There are bandits in Zhongshan

"Candied haws, sweet and sour candied haws—" Early in the morning, pedestrian vendors in Qingyang County started shouting along the street.

The big round hawthorns are covered with golden icing and strung on bamboo sticks. They are bright red, like a string of small lanterns, imperceptibly proclaiming the joy.

There is indeed something to celebrate in Qingyang County.

The world has not been peaceful these years. There are wars in the northwest, rebellions in the southeast, and floods and droughts in the southwest, northeast and northeast.I heard that there are ghosts haunting several nearby counties, and several people died. Although the news of monsters eating people is only spread in the market, it is not known whether it is true or not, but the peace is real, and several families have run away. The relatives who came to seek refuge in Qingyang County looked panic-stricken.

The four directions are in turmoil and the people's hearts are uncertain, but Qingyang County has not been affected in the slightest. There is no military chaos, no floods and droughts, and no monsters to make troubles. Life is comfortable, and even the candied haws on the peddler's shoulders look more attractive than other places.

Probably the reputation of wealth and well-being in Qingyang County has spread. Recently, more and more people have entered the city. The peddler stopped at the gate of the city after walking around the street. It is ancestral, and the hawthorn is filled with mung bean paste. The taste is well-known far and wide, and it was sold out in a short while, only a bunch remained.

Seeing that no one wanted to come from outside the city for a while, he plucked the last bunch to reward himself, when he suddenly heard a pleasant voice, as soft as silk yarn.

"Boss, why don't you leave this last bunch of candied haws to me? How much is it?"

Turning his head to look, the peddler immediately looked straight at him.

It was a girl about sixteen or seventeen years old, who seemed to come out of a story book. He had been walking the streets and alleys for so many years, and he had never seen such a beautiful girl.

"I-I'll give it to you..." He stammered, and passed the bunch of candied haws in his hand.

The girl didn't refuse, she didn't even say thank you, she took the candied haws and walked back a few steps, smiled and said to the other person: "Master, look, candied haws!"

It was only then that the peddler noticed that there was another person following her, who looked a few years older than her. She was dressed in white, and she was even more beautiful than the girl before. There was a cinnabar mole on her forehead, like a fairy, but her face was expressionless and she looked like a fairy. He couldn't help feeling fearful, he didn't dare to look any more after only a few glances, and when they were far away, he raised his head cautiously, caught a glimpse of the heavy sword box behind the woman in white, and his heart skipped a beat.

This sword box is not light, just heard that the girl who bought the candied haws called her master, but the two of them seemed to be about the same age, and he thought about the rumors that had intensified recently, and thought to himself that the immortals came down to catch demons.

"Let's go to the temple and burn some incense sticks tomorrow..." He shook his head and muttered, then picked up the empty shelf of candied haws and went home.

These two people are Zhong Mingzhu and Changli.

On the second day after the banquet, Lu Wangchen divided the area infested by monsters into seven areas, and he and Changli each took charge of one area, and sent six disciples to each of the remaining five areas, and Xiao Yue stayed at Zhenlong Pavilion.After Zhong Mingzhu discovered that Qingyang County was also in the area drawn by Lu Wangchen on the map, he pestered him to take charge of it with Changli.

"That's my hometown." After she reminded her, Fenghailou remembered that the burned-down mansion was located in Qingyang County. It was a small town back then, but now it has expanded more than ten times, and its name has also been changed. so that he didn't recognize it for a while.

Zhong Mingzhu is Changli's direct disciple, and besides, he has only built his foundation and cultivated his cultivation base. Although he won the three Golden Core stage disciples in the conference, if he really encounters a life-and-death battle, his cultivation base is still very important. Let her follow along. Long distance can also be more guaranteed.Lu Wangchen quickly agreed, and inspired by this, he decided to bring his own disciple with him. At that time, Ding Lingyun was thinking about how to act together with Zhong Mingzhu, and his anticipation suddenly turned into powder.

