Chapter 212

After leaving the tomb chamber, the crowd绕行ed to the other side of the valley, ascending the mountain from the slope.

They walked for a long time, almost reaching the mountaintop, before seeing an area charred black by thunder fire.

That crack was right in the center of this charred area.

Tan Wenbin: “This thing drilled its way out, and was just struck by lightning?”

Lin Shuyou: “Then hasn’t it already灰飞烟灭ed?”

Tan Wenbin: “What you’re saying is like a villain in a wuxia movie, who, after thinking the protagonist is definitely dead, lets out a ‘Jie Jie Jie’ laugh.”

Li Zhuoyuan squatted down and began examining the charred traces on the ground.

This place had indeed been struck by lightning, just like the old locust tree at the tomb entrance, but the strike here was more severe.

The young man took out his small compass; the needle was normal. He frowned slightly, realizing his compass was too high-quality, but sometimes being affected was also part of a compass’s function.

“Take out your compasses and look.”

The crowd纷纷 took out their compasses from their backpacks.

Tan Wenbin looked at his own and then at others’, saying, “Our compass needles all look like they have Parkinson’s.”

“This area should contain some kind of mineral deposit, naturally prone to attracting lightning strikes, coupled with deliberate guidance…” Li Zhuoyuan rubbed the ash from his fingertip and smelled it in front of his nose. The young man was a formation expert and could smell the scent of formation materials turning into焦灰 after being overloaded. “This was a deliberately manufactured lightning strike.”

Yin Meng: “He led the lightning to strike himself?”

Li Zhuoyuan patted his hands and said, “He probably wanted to use this method to temporarily隔绝 his own karma and shield himself from heaven’s gaze.”

From planning to execution to the final cover-up, everything was done flawlessly. This was truly the work of a professional.

Runsheng rarely spoke and asked, “Xiao Yuan, does the sentence he left mean he’ll come find you later?”

A monster that drilled out from the thick mountain body and survived a lightning strike still not dying – this kind of physique made Runsheng feel tremendous pressure. He knew that facing such an opponent, even if all his气门 were open, he根本 couldn’t stop it.

Li Zhuoyuan: “I wore his face, borrowed his identity; karma and entanglement have already formed between us. He probably also understands that even if I don’t seek him out, the river water will push me towards him. He should make the same choice as me: since he can’t avoid it, he will take the initiative to attack.”

With Wei Zhengdao’s precedent and Zhao Yi’s example of walking the river at normal difficulty, the young man had also摸透了 the river water’s attitude towards him:

If you don’t die, then push towards death.

“However, although he has now transformed, his condition is definitely not good, and the secret realm deep within Yulong Snow Mountain is already useless. If he wants to establish a true ground god country, he has to find a new suitable dojo.

We are walking the river, and those who walk the river are equivalent to heaven’s eyes. Before he makes full preparations and gains sufficient底气, if he comes to find us, he’s just exposing himself to heaven.”

Li Zhuoyuan stood up and swept his gaze across the pleasant scenery in the valley below:

“In short, before he finds us, we also have enough time to grow. There’s no need to fear.”

“Um.” Runsheng replied. He believed Xiao Yuan. If Xiao Yuan said it could be done, it definitely could.

Lin Shuyou also had unconditional faith in Xiao Yuan ge, but he still glanced back at the crack, thinking:

Wow empty. If I can have the strength to fight this kind of guy later, then when I return home, it won’t just be a single page in the genealogy, I’ll be able to open a whole genealogy book for myself.

What Lin Shuyou didn’t know was that the dream scene he longed for, the White Crane Child at his old home, had already taken the first step to realize it.

Li Zhuoyuan waved his hand:

“Let’s go home ba.”

…

This trip out took a long time, and Li Zhuoyuan was also thinking of home.

However, there were some变故 during the journey home.

First, Lin Shuyou received a传呼 from the temple back home. He used a public phone outside the airport to call back. His master, Chen Shoumen, inquired about his recent physical condition.

Li Zhuoyuan had just called Zhang Aunt’s small shop in the village to ask her to inform his too ye about his return time. The young man had excellent hearing, and even unintentionally, he heard the content of Lin Shuyou’s conversation on the receiver.

Lin Shuyou thought his master was just purely concerned about him and, while very moved, patted his chest and told his master his body was very good and he was eating嘛嘛香.

After hanging up, Lin Shuyou still不好意思地 scratched his head and said to Li Zhuoyuan, “My master still treats me like a child ne.”

