salted fish soaring

There are no paved stone steps on the back mountain of Huawei, only a few zigzagging trails, and the grass is deep and the trees are lush because of the lack of people.

Although the sun is strongest in the morning, when one enters the back mountain, one is still surrounded by towering ancient trees, as if walking in a dark abyss.

Daoist Xuyun and Daoist Qingwei, the master of Ziyun Temple, are walking side by side on this road that sees no light.

At this time, they did not have the pomp of a strong party, and only two young monks followed behind them.

The two men had solemn postures and steady steps, but their eyes shone with anticipation.

One person was wearing a floral blue robe with delicate and complicated patterns, obviously carefully dressed; the other was wearing a lobelia purple Taoist robe, which was pure and elegant, and looked quite young and mature.

If you have ever seen students who are rushing to the big exam of life, you can understand the complex expressions on their faces.

At the end of the mountain road, a small building with mottled vermilion paint is quietly hidden among the lush ancient cypresses.

The four stopped together.

Qingwei turned to the two young monks behind her, and said calmly: "If there is a chance, it is a destiny, don't force it."

Xu Yun was a little stern: "If this matter comes true, everyone will be happy. If it doesn't happen, you must not have delusional thoughts and be unwilling to be entangled. Do you two remember?"

The two of them lowered their eyebrows and lowered their eyes, and should be respectful.

Looking at the small building, Qingwei took a deep breath: "Okay, I'll go see you first..."

"Senior Brother Guanzhu!" A female voice interrupted him, abrupt and disrespectful, but as clear as an oriole coming out of the valley.

I saw a girl in a goose-yellow shirt smiling, and ran out of the small building: "Are you going to see Master?"

The girl has round eyes and a round face, with curved willow eyebrows, her facial features are not very delicate and beautiful, but she has a special aura.

Looking forward, like a young sparrow in a nest poking its head out of curiosity.The quiet and solemn small building in the deep mountain suddenly became brighter.

The two young monks originally frowned secretly, thinking that before the chess ghosts, how could there be such an ignorant little girl waiting on them, how polite they were yelling.

However, when the girl rushed to him, the two of them looked at her, not only did not feel the slightest disgust, they even couldn't help smiling, thinking that in the future, if there is such a lively, innocent and lovely junior sister serving tea and holding chess, it will be difficult. The Immortal Journey and the Way of Chess will definitely be much easier and happier.

Master Qingwei said with a smile: "Junior Sister Li, Sect Master Xu Yun and I are thinking of Uncle Master in our hearts, so we came to visit, but our old guy is clumsy, dull and boring, afraid of offending Uncle Xu..."

Listening to his introduction, the girl seemed to have seen Xu Yun and the two young monks just now, and met them.

Qingwei continued: "These two young juniors know how to do arrays and chess, why don't you let them go in and play two games with the master to relieve the boredom. I have already seen it with the qi technique, and they are all fates. There are fortune-tellers here, Zhao Lin, Yao An, come to see your Senior Sister Li."

The so-called "knowledge point" is of course a modest statement. If it is not a genius picked out of a million, who would dare to bring it in front of a chess ghost.

Zhao Lin in the green robe and Yao An in the purple robe were about to step forward, but the girl smiled and said, "You're welcome. How can I be regarded as Master's disciple? It's just that Master is getting old and needs someone beside him to pour tea and hold chess pieces." Medicine, a little girl who talks funny. I haven't learned half of the master's real ability, so I dare not be a 'senior sister'."

Hearing what she said, although they didn't dare to show frivolity, they already felt contemptuous.

Unexpectedly, the girl changed the subject: "But the two fellow Taoists came at an unfortunate time, the master is still ill, and he just took the elixir, so I told you not to see any visitors, it's impolite!"

A clean eviction order.

Qing Wei and Xu Yun's expressions remained the same, not showing any disappointment, but the faces of the two young monks turned red.

They were afraid that they didn't perform well enough today, but they didn't expect that they wouldn't be able to get in at all.

