Chapter 443: The Art of Peace, the Yellow Heavenly Talisman
Changle suddenly threw herself into Li Daoxuan's arms, like a frightened cub, raised her little face covered with mud, and cried like a little cat.
"Wuwuwu... Master, I thought I would never see you again..."
At this moment, all her nobility and elegance as the eldest princess of the Tang Dynasty disappeared. She hid in Li Daoxuan's arms, crying and snotting, and even soiled her spotless Luoyue fairy robe.
"Wow... Master, I'm not dreaming..."
Li Daoxuan shook his head and smiled, then flicked her smooth forehead with his finger. Seeing her pain, he smiled and said, "If it hurts, it's not a dream. Don't worry, Master is here to save you."
Seeing her tears after crying, Li Daoxuan sighed softly and stretched out his sleeve to wipe her clean.
Changle raised her little face obediently, and her frightened heart, which had been locked in the tomb, finally calmed down slowly.
During this time, she struggled desperately and called for help in the grave, even her nails bled, but it was of no avail. Later, she fell asleep due to exhaustion. Perhaps because she accidentally touched the wound, she was awakened by the pain and couldn't help making a sound, which was heard by Li Daoxuan.
Li Daoxuan also noticed her wound.
"Put your hand out."
"Master, I'm fine. I'll just have to go back and ask the imperial physician to take a look..."
Changle put his hands behind his back, as if he didn't want his master to see his miserable appearance.
Li Daoxuan flicked her again and said calmly, "Don't obey the master's order?"
Changle rubbed her head. Her emotions had stabilized at this moment, and she stretched out her hand reluctantly.
I saw that the originally fair and slender hands were now covered with dirt and bloodstains, especially on the nails, which even had blood scabs hiding the coagulated blood.
When Li Daoxuan saw countless fine scratches on the inside of the coffin, he knew how much pain this little girl, who had lived a life of luxury since childhood, had endured this time.
Li Daoxuan held her hand and practiced the Great Five Elements Escape Technique. Five-colored divine light flashed, with the green light being the most dazzling and blazing. It mobilized the energy of the surrounding plants and living things and injected it into Changle's hands.
Changle only felt a coolness in her palms, and the pain quickly subsided. After a while, her hands became white and tender again, without any scars.
"Master, this is amazing, I want to learn it!"
There was admiration in her eyes.
Li Daoxuan smiled and said, "Practice well, I will teach you in the future."
After a pause, he gradually put away his smile, looked her up and down, and said, "Now I will ask you something, and you must answer honestly."
Changle was startled by his serious expression and quickly put away her smile.
"Let me ask you, where are those amulets I gave you before? Why don't you wear them?"
After Li Daoxuan accepted her as his disciple, he gave her many amulets. If Changle could carry them with her, she would not be taken away by ghosts.
Changle lowered his head and said, "Because Sister Yan'er...she is afraid of those talismans."
"Yan'er...she tied you up here, and you still call her sister?"
Changle raised his head, a hint of determination in his eyes.
"Master, Sister Yan'er must have her own difficulties!"
She told about her acquaintance with Yan'er.
It turned out that she had once mistakenly entered the cold palace, where she met an insane woman, who was said to be a concubine who had committed a serious mistake. She had sneaked out at that time without any maid accompanying her.
When the crazy woman saw her, she grabbed her throat. Just as she was struggling desperately, a sister named Yan'er appeared, knocked the crazy woman unconscious and saved her.
From then on, the two became friends.
The clever Changle soon discovered that something was wrong with Yan'er. She didn't dare go out at noon, let alone step out of the cold palace. She didn't need to eat at ordinary times, and had no shadow under the moonlight.
Changle guessed that she was a ghost, but she was not afraid. Instead, she became friends with her.
Sister Yan'er would tell her about life outside the palace, about the wild rabbits in the mountains, the grasshoppers in the grass, the ripe persimmons, and the smoke rising from her mother's stove.
That was a life she had never experienced.
Sister Yan'er is only a few years older than her, but seems exceptionally mature. She is usually very quiet, but when she talks about her family, she always smiles like a crescent moon.
But most of the time, she would stare at a piece of candy.
Later, when the Fengshan Ceremony was about to be held, Changle got up early to prepare cakes and wanted to present them to her master, but she received a message from her sister Yan'er, asking her to go to the cold palace immediately.
As soon as she got there, she lost consciousness, and when she woke up, she was lying in the grave.
…
After listening to her story, Li Daoxuan raised his hand and a purple talisman floated out from behind Changle, exuding a mysterious aura. It was this talisman that blocked her aura.
