Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 248 A different world
The battle exhausted Lu Zheng a lot, but now is not the time to rest, he still has important things to do.

After regaining some strength, Lu Zheng stood up, left the deep pit, and quickly returned to the villa.

Along the way, the mountains and forests were quiet.

The big commotion just now must have scared the remaining monsters and made them flee, their whereabouts unknown.

After all, even their master is dead, so it would be really stupid for those little monsters not to escape.

Only after arriving at the villa did Lu Zheng have time to check the situation inside.

He found that the layout of this farm was similar to the courtyards he had seen before.

The outside of each house is covered with grass and vines, but the inside is clean and tidy, and all kinds of furniture and other items are fully equipped.

No one? Lu Zheng checked several places and found no trace of people, let alone monsters.

Not only was there no one there, there was no trace of human presence either.

Lu Zheng brought Qing Wan out and asked her to help search around.

After receiving the order, Qing Wan sent out the bean soldiers to search everywhere, and then she ran away.

After a careful search, Lu Zheng finally found a secret door in a room.

I opened the secret door and walked down the dark passage. A foul fishy smell wafted out.

This reminded Lu Zheng of what he had encountered before.

After a while, Lu Zheng discovered an underground prison, where some ordinary people were indeed imprisoned.

Judging from the weak state of these people, they have obviously become the nutrients for the cultivation of the monsters in the mountains, and their essence, energy and blood are often absorbed.

Lu Zheng released all these people, and after comforting them for a while, he gave them some pills and food, allowing them to see the light of day again.

Unfortunately, after searching around, Lu Zheng couldn't find anyone from the wealthy family who came here to avoid disaster.

He knew that the monsters in this mountain had close contacts with humans.

The day before yesterday, a few spirit birds saw a group of people coming to this mountain and did not go down the mountain.

Now there is no trace of those people in the entire villa. Even if they realized something was wrong and ran away, they should have left some traces.

Lu Zheng couldn't help but ask about these imprisoned people.

These people knew nothing about this place, and didn't even know how they got there, so they couldn't provide Lu Zheng with any useful clues.

Lu Zheng touched his chin, wondering whether he should capture one or two monsters for questioning. Perhaps some of them had not escaped far.

Just then, Qing Wan came back excitedly dragging a little thing.

Lu Zheng took a closer look and found that it was a ginseng spirit, a small goblin that barely had a human form, but had not yet broken away from its original form, and still exuded spiritual energy.

Qing Wan pulled the ginseng leaves and said excitedly, "Lu Zheng! Look what I found! I found it in a vegetable garden. It tried to hide when it saw me, but I caught it!"

Vegetable garden? Lu Zheng blinked.

He couldn't help but grab the ginseng spirit and ask about the situation here.

"Errrr..."

The ginseng spirit trembled and spoke in incomprehensible words.

After a while of communication, Lu Zheng confirmed that this little elf could not speak human language, but could understand human language.

After some difficult communication.

Lu Zheng knew that this little thing was also captured and was responsible for taking care of a piece of land, and then supplying the crops to its master, the big monster before.

Lu Zheng asked Qing Wan to lead the way to the place where the ginseng spirit was found.

Soon, they arrived at the back of the villa, and after passing through the thick fog, they came to a garden.

Lu Zheng took a look and saw that it was a medicinal garden, not a vegetable garden, and it was planted with some magical herbs.

There are also formations around the garden to provide cover and protection.

Qing Wan used to live in the peach blossom forest, where the formations were much more advanced than those here.

So she didn't notice any formation at all, and went straight into the garden and captured the ginseng spirit.

This medicinal garden is full of spiritual energy, and the medicinal herbs grown there are all uncontaminated. It should be a field specially opened up to grow the medicinal herbs and trade them with people.

That big demon obviously did not need such low-level spiritual medicine for cultivation.

Lu Zheng asked the ginseng spirit, "Have you seen anyone recently?"

The ginseng spirit nodded repeatedly and gestured with its roots, probably to say that someone had come here to pick medicinal herbs, someone it had never seen before.

"Where do they live?" Lu Zheng asked again.

The ginseng spirit shook its head when it heard this. It couldn't even leave here too far, so how could it know about such things?

"Where did the people leave?"

Lu Zheng couldn't help but change the question.

The ginseng spirit pointed in a direction with its roots, which was the direction to the top of the mountain.

Lu Zheng looked at the ginseng spirit, nodded slightly and said, "Very good, just stay here and I will let you go after this is over."

Lu Zheng would not kill a little goblin who was enslaved by a demon.

Since the other party is not doing any evil and is simply growing medicinal herbs, there is no problem in releasing them.

Upon hearing this, the ginseng spirit bowed repeatedly, expressing gratitude.

Lu Zheng turned to Qing Wan and said, "Please help take care of those people. I'll go up the mountain and take a look. I'll leave this little monster in your care. Be careful to avoid any sneak attacks from demons and ghosts."

