NOVEL FULL

Strange Stories

Chapter 134: I've Made Up My Mind

Chapter 134 I've Made Up My Mind "Bang!" The sound of dead trees being crushed and rotten could be heard in the forest. There were two more voices talking. There is no doubt that chopping wood is a good way to calm your mind. When the two of them first went up the mountain to practice, they were inevitably uneasy in the unfamiliar environment. The eldest brother asked them to fetch water and chop wood to calm their minds, and the effect was very good. And now, Lin Jue still thinks it is useful. There are rules for cutting wood in Fuqiu Peak. Don't cut down pine trees, don't cut down living small trees, only cut side branches of big trees, and dead wood is best. Therefore, before cutting wood, you need to carefully identify it. After that, you don't need to use your brain at all, just swing the knife repeatedly and wantonly. The whole process seems busy and strenuous, but in fact, the mind is always empty. "call……"

Lin Jue stopped to rest, and his junior sister also stopped. The hatchet was just on the ground. Lin Jue saw the colorful cat standing at the feet of the little junior sister, bending one of its white gloved paws, trying to pick up the hatchet like a human, but failed after several attempts. It was a bit like his own fox when it was young. Turning my head, I saw—— The fox in the house was tilting its head and biting a dead branch, trying to bite it off. It was obvious that it had already realized that it could not lift the hatchet. "You are smarter." Lin Jue smiled and continued chopping with the hatchet. "It's another season of prosperity and decline. We need to chop more wood and fill up the woodshed." Lin Jue said, "Otherwise it will be winter." "What happened to Winter?" "Who wants to go out to work in the winter? It's snowing and windy." "..." The junior sister scratched her head, feeling that he was talking about her. "Then let's cut some more bamboo. I like to burn bamboo because it's easy to burn. Some bamboo is not dry yet and will chirp when burned." The little sister said, "After we cut it, we will put it in the bamboo forest. When it is dry, I will drag it back from the bamboo forest and burn it." "what ever." After a short rest, the sound of destruction began again in the mountains. …… I don’t know how many times this has happened. The two men each carried two huge piles of firewood and walked back slowly along the mountain road. I don't know when his expression became calm.

At the entrance of the Taoist temple stood the people who had come down from the mountain. The people watched from afar as four huge piles of firewood came towards them. When they got closer, they found that the person carrying the load in front was a young Taoist priest, and behind him was a thin and pretty female Taoist priest. "Taoist Lin!" "Two Taoist priests!" Hearing the voices, the two looked carefully and found that they were the people from Li Village and Gong Village. About ten people came, led by the old villager from Li Village. Behind them were mules and donkeys, all loaded with things. "What is this, Shanxin?" "Thank you, Taoist priests from Fuqiu Temple, for coming down the mountain to exorcise the demons and bring us peace. This is naturally a way to express my gratitude!" "Let's put down the firewood first." Lin Jue was not surprised. Even according to the concepts of the previous life, when encountering such a thing, saying something like "going to someone's house to express gratitude" is not necessarily a courtesy. Nowadays, of course, you really have to go to someone's house to express gratitude. Sometimes people would even go to a Taoist temple that practices talisman worship to pray to gods, and then have their wishes fulfilled. Regardless of whether it was the gods' work or not, they would still have to go and fulfill their vows. I don't know if it was because the gods were craving for incense, or because the Taoists who worshipped the gods were greedy for the money, or if it was because some busybodies made up stories to scare people. As a result, the world is full of stories about people who worshipped gods, had their wishes fulfilled, but didn't fulfill their vows, and were finally blamed and punished by the gods. People are so scared that they dare not not fulfill their vows. According to Lin Jue's understanding, as long as the rituals and laws of the gods are not broken and as long as the gods are righteous, it is unlikely that one will be punished by the gods for not fulfilling their vows after worshipping them. The firewood was quickly carried into the woodshed and carefully stacked. The wood, branches, bamboo, pine cones, straw and weeds were all classified and placed neatly, which made people feel comfortable just by looking at them. There's even a vague sense of accomplishment. Only then did Lin Jue go out to receive them. "Real people still chop wood themselves?" said the old gentleman. "If we were really real people, we wouldn't have to chop wood ourselves. Unfortunately, we are not real people yet." Lin Jue bowed and smiled cheerfully. "We Taoists have lived in the mountains for a long time and are self-sufficient. We are happy with our lives." “What a master!” "you are welcome." "We don't have much to bring from our village, so we brought some pears grown in the village. We picked the best ones. In previous years, pears of this quality were offered as tribute to the imperial court. We brought some for the Taoist priests to taste." "Then we will take advantage of the old gentleman's blessing and taste the good things that only the emperor can eat." "Hahaha……" The old man was also amused by him. Lin Jue accepted the pears, and took them to the Tianweng Temple and the Banshan Temple to pay their respects, and also took them to pay their respects to the mountain god, before sending them away. While Lin Jue was receiving them, the junior sister had been picking pears, putting them from the bamboo baskets they brought into the Taoist temple's baskets. Because the pears had a thin skin and were full of water, they were delicate and could not be poured out, and it was not convenient to ask others to send them specialties and add a few more bamboo baskets, so she had to pick them up like crazy. My arms were almost smoking, and I finally finished picking up the items before they left. "Go slowly, believers."

