Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

However, he is still young, and most of his elders hope that he can mature further.

This is a good opportunity, and I believe it will be enough to persuade the other elders.

...

After receiving permission, Zhuang Xing went back to his house to pack his things.

He packed some dry rations, put on his sword, some silver coins and talismans, and with his bundle, he took the red panda down the mountain.

The five red pandas were taken away together, leaving no one in the house.

This trip won't last long; I'll be back in three or four days at most.

He only intended to explore the area around the cave. If there was anything special about it, a day would be enough for him to figure it out. If he couldn't figure it out in a day, staying for several more days would probably still not help him. He might as well come back and report to his superiors so they could make a decision.

If there's nothing special about it, he's even less likely to stay there for long.

In the middle of nowhere, not a tourist attraction, if he can't see what he wants to see, he'll definitely just leave.

Without hesitation, he stepped out of the gate and led the panda down the bluestone steps.

“Once we get down the mountain, try not to talk in front of people,” Zhuang Xing said to the panda.

"Why?" the panda asked.

"It will scare the people down the mountain," Zhuang Xing said.

Judging from Da Chun's reaction, one can see how ordinary people are afraid of monsters.

If red pandas were only spiritually intelligent, that would be fine; they are naturally cute and should be lovable. But if they could speak, many people would find it unacceptable.

Many people, upon seeing a demon, only think of driving it away or killing it.

Even with the Taoist priest Zhuang Xing vouching for the panda, there's no guarantee that some extremists might impulsively do something dangerous.

There's no way around it; demons harm humans, and humans harm demons, and over time, it becomes a cycle of revenge.

Zhuang Xing didn't want to cause any extra trouble, so he tried to remind the panda to behave normally in front of people after coming down the mountain.

The pandas listened to him and nodded, covering their mouths.

Soon, we arrived at the town at the foot of the mountain.

Traveling with five rare red pandas, they attracted a lot of attention.

Seeing that they were all wearing name tags around their necks, passersby knew that these were not wild red pandas.

The panda lived in the Taoist temple for a while and got used to the presence of people, but there were still more people down the mountain than in the temple.

It was early spring, and many people had come out after enduring the cold winter.

Amidst the commotion, the panda followed closely behind Zhuang Xing, afraid of being left behind.

Zhuang Xing arrived at the stable and summoned Wuzhui.

Black Steed ran up to him, and now the procession was finally complete.

In terms of sheer numbers, they outnumbered the people who went on the journey to the West to retrieve Buddhist scriptures.

He then had the panda lead the way, holding the horse, and headed out of town.

We rode the black horse over two mountains and across a small stone bridge along the dirt road. When the road was smooth, we would ride it for a while, and when the road was narrow and uneven, we would slowly lead it along.

We traveled leisurely and peacefully for about several dozen miles before finally seeing the outline of a village.

The village is located at the foot of the mountain; it is an unnamed mountain and an unnamed village.

As dusk approached, the green hills were tinged with gold, and the winding river in the village flowed gently, creating a scene as beautiful as a painting.

But... when it was time to eat, there was no smoke rising from the village chimneys.

There was no smoke rising from the chimneys, only a single earthen house, from which smoke was still being emitted.

The fields near the village are overgrown with weeds, but no one seems to care for them.

Those houses also lacked human presence.

It seems the people who lived here have moved away.

As the setting sun shone down, the village couldn't help but have an eerie feeling.

However, seeing a flock of chickens running happily out of the courtyard of the earthen house, clucking a few times, brought a bit of life to the place.

There was also a rough-looking man with a full beard scattering rice for the chickens.

It seems that only this uncle lives in this village.

It's getting late, and it's not a good time to go into the mountains, so Zhuang Xing is planning to stay overnight in this village.

He calmly walked to the front of the house and called out, "I am a Taoist priest from Xuanqing Temple on Qingxuan Mountain. May I ask if I may stay here for the night?"

The bearded man paused for a moment when he saw the Taoist robe, and then looked at the five pandas and a horse beside him with a wary expression.

Why would a Taoist priest come so late?

Could it be a demon in human form, coming to eat him?

Chapter 161 The Solitary Person

Zhuang Xing looked at the burly man with a big beard in front of him. He was tall and muscular, with a thick beard on both sides of his face. He was only wearing a thin old cloth shirt, and there was a fierce look between his eyebrows and eyes.

He has the kind of appearance that could scare a child to tears. You always feel like the bearded man will suddenly pull out a curved knife from behind his back and shout, "This mountain is mine, this tree is mine!"

If the entertainment industry existed in this world, then this guy would be a born bandit saint. Just by standing there, you would think he is a very, very bad person.

However, what the bearded man did had nothing to do with bandits; he was simply scattering rice and feeding chickens in his yard.

The courtyard looked very clean, with chopped firewood piled under the eaves. Two mulberry trees in the yard sprouted green buds, and a few cabbages and radishes were planted in the small field near the fence. It was a well-maintained farmhouse.