Everyone in the comprehension world knows that Chess Ghost has been ill for many years.A person who has been ill for a long time uses illness as a reason for refusal, which shows that he is really too lazy to find a reason.

Hearing the girl's lively voice, Xu Yun suddenly felt a little envious.

It's not because I envy Chess Ghost for being ill for a long time, but because I envy him for daring to speak out so bluntly.Because he is still very strong, he is not afraid of being known how many times a day he takes medicine.

So he "has nothing to say to others".

Thinking that he didn't dare to publicize after his breakthrough failure, he could only send his confidants to secretly search for the Dead Sea Lotus, but Xian Jianchen found out and sent an outer disciple to spread the word and beat him in the face.

Like myself, "all kinds of scruples" is the normal state of a cultivator, not daring to get sick, not getting hurt, afraid of strong enemies, afraid of unstable status.

Qingwei Daoist said: "I'm bothering you, I'll take my leave after this."

Yao An froze on the spot, hesitant to speak.

Zhao Lin put on the smile of flirting with a female cultivator: "Fairy, we..."

Qing Wei suddenly yelled: "What did you say earlier?"

Shocked by his coercion, the two turned pale with fright, and hurriedly saluted and retreated.

Xu Yun said goodbye to the girl affectionately, and took a last look at the small building shaded by flowers and trees.

Whenever he thinks he has stood high enough to look down on the world, the shadows of these predecessors will come again and weigh him down.

After being ill for so long, when will he die?

Where is Xian Jianchen now, and when will he be willing to die?

They raised their heads when they came and bowed their heads when they went.

Qingwei comforted her coldly: "Don't be discouraged, prepare well for the Dengwen Yahui chess test. With the talent and luck of the two of you, even if you don't have this chance, your journey to immortality will be as smooth in the future."

Yao An only smiled wryly.Thought to say so, compared with inheriting that person's mantle, other opportunities are all the way out.

Zhao Lin sighed and said, "I don't know what kind of apprentice he wants to take in."

The girl in the light yellow dress hugged a large bouquet of wild flowers, and jumped into the small building briskly:

"Master, I sent them away!"

An old man in black in front of the case turned around and smiled when he heard the sound: "Well done."

The book sage seemed to always be graceful, wearing a spotless, white and flawless robe.On the contrary, he seemed to never wake up, with a thin body and a sickly face.

The girl was puzzled: "I think those two are not bad, do you really want to meet?"

"Where is it good?"

Without hesitation, the girl said, "You look pretty good! But forget about playing chess, you probably can't beat me."

The old man laughed.The girl puts wildflowers full of flowers on the table, and the two sit opposite each other to weave the wreaths. The atmosphere is not like a master and a student, but like a grandparent.

"It rained last night, and all the flowers on the mountain are blooming this morning!" The girl said happily as she wiped off the water droplets from the petals.

The old man suddenly said: "It shouldn't have rained last night."

"what?"

The old man said: "It's raining because someone is waiting."

The girl was at a loss: "If the mind can teach the world to know, that person must have a high level of cultivation?"

"Not necessarily." The old man shook his head and was about to say something when he suddenly coughed violently, as if he wanted to cough up his internal organs.

The girl skillfully patted him on the back and offered herbal tea:

"Master, I heard that Fairy Miaoyan is in the Back Mountain Bamboo Sea. Would you like to invite her to play a song to help you regulate your aura?"

The old man waved his hand: "No! I can't die, I can't die!"

The girl still looked worried.

The old man finally caught his breath and still smiled and said: "Xiao Li, the sages have said that 'Heaven will send a great mission to the people, and they must first suffer from their hearts and minds, and starve their bodies and skins'. The old man has endured many illnesses and tortures for the sake of Accumulate blessings in the future!"

"You're still joking. What kind of blessing is it worth Master's hard work?"

The chess ghost looked out the window.

Behind the stratus clouds, the golden brackets of Feiyun Tower can be vaguely seen.

"Of course, kill all the 'old men' in the world, accept the most proud apprentice in the world, and take him to play chess in front of the tomb of 'Amorous Son'!"

