Chapter 257 Planning for the Future and the Taoist Temple
The setting sun outlined the mountain peaks, and the sunset glowed with red leaves. It was the beginning of winter in the mountains, and the chill was quite chilly. The three of them each held a bowl of noodles and ate it, with steam rising.
The soup base is still made of dried bamboo shoots and bacon. It is less refreshing and more fragrant than fresh bamboo shoots. It is delicious with only salt when paired with thin noodles.
Several people did not sit down, but just strolled in the open space in front of the Taoist temple, enjoying the delicious food and the beautiful scenery.
It happened that they had been traveling outside for half a year. Now that they were back here, they felt at ease. They had been busy for the whole afternoon and were a little tired. Now they could ignore everything and just eat a bowl of hot noodles. Both the three of them and the fox and cat next to them felt comfortable.
"what……"
Luo Seng swallowed the soup along with the food. After finishing, he held up the empty bowl and couldn't help but sighed: "Does this soup noodle have a name?"
"Blanket surface."
"Delicious!" Luo Gong sighed, "You Taoists really know how to eat!"
“Haha, there are more delicious foods!”
"Master, what are your plans from now on?" Luo Seng put down his bowl and asked, "Are you going to practice in seclusion here with your junior sister?"
"This is a good place for spiritual practice. But I still have to go to the Juxian Mansion in the capital. There may be something I want. Of course, after running around for half a year, I have to rest here for a while. Anyway, it is convenient to go back and forth from here to the capital."
Lin Jue said this and looked at Luo Seng, asking back:
"What about Mr. Luo? What are your plans?"
"Now that I'm wanted, I can't enter the capital. There's no place for me in the court, so I'll just have to wait for things to change." Luo Seng said, "Before that, I have nothing to do anyway, so I might as well go kill all the monsters that have eaten people that I've noted down before."
"If Lord Luo wants to enter the capital, he can disguise himself and enter. The only difficulty is to find a place to stay in the capital. If Lord Luo is worried about this, you can go with me." Lin Jue said, "I am a cultivator. People who cultivate the Tao often have a warrior to protect them. I have always admired Lord Luo's martial arts, wisdom and virtue. Lord Luo has nothing to do anyway, so why not go with me? The capital is complicated. If there is anything that requires Lord Luo's martial arts, wisdom and experience, I will ask him for advice. In addition, when he is practicing martial arts, I will make pills for him to help him enter the Tao as soon as possible. Isn't it wonderful?"
Luo Seng was also somewhat moved when he heard this.
After thinking for a long time, he finally said, "That will have to wait until Luo kills those monsters first!"
"Okay! But you have been busy for half a year, please take a few days off!" Lin Jue said to him, "We Taoists are free, if Luo Gong needs anything, we will also help him."
"Alright!"
"Ha ha……"
Lin Jue couldn't help but laugh.
It seems that we could use one more person to help with the repairs and renovations of the Taoist temple and moving stones and wood in the next few days.
After that, he went to the capital. Mr. Luo served as the county magistrate of Changning, one of the two counties in the capital, and was specifically responsible for dealing with demons and ghosts. He should be more familiar with the situation in the capital and Juxian Mansion, as well as all the twists and turns.
With his help, Lin Jue would undoubtedly feel much more relaxed.
But then again, the most fundamental reason is the admiration for Luo Gong's martial arts and personal character.
Although he was good at fighting, the Taoist's fighting skills and the martial arts of the warriors still had their strengths and weaknesses, not to mention that the rivers and lakes were dangerous and there were unexpected places for magic.
Therefore, since ancient times, protecting a Taoist priest has always been a good choice for both parties. If a Taoist priest can practice smoothly, the warrior can also gain many benefits in the process. Even if the Taoist priest ascends to heaven and becomes an immortal, the warrior may also follow him to heaven and become a guardian deity.
Although judging from Luo Gong's character, he is not pursuing to become an immortal or a god, and is more pursuing to stay in the human world. He is destined not to be able to protect Lin Jue forever, but Lin Jue is also willing to achieve mutual success with him on this short journey.
Late at night, in the monk's room, an oil lamp was burning with a tiny flame, and the light could barely illuminate the entire room.
There is still a bit of the smell of old wood in the room.
Lin Jue was sitting on the bed, covered with a bear skin blanket, with a white fox lying next to him. He was holding an ancient book in his hand, reading with peace of mind.
This time when I went out, I actually accumulated a lot of things.
Those rare treasures have not yet been refined into pills, and it would not be easy to find a suitable place for refining pills in the capital. He has to ask his junior sister to prepare a room for him to use as an alchemy room.
It takes exactly twenty-eight bean soldiers to carve the spiritual wood into bean soldiers.
Just thinking about it, I feel that it cannot be completed in a short time.
But once it was completed, there would be a full forty bean soldiers, surpassing the third brother before he went down the mountain. If they were to continue to practice for another year or two, I couldn't imagine how powerful they would be.
I still have some spells that I haven't studied or practiced.
Just like the wall-partitioning technique we are seeing now.
It is like another art of returning wind.
The rat demon's earth escape spell is also a good spell. As for how useful it is, I have already said it all in the past six months, so there is no need to waste more words. Although I didn't get it during the pursuit, my fox got it from the rat demon.
Unfortunately, this magic cannot be cast on others, only on oneself, so he had to ask Fuyao to teach him.
As long as you can teach me the general idea and let me understand the principles of the magic, I think the ancient books should be able to respond and naturally have detailed tips.