It is a rule in the cultivation world that one must not reveal one's status as a monk in the mortal world. It is not a convention, but an existence almost like a law.When the Three Realms were first established, the monks did not hide their identities, but due to various reasons, the monks finally confronted the mortals and fought endlessly.Although mortals have no power, their number is hundreds or thousands of times that of monks. Countless spiritual veins have been cut off, Xianzong is besieged, monsters are waiting for opportunities to make trouble, the world is in chaos, and the heavens are almost killed again. It is only through spiritual power that the disaster can be quelled. In order to repeat the same mistakes, the monks of later generations established such a law.

Zhong Mingzhu and Changli Yujian walked to the gate of Qingyang County and entered the city on foot, just in time for the last bunch of candied haws.

This candied gourd is crystal clear, and under the thin sugar coating is soft and waxy hawthorn. When you bite it down, the sweet and sour taste melts on the tip of your tongue. When you taste the mung bean paste inside, Zhong Mingzhu's eyes light up.

"Wow, I found a treasure."

The excitement of dancing and dancing looks like he has really picked up some rare treasure.

After eating two in a row, she handed the bamboo stick to Changli's mouth and said, "Master, you should try it too, it's delicious!"

Ordinary monks must be cast aside when they see her appearance.What one pursues in comprehension is self-cultivation, and the spiritual fruits and grasses that contain the aura of heaven and earth are the first choice. This mere mortal candy simply lowers one's status.

Changli only glanced at Zhong Mingzhu, with no emotional ups and downs on his face, making people who saw this scene think that she would ignore it dismissively, and then saw her lower her eyes, brush her hair on the side of her ears, and leaned over Take a small bite.

Reputable people often don't eat on the street. Firstly, it's not suitable for etiquette, and secondly, it's a hindrance to their appearance, especially the candied haws, which are light and brittle, and will scatter all over the face if they are not careful, but she eats them in a decent manner. After eating one, the corners of the lips are clean.

People passing by couldn't help taking a few glances, but they didn't dare to be presumptuous, after all, the sword on her back looked very dangerous.

This sword is named Fenjiao, it is three feet and two inches long, and it is made of volcanic black stone from the extreme north. .

Usually, monks will fuse blood essence into the best magic weapon to refine it into the magic weapon of life, and then raise it in the spiritual sea. At that time, the three elders worked together to refine nine spirit swords, but none of them could withstand the long-distance blood. It was because the body of the sword spirit contained its own edge, all the nine spirit swords collapsed and turned into scrap iron. Later, when they cast Fenjiao, they specially did not sharpen their edges to avoid the edge.Because it cannot be stored in the spiritual sea, if it is placed in the storage ring, it will be a little slower to release the sword, and that momentary delay will be fatal, so Changli refined the sword box to keep the sword, and carried it with him when he went out.

At first Zhong Mingzhu felt that the sword box was too bulky, it was black and had no patterns, it looked like a big iron block, not chic and elegant at all, but after entering the city, passers-by seemed to retreat when they saw the sword box , I don't think it's an eyesore.

That's so majestic, she looks much more energetic when she walks.

Suddenly, there was a commotion, and she looked there, and found a stall in front, with a white wax pole stuck in the back, with the words "turning stone into gold" written on it, surrounded by a circle of people pointing.

There was excitement to watch, of course Zhong Mingzhu would not let it go, he walked over quickly, not forgetting to pull Chang Li over as well.

I saw a black-robed man with a goatee muttering something to the stone in front of him, waving his sleeves from time to time.

The stone was picked up on the ground. Originally, the man in the black robe had prepared a square stone. Unexpectedly, someone said that who knows if the stone he prepared would be fraudulent, so he specially chose an irregular shape and stuffed it for him. That man was standing beside Zhong Mingzhu, with a sarcastic expression on his face, as if he was determined to see the man make a fool of himself.

