Lanpu - Chapitre 3
Then things went very smoothly. Everyone ate with great interest and divided the tasks of cleaning up the aftermath. Managing such a large group of people is very troublesome, but fortunately, Xiaoling is used to giving orders, and everyone listened to her arrangements in an orderly manner.
After the meal, at Zhu'er's suggestion, I allowed everyone to go freely to collect plant specimens by the mountainside, but in groups of five, with men and women paired together.
Actually, I was somewhat familiar with the terrain in this area, and confident in my abilities, I let these little foals roam freely to avoid them accusing me of being a dictator. I brought three women and two men with me; Xiaoling was in my group because she was the one who organized and arranged it.
"This is honeysuckle, which can be used as a traditional Chinese medicine," I said with a smile to the handful of wildflowers that Xiaoling had picked.
"What a beautiful name. Flowers bloom and fade in their own time, always relying on the Lord of Spring." She had a touch of girlish sentimentality and melancholy.
More than half an hour had passed when suddenly a gust of cold wind swept in. Just moments before, the weather had been sunny and the autumn air crisp and clear, but in the blink of an eye, a large patch of dark clouds rapidly gathered, with the force of a thunderbolt.
"That's strange. I checked the weather forecast yesterday, and it said it would be sunny today. How could it be raining so heavily?" Xiaoling said in a panic, while I arranged for the classmates around me to go and call people together.
But what my psychic senses revealed was an even more chilling truth: the omnipresent spiritual energy that had filled the valley had suddenly changed its nature, transforming from a gentle, neutral energy into an extremely cold and malevolent one. It was like a huge, ferocious demon, invisibly swooping down on us, and the dark clouds it summoned were actually giant waves churning with all sorts of evil spirits, as if they wanted to devour our small group.
What I heard in my ears was not the howling wind, but a sharp screech.
Actually, there was no need to shout. Seeing this situation, all the students ran over in a panic. After I quickly took a count, I led them to an abandoned farmhouse on the hill opposite Baizhangyan.
The sky suddenly darkened, a bolt of lightning ripped across the sky, followed by deafening claps of thunder.
As soon as we entered the Tulou, a torrential downpour began. The Tulou was rammed, so it was quite sturdy, but there were several leaks, and the students crowded into the areas where the leaks were not.
"Teacher, what's going on? It's scary!" the students cried out.
"Don't be afraid, everyone. It's convective rain, which we talked about in geography class. It usually breaks out in the afternoon as a thunderstorm, right, teacher?" Xiaoling said loudly in my ear because she noticed that I looked unusually serious.
"Don't be so loud!" I exclaimed in surprise. "This isn't some kind of convective rain."
What is that?
In my panic, I blurted out, "The mountain god is angry!"
Although it was a perfunctory response, a fleeting sense of enlightenment flashed through my mind.
Then I discovered something even more terrifying: two students were missing, the lively duo of Zhu'er and Xiao Hui.
---janeadam
Reply [6]:
Chapter Three Ear Birds
"What's going on?" I turned around and asked the other three classmates who were in the same group as Zhu'er and Xiao Hui.
"Zhu'er said she needed to find a secluded place to relieve herself, so Xiao Hui accompanied her as they walked further and further upstream along the stream, and they were never seen coming back."
Actually, he was just making excuses to avoid his classmates and go exploring inside. I was seething with anger, and he had to come at this crucial moment. If something happened, I didn't know what I would do. Meanwhile, there were many more students here who needed my protection!
"Look, they're over there!" a student shouted, pointing out the window.
I rushed outside and exclaimed, "Wow!" I saw Zhu'er and Xiao Hui running along the path by the Peach Blossom Stream to our picnic spot, but there was no one there anymore.
But that wasn't the worst part. What terrified me was that the main body of that spiritual energy was transforming into bolts of lightning, pressing down on the dark clouds and chasing after them. Bolts of lightning struck down, and thunder roared through the sky, shaking the mountains.
If they were less daring, they would have been terrified. Luckily, these two are known for their boldness.
"Xiaoling, you and Jing'er keep an eye on the students and don't let them look out the window!" I shouted, rushed to the corridor, put my hands together in prayer, and silently recited the Great Compassion Mantra. Immediately afterward, five protective and evil-suppressing mantras flew out from my pockets.
