"Senior brother! Bro! Outside the cave, a figure was shouting.

Tao Qian raised his head, recovered from the posture of immersing himself in reading, and looked out of the cave. The furnishings in the cave are simple and pure, a stone bed with neatly packed bedding on it; A set of tables and chairs, many thick books are placed on the table, and next to the pile of books is a stack of runic paper and a few brushes. There was nothing else in the entire cave but that.

It was almost noon, and the sun was shining obliquely from outside the cave, in front of the desk, shining on the pages, and the pen and ink reflected the luster. Tao Qian stood up, folded up the corner of the page of the "Rune General Knowledge" he was reading, closed the book and put it back in place, and then went out of the cave.

The man outside the door was still shouting: "Senior brother! Are you there, junior brother? Just as he saw Tao Qian coming out of the cave, the man hurriedly went up and said enthusiastically: "Oh, junior brother, you can figure it out, come with me to the master's cave, he is looking for you at the old man's house!" ”

"Senior brother." Tao Qian was not in a hurry, and first made a formal salute. He grasped the thumb of his left hand with his entire right hand, and the remaining four fingers of his left hand hugged the back of his right hand together. From the front, it looks like a fist, but from the perspective of the giver himself, the curvature of the two hands is forming an "S"-like curve. This is the "fist salute", which is the most basic etiquette, if you meet the elders, you should bow down at the same time as the fists to show respect for the elders.

"Okay, okay, junior brother, you said that when you grow up, you have taken care of these etiquettes, it's better to be a child, go quickly!" As he spoke, the senior brother grabbed Tao Gan's sleeve and walked towards the master's cave.

Tao Qian didn't resist, he followed the strength and followed the senior brother, just shook his head, and said: "This is not good, senior brother, you and the master picked me up from the foot of Shouyang Mountain back then, this is a life-saving grace, of course etiquette cannot be abolished." ”

"Yes, yes, senior brother can't say you, if you have to give a gift, just let it go." The senior brother looked helpless, and continued with Tao Qian's meaning. After saying that, Tao Qian's face faded from seriousness and smiled lightly.

Eighteen years ago, it was the master Xu Lin and his brother Hai Anbang who picked him up in infancy at the foot of the mountain, and brought him back to the mountain to raise him, and taught him to practice.

It's not that Tao Qian hasn't moved to find his parents, but since he became sensible, he has almost always lived in the mountains, occasionally practicing talismans with his senior brother, or cleaning up evil spirits on the mountains with his master, and he has been practicing almost in his spare time. It can be said that in the past ten years, he has spent almost all of his time in the mountains, and gradually he has also diluted the idea of looking for his parents, and only wants to cultivate wholeheartedly and repay the expectations of his master and brother.

"Senior brother, I don't know what the master is looking for me?" Tao Qian recovered from his memories and asked the back of the senior brother in front of him.

"Hey, Master, don't you know, it's mysterious, he didn't tell me what to find you at all." The senior brother replied without looking back.

Indeed, Master always likes to pretend to be mysterious. I remember when I was a child, Master took Tao Qian to the back mountain to catch fish to roast. It wasn't a big deal, but the master refused to tell Tao Gan what he was doing in the back mountain all the way, just with an excited expression, which made Tao Qian almost think that the master was crazy. It wasn't until he came to the Houshan River that the master told him that he had come to catch fish and eat today, and he only took Tao Qian because he was afraid that his senior brother would find out about drinking.

"Qian'er, how can you not drink when you eat delicious food?" Master said. The senior brother did not give the master to drink, the master was old, and the root of the illness that fell when he was young often tormented the master, and the wine was a thing that hurt the body, so the senior brother hid all the master's wine. But the master is shrewd, he can always hide the wine in a place where the senior brother can't find it, and then secretly bring it out to drink.

"Senior brother, junior brother!" I don't know when, the senior brother pulled Tao Qian and came to the outside of the master's cave. Seeing that Tao Qian was in a daze, he shook Tao Gan's shoulder and called him.

"Uh, yes, brother?" Tao Qian came back to his senses, looked at the worried senior brother in front of him, and couldn't help but smile awkwardly.

"Okay, don't be in a daze, let's go to Master's Cave, let's go in." Seeing this, the senior brother didn't ask much, so he beckoned Tao Qian to enter the cave.

"Yes." Tao Qian straightened his clothes, saluted his senior brother, and slowly walked towards the cave.

Master's cave is the most "magnificent" on Shouyang Mountain, and it is said to be magnificent, but in fact, it can't escape the four words of simplicity and simplicity. The wall at the entrance of the cave house was engraved with three words with a sword: the immortal, the master often said, when he was young, he wanted to be a free and easy immortal-like person, and live a lifetime between the mountains and rivers, so he personally carved these three words in this cave to express his ideals.

