Tuoshan Mountain in Qingchuan has steep terrain and unique scenery. The tallest peak is hundreds of feet high. From a distance, it looks like an ancient pine tree reaching into the sky.

Not far to the east of this ancient green pine tree, there are two hills, facing each other from north to south. The one in the south is smaller and the one in the north is larger. They are shaped like two humps on a camel's back. The surrounding terrain also appears to be more gentle, as if

It's a huge camel, resting under a tree.

This kind of scenery is the origin of the place name Tuoshan.

Haotian Palace is built on the top of the hump in the north. The palace is centered on the "Haotian Temple", with the Jade Emperor Palace, Qibao Pavilion, Juxian Tower, Longqiu Pond, East and West Side Halls, etc.

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There are fifty or sixty large-scale palaces and pavilions, stretching to cover the entire peak, leaning against the wind and capturing the clouds, creating a myriad of scenes.

This palace complex was built during the reign of Emperor Zhezong of the Song Dynasty, less than thirty years ago. The red walls, black tiles, and golden lacquered statues of gods have not been damaged due to age, but have a little more charm accumulated over time, creating a

The peaceful and solemn atmosphere is indeed a rare place for literati and poets to go out and sing.

But now there are many bandit villages in Qingzhou, and no one of the dignitaries, Confucian scholars and scholars dares to go to the mountains to offer incense and play. The entire palace complex is occupied by thin and muscular men, well-dressed and wearing turbans.

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They were entrenched in various halls, chanting mantras, sweeping, and practicing spells every day. Sometimes they would gather in groups to sacrifice some flying shuttle instruments and copper wire knife nets, circling in the sky, and sparks would jingle.

lively.

If someone reaches a further level in magic, they will go to the Haotian Temple and get the guidance of their chief leader before they can take that step in a down-to-earth manner.

Chief Master Fang La was sitting cross-legged on the futon, with his back to the statue of God Haotian and facing the door. A ray of sunlight slanted in and shone on him. The simple white robes all over his body were filled with warm light.

His hair is wrapped in a square scarf, his beard is a bit messy, and his facial features are slightly thin, but his nose is high and his eyes are bright, his eyebrows are like swords, and he is full of momentum. When he instructs his disciples on their practice, his slightly hoarse voice can give people an unparalleled sense of security.

Just outside the door, several disciples followed his instructions and sat on the ground. When they were in meditation, a big man in red robes, as powerful as a tiger, came here walking with wind.

"Shi Bao meets the leader."

Fang La said: "Shi Dharma protector, what's the matter?"

Shi Bao sent a letter, and after Fang La read it, he explained: "This letter appeared in the village last night. We checked it first. There is nothing wrong with it. As for the so-called god

Gu Ziworm, we also found some officers and soldiers to test it, and it is exactly what the letter said."

Before speaking, Shi Bao took out a piece of clothing folded into small pieces.

Fang La had a look of surprise on his face, took it, and twisted it with his fingers: "It is indeed a living creature. Such a poisonous insect has never been heard of before. Liangshan can actually get such a divine object. It is really a blessing from God."

"But Liangshan wants to use the female divine Gu worm as bait to lure all the rebel leaders from all over the world to Qingzhou."

Shi Bao said anxiously, "Qingzhou is our territory, what they are doing is going too far."

Fang La lowered his eyes and pondered, and said calmly: "If he were in Liangshan and invited the leaders of the rebel armies from all over the world to gather together, how many people would dare to go?"

Although everyone wants to kill the dog official and resist the emperor, it is impossible to say that they must be like-minded and have any trust in each other.

Liangshan is not only Guan Luoyang's home base, but its terrain is also very unfavorable to outsiders.

On the other hand, Qingzhou has a dangerous terrain, with high mountains, deep valleys, and lush forests and ravines. The people who come to the meeting must be experts. If you find that something is wrong and want to escape, it will be easy.

