Lu Liangsheng discussed with Yang Guang in the side hall for a while, and after deciding on some strategies, he walked out of the palace. The sunlight was gradually slanting down on the top of the city wall. Soldiers were being mobilized at the foot of the imperial city and began to frequently enter and exit the four gates, but he could not feel any peace.
The rosy glow shone through the city walls. Lu Liangsheng squinted his eyes and looked around the bustling and lively long street. Lights were hung on every street market at dusk, showing the prosperity that was unique to this world.
“Cherry Biro~The filling is sweet but not greasy, authentic Western flavor!”
"Rouge, powder, and fine silk, my dear guest! Wouldn't you like to buy a few pieces to make some new dresses for your pretty wife and daughter at home?"
The place was bustling with people coming and going.
"Cooked pancakes! Cooked pancakes! Old man, buy one and try it."
The short and stocky man carrying a load squeezed through the crowd and saw the old man in green and grey robes. He opened the cage attentively and said, "My wife made this herself. If you are not used to the white taste, there are also sesame fillings here. Oh, old man, you look familiar, like a scholar I know."
"Haha, okay, get me one."
The oil-paper package was handed to him. Lu Liangsheng put in two coins and watched the man happily stuff the coins into the purse on his waist. He listened to the rustling sound inside. He took the cloth around his neck and wiped the sweat off his face. He smiled and nodded, picked up the load again, and shouted to the end of the street.
The sunset glowed on his face. Lu Liangsheng looked at the pancake in his hand, which was still steaming through the oil-paper cloth, smiled, and strolled along the long street in the sunset.
Protect them and keep this beautiful place.
Back at Wanshou Temple, the few children in the temple who were not practicing talismans or stretching their muscles in the square were lying on the windows of Qingyue Tower, looking out from afar. In front of the main building, Hong Lian and Sun Yingxian were standing there, as was Yuwen Tuo, and there was also Lu Pan and eight others standing beside him. They were wearing jackets, with their arms on their hips and frowning. I guess they had already heard what had happened from Tuo'er.
Seeing Lu Liangsheng coming back, the eight impatient men pounded their chests loudly.
"Liangsheng, the eight of us know what's going on outside. As uncles and elders, how can we hide behind? Let's go outside and fight those gods!"
"Yes, I even smashed the tablets of the gods enshrined in my home!"
When he got excited, he raised his arms and squeezed them. The bulging muscles rolled around like a ball, and his fists made crackling sounds.
Li Jinhua and Lu Laoshi pushed them aside and squeezed over, looking at their son worriedly. There were some things the women couldn't say. After all, this was Lu Liangsheng's duty. In the words of ordinary people, if you have this job, you have to do it well.
"It's okay, Mom and Dad, just be with Uncle Pan and the others as usual."
Lu Liangsheng smiled and said a few words of comfort, which made the worried family members feel a little less tense.
"I already have a plan. Besides, I don't have time to do anything while you're here. Not disturbing you is the best way to help you right now."
Over there, Lu Pan and the others all nodded, tied up the clothes they were about to tear, and waved: "Then let's go, don't disturb Liangsheng."
His words made everyone laugh and gradually dispersed to busy themselves with their own matters. Only Hong Lian, the Taoist priest, and Zhu Ganglie were left at the door. He asked for leave from the restaurant in the city today and followed Lu Liangsheng into the hall holding the nine-toothed rake, saying as he walked:
"If you want to go to the underworld, I, Old Pig, will accompany you. Those officials in the underworld, please give me some face."
"Give you the cold shoulder!"
At some point, the Toad Taoist came down the stairs wearing a black robe with white patterns. He took the frog's webbed feet from the gourd behind him and shook them up and down on the ground, spitting out a few long incense sticks as thick as human fingers.
"Old Toad, there are plenty of soul-attracting incense in the Taoist temple. There are a lot of them in the house." The Taoist picked up one, frowned and put it under his nose to smell it, "What a weird smell."
“Of course it’s a good thing!”
