In the darkness, I feel the sunshine on my face.
There was a throbbing pain deep in his head, as if it had been hit by a chisel. Lu Liangsheng's ears kept ringing with the words "Young Master" and "Liangsheng, how are you?" He felt the warm light brushing across his face, and he slowly woke up from his coma.
'Did I faint?'
"...Zhan Xujing... How could he faint so easily?"
"Oh right... the demon star!"
The moment these two words flashed through his mind, Lu Liang suddenly opened his eyes and saw the top of the bed curtain and soft sunlight pouring in from the window lattice.
Dust was flying in the light, and in the slanted gaze, a slender figure was sitting on the edge of the bed, wringing out the warm silk handkerchief, turning around, and meeting Lu Liangsheng's gaze, a smile suddenly spread across her pretty face.
"The young master has woken up."
The toad sitting at the desk, with its webbed feet tucked into its sleeves, heard Hong Lian's exclamation and suddenly opened its eyes in the sunlight. It quickly got up from the ground, stepped on the edge of the table and jumped up, then landed on the edge of the bed. It raised its webbed feet and waved, "Don't touch him!"
He approached the disciple, put his round webbed head on the disciple's wrist, squinted his eyes, pondered for a while, and then exhaled.
"Nothing happened."
The piercing pain that Lu Liangsheng had felt before had disappeared. He placed his fingers on his wrist, and his consciousness extended along his limbs to the small world inside his body. The aura of the demon star that had caused the severe pain calmed down again. He could not help but make eye contact with the Toad Taoist in confusion.
"Master, when I fainted in the early morning, I did realize that it was caused by the agitated aura of the demon star."
"Master knows."
Hong Lian on the side nodded in agreement, wiped Lu Liangsheng's face with a silk handkerchief, and spoke in a gentle voice.
"Young Master, when you were unconscious, it was Master Toad who suppressed the aura of the demon star for you. At that time, you fell to the ground, and your body... your body... became a little strange."
Lu Liangsheng frowned.
"Weird?"
The woman took back the handkerchief, stood by the bed, pursed her lips and pecked the head hard.
“The body was on the ground… moving on its own, sliding down the hill.”
Hearing this, Lu Liangsheng looked at his master, and seeing Toad Taoist nodded, his brows furrowed even more. Considering his cultivation level, he shouldn't have fainted so easily. Moreover, even if he did, his body shouldn't have been controlled like this. Recalling the memory before he fainted, the severe pain came suddenly, and he only felt the moment when the demon star's breath became restless. He only said one sentence, "The demon star is acting up." Then his consciousness went blank.
He got out of bed, walked to the desk and looked out the window. The sun was shining brightly. In the square, Yan Chixia and Zuo Zhengyang were leaning under the shade of a tree, still recovering from their hangover. The tables, chairs and screens over there had long disappeared. Zhu Erniang and Xiao Mingyue were sweeping the square with brooms. Not far away, by the pool, Lao Zhu was lying there with half his body buried in the water, snoring and blowing a series of bubbles. There were also a few empty wine jars leaning at his feet.
The bird flew across the field of vision and landed in the distant woods.
Lu Liangsheng looked for a while, put on his robes, and turned to look at the Toad Taoist: "Master, I'm going out to set up the magic circle. Do you want to come with me?"
"Master didn't sleep all night..." Toad Taoist touched the fish whiskers at the corner of his mouth, and jumped to sit on his disciple's shoulder, "Forget it, it's better for Master to watch over you."
Soon, the master and the disciple left Wanshou Temple, crossed the noisy long street in the early morning, and walked out of the East City Gate, as if they had come to the suburbs for an outing. They used the area of the magic circle that had been selected a few years ago with people, water, and mountains, and relocated the center of the formation.
'Huahua'
The Jing River and the Wei River meet, and the water flows eastward with sparkling waves reflecting the sunlight. Amid the roaring sound of water, Lu Liangsheng reached out and grabbed the river surface. A huge wave rose up, and a huge rock broke through the water and flew onto the shore, rolling at his feet with water stains.
"Edict!"
Lu Liangsheng brushed the boulder with his robe sleeve, and the water plants growing on it fell off, revealing the dark blue and black stone surface. He shouted softly, pinched his fingers and pointed at it. His wide sleeves shook rapidly, and dust fell down. His fingertips sank deeply into the stone and engraved imperial edicts and decrees. Every time he drew a stroke, magic power was infused into it, and it took shape along with the imperial edict, and gradually the magic light lit up.
"Master, do you think this water prison return formation will be effective?"
"Master, I don't know, you set it up yourself, don't you have any idea?"
Lu Liangsheng didn't say anything. He made a final move to retract his magic power, then lifted the boulder into the river with one hand, splashing white waves.
"Let the old dragon be the center of this formation."
Watching the ripples in the water calm down, Lu Liangsheng turned around and lifted his master onto his shoulders. His figure disappeared in the sunlight and he gathered again at the foot of Mount Li. He walked up the mossy stone steps. Along the way, the waiter from the teahouse still greeted him at the door.
"Old man, are you going to climb the mountain? Why don't you just come to the teahouse and have some tea and something to eat so you can get full before you start your journey?"
Suddenly he realized that he had said the wrong thing, slapped himself in the face, and laughed towards us.
Lu Liangsheng chuckled and waved at him, then walked straight up the mountain and came to the cliff where the magic circle had been set up.
"It seems that my mother won't come this time."
Looking around, Lu Liangsheng found a pile of stones on the edge of the cliff, scattered them, and rearranged them.
The Toad Taoist yawned out of boredom, then half-closed his eyes and sleepily watched his disciple carve imperial edicts on each stone.
He smacked his lips and asked, "What kind of magic circle is this?"
"Mountain Prison Five Sword Formation."
"One mountain and one river..." Toad Taoist nodded, "Well, they complement each other. Where are you going to place the last human formation? Wanshou Temple?"
"Um."
Lu Liangsheng put down the carved stones and piled them up over there, piecing together the magic circle on top to form the outline of a sword. He put down the last piece, looked at the sky, it was already past noon, brushed the dust off his hands, drew a protective barrier around the stone pile, and left with his master.
The mountain prison and the water prison have been built, and what remains is a formation of people.
I can’t say whether it can stop the evil star, but at least it can serve as a warning.
After all three places are finished, we will see if they can be improved and reinforced.
Going all the way down to the foot of the mountain and back to Chang'an City, long smoke billowed into the sky on the winding official road. Passing merchants and travelers hid on both sides of the road. Only a few cavalrymen were seen galloping from afar and rushing towards the city gate.
"Um?"
One of the knights caught a glimpse of an old man behind the people in front of him, and hurriedly tightened the reins, shouted "whoa", and stopped his horse.
"National Master!"
The man was in his early twenties, with a handsome face and a dignified look. Lu Liangsheng knew him, smiled and nodded, and asked him to come over.
The young man was Li Yuan's second son, Li Shimin. He walked between several merchants and waved his hand to ask them to step out of the conversation area and continue to go to the city. Then he walked up to Lu Liangsheng and bowed.
"Shimin pays homage to the Imperial Master!"
"No need to be so polite."
Lu Liangsheng helped him up and looked at the cavalrymen who were parked on the side of the road. "You look so hurried. What happened?"
Originally, some things should be reported to the emperor first, but Li Shimin changed his mind and thought about the strange things that happened before. In the end, he still had to report back to the imperial teacher in front of him. He hesitated for a moment, looked around, and lowered his voice.
"National Master, something strange happened this morning. The bodies of the rebel army that were buried earlier disappeared."