Youbao Chapter 24: Stone Beast (3)
I lay on the bed with my legs crossed for about ten minutes, and my back was in agony. The bed was too hard, and the old Taoist priest didn't give me a mattress or a quilt.
I got off the bed and stood in front of the table for a few minutes. There were two stacks of rice paper neatly placed on the table , one blank and one with words written on it.
Most of them are poems, some of which I am familiar with, but some of which I have never seen, and I don’t know whether they are the achievements of ancient people or the creations of his junior brother himself.
I randomly pulled out a piece of paper from the bottom and saw this: Why should I fight with you today? How sad... I don't want to do it, it's fate, why bother, why bother... I'm wrong, I'm wrong...
It was a nonsensical passage that was incomprehensible. There were some wrinkles on one corner of the paper. I guess his junior must have been a little excited after writing it.
It seems that even though the Taoist priest's junior brother was a young man when he disappeared, he would have been an artistic youth at least now. Ordinary young people like me can only look up to him.
At this moment, I heard a "click" sound coming from outside.
Then, the old Taoist priest shouted: Whoever dares to come to the Five Elements Meridian to cause trouble, stay here!
When I put down the rice paper and rushed out of the room, I saw the old Taoist priest standing there in silence. He was so quiet that it seemed as if the angry shout just now was made by someone else.
Looking elsewhere, there was no one there.
What is this old man doing? He is playing tricks on me!
But out of kindness, I still asked: What happened just now?
It's none of your business. The old Taoist priest scolded me rudely and went back to the house.
Damn old man, if I hadn't seen how powerful you are, I would have hit you to death with a brick long ago. I cursed inwardly and went back to the house in a huff.
The old Taoist priest still didn't leave the house until the moon was high in the sky and my stomach was struggling over whether to eat my intestines or my esophagus first.
I was so hungry that I had to leave the room and knock on his door: Old Taoist priest, what are we going to eat for dinner?
The old Taoist priest was silent. There was an oil lamp in the room, dim and yellow. The old Taoist priest held a piece of paper in his hand, and he stared at it absentmindedly. The dim oil lamp shone on his face, making him look a little old.
Seeing that he was absent-minded, I called out again. This time, the old Taoist priest responded. He raised the paper in his hand and moved his wrist slightly as if he was going to do something. But then, he put it down with a frown. He folded the paper slowly and put it in his pocket, saying: There are wild fruits and common food in the mountains. You can make whatever you want to eat. The food and bowls are in the first room on the right. You can make your own food and don't worry about me. Don't walk around after midnight, and don't disturb me unless there is something special.
Damn old man, weird temper.
I could only think about it. I turned around and walked out to the first room on the right. I was sweating and had black lines on my forehead...
What era is this? It's actually an old rural clay pot. There is a pile of firewood next to the wall. I picked up the matchbox from the pot and grabbed a handful of straw... Can this thing really be used to cook food?
Half an hour later, the whole woodshed was filled with smoke. I ran out of the smoke coughing like an African black man. From the outside, the house looked just like it was on fire.
What made me most angry was that after spending so much time and effort, even my clothes were almost burned, but the fire still didn't produce any smoke.
why is that!?
By the way, what is the for?
It's really a rip-off... I splashed water from the big vat next to the woodshed to wash my face, cursing in my heart. But after cursing, I still had to eat. What to eat in the middle of the night?
There are wild fruits on the mountain, but there are also wild beasts.
I heard that a girl was dragged away by wild men in the mountains, and she returned with a wild man's child a few years later. I am not a girl, but I would not be able to bear it if I was really dragged away.
Finally, when the smoke from the woodshed had dissipated, I found a few cold, iron-like steamed buns and ate them while soaking them in water.
Life was too hard, and I began to feel lucky that I had not accepted the old Taoist's proposal. If I had really become his apprentice, I would have been killed or suffered a lot.
It took me at least two or three hours to tinker with it. I looked at my watch and it was already past eleven o'clock.
The oil lamp was still on in the old Taoist's room. No one knew what was wrong with the old man. He was muttering to himself all day long, as if he was possessed by evil spirits.
Forget it, why should I care about him? I'd better go to bed.
When I entered the pitch-black room, I remembered that the old Taoist priest not only didn't give me an oil lamp , but also didn't give me any bedding!
Is this a special reason?
I tiptoed to the old Taoist's room, wondering whether I should knock on the door or just sleep on the wooden board for the night. This old man has a terrible temper, what if he throws me into the mountains?
Just then, I heard the old Taoist's voice coming from the house: Come in, I'm grinding flour in circles!
I felt a little embarrassed, so I pushed the door open and went in. The old Taoist priest was still sitting at the table. On the table, a piece of paper was spread out with some wrinkles.
Hehe... Actually, it’s nothing. I just wanted to ask about the bedding I use when sleeping at night... I scratched the back of my head and said a little uneasily.
There is a box under the bed in the room, and the bedding is placed inside, said the old Taoist priest.
Oh, I see. I nodded and turned to go out.
