When the young man came out of the township school to go to the north and south of the town, he passed by the intersection of the Wufang Pavilion, and he inexplicably went around to the pavilion facing east, and looked at the doorposts on both sides of the pavilion.

There is no one in the pavilion today, I don't know if it's an illusion, the boy lay on his kang for three days, and when he woke up, he found that the town was a lot more deserted, not only because the monks from other towns who had been cultivated had left their own places, but even the familiar faces of the people in the town who always liked to come out and hang around when they were idle and had nothing to do, it seemed that they couldn't meet much, as if everyone suddenly began to find that there were a lot of things to be busy at home, and there was not much time to hang out.

The young man looked around the Wufang Pavilion, and then looked back at the bookstore in the northeast corner, the door was closed, in the past, the storyteller should be lying on the rocking chair under the steps outside the shop, holding a small purple clay pot in his hand, or with a certain book on his face, and then there to close his eyes and recuperate and wander the world, waiting for the book buyer to come to the door...

The young man recalled some old things that had only been a few days later, but it seemed to be a long time ago, and then pursed his lips and turned around, but he happened to see that the pastry shop that was across from the bookstore with a five-square pavilion just opposite the door opened the door, and the shopkeeper Liu who came out of the door from inside seemed to have returned to his previous kind appearance with a warm smile, opening the door to do business, dealing with people, being thoughtful and smiling, no more, not less than a penny, just right.

After the dark-skinned middle-aged man helped his mother-in-law open the door of the shop, he squatted on the steps outside the shop, took off a pair of brand-new cloth shoes with his feet, and then put them neatly in one place, and then stepped on them with bare feet, holding a blue-edged porcelain bowl in his hand, which contained more than half a bowl of sunflower seeds, and began to look at the people in the town who came and went from the intersection while knocking melon seeds.

For many years, he has been the same authentic country man, and he has not even changed the habits formed every day, and his style is the same, as if he has not even changed the place where he chooses to squat, and the score is exactly the same.

Shopkeeper Liu stood at the door and said hello to passers-by with a smile, and was ready to go back to the shop to start flipping through the account book as the shopkeeper, and also waiting for the diners to come to buy pastries, but as soon as she turned around, she saw her man squatting there again, she seemed to be used to it, and after laughing and scolding, she went straight to the door.

The young man looked at the couple from a distance, and suddenly remembered the words that the old shopkeeper Fan in the sea of clouds brought to him through the watchman, and was slightly silent, as if the couple had indeed forgotten the discord between the two parties, and also forgot that there was still such an account between the two parties.

As the young man was thinking, he saw the swarthy man squatting on a pair of shoes smiling at him, and raised the porcelain bowl in his hand and raised it towards the young man, as if inviting him to go over and eat melon seeds together.

Chu Yuanxiao was slightly stunned when he saw this, then nodded at the man with a smile on the corner of his lips and shook his head, and then turned around and went to the side of South Street.

The swarthy man looked at the young man's back and smiled, but did not speak, and continued to lower his head and began to compete with the sunflower seeds in the porcelain bowl in his hand.

Many times, there are always some love accounts between people that are not clear, so they are all left, like those jars of peach blossom brew buried under the peach tree in a partial courtyard of the Li family in the town, the longer it is buried, the deeper the aroma of the wine.

……

The north and south of the town are spiritually contemporary.

This seems to have always been only the old Taoist chief of the old Taoist temple, today suddenly there is a little Taoist priest, looking at the age of not much, fifteen or sixteen years old, the face is immature, the eyes are clear, diligent, while carrying a broom to sweep the wide courtyard in front of the Taoist temple, while talking and chatting with the old Taoist who is sitting on a bench at the door of the main hall with his eyes closed, the two sides of the topic keep talking, not only talking about the townspeople in the town between the east and west, but also talking about the various furnishings in the Taoist temple, the front yard is large and the backyard is small, Chattering and curiosity.

The boy has a good memory, when he entered the door of the Taoist temple and saw this little Taoist priest sweeping the floor, he knew at a glance that this was a fresh face, which had never appeared in the town before, and now it seemed to appear in the Taoist temple out of thin air.

