Chapter 134
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The sound of the wind gradually faded. The wildly swaying pine branches stilled, drooping softly as they swayed with lingering force.
Lu Liangsheng lowered his sleeve, which had been shielding his face, and looked over in stunned disbelief.
“Master?”
Before the stone gate, the old man stepped forward with hands clasped behind his back, his round belly jutting out. A look of satisfaction bloomed on his face as he took in his disciple’s expression. On that broad, round face, his gaze was sharp and awe-inspiring.
“Haha… it is indeed your master!”
With a flick of his sleeve, the Toad Daoist caused a stone table and stone stools to appear around the scholar. A wine jug on the table rose on its own, tilting and pouring wine into a white jade cup.
At the side, Lu Liangsheng could clearly feel the flow of spiritual power coursing through the air. Yet such refined control over the use of Daoist magic was rare even among cultivators. He feared even Pudu Cihang, who lay in quiet cultivation within the Imperial City, might not compare.
“Haha!”
The Toad Daoist laughed and sat down on one of the stone stools. With a light wave of his hand, the wine cup floated gently before the scholar. “What are you standing there for? Sit down and drink with your master.”
Lu Liangsheng did not hesitate. He reached out to receive the cup hovering in mid-air and took a small sip.
A rich aroma of wine assaulted his nose. The taste was sharp and fiery as it entered his mouth, sending a rush of heat through his belly—it was clearly no illusion. The scholar lifted his gaze, slightly astonished as he looked toward his master. The Toad Daoist stroked his beard and chuckled.
“The myriad arts of spellcraft all lead to the same truth. This wine jug is a manifestation of my magic power, but the wine itself was drawn from the fine brews stored in my cave-dwelling. In cultivation, if you move forward step by rigid step, you won’t get far.”
The tone was clearly one of gentle instruction. How could Lu Liangsheng not understand? He extended his senses into the cave-dwelling and guided the sealed jar of wine inside. With a tap of his finger on the cup, the half-filled wine slowly began to rise again. However, his control was still lacking—the wine spilled over the rim and splashed onto the ground.
“Haha! A fine disciple indeed—so quick to grasp the essence. Though unrefined now, continued effort will see you through.”
Draining the cup in one gulp, the Toad Daoist set the white jade vessel down. With a wave of his hand toward the campfire, the dim light blazed up. The once-silent night transformed into something akin to dusk, as if twilight had returned. In the distance, a crane cried out with a long call, spreading its wings as it soared past.
The glow of red clouds dyed the air. Beneath the old pine, the elder and the youth sat shrouded together in this sunset radiance.
“Master, have your injuries fully healed?” As their cups gently clinked, the scholar took a sip and asked.
Such ease in wielding spiritual power gave Lu Liangsheng the impression that the old man had returned to the peak he once spoke of. If that were true, then they could set off for Southern Chen as early as tomorrow.
“…Only partially recovered.”
The Toad Daoist stroked his long beard and shook his round head. As though he had seen through his disciple’s thoughts, he chuckled and said, “But it’s more than enough to deal with that little centipede.”
Then, hands clasped behind his back, he rose and walked a few steps away. His eyes narrowed, flashing with a cold gleam.
“Hmph, transforming into a dragon? In two days, I’ll take you soaring through the clouds straight to the Chen Imperial Palace and crush it with one hand—rip off its demon shell!”
“In two days?”
Hearing the question in his disciple’s voice, the Toad Daoist nodded while stroking his beard, his gaze falling on the stone gate. From behind, a layer of violet smoke seemed to rise from his face.
“Yes. In these two days, I must find the thief who stole treasures from my abode. Such a grudge—how can it go unavenged?!”
The scholar furrowed his brow, staring at his master’s back. He could feel a chilling aura of killing intent begin to spread.
“Master, you already know who it was?”
“Hmph! Now that my cave-dwelling has been restored, how could I not remember those who trespassed that day?”
The Toad Daoist gathered the purple mist and turned his gaze back toward Lu Liangsheng.
“The group you encountered in Heliang Prefecture—those were the ones. And their leader… I remember him clearly. Back when I was surrounded and grievously wounded, it was a middle-aged Daoist who saved me. I repaid his kindness by passing on a few things. Thinking back now, he must have used what I gave him to perform a Qi-tracing technique and found this place. He took the spirit pills I had stored outside, along with some of my spell manuals.”
