Chapter 258 Zhenjian Palace and Guanxing Palace
The iron chain and wooden bridge was shaking slightly. The ground below was not very high, but due to the clouds and fog, the bottom could not be seen.
Lin Jue dipped his brush in ink and stood on the bridge. In front of him was a square wooden door. He first repainted the three words "Hongye Temple" above his head, then pondered for a moment and wrote on the wooden boards on both sides:
The red leaves are rustling, and the Jade City River retains the autumn colors;
There are waves of white mist, and people are watching the clouds from Fengshan Palace.
"call……"
There are no typos and it was done in one go.
Lin Jue let out a breath.
The fox was standing on the iron chain nearby, and the colorful beetle was standing on the other side. They were staring curiously, and then they looked at each other, as if they wanted to get closer.
"Don't touch it, both of you." Lin Jue said, "I'll let Qingyao teach you two to read later."
"..."
"..."
The fox and the cat turned their heads and looked at each other again, but both looked puzzled.
A fox and a cat, what's the point of learning to read?
But Lin Jue had already picked up his pen and walked back.
The fox jumped down obediently and wanted to follow him, but when he looked up, he saw his friend was still on the iron chain. He took two steps forward and raised his paw to reach for the couplet, but his paw was trembling, as if he was struggling with some kind of inner struggle. After a long struggle, he gave up, turned around and jumped down.
"With smoke, the colors of autumn are falling, and with the light, a hundred miles of red are reflected."
Lin Jue thought to himself, returned to his room, closed the door, and took out the wood carving and thirty taels of silver.
The silver-eating ghost appeared automatically.
Before, when Lin Jue went to chase the rat demon, he naturally brought the silver-eating ghost and silver. In the first two months, he did not expect that the rat demon's will and physical strength would be so strong, so he still fed the silver-eating ghost 60 taels a month, and a total of six Lingyuan Pills were produced. He and his junior sister each ate two, and the fox ate two.
Caili is still learning how to take the medicine.
After that, it was thirty taels a month, and each person ate one.
Thanks to this careful budgeting, now that half a year has passed and there is little income, there is still some money left. But it is not much.
"Eat. It will be fine this month and next month." Lin Jue said, "After that I will go to the capital and try not to let you go hungry."
"Thank you, Masato!"
The silver-eating ghost began to eat voraciously.
Lin Jue was packing his bag nearby. He took ancient books and a mother-of-pearl box, a carving knife and spiritual wood, some clothes for changing, and some pills. It took him a long time to leave.
The junior sister was standing on the bridge, holding two persimmons in her hands, staring at the couplet he had just written.
"Is this written by my senior brother?"
"Who else could it be?"
"It's really well written." The little sister said, "I wish I could write as well as this."
"You still have a long way to go."
"Brother, eat persimmons."
"Your Lingyuan Pill." Lin Jue took the persimmon from her and handed her the pill in his hand, "There is also a Juling Pill. The second one should not have much effect, and your body will not be too sore. Just choose a suitable time to take it."
"understood."
"Fuyao and I will go find Luo Gong and help him get rid of the demon. When we go to the capital, we will come back to find you." Lin Jue said to her, "Guard the Taoist temple well."
"understood!"
The junior sister held the elixir in her hand, and Caili sat beside her.
Lin Jue was leading a gray donkey, and while chewing persimmons, he crossed the rope bridge and went down the mountain.
Since Lord Luo agreed to accompany me to the capital and protect me, it naturally cannot be just Lord Luo protecting me. Lord Luo can help me with matters in the martial arts world and in the human world, and I will help Lord Luo with matters concerning demons, ghosts, and gods.
Fuyao had already left her mark on Luo Gong.
Walking southeast down the mountain, within two days, we found Mr. Luo dozing with a knife in his arms in a tea stall in a bamboo forest.
The two of them bowed to each other and sat down together with a smile.
However, although these monsters could go to the Alligator Dragon King's cave to have a feast, in fact, most of them were not that powerful. Most of those who had a feast outside were similar to the rabbit monster, and probably similar to the yellow dog that Lin Jue met when he first left Shu Village. Those who had a feast in the cave were not necessarily that powerful, and it was even possible that the treasures they offered were precious enough.
