Great Sui Guoshi

Chapter 4 Thirteen Atonement

The weather was gloomy, and after entering the boundary of Hezhou, a continuous spring rain shrouded the foothills.

On the muddy mountain road, the old donkey carried the bookshelf, and happily stuck out its tongue to catch the rainwater that fell, and the mud that was shot out by stepping on it fell on the robe and shoes of the scholar next to him.

Lu Liangsheng lowered his eyes and took a look. The bamboo slip rolled up in his hand knocked the old donkey away.

"Don't be impatient."

All the way out of Weishan Town, I spent most of the half day walking slowly, taking care of Lu Pan and others behind me. By the way, I flipped through the three volumes of "Wanchuan Mountains and Rivers Guardian Spirit Records", and analyzed how much they were related to "The Boundless Mountains and Seas". There are similarities between the magic circles of all spirits. After all, no matter how many magic magic arts there are in the world, someone will always think of one place, and it is not surprising that something similar to it will come out.

And among these three volumes of slips, in the first volume that Lu Liangsheng is currently reading, there are at least two places similar to the magic circle in "The Boundless Mountain and Sea". , The next two volumes, I am afraid there will be more.

Then there are big problems with these three volumes.

A drop of water fell on the tip of his nose. The scholar raised his face and looked at the steam-filled mountains. Behind him, Lu Pan and the others were more than ten steps apart, then slowed down and landed on the side of the bookshelf behind the old donkey.

"Master, based on the time, this place should have entered the boundary of Hezhou. Do you remember where exactly Luohe Town is?"

In the shaky bookshelf compartment, Taoist Toad picked out a small robe with flowery sleeves, heard the words coming in, put it aside, hugged the rope around his waist, leaned against the shaky shelf wall, and glanced at the gap through the small door Views of the foothills outside.

"As a teacher, I don't know the details. Who would memorize a place name when I was so angry? They all flew over and landed in the town from the sky, but it's not far away. Anyway, it's on the border of Hezhou. I can find..."

"Master so sure?"

"As a teacher, why would you just talk nonsense? Back then, when I was a teacher, I flew to the sky and escaped from the ground, and I could see three mountains and five mountains with one foot..." Daoist Hama paused: "...Well, I still need to find someone Ask the way."

Ask for directions?

Lu Liangsheng turned his head, and in the master's eloquent voice, in the distance he looked, there was faintly green smoke rising from the mountainside.

The dense tree branches are dripping with rain, winding along this muddy mountain road. There are small courtyards with thatched houses on the mountainside, and the smoke from the kitchen is lingering on the roof. There are children's voices standing on the steep slope of the mountainside calling for their father to go home for dinner. .

The man who had accepted the child packed up the mud with his hoe, carried the kettle and walked up to the ridge of the field, when he heard the tinkling of copper bells.

The farmer wearing a straw hat turned his head, and at the end of the muddy loess mountain road, an old donkey was walking slowly, beside him was a scholar in a green shirt and a white robe shaking the reins in his hand, and there was another donkey who didn't look like a good person The Taoist priests ran up and down on both sides of the dirt road, looking around, and behind the two donkeys were eight big men with their chests open and thick black hair.

This group of people didn't look like good people at all. The farmer quickly picked up the hoe, turned around and walked towards home. Lu Liangsheng, who came from a distance, saw the farmer carrying the hoe up the ridge of the field and walking to the ramp.

"Brother, can you inquire about the way?"

Hearing the words, the man carrying a hoe, who was over thirty, saw the scholar who was the leader of the group below the field and bowed his hands to salute.

The farmer glanced at the eight menacing men behind him, forced a smile, and put down the hoe.

"Young master, what are you calling me for?"

Although there are unruly and fierce people in the mountains, there are also honest and friendly men. Seeing that he was nervous, Lu Liangsheng probably guessed a little bit, and greeted him with a smile to ease the atmosphere.

"The people in Fushui County, Qixia Mountain, called to stop the fellow, just want to ask the way."

It turned out to be asking for directions...