Li Zhuoyuan: “Call back again and ask if anything happened at the temple.”

Lin Shuyou immediately woke up at his words and called back immediately. After the other side picked up, he directly asked:

“Master, did something happen at the temple?”

Actually, both people holding the receiver were also receivers.

Chen Shoumen held the receiver and looked at his master, Lin Fuan, who stood beside him. Lin Fuan nodded to him, indicating that he should speak directly.

Just like that, Chen Shoumen told Lin Shuyou about the recent unusual behavior of the White Crane Child at the temple.

They originally thought that after the Child显圣ed and single-擺一列ed that night, everything would return to normal, but in fact, some things changed and really couldn’t go back.

For example, although seasoned乩童 like Chen Shoumen could now请下 the Child, younger and less experienced乩童 still couldn’t请不下来.

The White Crane Child changed from its past image of being a good old man who would descend everywhere to run errands. For those芝麻绿豆 trivial matters, He根本 just didn’t bother anymore.

He didn’t care who went; anyway, for this kind of mosquito leg meat, He Child looked down on it.

This undoubtedly greatly affected the work of the official general first. After all, truly strong evil spirits and demons were rare. Most of the time,起乩请神 was just to resolve some small matters encountered by ordinary people. It was precisely these small matters that formed the basic盘 of the believers.

Li Zhuoyuan: “You should go back for a trip ba.”

Lin Shuyou said into the phone, “Master, I’m going home to take a look.”

The person on the other end of the phone should have heard Li Zhuoyuan’s words, so they didn’t refuse, just kept saying, “Good, good, good, thank you, thank you.”

After hanging up, Lin Shuyou said with some hesitation, “Xiao Yuan ge, the Child was indeed比较辛苦 before.”

Lin Shuyou’s filter for阴神 adults from childhood to adulthood had long been broken by Li Zhuoyuan. Because of this, he now almost treated the Child as an equal.

From a brother’s perspective, A You also felt it wasn’t worth it for the Child. Without him, the grassroots work of the official general first simply couldn’t proceed, which was the best proof.

Li Zhuoyuan: “I’m not asking you to go back and劝 the Child to work again.”

“Ah, that is…”

“You go back, set up an altar and perform a sacrifice. First, you yourself will branch off from the temple, and then move the Child into your branch.”

Hearing this, Lin Shuyou’s eyes immediately widened.

Dividing into a small branch meant that he was still nominally under the temple’s leadership, but in reality, he was already independent.

Generally speaking, this was a necessary step before dividing a temple.

From now on, although he would still call his master master, when the various temples held meetings later, he could sit on a separate chair like other temple masters.

“Xiao Yuan ge, I want to continue following you to walk the river. I don’t want to go back and open a temple.”

“Dividing a branch isn’t dividing a temple, it’s just a formality. After you set up your own branch, move the Child into your branch. When we return to Nantong, move the Child into my Nantong dojo. This is what I promised Him.”

Lin Shuyou breathed a long sigh of relief. He had truly thought Xiao Yuan ge didn’t want him anymore.

Now, he finally understood. This move was equivalent to changing the Child’s original副业 to main业, and the main业 to副业.

Although the overall framework didn’t change, the official general first was still the official general first, but the underlying logic had changed. The Child would have a legitimate reason to no longer manage those鸡零狗碎 trivial matters. The other阴神s, under duress, would either collectively become diligent, or they would have to push out a new unlucky one to replace the Child’s previous diligent role.

Like this, the current predicament of the official general first would also be resolved. As long as there was no excuse for them to shirk responsibility, people would naturally come out to do things.

“Xiao Yuan ge, this method is really good!”

“Then just change your ticket and go straight back home ba. The sooner you get it done, the sooner you can come back.”

“Understood!”

Lin Shuyou兴高采烈地 ran to the counter.

As for which unfortunate阴神 adult would replace the Child’s previous ecological niche, Lin Shuyou didn’t care.

This just highlighted the advantage of the Child’s earlier planning. Previously, Lin Shuyou could only请 the Child to descend. Later, the Child deliberately used means to only allow Lin Shuyou to请 Himself.

This directly led to Lin Shuyou being completely unfamiliar with the other阴神 adults.

Beside him, Tan Wenbin pinched out his cigarette butt and asked, “Xiao Yuan ge, or should I go back with A You?”

Li Zhuoyuan: “Um.”

“That’s good, I’ll go change…” Just as he was speaking, Tan Wenbin’s传呼机 also rang. His神情 changed, and he immediately picked up the public phone to dial.