Mr. Luo has now developed the sword energy and learned the art of incantation. In addition, he is alert and careful in his actions. Even if the monsters have magic, they can hardly defeat him. When Lin Jue arrived, he had already visited half of them.
So I accompanied him to visit his other half.
In the mountain stream and the wasteland, a warrior, a Taoist priest, and a four-tailed white fox spent a month, amidst the flashes of swords, flames, and white smoke of magic, to eliminate the monsters that had eaten humans one by one.
In the meantime, I also heard rumors about myself.
Nothing more than what happens outside Runze City.
……
Before I knew it, it was already the coldest time of winter.
An ancient pine tree was indeed transplanted on the open space in front of Hongye Temple, which just covered the stone table and stone bench. Lin Jue and Luo Seng returned here and picked up their junior sister to visit the old friend.
This time it's a formal visit.
The two brothers and sisters still took the most precious things with them. If they couldn't take other things with them, they would lock them up in the Taoist temple. The more precious ones were marked by the foxes, not for safety reasons, but they had no choice but to do so.
There was some frost and snow on the top of the mountain, crushed by the horses' hooves.
"So you are talking about Zhenjian Palace." Luo Seng had been a county lieutenant in the capital for two years and was an expert in the city. "I have been to that Taoist temple several times." "How was it?"
"There are seven or eight Taoist priests inside. The one who usually takes charge is a middle-aged Taoist priest who is quite polite. But in my opinion, the one who really makes the decisions is another female Taoist priest who is very white-skinned."
"..." Lin Jue found it hard to imagine someone using the words "extremely white skin" to describe a woman's skin, but he also said, "Those two are our old friends. There should be a junior fellow student named Ma, right?"
"It seems there is one." Luo Seng said as he walked, "There is a stone mirror in their Taoist temple. Ordinary people cannot see it, but if a person is under the spell of a demon or ghost, it will appear in the mirror. So it can help people distinguish whether they are sick or have been possessed by evil spirits."
"Stone mirror..."
"how?"
"It seems that very few Taoist temples would place such magic weapons in the temple for people to use at will."
"That's what happened. I rarely heard of such a thing before." Luo Seng nodded and said, "The so-called ghosts and the living are on different paths. What humans can handle, ghosts and gods don't need to handle, which is not blasphemous. The ghosts and the living are the same, and what humans cannot handle, ghosts and gods may also handle it for them, showing that it is unpredictable. Generally speaking, most human affairs are still handled and decided by humans themselves. Gods will not help people on such a large scale. After all, gods can make mistakes, and the human world is ultimately the world of humans. Maybe the world is really different now."
"I think they should have good incense."
"Very good!" Luo Seng said, "They are very effective in predicting all matters concerning ghosts and monsters in the capital. It is said that they can also predict wealth, but they have no control over other matters, such as weather, career and marriage."
“Is there anything similar happening in the capital?”
"Yes! The largest palace in the capital, the Guanxing Palace, is dedicated to the Tianweng God. It used to be ordinary, but it was very powerful. Since I left, it is said to have the ability to cure diseases. Many people with minor illnesses go there to pray and are cured." Luo Seng paused and said, "There is also a palace. Once you enter it, your injuries will recover quickly."
"This is happening!"
"The gods are also competing for incense!" Luo Seng laughed. How could such a thing be hidden from him?
"Where is Emperor Zixu?"
"Emperor Zixu does not have a palace dedicated to him in the capital, but any temple dedicated to Tianweng has his statue. Larger Taoist temples will even prepare a palace specifically for him."
"I see……"
Lin Jue muttered to himself, lost in thought.
It seems that the secret competition for support among the emperors in the capital is more intense than he originally thought.
Among them, the Jade Mirror Emperor came from the south, and he should have directly made his position clear, taking advantage of the situation to compete with the Heavenly Weng God. And the Purple Void Emperor has always been one of the two servants of the Heavenly Weng God in Taoist legends, and he also stands on the left and right of the Heavenly Weng God on the altars of various Taoist temples. However, judging from the scene where he met the Fuchi God under the Purple Void Emperor and the Husheng Zhenjun under the Heavenly Weng God last time, it is probably not the case.
