Knife splashing

Chapter 279: Yunmeng Three Treasures
The team traveled through the mountains and forests, the wheels squeaking.

On both sides of the road, the green shadows of bamboo forests sway, deep as ink.

The sky was gloomy and there was a howling mountain wind, which made the bamboo forest rustle and the withered and yellow bamboo leaves flutter in the air.

Li Yan rode his horse and looked up into the distance.

There are several lakes scattered at the foot of the opposite hill.

The big one is like a mirror, reflecting the sky.

The small ones are like pearls, quiet and clear.

There is a unique charm in the mist curling between the lake and the mountains.

"It is indeed the Land of a Thousand Lakes."

Li Yan turned his head and smiled, "It has only been a short time since we left Hanyang, and there are lakes all along the way. This place must be the ancient Yunmeng Lake."

"Young Master Li is right."

Tian Wei, the eldest son of Tian Yuanwai, also rode beside him and said with interest, "The Tribute to Yu and the Rites of Zhou both have records about Yunmeng Lake, saying 'the lake is called Yunmeng', but they don't give any details."

"But according to the research of the scholars in the academy, the Yunmeng Lake was of great scope in ancient times, but since the pre-Qin period, its scope has gradually shrunk. By the Tang and Song dynasties, it had become a pattern of lakes scattered all over the place."

"Oh?"

Li Yan became interested, "Wenjin Academy also studies this?"

Tian Wei smiled and said, "Of course."

As he spoke, he pointed forward, "Young Master Li, you know that the two Cheng brothers of Confucianism grew up here. Although the School of Mind is flourishing nowadays, the academy I visited still emphasizes 'investigating things to gain knowledge' and 'examining the principles of things'."

"'Confucius sent Zilu to ask about the origins of the academy' means that I was asking about the origins of the academy. I don't know how the history of the land of Jingchu was. To be honest, we followed the Master to various places in Ezhou, and that was what we did."

After hearing this, Li Yan's eyes lit up and he quickly asked, "In that case, Brother Tian, ​​have you ever heard of the Siming Society?"

The name "Siminghui" was told to me by the coroner Old Liu when I was in Shangjin City.

This is the heritage of the ancient Chu witches, who once took root in Junshan Mountain in Dongting Lake and left traces throughout the Chu land, but later disappeared in the long river of history.

Li Yan went to Ezhou with the original purpose of finding this Dharma lineage, because he absorbed a ray of divine power from the "Phoenix Gold Ornament".

And the divine power can strengthen the soul-catching rope.

Apart from carrying out the Black Well Blood Water mission in the underworld, the only time he absorbed divine power in the world of the living was through the Phoenix Gold Ornaments from the "Siming Society", so he was very interested in it.

"Si Ming Hui?"

Tian Wei pondered and said, "I seem to have heard the Master say it once. It is a folk witch, and it is only spread secretly among women."

Li Yan was a little surprised. He didn't expect that this ancient "Si Ming Society" had not been discontinued. He asked quickly, "Do you know where they are?"

Tian Wei shook his head and said, "I'm not sure about that. The Master only mentioned it once. After all, it's about witches and sorcerers, so it's not appropriate for us to ask too much."

"The Master will come to Hanyang for the Dragon Boat Race during the Dragon Boat Festival. If Young Master Li is interested, I can introduce him to you."

"Thank you, Brother Tian."

Li Yan was in a good mood and quickly bowed to express his gratitude.

Tian Wei has some scholarly habits and likes to show off. Last night his father specifically told him to build good relationships with Li Yan and others, so he took the initiative to strike up a conversation.

Seeing that Li Yan, such a talented person, was also polite to him, he couldn't help feeling a little proud. He looked at the lake in the distance, couldn't help but blinked, and said mysteriously:

"Young Master Li, have you ever heard of the 'Three Treasures of Yunmeng'?"

"baby?"

Sha Lifei's eyes lit up, "Brother Tian, ​​please tell me."

Tian Wei nodded and said, "There have been many legends about Yunmeng Lake since ancient times, but there are three that have been widely circulated among the people."

