Chapter 271: White Egrets and Stone Horses

The endless ancient city eaves, a winter snow, a few wisps of cooking smoke, the sky clearing after the snow, only a row of white egrets flying leisurely across the blue-as-washed sky.

At this moment, I don't know how many people were free, looking up to enjoy this sky together, and I don't know how many people were fantasizing about riding the wind away, flying freely with white cranes, but there was only one person below who opened his mouth to invite:

"Friend, meeting is fate, why not come down for a chat?"

The clear sky was cloudless. Among this row of white egrets, the one at the very front suddenly fell behind. I thought it would line up at the back of the team, but unexpectedly, it flapped its wings a few times and turned straight down.

People in the city who saw this scene all thought it was rare.

But looking at the direction it fell, it seemed to be right next to the Gathering of Immortals Mansion office, the residence of the famous Master Fan.

The white egret spread its wings and didn't move, flying directly to the top of the small lake, standing on the top of a willow tree.

The treetops shook for a while.

The middle-aged Daoist below stared blankly.

This is true immortal magic.

At the same time, a young Daoist was also standing under the willow tree, smiling and bowing to the egret, handing out a pill in his hand:

"I have been busy for several days, and today I am just free. For the past few days, I have always seen white egrets flying across the sky, with elegant postures, free and easy. People of our generation who cultivate the Dao truly admire and yearn for it in their hearts. I don't know if the one I saw in the past was you, but since I saw you again today, I boldly invite you to come down for a chat.

"I refined a furnace of small Yuan pills yesterday, and there were quite a few medicinal dregs left. It would be a pity to throw them away, so I made them into pills as a greeting gift. I hope you won't dislike them."

The white egret chirped lightly, as if answering.

Then it flapped its wings lightly twice, drifted down, took the pill from his hand, circled around lightly, and flew back to the treetop.

The white egret looked up and opened its mouth, its neck curved, its posture still elegant, just like in an ancient painting, and swallowed the pill.

The Daoist below said again: "To tell you the truth, I invited you down this time, besides wanting to make friends with you, I also want to ask you for a favor."

The white egret turned its eyeballs and stared at him.

"Sigh..."

Lin Jue sighed:

"Sometimes I always think, why don't I have the spell of flying, to be able to soar freely in the sky and clouds like you?"

"Ah~"

"It's not today, not this moment, but in the future." Lin Jue said to it, "I have a junior sister who lives on Mount Fengshan, a hundred miles outside the city. Most of the time I am in the capital, and she cultivates in the Daoist temple on the mountain. If we want to communicate, although it is not difficult, it is ultimately inconvenient to ask passersby to bring letters. This hundred-mile distance, if it were us people, it would take a whole day to cross the mountains and ridges, but if it were you or your relatives and friends, it would only take a short while between spreading your wings. So I want to ask you for help, to bring letters between my junior sister and me, or even to my second senior brother who is further away. There will definitely be a reward."

Lin Jue had thought it through carefully—

Master Fan said that in the current capital, there were only two kinds of birds that could be bought: one was for eating, such as pigeons and wild geese. Although these could also send letters for him, they were easily shot down by people; the other was for playing, such as carrier pigeons, mynas, hawks, or other ornamental birds. Because there were many people in the capital who lost their ambition in play, and the trend of playing with birds and dogs was popular, the price was extremely expensive.

Lin Jue thought, it was better to find one on the spot.

Replace buying with trickery.

Although he had just obtained a hundred taels of silver, he shouldn't spend it indiscriminately. Save a little where he could.

Although medicinal dregs could be sold for money, Lin Jue had never done so. Plus, even if he bought a flying bird, he would probably still use the medicinal dregs left over from refining pills to feed the bird, so this cost expenditure could be ignored.

"If you are willing, come with me to find my junior sister in a while and recognize the way."

"Ah~"

The white egret turned its head to groom its feathers.

"Many thanks."

Only then did Lin Jue turn his head and look at Master Fan beside him: "Does Friend Fan know where the Huizhou merchants who come to the capital mostly gather?"

