I didn't intend to become a fairy

Chapter 8

In the village at the foot of the mountain, in a low hut with earthen walls, an old woman is making earth incense.

Like Song You in Guanli, she has a wooden incense table, which is about the size of a single desk. On the top is a flat wooden board about a foot wide. A long piece of red paper, used to roll incense, with a trough filled with spices underneath.Looking closely at the spice, one can vaguely discern a few familiar raw materials, which have been crushed into grains the size of corn, showing a greenish-yellow color.

But seeing the old man scoop up the spices with a piece of bamboo about the same length as the red paper, pour out a neat long strip on the red paper, then take out the bamboo stick, fold it a few times to seal the top of the red paper, and use his hands Once rubbed, the whole stick of incense was rolled up very skillfully.

Then glue the bottom of the earth incense, and a earth incense is ready.

It takes about ten seconds to roll off such an incense roll, and the old man's movements are smooth, and every minute of force is just right, it is really a pleasure to watch.

Song You stood quietly by the side without making a sound.

The old man is full of silver hair and concentrates on himself.

The room was filled with the fragrance of herbs, light came in obliquely from the window, and subtle fragrance powder floated in the air, and both sides took shape all of a sudden.

Even Sanhua Mao's heart is very quiet.

Thirty sticks of incense were quickly rolled up.

The old man counted them carefully, tied them with thatch and handed them to Song You:

"Sir."

"Thank you old man."

Song You respectfully took it over.

One piece of this kind of incense is as thick as a finger, much thicker than the fine incense in the city. It is not easy to hold one in your hand, but in fact, thirty sticks only sell for six yuan, and the most expensive one is this rough one. Bad red paper.

Song You paid some extra money as a reward for the old man who told him about the earthy fragrance ingredients earlier, thanked him and left.

Don't think this incense is cheap and cannot be sold at a high price, but in the Taoist temples Song You has dealt with, many Taoist priests like to use this kind of homemade incense, and most of them especially like to use their own blended and rolled incense.

You can understand ghosts and gods only after you have poured your heart and soul into it.

Leaving the village, Song You took the main road and turned back to the village temple.He kept only three of the thirty sticks of incense, and placed the rest in front of the statue of Wang Shangong.

There is borrowing and repayment, there is taking and giving.

Feeling better, just continue on the road.

Now from one person to one person and one cat.

Sanhua Niangniang was very honest at first, perhaps because she was not familiar with Song You, she just followed behind him honestly, keeping a distance at a leisurely pace.Soon its nature was released, and it began to run a few steps to the front from time to time, and then turned back to look at Song You, standing still at the same place from time to time, lowering its head to smell and smell the weeds on the roadside, and being caught by the grass from time to time. Attracted by the butterflies or birds in the air, they stop, and when Song You is far away, he trots quickly to catch up.

With it being so noisy, the journey was not so boring.

Before he had gone far, he encountered a checkpoint, and Song You successfully passed the checkpoint by showing his degree card.

As I said before, traveling merchants and Jianghu people each have their own methods, and people like Song You also have their own special guides.

In this world, religion is also controlled by the imperial court, and each dynasty is different. Specifically, in Dayan, the management of religion is much stricter. The biggest difference from the previous dynasty is that the privileges of ordinary temples and temples have been reduced.

For example, various taxes are no longer exempted.

But after all, this is a world with ghosts and gods, and respect is still required for those masters of cultivation who have Taoism.

Therefore, Dayan had two levels of ultimatum.

Ordinary ultimatum is a piece of paper with talismans drawn on it, the issuing institution, Taoist temple and personal information are written on it, and it is stamped with a big seal. It needs to be pressed in a box, otherwise it will be damaged.This kind of ultimatum can be obtained by monks and Taoists as long as they are serious.

The other is a fold.

Getting this booklet proves that you have some things, or that the elders of the teacher once had some things, so there is a certain amount of tax exemption.Considering that demons and ghosts frequently appear in the world, and some practitioners have the rigid need to travel around the world to debate the scriptures and discuss Taoism, this ultimatum also serves as a guide. In addition to itself, it can also carry five disciples as followers.

