As I got closer, I discovered that the area around the Taoist temple had actually been cleaned up, there were fewer weeds, and there were signs of renovation on the land. It's just that it hasn't been cultivated for a while, so fine weeds are popping up tirelessly, and they are already half a foot long.
Most of the Taoist temple is surrounded by a low earthen wall. The front is a wooden fence gate with a wooden hook hanging on it, but it is not locked tightly.
Nangong Zhi suggested, "It seems that the master of the Taoist temple has gone out. Let's take a look around first and wait until he comes back..."
Before he could say anything, Lu Taotao had already opened the door and walked in boldly.
"Miss Lu..."
Lu Anran thought he was calling her, but Nangong Zhi looked in Lu Taotao's direction.
Perhaps noticing Lu Anran's gaze, Nangong Zhi turned around and said, "Miss Lu, your little Miss Lu is a little casual."
"my home?"
"Isn't she from the Lu family?" Her last name is the same.
Only then did Lu Anran realize what Nangong Zhi had done wrong, "Her surname is Lu, which refers to deer as a horse's deer."
Lu Taotao jumped up, jumped up to a bayberry tree in the yard, picked a few purple bayberries, and shouted: "What are you saying bad things about me? Why do you refer to a deer as a horse? It's obviously a sika deer!"
Regarding Lu Taotao's inexplicable persistence, even Nangong Zhi knew that he should just ignore it.
At this time, someone at the intersection shouted: "Whoever breaks into my Taoist temple without permission will spoil my feng shui." His tone was old-fashioned, and his voice was childish, which made him seem out of tune.
Several people turned around and saw a young boy of seven or eight years old. He was wearing a Taoist robe. He was not a low-key and luxurious Sanyuan Palace. He walked in a silk robe with flowing sleeves. He was also not dressed in yellow like the Zhang Tianshi they had seen. .
The little Taoist boy wears a gray linen straight-leg Sanqing collar Taoist robe. The robe is a bit too big. One corner of the robe is tucked into the trousers, and the other side hangs straight down. The sleeves of both hands are rolled up to the elbows. There is a pheasant hanging on the left hand and a pheasant hanging on the right arm. I picked up all kinds of wild fruits.
Nondescript and strange.
"Are you the master of this Taoist temple?" Yun Qi stepped forward and asked.
The young boy raised his head to meet Yun Qi's eyes, and then responded in an adult-like tone: "Pindao is the master of the Three Yuan Temple, who are you and where do you come from? , why?"
Although he was a child, Nangong Zhi's attitude was not perfunctory, and he politely held his hand in his hand: "We came here by mistake. Did you see a shadowy suspicious figure?"
The young boy wanted to return the favor, but when he raised his hand, he found that he had no time. When he was in trouble, a white and tender hand pinched his cheek, and he laughed and teased: "Little Taoist Priest, can you also catch monsters?"
The little boy tried his best to lean back but couldn't get away. He turned his head and looked into Lu Taotao's big black eyes, his cheeks suddenly turned red.
He has lived so long and has never been touched by a woman!
"Yeah, yeah, little Taoist priest, you don't have enough concentration. You won't be able to catch the monster, but you will be sucked up by the monster."
As soon as the young boy let go of his hand, the pheasant fluttered and flew away. The fallen chicken feathers floated on his hair. The wild fruits on the other side were scattered all over the ground. His own face was even redder, showing his old-fashioned attitude. There was no trace at all.
Lu Anran winked, and Wu Fang grabbed Lu Taotao by the collar and threw her back. The young boy was finally able to breathe, and gratefully bowed to Lu Anran and the two of them.
A few people walked in, and Lu Anran looked up and down, left and right, "I just said that we ruined your Feng Shui perception. Could it be that there is some Feng Shui formation in this courtyard?" She was not proficient in the formation, so she couldn't see anything.
"Others are fine, except that the bayberry tree in the courtyard cannot be moved." The young boy finished tying up his Taoist robes. His little face was serious and tense, and if it weren't for the immaturity, he raised his hands and feet as if he already had the demeanor of a Taoist priest.
