'Huahua~~'
The clear and transparent water column drew an arc and fell into the river, creating bubbles. Lu Liangsheng washed his face after hearing the sound, and looked at Li Yuanba, who was naked downstream. He flicked his sleeves, and a stone at his feet flew over and fell into the water. The splashes and the urine that fell in turned into a vast chill and splashed onto his bare chicken.
"Ouch, Ryo!!"
Li Yuanba threw the giant hammer and smashed it onto the riverbank. He jumped and shouted while holding his pants. The Toad Taoist priest sitting on a rock behind him glanced at him while shaking his pipe, then turned his eyes away and muttered, "The hair is not even fully grown."
"What's missing?" The child fastened his pants and tilted his head.
Toad ignored him and looked over at his disciple who had just washed his face. "Liangsheng, we've already reached the Wei River. How long will it take to get to Chang'an?"
Lu Liangsheng took the handkerchief handed to him by Hong Lian and wiped off the water stains. He raised his white head and looked in the direction of the water flowing downstream, crossing Taihang Mountain and heading west. He was already in Jin and should be not far from Chang'an.
"I haven't walked this section of the river either. Maybe it's still another two or three hundred miles away, Master. Don't worry. Let's walk a little further."
The setting sun hanging over the mountain sank, the sky darkened, and a starry sky appeared. A bonfire was lit on the river bank where the sound of water was flowing. Several river fish were skewered on sticks and roasted by the fire. Smelling the aroma, the Toad Taoist smacked his lips and walked back and forth around the campfire.
"It's still better to bake it yourself~~ I wonder if the Taoist's skills have improved over the years..."
"You're almost an old Taoist priest."
Hong Lian at the side interrupted and responded, hitting Li Yuanba who was trying to pinch the fish meat to steal it, with a smile in her eyes, and handed the roasted fish in her hand to him, making the latter laugh twice in embarrassment, blowing on the hot air, and shouted: "Master's wife is still the best."
"Naughty!" Hong Lian flipped over another fish and was about to pass it to the toad next to it. The latter stretched out its webbed feet and then retracted them. She looked at Lu Liangsheng who was staring at the fire in a daze with her beautiful eyes, then leaned forward and approached the jumping Toad Taoist.
"Master Toad, what do you think has happened to the young master recently? Since leaving Taiyuan, he has been distracted all the time, and sometimes even sits in a daze alone."
Li Yuanba on the opposite side also nodded secretly.
The toad jumped a few times with its hands hooked, opened its mouth, and rolled up the grilled fish with its long tongue, holding it in its arms, taking two bites. Then it sat down comfortably. With its bean-sized eyes, it glanced at its apprentice immersed in the firelight. He felt a little confused, so he blew away the hot air and asked.
"Liangsheng, are you still thinking about those gods descending to earth? What's the point of just thinking about it? Isn't there a king of heaven in Qiankun's sleeve? Let him out and let your master eat him again, and see what else you can see."
"It's not all about these things." Lu Liangsheng blinked his eyes reflecting the firelight, and broke off a dead branch and threw it into the fire. "If they want to stir up trouble in the world, they must first make the current Sui Dynasty chaotic. There is no need to go to great lengths to find them. If you find them one by one, they will come to me."
The Toad Taoist ate all the fish except the head. He threw away the fish bones, jumped off the stone, and walked over with his flippers on his back, looking thoughtful.
"Kill the emperor, or seize the Kongtong Seal?"
Lu Liangsheng stared at the fire in silence for a moment, a smile curled up at the corner of his mouth as he stroked a few strands of white hair. "They can do both. They took advantage of the hole created by the evil star to descend to the mortal world. They wouldn't just come for a stroll and then go back to heaven, right? But if they really come, many people will surely die... This is what I don't want to see the most. No matter whether they are driven back to heaven or their Dharma images are eliminated and their godhood is deprived, the living beings on earth will suffer the most in the end."
The fire was silent for a moment.
“Don’t worry, I’ll always be by your side!” The Toad Taoist jumped onto a nearby bluestone and patted his apprentice’s hand with his flippers. “At worst, I can return to my demon form and summon the Northwest Group… It seems that there are no more demons in the Northwest. Never mind. No matter what, if they come, I’ll fight them!”
Hong Lian raised her hand: "And me!"
Ah ah ah ~ ~
The old donkey raised its head and neighed, as if to say, "Count me in." After a moment, the ghost, the donkey and the toad turned their gazes to the child who was chewing the fish. Li Yuanba was a little dazed and raised his hand to point at himself.
"What about my business? Anyway, I will beat whoever the master tells me to beat."
