The weather in Jeju Prefecture, Shandong Province is hot.
At dusk, the sun was finally willing to go down the mountain, and the earth that had been baked all day was finally blown by a little cool breeze.
The afterglow is like a rainbow, dyeing the clouds in the sky red. Two rivers meet at an inlet, surrounded by lush water and grass, and a large red leaf tree. Under the shade of the tree, it is a good place to cool off.
Li Yu used his arms as a pillow and lay comfortably on the green grass, holding a straw stalk in his mouth and staring blankly at the sky.
This world is full of vitality, the air is filled with the fresh fragrance of vegetation and earth, without a trace of the odor of steel and concrete, the sky is so clear, and the stars shine brightly every night.
There was a growling sound in his stomach, and Li Yucai stood up like a carp and came to the river.
Carefully pulling up the fishing net by the river, Li Yu frowned slightly as he looked at a few lively little herrings. The fish in the river were getting smaller and smaller.
He caught the small fish one by one from the fishing net and put them into the small bucket. When he touched the fish with his palms, he felt a cool and smooth feeling, which lifted Li Yu's spirits after a hot day.
"It's so small, where can I get rid of it... A long stream of water flows."
After throwing the three smallest fry back into the river, Li Yu went upstream to get some fresh water, stretched out and walked back.
He had long been familiar with this path and could go back with his eyes closed. After a while, he arrived outside a fenced yard. The wood door looked a bit shabby. There were a few willow branches stuck on the door, which had been sunburned all day and were hanging limply.
This thatched cottage is on the edge of a remote place. If you say it is remote, it is not far from the town. If you say it is not remote, there are no neighbors around it.
Pushing the door open and going in, there are some vegetables planted on both sides, a path in the middle, and a simple grape trellis under the east wall.
Sitting on a small bamboo chair under the grape trellis, an old man was taking a nap with his eyes closed.
When the old man heard the footsteps, his ears twitched and he said without blinking: "I went to catch fish again. It's really rotten... rotten wood..."
"Rotten wood cannot be carved. If I didn't catch fish, we would have starved to death."
"The mud can't help...it can't help..."
"Go up the wall, that's it. Even if you say nothing, your temper is getting better every day."
The stubborn old man in front of him, with a slightly rickety back, leaning slightly on the bamboo chair, with dry and wrinkled skin, is the most suitable word to describe him. At this moment, the old man looks like he hates the iron.
, shaking the cattail leaf fan in his hand vigorously, unable to say a word.
Li Yu had long been used to it and didn't bother to meet him. He hummed a tune and walked to the small stove under the shack. He picked up the knife on the chopping board with familiarity, removed the internal organs of several fish and cut them into slices.
After hearing the sound of the cutting knife, a few ginger strands were as thin as hair. Li Yu nodded with satisfaction, took out a small bottle from his arms, and sprinkled some salt into the earthen pot on the small clay stove.
The firewood in front of him had been used up. Li Yu shook his head, and with a slight twist of his fingers, the firewood was ignited by lightning and flint.
The old man just glanced at him sideways, and just in time to see it, his cloudy eyes lit up, and his eyes looking at the young man became complicated.
This kid's talent is far higher than his own. He taught him the fire-drawing technique just now, and the next day he was already more skillful than himself. His movements were clean and neat, without any sloppiness, and you couldn't even notice it if you didn't look carefully.
It's a pity that he has no ambition and is too greedy for comfort. This talent is wasted on him. Every time he thinks about this, the old man feels heartbroken.
Because there was a plague and bandits raging nearby, many people fled their hometown. This thatched cottage was originally an abandoned land without an owner, but he kept it clean and tidy, and even had the elegance of a reclusive sage.
.
Li Yu concentrated on making the fish soup. He first put the pebbles picked up from the spring into a clay pot and cooked them to give the fish soup the fragrance of the spring water.
After closing the lid, Li Yu took out the Artemisia arborescens and bracken newly dug today from the bag, washed them and prepared them for dipping in sauce and eating them raw.
After a while, Li Yu took a wooden spoon and took a sip. The fish soup was delicious. He took a bowl and brought it to the old man. He took out the wooden spoon from a basket under the small bamboo chair.
"Old man Zhang, eat it, be careful of the fish bones."
Although he taught Li Yu many skills, Mr. Zhang never refused to recognize Li Yu as his disciple. In his words, because Li Yu did not have the compassion to help the common people, he was not worthy to be the successor of his sect.
"What a sin, what a sin! You are so good at alchemy and talismans, but you only know how to hide in the countryside and forest to avoid disaster!"