Lu Taotao threw a bayberry into her mouth. The sweet and sour taste made her squint her eyes, "Why?"
The little Taoist Master said with a serious expression: "Master said that the fruits on the bayberry tree are in accordance with the laws of nature. Too much or too little will affect the fortune, so I can't touch it easily."
Everyone looked at the bayberry tree. Yunqi's peach blossom eyes were slightly raised, and a slight smile escaped from the corner of his mouth.
"Hahahahahaha——" Lu Taotao laughed wildly and patted the head of the Taoist priest, "Are you stupid? Your master must have said this deliberately because he was afraid that you would steal the bayberry."
The little Taoist priest frowned and said, "Master won't be so boring."
"Then let me ask you," Lu Taotao hooked his hand around the Taoist priest's neck, making him blush again, "Since no one picked the bayberries, where did those bayberries go?"
The little Taoist priest thought about it carefully for a long time. It seemed... it seemed... he suddenly disappeared overnight?
Lu Taotao is like a human spirit. Just by looking at the expression on the little Taoist master's face, he knew that he had guessed it right. He clapped his legs and said happily: "Let your master eat it alone."
The little Taoist scratched his head and suddenly smiled and said: "Master said that all things follow the Tao, and the body of the Tao is originally natural. The bayberry tree bears bayberry fruits, and eventually people eat them, and people turn into dust and return to nature. Isn't that what nature has to offer? road."
Yun Qi raised an eyebrow with some appreciation in his eyes. He didn't expect that he could be so reasonable at such a young age.
Nangong Zhi kept nodding, "The little Taoist priest is right. It doesn't matter who eats it. All dharma returns to its source. There are three thousand avenues, and different paths lead to the same destination."
Lu Taotao spread out his palms, let the three bayberries roll on them, tilted his head and said, "What little brother said makes sense, but I can't even understand it."
Yun Qi insisted on stabbing him, "I have never heard of it, so Nangong Shaofu still practices Taoism?"
"I had several conversations with Master Dongyue of Sanyuan Palace."
"I think your bones are very fine, and you are quite suitable to be a Taoist priest." Yun Qi emphasized: "The kind of person who spends his whole life in the mountains and forests without marrying a wife."
"Your Majesty is joking, my knowledge is still limited."
Lu Anran ignored the two people going back and forth and looked at the plaque hanging sideways with a nail missing. The three words "Three Yuan Guan" were crooked, as if they were written by a primary school student who had just learned to write.
"Destroyed." Lu Taotao summed it up with these two words without any politeness.
Yun Qi was fanning the jade bone fan with one hand behind his back. He looked like an aristocratic gentleman even in a remote place in a barren mountain. He still had jade trees facing the wind and was unparalleled in his splendor. He clicked his tongue and shook his head with emotion, "There is only one word difference between Sanyuan Palace and Sanyuan Temple. What a world of difference.”
The rooms inside are even more shabby, and the only intact Sanqing paint is mottled and peeling off, making it as shabby as you want.
Lu Taotao walked around with his hands behind his back like an old man, "It's okay to say that you can't do well in chanting Buddha's name these days. Your Taoists are so popular in this dynasty. How can you say that you practice Taoism even if you are like this?"
The Taoist elder sighed angrily, "There are many believers in Taoism, but the Taoism is different. They all look for their own Taoism, and maybe they have no connection with the original view."
"Tch, to be honest, it's just that your place is too remote and not well-known, so people don't like to come here."
The little Taoist leader thought for a moment and realized that this was true, but he still wanted to emphasize, "Everyone has a chance, and the Tao follows its natural course."
Lu Taotao suddenly covered the left side of her face, and Lu Anran glanced at her, "What's wrong with you?"
"Toothache!" She was only a few years old and kept saying this and that, making her feel like she was about to reveal her true form.
Nangong Zhi twisted three sticks of incense and offered them to the statue of Sanqing. Then he turned around and asked, "Don't you know the name of the Taoist priest?"