****

At dusk, the outer disciples went to work.

There was a constant stream of people coming and going at the gate of Songyuan, and after a while, the crowd lined up along the flower path.

This is a fixed daily Q&A time.If it had been earlier, Senior Brother Song would still be working in the field and would not raise his head.If it is later, Senior Brother Meng will cook noodles and drive away the guests fiercely.

A bag of seeds, a question, salute after asking, and go out immediately.No one does not cherish this little time, and no one dares to waste other people's time.

No noise, no jumping in line.Although these rules were not clearly stated, they were tacitly followed by the disciples as iron rules.

Only today was an accident.

A strange monk with shabby clothes and shabby clothes sneaked into the team. Because of his suspicious appearance, he was suspected of doing harm to Senior Brother Song and was almost beaten.

The man hastily identified himself: "Fellow Taoists, don't do anything! I am a monk of the Kongwu Sect on Sanshan Island overseas, and I am also here to participate in the Dengwen Yahui. Here is the invitation card. Please see it!"

He kept taking out things from the storage bag, such as island maps, shipping tickets, wooden signs of martial arts emblems, and other bits and pieces.

Zhou Xiaoyun only took the invitation and flipped through it, making sure it was correct, ordered everyone to stop, and said in confusion: "This fellow Taoist, the guest halls are all on the inner gate mountain, this is the outer gate, what are you doing here?"

The man was still holding his head, and said timidly: "I heard that if you hand over a bag of seeds and find a senior brother surnamed Song, you can appraise treasures and solve doubts?"

"Senior Brother Song has limited time to answer questions. If you have any questions, you'd better go back to your sect and ask your teacher!" Someone urged him impatiently, wanting to send him away.

Some disciples laughed, thinking where did this come from a small sect, a poor monk, who was worse than their outer disciples.

Unexpectedly, the man suddenly beat his chest and stomped his feet, crying, "I can't ask, I'm the only one of our entire sect!"

"Huh? Where are the others?"

Everyone was at a loss, not knowing why he was excited.

"Encountering a sea beast tide, they are all dead in the sea!" The man covered his face with his sleeves, and sobbed, "Our whole group, including alchemy Daoist, is ten people in total."

In the middle of his speech, he couldn't help bringing in a bit of his hometown dialect: "Master said that he didn't expect us to be honored by our ancestors, but only hoped to see the great world once and go back to the nest safely! If I had known today, I shouldn't have gone to sea. My Wang Tugen's life is very miserable. Dao ancestors are not benevolent..."

A group of young outer disciples were at a loss.That cry seemed to have a strange appeal, for some reason, it made people feel the pain of sympathy for each other.

Zhou Xiaoyun handed over the handkerchief: "This fellow Taoist, please stop crying and take a breath. What are you doing with Senior Brother Song now?"

Wang Tugen wiped his face indiscriminately, with hope in his eyes: "There is a treasure in my sect, which was handed down by the patriarch, and the master doesn't know what it is, so I just want to ask Brother Song to estimate the price. As long as I can make up enough for the return trip, I will Sell ​​it!"

"There is a pawnshop in Huawei City." A disciple suggested.

He was quickly denied: "He is an honest man from overseas, how dare he enter a big pawn shop? Isn't he sent to your door to be cheated?"

Wang Tugen nodded again and again: "After I came here, I heard about Brother Song's good reputation every day, so I believed him."

Zhou Xiaoyun pulled him to the end of the line: "Just wait a moment. If Senior Brother Song finishes his answer and has not started eating noodles, I will take you in."

"Good fairy! You are a living Bodhisattva!"

"Don't beg me, Junior Brother Li, go to the library and borrow a copy of "Handbook for Overseas Monks Going Ashore to Prevent Fraud" and give it to Fellow Daoist Wang."

Wang Tugen hurriedly expressed his thanks and ran to everyone to salute.

Who would have thought that he was quietly observing the environment of the outer door and observing the reactions of each disciple.

He had a panoramic view of every plant and tree at the gate of the Song Courtyard, and it was all in his heart.