Penglai delusion

To Xi Mo's relief, the old man never beat him again in the past month.

After the dark gray strange stone standing in the yard turned completely white, the old man opened the cellar under the study, and asked Xi Mo to help him move out the books in the cellar, and spread them on the bluestone boards one by one.

Sure enough, it was a rare sunny day, with a warm blue sun and a gentle breeze.Xi Mo took out the pebbles from the basket and carefully pressed them on the pages of the book. He looked up at the strange stone that had become white and translucent in the bamboo bushes, as if he had realized something, "Old man, this stone can predict the weather."

"It can only show the weather within a radius of a hundred miles." The old man pulled out a scroll of "Eastern Desolation Map" and spread it on the ground for a long time.Xi Mo glanced at it quietly, and found that the map only started from the coast of Kyushu, from the corners of the three land states to Penglai Island, and then extended eastward. The right is a long blank space.

Xi Mo saw that the old man seemed to be in a good mood today, so he asked softly, "Old man, why are there no future pictures?"

"Because I haven't been there before." The old man didn't shy away from it, "And anyone who knows how to get there is dead."

Xi Mo was taken aback, "The legend...is it true?"

It can be said that he grew up listening to various stories of gods and monsters.It is said that there is a fairy island called Penglai above the East China Sea, and there are five mountains adjacent to each other, and thousands of miles away from each other, and the people who live there are all immortals.To the east of Penglai, there is the Ming Sea, the water color is black, and there is no wind and waves.It floats above the ghost domain, where all the ghosts in the world come from.

The old man smiled, "It's not a legend." He glanced at Xi Mo, "What do you think Qingxu stands for?"

Xi Mo had never heard of it, so he could only honestly say, "I don't know."

The old man snorted softly, "If you can enter the Five Peaks, the first lesson you will be taught is to ask what you want to seek in the way of cultivating immortals, and what is the need to establish a school of purity and emptiness." He touched a handful of pebbles, "You answered out?"

Xi Mo blushed, glanced at the picture scroll again but suddenly felt something, "...It was established to keep the peace in the world."

"Barely strong." The old man pressed the long scroll tightly, "Looking at Penglai, there are ghost gates in the east, and nine wilds in the west. The Qingxu self-reliance sect started, and it should be a boundary marker. When the ghost world is in trouble, the human world is in trouble. , bear the brunt of it.” He said, “Cultivating immortality is not for oneself alone, and longevity is not for pleasure alone.”

Xi Mo blinked, never thinking of being educated suddenly, but obediently said, "My disciple understands."

The old man laughed, "It's useless for you to understand."

Xi Mo: ... Then why tell me so much? !

The old man said again, "Most people who should understand can't understand. Now that the seal of the Three Realms has been damaged, and the Black Moon March is approaching, I just hope there will be no more accidents."

Xi Mo listened, hesitated for a moment, and still said, "I am bold. Although I don't know how long the old man has been here, he is like a strange stone in this courtyard. He should be able to predict God's will. I hope you don't cause trouble, especially look at it." If there is a clue, then this incident is likely to happen, so it is better to plan ahead.”

Hearing this, the old man suddenly turned his head and looked at him, "What's the matter with your tone? It's the same as the little magic stick from Shuji Peak!"

"The disciple has dabbled in the book of divination before, but now I just post it out of feeling."

The old man said, "Okay, you'd better say something nice."

Xi Mo knew that he would be scolded for saying something nice, so he shut up and continued to arrange the books.

Facts have proved that the strange stone is really magical.Once it becomes completely white, there will be no rain in the sky at all.Xi Mo followed the old man to dry the books for five days, turned the entire cellar upside down, even took out the old tortoise calendars, and only then did the strange stone show a trace of grayness.

The five days of getting along with each other was surprisingly peaceful. Even before locking the cellar, the old man agreed to lend him some of the books in his collection, and mercifully did not set a specific return date.

"When I'm not around, don't run around." The old man told him, "If you stray into the Stone Puppet's territory by mistake, they won't let you go."

Xi Mo said that he couldn't read all the books, and he wouldn't go anywhere, but he didn't want to look at Qian Biya who didn't practice martial arts, but the puppet he created was able to fight first-class.

This golden stone puppet is different from the grass and wood puppet made by the old man.

It is more difficult to give life to things of life, but it is more suitable for taking care of some special terrain and special spiritual plants.After the trial operation was successful, it directly solved the worries of the old man who took care of him personally.

After the headmaster found out about this, he personally asked Jiang Tan for the design blueprints, and gave them to Elder Jian Zhufeng for the creation class as a sample drawing.

Jiangtan likes to be quiet, and the only requirement for handing over the drawings is that the drafters keep them secret.The head readily agreed, and simply credited the old man with this great achievement.Ever since, during that time, there were countless Jian Zhufeng disciples who were beaten away from Houshan.There was also a spiritual puppet theft incident.

Finally the old man couldn't bear it anymore, he rushed to see Zhufeng and dragged out the innocent peak master who was retreating into a mess, and the farce stopped temporarily.

Xi Mo thought about the muddled look, and sincerely hoped that the old man would always be in a happy mood.

He bid farewell to the old man who did not know when he would come back, bowed down, and saw that there was only a handful of snow tops left on the strange rock in the yard, standing like a lonely pulsatilla, so he made up his mind to squat in the woodshed and study hard. The customs of Penglai come.