The same applies to the “entering the water” technique.
This method can save lives at critical moments.
By the way, he also has a "Wood Release Technique" that he has not passed on to his junior sister.
Many things have to be done on this mountain. Lin Jue thought so, and rubbed the fox beside him, then turned off the light and went to sleep.
Only the little ghost appeared unnoticed, looking around blankly, muttering dully:
"It's over. I can't find the way..."
I woke up the next day and started to get busy.
First, he cleaned the Taoist temple thoroughly, then went down the mountain to buy daily necessities, and also bought some tiles and plaster to repair the roof and walls.
The junior sister now found rocks and made a stone table and stone benches, and placed them at the entrance of the Taoist temple. She changed the position several times before she was satisfied. Lin Jue then looked for a suitable place behind the Taoist temple, reclaimed the wasteland, and made a vegetable plot.
Within a few days, the Hongye Temple had undergone a huge transformation, just like every Taoist temple that the previous brothers had built.
The red leaves on the mountain are also beginning to fall gradually.
But the junior sister was not satisfied.
When the red leaves on the mountain fade, it is also the time when fog rises in the mountains. Every morning, when you open the door, you can see rolling clouds and mist, as if you are living in the clouds.
Luo Gong had packed his bag, took his long sword, and said goodbye to the two men temporarily.
"If you go to Juxian Mansion and can't find a way in, you can go find that Tianshi Fan. Although he is a fraud and a swindler, he is good at dealing with people and loves to help others. If you find him, he will definitely find a way to help you enter Juxian Mansion. Otherwise, you can also find a man named Li Er and ask him to help you enter Juxian Mansion. Tell him that if he can't find a way, Luo will come to kill him."
Lin Jue knew as soon as he heard it that it was the right decision to ask him to go to the capital with him.
But I probably won’t be able to use this.
"Thank you, Mr. Luo." Lin Jue said, "There are still some things to do on the mountain, Mr. Luo, go first. After the things on the mountain are done, I will go find Mr. Luo and help you to eliminate the monster, and then we will go to the capital together."
"it is good!"
Mr. Luo still had that stubble-covered, weathered look, taciturn and very free and easy. He bowed to him and led his horse down the mountain.
The little sister held up the whisk, facing the sea of clouds, thought for a moment and said to Lin Jue: "Brother, when we get outside the capital, should we go visit Daoist Master Jiang and Daoist Brother Qingxuan?"
"Of course I want to go."
Lin Jue thought back to the two Taoist priests and felt like he hadn't seen them for a long time.
By the beginning of next spring, it will have been three years, right?
How long three years is depends on how much you have experienced. After the master passed away, his fellow disciples went down the mountain and saw him off. Then they fought the Demon King and went to the Western Regions, so naturally the time was prolonged.
There were so many things that my memory of Master Jiang and Brother Qingxuan has become a little vague.
"When are you going?"
"Wait until the Taoist temple is cleaned up, or go there on the way to the capital." Lin Jue replied.
"I have to go too?"
"Of course." Lin Jue said to her, "It's a courtesy."
"Then I'll go too!" said the little sister, turning her head to look at the misty mountain and the faint light from the sky overhead, her eyes bright, "But before that, I want to plant fruit trees all over the mountain!"
"If it's full, how can you eat it all?"
"Senior brother eats too, Caili eats too, and Fuyao eats too."
“You can’t finish that.”
"Then plant one or two trees." The little sister seemed to have been thinking about this for a long time and was looking forward to it. "Peaches, apricots, plums, pears, pomegranates, loquats, persimmons, grapes, loquats, persimmons, kiwis, as long as they can be planted, plant them all on the mountain. In this way, when the fruits are ripe, when my brother goes to the capital and doesn't have rice to cook, we can pick the fruits to eat. When we have rice and rice, we can also pick the fruits to eat for fun."
"That's fine." Lin Jue thought for her, "There are also mulberries and cherries, as well as bananas, oranges and jujube trees."
"There are also mountain loquats, ice powder fruit trees, and turtledove leaf trees." The little sister still remembers the life on Fuqiu Peak vividly. Even just reciting it, her eyes are already filled with reminiscence and light. "We also need to plant an osmanthus tree next to it, a pine tree in front of it, and a bamboo forest behind it, so that we can have firewood and bamboo shoots to eat."
It seems like a simple, self-sufficient life.
Lin Jue just smiled and agreed.
So the junior sister took Lin Jue to the foot of the mountain to look for wild fruit trees, or buy them from farmers, and then call a donkey to move them up the mountain for transplanting. There were only one or two trees of each kind, and there were many varieties. There were even many wild fruits and vines that ordinary people didn't grow. The main idea was to have the mountains and forests and never have to worry about eating fruits.
The fox and the cat also ran up and down.
A pine tree is planted in front of the Taoist temple to attract clouds and welcome guests, and a bamboo forest is planted behind the temple to attract breeze and bring coolness.
In order to ensure their survival, Lin Jue specially opened the alchemy furnace, asked the foxes to help spit fire, extracted the essence of the spiritual liquid, and poured it on them with water.
Although the whole process was time-consuming and laborious, it was very enjoyable.
Because planning for the future is a happy thing in itself.
In the past, I found it very interesting to plan for several senior brothers. Now, I plan for myself. I can own a mountain and a Taoist temple. I don’t have to pay taxes, I can practice freely, and I can make them the way I like. This is undoubtedly a more interesting thing.
(End of this chapter)
