Knife splashing

Chapter 592 What do you want?

"right here?"

Yang Chenghua looked at the palace and temple in the distance with a strange look in his eyes.

Li Yan quickly asked, "Senior, is there anything wrong?"

Qingyang Palace is the number one Taoist temple in the southwest. It has a long history and its status in Taoism is no less than that of Qingcheng Mountain.

Li Yan had tried it last time. Even if he used the escape technique, the incense god in the temple could vaguely detect him. If he wanted to sneak in secretly, he could only ask Yang Chenghua for help.

Hearing Li Yan's question, Yang Chenghua shook his head slightly, with a hint of nostalgia in his eyes, "The last time I came here, I lived here for three years. I wonder if those people are still here..."

Li Yan was a little surprised, "Senior, have you also studied here?"

Yang Chenghua's identity was sensitive, so he dared not reveal it and had no one to guide him. After leaving Guankou, he relied entirely on his amazing talent to teach himself or learn secretly.

He once said that he had infiltrated many sects to secretly learn skills.

Unexpectedly, I didn’t miss the Qingyang Palace either.

"Ah."

Yang Chenghua smiled and said, "This Qingyang Palace is too strenuous. It takes three years to learn the skills, three years of assessment, and one must be familiar with the Taoist scriptures and understand the rituals before being taught the secret skills."

"I didn't have that much time, so I disguised myself as a fire-making boy and sneaked in. I secretly learned for two years and then left."

"I see."

Li Yan nodded and smiled, "The Qingyang Palace is now heavily guarded. Senior is familiar with the route and has a secret method. I have found the right person."

Yang Chenghua shook his head slightly, "Entering Qingyang Palace doesn't require so much trouble, just follow me."

After saying that, he turned around and left with Li Yan.

"Senior, where are we going?"

"You'll know when you get there."

Yang Chenghua was keeping the secret with great interest.

Li Yan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and had to follow closely.

As if he remembered something interesting, Yang Chenghua showed a rare smile on his face.

The area around Qingyang Palace is not completely desolate.

After all, this place is outside the city, and the city gates will be closed in the evening. There are also limited rooms in Qingyang Palace. In order to facilitate pilgrims to stay overnight, some inns and teahouses have been built nearby, gradually forming a small street.

When he saw the street from afar, Yang Chenghua smiled and said, "Back then, when I pretended to be a Taoist boy, I met a fat boy in Qingyang Palace. He was greedy and stupid, and he followed me all day long."

"Unfortunately, he really has no talent. Before he left, I left some silver for him to settle down. There is a secret passage I discovered there."

As they were talking, the two of them had already arrived outside the small street.

Because the gates of Chengdu City were closed and there was not much business, the streets were deserted and most shops were closed.

When Yang Chenghua brought Li Yan to a teahouse called "Sanhualou", he looked up and was obviously a little surprised. He murmured, "It's well done. Could it be that this silly boy's property was taken away?"

After saying that, he walked up and knocked on the door.

The door was closed, but there was someone inside.

With a creaking sound, the old shopkeeper opened the crack and looked at the two men with a vigilant face, "My shop is closed. I'm sorry, both of you."

Snapped!
Just as the old shopkeeper was about to close the door, Yang Chenghua pressed the door shut and asked in a cold voice, "Who are you? Where is Fatty Wu?"

The old shopkeeper was stunned when he heard this, and stared at Yang Chenghua for a long time, his eyes showing surprise and joy, "Is your surname Yang? Yang Ergou."

Yang Ergou?
What's this name?

Li Yan almost laughed out loud.

Seeing Yang Chenghua nod, the old shopkeeper opened the door with a look of joy, "Sir, I have been waiting for you for many years, and finally I have waited for you. I am not in good health, and I am afraid that I will not be able to wait..."

The old shopkeeper kept talking and invited the two men into the hall. Only then did Li Yan understand why the other party could recognize Yang Chenghua.

On the left wall of the hall, there is a painting of a young man lying on the hillside with a dogtail grass in his mouth.

Although he is young, his facial features are almost exactly the same as Yang Chenghua's, and even his expression is almost the same.

"Where is Fatty Wu?"

Yang Chenghua frowned slightly, looking unhappy.

He paid great attention to hiding his identity, and roamed among the crowd as a spectator for many years, which was not the case when he was young.

There are so many people coming and going in the teahouse, and it's near Qingyang Palace. Wouldn't that cause trouble for him?
The old shopkeeper sighed, "The boss passed away three years ago..."

Yang Chenghua's body stiffened slightly, "What's going on?"

The old shopkeeper lamented, "Over the years, the boss's business has grown bigger and bigger, but his health is not very good. In addition, the Wu family's business is moving to Tianjin, so he handed the business over to his son and stayed here alone."

Yang Chenghua frowned and asked, "Why do you have to do this?"

The old shopkeeper shook his head and said, "The boss said that you will definitely come back, and asked me to tell you something."

