Chapter 50 Drawing Talismans

050 Drawing Symbols

In the blink of an eye, it is already the beginning of the next month.

The weather was extremely hot that day, and Xiang Jiannan, who was reading the scriptures almost all the time, stayed in Ping'an Temple and refused to come out. He fanned himself with a cattail leaf fan, hoping that the scriptures would bring more coolness.

Overnight, Ping'an Town seemed to have changed into a different world. The temperature suddenly rose to a maddening level, making the young Taoist Xiang Jiannan restless.

I used to be able to resist the heat by reading scriptures, but as soon as I opened my eyes, I could no longer do that. If I moved a little, I would feel sweat all over. If I didn't move, I would sweat even more.

"I'm afraid this weather will continue until the end of this month."

Seeing the rising heat outside the temple, Xiang Jiannan finally gave up reading the scriptures and fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan, but the more he fanned, the hotter he felt.

Due to weather reasons, Ping'an Temple has not opened today. In such a huge Taoist temple, only the master occasionally makes some noise and finds something to do from time to time.

"Too short."

Gao Yuan just came out of the backyard holding a whisk. Hearing this, he immediately responded with a familiar tone, which made Xiang Jiannan ask:

"What's short?"

The relationship between the master and the disciple had already been eased in the past few days. From Xiang Jiannan's point of view, he felt that he had surrendered. After all, the master is the master. How could he change easily just because you are unhappy? For those in a higher position, it is important to stick to their original intentions. Otherwise, how could they climb so high?

"It's short."

When he looked at him, he looked very much like a short video maker he had seen before. Because of Gao Yuan's tone, Xiang Jiannan was a little dazed for a moment. He suddenly remembered the days when he drank milk tea while enjoying the air conditioning, and his throat couldn't help but feel dry.

“The heat won’t subside until at least the end of next month.”

He felt that his disciple's grasp of time was not very accurate. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Xiang Jiannan starting to take off his clothes again. After just a few movements, he started wiping his sweat frantically.

"What are you doing? I told you not to take off your robes!"

He didn't know where his disciple learned this habit of taking off his Taoist robe at every turn. Gao Yuan stopped him sternly, saying that if a pilgrim suddenly came to visit, where would his face as an old Taoist priest be? He had taken off his robe three or four times.

"Is it that hot? Put it on quickly."

Staring at Xiang Jiannan as he tied his robe back on, Gao Yuan admonished him, "When you are calm, you will feel cooler. Disciple, haven't you heard this saying?"

I just took a shower and I feel full of confidence.

Thinking that you have already taken a bath five times in this short time, Xiang Jiannan was too lazy to argue with Gao Yuanduo at this moment. He picked up the palm leaf fan again, thought for a moment and then spoke again:

"If you keep calm, you will feel cooler. Who said this?"

"Um?"

After being asked this question, Gao Yuan was stunned. He did not expect his disciple to ask such a question. After thinking about it, he decided to ask back: "What do you think?"

"I don't know"

Just because Gao Yuan's series of words frequently reminded him of the previous world, Xiang Jiannan really didn't know who said that if you keep calm, you will naturally feel cool. He always thought it was a proverb, and only asked when his master mentioned it.

Some places in the Zhou Dynasty are similar to the past. Can I wait for air conditioning and milk tea in my lifetime? An electric fan will be fine too.

"He is a powerful one!"

Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. As Gao Yuan spoke, he wanted to go to the backyard again. The weather today was indeed too hot. He couldn't stand it anymore after just a short while.

When Gao Yuan came out from the backyard again, Xiang Jiannan was already drowsy while fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan. In the past few days, his conversations with his master had all avoided the Lotus Sutra Assembly, and he felt bored most of the time.

The time should be coming soon. With each passing day, I have a lot to say in my heart.

The Lotus Sutra Assembly is the home ground of the monks. If the two Taoists went there, wouldn't it be obvious that they were courting their own destruction? Just imagine the spectacular scene of being treated like monkeys by a large group of monks. How could the master not have thought of this?

"In this kind of weather, I'm afraid no pilgrims will come."

Standing by the door and watching Xiang Jiannan dozing off, Gao Yuan cleared his throat and coughed slightly. It seemed that his disciple didn't even open his eyes before finally starting to talk to him about the Lotus Sutra Assembly.

