Chapter 25 The Beauty Comes Under the Moon

Walking on a bumpy mountain path, sometimes there are lush woods on both sides, sometimes there is a cliff leaning against the mountain wall on the left, sometimes there are towering mountain walls on the left and right. Looking up, you can only see a narrow patch of sky, sometimes a clear stream. Wandering by. The entire mountain forest is quiet and ethereal, interspersed with the chirping of cicadas and the singing of birds. It is exactly "the noisy forest of cicadas is more quiet, and the mountain of singing birds is more secluded".

Shi Xuan followed behind, twisting and turning on the mountain road. If it weren't for the fact that his soul has become stronger and his memory has greatly increased since he started practicing, he would have been completely lost. Although he has taken some detours, at least he can still return to the original path. It can be done. The Yan Jujian beside him may not have as good a memory as Shi Xuan. Shi Xuan found him taking secret notes at least four times.

Ding Mingde has been studying since he was a child, and his body is not strong. After walking for half an hour, he was almost fainted from exhaustion. If Yan Jujian hadn't been helping him with his kung fu from behind, he would have had to rest countless times along the way.

From the beginning of the journey, the butler walked silently at the front and led the way without saying a word, so that Shi Xuan, who wanted to get something out of him, could not find a chance to speak. The other two people had their own concerns and did not speak. The atmosphere seemed very dull.

The butler looked old and frail, walking tremblingly as if he might collapse at any time, but after half an hour of walking, he was still out of breath and stumbling like he was at the beginning. Judging from his body shape, steps and behavior, he is not a martial arts person, but in Shi Xuan's view, his whole person has a strange aura and a lifeless feeling. If Yan Jujian hadn't been walking beside him and paying close attention to him , Shi Xuan had to adjust his breath and recite a mantra to activate the talisman in his sleeve to open his heavenly eye.

The four people in this dull atmosphere are now walking in a long and narrow canyon. Not far ahead is the exit of the canyon, and gusts of wind blow from there, bringing a quiet atmosphere.

Finally we arrived. As soon as Shi Xuan walked out of the canyon, he saw a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides. In the middle was a small pool. Opposite the pool was a large house, which looked like it had five entrances. The other two sides of the pool were filled with stars. There are some yards scattered around, and more are wooden houses.

The water in the pool comes from the small waterfall pouring down from the mountain wall on the left. When it falls into the pool, it stirs up countless water droplets, which look ethereal and beautiful under the sunset.

There was a small stream winding out of the pool and flowing into the canyon. Some fertile fields were cultivated on both sides of it and around the pool. Instead of growing food, they planted herbs. At least Shi Xuan could recognize many of them. This is thanks to the teachings of Taoist Xu.

These herbs are very valuable, and even from a cultivation point of view, if there are corresponding prescriptions or elixirs, it will be helpful to Shi Xuan at this stage. It's a pity that Shi Xuan learned some common sense about identifying herbal medicines from Taoist Xu, and the corresponding medicinal prescriptions and elixirs are only the basic ones. There are some high-level elixirs in "Baolu", but those are far from Shi Xuan's. Very far away.

After walking out of the canyon, the butler who had been silent all the way turned around and said hoarsely: "Three distinguished guests, this is our Shuanghu Village", and then pointed to the big house, "That is my master's house, three of us." Distinguished guests, please come with me.”

The three of them nodded in agreement after hearing the words, and then followed the big housekeeper towards the Wang family's house. On the way, they saw farmers and women working in the medicine fields in twos and threes. They were dressed in rags, but their faces looked very satisfied, but their eyes looked... Somewhat sluggish. As for the children playing and playing, they were not seen.

After bypassing the water pool, we came to the door of the royal residence. The butler walked up the steps and knocked on the door twice. The door slowly opened with a creak, and an old man appeared inside, also with white hair and a face full of wrinkles. It looks like it will fall over when the wind blows. Seeing that it was the housekeeper, he said hoarsely: "You are back, take them in quickly."

The butler turned around and motioned for the three of them to follow him. The three of them hurriedly walked a few steps behind the butler and walked into the house.

As soon as Shi Xuan entered the house, he felt a deep and decaying atmosphere. As the door at the back closed, it was more like entering a deep cave.

It's only the end of the twelfth lunar month, when it gets dark late in the summer and the sun sets brightly. But as the butler walked on the corridor in the house, it was quiet and deserted. He didn't meet any maids or servants, and even the sky seemed darker than outside. Shi Xuan's alertness was raised to the highest level.

When they came to a small courtyard, the steward said to the three of them: "You two, please stay in this small courtyard. I will ask the maids to come over and clean up later. If you need anything, please tell them. Mr. Ding, please follow me." Go to the east courtyard, there is a place already arranged for you. Also, my master has not returned from visiting friends recently, so he may not be able to entertain a few of them."

When Ding Mingde heard that he was going to live alone in another courtyard, he remembered what Yan Jujian had said and was horrified. He signaled to Yan Jujian with his eyes and racked his brains to think of an excuse. Seeing this, Shi Xuan smiled slightly, stepped forward and said to the chief steward: "Brother Yan and I will leave tomorrow, and I don't know when we will see each other again with Brother Mingde. We happen to be staying together tonight, and we can talk by candlelight, please. The housekeeper is accommodating.”

