The chirping of cicadas can be heard all along the mountains. The slanting sunlight shines through the branches and leaves onto the teahouse. Inside, there is a bustling crowd. Passing tourists come in to stop and rest. There are also porters who sit at the door, fanning themselves with their straw hats, drinking some cold tea and chatting with their companions.
At the innermost table, Lu Liangsheng watched the Taoist priest opposite him drink up a bowl of herbal tea and then put it down on the table with a bang. He was puzzled as he saw his face covered in sweat.
"Old Sun, didn't you escort my parents and a bunch of kids back to Mount Qixia? Why are you here? And with Cheng'en?"
Over there, Wang Chengen, who had been dragged all the way, had not yet come to his senses. He just raised his finger to point to the Taoist priest beside him. His lips and beard were trembling slightly and he was unable to speak.
The Taoist pressed down his finger, wiped the water stains on the corner of his mouth, took a deep breath, organized his words, and then spoke.
“It’s a long story, so I’ll make it short… What happened was, I escorted Xiao Xian and the others across Huaiyi Prefecture, and then the rebels from the south attacked us. I had no choice but to use the invisibility talisman to escort them out of the city one by one. Fortunately, the rebels ignored us, and we didn’t encounter any trouble on the way.
… When we got to the riverside ferry, we saw shooting stars flying across the sky. I guessed it was the Conferred God you mentioned before. When you told your parents, they and Xiao Xian asked me to help. When I sent them to Tianzhi, I asked the City God Zhou Yu to help. If I hadn’t moved you out, he would have ignored me… Please help take care of me, and then I rushed here without stopping.”
After hearing this, Lu Liangsheng reached out and took the peach wood sword on the table, wishing he could knock the sword over to him.
"Before I left, didn't I ask you to escort me all the way to Mount Qixia?"
The Taoist held his head and pretended to hide behind Wang Banxia. He whispered, "Isn't that because I am worried about you too? I am afraid that you won't be able to handle those gods alone without me by your side."
Glancing around and seeing no one paying attention, Lu Liangsheng lowered his peach wood sword and threw it back on the table, "Then how did you get mixed up with Cheng'en? And why were you so flustered when you came here... Don't make it short, just tell me straight."
The toad that had been sucking on the bamboo tube opened its mouth and moved its face out from behind the earthenware bowl.
"Pick up the key point. I smell the breath of a demon star on you."
"Okay! I traveled alone overnight and slept in the wild. I ran into your disciple who was chased by a monster and we fought. The monster died but he was able to escape. It turned out that it was the monster star that was pulling me. I immediately chased after him and discovered a big secret..."
Sun Yingxian put one foot on the bench and finished speaking in one breath without pausing, slapping his hands on the table, "… Good guy, we chased to the back of another mountain and found corpses everywhere, including humans, wild animals, and even monsters."
He drew a big circle with his hands.
"All stuffed together into one big meatball!"
The teahouse suddenly became quiet. Tea drinkers around all looked over with their tea in their hands, staring at the Taoist as if he were a fool. After a moment, they turned back and continued talking to their companions. The silence suddenly became noisy again.
Over there, Li Yuanba stared blankly at the Taoist priest, then turned around to look at his master beside him.
"Master, do you understand?"
"Liangsheng." The Toad Taoist narrowed his eyes and called his disciple with a serious face, "What... is this stinky Taoist talking about?"
Lu Liangsheng put down the tea bowl, took out a few coins from his sleeve and put them on the table, put the toad with an expression of "I don't understand" on his face off his shoulder, stood up, took the Taoist who wanted to refill his bowl, and Wang Banxia out of the teahouse, pushed Banxia to Li Yuanba, and turned back to give him a warning.
"Yuanba, go down the mountain and meet up with Yuwen Chengdu, go back to Wanshou Temple and wait for Yan Chixia, Zuo Zhengyang, and Lao Zhu to come back, and ask them to look for me. They know how to find me."
"Master, then you..."
