Chapter 246 Thunder subdues demons in the mountains
Rumble!
After the Qingming Festival, the climate in the mountains became more and more changeable.
The sky was gloomy, with dark clouds like ink, and the mountain suddenly seemed about to fall. The thunder roared, the wind howled, and the branches of the forest were rustling.
Halfway up the mountain, a Old Mountain God Temple stands.
The mountain road outside the temple was originally an ancient military road during the Three Kingdoms period, but it has long been abandoned, covered with overgrown grass, and occasionally decayed arrowheads can be found.
This Mountain God Temple is also very old. Due to the erosion of the years, the temple walls are mottled and peeled off, exposing the mud tiles and masonry.
In the strong wind, a group of merchants trudged forward on the mountain road around the corner.
There are many mountain roads in Dangyang County. Nowadays, the world is not peaceful, and people in the green forest who rob the roads are indispensable. It is naturally unusual for these people to dare to go on the road.
All of them were armed with sharp knives and had strong bodies. They were obviously practitioners, and there were also a few peddlers carrying loaders among them.
On the Jianghu Road, there are two types of salesmen.
One type is locals who buy goods from nearby counties and travel around the countryside without abacus or accounting, selling needlework handkerchiefs, rouge, candies and other knickknacks.
Others sharpen knives, mend bowls, and tinker pots, relying on First Gate's small crafts to support their families.
But the other kind is the master who travels all over the country.
First, they inquire about rumors from various places, collect information and sell it to Jianghu inns; second, they possess martial arts or special skills and directly help people solve any small problems they encounter.
Of course, there are also some who are not serious people, who were originally spies on Greenwood Path, who talk frivolously, seduce the daughters-in-law of good families, or kill people and buy goods.
And these salesmen are the rumored young men of Jianghu Inn.
But facing this thunderstorm and mountain wind, they were still embarrassed.
The tarpaulin on the car was blown left and right, and everyone bent down, squinted their eyes, and used their hands to resist the strong wind.
"It's going to thunderstorm!"
"Quick, take shelter in the temple ahead!"
Suddenly, the donkey in front of him howled and refused to take another step.
"You beast, you are acting like a donkey now!"
The handlebar-style leather whip was whipped wildly, but the donkey refused to move, and instead moved backwards. It was so angry that it almost bit someone.
"Don't move, something is wrong!"
The leader of the caravan had a bad intuition and said in a deep voice, "These animals are traveling with us and will not hurt people for no reason. I am afraid there is something ahead."
"Quick, you two go take a look, be careful!"
After giving the order, the two men immediately carried simple knives, one behind the other, and cautiously stepped forward to explore the way.
They are very familiar with this mountain road.
After going uphill and around the corner, there is a Mountain God Temple. I sometimes hide there to take shelter from the rain, and occasionally rest after nightfall.
Could it be that there are bandits ambushing you?
However, after passing the corner, the two of them were stunned.
I saw several horses parked in the open space outside Mountain God Temple, with luggage hanging on their backpacks, and they were moving their hooves uneasily.
A young man murmured incessantly, seeming to be comforting.
There was also a Daoist priest, a young swordsman in black, and a bald man, gathered together, staring at the Mountain God Temple, not knowing what they were talking about.
It is Li Yan and his team.
Li Yan had naturally noticed the caravan coming from afar, glanced at it lightly, and said, "Don't be afraid, we are not evil people."
A man who was exploring the road never let down his guard and asked with suspicion in his eyes, "It's going to rain, why don't you go in and take shelter?"
Li Yan looked at the sky and said, "No hurry, just wait."
Seeing their relaxed expressions, the two caravan pathfinders didn't say much, nodded, and turned to leave.
"Shopkeeper, there are four people at the door of the temple..."
Returning to the team, the two immediately told what they had seen.
The shopkeeper pondered for a moment and said, "With horses and luggage, he shouldn't be a thieves..."
"Let's go! Be careful when you enter the temple to take shelter from the rain!"
After giving the order, the caravan continued to move forward and soon arrived outside the temple.
Seeing Li Yan and others dressed up, the caravan manager immediately understood. With a smile on his face, he cupped his hands and said, "Which mountain do you come from, and which stick of incense are you burning?"
"Coming from Huashan, the one who burned is Three Purities Incense!"
Sha LiFei laughed and said, "Don't be nervous, everyone. The mountains are high and the roads are dangerous. We are all separated from the world. Just put them away."
"Oh?"
The caravan manager's heart trembled, and he quickly bowed his hands respectfully, "It's not peaceful recently, I made you laugh."
With that said, he winked and asked everyone to put away their weapons.
The burned Three Purities Incense is clearly Xuan Gate People.
Xuan Gate People There are many good and bad ones, there are Gold Gate liars who deceive and deceive others, and there are real masters with special skills, who have the highest status in the world.
No matter which one, he didn't want to provoke him.
