Lu Yang came to the stall selling sesame cakes again.
The one selling the sesame seed cakes is a senior sister. She is very skilled at making the dough, letting it rest, kneading it, and shaping it into shapes. I don't know how long she has practiced this.
The sister pinched the dough into small balls, and used her hands, wrists, arms, torso... her whole body to knead the dough into pancake shapes.
The movements are in line with a certain principle. It seems that this is not just a simple kneading of dough, but also a way to exercise the body's coordination.
The senior sister placed the dough on the forging table and started hitting it with a big hammer. There was a loud clanging sound and sparks flew everywhere, burning small holes on the ground.
The dough is quenched, the cold water boils instantly, bubbles appear, and soon a pancake is ready.
Lu Yang felt his eyes were opened. Bailian Peak really had some ideas, combining delicious food and refining equipment seamlessly.
"Give me a pancake."
The food in the cafeteria was really cheap. Lu Yang saw many good things here that caught his eye. If his contribution points were not limited, he really wanted to buy them all.
…
The next morning, Lu Yang met up with the two at the mountain gate of the Wendao Sect as agreed.
"I've been waiting for you." Meng Jingzhou waved after seeing Lu Yang. There was a carriage parked behind him. It was the one that took them to Wendao Sect. The old horse was still the same old horse.
The only difference is that the third person changed from Senior Sister Yunzhi to Mangu.
Man Gu studied very hard, and even while waiting for someone he was still learning. His wide Confucian robe hugged his muscles, and he really looked like a tall Confucian scholar.
"No need to take the flying boat?" Lu Yang was ready to take the flying boat. Although his shrinking the earth into an inch was convenient, it was not as fast as a flying boat.
He temporarily gave up learning how to shrink the earth into an inch and focused on shrinking the earth and becoming an inch.
Meng Jingzhou patted the carriage and said proudly: "My carriage is a rare treasure. It contains a space formation. When we sit inside, we think the carriage is moving slowly, but to outsiders, it is actually as fast as a flying boat."
Come to think of it, the Meng family is far away in the Imperial City. Meng Jingzhou relied on a horse-drawn carriage to go from the Meng family to the Wendao Sect. It is impossible for him to walk step by step on the old horse. If he walked that way, he would not be able to reach the Wendao Sect even after a year.
The carriage used a formation on the way to the Wendao Sect, and it was so fast that it was flying. Only when it got close to the Wendao Sect did it close the formation and slow down its speed to show respect for the Wendao Sect.
What Lu Yang saw before was the carriage that had slowed down.
The three of them got into the carriage. The interior of the carriage was still as large as before. Only today did Lu Yang understand the value of this carriage.
"Speaking of which, where are we going? What's the mission?"
"Hey, so I didn't tell you? We are going to a place called Qinghuai County. I'd better let Brother Mangu tell you the details, after all, he found the mission."
Man Gu placed a bookmark at the seam of the book, closed it, and spoke slowly.
"I heard about this from a passenger on a flying boat when I was out on a mission. He was a merchant leader who knew many things that ordinary people didn't know. He told me a story that was circulated among his merchants, and it has a certain degree of credibility."
"There is a large mountain range between Qinghuai County and Yanjiang County. If merchants want to cross this mountain range, they must be led by local hunters."
"A terrifying existence appeared in the forest, forcing the hunters to leave the forest on which they depended for survival..."
…
As night fell, the branches of the overgrown trees blocked the moonlight, thunder roared, and heavy rain poured down. The ground was washed so muddy that there was nowhere to step.
Seven or eight people were tied together with ropes around their waists to prevent anyone from slipping and sliding down the mountain and getting lost accidentally.
There was the sound of heavy rain all around, and even if someone fell down and shouted, it would be difficult to hear anything.
They wore straw raincoats, leaned on trekking poles, carried baskets on their backs, and took every step carefully for fear of stepping into a deep pit.
The freezing cold raindrops made their hair and faces disheveled. Looking up, the dense rain blocked their vision. They could only follow the old hunter in front.
"Watch your step, the mountain roads are very slippery in the rain!"
"Don't stop even if you're tired. Try harder. We're almost there. If you stop now, it will be hard to muster the energy to keep going!"
"I, I really can't... Help me! I'm falling!"
One person slipped and had no support, so he slid towards the cliff beside the mountain road.
The traveling merchants sensed the force coming from the end of the rope and realized that someone had fallen behind. They stopped immediately and frantically tried to pull the person back.
"Ayue, hold the rope tight, let's work together!"
"I'm exhausted." A Yue was floating on the cliff with a thick hemp rope tied around his waist to prevent him from falling.
He was now tired and hungry, and had no strength at all, so it was difficult for him to climb up the rope.
The old hunter was experienced. He directed everyone calmly and pulled people away personally.
"Hold on to the tree, don't let the seven of us slide down!"
"The rest of you tie the rope around your wrists. When I say one, two, three, everyone pull together!"
"One, two, three, pull!"
"One, two, three, pull!"
After great efforts, everyone finally pulled A Yue up. They were so tired that they could not even stand steadily.
The old hunter did not relax and checked Ayue's physical condition nervously: "Ayue, how did you slide down? Did you feel someone pushing you?"
A Yue shook his head blankly, not understanding why the old hunter asked this. Of course he slid down by himself, so could anyone have harmed him
"Old Sun, what do you mean?" asked Qi Wu. He was the leader of the traveling merchants and vaguely sensed something was wrong from the old hunter's question.
The old hunter shook his head and pointed to the dilapidated temple ahead: "Let's hurry on and talk about it when we get to the mountain temple."
It was raining heavily, not a good environment for talking. Qi Wu nodded, said a few words of encouragement, and asked everyone to quickly go to the mountain temple to take shelter from the rain.
When they arrived at the mountain temple, they took off their raincoats without caring about their image, sat down on the ground, gasped for breath, and then hurriedly checked if the things in the backpacks were damaged by the rain. If so, they would have made a wasted trip and lost all their money.
"It's not bad. Fortunately, we wrapped it with waterproof cloth in advance. Brother Qi was foresighted."
The mountain god temple was not very good, but it was spacious. Three old and dusty statues of the mountain gods were located in the center, surrounded by dirt and feces. The tablet with the name of the mountain god was missing, and the offerings had been eaten by wild beasts long ago. The two doors were missing, and the windows were broken, letting in cold wind.
The crowd didn't care much. To them, any place that could shelter from the rain was a good place.
Qi Wu took out some goods from his backpack as tribute and offered them to the three mountain gods to thank them for lending them the mountain temple to shelter from the rain.
The three mountain gods are clay sculptures. The craftsmanship is not very sophisticated, but you can still see the difference between them. The mountain god in the middle holds a gentleman's sword and has a righteous face. The mountain gods on both sides are one civil and one military. One wears a Confucian robe and holds a book, and is in the civil position, and the other has pure yang righteousness and is in the military position. The levels are clear and everything is in order.
"May the mountain god bless us with a safe journey."
Qi Wu always felt that the three mountain gods were very spiritual, as if they were alive.