Chapter 334: Mermaid Tears, Drought in Chang'an
The white snake opened its eyes. After a night of training, its scales seemed to be whiter and had a jade-like luster. Its size also grew a little bigger, from three feet to about four feet.
Perhaps because it absorbed the purple energy of the morning glow, the evil aura on its body became lighter, and there was even a faint trace of fresh air.
This shows how much it harvested that night.
"Little snake, I am leaving now. I hope that when we meet again, you can stick to your original intention and not become a man-eating monster."
After saying this, Li Daoxuan waved his whisk, threw out the paper horse, and prepared to leave.
He wanted to subdue the White Snake, but he did not ask it to do so.
It mainly depends on whether the White Snake herself is willing to surrender.
Seeing that Li Daoxuan was about to leave, Baishe's eyes revealed a hint of determination, as if she had made up her mind.
It spit out a small round bead from its mouth. It was only the size of a longan, but it emitted a soft light and seemed to have a strange power.
There was a strange look in Li Daoxuan's eyes.
He reached out and picked up the small bead, and could immediately feel a strange power seeping into his skin, as if it wanted to affect his body, but in the face of that overwhelming magic power, it quickly retreated.
The beads emitted a faint blue light. When I put my ear close to them, I could actually hear the faint sound of the sea.
Li Daoxuan looked at it for a moment and finally guessed the origin of the bead.
This bead should be the legendary teardrop.
The so-called teardrops are the tears of the mermaids . It is recorded in Zhang Hua's "Records of Natural History" in the Jin Dynasty: "There are mermaids in the South China Sea. They live in water like fish, but they still weave. Their eyes can shed tears."
Mermaids have two treasures. One is the mermaid silk, also known as dragon gauze, which is a silk cloth woven by the mermaids. It is as thin as a cicada's wing and can be submerged in water without getting wet.
The second is this teardrop, which is said to be a pearl transformed from the tears of a mermaid. Some people also say that this thing is not the tears of a mermaid, but is produced from the tail of a mermaid. Only by killing the mermaid and cutting open its tail can you get this teardrop.
Teardrops are more precious than shark silk. If mortals wear this item all year round, they can prolong their life and keep their youthful looks.
Uncle Dabao once said that in the past Taoists often ground tears into powder and used it as medicine to make elixirs for longevity. However, later on, the number of mermaids became less and less, and now, they are almost nowhere to be seen.
An ordinary teardrop, which is only the size of a grain of rice, is already priceless. However, this teardrop is as big as a longan , and its value is truly inestimable.
But it doesn’t mean much to Li Daoxuan.
He is a cultivator and has the help of "The Heavenly Book of Exorcising Demons". Even without tears, he can still maintain his youthful appearance and pursue immortality.
"It is your good fortune to have this teardrop. Are you really willing to give it to me?"
Li Daoxuan looked at the white snake and said.
The white snake nodded, and then automatically crawled to Li Daoxuan's feet, and climbed up along his legs. Seeing that Li Daoxuan did not stop it, it was immediately overjoyed, and crawled into Li Daoxuan's sleeves and wrapped around his wrists.
Li Daoxuan laughed loudly and said, "Okay, then I will accept you."
This white snake is no simple matter. It has extraordinary blood and is a highly poisonous snake. In the future, when fighting with others, I can just wave my sleeves and let the white snake fly out to bite people, which will surely catch the opponent off guard.
Well, let’s give this move a name, let’s call it...White Dragon in the Sleeve!
After taming the white snake, Li Daoxuan rode on a white horse and headed towards Chang'an.
Although there are still doubts about the Xuzhou incident, such as why Zhang Laowu said that he saw tens of thousands of water ghosts, these doubts cannot be solved in a short period of time.
Li Daoxuan has many important things to do on his way to Chang'an, so he cannot be delayed for too long.
…
The man in blue robe rode a white horse and arrived at Chang'an in three days.
With a divine horse that could travel thousands of miles a day, it only took Li Daoxuan three days to reach Chang'an, during which time he also spent a lot of time practicing.
The sun is scorching and there are waves of heat.
When Li Daoxuan arrived in front of Chang'an City on horseback, it was almost noon.
Seeing the legendary imperial capital Chang'an for the first time, even Li Daoxuan, who had witnessed many grand scenes, could not help but be shocked by the majestic, prosperous and majestic city before him.
The city wall is tall and majestic, like a majestic pass or a huge mountain. Many soldiers in heavy armor are stationed on it, with a solemn look and a murderous aura.
The streets in the city are densely packed like a chessboard, with merchants and shops coming and going in an endless stream. Looking from afar, it makes people feel dazzled. It is really as Bai Juyi said in his poem, hundreds of thousands of houses are like a Go board, and the twelve streets are like vegetable plots.
Chang'an City was the capital of two dynasties. It was named Daxing City in the Sui Dynasty. Emperor Wen of Sui mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to build it in the style of "following the laws of heaven and earth, with the emperor as the supreme ruler". After Li Yuan established Chang'an as the capital, he started renovation again.
Today, this majestic city is about 40 miles wide from east to west and about 80 miles long from north to south. It is not only the most majestic city in ancient China, but also the undisputed number one city in the world!
Li Daoxuan stood at the foot of the city, quietly opened his eyes and looked at Chang'an City.
I saw the golden imperial dragon energy rising into the sky in the city, spreading out with Taiji Palace as the center, like stars surrounding the moon.
Under the influence of the mighty dragon energy, the field of vision of Li Daoxuan's heavenly eye was greatly reduced, and the magic power in his body was also restricted, causing a slight stagnation when it was in use. He could only exert 70% to 80% of his full strength.
And the closer you are to the Tai Chi Palace, the greater the impact.
At this moment, he finally understood why those who practiced Taoism did not like to come to Chang'an City. It was a prosperous and wealthy place for the common people, but for practitioners, it was like a dragon's den and a tiger's lair.
Li Daoxuan took the white horse and then entered Chang'an City.
The first thing he felt when he entered the city was - hot!
The entire city was like a huge furnace, baking everything in the city, making Chang'an, which should have been bustling with traffic, become a little deserted.
Li Daoxuan noticed that many people had chapped lips and pedestrians on the street were all sweating profusely, as if they had been thirsty for a long time.
"The Heshui River and the Weishui River have dried up, and the Weishui River in the north will soon be flooded. If this continues, I will move out of Chang'an City!"
"That's right. Forget about getting water for irrigation. My child hasn't had a drop of water for two days!"
"Didn't your majesty say that he was going to hold a Longmen Immortal Meeting to pray for rain?"
"Haha, I don't know how many times I've prayed to the Dragon King Temple, but it's useless. Even praying to the Dragon King is useless, let alone asking for help from a Taoist priest!"
"I heard that the reason why Chang'an City suffered from a severe drought was because Your Majesty was at Xuanwu Gate that year—"
"Shh, be careful with your words! Do you want to die?"
…
Along the way, Li Daoxuan heard a lot of discussions. Because of the severe drought, the people in Chang'an City were indeed somewhat unstable.
But we can't blame them. The ancients believed in gods and paid attention to cause and effect. Chang'an City has never experienced drought in more than ten years, but drought occurred as soon as the emperor ascended the throne. This is easy to make people think about it.
Many people believe that it was because Li Shimin killed his brother and imprisoned his father that God refused to rain.
Li Daoxuan did not go to the palace to pay homage to the emperor immediately, but first came to the Xuandu Temple in Chang'an City. He wanted to meet his very mysterious senior sister Taizhen first.