But just when they were about to enter the temple, they were stopped by Sha LiFei, who said with a smile, "What are you anxious about? We will enter the temple later."
The leader of the caravan frowned slightly and asked carefully, "Guys, is there something in the temple?"
He travels all year round and walks in the mountains, so he naturally knows some taboos. In these barren mountains and wild mountains, it is best not to mention the names of many things.
"This... it's hard to say."
Sha LiFei laughed, "Anyway, wait for a while."
Looking at Wang Dao Xuan who was at ease in the team, the leader of the caravan also had doubts in his eyes. He raised his hand and said, "I will listen to you all."
After saying that, he turned around and said, "Wait for now."
However, this level is only half a stick of incense.
The caravan was on guard and did not dare to say anything.
The sky is getting gloomier, dark clouds are approaching, the mountain wind is getting more violent, and everyone knows that a heavy rain is about to come.
Click!
Suddenly, lightning flashed across the sky like a silver snake.
The raindrops fell, splashing into mud puddles in the open space outside the temple. It only took a moment to breathe, and the heavy rain came.
Billions of raindrops hit the forest leaves, making a rustling sound like an ocean tide. Coupled with the increasingly violent mountain wind, the rainwater flew sideways.
In an instant, the rainwater drenched the ground and flowed along the gaps in the grass, forming puddles on the ground.
Li Yan and others have already put on Straw Cape bamboo hats.
They took their time and were still waiting with peace of mind.
But the people in the caravan couldn't bear it anymore. One man said with anxious eyes, "Shopkeeper, this batch of goods will be ruined if it gets wet!"
The shopkeeper gritted his teeth and said with Li Yan and others behind his back, "I'm sorry, everyone, we have to go in first. What we are sending are tea and cloth, so they can't get wet in the rain."
Sha LiFei shook his head and said, "Why can't you understand? Don't worry, money is more important than life."
"Joke!"
A salesman couldn't help it anymore and said with a cold face, "I have walked this mountain road countless times and nothing has ever happened to me."
"You want to stop me from pretending to be a ghost and cheating money, right? Don't do this in front of experts!"
After saying that, he picked up his burden and rushed to the temple.
"Damn it, shameless!"
Sha LiFei As soon as he heard that he was angry, he stepped forward, pushed the salesman away, and said in a deep voice, "Just stay here!"
This time, it suddenly felt like a pot was exploding.
Canglanglang!
Everyone in the caravan took out guys.
In their opinion, there was something very wrong with the people in front of them.
Rumble!
At this moment, a thunder struck from the sky.
Everyone felt a flash of white light in front of their eyes, a deafening roar in their ears, and the hair on the back of everyone's neck stood up.
After the thunder, the wind became more violent.
Everyone in the caravan blocked the wind with their hands, and saw only the worn-out Mountain God Temple roof, some weeds had been ignited, and in a blink of an eye it was wetted by heavy rain, and green smoke was rising.
Ahead Mountain God Temple, the temple door was ajar, and the rotten wooden door was swayed by the strong wind and creaked, as if it would collapse at any time.
You can vaguely see that the statue inside is broken and covered with dust.
"Woooooo~"
In the strong wind, there seemed to be a woman crying.
The voice was sad and tragic, like a woman encountering a robber.
However, no one dared to move.
They stared wide-eyed and looked at the swaying temple door. A whirlwind had arisen from the ground, covered in dust and bumping left and right. They seemed to want to escape, but were trapped in the temple.
Click!
Another thunder struck.
Only a bang was heard as a wooden beam collapsed in the temple.
"Yeah--!"
And with a shrill scream, the whirlwind stopped.
"I win!"
Sha LiFei laughed and clapped his hands, "Yan XiaoGe Don't even think about leaving us, Purple Canopy Mountain Cave let's go together!"
Li Yan said helplessly, "That's okay, I'll just listen to you."
The leader of the caravan, who could not care about his own goods at this moment, raised his hands in a trembling voice and said, "It turns out that these are all Daoist masters. What is going on?"
"Take shelter from the rain first."
Li Yan Several people did not care about the nonsense, led the horses into the temple, and quickly wiped the water drops on the luggage and the horses with cloths.
This Mountain God Temple was quite big, but even so, it seemed a bit crowded after the caravan pushed the car forward, so they had to tie the donkey outside the temple gate.
"Ang! Aung!"
The donkeys suddenly barked loudly and dissatisfied.
"What's so smelly?"
The leader of the caravan was about to continue asking, but one of the men next to him sniffled, looked at the roof, his eyes widened in fear, and he sat down on the ground.
"Monster, monster!"
Everyone was shocked and looked up.
This Mountain God Temple is very old, and the beams are high. The top beams of Zhu Zi are as thick as buckets, so they can support it until now.
And on one of the beams, there was a black thing lying on its side, like a human being with arms and legs, a huge head, and smoke coming out of its body.
"Don't worry, he's dead."
