"Did you see that day? Oh, the sky was full of golden light, flying in all directions. You know, there were rebels everywhere at that time, and there was such a celestial phenomenon. Could it be that God wanted to destroy our Great Sui Dynasty?"
There was a buzz of voices and the frequent passing of carriages on the official road. On a hot summer day, cicadas were chirping and trembling in the woods by the roadside. The smoke and dust rising from the shafts of the carriages and the hurried passing of vendors and pedestrians filled the air with a solemn atmosphere of war.
The roadside teahouses where people could rest gathered many businessmen and travelers who were stranded in the capital area because of the sudden outbreak of war. They talked about the frequent wars, angrily smashed the ceramic bowls in their hands, and shouted a few words. Amid the noise, one could also hear the words that someone on the street had just said.
"Brother, you don't understand, this is not a sign of the country's demise!"
At a table at the edge of the teahouse, two vendors drank the tea in their bowls. One of them turned around with a smile and waved to the man who had spoken before.
"I just came out from Chang'an. I heard that the Imperial Master was performing a ritual to confer the title of God. It's not what you said."
Over there, the man who had been rebuked felt embarrassed.
"Wars are raging everywhere, yet you are still doing these absurd things. Your Majesty is the same. The rebels are almost at your doorstep, but you are still relying on ghosts and gods for the safety of the country and the survival of the people. You are really stupid."
At the side, a shop assistant who was passing by quickly stopped and whispered a reminder.
"Be careful with your words!"
At the table at the edge of the teahouse, two men looked at each other and laughed. They were well-traveled people, so they were not angry when the other party changed the subject, but they were angry and had to argue it out.
"Brother, it's not wrong to say this without knowing the truth, but we were in Chang'an that day and saw it clearly."
The unconvinced man picked up the wine bowl and raised his eyebrows: "So what if you saw it? It's still time to worship ghosts and gods at this critical moment and not to care about government affairs."
The people around who were drinking tea and eating cakes also looked over.
At the table at the edge of the teahouse, the vendor chuckled with satisfaction when he saw their gazes. He cleared his throat and raised his hand to make a gesture, asking everyone to be calm.
"I heard that this matter of conferring the gods had a reason. There were rumors among the people in the city that the people who rebelled outside were demons, possessed the rebel king, and bewitched the soldiers and the people. That's why the national master performed the ritual. Think about it, how many years has the national master not appeared? This time he came out, oh, I saw from a distance, his hair and beard were all white."
"demon?"
The businessmen and pedestrians who were resting at the nearby tea tables were suddenly in an uproar. People who often went out of the hospital had much more experience than ordinary people. They had heard the word "demon" many times when they were out, and the impression they had was mostly eerie and sneaky monsters. Now that they heard that the demon was possessed by the rebel king, they all lowered their voices and whispered to each other.
"No wonder. I heard from people who escaped from war-torn areas that the imperial army could never win."
"Yes, I have long wondered how this bandit army could advance so quickly without stopping along the way."
"It seems that it is really as the old man said just now, it is really a demon."
Amid the humming noise of the teahouse, no one noticed that outside the door of the shed, there were two people sitting against the wooden pillar of the fence, holding cakes and slurping them with tea. One of them was carrying a wooden box on his back, with a thick beard and tiger eyes. He heard the conversation inside and turned his head slightly to glance at his companion beside him.
The latter took a bite of the biscuit and put it on his knees. He dropped his hands to his feet, picked up the tea bowl and took a sip. He only had one arm. After finishing the dry food and tea, he took out a few copper coins from his arms and put them into the bowl with a clinking sound. He grabbed the long sword beside him, stood up and walked out with the bearded man.
The man carrying the wooden box walked to one side with his hands behind his back.
"Brother Zuo, you have just heard the rumors in the market that the rebel king is a demon. You and I have seen the rebellious army from afar on our way here, but it has the aura of an immortal."
The one-armed man beside him was silent for a moment, looking towards the direction of Chang'an, and said softly: "This is just a strategy of Fellow Daoist Lu or the emperor. His words must always stand firm among the people."
He was born as a constable and later spent some time in the Ministry of Justice of Tianzhi. He knew a little about what was going on in the court. Naturally, he could see the purpose of such remarks. He paused and said another sentence.
"Besides, the gods came to the human world to cause chaos. How is this selfishness different from that of demons? Brother Yan, how about we go to Chang'an and see if Brother Lu needs any help?"
"Haha, we have known each other for a long time, how can I just stand by and watch? What's more, this world is originally the human world. Even if there is chaos, it is not the turn of the gods to come down and intervene!"
Yan Chixia cupped his hands and said, "Let's go together!"
The evening wind blew up dust particles that filled the official road. The two people who were walking side by side looked at each other and laughed. They had been traveling around the world together for many years, so how could they walk alone
The noisy noise was still going on all around them. The two looked at the sky, bathed in the sunshine, walked along the road, and headed for Chang'an in the northeast.
As the sun sets, the red light spreads over the mountains, rivers, and forests, as if they were covered with a layer of rosy clouds.
In the northwest of Chang'an, the wind and sand were swirling, and there were several loud explosions. Mud pillars were raised from the ground. The galloping war horses neighed and fell heavily to the ground, rolling several feet away. The flying cavalrymen were grabbed by a flying figure, dragged into the sky and flew backwards. In the distance, there were cavalrymen galloping towards them, raising their arms to draw their bows and arrows, and plucking the bowstrings towards the figures flying into the sky.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Feather arrows flew across the sky densely, piercing the ground and trees with bangs. The figure in the air fell onto a huge rock, raised his hand and waved his robe sleeve to sweep down a few feather arrows. With his other hand, he grabbed the head of the captured cavalryman and lifted it in the air. He looked past the pursuing cavalrymen and looked at the vast army in the distance, with the fluttering flags of "Liang" and "Li".
He snorted coldly and exerted force with his hands. With the sound of bones breaking, the head of the struggling cavalryman was crushed open, and the faint golden light attached to the head was also dispersed by him at the same time.
"How dare you, the demon king from the lower realm, kill my immortal soldiers!"
A majestic voice came from the army in the distance. The tall figure on the rock lifted his cloak, threw the corpse away, turned around and flew away to the east.
It was Gongsun Liao, who had been staying in the northwest desert. He was originally sitting quietly in the desert, accompanying his deceased master. However, when he heard that Li Gui of Liangzhou was in rebellion and felt the power of the stars in the sky, he went to check it out. As a result, they met halfway and had a fight. Both sides won and lost. They originally wanted to continue the fight, but early this morning, he saw a golden meteor passing through the northwest and sensed the familiar fluctuations of magic power in Chang'an, so he stopped and walked along the way and hurried over.
He didn't want to get entangled with the other party for the moment. He left the corpse behind, walked through the woods and fields, and floated towards the capital.
…
The glow that dyed the western clouds red gradually set below the horizon. The night surged in like a tide, covering the sky and the earth. At the same time that the fleeing troops from Jin entered the city, lights were burning in the Wanshou Temple in the southeast of Chang'an, illuminating the attic.
Lu Liangsheng sat in the first seat, sitting quietly with his eyes closed. On one side were the Taoist, Zhu Ganglie, Toad Taoist, and Hong Lian, who were looking at each other in bewilderment. Occasionally, there were many figures standing in the shadows in the hall, creating a strange atmosphere.
cluck~
The Taoist swallowed his saliva and spoke first.
"Um... everyone... have you eaten yet? What flavor would you like..."