The person who answered the phone was Zheng Fang, who told him that something had happened to Tan Yunlong.

After Tan Yunlong solved the serial theft case, because the thief had stolen from the district chief’s home, he was given a warning. Tan Yunlong根本 didn’t care about this warning and wrote all the details of the赃款 from each home into the investigation report.

This also drew revenge. After work, a group of specially arranged small混混 attacked Tan Yunlong. Tan Yunlong was捅ed twice and was seriously injured, but Tan Yunlong not only fought back and drove away the small混混s, he also captured the leader alive. He only fainted after stopping his own bleeding and waiting for the support of his police team colleagues.

Tan Wenbin said very无语地, “I really suspect he has no brain?”

Tan Wenbin wasn’t scolding his own father; he had long known what kind of person his father was, otherwise he wouldn’t have been下放 to the town police station in the first place.

He was scolding the district chief’s younger brother. As the boss of several nightclubs, when his brother was about to get into trouble, he actually ordered混混s to attack the police officer handling the case. Was his brain filled with shit?

Li Zhuoyuan heard Zheng Fang’s narration on the phone and said, “He has a brain, he just wouldn’t do something like hiding a large amount of gold and foreign currency under his own floor.”

That thief at the time saw the money and became greedy, stealing it all. After the fact, he saw the newspaper and knew whose house he had stolen from, and he was also吓得 senseless, knowing he had stirred up big trouble.

Otherwise, a thief with over two ‘进宫’ experiences wouldn’t have been so慌乱 when Tan Yunlong, in his police uniform, was making a phone call in his small shop.

Tan Wenbin: “My dad’s problem isn’t big. Neither knife捅ed into a vital spot, he just lost too much blood.”

Li Zhuoyuan: “You should go back to Jinling to take a look ba.”

Tan Wenbin: “Um, I’ll try to get back as soon as possible.”

Li Zhuoyuan: “No rush. Spend more time with your mom. Anyway, this wave has just passed, we have plenty of free time.”

Tan Wenbin: “I’m worried about万一…”

Li Zhuoyuan: “Perhaps there would have been万一 before, but not now. The river water isn’t舍得 us dying in万一 now.”

Tan Wenbin changed his ticket.

Just like that, only Li Zhuoyuan, Runsheng, and Yin Meng returned to Nantong.

Seeing the other two go back to see their families, Yin Meng’s mood was inevitably also affected.

Runsheng安慰道: “Don’t worry, your first ancestor also misses you very much.”

These words were truly heartwarming.

They directly shattered Yin Meng’s trace of思乡之情.

Nantong airport had just been built and opened, but the flights were very few, and there were no direct flights, all required a stopover.

However,相较而言, it was much more convenient than having to first land in Shanghai and then transfer back.

After landing, they should have taken a taxi back to Shennan, but at the exit, they saw Li Sanjiang waving his hands.

Li Zhuoyuan hadn’t expected that his too ye would actually come to pick him up.

The airport was in Xingdong Town, which was on the same straight line north as Shennan Town, much closer than going to the city. Therefore, too ye rode his tricycle over.

Fearing the children would be hungry, he had prepared cooked dishes and steamed buns on the tricycle. Although there were temporarily two fewer people, with Runsheng there, there would definitely be no waste.

The airplane meal’s量 could only feed a bird, and furthermore, one couldn’t light incense on the airplane. Runsheng was indeed hungry.

Too ye sat beside them, smoking, smiling and watching the children eat. He said that Shan Daye had originally planned to ride his tricycle over to pick them up together, but his luck with cards last night was too bad and he lost the tricycle.

Hearing this, Yin Meng皱眉ed.

That tricycle was one she had helped him buy last time, convenient for Shan Daye to赶路捞尸.

Runsheng initially didn’t think anything of it. His爷 had even sold the rice from the rice jar before, let alone selling a tricycle. He was already used to it.

However, seeing that Yin Meng was angry, Runsheng also became angry for a moment.

Li Zhuoyuan looked up and said softly to Yin Meng, “Let it pass.”

Li Sanjiang said again that he had specially put the tricycle at the big beard’s house in advance, so that when he rode out, he wouldn’t be afraid of being seen by that girl A Li.

A Li should have wanted to come to the airport with him, but Li Sanjiang didn’t want her to eat sand and be blown by the wind with him.

Finally, Li Sanjiang said to Li Zhuoyuan, “Xiao Yuan Hou ah, your爷 is sick. He went to the hospital for a check-up and they said he has a tumor on his body.”

