Fu Zhu

Qingcheng Mountain, Baiyun Temple.

The little Taoist hurried past under the tree with a bucket in his hand, and suddenly saw someone sitting on the branch of an old locust tree. The green water was covered with semi-jasmine flowers, and milky white mist rose from the grass, so he quietly looked at it. After a few glances, there was billowing morning mist rushing towards him, and he couldn't help blocking it with his hands.

"Life is just a dream."

The man's scarlet robe hung down from the branches and leaves, barely covering the iron cuffs on his wrists.

"People say that those who sleep next to an ant nest can dream of emperors, those who sleep among flowers can dream of romance, and those who sleep in front of quicksand can dream of gold. What about you..."

Hearing the man's low laughter, the pagoda trees trembled slightly, and hurriedly looked away.

The wooden barrel was immersed in the stream, and the ripples swayed, and the reflection of the man in the water could still be seen vaguely, with long eyebrows reaching into the temples, handsome eyes protruding upwards, and red lines flying obliquely at the corners of the eyes, like a fox.

It has been raining continuously for half a month in Zhejiang and Zhejiang.In the tavern, there is a plaque hanging high to avoid talking about current affairs, and the sound of dropping chopsticks and persuading people to drink can be heard.When the wine was hot, the wind blown open the half-covered window panels, and the cold rain rushed in, filling up the empty bottles.The diners squinted their eyes as they watched Jinling in the rain.

As the saying goes, Haiyan and Heqing are prosperous, and famous merchants and wealthy businessmen are springing up like bamboo shoots after rain. The Yixiaozhuang of the Lu family is engaged in jewelry business.

Perhaps it's because the old owner loves horses, and there are many horses in the stables.The servants wore coir raincoats and walked all the way through the water. Just as they pulled out the most fat and strong horse from the stables and put it on the top of the ponytail, a folding fan with plain face and jade bones protruded from behind the bead curtain. With a light flick, Master Lu Qingchuan came out of the main room in a brocade suit.The servant held an umbrella and followed him step by step.

On the banks of Mochou Lake, the old capital of the Six Dynasties, the wind and moon are boundless.Lu Qingchuan walked under the umbrella, the Jinling City under his feet was shrouded in mist, the cornices were upturned, and the prosperity was faint.The world's wealth comes from the southeast, and Jinling is its meeting place. Although it is not as good as Luoyang Peony and Chang'an Wangqi, this place where King Qin buried gold has a special charm.

When Lu Qingchuan stepped into the car, the bamboo curtain fell, and the folding fan closed in his palm with a snap.The carriage went all the way to the outside of Jinling City. When passing the tavern, Lu Qingchuan raised a corner of the curtain with a folding fan, and stretched out his hand to check the rain.

Seeing him, many drinkers in the arbor shouted, "It's Lu Qingchuan! You said, is it true that the Lu family is haunted?"

There happened to be a young Taoist priest sitting in the window-side seat, he was only in his early twenties, his face was tender and childish, and he was carrying a long sword, listening and pouring tea for himself.

Several diners talked to each other, and after the tea was half-cooled, they also told seven or eight points of the ins and outs.

It turned out that at the beginning of the year, the owner of Lu Zhuang, an old tree in spring, took in a new concubine, and the family called her Liu Niang.Not only does she look the most beautiful in Jinling, but she is also considerate and considerate in doing things. As soon as she enters the door, she compares with the other concubines in the mansion.

Unexpectedly, within a few months, the old owner suddenly fell into a coma. In the spring of March, the young owner went to Yangzhou alone to stockpile goods.

However, the strange thing is that once Liu Niang died, several aunts of the Lu family also followed, and the body was either wounded by a knife or by a sword.The Lu family was as prepared as an iron bucket, but the murders continued one after another, and no one knew how the murderer came and went.

In addition, after nightfall, female ghosts were often heard crying at night, and gradually there were rumors in the house that Liu Niang died unjustly, and now she turned into a ghost demanding her life, and no one in the Lu family would be able to escape.

When the diners said this, seeing that the rain had slowed down, they settled their bills in groups of three or five, and walked into the rain with umbrellas.

The little Taoist sat quietly for a while, and beckoned to the waiter, paid the bill, and left the tavern in the rain.

