The strange story of Huai'an Inn

The national teacher had already left the other hall last night and went to Zilu Mountain in order to participate in the first official lecture of Daoist Qi Yao after he became the head teacher today.So if Liu Sheng wanted to find him, he had to go up the mountain.

Early in the morning, he asked Fuzi, who was on duty yesterday, to prepare the horse for him, and the sound woke up Chong Liu, who had not been asleep for a long time.He put on his clothes and went out to take a look, thinking that the shopkeeper said that he would go up the mountain with Liu Sheng today, so he hurried to the shopkeeper's courtyard.After knocking for a long time, there was no response. Chongliu thought that the shopkeeper hadn’t woken up yet, and he had no idea, when he suddenly heard someone behind him say, “Hey, Xiao Paitang, your shopkeeper asked me to tell you, he’s waiting for you in the lobby.” .”

Chong Liuyi looked back and found that the person who spoke was Song Mingzi, an unscrupulous alchemist who had come to look for the shopkeeper that day.

When did he come?

Ah, that's right... The shopkeeper asked Xiao Shun to find him yesterday...

Could it be that the shopkeeper was with him all night?

A feeling of unhappiness stronger than Master Liao's tea rushed to his forehead, and Chong Liu frowned as he watched him bypass him and go straight to the small courtyard of the shopkeeper.

"Hey! That's the shopkeeper's yard!" Seeing that the other party pushed open the apparently unfastened courtyard door, Chong Liu was a little impatient.

Anyway, he is not a guest, so there is no need to be too polite with him.

Song Mingzi turned her head and raised her eyebrows and said, "So?"

"You can't go in casually!"

"It was your shopkeeper who asked me to go in and get things. I'm going to the vegetable cellar to save people." Song Mingzi said in a perfunctory tone of "you don't understand".

That attitude of not taking people seriously is really annoying...

But Chong Liu had no time to argue with him now, so he put on his clothes and went to find the shopkeeper.This time the shopkeeper didn't need him to drive the car, but let Xiao Shun drive the car. He and the shopkeeper sat in the car and ran towards the city gate under the morning dew.

There were a lot of pedestrians going up the mountain, and the laymen who supported Daoist Qi Yao almost blocked the road, and all kinds of embroidered and dyed banners competed with each other, humming like they were going to fight in groups.

Chong Liu raised the curtain of the car to look at the situation outside, and smacked his lips twice, "I didn't expect that everyone could wake up so early..."

The shopkeeper Zhu who sat across from him stayed up all night, looking more and more lazy, his eyes were lost, "Reverend Qi Yao has a wide range of followers, and many people say that he will be the next national teacher. This time The national teacher came to his lecture in person, which is equivalent to confirming this statement. Even if he is not a member of his layman group, I am afraid he wants to follow him to reap the blessings."

Circling up the gentle mountain road, walking slowly.Chong Liu took out the breakfast that Master Liao stuffed for him on the way when he was about to leave, opened layers of cloth to keep warm, and took a steamed bun with fresh bamboo shoots to the shopkeeper.The shopkeeper took it, but didn't eat it right away, but watched Chong Liu bite the bun with a kind of interest, his cheeks were bulging like a hamster.

I didn't have time to eat dinner last night, but I was so hungry.

Chong Liu was halfway through eating, and raised his head as if aware of something, and saw the shopkeeper staring at him, smiling a little strangely, so his cheeks were red and his scalp was numb, and he asked inarticulately, "Boss, why don't you eat buns? You have to eat it while it's hot."

"I think you'll be full after eating." The shopkeeper tilted his head, his eyes squinted, "You always eat with such relish."

always...always?

Could it be that the shopkeeper has noticed the way he eats before?

Chong Liu almost choked on a mouthful of steamed stuffed bun, grabbed the water bag and took a gulp.

The shopkeeper stopped teasing him, and smiled and took a bite of the steamed stuffed bun.

"Boss... there is something... I don't know if I should ask."

"Shouldn't."

"Oh……"

"I'm joking." The shopkeeper smiled half-heartedly, and blinked at him, "Ask."

Chong Liu swallowed his saliva, and said, "You...have you also been a dentist for King Zhong?"

The shopkeeper frowned slightly, "Do you suspect that I killed King Zhong?"

"No, no! I just think, is it because King Zhong didn't fulfill the contract or something, which caused an accident?"

With his fingers, he pinched a small piece of dough from the bun and kneaded it on his fingertips, "You heard me when I met the national teacher. Before I make a deal, I will definitely ask the buyer's purpose, including the ins and outs." Ask one by one clearly. It's not that I deliberately pry into other people's secrets, but if I can't see the overall situation, accidents are likely to happen. As I said, filth is a very powerful and dangerous thing. But sometimes, guests will lie .”

The shopkeeper paused, glanced at him, and said softly, "The loyal king was disguised as a merchant and came here with a letter of introduction from the national teacher. He told me that he was asking for a good prescription to save his life, and his attitude was extremely sincere. Every word is like crying blood. But obviously... what he wants is actually a weapon to eradicate dissidents."

With a slight turn of Chong Liu's mind, he immediately connected the series of deaths and injuries that occurred in the previous battle of the Inheritance.Was the death of the third prince really related to King Zhong?

"So...Xu Hanke and the others are really here to investigate you?!" Chongliu was shocked, "Then...then you saved him, which shows that you know Xu Zongmi, will they come to trouble us afterwards? ?”

"You don't need to worry about that. I have my own way to deal with it." Behind the shopkeeper's confident expression, there seemed to be an impenetrable calculation.

While speaking, Xiao Shun suddenly stopped the carriage, lifted the curtain and told them that the road was blocked and could not move for a while.

