Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 173 July and a half

Hearing the chirping of these birds, Lu Zheng not only did not find it noisy, but instead found it interesting.

He looked at He Zhi and said with a smile, "Is it usually this lively here?"

He Zhi said softly, "That's not the case. Some birds came from other mountains because they heard that Master Lu was coming here."

Lu Zheng took a quick look and found it difficult to tell what was going on.

He then inquired, "Which of these birds have developed intelligence?"

He Zhi chirped when he heard this, and immediately some birds flapped their wings and flew to the open space ahead.

There are many kinds of birds, big and small, nearly a hundred in total, and they all exude some spiritual aura.

He Zhi said, "These are all intelligent, but I know many more, and some are not here."

Lu Zheng nodded, "How many of them can speak?"

Upon hearing this, some birds took a few steps forward. There were only about twenty of them.

He Zhi said, "It's not easy for birds like us to cultivate. Even if we can gain intelligence and understand human language, we can only communicate a little."

"It's probably due to bloodline restrictions." Lu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "It's like turning plants into spirits. It's much more difficult than you."

"That's true." He Zhi agreed deeply. "It's said that humans are the most intelligent creatures on earth. It's also because we are more suitable for cultivation when we transform into human form. I often envy you humans..."

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Among humans, the majority still don't know how to cultivate. Whether you are a human or a crane, having reached this level of cultivation is considered outstanding. Why envy others? Everything has its strengths, and you should value your own strengths."

After hearing these words, He Zhi felt much better.

"What Mr. Lu said makes sense. I am grateful for your advice." He Zhi couldn't help but nodded.

Lu Zhengdao said, "I don't understand the cultivation methods of birds, so I can't give you any advice. I can only give you some superficial advice."

He Zhi couldn't help but say, "Mr. Lu is a Confucian scholar, so he knows more than us birds."

Lu Zheng smiled slightly and soon he was full and satisfied.

Lu Zheng turned to look at He Zhi and said, "Thank you for your hospitality, Excellency. I have a lot of things to do, so I'm afraid I can't stay any longer. If you have anything to ask, please tell me directly. I'm also a quick-talker."

He Zhi's eyes flickered when he heard this, and he said, "I don't have anything to ask for, I just want to meet Master Lu. I heard that Master Lu travels around the country, slaying demons and eliminating evil. We birds can help him..."

He Zhi looked at the spirit birds and said, "They usually travel everywhere and know the locations of some demons and ghosts. They can lead the way for you. If there is anything in the future, you can also ask them to do it..."

He Zhi spoke as if he wanted to be on good terms with Lu Zheng, or even cooperate with him.

Lu Zheng indeed felt that these birds were very useful and could form an intelligence network.

With these birds as your eyes, many things will become easier.

After listening to He Zhi's story, Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Your Excellency came to me instead of others, which shows that you think highly of me. If you really have nothing to ask for, then I will not be polite."

Seeing Lu Zheng like this, He Zhi turned and said solemnly: "I wish to seek the method of cultivation. It is not easy for us to live and practice, but I only seek a way to survive."

If they were just ordinary birds, they would just live their short lives in ignorance.

But some spiritual birds like Hezhi have gained intelligence, so they naturally want to make progress and live an extraordinary life.

They hadn't met the right person before, but now that they've heard of Lu Zheng's reputation, they naturally want to fight for him.

Lu Zheng was silent for a moment after hearing this, and said, "I don't have such a practice method."

He Zhi quickly said, "It's okay. As long as Mr. Lu pays a little attention and spends some time looking for it for us, it doesn't matter if he can't find it."

Lu Zheng couldn't help but ask He Zhi and other birds curiously how they practiced.

It was learned that these birds did not master any special cultivation methods, and most of them grew up slowly by eating spiritual food.

Lian Hezhi didn't have any method of refining Qi. He simply relied on eating to allow a small amount of spiritual energy to be absorbed into his body.

Lu Zheng couldn't help but feel that these spiritual birds were not as good as the big rooster on Jiming Mountain.

The Golden Phoenix can absorb the energy of the morning sun every day and refine a trace of the sun's essence. It is much more talented.

But in terms of bloodline, Jin Feng, a rooster, is not as good as some of the birds present.

All we can say is that every bird has a different fate, and we cannot judge their superiority based solely on their bloodline.

Lu Zheng thought for a while and said, "I'll keep an eye on it for you guys from now on."

"Thank you, sir! We birds are so grateful!"

He Zhi was overjoyed, but also worried, "Finding a way for us to practice cultivation won't affect your reputation, right?"

He Zhi knows some things about the outside world. If a person colludes with a demon, it is considered a serious crime.

He wasn't quite sure whether asking Lu Zheng for help could be considered collusion.

Lu Zheng said disapprovingly: "Not yet..."

Although these spiritual birds can be considered monsters, most of them actually have no combat power at all, so there is no need to worry about them threatening the survival of the people.

Lu Zheng already had the idea of having these spirit birds cooperate with the county government.

It’s just that it’s not convenient to put forward this plan for the time being.

