As everyone expected, they had not yet reached the Taoist temple when it got dark.
So they settled in a cave.
According to the rules, Yin Xiu received the "most noble" treatment and was placed in the innermost corner. A few steps to the side was the thin moss-covered wall of the cave.
"After the barrier is released, you seem to be depressed."
The firelight illuminated Bai Fenghuang's face as she and Yin Xiu sat opposite each other.
"What do you know?"
Yin Xiu glanced at her, "Is it difficult for me to break the barrier?"
Putting a hand under his head, Yin Xiu yawned.
"It's just a little spell."
"So..."
Bai Fenghuang came closer, showing his teeth, and said with a smile: "Master, can you teach me that little magic?"
"How about it, promise me."
When Yin Xiu didn't answer, Bai Fenghuang got closer and closer until Yin Xiu reached out and put a piece of talisman paper on her forehead.
"Do you think I'm a zombie?"
Bai Fenghuang angrily tore off the talisman paper.
Yin Xiu pushed her head back and said, "Don't tear the talisman paper. After all, it is an important practice tool."
"Props?"
Bai Fenghuang held the talisman paper in his hand and realized that there was only the talisman gall on it and no legs.
In other words, this is a work-in-progress.
"Master, why did you give me a half-finished product?"
Seeing her doubts, Yin Xiu took the talisman paper over. The seal on her finger was stained with a little dragon and tiger energy, and she drew on the talisman paper from a distance. When she handed it to Bai Fenghuang, the talisman paper had already taken shape.
"Huh?"
White Phoenix clicked his tongue in surprise.
"Just do it."
Yin Xiu took out a few more semi-finished sheets from his pocket and said, "Whenever you can use your magic power to draw talismans on them from a distance, you can come back to me."
"Space?"
Bai Fenghuang suddenly remembered what Yin Xiu did on the mountain road.
He didn't use talisman paper, he just made a sword hand and drew it in the air a few times to create a talisman, which solved the illusion she had suffered.
"Is it true that if I practice like this, I will be able to draw talismans without using talisman paper in the end?"
"Absolutely."
Yin Xiu scratched her face, "But it's better to have talisman paper and use talisman paper. Drawing talisman in the air is just for emergencies."
"Okay!"
Bai Fenghuang took the talisman paper and nodded solemnly: "Master, don't worry, just tonight, tonight I will practice the ability to draw talisman in the air."
"Don't worry, you can also draw on the talisman paper with your fingers."
Yin Xiu grabbed Bai Fenghuang's hand and pressed it on the talisman paper, "Remember, you have to be calm and visualize the pattern of the talisman in your mind, and then concentrate your magic power on your fingers to draw it. Do you understand?"
Bai Fenghuang's ears turned red and he subconsciously wanted to pull his hand out, but in the end he didn't move and just let Yin Xiu hold on to it.
Yin Xiu led her to draw on the talisman paper once, and then let go of her hand, "Do you understand?"
Bai Fenghuang paused for a moment, then reacted and nodded repeatedly, "I understand, I understand."
"Okay, then you practice."
Yin Xiu took the clothes, covered her face, and began to fall asleep.
Bai Fenghuang stretched out his hand to face the talisman paper, but his heart still felt the throb from Yin Xiu's finger just now, and he couldn't calm down for a moment.
"You're just a man. They are all over the street. Bai Fenghuang, you are so worried here. How embarrassing are you to tell me?"
After taking a few deep breaths and forcing himself to calm down, Bai Fenghuang held his breath and began to draw on the talisman paper.
As expected, the Maoshan sect emphasizes magical weapons and charms, which is completely different from the Qishan sect she learned before.
Bai Fenghuang was quite amazed by the secrets involved, so he became even more attentive and did not dare to slack off.
She concentrated on practicing, while Yin Xiu on the other side had fallen into a deep sleep.
……
The original cave was turned into a Taoist temple, and Yin Xiu stood in front of the door, hesitating.
Finally, after hearing a vague call, Yin Xiu pushed the door open and entered.
It was a clean and tidy courtyard, with stone benches and tables, and no one around.
Without the voice calling him, there was only the sound of the gentle breeze blowing the forest leaves.
Yin Xiu suddenly felt that the surroundings were extremely familiar, as if he had been here before.
Then he looked at the tall building, which turned out to be the building that had appeared in the mountains before, that is, Yufeng Temple.
At this moment, he is in the Jade Peak View?
When he hesitated and was surprised, a sound finally came from the courtyard.
Yin Xiu turned around cautiously and found that there were two people sitting at the stone table where they had passed, with their backs to him.