Watching them talking and arguing, Lu Liangsheng threw the remaining dead branch into the fire. He felt an indescribable warmth in his heart and touched Hong Lian's hair. "No need to argue about how to deal with them. You talk as if you are going to fight them to the death tomorrow."
The depressed mood became better. Lu Liangsheng paused and looked at the master, apprentice, and Hong Lian in front of him. They were all his closest people. He pursed his lips and sighed: "Actually... I walked slowly along the way because I was a little afraid of seeing my parents, Xiao Xian and the others."
I looked up at the dense stars in the sky, and just then a meteor with a tail passed through my eyes.
"I haven't seen them for several years. Every time I walk a distance, I can't help but slow down a little. I'm looking forward to seeing them, but I'm a little timid. When I really meet them, I don't know what to say."
"Master, why don't I have it?"
Li Yuanba moved the giant hammer in front of him, and while lying on it to play and encourage himself, he said: "Every time I go out, I hope my father won't come to find me, so I can play outside. If I can play for a few years, it would be even better. No one will control me, and it would be very comfortable. I can do whatever I want without anyone nagging me."
"Yuanba, people are different. Your master's temperament is definitely different from yours."
Hong Lian smiled gently at the child with clear eyes and told him the importance of family affection and how much parents value their children. This made Li Yuanba cover his ears impatiently, but he did not dare to yell back like he did at home.
Over there, Lu Liangsheng looked up at the sky, listened to Hong Lian's preaching, and slowly lay down on the ground, pillowing on a piece of wood and thinking about some things from his childhood. His parents should have fallen asleep by now. He didn't know if his father was dragged back to the room by his mother's ears again. How are Xiaoxian and Laosun now? Have they given birth to a nephew for him
There are also eight uncles, Zhu Ganglie, Yang Guang, Yan Chixia, Zuo Zhengyang, Qingfeng and Mingyue... and the group of children in Wanshou Temple.
As he was thinking about it, a soft body lay down beside him, leaning on his arms and chest. The voices talking over the campfire gradually became smaller, and after a moment, the snoring of Toad Taoist was heard.
As the night passed, the stars in the sky gradually disappeared, and wisps of white clouds appeared. After packing their luggage, Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey and continued to move forward with Li Yuanba. As they went down the river, they saw more farmlands and village roads on both sides of the river. Sometimes they could see donkey carts carrying goods. When they arrived at a town, they saw outlaws coming and going on the streets, carrying swords on their backs or riding horses in a hurry.
After asking around, I found out that Chang'an was going to host some martial arts competition to be the best in the world. Outlaws from all over the place were rushing there. In recent times, the areas around the capital have been filled with this atmosphere, and many more knights have passed by.
"Get out of the way!"
Several knights wearing conical hats rode their horses through the street, shouting loudly as they passed by Lu Liangsheng, scaring pedestrians away and knocking over roadside stalls. Soup and pots and bowls splashed, and scalding water poured on passers-by, causing them to scream. Some outlaws who were squatting under the eaves with ferocious looks were splashed with water, and they called on their companions to draw their swords and chase after them to fight with the group of horsemen.
When they saw the runners from the government office coming, they quickly drew their weapons and hid from the crowd. Some of them walked out of the town, eager to go to Chang'an, while more of them were vagrants in groups of three or five. Those who had old grudges against each other picked up their weapons and started fighting.
Lu Liangsheng was leading the old donkey as he walked past the gangsters fighting in front of him. He frowned. At this moment, someone was pushed backwards and bumped into the bookshelf hanging on the old donkey's hip.
The next moment.
The donkey raised its hoof and kicked the man, sending him flying back and crashing into the crowd of people fighting over there, knocking them down.
"There's someone over there!"
"Oh my goodness, that old man's donkey kicked my brother, go over and chop him up!"
The fighting figures separated, and many eyes turned to look at the shouting, especially when they saw a child who was not even as tall as a man's shoulder carrying a stone hammer, they immediately became interested.
One of the one-eyed men licked the blade and grinned.
"That ugly kid, you made him out of paper! Haha... You ran away before you were weaned, go home and drink your mother's milk!"
In the bookshelf compartment, Toad Taoist raised his mouth through the door, clenched his webbed feet into fists and waved them.
"Disciple, hit him!"
The one-eyed man's words caused a burst of laughter. Then, there was a dull bang, and the huge hammer on the child's shoulder fell to the ground, making a small hole, and the ground under the feet of everyone made a slight noise.
"You dare to call me ugly... and insult my mother..."
Li Yuanba twisted his neck, and a series of crisp bone cracking sounds were heard.