Chapter 196 A New Hope
Tianjimen had a good relationship with Lu Sen before.
After all, it was Lu Sen who rescued the Fuso tree, and the other party also rewarded Lu Sen.
In fact, there is no question of who owes whom.
The conflict started with Lu Xianxian. The other party wanted to take the fox demon away, but Lu Sen naturally would not give it away.
Not to mention the "interests" represented by Xue Nu and Lu Xianxian, it is impossible to throw away something like the Peach Tree, which can increase one's lifespan indefinitely, both emotionally and rationally.
Moreover, Lu Sen had also said that he would protect Lu Xianxian, and this had to be done. He couldn't go back on his word.
As for the grudge between Lu Xianxian and Tianjimen in the past, Lu Sen was too lazy to care.
It is even hard to say who was right and who was wrong in the grudges of that year.
Lu Sen had no intention of having a conflict with the Tianji Sect, but the situation was different when the other party came to him on their own initiative.
It is still a bit dangerous for an aircraft to travel long distances across the sea, but Lu Sen can't care about that now, and this time he has two aircraft in his system backpack.
Because the aircraft's emergency avoidance device includes a water floating function, Lu Sen can change the aircraft midway.
However, he was lucky. He did not encounter any bad weather during the flight from Hangzhou to Izumo Province in Japan. When the aircraft was running out of energy, he just happened to enter the land of Japan and landed immediately. He then took over from another aircraft and arrived at Izumo Dojo.
In just a few months, sporadic wooden buildings have appeared outside Izumo Palace.
When the local Japanese people saw that no one from the Izumo Palace went out to look after them, they spontaneously renovated houses outside the palace and lived there.
They felt that this was a place where immortals lived, and that if they lived outside, they could be blessed with some of the immortals' spiritual energy and avoid being harassed by demons and ghosts.
Lu Sen's aircraft flew low over the top of the forest and into the Taoist Palace.
Many Japanese natives discovered Lu Sen's aircraft and performed the five-heart prostration ceremony in the open space, muttering something.
And on the top-floor balcony of a newly built wooden building somewhere, two women in straight white dresses were staring at the place where the aircraft disappeared, their eyes unblinking, full of fanaticism and admiration.
Before the aircraft landed in the main hall of the Taoist Palace, Lu Sen had just jumped off the aircraft when a family general came up to greet him with a smile on his face.
" Ah Huang, when did the treasure ship set out?"
The black-clad guard named 'Ah Huang' was stunned for a moment, then immediately put away his smile and said, "Seven days ago at noon, 80,000 taels of silver were placed in a storage box and brought back to Hangzhou by Zeng Aniu... Sir, what happened?"
Lu Sen nodded: "Well, it seems that the treasure ship was intercepted at sea and has not returned to Hangzhou yet."
The faces of several black-clad generals who followed behind changed drastically, and they were all filled with anger.
Zeng Aniu's face turned cold, and he asked, "My dear, do you know who did this?"
"I'm not sure, but the Tianji Sect is a strong suspect."
The treasure ship itself is a warship, and is extremely huge. Even if there are thirty or forty large ships, they may not be a match for the treasure ship. It can just ram into it directly without giving anyone face.
But the problem is, if a cultivation sect with a solid foundation like the Tianji Sect takes action, it is indeed possible.
After all, it’s not surprising that there are even unreasonable magical natural objects like the Fuso tree, so it’s not surprising that they have special means to deal with large warships.
The expressions of the men in black became increasingly cold.
For them, it was impossible for their brothers to betray their husband, so the only possibility was that something had happened.
"Have you noticed anything unusual recently?"
Several people shook their heads. They lived happily here, digging minerals and refining silver every day.
The tools given by Langjun are easy to use. Mining and smelting are hard work for others, but with these tools, the work becomes very easy.
Lu Sen also pondered.
When he flew to Japan, his flight route actually followed the treasure ship route.
Moreover, his field of vision in the air is very wide. If the treasure ship has not deviated from its route, he will be able to find it as long as it is still on the way.
"It looks like something has really happened." Lu Sen snorted, "You guys stay in the Taoist Palace first. I'll rest for a night and go back to Hangzhou tomorrow to see if there's any news."
I have to rest and let the aircraft restore its energy on its own.
As a result, when he got up the next morning and was about to fly away, the black-clad general Ah Huang suddenly came to report: "Sir, there are two women kneeling outside the city wall . Judging from their clothes, they seem to be a bit extraordinary."
Lu Sen was stunned for a moment and said, "Don't pay attention to them."