"Okay! I will protect everyone!"

Qing Wan nodded happily and patted her chest to make assurances.

Then, Qing Wan took the tied-up ginseng spirit and returned to the villa.

Lu Zhengze quickly went up the mountain, carefully exploring along the way, looking for any traces of people.

With his sharp eyes, he quickly spotted some clues and soon arrived at a location near the top of the mountain.

A narrow cave appeared in Lu Zheng's sight.

Lu Zheng slowed down his pace, holding a long sword in his hand, and walked to the cave entrance lightly.

He observed carefully and found some traces of human presence at the entrance of the cave, but no formation or restrictions.

There was no sound coming from the cave.

Seeing this, Lu Zheng stepped into the cave and, relying on his own perception, groped his way forward in the darkness.

However, after walking for more than ten meters, we reached the end. There were no forks in the road and no signs of anyone living there.

Lu Zheng had an idea, and starlight flickered at his fingertips, dimly illuminating the small space.

The stone walls on three sides were smooth and moist, with moisture.

Lu Zheng reached out and touched the stone wall, but did not feel the presence of any formation.

He thought about it and took out a talisman to break the formation.

The talisman was activated, and fluctuations of spiritual energy affected the surroundings, but there was no abnormal reaction.

"Is there no formation, or is the formation too advanced?"

Lu Zheng muttered to himself. He lowered his head slightly and saw some remaining footprints on the ground. It was obvious that someone had really been here and then disappeared inexplicably.

Seeing this, Lu Zheng's palm was filled with righteousness, and he touched the stone wall again, searching slowly and carefully.

Suddenly, he felt something and sensed a different breath.

Lu Zheng placed his hand on the stone wall and felt it carefully.

A familiar atmosphere became more and more obvious.

"Wen Qi?"

After a while, Lu Zheng recalled that Xiaoshan had invited him to the Wen Palace before, and a door opened out of thin air, allowing him to enter Xiaoshan's Wen Palace.

And the aura he felt now was somewhat similar to the aura of that door.

Could there be a literary palace here? Lu Zheng was puzzled.

There are two ways for Wen Gong to appear in the world.

One way is that Confucian and Taoist scholars are strong enough to connect their own literary palaces with the real world and exist in the world forever.

Another way is that after the death of Confucian and Taoist scholars, their literary palaces are left behind due to some special means, forming special secret caves.

Lu Zheng thought about it and ruled out the first possibility.

If there were such powerful Confucian and Taoist scholars here, he would probably not be able to climb the mountain at the beginning.

Lu Zheng pondered for a moment and made up his mind.

While being on guard, he used his righteous energy to try to stimulate and pull out the channel.

But after trying for a while, there was no response.

Lu Zheng was pondering, and suddenly an idea flashed through his mind. He took out a copy of "The Analects of Confucius" from the study in the Wen Palace courtyard.

The book "The Analects of Confucius" exudes a strong literary flavor. It is a classic condensed by his own literary flavor, and is not an ordinary book sold on the market.

Lu Zheng held the book and urged it, and the whole space was suddenly filled with vast literary energy.

Suddenly, the air began to fluctuate, and a door slowly took shape.

"The books of sages are still the most useful..." Lu Zheng frowned slightly.

He held a sword in one hand and the "Analects of Confucius" in the other, his eyes fixed on the emerging gate, guarding against any attack.

But after a few breaths, the door stabilized and no one was seen coming in or out.

Lu Zheng stepped in without hesitation.

In just a blink of an eye, he disappeared into the cave.

The gate remained open for a moment, then slowly disappeared.

Lu Zheng's eyes turned white, and after another blink, he adapted to the light here.

The land ahead is flat, with neat houses, fertile fields, ponds, and crisscrossing roads, creating a scene of paradise.

Looking up at the sky, there is no sun, but there is light shining.

It is the same as the space of his sea of consciousness and the palace. Although there is no sun or moon, light and darkness alternate like the outside world.

Lu Zheng sensed a not-so-pure literary atmosphere in the air and was convinced that this was indeed a transformed literary paradise.

If it was a living scholar, this appearance would probably be at the level of a bachelor, which is obviously unlikely.

I don’t know which Confucian or Taoist scholar left behind this cave after his death, but it must be related to the people living here.

It is possible that the people living here are their descendants.

"This place is really not small. It's a rare refuge." Lu Zheng said quietly.

No wonder I’ve never seen anyone in the villa. This place is much more secluded than that villa and more suitable for human living.

People were walking back and forth between the houses.

There were adults and children dressed elegantly, as well as people dressed as servants.

Lu Zheng walked over and came to a house.

When a young man saw Lu Zheng, he was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed: "Lu Zheng, why are you here!"

Lu Zheng didn't recognize the person in front of him, but seeing the other person's panic-stricken look, it was obvious that he had found the right person.

Lu Zheng smiled slightly and said, "I just happened to find this place. May I know your name, sir?"

(End of this chapter)