I became an immortal in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 193 Encountering Demons and Ghosts While Traveling at Night on Mount Tai

The gust of wind came suddenly and went away strangely, which really gave me the creeps.

"Huff—huff—" One of them, supporting his knees, was panting heavily, his hair disheveled by the wind. "This wind is really weird...why don't we find a place to rest and catch our breath before continuing?"

The two climbed the steps, turned a corner, and saw several people standing there, their clothes exceptionally neat.

They greeted them, "Are you all here to climb Mount Tai too?"

Jiang She nodded slightly.

"You two are also here?"

Of the two young men who looked like scholars, one had slightly disheveled hair, and the black cloth on his head had long since been blown away by the wind, revealing a head of slightly messy hair.

They were a little embarrassed and smiled while cupping their hands in greeting.

"My brother and I came to the mountains to enjoy the spring scenery, but a sudden gust of wind blew my cloth away... I am now disheveled and it is really impolite. I hope you will not take offense."

Another person chimed in, "You lot must have also encountered that evil wind, right? It was truly terrifying."

"I wonder where this wind came from!"

"It even swept away the dust on the ground."

Jiang She glanced at Zhang Guolao.

Zhang Guolao stroked his beard, said nothing, and led the donkey uphill.

Several people traveled together.

The two men said, "Not far up, we know of a cave where we can rest and take shelter from the wind. We plan to spend the night there. If you don't mind, you are welcome to come along."

To strengthen their persuasiveness, the two added another sentence.

“This mountain is unusual. The weather is fine now, but in half an hour, once the sun sets, the mountain path will become difficult to traverse. It’s best not to climb any further.”

Jiang She became interested.

Q: "How so?"

The scholar immediately perked up and said confidently:
“I had a former classmate, surnamed Zhang, the fifth in his family, we all called him Zhang Wulang. He was always very brave. Last year at this time of year, he came to climb Mount Tai, determined to reach the summit to pray for his family’s well-being. His mother was ill, but he was in a hurry to climb the mountain. He didn’t stop even when it got dark, and after only eating a steamed bun, he continued his journey through the night…”

"What do you think?"

Mount Tai is majestic. While the others were answering, the scholar took the opportunity to catch his breath.

Jiang She glanced at the mountains and forests.

"Could it be that we've encountered something supernatural?"

They both nodded.

The scholar said:
"Exactly! Zhang Wulang, I don't know how he fainted at the time. In his dream, he heard an old immortal speaking. When he opened his eyes, he found that the immortal was speaking to a wild beast!"

"Not only that, the beast was actually a giant python, one or two zhang long, with gleaming scales, extremely terrifying!"

As the scholar spoke, he looked around, trying to find some evidence to support his claim.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up when he looked at an elderly man among the group.

"That old immortal is just as old as this old man!"

The old deer god, who had been silent all along, was slightly taken aback when he heard this, then stroked his beard and smiled, as if it were the first time he had heard such a strange story.

Li Bai and Yuan Danqiu exchanged a glance.

"What did they say? Did you hear what they said?"

The scholar said:
"At the time, he felt it was a dream within a dream, and being very brave, he wasn't afraid at all and listened to the whole thing. The old immortal was cultivating in the mountains, and the giant python was menacing, as if it had eaten something, and was being reprimanded by the old immortal..."

"It seems that the old immortal was still waiting for someone, but I was in a daze in the dream and didn't hear clearly."

The strangest thing is—

"That giant python can actually speak human language!"

He said a few words, getting a little out of breath from climbing the mountain. Another person next to him noticed and added, "Zhang Wulang didn't think it was true at first, but when he woke up the next day..."

He discovered that there really was a snake's shed skin beside him!

The man raised his hand and gestured, then said.

"Judging from the size of the shed skin, the snake must have been at least two zhang long. Luckily, it didn't eat him..."

"However, it also turned out to be a blessing in disguise."

"The snake molt was intact and large. When he brought it back down the mountain, a pharmacy offered to pay twenty strings of cash for it."

Zhang Wu wanted to agree, but asked the shopkeeper to leave some for his mother to use in her medicine.