After receiving the silver that day, the disciple didn't say a word and never mentioned it for several days. No one knew what he was thinking.

"Are you still going to the Lotus Sutra Conference in this weather?"

"Go. If you don't go, you will be laughed at by those monks."

Gao Yuan gave a powerful explanation to Xiang Jiannan's question and said confidently: "This matter concerns the dignity of our Taoist sect. Those monks must want to see us make a fool of ourselves!"

"In that case, Master, please save your disciple."

The palm-leaf fan in his hand stopped swinging suddenly, and Xiang Jiannan seemed to come to life. He looked at Gao Yu'an with greed in his eyes.

He had been thinking a lot these past few days. If he had to attend the Lotus Sutra Assembly, he would have to get some guarantees from his master. He had promised the thing, so giving some benefits would not be excessive.

"Why do you say that, disciple?"

Seeing Xiang Jiannan trying to reach out to him, Gao Yuan habitually held down the silver coins on his body, but he heard that his disciple had no other intentions and just opened his mouth to talk about other things: "This Dharma Flower Conference is definitely very dangerous. I urgently need to become stronger quickly. If you have any magic weapons or elixirs, it's not too late to give them to me now!"

"Is that all?"

Xiang Jiannan's words made Gao Yuan feel relieved and he realized that he had been overthinking. He agreed with the requests made by his disciple.

“I have indeed considered this.”

"real?"

Xiang Jiannan felt ecstatic inside. He didn't expect his master to answer like that. From the tone of his voice, it seemed that he was going to succeed. It was really unexpected.

"Disciple thanks the master."

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“Don’t be so polite”

"I wonder what the master wants to give to his disciple?"

There was another brief silence. After waiting for a while and seeing that his master didn't move, Xiang Jiannan couldn't help but ask again.

There was no sign of him wanting to take anything out. Was the master still considering it? With so much time, he might have to give him something incredible.

Pills? Magical weapons? It seems unlikely that there is not enough time.

"When did the Master say he would give you something?"

Gao Yuan seemed to understand what Xiang Jiannan said after he finished speaking. Seeing his disciple's face gradually becoming unhappy, he explained guiltily:

"I just considered it."

"You are committing a crime!"

"Who said that?"

"Mr. Lu Xun, the great man you mentioned before!"

"Who exactly is this Lu Xun you're talking about?"

Finally feeling embarrassed by Xiang Jiannan's anger, Gao Yuan took out a stack of blank talismans from his pocket, and after getting ready, he began to scribble on them.

"I don't know. I learned it from a book."

Paying close attention to his master's pen strokes, Xiang Jiannan saw that his hand speed was getting faster and faster. In the blink of an eye, the horizontal, vertical and diagonal strokes could no longer be recognized. He drew dozens of lines on the talisman paper before he stopped writing, feeling unsatisfied.

The entire piece of talisman paper was almost completely filled with drawings, and it looked like a mess of graffiti.

"What's this?"

Xiang Jiannan felt a headache after taking the talisman paper from Gao Yu'an. If he could understand it a little before, he couldn't understand it this time. Compared with the thunder talisman, the newly drawn talisman paper looked more abstract.

"Every stroke of this life-saving talisman represents the master's concern for you."

Pointing at the lines on the talisman paper with a smile on his face, Gao Yuan was very satisfied with his new work. He didn't notice at all that his disciple was in pain because of his words.

"What's the use? Mr. Lu Xun once said: If you play tricks on your disciples, the master will punish you!"

"Which book did the Mr. Lu Xun you mentioned come from?"

He just felt that his disciple seemed to have read some books that he shouldn't have read. Yu Youan thought about it and asked, "It's okay to practice slowly, but you must not be distracted. How come Mr. Lu Xun had such a great influence on his disciples? Is there any record of him in the scriptures in their temple?"

"From the Chinese textbook, People's Education Press."

Raising his hand and stuffing the talisman paper into the master's hand, Xiang Jiannan left in anger. He felt even angrier inside and also a little suffocated.

Am I going to discuss Mr. Lu Xun with you? He is indeed right. It is difficult for a Taoist to communicate with Gao Yu'an. A good man should be self-reliant!

(End of this chapter)