This man's name is Hua Yang, and he is the last Taoist priest in Baiyun Temple in Qingcheng Mountain. The law can be described as loose in every way.

When the sun was setting to the west, Lu Qingchuan came back from shopping outside the city, and he saw such a Taoist priest standing under the eaves of his house to avoid the rain.

Seeing Lu Qingchuan get off the car, Hua Yang's eyes lit up, and he said loudly: "Divination is half a coin, Fengshui is half a coin, five taels for eliminating disasters and exorcising evil spirits, ten taels for catching ghosts and demons!"

Lu Qingchuan couldn't help but glance at him more, the servant holding the umbrella behind him walked so fast that he almost bumped into him.The raindrops floated under the umbrella and fell densely on the shoulders of the master and servant.Seeing him stop, Hua Yang was refreshed, and was about to continue yelling, but the man laughed lowly and shook his head at him.

Hua Yang was stunned for a while, before saying: "Young Master Lu, you get what you pay for."

The smile on Lu Qingchuan's face remained undiminished, he closed his silk fan, and pointed behind Huayang: "I don't need to worry about the trivial matters in the house, please go back."

The little Taoist responded vaguely, seeing that he really passed by, he said in a panic: "I am a Taoist from Baiyun Temple."

Lu Qingchuan stopped suddenly, turned his head, the folding fan half-covered the corners of his mouth, on the back of the silk fan were painted a few branches of vigorous old plums, the bright red flowers were dotted scattered on the branches, making his eyes cloudy However, the man smiled and said, "So it's the Taoist priest of Baiyun Temple."

Hua Yang nodded again and again, took out a letter from his Taoist coat, handed it to Lu Qingchuan with both hands, and reported his Taoist name: "I am from the Chinese generation, and the single name is a Yang character, which means heaven and earth pure yang. The temple master has received an urgent letter from Master Lu, and sent me to help you solve the misfortune."

Lu Qingchuan smiled when he heard the words, took out the letter paper and glanced casually.Hua Yang felt that he was underestimated for a moment, and was a little annoyed when Lu Qingchuan turned the subject slightly: "It really is a young hero." He took out a bag of broken silver from his sleeve and handed it over.

The little Taoist accepted the silver bag hesitantly, weighed it with his hands, and saw that there were at least 20 taels, and immediately stammered: "Don't worry, I will take good care of you."

Hearing what he said seriously, Lu Qingchuan's eyes flashed strangely, and he smiled again.There is a clear and luxurious demeanor between his eyebrows, coupled with the brocade clothes and jade belt, the person is like a beautiful jade, it is difficult to look away when he smiles.

After he put away the letter, Hua Yang was still staring at this side blankly, Lu Qingchuan raised his eyebrows and said: "Little Daoist, aren't you going to help Lu's family get rid of the disaster?"

Only then did Hua Yang regain his senses, and saw that the door with black lacquer and copper corners had opened behind him, and a screen wall was in front of him, and hurried to follow.

Lu Qingchuan made a gesture of invitation, and the two walked around the screen wall and walked deep.

There are clumps of thin flower branches planted on both sides of the stone road in the Lu Mansion, and the tips of the branches are covered with water beads. Outside the flower branches are green tile cornices that are connected to each other.

The splashing rain rushes to the front, three parts of the chilly spring, seven parts of the residual fragrance of the soul.It is a huge mansion, the courtyards are connected by verandahs, and there is a Taihu Lake stone in the southwest corner, and a pool was dug under the stone. The drizzle made the lake sparkling.

Lu Qingchuan walked in front silently, Huayang was about to follow him across the Moon Cave Gate, when he stopped suddenly, wiped the whitewashed wall with his hand, and sniffed it under his nose, not knowing what to see.

The surrounding area was shrouded in mist, and a few plantains were planted in the damp place at the corner, and water droplets were rolling down from the thick leaves.At this moment, a black shadow flashed on the whitewashed wall, Hua Yang was about to lean over to take a closer look, when he silently patted his shoulder with a hand: "Taoist?"

Hua Yang trembled all over, turned his head abruptly, saw Lu Qingchuan standing behind him with a smile, and his anger probably disappeared.When I turned around, I wanted to take a closer look, except for a few swaying plantains, there was no shadow.