The chief steward looked at Shi Xuan and the others expressionlessly for a while before he said, "That's fine. A maid will come over later. Please excuse me, three distinguished guests."

After the butler left, Ding Mingde came back to his senses. He was so pleasantly surprised that he wanted to thank Shi Xuan, but he didn't know why he should thank him, so he stood aside quietly.

Yan Jujian looked at Shi Xuan with complex eyes, but still didn't say anything to Shi Xuan. But Shi Xuan felt that Yan Jujian was less concerned and wary of him.

Two pretty maids in yellow clothes came over with quilts quickly, bowed slightly to the three people, and went into the room to make the bed and clean. The three maids, like everyone else here, had cold expressions on their faces and slightly dull eyes.

Shi Xuan and the other two sat on the stone bench in the yard in silence, watching the maids clean up the room and then watching the maids bring dinner.

Shi Xuan planned to explore Shuanghu Village in the dead of night, so he finished eating quickly, said goodbye to the other two, saying that he was too tired today and needed to rest early, and hurried into the left wing. The specific arrangement was to rest first, wait until about the second watch, regulate his breath, and then use the talisman to bless himself, and then explore Wang's house first, and then explore Shuanghu Village.

After entering the room, Shi Xuan lay down to rest. He could vaguely hear Ding Mingde in the yard whispering to Yan Jujian: "Master Yan, I don't think Brother Ziang is one of them."

"Well, maybe he has the same purpose as me, but for me, he is not much more. I will tell him after I find out the situation."

"Then Master Yan, what do you plan to do?"

"Wait until late at night tonight, I will go to the owner's room first, and then privately tie up some stewards, maids, farmers and the like to ask."

"But, but, I always feel that the people here are very strange." Ding Mingde was a little scared.

"Indeed, it is very likely that they are controlled by others and are numb."

"Could it be, could it be something like a mountain spirit or a mandrill?" Ding Mingde said in a low voice.

"Ha, you are still a scholar, how can you believe in ghosts and monsters? Humph, even if there are spirits and monsters, I don't care about them." Yan Jujian didn't believe in ghosts and monsters at all. Shi Xuan thought that this was related to his vigorous blood and ghosts didn't dare to approach him.

"Yes, yes." Ding Mingde nodded.

"Then I will go back to my room to rest. You should also rest early to get enough energy tonight. If you have something to do at night, you can get up." Yan Jujian and Shi Xuan had the same plan.

Waiting for Yan Jujian to return to the room, Ding Mingde whispered: "Scholars just don't talk about ghosts and monsters, but they don't believe in ghosts and monsters. This person doesn't study himself, but he talks about me."

It was late at night, everything was quiet, and even the calls of various insects could not be heard. Shi Xuan's keen senses felt that something had entered the courtyard. He suddenly woke up from a deep rest, sat up, put his hands into his sleeves, and secretly pinched the talisman.

There were gentle footsteps, and they stopped at the corridor. It seemed that they found Shi Xuan awake, and the footsteps sounded again, coming to Shi Xuan's room. A gust of wind blew, and there was a knock on the door. Shi Xuan stood up and asked, "Who is outside the door? Is there anything wrong?" Shi Xuan also heard the sound of Yan Jujian sitting up in another room.

"Young Master Wan'an, I was sent by the master to serve you." A clear and gentle voice sounded.

Shi Xuan's mouth twitched. He didn't believe this nonsense. If someone was arranged to serve, it would be delivered after dinner. Why did he do it in the dead of night? However, Shi Xuan still planned to open the door. He had confidence in his heart and planned to see what tricks he wanted to play.

He opened his eyes with a talisman, and then slowly opened the door. He saw a woman in white standing outside the door. She looked like a picture, very beautiful, and her clothes were made of white gauze. Her skin was visible inside, which was very tempting.

Seeing Shi Xuan open the door, the woman in white bowed gracefully, then smiled softly, with dimples on her right cheek: "My slave Yan'er greets you, sir. The moon is bright tonight, sparsely lit, sir, are you willing to enjoy this beautiful scenery with me?"

Since Shi Xuan was going to see what the woman was up to, he politely stepped aside and invited her in, saying: "Miss Yan'er, you come with the moon, you look like a fairy in the moon, I am flattered."

Yan'er walked to the bedside gracefully, then sat down, smiling indifferently: "Sir, why don't you come over?" The white veil on her body slowly fell off, revealing her extremely white skin, and the chicken head meat on her chest was faintly exposed, but her face was gentle, slightly sad, and not at all seductive. The contrast between the two aroused the fire in the man's heart.

Although Shi Xuan admired this beautiful woman's spring painting, his mind was clear and he was not the kind of person who would disregard his safety for beauty. He thought to himself that he had to ask her something. Was he going to bed with her to replenish his yin or to have his yang energy sucked away? So he said, "On such a beautiful day, I should have a good chat with the beauty under the moon."