Knife splashing

Chapter 246: Thunder in the Mountain

Rumble!
After Qingming Festival, the climate in the mountains becomes more changeable.

The sky was gloomy, with dark clouds like ink, and it seemed as if a mountain was about to collapse. Thunder roared, and the wind howled, blowing through the branches of the trees, making a rustling sound.

Halfway up the mountain, stands an old temple dedicated to the mountain god.

The mountain path outside the temple was originally an ancient military road from the Three Kingdoms period, but it has long been abandoned and is overgrown with weeds, and rotten arrowheads can occasionally be found.

This mountain temple is very old. Due to the erosion of time, the temple walls are mottled and the paint has peeled off, revealing the mud, tiles and bricks.

In the strong wind, a group of traveling merchants struggled forward on the corner mountain road.

There are many mountain roads in Dangyang County. The world is not peaceful nowadays, so there are bound to be bandits who rob people on the road. These people are naturally extraordinary because they dare to take to the road.

Each of them held a sharp knife and had a strong body. They were obviously martial artists. Among them were several peddlers carrying loads on their shoulders.

There are two types of peddlers in the underworld.

One type is the locals, who buy goods from nearby counties and travel around the countryside, without using an abacus or keeping accounts, selling needlework, handkerchiefs, rouge, candy and other small items.

Others are knife sharpeners, bowl menders, and pot menders, relying on their small skills to support their families.

But the other type is the one who travels all over the country.

Firstly, they would gather information from various places and sell it to inns; secondly, they had martial arts or special skills and could help people solve any small problems they encountered.

Of course, there are also some who are not decent people. They were originally spies on the outlaw road. They are playboys and seduce young wives from decent families, or they kill people and rob people.

These peddlers were the famous peddlers of Jianghu Inn.

But faced with the thunderstorm and mountain wind, they were still in a mess.

The tarpaulin on the car was blown left and right, and everyone bent down, squinted their eyes, and used their hands to block the strong wind.

"It's going to thunderstorm!"

"Quick, take shelter in the temple ahead!"

Suddenly, the donkey in front started braying and refused to move another step.

"You beast, why are you getting so mad at me now?"

The driver whipped the donkey angrily with the whip, but the donkey refused to move. Instead, it moved backwards and almost bit him when he was whipped too hard.

"Don't move, something's wrong!"

The leader of the caravan had a bad feeling and said in a deep voice, "These animals have traveled with us all over the country, they won't hurt anyone for no reason. I'm afraid there is something ahead."

"Hurry, you two go check it out, be careful!"

At the command, two men immediately held up their machetes and stepped forward cautiously, one in front and one behind, to explore the way.

They are very familiar with this mountain road.

After going uphill and turning a corner, there is a mountain temple. Sometimes I would hide there to avoid the rain, and occasionally rest after nightfall.

Could it be that bandits are lying in ambush?

However, when they turned the corner, they were stunned.

I saw a few horses parked in the open space outside the mountain temple, with luggage hanging on their backpacks, moving their hooves restlessly.

A young man kept mumbling, as if trying to comfort someone.

There was also a Taoist priest, a young swordsman in black, and a bald man, who gathered together, staring at the mountain temple, and no one knew what they were talking about.

It was Li Yan and his group.

Li Yan had naturally noticed the caravan coming from afar. He glanced at them calmly and said, "Don't be afraid, we are not bad people."

A man who was exploring the way did not let down his guard and asked suspiciously, "It's going to rain, why don't you go inside to take shelter?"

Li Yan looked at the sky and said, "No hurry, wait a little longer."

Seeing how relaxed they looked, the two pathfinders of the caravan nodded without saying much, then turned and left.

"Shopkeeper, there are four people at the temple gate..."

When they returned to the team, they immediately told each other what they had seen.

The shopkeeper thought for a moment and said, "He is carrying a horse and luggage, so he is not a highwayman..."

"Let's go! Let's go into the temple to avoid the rain. Be careful!"

At the order, the caravan continued to move forward and soon arrived outside the temple.

Seeing how Li Yan and his companions were dressed, the caravan owner immediately understood what was going on. He smiled and bowed, saying, "Which mountain are you from, and which incense are you burning?"

"Coming from Mount Hua, we burn the Three Pure Incense!"

Sharifei laughed, "Don't be nervous, the mountains are high and the roads are dangerous, we are all from faraway places, put away your weapons."

"Oh?"

The caravan owner's heart trembled, and he quickly bowed respectfully, "It's been a bit uneasy lately, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you all."

As he said this, he winked and asked everyone to put away their weapons.

The one who burns the Three Pure Incense sticks is clearly a person from the Taoist sect.

There are good and bad people in the Xuanmen. There are both Jinmen swindlers who cheat people and there are also masters who truly possess special skills and have the highest status in the world.

He didn't want to provoke either one.

