The moonlight shone through the slightly swaying pine branches and fell onto the quiet stone steps. Tang Liren walked up the winding stone steps on the needles and followed the figure in front of him towards the Taoist temple above.
He also saw the dragon skeleton that he had seen more than ten times. This was the treasure that Z6 displayed in public. The remains of the legendary creature were still placed there intact, and no one could take their eyes away. Even if he had seen it many times, he would still feel shocked.
However, the young man standing in front was not as excited as he imagined. He just walked over and patted the dragon skeleton that was emitting a faint fluorescent light, and spoke in a flat tone.
"The old dragon is dead?"
"It's a long story." The Taoist jumped onto the edge of the pool, patted his thick humerus to show off, and pointed at himself. "Twenty years after you ascended to heaven, the gods in heaven still missed you and wanted to clean up everything related to you, so they set up a trap and let a man named Wei Zheng kill the old dragon. This is because of the favor you left behind. The old Taoist Yunji saw through the secret and secretly reported this to me, who switched the subject. Then, I took my sword and killed the old dragon."
"What?" Lu Liangsheng turned his head to look at the excited Taoist priest, who waved his hands quickly and said, "Learn from Pudu Cihang. The old dragon has already had enough merits from so many years of worship. At that time, I used my sword to kill him cleanly, and he shed his dragon body and turned into a dragon and flew into the sky."
"Feitian is still dead?"
Sun Yingxian was stunned for a moment, stroking his chin, and looked up at the gap on the top of the mountain with his sharp-nosed and monkey-cheeked face. He squinted his eyes and thought carefully, then hesitated and stammered.
"Should...should...he have flown...to the sky...right? At that time, I thought he was quite happy and even smiled at me..."
The scholar was stunned for a moment, he covered his forehead with his hands and squatted down. The dragon's face was at most baring its teeth, at most showing a little anger, and it could still smile... Most likely it had met with an unexpected disaster...
"Alas, after so many years, how can I remember it so clearly? I don't believe that you are still studying in heaven. Do you remember all the knowledge you learned back then and recite it word for word?"
Lu Liangsheng raised his head and nodded, saying that he had not fallen behind in learning. "Yes, I can. How about I recite it to you now?"
The Taoist was speechless, and the words he wanted to say were choked back into his stomach. He squatted down next to the scholar and reorganized his words. Just as he was about to continue speaking, a figure followed him and slowly approached him, whispering, "You two, this dragon..."
"He raised it." Sun Yingxian was in a bad mood at the moment. She glanced at the other person and nodded at herself. "I chopped it off and put the bones together and put them here for you to decorate. Do you understand now?"
"Oh... I see."
"Then go down!" The Taoist flicked his sleeves at him, and the ground rolled up, spinning the man on the spot and quickly disappeared into the pine forest.
"You get angry because of a word you said?"
Seeing his expression, Lu Liangsheng smiled. Just like before, he put his arm around his shoulders and looked at the stone steps leading down to the mountain gate. "In fact, I have never been to the sky. Instead, I was pulled into the void by a demon star. There, I saw countless demon stars lurking and invading many worlds. Then, I started fighting with a demon star..."
What happened at the time of ascension was actually just a short moment, unlike the long river of time in the human world which passes by bit by bit. When Old Sun heard that Lu Liangsheng used the Kunlun Mirror to travel back and forth through time and space, he was so angry that he jumped down immediately, shouting that he should send his present self back to experience the feeling of being a peerless master.
"I can go back, because during that long period of time, Lu Liangsheng has already ascended and left, and went somewhere else. If you go back, what will happen to the other Sun Yingxian in Qixia Mountain? Learn from Lu Yuan?"
The Taoist was naturally aware of Lu Yuan's affairs. After thinking about it carefully, he decided to forget it. Could it be that he would adopt his younger self... Thinking of this, he shuddered suddenly, quickly stopped thinking, and changed the subject.
"By the way, where's the old toad?"
Sun Yingxian looked up and down at the scholar. Lu Liangsheng smiled and pushed his face back: "He's still outside, living in a rental house. He should be watching TV at this time. As soon as I heard the news about you, I hurried over."
When talking about their experiences, they caused quite a few jokes, but that did not stop them from telling the Taoist priests. The years they had spent together made them closer than brothers, so even if they were treated as jokes, they were still close.
"Don't mention you. I don't know much about the outside world in this cave. The last time I went out, there was a war outside. There were bullets and shells flying everywhere. The explosions made holes everywhere. After watching for a while, I went back to continue practicing. It was not interesting. It was just a change of weapons in the human world and the fighting continued."
The Taoist was also somewhat touched when he talked about this changing world, and then asked: "What are your plans after that?"
Over there, Lu Liangsheng fell silent as he looked at the swaying pine forest. The moonlight in the gap above his head gradually disappeared. After a while, he spoke softly, "I don't know at the moment... But I might still want to go back and take a look. I didn't fulfill my filial duty and see them off to their final resting place, so I still have some regrets in my heart."
Outside the dark gap on the top of the mountain, the morning sun broke through the clouds, pushing the edge of light to spread, shining into the cave and sprinkling on the pine forest. The lush and verdant branches and leaves swayed in the scholar's sight.
Sun Yingxian next to her showed melancholy on her face, pursed her lips, and suddenly smiled.
"It's a pity that I can't go back. If you can go back, please bring some words to Sun Yingxian at that time. Hmm... there's a lot. I'll write it down and you can give it to him. Also... by the way, please look after Xiaoxian for me and bring back some walnuts. They are her favorite food."
"You're crying?"
Lu Liangsheng patted his shoulder, and the Taoist quickly wiped his eyes, turned his back and put up his sleeves.
"My earthly ties are over, but when I heard about my wife, I still felt a little worried. Aren't you the same? Even after becoming an immortal, you still think about being filial and missing your family all day long."
"Okay, let's not talk about these heavy words. It will take who knows when Tuo'er will gather his divine power again." As if to comfort him and himself, Lu Liangsheng came down from the pool, put his arm around the Taoist's shoulder, and walked towards the mountain gate, saying as he walked, "Since there are brothers here, then this national master should stay for a while longer and see this prosperous world together."
In his arms, the Taoist turned his head and asked, "How long?"
"March and May!"
The two walked down the stone steps arm in arm. The scholar blew on the pine branches hanging above his head and continued, "Maybe thirty or fifty years. We both have long lives. We'll talk about it when we've had enough fun."
"Hey, this is what you said, don't go back on your word."
"Humph, a gentleman's word is as good as a whip. Is this country's teacher the kind of person who doesn't keep his word?"
"Okay... where are we going now?"
"Let's go back to my master first. It's not bad to settle down there, but the house is a little small. I'll move to a bigger one when I get there, otherwise there won't be enough rooms."
"That's for sure... Speaking of which, I miss Old Toad more and more..."
"By the way, did the old pig ever come back from his journey to the west?"
"I came back, but I don't know where I went. I went to the monkey's temple once and brought him a few peaches. Then I was chased out."
"What bad things have you done?"
"Does this person look like that? He just wants a few hairs."
The figures arm in arm started talking incessantly, walked out of the mountain gate without even looking at the people around them, and disappeared in the intertwining sights. Only the sound of their words was still faintly echoing in the air, and then, even the sound disappeared.