The farmer breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the scholar speak softly and politely, he let go of his guard and walked over: "I don't know where you are going, sir?"

"Brother should have lived here for a lifetime. Have you ever heard of a place called Luohe Town?"

The farmer froze for a moment, then nodded.

"I know where it is, but why do you want to go there?"

Lu Liangsheng knew that the place was massacred by his master and the whole town was devoid of people. It must have been shocking, and it was reasonable for the other party to show this expression.

"I just heard about some of the past, and I want to see it."

At this time, in the small courtyard of the thatched cottage on the steep slope, a child dangling two small braids, jumped out and stood above and shouted again.

"Father, hurry up and go home for dinner, mother is going to be angry."

"Just come!"

The farmer turned around and shouted, watching the little girl go back, then turned around, took off the straw hat on his head, squatted on the high field ridge, approached the scholar below, and lowered his voice.

"My lord, you can't go there. I told you from my ancestors that a whole town died there overnight, and the ground was covered in blood. Even the corpses couldn't be found."

"Does Luohe Town still exist?"

"People have long since disappeared, but the houses are still there, but most of them are collapsed and covered with weeds. When I was young, I was curious and went there once with my friends from the same village. I went there during the day, and the wind was blowing. I always felt that there were eyes everywhere. I'm looking at you, so scary!"

Seeing the scholar's expression showed no sign of fear, the farmer stood up and pointed to the front.

"Since the young master is going, I can't persuade you, so I walked straight along this road, turned north at the corner, turned over the hill in front of me, and saw a road, and then went forward, and saw a half-buried stone tablet , that’s it.”

Lu Liangsheng thanked the farmer, followed the direction pointed by the other person, walked through the dirt road, climbed up the mountain, looked down, and in the gap between the dense forest, he could see several small roads intertwined at the bottom of the mountain, and at the foot of the mountain, Beside the intersection, the Taoist walking in front found half of the stele obliquely buried in the soil, leaving only Luo and half of the word "He" outside, covered with moss and sand.

'Probably just ahead. '

It takes almost half a stick of incense along the road where the stele is located, and the outline of a town can be seen in the distance.

The sun poured down.

Lu Liangsheng led the Taoist and Lu Pan into the place. The houses were crumbling here and there, broken walls and broken bricks and tiles were scattered on the ground, mixed with the open space where the broken bricks fell off, weeds were overgrown, and insects were singing.

"Liangsheng. What are we here for? Hunting ghosts or demons?"

Lu Pan was also tired from walking, so he put down the burden on his shoulders, and sat down with a pair of broken bricks and tiles. The other seven people also nodded, looking around, they were all in ruins.

"Is there someone you know here?"

"It's probably enough. There is nothing here. Even if there are living people, they probably have moved away long ago."

Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey and walked past the eight people silently, looking at the surrounding houses collapsed, the beams that had been swept away were slanted on half of the wall, and the broken window lattices were woven with cobwebs and fluttered in the wind. From time to time, there are old crows making strange noises in Yuanbaibi, which makes people panic.

The Taoist on the side pinched his fingers and made his rounds. Lu Liangsheng, who was walking to the front, came to this open place in the town and stopped.

"Master, is this right here?"

The old donkey who followed also stopped, and the small door of the bookshelf on one side opened with a bang.

"Wait for the teacher to come down first..."

Taoist Toad slid down the rope to the ground, unwrapped the rope, put his flippers on his back, walked to the side of his apprentice and stood still, raised his toad face, looked around, then slowly closed his eyelids, as if he had pieced together the old town in his mind. original appearance.

"Here it is, there is a street under your feet, very prosperous, and over there..."

The round webbed head pointed in one direction, and moved close to the collapsed courtyard wall covered with vines, "That's the man's house over there, and the gate was still collapsed by the teacher."

Lu Liangsheng also looked at the ruins that Master pointed to, and pursed his lips tightly.

"Master is back, what emotion do you have?"

