Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 154 Choice
Lan saw that Lu Zheng's expression was serious and he didn't seem to be joking.

He turned to look at an old ape not far away and asked, "Have any demons or ghosts appeared near us recently?"

Lan often stays in Monkey Mountain and rarely goes out.

Usually, it is this group of his men who go out on patrol or hunting.

The old monkey sat up straight upon hearing this, stroking his beard with one hand and thinking, "Well, there are no demons or ghosts occupying the nearby hilltops. Only that mountain stronghold is still there."

"Oh, there!" Lan nodded slightly, remembering something.

He looked at Lu Zheng and grinned, "Since you've come out to eliminate evil and defend the Way, there's a stronghold on a mountain twenty miles to the west. There's a group of bandits and monsters living there. If you want to go, I can have my men take you there."

"Bandits?" Lu Zheng's expression changed slightly.

During all these days of traveling, he hasn't encountered any bullies or bandits.

The wild and deep mountains are often places where wild beasts and demons are active. Anyone who can occupy the mountains and become a bandit must have some strength.

Lan nodded slightly and said slowly, "About six or seven years ago, my men went hunting in the west and saw a group of people building a stronghold in the mountains... I went to see it myself, and those people didn't seem like good people. They were always capturing people, and occasionally you could see monsters coming in and out..."

Lan didn't want to deal with such people in the first place, so as not to get into trouble.

The territories of both parties were quite far apart, and they did not interfere with each other, so Lan did not care too much.

Lu Zheng and his companions frowned slightly when they heard this. If that was the case, it seemed that someone had colluded with monsters to do evil and even built a village in the deep mountains. This was a rather bad thing.

Lan noticed the changes in their expressions and said, "We don't know much about what's going on in that village. Bai Fei, take these guests there to take a look tomorrow!"

Bai Fei, who was not far away, quickly stood up and clasped his fists: "As you command!"

Lan smiled and said, "It's getting late today, so please stay here for the night. I've already had my men prepare a place for you to rest."

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Thank you for bothering me."

Seeing that Zhang Bo and his companions had drunk the spiritual wine and were a little tipsy, Lu Zheng did not insist on leaving here and went to spend the night in the wild.

Lan waved his hand and ordered a few monkeys to take Lu Zheng and his group to rest.

Lu Zheng and his companions were taken up the mountain and came to a clean and tidy stone cave.

There was some hay and animal skins in the cave, and there was no strange smell.

There were some fruits, water and a crudely made candle on a stone table.

The faint candlelight flickered, dimly illuminating the cave.

A monkey said respectfully, "This place is very simple, please don't mind. Do you need anything else?"

Lu Zhengdao: "It's fine, there's nothing much to ask for. You guys can go down and rest!"

As he spoke, Lu Zheng took out a few pieces of silver and gave them as rewards to the monkeys.

When the monkeys saw this, they immediately bowed to express their gratitude, with joy on their faces.

The monkey said, "If you have any instructions, just let us know. We have monkeys patrolling nearby."

Lu Zheng nodded and said, "Okay, thank you all for your help."

Seeing this, the monkeys stopped disturbing them and left happily.

Lu Zheng chose a position, lay on the hay, used a bundle as a pillow, and placed the sword in a convenient position.

Li Zhao also lay down excitedly, his eyes slightly excited, and said in a low voice: "Hey, I didn't expect that we can actually sleep in a place like this. Who would dare to believe this if I told others?"

Being treated as a guest by a group of monkey monsters and sleeping on the monkey mountain at night was very exciting for Li Zhao. It was an experience he had never had before.

Zhang Bo whispered, "I'll keep watch."

Zhang Bo did not feel at ease sleeping in a place where a group of monkey monsters gathered.

Lu Zheng smiled faintly and said, "Let's go to sleep. We have to travel tomorrow and we need to get enough rest."

Zhang Bo couldn't help but whisper, "Brother Lu, you really trust these monkeys! Just now you were talking about teaching everyone, but these monsters are not so easy to teach."

There are Yi people in many places in Changchuan County.

Those barbarians were not very obedient to the government's control, let alone these wild monkeys with their bestiality.

Lu Zheng sighed, "What else can I do? Can I just kill them all? I thought about it and realized that there are so many monsters in this world that we can't kill them all. Why not lead them onto the right path..."

The number of monsters and ghosts in this world is probably no less than that of humans, so it is impossible to wipe them all out.

Instead of killing each one you see, it is better to find a way to win over those demons and ghosts who have not gone astray, and use one demon to fight another.

There are more than a thousand monkeys in this mountain, which is not a small number.

From the scenes we saw on the way up the mountain just now, we can see that these monkeys have sufficient wisdom and ability.

If we can integrate them and put them to good use, we can do a lot to benefit the people.

Li Zhao turned to look at Lu Zheng and whispered, "You're moving them to that Jiguana Mountain. You're not really thinking of asking my dad to take care of them, are you?"

