Changle suddenly threw herself into Li Daoxuan's arms, like a frightened cub, raising her little face stained with dirt, and cried like a little cat.
"Woooooo... Master, I thought I would never see you again..."
At this moment, her nobility and elegance as the eldest princess of the Tang Dynasty disappeared. She was hiding in Li Daoxuan's arms, staining the spotless Luoyue Immortal robe with snot and tears.
"Uuuu... Master, this is not a dream..."
Li Daoxuan shook his head and smiled, then flicked her smooth forehead with his finger. Seeing her in pain, he smiled and said: "The pain is not a dream. Don't worry, Master is here to save you."
Seeing her wet look after crying, Li Daoxuan sighed softly and stretched out his sleeves to wipe her clean.
Changle raised his little face obediently, and the frightened and frightened heart that was locked in the tomb finally calmed down.
During this time, she struggled desperately in the grave and asked for help, even her fingernails were bleeding, but to no avail. Later, she fell asleep due to exhaustion. Perhaps because she accidentally touched the wound, she woke up from the pain and couldn't help but utter The voice was heard by Li Daoxuan.
Li Daoxuan also noticed her wounds.
"Hand out."
"Master, I'm fine. Just go back and let the imperial doctor take a look..."
Chang Le put his hands behind his back, as if he didn't want his master to see his embarrassment.
Li Daoxuan flicked her again and said calmly: "Disobey the teacher's orders?"
Changle rubbed her head. At this moment, her mood had stabilized, and she reached out her hand reluctantly.
I saw that the originally white and slender hands were now covered with dirt and blood stains, especially the fingernails, which even had blood scabs hiding the coagulated blood.
Li Daoxuan saw countless fine scratches on the inside of the coffin board, and knew how much pain this little girl who had lived in luxury had endured this time.
Li Dao
Changle felt a coolness in her palms, and the pain quickly subsided. After a while, her hands became white and tender again, without any scars.
"Master, this is so amazing, I want to learn it!"
There was admiration in her eyes.
Li Daoxuan smiled and said: "Practice hard, and I will naturally teach you in the future."
After a pause, he gradually put away his smile, looked her up and down, and said, "Now I'm asking you something, and you must answer it honestly."
Changle was startled by his serious expression and quickly put away his smile.
"Let me ask you, where are those amulets I gave you before, why don't you wear them?"
After Li Daoxuan accepted her as his disciple, he gave her many amulets. If Changle could carry them with him, he would not be taken away by ghosts.
Changle lowered his head and said, "Because sister Yan'er... she is afraid of those talismans."
"Yan'er...she tied you here, and you still call her sister?"
Chang Le raised his head, with a hint of determination in his eyes.
"Master, Sister Yan'er must have her own reasons!"
She told her acquaintance with Yan'er.
It turned out that she once entered the cold palace by mistake, where she met a delirious mad woman. It was said that she was a concubine who had made a big mistake. At that time, she ran out secretly without a maid by her side.
When the mad woman saw her, she grabbed her throat. When she was struggling desperately, a sister named Yan'er appeared, knocked the mad woman unconscious and saved her.
From that moment on, the two became friends.
The smart Chang Le soon discovered something was wrong with Yan'er. She didn't dare to go out at noon, let alone step out of the cold palace. She didn't need to eat normally and had no shadow in the moonlight.
Changle guessed that she was a ghost, but she was not afraid and instead became friends with her.
Sister Yan'er would tell her about life outside the palace, about the hares in the mountains, the grasshoppers in the grass, the ripe persimmons, and the smoke from her mother's stove.
It was a life she had never experienced before.
Sister Yan'er is only a few years older than her, but she looks extremely mature. She is usually very quiet, but when she talks about her family, she always smiles like a crescent moon.
But most of the time, she would be in a daze looking at a candy.
Later, the Zen Ceremony was about to be held. Changle woke up early to prepare cakes and wanted to present them to the master, but unexpectedly received a message from Sister Yan'er, asking her to go to the cold palace immediately.
As soon as she got there, she lost consciousness, and when she woke up, she was already lying in the tomb.
…
After listening to her story, Li Daoxuan raised his hand and saw a purple talisman floating from behind Chang Le, with a mysterious aura flowing around it. It was this talisman that blocked her aura.
Under the Dharma Eyes, four ancient seal characters were faintly visible on it.
