Great Sui Guoshi

"Old Toad?!"

The Taoist threw away the dead branch, stood up, and the tree demon who was pulling the old donkey not far away heard the movement and trotted over, looked around, as if he heard the sound of water, and pointed to the pool.

In an instant, the rippling water broke open and splashed, and Taoist Toad said "Woo... old man..." and fell back to the water with his fishing rod in his arms, shaking left and right quickly , pushing away one after another ripples to move rapidly.

The Taoist stared at the toad dancing and gliding on the surface of the water pond seriously, recalling the scene when the toad fell from the reservoir a few years ago, he squatted back to the fire and continued to pass firewood on the fire.

"I thought I fell into the water, but I swam."

He waved his hand to tell the tree demon not to worry: "The old toad can't swim, I'm afraid he's just learning now, so don't worry."

In the pool, the rain line tightened, and Taoist Toad, who was floating forward with his fishing rod in his arms, suddenly sank and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Gollum...

Only a few bubbles remained on the surface of the water.

"That..." The dryad opened and closed its mouth slightly, tapped the pool with its fingertips, turned to look at Sun Yingxian, "...that little toad seems to be sinking, don't you look look?"

"!"

The Taoist was stunned for a moment, and as soon as he threw away the firewood, he ran to the pool. The water surface was calm and there were only a dozen dead leaves floating and rippling gently.

At this moment, Lu Liangsheng was thanking the old man, and after finding out the name of this place, he took a bundle of firewood in his hands and walked back down to the pool, when he saw the Taoist taking off his clothes and pants, sitting on the ground, and throwing away his shoes and socks beside him. .

"Are you going down to play in the water?"

"Grandma's legs..."

The tree demon raised his eyebrows, and the Taoist waved his hand: "It's not you, grandma." Then, he pointed to the water pool, and said to Lu Liangsheng: "Master fell into the water, isn't this my way to catch him?"

He took some water and slapped it on his chest, before the Taoist could jump down, the toad floated limply on the surface of the water, Lu Liangsheng pinched out his fingers and was about to lift the master to the surface of the water, when suddenly, the motionless Taoist toad, Keeping a motionless posture, it drifted sideways to the edge of the pool.

When I got closer, I realized that there was a blue shadow wrapped around the toad's bulging waist. As soon as it got close to the edge of the pool, the slender blue shadow let go, slid into the bottom of the river, and swam away in a meandering way.

A small green snake could be vaguely seen, the thickness of someone's finger.

"Old Toad?" "Wake up!"

The Taoist flicked the toad's cheeks with his fingers, and Lu Liangsheng gathered his fingertips to lightly press Master Bai Huahua's belly, three water arrows spewed out of the beach water from his nose, and he sat up straight with his head connected to his stomach Looked both ways.

"Hey, where's the old man's fish?"

Lu Liangsheng breathed a sigh of relief, took a silk handkerchief from the bookshelf, and wiped the water stains on Master's body, "Master wants to eat fish, and he will eat it later."

Walking to the edge of the pool, beckoning to suck up the fishing rod floating on the water surface, and re-hanging the bait, Taoist Toad ran to the bookshelf compartment, changed a set of clothes, sat quietly beside him, pointed at the sinking fishing line, and slapped his apprentice vigorously trouser legs.

"Pull it up!"

When Lu Liangsheng lifted the fishing rod, a grass carp broke out of the water and fell to the ground, jumping vigorously, slapping its tail with a clacking sound.

"Master, this fish is big enough to eat some for lunch."

The woods, small pools, and the sun are shining brightly, and the cicadas are singing one after another. The old donkey is swaying its bald tail leisurely, like a group of people on a spring outing, talking, laughing and playing.

I'm used to being away from home, so I don't say that the cooking skills are very good, but I'm familiar with them. The Taoist deftly removes the scales from the belly of the fish, kills them into several pieces and puts them in a large bowl to marinate to remove the fishy smell.

Toad leaned forward and sniffed in the bowl: "Put more rice wine, ginger, and salt to taste. The old man is an expert in food. Just dropped into the water, just to drive out the cold."

"Row."

The Taoist smiled and put in the pickled seasoning, stirred it evenly, and broke off a few shallots in the storage bag: "Put the herring with shallots, it will kill the old toad"

"Begging!" The toad jumped up, and the frog webbed knocked off the Taoist's knee. Lu Liangsheng and the tree demon couldn't help laughing, and the old donkey who gnawed on the grass next to him hissed twice.

After lunch, after packing up and preparing to leave, Lu Liangsheng walked to the edge of the pool, and bowed his hands to the bottom of the pool to thank him.

"Thank you for your kindness, there is no way to repay it."

He took out a pill from his sleeve, "Although this medicine is not a fairy medicine, it can also promote anger, so please accept it."

"Let me come as a teacher."

Taoist Toad came over from there at some point, tugged at the hem of his apprentice's robe, and asked him to hand over the elixir in his hand and hold it between his fins.

