Chapter 432 Nanshan (Thanks to the leader of "Book Friend 202307031750") The closest mountain to the capital is Nanshan. Once you leave the capital, you only need to head south and you will see this mountain after a few hundred miles. That’s why the magician who performed magic in the palace said “Nanshan is close”. There was plenty of rain in the summer and it rained all night in Nanshan. It is a huge and majestic stone mountain, rising from the green hills. You can see its grandeur from a distance, but if you are close, your eyes will be filled with it, as if it fills the entire world. At this time, you can see clouds and mist lingering around its feet, and the morning sun seems to be rising from it. Hence there is the poem “Nanshan blocks the sky and earth, the sun and the moon are born on the rocks”. But at the foot of the mountain, between the large tracts of forests, there are winding official roads and paths, coiled like dragons and snakes, and it is quiet and only the sounds of birds can be heard. Suddenly, voices were heard on the road. "The world is really going to end! Even the official roads in Qinzhou have bandits and robbers! The court and the emperor don't care!"

Someone said with anger. "Brother Zhou, what you said is wrong. It's not that the world is going to fall that there are so many bandits. It's that the imperial court imposes heavy taxes and leaves people no way to survive. That's why there are so many bandits and the world is going to fall. The source of this is exactly the imperial court and government that Brother Zhou mentioned." Another person sighed and said, "The old emperor is incompetent and unjust. He indulges eunuchs and corrupt officials. He kills at least tens of thousands of people a year. The prince is the same. He even took elixirs and immortal powder and ran away naked in the street, robbed women, and shot and killed civilians in the street for fun. This is exactly what they caused. Not to mention that it is said that the northern army is heading south at this time. Even if there is no chaos in the north, they probably won't bother with such trivial matters." "Then what shall we do? How shall we go to school if half of our money is gone?" "We can only take one step at a time." Another person said, "We are lucky. The bandits at the foot of the South Mountain are relatively kind and don't hurt anyone. At most, they only take half of the money. I guess they are farmers from the village at the foot of the mountain who were forced to go up the mountain. If we met bandits from other places, Brother Zhou, we would be in danger now." "It's really annoying..." "Brother Zhou, don't worry! The solution lies in staying calm!" "What can I do..." As they were talking, they were suddenly stunned. I saw a big tree with lush branches and leaves next to the official road ahead. The rain last night wet the entire official road, and the leaves were all on the ground, except for a small dry area under the tree. Under the tree, there was a yellow cloth bag, and next to the cloth bag was a small wooden box with exquisite workmanship. "This is……" Wild bags and boxes? Could it be that God was taking pity on them because half of their money had just been robbed by bandits in the village, and was sending them compensation? The two looked at each other, then looked left and right. There was no one in sight. "It's weird..." Although the two of them thought so in their hearts, they actually understood that although the cloth bag looked a bit old, it was not damaged at all. Someone must have placed it here or lost it here. It is possible that the owner of the item was relieving himself in the forest. "Could it be a trick played by a monster?" "Where did the monster come from during the day?" The two looked at each other and felt greedy.

I saw two people walking over, looking left and right like thieves, and confirming that there was no one around, they picked up the cloth bag and the box, one in each hand, and prepared to leave quickly. "This bag is wrapped so tightly, I don't know what's inside, but it's not heavy, it doesn't look like there's any money in it." The man surnamed Zhou was holding a cloth bag. "This box is really exquisite. Even if there's nothing in it, it's probably worth some money!" The other person said this and was about to open the box. "Wow..." The box was opened, but the scene inside surprised him greatly. He saw that the wooden box was filled with small grids, just like the layout of an ordinary person's home, with different rooms, and even furniture such as beds, desks, tables, chairs, and benches. Inside lived a Taoist priest as small as a fingernail, wearing a gray Taoist robe, and looking at him. "oops!" The man was startled and immediately dropped the box. I saw a puff of smoke coming out of the box, and the Taoist who was originally only the size of a fingernail appeared from the smoke, now as big as a human. Beside him, there is a strange white fox. Both of them were shocked. Only then did they realize that the people they had met were either gods or demons. The luggage was naturally his, and the box was actually his residence when he was away from home. At this time, the man spoke to them again: "What do you two intend to do?" The voice sounded gentle, not like that of a monster. "Forgive me, Immortal! Forgive me! When we were halfway along the road, we saw the Immortal's bag lying on the side of the road. We thought, we thought no one wanted it and it would be a pity to lose it, so we wanted to pick it up and take it home." The man felt guilty when he said this, because in order to teach people to be honest and kind, secular literati made it so that almost every god and monster in the stories and legends had the ability to see through people. He was afraid that what he and his friend were thinking would be seen through by the gods. And this guilty conscience was seen by Lin Jue. "I see that you two are quite tactful in your conversation and dress like scholars. Why are you doing something like this without asking for permission?" "God, please forgive me!" "God, please forgive me! We are not usually this kind of people. When we walked to the foot of the South Mountain ahead, we were robbed of half of our money by villagers disguised as mountain bandits. We still wanted to go out to study, and we saw something on the side of the mountain road. We don't know who put it there, and we don't know where that person is." Another person lowered his head and said, "In order to study, we wanted to make up for the robbed money, so we were greedy." "You are more honest than he is." "Please punish me, God!" "Please punish me, God!" Both of them lowered their heads, looking ashamed. Many stories gradually emerged in my mind, all of which were about mortals who did wrong and were punished by immortals, gods, ghosts, monsters, and foxes. Some I had heard of when I was a child, some I had read in strange books when I was a teenager, and some I had heard of in various places after I became an adult. In order to persuade people to be honest and kind, people often used the mysteries of ghosts, gods, and foxes to compile many such stories, and it was difficult to distinguish between the true and the false.