The toad snorted twice, threw the gourd away, rolled to the side, picked up a stick of incense and leaned on the ground, raised his toad face and looked up along the long incense stick: "This incense is what I got from reading the ancient books in the building recently. I also crushed the bark that the thousand-year-old tree demon peeled off earlier, and mixed it with the hundred-year-old incense ash at the bottom of the tripod that I got at the City God Temple a few days ago. How can it be compared with those ordinary products of yours?"
"What's the use? It will only lead the soul to the underworld." The Taoist snorted and fiddled with the long incense.
Toad narrowed his eyes, "Light one and try..."
"Just give it a try."
The toad holding the long incense stick was still saying, "Light one and try, it will send you to hell instantly." Before he could finish the rest of the sentence, the Taoist priest had already taken out the fire talisman and lit the incense stick. The toad's eyes suddenly widened and he roared, "Are you serious?!"
"What's there to be afraid of? No matter how wonderful the words are, they still smell good. I'm familiar with this..."
Sun Yingxian smelled the curling scent of burning incense and stopped talking abruptly. She shook herself and the expression on her face froze. A shadow floated up from her body and danced up into the sky, looking exactly like a Taoist priest.
The burning incense dissipated, Hong Lian blinked, and smoke came out of her whole body, as if she was drunk. She staggered and bumped into Lu Liangsheng's arms. The latter quickly raised his hand, sucked the burning incense into his sleeve, and extinguished the burning incense head with his fingers. With the other hand, he quickly grabbed the uncontrollable soul of the Taoist friend and pulled it down, stuffed it back into its original body, and tapped his forehead, philtrum, and dantian with his fingers, almost in one go.
After a while, Sun Yingxian opened her eyes, turned over and sat up, pulling Lu Liangsheng's trouser legs and almost crying.
"Old Lu, I almost went to the underworld before you. Then Xiaoxian would be left without a husband, and Xiaoyun would be left without a father~~"
"Just think of it as experiencing the Nascent Soul stage in advance."
Lu Liangsheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry so he pried his hands apart and checked Hong Lian. This fragrance was too nutritious for ghosts and she fainted directly. It was getting dark outside, so he put Hong Lian back on the couch in the room. Seeing that everything was almost ready, he asked the Taoist to set up the Taoist Five Directions and Five Ghosts Formation, using the Yin ghosts of the five elements to guard the Yuanshen as it descended into the netherworld.
After raising the flag, the Taoist priest who had recovered burned a few talisman papers in a bowl, placed it in front of the formation, lifted up his robe and took a horse stance, changing his finger gestures and muttering something. After a while, he opened one eye and winked at Lu Liangsheng: You can enter the formation now.
"Liangsheng, do you want me to go with you?" The Toad Taoist stood on the round table and looked at his apprentice. Lu Liangsheng, who was wearing a Qilin cloak, shook his head and said, "No, Master is a demon and is not suitable to go down. If he is caught and hunted by the Emperor of Mount Tai, it will be difficult to escape."
This trip to the underworld is just to find out how many ancient heroes have not yet been reincarnated. If you treat them with courtesy, you won't get into any trouble.
As he was speaking, Zhu Ganglie also came over and stepped into the center of the formation. He leaned the nine-toothed rake in his hand on the ground and stood like a guardian king.
Lu Liangsheng nodded to his master and the Taoist priest, opened the umbrella given by the City God and held it above his head, then sat cross-legged on the ground. Sun Yingxian outside the formation held his breath, lit the soul-guiding incense and inserted it into the incense burner.
He made some incantations, moved his head, jumped and danced around the magic circle, and muttered something out loud.
"Five directions and five elements, eight directions of divine power, Taiyuan Xuanxu, obituary to gods and ghosts, knowledge of the eight seas, yin and yang are connected, the god who guides the way before the gate of hell..."
The long incense curled up to the dome in the hall.
At a certain moment, the two people in the formation closed their eyes almost at the same time, as if two shadows peeled off their bodies and sank into the ground.