"Divine soldiers, swift as the law commands! Incantations, holy spirits manifest!" With my low shout, the talismans transformed into beams of golden light, dissolving into the earthen building according to my will, forming a protective shield of spiritual light that could resist the invasion of evil spirits.
Then I leaped downstairs, and with a few bounds, quickly rushed to Xiaohui and Zhuer's side.
They had reached the assembly point, but when they didn't see us, they froze in shock. The will to survive and run that had sustained them collapsed instantly. Seeing their bewildered state, I panicked, because several bolts of lightning, like dragons, had already struck behind them. If they hit, they would be charred.
"Watch out, get out of the way!" Regardless of anything shocking, saving my students is the priority. I immediately transformed my spiritual energy into true qi and shot it out from my Yongquan acupoint. I rushed over like lightning and, at the critical moment, picked up the two "drenched chickens" around the waist, flying more than ten meters away as if riding on clouds.
The bolts of lightning struck a rock, creating a deafening explosion that kicked up a cloud of dust, and the rock shattered into several pieces.
"Teacher, you're here!" Xiao Hui shouted, tears streaming down his face with joy.
"Wow—Teacher, you can fly! That's amazing!" Little Pearl has been with me for a long time and has a lot of confidence in me. She is also naturally bold, and she immediately calmed down when she saw me.
But then, Pearl and Xiao Hui stared wide-eyed, still reeling from the lightning-fast strike on the rock.
That spiritual energy is coming after us again; it's too early to be happy!
I shouted, "Sit down cross-legged right now!"
Zhu'er immediately sat down, and at the same time, she forcibly pulled the dazed Xiao Hui to sit down as well.
"When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound Prajnaparamita, he perceived that the five aggregates are all empty, and thus transcended all suffering and distress. Shariputra, form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form; form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness are also like this. Shariputra, all dharmas are empty in nature, neither arising nor ceasing, neither defiled nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing..."
As I recited the Heart Sutra, the spiritual energy within my body immediately began to circulate at high speed, ceaselessly generating energy. A beam of light with a spear-shaped outer edge immediately surrounded the space two meters around us.
Dozens of "crackling" sounds rang out in succession, and my whole body trembled violently. I knew that within a few minutes, dozens of lightning bolts had struck my protective aura, causing it to shrink by a meter and become extremely dangerous.
What is this thing that's so powerful? And the worst part is, I don't even know who my opponent is.
"With my imperial seal and my imperial incantation, demons and monsters will appear immediately!" I took out the phoenix pendant hanging on my chest. Ever since Gan Tian Village was saved from the destruction of Tian Yi Zi thanks to it, Xiao Yue studied it for me and believed that the power contained within it was too great. It might be one of the main sources of fire power, so I dared not activate it casually. However, it could be used as a general divine artifact and would have a good effect.
---janeadam
Reply [7]: I raised the phoenix pendant to the sky, chanting the Great Compassion Mantra while injecting spiritual energy into it. However, no matter how I injected my spiritual energy, it was as empty and helpless as a river flowing into the sea, making me weaker and weaker. But the mantra immediately played a supporting role. The phoenix pendant immediately shot out a cone-shaped energy halo, which kept rotating like an engine, spinning faster and faster, and the range of the light beam became larger and larger. My spiritual energy was automatically sealed after it was activated.
To everyone's astonishment, I saw the light shine, the lightning dissipate, and the dark clouds in the sky let out a startled cry, before revealing a monster as tall as a pillar, with arms as long as an ape, wearing a crimson crown, with eyes like lightning, and breathing like the sound of thunder.
"The Ghost-Eared Bird of the Five Sacred Mountains!" I blurted out.
On Xiaoyue's recommendation, I have read "Kuodi Zhi", "Shenyi Jing", "Xuanhuang Jing", "Dongming Ji", "Shizhou Ji", "Shenxian Ji", "Liexian Zhuan", and "Daozang". I recognize it as the mountain spirit Erqin that was active in the Five Sacred Mountains in ancient times. It is a spirit between ghosts and gods, neither good nor evil, neither righteous nor wicked. It has always been elusive and comes and goes like the wind. Why is it staying in this unknown place now?
"Get out!" I heard its roar in my mind. "I will not allow you to destroy this place!"