That night, seventy or eighty men in black lay sprawled on the ground in the east and west wing rooms and the main hall of the courtyard. The deeper the night went, the louder their snoring became, creating a lively and chaotic scene.
Liuli lay on the bed in the inner room of the main hall, trying to sleep, but the snoring was too loud, and she tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. After a long while, she suddenly sat up and exclaimed in despair, "That's enough!"
Li Molin was sleeping lightly on a makeshift bed on the floor when Liuli suddenly spoke, startling him. He opened his eyes in surprise and asked, "What's wrong?"
Liuli clutched her head and angrily exclaimed, "Will this snoring ever stop? How am I supposed to sleep like this?!"
The moonlight shone through the window and fell on Li Molin's face. He couldn't help but laugh and said jokingly, "I told you to go to bed early, but you said you weren't sleepy."
Liuli ruffled her hair haphazardly, looking like she was about to cry, and said, "How was I supposed to know that snoring could be so loud? It's like the earth shaking."
Li Molin's eyes curved into crescents as he smiled, but he managed to suppress the slightest sound of laughter.
Liuli's hands fell limply to her knees, and she sighed as she looked up, "How can I sleep like this? How am I supposed to sleep like this... I miss the little monk. If he were here to preach to me right now, I would definitely fall asleep in no time."
Li Molin's smiling face immediately darkened, and he said in a deep voice, "Why do you want him?"
Liuli said weakly, "I want him to preach to me. I fall asleep very quickly whenever he starts preaching. Sigh, do you know how to preach?"
Li Molin scoffed and said, "How could I possibly preach?"
Liuli slumped back down with a thud, saying weakly, "Then I guess I'll just have to stay up all night. My god, how can the snoring be so loud?"
“Then…” Li Molin hesitated for a moment, then said, “How about I tell you a story?”
"You can tell stories?" Liuli found it very interesting. She turned over to look at him, rested her head on her hand, and smiled, "Okay, tell me one."
Li Molin smiled and asked, "Do you know that there is a Qixi Festival in the Central Plains?"
"I don't know," Liuli shook her head and said, "I've never heard my grandmother mention it."
Li Molin's gaze drifted into the distance, and as if recalling something, his eyes softened, and his voice became gentle as he said softly, "Actually, I've lived in the North since I was little, and I've never seen the Qixi Festival before. My mother told me about it when I was a child..."
"Legend has it that the Jade Emperor in heaven had seven daughters, the most beautiful of whom was his seventh daughter, named Weaver Girl. She was very skillful and could weave brocade robes."
"There was a young man on earth who owned a spirit-possessed old ox, and people called him the Cowherd. One day, the old ox told the Cowherd that seven fairies would descend to earth that night to bathe in the river, and if the fairies could not return before dawn, they would have to stay in the mortal world. At the old ox's urging, the Cowherd went to the riverbank, and he saw the Weaver Girl at first glance and fell deeply in love with her."
"So, the Cowherd did as the old ox instructed and took away the Weaver Girl's clothes. After the seven fairies finished bathing and prepared to return to the Heavenly Court, the Weaver Girl discovered that her clothes were missing and had no choice but to stay behind."
"The Weaver Girl stayed in the mortal world and quickly fell in love with the Cowherd, so they got married. After their marriage, the husband farmed and the wife wove, and they had a son and a daughter, living a happy and fulfilling life. However, the Jade Emperor soon learned of this and sent the Queen Mother of the West to escort the Weaver Girl back to Heaven for trial. The old ox couldn't bear to see them separated from their family, so it told the Cowherd to kill it, skin it, and wear its hide on his body so that he could fly. So the Cowherd carried his children and chased after them."
Just as he was about to catch up with the Weaver Girl, the Queen Mother of the West suddenly pulled out her golden hairpin and drew a surging Milky Way in the sky. The Cowherd could not cross the river and could only gaze at the Weaver Girl from afar and weep.
"Their steadfast love moved the magpies, and countless magpies flew over, forming a colorful bridge across the Milky Way with their bodies, allowing the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to meet on the Milky Way."
"The Jade Emperor had no choice but to allow the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to meet once a year on the Magpie Bridge on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. This is the Qixi Festival on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month in the human world."
The night grew deeper, and the moonlight shone through the window, casting a soft glow on the room. The snoring outside was still deafening. Even though Li Molin had set up a magical barrier at the door to block out most of the sound, the snoring still clearly penetrated the quiet of the night.
Li Molin's voice was low and gentle, like a babbling brook flowing through one's heart, and as Liuli listened, she began to feel drowsy. Her eyes were half-open, and she mumbled, "The Jade Emperor is so annoying, why did he have to make the Queen Mother separate them..."
Li Molin's voice was gentle as he whispered, "My mother said that the most lively place on Qixi Festival in the human world is Queqiao Town outside Fanzhou. There is a lake on the high mountain outside the town called Tianhu Lake. Legend has it that the seven fairies descended to earth to bathe in that lake. If you put a flower boat in Tianhu Lake on Qixi Festival and write your lover's name on it, the two of you will be able to be together forever... Liuli, let's go to Queqiao Town together next Qixi Festival?"
Liuli mumbled through her blurred vision, "...Okay..."
Li Molin turned to look at her. The moonlight from the window shone like water on her small face, reflecting a pale white glow. Her eyes were closed as if she were asleep, her sleeping face as peaceful as a baby's. He smiled gently and said softly, "Then it's settled."
--
For the next three days, the Buddhist, Taoist, and demonic forces continued to search for traces of treasures in Qingxu Mountain during the day and returned to Xuandao City at night. Even though both the Buddhist and Taoist factions knew that the demons were in the city and that they occupied the small courtyard, they did not come to cause trouble for them. It is likely that they were conserving their strength to compete for the treasures and did not want to cause any trouble at this time.
The weather was gloomy that day, and the autumn wind howled, blowing down many leaves from the trees in the mountains, which covered the ground with a thick layer.
Dozens of demon clansmen arrived at Qingxu Mountain and dispersed in twos and threes. Li Molin agreed with them that if they found any trace of the treasure, they would send out a signal to gather everyone together.
Li Molin continued searching in the mountains with Liuli, Yu Ke, and Ji Jue. Fearing that flying over might cause them to miss some clues, Li Molin simply landed and walked through the mountains. If there was a path, it was better; if there wasn't, Yu Ke and Ji Jue had to work harder, clearing away thorns and boulders ahead as they made their way through.
This is a small hill near Xuandao City. Because people from the city often come here to hunt or chop wood, there is still a path leading to it.
Li Molin led Liuli ahead, while Yu Ke and Ji Jue lagged behind. As they walked up the mountain, they would occasionally turn around and look around, carefully searching for traces of treasure.
Suddenly, the sound of chopping wood came from nearby. Li Molin and Liu Li walked a little further and turned around to look. They saw an old man chopping down a tree not far from the path. The old man looked to be about seventy years old, with gray hair, a hunched back, and a face full of wrinkles, but his eyes were bright and intelligent, shining with wisdom.
He was chopping at a large tree that looked about a foot thick, slowly and laboriously.
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