Chapter 67 Xu Xianren

Chapter 67 Xu Xianren

Chapter 67 Xu Xianren

The way this world distinguishes directions is similar to the way Li Wuxiang came from, but it is also different. It is also divided into east, south, west, north, and south, and can be divided into six directions.

The six sects were not gathered in one place, but were scattered far away, each with a vast space around it. The major sect near Jinshui was the True Form Dao, which worshipped the Five Mountains True Form Great Emperor, so the nearby directions were called "Northern Sect, Southern Sect, Eastern Sect, and Western Sect", and the other sects were exactly the same.

In the "east, south, west, north" directions of each diocese, where the rule of the Six Sects of Mysterious Religion has not penetrated deeply, there are areas where the Thirty-Six Orthodox Sects and more Dharma teachings and independent practitioners are active.

Although Jinshui is remote, it is more than 400 miles east of Zhenxing Taoism, and Li Wuxiang has been moving further east these days.

In the first three or four days, there was still a main road, and we passed through two small towns. We met some passers-by on the road and bought a few needles, a small saw and a small hammer from a peddler at a high price.

After walking for another three or four days, the main road was deserted, and the small paths were barely visible in the grass. It looked like a completely desolate wilderness. At this point, he could understand why a small town like Jinshui, with a population of hundreds and dozens of soldiers, did not build a city wall, but was still worried about foreign invasion or banditry.

Because this world is too desolate. Endless wastelands are scattered in the valleys, plains, and riverbanks between the mountains. The vegetation is lush and rich. As long as a fire burns through, the soil underneath should be fertile.

If someone really can't make a living because they don't have land, it would be much better for them to run away and open up wasteland than to rob. But if you think about it carefully, this is not very realistic. Without a path connection, salt and iron are both very worrying. There are many wild animals in the wasteland, and safety is also a problem. The people of Jinshui are not living well. Chen Xin said that they had several conflicts with Lijiawan over land issues before. It seems that apart from these reasons, there must be more dangerous factors.

Maybe it was a demon or something. Although he hadn't seen one in the past few days, Zeng Jianqiu said that there were indeed demons and monsters in this world, and that in the seemingly deserted mountains, there would be another kind of rules and another kind of sovereignty.

Along the way, he had seen some long-abandoned paths in the wilderness, and even found a few bricks that had been eroded by wind and rain, which might have been part of a magnificent building. He wondered if they were left over from the Ye Dynasty - it was said that the Ye Dynasty was extremely prosperous, and the densely populated areas today were only a tiny part of the Ye Dynasty.

He couldn't figure it out after thinking about it. The six sects should understand that even though the monks are no longer mortals, they are still from mortals. A long time ago, there was a dynasty called the world prosperous and populous. Why don't they create a few courts to control the people so that people can recuperate and produce more talented cultivators? No matter how cruel and tyrannical the rule is, it should be much better than the current situation, right?
Since the Six Sects of the Mysterious Sect still has a diocese, it doesn't seem like they don't care about this.

He walked and thought like this all the way, and on the tenth day, he seemed to have finally emerged from the wilderness - he led the horse slowly up the muddy river shallows and after passing through the bushes, there was an open area in front of him.

The ground was still covered with weeds, but there was a clear boundary with the woodland by the river - a small forest that looked like it had only grown a few years ago. This meant that someone must have cleared the land here in the past, but it was abandoned later and was occupied by wild trees and weeds again.

Li Wuxiang breathed a sigh of relief. He had been using the sun and the moon to locate himself these days, and there was no ready-made road. He often had to go around mountains and cross rivers, and he was always worried that he was slowly going in the wrong direction. But when he saw this piece of wasteland, he knew that he would not be so wrong.

The Thirty-Six Orthodox Sects are actually a bit like a small-scale Six Parts Profound Sect. Some people also live near the sects, and gradually gather into slightly larger towns. The land you see before you may have been cultivated by the people nearby in the past.