Li Yan looked up, frowned slightly, covered his nose and said, "Everyone is affected, throw that thing out."
The people in the caravan looked at each other, but they didn't dare to ask more questions at this time. They climbed onto the beam of the house and stabbed the thing down with a wooden stick.
It fell to the ground with a splat, and they could see it clearly.
It is a huge gecko.
At this moment, my whole body was burning and smelling bad.
After throwing this thing away from the hospital, Lu San walked outside the temple, pinched Mystical Gestures, and whistled several times.
Wow!
From all directions, black mountain rats swarmed out, ignoring the fishy stench, and devoured the garrison completely.
Among the many mice, there was one who was the biggest, with a gold chain and jade pendant hanging around his neck. The shape was ordinary and the workmanship was rough. At first glance, it looked like a folk thing.
I don't know which grave bun it was taken from.
But the mouse wears gold and silver, which is really strange.
After the garrison in the courtyard was devoured of all its flesh and blood, only a pool of bones remained, which had a faint jade color.
Rat King, who was wearing a necklace, stood up and looked at Lu San.
Lu San immediately cursed, "Don't go back on the rules you agreed upon, and if you dare to do anything, the big bald guy inside won't let you go!"
"Squeak!"
Rat King With a cry, the group of rats immediately dispersed and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye, leaving only one skeleton washed away in the heavy rain.
"Haha, you little guy is wise!"
Sha LiFei smiled, put on Straw Cape bamboo hat, picked up his cloth bag and rushed into the courtyard, gathering the bones one by one.
Seeing this scene, everyone was stunned.
The talkative salesman just now was trembling all over, lowering his head and not daring to look at Li Yan and the others.
"Don't be afraid."
Wang Dao Xuan stroked his beard and smiled and said, "I have accepted the mission from City God Temple. They said that people have been missing in the mountains nearby, so I happened to drop by to take a look."
He looked like a fairy and spoke very kindly, which immediately made everyone in the caravan lower their guard.
"The Daoist priest is polite."
The leader of the caravan swallowed, "What kind of monster is that thing? I've been there several times, but why have I never seen it before?"
Wang Dao Xuan shook his head and said, "This gecko must have inhaled the incense of Mountain God Temple, gained spiritual enlightenment, and gradually developed the Daoism."
"The garrison is originally an auspicious thing, but Mountain God Temple lost its incense and occasionally tasted blood food, so it naturally turned into a monster."
"It's good luck if you don't meet it, and if you do meet it, you won't have the chance to say this. Besides, if it eats a human once, it will have to rest for a long time."
"This thing is a bit difficult to deal with. The key is that when it encounters danger, it will crawl back into the cracks of the mountain and make a living by eating mountain rats."
"And this thing also knows how to avoid disasters. If you enter the temple, you will definitely be treated as a scapegoat and bombarded by thunder. You will not know what happened until you die."
"That's why I stopped you all."
"Thank you, Daoist Master, for saving my life."
Everyone was frightened when they heard this, and they quickly bowed their hands and thanked him.
"It doesn't matter."
Wang Dao Xuan smiled and waved his hand, then said no more. He took out a book from his bag and read it by himself.
Then Sha LiFei came back, and he and Lu San were mumbling and turning over their bones, discussing how to use it.
As for Li Yan, he came to the door and looked at the thunder in the distance. His chest and abdomen were shaking, as if he was trying his best to echo the thunder.
It can be said that everyone is busy with their own things without disturbing each other.
However, their behavior was very strange in the eyes of everyone in the caravan. If it hadn't been for the heavy rain, they would have fled far away.
Seeing that the atmosphere was dull, the caravan leader bit the bullet and said, "Daoist Priest, are you going to Dangyang County?"
"Hmm."
Wang Dao Xuan was very patient. After putting down the book, he smiled and said, "There is something going on over there. Go and deal with it."
Unexpectedly, the leader of the caravan became interested, "Is it because of Lord Guan's trouble?"
As soon as these words came out, Li Yan, who was practicing Cloud Thunder Sound, also turned his head and frowned. "What are you talking about!"
In Dangyang, in addition to Changbanpo where Zhang Fei could hold back thousands of troops by himself and Zhao Zilong made seven entrances and exits, there is also the famous Guan Ling.
It is said that Guan Yunchang died here. Wu State was worried about the revenge of Shu Han, so it gave his head to Cao Cao and buried his body in Dangyang according to the courtesy of the princes.
Therefore, there is also a saying that "the body lies on Dangyang and the head rests on Luoyang".
Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, successive emperors have conferred titles on him, and Guan Yunchang's status has been continuously improved. The three Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism families all respect him, from Martial Saint to Emperor Guan.
A few years ago, the imperial court also decreed that he be titled: The Great Demon-Conquering Emperor of the Three Realms, Shenwei Yuanzhen Tianzun Lord Guan.
This is the true god of righteousness and good fortune.
If you say people are causing trouble, what do these people want to do?