Shi Bao thought for a moment and his expression softened slightly: "Also, in the eyes of outsiders, the Qingzhou bandit forces are complex and they are not of the same mind. If those people want to come to the meeting, they will feel more at ease. However, Liangshan specifically wants us

The person behind the scenes went to the meeting, probably aware of the leader’s presence.”

Fang La said: "It's not surprising. Liangshan and Qingzhou are too close after all. They can guess that Qingzhou's power is all under my control, and they dare to put the gathering place here, which is considered heroic. Where is the specific location in Qingzhou?"

"

Shi Bao looked strange: "According to Dai Zong's message, the time is the fifteenth of this month, and the location is Thousand Buddha Cave."

Fang La was startled: "What a Guan Luoyang!"

The so-called Thousand Buddha Caves refers to the hump in the south of Tuo Mountain. Since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, monks have been carving stone statues there. There are countless large and small Buddha statues. It was not until the end of the Tang Dynasty that this kind of thing gradually

not enough.

The people who created the statues have returned to the loess, but the stone statues carved by their hands have achieved the reputation of one of the eight scenic spots in Qingzhou, Tuoling Qianxun and Thousand Buddha Grottoes.

For ordinary people, the mountain roads are rugged and the ladder to heaven surrounds the mountain. It is still a long and difficult journey up and down the mountain between the two peaks of Haotian Palace and Thousand Buddha Grottoes.

But for first-class magicians and warriors, they can fly from the top of the mountain. The distance between Haotian Palace and Thousand Buddhas Cave is only a few miles.

Fang La stood up, walked out of the Haotian Temple, walked all the way out of the palace gate, and looked at the Thousand Buddhas Cave.

"It doesn't seem like they chose this place unintentionally. It seems that they not only saw someone behind Qingzhou Twenty-Eight Village, but also vaguely knew the area where I was."

Shi Bao cupped his hands behind him and said, "Leader, do we want to make some arrangements?"

Fang La asked back: "What are the arrangements?"

"Guan Luoyang has chosen this location and held this conference. It can be seen that his style is extremely domineering. When the time comes, there will definitely be conflicts with the rebel leaders from various places."

Shi Bao analyzed it carefully and said, "In this current situation, the imperial court is still the biggest threat. All parties must have restraint, but they are all martial arts practitioners and law students. If the blood gets to the brain and the murderous intention attacks the heart,

It may not be impossible for each of us to be seriously injured."

"If we carefully arrange some means, we may be able to take advantage of that opportunity to capture them and control them with poison. By then, most of the rebels in the world will obey our orders. If there is another divine Gu..."

When he said this, his nostrils expanded, his breathing became uncontrollably rapid, and his eyes were filled with the light of ambition.

Fang La had no reaction to his words, and looked southward with his hands behind his back, noncommittal.

Shi Bao calmed down and said again: "Master, I also know that things probably won't go as smoothly as I thought. If they are not seriously injured in the fight, then we should hide the means we have laid out and don't use them. In any case,

If these means are deployed, the advantages will always outweigh the disadvantages."

Fang La remained silent, and after a moment, he said: "Shi Bao, do you believe in God?"

Shi Bao didn't understand the reason and hesitated: "The leader asked me personally, and I dare not not tell the truth. Although we have always used things about gods and ghosts to mobilize people's hearts and strengthen our military power, in fact, ordinary ghosts and monsters can't even stop me with a sword.

As for the real gods, there are only a few who can ascend throughout the ages. If they really ascend, how can they care about things in the mortal world?"

Fang La said: "According to your statement, Xuanyuan Huangdi is the founder of the immortal way, and Taigong Jiang Shang is the sage of the military way. Why should they pay attention to sacrifices when they are peerless strong enough to ascend?"

Shi Bao said without thinking: "It's probably a way to control all the people."

Fang La added: "But they are the gods and demons in the world. Who dared to disobey them in their heyday? Why sacrifice to heaven? Who is worthy of their worship?"