Li Zhuoyuan put down his chopsticks.

Li Sanjiang continued, “At first, he was seen at the town卫生院. He thought it was some big deal, and your爷 was stubborn and directly said he wouldn’t treat it. He said treating it was a waste of money.

Later, I took a tree branch and抽ed him for a while, and then he went to the city hospital again to take a look. The town卫生院 misdiagnosed. There is a tumor, but the doctor said it’s benign and can be cut off. It’s not a big problem.

He has already had the surgery and is back home now. I went to see him yesterday, and he can already下地了.”

Li Zhuoyuan picked up his chopsticks and continued eating.

Li Sanjiang: “This time your four伯伯s are still the same, pretending to be孝子, but they don’t mention how to contribute money to pay for their亲爹’s medical treatment. It was Pan Zi, Lei Zi, and Hu Zi them several who鬧将了 up. Finally, at least they got the four families to agree to pitch in for the medical expenses.

Fine伢儿们 were raised by their爷奶. When they were small, they still had a conscience. I don’t know what they’ll be like when they grow up.

As for your妈, when they first misdiagnosed, I called her, and someone else answered, saying they would notify her.

As a result, several days passed, and the phone didn’t ring back at the small shop, just a sum of money was sent.

I don’t know if it was for medical treatment or directly for funeral expenses, hehe.”

Saying this, Li Sanjiang finished the cigarette in his hand in one breath and then heavily exhaled from his nostrils:

“I don’t even know if your妈 is孝顺 or not孝顺 anymore.”

In the countryside, being willing to spend money to treat a big illness in an old person was already considered very孝顺. Many times, old people with big illnesses just endured them, and if they didn’t make it, they would prepare for their 后事 in advance.

In terms of money, Li Lan, who was never stingy, was indeed beyond reproach in terms of ‘孝顺’.

After finishing the meal, Li Sanjiang sat on the back of the tricycle and very naturally let Runsheng ride the bike.

Runsheng, who was full, rode the tricycle very fast and was back in Siyuan Village in no time.

Under Li Sanjiang’s吩咐, they didn’t take the usual road into the village, but turned in earlier from the village road on the south side. This was closer to Li Weihan’s home.

At the坝子, Li Sanjiang shouted, “Han Hou, Xiao Yuan Hou is here to see you.”

Li Zhuoyuan walked into the house and saw Li Weihan sitting in the kitchen just picking vegetables, with a water烟袋 tucked under his armpit.

Seeing this, Li Sanjiang went up and took the water烟袋 from him, and顺便 gave Li Weihan a tap on the head.

With his high辈分 and old age, Li Sanjiang could discipline anyone with the surname Li in Siyuan Village until they dared not make a sound.

“Smoke, smoke, you just had surgery and you can’t stand it? Did you forget what the doctor told you? I’m still waiting for you to provide for me and send me off, but you’re good, determined to go before me so I can’t take advantage?”

Li Weihan, being lectured in front of his grandson, lowered his head somewhat helplessly and said, “Sanjiang Uncle, there’s no tobacco in this烟袋, I’m just sucking on it a couple of times to get my fix.”

Li Sanjiang checked and indeed there was no tobacco: “Heh, look at you, so pathetic.”

Li Zhuoyuan walked up to Li Weihan. Li Weihan reached out and hugged Li Zhuoyuan: “My child really changes every time I see him, getting taller and taller, and also better and better looking.”

His daughter Li Lan was much better looking than her four brothers from a young age. If she hadn’t studied well, they would have supported her in her studies. According to countryside customs, matchmakers would have already been coming to their door early on.

Although his son-in-law had only been seen once, he looked like Tang Guoqiang from the movies, fair and handsome like cream on a cake.

This grandson also inherited his parents’ advantages. Not to mention being smart, this appearance, this temperament,啧啧, just looking at him made people happy.

Li Zhuoyuan checked Li Weihan’s current physical condition. He was indeed recovering very well, and his气血 was starting to surge and recover.

He didn’t need any extra药汤 to recuperate; he just needed to work less and eat more meat.

Li Zhuoyuan planned to tell Xiong Shan to send meat here periodically after he returned. It couldn’t be raw; it had to be cooked. Also, he couldn’t send too much at once, otherwise it wouldn’t even reach his grandpa’s stomach. He would take it to give to his孙子孙女们 to eat, or send it to his伯伯s.

Li Zhuoyuan realized he was encountering the ‘Shan Daye problem’.

