The western clouds were dimming, and amid the sound of cicadas chirping, the sunset glow gradually sank in the quiet of Wanshou Temple, and darkness fell.
The occasional evening breeze blew through the window gap, and the lampposts in the hall swayed slightly, casting the shadows of several people on the walls and screens.
"Where did Gongsun Liao get the alcohol? I've been sleeping for a whole day and my head feels like it's going to explode. Brother Zuo, how do you feel?"
"Still a little groggy."
The lights in the main hall of the attic were bright. Eight people gathered around a table to eat. Zhu Ganglie and Zuo Zhengyang looked a little listless and had little appetite. Yan Chixia, who was complaining about a splitting headache, was gesticulating excitedly with chopsticks in hand.
"Brother Zuo, you're fine. After drinking with you, I went to get those Yin gods to drink two more jars to build relationships. In the future, when I use Taoist magic to pray to the gods, they will feel embarrassed for being slow."
"But you look like nothing's wrong." Zhu Ganglie glanced at him with his big ears drooping.
"How come you're alright? Yan hasn't sobered up yet!!"
Yan Chixia, who usually spoke briefly, became talkative for the first time. His sudden words made everyone present laugh out loud, and the main hall was filled with warmth.
Lu Liangsheng, who was sitting in the first seat, also smiled and said, "I have a method to sober you up. I'll help you sober up later." As he said that, he casually took a mouthful of rice and chewed it slowly.
Hong Lian, who was standing by, took a piece of food with chopsticks and passed it to his bowl. She looked at Lu Liangsheng and smiled. After years of familiarity, she knew that he was hiding something in his heart. She asked softly, "Sir, what happened when you went out today?"
On the other side, Zuo Zhengyi, Yan Chixia, Zhu Ganglie and Zhu Erniang put down their chopsticks and looked over here. Even Mingyue, who was eating, raised her little face with a mouth full of rice grains and blinked.
Lu Liangsheng smiled at them, put down his bowl and chopsticks, and waved his hands: "It's okay." He then said to Hong Lian: "It's okay, I just set up three magic arrays on the Jing River in Lishan and the Conferred God Platform. I just thought about whether there is anything that needs to be checked and supplemented."
"Set up a magic array?" Zuo Zhengyang frowned, "What is the purpose of setting up the magic array?"
He and Lu Liangsheng have a close relationship from Fushui County until now. He was able to embark on the journey of cultivation because the other party gave him the Fire Spirit Pearl of the Holy Fire Master and guided him into the door of cultivation. In a sense, he could be considered half a master. It's just that he is older than him and he couldn't bring himself to do it because of some gaps when he was a constable. However, whenever there is something to do here, he will never refuse. He can never repay the kindness of leading him into the door.
Now I can't help but ask: "Why haven't you mentioned it before, Brother Lu?"
"Why should I tell you? I am enough for you." The Toad Taoist wiped his mouth and put down the exquisite red rooster bowl.
There are some things Lu Liangsheng doesn't want to talk about now, but since he has been asked, and it endangers Chang'an and is closely related to everyone, the emperor should know what happened outside the city by now anyway, and he will send someone to inquire.
He thought about it and decided to stop hiding the story and start from the beginning.
"You should know the Third Prince that the gods talked about, right? He never showed up. We thought he would go to Chang'an alone, but later we found out that he went to the Five Elements Mountain to meet the demon king Sun Wukong who was trapped under the mountain."
Everyone knew about the monkey that was being crushed under the mountain, so they didn't interrupt and just continued to listen quietly.
"… The day before yesterday morning, the Great Sage came to look for me. He had a good relationship with the Third Prince in the past, and he was unwilling to be an enemy of the human world. He even wanted to play around in this world. However, because his father was Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, and there were many immortals in the sky, it was inconvenient for him to show up and tell me directly, so he asked the Great Sage to tell me about the monster star."
The following words were mostly Monkey's original words, which were repeated for everyone to hear. At this time, it was completely dark. Li Sui'an, who had gone to Yuwen Mansion, came back with five sword cultivators from the sect and Yuwen Tuo. When they walked to the door of the hall, they saw their master talking and did not dare to disturb him. They found a seat in the hall and sat down quietly.
Lu Liangsheng glanced at them, and after telling Monkey what he had said, he also told them about the strange things that had happened outside the city today, as well as his guess.
