The fire went out, and darkness returned to the mountain.
The mountain breeze blows, and the sound of the wind is so pure.
Song You stood there, still holding the lantern.
He lifted it up, tilted his head towards the lantern and blew another breath. The lantern immediately lit up again, just like before. But just after he took a step, he stopped to think about it and shook his head.
Then he blew out the lantern, put it away, hung it on the horse's back, and rode slowly by the starlight.
The horse knew the way and led him back the way he came.
Unknowingly, the road turned back into a mountain path. When you look back and see the same mountain scenery and lights as at the beginning, it means you have walked out.
Song You did not return to the place where he originally stopped, but found another flat place on the same spot, spread out the felt again, sat down cross-legged, covered his legs with a blanket, and looked at the lights in the distance in trance.
Those evil spirits cannot remain in his heart.
Only the strange things you see on the road and what you see in the market towns have some value worth remembering.
This is undoubtedly a wonderful journey.
If you practice on Yin Yang Mountain, no matter how deep your Taoism is, how can you see such wonderful things?
The most wonderful thing was the encounter with the little ghost.
This encounter was truly pure and simple.
Song You had read many articles about wonderful encounters described by the ancients. He didn't realize how interesting they were at the time, but now that he has met them himself, he realizes that this water-like fate and friendship are really unforgettable. I'm afraid it only took one or two hours.
The conversation was unforgettable even decades later.
"Taoist priest……"
"Um?"
"What are you doing?"
The calico cat crawled over and approached him with a puzzled face.
"not dead."
"what are you doing then?"
"Just in a daze."
"oh."
"Don't you, Sanhua Empress, know what being in a daze is?"
"Empress Sanhua is often in a daze."
"Then I guess your skills must be very deep."
"Why did you set the fire so hard?"
"Um?"
"Why do you set off so much fire?"
The calico cat sat down in front of him, sitting upright, looking up and staring at him, with light twinkling in his eyes.
"Maybe you can too in the future."
"How can I do that?"
"Miss Sanhua is a very studious cat."
"How can I do that?"
"Sanhua Empress needs to know that for a spell to become powerful, it is inseparable from one's own Taoism, attainments in this spell, and even the right time and place, as well as one's own state of mind."
"Can't understand."
"The most important thing among them is one's own conduct." Song Youchao lowered his head and looked at the calico cat, his voice soft, "Sanhua Empress is very good at collecting firewood to light the fire, isn't she?"
"Yes!"
"This is like gathering firewood to light a fire. The deeper your spiritual practice, the more firewood you can put into the fire, and the firewood you put will burn better. If your spiritual practice is shallow, there will not be enough firewood, and it will not be good firewood.
If you want a big fire, you need a lot of firewood, and it must be good firewood. If you want more firewood, you must practice spiritual methods and improve your Taoism."
"Well!"
"The other thing is your attainment in this magic, just like how you lay out the firewood and how you light the fire." Song Youyou said, "With the same amount of firewood, the same goes for firewood. Some burn quickly, some burn slowly, and some burn slowly."
Some fires are big, some are small, some can be burned cleanly, and some seem to be burned out, but when you look away, you will find that there is actually a lot of unburned food left inside. If you want to burn well, you must practice hard.
Spell."
"Well!"
"Needless to say, the time and place are favorable. If you light a fire outside the house on a rainy day, it will definitely not burn well. Empress Sanhua is extremely intelligent and she must know that."
"knew!"
"Then there is the state of mind and belief. The state of mind is the most mysterious, the most difficult to cultivate, and sometimes the easiest. Everyone is different, so it's hard to say. On the contrary, belief is very simple." Song You said, "Although the Five Elements Magic is not like
The art of escape from the earth is so greatly affected by belief, but it also has an impact. If two people are of the same Taoism and have similar attainments in this art, and they compete at the same time and place, if one party is confident and the other is guilty, they will definitely lose.
The winner is determined."
"no yet?"
