Just after the early hours of the morning, Li Yuan opened his eyes, and the light was faintly visible outside the papier-mâché window.

Eight people are paved, and there are only seven people at the moment.

"Niu Gui got up so early?"

It was already a little chilly in late autumn, and Li Yuan was used to sleeping with his clothes closed, so he stepped on his shoes and came to the door at this moment.

The sky is nearly bright, the four rounds of the moon are gone, under the thin light, Niu Gui stands on the white ape pile, the early morning of late autumn is quite cold, but he is sweating profusely.

"This kid is really hard!"

Li Yuan rubbed his wrists, only to feel that his shoulders, arms, wrists, waist and legs were all sore.

This is the amount of exercise yesterday is much greater than usual, and Niu Gui, he remembers that he was still practicing when he slept last night?

It's been early in the morning again?

Are you really not afraid of training yourself?

Li Yuan was speechless in his heart, but he didn't say anything, and when Sun Fatzi got up, he informed him and left the middle courtyard.

……

The forging shop occupies a large area in the outer city, and outside the middle courtyard, there are several warehouses stacked with iron and charcoal.

Further on, there is an open space made of yellow mud, which is a place where a group of blacksmiths and guards can boil their physical strength on weekdays.

Passing through the open space is a continuous forge room, in which the furnace is constantly lit day and night, and the smoke and fire are constantly dissipated.

Li Yuan glanced at it a few times, but he didn't see anything except the clanging sound, and he was still a little curious about striking iron.

However, even after being an apprentice for more than a month, his impression of iron striking still stayed in the 'knife forging competition' in his previous life.

Miscellaneous room, right next to it.

Li Yuanxiao waited for a while before withdrawing the monthly money and a day off from the forest steward who was pacing slowly.

Although the rituals on the half-scroll of Taoism are simple, they do not require anything.

"Come back before the sun goes down, and spend the night outside counts as two days off!"

Steward Lin, who had two mustaches, said a word in the back.

“…… Well! ”

With a black face, he carried thirty copper plates into his arms, and more than a month after coming to this realm, Li Yuan walked out of the door of the forging shop for the first time.

"This is the 'ancient city'."

The bluestone slabs with large basins stretch in both directions, separating all kinds of shops, restaurants, and inns on both sides.

Gaoliu County has two inner and outer cities, eight streets are divided into 16 urban districts, and the 'Rongsheng District' where the forging shop is located belongs to the most lively urban area in the outer city.

Looking left and right, I saw that the houses were like houses, and the pedestrians in all kinds of clothes seemed to be unable to see their heads amid the cries of all kinds of vendors.

In the real ancient city, there is no endless stream of young ladies and young masters, and some are just people running around for firewood, rice, oil and salt.

Bell bell~

There were officials patrolling the streets who beat the gongs, and the crowds retreated one after another.

A tall official with a mole in the corner of his eye held up a portrait and shouted:

"This is the ninth year of the lone thief, those who find their traces will be rewarded with five taels of silver, and those who are caught will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver, but those who conceal it and do not report it will be punished for the same crime once it is found!"

"Fifty taels?!"

Many people in the crowd gasped and probed to look.

When the officials passed by, Li Yuan glanced at the vicious thief on the portrait, didn't care, and lowered his head to think about his own business.

"The 'Ritual of Receiving the Ceremony' in the half-volume Taoist Book requires five animals, and in my previous life, I used the meat of five animals, and now I ......"

In front of the butcher shop, the guy who was carrying a knife to chop meat quoted the price without waiting for inquiry:

"Twenty-eight copper plates for a pound of pork......"

Glancing at the wooden sign in the butcher shop, Li Yuan couldn't help but twitch his eyelids.

He had already expected that his family could only afford to buy a pound of pork a month, after all, the apprentices of other families could not even see a copper plate for three years.

"Little brother, is there any pig blood?"

"Pig blood? If you want it, eight copper plates will give you a pound......"

"Pig blood is so expensive?"

Li Yuan was a little painful, after all, he only had a total of thirty copper plates.

"How many pounds of blood is a pig? Is eight copper plates still expensive? Go and go, don't have the money to make a mess? ”

"Cheaper ......"

After some bargaining, Li Yuan bought half a catty of pork, half a catty of pig's blood, sheep's blood, chicken blood, and dog blood, and there were only four copper plates left on his body.

"Five animal meat is fine, and five animal blood should also be fine, right? After all, in the past life, in ancient times, many sacrifices were made with blood food......"

Shuttling through the crowd, Li Yuan's heart was a little heavy.

I was worried about whether the blood would be successful, and I was worried about whether the ritual would really work.

……

"It's still a cow...... The imperial court stipulates that the cattle butcher will be beaten with a hundred rods, sentenced to one and a half years, and exiled for a thousand miles......"

More than an hour later, Li Yuan, who had walked all over Rongsheng Street, could not find a single cow hair, and had to give up helplessly.