He walked forward for a while and finally found a path hidden in the weeds. Then he got on his horse and continued walking along the road.

I walked until it was almost dark, and for the first time in seven or eight days I saw a man-made building - it must have been a village in the past, much smaller than Jinshui, but now only ruins remain. Small trees popped out from the houses, and from a distance it looked a bit like a garden landscape, but when I got closer, I found that there was no roof to cover my head, and it could only block the wind a little.

But the path got wider when it reached this point, and Li Wuxiang even found horse manure on the road. Although it had long been dried, it meant that people would occasionally pass by this road. Compared with the scene along the way, it could be called a "bustling traffic".

He jumped off his horse and found a house next to the road with only three broken walls left. He walked in and smelled, listened, and looked to make sure there were no rat holes or snake holes in it. Then he pushed with a little force to make sure that the remaining walls were still solid.

At this time, the sky, which had been gloomy during the day, was covered with thick clouds, which gradually pressed down. The wind started to blow again, full of moisture, making the wild grass and horsehair around tremble. It was about to rain heavily.

Li Wuxiang led the horse into the wreckage, took out half a hollow brick from the bag on the horse's back, and used a dagger to chisel a hole in the wall, just enough for the brick to fit in. Then he inserted another thin wooden board into the broken edge of the brick, and held the talisman paper in his hand -

The man and the horse then crawled into the bricks.

Xue Baoping secretly put this half brick into his package, and drew the shape of the talisman that Zhao Qi left for her - it looked like the word "prisoner", but the "person" inside really looked like a little person. Li Wuxiang drew it with difficulty on the remaining piece of bamboo paper, and it really worked.

He first slowly coaxed the black horse to lie down on its side to rest, and then he walked to the broken edge of the broken bricks. The thin wooden board now looked like a wooden wall covered with vertical spikes, and he could see the night outside through the gaps at the edge.

Then it began to rain. The raindrops hit the walls, the grass, and the ground, and the sound was like thunder with different rhythms, while the real thunder in the sky was so vague and distant that it seemed like the sound of a strong wind blowing.

After a while, some raindrops splashed onto the wooden board and flowed down the edge, turning into a trickle. Li Wuxiang took off his clothes and hat, dipped his hands in water, and slowly rubbed his whole body. These days of wind and sun, the exposed parts of his body were all chapped and had some small cracks, but now they were all smoothed out when they saw the water. After rubbing his body a few more times, it became smooth again.

After the water on his face dried, he ate something to replenish some nutrients for the skin and the tentacles underneath. Then, while listening to the sound of rain outside, he used the small saw he had bought earlier to saw off strips of wood from the board and continued to build tables, chairs and beds.

These things could be brought in from outside. When he was taking shelter on the road, he had tied a reclining chair with vines and branches under a tree. But when he came back, the reclining chair had become extremely strange - the vines and branches were integrated, as if they had grown together naturally. The reclining chair had lost its original shape and became a pile of strange shapes, as if a child had randomly put them together.

After several more experiments, he knew that the world inside the broken bricks was not simply small or big compared to the outside. When people were not in it, everything here seemed strange and twisted. Only things made in it could last for a long time. When he first came to the second floor, he saw some bulging bulges on the alchemy furnace used by Zhao Kui. At that time, he thought it was useful, but now he understood. His thing must have been cast in it, so the appearance was very rough.

After more than half an hour, he finished making the chair. He used the mortise and tenon joint technique, but the craftsmanship was not sophisticated, so it did not look beautiful, nor was it strong and sturdy, but it was enough to support a light human skin like his.

Li Wuxiang put away the small saw and hammer, moved the chair to the door and sat down, and breathed a sigh of relief like a living person.

Then other sounds besides the sound of rain were heard - footsteps in the mud, wet clothes slapping against the skin, a wide bamboo hat splitting the rain curtain, and it seemed that someone had also rushed into the dilapidated house.

Li Wuxiang stood up from his chair and walked to the gap to look out. He couldn't see the whole picture from his height, he could only see a wet body in the dark, also leading a horse... no, a donkey with a white mouth.