"The first one is Yunzhongjun, a deity from the ancient Chu land. He is the master of Yunmeng Lake. He can create clouds and rain, and can also send down thunder."

"It is said that the ancient Chu people built a sacred palace deep in Yunmeng, named 'Shou Palace'. There were gems all over the place, which rivaled the sun and the moon in brilliance. This is the origin of 'Jian Jiang Tan Xi Shou Palace, shining as brightly as the sun and the moon'."

"During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, a scholar from Chang'an named Lu Sheng was traveling in Yunmeng at night. A thick fog suddenly rose and he mistakenly entered a palace. The walls were inlaid with precious stones and jade. When he heard people talking, he grabbed a handful of things in panic.

When I woke up, I thought it was a dream, but I had a handful of gems in my hand. This was the first treasure: the Divine Palace of the Lord of the Clouds. "

"The second one is related to King Yu. It is said that there was a great flood in Shenzhou, and Gun stole the soil from the Emperor of Heaven to block it, but the water was difficult to stop. The Emperor of Heaven saw that Gun had been controlling the flood for nine years without success, so he ordered the God of Fire Zhurong to kill Gun in Yujiao.

Gun's body did not decay for three years, and his abdomen swelled and gave birth to a dragon, which turned into Dayu. Emperor Shun ordered Dayu to carry on his father Gun's work and control floods, and the soil left by Gun was hidden in Yunmeng Lake.

"This is the second treasure, Xirang."

"During the Warring States Period, Guiguzi lived in seclusion in Yunmeng and recruited many disciples, including Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Sun Bin, Pang Juan, Fan Ju, and Xu Fu. Regarding Yunmeng, some say it is Yunmeng Mountain in Yuzhou, while others say it is Yunmeng Lake.

During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, a Taoist priest accidentally entered a stone forest while traveling in Yunmeng Lake. There were many inscriptions on the stone forest, all of which were secret methods from the pre-Qin period, and also the name of Patriarch Wang Chan.

After his cultivation, he went to Chang'an to sell divinations, and became the famous Xing Hepu. So the third treasure is the Wang Chan ancestor's Tibetan Scripture Forest. "

Sharifei next to him was speechless, "Brother Tian, ​​why do these three treasures seem to be more unreliable than the last?"

"In the Qinling Mountains, there are also the 'Ten Deadly Tombs' and the 'Qin King's Palace of Immortality', but no one has ever seen them. I guess they are all rumors."

"Hahaha…"

Tian Wei smiled and said, "Of course, these are just legends. Many people have searched for them over the past thousands of years, but none of them have found anything. I'm just talking nonsense, so just listen to it."

However, Li Yan, who was standing next to him, seemed to be thinking about something when he heard it.

He had heard that the first two treasures, "The Divine Palace of Lord Yunzhong" and "Xiran", were a bit unreliable and were probably just local rumors.

But this third one made him somewhat interested.

The reason is very simple. In the living ghost messenger notes left by Liu Gang, the person named "Xing Hepu" was mentioned.

The opponent is also a "living Yinchai" and is extremely powerful.

Even in "Youyang Zazu", it was mentioned that Xing Hepu helped people "increase their lifespan" and "restore life".

This is simply treason and a direct violation of the Yin Law, but Xing Hepu is still alive and well.

And there is something even more bizarre.

Xing Hepu once lived in seclusion in Zhongnan Mountain, with many disciples following him. One day he told his disciples that a special guest would visit them in three days and they should not neglect him.

Three days later, Xing Hepu went down the mountain in person to greet them, and indeed there was a guest.

The guest looked extremely strange. He was five feet tall, with an extremely large head that took up half of his height. He wore a loose scarlet robe and held an ivory tablet horizontally. He had extremely long eyelashes, a face as red as a melon, and when he laughed his mouth stretched all the way to his ears.

This strange guest had a long conversation with Xing Hepu, and most of the topics they talked about were not about human affairs.