The man danced and danced for a long time, the stone was still a stone, Zhong Mingzhu was about to yawn, just before her patience ran out, she heard the man yell, his wide sleeves slowly covered the stone, and then Little by little, he pulled away, and at the end he flicked it violently, turning his palm over, and there was a glistening golden object in his palm.

It was gold, exactly the same shape as the stone.

The crowd was in an uproar, and those who were planning to read the joke looked straight away, and then the man in the black suit slapped the white wax pole behind him, and another piece of cloth fell down, saying "teach a man how to fish".

The crowd suddenly became even more uproarious, and some people rushed up to kneel down and bowed three times before shouting "Master".

Zhong Mingzhu rolled his eyes, showing a mischievous smile, stuffed the candied haws into Changli's hand, and said, "Master, wait a moment, I'll go back as soon as I go."

The man was about to help the man up when he suddenly saw a young girl in a green shirt squeeze over and said to him: "I heard that recently someone put gold powder on the stones, pretending to be real gold to deceive people, I don't know that you..."

She was born weak and weak, and when she frowned, her eyes were full of sorrow, as if the man had done half of the most unreasonable thing, and when others saw him, they all showed suspicious looks at him.

He snorted coldly and replied: "If you don't believe me, you might as well come and verify the authenticity yourself."

"Then I'll take a look." The girl smiled slightly, walked around the booth and approached, and accidentally tripped over the corner of the table when she was about to arrive, and grabbed his sleeve so as not to fall, standing still and revealing a little With a shy expression, he repeatedly apologized.

With that soft and weak appearance, even a hard-hearted man couldn't bear to be harsh, so he naturally wouldn't pursue it, and even felt a little bit of pity, handed her the gold nugget, and said politely: "Miss, please have a look."

A girl who seemed powerless could not escape even if she wanted to, so he was not worried at all.

The girl held the gold nugget in her palm, scraped it a few times, weighed it, and switched from left hand to right hand. Suddenly, her hand trembled and almost threw it out of her hand. Seeing him nervous, he let go only when she saw that she was holding it firmly. After taking a breath, I saw her scream:

"Why did you turn back to stone?"

In the white palm, lay quietly a dusty stone.

"Can this only last for a while?"

"It doesn't look smart enough..."

Everyone whispered to each other, and those who originally wanted to follow the apprentice hesitated, and then saw the girl put the stone back into the hand of the man who was so angry that his beard was about to stand on end, with a smile that was completely different from the previous meekness.

"I can only trouble my lord to cast the spell again."

After finishing speaking, she squeezed out the crowd who hadn't fully reacted, and threw the man who was trying to stop her far away.

"Stop for me!"

Hearing the angry voice behind him, Zhong Mingzhu laughed and took out the bamboo stick in Changli's hand and shook it back, then pulled her up and walked away.

"Master, what do you want to eat? I'll treat you." She walked around a street, flicked her sleeves, and waved the irregularly shaped gold nuggets in front of Chang Li.

"Why?" Chang Li asked.

Cultivators basically don’t need mortal gold and silver. Even if they do use it occasionally, they can be exchanged for treasures and elixir. A hundred-year-old spirit grass can be exchanged for a lot of silver taels. Got it, so she asked why.

"Because it's fun." Zhong Mingzhu said with a smile, "It's not easy to get this gold without using mana. Besides, that person used deception to blackmail people's money. I'm doing justice for the heavens."

After she finished speaking, she puffed out her chest triumphantly, and she didn't have the consciousness of opening her eyes and talking nonsense at all. The so-called justice for the sky was only broken out in the middle of the sentence.

The man was just playing tricks, whether it was the person who went to pick up the stones or the first person who went to apprentice, they were all with him, and when everyone was tired, he swept the stones into their sleeves and showed them in their hands. The gold nuggets that have already been prepared, with quick eyes and quick hands, are turning stones into gold.Zhong Mingzhu stumbled on purpose, grabbed his sleeve and walked away from the stone, and then followed the same pattern to change the gold nugget back for him. Because there were too many people around him, attacking Zhong Mingzhu was equivalent to Declaring that he is a liar, he can only bear it for his own safety.

