In the early hours of the morning, at the time of the third watch, the galaxy was dim.

Zhao Rong got up early, did not practice morning class, dressed lightly, quietly went out, left the manor, and hurried to Luojing.

Luojing has no city wall, the north and south gates are in vain, the door is not closed at night, the Taoist religion of the southern country is the end of the country, has vigorously promoted the rule of inaction, there is no curfew at night, although there are some measures similar to curfew at the request of some Confucian officials in the imperial court in recent years, but under the perfunctory of the lazy and comfortable Luojing people, the effect is not obvious, there are still all-night gatherings in the city, the people who do not return at night, and are looking for fun.

Therefore, Zhao Rong's entry into the city in the early morning was not as difficult as he imagined.

Zhao Rong walked all the way through the city, came to the small inn near the south gate that rented a guest room, pushed the door in, entered the room to change clothes, and left quietly after preparation.

Taibai Mountain is located in the southern suburbs of Luojing, is the highest peak on this plain, even in the mountains of Zhongnan is one of the best mountains, Zhao Rong raised his head and stared from afar, there is a "star" on the top of Taibai Mountain, shining brightly.

If any immortal looks down from above the nine heavens, he must think that the lights of the ten thousand homes in Luojing City are the little starlight splashed by the falling stars.

It is the place where the imaginary view is located, and it should be as bright as day at this moment.

When chatting, I heard Lin Wenruo say that it was a strange stone bred in the deep mountains of Zhongnan, the brighter the day day, the darker it was, and the deeper the dark curtain at night, the more radiant it was.

Zhao Rong frowned slightly, and when he arrived at the foot of Taibai Mountain, he heard the bell ring on the mountain, and it was already two o'clock.

The day is divided into twelve hours, and one hour has eight quarters. It was between 3 and 5 a.m.

At this time, it is summer, the first sun rises early, and the dawn is approaching, and the sky is not yet bright, but the insects have risen in the mountains and forests.

Zhao Rong stepped into the bazaar at the foot of the mountain, found that it was already quite lively, a little inquiry, it turned out that today is the Luojing people once a seven-day rest day, to avoid the daytime sun, early morning to burn incense and chant a lot of pilgrims, most of the family came together.

Zhao Rong stepped up the mountain, looked carefully, and found that in addition to the pilgrims, there were also many Taoist priests and Taoist children who were looking like they were going up the mountain together, presumably just getting up early.

Entering the appearance, after also crossing the threshold, his heart suddenly felt with something, and it was still the left front, Zhao Rong felt quite at ease, and just like last time, he put some silver taels in the merit box, and then walked around casually.

There was a Taoist boy in black clothes and blue hat beside him who passed by with a food box, Zhao Rong's heart moved slightly, and he turned around and followed quietly, and after a while, he found that the Taoist boy carried the food box into a side building in the southeast corner.

Zhao Rong's eyes swept away, and he could only see half of the table and chairs, and there were two blue-clothed Taoist priests sitting and chatting, and the Taoist boy smiled and said a few words after entering, then he opened the food box, took out a few plates and chopsticks, and then lifted the food box and walked inside, presumably there were other people in the building.

At this time, the early sun had risen, and the side building was just in the southeast corner of the wide field of vision, and a few morning rays crossed the door frame, passed through the lattice window, and entered the building, pasting the side of a thin blue-clothed Taoist priest in Zhao Rong's field of vision, who tilted his head to the other side, put down the dishes and chopsticks, and pushed the stool inside, avoiding the morning sun.

Seeing this, Zhao Rong pursed his lips lightly, stretched out his hand into the morning light, the morning sun was slightly warm, like silk covering his hands, bright and golden, soft and not hot, Zhao Rong withdrew his hand, turned around and looked out, did not look, saw that there was no one in front of him for the time being, and quickly turned into a remote road.

The appearance of Chongxuguan is very large, but Taibai Mountain is larger, and the mountainside is dense mountain forests except for a large area of magnificent buildings.

Zhao Rong cautiously groped for the mountain.

In Chongxuguan, the blue-clothed Taoist priest is the core Taoist priest and is a cultivator; the black-clothed Taoist priest is an ordinary Taoist priest who has not cultivated; in addition, I heard that there is also a purple-clothed Taoist priest, who is the most noble group of people in Chongxuguan, but he has not seen it himself, and he does not want to see it in front of the debate between Confucianism and Taoism.

According to what I saw just up the mountain, ordinary Taoist priests only went up the mountain after eating in the dining hall at the foot of the mountain, and not long ago, the blue-clothed Taoist priests in the three-story side building should not eat fast on the outside, and the inner vipassana where they lived should also have a dining hall.

Anything that happens leaves a trail.

These blue-clothed Taoist priests asked the Taoist children under the mountain to bring food in the morning, so there was only one possibility, they stayed overnight in the exterior last night. And the people who stayed up all night have gone through a long dark night, most of them are sensitive to light, and the emaciated Taoist priest just now avoided the warm morning sun, which is the sequelae of staying up late, and presumably the other Taoist priests who did not show up in the building are also the same.

As I guessed, the night guard must be deep, although the appearance of the mountainside is usually for pilgrims to pray for blessings and burn incense, but it is indeed one of the necessary ways to go up the mountain, and it will be closely guarded at night, and even when the door is opened to welcome guests during the day, someone should be secretly on guard.