Lu Qingchuan laughed softly: "Taoist?"

Hua Yang made a hush gesture, took out a compass from his arms, held it, and slowly circled around here.A gust of wind blew by the water, and the flowers all over the tree left the branches one after another, and fell rustlingly in the drizzle, pieces of rouge color, like the dust of love.

Lu Qingchuan raised his head slightly in the flying flowers, his eyes were clear, and he held the folded silk fan in his hand.Almost at the same time, fine cracks appeared on the four corners of the copper compass.

Hua Yang's expression froze, he bit his index finger, dipped in blood and drew a few strokes on the compass, the pointer swung back and forth, and finally pointed to one place.

The wind gradually died down, Lu Qingchuan stood there with great interest, and laughed softly: "Master Daoist, it's pointing at me."

Hua Yang was stunned for a moment, even tried a few times, but couldn't figure out what went wrong, so he could only mutter, "Xuanmen Taoism is like this, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."

Lu Qingchuan laughed a few times after that, without revealing it, and was about to lead the way ahead, when he suddenly smelled the bloody smell on the compass, his expression changed suddenly.

Hua Yang stood where he was, saw Lu Qingchuan turned around, looked at him for a long time with an unfriendly expression, and smiled blankly.

"Mr. Lu, how about I call you Qingchuan? There are hundreds of green peaks, and Qingchuan is endless. Such a good name, it's not a pity."

Lu Qingchuan was still staring at Huayang and his blood-stained compass, before he could say anything, the man called him that.

After the two of them hastily had a fast meal in the side courtyard, Lu Qingchuan left alone.At this time, Jinling is in the season of miscellaneous peanut trees and flocks of orioles flying around. In the courtyard, several thick and thick old trees are even more brilliant, covered by flowers and trees, leaving only a palm-sized sky above the head.

Hua Yang circled around the yard a few times to get a rough idea of ​​the terrain, then took out the old ink cartridge for hunting monsters from his backpack, hooked his finger to the ink line and flicked it, an ink mark was printed in the air with a snap, and then snapped again. One shot, another print.

After working under the tree for a long time, he managed to arrange a criss-crossing ink net, and chose an old tree with the most branches and leaves, climbed up on hands and feet, and lay down on the branch.

The wind and rain are sifting through the branches and leaves, leaving only the gentle sound of water.

Huayang slept very soundly this time, until the third watch of the month, when he kicked his feet, he suddenly woke up.In the gloom of the night, there was a full moon that was so white that it was mixed with people.The doors and windows of the entire Lu Mansion were locked, and the lights were turned off early. The surrounding area was extremely quiet, and one had to listen carefully to hear the sound of the rain.

The little Taoist shrank his neck, feeling cold sweat gradually coming out of his back.It took a long time to squeeze out two thousand laughs, and sang a bold Qin Opera at the top of my voice: "I was walking and I heard the rooster crowing, and when I looked up suddenly, I saw the red sun rising tide. Looking down, I flashed onto Yangguan Avenue, Wu Zi Qing raised his brows immediately. Looking at Chu, he would scold King Ping for being innocent and a fool! If you don’t punish him, how can I forgive you lightly.”

While he was singing, the wind suddenly became louder, the lush weeds were rustling, and an indistinct singing sound came from a distance.

Huayang's broken gong suddenly became hoarse. He shuddered, and stood on the tree for a while, only to hear the singing more and more clearly.

The red beans are not thrown away,

Youth is old.

Hua Yang swallowed hard, pulled the sword behind his back to his chest, and shouted: "Good time!" As he spoke, he raised his hand, and a spell exploded in mid-air, illuminating the surroundings as bright as day.

With this light, he saw a blood-stained woman standing very close at hand, with a shock, all the spells were cast out as if costing nothing.

After a short period of light, the surroundings darkened again, and the stack of spells fell into the sea like a mud cow.Hua Yang's face was flushed red, and he untied a half-shrunken gourd from his waist, with the mouth of the gourd facing outwards, and said bravely, "I see that Mi is young and died unjustly, it's not that I can't take you in."

Hua Yang waited for a while, then tentatively asked, "Liu Niang?"