Both of them have white hair hanging down their shoulders. They are each wearing one white and one black, two sets of robes, and they seem to be two monks.
It seemed that they were aware of Yin Xiu's presence, but the two did not look back and just asked questions.
"You have arrived at Yufeng Temple, but you came here to become an immortal?"
"Become an immortal?"
Yin Xiu said without hesitation: "I have no pursuit of becoming an immortal, and regardless of whether I have this intention or not, becoming an immortal is no different from dreaming to the world.
Let alone becoming an immortal accidentally, even if you spend your whole life visiting famous mountains, looking for immortals and asking for medicine, you may not have the chance to ascend. ”
"You think clearly."
At this time, Yin Xiucai realized that the thinner one in a white robe was a woman with a gentle voice.
The man in black who first asked him had a low, steady male voice.
"But everyone comes to Yufeng Temple to become an immortal. Even if he doesn't care, he doesn't seem to have thought about it in his heart, but..."
The woman chuckled, the sound was like a silver bell.
"But when they get here, their true intentions will be exposed, because the pursuit of immortality is instinctive and something engraved in their bones.
Everyone is afraid of the emptiness and unknown after death, and they also miss the world and the youth on their faces, so they pretend to be free and easy only because they don't get what they want.
When we are really close to each other, everyone will reveal their true colors, even you, there will be no surprise. ”
"But..."
Yin Xiu took two steps and finally said seriously: "I have been to farther and better places, not this Taoist temple."
As soon as he said this, the two people sitting there were silent. After their bodies seemed to move, the man took the lead in asking questions.
"You mean, Kunlun?"
Yin Xiu was noncommittal and just said: "What? Are you also looking for Kunlun?"
"You will come to this temple tomorrow, right?"
The woman suddenly asked an irrelevant question.
"Yes, these Miao people can't tolerate me not coming in, because they have something to do with me." Yin Xiu said with a bitter smile.
From now on, he has realized that this is a dream, but dreaming is a common thing.
For example, there is a legend about a Taoist priest teaching his disciples exercises in a dream, or an immortal giving a spiritual treasure to a destined person in a dream.
Therefore, he just wanted to see what these two non-human, non-ghost, and non-immortal existences were going to do, or what they wanted to communicate with him.
"Tomorrow when you arrive at Yufeng Temple, all the secrets will be unlocked."
"Secret?"
"You will know when the time comes, but I want you to understand that what is true is true and what is true is false. Sometimes what is true is false, and what is false is also true."
"You mean, there will be big changes tomorrow?" "You will know it then. Only by sticking to your heart can you see your true self."
The two men turned their heads at the same time.
Yin Xiu's eyes widened, because what he saw was the white-haired Ma Xiaoyu, and himself, one black and one white, one white and one black.
The eyes of these two people were shining brightly, but what almost made Yin Xiu breathless was that both of them had strange eyes.
In their eye sockets, the two pupils were squeezed together, shining like the sun and the moon, emitting gold and silver light, shining heavily.
"Master, I am done! I am done!"
Yin Xiu opened her eyes suddenly, and Bai Fenghuang was holding a piece of talisman paper, shaking it excitedly in front of Yin Xiu's eyes.
"What has become of you?"
Yin Xiu only felt a little pain in her head, as if someone had hit her head with a hammer.
Bai Fenghuang saw it and put the talisman paper in his hand on Yin Xiu's head, "Master, you are fierce."
Yin Xiu immediately felt a coolness pouring into the spiritual platform, her head suddenly became much clearer, and the pain just now disappeared without a trace.
He took off the talisman and held it in his hand.
"Pure Heart Curse?"
"Yes."
Bai Fenghuang blinked, "Why, it only took me half a night to achieve this level."
Yin Xiu opened his pocket watch. It was twelve o'clock at night. It turned out that he had been asleep for a while.
"Awesome, awesome."
Yin Xiu nodded casually, still thinking about the dream.
Do the strange double-eyed self and Ma Xiaoyu really exist?
Or is that just some kind of refraction?
In any case, after only a few days, he already started to miss Ma Xiaoyu.
……
Ah!
Ma Xiaoyu sneezed.
The white peacock handed over the handkerchief and said with concern: "Sister, don't you have typhoid fever?"
"It's not that easy, maybe someone is just missing me."
"I'm more concerned about why we're going west than this."
Ignoring Ake's gentle tug on his sleeve to remind him, Ren Qi said without any politeness: "Didn't you say that the hexagram showed that we should go east? Did you make a mistake, or did I hear it wrong?"