"I don't owe you favors, this medicine is just a thank you gift. I hope you will fade away and become a human being soon, and you will achieve a positive result."

With a light throw, the elixir fell into the shallow water by the pool, and after sinking to the surface of the water for a moment, a small blue snake came windingly, opened its mouth and swallowed the apricot elixir into its belly.

As if he could understand Taoist Toad's words, the little green snake came out of the water and poked its head out to peck the heads of two figures, one tall and one short, on the bank. Its body made a ripple in the water, and happily swam towards the other side of the pool .

Taoist Toad watched the ripples disappear on the water with his flippers on his back, turned around and sighed.

"The old man also came out of such a small pool back then."

"Then why can't master swim?" Lu Liangsheng picked him up, put him on his shoulder, and went to help tidy up the bookshelf and hang it on the back of the old donkey.

Toad wrapped itself around his apprentice's shoulders, and tilted his face, "How would you know, as a master, since he had spiritual consciousness, he was at the bottom of the pool, and then he ran to the edge of the pool."

"It's as if the master's stone carving is sinking in the water."

Lu Liangsheng was just joking, but he remembered that when he entered Nanchen to participate in the palace examination, an eunuch introduced that a statue of the Moon-watching Golden Toad was stolen from the palace, could it be the master?

But after thinking about it, he quickly put this idea behind him. Although there are mountain spirits and stone monsters among the monsters who absorb the essence of the sun and the moon and transform into shapes, it is almost impossible to achieve the master's original ability.

Leaving the small pool, he led the old donkey up to a high place on the ground. Looking back, on the rocks by the pool, a small clear shadow coiled towards them, pecking and pecking at them, like is saying goodbye.

"The mountains and rivers meet, it is fate, farewell!"

Lu Liangsheng smiled, and bowed to the little snake, rolled up his robe sleeves, and stepped on the road north to He Lingzhou. By the pool, the coiled little green snake looked at the direction where the scholar and the old donkey disappeared, and quickly climbed down the stone. The thin scales spread across the messy mud and rocks, and chased after them with a rustling.

......

The setting sun shines bright red in the sky, and an old crow stands nearby and crows "wow" from a dead tree.

It was already dusk when Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist came all the way away from the small pool, tens of miles away, the mountain road was rough and difficult to walk, sometimes casting spells, sometimes walking slowly to enjoy the scenery, it was pleasant.

The sky was about to get dark, and the two people, two monsters and a donkey who were planning to sleep in the woods, walked up to the hill in front of them. The sunset was shrouded in red, and the outline of a small town was bathed in the setting sun.

There is a dense forest on one side, and cliffs on the other side. From a distance, a straight road in the middle of the town extends to the north, and it is just right to go to Helingzhou from this side.

Chapter 254 Nightfall Town

The night pushed away the last ray of red in the setting sun.

In the small town below the mountain, there are lights from several houses, the eaves are low, the long and narrow streets are uneven, and there are muddy puddles. The sky is completely dark, and occasionally a few dogs bark from a certain alley.

woof woof woof——

The house dog barked wildly, and in the foggy streets, a piece of yellow paper with a square hole in the middle fluttered and stuck to the ground, and was then trampled by the falling donkey's hooves.

Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist led the old donkey into the town, and the window lattices that were still bright went out one after another, and the sound of the window lattices closing in the dark could be heard.

"What's going on? It's too early to die at sunset, isn't it?"

The Taoist looked around, a little confused, and for a moment, he punched his palm: "Could it be that this town is haunted by ghosts?!"

"I don't know. There is an inn in front of it. Go to stay first and ask the store owner. If there is a ghost, I will help the people here get rid of it."

After passing through here for a night's rest, if there is a ghost, help the residents to get rid of the harm, but do it casually, and it won't take much time.

There was still light on in an inn in front of it. Looking from a distance, it looked pale and pale. A shop guy was about to close the door. When he heard the sound of a copper bell, he couldn't help but raise his face. A scholar in a white robe with apricot pattern led an old man The donkey came over, and beside him was a Taoist priest with a sharp beak and mustache.

The man held the door of the inn, poked out a face and asked in a low voice:

"What do you two do?"

Approaching this inn, Lu Liangsheng saw that there should be a big red lantern at the door, but it was actually two white paper lanterns with a big word 'Dian' written on it.

It seems that there is something to do at home, although it is inconvenient, but this town is not big, it must be only this inn, Lu Liangsheng still asked:

"I don't know if I can stay here?"

"Two guest officers, no, the shopkeeper's family has funeral affairs, so he will not be open for business in these two days."

The guy looked up at the night sky, seeming a little anxious. After saying this, he slammed the door shut. The Taoist rushed over with his teeth grinning, and slapped hard: "So what about funerals? I don't shy away from it. The bed will do!"