Lord Fu Chi completely looked down upon Lord Hu Sheng.
This may be due to his extraordinary personal abilities. After all, almost every god is a great man, so it is normal for them to be a little proud and have fewer constraints in this regard. However, if Emperor Zixu was respectful to Tianweng, I think he would never be so rude to Lord Protector at that time, right?
Then, led by Mr. Luo, they headed to the capital.
All the way I listened to him talking about the Zhenjian Palace.
I heard from him that after the Zhenjian Palace was built, until he left the capital, the Taoists from the Guanxing Palace went to discuss Taoism with the Zhenjian Palace several times. I don’t know what they talked about, but it was quite lively, and many other Taoists and believers went to listen.
He also heard that there were people from the Juxian Palace who were swindling people. People who were clearly suffering from serious illnesses were accused by these people of being possessed by evil spirits, and were defrauded of their money and their medical treatment was delayed. When he found out, he exposed the truth, but the victims still didn't believe it until he dragged them to the Zhenjian Palace. Only then did the victims believe that they were not possessed by evil spirits and went to get medicine.
A hundred-mile journey only takes half a day on horseback.
Just as Taoist Qingxuan had said, Zhenjian Palace was very easy to find. It was just two miles south of the capital city and could be seen at a glance.
As Mr. Luo said, this place is very popular.
Pilgrims came and went, and green smoke formed clouds. If you didn't know, you would think that the Taoist temple had started making fire and cooking.
Luo Seng looked at the two of them.
The junior sister looked at Lin Jue.
"Walk."
Lin Jue glanced at his Taoist robe and walked straight inside.
As expected, seeing that they were wearing Taoist robes and knowing that they were not ordinary pilgrims, two young Taoists stood up immediately, one walked towards them and the other went to the inner courtyard.
"Fellow Taoist, be compassionate."
The young Taoist priest was very polite and bowed to him first to greet him.
"Fellow Daoist, please be merciful." Lin Jue returned the greeting and said without waiting for him to ask, "We are Taoists from Fuqiu Temple on Fuqiu Peak of Yishan Mountain in Huizhou. We are old acquaintances of Taoist Brother Qingxuan and Taoist Master Jiang Ning. We once agreed that we would visit them first if we came to the capital, so we took the liberty to come to your house today."
When the young Taoist heard this, he was stunned.
He had never met Lin Jue and the other man, but he had heard of Fuqiu Temple on Fuqiu Peak in Yishan Mountain. Plus, as they were both Taoists from Huizhou, it was not easy for them to settle down in the capital city, which was thousands of miles away. He also had some feelings for his fellow countrymen, so his expression immediately became serious.
"I am Zhang Xiaokun, what are your names, brothers?"
"My last name is Lin, and my Taoist name is Lin Fangjue. This is my junior sister, and her Taoist name is Liu Fangyao." After Lin Jue finished speaking, he pointed at Mr. Luo who was hiding his face behind him, "This is a good friend we met, and her last name is Luo."
"Brother Lin Dao, brother Liu Dao..."
The young Taoist priest was stunned for a moment.
He seemed to have heard these two names once.
That was not long ago -
When the capital heard about the events in Runze County, it was a big deal, so naturally the news spread here. And because the rumors were very true, even though they were far away, they were talked about with great relish, so they naturally heard about it too.
I heard that they were two Taoist priests, a man and a woman, with a white fox. At that time, the Taoist temple was entertaining guests in the dining hall. When Senior Brother Qingxuan heard this, he laughed and said that they must be the two Taoist priests he knew.
One of them was surnamed Lin and the other was surnamed Liu.
Could it be these two?
Are they these two besides the crocodile demon king?
The young Taoist priest was stunned and couldn't believe it for a moment. The reason was very simple. Ever since he heard about this, the image of two middle-aged Taoist priests had always appeared in his mind.
Just then, Taoist Qingxuan came out.
When old friends meet, one smiles and the other is a little surprised. After a moment of hesitation, they also smile. It is rare to be happy in such a busy life.
(End of this chapter)
