A gentle breeze blew across the foothills, more than twenty miles away from Hegu County. In the dim mountain forest, a ray of sunlight shone through the dense gaps in the trees. Suddenly, the light and the branches shook violently, shaking off large leaves. As they swirled down, it seemed as if they were squeezed away by something, and the tree trunks behind them shook with a "bang".
A figure used the force of the tree to leap up, passed through a ray of sunlight, pulled out a peach wood sword from his back, and shouted: "Monster, take my sword!!"
A sudden sound exploded in the woods, and a figure leaped into the air and pushed the hilt of the sword. The peach wood sword body lit up with magical light and flew out with a "whoosh", heading to a few trees in front and half-buried in the ground. The young man who fell down pinched his fingers to his chest and made a quick sound.
"Edict!"
The magic light split along the ground, with a loud bang, mud and gravel flew up, and a dark figure broke out of the ground, flipped in the air, fell to the ground, and quickly faded into the shadows of the forest. It had a pair of green eyes and crawled on the ground. A long hairless tail swayed in the air. The black shadow stared at the young man who cast the spell, slowly moved his limbs, and made a rustling sound.
"Hehe, you little Taoist priest who hasn't even fully grown your hair yet, you're trying to meddle in other people's business."
"Good fellow, you can actually speak like a human! I can't do this without you."
The young man took out a bronze mirror from the yellow cloth bag, and took strange steps with his cloth shoes gently stepping on the fallen leaves. In his peripheral vision, the peach wood sword that was inserted not far from the monster suddenly shook, and in the surrounding woods, there was a rustling sound and the sound of rats squeaking.
His heart suddenly skipped a beat and he swallowed.
"This is the first time I've encountered such a clever monster, and it's even capable of setting an ambush?"
"No, I can't lose my father's reputation as the number one Taoist in Chang'an... What should I do? What should I do?"
Beads of sweat the size of beans covered his cheeks. The young man glanced at the peach wood sword, slowly walked over, and pointed at the black figure crawling in the shadows over there.
"Hey, hey... it's a bit shameless to call for help... just wait for me!"
He tapped his fingers several times, and the moment he got close to the peach wood sword, he reached into his chest and pulled out a yellowed book. His vision was poor, so he put his face close to the sword. Then he closed the book with a swish, his face flushed, and he put it back in his pocket at a loss.
"Oh no, Dad gave me the wrong book... not this one."
Muttering something, the shadows of rats appeared all around and climbed towards him at a very fast speed. The young man came to his senses, drew out the peach wood sword, held the bronze mirror in one hand and the sword in the other, turned around and ran, leaving afterimages behind with both legs.
"Just wait, you little rat! If you mess with me, you will suffer the consequences!"
"Hehe... No need to wait, I'll come over now, and I don't want to eat fruit... Hehe."
The black figure in the shadow laughed hoarsely, burrowed into the ground, lifted up a small mound of dirt, and hurriedly chased after it while turning over fallen leaves. Groups of rats around it squeaked and burrowed into the ground to follow closely.
The young man who was running frantically in front looked back from time to time. More than ten evil spirits drilled in the soil and rushed towards him frantically. He turned around and started cursing.
His name is Sun Xiaoyun. He is now over 20 years old. He grew up in a mountain village and learned Taoism from his father for many years. He has some skills and has seen monsters twice. There was a hen running around the mountain that could blow him down the mountain in an instant with a flap of its wings. There was also a very good-looking fox on a hill, but it was so powerful that even his father didn't dare to get angry with it. It just lay beside the waterfall all year round and never left. I heard from my father that it was guarding the magic circle set up by his uncle.
I seem to have such an uncle in my memory, but I have never seen him for so many years. When I was a child, I often heard about him from my parents and grandparents. He was an extraordinary person with great abilities, otherwise how could he subdue such a powerful fox demon? Even if he was not in the mountain, the fox demon would not leave.
