Infinite Brilliant Scroll

Chapter 212 When we first met, a little shadow flew away

The distant mountains are gray and gray, no matter what color the vegetation, strange rocks and rocks in the mountains are originally, they all look monotonous and dull under the early morning mist.

The color nearby is also very dull. The houses in the village are all made of loess walls, a thin layer of thatch is spread on the roof, and black and gray wooden boards are used as doors. There are already some signs of decay, and old peach charms are hung. .

There are only occasional touches of greenery on the ground, which is refreshing.

An old farmer got up early, boiled some hot water on the stove, and was busy in the vegetable field outside the wall.

"Old man!"

There was a clear voice, and the old farmer looked up, only to see two Taoist priests and a thin man who tried his best to dress up.

The one who spoke was the younger Taoist, wearing a pine and crane Taoist robe, with a long sword on his back, an apricot-yellow sword tassel hanging down, a dust whisk in the crook of his right arm, a red sandalwood crown on his head, and three long locks under his chin. Mustache, full of Taoism.

"Old man, I have cleared my poor way, and I returned home together with my brother to serve the uncle. Because I was in a hurry last night and missed the time to go to the city to rest, I had to walk all night. I was thirsty and tired. Can I ask the old man for help?" A bowl of water to drink?"

The old farmer squinted his eyes and looked around for a while. The sun hadn't come out yet, and he couldn't see things a little far away clearly, but after taking two steps forward, he saw that the Taoist priest was really a good-looking person, and said quickly: "Okay, okay , come with me, first sit in the house, I just boiled hot water."

The thin man next to the Taoist priest said: "Old man, I see that there seems to be a well next to your house. If you are willing, I can just go to that well to get water, no need for hot water."

The old farmer showed some simple and honest smiles on his face, squeezed out more wrinkles, and shook his head: "You are from other places, and you don't know that the well water here is bitter and astringent, and you can't eat it at all. If you drink it, you have to wait for a long time until a film forms on the surface of the water, and then remove the film before you can drink it. It’s better to blow on hot water, and it will be hot and cold soon.”

Daoist Yiqing nodded, and didn't push back any more. Together with the thin man, he helped the old Taoist in the middle who seemed to have stiff limbs and was somewhat inconvenient to move, and went into the house.

The three of them sat down together in the room, and there was only an unpainted square table and a bench in the whole room. The three of them couldn't sit down, so they only let the old Taoist sit.

The stove was set up in a corner of the house, and the old farmer went to fetch hot water and said, "Although our place is a small place, there are actually Taoists."

"On the hill three or four miles away, there is a mountain temple. Inside there is a Taoist priest whose surname seems to be Guan. He is handsome, but he doesn't go down the mountain very much, and he is rarely seen."

The old farmer murmured and brought over three bowls of hot water one after another.

Daoist Yiqing looked down at his clothes, and then at the uncle next to him, who was dressed in a luxurious Taoist robe, which was more conspicuous than himself, and said, "Old man, I lost the change of clothes prepared by the poor Taoist, and I have been running around with my uncle for days. , I only wear such a set of clothes, and I feel a little uncomfortable, can I ask the old man to get two sets of clean old clothes, and I would like to exchange some money."

Saying that, Daoist Yiqing took out a money bag from his sleeve, put it heavily on the table.

The old farmer just smiled, raised his arms and stretched his patched sleeves, and said: "Look, I don't have a second set of clothes at home. If I want to change clothes, I can go to the village to see who has old clothes. Clothes. It doesn’t cost money, as long as there is food, it will be useful.”

The lean man took off his burden, took out a stack of dry food and bread, and said, "Is this okay?"

The old farmer was overjoyed, took one and stroked it lightly, swallowed his saliva and said, "This side is so white and has a strong oily fragrance, good, good, good, this is enough."

The lean man took out a few more cakes: "This is a special thank you gift for you, old man."

The old farmer was so happy that he almost cried, and thanked him repeatedly: "God, I'm sorry. In the past two years, I heard that the court won another battle, and said that Xixia was destroyed. I don't see any benefits of winning. I only know that the conscripts are levying corvees. , The door-to-door tax collection has become more and more ruthless, I don’t know how long I haven’t smelled the aroma of such fine grains.”

He quickly took a bite, stuffed the few pieces that belonged to him into his arms, and then went out with the other bread.

In fact, this noodle cake, which can be used as dry food, can't be called a delicate thing. Even a lean man who is used to traveling and often serving in the army, who has a hard time enduring hardship, actually doesn't like it very much.

Looking at the old farmer's back and sighing, the thin man picked up a bowl to drink water.

The old Taoist had been silent all this time, but at this moment he suddenly said, "Xixia is gone, when did it happen?"

