NOVEL FULL

Strange Stories

Chapter 132: Gift from the Mountain God

Chapter 132: Gift from the Mountain God The next morning, in the Lotus Peak, in the mountain god’s cave. The reports from Lin Jue and the junior sister were naturally clearer than those from the senior brothers, because not only did they travel with the fellow Taoists from Qiyun Mountain for a while, but they also witnessed with their own eyes the demon king releasing the death energy. They were also the last to return to the mountain. Then he saw that the mountain god was still sitting on the stone chair at the top, guarded by the four guardians: a green lion, a white elephant, a black bear, and a crocodile dragon. He listened quietly to what Lin Jue said until he finished. "It seems that this demon king does have some abilities. Fortunately, we discovered it early. If we let it hide for a few more years, and wait until the world is in chaos and the gods begin to worry about the incense and divine power before it comes out, the disaster it brings will be much greater than it is now." As the mountain god spoke, he raised his hand, and the token in Lin Jue's hand automatically flew up and returned to his hand. Then he looked at the two people standing below, and the fox that was squatting obediently at Lin Jue's feet, looking up at him. The mountain god thought for a moment: "Now that the turmoil at the foot of the mountain has ended, you should return to continue your training. However, considering that you have been on guard duty for me and have often offered sacrifices to me this year, I will also give you a treasure." After saying that, he waved his hand. Two pieces of gold and iron flew from nowhere and fell into the hands of the two men. The shape of the gold and iron is strange, as if it was taken down from something big. It feels heavier than ordinary steel, but not as heavy as silver. It feels similar to the mountain god token.

"The ancient emperor once refined elixirs in this mountain. After refining the elixir, the furnace cauldron broke into pieces. This is one of the fragments. It can be used to make some weapons, furnaces, or other magical instruments. I think it is suitable for you." "Thank you, mountain god." "Thank you, Mountain God!" "Boo?" The fox tilted his head and stared at the mountain god. "Ugh……" The mountain god waved his robe sleeves. Another piece of gold and iron flew over and landed in front of it. "I have something else to ask, but I have no one to ask, so I want to ask the mountain god." Lin Jue asked when he saw this scene. "You can ask it anywhere, why ask me?" The mountain god waved his hand, and before he knew it, two messengers holding lanterns had silently stood behind Lin Jue. "Farewell." Lin Jue bowed and when he raised his head, the mountain god and the guardian had turned into stone sculptures and turned away. The two messengers sent him back to the Taoist temple. With them two accompanying us, the road became much smoother and less winding. "Senior brother." Walking into the courtyard of the Taoist temple, the little sister was still holding the gold and iron, looking at it in confusion, and asked him, "What are you going to do with this?" "Why? You want to learn from me again?" "what?"

