Strange Stories

Chapter 513: What I Have Seen
The petals floated slowly down the stream, changing direction and spinning slowly in the process, but the three people on the petals still sat calmly, drinking tea and chatting leisurely. The forests on both sides of the stream were like the towering trees in mythology, blocking the sunlight, casting shadows, and interweaving into a messy painting on the blue sky.

I don’t know where it will drift to.

"correct--"

Lin Jue took out a pill bottle from his arms and handed it to his junior sister: "This is the Lingyuan Pill from last month and the month before last."

There are only three pills in the pill bottle.

The little sister took it and looked at it, then put it away and asked, "Have the two new disciples, brother, started practicing?"

“I’ve gotten started.”

"Since they have already started practicing, Brother, don't you plan to refine Spiritual Essence Pills for them?"

"Of course I have to practice."

"But Senior Brother hasn't touched copper or silver for a long time." The younger sister said, "Even a bowl of morning wine has to be cheated out of my money."

"What do you mean by cheating you out of your money?" Lin Jue was dissatisfied. "I watched you grow up. Do we have to be so clear about the difference between us?"

"I watched you grow up, too."

"You want to argue about this?"

"..." The little sister lowered her head and drank the fruit tea, "But where does the silver for alchemy come from?"

"Disciples have their own blessings. Since they ate the pills, they should go find the silver themselves." Lin Jue held the scented tea and had already thought it through. "It just so happens that they have already started practicing. I have also taught them two self-defense spells. It is time for them to continue to go out and exorcise demons. How many Lingyuan pills they can eat depends on how diligent they are."

"..."

The little apprentice sister held the cup and thought for a while:
"Brother, it's easy to arrange!"

She already knew about the existence of the Silver Eater Ghost, and she had guessed it before her senior brother told her.

After all, they are from the same sect, living together day and night, and witnessed the incident of the Corpse Tiger King together. How could they not guess it?

For a long period of time recently, she has been raising the silver-eating ghost, and the spiritual essence pills it spits out every month are naturally given to her and Ziyun.

However, because she often went out to look for materials for the golden elixir and was not in Fengshan, she did not have that much energy to look for silver. Even if she found it, she had to exchange it for gold. Basically, she only had ten taels of silver every month, which was almost the minimum amount for the silver-eating ghost to survive. When things were good, she could get twenty taels, and she gave all the silver she earned to Ziyun.

Now that his fellow disciples have gotten into the practice, he lets them go find silver on their own. This can not only help with their practice, but also eliminate evil spirits, and also motivate them and feed the silver-eating ghosts. It's like killing four birds with one stone.

"Ugh……"

The junior sister sighed, thinking that she would probably never be able to learn the skills that her senior brother had in her lifetime.

Suddenly, drops of water fell from above my head.

The bean-sized water droplets might be hard to feel when hitting the body under normal circumstances, but at this moment, they were as big as the cushions they were sitting on, and hit the petals of the magnolia flower, causing the boat to tremble violently. When the petals broke, a raindrop lotus blossomed, which had never been seen so clearly before. Even the splashing water droplets were as big as their heads, and they could not be blocked even if they raised their sleeves.

The broken water droplets slid down the petals without getting wet, and gathered together again, forming a crystal clear pearl in the middle of the boat, which startled the three people so much that they hurriedly raised their feet.

“It’s raining!”

A fox's gloating voice was heard nearby, as if it was very happy.

I thought it was a fox's work, but when I looked up, I saw raindrops falling through the interlaced treetops of the forest, and the sky had already changed.

Plop!
The fox jumped into the stream, splashing more water droplets. The waves pushed the petal boat left and right, swaying violently.

Lin Jue was about to say something, but when he looked up, he saw that there was a small ridge in the stream ahead, only about a foot high. For the boat and the three people on it, it was already a small waterfall. The fox waded over, raised its furry little paws, and stopped the boat.

"The fox is protecting you!"

The fox said to him, his tone serious.

Lin Jue looked up and saw that it was also lowering its head.

The fox's expression was indeed serious, and his amber eyes were very bright, but there was a sly joy hidden in them.

"You little thing..."

Lin Jue looked up, pointed at it and smiled at it.

It's hard to say that it wasn't done intentionally to take advantage of the situation.

Then he lowered his head and looked at the two people beside him.

Both of them stood up.

"It's quite a pleasure to be together today. It's also quite interesting to use flowers as boats and travel on them." Taoist Master Jiang said, "Since it's raining, let's stop here and see you another day."

"Haha! I think this is fun too!" Lin Jue laughed, "Then we'll see you next time!"

"Thank you for the clue about the dragon whiskers." The little sister said, "As for the phoenix feathers, please help me ask after you go to heaven."

"Easy to do."

After Master Jiang finished speaking, he picked up the whisk beside him, patted his clothes, and without stopping, turned into a ray of divine light and flew away.

The junior sister picked up the fruit wine in the glass again. There was still a small sip left in the glass.

When she drank it before, because of the sweet and sour taste, even if she wanted to taste it, she only pursed her lips after each drink. Now, she picked up the cup and drank it all in one gulp, but she finally smacked her lips several times, tasting the sweet and sour taste in this way, and then smiled at her senior brother:
"I'll leave the cleaning of the tables and chairs to my senior brother."