Further inside, there is a universe in the cave. The walls on both sides are very flat, and the master has carved characters and sentences on them. This is where the master taught himself and his senior brother talismans, and the characters on them were all carved by the master with his hands. Master said that books will rot eventually, and there is always more time left for them to be carved.

Keep going deeper, and you'll be at the bottom. A bed, a set of wooden tables and chairs, and a bookcase near the corner of the table, which is stuffed with all kinds of rune-related books, and under the illumination of the indoor light, you can faintly see the large and small folds in the corners of those books, which shows that the owner must have turned these books countless times.

The Master sat in his chair and buried his head in writing something with a pen. Tao Qian slowed down his pace, walked to the wooden table, and did not speak, but stood quietly waiting for the master to finish what he was doing. For a moment, the room was silent, except for the sound of the tip of the pen scraping on the paper and the sound of breathing.

After a while, the master raised his head, glanced at Tao Qian, and said, "Yes, the training of the mind is very effective. After speaking, he put down the pen in his hand and twisted his wrist slightly.

"Master." Tao Qian made a "fist bow" in a proper manner, and then raised his head and waited for the master's instructions.

"Qian'er, come, come here." Master beckoned to Tao Gan and motioned for him to come closer. Tao Qian walked to the master's side and bent down slightly: "Is there anything wrong with the master looking for an apprentice?" ”

"Ah, there's something." Master loosened his shoulders and leaned back in his chair: "Qian'er, you have been studying the "Rune General Knowledge" for many years, and you have read it thoroughly, but you still lack practical application. ”

The "General Knowledge of Runes" was compiled by the ancestors of the ancient period, which compiled 3,600 runes in the world, and is a book that practitioners must learn when they first enter the practice. Now, after thousands of years of evolution and development, the "Rune General Knowledge" has been continuously added, changed and deleted by later generations, and now contains 7,200 runes, some of which have complex shapes and cumbersome strokes, which are difficult to remember.

However, there is a saying that after fifteen years of general knowledge of runes, you will benefit from cultivation for a lifetime. This proves the importance of Rune Knowledge, just like building a house, it is the foundation of everything that is rooted deep in the soil.

"Well, since you've been studying for so long, Master is now taking the school to test you."

"Master, please ask questions." Tao Qian said confidently.

The master nodded slightly, looking quite satisfied with Tao Qian's confidence, so he slowly asked, "If you want to write runes, the five elements are indispensable, which are the five?" ”

"Master, it's the 'talisman head', 'please borrow the gods', 'talisman belly', 'talisman feet' and 'talisman gall'."

"Well, yes, these five, 'head', 'belly' and 'feet' are the ones that control the shape of the talisman, the 'god' is the key to determining whether the talisman is effective, and the 'guts' determine whether the talisman can give full play to the effect, remember to remember!"

"Yes, Master, I remember it firmly."

"Well, let me ask you again, how do you write this talisman?"

"For beginners in the realm of general knowledge like the apprentice, before writing the talisman, you should first prepare the talisman paper and pen, clear the distracting thoughts, concentrate on the mind, first write the 'talisman head', then write the 'god', 'talisman belly' and 'talisman feet', and finally fill in the 'talisman gall', so that the talisman can be completed."

"Okay, I'll test your Dao Talisman. How to configure the rejuvenation water. ”

"Rejuvenation water is used for treatment, it is necessary to make a talisman 'rejuvenation' and then burn it and dissolve it in water, so that the patient can drink it, which can treat diseases such as wind and cold, qi and blood disorders, and most importantly, it can drive away general evils. And this 'rejuvenation', the talisman is the use of the ancestor 'Lingmu' to create the symbol, outlining the runes of the ancient god 'spring', and then painting the 'Fu belly' Qingtian wood grain and the 'Fu feet' thick soil pattern, and finally embellished with the word 'Hui' in the 'Fu gall'. ”

After some school examination, the master nodded with satisfaction: "Okay, good, the apprentice has a very firm grasp, hahahaha!" Seeing Master's happy appearance, Tao Qian couldn't help laughing.

Glancing at the apprentice with satisfaction, the master continued: "It's just right, in order to test how well you actually use it, a villager from Tianjia Village at the foot of Shouyang Mountain has recently come to ask for help, saying that the village has suffered an evil spirit, and several villagers have been killed or injured, you go and help them solve it, remember, don't be reckless, you know?" In the end, Master's tone became stern.

Tao Qian bowed with his fists: "Yes, Master, don't worry." ”

"Well, you hold this evil talisman, if you encounter a danger that can't be solved, use it, pay attention to your own safety, go ahead."

Tao Qian took the talisman, which was exactly the talisman made by the master before burying himself in the case: "Thank you, Master, then I'll go." ”

Tao Qian saluted again and left towards the outside of the cave. Behind him, the master looked at his departing back, for a long, long time.