Poplar Ferry is located in the upper reaches of the Xiluo River, more than 300 miles away from Lao Yaling, the ferry is named after the three poplar trees on the riverside, the local natives call it "three thousand years old", take the meaning of "life without dying for a thousand years, death without falling for a thousand years, and being immortal for a thousand years".

From the poplar crossing to the north, crossing the Xiluo River, is the towering Kunlun.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Wei 17 came to the poplar ferry alone, looking at the Xiluo River rolling eastward, and sighed.

The ferry is built along the river, scattered with more than a dozen food shops and inns, Wei 17 picked the most prosperous poplar old shop in the city, ordered a pot of wine, three or five catties of beef, looked at the river view, slowly finished eating the wine and beef, beckoned Xiao Er to settle the bill, and asked by the way: "Has there been a sloppy old man recently?"

The little two smiled and said: "Yesterday, there was also a guest officer who asked about the sloppy old way - that old man lived in the land temple, and he only arrived the night before yesterday, carrying a burnt yellow gourd in his hand, and went to our store to get a gourd of wine before leaving. ”

"Is he a vegetarian or a meat eater?"

"Wine and meat are not taboo, and I come to drink and buy beef every day. It's not a small boast, the beef in our store is the only one, famous far and wide, and some guests have traveled dozens of miles to taste this bite. ”

Wei Qiqi nodded, asked Xiao Er to cut another ten catties of beef, wrapped it in oiled paper, sold a small jar of good wine, tied it with hemp rope, dropped a piece of broken silver, carried the wine jar in one hand, and held the beef in the other, and left the food shop and went to the land temple.

The land temple is at the west end of Huyangdu, facing the river, dilapidated, the cobwebs in the temple are overhanging, the mud statue collapses, a sloppy old Taoist sits on the ground, leans against the offering platform, there is an empty gourd lying horizontally at the feet, and a person stands behind him, it is Yue Zhilan of Zhao Mansion in Xinyang Town.

Seeing his acquaintance, Wei Qiqi nodded at him, put the wine and meat in front of Lao Dao, and saluted with his crossed hands: "Wei Qiqi has seen the Taoist." ”

The sloppy old man rolled his eyes, more white and less black, his appearance was a little fierce, and he said with a sharp voice: "This wine and meat are your filial piety to the old man?"

"Yes, please smile. ”

The sloppy old man lifted the wine jar, patted off the mud seal, brought it to his mouth and drank three sips in a row, breathed a long sigh of relief, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and praised: "Good wine!"

He squinted his eyes and looked at the iron ring on Wei Qiqi's right index finger, and asked, "Which one gave you the iron ring on your hand?"

"Daoist Deng of the Xiandu faction. ”

"Deng Yuantong or Deng Shouyi?"

"It's Deng Shouyi. ”

The sloppy old man was a little surprised, "It's a little stool again—come closer, sit down and let me see." ”

"It turns out that Deng Shouyi has such a nickname, I don't know if he said 'little stool' or 'little Dengzi'. Wei Qiqi turned his mind in his heart, took a few steps forward, and sat neatly beside the sloppy old Dao, who was tall and long-legged, a head taller than the old Dao, lining him like a child. Lao Dao looked up at him, and he didn't think he was angry, but praised it: "Big man, what a skin! Come on, come on, stretch out your right hand—"

Wei Qiqi stretched out his right hand according to his words, and said in his heart: "Will he say that I see your bones Qingqi......

The sloppy old man grabbed his wrist, and his dirty nails pierced into the flesh, and in an instant, the vitality poured into his body, like a hot stream, quickly circled along the meridians, and disappeared in a blink of an eye. Wei Qiqi frowned slightly, he felt that when the Yuan Qi passed through the back soul acupoint, he paused slightly, and was intercepted a little, leaving it in the acupoint.

The sloppy old man said "Huh", and asked with a straight face, "What exercises have you practiced?"

Wei Qiqi knew that the abnormality in his body could not be concealed from him, so he immediately took out the fragment of the animal skin from his arms and said, "I found a piece of animal skin in the bear den in the Black Pine Valley of Lao Yaling, and cultivated it indiscriminately according to the method above, and I don't know if it is right or not. ”

Hearing this, Yue Zhilan couldn't help but feel remorseful, when he was in the Old Crow Ridge, if he hadn't been in a hurry to go down the mountain to reply to Steward Deng, maybe he would have a share of the exercises on this animal skin.

The sloppy old man glanced at it a few times, didn't bother to take it over and take a closer look, and sneered at it: "This kind of stupid exercise, don't practice it." ”

Wei Qiqi put away the animal skin in a daze, feeling a little apprehensive in his heart.

The sloppy old man let go of his hand, touched the goatee, thoughtfully paused for a moment, and said: "Although it is a stupid exercise, it is not bad to use it to temper the body, you have five elements and are close to the soil, and you have opened a trick point, which is quite so-so." For the sake of your filial piety to the old Taoist wine and meat, just stay. ”

Wei Qiqi breathed a sigh of relief, got up and saluted him, waved his hand in a sloppy old way, and said, "Stand aside and wait, don't stand in front of you, block the way of others." ”

While talking, another young man stepped into the temple with confidence, his face was like a crown of jade, his white clothes were better than snow, and he called himself so-and-so, and he rolled his eyes as usual, and asked him where the iron ring in his hand came from as usual, and told him to come close and sit down, grabbed his wrist, let go of his hand after a while, took off the iron ring on his index finger, and waved his hand to let him go.

The young man was struck by lightning, knelt at his feet, and bowed his head again and again, begging the immortal master to take him in. The sloppy old man asked slowly: "You can't open the acupoints all over your body, an acquired turbidity, why do you worship under the Xiandu Gate?"

Wei Qiqi's heart moved, listening to the sloppy and old tone, it seemed that as long as he paid a sufficient price, the Xiandu faction would also collect the acquired turbidity.

The young man was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly blessed his soul, and said that his family had thousands of acres of fertile land, thousands of wealth, and a group of slaves, and he was willing to give ten thousand taels of gold and ten pairs of boys and girls...... The more you talk about it, the more outrageous it becomes. The sloppy old man tilted his head and listened for a long time, and when he saw that he couldn't get to the point, he impatiently stretched out his hand to push, but he didn't see him exert himself, and the young man flew out of the temple and fell all over the ground.

Yue Zhilan sighed in his stomach, and there was something hurtful. In fact, he is also an acquired turbidity that cannot be opened, just because Deng Zhang couldn't get out of his nationality, he felt guilty, and begged Deng Shouyi for help, Deng Shouyi mentioned a few words, Deng Zhang quietly handed him a piece of dark iron that had been hidden for decades, bribed the sloppy old man, and reluctantly stayed.

After that, thirteen more people came to the Land Temple, and the sloppy old man accepted three of them, leaving ten iron rings, and waited until midnight when no new person appeared.

On the eighth day of the seventh month, it passed like this.