During the shouting over there, Lu Liangsheng raised his head and looked at the night sky following the gaze of the shop guy just now. The moonlight was cold, and a dark cloud slowly drifted to cover a corner.

Nothing too surprising.

After thinking about it, he called Sun Yingxian, who was still calling the door, and took the old donkey and walked forward to see if there were any other inns.

From Jinzhou to Huaiyi Prefecture to the north, the two spent almost all their time in the mountains, occasionally staying in hotels, but that was a few days ago.

"Isn't it just for funerals? We don't shy away from moving a bed somewhere."

"Maybe others are taboo."

After finishing speaking, the street was almost gone. There was no second inn in the pitch blackness. Lu Liangsheng smiled, turned over his sleeves and threw them behind him. It seemed that he was going to sleep outside again tonight.

"Old Lu, you see there is another house lit up over there, let's go and borrow a night."

Following the direction the Taoist was looking at, an old man was moving a bench in under the eaves at the end of the street.

"Old man!"

Hearing a sudden call to him, the old man was startled, instinctively stepped into the threshold and hid behind the door, poking out half of his face.

Seeing that they were two strangers, I was relieved instead.

"Who are you two, why are you calling the old man?"

Although he opened his mouth to speak, he was still hiding behind the door, as if to close the door if something went wrong.

"Nature is a good man."

The Taoist, with a yellow cloth bag on his shoulders, fled to the eaves and cupped his hands casually.

"I just want to discuss with my husband, can I borrow a night?"

The light in the house shined through the gap in the door, and the old man with a hooded head squinted his eyes to see the appearance of the Taoist carefully. The fat Taoist robe was put on his thin body, like a monkey wearing clothes, and his temple hair was pulled up casually. He didn't look like a serious monk.

Wave your hands quickly.

"No, no, no bed for you."

"This old man."

When the old man was about to close the door, Lu Liangsheng, who was leading the donkey outside the eaves, let go of the rein, stepped forward and cupped his hands, and spoke first.

"This Taoist priest and I traveled a long distance to Helingzhou, passing through your place. We were supposed to go to the inn in front of us, but there was something to do in that inn, and we had nowhere to go. We happened to see that the old man hadn't After closing the door, I came here to bother you, this Taoist priest slept in the open air for several days, and got a little bit of cold, his tone was very bad, I'm really sorry."

As he spoke, he blinked at Sun Yingxian, who stared back and coughed a few times.

Hearing a few loud coughs, the door of the opposite room was opened a little bit more. Seeing that the person speaking was dressed as a scholar, with a gentle and polite tone, he backed away, took the oil lamp on the table, leaned out the door, and took a picture of the two of them and the person behind him. The donkey, with pots and bowls hanging on the bookshelf, just nodded and opened the door completely.

"Come in, the old man trusts you."

"Thank you, old man."

Lu Liangsheng clasped his hands, led the old donkey and followed the old man around the eaves to the small door on the back side. The old man held the oil lamp and watched him tie the donkey to the tree in the yard.

"Where did you two come from?"

"Hmmm...Golden State."

Originally wanted to talk about Jiangnan, but thinking that he didn't know the attitude towards the southerners, Lu Liangsheng casually said Jinzhou, fastened the rein and patted the old donkey's head twice, followed the old man with a look that didn't allow nonsense. front room.

"Young master, please be careful when entering the house, the threshold is a bit high."

When entering the room, the old man gave special instructions, and lowered the oil lamp a little to illuminate the scholar's feet. Lu Liangsheng noticed that the threshold was different from the old wood of different ages, but the color of the upper section was darker, and it was obviously nailed on. .

"Old man, why is your family's threshold so high?"

The house is spacious, apart from the kitchen which is connected with this room, there are two doors not far away, and there is a wooden ladder leading to the attic on the right wall. It should be a family with a lot of money.

The oil lamp was put on the table, while the lamp was shaking, the Taoist took the teapot from the old man and poured two cups of water first. The old man went to move the bench and invited the two to sit down.

"It's not just my family's high. In this town and several nearby villages, the threshold of every household is high."

The Taoist became interested, and he liked to hear about the weird folk stories, so he quickly poured a glass of water for the old man and handed it to him.

"What's in it?"

"Hey, what can I say, it's not a defense..." The old man paused in his voice, hesitated for a while, and looked at the door leading to the outside, whether the door was plugged in or not.

After a while, he said, "You two are foreigners. This is your first time here. There were many caravans who came here before, but now they seldom come here. You two young people really didn't ask before you came."

"Why is it haunted? A male ghost or a female ghost? Look at what I am doing here?"

Sun Yingxian shook his Taoist robe, took out a few talisman papers from the yellow cloth bag and slapped them on the table: "Where are there ghosts, you take your own Daoist to keep them and help you cure them to obedience."

The old man glanced at the Taoist, then at the yellow talisman on the table, and shook his head: "If the ghost is okay, but the Taoist priest, that thing... well, the old man doesn't even know what to say."