"I remember that the elk, the deer, the deer, the wolf, and the rabbit also belong to the five animals in another way?"

It wasn't until three poles in the morning that Li Yuan found a place to sell hares, and waited for more than an hour before he took advantage of the fact that someone slaughtered the rabbit and spent the last four copper plates to buy less than two taels of blood.

"Now, the family is bankrupt!"

Carrying a few bottles and cans and half a catty of pork out of Rongsheng Street, Li Yuan could hardly hold back his mood.

Naturally, he could not hold a ceremony on the street, so he forced his excitement through the alleys and streets to another more remote town.

The firewood fishing workshop is not as good as the Rongsheng District, and it is named because it sells more firewood and fish, and from afar, Li Yuan heard someone exclaim.

"That kid from the Liangshan family hit the spirit fish 'Horn Pomfret 'in the 'Bishui Lake'!"

"Liang Ashui? Does this kid still have this skill? Didn't all his ships be snatched away by Liu Leprosy? ”

"Spirit fish! At least I haven't heard of anyone hitting a spirit fish for a year or two, right? ”

With an exclamation, almost all the people nearby gathered around the young man carrying a fish basket in the distance.

"Spirit fish?"

Li Yuan was slightly stunned, but only from the discussion of people nearby did he know what this was.

Gaoliu County is surrounded by mountains and rivers, the mountains are the Fajiu Mountain, and the water is the Bishui Lake, and the firewood gang and the fishing gang in the city were established because of this.

And the so-called spirit fish is said to be a great supplement, and if you catch one, it is enough for ordinary people to chew grain for two or three years.

"Everyone!"

The young man was sturdy, his complexion was slightly dark, and his eyes were very fierce and forced to look at the group of people who came up:

"My 'horn pomfret' weighs twelve pounds, don't come over if you can't afford it!"

"Twelve pounds of pomfret?!"

The crowd was even more uproaring, but most of them stopped, and only a few people who didn't seem to be dressed as ordinary people walked by.

"That seems to be the Chai Gang and the Fishing Gang?"

Li Yuan glanced at it a few times, although he was a little curious about the so-called spirit fish, he didn't have the heart to watch the excitement.

As he was walking away quickly, he heard someone behind him seem to offer 'twelve taels of silver'......

"Thirty wen a month, three years of apprenticeship only one tael of silver, twelve taels of fish ......"

Li Yuan was a little stunned, but he didn't stop, walked quickly through a few streets, and came to an alley.

There are more than a dozen households in the alley, and the two-story courtyard at the entrance of the alley is his home in this life.

Of course, there are three families living in the small courtyard, and his family, or his second brother's family, is just one of them.

"The third? You, you're back? ”

Before Li Yuan knocked on the door, the courtyard door opened, and a man who was less than seven feet old and had a somewhat weathered face greeted him excitedly and guiltily and grabbed his hand.

"Second Brother ......"

Li Yuan opened his mouth and didn't know what to say, and let the man pull him into the house.

Memories of the predecessor flooded back to me.

Xiao Po settled in the Li family, in the early years in the Chai Yufang was also a medium-sized family, three generations of diligent and diligent, but also saved a little family money, the family has a field, there are boats, and life is not bad.

But after three generations of family, he lost for a while, his cheap old man somehow got involved in gambling, and he lost his family in half a year, and after he was angry with the old man, he also died of illness.

Only the three brothers were left to rely on each other, and within a few years, the eldest Li Yue disappeared, and it was the second brother Li Lin who single-handedly pulled him ......

"Haven't eaten yet, have you? You rest for a while, the second brother will cook for you, and your sister-in-law will go to work......"

Li Lin rubbed his eyes and walked out of the house quickly, in the hut, Li Yuan sighed lightly.

It was the predecessor's own idea to enter the forging shop, his second brother was nearly thirty years old, and it was always difficult to live with his brother after marrying a wife.

Since then, the second brother Li Lin has felt guilty and always feels ashamed of his brothers and parents.

But for the poor, sending them to the forging shop is an excellent way out......

"Whew!"

Digesting the emotions surging in his heart, Li Yuan walked out of the door, took a few steps around, and turned into the backyard where sundries and charcoal were piled up.

"Four Directions and Five Animals......

Li Yuan muttered in his heart, he didn't know how many times he had done the 'Receiving Ceremony' in his dream last night, he was very familiar, but he was still extremely nervous.

It's like a person who is about to drown, grasping at the last straw......

With himself as the center, Li Yuan sprinkled the blood of the five animals according to the ritual position until the smell of blood was full of blood between his mouth and nose.

He took a deep breath, bowed down, and said in his heart and mouth at the same time:

"Disciple Li Yuan, read through the hundred scriptures and see wisdom, abide by the precepts and clear heart, have the idea of saving people in the world, and are willing to pass on the classics for the sages......"

“……”

"Disciple Li Yuan, please ask the heavens to grant you!"