As soon as he saw someone entering the door, he hurriedly put the broom in his hand properly, and then trotted a few steps to the young man not far away, and asked with a smile: "The donor is polite, I don't know if I came here today to make a wish for incense, or to tell the fortune and unsign?" Need help with the trails? ”

When the little Taoist priest greeted him, his voice was full of enthusiasm, and there was a sense of novelty, at first glance, he was a new little Taoist priest who had just written his name on the new record of the door, and he was full of confidence to let the incense in the Taoist temple go up to the next level, as if he didn't notice the young man's clean but shabby patched clothes, and he didn't seem to realize that the guest who entered the door might not be able to afford the sesame oil money of a few copper plates...

Before the young man Chu Yuanxiao, who was standing at the door, could reply, the voice of the old Taoist sitting at the entrance of the main hall with a smile came over, "Bai Sheng, this little brother is not here to worship incense, don't force it." ”

The little Taoist Taoist is called "Bai Sheng".

Bai Sheng faced the young man standing at the door of the Taoist temple, turned his back to the old Taoist chief, and his face was bitter after hearing the old Taoist priest's words, first squeezed his eyes towards the young man, and then Shi Shiran turned around and looked at the old Taoist chief and said: "Lord, let's just say that our Taoist temple opens the door to welcome pilgrims, can there be one more?" In case this benefactor originally thought that the three pillars of incense could be burned or not, I asked a little more and it became that it could be burned, and as soon as you said this, it became that it could not be burned, do you say that it is better to burn or not? ”

Chu Yuanxiao, the young man standing behind the little Taoist, listened to him and smiled, he rarely heard people call the old Taoist master before, today is the first time, the little Taoist priest in front of him who looks about the same age as him, talking and doing things seems to be quite interesting, after saying these two sentences in front of him, he seems to be embarrassed not to burn incense.

The old Taoist elder seemed to be a little helpless, and he could only smile and shake his head when he heard this, but he didn't say anything more.

Bai Sheng saw that the old Taoist didn't speak, so he directly assumed that he acquiesced, and then turned his head to look at the young man with a smile and smiled: "Donor, do you want to burn incense?" Three copper plates and three pillars of incense, the price is fair, and the children are not bullied! ”

The young man Chu Yuanxiao was a little embarrassed when he heard this, raised his hand and scratched his face, and said, "But I don't have any money." ”

The little Taoist priest blinked again when he heard this, and after thinking about it, he suddenly smiled and said, "Then what did you live on before, how can you eat without money?" ”

The young man became more and more embarrassed when he heard this, "Go up the mountain to dig wild vegetables and catch game, or go to the river to catch fish, as long as you can eat enough, you don't have to rely on money to buy it." ”

This explanation probably made the little Taoist priest a little unable to come back to his senses, and after being stunned for a long time, his eyes suddenly lit up as if he had thought of something, and he squeezed his eyebrows and said, "But didn't you save a lot of money in the sea of clouds in the west of the town?" Why don't you take three out of it? ”

These words made the young man stunned for a moment, "You know too? ”

The little Taoist shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile: "Don't you know that there is an old Taoist priest with great powers behind me?" ”

When the young man heard this, he glanced at the closed-eyed old Taoist who was sitting at the door of the main hall, and then looked at the little Taoist priest in front of him with an expectant expression, so after thinking about it, he looked at him and nodded, and said, "That's okay, I'll go to the sea of clouds now and ask if you can give me three yuan." ”

The little Taoist priest listened to the young man's agreement, and for a moment he seemed to be happy, grinned, waved his hand and said: "It's okay, it's okay, it's not in a hurry, you just need to promise to give me three coins, and you are not in a hurry to pay it off today, after that, I will go to the sea of clouds by myself, and let them transfer the money from your account to my account, you don't need to go in person." ”

After that, he turned around and ran into the main hall with a smoke, invited three pillars of incense from inside, and then respectfully handed it to the young man, and said with a smile: "Then, this is your three pillars of incense, light it and bow down and then insert it into the big incense burner in this courtyard!" ”

As the little Taoist priest Bai Sheng spoke, he pointed to the huge incense burner placed in the middle of the courtyard facing the main hall, and then made a mockery to the young man again, and said a word of auspiciousness with a smile on his face: "Dao Ancestor bless, Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable!" ”

When the young man began to offer incense as he said, the little Taoist priest turned his head and winked at the old Taoist who was sitting quietly at the door of the main hall, as if to say, "Look, isn't this another incense?" ”

The old Taoist elder was a little amused, and shook his head a little helplessly, and didn't say anything more.

