Strange Stories

Chapter 486 Immortal Cave Mansion
Of course, a woodcutter would not chop along the road.

We often have to go to places far from the road, to places with deep forests and thick grass. Sometimes, when we can't find suitable firewood elsewhere, we have to go deep into the mountains or to the edge of cliffs.

It is for this reason that there are so many stories circulating among the people living below the mountain about woodcutters encountering monsters in the mountains, getting lost in the mountains and unable to get out, or being trapped on cliffs and unable to get down.

Why can I meet him in these places?

Moreover, the winter is getting colder and colder, the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, and the roads are difficult to travel. He is forced by hunger and cold, and by the pressure of life, so he has to go up the mountain to chop firewood every day. In such weather, if there is nothing else to do, why does he have to come out of the mountains every day?
Plus the people around him, it's just too weird.

Something strange happened again——

When such doubts arose in his mind, just like the plot in the stories of gods, demons and ghosts in the world, he did not meet that person again for several days.

He even began to feel a little uncomfortable.

Sometimes when I was tired of chopping wood and took a rest, I couldn't help but look up and down the mountain in all directions, trying to see if a figure would suddenly appear in the depths of the dense forest.

Sometimes when he was sitting alone in the mountains, he would suddenly feel lonely. Even if he continued to sing loudly, it seemed a little boring. Then he would suddenly jump up from the ground because he suddenly remembered that during their casual conversation once, the man told him that the deserted wooden stakes in the mountains might be the thrones of mountain gods and spirits, and people who went up the mountain could not sit on them casually.

This went on for quite a few days.

It is not just the immortals in the mountains who do not count the days. The people living in the mountains who are trapped by hunger and cold all day long have no time to count how many days they have lived.

I just know that these days are going to be longer.

Another day, he was chopping wood until noon and finally gathered a load of good firewood. He sat on the firewood to rest, looking at the snow scene in the dense forest and the sunlight shining through the snowy branches. He felt drowsy, but he still had to carry the firewood down the mountain for dozens of miles and sell it to people in the city before dark. Sitting down at this time was just a short rest.

I can only sing to refresh myself and recite to make my mind clear:
"This mountain has clouds...

"Get up early in the morning, sleep late at night, old age comes easily, cherish this time...Whenever you speak, be trustworthy first, deceit and lies are unacceptable..."

Suddenly a voice sounded from behind:
"Are you memorizing the book, little friend?"

The boy was startled and turned back quickly.

Only then did he realize that, without him noticing, a person had been standing not far behind him. The snow branches covered his head, blocking the glaring midday sun. The ice bars also reflected light, making it a little dazzling.

He is alone today.

The boy couldn't help but look behind him.

Behind us was deep mountain snow, with a series of footprints, but no road.

The boy confirmed that there was indeed no road.

Because when he was confused, he discovered one thing, that is, he always seemed to have an illusion that this person always walked down the mountain to meet him, and the place he walked should be a mountain road. He stopped in the middle of the road and talked to him, just like those literati who were looking for immortals. But later he realized that many times, there was no road where he was.

However, at this moment, he didn't know what to say. He just scratched his head and said awkwardly:
"Hello, long time no see..."

"I was busy building my house the other day and had no free time."

"I am a little sleepy. I will recite a few sentences from the book and then go down the mountain."

"Did your teacher teach you before?"

"Yes."

"The Disciple Rules are good."

"Um……"

"Little friend..."

The man looked at him and smiled, as if he saw through him: "Are you worried or concerned about anything?"

The boy quickly lowered his head, then quietly looked up at him.

Between fear and embarrassment, the latter probably accounts for the majority.

The former is human nature. There are too many stories about encountering fairies, monsters and ghosts in the human world at the foot of the mountain and in the deep mountains.

The latter was because this person had met him countless times, had never harmed him, had always been gentle and polite, had brought him meat pies, cared about his clothes, and when he accidentally fell and was injured, told him what herbs there were in the mountains that could heal him. Yet he doubted him so much, which made him feel ashamed and guilty.

"But it doesn't matter."

"You...you are a human..." the boy stammered, "Are you a fairy...or a monster..."

But the man was not surprised when he heard this, but laughed:
"What do I look like to you?"

Just this sentence, the boy was stunned.

He is not a stupid person.

Deep in the mountains, you meet a strange person who chats with you by chance and appears and disappears mysteriously. When you ask him whether he is a human, a demon or a fairy, he is not surprised, but asks you with a smile, isn’t this the fairy story that is circulating down the mountain?

Unexpectedly, I also walked in.

The boy was even more at a loss:
"I... I don't think you are a bad person... nor do you look like a bad monster or ghost..."

"Not like a human either?"

"It's a bit like a fairy, but also a bit like a monster."

"why?"

"You are like a fairy." The young man bravely said, "But the people around you are sometimes girls, sometimes adults, and sometimes old people. They are like monsters."

"Haha!" Lin Jue thought this man was quite smart. "It? It is indeed a monster."

"what?"

The boy was completely frightened.

"Why are you so surprised, my friend? If I wanted to harm you, why would I wait until now? It's just that I feel that we are destined to be together. The folk songs you sang in the mountains reminded me of my past."

"I, I'm not afraid. I'm going down the mountain."

"Are you really afraid?"

"I just want to go down the mountain after resting enough." The boy said stumblingly, and added, "I will come here to chop wood tomorrow."

"You have already cut down all the small trees, dead branches, and side branches of the big trees around here. Why don't you go cut them down in the deep mountains?"

The man pointed in a direction towards him.

The boy looked in that direction.