"Master Mo Yuan will see you off." Lin Jue walked back to the Taoist temple and saw his junior sister staring at several baskets of pears in a daze. Both Li Village and Gong Village were wealthy, far more so than Xiaochuan Village, so they also brought money, but people were always a little reserved, thinking that the Taoists in the mountains were all masters who had truly practiced, and were embarrassed to mention money, so they just put the money in the incense box. However, these pears, which were grown by themselves, were decent enough to be taken out and mentioned in front of the gods and Buddhas. "Try one." Lin Jue picked up one and handed it to the little apprentice sister, then took another and handed it to the fox, "I saw that you were very greedy when you were in Li Village and Gong Village." "Ok." The junior sister took it casually, rubbed it on her body, and put it in her mouth. It really lives up to the name of crisp pear. It makes a crisp sound when you bite it with your teeth. I heard that my senior brother enjoyed it that night, and now I finally got my wish. The fox also picked it up and started to chew it. But the little sister still frowned. "Brother, there are so many pears, I'm afraid we won't be able to finish them even if we eat them until they go bad." "Why worry about these? If we can't finish them, we can give them to the pilgrims who come up the mountain, and we can also invite Fourth Brother's friends to eat them. We can also offer them to the mountain god, so that he can also taste what the tribute pears eaten by the emperor of the world are like. But he must be used to eating spiritual fruits in the mountains." Lin Jue broke off another one and handed it to Mao'er in the yard. "If we can't finish them, we can boil them into pear paste and store them." "What is pear paste?" The junior sister asked attentively while chewing a pear. "The syrup made from pears can be stored for a long time. It is eaten in a similar way to honey and has the fragrance of pears. With this, I don't have to steal honey when I make desserts and sweet water in the future." "Ok?" The junior sister was immediately interested. "It's just that it takes a lot of effort to make pear paste. You have to cook it all day and keep an eye on the fire." "Ok?" The junior sister was even more interested. Unexpectedly, another pilgrim arrived soon. This group of pilgrims also came from two different places, one was Mingzhu Village and the other was Xia Village. Thanks to Lin Jue's good memory, he remembered that these were the places where his senior brother had gone down the mountain to eliminate monsters, and they also came to express their gratitude. Lin Jue only asked his junior sister to call his senior brother to receive them, and he returned to his room. Opening the drawer, there was a wooden sculpture inside. "Are you here?" "call……" A burst of black smoke flew out of the wood carving and fell to the ground, turning into a big-headed ghost. Its body was like a child's and its head was also like a child's, but the proportions of its head and body were a little unbalanced. "Real, real person..." The silver-eating ghost looked at him anxiously. "I've made up my mind. This place is Fuqiu Temple in Yishan. I'm not a leisurely Taoist, but I'm here to practice. If you also want to stay in Fuqiu Temple, I have to report to my master." Lin Jue said to it.