After Chu Yuanxiao lit the incense and bowed again, and then respectfully inserted the three pillars of incense into the incense burner, when he turned back, he found that the little Taoist priest named Bai Sheng was no longer in place, he looked around, and found that the guy was carrying a broom that was taller than others, swaggering around the main hall and going to the backyard, probably to sweep the courtyard floor of the backyard of the Taoist temple.

The young man didn't ask any more questions, but walked around the incense burner and walked to the old Taoist who was sitting still.

Without waiting for the young man to speak, the old Taoist first smiled and spoke: "Coming?" ”

"The younger generation has seen the Taoist."

The young man bent down and bowed to the old Taoist, and then raised his head to look at the direction in which the little Taoist priest had disappeared, and asked suspiciously: "Daoist, who was the Taoist master just now?" ”

The old Taoist elder smiled when he heard this, "That Mr. Cui of your family should have told you, right?" After that, the four of us may all go to the seaside city, Bai Sheng is here to take over my appointment, and this Taoist temple will be in charge of him in the future. ”

Chu Yuanxiao nodded silently, he suddenly remembered that when he went to the township school, he didn't seem to see a new teacher coming, since the old Taoist chief was leaving, someone would come to take over the Taoist temple, what about the township school? Won't you teach small-town teenagers to read in the future?

In addition, although his husband explained certain things to him, he was still a little sad and unhappy, but not only for his own husband.

The old Taoist knew the young man's thoughts, so he explained with a smile: "This Northern Spirit Temple belongs to the Daomen, so after the old Taoist leaves, someone has to take over, although there is no need to serve as the town guard, but there must always be someone to entertain pilgrims, responsible for sprinkling the courtyard and adding incense to continue the candles, but the township school is different, there is actually the courtyard jointly purchased by the scholarly Chen family and the salt official office at the beginning, so after your Mr. Cui leaves, the Chen family will naturally find a new gentleman to teach the young people in the town without delay." ”

"As for the matter of wearing the crime," the old Taoist paused slightly, and said with a smile: "The Great Array of Salt Officials, which has been inherited for 10,000 years, has been demolished like this, so naturally someone has to give an explanation to Jiuzhou in the world, and the four of us are the most directly related people, so this result is the most logical and deserving, and others cannot be blamed." ”

Listening to the words "demolished" by the old Taoist, the young man suddenly remembered the scene of the four spirits rushing into the formation that night, in fact, strictly speaking, he was the one who dismantled the big array, so he should be the one who was punished.

But before the young man could say this, the old Taoist elder took the lead and waved his hand with a smile, "This matter is not calculated like that, the two collisions in that night are the most helpless way, otherwise the thousands of innocent people in this Yanguan Town, as well as those of us who are here in the cultivation, will all have to die in Luo Yu Mountain, you are saving people's lives, the merit is great, the fault is not you." ”

"But..."

The young man's face was not very good, and he wanted to speak again, but he was interrupted by the old Taoist elder smiling and waving his hand, "Although sometimes it seems, such as the Mr. Cui of your family, as well as the old man Qin and Master Shi, and me, the old Taoist, we seem to be very powerful in your eyes, but in fact, it is not as useful as you imagined." ”

The old Taoist raised his head, as if looking at the clear blue sky outside the Taoist temple, and said softly: "The future of Jiuzhou, in the end, will still fall on the shoulders of you young people, so while we old immortals still have some use, there are some burdens that need to be carried by others, so it is natural that we should carry them first, until the day when we can't carry them, there will naturally be a time when they will be handed over to your hands and shoulders, so don't worry, work hard first, there will always be those times when you have to be needed." ”

Chu Yuanxiao listened to the old Taoist's slow words, his heart was heavy, he was speechless, he understood some things, and some things he didn't understand very well, but it didn't prevent him from feeling sad from the bottom of his heart.

The old Taoist didn't say much about this matter, and could feel the sadness that permeated the young man's body, so he smiled and diverted the topic, "Since you came from your husband, you should already know some of the reasons why I asked you to come, right?" ”

Hearing this, the young man collected his thoughts, and then nodded respectfully and said, "Well, Mr. said that you may have a way to repair your body here, and there are also some tasks to be entrusted to me." ”

The old Taoist nodded, and there was an inexplicable taste of reminiscence in his tone, "The matter of the martial arts monk's physical body repair involves the root of the Great Dao, and it is not a simple matter, so not everyone can do it, the opportunity is rare, when the old Taoist was young, he went to Shijizhou because of some things, and met a master of the world over there, and he used to call him the Green Emperor on the rivers and lakes of Jiuzhou, he should have some ways there, of course, first of all, if he is willing." ”

Chu Yuanxiao heard Mr. say in the township school that the old Taoist chief Lei Fa is a must.