Before the words fell, I felt a gust of evil wind blowing towards my face, followed by a terribly scream, and the ink lines that had been arranged before suddenly became tense.

Seeing her bump into the net, Hua Yang grabbed dozens of thread ends firmly with a move of his hand, pulled hard, lifted it up a few feet, and laughed loudly: "You have set a trap, you really drilled."

He held the thread in one hand and the gourd in the other, and pulled out the gag with his teeth. Just as he was elated, the weight in his hand suddenly became heavier.The monster's strange strength came from nowhere, and after several struggles, it dragged Hua Yang from the tree.

This fall was too shattered to prevent, and when Hua Yang realized it, all the bones in his body were about to fall apart.He wiped his face with his sleeve indiscriminately, shook the grass leaves, and tried to stand up, but he couldn't move his feet, and when he touched it, his hands were covered with blood.

The sound of the rain was getting louder, as if the sky had opened a hole, and the Milky Way was pouring into the soft red. At this time, it was already too late to collect the net.

In the pervasive chill, the sobbing singing sounded again.

On a branch of red beans, the spring is luxuriant,

The red beans are old without throwing them away.

The old man happens in vain,

Newcomers are always young.

Hua Yang held the hilt of the sword in his hand, and his forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat. With a clear sword cry, the long sword was unsheathed, with a cold light.

In the chaotic and dark night, illuminated by the shining blade of the sword, there began to be a faint ray of light, and the mist shuttled through the thick and thin rain.

A gust of dark wind hit, Hua Yang raised his sword and stabbed back.After the female ghost was injured, there was a stern and colorful smile on her face.

"This life is full of ups and downs, and the next life can often lead to a better future," Hua Yang shrank his neck slightly in the cold rain: "Liu Niang..."

In the future, before he could speak further, his palm suddenly felt a pain, and he saw a ball of green phosphorescent ghost fire burning along the sword body all the way up.

Hua Yang's face changed drastically, his sleeves were rolled up to cover his flesh, and when he was slapping desperately, the female ghost took advantage of the situation and grabbed his elbow, flipped it over with her fingers, the skin was ripped open, and the long sword was about to drop.Seeing his life hanging by a thread, Hua Yang bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of pure Yang blood.

The female ghost screamed and disappeared in the darkness again.Huayang was in unbearable pain, panting in the rain.The two sides confront each other, and if they fight again, it will be life and death.Suddenly, there was a light of fire in the darkness, Hua Yang looked back and saw Lu Qingchuan standing quietly not far away holding a lantern.

As if seeing a savior, Hua Yang stretched out a hand towards him: "Qingchuan!"

Seeing that Lu Qingchuan was not moving, he hurriedly called out again: "Qingchuan, give me a hand."

It took Lu Qingchuan a while before he walked over slowly, the candle flame in the lantern flickered slightly.The night is clear and bright, the water is gurgling, and the moonlight, as thin as a cicada's wing, flows gently in the grass.

Hua Yang stood up little by little with Lu Qingchuan's hand, already sweating profusely: "You support me, and I'll make gestures with her again."

Lu Qingchuan laughed softly: "With whom?"

Hua Yang was about to answer the conversation, but found that the moon was in the sky, and the female ghost had disappeared, and it took him a long time to recover.

Lu Qingchuan changed into a vermilion robe, which made his brows even more luxurious and compelling.

Hua Yang limped, supported by this person, limped to the eaves step by step, took off the dripping coat, and sneezed several times.

Lu Qingchuan put the lantern in his hand on the door, went to the kitchen for the little Taoist priest to boil a pot of boiling water, made tea, let it cool for a while, and then brought it over.

Hua Yang took the purple sand teapot and drank a few big gulps from the spout, his body gradually warmed up.Lu Qingchuan waited for him to drink a pot of hot tea, and asked, "Why is the Taoist priest in such a mess?"

Huayang laughed a few times, and warmed his hands with the teapot over and over again.

Lu Qingchuan paused, took out a 50 tael bank note from his sleeve, and handed it over.

Hua Yang didn't answer, and after a while, he said in a hoarse voice, "You really don't remember me?"

These words have been held back in Huayang's stomach for several hours.

