Chapter 5: The Boy and the Girl

  "Xian Chang, what do you want to do with these children? Are you going to sacrifice them to the river god? Oh no, it's the river monster!" The middle-aged man's expression changed involuntarily.

  The old man narrowed his eyes, "Who said I wanted to offer sacrifices to the river demon? If I did that, what would be the point of slaying demons and getting rid of evil? Didn't I just say so?"

  To let them and I cast spells together, as for the specific way of casting spells, I won't tell you in detail, even if I told you, you wouldn't understand. If you want to keep your land safe and peaceful, you must unconditionally cooperate with me.

  Of course, I won't let these young boys and girls work in vain. After getting rid of the river demon, I will choose the excellent ones among them as my disciples, and they will follow me to travel around the world, and understand the way of immortality."

  The old man finished speaking, closed his eyes, and no matter how the town's Li Chang and others inquired or begged, he never said another word.

  He had no choice but to get up from the ground. Of course, before getting up, he didn't forget to let the attendant holding the silver, put the silver and tray together on the ground in front of Lao Dao with great respect.

  Li Chang backed away several steps with his attendants, facing the old Daoist, and made a deep bow before turning to leave the drying yard.

  The old man suddenly opened his eyes, looked at the town chief who was about to leave the sun-dried valley, and said in a loud voice: "Three days later, I will have to rush to attend the Hundred Immortals Conference. If you can't gather sixty-three boys and girls within three days, whether your Junbao Town lives or dies has nothing to do with me. You're on your own."

  Li Chang stepped back, hesitated for a long time, and then replied with a heavy heart: "Xian Zhang, I understand."

  "Village elder, must we really listen to this immortal's words and prepare sixty-three boys and girls for him?" a horse-faced attendant asked.

  "Alright, let's head back to the village first. Once we're back, we'll study this thoroughly. Also, send two people over to attend to the immortal elder and make sure not to neglect him."

  Li Chang brought his entourage and local gentry, got on the sedan chair by the side of the road, and was carried by people, hurrying to Junbao Town two or three miles away.

  Li Wenjun is still reeling from the shock of Lao Dao's fireball shot and hasn't come to his senses yet, watching the commotion outside the Sun Valley arena.

  Li Wenjun was a young man, and at his age, he yearned for attention. For him, the old Taoist's move was really too cool, and if he could learn it, he would definitely be able to attract countless people's attention. Just like earlier, even the dignified village head had to kneel in front of the old Taoist and beg, what a great honor was that?

  Apart from that, Li Wenjun also thought of the experience a few days ago when he took away the water source from under the sharp claws of the three-legged wolf. If he mastered this fireball-shooting technique, would he still be so troubled in similar situations?

  He was separated from his parents and family, and later wanted to find them. Who knows how many hardships he will face? If he masters this immortal skill, it will also be of great help in finding his relatives.

  Thinking of this, Li Wenjun's head was hot, he lifted his leg and was about to rush in front of the old Taoist, begging him to accept him as an apprentice.

  At this moment, a short and small black shadow suddenly rushed out from the oblique thorn, he robbed in front of Li Wenjun, through the drying field, rushed to the old Tao's face, with a "thud", knelt down in front of the old Tao.

  Li Wenjun gazed intently and saw that the person kneeling in front of the old Taoist was a thin youth, with tattered clothes, yellow complexion, dry hair, but his eyes shone with an unyielding spirit that made one's heart skip a beat.

  "Immortal Elder, I beg of you to take me as your disciple." The young man's voice was hoarse, as he pleaded with the old Taoist while kowtowing loudly.

  Li Wenjun's heart skipped a beat as he put his foot back down, wanting to see if the old Taoist was willing to take on an apprentice and what conditions would be required.

  The young man knocked his head on the ground more than a hundred times, his forehead knocking against the hard and unyielding stone floor, his forehead was swollen and red all over. The old Taoist finally opened his eyes. He looked up and down at the young man, his face changed, and with a flick of his sleeve, he slapped the young man's body. The young man was like he had been hit hard, tumbling head over heels, rolling out.

  "A little beggar, you think I'll take you as my apprentice? Do you think that anyone can cultivate the immortal arts? You should take a good look at yourself." The old Taoist let out a cold snort, his face showing disgust, and for some reason, he no longer had the demeanor of an immortal.

  Li Wenjun's heart skipped a beat, his own situation wasn't much better than that of the young man. Even if he were to plead like the young man, it was unlikely that the old Daoist would soften his heart. Moreover, this old Daoist didn't seem like a benevolent master; not to mention other things, the Military Garrison Town had to scrape together three hundred taels of silver just to get the old Daoist to reluctantly agree to help them slay demons and vanquish evil.

  Li Wenjun's father was just a craftsman. His father had told Li Wenjun that when he was young, in order to master his craft, he followed his master and suffered a lot, worked for free for his master, gave his master a lot of filial piety, and endured many years of hardship before mastering a skill that could make a living. What his father learned was only the skill of making leather clothes and armor, while Lao Dao mastered the immortal art of slaying demons and evil spirits, which cannot be compared to each other.