"What's the embarrassment? It's been many years, and the grievances from the early years have disappeared." Taoist Toad lifted the drooping frog webs, and probably didn't want to look at it anymore, and turned his eyes to other directions.

Lu Liangsheng looked at the ruined walls reflecting the sun, weeds and desolation all over the place, suddenly raised his hand and bowed to the surroundings, opened his robe, walked to the bookshelf, and changed into close-fitting underwear.

"Scholar Lu, what are you doing?" The Taoist came back from another place.

The scholar took off his robe, smiled at him, walked to the nearest ruins, and picked up a stone.

"Atonement."

Chapter 4 Fourteen: One Hand, One Stone

The Taoist hung down his pinched Fa Jue, watching Lu Liangsheng, dressed in sackcloth and green, lift up a moss-covered stone, walk through the overgrown weeds, and put it in the middle of the spacious street.

But even a little bit of mana was useless, so relying on the original strength of the body, bricks, stones, and blue rocks were found from the collapsed houses around them, and they were moved outside to be piled up.

The Taoist didn't know how to describe the scholar's actions. He wanted to say "pretend..." but swallowed it back. He knew that in this Luohe town, there were no souls in the past, so it was useless to die. There were so many people, even if there was no disturbance, ordinary people could still feel a sense of coolness when they entered this place. Lu Liangsheng's behavior was nothing more than trying to resolve the grievances of the year with practical actions without external force.

Lu Liangsheng, who moved a few more broken bricks, could see the expression on the old grandson's face, put down his broken bricks and walked back, with a sound of "Hey", he knocked down half of the wall and picked up a few piles of messy bricks.

"I also learned this from the fat monk Fajing, but I also know that the grievances of the past century have not dissipated so much. The master destroyed their lives and homes back then, but they are entrenched here. It is not good for the business travelers and pedestrians in the past... ..”

The scholar broke the bricks in his hand and put them in a pile outside, laying them on a flat surface, looking at a faint height.

"...I can only hope that this can make them feel less resentful and build a new home for them."

After finishing speaking, the desolate weeds suddenly moved, and the invisible ghosts and resentments around seemed to have heard the scholar's words. The dark wind whimpered, and the hanging branches swayed wildly.

The old donkey hummed and neighed, raised one limb, and slammed onto the ground. There was a bang of lightning between the hooves, and blue and white electric sparks splashed, crackling in the air, and the ground was blackened in several places. His big eyes stared at the broken walls around him.

The dragon's voice of 'Hissing~~' seemed to be a warning, and the wind that was blowing was forced to retreat.

"Voyeur, open!"

The Taoist closed his eyes, wiped his eyes with two fingers together, and opened them again. The moment the Dharma light shone in his eyes, there were gusts of wind all around mixed with wisps of indistinct black shadows, overlapping and erratic among the shadows of the forest. Looking this way.

"Yue Er waits for my mother... so many ghosts."

Subconsciously, he reached out to take out the talisman and cinnabar, but Lu Liangsheng stretched out his hand to hold down the movement, and shook his head, "My master was at fault first, so he wouldn't still use magic power to deal with them, that's not human."

"Old demon, what was not done by humans?"

The bookshelf on the old donkey's back shook, and a wisp of black smoke fell to the ground and turned into a woman. She swirled her skirt and threw herself on the scholar. Her delicate face rubbed against the man's chest without paying attention to the makeup.

After leaving Qixia Mountain, I occasionally came out once or twice along the way. At that time, I was mostly on my way, and there were eight big men following me. I felt bored and finally turned into a writing brush, lying quietly on the bookshelf. Secretly exchanged a few words with Yue Hao who was also hanging on the shelf.

"Hey, there are so many ghosts, what are they doing there? Are they trying to harm the old demon? My grandma is going to clean them up!"

Seeing the shadows in the surrounding forest, Qi You suddenly opened her red lips, and several long tongues rushed out, splitting into dozens of slender red lines in an instant, but Lu Liangsheng stretched out his hand, pinched her earlobe lightly, and blinked All the time flew back into the mouth, covering both ears in embarrassment and jumped away.