"I want to buy osmanthus flowers and carry them with wine, but it's not like the days of youth. He has been through ups and downs in his life, but the happiest times were those days when he followed you and drank secretly..."

After hearing this, Yang Chenghua fell silent.

But the old shopkeeper seemed to be afraid that he would run away, and continued hurriedly: "The boss has reserved a room for you. No one can enter. He also left good wine and tea. He said that his greatest wish is to treat you to a meal in return."

After that, he took the two of them to the corner room on the first floor, opened the copper lock, and invited them in.

Li Yan looked around and saw that it was a windowless room with a simple layout, consisting of a soft couch, a square table and two chairs.

There were teacups and a jar of wine on the table.

On the opposite wall, there was a painting of a fat little man in a Taoist robe, holding a wine jar and smiling, as if he was looking at them...

The old shopkeeper said quickly: "I will go cook for you two..."

"no need."

Yang Chenghua didn't even turn his head and waved his hand, "Let us stay here for a while. Also, we will leave later, so don't ask too many questions."

"Don't worry, sir."

The old shopkeeper smiled and said, "You can do whatever you want. The boss left this restaurant for you. I have fulfilled the boss's last wish."

"It's okay, it's okay, I finally waited for it..."

After saying that, he lit the candle, turned around, closed the door and left.

Li Yan used his magical powers and already knew where the secret passage was.

But Yang Chenghua did not rush to take action. Instead, he looked at the portrait in silence for a long time, and suddenly said: "Fatty Wu wanted to go with me back then, but I was so confused that I couldn't bring a burden with me..."

"People are very strange. Some seek fame, some seek profit. I just helped them back then, but Fatty Wu still can't forget it..."

"These days, I hear more and more voices in my ears, all like this, torturing myself by not being able to get what I want."

“Life is short, no matter if you are a king, a general, or a peddler, after death you will just be a handful of yellow earth, all is illusory, why bother clinging to it?”

Li Yan pondered for a moment, "Life is full of ups and downs. Buddhism says that you can only be free if you let go, but seeking freedom is also seeking."

"When you live, you always have something to seek."

“We just want different things.”

Yang Chenghua seemed to be thinking about something, then shook his head and said, "Forget it, I can't figure it out, just let it go."

After that, he opened the mud seal on the wine jar on the table, poured two bowls of wine, picked up one bowl, and drank it all in one gulp facing the portrait, "I'll accompany you with this bowl of wine."

Then he picked up another bowl and poured it on the ground.

The wine flowed through the cracks in the bricks and stones, and soon showed differences: in some places it seeped directly down, while in other places it flowed in all directions.

Rumble!
Yang Chenghua raised his feet and rubbed them.

A whole piece of iron plate connected to bricks and stones was lifted up, revealing a dark hole underneath.

Yang Chenghua jumped in, and Li Yan followed closely behind.

The tunnel is very deep and inconspicuous at first, but after walking more than ten meters down and for a distance, you can suddenly see underground rocks and underground rivers. An artificially dug path runs along the steep stone wall beside the underground river towards the direction of Qingyang Palace.

Judging from the age of the chisel marks, they are not from this era at all.

“This is an ancient road from the Warring States Period…”

As Yang Chenghua walked, he explained, "When Qin attacked Shu, the Taoists of Qingyang Palace dug it as a shelter, but it was later abandoned and no one knew about it. I found it by chance, and often sneaked out of the tunnel with Fatty Wu to go out for a drink." The two of them walked very quickly, and soon arrived at the end of the secret passage, but they saw a vertical shaft above it with a thick hemp rope hanging from it, which was already somewhat rotten.

Naturally, they had no need for this thing, so they jumped up, held the wall with both hands, supported themselves with their feet on both sides, and soon reached the top.

Yang Chenghua first listened carefully, then gently pushed with his hands, and suddenly the sound of firewood pile rolling came from above.

After coming out, he found himself at the woodshed in the side yard of Qingyang Palace.

When Li Yan escaped, he came here. Outside the high courtyard wall was a large medicinal field.

"Edict!"

Yang Chenghua pinched his fingers together and a breeze suddenly blew around them, concealing their breath.

This reincarnation of Erlang Zhenjun was very cautious. He concealed his breath before using the invisibility technique again.

After the sound of the wind, the two figures disappeared completely.

They chose to sneak in at dusk, and after passing through the secret passage, it was already night.

Although there were some candle lights, no sound of Taoist priests performing evening prayers could be heard. Instead, groups of three or five people were patrolling the temple with sharp blades in hand.

Li Yan had seen the capabilities of Qingyang Palace.

The first is the sword formation, which is not as powerful as Qingcheng, but also quite powerful.

Secondly, he is very good at using incense to perform magic.

If it is an ordinary escape technique, it will inevitably be discovered.

But at this time, Yang Chenghua was constantly absorbing the incense of Erlang Zhenjun and merging it with his magic, becoming extremely strange.

He is even more adept at dealing with this kind of incense power.