The Japanese naturally admire the strong. In their minds, Song men are the strongest and most majestic men. In addition, the Izumo Dojo is built in a very domineering way. It is not surprising that it attracts some Japanese women who admire strong men.
Ah Huang continued, "But those two women seem to have some magical powers?"
Huh? Mysterious?
The black-clad family generals have been living with Lu Sen for some time. They are no longer surprised by supernatural things and are not easily deceived by some tricks.
They can generally tell what is truly magical and what is fake.
Since Ah Huang said so, the two women outside the door must be truly magical. Could it be that they are related to the disappearance of the treasure ship?
Lu Sen thought about it and felt that this possibility was not high, because the Japanese people now did not dare to attack the Song people, and they could clearly see how huge and majestic the treasure ship was.
But don’t be afraid of ten thousand, just be prepared for one!
So Lu Sen decided to meet them and see what was going on.
However, they were not allowed to enter the city wall. Instead, Lu Sen and three black-clad family generals walked out of the city wall gate.
Two girls in white straight skirts were kneeling on the green grass.
Their hair was long, smooth and shiny, and fluttered gently without any wind.
This is indeed a bit magical.
At first glance, Lu Sen felt that the pattern of their clothes looked somewhat familiar. After looking at them for a few more times, he found that they seemed somewhat similar to the shrine maiden costumes of later generations, and he began to guess something in his mind.
Lu Sen walked up to the two of them and asked, "You two ladies are looking for me? How did you know I was coming?"
The two girls bowed down, and the girl kneeling in front knocked her forehead on the grass and said timidly: "My name is Izumo Akuni, and I am one of the current shrine maidens of the Izumo Grand Shrine. I have come here to fulfill the duties of a shrine maiden and serve the gods of the upper country."
She also spoke Song dialect, and it was very standard, and it sounded crispy.
"What I want to ask you is, how did you know it was me?"
"I have been here for three months, guarding here day and night. Yesterday, I saw auspicious clouds entering the Taoist palace. I think it must be a god coming from the west. Apart from Master Lu, there should be no one else."
When Lu Sen heard this, he was quite disappointed: "You are here just to serve, no other purpose?"
"I won't, and I dare not, have any other thoughts."
It seems that it has nothing to do with the disappearance of the treasure ship. Lu Sen sighed and said, "Forget it, I don't need your service. You can go back."
The girl was anxious, and immediately raised her head and said, "Master Lu, Ah Guo is very useful. He has learned all the skills to serve people. His lifelong wish is to serve the gods. Moreover, I have also learned the divination and deduction techniques of the upper country..."
Lu Sen was not interested.
The skill of serving others? Can it be better than practicing the art of dual cultivation with the one you love?
But then Lu Sen suddenly heard a key word. He was about to leave, but he turned around and looked at the other party and asked, "What did you say? Have you learned the art of deduction?"
There's something weird about Japan. There are ghosts and monsters here that don't exist in the Central Plains.
Moreover, the Abe family is also a family of practitioners. Abe Yari also said that the shrine in Izumo Province has a direct connection with their family.
Onmyoji...is essentially a combination of the Yin-Yang theory of the Central Plains and Taoist mysticism.
It doesn't seem too strange to know some Taoist deductive techniques.
Hearing Lu Sen's question, the girl blushed slightly: "I have indeed learned the art of deduction, and I have learned it very well, but because the spiritual energy of heaven and earth has been lost, without the spiritual energy as a foundation, my deduction art will not be of any use."
"Do you need spiritual energy?" Lu Sen's heart moved slightly.
The girl named Izumo Akuni still nodded shyly.
Ayun and Akun are the direct descendants of the Izumo family and are also the most talented girl.
Then no matter how good her talent is, it is of no use. Now the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is exhausted, and only certain places or objects can generate spiritual power. Therefore, she only learned the form of the deduction technique.
Without aura, there will never be 'God'.
Lu Sen thought about it and winked at Ah Huang next to him.
Ah Huang understood immediately, so he went back to the Taoist palace and sealed up all the tunnels and mine tunnels using mechanisms.
Then Lu Sen smiled and said, "Miss Chuyun, please follow me, and the one next to you..."
"Izumo Mariko!" Another girl who was leaning over the grass straightened up and smiled sweetly.
Both girls are pretty, but Izumo Akuni is more outstanding.
Inviting the two girls to the Taoist temple, Lu Sen asked, "May I ask if Miss Izumo's deduction technique can help people find things?"
"If you have spiritual energy, you can give it a try."
Although both of them were young ladies from Izumo, they both knew who Lu Sen was asking about.
Izumo Aguo didn't dare to sit down. She stood up, bent over and continued, "I'm confident that I've learned it very well."