"If we only talk about 'skills', that's it. But if you want to reach the advanced level, you have to have your own experience of different 'Tao'." Song You said with a smile, "Then it's even harder to say, you have to concentrate on understanding the Tao.
Sanhua Empress does not need to worry about it for the time being, just let nature take its course."
"Well……"
The calico cat pondered for a moment, then continued to stare up at him: "So what can we do?"
"Practice diligently and practice more."
"Sanhua Empress has been doing this!"
"Sanhua Empress has perseverance and perseverance, and I am ashamed of herself." Song You said with shame.
"How long will it take?"
"Hard to say."
"How long will it take?"
"Everything in the world is unpredictable, and it's too complicated to talk about."
"Is ten years okay?"
"May be."
"Then what if I practice for so long and practice so much more every day?"
"That might take twenty years."
"Ah? Why?"
"It's complicated to say..."
"Well!"
The calico cat lay down and listened carefully.
The felt beneath him gradually became warm.
It was already midnight at this time, and the stars were in the sky above our heads.
Unknowingly, I saw the lights on the mountainside in the distance suddenly extinguished. When I looked up again, the sky was already filled with a hint of fish-belly white, with yellow in the white, green in the yellow, and blue above the green.
Song You covered himself with a blanket and took a nap.
The calico cat huddled on his waist, feeling the warmest.
…
The morning light came from the top of the mountain opposite, and the cypress trees nearby blocked him for a while, but not long after, the sun reached the branches, and the light hit his face directly.
"..."
Song You slowly opened his eyes and sat up carefully.
No matter how careful you are, you can't hide the cat's alertness unless she doesn't want to get up.
So before Song You left the bed, a cat's head came out first, turning his head in a daze, squinting, looking left and right, and then stared at Song You.
"Are you leaving?"
The calico cat asked, acknowledging that he was leaving, and got out of the bed, yawned, stretched, and sat down to wait for him.
"Roughly the same."
Song You said and stood up, facing the mountain opposite, stretching and stretching his muscles.
In mid-spring, the mountains are already green.
Although it is not early in the morning, there is still a line of white mist surrounding the mountainside in the distance. It is light and thin, light in color, not as rich and dazzling, but it only looks more refreshing. The green mountains are transparent in this morning.
With a touch of blue, the picture is clear and clean.
As for the foot of the mountain I visited last night...
Where is there any major road? Where is there any market town? Where is there any lights? It is just a stretch of barren mountains, plain jungle, and a narrow path in the middle.
"..."
Song You smiled and said nothing.
Not long after, we set off again.
The tinkling of horse bells echoed above the mountains and amid the mist.
Song You punched his bamboo stick and walked around one mountain after another. Empress Sanhua also transformed into a human form, holding her small bamboo stick and imitating Song You, punching the ground every time she took a step.
I don’t know how far I have walked, but I only know that the sun is gradually passing over my head, and the shadows are slanting from one side to the other.
As March approaches, the sun becomes even more scorching.
Sanhua Empress suddenly trotted past Song You from behind, holding the bamboo stick high in her little hand. She deviated from the mountain road before running far, rushed up the dirt slope beside the road, and looked forward.
Then he turned back and shouted to Song You:
"There's water ahead!"
"good."
Song You thanked her and asked her to come down.
After passing a bend, I heard the sound of water. A mountain spring flowed down from the mountain on the right, forming a small waterfall, and a stream flowed below. There was also a flat land next to it. The grass grew shallow, and some predecessors used stones here.
Several small stoves were set up. I don’t know how many years they have been there, and I don’t know how many people have used them.
We stopped here to have lunch.
Even if it is just a temporary stop, you should take off the horse's quilt, pat it immediately, say thank you for your hard work, and then let it go to eat grass.
Song You calculated that there was still a pound of ham slices he bought last night, and the mushrooms he bought were well wrapped in banana leaves. Even the wild fruits in the mountains were not crushed. He happened to rest here and stew a pot of ham mushroom soup.
It will be more delicious than the dry mushroom soup last night.
