Chapter 335: The three words

Outside the capital, a team of merchants came from Huizhou.

There was an old man in the team, and the rest were middle-aged men and teenagers in equal numbers.

Don't look at the teenagers' young age; they were already at the age to be in charge. They had come out to trade with their elders for the first time, and after being exposed to the wind and sun all the way, their tender cheeks had also added a lot of weathering.

The inheritance and replacement of the new and the old were right here.

However, teenagers were teenagers after all. Their temperaments were still lively. It was their first trip, and they were still curious about this vast world, especially when they reached the capital; they had to look twice at everything on the roadside, and they were most interested in the strange demon and ghost stories along the way.

There was a middle-aged man with the best temperament. Being pestered by them, he told stories of strange things he had heard along the way and even things he had encountered personally.

Sometimes other middle-aged men heard it and told a segment too.

Nothing more than fox demons, ghosts, and gods.

The teenagers gathered together, listening with great interest.

Meeting someone selling pine nuts on the road, the usually frugal merchants thought of the younger generation and rarely bought a handful, eating and chatting, and the usually dull merchant journey seemed to have a lot more vitality because of this.

Gradually it was getting dark.

"The sun is setting, don't talk anymore. Demons and ghosts come out at this time. Otherwise, if they hear it, they will come out and make trouble." The middle-aged man stopped telling stories about immortals, demons, and ghosts.

"Ah?"

"Ah what? We've been talking all afternoon, my mouth is dry. Let's walk faster. Ahead is the capital. It looks like we can reach the capital before the city gates close today. Let me tell you, I heard that these few days are His Majesty's birthday, and the capital is very lively. I don't know if we can catch up."

The teenagers were excited again when they heard this.

At this time, they walked into a forest. Although it was a main road, there was no one in front or behind, and on both sides of the forest were mounds of graves, and green grass had long since grown over them.

A teenager carrying a pack suddenly felt something wrong.

It was as if someone had touched him on his back.

But there were only a few changes of clothes in the pack on his back, and then there was the bag of pine nuts he bought on the road, as well as letters he brought for others.

The teenager walked a few steps, the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He turned around and reached into the basket to touch it.

"Hmm?"

The pine nuts he just bought had disappeared.

The teenager suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?"

The person beside him asked him.

"I, I just felt someone touch my back. I felt something was wrong, and the basket was lighter. I touched it, and the pine nuts were all gone." The teenager was a little scared.

The other teenagers had also just listened to demon and ghost stories all the way, and when they heard this, they all felt a sense of fear, and were afraid that he was talking nonsense to scare them.

But when they looked over, the pine nuts were indeed gone.

"Did you not pack them well and they leaked?" A middle-aged man walked over and asked.

"The basket didn't leak! And the pine nuts were wrapped together with leaves, how could they leak?" The teenager said fearfully.

"..."

Everyone looked back, only to see the sky was dim, and the forest behind was gloomy, as if there were human shadows shaking.

"What is it!?"

The old man in the team shouted sternly.

There was no movement from that side.

A middle-aged man walked over quickly, bent down to search and check the basket, and found that the clothes were not missing, and the letter was also intact in it, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

"This ghostly world, demons and ghosts are getting more and more numerous. This is still close to the capital."

The old man shook his head and sighed.

After all, he was old and experienced, and his courage was great. When most of the teenagers were too scared to speak, he thought about it and actually said to the back of the forest:

"I see you stole the pine nuts. I guess you like pine nuts, or you are greedy, or no one offers them to you. I don't care how we provoked you, or how you came to provoke us. These pine nuts are not worth much money. You take them if you take them, don't pester us anymore."

After the old man finished speaking, he was a little worried, fearing that this thing would pester his own child, so he added another sentence:

"You have to know, this is the capital! We came from Huizhou, and this time we were specially entrusted by Master Lin of the capital to bring letters back, and we also brought letters from his relatives' home. If we mention it when we see Master Lin, you will have a hard time."

It seemed that the thing in the forest was not afraid of these, or didn't know who Master Lin was, and still there was no movement.

"Leave here quickly!"

The old man quickened his pace and walked forward.

The bells of the mules behind him rang non-stop.

Unexpectedly, when they walked out of the forest, they found a pile of pine nuts placed in the middle of the road, padded with dry leaves, neatly piled into the shape of a cone. The thing that stole the pine nuts actually returned them.

The teenagers in the team all widened their eyes.

They had only heard from their uncles that there was a Master Fan Tian in the capital, with vast supernatural powers and high magical power. Most of the demons and ghosts in the capital were afraid of him. When encountering demons and ghosts, as long as they mentioned Master Fan Tian's name, those demons and ghosts would retreat on their own. They also heard their uncles say that they brought letters for many people, among whom was a Master Lin, but they didn't know that Master Lin's name also had such an effect.

Not to mention them, the middle-aged men and the old man in the team were also surprised.

"Amitabha, thanks to the Daoist master for eliminating the Wolf General in Jinping County and seriously injuring the Baodeng General, we were able to repel the Leopard King and force him back to his lair." Master Yun Chan bowed to Lin Jue, "The poor monk and Master Nan had long wanted to visit the Daoist friend, but the first two times the Daoist friend was in seclusion in the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion of the Ju Xian Fu, so we didn't dare to disturb you, and we didn't know when the Daoist friend came out of seclusion."

"I have long admired your name." Master Nan clasped his fists at Lin Jue, "Master Lin is indeed highly skilled in magical arts."