Ma Xiaoyu glanced at him, "You heard me right, and I said it right, but I feel that someone in the west wants to meet me."
"Who is it? Liu Banxian?" Ren Qi asked.
"Here, it's right in front, behind the mountain."
Ma Xiaoyu pressed her chin.
When Ren Qi and Bai Peacock looked over there, they were shocked and put their hands on the weapons at their waists.
On the other side of the mountain, I don't know when there was a royal flag waving. It was the flag of the imperial court.
"The imperial court has also come to Jiaozhi?" Bai Peacock couldn't help but worry.
"Qin Tian Jian."
Ma Xiaoyu smiled and said, "Why, are you so nervous?"
"A little."
The white peacock swallowed a mouthful of saliva, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
"Afraid? Who is afraid doesn't know yet."
Ren Qi snorted coldly: "I guess they won't have many people coming. After all, this is Jiaozhi, not southern Xinjiang."
As soon as he finished speaking, a group of cavalry waving the Qintianjian flag rushed out, bringing up the smoke.
Immediately behind, a mighty team appeared.
After taking a look at the almost endless team, even Ren Qi was moved.
"The imperial court really doesn't take the government of Jiaozhi seriously. It actually called so many people."
Ma Xiaoyu just asked: "Past now?"
"I just listen to what you say." Ren Qi replied.
So a group of people drove their horses forward.
When they got close, Ren Qi signaled Bai Peacock and A Ke to stop their horses, and he followed Ma Xiaoyu towards the opponent's camp.
Soon, from there, two Taoist priests and a man in official uniform ran out of the team, followed by several cavalrymen holding flags.
The man in official uniform is Jin Hai, the general manager of the palace, and the other two Taoist priests are Zhang Jiude and Zhao Wuji from Longhu Mountain.
As soon as he saw Ren Qi, Jin Hai was the first to speak, and said with a cold smile: "Commander Ren, long time no see. When you were with Di Wei in the past, you were very majestic, but now you look very different from the past. ”
Ren Qi glanced at him sideways, "Aren't you supposed to be eating the sacrifices in the imperial mausoleum? Why did you run out?"
Jin Hai's face turned cold and he stopped talking, but his fists clenched loudly.
Zhao Wuji saw Ma Xiaoyu for the first time and was amazed by her face and temperament. He inevitably felt nervous and awkward, and his heart was pounding.
It wasn't until Zhang Jiude spoke that he came back to his senses.
"The Imperial Master said he only sees you, but as for others..."
He glanced at Ren Qi and said, "Please wait here, but before that, for the safety of the Imperial Master, please reveal your identity."
"Who are you?"
Ma Xiaoyu pushed her hair behind her ears and said coldly: "Before asking other people's names, you should inform yourself of your origins, right?"
Zhang Jiude was not angry, he was just holding the sword secret.
"Longhu Mountain Tianshi Mansion, Zhang Jiude."
Zhao Wuji was still in a daze, and he didn't react until Ma Xiaoyu glanced at him.
"A direct disciple of Longhu Mountain, Zhao Wuji."
"Who is your Excellency?" Zhang Jiude asked again.
"Exorcism from the Ma family, Ma Xiaoyu."
"The contemporary female heavenly master of the Ma family? I have long admired her name."
Even though he had vaguely guessed the identity of the other party, Zhang Jiude couldn't help but sigh when Ma Xiaoyu reported it himself.
He pulled the horse back a few steps, stretched out his hand and said: "The Imperial Master is waiting for you."
However, Ma Xiaoyu did not drive the horse forward, but just stopped there.
Zhao Wuji was confused and looked at each other with Zhang Jiude, both looking confused.
At this time, Ma Xiaoyu spoke slowly, with a cold voice.
"I heard that the Celestial Master's Mansion in Longhu Mountain always attaches great importance to rituals and rules. Why, is this how your master teaches you to visit the Celestial Master?"
"..."
Zhang Jiude's lips twitched and he was about to speak.
Ma Xiaoyu suddenly said again: "Why, is my title of Ma Family Celestial Master not recognized by the imperial court or the Kyushu Taoism? Or does Longhu Mountain have objections?
What is your attitude towards the descendants when you meet the Heavenly Master? ”
"Disciples dare not."
Zhang Jiude and Zhao Wuji dismounted from their horses together, made sword skills with their hands, and bent down, almost burying their heads on their stomachs.
"Longhu Mountain, Zhang Jiude."
"Longhu Mountain, Zhao Wuji."
The two of them said in unison: "Meet the Heavenly Master."
"No gift."
Ma Xiaoyu kicked the horse in the belly and walked past the two of them. (End of chapter)