These words directly pointed to the events in Heliang Prefecture, and several lingering doubts in Lu Liangsheng’s heart were at last resolved.
“So the techniques used by that Fire-Worship Sect’s were originally from Master?”
The wind blew gently, rustling the old man’s long white beard. The chubby elder turned his head back toward his disciple.
“Of course they were—”
He had only just spoken when the Toad Daoist’s round face suddenly froze. His voice shifted abruptly. “What’s going on?!” He clutched his belly—gurgle gurgle—a rumbling noise came from within.
Over there, Lu Liangsheng suddenly felt the stone stool beneath him grow insubstantial. He stood up at once, only to see smoke rising around the Toad Daoist, and even the twilight scene was beginning to waver.
“Master?!”
The next instant, the smoke exploded with a bang, spreading in all directions. The sunset, the stone stools and table, the wine jug—everything shattered into fragments of starlight.
In the blink of an eye, darkness returned to the scholar’s field of vision. The chirping of insects amid wild grass resumed, and the flickering campfire burned beside the small pot, letting out a soft puff puff of boiling bubbles.
Lu Liangsheng strode quickly into the swirling mist, channeling his spell power to disperse the smoky haze—revealing, lying on the ground, a large toad. Its bulging eyes gleamed with an oily sheen, and its short legs were stretched stiff as it lowered its head in deep thought. Seeing the scholar approach, it placed its webbed hands behind its back and—plop, plop—walked straight past the side of Lu Liangsheng’s knee.
“What I said earlier about crushing that centipede demon—doesn’t count.”
The old Toad Daoist was back.
…….
The night was tranquil. Perched atop the mountain, the stars above seemed as if one could reach out and touch them. Lu Liangsheng let out a yawn and lay beside the fire, gazing at the night sky through the gaps in the pine branches. Every so often, his eyes would drift toward the stone gate.
“Why did Master turn back again?”
Beside him, Honglian was combing her long hair. She tilted her face toward him.
“Toad Master is better like this. That earlier aura was terrifying. I hadn’t even seen him yet, and I already felt like I was about to be wiped out.”
Inside the cave-dwelling, a faint light revealed the squat figure bustling about, waving his short webbed limbs as he threw things to the ground. A flurry of clattering and crashing noises echoed.
“Where exactly did I go wrong?” “Damn it all… even used the Dragon Pearl, and it still didn’t work?”
“I clearly have spiritual power… so why can’t I even maintain a human form for long?”
“And in front of my own disciple too… Damn it all!!!”
After a while, the Toad Daoist slumped to the ground with a thud, disheartened. He tossed a small scroll of a map onto the floor, kicked it far away with one foot, then propped up his chin and stared out at the messy ‘treasure mountain’ with a long sigh.
“Thankfully, I can still sense the presence of my spiritual power… I’ll get to the bottom of this eventually.”
He muttered under his breath, then got up and began sifting through the pile of magical tools and pills. After some rummaging, he picked out a few items and cradled them in his arms—layer upon layer—and carried them out, dumping them beside the fire.
Lu Liangsheng sat up, watching as his master went back and forth several times, bringing out a strange assortment of things: a reddish rock that looked like it was on fire, a bottle that emitted cold mist, and a rootless branch that bloomed without ever withering…
When Lu Liangsheng tried to help, he was refused every time. Soon after, the Toad Daoist used some unknown items to draw a talisman formation on the clearing.
“Liangsheng, sit at the heart of the array.”
Lu Liangsheng recalled a scene that felt faintly familiar. But this time, he didn’t hesitate. He stepped beyond the fire’s glow, walked to the drawn formation on the ground, and sat cross-legged at its very center.
Amid the dim firelight and the shifting shadows of the night, the Toad Daoist worked without pause, placing the various items he had carried out earlier at the corners of the formation.
“I’ll help you complete the advancement to the Golden Core Realm. As for whether you can truly forge your golden core and weather the thunder tribulation afterward—that will depend on your own fortune.”
That short, squat figure wiped the sweat from his face and spoke in a soft voice.
*
The stars stretched endlessly overhead. Beneath the same night sky, beside the rushing long river, in a massive city called Chang’an—
Inside a certain residence, beyond the latticed windows aglow with firelight, someone unfolded a letter under the lamplight—sent by a distant friend.
“Brother Chongwen recommends… hmm? Lu Liangsheng, tribute scholar of Southern Chen…”