"It has been six or seven years since Xixia was defeated. It's just that there is no news in this countryside. I guess it took two years to hear about it."

Daoist Yiqing replied, "When we fought Xixia back then, the officials were still wise and powerful, with high fighting spirit, far better than the Taoist emperor back then. If he could maintain it until now, we will not have so many villages falling into ruins along the way." It's a wasteland, completely devoid of human habitation."

The old Taoist seemed to want to frown, but his face was a little stiff, and his expression looked stiff and weird: "Now the emperor is Zhao Huan, how old was he six or seven years ago? Besides, I saw that Zhao Ji still had a few years to live, why? Will pass the position so quickly?"

"Emperor Daojun's abdication seems to be a secret of the Tian family, who is not humane." The Taoist Yiqing hesitated, "However, shortly after this official ascended the throne, Cai Jing, Tong Guan, Gao Qiu and many others were abdicated. The relegation of treacherous ministers really swept away the unhealthy trends in the government and the public at the beginning, which was quite popular among the people."

The old Taoist sneered: "The people who dug me out of the grave were not Gao Lian's two cousins, Gao Lian and Gao Feng? If Gao Qi was really demoted, how could these two bastards still show off their power?" ?”

Daoist Yiqing said: "These two people know some sorcery. The officials have always looked at practitioners differently. They didn't punish them much at the beginning. It's even more so in the past two years... well, the officials gave Cai Jing and others Let it out."

The old Taoist said indifferently: "It is not surprising that the Zhao family is capricious, but, Gongsun Sheng, don't think of me wearing the clothes of ordinary people."

Gongsun Sheng with the Daoist name Yiqing said: "Senior, you want to cultivate into a dead body, but you have not succeeded in being buried in the ground for many years, and you were disturbed by Gao Lian and others. Now your mana is not smooth and your limbs are stiff. However, this chaotic magic power is still strong, so that Pindao can't lead the seniors to ride the clouds, and the Dai Zong brothers can't use the magic power."

"We only traveled less than three hundred miles all night. If we don't disguise ourselves, we will be overtaken by Gao Lian and others sooner or later."

The old Taoist disdainfully said: "So what if I catch up? Even if they lock me up, they can't really hurt me at all. No matter where they want to send me, when I am recuperated halfway, I will transport Shen Xiaolei Blow them all to death!"

Dai Zong, who was drinking water, took two quick sips, dried up the water in the bowl, put the bowl heavily, and said angrily: "Mr. Years ago, how could the officials oppress so many Taoist masters?"

"Longhushan, which has been famous for thousands of years, also forced them to hand over all the magic treasures and books, and made alchemy or helped to refine armaments according to the government's wishes. If there was any evasion, they would be taken by Chen Daozi, who is known as the disciple of the celestial master. People kill and go back to the teacher's gate, and the heads of people are chopped off."

"Mr. Gongsun's master, Erxian Shan Luo Zhenren has such magical powers and supernatural powers. Just because he refused to accept the order to go to Tokyo to accompany the emperor, he was surrounded by the army and fought for six or seven hours. The entire mountain was beaten. cracked and turned into a ground full of rocks."

"Do you think this is the same as before? As long as Gao Lian and the others bring you back to the barracks, they will always find a way to concoct you."

The old Taoist didn't show any emotion when he heard such a long speech, he just looked at him sideways and said, "I've already become an ordinary man, how can I get too involved with these ordinary people in the countryside?"

Dai Zong was so depressed that he turned to look at Gongsun Sheng: "Mr. Gongsun, you..."

He suddenly noticed that Gongsun Sheng looked different.

Gongsun Sheng stood up with a solemn expression: "They are chasing you."

Outside the village, two middle-aged men with mean faces and high buns were wandering on horseback.

These two people have a little similar appearance, and they both carry long swords and gourds around their waists. Fortunately, they can be distinguished by their clothes.

Gao Feng was wearing a vermilion long gown, wearing several layers, each layer was smooth and smooth, and when the sky was not too bright in the early morning, the material on his body seemed to be reflecting light.

Gao Lian was dressed in a large black dress, with many complicated patterns embroidered with gold thread on the front and corners of the clothes. point.

"Those three people have entered this village." Gao Feng said, "You and I will do the trick, each release three hundred flying soldiers, and search the village. I don't believe they won't show up."

Gao Lian immediately said: "It's not right! Gongsun Sheng is quite virtuous, and Lin Lingsu's old thief was even more famous in the past. Now they are hiding in this village, and they don't know what arrangements will be made. The flying magic soldier It was made by you and me, and if you enter the village rashly, if you lose some of it, wouldn't your heart be hurt?"