"This morning, I was going to set up a magic circle. On the way down from Mount Li, I met Li Shimin, the second son of Li Yuan, who is also Yuanba's second brother. He asked His Majesty for the job of burying the bodies of the soldiers who died in the battle, but a strange thing happened: the bodies broke out of the ground and disappeared. In my opinion, this should be related to the fragments of the demon star. I am afraid that they took away the corpses in order to gather a body."
snort!
Yuwen Tuo, who was leaning against the door and hugging the Xuanyuan Sword, snorted coldly, "Carrying thousands of corpses, it's nothing more than that. When the Duke of Yue's mansion was raided before, I saw some content about corpse puppets in his mansion, and there were also such records."
Lu Liangsheng nodded. He and Yang Su had a close relationship, and they had talked about corpse puppets before, but since it involved the other party's cultivation and Taoism, he didn't want to ask more questions.
"Taku, please continue."
"There is such a record in the Corpse Puppet Technique." Yuwen Tuo lowered the Xuanyuan Sword, looked at the burning lamppost, and recalled what he had seen before. After a moment, he said, "The record describes that humans are the leaders of all spirits, and there is a soul in their flesh and blood. By fusing and refining millions of bodies, one can refine a blood demon. Not only is he extremely powerful, he is also immortal and can jump out of the five elements. He is not hurt by the five elements and is not afraid of the soul being restrained by the netherworld, because there is no such thing as a soul..."
Li Sui'an fiddled with the wick and frowned, "Not afraid of the five elements? Swordsmanship is also considered a metal element, so doesn't that mean I can't even use a sword?"
"We can only use magical powers, or... the power of the gods in heaven." Yuwen Tuo explained.
According to the conversations of his two disciples, Lu Liangsheng had a clear understanding of the demon star in his mind, but this understanding made him frown. It was difficult to hurt him with his own Taoist skills, so he could only rely on the magical powers of the mountain and sea beasts to deal with him, even if it was a bit harmful to his body...
Maybe it's demonic power, he couldn't help but look at the master who was nodding with his head down beside him.
Sensing his disciple's gaze, the Toad Taoist glanced at him and snorted twice, "Now you know how important your master is, right? Don't worry, your master is so powerful that I won't be afraid of a mere blood demon. At worst, I am the emperor, and I have soldiers at my disposal. I will turn him into a pile of mud and just guard him. If you dare to recover, I will continue to smash him!"
The terracotta warriors were made of stone and were possessed by evil spirits. Lu Liangsheng was not optimistic about it, but he did not want to offend his master, so he kept silent and changed the subject.
"… It's too early to tell whether the demon star has refined a blood demon as its body. I'm afraid there are other variables. I'll consider the formation tonight, and tomorrow morning I'll see if I can improve the formation. I'm still not as good as Old Sun in formation, so it's good for him to be here."
The methods practiced by Yan Chixia and Zuo Zhengyang were mostly for subduing demons and monsters, so they really couldn't help much in this regard. The two of them still stood up and bowed.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, since the matter is urgent, we two don't want to sit here and wait. If it is a demon, then we should get rid of it. Let's go outside and investigate carefully first!"
On the other side, Yuwen Tuo and Li Suian also bowed.
"What the master does is the disciple's business, so we'll go too!"
Zhu Ganglie looked at them, took out the nine-toothed rake in his hand, and slammed it to the ground: "Count me in!"
"You just stay in the temple and cook the meal!"
The four of them said something to him in unison, turned around and walked out of the attic, taking the five sword cultivators with them, leaped high, stepped on the branches of the forest, and disappeared into the darkness in a few leaps.
"I am Marshal Tianpeng after all! You really think I am a cook!!"
Zhu Ganglie ran to the door and howled into the darkness. When he turned around, the only people left on the table were Mingyue, who was standing with her feet raised, and Zhu Erniang.
"Where's Lu Liangsheng?"
"The master has gone back upstairs to study the magic circle." The little man shrugged and continued to bury his head in his rice.
“This… this…”
Lao Zhu brushed his sleeves, sat on the stool, took a piece of steamed bun and stuffed it into his mouth, "Oh, really, from now on, you still have to rely on me..."
The night was deep, the lights of thousands of houses in the city faded away to the east, and in the dim light cast by the stars and the moon shining through the gaps in the forest, a figure carrying a bag jumped down from the treetop, covered his rumbling stomach, ran quickly to the grass, bit a tinder, untied his belt, lifted up his robe and squatted down.
After a while, he looked at the slightly yellowed book in his hand in the dim light of the fire.
Wow~~Wow~~~
Night crows flew through the dark woods, uttering hoarse and ominous cries.