"Taiping...Huang Tian..."
Li Daoxuan's heart moved, and he remembered a man who held a nine-section staff and sued the "Taiping Jing", which started the troubled times in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
Great sage, great general, Zhang Jiao!
The sky is dead, the yellow sky should stand, and the age of Jiazi will be good for the world.
Master once said that Zhang Jiao was very good at the art of talismans. After his death, the talismans on his body were divided up by his subordinates. Each one is very precious and has its own magical use.
Li Daoxuan guessed that this talisman might have been painted by Zhang Jiao himself, and was taken away by his subordinates. Many years later, it fell into the hands of the old Taoist priest. Perhaps the old Taoist priest was a descendant of the former Yellow Turban Army.
This can explain why the old Taoist priest went around raising ghosts and practicing evil arts, but was never discovered by the court or the righteous monks. In the end, he died at the hands of the ghosts he raised.
It can also explain why the ghost in the cabinet has been hiding in Ziwu Town outside Chang'an City, living under the noses of Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng for many years.
"She left such a precious talisman to you..."
Li Daoxuan was thinking that he had asked Wang Bo, who said that two maids from Changle died tragically in a corner outside the palace, seemingly attacked by demons.
A guess came to his mind.
Could it be that Yan'er knew that there would be ghosts attacking Changle, so she notified her to leave in advance, and the reason why she borrowed talismans from the ghosts in the cabinet was because...the ghosts that attacked and killed the maid were still following Changle!
Thinking of this, Li Daoxuan looked at the wooden tombstone again.
"The tomb of my beloved daughter Chen Yan."
This simple tomb, which had not been visited for a long time, was Yan'er's burial place. She thought it was safe, so she placed Chang Le in her own tomb and left alone.
Maybe she wanted to distract the pursuers on her own.
Changle Bingxue was smart. Seeing Li Daoxuan's expression, he immediately guessed something was wrong.
"Master, is sister Yan'er in danger?"
She pinched the corner of Li Daoxuan's clothes, her eyes full of pleading.
Li Daoxuan said in a deep voice: "Let's go take a look first and then talk."
He glanced at Xiaotian, and the dog immediately ran towards the east. According to the smell on the candy, Yan'er stayed here for a while, and then left towards the east.
…
Night gradually fell.
The people in Ziwu Town have returned to their homes. Although the houses are simple, they are full of children's laughter.
Li Daoxuan and Changle stood in front of the window of a house, quietly looking at the weak candlelight inside.
Xiao Tian whispered: "Master Immortal, the one named Yan'er once stopped here for a long time."
Li Daoxuan nodded, and through the dilapidated window, he saw a middle-aged couple teasing a little boy under the dim candlelight, and the family of three was enjoying themselves happily.
The mother peeled off a candy and fed it into the little boy's mouth. She smiled and said, "This candy is so sweet. Your sister used to like it the most."
The little boy asked curiously: "Do I have a sister? Where is she?"
Her husband immediately glared at her.
Knowing that she had made a mistake, her mother quickly changed the subject and said with a smile: "Xiaohu, what did you teach me in the private school today?"
The little boy immediately put his sister behind and proudly told his parents that his teacher praised him today, saying that he had a sharp mind and quick memory, making him the material for reading.
My parents suddenly became even more proud.
Chang Le's eyes were filled with tears at some point, and she whispered: "Master, sister Yan'er...have you been watching here for a long time?"
Li Daoxuan sighed lightly.
A picture emerged in his mind.
Under the moonlight, a little girl of thirteen or fourteen finally returned to her long-lost home. However, because there was a monster following behind her, she could only watch through the window for a moment, and then left silently.
Maybe even if she wasn't being tracked, she wouldn't have entered the house.
Perhaps she finally understood why her parents visited her grave less and less often, and why she could no longer wait for her favorite candy.
That cheap candlelight was once her dream home.
At this moment, Li Daoxuan suddenly remembered what he saw at the cemetery today. Could it be that the kid who tried to hug his mother was another Yan'er?
The candles in the room were extinguished, and soon the sound of deep sleep could be heard.
"Let's go."
Li Daoxuan touched Chang Le's head and said softly.
Chang Le raised his little face, his eyes were red, and asked: "Sir, are there many people like Sister Yan'er in this world?"
Li Daoxuan was stunned for a moment, thought about it, and decided to tell the truth.