  He wants to learn from Lao Dao, to master the skills that Lao Dao has. He must offer a certain amount of silver money as a sign of respect before Lao Dao will agree to teach him.

  It seems that learning immortal arts cannot rely on this old Taoist, and another way must be sought.

  Li Wenjun picked it up and put it down, knowing that he couldn't do it, and he didn't want to waste his time on the old Tao. He tightened his backpack, bypassed the drying field, followed the main road, and walked towards Junbao Town two or three miles away.

  The road to Junbao Town was straight, with locust trees and willow trees growing densely on both sides, extremely tall. Li Wenjun was shocked to find that under each tree there was a group of people gathered. These people were obviously refugees, without exception, all with dull faces, tattered clothes. Most of them were adults, rarely seen women, children and the elderly, and the few children who were present were also listless, not seeing any vitality.

  Li Wenjun felt extremely heavy-hearted, he wanted to help them, but he had barely enough to keep himself alive, and it was difficult for him to rescue others. All he could do was harden his heart, ignore them, take big strides, and head towards the military fortress town in front of him.

  As they approached Junbao Town, more and more refugees gathered on both sides of the road. When they reached the town entrance, Li Wenjun suddenly shuddered with fear. He saw several stakes erected at the side of the road, with human heads impaled on top. Below each head hung a white cloth strip with black characters that read: "Those who trespass into Junbao Town will be put to death."

  Li Wenjun didn't recognize many of the big characters, but he could feel the murderous aura emanating from them. He subconsciously shrunk his neck and secretly decided to leave this place as soon as possible.

  In the town of Junbao, there were also Zhuang Ding holding knives and guns, blocking the entrance to the town.

  He was allowed to enter the city after paying five copper coins as a toll, probably because Li Wenjun's clothes were relatively clean and didn't look like those of an escaped prisoner.

  Li Wenjun first went to a noodle shop on the street, ordered two bowls of knife-cut noodles, and after a few wolfish gulps, he sent everything into his stomach. Not satisfied yet, he asked the boss for another bowl of noodle soup, poured it into his stomach, drank until his belly was bulging, burped repeatedly, and only then reluctantly put down his bowl and chopsticks.

  Two bowls of noodles, the noodle shop owner asked Li Wenjun for a full fifty cents, almost ten times the normal price. This was not the noodle shop owner bullying Li Wenjun, but because too many refugees had flooded in, causing grain prices to rise long ago in Junzhen Town. That's just the way it is now.

  He handed over the noodles to the noodle shop owner, Li Wenjun left the noodle shop, he strolled around Junbao Town, taking a walk to digest his food while looking for a place to sell the wolf skin in his hand and make some extra money to continue his escape.

  Just as Li Wenjun was eating noodles at the noodle shop, the head of Junzhai Town had returned to his own courtyard and invited all the famous old men and gentry in the town.

  Li Chang did not conceal anything, and he told them everything that had happened in the sun-dried rice field earlier, one by one. Finally, he said: "Everyone, this is the specific situation, it's about the life and death of over 1,500 people in our village, I don't dare to make a decision alone, so I've specially invited everyone here to discuss this matter together, please help me come up with a solution."

  A man in his forties, wearing a long gown of Confucian scholar, said: "Head of the village, the severe drought is not just our Military Fort Town's problem, it's everyone's problem under heaven. It shouldn't be borne by our town alone. I suggest we immediately report this to the county government and ask the county magistrate to take charge. Even if we need to provide boys and girls, it should be a collective effort of the whole county."

  The man sitting next to the bookworm snorted in disdain, this person had a clever face and was the richest man in town.

  "He said: 'Xiucai, you're talking nonsense again. We are over a hundred miles away from the county town, even if we ride fast horses, it will take almost half a day for a round trip.'"

  Besides, once you arrive at the county town, can you see the county magistrate? Even if you bribe the gatekeeper with silver, he will delay you for a day or two before reporting to him, and that's already not bad.

  Besides, how can you be sure that the county magistrate will agree to your request? Let's say that the Taoist priest is an immortal, if the county magistrate doesn't believe it and says that the Taoist priest is deceiving people, what then? How are you going to prove it to the county magistrate? Are you going to invite the Taoist priest to the county government office?

  Li Chang hastily said: "Everyone, don't quarrel. Going to the county town, asking County Master for help, time is not enough, let's take care of the present first. Everyone, Xian Chang wants 79 six thirteen children, making what seven-star nine palace array, do you think this thing is reliable?"

  Everyone looked at each other in dismay, no one spoke up, they all felt that something was fishy about this matter, but saying it was fishy, they didn't understand the ways of immortals and didn't dare to make reckless comments, if they mistakenly mishandled the situation, no one could bear the responsibility.

  "Everyone, you can't be expecting me to make all the decisions on my own, are you? If you don't express your opinions and I make a decision, whatever happens as a result will be on your heads too."

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