Li Yuman disapproved of it, so he wanted to save all sentient beings just by relying on this heresy?
"You like to help people so much, why did people break your legs?"
Li Yu's mouth was like a knife, but it did not hurt Old Man Zhang. He just sighed leisurely: "That's because the people were deceived by the demon monks, and they are also pitiful people."
When he wasn't in a hurry, he didn't stutter when he spoke. He could feel calm when talking about these old things. This was what Li Yu admired about the old man the most.
Old Man Zhang's sect is very special, requiring his disciples to travel all over the world after completing their studies. When they arrived at Qingzhou Mansion, they encountered a plague. The people around him had ten rooms and nine empty houses. Desperate terror permeated the land, and the remaining people only
They can place their hope in the temple where they have been worshiping for generations.
It's a pity that the monks closed the gates tightly. They had enough food and were determined to survive the plague.
At this time, Old Man Zhang came and spread the talisman water to cure the disease. The plague gradually improved, and the people who were sick and waiting to die gradually recovered.
Naturally, the people were very grateful. Taoist Zhang was about to leave, but a piece of news spread like wildfire, saying that the death of the plague was caused by Taoist Zhang, so he had the talisman water to save him in order to earn money from the people.
.
The angry people surrounded Taoist Zhang and beat him. They vented all their grievances caused by the plague on Taoist Zhang, and then turned around and continued to worship the great monks.
Taoist Zhang used the talisman to protect his heart and feigned death to escape. However, his legs were broken and more than half of the muscles in his body were broken. Only one arm of his limbs could move, and half of his body was drooping like a shrimp all day long.
Li Yu, who had traveled through time, happened to meet him in the wild and saved the old man's life. Both of them were helpless, so they have supported each other to this day.
Old Man Zhang taught him some skills, and Li Yu learned them seriously, but he didn't even hear a single word of the kindness he wanted to instill.
"Let me tell you, the world is like this, good people are deceived by others. If this kind of thing of repaying kindness with enmity is left to me, I will take revenge even if I die!"
The old man hesitated to speak. After a while, he lowered his head and drank the soup.
"Have you ever thought about leaving here?"
Li Yu was stunned for a moment and said, "Where are you going?"
"You kid, am I asking you, or are you asking me?"
Li Yu laughed and didn't answer. He lowered his head to clear away the dishes and wiped his forehead. It was not yet dark in the distance and the moon had already risen.
This world is not as simple as imagined. Lao Zhangtou has already learned almost all his skills, and he can even be said to be superior to others.
The old man traveled around all over the world, wandering around for half his life, and gained a lot of knowledge. In his words, Li Yu roughly understood this world, where six countries stood side by side, and all the familiar names in the original time and space really existed, and they were ridiculously powerful.
The capital of an ordinary small town can easily spawn tigers and leopards and kill one person in one step. Not to mention those strong men who are famous all over the world...
Compared with them, my ability in seal script and talisman water is only the light of a firefly, not worth mentioning.
"Go to sleep, old man. Tomorrow I have to go to the county to sell some amulets and replenish some tea, rice, oil and salt."
"Amulet? Another lie."
"This is not cheating. They buy amulets for peace of mind, which is the same as going to the temple to burn incense. The money is spent for comfort. Psychological things are mysterious and mysterious, can they be called cheating?"
"wait..."
The old man talked a lot today. Li Yu glanced at him sideways and asked, "What's wrong?"
"You say the world is unfair, then what do you think is justice and what is Tao?"
Li Yu blurted out: "Fairness means fairness, which means not being bullied. Tao means that I can take revenge after being bullied."
While Li Yu was speaking, he pinched a flame with his fingers and shot it into the air, instantly cremating a buzzing fly.
"This is the Tao."
The old man was a little confused. This boy turned the exorcism technique he taught him into a killing technique...
Old man Zhang tilted his body and leaned on the bamboo chair, picked up the broken cattail leaf fan that had been polished smooth and cool, and fanned it one by one.
The world is a peaceful world. In this peaceful world, there is no oppression of the good, let alone fraud or theft. The world is one and the same. But what about Tao? Inaction is self-transformation, tranquility and self-righteousness. It is the beginning of heaven and earth and the mother of all things. This is the only way.
It’s the Tao.”
No wonder your sect is in such decline. You are not very capable, but you have the world in mind...
"If you ask me, the greater your ability, the greater your determination. It is said that if you are successful, you can help the world, and if you are poor, you can be alone. Do you think this is the truth?"
Old man Zhang shook his head. Neither the old man nor the young man could convince the other, so they didn't waste their words at all.