"I haven't thought about it that much." Lu Zheng said slowly, "The main thing is that the environment in Jiguan Mountain is indeed better than here. If some of them move there, it can also reduce some of the pressure on survival and avoid disturbing the surrounding villagers..."

There was another reason, but Lu Zheng did not say it out loud.

That is because there are few plants on Jiguana Mountain, so most of these monkeys can only live in caves in the mountains when they go to live on Jiguana Mountain.

If these monkeys do evil in the future, it will be much easier to suppress them. We can just catch them in a jar.

Li Zhao whispered, "There are indeed too many monkey demons here. If they continue to grow in strength, the government won't sit idly by... If they can be disciplined, it's fine. If they don't, it's hard to say." Lu Zheng said calmly, "Go to sleep. Don't think about it. Let's go check out the mountain stronghold they mentioned tomorrow. Who knows, there might be a real fight."

……

On the top of the mountain, Lan stood looking at the night, his sleeves rustling in the mountain breeze.

Bai Fei came to Lan's side, bowed his head and said respectfully, "King!"

Without even turning around, Lan asked quietly, "What do you think of Lu Zheng's proposal?"

Bai Fei thought for a moment and said, "I can send some monkeys to that Jiguan Mountain to investigate the situation."

Lan smiled and said, "So you think his suggestion is good?"

Bai Fei lowered his head and said, "It's already difficult to hunt enough wild animals in the nearby mountains... No matter what, we will obey the king's orders."

Lan nodded slightly and agreed, "This place is indeed difficult to sustain everyone's survival. You should select some smart people to go over there and investigate. By the way, go to the human race and learn about the situation of these young people."

"Yes, sir!" Bai Fei responded respectfully.

Lan asked again: "What do you think of the human race?"

Bai Fei replied honestly, "It's very powerful. We can't fight it."

"If one day," Lan paused and said with a smile, "if those humans want us to submit and want to control us, what do you think we should do?"

Bai Fei said without hesitation: "We obey the king. We will do whatever the king tells us to do."

No one in the entire Monkey Mountain dared to disobey Lan's orders.

Lan couldn't help but shake his head and said slowly, "Bai Fei, you are a demon now. You are not as stupid as those monkeys. You should have your own opinions."

"I dare not." Bai Fei said quickly.

Lan Wenyan waved his hand and said, "Forget it, go down and rest. Tomorrow, we'll take them to the mountain stronghold. You don't have to do anything for them, just take them there. After that, observe their actions and come back to report to me."

Since Lu Zheng and his companions said they came out to eliminate evil and defend justice, he was curious about what they would do and what abilities they would display when facing those people from the mountain village.

"Okay, King! I'll take my leave."

Bai Fei responded, then nimbly retreated and disappeared into the night.

Lan slowly sat on the top of the mountain, thinking about things.

He didn't want to have much contact with humans before because he was afraid of bringing disaster to the tribe.

As a demon, Lan knew very well that he was not welcomed by others as he was an alien.

However, the arrival of Lu Zheng and others changed some of his views.

Those people's attitude towards demons and ghosts is not as averse as imagined.

"Bad demon, good demon..."

Lan muttered to himself, thinking that the little guy following Lu Zheng was a plant fairy.

If these monkeys could really live in peace with humans in the future, he would naturally be extremely happy.

But this kind of thing may not be that simple, and they may have to pay something.

Lan clenched his fists, recalling his previous sparring match with Lu Zheng. He couldn't help but sigh, "A young human has such powerful strength. I, the king, seem to have lived in the mountains for too long, unaware of the vastness of the outside world... It's time to make some changes, otherwise we won't even know when our clan will be exterminated!"

……

The next day, the sky was slightly bright.

There were noises coming from outside the cave, including the crowing of roosters.

Lu Zheng and his companions slowly woke up from their dream. Nothing happened during the night.

Zhang Bo was a little worried about everyone's safety last night and wanted to keep watch secretly, but he didn't expect that he drank the magic wine and fell asleep in a daze.

"Oh, so comfortable!"

Li Zhao stood up and stretched his waist, feeling full of energy.

After sleeping in such a place, he didn't feel any discomfort at all.

Lu Zheng tidied his clothes and left the cave.

Looking down the mountain, one could vaguely see some monkeys among the woods who had gotten up early and were moving around.

After a while, Bai Fei came closer.

He looked at Lu Zheng and asked, "What would you like to eat? I'll have my men prepare it."

Lu Zheng waved his hand and said, "No need. We have some dry food with us, so we can just eat something in the morning. By the way, where's Lan?"

Bai Fei said, "The king is still resting. He said that if you are in a hurry to leave, I can take you directly to the mountain stronghold without having to say hello to him."

"Really..." Lu Zheng smiled and nodded, "Then please take us away, sir."

Bai Fei said, "Follow me."

After saying that, Bai Fei walked in front to lead the way, and Lu Zheng and others followed closely behind.

On the top of the mountain, Lan sat on a big tree, quietly watching the group go away.

(End of this chapter)