"But it was flatly rejected."

Fearing the others might not understand, the two scholars offered a few more explanations. "Young masters, you may not know, but snake molts are not as rare and precious as snake gallbladders, and herb gatherers usually don't need to take any risks. The reason the shopkeeper is willing to pay such a high price is because this snake molt is extremely large, perfectly intact, and has excellent medicinal properties. Just looking at it, you can see how terrifying that giant python was!"

"If we cut it off and leave a bit, ruining the whole thing, it might not fetch a good price..."

"To get back to the point, Zhang Wu didn't sell it. He kept it at home and added some to his medicine when decocting it."

The two scholars marveled at this.

"Believe it or not, the boil on his mother's body really did get better."

"If it weren't for the fact that most of the snake skin was still in his house, even if we saw it with our own eyes, we might not have believed it was true."

The group talked as they walked.

Soon, they arrived at the cave that the two scholars had mentioned, a place to shelter from the wind and rain.

The cave entrance provided good shelter from the wind, and the inside was spacious. The two went out and gathered some firewood and dry branches and leaves, piling them into a small heap. They took out tinder from their pockets and lit it. While warming themselves by the fire, the two took out some dry flatbread from their bundles and drank some water from a bamboo tube.

He let out a breath before slowly trying to persuade the others.

"There are many dangers on the mountain at night."

"Don't be fooled by the fact that it's light now; we might run into something strange when night falls!"

"We'll stay here tonight. Zhang Wulang told us about this cave; he took shelter from the rain here before."

The dirty scholar, with his sharp eyes, noticed that the group was empty-handed, carrying nothing but a cat and a donkey. He found this strange and asked a question.

"These young men are incredibly brave, going up the mountain without even carrying any belongings... Have you prepared any food?"

As he spoke, he picked out three more flatbreads from his bundle and compared them.

They handed it over, saying, "We didn't bring many, so we can only spare three pancakes. If you don't mind, please break off a few to eat, at least to fill your stomachs."

Jiang She smiled and declined.

"Thank you both for your kindness, but it's not necessary. We came up the mountain after eating and drinking our fill. The carriage is at the foot of the mountain, and we're not hungry now."

Instead, he pulled out a packet of dried mutton wrapped in oil paper from his sleeve.

Hand it to the other party.

"I have some dried meat here. If you two don't mind, you can have it as a side dish."

The two were surprised and looked Jiang She up and down for a while.

"Did you sew a pocket into your sleeve, my lord?"

Jiang She agreed.

The two were somewhat envious: "This couldn't be more convenient. Who is this tailor? His craftsmanship is so good that you can't tell from the outside."

Jiang She smiled but did not answer.

The two of them didn't really care. After they finished eating, they suddenly felt very sleepy for some reason. They took out a not-so-clean coat from their bundle and spread it on the ground.

Listening to the crackling of the firewood, I drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

After the two of them had evened out their breathing and were completely asleep.

Yuan Danqiu had just spoken when he sniffed the air and looked around. "The smell in this cave is a bit strange."

Li Bai looked at the Old Deer Mountain God.

"Was it the mountain god that Zhang Wulang dreamed of?"

The old deer mountain god stroked his beard and said to Jiang She, "It's remarkable that they were so careful in their selection, managing to find a snake's den."

"They even picked up the old clothes that people had taken off."

"Fortunately, the snake had already gained sentience and intelligence, and happened to eat a spiritual fruit with a gentle aura; otherwise, it might have really been in mortal danger."

Zhang Guolao listened and walked to the cave entrance with Jiang She.

Looking outwards.

As the spring breeze blew, the trees on the mountain sprouted green buds, and the wild grasses were shrouded in a misty green. In Zhang Guolao's eyes, there was even more vitality blowing, which he could see clearly.

The night was clear, and a crescent moon hung in the sky, with faint signs of lingering yin energy visible.

"The spirit of the mountain has become much more active."

Zhang Guolao smiled and turned to look at Jiang She.

"Sir, your little trick has such a grand scale?"

【Ask for monthly ticket】

(End of this chapter)