This kind of thing is easy to do with magic, but Zhong Mingzhu feels that there are not many people who can do it without magic.Especially those who have practiced obsessively, there is no doubt that they can't even walk without spells.

"It's fun." Chang Li repeated these two words, his eyelashes trembled, as if he was in deep thought, but he quickly pulled away from his thoughts and continued to walk forward.

No sorrow, no joy, no anger, no fear.

The house is still there, it has been completely repaired, and it can't be seen from the outside. The door is open, and people come in and out from time to time.

"Dongli Hall." Zhong Mingzhu read the words on the plaque, "It doesn't feel like a private house."

When she stepped into the gate, she found that it was a medical clinic. A man who looked like a medicine boy came to greet her immediately, and asked her if she would consult a doctor herself or hire a doctor for someone else.

"No, I want to find the owner of this house." She told the drug boy the story she made up earlier in the morning.

Said that his great-grandfather and the original owner of this place were old friends. When he was a child, he buried a thing under the crabapple tree on the west side of the garden. He wanted to take it out when he was an adult, but he moved his family to another place before he became an adult. He still couldn't forget this thing when he died. Now that I finally have the chance to come back, I want to get that thing back to pay homage to my great-grandfather.

What he said was well-founded and sincere, Yaotong immediately believed it, and seeing that she and Changli were both very charming, he immediately made tea and invited them to sit down, and then went to inform the master.

The owner arrived soon, a young man dressed as a scribe, with a gentle temperament and a slight smell of medicine on his body.

He called himself surnamed Zhu, and he was a doctor. Everyone called him Mr. Zhu. A few years ago, he took over this house and opened a medical clinic to make a living. After hearing what he wanted to do, he immediately took them to the garden. Zhong Mingzhu went under the crabapple tree. Note that the magic weapon was taken out.

Before she set off, she named the ritual artifact Zhu Mingtie.

Naming is nothing more than Changli's saying that magical artifacts are not dead things, and they are called by orders, so as to strengthen the bond with the master. Not only is it easy for someone to take it for her own use, she wrote her name upside down, and then wrote it down. The first character was changed to Chijinzhizhu, which is used as the name of the ritual vessel, and Tie, because the ritual vessel is shaped like a stele post.

Compared with those fellow students who search for hexagrams and divination, they are extremely casual.

Eight pieces of Zhu Mingtie were embedded in the soil, and the spiritual energy dispersed. She tried to explore the past here, but found nothing. Just when she wanted to inject more spiritual energy, Mr. Zhu came over and asked her if she had found anything from her great-grandfather. Thinking that if it was delayed any longer, it would arouse suspicion, so he nodded and said that he had found it, and at the same time secretly took back Zhu Mingtie.

"Has anything happened here? I always feel that the wind is blowing." She made up a reason and asked like this, ignoring the impoliteness of saying such a thing.

How can anyone say such unkind things when they are in someone else's yard for the first time.Mr. Zhu's temper is unexpectedly good. He said that he heard that this is a haunted house. Before moving in, he specially invited a Taoist priest to do it, but he didn't know exactly what happened.

After filling up the dug hole, Zhong Mingzhu got up and left.

"I got nothing, why don't I go to the government to see if I will keep my ID card." She said to herself, looked at Chang Li who had never said a word, and asked, "I'm so concerned, What can Master do?"

"No."

"Oh." Zhong Mingzhu kicked a stone away from the road and said angrily, "I didn't count on you."

In the next moment, an "ouch" was heard, and a man in front covered his forehead. It turned out that the stone kicked out by Zhong Mingzhu happened to hit him in the head.

"Hahaha!" Zhong Mingzhu was suddenly happy, laughed a few times and suddenly felt that the person looked familiar.

Goatee, black clothes, is the person who bluffed before.The man also spotted her, immediately blew his beard and stared at her and shouted, "It's her!"