"The capital is divided into east and west, each with an east and west market, and both have Huizhou merchants. I go to the East Market more often and know that most of the Huizhou merchants there gather in the Wenbao Workshop in the north of the East Market. Most of the merchants there sell the Four Treasures of the Study, and eight or nine out of ten are from Huizhou. Brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones from Huizhou are very popular in the capital."

"The brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones produced in Huizhou are indeed unique." Lin Jue smiled, "I knew that asking Friend Fan about such things would be correct."

"I know, but..."

"How?"

"I am also running out of Xuan paper in my room, and I really want to go shopping with you, Friend. But you are looking for Huizhou merchants, also to let the traveling merchants help bring letters, right?"

Master Fan said, pointing to the sky:

"However, Huizhou is not close to the capital. Walking without delay would take a month. Today is already the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month. If those who want to return to Huizhou for the New Year, they would have already returned. If those who are still staying in the capital, they probably won't return for the New Year this year. So if you go looking for them now, Friend, you will have to wait until after the New Year for someone to be willing to bring letters for you."

"Hmm? That makes sense..."

This Master Fan truly had some things.

But then he heard Master Fan say:

"However..."

"Hmm?"

"If you just want to ask someone to bring letters, Friend, I do know a yaoguai. He has no other strengths, but he is good at traveling, and can travel a thousand miles a day. If you are willing to give some offerings, Friend, he can also send letters to Huizhou for you."

"You also know this kind of yaoguai, Friend?" Lin Jue was a bit surprised, then said, "Master Fan truly has extensive friendships!"

"Accidental, accidentally acquainted."

"But this kind of yaoguai, making a special trip, and sending letters extremely fast, the offerings required won't be small, right?"

"That's not necessarily true. In this human world, the days of some yaoguai are not easy."

Master Fan shook his head and said:

"If an ordinary person asks it for help, they need to use three livestock for sacrifice. According to the distance, urgency, and whether a reply and waiting are needed, sometimes only small three livestock are needed, and sometimes large three livestock are needed. There can be some flexibility in the small three livestock. Sometimes just chicken, duck, and fish are enough."

"Chicken, duck, and fish, that's not much."

"Yes, in terms of how much money is spent, the money given to a traveling merchant to bring a letter to a place hundreds or thousands of miles away is not necessarily less than buying a chicken, a duck, and a fish, right? Not to mention that after the letter is delivered, one still needs to entertain and comfort them for two meals. It is said that one might also have to kill an old hen."

"What you said is very true, Friend."

"And I have some kindness to it. If I speak, I think it won't refuse, and it won't accept gifts."

"That absolutely won't do."

Lin Jue thought about it and felt it was possible.

If one asked people to bring letters, it wasn't necessarily guaranteed they would be brought. It was possible to encounter dishonest people, possible that they had the heart to send the letter but couldn't find the location, and possible that they encountered bandits on the road, or lost the letter due to rain and other accidents.

Therefore, if people in the world had important matters, they often had to ask several people to bring letters at the same time.

And it was slower than the yaoguai sending it.

But one couldn't rely entirely on this one—

If sending a letter to Shu Village, the uncle and aunt were ordinary people, and letting a yaoguai send a letter would probably frighten them. If sending a letter to Fuqiu Temple, there was a mountain god in Mount Yishan, and this kind of foreign yaoguai probably wouldn't be able to send it in.

It could only be used to send letters to other senior brothers.

"That's fine. I will trouble you, Friend, to help me contact that one first and ask him to send letters for me in a few days." Lin Jue said, "My letter hasn't been written yet, and I don't know if my junior sister has written hers. Today I will go find that pair of stone horses first, then go find my junior sister, ask her to come to the city for the New Year, and by the way, write the letter."

"Good."

"Our Mount Yishan is not a place yaoguai can enter at will. I am afraid I still have to look for a few Huizhou merchants on the way. I will wait until next spring to make an appointment with you, Friend, to go to the East and West Markets for a stroll."