"Master! No!" The silver-eating ghost was shocked. "Don't panic." Lin Jue said, "I have made up my mind, but I am not forcing you to do so. If you don't want others to know, just leave. I can promise you that if you leave, I will never tell anyone." "Real person..." "There is no room for negotiation on this matter!" Lin Jue said to it, "You escaped from the Demon King. Who knows if the Demon King has the ability to find you again? This Taoist temple is not mine. Would I put my master and brothers in danger just for a ghost like you who can spit out spiritual pills? This mountain and this Taoist temple are not mine." "Didn't the Immortal say that this is Yishan, and that the Yishan Mountain God is protecting us..." "Not to mention the dangerous places, trouble is also not allowed." "..." The silver-eating ghost stood there, a thought flashing through his eyes. Lin Jue also looked at it. Seeing it open its mouth as if it had something to say, Lin Jue spoke first: "I remind you that my master is someone I respect. If you have any other suspicions or contemptuous words, don't say them. Moreover, we are orthodox Taoists. If you regard us as demons and monsters and say some words that seduce demons and monsters, it will only make me regard you as a demon as well." "This……" The silver-eating ghost continued to stand there, confused and uncertain. Coupled with its appearance, it now looks a bit like a child who has done something wrong and is at a loss as to what to do. But Lin Jue knew that it had lived for thousands of years. "This……" I don't know what it was thinking about or what it was weighing, but it just gritted its teeth: "Since it is the orthodox inheritance of the Lingfa School, I will take a gamble! But I will only take the serious ones!" "how?" "All right, all is up to you..." "Don't worry. You have appeared here several times. With my master's ability, he might have noticed your presence a long time ago." Lin Jue picked up the wood carving and walked out. In the Moving Mountain Hall, the old Taoist was lying down. He was sitting on a rocking chair, which was swaying on the ground. On the altar behind him was the Master of Moving Mountains, who was standing and sitting, still and moving. The rocking chair stopped only when Lin Jue came in. The old Taoist took the wood carving, listened to his story, and then stared at the wood carving with his cloudy old eyes, turning it over and over, examining it carefully. After a long time, he finally returned it to Lin Jue. The first thing he said was a sigh: “This thing is pitiful.” "Master thinks..." "Since it has recognized you, it is your destiny. There is some silver in the incense box of the Taoist temple. It is all clean money. You can use it yourself." The old Taoist paused and said, "The world is going to be in chaos. It will be difficult to go down the mountain. Your generation has too little time to practice. Your master has been worried about you. If I can help you and your brothers increase your Taoism, it will be a good thing. But don't tell your brothers."

"Understood." The second half of the sentence was the same as Lin Jue's idea. He could not get so much silver. If he took the silver from the temple, his senior brothers should also have a share. In this way, after going down the mountain, his senior brothers would have more confidence. "Don't worry, the demon king can't find us. It's just that it ate too much dirty silver and has too much filth on its body. It needs to be washed thoroughly." Taoist Yunhe said, looking up at the hanging mirror, "Of course we are far from being able to defeat the demon king, but let alone we don't know whether it is dead or alive now, even if it came here in its prime, we would not be afraid of it." "That's good." Lin Jue paused for a moment and looked at Taoist Yunhe again: "This Lingyuan Pill seems to be able to help people achieve true enlightenment..." "Nonsense! How can it be that easy?" Taoist Yunhe laughed as he spoke, but he also knew what he was thinking. "The reason why the demon king could quickly cultivate into a demon king with this thing is, firstly, because he eats and drinks without restraint, and secondly, because he can cultivate into a demon king by himself. As a master, my yin and yang are out of balance, let alone this thing, even if he swallows the legendary golden elixir, he cannot become a real person. Besides, where would we get so much money?" "..." Lin Jue couldn't help showing a look of regret. "Ha ha……" The old Taoist smiled at his filial piety and said to him: "At fifty, one knows the will of heaven. As a teacher, I have already passed that age. I have already had an idea of ​​the world, worldly affairs, and myself in my mind. I also already know what I can and cannot get. You should do the same. Remember to let nature take its course in cultivation, and do not go astray because of impatience." "The disciple understands." Lin Jue answered calmly. Of course he knew this, as it was also what his master had always taught him. Otherwise, he would not have shown the silver-eating ghost to him so calmly. If I am going to follow the great path and pursue immortality, how can a mere alchemy ghost have much influence on my path of cultivation? (End of this chapter)