"A lot, far more than you can imagine."
In the early years of Zhenguan, everything was in ruins, and with the infestation of demons, things like this were not uncommon.
This is also the reason why Li Daoxuan is willing to help Li Shimin. In addition to helping his own practice, the most important thing is that he also wants to change this situation.
Let the people of the Tang Dynasty no longer suffer from hunger and cold, and let the children no longer be homeless.
"Master, my father said that we would create a prosperous age. Does it mean that as long as there is a prosperous age, this kind of thing will not happen?"
"Yes, as long as the prosperous age comes, there will no longer be such things, at least they will be greatly reduced!"
"Master, can you and my father succeed?"
Li Daoxuan was silent for a moment and said: "Yes, I will definitely do it."
The little girl nodded vigorously, wiped away her tears and said, "Changle will definitely practice hard and create a prosperous age with Master and Father in the future!"
"good."
In the night, Li Daoxuan held Chang Le's little hand. Two shadows, one large and one small, gradually faded away under the bright moonlight.
…
A moment later.
Xiao Tian continued to follow the scent and led the two of them to the river, saying: "Master Immortal, this is the place where she last came. After that, she disappeared."
After a pause, Xiaotian said again: "The shore smells like a water ghoul!"
Li Daoxuan raised his eyebrows, showing a hint of surprise.
It’s the Water Ghoul again!
From the Sishui River in Xuzhou to Bashui in Chang'an, and then to the small river in Ziwu Town, water ghouls appear one after another. This thing is very strange and unusual.
Li Dao
This shows that the water ghoul that once appeared here has left along the river.
This is very unreasonable.
His master once told him that monsters like the water ghoul generally would not leave their birthplace easily. It should be noted that there are many monsters hidden in rivers and lakes. If you accidentally step into the territory of other monsters, you will inevitably have to fight for life and death. Fight.
In addition, water ghouls are only interested in blood food, and like to eat humans the most, followed by cattle and sheep, and then fish. They generally do not conflict with ghosts.
However, the water ghoul, which has always been at odds with ghosts, left its own territory and took away or killed Yan'er by the water. All these anomalies pointed to a possibility.
That is, behind these water ghouls, there is a leader who controls them!
From Xuzhou to Chang'an, a big chess game has been quietly laid out, and the person behind the scenes should be Moro!
"The chess game has been set. Li Daoxuan, where will your chess piece fall?"
Suddenly, Li Daoxuan remembered the last words left by Moro when he met him at the Lingtai, and couldn't help but feel his heart sink.
An old monster like Moro who has lived for an unknown number of years has such a meticulous layout and deep thoughts that people have to be afraid of him. Now he only hopes that Master Sanle can tell Moro where he is quickly, and then he can talk to his empress and God. The division will destroy it together.
This feeling of being in the dark and being in the clear is really unpleasant.
"Master, will something happen to sister Yan'er?"
Changle held Li Daoxuan's hand tightly and said nervously.
Li Daoxuan didn't answer. He frowned slightly and had an unknown premonition in his heart.
The recent events were quickly reviewed in his mind, and there were indeed some flaws and oddities in them, such as the multiple appearances of the water ghoul, why Moro did not disturb the dragon spirit when he destroyed the Zen Ceremony, and why Yan'er appeared. At the palace...
But he couldn't connect the clues together, and it seemed like one of the most important pieces of the puzzle was missing.
It would be great if I could do divination...
Li Daoxuan was thinking this, and suddenly a flash of lightning flashed in his mind, and an idea came to his mind.
He doesn't know how to divination, but... there are people who can!
Li Daoxuan patted the Three Realms Gourd on his waist, released the ghost cupboard, and then gently knocked on the cupboard door.
"This is the place where Yan'er finally disappeared. I already know who the mastermind behind it is. If you want to save Yan'er, just do something for me."
The blood flowed out, which scared Changle. Fortunately, the master was by her side, so she was not so scared.
"good."
The ghost in the cabinet immediately agreed.
Li Daoxuan did not directly ask Moro what his overall plan was, so even if the ghost closet was turned into powder, he might not be able to figure out even a few words.
After thinking for a moment, he asked a seemingly unrelated question, but in fact it was extremely relevant.
"Why didn't the dragon energy attack Yan'er in the palace?"
(End of chapter)