However, such a small courtyard looks quite strange in the empty village.

Zhuang Xing entered the village but saw no sign of human habitation. If the village really only had one household, with the bearded man, then there was something to ponder.

He was still carefully observing the middle-aged man in front of him, and the middle-aged man was also looking at him.

Hearing him call out that he wanted to stay the night, the uncle frowned and asked through the fence, "May I ask what brings you here, Taoist priest?"

"I need to go into the mountains for some business," Zhuang Xing said.

"Is the Taoist priest really from Xuanqing Temple?"

The bearded man nervously scattered the rice in his hand.

“I have a travel permit from the temple, stamped with the official seal, which proves my identity.”

Zhuang Xing untied the bundle and took out a document from it.

Taoist priests from Xuanqing Temple all have this special travel permit when they go out to pass through customs.

The bearded man dusted off his hands, walked over, and took the travel guide to look at it.

I don't know if he understood it or not. This thing looks a bit like Tang Sanzang's travel document. If it were an official, he could tell the difference between real and fake at a glance, but a farmer living at the foot of the mountain probably wouldn't recognize it.

Even so, after returning the documents to Zhuang Xing, the bearded man glanced at the panda and the black horse at Zhuang Xing's feet, remained silent for a moment, and then still invited Zhuang Xing into the house.

"It's getting late, please come in and rest, Taoist priest."

The bearded man pulled back a corner of the fence, and the bamboo strips scraped marks on the soil.

Without asking about the red panda next to Zhuang Xing or investigating Zhuang Xing's purpose, he simply opened the door.

Whether it was due to their superior skills and daring, or simply a lack of awareness or precautions, it's hard to say.

"I am Zhuang Xing, a disciple of the Xuanqing Temple. May I ask how to address you, Uncle?" Zhuang Xing cupped his hands in greeting.

“I am but a rough man, you may call me whatever you like, young Taoist priest,” the bearded man said.

"Then we'll call him Uncle Wei." Zhuang Xing took out some silver from his bundle. "We also want to thank Uncle Wei for treating us to the night."

The bearded man accepted the small string of copper coins that Zhuang Xing handed him without hesitation, neither counting the number of coins nor checking their authenticity.

"Young Taoist priest, is this horse... able to eat rice straw?" The bearded man looked at Wuzhui.

"Uncle Wei, don't worry about it. It will find tender grass to eat by the roadside on its own."

Zhuang Xing patted Wu Zhui's neck, and Wu Zhui raised its head in response.

"Doesn't this horse need to be tied up?" The bearded man clearly found the horse quite extraordinary.

“The black horse won’t run away,” Zhuang Xing said with a smile.

"And these red pandas..."

"Would it be alright if they came inside with me?"

"That's possible, but you must keep a close eye on them and prevent them from running around."

"nature."

“Red pandas…” The bearded man looked at the red pandas next to Zhuang Xing with a complicated expression. “We used to see red pandas all the time on this mountain. In winter, when it was cold, we would sometimes see them come down the mountain and find a place without snow to lie down. Now that everyone has left, we can’t see the pandas anymore.”

"I was just about to ask, why does Uncle Wei live here alone? Where did everyone else in the village go?"

“The rest of the villagers moved away the winter before last. That year, soldiers came with relief supplies of grain and clothing and gave them some advice. Dozens of households in the village moved away together, but I was the only one left in the village.”

As the bearded man spoke, he led Zhuang into the house.

The thatched huts in the village are similar to those of Zhuang Xingjia's old house, with the kitchen and main room on the same plot of land.

The stove over there was burning, and rice was being cooked. Zhuang Xing's arrival seemed to be perfectly timed. The bearded man had just come out to feed the chickens; he only had time to relax after finishing the cooking.

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Xing realized that the villagers must have moved to Manggu Village. It was he who delivered the letter written by Daoist Qingxuzi to the prefect of Yidu that year, which prompted the government troops to go out and provide relief to the refugees, bringing some people in dire need to Manggu Village.

This didn't seem like a lie. When Zhuang Xing walked over, he saw that the village houses had been cleaned up. The people in this village didn't disappear suddenly; it was a planned migration.

"But why doesn't Uncle Wei move away?" Zhuang Xing asked, voicing his doubts.

These days, anyone who dares to live alone is either a hermit, a monster, or a fool.

Zhuang Xing observed the Qi fire of the person in front of him. Although he was tall, he was just an ordinary mortal. After this conversation, he knew that this person was not a monster. He could talk to him smoothly and fluently, and he did not seem to be a fool. However, he did not know why this person was staying here.

Upon hearing Zhuang Xing's question, the bearded man paused for a moment, then sighed, "Speaking of which, I have another request, and I hope the young Taoist priest can lend a hand."

"Uncle Wei, please speak."

"Let's talk about it at the dinner table," the bearded man said. "It's rare to see someone like this. I'll go kill a chicken for the young Taoist priest. I wonder if he can drink alcohol?"