"Brother Tiezhu, how is your waist? Does it still hurt?"
"Fortunately, it doesn't hurt much anymore." Tie Zhu lifted up his clothes and exposed his lower back. There was a red mark there, but it wasn't too deep. After all, the person who threw the stone was still a child, and the damage caused was not great.
At this time, Yang Zhen and Tie Zhu were sitting on the big stone outside the Taoist temple, eating roast chicken and biting cakes, drinking water in the evening breeze, and looking at the endless mountains in the distance. It was really comfortable. Incomparable.
The group of beggars were knocked down by the two men and tortured again by Yang Zhen. They all begged for mercy and confessed their crimes. After the two reprimanded and warned them, they were allowed to support each other and went down the mountain crying. During this period, some beggars said that the city gate was closed at this time and they had nowhere to go after coming down the mountain, and begged to stay for one night. Before Tiezhu could speak, Yang Zhen asked first:
"What would happen if we lost just now?"
So the two of them reached an agreement not to care about the life and death of these beggars!
…
"Brother Tiezhu, can you tell me how you came to this Taoist temple?"
Yang Zhen wanted to ask this question as soon as she woke up, but she was not familiar with Tiezhu at that time, so it was not easy to ask. Now in two days, the two have fought side by side twice. It can be said that they have a real friendship, and it is much more logical to ask this question.
"I am originally from Tianjia Village, which is not too far from here. There are many people named Tian in our village..."
Tiezhu told his story leisurely.
…
Two hundred miles away from here, there is a mountain village of more than a thousand people called Tianjiacun. This place already belongs to Xuanyang County on the other side of the Zhujiang River. Four summers ago, a rat plague broke out near Tianjiacun. Countless rats, led by a group of demon rats, rushed towards the mountain village.
These monster rats were exactly the kind of fire-breathing monsters that Granny Chen once described to Yang Zhen. The largest ones were even the size of a wild boar. There are no monks in Tianjiacun, only some mortal martial artists, and Tiezhu's father is one of them. In front of such a swarm of monsters, a mortal martial artist has almost no power to resist. In less than an hour, the village turned into a feast of monsters.
Tie Zhu was placed in a cellar with some children in the village, but this was of no use to rats who were good at burrowing into the ground. Soon the demon rat discovered them, some children died, and the remaining ones became the lucky ones - the monks from Yunxiao Sect finally arrived.
Due to this misfortune, Tianjia Village ceased to exist. As the last survivors, these children were sent to Xuanyang County Yamen by the monks, and then were arranged to go to some large households in the county. The older ones became slaves and the younger ones were adopted as adopted sons.
Tiezhu was just ten years old that year and was adopted as an adopted son by a family named Gu. The Gu family has hundreds of members and can only be considered a small family in Xuanyang County. However, this family is engaged in business and has considerable assets. Tie Zhu spent a very comfortable time there. He had enough food to eat every day, so he didn't have to work much. He was also taught how to read and write. It's just that he never liked reading and didn't study hard.
But all this ended in the spring of the next year...
"That day was the Lantern Festival," Tiezhu recalled: "That day, an immortal came to the Gu family's house..."
After the immortal came to Gu's house. Tie Zhu, and five or six children about his age - Tie Zhu was not the only child adopted by the Gu family. They all changed into new clothes and came to the immortal under the leadership of the smiling head of the Gu family. However, the owner's smile did not last long. After the immortal looked at Tiezhu and the others one by one, he sighed, shook his head and left. As soon as the immortal left, the owner's expression immediately changed, and he cursed Tie Zhu and the others as losers, none of them could live up to their expectations, and deserved to be poor all their lives, etc. The new clothes they had just put on were also stripped off.
From that day on, the situation of Tiezhu and others plummeted. They lived a hard life of getting up earlier than a chicken, going to bed later than a dog, eating worse than a pig, and working more than an ox. As for learning to read, that was No need to think about it at all. Especially Tie Zhu, who was ugly and didn't know a few characters. He was even more disliked by his master, and being beaten and scolded became a common occurrence.
"All this is because we don't have spiritual roots and can't practice, so it's useless." When Tie Zhu said this, he sighed and looked a little depressed.
"Is that immortal here to inspect the spiritual roots?" Yang Zhen asked.
"Um."
As the saying goes, wherever there is oppression, there is - run away! After half a year of this kind of life, Tiezhu finally found an opportunity and ran away from the Gu family. He was lucky enough to secretly follow a caravan and arrive at the county town. Otherwise, in this wilderness where monsters often appear, children like him will soon be dead.
Tiezhu wandered around the county town for a few days, and then met an old Taoist priest. This is a wild and unruly old Taoist priest whose robe is stained. At that time, he was walking and singing loudly as if no one was around. Some naughty children followed him and threw bricks and rubble at him, but he ignored them.
However, Tie Zhu thought the song he sang was very interesting, like the slang of his village, so he followed the Taoist priest all the way to the current Taoist temple.
The old Taoist priest did not chase him away and let Tiezhu stay in the Taoist temple. This Taoist temple is dedicated to the White Tiger God. It is said that there used to be a white tiger in Jushan Mountain. Later, he became an immortal. People here built this Taoist temple to ask for his blessing. Occasionally, people would come to burn incense in the temple and leave some incense money. The old Taoist priest and he would use the money to buy some food...
"Sometimes the Taoist priest will go down the mountain to help people with rituals, get rid of monsters, and earn a little money. Sometimes he will draw some talismans and sell them to the immortals in the county..."
"Doing something? Eliminating demons? Drawing talismans?" Yang Zhen asked in surprise: "Is this old Taoist also a monk?"
After hearing Grandma Chen's introduction, Yang Zhen sometimes called these immortals monks. However, out of awe, the common people still used to call them immortals.
"certainly."
"Really?" Yang Zhen became more energetic: "Our Taoist temple actually had people who cultivated immortals live there! What happened next? Where did the Taoist priest go?"
"died."
"Dead?" Yang Zhen opened her mouth and straightened her body: "Killed?"
"You will die of old age!" Tie Zhu was a little angry.
"I'm dying of old age." Yang Zhen sat down again.
Both of your parents died, you met a mysterious old Taoist priest by chance, you were wild and unruly... Tie Zhu, your experience fits the template of the protagonist!
But why did this mysterious old Taoist priest, who was obviously the boss behind the scenes, die?
"Did the old Taoist master leave anything behind, such as exercises, secret books, etc.?"
"No! Nothing! There were some talismans, worth a lot of money, but he burned them all."
Speaking of this, Tie Zhu also looked unhappy.
"The old man really wants to save face. He said that his time has come. In fact, I think he was bitten to death by a snake. He refused to admit it..."