Lu Sen thought for a moment, took out two peaches from the system backpack, and said, "This fruit contains some spiritual energy. Eat it, and help me find something later."
Looking at the peaches on the table, both girls showed joy.
They had heard about this thing from the future head of the family, Abe Yari, and knew it was a good thing.
"Then before I start to deduce, could Master Lu help me prepare a few pieces of gold and stone of the same size?"
At this time, "jinshi" does not refer to gold, but metals such as iron, generally referring to hard objects.
Lu Sen thought about it, then took out several iron cubes of exactly the same size from his system backpack.
Izumo Aguo's eyes were quite shocked. Lu Sen's operation of taking things out of his sleeves continuously was really amazing for those who saw it for the first time.
At that moment, Izumo Akuni and Izumo Mariko each held a peach in their hands, raised their sleeves to cover the corners of their mouths and half of their faces, and then began to eat them bite by bite.
Soon, both of them finished eating the peaches.
Izumo Mariko also touched her lower abdomen with an expression of surprise and joy on her face.
Then Izumo Aguo asked: "I can indeed sense the spiritual energy, and now I can search for Master Lu. Can Master Lu describe the characteristics of what you are looking for?"
"A big wooden ship. Very big."
The two girls nodded at the same time, and then took out a handful of wooden sticks tied with red silk ropes from their sleeves at the same time.
Then the two of them pulled an iron block in front of them almost at the same time.
Looking at the iron block in front of her, Izumo Mariko even whispered, "It's so big and black!"
Um?
The corners of Lu Sen's eyes twitched slightly. Although he understood what Izumo Yuanzi said, and it definitely did not have any other meaning, he was spending almost every day with the three women, and he had already unconsciously misinterpreted many words.
He was also a little surprised. Both of these girls knew the art of deduction?
Or does it only count as the art of deduction if two people perform it together?
Both of them untied the red rope that tied the wooden stick. They looked at Lu Sen for a while, then closed their eyes, held the wooden stick against their foreheads for a while, and almost at the same time, gently threw the wooden stick onto the iron block.
Some of the sticks remained on the iron cube, and some fell onto the table.
The two of them picked up all the wooden sticks on the iron block, looked at them one by one, looked at each other, turned to look at Lu Sen, and said in unison: "The wooden ship is on the southeast island of Izumo."
"The problem is that the southeast of Izumo is land, and beyond the land, there seem to be many large and small islands to the southeast."
“This is the first island you can see!”
Is that so?
Lu Sen thought for a moment, looked back at Ah Huang, and said, "Please ask the two young ladies to stay for a while. They are free to enter and exit any place in the Taoist Palace."
Ah Huang nodded to show that he understood.
Anyone above the Dao Palace is fine, anything below the Dao Palace is not fine!
Lu Sen smiled and said, "I'll go to the southeast to take a look. I'll be back in half a day at most. Then I might have to ask the two ladies for help."
The two Izumo sisters immediately stood up and said with a smile of joy, "No, no, serving the gods is our duty as shrine maidens."
Lu Sen smiled apologetically at the two of them, then flew the aircraft to the southeast.
He himself had no confidence in the two's deduction skills, but he still went to see if it was a "just in case" attitude.
Japan is not a big country, and the aircraft flew out of the land in less than three hours. After flying to the southeast for a while, he indeed saw an island.
And that island was shrouded in a thick fog.
It seemed very close, but it was actually quite far away. When Lu Sen flew to the thick fog, the island disappeared inexplicably.
It was exactly the same situation as the last time he left Tianjimen.
"It seems that those two Izumo clan priestesses do have some abilities."
Lu Sen drove the aircraft back to the Taoist Palace. It was already afternoon. A ray of setting sun fell into the house, reflecting an orange halo.
The two girls seemed even more beautiful in the halo.
Lu Sen asked: "How many people in Izumo Shrine are able to make deductions like you?"
"All the miko have learned it. Not many can master it." Izumo Akuni bowed and said, "This is necessary practice to serve the gods. But we only know how to tell fortunes and find people."
This is also the entry-level technique of the art of deduction, which is not too advanced. The high-level skills like those of the Tianji Sect, which can predict life when there is spiritual energy, are considered advanced skills.
To serve the gods, one must know what is suitable to do on the current day, whether it is suitable for going forward, offering sacrifices, or visiting relatives and friends.
Furthermore, if a god wants something on a whim, you have to know where to find it.
I don’t know how the shrine maidens at other shrines practice, but the Izumo Shrine has very high requirements in this regard.
Lu Sen held his chin up and looked at the two girls, and suddenly asked: "If Izumo Shrine is managed under my temple, do you think it is feasible?"