Gao Feng said, "Then surround and not attack?"

Gao Lian untied the gourd around his waist, and said: "Let the flying soldiers guard the surroundings first, and then we will release this cloud of smoke and force them into the open."

Gao Feng nodded in praise: "It's a good idea, why don't you and I take advantage of the situation and compare to see who has more smoke in the gourd and is more poisonous."

The two pulled out the plugs respectively, threw the gourd up, and hung it high in the sky, the mouth of the gourd was tilted downward, and they were chanting words.

As the spell spread, two black and turbid streams sprayed out from the gourd, spread out in an instant, turned into a condensed haze of smoke and dust, surrounded the entire village, and then gradually engulfed in the middle.

The black smog, in the eyes of the villagers, was like the gradually closing night, and they were so surprised that they opened the doors and windows to take a look.

The tumbling thick black has not really pressed down on the top of the head, it already makes people feel uncomfortable like a big stone has fallen on the chest.

When the old farmer came back after changing into two sets of old coarse clothes, he saw three passers-by standing outside the door, looking up at a circle of "dark clouds" that suddenly floated in the sky.

"It's a sea of ​​smoke."

Gongsun Sheng said bitterly, "Where this poisonous smoke passes, no matter humans or animals, if they inhale a little, they will be seriously ill for seven days. If the people in this village take a breath, they will die on the spot. This place is still under the jurisdiction of Gao Lian and the others. Inside, it's actually so careless about human life."

Lin Lingsu walked away.

Dai Zong quickly said, "Where are you going?"

"They're just trying to force us out." Lin Lingsu said indifferently, "Do you want to see them slaughter all the villagers?"

"Of course I don't mean that." Dai Zong followed, "Daoist, didn't you just look down on these 'ordinary people'?"

Gongsun Sheng also followed, explaining: "Senior said that he will not touch the mundane world, and he means no kindness and no enmity."

Lin Lingsu walked past the old farmer, without giving the old man the slightest look, and said to himself: "I have never shown any kindness to anyone in my life, so why should I bring them the disaster of killing myself, because of these peasants? Are my rules?"

Gongsun Sheng told the old farmer that he didn't want any more clothes, and told him to go back to the house to hide, and then discussed with Dai Zong in a low voice: "Although this poisonous smoke is a big disaster, it's nothing to us. After leaving the village, find the gourd where they put the smoke, and the poor Taoist will cast a spell with his sword to force the smoke back."

"But Gao Lian and Gao Feng's two brothers sacrificed the flying soldiers, they are all made of iron and iron, with red hair and red eyes, they can lift four or five feet off the ground, they fly and bite, they suck blood and release poison, they are very dangerous."

"Pindao will hold them back later, Brother Dai Zong, seize the opportunity to use the technique of divine movement, and send seniors a certain distance first."

Dai Zong was a little nervous: "The technique of divine movement is inconvenient to use on Lin Daochang, and it often fails. I don't know how far I can send him."

Gongsun Sheng said: "I think senior's aura can be restrained a bit, you can support at least ten miles."

As he spoke, Gongsun Sheng raised his eyes and looked around.

He had just heard from the old farmer that there was a mountain temple nearby, so he could just borrow some help.

Sure enough, on the hill not far from the northwest, there is a lonely temple with black tiles standing. Although it is not big, the walls are made of bluestone bricks which are rare in this area. This important event has entrusted the wishes of many villagers.

Gongsun Sheng drew out the ancient Ding sword with pine pattern on his back, and pointed at the temple.

"Being a god in the mountains, the mightiest is the most important, subdue the spirits and monsters, and frighten ghouls and evil spirits. Please, the mountain god go out!"

In that small temple stands a statue of a god, holding a broad-edged sword in his hand and riding a one-horned tiger on his crotch, standing on the three-foot altar, which is somewhat majestic.

It's a pity that the paint on the clay sculpture has faded, and there are many cracks at the place where the sword and the palm are connected. In a few months, the statue may be disconnected from there first.

It has been almost 10 minutes since Guan Luoyang appeared in this temple. His current identity is the Taoist priest who manages this small temple.

During this time, he inspected back and forth. This is a low mountain, a path leading down the mountain. There is no one else in the temple except him. It is ordinary, old and leaky. , what does the hidden background look like.

Suddenly, something strange happened down the mountain and Guan Luoyang was about to go out to have a look, when there was another muffled thunder in the sky.

The statues in the temple seemed to be ordered by thunder, and a layer of golden light appeared on their bodies.

The illusory and transparent golden-armored god general walked out of the statue, raised his sword and roared, and flew three or four miles away, falling towards the circle of black smoke that was constantly shrinking.

(End of this chapter)