Picking up the sword and whisk, she tapped the petals with her toes, and the sister flew up into the sky, quickly grew larger, and turned into a breeze and disappeared.

……

Before I knew it, I had drifted along the stream to the outskirts of Fengshan Mountain.

After the establishment of the Xin Dynasty, although the southern expedition was never completely completed, except for the places where wars took place, other places eventually became stable. In addition, there were many monsters and ghosts in the previous chaotic times, and various auspicious signs after the establishment of the Xin Dynasty, so more people came to seek immortals.

A few people set out together and just knocked on the door of a wooden house, thinking that a god lived inside. However, they heard from the people in the house that the god was just a hermit who had become disillusioned with the fame and fortune of the world and had come to Fengshan to live in seclusion to avoid the war. He had seen many people like them who were knocking on his door in search of gods in the past few years.

Just as a few people were questioning how true or false the legend of "there are immortals in Maple Mountain" was, they encountered a sudden rain, which made them even more depressed.

But I never expected that when I walked along the path to the stream, I suddenly heard voices nearby.

The voice was clear and thin, sounding like that of a human, yet somewhat unlike that of a human. It was like the monsters in strange stories that transform into human form and appear human, but upon closer inspection, there are strange aspects to them.

At this time, we had walked a distance away from the hermit's residence and reached the depths of the mountains. There were no other houses nearby and no people in sight. How could someone be talking?
When I calmed down and listened carefully, I could hear another mosquito-like sound. I could only vaguely make out that they were talking, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

Following the sound to the stream, I looked around—

A white fox was playing in the water. It was so magical and beautiful, and it looked extraordinary at first glance.

Next to it, a petal undulates with the waves.

Looking closely, there seemed to be something in the petals, and they thought it was an ant or some small insect. However, they never expected that the moment they looked closely, a divine light flew out from the petals and flew into the sky. Only when it flew into the air could they vaguely see it, like a god.

Then another person flew out from the petals, turned into a breeze, and dissipated in the stream in the forest.

The leaves in the forest were blown and the stream was rippled.

Several people were already stunned.

Looking at the petals again at this time, it seemed that there was something else.

Only then did I realize that it was actually a person.

After a few more breaths, the last person also came out from the petals on the stream surface. He grew bigger for a moment, then turned into a breeze and disappeared. Only in that moment, someone vaguely saw that the figure seemed to have noticed their presence and turned around to look at them.

Coming to their senses, they lowered their heads and saw the only fox left in the stream, turning its head and staring at them.

"I've been seen!"

The fox also turned into a breeze and disappeared.

Several people were shocked and stunned. Besides being excited, they were also a little afraid. After a long time, they dared to look. They saw the petal float to the small ridge, fall and overturn, and was washed to the bottom of the stream by the current. Several people fished it out and saw that it was just an ordinary magnolia petal.

But I don’t know who can use flowers as a boat, ride on the flowers and flow, and gather and chat on the flower boat.

Some people say that it is a god.

Some people said that when they saw them on the petals, there seemed to be something like a table. They went to look for it in the stream and indeed found a "table" and a "cushion". However, the "table" was just a piece of wood chips as big as a fingernail, like a piece broken off from a dead branch that could be found everywhere, and the "cushion" was just a bunch of grass.

There was another person who had his eyes open as if in a daze, recalling the departing fox and muttering the fox's words "I have seen it". He had already written a story in his mind, but he was a nerd.

……

The Taoist has returned to the attic, holding a statue in his hand.

"Are you here?"

Upon hearing his voice, a hungry big-headed ghost immediately floated out of the wood carving.

"Real person..."

"These days, you only have ten taels of silver a month. You must be starving, right?"

"No, no!" The big-headed ghost waved his hands in panic, "Ten taels of silver is enough for me to eat!"

"We have known each other for so many years, yet you are still so cautious. I see you have lost weight." Lin Jue shook his head helplessly, "Don't worry, don't worry. I will let you eat more in a while."

With a call of "Chen Niu", two disciples were called over by him.

"How do you feel?"

"Master, after eating the immortal fruit, my cultivation has improved a lot!" Xu Yi said, "My fire spitting ability has even become more powerful now!"

"It's the same for me!" Pu Mei also said, "And my cultivation speed has also become faster. It seems that the spiritual rhythm between heaven and earth has become much clearer!"

"That's good."

The two disciples thought that the master was simply concerned about them, but suddenly they heard the master say:
"The world is just beginning to settle down, but it's still not stable. Monsters are still around, and they often disturb people. You have been practicing for so long, but you haven't been out to exorcise monsters. When monsters cause trouble, it's Wan Gong and his men who go to quell them. I think they've been working hard these days. Although exhaling is simple, it can drive away the little ghosts. Although the fire-repelling technique only exhales ordinary fire, it can also hurt some monsters. In addition, you have eaten the immortal fruit, and your Taoism has made great progress. It's time for you to go out to exorcise monsters and help the world."

(End of this chapter)