Xing Hepu had a disciple named Cui Shu. During the banquet, the strange guest suddenly looked at Cui Shu and asked, "Isn't this the "Old Man of Mount Tai?" Xing Hepu nodded and said yes.

The so-called "Old Man of Mount Tai" was an unpopular immortal, as recorded in "Biographies of Immortals" and "Taiping Guangji".

Liu Gang speculated that Xing Hepu had already cracked many secrets of the underworld and could even protect some practitioners who had returned to the world of life.

That strange guest is most likely not a human.

He had searched for him many times during the Song Dynasty, but unfortunately there was no trace of him. It seemed that he had been deliberately erased during the chaos at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

To be honest, Li Yan was also very interested in this person.

After reading Liu Gang's notes, he also went to look through "Youyang Zazu" and found that Xing Hepu was almost a demon when it came to divination and deduction.

He once predicted that in the first year of Emperor Wu of Han's Taichu reign, the Taichu calendar formulated by Luo Hong and others would have been in operation for 800 years and would have one more day, so someone would inevitably formulate a new calendar.

Sure enough, the following year, in the 17th year of Kaiyuan in the Tang Dynasty, monk Yixing formulated the "Dayan Calendar".

The method of divination is difficult to learn and master. This person has reached an incredible level and may have really cracked the secrets of heaven and earth. Unexpectedly, I heard news about the other party in Yunmengze.

But this "Wang Chan Patriarch's Sutra Forest" sounds a bit mysterious, and it is still unknown whether it really exists...

…………

As they walked along, listening to Tian Wei talk about all kinds of strange stories was a pleasure. Even Tian Yuanwai's family listened with great interest.

Before I knew it, it was dusk.

The sky was covered with dark clouds and the bamboo forest was dark and deep, so it was dark early and the servants in the team all lit lanterns.

A gust of wind blew, the bamboo leaves fluttered, and the lanterns swayed.

This dark bamboo forest mountain path seemed inexplicably eerie.

Turning right along a mountain road, I saw a dilapidated temple standing quietly on the side of the mountain on the official road in the distance.

It looked like it had been abandoned for a long time, with peeling red paint, mottled bricks and stones, and broken tiles on the roof. Wild grass grew everywhere, making it look even more desolate.

Tian Yuanwai looked at the sky and raised his hand and said, "Let's rest here. We'll get up early tomorrow and set off. We should be there by noon."

His wife was obviously a little worried, "Master..."

"rest assured."

Tian Yuanwai smiled and said, "This is the nearby water temple. Later, the river was remodeled and it has long been abandoned. When I was young, I worked as a peddler and often rested here for the night."

"Don't stay overnight in a temple" is a taboo on the road, but sometimes when you are in a hurry, you can't care so much.

Besides, there is a warlock in the team, so we are naturally not afraid of ghosts.

Of course, to prevent any accidents, Li Yan still pinched the spell and smelled it. When he approached the ruined temple, he raised his hand and said, "Everyone, wait a moment."

After saying that, he took out the Divine Tiger Order, made some hand gestures, and used the "Northern Emperor's Protective Spell".

With his current level of Taoism, the power of his magic is naturally stronger.

"Roar!"

Everyone only heard a tiger roar, and suddenly a strong wind blew around them, and a murderous aura spread out from Li Yan's body.

Hululu!
The horses were a little frightened.

And Lu San just whistled and immediately calmed him down.

Everyone in the Tian family was stunned.

Tian Yuanwai's son-in-law Liu Yizhong directly pressed the handle of the knife, his eyes full of vigilance.

Wow!
From the ruined temple, centipedes, millipedes, and other poisonous insects that could not be named all ran out and fled in all directions.

Seeing this strange sight, many people swallowed their saliva and looked at Li Yan and others with awe in their eyes.

As they walked along, they only felt that the young man spoke in a gentle manner, but they could not see anything unusual. They did not expect that he could have such magical powers.

Only Mr. Tian remained expressionless.

He followed Li Yan from Dangyang across a large area of ​​mountains and forests. He saw the other party perform magic many times and knew that he was a truly capable sorcerer.