And on the night of the spring equinox, he also temporarily served as the leader of the Yanguan Great Array, although strictly speaking he was actually just a bystander, but in the end he still witnessed the whole process of the entire fighting method, and the huge thunder pool that had appeared on the top of the dragon's back mountain in the east of the town was especially fresh in his memory.

As a result, now my husband and the old Taoist are saying that the... The Qingdi is very powerful, and the young man suddenly became a little curious, how powerful is the power of the rivers and lakes that can be so domineering?

Hearing the young man's curious question, the old Taoist nodded with a smile and gave a general explanation.

Since the end of the Great War between Heaven and Earth and the monopoly of the human race in Jiuzhou, among the twelve realms of human cultivation, the part of people who can really be proud of the others are at least the upper three realms, that is, above the ten realms.

However, this does not mean that after entering the same realm, they are all almost powerful, just like when Jiang Yan and Hou Junchen asked boxing, they were also in the Martial Saint Realm, but one did nothing, and the other lay in the pile of rocks for many days and couldn't get up, the difference is obvious.

In the nine continents of the world, except for the three ancestors of the three sects, who monopolized the three twelve realms, most of the remaining masters were in the ten realms and the eleventh realm, each with its own avenue and doorway, which was not the same. Of course, there will not be too many such people, but after 10,000 years of accumulation, it will definitely not be too few.

As for the aforementioned Qingdi, there has always been a saying on the top of the rivers and lakes that he is the closest candidate to the Twelve Realms except for the three patriarchs, and even stands taller than the Confucianism Fusheng, the Daomen Dazhangjiao, and the two ancestors of Buddhism, so in the past thousands of years, there has always been a saying of "three ancestors and four emperors" on the rivers and lakes in the world, and the Qingdi of Shijizhou is one of the four emperors.

"The oriental hexagram earthquake, the earthquake is thunder, the five elements belong to the wood, and the main generation is born."

After the old Taoist explained the Qingdi himself, he suddenly recited a few words that the young man didn't understand too much, and then said with a smile: "That is good at thunder law himself, and he is also the first monk in the world to get the first Muxing Qi Yun, so whether your martial arts body can be repaired, it is the most suitable and safest to find him, just see if you have the opportunity to get his blue eyes and make him willing to help you?" ”

When the young man listened to this somewhat domineering explanation, he couldn't help but be a little stunned, and he was also a little weak-hearted, such a powerful person would help him?

The old Taoist elder could understand the young man's worries, but his face suddenly became a little strange, and he smiled: "It's not necessarily as difficult as you think, that person... He's also a wonderful person, and you'll understand when you see it. ”

Chu Yuanxiao didn't quite understand the reason why the old Daoist was weird, but he wasn't too embarrassed to ask, he just said, "Daoist, I don't know how the juniors should find that senior?" ”

The old Taoist nodded when he heard this, and then slowly raised his hand and handed the bamboo pole that had been used as a crutch in his hand to the young man, and said: "This bamboo pole has been with the old Taoist for many years, and now it will be given to you as a parting gift as a walking stick, and when you arrive at Shijizhou, if you have a fate, you will naturally meet him, and then you will give him this bamboo cane, which is also the task that this old Taoist will give you." ”

Chu Yuanxiao listened to the old Taoist leader suddenly mention the task, thought about it and hesitated a little: "Dao Chief, this task... What if I don't meet that senior? ”

The old Taoist priest smiled: "You don't have to worry after you arrive in Shijizhou, just take this bamboo cane all the way to the east, directly to the coast of the East China Sea, if he doesn't want to see you when you get to the beach, you don't have to wait any longer, go back to Middle-earth, and give this bamboo cane to your ancestor in the Temple of Literature, Mr. Zhong, if the Qingdi is not willing to help you, your ancestor will help you find a way." ”

As he spoke, the old Taoist's tone suddenly became a little strange again, and said: "The old Taoist heard a small piece of news by chance before, probably even your Mr. Cui didn't know, someone once said that your master ancestor seemed to be drinking friends with the Qingdi a long time ago, and they talked nonsense together with the wine jar!" ”

"If he doesn't want to help you, let your ancestor go and pour wine for him!"

……