At that time, Sun Xiaoyun was determined to be a father and a chivalrous monk like his uncle. Seeing that many children in the mountains had learned skills and left, he couldn't wait to pack his bags at the beginning of this spring. Following his father's instructions, he ran out of Qixia Mountain like a flash, determined to create a new world.
At least I have to bring a beautiful girl home... Sun Xiaoyun thought so. After visiting Fushui County and seeing Hegu County, which was larger than the county town, he felt a little confused after leaving the city. He didn't know where to go. After all, he didn't have much experience in long-distance travel. He could only head north or west. Fortunately, two days later, he passed by a village and heard that there was a monster in the village. The livestock in the village were bitten to death from time to time, and some girls were raped at night.
Since he came out of the mountains, he finally encountered a monster he could defeat. Not long after, he lurked in the village for three days. Sure enough, on the fourth day, he encountered a huge rat in the middle of the night. It was like a sow in the pen and could scare a person to death. After fighting for several times, he barely gained the upper hand and forced the monster out of the village. He followed it around and around for several miles, from late at night to early morning, and the scene now happened.
"Fuck you, I chased you, and now you chase me all the way, can we call it even?!"
Sun Xiaoyun panted and howled loudly. They were almost out of the woods. The sunlight outside the woods was dazzling. Just as he was running forward, he heard a few donkey brays. A man and a woman came in, talking and laughing, leading an old donkey. They must be a couple. The woman was beautiful, wearing a plain white dress. The man on the other side was elegant and handsome. He seemed to have seen him and turned to look at him.
"Go, don't come in, get out now!"
Sun Xiaoyun waved his hands a few times. He didn't dare shout out the words "there is a monster" for fear of scaring the other party. However, the couple opposite just stopped in surprise, looked at the young man running towards them, and ran away from them.
Sensing that the couple had no intention of moving, he gritted his teeth and stopped.
"Just die!"
He drew the peach wood sword from his back again, turned around and glared at it, shouting: "You bunch of rats, I... am... am... "
At the moment when he shouted the words, the man with his back to him suddenly raised his hand. He felt a flash before his eyes and heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed. A long sword covered with engravings rushed into the sky with a magical light, and then sank into the ground. Sun Xiaoyun only felt the ground under his feet shaking a few times.
With a humming sound, dozens of cracks appeared on the ground in front. Visible sword energy was moving back and forth. Two large trees nearby were affected and were split in half with two bangs. Wood chips flew everywhere, dragging the dense tree cage to the left and right.
puff!
The long sword broke out of the ground, flew across the sky above the forest, and fell silently into the scabbard on the bookshelf. The next moment, streams of sticky blood gushed out from the ground cut by the sword, emitting a foul smell.
"I'm afraid this is the Sword Immortal..."
Sun Xiaoyun stared at the bloodstains on the ground in amazement. Before he could come to his senses, the man leading the donkey came over and said to him with a smile: "Your Taoism is okay, but it lacks some skills. Also, don't underestimate any monsters, and don't act rashly. Who knows, there may be good monsters among them."
As he spoke, the man suddenly reached out and touched his head, then turned around and walked out of the forest with the woman and the old donkey, as if he had come here specifically for this trip.
Sun Xiaoyun reacted and rushed out hurriedly, but unfortunately he could no longer be seen.
"I really met a master right away... That's right!!"
Suddenly remembering something, he clapped his hands hard and reached for the book in his arms.
"Hurry home and get the book back!"
After saying that, he took out two talismans from his sleeve, stuck them between his legs, and with a whoosh of dust rising up, he ran wildly towards the direction of Mount Qixia and disappeared in the sunlight in the blink of an eye.
…
On the nearby hills, three pairs of eyes were looking at the smoke and dust going away. Lu Liangsheng withdrew his gaze, pulled the reins, and smiled at the woman beside him.
"Let's go."
"That was Xiao Yun just now? You recognized her right away, sir?"
"I recognized it from the Taoism. It's so familiar."
Lu Liangsheng looked back again, shook his head with a smile, and walked across the gentle slope with Hong Lian. In less than half a breath, his figure became blurred, and the next time he appeared, he was on another mountain.