Shi Bao hesitated for a moment when he was asked. Although he couldn't answer the question at the moment, he didn't feel that there were any gods or Buddhas who really responded to the world. Instead, he felt a little bit ridiculous in his heart.

'Our methods of appeasing the people and inciting people's hearts are all pieced together by passages taken by the leader from Taoist and Buddhist scriptures. After so many years, the leader has not deceived himself, right?'

He looked at Fang La, his mentality was a little different at this time, and he suddenly noticed something that he had not thought about before.

There were actually some signs of wear on Fang La's cuffs, and the white robe on his body had threads exposed in several stitched places.

I think back on those days when the leader secretly plotted a rebellion and established himself as king. On the surface, he interacted with the government. He wore silks and satins, BMWs and fragrant cars, rode eagles and dog fights, and had hordes of servants inside. He used incense and bathed in incense. How could there ever be such a simple time?

?

Even if I occasionally go to see the poor people, I just show sympathy and sympathy, just to attract more people to follow when the real uprising occurs.

Master, what's going on?

Shi Bao was a little worried and blurted out: "Master, your "Heart Sutra of Precious Sun and Moon Luck", is it recent?"

"You're worried that I'm going crazy."

Fang La turned around with a smile on his face, "On the contrary, I have been enlightened many times in the past few years, far better than before. Your practice is often guided by me, can't you notice it?"

Shi Bao thought about it and realized that it was indeed the case. Not only did the leader's spiritual realm become more advanced, but his ability to manage his power was also more mysterious than before.

That year, they fled all the way from Qingxi in Muzhou to Qingzhou and kept their names anonymous. They thought that this would be the end of their lives. Unexpectedly, in just a few years, Fang La actually ran the 28th Village again.

It is even more reliable when traveling to Muzhou.

"You don't have to be afraid. I do believe in God now, but I don't believe in thousands of Buddhas and immortals. I just thought deeply and slowly understood some truths after I survived the catastrophe."

Fang La said, "When I was in Muzhou, the Dao Lord and Emperor were ignorant, and the people of the world had been suffering from him for a long time. I saw that the people's support could be used, and I followed the trend. I comforted those who were miserable, and encouraged them if they were passionate. Sure enough,

It has built up a lot of power in a short period of time.”

"But why did I lose later?"

Shi Bao was speechless. He had been unable to answer several times today.

How covert they were in Muzhou back then. At that time, rebels were everywhere in Muzhou. I really can't figure out how the emperor commanded so accurately that a group of Taoist officials raided the Fang family.

This issue that had been bothering him for many years was brought up again, and Shi Bao couldn't help but say, "Yes, why exactly?"

Fang La continued: "In that defeat, the good brothers I had worked so hard to win over suffered heavy casualties. The divine arrow Pang Wanchun, the Baoguang monk Deng Yuanjue, the warlock Zheng Mojun, Brother Sixingfang, and Brother Baodao Yibao all died in the encirclement and suppression.

, my nephew Fang Jie was brave enough to break through the encirclement several times, but was seriously injured and killed by Chen Xizhen."

"I was severely injured by Wang Laozhi's Fire Dragon Stove Cauldron. My son Fang Tianding finally pretended to be me and lured away the pursuers, but was turned into ashes by them."

As word after word passed into his ears, Shi Bao couldn't help but recall the blood-smeared scenes. By the time Fang La fled to Qingzhou, only Shi Bao, Wang Yin and Li Tianrun were left with him.

He was seriously injured.

"I thought about it for two years before I came up with a key point. When we were discussing the uprising, I once proposed a strategy. After the rebel flag was raised, we could send people to set fire to the houses of the people in various places, forcing them to follow us.

Let’s move together.”

"The six nearby states are already rich in timber. When the time comes, millions of people will have to become our wings and follow our actions."

When Fang La said this, he closed his eyes and sighed, "On the night I proposed this poisonous plan, the Taoist official broke down the door, and the family property accumulated by our family for generations was burned to the ground first."
To be continued...