Once you make a decision, start cleaning up.
Having been out for a long time, picnicking in the wilderness has become a habit. I saw that the Taoist moved briskly and without any delay, and the girl was also actively collecting firewood and lighting the fire.
Soon there was smoke from the mountains again.
At this time, the Taoist had nothing to do, so he lay down half under the shade of a nearby tree, eating wild fruits and looking at the girl: "If Sanhua Empress wants to play, just let me light the fire."
"I'll burn it!"
"Then just keep the fire low. With Sanhua Empress's ability, she will definitely not make a mistake."
"Will not!"
"Sanhua Empress also knows that it is poisonous if it is not cooked well, right?"
"Cats don't eat fungi!"
"Where's the calico cat?"
"The calico cat won't eat it either!"
"But you can't eat ham or soup either."
“I won’t steal food!”
"good……"
The Taoist narrowed his eyes, concentrating on enjoying the leisurely moment, and carefully comprehending the world at this moment.
The sunny spring is really comfortable, neither cold nor hot. The spring breeze blows through, carrying the fragrance of green grass and wild flowers. This mountain is quiet and quiet. Apart from the sound of the wind, there is only the sound of horses grazing and the sound of bells. There is inevitably a sense of comfort in it.
It feels like I have the spring glory of this place all to myself. Although my stomach is empty, there is a kitten helping to light the fire and make the soup. I only need to wait, and I will soon be able to taste the delicious mushroom soup. This half-moment is cheated.
Leisure, somehow, seems to be more fascinating than an ordinary half day.
Gradually, the fragrance is getting richer.
The little girl was burning, suddenly raised her head, stretched her neck, and looked into the distance.
"somebody is coming!"
"..."
Song You opened his eyes slightly and followed her gaze.
It's just that the road is winding, and it's blocked behind a mountain not far away, so you can't see anything at all.
After a while, the sound of bells was faintly heard, tinkling, and there seemed to be a lot of them. After a while, the sound of bells gradually became clearer, and a group of merchants appeared at the end of the mountain road.
Four or five dark-skinned adults and two teenagers were walking towards here, leading horses and mules, carrying goods.
Song You sat up a little.
There is an open space here and a mountain spring. It was originally a resting place for merchants coming and going. When this group of people saw Song Youzhi, although they were a little surprised and looked at him cautiously for several times, they also came to get water to drink, and then they sat together.
, take out the dry food and share it.
Song You's mushroom soup was almost ready. He climbed up from under the tree, filled a bowl with it, and gave Sanhua Empress more meat. He mainly ate mushrooms and soup, and steamed buns as his staple food.
The merchants kept looking at Song You.
Song You also glanced at them from time to time.
Finally the two sides looked at each other.
A dark-skinned merchant smiled and nodded at Song You, and Song You quickly smiled and returned the salute.
So the other party handed him over and asked:
"Where are you coming from, sir? Where are you going?"
"I'm coming from Xiangle County and going to Nanhua County in Pingzhou." Song You replied, "Where are you from?"
"We are coming from Nanhua County and going to Xiangle County."
"That's a coincidence."
"This road is mainly from Nanhua to Xiangle, and from Pingzhou to Xuzhou. There are very few people walking on this road, and even fewer people coming up or going down from the middle." The merchant smiled and said, "Let's go.
Most of the people on this road are us businessmen traveling between Pingzhou and Xuzhou."
"I see."
"Sir, have you walked this way?"
"It's my first time." Song You replied, "I'm from Yizhou. I traveled to Xuzhou and want to go to Pingzhou."
"First time leaving?"
"yes."
"..."
The merchant seemed surprised. He looked Song You up and down again, and then looked at the little girl next to him who was holding a bowl and was not listening to anything outside the window. She only focused on eating the meat in the bowl. She gradually frowned and turned her head again.
I looked at my companions next to me, not knowing what I was communicating.
The mountain area was quiet for a while. Only the two teenagers were confused, but they also felt that something was wrong in the atmosphere.