It can be regarded as preferential treatment for masters of cultivation.

However, after a long time, this kind of ultimatum will inevitably spread, and it can't explain anything now.

After passing this level, the roadside scenery has undergone a big change. The mountain on the left is no longer gentle, but has become high and steep, while the right side has remained the same as before. The road runs along the stream between the mountains. Looking at the top of the mountain, you have to raise your head to the highest.

"So high!"

Empress Sanhua said.

"Empress Sanhua has ever seen such a high mountain?" Song You asked while sitting on a rock and eating steamed cakes.

"No."

The three-flowered cat turned to look at him.

Song You seemed to remember it now, and quickly broke off a small piece of steamed cake that he didn't bite, bent down and handed it to Sanhuamao's mouth.

Sanhuamao just stared at him blankly.

Just at this moment, an insect buzzed and flew past it. The three-colored cat just raised its front paw, and firmly grasped the flying insect in the palm of its hand, and then saw it send its paw to its mouth. , When Song You saw it clearly, he could only see the translucent wings of flying insects around his mouth.

Sanhuamao stared at Song You while eating.

"..."

I am not sensible.

Song You silently withdrew his hand holding the steamed cake.

"Do you want to eat?" Sanhua Mao asked him, "Miss Sanhua will help you catch two more."

"No, I don't eat bugs."

“It was delicious.”

"I got it."

"Where are the rats?"

"No need, thank you."

"Well……"

"Empress Sanhua, have you heard of it?" Song You ate steamed cakes, and asked again, "There is a place in front of you called Hand Climbing Rock, which is extremely steep, but the scenery is excellent."

"What is hand climbing?"

"It's a section of cut-off path that can only be crossed by climbing."

"How do you know?"

"I lived in the temple a few days ago and listened to those Jianghu people."

"I rarely listen to them."

"It's interesting."

"Are we going there?"

"I want to go."

"Hmm..." The Sanhua cat jumped up again and caught a bug with precision. This time Song You saw clearly that it was a locust, and it only said to Song You, "Anyway, Mistress Sanhua will follow you."

Song You nodded.

The sun is westward.

When Song You asked about the third local family, he finally came to the bottom of the climbing rock.

The old man making lanterns, wearing a bamboo hat, stood at the door of his house, pointed to the cliff on the left into the clouds, and said to Song You: "This is the hand-climbing rock."

One person and one cat looked up.

A thousand-foot cliff seemed to be right in front of them, so close that they couldn't see anything else except this high mountain and cliff.

"Climbing rocks by hand is indeed a shortcut, but not many people have taken it long ago. This road is very dangerous, wet and slippery, and the mountains are often haunted by ghosts and ghosts, crying and howling every night. People often go up to play. They go during the day and come back during the day, and no one dares to spend the night on it.” The old man kindly said to the young Taoist priest, “It’s too late now, if you want to see the scenery, go up tomorrow, if you go up there, before dark Must come back."

"Dare to ask the old man, how long will it take to climb up?"

"It takes an hour to climb up, and another hour to come back. If you go down there, it will take two hours to go to the end."

"One hour..."

Song You did the math, and there was still time.

But the old man glared at him dissatisfied: "You want to go up tonight? Then you have to walk in the dark. There are really ghosts on this mountain."

"It's fine."

People become ghosts after death, and ghosts are inherently weaker than humans.

"Even if you are not afraid of ghosts, walking at night is still very dangerous." The old man continued, "For thousands of years, countless people have fallen to their deaths from this place."

"The old man sell me a lantern."

"I only have lanterns here, but no candles."

"It's okay."

"You Taoist don't listen to advice!"

Song You just smiled and bought a simple lantern from the old man for [-] Wen. It was a common shape with a slender and light bamboo frame. It was pasted with a layer of off-white paper, some yellowish, nothing else. decorate.

One person and one cat walked up the mountain along the path.

"It's cloudy and rainy, ghosts cry at night..."

Song You murmured, with a smile on the corner of his mouth.

This is the description of the world's opponents climbing rocks.