On the eve of the Confucianism and Taoism debate, Chong Xuguan and Wen Ruo were secretly fighting constantly, and neither side dared to relax in the slightest, they were very vigilant, and they were doing their best to guard against and find each other's flaws.

There are pros and cons to everything.

The disadvantages of this matter are obvious, with such strict guards, it is extremely difficult for them to take away the Thunder Neon Purple Gold Furnace, and after the appearance of an "ordinary incense burner" disappears, it is very likely that they will pay attention to it and cast their eyes on this trivial matter.

But there are also advantages, all their attention at this time is on the Lanxi Lin clan, the view was stolen, the first thing they suspected was definitely the Lanxi Lin clan, as for why Lin Wenruo would come to steal an "ordinary incense burner", it is estimated that they can't think of it if they want to break their heads, it will only extend a lot of wrong answers, distract their energy, and affect their judgment, which is conducive to the Confucianism and Taoism debate on their side.

Of course, the best outcome is that they did not notice the theft of this "ordinary incense burner", which looks so crowded every day that there must have been thefts over the years. Therefore, you have to mislead them and take the initiative to provide them with a more reasonable reason for theft.

In connection with these ideas just now, in this way, it is best for you to start during the day, because the daytime guard is definitely not as strict as the night, and although the daytime expects that they will change guards, it is impossible to let the guard Taoist priest who has stayed up all night continue to watch, but the new Taoist priest will be slack off because his predecessor has passed the most dangerous night safely.

And according to normal logic, during the day they should be divided into dark guards and bright guards, the former is hiding in the unknowable darkness and squatting, while the latter is the blue-clothed Taoist priest stationed inside while chanting and interpreting the signs after the doors of each hall on the exterior are opened during the day, well, there are those who walk around on the outside.

And because of the inertia of thinking, the Taoist priest who is hidden in the dark and the Taoist priest on the surface will be dependent on each other because they know the existence of the other party, and pin their hopes on the other party.

That's the benefit of daylight, but the huge gains come with the same difficulty and danger, and that's something to be tackled in the next few days.

Finally, if there is a choice, it is better to choose a day with a lot of pilgrims, and give them a roughly reasonable reason for the theft of the incense burner, people like to make excuses, and only when they really can't find an excuse will they consider those factors that are beyond the norm. In addition, there are some tricks to confuse their judgment, so that they cannot easily deduce the truth of the matter.

Now that the general idea has been determined, all that remains is to refine the plan and implementation plan.

Plan and then act, know and stop.

Zhao Rong climbed the mountain all the way, picked a remote and uninhabited dangerous road, climbed the rock and crossed the spring, and stepped on the rocks and trees. Although he is still stuck in the golden stone period of the Ascending Heaven Realm, he is different from mortals who take the path of martial arts, and his physique has been tempered by Liu Sanchang, and he is no longer the weak scholar at the beginning.

After a while, Zhao Rong stopped suddenly, stopped under the tree, three meters in front of him is a green tile and red wall, through the fragmentary leaves, looking up, the wall is about 30 feet high, a horizontal row of cyan tiles intersect with the clear sky, a long sky and one color, looking left and right, the red wall does not know how many miles extends, there is no end in sight.

This red wall separates the mountainside from the top of the mountain, and it is also the boundary between the inside and outside of the void, and outsiders are not allowed to trespass at will.

Suddenly, there were bells from behind the wall, and Zhao Rong listened carefully, silently counting in his heart.

Seven quarters in the hour.

In another quarter of an hour, it would be five o'clock in the morning.

The bell tower is behind the wall, and the top of the hill is too far away to see the mountainside. You don't have to worry, you can stay on the heights near the exterior of the mountainside, and gather the necessary information by observing the scenery in the exterior of the void.

Zhao Rong stretched out his hand and pressed the red wall in front of him, then turned around and returned the same way, erasing the traces he left along the way.

As for the mountains and forests near the appearance of Chongxuguan, Zhao Rong searched carefully, and on the northeast slope of the appearance, he deliberately chose a deep forest where no birds and beasts inhabited to hide it.

Gently lifted the leaves, looked sideways, the line of sight was not very good, but I could see most of the areas except the northeast corner, including the main hall in the middle of the hall called Yin Zu Palace, the three-story building in the southeast corner of the stargazing tower, and finally the left side hall where the Ting Ni Zijin Furnace was located that I was most concerned about, the Lingguan Palace.

Zhao Rong bowed his head, erected the branches, and while carefully memorizing the terrain, he took out two pieces of pancake from his arms and gnawed them, which were a little dry and hard. This was bought at an early stall that opened very early when I went out of town.

Zhao Rong chewed while observing, glanced at it, and saw that in the stargazing building in the northeast corner of the appearance, which was a little higher than his position, more than a dozen blue-clothed Taoist priests walked out one after another, Zhao Rong turned his head curiously, raised his eyes slightly, and suddenly found that there were light spots flickering in the hollow wooden window of the attic at the top of the stargazing tower, and it seemed that there was a figure walking in it to block the light.

This loft with the highest appearance can be seen in all directions! Including here! Zhao Rong was startled, and the pancake in his hand fell to the ground. Oh no, why did you forget that tall building with a secret sentinel?!