Wait a minute. The old Taoist priest suddenly called me, and when I turned around, I saw that he looked a little unnatural and said: Come and sit next to me, I will ask you something.
I walked over and sat down with some doubts. The old Taoist priest has always been very independent. He would do whatever he wants to do no matter how dangerous it is. This can be seen from the fact that he dared to stop the corpse king alone even though he was injured. If I hadn't helped him that time, he would have died long ago.
How could such a proud and powerful person come to me to ask questions? Could it be that he wanted to ask about the Eight-threaded Clan? But as I said before, I don't know anything at all.
Take a look at this piece of paper. The old Taoist priest pushed the paper on the table towards me.
I took it and looked at it. There was some words written on the paper. The handwriting was beautiful and it was obviously a girl's handwriting.
It said: My mother is critically ill and needs the Wood Spirit Pill to save her. If you want to end our worldly relationship, then I won't send you this.
I understand. It says that there is a girl who is very sick and almost dying. She needs a medicine called Mu Ling Dan to cure her. Mu Ling Dan... probably something that can cure the Five Elements.
If you want to end your earthly relationship, don't give me the Wood Spirit Pill.
But, what does this mean? Especially showing me this piece of paper, what does it mean?
This letter was sent by her daughter, so what is written in it should be true. "Should I send this Wood Spirit Pill or not?" the old Taoist asked.
Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. If it can really save a life, of course I should give it to you. Uh... Is this Wood Spirit Pill very expensive?
It's not very expensive. The old Taoist shook his head: It's a priceless treasure. The Wood Spirit Pill is made by refining the life energy of a wood demon that has become a spirit. Not to mention rejuvenating people or bringing the dead back to life, but there are almost no diseases in the world that cannot be cured. In ancient times, the Wood Spirit Pill was still very easy to refine, but now... I only have two of the Five Elements Meridians left, and these are probably the last two in the world. After they are used up, no one can refine them anymore.
I was stunned. According to the old Taoist priest, the Wood Spirit Pill is really a priceless treasure. Not to mention colds and fevers, it can probably even cure advanced cancer.
This is such a wonderful treasure. No wonder the letter said it doesn't matter if you don't give it to me. Maybe they thought of this and were afraid that the old Taoist priest would be reluctant to give it to them.
It's up to you whether to send it or not. I can't give you any advice on this matter. I said.
I just couldn't think of it, so I asked you! The old Taoist priest looked more and more unnatural, as if he was about to get angry.
It depends on which one is more important to you, her or Mu Lingdan. I don't know the relationship between the two of you, so how can I help you decide? I replied.
The old Taoist priest was silent for a while, then slowly said: More than 20 years ago, she was my partner, and I almost gave up Taoism and returned to secular life for her. But then something happened and we decided not to.
Oh my... I didn't expect that the old Taoist priest was such a playboy when he was young. I felt a surge of emotion.
Although I have made up my mind, if the relationship was very good at the beginning and the incident was not too unbearable for the man, I would save her life for the sake of our past relationship. I expressed my thoughts.
How can I tell you this ... The old Taoist hesitated for a long time. It was the first time I saw him hesitate like this. After a long time, he finally sighed and said: Forget it, the past is over, and the people are gone. Why do I still care about those things? I will tell you.
I suddenly had a feeling that if I had some melon seeds and a bottle of Coke at this time, it would be great...
The old Taoist priest seemed to be sorting out his thoughts. After a while, he said: This story started 25 years ago. At that time, I had learned my skills well, and my master ordered me to go down the mountain to gain experience, that is, to do things like slaying demons and exorcising monsters. She was the one I met when I went down the mountain. Perhaps because I stayed in the mountain for too long, I was fascinated by her the first time I saw her. In the end, I almost turned against my master because of her.
On the seventh night when I brought her up the mountain, something big happened. That was the first and only time in my life that I attacked my master.
That night I heard her screams outside, and went out to see that Master had hit her in the abdomen. She was vomiting blood, her face was ashen, and she was almost dead. My junior fellow apprentice was there at the time, and he held me back, asking me not to care. But how could I not care? It was that time that I attacked Master and Junior fellow apprentice, and the relationship between us brothers became cold.
I am no match for my master, not to mention that there is a fellow apprentice beside him.
After being restrained, I begged my master not to kill her. I would take responsibility for whatever happened, even if it meant losing all my skills.
My master cursed me and said she was a witch who came to steal the secrets of the Five Elements Meridian and the Wood Spirit Pill. How could I believe that? No matter how I looked at her, she was just an ordinary woman.
So I told my master that if she died, I would commit suicide for love.
In the end, the master couldn't bear to part with me as his disciple, so he drove her out of the mountain and ordered me not to come down the mountain again.
But I was so angry that I ran down the mountain one day. But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find her. For more than ten days, I was in a daze and didn't know how to live the rest of my life.
I have been learning Taoism from my master in the mountains since I was a child. Apart from Taoism, I don’t know anything else.
So, I had to go back. After returning to the mountain gate, I found that this time, it was my junior brother who brought a woman up the mountain. This situation was no different from what I had experienced before.
