Strange Stories

Chapter 530 It’s OK to Stay Down the Mountain for Two More Years

"Ok!"

Pu Mei agreed without hesitation and nodded heavily.

Then he bowed respectfully and reached out to take it.

Six dragon scale flying blades fell into her hands, feeling hard, cold and heavy.

"Thank you Master!"

Pu Mei thanked him and calmly walked down the mountain.

As soon as he reached the bottom of the cliff and his feet touched the ground, he could no longer suppress the joy and excitement in his heart. He threw the six flying blades and made hand gestures -

These six flying blades were nearly two feet long, and the widest part was three to four fingers wide. In addition, they were made of different materials, so they were much heavier than the flying swords she had originally made in the city at the foot of the mountain. Moreover, they had never been refined, and with her current level of Taoism and magical attainments, it was a little difficult to control them, so they inevitably shook when they flew.

As soon as one hand was lifted up, the other hand fell down. While one side was stabilized, the other side began to shake like a leaf in the wind.

After finally stabilizing herself, the first thing she did was to follow what her master upstairs had done and spread out the six flying blades, three on the left and three on the right, behind her from high to low, like a pair of wings.

With her heroic face, tall figure and Taoist robe, the female Taoist priest who was chanting the spell had a bit of fairy-like chivalrous air.

"Om..."

The flying blade actually made a sound by itself!

All six flying blades were sharpened on all sides, pointed at both ends, wide in the middle and narrow at both ends. They could be rotated to cut or used as swords to stab. Apart from being inconvenient to carry, everything about them pleased her.

Especially since it looks so beautiful!

The Taoist woman made a hand gesture and waved her hand, exerting force on her mind and body.

"Swipe!"

Six flying blades like wings flew out on the left and right, spinning.

It looked powerful, but in fact it was just average. Three of the swords landed on the ground nearby, and used the force of their fall to cut a few rocks on the ground. Two of the swords flew a short distance and also fell down. Only one of the swords flew far, cutting off a leaf of the bamboo in front, and then fell down with the cold wind.

"I still need to practice more..."

Pu Mei muttered to himself and retracted the flying blade.

From then on, whenever the three of them went out to fight monsters, there would be six more dragon scale flying blades in the sky.

The cliffs still clang.

The fox dug out a small cave under the attic, and Pu Mei repaired and smoothed it. Every day, he found ways to collect wooden pillars and bricks and tiles, built eaves, and constructed doors and windows for it, thus turning a simple cave into a proper storage room with doors and windows.

Xu Yi built his own residence.

Both of them referred to their master's attic, the residence of Taoist Master Wan Gong Tao, and the Taoist temple's chapel in Hongye Temple, and added their own preferences, and built the house under the guidance of Wan Gong and others.

The junior brother couldn't help but be curious: "Junior sister, why don't you repair your own residence?"

"Master asked me to repair the storage room first." The eldest sister said, "I am older, so it's okay for me to stay down there for two more years."

"Oh……"

Not long after, the young brother went upstairs to pay his respects to the master.

The master told him that although the Flower Blooms Instantly was his most powerful magical power, it had two shortcomings and a fatal weakness:
One shortcoming is that when he faces an opponent who is much more powerful than himself, it is difficult for him to defeat him immediately and he can only slowly wear him down. Another shortcoming is that the spring breeze is illusory and difficult to stop and repel the opponent.

The weakness is that it is difficult to bloom on metal.

The master told him to keep the secret and not reveal the weakness of this spell to anyone else. He also told him that if he wanted to make good use of the Flower Blooming Moment, he would have to use it in conjunction with other spells.

"Master, I have many spells that are suitable for assisting the moment when the flower blooms, such as the method of repelling the enemy, the method of protecting yourself, and the method of escaping. However, you have to eat one bite at a time. If you learn too much, it will be easy to learn too many things. Master will first teach you a method of Gangqi. When you are unable to kill the enemy in the moment when the flower blooms, you can use Gangqi to repel the enemy."

"Thank you Master!"

Xu Yi was overjoyed.

"but--"

Then he heard the Master say to him:
“Although you and your junior sister have different focuses, it is reasonable for you to learn a few more spells. However, last time I gave your junior sister a flying blade for her to use, I also asked her to repair the storage cabinet. She has been tired for so long. If I teach you another spell for nothing, she will feel unbalanced.

"Tsk...

"Well, let's put it this way. Recently, I have been looking at this cliff and I feel something is wrong. Yesterday, I suddenly realized that there are only pavilions and palaces on the cliff, but no corridors connecting them. Although we don't need to take the stairs to go up and down, it doesn't look coordinated after all. It's too abrupt to always fly over the eaves and walls. You can ask your sister Fuyao to dig out some stairs on the cliff, and then you can build corridors with railings to connect these pavilions and palaces. This way, not only will it look more coordinated, but sometimes when you have free time, you can walk along the stairs and corridors and look out at the railings."

"Yes... yes, Master..."

Xu Yi scratched his head and frowned, thinking: "Master, don't you think you just want us to work?"

"Hmm?" "Yes!"

There were clanging sounds on the cliff, and they began to build winding staircases and corridors to connect all the buildings on this cliff.

"Brother! Why don't you repair your residence?"

"I thought about it. My junior sister didn't practice, so I won't practice either." The younger brother said, "I'm young and hot-tempered. It won't matter if I stay down there for two more years."

"..."