Even his own grandpa wasn’t as good as Shan Daye. Shan Daye was only struggling when he had no money; when he had money, Shan Daye was also willing to eat大鱼大肉 and treat himself well.

Li Sanjiang opened his mouth and asked, “Did you run into Jie Hou on the way here? He said you asked him if the kiln factory is hiring. What’s up, you’re just getting better, and you’re already thinking of going to the kiln factory to move bricks?”

Li Weihan rubbed his fingers and said, “This time, the surgery in the city cost a lot. I owe money to my four sons and I have to repay it.”

Li Sanjiang took a deep breath and then laughed out loud. He was truly choked with laughter.

He knew clearly that Li Weihan had money in his hands. Li Lan’s previous living expenses they had saved, including the tuition and living expenses for Xiao Yuan Hou which he had refused, they had also saved.

But this couple was just stubborn and determined to save the money their daughter gave them, either to return it to their daughter or to give it to this ‘外孙’. They didn’t use their daughter’s money even when they were sick.

Those four white-eyed wolves and their媳妇 also knew that the old couple had the money their sister gave them, so they were even more unwilling to contribute money for their亲爹’s medical treatment.

Li Sanjiang stretched out a finger and forcefully poked Li Weihan’s脑门, making Li Weihan almost fall off the stool.

“Han Hou ah, you’re just a loser, a次八 hey, a self-次. The children have all been taught by you to be losers one by one.”

Li Weihan just smiled awkwardly, not daring to retort.

Li Sanjiang拉着 Li Zhuoyuan walked out.

Li Weihan stood up and said, “Your he奶 is about to come back. Stay for dinner tonight ba.”

Li Sanjiang cursed again without turning his head: “Eat what, I and the children are both choked full by you!”

Sitting on the tricycle on the way back, Li Sanjiang was still not calmed down. He often coughed while smoking and said to Li Zhuoyuan:

“Xiao Yuan Hou, you say, isn’t your grandpa a loser?”

Li Zhuoyuan: “So too ye, that’s why you were willing to let my grandpa provide for you before ah.”

Li Sanjiang: “…”

After a long time, Li Sanjiang finally said in a muffled voice:

“Alas, what’s the use of having so many children? It just makes it easier to pass the buck when it comes to elderly care.

He deserves it. He didn’t educate them well himself. All day long he talked about how great and willing to give he was, moving himself. The more he raised children like this, the less they understand gratitude.”

“Um.”

Li Zhuoyuan agreed with this. Grandpa and grandma were very good people, but they indeed didn’t know how to educate children, otherwise they wouldn’t have let Li Lan become the ‘most孝顺’ one of the five children.

In terms of educating children, Li Zhuoyuan felt too ye was more outstanding, because too ye could even educate himself well.

Li Sanjiang: “I plan to let your爷 and 奶 help Shan Hou plant peach trees and harvest fruit. I’ll provide food and money.”

Li Zhuoyuan: “Thank you, too ye.”

Previously, Li Weihan and Cui Guiying helped at Li Sanjiang’s home. Later, because Xiong Shan and his wife came, and Qin Uncle and them also came back, there were enough people and not enough work to go around, so they just didn’t want to take advantage and didn’t come.

Li Sanjiang extinguished his cigarette butt and saw that they were almost home. He quickly cursed one last time:

“These kinds of people are the most annoying. They are stubborn and only make the people who truly care about them uncomfortable.”

Li Zhuoyuan looked up and saw A Li standing on the balcony of the two-story house.

A Li was wearing a goose-yellow襦裙 today, with a wooden hairpin in her hair. Paired with the afternoon sun, she was both elegant and pure.

Liu Yumei sat in the坝子 drinking tea. Seeing Li Zhuoyuan return, she smiled and said, “Yo, you’ve been out for quite a long time this time.”

Immediately, Liu Yumei又瞅了瞅 and didn’t see her story留声机. She asked:

“Zhuangzhuang ne?”

“Something happened at Zhuangzhuang’s home. He went back to Jinling first.”

“Oh, and the other one.”

“Also something happened at home.”

“Heh.” Liu Yumei, “That should all be good things.”

Li Zhuoyuan didn’t retort.

Because since it was confirmed that Tan Yunlong was not in life-threatening danger, the next step would be great news.

“Grandma, I’m going upstairs.”

Liu Yumei feigned disappointment: “In the end, you can’t even spare the time to make a pot of tea for me, Grandma.”

Yin Meng: “I’ll come.”

Liu Yumei immediately covered her tea cup with one hand: “Polite.”

