Refuse to trample on the pride of heaven

Chapter 372: Tracking

Lu Wensheng's sarcastic skills ended, and he turned around to see Yu Jingqiu looking at him with a puzzled expression and a harmless smile.

"What's wrong, senior?"

Yu Jingqiu: “Nothing…” The young man’s expression changed quite quickly.

Wang Yanzhi looked worried: "Shi Yubai mentioned Senior Liu, is he really okay?"

Lu Wensheng thought of the numerous news about Liu Jiqian - Shi Yubai was saying that Liu Jiqian would drag him into the quagmire if he was like this, right?

Well, in fact, compared to the bad and yandere Liu Jiqian, he was more worried about facing the resentful and aggrieved Liu Jiqian.

"What do you think?" Lu Wensheng gave a miserable smile.

Thinking of the sticky message in the jade mirror, Wang Yanzhi closed his mouth, knowing that he was asking a nonsense question.

"Aunt, why don't you go to my Cangsheng League and see where Yu Shuoyang is?" Senior Yu knows a lot of things, how can such a talent be left alone? ! Lu Wensheng smiled, and Yu Jingqiu seemed to see the fox's tail in a trance.

"can."

Yu Jingqiu felt that he was overthinking it. How could Xiao Fuguang be so sincere? It seemed that he had been dealing with people with many tricks.

------

The bluestone road was glazed in the morning mist, the jingling of camel bells startled the willow catkins on the city wall, three strings of locust wood puppets were hung on the vermilion lacquered city gate, the red ropes pulled the mechanism, and the puppets bowed to the guests in unison. The words "Puppet City" were hung on the city gate.

When the scholar entered the city, he couldn't help but look at the puppet twice. At the same time, he sensed a force suppressing the evil spirit. Fortunately, he was special and he finally got in.

"Look, look, fresh meat buns!"

"Selling clay figurines! Selling clay figurines!"

Passing through the canvas with "Hundreds of Puppets and Thousands of Skills" hung on it, the sounds of the market hit you in the face.

The moat reflects the weeping willows on both sides. Wisteria trellises are erected along the street, and flags on the street stalls rustle in the warm breeze. On the peddler's pole selling sweet glutinous rice wine along the street, freshly picked peach petals float in the coarse earthenware bowls. The fingers of the artisan are flying, and the willow twigs in his palm instantly turn into a blue phoenix flapping its wings.

Under the eaves of the teahouse hung a spider-web puppet stage, on which a three-inch-tall god in cloth was battling a demon. The gavel rang and the copper bells on the eaves were shaken by cheers from the street.

The lantern-making craftsman stepped on the wooden ladder to hang the rabbit lanterns on the locust tree, the crab roe soup dumplings just out of the cage were emitting clouds of mist in the steamer, and the old man selling sugar paintings poured the melted amber syrup into lifelike cranes.

The most eye-catching thing is the clay figurine stall on the street. Clay sculptures are stacked on the sandalwood frames. There are young monks holding swords and walking on the clouds, as well as immortals with wide sleeves fluttering. All of them have lively eyes and eyebrows, just like real people.

"Sir, would you like to invite a guardian spirit?" The stall owner with a goatee was gilding a newly-made clay figurine. The tip of his pen gently paused on the waist plaque with the word "Pang". "Look at this one, it's incredible. On the night when the evil spirit rushed into the city, countless corpses and ghosts were trapped on the mountain. It was this one who showed up..."

As the stall owner chattered, the outline of the half-finished clay figurine in his hand began to show. Cloud patterns embroidered with silver thread drooped between the plain white wide sleeves, but the eyes and brows were much gentler than those of ordinary statues, and more like an elder with a smiling face.

It didn't recognize it and wasn't interested in it, but it saw something familiar among the clay figures on the shelf at the back.

"Is this Lu Wensheng?"

“Yes, he was also the immortal master who showed up at that time!” Perhaps because he could see that the other party was from another place, the stall owner couldn’t help but say a few more words when he was making clay figures, so that people could know about the heroic deeds of their heroes in Puppet City.

As the stall owner excitedly narrated, it also roughly understood the situation at that time. The clay figurine of Lu Wensheng in its hand seemed to have a different meaning at this moment - why? It didn't understand.

"You have a demon! I have Master Pang Ling in my hand! Why don't you beg for mercy?"

"My clay figurine isn't bad either! It's also a great hero of Puppet City!"