"Don't ask any more questions, just go." Lu Liangsheng drove Li Yuanba, who was hesitant and unwilling to leave, down the mountain, waved his sleeves at him, turned around and took the Taoist to a secluded place, "Do you still know the way there? Take me there now."
The Taoist knew the matter was serious, so he didn't say any more nonsense. He had been in the martial world for a long time, so he was naturally more cautious. On his way back, he naturally left a lot of traces, just to return and find the location of the 'meat ball' where the monster star was found.
Without saying much for the moment, he nodded, made a hand gesture, pointed at the ground, leaped into the ground, and raised a ball of earth that quickly spread out of the mountain. Lu Liangsheng also attracted a strong wind to interweave his body. He stepped on the ground, carried his master on his shoulders, leaned forward and rushed to the foot of the mountain, as if flying in the air. The surrounding foothills and forests flew backwards in their sight and became a blur. In a moment, the two of them, one up and one down, crossed most of the mountain.
The sun was setting in the west, and the mountains and rural scenes passed by Lu Liangsheng's sight like a passing show. The birds on the mountains returned to the forest, and when they passed a big mountain, they turned around and fell into the forest below in panic.
"Mr. Lu, we are just ahead... Ouch... Hiss~~"
From afar, the Taoist's words reached his ears from below. Lu Liangsheng stepped on the tree cage, spread his sleeves and stroked them backwards in the wind, slowly descended to the ground, raised his hand to find a half-buried rock in front of him and grabbed it. The soil broke open, and a figure jumped out of the soil with his hands covering his forehead and sat down on the ground.
"Hiss... I haven't used Earth Escape for a while, and I bumped into it without paying attention."
The Toad Taoist jumped off his disciple's shoulder, landed on the ground, straightened his robe, and rubbed his head. Recalling the scene of that year, he rolled his eyes and snorted.
"It's as if it has never happened before."
Lu Liangsheng walked over and touched the Taoist's aching forehead with his finger to relieve some of the pain. He looked at the mountains illuminated by the sunset glow, as well as the sides and back that were not illuminated by the light.
"That's it?"
The Taoist raised his head and looked at the mountain. The lonely peak he climbed last night was still there, so he nodded and said, "It's behind it."
"You and my master wait here, I'll go over and take a look."
Lu Liangsheng didn't wait for their answer. He rolled up his sleeves, controlled the strong wind to wrap around his body, leaped up, stepped onto the steep cliff in front, and his figure quickly flew to the solitary peak with a birch tree over there.
Standing on the tree cage with both feet, Lu Liangsheng shook the hem of his robe and looked at the scene behind the cliff with his hands behind his back. However, there was no evil star as the Taoist had said, only a few collapsed rocks and fallen trees.
Not here
The air was flowing, the mountain breeze brushed across his face, blowing his hair and beard into fluttering. Lu Liangsheng closed his eyes slightly, emitting his spiritual awareness. The surrounding mountains and forests appeared in black and white in his closed eyes and mind. The air currents in the sky passed around him, and he could faintly see some silk threads with a slight red glow flowing along the wind and floating in the air currents.
Didn’t leave?!
It's still nearby...
Lu Liang suddenly opened his eyes and heard a loud bang of rocks collapsing. Countless rocks of different sizes broke into the side of the mountain. A thick black shadow rushed out of the scattered rocks and crashed into him through the sunset glow.
On top of the solitary birch tree, the moment the old man with his hands behind his back turned his head, a golden light suddenly appeared from his waist.
Ding!
A huge black shadow collided with the light, and the divine light shook in an instant, spreading cracks. The next moment, Lu Liangsheng turned around and reached out to wipe away the scabbard at his waist that was emitting divine light.
"Demon star wants death!"
The sleeves of his robe swayed, and the thumb-sized scabbard enlarged and swung horizontally—
In an instant, the golden light became brighter, and a red light splashed out when it hit the black shadow. The black shadow let out a sharp scream and quickly shrank back into the cave in the mountain.
Lu Liangsheng lowered his scabbard and looked over. The broken mountain pass was filled with rocks that flew back, and the red light sealed the gap again.