The shopkeeper thought for a while, and said to Chong Liu, "Come with me."

Chong Liu followed the shopkeeper out of the car, left the main road, and got into the dense forest.At this time the sun was already hanging on the treetops, and the morning sun was always brighter than other times, shining on the dew that had not yet dissipated on the leaves and petals, refracted like a jewel.

The shopkeeper walked forward without hesitation, splitting the branches and leaves of the bushes, and Chong Liu stumbled behind him.It doesn't feel like walking up the mountain at all.

"Boss, where are we going?"

The shopkeeper suddenly stopped and looked around.After confirming that there was no one else present except the two of them, he squatted down and put his palms on the ground.His fingers stretched slightly, grabbing into the wet soil covered with deciduous moss, and he said something that Chong Liu couldn't understand.

For a while, everything was silent, only the occasional birdsong, and the shopkeeper's low chanting.

For some reason, Chong Liu remembered that weird dream again.The shopkeeper in the dream was dressed in the clothes of a goddess, and danced a strange witch dance around the terrifying locust tree.

After a while, the shopkeeper stood up, and then extended his hand to Zhongliu.

Chong Liu blinked, not understanding what it meant.

"Tsk, take it." The shopkeeper urged.

Pull...handle?

"Boss...this...isn't that good..." Chong Liu felt his face was so hot that he could make pancakes.

The shopkeeper rolled his eyes slightly, "If you don't want ghosts to hit the wall and get lost, or suddenly fall off the cliff on the flat ground and fall to your death, you should quickly reach out."

Chong Liu has been in a state of half-ignorance for the past two days, only knowing that the shopkeeper knows a lot of things he doesn't know, so obedience is always right.So he quietly wiped the wet sweat on his buttocks, and then took the shopkeeper's hand.

The shopkeeper's hands are very soft, the kind that may not even hold a needle.

Then, he began to follow the shopkeeper through the forest.

The shopkeeper walked quickly, as if he knew where he was going without looking or looking.But strangely, he didn't go uphill.

His route made many twists and turns, and sometimes it seemed that he was going in circles on purpose.

However, after less than a stick of incense, a miracle happened.

Chong Liu suddenly heard Ya Yue and the sound of chanting sutras.The Qingming Sect Xuantian Guan Dongtian Gate, which should have taken at least an hour to get there, is actually ahead!

There were still throngs of people on the main road, but they inexplicably surpassed everyone in the forest where there were no proper roads.

"Boss! You really know how to spell!"

"It's not a spell, it's just a shortcut for you."

"Shortcut?! Isn't this too close? Even if you take a ladder straight up and down, it's not so fast?!" Chong Liu looked at the shopkeeper as if he was looking at a god, and his black eyes seemed to be staring.

The shopkeeper rolled his eyes at him, but this look seemed to have a very useful pleasure, and he explained in a grateful way, "I also want to thank you, and told me that you met a blind person here before. I suspected at the time that this Zilushan For some reason, it was invaded by a small amount of filth. I just borrowed a little bit of filth to slightly change the rules of distance and people's movement. When we pass by, the temporarily distorted 'road' on this road will still recover. "

Xuantian Temple is the Taoist temple closest to the mountain gate in the Qingming Sect. It is open to all believers on weekdays. If there are festivals or special days, the pujas are mostly held here.

The puja has already started, from the first Lingguan hall to the Sanqing hall where the puja is officially held, it is full of people.Chong Liu followed closely behind the shopkeeper, fearing that he would be swallowed up by the crowd in a blink of an eye.

With great difficulty, they got out of the crowd to the paved square in front of the Sanqing Hall, and saw rows of alchemists and female crowns sitting cross-legged on their respective seats and chanting sutras.The sun shone into the main hall, and from a distance, the national teacher could be seen sitting on an expensive seat next to the chief seat of the lecture, wearing a luxurious crimson Taoist robe, watching his nose, nose, mouth and mouth, looking very solemn and solemn.

And the person sitting on the main seat is the famous Daoist Qi Yao.

He was very young, not much older than Akiko Song, and quite handsome.He is qualified to put on the fairy cave clothes that he is the head teacher of Qingming Guan, and he wears the resplendent five-elder crown on his head, surrounded by flowers and banners, just like the gods of the heavenly palace descending into the world.His voice was loud and booming like a bell, as if it could spread throughout the entire hall and square without any effort.His speed of speech is neither too fast nor slow, and his sentences are well-organized. Even the boring classics are explained thoroughly and vividly.

No wonder he has so many devotees and so many lay communities.It would not be an exaggeration to say that he is the number one popular alchemist today.

He looked at the shopkeeper who was listening quietly with his hands behind his back, and boldly leaned closer and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "Boss, I think that if you were an alchemist and preached, you would be three times more popular than him."

The shopkeeper glanced at him as if he was in a good mood, "This flattery is getting smoother?"

"How can this be flattery, I sincerely praise you."

"Okay, for the sake of your sincerity, I will give you a few more money when the salary is raised."

Just as he was speaking, the shopkeeper's expression suddenly changed slightly, and he stared closely at the hall.But he saw an alchemist wearing a dharma robe of the Da Luo sect quietly entered the hall and whispered a few words in the ear of the national teacher.The national teacher stood up lightly, and followed the little alchemist into the apse.

"Let's go, it seems that Liu Sheng has already arrived." The shopkeeper pulled Chong Liu, and led him away from the crowd, but turned out of Xuantian Temple, turning to a secluded path.

"Boss, where are we going?"

"Yuzhenguan." The shopkeeper smiled slightly, "Fairy Jiuluan should be ready by now."