Chapter 80: An Old Man Carrying a Pot and a Bamboo Cane
"You little goblin, you actually look down on your Grandma Lingxiang! Let me tell you, I've been studying at Liuyunxuan for a long time. Even if Han Qingfu comes, he has to praise me!" Lingxiang said proudly as she put the jade bamboo flute into the Qiankun bag.
The Liuyunxuan she was talking about was the most famous brothel in Linxiang. When the old man with the bamboo stick gave Lingxiang the jade bamboo flute, it was to let her summon the goblins to lead the way when she entered the formation. However, she couldn't play a proper tune, so she went to Liuyunxuan and studied music with the women for a long time.
The brothel owner and her group of beauties had been poisoned by Lingxiang for quite some time. Finally one day they could not bear it anymore and conspired with those girls to deceive Lingxiang, saying that her musical attainments were extraordinary and would surely move heaven and earth. Only then did they ask this great goddess to leave.
The goblins were too lazy to argue with Lingxiang and just handed two bamboo lanterns to Rendong and Yuancheng respectively.
Only then did Honeysuckle realize that this big guy was actually five goblins stacked together, and each of them had arms and legs, but these arms and legs were as thin as firewood, which made him worry - how could such thin arms and legs support their bodies.
"Hold on to this lantern well. If you drop it, you will get lost in this formation. Don't blame me for not reminding you!" said the goblin with a shrill voice arrogantly.
And just after it finished saying this, the goblin with a deep voice just said "Follow me", and the big guy split into five pebbles and rolled into the ancient bamboo forest.
As he walked along, Rendong felt that the surroundings were extremely dark and looked extremely strange. Only the light of the lantern in his hand could make him see clearly. Just as he was surprised, he heard a howl behind him. He was about to turn around when he heard Shoucheng shouting behind him:
"Don't look back!"
Honeysuckle quickly stopped and just looked straight ahead.
"This is the Yin-Yang maze set up by the old man with the bamboo stick. If you turn back, you will be trapped in the formation and no one can save you." Shoucheng then explained.
After walking for about an incense stick's time, he saw a bright light coming from the front, which hurt his eyes so much that he quickly closed his eyes.
"This is the door to life, let's go quickly!" Shoucheng urged.
Honeysuckle carefully followed the sound of the goblins rolling and walked quickly. After a while, she saw the light suddenly become bigger, and then she found herself in front of a courtyard gate.
I saw that the yard was surrounded by a fence and there were several thatched houses in the yard. These houses surrounded a magnificent palace, which looked extremely inharmonious.
Just as Rendong was wondering what kind of person would turn the Taoist temple into this state, he saw an old man striding out of the temple.
"Hey, you little ancestor, you're so kind to come. I thought you had forgotten me!"
The person who came was the old man with a bamboo stick. He was wearing a green Taoist robe and holding a green bamboo stick with a black gold gourd hanging on it. His beard and eyebrows were all white and his eyes were bright.
Lingxiang smiled and stepped forward, taking the old man's arm and saying, "How could I possibly forget you? I can forget anyone else, but I can't forget you, right? Look, I even brought my apprentice here to show you, right? I'm giving you a lot of face!"
Shoucheng, the old man with the bamboo cane, knew him. The disciple Lingxiang mentioned could only be someone else. He looked at Rendong, then patted Lingxiang on the head and scolded her with a smile:
"You naughty monkey! If I hadn't sent you the letter, you would have forgotten me. And now you've brought a brat with you. You must have bad intentions!"
Hearing this, Lingxiang shook the old man with the bamboo cane and said in a coquettish voice, "Oh, isn't this a coincidence? Now that I've accepted a disciple, I come to show off to you. If you don't believe me, ask Shoucheng. I just accepted him into Qingwei Peak yesterday."
The old man with the bamboo stick naturally believed her. He just pretended to light some incense and then took her into the house.