But just as they were about to enter the temple, they were stopped by Sharifei, who said with a smile, "Why are you in such a hurry? Let's go into the temple later."

The leader of the caravan frowned slightly and asked carefully, "Ladies and gentlemen, is there anything in the temple?"

He traveled all over the country and walked in the mountains all year round, so naturally he knew some taboos. In these wild mountains and wilderness, it was best not to mention the names of many things.

"This...it's hard to say."

Sharifei laughed and said, "Anyway, wait a moment."

Looking at Wang Daoxuan who was calm and composed in the team, the leader of the caravan was also doubtful and raised his hand and said, "I will listen to you all."

After that, he turned his head and said, "Wait first."

However, this wait lasted only half an incense stick of time.

The caravan was on guard and didn't dare to talk much.

The sky became increasingly gloomy, with dark clouds overhead and the mountain winds growing more violent. Everyone knew that a heavy rain was about to come.

Click!
Suddenly, lightning flashed across the sky like a silver snake.

The raindrops fell with a crackling sound, splashing mud puddles on the open space outside the temple. In just a breath of time, the heavy rain poured down.

Billions of raindrops hit the leaves in the forest, and the rustling sound was like the tide. Coupled with the increasingly violent mountain wind, the rain was flying diagonally.

In a flash, the rain soaked the ground, flowing through the gaps in the weeds and forming puddles on the ground.

Li Yan and others had already put on straw raincoats and hats.

They were not in a hurry and were still waiting patiently.

But the people in the caravan couldn't stand it anymore. One man said anxiously, "Boss, this batch of goods will be ruined if it gets wet!"

The shopkeeper gritted his teeth, and with Li Yan and the others on his back, he said, "I'm sorry, but we have to go in first. What we are delivering are tea leaves and cloth, and they can't get wet in the rain."

Sharifei shook his head and said, "How come you don't understand what I'm saying? Don't worry, money is not as important as life."

"joke!"

A peddler could not help but said coldly: "I have walked this mountain road countless times and never had any problems."

"You want to stop me and cheat me out of money, right? Don't use these tricks in front of an expert!"

Having said that, he picked up his load and rushed into the temple.

"Damn it, shameless!"

When Sharifei heard this, he got angry, took a few steps forward, pushed the peddler away, and said in a deep voice: "Stay still!"

This caused an uproar.

Canglanglang!
Everyone in the caravan drew their weapons.

In their opinion, there was something wrong with the people in front of them.

Rumble!
At this moment, a thunderbolt struck from the sky. Everyone only felt a flash of white light in front of their eyes, a roar in their ears, and a deafening roar. Everyone's neck hair stood up.

After the thunder, the wind became stronger.

The caravan members blocked the wind with their hands and saw that some weeds on the top of the dilapidated mountain temple had been ignited, and then wetted by the heavy rain, and blue smoke was rising.

In front of us was the mountain god temple, with its door half-open. The rotten wooden door was swaying in the strong wind, creaking, as if it would collapse at any time.

One can vaguely see that the statue inside is broken and covered with dust.

"Woooooo~"

In the strong wind, there seemed to be the sound of a woman crying.

The voice was sad and tragic, like a woman being robbed.

However, no one dared to move.

They stared with wide eyes at the temple door that was shaking loudly. Suddenly, a whirlwind arose from the ground, wrapped in dust and rushing left and right, as if trying to escape, but was trapped in the temple.

Click!
Another thunderclap sounded.

There was a loud bang, and a wooden beam in the temple collapsed.

"ah--!"

And with a shrill scream, the tornado stopped.

"I win!"

Sharifei laughed and clapped his hands, "Brother Yan, don't think of leaving us alone, let's go to this Zigai Cave together!"

Li Yan said helplessly: "Alright, I'll listen to you."

The leader of the caravan, who was not concerned about his goods at the moment, bowed and said in a trembling voice: "So you are all masters of the Xuanmen. What is going on?"

"Let's take shelter from the rain first."

Mr. Li Yan didn't bother to talk nonsense. He led the horse into the temple and quickly wiped the water droplets off the luggage and the horse with a cloth.

This mountain temple is quite large, but even so, it still seemed a bit crowded after the caravan pushed their carts in, so they had to tie their donkeys outside the temple gate.

"Aw! Aw!"

The donkeys immediately started braying loudly in dissatisfaction.

"What's so smelly?"

The caravan leader was about to continue asking questions when one of his men next to him sniffed, looked down at the roof, and suddenly became so frightened that his eyes widened and he sat down on the ground.

"Demon, monster!"

Everyone was shocked and looked up.

This mountain temple is very old, with high beams and some of the top beam pillars as thick as buckets, which is why it has been able to support the temple until now.

On one of the beams, there was a black thing lying there. It looked like a human with hands and feet, a huge head, and green smoke coming out of its body.

"Don't worry, he's dead."