It rained intermittently for half a month.

When the weather is fine, Xi Mo will walk along the mountain path.Sometimes I even take a book with me, sit on the bluestone steps, and see that the dusk is about to fall, and then I go back to start the stove with a roll of fallen leaves.

And every morning, he would silently write the knowledge he read the night before on the paper.When it's time to cook breakfast, recite what you said silently.Repeating the past, the first "Miscellaneous Views" is memorized in my mind.Therefore, when there was a long cry from thick to clear from outside the clouds, he knew that the frost had arrived.

The nine bells on the main peak ring when they know the frost.

After this day, the winter in Penglai will come.Xi Mo heard from the old man that the winter in Houshan is long, but it is never too cold.Generally speaking, before the heavy snow closes the mountains, he will arrange everything, then go to any place to spend the winter, and come back when the spring begins.

Xi Mo thought silently, this category of "everything" must not include himself.

It's great to be able to control the wind, you can go anywhere you want.He tied up the fine firewood he picked up, thinking that the peaks of Qingxu are far apart, there are many protective formations around them and they are all floating on the sea, it is impossible to get through with bare hands, and it is just wishful thinking that he wants to find someone.

When the first snow fell, the old man still didn't come back.It seems that the affairs of the back mountain have been arranged properly, and the mountain trail will be resumed when spring comes.

Xi Mo had just finished silently the thickest "The Story of Penglai", and could faintly smell the snow outside, so he walked around to the garden and saw that the strange stone was as black as black iron, without a trace of variegation like ink staining, and he knew this The snow is bound to be huge.

He watched a snowflake fall on his eyelashes, blinked, and the snow fell on his neck and melted into another drop of rain.

Looking up again, the sun in the mid-air faintly reflects a circle of light and shadow, but it is still impossible to look directly at it.He closed his eyes in a daze, but he finally remembered something, and rushed to the kitchen to sweep a bag of ingredients, and ran towards Qianbiya with the snow blowing all the way.

Xi Mo finally let out a breath when he was in front of the dangerous long steps reaching to the sky.

He recalled the old man's warning in a daze, and for a moment he felt that this move was really inappropriate, and seeing that the sun was almost covered by flying snow, he pondered for a moment, and finally heaved his breath and climbed the mountain.

When he saw the faded mountain gate again, Xi Mo was already sweating profusely.He didn't stop on the way, even though the snow had covered most of the mountain road, he could only feel the heat steaming from every inch of his skin.

He's getting hot.

Xi Mo knocked on the door knocker with trembling hands, but he couldn't hear the movement inside, but he was sure that Jiang Tan was staying in the cave.

He calculated that he hadn't seen a living creature that could speak human language for half a year.If I can't hear human voice again today, I'm afraid I'm going crazy.

But no one answered the door.

Xi Mo stopped hesitating, gripped a copper ring, and struck it hard like a bell.

The ring was about to be smashed by him, but there was still no one.

Xi Mo was dumbfounded, his feet were weak, he managed to hold the door, and then slowly squatted down, feeling puzzled and lost.He thought, this person doesn't know how to control the wind, but he can leave the peak?

It's okay to think so.Maybe it's the old man

Loaded, the two went on a tour of the mountains and rivers together.

Xi Mo leaned against the door tightly, wanting to cry, but his heart was tired.He stretched his neck and looked down, the world was already gray.After squatting for a while, his ankles were covered in the snow, and he was frozen stiff.

But he still didn't want to get up, instead he hugged his knees, clinging to the door more tightly, as if he could warm himself up by doing so.

It was snowing late at night.Jiangtan carried a glazed lotus lantern and slowly walked up the mountain steps.The sky is full of wind and snow, covering the stars and the moon.When he was approaching the cliff cave, he vaguely saw something wrapped in the wind hovering in front of the mountain gate, he was startled, thinking that some kind of spirit might be guarding him.The pace did not stop.When I got closer, I found out that it was a little snowman.

Since arriving here, Jiangtan has never built a snowman again.He didn't know who put this lump at the door, so he just moved his hands away, trying to brush away this clumsy work.As soon as he touched his hand, he froze, and then slapped off the snow cover a few times, revealing a young man with a pale complexion.

Xi Mo's eyes were still rolling, and he showed him a weak smile, "Elder, I saw you. Didn't I have a dream again this time..."

There was a layer of ice crystals hanging on his eyelashes, and he stared blankly at the slightly swaying glazed lamp in front of him, which had been moved into the cave by Jiangtan before he knew it, and placed in front of the small furnace.

"What's the matter with you." Jiang Tan brought a cup of hot tea and put it in his hand, Xi Mo took a sip.The tea was extremely hot and bitter, and Xi Mo was completely refreshed with just a sip of it.He swallowed the tea desperately, tears filled his eyes for a moment, and he couldn't speak anymore.

Jiang Tan saw that he suddenly came back to life, but suppressed the pain, and couldn't help taking a sip of the tea in his hand.

Nothing unusual.

Xi Mo sniffed, put the teacup on the low table, and wiped away the tears from his eyes, "Elder, so you didn't leave."

Jiang Tan didn't think that his tears were caused by tea, he just said "hmm" and said, "Don't cry."

Xi Mo followed the goodness like a stream, stopped his tears at once, sat upright and said, "I have something to ask for my disciple's trip."