The man unloaded a roll of tarpaulin from the donkey's back, and it shook violently in the heavy rain and spread out, stirring up a large cloud of water mist. Then I heard the sound of ding-dong-dong, felt the vibration of the half-broken brick, and the sound of rain suddenly disappeared - the man leaned against the wall and built a simple awning with tarpaulin.

The donkey was screaming in the rain outside, so the man quickly led the donkey in and placed it in a corner of the awning. He then took an earthenware jar off the donkey's back, took out a fire starter from the jar, blew on it a few times, and reached into the jar, trying to ignite the charcoal inside.

The man then breathed a sigh of relief, carefully put down the fire pot, and squatted against the wall to warm himself by the fire.

Li Wuxiang dipped his hands in water and rubbed his face slowly, while he saw his face clearly. He was a man, about thirty years old, with dark and rough skin and deep scars at the corners of his mouth. He was shivering in the wind and rain. He squatted down, closed his eyes, and placed his hands on his abdomen, as if he was trying to practice qigong to drive away the cold. But after practicing for a while, he seemed to be too cold to bear it, so he simply held the clay pot in his arms.

After hugging him for a while, he felt warm, so he put down the jar and drew a sword from his waist. He carefully looked at the blade in the dim light of the jar. He seemed to see a mark of rust, and immediately frowned and smacked his lips in pain. He took out a handkerchief from the leather bag on the donkey's back and began to wipe the sword carefully.

But before he had finished wiping the sword, he suddenly straightened his body, changed his posture into a half-squat, and looked back at the darkness of the rain curtain with his elbow holding the sword - "Friend, friend, can you come in to take shelter from the rain?" Li Wuxiang heard another voice in the darkness, very embarrassed and panicked, "The rain is too heavy, my raincoat is broken, can I borrow a corner of your precious land to hide for a while!"

The swordsman frowned and looked out for a while, with a hesitant look on his face. Li Wuxiang thought he would refuse, but he heard him say, "Okay, come in. The ground is slippery due to the heavy rain, come slowly, my friend."

"Yes, yes, you are a kind person." The man in the rain slowly approached, looking a little older, about forty years old. But he did not dress like the swordsman, but wore a Taoist robe that was completely stuck to his body. He bent over and spread his hands, holding a sheathed sword in his hands. When he walked outside the awning, he first used a little force to insert the sword into the water-proof place on the edge of the awning, then moved sideways two steps, walked to the other side of the awning and squatted down.

The swordsman also placed the sword across his knees again, turned slightly to the side, wiped the blade again, and slowly put the handkerchief in his hand into his sleeve.

The Taoist priest wiped the water off his face, untied his hair bun, squeezed out the water, looked at the earthenware jar on the ground, and then looked at the white-mouthed donkey: "Your family is really complete. Alas, all my things got stuck in the river yesterday, and I am the only one left. What should I call my friend?"

The swordsman nodded and smiled: "Call me Lao Guo."

"Okay, okay, you look like a swordsman in this outfit."

"No, no, I'm just a swordsman. How about you, my friend?"

"Just call me Lao Deng. Don't make fun of me. Monks don't have names or surnames."

The two smiled at each other again and stopped talking. After a while, Lao Deng tied his hair up again, breathed a sigh of relief, and rubbed his arms: "It's almost summer, and the weather is getting cold. Sigh."

As he spoke, he looked around, but there was only wet grass and wood on the ground, so he touched the wall again - this wall was built with straw mixed with loess in the past. He slowly picked up a handful of dry straw from the wall, and shook off the dirt in his hands. He pretended to throw it into the jar, and when he saw that Lao Guo didn't object, he threw it in directly, and a small flame rose up.

Lao Guo also sheathed his sword and placed it against the wall beside him, and moved the fire pot towards Lao Deng. After thinking for a while, he took out a dry biscuit from the leather bag on the donkey's back, ate a few bites himself, tore off a small piece and handed it to Lao Deng while squatting, "Brother, can you fill your stomach?"