Go up through the mountain forest, along the two-foot-wide cliff path, go up obliquely, and reach the top, which is the famous hand-climbing rock.

This section of cliff is perpendicular to the ground, and the path is completely based on the natural cracks on the cliff and artificially dug a path that is not high enough for a person. The wide part may be three or four feet wide, and the narrow part can allow a person to stick Walking over the cliff dangerously, you have to bend over the whole way, or you have to use both hands and feet.

Sanhua Niangniang is relaxed, which has no effect on her, and Song You will have a much harder time going.

You have to bend down to move forward, but you also have to worry about slipping and falling.

For trekkers who are not afraid of the high mountains and the long roads, the mountains and rivers give back the most amazing scenery.

From this angle, the ravine below is covered by green shade, like a dark blanket. There are occasional unknown trees on the cliff, whose roots are not known. They just grow tenaciously against the cliff and are blown by the mountain wind for many years. One direction seems to welcome brave climbers.

Surprisingly, in such a thrilling place, the predecessors not only carved such a road here, but also carved countless cliff carvings on the top of the head and on the cliff.

There are scriptures to save the dead, and statues of gods to suppress evil spirits. Many of them are beginning to blur, and the years have flowed on them. For thousands of years, they have witnessed batches of people who have passed here. I don’t know if they can continue. millennium.

Song You walked very slowly, not only being careful, but also slowly admiring the steep scenery below, or looking up at the gods on these stone carvings.

These cliff carvings have a large age span, so they have different painting styles.Some gods have weird painting styles, some gods have a feminine style, and some gods deliberately highlight their strong bodies. These are the fantasies of the people at that time about the images of gods, reflecting the social atmosphere and folk preferences in different periods, and it can be roughly judged from them Which dynasty do these stone carvings come from?

The oldest ones are probably thousands of years old.

Song You looked carefully, not only the painting style and craftsmanship, but also the eyebrows and eyes of these gods, as if he could see a corner of those eras that have gone away.

Maybe in a certain era, when this road has not been abandoned and people often walk, there will really be countless ghosts here taking advantage of the terrain to block the road and take their lives, and the gods on these stone carvings are truly deterred by the blessing of the people's wishes Looking at the monsters and ghosts in the mountains.

Suddenly there was an idea in my mind, maybe using hands and feet and bending forward is not only difficult to dig, but also to allow people who have passed by to bend down in front of these statues that suppress demons and evil spirits, and maintain a bit of respect.

It was getting darker.

Song You stopped at the highest point and sat on the edge of the cliff with his legs hanging down naturally, blowing the mountain wind, determined to spend the night here tonight.

Today is not rainy, but the sunset is like blood, and the sky is full of red clouds.

There are not a few people who love to travel in this era. Many literati and writers are keen on natural landscapes. According to the old people at the foot of the mountain, some people are often attracted by the dangerous scenery on the rocks climbing by hand, and they are not afraid of danger to climb and play, but very few people. Dare to spend the night on it.

From Song You's point of view, they really missed a lot.

But what is more beautiful is not the sunset, but the dreamlike color of the sky when the afterglow of the sunset fades and the top of the head has dimmed.

It looks blue but not blue, purple and red, pink and white, gradually turning into a gentle evening glow.

The darker the sky, the more beautiful the sky.

Song You stared blankly, fascinated.

In this world, the pure natural scenery and the magic of gods and ghosts are the few things that can attract him, because there are only these few things, in his heart, this world is not as boring as the other world.

"Taoist, don't we go down?"

"Not going down."

"it's dark."

"Ah."

The mountain wind was blowing a little cold.

Song You was still sitting on the edge of the cliff, admiring the colors of the sky and the silhouette of the mountains under his feet. Suddenly, he seemed to think of something, so he reached out and picked up the lantern he just bought. He lifted the lantern with one hand, and with the other hand, he pointed at the distant sky and squeezed it. A little nothingness throws into this lantern.

In an instant, a dreamlike light was lit up in the lantern like the sky at this moment.

And borrow a ray of sunlight to dispel the long cold night.

(End of this chapter)