Rendong didn't know what to do, so he heard Lingxiang in front of him telling him to go with Shoucheng to dig some fresh bamboo shoots and bring them back to Qingwei Peak later.
…
Although the sect said that there would be no cultivation arrangements for the next two days, he was still a little irritated. Ever since leaving Youran Residence, Lingxiang always did things behind his back. Although she didn't tell him everything before, at least she wouldn't do it like this now, and even went somewhere else with someone else.
Zhao Wuyang was accepted as a direct disciple by Zhenren Qianyuan, and Liu Xia also became a disciple of Elder Chengxin. They all went to their respective masters' temples. Now only Xinyi was still in the house, and it seemed that no one cared about her like him.
More people, more ideas, why not... ask him?
"Ahem!" Long Qi leaned over to Xinyi and cleared his throat, but Xinyi didn't even raise her head, still concentrating on the scripture in her hand.
Long Qi then changed his position and pretended to cough twice, but Xinyi still didn't react at all. Long Qi was a little annoyed, but when he thought about what he had to ask, he had to be patient and moved to the window and shouted "Ouch" loudly, then glanced at Xinyi.
Perhaps disturbed by Long Qi, Xinyi sighed lightly and put down the "Chongxu Sutra" in her hand.
"If you like someone, just say it directly. Why make it so awkward every time you meet? Wouldn't it save you a lot of trouble if you just said it nicely?"
Long Qi blushed when he heard that - he could see through Xinyi's stupidity, so why was that little girl still so confused?
"It's not that I don't want to tell you, but that little girl...she...I'm afraid she's too shy to tell you, and I'm afraid she might get scared!"
Xinyi smiled when he heard that. He didn't know Lingxiang would be shy. He really didn't know whether he was afraid that Lingxiang was shy or he was shy and afraid of being rejected.
"You have to pierce the window paper to see what's inside. If you only look at the candlelight, how can you know if there's someone else in the room?"
"If there is no one, what should we do?"
"If there's no one there, then naturally I'll just push the door open and enter, and take over the house."
"Then...what if...what if there is someone?"
"If there is anyone..." Xinyi picked up the Chongxu Sutra, "then drive them out of the house and occupy it!"
…
Led by the goblins, Honeysuckle and Shoucheng dug a full basket of fresh bamboo shoots. When they came back, they saw Lingxiang and the old man with the bamboo stick sitting in the yard. They didn't know what Lingxiang said, but they could hear the old man with the bamboo stick's hearty laughter from a distance.
Seeing the two of them coming back, Lingxiang ordered Rendong to take out a few bamboo shoots. After taking them, she said to the old man with the bamboo stick:
"Today I'm going to stir-fry some black fungus and bamboo shoots for you. Please try it carefully and see if my cooking skills have deteriorated."
Then he called Shoucheng to go to the kitchen, leaving only Rendong standing alone in the yard, and the old man with a bamboo stick was also left sitting on the stone bench in the yard.
Although Lingxiang knows the art of alchemy, her cooking skills are far from that. There is only one exception, which is stir-fried bamboo shoots with black fungus. Maybe it's because she loves bamboo shoots very much.
For a moment, Jindong felt a little awkward, not knowing what to do. Just as she was at a loss, the old man with the bamboo cane spoke:
"I heard from Lingxiang that you are a pseudo-five element spiritual root?"
When Honeysuckle heard this, she was stunned at first, then she clasped her fists, bowed, and said yes.
"Hmm~ I guess you don't know why she brought you here!" The old man with the bamboo stick said, standing up. "She really took great pains."
Jin Dong was confused. Although he didn't know why Elder Fu Cang had brought him here, how could he say he had gone to such great lengths? Wasn't he here to pick bamboo flowers?
"I think he wants to let you know that you shouldn't give up on yourself just because you have a fake five-element spiritual root." The old man with the bamboo stick said, turning to look at Honeysuckle.
"Because I, like you, also have a pseudo-spiritual root of the Five Elements."
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