Before he became a monk, he was also a native of Jinling. He had been begging with four old beggars since he was a child. He lived in a broken tile kiln with the gate facing the back wall of Lu Mansion.Just separated by such a ditch, people look at the mountains, water, and smoke, but here is the smoke from the remnants of mountains and water.

In the year when he first met Lu Qingchuan, Hua Yang had just accomplished something in his studies.The old beggar smeared some pig's blood on his face, lay on the cart and pretended to be dead, while Hua Xiaoyang knelt by the side of the road, crying bitter words about selling his body to bury his father, while holding a broken bowl containing copper plates begging.

While weeping in misery, there was a sound of "Dang", and a heavy silver screw fell into the bowl loudly.

Hua Yang rubbed his eyes with his dirty sleeves, looked up in a daze, and saw the neatly dressed young master of the Lu family walking past him with a folding fan in his arms.

However, good times don’t last long. After a few days, it’s the turn of the little beggar and the second child to go out to beg for food.After crying for a long time, when I was about to call it a day, I suddenly heard a "dang", and there was another white silver screw in the bowl.

Hua Yang shuddered subconsciously when he heard the voice.

Young Master Lu waved his fan and walked a few steps forward, suddenly remembered something, came back angrily, pointed at them and asked, "Why did you change your father?"

Seeing that the situation is wrong, the old and the young, the first reaction is to slip away.The old man broke through the crowd and ran away, overturning several fruit stalls in a row, while Hua Yang climbed up the low wall in a hurry, climbing the persimmon tree next to the wall.Unexpectedly, as soon as he rode on the wall, his ankle was grabbed by Mr. Lu.

Seeing that this person was only three or four years older than him, Hua Yang felt flustered, but not particularly scared.When he regained his composure, he sat on the wall and asked, "Do you want to let go?"

The man snorted coldly, and replied with a straight face: "Then will you still lie to others in the future?"

The breeze is blowing everywhere, the wine flags are waving, and the faint fragrance of wild flowers is like a white radish hanging in front of a donkey, which whets people's appetite.The little beggar rolled his star-bright eyes and managed to force a smile: "Don't dare, never dare again."

Young Master Lu pulled out the silver screw from his palm: "It's a lie again."

This young man was well dressed, with a sachet hanging around his waist, and his nose was itchy when he was so close.Hua Yang thought that he would change his mind, but suddenly hit a wall, turned pale with anger, jumped off the wall, turned around and ran away.

Young Master Lu asked softly behind him: "Hey, what's your name?"

Huayang has already run a long way.

The next day, Hua Yang stretched his waist, and as soon as he came out of the broken kiln, he saw Young Master Lu holding a fan and sitting with his feet up on the courtyard wall opposite the door.The wall is as high as a person, with red paint and glazed tiles.The sun seemed to be on fire, golden and full of light, turned over the high block, and smashed down on the head and face.

"My name is Lu Qingchuan. The cliffs are dry and the sky is dry, the lonely peak enters the Han Dynasty, the green mountain is full of green peaks, and the Qingchuan is endless. What about you?"

Huayang didn't have a Taoist name at that time, and he had no name or surname. After holding back for a long time, his face turned red from boredom.

Young Master Lu waved his folding fan, looked at him with a smile for a while, and suddenly said, "You still owe me a name."

As he spoke, he took out an oiled paper bag from his pocket and opened it layer by layer. The steamed bun inside was still steaming.Young Master Lu smelled it, and smiled contentedly: "It smells so good."

Hua Xiaoyang stood under the wall, the smell of meat slipped in from under his nose, making his stomach churn with greed.He swallowed, turned his head away for a long time, carefully took out an apple stalk from his arms, put it under his nose and sniffed vigorously: "Mine is also fragrant."

Before he finished speaking, he heard the man chuckle.While laughing, Young Master Lu rewrapped a few buns, bent over and handed them over: "Here for you."

The little beggar picked it up, sniffed it foolishly for a while, and swallowed again: "Is there rat poison in it?"

Young Master Lu was about to climb back up the ladder, when he heard this sentence, he poked his head out of the wall again, and smiled wickedly: "Aren't you just a little mouse."