When the flying blades cut through the bamboo shoots in the deep mountains and the strong energy blew the thorns, the capital city also had a somewhat peaceful atmosphere as my junior sister said.

The number of pedestrians on the street has obviously increased. Although it is still not as much as before the turbulent times, it can still be considered lively.

There are some changes in people's clothing.

Because the northern nobles entered the capital and their clothing was slightly closer to the north, many people who rode horses to conquer the world had the right to speak, and the clothing style also began to evolve slightly in the direction of being suitable for riding and archery. Many nobles on the street looked much more capable than those in the previous dynasty. Although it was only the beginning, it was a huge change compared to the morbid and absurd customs of the previous dynasty.

Strangely enough, within just a few years, the people in the capital city felt as if the previous change of dynasties was just a dream when they recalled it.

The "man in red" reappeared in the capital.

It is said that candidates in the examination hall had seen him shaking his head, lamenting that without the young men from Jiangnan, the essays were a little less inspiring than those of the previous dynasty. This spread widely in the capital, especially among some ministers in the court, who used it to write articles, either criticizing the marshal who led the troops to the south for his poor performance, or urging the emperor to march south again.

The twin crabapples in the courtyard had not bloomed for several years during the turbulent times, but now they are blooming again.

However, that house was once lived in by the current emperor and a fairy, and it has been vacant for a long time now. Only some strange people who live nearby in the Juxian Mansion saw a bunch of flowers over the wall and spread the news, probably saying that the flowers in the fairy's house also have spirits, and this is an auspicious sign.

The biggest changes are the goblins and ghosts in the capital.

It can also be said to be the difference between Zixiao Palace and Guanxing Palace.

Everyone knows that the capital is prosperous, and so do the goblins and ghosts. There are all kinds of temptations in prosperity, which neither people nor goblins and ghosts can resist.

Some goblins and ghosts admire human culture and covet the prosperity of the capital, and mingle in the capital with various identities and appearances. Some like to hide in uninhabited houses, some transform into humans to make friends or even fall in love with people, and some transform into "gods" and enjoy the secret offerings of several families, and secretly provide them with certain help or protection.

Many popular stories and legends come from this.

During the previous dynasty's Guanxing Palace period, even in its heyday, the Guanxing Palace didn't care about it. At the end of the previous dynasty, the Guanxing Palace had fallen into decline, and it was even less cared about.

But now that Zixiao Palace has taken control of the capital, and it is the time of the new dynasty, people are in high spirits. The Taoists of Zixiao Palace have been searching the empty houses in the capital one by one, expelling and arresting the goblins and ghosts that are lurking in the capital. They are also distributing talismans to the people for free on the streets, asking them to take them back to exorcise evil spirits. They have also built half-body temples at each major city gate to enshrine the gatekeepers and the spirits, replaced the City God, added military officers to the City God, and wandered the gods day and night, as if they were ready to drive out all the goblins and ghosts that are lurking in the capital.

Such a large-scale hunt for demons and exorcism also gave rise to many stories about exorcism in the capital that were different in style from the strange stories and legends of previous dynasties.

The emperor issued an edict to confer the title of idle gods to the "red-clothed man" and other monsters in the city, and personally returned to his former courtyard to admire the newly blooming crabapple flowers, drink wine and write inscriptions.

The obvious intention was to protect these spirits and gods who had enjoyed a good reputation in the capital of the previous dynasty, and also to protect the spirits and gods that he was acquainted with.

Then the palace quickly issued an order, ordering Master Nan Tian and Master Yun Chan to lead the eccentrics of Juxian Mansion to search for monsters and exorcise evil spirits together with the Taoist priests of Zixiao Palace. Whenever a monster was caught, the Juxian Mansion would interrogate and determine the responsibility. This might be an expression of dissatisfaction with the northern gods and a way to hinder Zixiao Palace.

At the same time, another visitor came to Fengshan.

Taoist Priest Jiang still brought his homemade fruit tea, which was sour and sweet, with visible rich fruit pulp. It was poured into a white jade cup, and it was pleasing to the eye.

There is another plate of pastries in the middle, made into the shape of a flower, with hawthorn and red dates as filling. It tastes sour and sweet and is very appetizing.

Add the translucent red loquat jelly and it becomes an exquisite snack.

Sitting next to him were his junior sister and Lin Jue.

The three of them drank tea, admired the flowers and chatted.

"I have asked all over the heavens, and the last time someone saw a phoenix was in the legendary Yuanqiu Mountain." Taoist Jiang pinched half a piece of cake, his fingers slender and white, and said, "But Yuanqiu Mountain has long been hidden from the world since Emperor Ming Tianweng stepped down. If you want to find it, I can tell you where it is."

"Yuanqiu Mountain..."

Taoist Priest Jiang also gave this answer, which is the same as "Refuting the Senior".

"Fei Lai Mountain in Huizhou?"

"You know that too?"

"I asked that when I was in Yishan."

"You can go and give it a try." Taoist Jiang was not surprised. "It is said that there are many ferocious snakes in Yuanqiu Mountain, but they are all food for the phoenix. Since you have achieved enlightenment, there should be no danger. A true god once went in before and brought back the seeds of the Yuanqiu fruit."

"Is there any way to get in?" asked the junior sister.

"No." Master Jiang looked indifferent, just pinching the cake in his hand, and looked a little lazy. "It all depends on chance."

(End of this chapter)