After all, the trust between the two sides has just been established and the cooperation has not yet reached the point of going further.

After hearing what Lu Zheng said, He Zhi felt relieved.

The man and the crane talked for a while and decided on some matters.

He Zhi took out a jade whistle and gave it to Lu Zheng, and told him several ways to play it.

In this way, you can call birds that may be nearby and understand the whistle.

After that, Lu Zheng got up and left.

He Zhi followed him and said, "From now on, I will inform the birds I know of your name. If there is anything in the future, please inform me."

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "If there is nothing important, don't let the birds come to me, otherwise I will feel like I am being monitored. And some places I occasionally go to may be dangerous, so it is best to stay away from them." "How dare they monitor you, sir? I will let them pay attention." He Zhi said quickly.

"That's good." Lu Zheng thought and took out a few bottles of pills. "These are for cultivation. I don't need them. I'll share them with you."

"Thank you, sir!"

He Zhi's eyes lit up, and he didn't bother to be polite with Lu Zheng anymore. He carefully took the pill.

After escorting him for a while, He Zhi stopped and said with his neck lowered, "I am too big to escort you any further, and the forests in the mountains are dense."

"Goodbye, take care, sir." Lu Zheng said with a smile.

Lu Zheng said goodbye and quickly left the lake.

The blue bird that had led him before continued to guide him to the nearby village.

After crossing mountains and hills, we soon arrived at a mountain village.

Lu Zheng gave Qingniao a pill and asked Qingniao to wait outside by himself while he went to the village.

The blue bird ate the pill and happily nestled in a tree, dozing off with its eyes closed.

When Lu Zheng came out of the village, the blue bird quickly woke up and flew beside Lu Zheng.

"There's a nest of rat demons near this village. I'll take you there! I've seen them stealing food before."

The bluebird flew excitedly to the top of a hill, pointed at a patch of weeds, and whispered, "There's a rat's nest right under this patch of grass."

Lu Zheng had already sensed a hint of demonic energy.

He walked into the grass several feet high and soon found a mouse hole.

The entrance to the cave is too narrow for people to pass through.

Lu Zheng directly used the talisman, and several sharp sword energies rushed into the cave.

In just a moment, several screams were heard from inside.

The sound soon died down and there was no other noise.

"Dead?" Bluebird couldn't help but ask curiously.

Lu Zheng nodded slightly and confirmed: "Dead."

He had just received a hint that the literary energy was increasing, and all the rat demons in this group were dead.

Lu Zheng took Qingwan out of his pocket and asked her to go into the cave and take a look.

Qing Wan quickly entered the rat hole and quickly ran out, shouting, "There's a lot of food in there."

Qingwan waved her little hands to gesture, but couldn't draw out exactly how many there were.

Lu Zheng followed the location Qing Wan found and dug around, and sure enough, he found a lot of food.

There are some rice, wheat and vegetables grown by the villagers, as well as some fruits, tubers and dried animal meat from the mountains. All together, it weighs nearly 10,000 kilograms.

Besides this, there was a small pile of money.

Seeing this, Lu Zheng collected them all, then returned to the village and distributed the things to the villagers.

Just now, Lu Zheng provided free medical treatment to the villagers and left behind a booklet on literacy and arithmetic.

Now that Lu Zheng has brought back so many things, the villagers are very grateful and they are almost going to set up a longevity tablet for Lu Zheng on the spot.

After bidding farewell to these warm and simple villagers again, Lu Zheng left in a hurry.

……

It was another evening, and Lu was in the mountains recording his experiences of the entire day's travels.

Qing Wan excitedly commanded the little bean soldiers and helped Lu Zheng cook dinner. She was also practicing magic at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

The bean soldiers summoned by Qing Wan at this time were almost not bean soldiers, but rather moving pea grasses.

These bean soldiers use their roots as legs and feet, and their stems and leaves as arms, and they work there skillfully.

As for the blue bird, it had already gone back the day before yesterday.

As a spiritual bird, Bluebird has its own life and cannot always follow Lu Zheng around.

Moreover, Lu Zheng didn't want to keep bothering the other party, so he gave Qingniao some pills and let him go back to practice on his own.

"Lu Zheng, do you want to eat beans?" Qing Wan asked.

"No, thank you." Lu Zheng replied quickly.

Qingwan felt a little regretful, she thought her beans were pretty good.

A gust of mountain wind blew, and Qingwan, who was standing by the pot, staggered and almost fell in.

"It's a bit cold tonight."

Qing Wan steadied herself and felt a little chilled by the wind.

Lu Zheng raised his head slightly and stretched out his hand to sense it.

"Tonight, the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Qing Wan stared curiously, "What?"

Lu Zheng explained in a low voice, "The 15th day of the seventh lunar month is the time of year when the Yin energy is at its peak. It is said that in some places you can even see hundreds of ghosts parading at night and ghost soldiers passing through."

"Oh! That sounds scary! Where can I see it?"

Qingwan's eyes lit up, she didn't look afraid at all, but rather very curious.

(End of this chapter)