I don’t know how I will be punished. Should the punishment be inflicted now or in the future? Should the punishment be in this life or after death or even in the next life? Should the punishment be inflicted on oneself or on future generations? But the immortal just smiled and said to them, "What kind of sin is this? If there is a sin to be punished, it is only in your own hearts." "This……" The two men who were ready to be punished were stunned for a moment, and then they were sure that this man was indeed a god. "Thank you, God!" "Thank you, God." Then the immortal asked, "You just said there were bandits at the foot of the southern mountain ahead? And they robbed you of half of your money?" "Exactly!" "Isn't this next to the Qinzhou official road?" "The gods must have lived in the mountains for a long time, so they don't know. Not to mention that the court is busy now, even in the past, they rarely cared about such things. They have always only cared about collecting taxes, and they don't know how much they can collect." "Why did you rob all of them, but only rob half of them?" "We are probably both poor people in the countryside." "I see." Lin Jue nodded, waved his hand and said to them: "Go ahead, and remember not to betray your original intention when doing things in the future." "Thank you for the teachings, Immortal!" "We will keep this in mind! Goodbye!" The two scholars left here quickly, their hearts still pounding. Everyone in the world tells stories about gods and fairies, and talks about ghosts and monsters, but how many people have really encountered gods and fairies? On the contrary, in recent years, we have seen more ghosts and monsters. The terrain in the mountains was complex and the vision was obstructed. Not long after, the two turned a corner and looked back and could no longer see the immortal. The two couldn't help but whisper. "Is that a fairy?" "Who knows..." "It must be a god!" "Yeah……" So gentle, so tolerant, who else could it be but a god? Even if it was some mountain spirit, fox fairy or Taoist priest, in their hearts at this moment, they would also like to call him a god. But their hearts were still beating fast and they still felt something was wrong.

On the way, they came across some luggage and a box. When they opened it, they actually saw fairies. The fairies went out and actually lived in a box. They had never heard of such a wonderful and mysterious thing in the story. "and many more--" But suddenly, one of them stopped and frowned. "how?" Another person asked quickly. But the man remained silent. Taoist priest, white fox, I always feel like I have heard this kind of story somewhere. …… "That's terrible. Even in Nanshan, a blessed place like this, there are thieves and bandits." Lin Jue said to the fox with his head down. "Thieves and bandits!" "Let's go." "Let's go!" The man and the fox packed up a little, ate something, and then continued along the official road. Because the thousand-year-old snow lotus was not yet mature, Lin Jue did not miss a few days and was in no hurry to travel. He did not turn into feathers and fly away, nor did he turn into wind. He did not even use the magic of walking. He just summoned a paper donkey, which carried himself and a cloth bag and staggered forward. The fox hopped and walked beside. Another egret flew up from the treetops and easily ascended into the blue sky, level with the clouds. “I haven’t eaten eggplant for a long time.” Lin Jue sat on the donkey's back, talking as he walked. As the official road winds its way, we gradually reach the foot of Nanshan Mountain. There is a village in the mountains. There are old houses and lush fruit trees in the village. A dirt road runs through the village. The sunlight makes the leaves greener and casts mottled shadows. There are some pears hanging among the green leaves. Ignoring the silence of this place, it is a beautiful rural scene. But there is little smoke from cooking here. Lin Jue did not see any young men or women, but there were some old, weak, women and children sitting in front of the house, eating wild vegetables and coarse grains. Lin Jue nodded to them and walked away leisurely. "Go this way!" The fox identified the direction, found a path, raised its paw, pointed at the path and said to him. That direction leads to the deep mountains. Through the dense forest branches and leaves, the Nanshan Mountain can be vaguely seen in the clouds. After saying that, it quickly shrank and jumped onto his head. "I thought you were Chen Niu."

Lin Jue smiled and walked along the path. He hadn't walked far when he was stopped by someone. (End of this chapter)