Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 91 Pretending to be a ghost
Lu Zheng finished eating two cooked eggs and returned the other raw eggs to the chicken demon.

Seeing this, the chicken demon said, "Scholar, if you like, eat more. I have plenty here."

Lu Zheng couldn't help but laugh and said, "Your Excellency is quite open-minded."

"Just some dead eggs." The chicken demon looked at it with ease and didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Lu Zhengdao: "Three is enough, I should leave now."

The chicken demon heard this and said, "So urgent? Where are you going?"

Lu Zheng said, "I heard there's a toad in Shiniu Village that harms people. I want to go check it out."

The chicken demon's eyes flickered. "Stone Ox Village, there really is a toad that's playing tricks there."

"Your Excellency knows this too?" Lu Zheng asked curiously.

The chicken demon spoke slowly, "To be honest, I'm from Shiniu Village. I've been back a few times over the years... One time, I found a toad demon outside the village, pretending to be a ghost and fooling the people. Unfortunately, my Taoism skills were comparable to its own, and the toad also had some tricks, so I couldn't deal with it."

The chicken demon also wanted to warn the villagers, but it just showed up. Because it was too big and didn't look like a normal rooster at all, people drove it away as a demon, and no one believed what it said.

The chicken demon paused, then continued, "Since the scholar wants to go to Stone Ox Village, I will lead the way for you, and together we can take care of the toad demon... I just don't know if the toad is still there."

Hearing this, Lu Zheng did not refuse and nodded, saying, "Then let's go and take a look together!"

The chicken demon flapped its wings, took off into the air, and flew down the mountain.

Lu Zheng followed closely behind with brisk steps.

There is no road in the mountains, so it is not easy to walk. It is better to fly in the air.

So the chicken demon slowed down so that Lu Zheng could catch up.

"My name is Jin Feng!" the chicken demon suddenly said, "You can call me that from now on."

Lu Zheng smiled when he heard this, "That's a good name. It seems you have the ambition to become a phoenix."

Jin Feng said, "You humans always say that a pheasant turns into a phoenix, so I gave myself that name."

Lu Zheng nodded and said, "Having great ambitions is a good thing. The phoenix is an auspicious beast, the king of all birds. Its head carries virtue, its crown reveals righteousness, its back bears benevolence, its heart embraces loyalty, its wings embrace trustworthiness, and its feet walk on righteousness. If you can learn virtue, righteousness, benevolence, loyalty, trustworthiness, and righteousness, even if you are not a phoenix, you will still be the king of birds."

Jin Feng was deeply shocked and humbly asked, "What do you mean, scholar? I don't quite understand."

As Lu Zheng walked, he carefully explained what he had just said.

……

Outside Shiniu Village, in a green mountain.

A lame middle-aged man was limping in the mountains, carrying a bamboo basket covered with a cloth.

He walked through a dense patch of weeds and came to the outside of a dark and damp cave.

The man wiped the sweat from his face, put down the bamboo basket, uncovered the red cloth, took out the incense burner and offerings from it, and placed them respectfully at the entrance of the cave.

Three thin incense sticks were lit, and green smoke floated in the air.

The man knelt there, kowtowed, and then bowed with his hands clasped together, looking extremely pious.

"Please bless me, great immortal!"

After a while, a faint voice came from inside, "Is your old illness coming back?"

The man said quickly, "My old cold legs are getting worse. Now I can't sleep every night because of the pain! Please give me some more magic medicine so that I can sleep more peacefully."

"As usual, one for one. How long do you want the medicine to last this time?"

The man gritted his teeth and said, "One year."

One year of life in exchange for one year of medicine.

"Okay, kowtow sincerely!"

The man kowtowed respectfully.

An invisible energy emanated from the man's body and floated into the cave. A few breaths later, a thumb-sized green stone rolled out of the cave.

When the man saw the stone, his eyes lit up. He quickly crawled over, picked up the stone and put it in his mouth. A fishy smell filled his mouth and nose.

The man had a rosy complexion and a look of satisfaction on his face.

The pain in his body disappeared, and instead he felt a sense of lightheadedness and comfort.

"Go back, and don't tell anyone else, or there won't be a next time!"

The man looked dazed and nodded quickly, then hurriedly packed up his things and left briskly.

Judging from the way he walks, it seems that even his legs are not lame.

Deep in the cave, a toad the size of a calf lay there, opening and closing its mouth to breathe.

"Hey, these people are so easy to fool!"

The toad grinned and chuckled. It was not an immortal, nor could it refine any magical medicine.

Just soak the stone in its own venom to make a medicinal stone.

If ordinary people lick and inhale the medicinal stone, it will have a hallucinogenic and analgesic effect.

Not only can it not cure the disease, but it can also cause addiction to licking the stone and turn minor illnesses into major ones.

After just one or two times, these people will become dependent on the medicine and will even exchange their own lifespan and essence for the medicine.

As the saying goes, slow and steady wins the race. Toad established a one-for-one exchange rule to avoid having to give up extra lifespans, which the people would not be happy about and might even report to the authorities.

In the past few years in Shiniu Village, it has deceived many ignorant villagers.

The villagers had never even seen its true appearance, but they could roughly guess that it was a powerful monster.

However, due to their dependence on medicine and fear of demons and ghosts, the villagers who were sick did not make the matter public.

The toad lay there, slowly refining his energy and practicing.

Suddenly, Toad vaguely heard a slight sound.

The cave is surrounded by dense vegetation, so it can quickly detect if someone comes.

The toad felt a little alert. According to its expectation, no one should come here except that man during this period of time.

Of course, it is not ruled out that some wild animals or villagers accidentally entered this place.

"Damn Toad, are you still there?"

A sharp voice came from outside the cave.

When Toad heard the voice, he felt it sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was.

"Scaly monster, your Grandpa Chicken is here!"

Jin Feng stood outside the cave and shouted loudly.

The toad suddenly recalled the past, but did not move. Instead, it cursed angrily: "You pheasant, why don't you practice cultivation in your own mountains and come to trouble your grandfather?"

Jin Feng said, "You scabby grandson, you always do bad things. Master Ji is not happy with you, is that okay?"

"None of your business!" the Toad cursed. "You're a pheasant with wide wings, and you're meddling in this!"

Jin Feng said, "Your Grandpa Chicken and I have a long history with this village. How can I just sit back and do nothing?"

The toad sneered, "Hey, what's that? Are you a pheasant that wandered from this village? You've become a spirit, and you still care about what's going on here? If you weren't a spirit, you would have been fattened up by those people and killed for soup. How can you still be sentimental?"

Jin Feng said calmly, "Let's put things in perspective. Master Ji will take care of your affairs."

Toad couldn't help but say, "Have you become more powerful? Come on, come in and let's fight."

Toad was on guard and did not choose to go out.

(End of this chapter)