Of course, in his eyes, there were only deep mountains and dense forests, heavy snow and light mist. He didn't know that in the depths of the mountain, on the cliff, there was a huge six-tailed white fox hollowing out the mountain wall.

"There are monsters in the mountains."

After the young man finished speaking, he heard the man reply:
"Don't worry, there are no monsters. I live deep in the mountains. I assure you, there are no monsters that harm people in these mountains."

He paused and said:
"Otherwise, you will have no choice but to cut down these big trees. It is not easy for them to grow so big. They have experienced so many years of wind, frost, rain, dew, and the essence of the sun and the moon. It will be a shame if you just cut them down and sell them to others as firewood." After saying that, he walked down.

The young man stood there with a dull expression, deep in thought.

It was then that he discovered—

This person has not yet told him whether he is a monster or a god.

……

In front of the Red Leaf Pavilion, above the white clouds, there is an exquisite and elegant three-story attic.

Next to them stood a fox and a Taoist priest. Behind them, on the platform in front of the Taoist temple, stood a Taoist girl about ten years old and a colorful civet cat, all looking up.

Although it is just an attic, under the careful design of the old attendant, it feels like a fairy palace. It is taller than all the halls and attics of Hongye Temple. The original two-story attic of Hongye Temple was only as high as its first floor. With three floors, it is almost as high as a seven-story pagoda on earth. As for the floor area, it is so large that the platform in front of Hongye Temple cannot accommodate it.

Just put it in the cloud.

Fortunately, it is made of the immortal wood that has achieved enlightenment, which is itself magical. With the help of immortal sacrifices and magic, it can float in the air and sit in the clouds.

If Lin Jue continues to refine it, it can be even bigger. And this is not a bean soldier, there is no residual soul, there is no need to consider the size and the size of the residual soul. The texture of the fragments of the Eastern Queen Mother's body is enough to support it to be refined to the size of a mountain, but it cannot be so big, and it will reduce its solidity, so it is meaningless.

This is the house that Lin Jue built a few days ago.

Ziyun and Caili both had dazed expressions.

The master just stretched out his hand, and the palace attic quickly shrank into a pill and fell into his hand.

He then stepped back and asked them:

"how?"

"Meow~"

"It's so big! So beautiful!" Ziyun answered truthfully, "But there are no tiles on the roof!"

"I'll put the tiles later."

"Only one!"

“We’ll build the rest later.”

"Where should I put it?"

"Let's go! I'll take you to see it!"

"Ok?"

Ziyun looked at this uncle-master.

"Haven't you always wanted to try what it's like to fly in the sky? Let me show you how it feels!"

"!"

The little girl's eyes widened instantly.

Then the master stretched out his hand and a cloud appeared from the rolling white clouds in the distance and floated under his feet. Then the master waved his sleeves -

A cool breeze swept over, passing through her waist, legs and feet, supporting every part of her body, and conveying a gentle force that allowed her to slowly leave the ground.

This was completely different from being lifted or hugged by others, and it was also different from being blown down by a strong wind. She didn't even notice it at all. It was only when she realized that there was nothing under her feet that she looked down and realized that she had left the ground and was slowly rising.

The clouds under Master's feet were also slowly rising.

I started a few feet off the ground and found it interesting.

When it was as high as the roof of the Taoist temple's main hall, I had changed the angle of my own Red Leaf Temple and began to find it novel.

When she flew to the same height as her master who was walking on the white clouds, the rolling sea of ​​clouds in the distance was under her feet. The roof of the Taoist temple below seemed unfamiliar to her. The fox turned into a crow and the cat turned into a sparrow, all flapping their wings and flying in circles around her. Even the white clouds in the distance seemed a little lower than her.

"Are you ready?"

The uncle beside her asked her again.

The little girl was still a little dazed, she just felt something was wrong.

The next moment——

"call!"

The howling wind carried her straight up.

"Wow!!"

The little girl couldn't help but cry out.

The sound of the wind whimpered in my ears, and wisps of mountain mist passed by my side, wetting the tips of my hair. The hilltop where my Taoist temple was located turned out to look like this, and the maple mountain seemed to have changed as well.

It is both extremely exciting and novel.

This feeling of having no control over where you are going and not having to exert any effort at all, just flying with the wind, is exactly the same as the feeling of flying in a dream.

That’s right——

This is also a feeling that cannot be experienced by following a master.

Before long, they stopped in front of a mountain.

This is deep in Fengshan Mountain, with layers of green mountains arranged from high to low. One can imagine the overlapping shadows of the mountains at dawn and dusk. The heavy snow makes the forests crystal clear and the mountains are filled with mist, like a fairyland. It also makes people imagine the dreaminess of it at dawn and dusk when it is filled with the rising sun and setting sun.

There is another high mountain in the middle. One side of the mountain is a vertical cliff, and a cave has been dug out at the top of the cliff.

Looking at the shape of the cave, it is quite similar to the palace attic of the master just seen in the clouds.

But the cave is only half full.

It is to split the attic in half from top to bottom.

Then Ziyun watched as his master spread out his hand, and the bean in his hand flew out, transformed into a classical attic in the wind, flew towards the cave on the cliff, and embedded itself into the cave.

Half of the attic is in the mountain and half is hanging outside.

There are ancient pine trees on the cliff with their branches sticking out from the second-floor windows of the attic, as if to block out the light for guests. There is also mist floating in the mountains below the attic, like auspicious clouds.

If there is someone living in this place, he must be a god.

The little girl couldn't help but wonder how surprised a woodcutter or a herbalist from the mountain would be if he accidentally came here and saw this place.

She couldn't help but wonder how she would get up here next time.

(End of this chapter)