Li Zhuoyuan went up to the second floor. At this time, the sun was pleasant, the wind was very pleasant, and the people were even more pleasant.

After a brief chat, Li Zhuoyuan went to take a bath. After finishing his bath, he and A Li sat side by side on rattan chairs, and he recounted his experiences from this trip.

Every time he recounted, it was actually Li Zhuoyuan doing a self-summary again, making it convenient to record it in his own ‘Zhuiyuan Secret Volume’.

After finishing the narration, A Li got up and went back to her room. She picked up a brush and stood in front of the drawing table. First, she sketched a draft, drawing the auspicious clouds in the sky, the white magma below, and the tall tower further down with a few simple strokes. At the bottom edge of the paper, she描摹 out the images of several people.

The concept for this wave’s画本 was very clear: to recreate the scene of ascending to immortality and destroying the world from the perspective of Li Zhuoyuan and the others at that time.

A Li turned her head and looked at the young man.

The young man nodded. This构图 was indeed good.

Liu Yi: “Time for evening meal la!”

After eating the evening meal, Runsheng and Yin Meng went back to Xiting. Since Shan Daye had even sold his tricycle, he should be close to not having enough food to eat.

When they arrived at Shan Daye’s home, they saw Shan Daye sitting in the courtyard drinking red薯 porridge, with a lot of薯 and a little rice.

Seeing Runsheng come, a smile immediately appeared on Shan Daye’s face. Then, seeing Yin Meng following behind Runsheng, Shan Daye again缩了缩脖子.

He understood Runsheng’s temperament, but that girl surnamed Yin had a bad temper. The few times she had brought him rice, noodles, grains, and oil before, she had been quite sarcastic with him.

He was this old, and he also had dignity.

But tonight, Yin Meng wasn’t planning on giving him face.

In Xiao Yuan ge’s team, she had to be cautious and didn’t dare to throw a tantrum, but in essence, she was a fiery Sichuan girl who had opened a store.

This time, Shan Daye selling the tricycle truly angered her. She directly started cursing at the old柏树 in the courtyard.

Although she wasn’t directly cursing him, the old tree bark on Shan Daye’s face really couldn’t take it.

He was so embarrassed his face turned red, and he could only lower his head.

During this time, Shan Daye would occasionally cast a求救 gaze towards Runsheng, who just sat there smoking a ‘cigar’ and smiling foolishly.

Finally, Shan Daye couldn’t bear it anymore and could only stretch out his fists in赌气 and say:

“Then you might as well chop off my two hands. Like this, I won’t be able to gamble anymore. Are you satisfied!”

Yin Meng pointed at the old柏树 and cursed, “Just chopping off your hands isn’t enough. Without hands, you can still use your feet to play cards. You have to chop off your feet too, and then just raise them in a缸. Only then will you be 安生!”

Shan Daye: “…”

After cursing to her heart’s content, Yin Meng went to the town to buy things.

Shan Daye grabbed Runsheng’s hand and asked, “Runsheng Hou, you tell me, isn’t this girl perhaps crawled out from地府里头? How can she be so scary?”

Runsheng grinned: “Yes,爷.”

After speaking, Runsheng went to wash the rice jar.

When Yin Meng came back, Shan Daye found that the rice, noodles, grains, and oil she bought this time were much less than before.

He felt too不好意思 to ask.

But when he saw Yin Meng take out a stack of money, a smile appeared on Shan Daye’s face again.

Yin Meng: “From now on, every month, in addition to your food money, we will also be responsible for your gambling losses.”

Hearing this, Shan Daye’s eyes lit up. Having an allowance for gambling losses was simply a divine life.

Yin Meng had heard from Xiao Yuan ge that Shan Daye losing money was a form of ‘解压方式’ and a kind of命理 balance.

An ordinary死倒贴着 whose family, that family would be鸡犬不宁 and would not be long before they were 家破人亡. Shan Daye had always kept Runsheng by his side.

So, he had to constantly lose money.

But,

Reasonable gambling is养生, indulging in gambling leads to ruin.

Any matter, it is always過猶不及. No matter how much Shan Daye lost before, he never borrowed money or sold his livelihood. Now, just as Xiao Yuan ge commented, it had ‘passed’.

Since it had passed, new rules had to be set.

Yin Meng: “Every amount of money will be calculated for you. From now on, it will be kept with Li Daye. If you don’t have money to gamble, go find Li Daye for it. If you don’t have money to eat, also go find Li Daye for it. I will tell Li Daye to give it to you in small amounts multiple times.”