The two walked along the cobblestone path inside the temple. Occasionally they met patrolmen and made way for them. Even though the patrolmen were so close to them, they could not notice them.

At the same time, Li Yan also noticed something strange.

These Taoists were extremely alert, clearly on guard, or even afraid of something, but their attention was not outside the temple, but rather looking towards the various halls.

All the halls were locked with iron chains.

It was pitch black, as if some monster was hiding inside...

Soon, they arrived in front of the Dou Mu Temple.

Li Yan frowned and stopped.

On the bluestone square outside the Dou Mu Temple stood a towering altar.

He had seen many altars. Each lineage had its own unique form and structure, in conjunction with its own secret techniques.

But the one in front of me is obviously wrong.

The altar is more than five meters high, and each log is fixed with thick iron nails and tied with red silk.

These logs formed eighty steps that led straight to the top of the altar, on which were inscribed densely packed words:

In the past, in the beginning of the blue sky, the blue sky sang, and the great floating land. Under the guidance of Yuanshi, the infinite upper grade, Yuanshi Tianzun, should speak this sutra...

This is the "Duren Jing", which is commonly seen in Taoism.

But these scriptures were written upside down, exuding a chilling chill.

On the other three sides of the altar, there were huge scroll paintings of gods and goddesses, depicting a rolling river and an old dragon tearing a young dragon apart.

At this moment, Yang Chenghua suddenly pressed his shoulders and pointed his finger at the seven huge lotus lamps enshrined above the altar.

"Look at the handle."

Yang Chenghua reminded coldly.

Li Yan looked carefully again and found that the position of the Big Dipper had also been adjusted, and the flame of the lamp was a strange dark green color.

Crackling!

whenever
The lights in the Tan Lang position popped, and the doors and boats in the surrounding halls began to shake.

I see……

Li Yan immediately understood the Taoists' plans.

The big dragon and the small dragon symbolize the River God and the Dragon Girl.

The Taoists of Qingyang Palace did this to help Lord Jiangshen regain the divine charm that was absorbed by the Dragon Girl...

Yang Chenghua winked again and took him to the front of the Sanqing Hall. Seeing that there was no one around, he took Li Yan and jumped onto the brackets of the hall, tore apart the carved windows, and jumped in.

It was pitch black all around, but the two of them could see clearly.

But the statues of the Three Pure Ones, together with the guardian deities, are all wrapped in yellow talisman cloth like cocoons and painted with cinnabar talismans.

"Seal the divine acupoints and cut off the incense."

Yang Chenghua frowned slightly, and instinctively felt disgusted.

He seemed to be thinking about something, his fingertips brushing over the talisman cloth.

Wow!
The cloth suddenly shook violently, and dark red blood beads oozed out.

"These bull noses are crazy!"

Yang Chenghua said coldly: "They are using secret methods to obscure their spiritual orifices and extract the divine power of incense and fire to supply the altar outside."

"If successful, Qingyang Palace will be completely rooted out..."

"Senior, is there any way to crack it?"

Li Yan asked quickly.

"Simple."

Yang Chenghua looked at the statue above and said seriously, "This is a forbidden technique. I haven't learned it, but I know a little about it."

"To extract the divine power of incense, we must use the method of confusing the gods. This method is not cheap. When breaking the method, we just need to tear off these forbidden talismans at the same time, and those bull noses will definitely suffer the backlash."

"Remember, we have to do it at the same time. No matter how advanced we are, there are only two of us. We must find more people to help."

"Not urgent."

Li Yan seemed to be thinking about something. "If we act now, we might alert the enemy. Now that we know their weakness, we can catch them off guard at the Qingyang Palace Flower Festival on the 15th."

After finding out the reason, the two of them left through the secret passage.

"You go first."

As soon as they came out of the secret passage of Sanhualou Teahouse, Yang Chenghua suddenly said, "I'll stay in this teahouse. Come find me if you have any questions."

"Just follow your advice, senior."

Li Yan didn't waste any words, turned around and bowed to say goodbye.

When he was about to go out, he turned his head again inadvertently.

But Yang Chenghua was seen sitting at the table, drinking alone in front of the portrait, looking very lonely.

At this moment, Li Yan suddenly stopped feeling envious.

Although Yang Chenghua is the reincarnation of Erlang Shen and is destined to become an immortal, he has been away from the worldly world since he was a child and has missed too much.

Everyone has something to desire in life.

Whatever you seek, you have never obtained...

…………

Dujiangyan, the night is as dark as ink.

The moon was shining brightly, and thousands of red lanterns were floating on the river.

More than 30 grain boats were moored in a staggered manner at the main branch of the Minjiang River, with their masts rising and falling, and the torches hung on the bows, burning the water surface with golden scales.

There were many figures on the deck, and the shouts of people moving goods drifted in intermittently with the river breeze, creating a lively scene.

On the distant mountains, figures flashed in the woods, most of them were wearing Taoist robes and carrying swords.

The people from Qingcheng Mountain finally arrived at Dujiangyan...

(End of this chapter)