A few children with pigtails gathered in front of the stall, chasing and playing with each other while holding newly bought clay figurines, and the sound of bells rang as their colorful clothes passed by.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise coming from the teahouse next door. It turned its head and saw that on the stage, a three-inch-tall puppet god was fighting a demon. The sound of clashing swords suddenly turned into a sky full of golden light - it turned out to be the part where the "spirit" sacrificed itself in the formation. Many sentimental people had tears in their eyes and cried.

The scholar asked for directions and put the clay figurine away. The figurine adjusted the rattan box on its back and walked eastward along the moat. When he stepped out of the east gate, the sun was setting towards the western mountains. The bluestone road was gradually stained with verdigris, and the wild mint growing out of the cracks in the stone was covered with dew that had not yet dried.

Following the faint scent of locust trees, we climbed the stairs. Mist drifted in the mountain stream. At the moment when pine needles fell, several bamboo lanterns hanging on the branches lit up one after another.

There are traces of formations here. At a glance, it can tell that it is a prison formation. It seems to have a deep connection with the demon clan - oh, it seems to be the work of its subordinate Xuanyin Sect.

Going further up, you can see colorful silk tied to ancient pine branches, with old and new words written on the faded strips: "Please pray to Master Pang Ling to bless my grandson to get rid of his illness" and "Thank you, Master Cheng Huang, for appearing and finding the lost ox"...

No matter human or demon, there are always vague desires and obsessions. It thought about it, took out a strip of cloth from the rattan box, and tied it to the branch. There were only two words on the richly colored silk ribbon - become.

As the breeze blows by, the pine waves and thousands of prayers hum in unison.

When the clouds on the top of the mountain broke away, the setting sun was melting gold, and the nine layers of glazed tiles on the eaves of the City God Temple were shining with rosy clouds. When I turned over the top, before I could see the City God Temple, the smell of agarwood hit my face.

As I crossed the threshold, I heard the sound of a copper reed. Hundreds of eternal lamps in the corridor lit up one after another, making the golden lacquer in the hall shine like water.

At the end of the blue brick corridor, two stone lions were breathing out wisps of sandalwood smoke. The copper abacus hanging from the eaves was moved by the wind. Amid the sound of pearls and jade colliding, the scarlet couplet on the vermilion lacquer doorpost of the City God Temple was dazzling:

"All the good and evil deeds in the three lives of the living world are up to you."

"Throughout history, the underworld has never let anyone off the hook."

A gilded banner with the words "Its Way May Be Great" hangs in the middle, but there is a secret hidden underneath - when pilgrims cross the threshold, they can see four ink characters "Are You Here?" on the plaque on the back, written in sharp strokes.

Pilgrims formed a surging crowd in front of the main hall. The lights hanging between the pillars cast a radiant light on the blue brick floor, but they could not illuminate the heavy curtains behind the long ebony table in front of the statue.

The gold paint of "City God's Edict" in front of the main hall has peeled off a little, but it still shines brightly in the morning light.

It is rare to see two gilded shrines standing side by side and looking exactly the same.

Green smoke curled from the bronze tripod between the two niches, entangled and climbed up the caisson star map, and suddenly turned into a crane shadow passing over the couplet - "A hundred years of spring rain still moistens the roots of the locust tree, and a little spiritual connection shines on the mountains and rivers for a long time"

The statue on the left is named "Pang Yun", half of its face is as bright as a new moon, and the other half is as gnarled as an old tree. The patchwork clothes are decorated with amulets offered by various families, and the gold lacquer has settled into a warm honey color in a century of smoke.

The deity on the right is named "Pang Ling". He wears a python robe and a jade belt. The original color of the wood shows through the mottled lacquer, and veins of gold repairs run through the cracks, like the scales on a priest's armor. His sleeves flutter as if he is about to rise up on the clouds.

There are tiny characters engraved on the base of the niche. When you bend over and take a closer look, you will find that they are the names of countless ordinary people. The earliest characters are already blurred like moss, while the latest ink marks are still damp.

The tributes offered in front of it are also strange - a peace knot tied with black hair, a longevity lock carved from peach wood, and even a faded puppet show ticket stub.

There is a piece of plain silk hanging in front of the table, with ink still smelling of pine smoke: "Don't ask where to find the real body, the lights of thousands of houses are the golden body"

The incense table was three inches thick with dust. The incense burner on the left was filled with tall red-headed incense sticks. On the right were newly picked wild crabapple flowers with dewdrops on the petals that were about to fall. It was as if the pilgrims were sharing the vitality of the deity and appreciating the beauty of the world together.