"Long admired, long admired."

The day after Lin Jue returned from the imperial palace, Master Yun Chan and Master Nan came to visit.

After eliminating the Qingmiao God in Langfeng County, this Master Yun Chan had brought a guardian with him and finally found the Daoist temple of the Second Shixiong, and the two sides got to know each other.

Reading the original text!

Master Yun Chan had long guessed that the Qingmiao God was eliminated by them and had nothing to do with any Qing Emperor, so he had always respected Lin Jue and the others. And Lin Jue also respected him for being willing to bring a guardian to prepare to solve this disaster for the people of Langfeng County, even though he had no certainty and other people in the Ju Xian Fu were unwilling to come. The two sides could be considered to respect each other.

This time he also brought Master Nan.

The legendary Master Nan was a rugged man, but his name was quite elegant, called Nan Songlin.

Lin Jue first heard of him when he heard that he set up an altar in Huizhou to invite gods and eliminate the Corpse Tiger King. He knew it wasn't like that, so at first, he only regarded him as a charlatan. Later, he heard that he had been dealing with the Leopard King in the northwest and heard about his unique way of inviting gods, so he knew that perhaps the Corpse Tiger King incident in Huizhou was just a coincidence.

Regardless, daring to deal with the Leopard King was worth looking up to.

Under the tree in the courtyard, several people sat opposite each other.

Lin Jue had the intention to visit the Leopard King, and it happened to be casual chat, so he asked casually: "How many years have the two of you been in the northwest dealing with the Leopard King?"

"Master Nan went earlier, and the poor monk went later."

Master Yun Chan answered him:

"In the past, the Leopard King had been dormant and practicing. Most demons of this kind are like this, moving according to the situation. It was only a few years ago that it gradually became presumptuous. At first, some Daoists from Yushan were in the northwest defending the local people against the Leopard King's harassment and looting, and then some extraordinary people and masters from the Ju Xian Fu heard about this and went to support. Later, Master Nan came to the capital from Huizhou, heard about this, and immediately went to the northwest. As for the poor monk, after returning from Langfeng County, I went to the northwest after that winter."

"Daoist Yushan..."

Lin Jue muttered to himself. No wonder he rarely saw the traces of these Yushan Daoists in the capital.

Master Nan should have come to the capital after the Corpse Tiger King was wiped out, and it had been several years. And Master Yun Chan had returned from Langfeng County, and two years had passed since then.

"Although the Daoists of Yushan were in the northwest defending against the Leopard King, they were stretched thin, and the power of mortals was also very limited. They could only defend some people against the demon generals and small demons under the Leopard King. Even with the help of some extraordinary people and masters in the Ju Xian Fu, it was still difficult to resist. Fortunately, there were several temples and shrines in the local area, worshiping the True Lord and some divine generals and martial gods. Although the gods in these temples and shrines were unwilling to go to the Leopard King's lair to wipe it out, if the demons came near, they would still descend with divine power to resist. Relying on these temples and shrines, they could barely confront those demons."

Master Yun Chan shook his head, just talking about it felt difficult:

"It wasn't until Master Nan went there that some martial gods responded to his request and helped eliminate demons at critical moments. Added to the Heavenly Fire Divine General under the command of the Yi Li Shen Jun, we could be considered evenly matched with the Leopard King. If Daoist Lin hadn't beheaded the demon general in Jinping County, not only would the outcome be hard to tell, but even if we could win, I don't know how many years it would take."

"Was the Leopard King injured?"

"The Heavenly Fire Divine General personally descended to the mortal world and injured it. However, its skill is very high, and it fled back to its lair. Its lair has been managed by it for many years, and the divine general dare not go rashly."

"So that's how it is!"

Lin Jue thought for a moment, then suddenly asked again: "I once heard that there is a North Leopard Spring in the north? Could it be related to the Leopard King?"

"North Leopard Spring?"

Master Yun Chan showed a look of doubt.

"I have heard of it." Master Nan beside him finally spoke, saying calmly, "That is a spiritual spring in the north. Because of the spiritual spring, that forest has become a blessed land."

"Could it be related to the Leopard King?"

"It can be said it is, and it can be said it isn't. The North Leopard Spring has existed since ancient times and must have existed before the Leopard King. However, it is possible that there were many leopards in the mountains around the North Leopard Spring, and the spiritual spring could promote the cultivation and transformation of such birds and beasts, so the Leopard King came from this. It is also possible that the Leopard King was practicing elsewhere, heard of the North Leopard Spring, and then came to occupy it." Nan, "In short, the Leopard King's lair is now in this North Leopard Spring."

"So that's how it is."

Lin Jue didn't have much fluctuation in his heart.

Since he had already formed a bond with the Baodeng General under the Leopard King, whether there was a North Leopard Spring or not, he was going to find it for a chat.

"Why did Master Lin ask this?"

"To tell you the truth, I can refine pills and forge spiritual weapons. Whether refining pills or refining weapons, I need spiritual springs. I have long heard of the great name of this North Leopard Spring."

This was nothing to hide.

Then he chatted with them again, hearing that the imperial court had selected several brave and good-fighting generals in the army today, and selected several martial arts masters from the palace, and even brought the guardian who had been with Master Yun Chan for many years, and also found several martial artists from the martial world in the capital to compete with the warriors brought by Great Zu. It took a lot of effort, but they actually fought to a draw.

Just as he was seeing them off, another guest came outside the door.

It was a merchant from Huizhou who brought a letter from home for him.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 336 =====