"Old demon, I will help you, but you still play tricks on me..."

This is Mu Qiyou's weakness, and only a few people know about it, but Lu Liangsheng is the only one who can really get in touch with this weakness. The reporter blinked his round eyes, then looked down at the toad on the ground with its bi-fins on its back.

"Little Toad, I didn't expect you to be so powerful at such a young age?"

"Are you praising the old man?"

Toad Taoist snorted, moved his flippers and turned in one direction. He is a demon, so he can easily see ghosts and evil spirits in the shadows around him.

Silently watching Lu Liangsheng cupped his hands towards a ghost, bent over to pick up a few stones, Toad pursed his lips, and slowly lowered his fins on his back, and slowly moved away with his flippers that had been standing still. past.

When he came to a big stone, he took a deep breath, rolled up his sleeves and touched the surface of the stone, feeling a slight coolness.

"How can I let my apprentice do what the old man did back then!"

Thinking to myself, I pushed my fins forward vigorously——

The big stone remained motionless, and Toad stared blankly for a moment, then spat on his fins, rubbed them vigorously, and rolled up his sleeves.

'I still don't believe it, I can't even push a stone without demon power! '

"Drink-"

Throwing himself to the side of the stone, the double webs and half of the body leaned against it, grinning open the toad's mouth, the sound of "Drink!!", in an instant, also turned into a roar of "Ahhh——" , The veins on the forehead are swollen, the flippers are stepping on the soil hard, the body is straightened up, the long tongue is hanging from the mouth, and the feet are constantly kicking back and forth, pushing out layers of dust.

"Ah ah ah..."

The sound was still roaring, the stone finally moved, rolled around, Taoist Toad emptied his hands, fell to the ground with a slap, turned over and sat up, as if nothing had happened, his expression was as usual: "I can't move it!" move."

Looking straight ahead, a shadow suddenly covered his sight.

"Old Toad, get out of the way!"

The Taoist came over, reached out and hugged the big stone he was leaning on to his chest, followed Lu Liangsheng to the other side, and put the stone on it with a bang.

Lu Liangsheng turned his head to look at him, the latter patted the dust on his hands, turned around and continued to look for the stone.

"Whatever you look at, I am doing my duty to save the world!!"

Over there, the eight people from Lu Pan who had been resting on the edge of the town had not seen them back for a long time, and they also found this place. Even though they felt the cold and yin energy, the eight people had a strong yang energy, so they were not afraid.

As soon as I came in, I found this way, and saw Lu Liangsheng and Sun Yingxian carrying stones back and forth, except for the woman in a black dress who was squatting beside and playing with a few small stones, even Liangsheng's toad was hugging Go there with a pile of stones half his height.

"Liangsheng, why don't you call us for such heavy work?!"

Lu Pan untied the hunting knife at his waist and threw it on the ground. He also threw away his upper body clothes. Without a word, he walked into a half-collapsed house. One of the remaining wall pillars was hugged.

"Old Pan is so strong!"

"Let's not lag behind, let's go!" "Leave the one over there to me, no one is allowed to move, just watch!"

Not to be outdone, the other seven yelled and hid their clothes and burdens, exposing their muscular upper bodies, and each searched for a few houses. Suddenly, the sound of demolishing walls and destroying houses continued, and the figures hiding in the shadows stirred up a sinister wind. , wanting to go up, but retreating fearfully, wandering erratically in the dark and screaming, watching the former houses being razed to the ground one by one by the eight big men right under their noses.

For two consecutive days, several piles of broken bricks and stones were piled up. Lu Liangsheng personally built them into a square foundation covering an area of ​​[-] feet one by one. Strictly, the higher and higher bricks and stones are built along the four sides to form a square pillar monument.

The fidgeting and screaming ghost subconsciously quieted down, just looking at the scholar in tattered robes, standing in front of the stone tablet with sweat on his face, and began to carve.

However, during this long period of carving, the winter snow finally completely melted outside the northern Great Wall, and new shoots appeared on the grasslands and foothills.