Li Yan looked up, frowned slightly, and covered his nose and said, "Please excuse me, throw that thing out."

The people in the caravan looked at each other in bewilderment, but no one dared to ask any more questions. They hurriedly climbed up onto the beams and poked the thing down with wooden sticks.

It fell to the ground with a thud, and they could see it clearly.

It turned out to be a huge gecko.

At this moment, his whole body was burnt and smelled bad.

After throwing the thing out of the yard, Lu San walked outside the temple, chanted some magic spells, and whistled a few times.

Wow!
Black mountain rats swarmed out from all directions, ignoring the stench and eating the gecko cleanly.

Among the many mice, there was one that was the largest, with a gold chain and jade pendant hanging around its neck. It was of ordinary shape and crude workmanship, and was obviously a folk item.

I don’t know which grave it was taken out from.

But it is really strange that the mouse wears gold and silver.

After the geckos in the yard were eaten clean of their flesh and blood, only a pool of bones remained, which faintly emitted a jade-like color.

The Rat King, wearing a necklace, stood up and looked at Lu San.

Lu San immediately cursed: "We have agreed to the rules, don't go back on your word. If you dare to move, the big bald guy inside will not let you off!"

"Squeak!"

The Rat King let out a cry, and the rats immediately dispersed and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye, leaving only a skeleton being washed away in the heavy rain.

"Haha, you're smart, little guy!"

Sharifei chuckled, put on a straw raincoat and a straw hat, picked up a cloth bag, rushed into the yard, and collected the bones one by one.

Everyone was stunned to see this scene.

The talkative peddler was trembling all over, lowering his head and not daring to look at Li Yan and others.

"Don't be afraid, everyone."

Wang Daoxuan stroked his beard and smiled, "We have accepted a mission from the City God Temple. They said that people have been missing in the nearby mountains, so we just happened to come and take a look."

He had an immortal-like appearance and spoke very kindly, which immediately made everyone in the caravan let down their guard.

"The Taoist leader is polite."

The leader of the caravan swallowed his saliva and said, "What kind of monster is that thing? We have been here several times, why have we never seen it before?"

Wang Daoxuan shook his head and said, "This gecko must have absorbed the incense from the mountain temple, and gained spiritual power, and gradually gained some spiritual power."

"Geckos are originally auspicious creatures, but the incense offerings to mountain gods have ceased, and they have occasionally tasted blood, so they naturally became evil spirits."

"You're lucky you didn't run into it. Even if you did, you wouldn't have the chance to say this. Besides, after it eats a person, it needs to rest for a long time."

"This thing is a bit difficult to deal with. The key is that when it encounters danger, it will hide in the crevices of the mountain and live on mountain rats."

"Moreover, this creature also knows how to avoid disasters. If you enter the temple, you will be used as a scapegoat by it and struck by thunder. You will not know what happened until you die."

"That's why I stopped you all."

"Thank you, Taoist Master, for saving your life."

Everyone was terrified when they heard this and hurriedly bowed to express their gratitude.

"It doesn't matter."

Wang Daoxuan smiled and waved his hand, and said nothing more. He took out a book from his bag and started reading it.

Then Shari flew back and started whispering with Lu San, turning over the bones and discussing how to use them.

As for Li Yan, he came to the door and looked at the thunder in the distance. His chest and abdomen shook and bulged, as if he was trying his best to echo the thunder.

They are all busy with their own things and don't disturb each other.

However, their behavior seemed very strange to the caravan members. If it had not been for the heavy rain, they would have fled far away.

Seeing the dull atmosphere, the leader of the caravan gritted his teeth and asked, "Master, are you going to Dangyang County?"

"Ah."

Wang Daoxuan was very patient. He put down the book and smiled, saying, "There's something going on over there. Let's go take care of it."

Unexpectedly, the leader of the caravan became interested and asked, "Is it because of Master Guan's mischief?"

As soon as these words came out, Li Yan, who was practicing Yunleiyin, turned his head and frowned, saying, "What nonsense are you talking about!"

In Dangyang, besides the Changbanpo where Zhang Fei fought against thousands of enemies alone and Zhao Zilong went in and out seven times, there is also the famous Guanling.

It is rumored that Guan Yu died here. The Wu Kingdom was worried about revenge from the Shu Han, so they sent his head to Cao Cao and buried his body in Dangyang according to the rites of the princes.

Therefore, there is a saying: "Lying in Dangyang with head resting on Luoyang".

Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, successive emperors have conferred titles on Guan Yu, and his deity status has been continuously elevated. The three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism all show great respect for him, from being a martial saint to being Guan Yu.

A few years ago, the imperial court also conferred on him the title of: The Great Emperor who subdues demons in the Three Realms, the Godly Lord Guan Yu, with divine power far and wide.

This is the true God of Virtue and Blessing.

They said someone was causing trouble. What do these people want to do?
(End of this chapter)