"A poor man seeks clarity."
Lu Taotao couldn't stop and curiously reached out and touched the statue. He almost jumped on the incense table. Hearing the words behind him, he turned his head and said, "Seeking relatives? Sacrifice for love? Seeking Qing?"
"Hey, the donor must not act rashly." The little Taoist priest saw Lu Taotao far away from the Sanqing statue, and then he was relieved. He stared at Lu Taotao's figure and said: "The water is clear, but looking for the clear is looking for relatives. When the master picked me up, If you say I have no father or mother, just call me this name.”
"What about your master?"
"Master died more than two months ago."
Lu Anran was not sad to see him, "Will you be the only one left in the audience?"
"Master said that each of us will follow the way of heaven, but he will take the first step. I thought about it. Anyway, in the end, we will reach the same destination through different paths, so it doesn't matter if we are alone."
A seven or eight-year-old child in the wilderness, I don’t know how he lived during these days.
The adult felt sad for him, but Xunqing thought more openly, "Master had some regrets before he died, saying that there is no way to teach. I am the only successor who shoulders the heavy responsibility." After saying this, he shook his head and sighed like an adult, and he learned it perfectly, "Oh, they are all called that. A group of scumbag disciples ruined the atmosphere, and from now on there will be no way to practice law."
After everyone chatted for a while, they returned to the original question. Xunqing didn't have to think about it and said directly: "No, no one has been here except you."
Yun Qi looked up at the cliff and fell into deep thought. Next to him, Nangong Zhi whispered to himself: "Unless there is another way, he can really fly."
—
In Linhua Hall, the emperor read the book in his hand at a glance.
The memorial was sent by Nangong Zhi, and it stated the approximate time they arrived at Diqiu, as well as the murder of Diqiu Yaksha.
"First there were fox demons, and now there are yakshas." The emperor threw the memorial on the dragon table and smiled coldly, "The demons and ghosts have all come out."
The person in front of him was Liu Xiangzhi. After hearing this, he clasped his fists and saluted: "Your Majesty's true dragon protects your body. No matter whether it is a demon or a ghost, there will be no escape."
"Okay, stop playing tricks on me." He then picked up another booklet and said, "Liu Dezhong told me that if I give him an army of 300,000 men, all seven counties in Mongolia will be in my hands within three years."
Liu Xiangzhi pondered for a while and said implicitly: "General Li does not have a thorough understanding of the situation in Mengzhou."
The emperor twitched his lips, smiled coldly, and threw the memorial to the ground with a bang, "Not only does he not understand, I think he is so happy that he is dizzy!"
Liu Dezhong was Concubine Shu's natal brother and could be regarded as the emperor's brother-in-law. Liu Xiangzhi knew that this man was too ambitious and could not do practical things, but it was difficult to evaluate him directly, so he remained silent.
"Liu Aiqing." The emperor rubbed the jade finger on his right hand, with a dark light floating in his eyes, "Now that all the disciples are tied up in Emperor Qiu, what do you think I should do?"
The purpose of this Taoist ritual was not to announce to the world to pray for good fortune, but because the emperor realized that the time was ripe and took advantage of this opportunity to take back the territory of Mengzhou.
Now is not the most prosperous period of the Ning Dynasty, but compared to the seven counties of Mengzhou, it is not as integrated and prosperous as it was back then. After various calculations, it is the most suitable time for the seven counties to surrender.
Therefore, there was this Diqiu Dojo, and students from Jixia Palace were specially ordered to attend it.
However, when the time came, the people in the seven counties of Mengdu received news that their sons and daughters were probably kidnapped as hostages, which made the heads of various families avoid resisting easily.
As Liu Xiangzhi said, "Now our teachers are famous, and the Holy Emperor has not harmed their children. It's just that Mengdu and Wangdu are thousands of miles apart. The news received there is slightly wrong, which is understandable, but they If you act rashly, you will be disrespecting your Majesty."
It would be best to resolve this matter without bloodshed, otherwise...
