Chapter 164 Laba Congee (Part 1)

It is already the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the day for eating Laba porridge.

The so-called Laba Festival originated from Buddhism, and is a festival to celebrate the Buddha's enlightenment. Later, Buddhism and Taoism merged, and Taoism also retained this festival. However, after Buddhism and Taoism turned against each other, Taoism no longer used the saying that the Buddha became enlightened, but instead used the saying that the Supreme Being became a barbarian.

Every Laba Festival, the Great Zhenren Mansion would cook Laba porridge and invite relatives and friends to the Great Zhenren Mansion to drink porridge and spend the festival together, which can be regarded as a gathering at the end of the year. However, even if it is relatives and friends, not everyone can be invited. They must be a third-grade Taoist priest or above, or a direct descendant of the Zhang family, or someone specially invited by the Great Zhenren Mansion.

As for the Laba porridge of the Great Zhenren Mansion, it is naturally not an ordinary Laba porridge. Originally, the ingredients of Laba porridge are red dates, lotus seeds, coix seeds, dried longan, red beans, etc., but the Great Zhenren Mansion added many rare medicinal materials, including the very precious red fruit.

Zhuguo, which blooms and bears fruit in a hundred years, is a very yang thing. If ordinary people take it, they will be burned to death by the strong fire contained in it. However, if they can resist the fire in it, they can use the medicinal power of Zhuguo to improve their realm.

Zhuguo is very rare in the world. There are only a few Zhuguo trees with a history of more than a thousand years in Yunjin Mountain and Kunlun Cave Heaven of Zhengyi. Ordinary people have no chance to see it. Even if they get one by chance, they dare not take it rashly. However, the Zhuguo added to Laba porridge has been processed in advance, removing some of the scorching fire, and there are other medicinal materials to neutralize it, which can be said to be a great tonic. Therefore, being able to go to the Great Immortal Mansion to drink Laba porridge is not only a face-saving thing, but also very beneficial to one's own cultivation.

Tan Taiqiong, Zhang Yuyue, and Zhang Yuelu all received invitations. Tan Taiqiong is a third-grade Taoist priest, Zhang Yuyue is a direct descendant of the Zhang family, and Zhang Yuelu is named by the Heavenly Master. So the three of them went to the Great Immortal Mansion to drink Laba porridge together.

Only Zhang Juqi and Qi Xuansu were left at home.

Qi Xuansu didn't care. He was a small seventh-rank Taoist priest, and his surname was not Zhang. It was reasonable that he was not qualified to participate in such a grand event. What made him feel awkward was that he was surrounded by high-rank Taoist priests, and he was a low-rank Taoist priest who was not in the mainstream. Maybe his rank was not as high as that of the Taoist priests responsible for entertaining guests. It was embarrassing to think about it.

However, it was a bit unreasonable that Zhang Juqi did not receive an invitation. Although he was not a third-rank Taoist priest, he was also among the high-rank Taoist priests, and his surname was Zhang. More importantly, his wife and daughter went to the party, and he was the only one left in the family of three, which was also awkward.

But Zhang Juqi looked at ease, as if he had long been accustomed to it. Not only did he not look disappointed or dissatisfied, but he was also interested in going out to play chess and drink with old friends who also missed the Laba porridge. From this point of view, Zhang Juqi had not received an invitation for more than one or two years. Thinking of Zhang Juqi's position as a fourth-rank Taoist priest, Qi Xuansu couldn't help but guess that Uncle Zhang might have some conflicts with his family.

After Zhang Yuelu left, Qi Xuansu thought that there was nothing to do. Seeing that Tan Taiqiong and Zhang Yuyue were not there, he wandered alone on Yunjin Mountain. After all, he had come here so he naturally wanted to see the scenery of Yunjin Mountain. There are of course some places similar to forbidden areas on Yunjin Mountain, but they are clearly marked and guarded by special people, so Qi Xuansu is not afraid of entering the forbidden area by mistake.

Unconsciously, Qi Xuansu came to a cliff.

There was a Taoist temple here, built on the cliff. You can look out at the sea of ​​clouds outside the mountain from the Taoist temple. It is an excellent place for viewing. However, because of Xuansheng, the mountain collapsed here, and the Taoist temple also slid into the abyss below, leaving only half of the extremely abrupt cliff and some broken walls and a bell tower that luckily escaped.

Qi Xuansu climbed the bell tower and looked out at the vast sea of ​​clouds.

In fact, he was not interested in the sea of ​​clouds, or not that interested. What really interested him was the majestic power that created such a scene. In a rage, the mountains and rivers moved, and the land changed shape. The so-called power of the immortals who moved mountains and overturned the sea was just like this.

I don't know when he will have such great power.

With such great power, even the Great Immortal Mansion will bow its head. The Qingping Society will no longer be a mountain on his back. He can move mountains or destroy mountains. It all depends on his mind. Of course, Qi Xuansu is not a person who repays kindness with enmity. It was Qi Niang who saved his life. He always kept it in mind, but he never regarded Qi Niang and the Qingping Society as the same. If that day really came, he would let Qi Niang be the leader of the Qingping Society. That would definitely be a very interesting thing.

Just as Qi Xuansu was daydreaming here, he heard a slight sound of footsteps behind him.

Qi Xuansu turned around and saw a woman appearing at the stairs on the first floor, as if she was going to go upstairs.

From Qi Xuansu's perspective, the woman was very beautiful, with a charming look in the corners of her eyes. When she walked, she looked like a willow in the wind, very beautiful.