Hua Yang snorted a few times, held the meat bun, turned his back and took a small bite. The stuffing in the bun was full, and the soup flowed out from it, hot and fresh.The wall is still standing there, and the Lu family's mansion is built against the mountain. Looking forward, the foothills are getting steeper and the vegetation is getting richer. When you look up suddenly, it looks like a green hill.

Hearing these words, Lu Qingchuan paused, and after a while, he put the banknote back into his sleeve.

Holding the teapot in his hands, Hua Yang asked cautiously, "Have you forgotten about me?"

Under the candlelight, Lu Qingchuan's eyes were bottomlessly dark, he smiled slowly: "Ah, I naturally remember."

Only then did Huayang let out a foul breath, and then laughed: "Qingchuan."

As he said that, he was about to take Lu Qingchuan's hand, but the man covered his hand first, and smiled at him affectionately: "You sit down, I'll come."

He took out a small porcelain bottle from his pocket and unscrewed the red cloth stopper.

Hua Yang didn't know what to think of, so he refused to roll up his sleeves no matter what, and whispered, "I have some old wounds, I'm afraid I'll scare you."

Lu Qingchuan!With a slight smile, he went to grab Huayang's limped leg instead.

As soon as he took off his shoes and socks, Hua Yang hissed and gasped, and whispered, "Take it easy."

Lu Qingchuan just smiled, and applied the medicine lightly. The wound was deep and shallow, and blood was still oozing out. The room was filled with the smell of medicine and blood.

Huayang shuddered in pain, but he didn't really hide.

This man was very skillful in applying the medicine, but when he brushed over the wound, he always had to pause for a while, and only frowned and moved away when his fingertips were stained with blood.Hua Yang was in pain for a long time, and gradually felt the wound was chilly and indescribably comfortable.

While rubbing his feet for him, Lu Qingchuan asked with a smile: "Could it be that the Taoist priest came here for me?"

Hua Yang grinned, his face slowly turning red. "Of course not. Master Lu's letter came at an untimely time. The brothers and uncles couldn't get away. I'm still a carefree person."

"Could something be wrong?"

"It's a big deal." Hearing this, Hua Yang suddenly opened his eyes, looked up and down Lu Qingchuan: "Qingchuan, don't tell others."

"Of course." Lu Qingchuan deserved to be calm.

Hua Yang leaned over, lowered his voice word by word and said: "The fox demon in the back mountain of Baiyunguan Town has escaped."

Lu Qingchuan sat upright, his eyes were too dark to see through.The candle flame flicked a few times, and it was about to go out, so he freed up one hand and pulled out a piece of the wick with tweezers: "It's just a monster."

Seeing that he was absent-minded, Hua Yang couldn't help raising his voice: "It's not an ordinary monster!" Before he finished speaking, he swallowed first: "This monster has shown its original shape, it can be as big as a mountain, and it can breathe in one breath. If you do Beihai, you're almost on the verge of becoming an immortal..."

"The world praises it."

Hua Yang froze for a moment before saying, "Qingchuan, what did you say?"

Lu Qingchuan held his ankle and rubbed it for him again: "Go on."

Hua Yang was unprepared, he only said: "If the patriarch hadn't skinned this animal and imprisoned it in the back mountain with a blood array, I don't know how many murders he would have committed."

Lu Qingchuan suddenly exerted force on his hand and twisted it violently, only to hear a slap, Huayang trembled in pain immediately, and the blood on his face faded.Lu Qingchuan sneered: "It's just setting your bones."

Hua Yang was still covering his wound, gasping for air.

Lu Qingchuan sat at the table, wiped his hands slowly with a handkerchief, and said to himself: "This little pain is better than receiving blood..."

Hua Yang was taken aback when he heard this, and waited for a long time, but still didn't see anything to say.After half a cup of tea, the pain gradually went away, and the feet felt a little smoother, and couldn't help worrying about Lu Qingchuan again, and said in a low voice: "Qingchuan, I heard from senior brother that this monster has lost its skin, and it was in a hurry along the way. I want to borrow someone's skin, so don't wander around at night."

Lu Qingchuan's gaze was still on Huayang's blood-stained handkerchief, and after a while, he slowly turned to Huayang: "Isn't there a Taoist priest here?"