"Good, the Xuan paper in my room is indeed running out." Master Fan said with a smile, "Some time ago, an official gave me a piece of excellent Huizhou ink. I was so happy that I was a bit unrestrained for a while, but I only cared about the ink and didn't care about the paper."

"Then it's settled."

"Never break a promise."

"The weather is good today, so I won't delay. I am just taking my Fuyao out to enjoy the snow." Lin Jue said, and took out a pill bottle, "Small Yuan pills that just came out of the furnace yesterday can help restore magical power and supplement the mind and nourish the body. Refining them was just for practice, and I rarely eat them, so I will take them to treat you, Friend, to express my gratitude."

"I won't be polite then."

Master Fan accepted the medicine and smiled and returned the courtesy to him.

Lin Jue had already prepared his luggage.

Then he saw him take out a piece of paper and call out "Donkey, manifest," and the paper donkey landed and became a gray donkey that was not too big or too small.

The Daoist took the luggage, sat on the donkey's back, and went away.

Master Fan beside him saw this and was a bit dazed, so he had to raise his hand to say goodbye to him.

The white egret also spread its wings and flew away.

A wisp of dark fragrance came from the street.

It was nothing else, the wintersweet next door had bloomed.

An hour later.

A piece of desolate mountain snow, a few broken walls and ruins on the ground, it was impossible to see what the original building was. In the wind and snow, only two stone horses stood quietly here, like two ordinary stone carvings.

Suddenly a white shadow flashed.

The white fox landed on the ground, stepping out a few plum blossoms, and looked back at the person behind it.

A man and a donkey walked through the wind and snow.

"Whoosh..."

Lin Jue breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the two stone carvings: "So you two are here."

Seeming to hear his words, the snow on the backs of the two stone carvings suddenly fell, and the two stone horses also moved, but they didn't run away, but turned their heads to look at Lin Jue.

"I heard people say that you two gained spirituality a long time ago, and it was because of the changes in the capital and the Star Gazing Palace two years ago that you left. I don't know if it's true or false?"

Naturally, he didn't get any response.

"Sigh, I don't care about those. Anyway, you two must not gallop in the city again. If you are willing and trust me, I have a good place where you can settle down."

"..."

"If you are willing, you can step forward two steps. If you are not willing, I will leave. From now on, as long as you don't gallop in the city and don't disturb the world, we will have nothing to do with each other."

"..."

The two stone horses were silent for a moment, then suddenly stepped forward two steps.

"Many thanks." Lin Jue said, turning over and dismounting, "The donkey's pace is too slow, please carry me for a ride."

Taking back the paper donkey, he got on the horse's back again and took out a dharma seal from his bosom.

"Chen Niu, Chen Niu, go to the Fengshan Hongye Guan on Mount Fengshan."

A small ghost appeared quietly, turned its head to look at him, heard him say go to the Fengshan Hongye Guan on Mount Fengshan, turned its head again, distinguished the direction, and pointed:

"Go this way!"

"Follow it!"

The stone horses stepped forward, only hearing a rumble, and easily overtook Chen Niu.

The small ghost looked dazed, looking at the two departing stone horses and the white fox that had stopped to look at it, only then did it react and hurriedly chased after them.

"Go this way!"

The small ghost appeared in the wind and snow ahead, pointed in a direction, and disappeared quickly.

In just a blink of an eye, the two stone horses behind broke through the wind and snow, bumped past the position where it had just stood, and galloped all the way with the Daoist.

There was also a white egret flying leisurely in the sky.

Lin Jue found that these two stone horses ran very fast, even much faster than the two horses he and his junior sister rode to the Western Regions, and about the same as the treasure horse of Lord Luo. Moreover, their load-bearing capacity was very strong. Riding on their backs seemed to have no effect on them at all.

And they were completely unafraid of thorns, bushes, gravel, and pits. They only needed to avoid forests and some terrain, and they were completely unstoppable.

Except for being exceptionally bumpy, there were no shortcomings.

In just half an hour, they arrived at the foot of Mount Fengshan. ===== CHAPTER 272 =====