However, Qi Xuansu had been in the martial arts world for many years. Under the guidance of Qi Niang, he knew some physiognomy, which was the basic content of "Ziwei Dou Shu" and "Xiantian Shen Suan". Judging from her physiognomy, this woman's Dou Shu had Taiyin in her life palace, Hongluan in her life, peach blossom on her face, and widowhood and Yin Sha. She was not a treacherous and evil person, but she was not a good person either.

In short, this woman did not look like a good person.

Qi Xuansu immediately became alert and slowly retreated.

He has been in the world a lot, and his heart will never be clean. Qi Xuansu is always not afraid to judge others with the greatest malice. Not long ago, he just offended Tantai Qiong and Zhang Yuyue. These two women are not good at all. He has been secretly Be prepared, after much thought, Tantai Qiong would not take his life directly in Yunjin Mountain, but would use some other means.

In fact, no matter whether it is in the Jianghu or the temple, many of the methods are the same, and there is no difference between them. The dirty tricks in the Jianghu can also be used in other places.

So what will it be?

The moment Qi Xuansu saw this woman, three words "immortal jump" popped into his mind. This is a very common method in the world, using beautiful women as bait to set up scams to extort money. However, Qi Xuansu quickly rejected the "immortal dance" and changed it to another five words: "rape the woman's mouth."

The so-called "raping a woman out of her body" is an ancient method. As long as a woman puts her face aside, identifies a man as having an affair with her, and says who it is, without any evidence, she can ruin the man's reputation. Because Neo-Confucianism attaches great importance to women's integrity, after a woman identifies her adulterer, her reputation will also be ruined, and she may even pay a greater price than a man, so few women will make false accusations.

After all, Confucianism was once the orthodoxy of the world, and Taoism was inevitably tainted with Confucian habits. Although there was no explicit rule, it still regarded "raping women out of their families" as an unwritten rule.

However, this involves another problem. After the rise of Xinxue, the social atmosphere has changed greatly. The Taoist sect no longer attaches as much importance to women's reputation as in the past, but it still continues to follow the rule of "raping a woman out of her mouth". Some people have seen that The price became smaller, the profit was more profitable, and the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, so false accusations became common.

If this kind of thing really happens, as long as two people have been in the same room, no matter whether it is true or false, it will be difficult to argue. Even a high-quality Taoist priest will inevitably suffer a bloody head and skin peeling off even if he is not dead. Even if the chest is cut open to prove the traces of the heart, so what, at most the onlookers will disperse, but the reputation has been ruined, and the cut chest cannot be restored to its original state.

Only a truly powerful person can suppress this kind of thing. How could Qi Xuansu, a small seventh-grade Taoist priest, dare to test the "dharma" with his own body.

As the saying goes, it is indispensable to be on guard against others. It is better to believe that they are present than to believe that they are not. That was enough in normal times, but now was the time when Qi Xuansu was most wary, and he believed that Tantai Qiong could use such despicable means.

Qi Xuansu looked around and found that there was only one path up and down the bell tower, which was already occupied by women climbing the tower. There was a cliff on the other side. Looking from top to bottom, the wall of the bell tower and the rock wall of the cliff were almost in a straight line. There is not even a bulge on the edge, and there is an abyss below.

Qi Xuansu suddenly fell into a dilemma.

The woman climbed the stairs leisurely, and every step seemed to be stepping on Qi Xuansu's heart.

The woman's figure climbed higher step by step. When the woman's upper body was above the ground on the second floor of the bell tower, Qi Xuansu had already retreated to the edge of the bell tower and leaned her back on the railing.

The woman finally climbed up to the bell tower and met Qi Xuansu face to face. She raised a smile and just said the word "Master", the expression on her face suddenly froze.

Qi Xuansu fell backwards and fell into the abyss below.

For a moment, the woman froze on the spot.

Of course, Qi Xuansu didn't want to commit suicide. During the fall, he had already pulled out the "Qingyuan" from his waist, then adjusted his body shape and stabbed into the cliff below the bell tower. With his tyrannical physique comparable to that of a martial artist, , the downward trend was stopped.

Then Qi Xuansu's five fingers were like hooks, piercing into the cliff, and while fixing his body, he pulled out "Qingyuan".

This idea is not ingenious, it is unexpected, and then Qi Xuansu uses his arms and ten fingers to climb out along the cliff like a gecko swimming on the wall.

Only then did the woman react and quickly walked to the railing, leaned out and looked down.

Only white mist was visible, and Qi Xuansu's figure was nowhere to be seen.

The woman stamped her foot fiercely: "Who is he? Am I so scary?"

As a result, the woman didn't know what to do, and all the means of advance preparation were useless.

Not long after, the footsteps climbing up the stairs were heard again.

After a while, three more people went upstairs. The leader was Zhang Yuyue, but she did not go to Dazhenren Mansion to drink Laba porridge. After all, she was the daughter of the Zhang family. She really didn't care much about Laba porridge, which was considered precious by others.

The other two, Shenhua, were restrained and obviously not mediocre. They were helpers that Zhang Yuyue had temporarily hired from the Dazhen Mansion, and they were guaranteed to capture Qi Xuansu.

Zhang Yuyue looked around and saw no sign of Qi Xuansu. She frowned and asked, "Where are the people?"

The woman pursed her lips in the direction of the railing and said, "I jumped down without even meeting each other. It was really eye-opening."

Zhang Yuyue walked quickly to the railing and looked over the railing. All she could see was the mist, and Qi Xuansu had already escaped without a trace.

Zhang Yuyue was filled with hatred and slapped the railing hard: "What a cunning boy! He is indeed not a good person!"