapsed in an instant. The beam lost its support and fell down, carrying with it the wooden strips and tiles on the roof, which crashed down and filled the temple with smoke and dust.
"There's movement over there!"
"It seems like something fell down!"
"It's in the land temple over there!"
The loud noise caused a stir in the middle of the night. The knights and guards who were searching all around rushed over here. Li Jiancheng was the first to rush over. He naturally recognized that this was the dilapidated temple where his third brother often played. Now it collapsed, and he thought that Li Xuanba had taken his father's sword and chopped it here randomly. He was worried that his brother was injured, and anxiously shouted to those around him:
"Go in and look for him!"
A group of guards rushed over in a hurry, but before they reached the collapsed temple gate, they heard a few crashes and movement from the ruins. In the dense dust, Li Xuanba came out in a dusty face, holding a sword, looking depressed. He glanced at his brother who was asking about it, and threw the sword in his hand directly over.
He only said, "I'm going back to sleep." He walked out of the temple dejectedly and slowly, meeting Li Shimin who was coming behind. The three brothers then returned home together.
Not long after, he returned to the mansion and saw his father Li Yuan and mother Dou standing under the eaves of the hall. Li Xuanba was pushed by his second brother, and he lowered his head and reluctantly walked over, presenting the sword in his hand.
Seeing the sword coming back, Li Yuan stepped forward to take it, pulled it out and took a look. Seeing that it was intact, he breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at his son in front of him, he raised his hand to hit him, but finally put it down and sighed.
"Great Virtue, why did you go out with a sword?"
Li Xuanba looked back at his second brother, who nodded at him, and then he told him the truth.
"I... I took it to his master, but the old man didn't want it and refused to accept me as his disciple."
Over there, Li Yuan was so angry that he almost laughed. He waved the sword in his hand and said, "You want to take it to become my disciple? You should know that this is given to your father by a master. How can you give it to others? You are really going to piss me off to death!"
"What's so rare about it?"
Li Xuanba lowered his head and looked away, muttering, "That old man doesn't like it."
"Oh? What else did the old man say?"
The child was reckless but not stupid. He remembered clearly what Lu Liangsheng had just said.
"What are you talking about? How can you take back what you have given away..."
After listening to his son's retelling, Li Yuan was stunned. His wife, who was standing beside him, saw that he hadn't moved for a long time, came over and gently pushed him. Only then did he come back to his senses, with an excited look on his face. She grabbed Li Xuanba and said, "Come on, take your father to the place you just went."
"Father, do you want to see that old man too?"
Li Xuanba shook his head and forcibly pulled back Li Yuan's hand, nearly causing him to fall to the ground. He shook his head and said, "But the old man left, leading an old donkey into the wall. The son even took down the wall, and no one was seen."
"Leaving?"
After hearing this, Li Yuan stopped and stood there with some regret. Seeing that he didn't move again, Dou rolled her eyes at him and hurriedly urged her three sons over there.
"Forget about leaving. Jiancheng, Shimin, take Xuanba down to rest."
After everyone left, Dou came over to help Li Yuan back to his bedroom and asked softly, "Master, do you know who the old man Xuanba mentioned is?"
"What old man?"
Li Yuan walked into the room, sat on the stool, looked at the flickering candlelight, couldn't help but sigh again, put the sword on the table, and gently stroked the sheath.
"That is the current imperial master. This sword was given to me by the imperial master."
Dou, who was standing nearby, opened her mouth slightly and looked at her husband, so shocked that she couldn't make a sound.
…
Woof woof~~Woof woof woof~~~
In the city late at night, there are occasional sounds of dogs barking or children crying at night, and the ethereal sound of night watchmen's clappers can be heard from afar on the quiet long street.
Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey and looked at the sky, which was getting dark. After all the commotion at night, it was already the late night and early morning. In another hour or two, it would be almost dawn.
"Let's walk a little further and see if Yuan Feng returns to the city during the day. If not, we should just go back to Chang'an."
Thinking back to what happened that night, Li Yuan's son was simply naughty and mischievous. If he was younger, Lu Liangsheng would have thought that it would be a good idea to take him in as his last disciple and teach him a good temper.
After walking in the city for a while, the sky began to brighten. The long street became more lively and the people who were looking for a living got up early and started their busy day.
Near the north gate, the sound of horse hooves could be heard in the distance. Lu Liangsheng walked through an adjacent street and saw from afar a team waiting to enter the city. Among them were several figures on horseback, wearing military uniforms and galloping on their horses. The man in the lead seemed to have noticed someone was watching him. He turned his head and saw an old man with white hair and beard. He couldn't help but take a few more glances, and then disappeared at the end of the long street.
Lu Liangsheng standing over there laughed. The person he just looked at was Qu Yuanfeng who was returning to the city from the military camp outside the city. Without the Taoist cultivation, he naturally could not feel his own breath. He was about to turn around and go to his apprentice's house, but suddenly stopped after taking a few steps. He made a finger gesture in his sleeve to hide his aura and looked back in the direction of the city gate.
Among the vendors and pedestrians entering the city, there were three familiar figures leading horses and accompanying the crowd.
Looking at one of the people in the middle, Lu Liangsheng's eyes sparkled with brilliance. Coming from afar, there was a divine aura, and the outline of a pagoda flashed around him.
Li Jing...