As soon as Shan Daye heard this, he exploded: “What, I have to beg from that Li Sanjiang? That’s worse than starving me to death!”

Yin Meng: “Then just starve to death ba.”

Shan Daye抿着嘴, and looked towards Runsheng again.

Runsheng said nothing, just quietly cleaned up.

Shan Daye sat on the ground and forcefully甩手: “I don’t want to live, I don’t want to live, quickly let me run into a big死倒 to take me away!”

Runsheng put the rag into the water bucket to wash, and said:

“爺, it’s harder for you to run into a big死倒 in Nantong now than it is for you to win money at the card table.”

…

Night fell.

Li Zhuoyuan sat at his desk, sorting out the things Zhen Shaon had left in the coffin.

A Li walked in, carrying a wooden box. She opened it, and inside were various符纸 that had been painted in advance.

符纸 were very important consumables and had to be replenished immediately after each wave ended.

Li Zhuoyuan stood up and walked over. He took out two pieces of符纸 from the box and put them in his palm. Immediately, blood mist appeared in his palm, and his fingertips dotted and drew on the符纸:

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

The two pieces of符纸 immediately flew out, one to the left and one to the right, and were pasted on the left and right door frames.

Li Zhuoyuan: “How?”

A Li nodded.

It was only in front of the girl that Li Zhuoyuan would involuntarily reveal his innocent side.

Next, Li Zhuoyuan continued to sort Zhen Shaon’s遺卷. A Li went out for a while, then quickly came back and stood in front of the drawing table to start painting.

The two were in the same room, each quietly engrossed in their own tasks, feeling each other’s presence.

After sorting and copying Zhen Shaon’s things, Li Zhuoyuan wasn’t in a hurry to study them. Instead, he took out the ‘Zhuiyuan Secret Volume’ and began recording.

After finishing writing about this wave’s experiences, Li Zhuoyuan rubbed his slightly sore wrist and continued writing the ‘Walk River Behavior Rules’.

In the early stages, the river water was just testing and had an attitude of killing him if possible. Now, after he had stepped through wave after wave, the river water began to take his value seriously.

This was also the reason Li Zhuoyuan told Tan Wenbin that there was ‘currently no万一’. The river water hoped that he, who was gradually growing up, would do that以毒攻毒 matter, so it was not very likely to design any ‘sudden attacks’, because this was very inefficient.

Therefore, since walking the river had now entered a new historical phase, they had to adjust their response strategies in advance and prepare for the new challenges of the new phase.

After writing these things, Li Zhuoyuan put down his pen and looked at the clock. Generally, at this time, A Li would go back to her room to rest.

He actually still had deductions about the team’s formation, which was the ‘red line’, but it was too late tonight, and he didn’t dare to try it easily.

A Li put down her paintbrush and walked out of the room.

Li Zhuoyuan stretched and took out the 无字书 from his hiking backpack. Then he went under the bed and took out the ‘Evil Book’ which had been wrapped in a ball with sealing符.

Both were books, one pure white and flawless, the other radiating邪气. They should have a common language.

Just as Li Zhuoyuan was about to casually set up a隔离 array, A Li came back again.

The girl was still holding a large bowl.

Li Zhuoyuan looked into the bowl and was stunned.

Because the bowl contained red糖卧鸡蛋.

A lot of sugar, a lot of eggs.

Only then did Li Zhuoyuan realize that when he had shown A Li his ability to fly符 earlier, what the girl had truly noticed was the blood mist overflowing from the palm of his right hand.

But how did A Li know about red糖卧鸡蛋 for supplementing blood?

With Liu奶奶’s conditions, if the family wanted to use some tonic, this kind of 土味 method would absolutely not appear.

The fact was, A Li originally didn’t know, but Cui Cui would often come over to play with A Li. Every time she came, she would talk a lot with A Li.

Due to her命格, Cui Cui’s初潮 came relatively early. She said that after her初潮, her妈 would make her red糖卧鸡蛋, which could supplement blood and气.

Although A Li would never give any response to Cui Cui’s絮絮叨叨, the girl did listen to what Cui Cui said.

“A Li…”

Li Zhuoyuan had already been almost psychologically scarred by Runsheng using red糖卧鸡蛋 on him. He hadn’t expected his first late-night snack back home to still be this.

But looking at the girl’s gaze, the young man had no choice. He could only sit down and eat all the eggs one by one, soaking in the sugar water.

A Li had really added too much red糖. She probably boiled it in the kitchen before coming down. The sweetness was so浓郁 that even健力宝 tasted bland in comparison.