The junior sister scratched her head, not understanding what he was saying. Isn’t it normal for junior sisters to learn from senior brothers? "I haven't thought about it yet. And what I think may not be suitable for you. Just think about what you want to use it for." Lin Jue said, "If you like swordsmanship, you can ask Third Senior Brother to make a sword for you, or think of something else." "Ok!" The junior sister continued to scratch her head. The two of them went back to their rooms. That night, Lin Jue went to consult Taoist Yunhe again. The master and disciple had probably confirmed that Fuyao must have some connection with Empress Yaohua, but they didn't know how deep the connection was. So we drank tea and chatted about the lady in the night. "It is only since this dynasty that the reputation of fox demons and fox spirits has become bad. Before this, foxes have always been smart, holy and loyal animals, and so are fox demons and fox spirits." Taoist Yunhe said, shaking his head and feeling sorry for it. "It's probably all because of those poor scholars who play with pens." "maybe." Lin Jue knew this. "It is said that Empress Yaohua is a nine-tailed fox. The nine-tailed fox has always been a symbol of holiness and auspiciousness. It will be fine as long as she doesn't meet some literati who plays with the pen and ruins it." Taoist Yunhe said. "But when I was at the foot of the mountain, I met the foxes from Li Village, and they didn't seem to think that Fuyao was the same as them." "They are right. You are mistaken." Taoist Yunhe smiled and fell on the recliner. "A fox is a fox, and a nine-tailed fox is a nine-tailed fox. How can they be confused?" "what differences are there?" "Do you know the difference between a fox, a fox demon, and a fox spirit?" “Probably.” "Then do you know the difference between snakes, snake demons, dragons, and real dragons?" Lin Jue felt a little confused when he heard what he said. But it’s actually not difficult to understand. "Dragon" and "fox spirit" are the two most representative mythical creatures in folk legends, and both have been played around by people. For a period of time, people liked dragons and foxes. When they saw an unknown creature, they didn't know what it was. If it was related to water, they said it was a dragon. If it was related to mountains or people's homes, they said it was a fox. Snakes are ordinary animals. When a snake becomes a demon, it is naturally a snake demon, just like a fox becomes a fox demon. This should correspond to the above. However, some people respectfully call snakes with profound Taoism "dragons". In the previous dynasty, some people randomly called those strange creatures encountered in the water dragons. This should correspond to the fact that people call the demons they see without knowing it fox spirits. What the master meant should be that the nine-tailed fox is neither an ordinary fox nor a demon transformed from a fox, nor is it the fox spirit or dragon that people randomly praise and give such names to. Instead, it is a kind of its own, or it can be said that it is an auspicious animal. Just like a real dragon. A true dragon is not a snake, and a snake cannot become a true dragon, just like a nine-tailed fox is not a fox, and an ordinary fox cannot become a nine-tailed fox. Lin Jue glanced at the fox beside him. But the fox was still chasing a fallen leaf on the ground in the candlelight, occasionally snatching it from the cat. "..."

Lin Jue withdrew his gaze. "Then why would Lady Yaohua entrust it to me? Or is it that Lady Yaohua has too many descendants and I just happened to meet one of them?" "Who knows? It must be that you have something worthy of Empress Yaohua's entrustment." "I?" "Ha ha……" Taoist Yunhe was already very old, but he still couldn't help but hit him sideways: "You kid, I have already accepted enough disciples, and I can still accept you in. How come there is nothing worth entrusting? Don't question my vision just because Lady Yaohua is an ancient great power. My Fuqiu Temple is also a legitimate spiritual school inherited from the ancient immortals." "But it doesn't seem like it was done by Lady Yaohua herself." Lin Jue analyzed, "If it was a direct descendant of that lady, she would have asked Shanjun to deliver it personally. Given her status, how could she act in this way?" "That makes sense, ahem." Taoist Yunhe nodded, "But that lady helped you with such a big favor, it's also a great gift." "Yes." Taoist Yunhe coughed twice again. The nights in late autumn were getting colder and colder. The master did not stay outside for long. After drinking his hot tea, he went back to his room. Lin Jue also returned to his room. The fox naturally followed him back to the room, with brisk steps and a natural expression. "I'm talking about you. I'm saying that you are the nine-tailed fox who is like a real dragon, and the descendant of Lady Yaohua." "Hey?" The fox looked up and looked at him in shock. Am I not a cat? Lin Jue shook his head, too lazy to pay attention to it, and walked to the bookshelf and stood there. He first took out the flower petals given by the Green Emperor, looked at them for a few times, and not knowing what they were for, he put them back. Then he picked up the wooden heart of Li Zu and looked at it over and over again. If this piece of wood is stuck on the ground, the length will be just above Lin Jue's knees, and at least three bean soldiers can be made. If the cutting position is well designed, four bean soldiers can be made. The remaining scraps can be easily made into shields and spears. But the obsession of the residual soul is not enough. The spiritual charm on this piece of wood gathers the essence of Li Zu's lifelong practice, which is not inferior to the Danguo wood. There are faint traces of divine thunder on it, and it is also tainted with the spiritual charm of divine thunder. It just so happens that the weakness of bean soldiers is that they are difficult to deal with ghosts. Maybe bean soldiers made of it can make up for this weakness. I was busy for a while after that. Lin Jue also put it on the bookshelf temporarily. Finally, there are two pieces of gold and iron. Just when I was worried about the lack of spiritual gold, the mountain god sent it to me, and it seemed that this was not ordinary spiritual gold. It was indeed a perfect gift. Lin Jue had already had this idea. Apart from anything else, he had to make bean soldiers, and the armor and weapons of bean soldiers all required spiritual gold. Previously, the three bean soldiers were still using the third brother's, and the stock given to him was used up.