If not, why would we be willing to hire him at such a high salary?

Wang Daoxuan, who was standing by, stroked his beard and smiled, "Don't be alarmed, everyone. This place is dark and damp, so poisonous insects are bound to gather here. You can sleep peacefully tonight, and there won't be any wild animals to disturb you."

"Master Li, this is a great technique!"

Tian Wei praised repeatedly, and at the same time he understood in his heart, no wonder his father relied on him so much. The several Confucian sorcerers he had seen in the academy also performed self-defense techniques, but they did not have such momentum.

After hearing Li Yan say that there were no hidden dangers, everyone naturally felt more at ease.

With a creak, the half-open temple door was pushed open.

I saw that the dilapidated temple was of considerable size, with spider webs all over the place and traces of bonfires on the ground. It was obvious that people often stayed there.

On the altar in the temple, there is a statue of a young god general. He is wearing armor, a helmet on his head, and holding an axe in his right hand. Even though it is covered with dust, you can still see that his face is handsome.

"It turned out to be General Yang Si."

Wang Daoxuan suddenly realized what was going on. He picked up the broom at the temple entrance and went up to sweep away the dust and cobwebs from the statue.

Sharifei also hurried over to help.

In the Yangtze River Basin, four water gods are usually worshipped.

The deity worshipped in Ganzhou is Xu Xun, the Heavenly Master. Because he once led his disciples to use the method of "using wood to overcome water" to quell the flood in Ganzhou, the story of "Xu Tianshi beheading three dragons" is widely circulated.

The people worshipped in Shu were Li Bing and his son, naturally because of Dujiangyan.

Ezhou, on the other hand, enshrines General Yang Si.

This General Yang Si also pacified floods and killed dragons. His Xuanmen title is: Nine Water Heavenly Spirits Grand Marshal Ziyun Tongfa Zhenjun Shuiguo Zhenlong Anyuan Wang Lingyuan Tongji Tianzun.

Just by hearing the name, you can tell it is not simple.

Naturally, everyone in the Tian family was also busy.

After some cleaning and lighting of a bonfire, the temple suddenly became much warmer.

The Tian family returned to their hometown to worship their ancestors this time, and brought a lot of people with them, including a famous chef with extraordinary cooking skills. Even in this remote wilderness, he could not be stumped.

A big pot is set up, and dried fish from Jiangdong Lake, dried tofu, vermicelli, wild vegetables, etc. are washed and put into the pot, stewed together to make a big pot of delicious fish soup.

They also brought a lot of lasagna, which they heated up in the fire and mixed with hot fish soup to eat, which relieved all the tiredness from the journey.

After all, there were quite a few women in the team. After a day's journey, they were all a little tired, so they spread out straw mats and went to bed early.

Li Yan and others took turns to keep watch with the servants and guards.

Mr. Tian's son-in-law was a captain of a garrison. His family inherited extraordinary martial arts and he had already entered the realm of dark energy. Naturally, he was also assigned to keep watch.

Unconsciously, the night is getting darker.

In the middle of the night, the wind grew stronger and howled outside the temple.

dong dong!dong dong!
Amid the howling night wind, a strange sound was heard.

Li Yan suddenly opened his eyes and looked outside, with a hint of surprise in his eyes, "Did it thunder?"

The sky was overcast all day and it looked like it was going to rain.

He was waiting for the "Dragon Boat Festival Thunder".

"No."

Tian Yuanwai's son-in-law Liu Yizhong, who was on night watch, was obviously a little surprised. "I've heard this sound before. It's the crocodile drum!"

The so-called "crocodile drum" is the call of the Yangtze alligator. Because it often appears at night, just like the night watchman, it is also called "crocodile watchman".

"Oh."

Li Yan was a little disappointed. "This 'crocodile drum' is really loud."

Unexpectedly, Liu Yizhong put his hand on the hilt of the knife and said nervously: "I have been here before. The nearest waterway is also several miles away!"

"There's something wrong with this 'crocodile drum'..."

　Second update at 12 o'clock

　　
　
(End of this chapter)