Seeing the young man finish eating, the girl bit her lip and smiled.

Just a glance, Li Zhuoyuan felt that the sweetness of the red糖 water was suddenly overwhelmed.

After A Li left with the empty bowl, Li Zhuoyuan sat at his desk, silently digesting.

After a long while, he set up a隔离 array and then started to tear open the sealing paper on the ‘Evil Book’, allowing the ‘Evil Book’ to reappear.

There were still obvious burn marks, and even the diffused焦糊味儿 was still so clear.

This seemed to indicate to him that it could no longer withstand tossing and turning and was truly finished.

“Since you are already useless, I will satisfy you.”

Li Zhuoyuan opened the 无字书. The sound of the pages turning was like an orchestra, very pleasant to the ear.

Meanwhile, the ‘Evil Book’ suddenly trembled. Not only did it flip without wind, but the pages that were originally burned black actually began to return to their original state at a visible speed.

Li Zhuoyuan knew it had always been pretending, but he really didn’t expect it to be able to pretend this well.

In just a short while, the ‘Evil Book’ was completely restored, with no trace of having been damaged.

One had to know that he had used it to repeatedly test the secrets of heaven, causing it to self-immolate several times. Was it ‘not seriously injured’, or was it able to draw strength to self-repair even through the sealing符纸?

He had clearly been so careful in his precautions, but it could still bring him ‘surprises’.

It was only because he had been determined from the beginning not to make any deals with it that he didn’t let it exploit a loophole.

Indeed, in any relatively smart game, whoever first thinks they are smart is the one who loses.

On the pages of the ‘Evil Book’, a line of delicate small characters appeared:

“Congratulations on successfully riding the waves again. Your slave is under the bed at home, praying for you day and night.”

Immediately, the pages turned. In the pages behind, there were dense Buddhist and Taoist scriptures written in red characters, and also types of scriptures that even Li Zhuoyuan couldn’t temporarily identify, but they should all be used for blessings.

And, the deliberate use of red characters was to create the feeling of being a blood letter, showing more sincerity.

However, when it restored itself to its original state in front of him, it had already lost its way of destruction in Li Zhuoyuan’s eyes.

It was very clear about this point, but it couldn’t care less.

Because, it was afraid.

Li Zhuoyuan lowered his head and looked at the 无字书 in his hand. Just one encounter had frightened that one like this. Could it be that this was your true usage?

Li Zhuoyuan placed the ‘Evil Book’ on the 无字书. As soon as the two touched, the ‘Evil Book’ began to tremble violently, while ripples also appeared on the pure white pages of the 无字书.

This scene was like pouring ink into a basin of clear water.

But it seemed that the ink would not contaminate the clear water; it was more likely that the clear water would purify the ink.

As the ‘Evil Book’ began to dissolve, characters kept appearing on it:

“Beg you, not like this, I am willing to give my all for you!”

“I will obey your every command. Everything you doubt, I can clarify for you!”

When the ‘Evil Book’ dissolved to half:

“You are my master, I am your most devout servant!”

“To be able to follow you is heaven’s will, it is fate!”

Suddenly, a large amount of black energy overflowed from the body of the ‘Evil Book’, wanting to rush out.

Li Zhuoyuan spread out his right palm, the copper coin sword appeared in his hand, and he directly struck it with it.

“Pa!”

Zhao Wuyou’s copper coin sword was extremely yang and rigid, specifically countering evil things.

In the darkness, it seemed as if a piercing scream was heard.

A line of large, distorted characters appeared on the ‘Evil Book’:

“You are a devil, you are a monster in human skin!”

No one knew how much effort the ‘Evil Book’ had put in to silently infiltrate the young man’s emotions without being detected, but the fact was, all its efforts ultimately became silent infiltration.

“Thud…”

Like a stone falling into a lake.

The ‘Evil Book’ completely disappeared.

“Shua la la…”

The 无字书 began to quickly turn pages, finally stopping on a page.

On this page, first appeared thick, black vertical lines, like the bars of a prison cell.

Immediately after, an old man with disheveled hair and red eyes appeared in the painting, gripping the bars with both hands, roaring at Li Zhuoyuan outside the book.

Although the image was static, it was possible to imagine the movement.

Li Zhuoyuan closed the 无字书 and held it in front of him.

Now, the young man felt a little sorry for that scholar, because the other person had been diligently studying this book, both before and after death, hoping to uncover its secrets.

“It’s根本 not a book, it’s… a prison.”

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