Old Deng looked flattered and said quickly, "It's okay to spend the money. OK, OK."

He took it with both hands, holding the small piece of cake and lowered his head slightly to express his gratitude.

At that moment, Li Wuxiang saw Lao Guo flick his fingers and a small paper man was stuck on Lao Deng's wet shoulder.

The two of them distanced themselves from each other again. Lao Guo chewed the biscuit slowly, while Lao Deng took the biscuit, took another deep breath, and frowned: "Why do I smell a strange smell around here?"

Lao Guo also sniffed: "What's that smell?"

Lao Deng said: "Smell it again, is it the smell of jackals, wolves, tigers, leopards...?"

Before he finished speaking, his body trembled violently, and the cake in his hand fell to the ground. His face became stiff and he squatted there, his limbs slightly twisted, and Li Wuxiang found that his posture became exactly the same as that of the swordsman Lao Guo.

At this time, Lao Guo also threw away most of the dry biscuit in his hand, and fell to the ground all of a sudden. As he did this, Lao Deng immediately twisted his body and fell to the ground like him, completely exposing the little man behind him -

The paper figure on his back seemed alive, slowly moving its limbs, imitating Lao Guo's movements, and seemed to have completely controlled Lao Deng. Lao Guo then snorted and shouted, "Stop!"

The little paper man stopped moving immediately, and Old Deng also fell to the ground. Apart from his eyeballs moving and his mouth opening, he could not move at all.

Old Guo drew out his sword, bent over, stepped forward, and raised his hand to stab Old Deng in the neck.

Old Deng hurriedly shouted: "Wait, we have no grudges or hatred——"

Lao Guo snorted coldly: "If you have no other intentions, why would you deliberately squeeze into my shed? Go to the netherworld and... and..."

The tip of his sword was only an inch away from Lao Deng's neck, but he couldn't stab any further - first his fingers spasmed, then his limbs twitched, the sword fell to the ground with a snap, and he fell to the ground with a plop, face to face with Lao Deng.

Old Deng then made an indistinct sound of "Pooh!" "I told you to smell it, I told you to smell it, and you smelled it! Smell the jar and see if it smells good. Smell my Five-Bizarre Pills and see if they smell good. Hmm?"

Old Guo also spat out the mud in his mouth, speaking incoherently: "Bah, if you don't want this soul-stealing talisman from me, just lie down with me. When the effect of the drug wears off, I'll kill you! You ungrateful bastard!"

The two started to curse at each other, and Li Wuxiang found it interesting - Zeng Jianqiu was right, when walking in this world, you have to be careful everywhere. The two didn't seem to know each other, but when they saw each other in the rainy night, they immediately started to plot against each other.

The so-called "Five-intoxicating Pills" by Lao Deng should have been thrown into the jar when adding straw, and Lao Guo's "Soul-catching Talisman" was slapped on when handing over the food. But it was just like what Zeng Jianqiu said, it was unclear what the other party had done, and they were both tricked by each other, but it was unknown whether Lao Guo's medicine wore off first, or the wild beast on the roadside came first.

He walked back to the chair and sat down, planning to wait until both men fainted, then jump out and catch them all, and ask about what was happening nearby.

Just as I sat down, I heard Lao Deng curse again -

"I'm telling you, I went to Ranshan to look for treasures at the invitation of Xu Xianren. You delayed me... You're going to be in big trouble because of him! You know Xu Xianren! He said that whoever finds him will be the leader of Ranshan!"

Lao Guo was stunned and immediately said, "You too?!"

Old Deng was also stunned: "What do you mean...you too?!"

Li Wuxiang slowly leaned back on the chair.

Xu Xianren, what the hell is this? Why are you so arrogant?
　Chapters are combined into one, 4867 words. Let me reiterate that the number of words is not based on the number of pages! Not based on the number of pages! Not based on the number of pages!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)