"This first piece..." Lin Jue picked up one piece first. Maybe it can be used to make armor and weapons for the remaining bean soldiers, and the rest can be returned to the third senior brother. Instead of saying it’s a return, just say it’s a gift. Lin Jue put the piece on the table next to him. "There's still one piece left..." He turned his head to glance and saw his fox sitting next to him, looking up at him obediently, its eyes sparkling. "This is useless to you, so I'll help you use it. Otherwise it would be a waste if you keep it, and it would be tiring to carry it around." Lin Jue said to it seriously. This part has been thought about a long time ago. To be used as a weapon for curse protection. However, what Lin Jue hasn’t figured out yet is whether to make it in the shape of a dart or a long sword? The sword is more powerful, consumes more materials, and is not as concealed. The dart is less powerful, but also consumes more materials and is more concealed. How about a compromise? Lin Jue fell into thought. Don’t rush to make the final decision, do other things first and think about it slowly. Then he sat back on the bed and took out the ancient book. "Wow..." Lin Jue briefly listened to the two new spells, one that made a mountain fall down on top of one's head and the other that made flowers bloom in an instant. Knowing the spell of "Flower Blooming Instantly" is considered rare even among plant spirits and monsters, and it is extremely difficult for humans to practice it. It requires not only a high level of Taoism, but also a bit of mysterious spiritual light, the latter of which is even rarer. So he planned to practice this "Mountain Pressing Top" first. This spell is relatively simple. And this spell is also very useful. If one could cultivate to the level of that old fox, even if it was only a few hundred kilograms, it would be easy to overwhelm someone when caught off guard. Even if it was not possible to overwhelm someone, the continuous load of several hundred kilograms could still make the person very passive. Especially when fighting with other Taoists, most of the Taoists from the spiritual school do not have strong physical strength. Although the primary mission of this descent was simply to exorcise demons and eliminate evil, so as to reduce the number of civilian deaths in this turmoil, and the secondary mission was only to inquire about the origins of the fox, these were still gains. He was reading so attentively that he didn't notice that a puff of black smoke had emerged from the sword behind him. It was the fox who reminded him. When Lin Jue heard the voice, he turned his head sharply and saw black smoke rising up and floating in the room. There was a faint evil aura. His first reaction was to close the ancient book and put it back in his arms. He wanted to draw his sword, but the evil black smoke came out of his sword. He suddenly waved his hand and fanned out a gust of wind. "call……" The black smoke was erratic and was immediately blown to the corner of the wall.

While Lin Jue was thinking about how he got infected with this thing, he had already prepared the spiritual fire to burn it to ashes. But I only heard a shout: “Please spare my life, sir! "Spare my life!" The black smoke dissipated, revealing a big-headed ghost. This ghost looked like a child, with a body like a child and a head like a child. It was quite fair and handsome, but its head was much bigger than that of an ordinary child. It was looking at him in horror. "What is that?" Lin Jue temporarily put away his sword and frowned at it. "How dare you cause trouble here?" "Master, please spare my life! I have no ability to harm others, and I have never done anything bad! I am just temporarily living in Master's sword and taking shelter!" "what are you?" "A ghost." "What ghost?" "Eat...eat silver ghost..." "Ok?" Lin Jue couldn't help but be surprised. How could this thing be here? (End of this chapter)