Under the eyes of the Dharma, four ancient seal characters could be faintly seen on it.
"Taiping...Huang Tian..."
Li Daoxuan's heart moved, he thought of a man, a man who held a nine-section staff, interpreted the "Taiping Jing", and started the chaotic times in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
Great and wise teacher, General Tiangong, Zhang Jue!
The blue sky is dead, and the yellow sky should be established. In the year of Jiazi, there will be good luck to the world.
Master once said that Zhang Jue was very good at the art of talismans. After his death, the talismans on his body were divided up by his subordinates. Each talisman was very precious and had its own magical use.
Li Daoxuan speculated that this talisman might have been drawn by Zhang Jue himself, and was divided among his subordinates. Many years later, it fell into the hands of the old Taoist priest. Perhaps the old Taoist priest was the descendant of the former Yellow Turban Army.
This would explain why the old Taoist priest kept raising little ghosts and practicing evil magic, but was never discovered by the court or righteous monks, and ended up dying at the hands of the ghosts he had raised.
It can also explain why the ghost in the cabinet could have been hiding in Ziwu Town outside Chang'an City and lived under the noses of Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng for many years.
"She left such a precious talisman to you..."
Li Daoxuan pondered in his heart. He had asked Wang Bo before, and the other party said that Changle’s two maids died tragically in a corner outside the palace, as if they were attacked by demons.
A guess came to his mind.
Could it be that Yan'er knew that ghosts would attack Changle, so she notified her to leave in advance, and the reason she borrowed the talisman from the ghost in the cabinet was because... those ghosts that attacked and killed the maid were still tracking Changle!
Thinking of this, Li Daoxuan looked at the wooden tombstone again.
"The tomb of my beloved daughter Chen Yan."
This simple grave, where no one had visited for a long time, was Yan'er's burial place. She thought it was safe here, so she placed Changle in her grave and left alone.
Maybe she wanted to lead the pursuers away alone.
Changle was very smart. When she saw Li Daoxuan's expression, she immediately guessed that something was wrong.
"Master, is Sister Yan'er in danger?"
She pinched the corner of Li Daoxuan's clothes, her eyes full of pleading.
Li Daoxuan said in a deep voice: "Let's go and take a look first."
He glanced at Xiaotian, and the dog immediately ran towards the east. According to the smell on the candy, Yan'er had stayed here for a moment and then left to the east.
…
Night is falling.
The people of Ziwu Town have all returned home. Although their houses are simple, they are filled with children's laughter.
Li Daoxuan and Changle stood in front of the window of a house, quietly looking at the faint candlelight inside.
Xiaotian whispered, "Master, that girl named Yan'er stayed here for a long time."
Li Daoxuan nodded, and through the shabby window, he saw a middle-aged couple teasing a little boy in the dim candlelight. The family of three was having a great time.
The mother peeled a candy, fed it to the little boy, and said with a smile: "This candy is very sweet. Your sister used to like it the most."
The little boy asked curiously, "Do I have a sister? Where is she?"
Her husband immediately glared at her.
The mother knew she had said something wrong, so she quickly changed the subject and asked with a smile, "Xiao Hu, what did the teacher teach you in the private school today?"
The little boy immediately forgot about his sister and proudly told his parents that his teacher praised him today, saying that he was smart, had a quick memory, and was a good student.
The parents suddenly became even more proud.
Changle's eyes were filled with tears without her knowing. She whispered, "Master, Sister Yan'er...has been watching here for a long time?"
Li Daoxuan sighed softly.
A picture emerged in his mind.
Under the moonlight, a little girl of thirteen or fourteen finally returned to her long-lost home. However, because there was a monster chasing her, she could only watch through the window for a moment and then leave silently.
Perhaps even if she hadn't been followed, she wouldn't have set foot in the house.
Perhaps she finally understood why her parents visited her grave less and less often, and why she could no longer get her favorite candy.
That cheap candlelight was also the home she had always dreamed of.
At this moment, Li Daoxuan suddenly remembered what he saw and heard in the cemetery today. The little ghost who tried to hug his mother was probably another Yan'er.
The candles in the room went out, and soon the sound of even, deep sleep could be heard.
"Let's go."
Li Daoxuan touched Changle's head and said softly.
Changle raised her little face, her eyes red, and asked, "Sir, are there many people like Sister Yan'er in this world?"
Li Daoxuan was stunned for a moment, thought about it, and decided to tell the truth.
"A lot, much more than you can imagine."
In the early years of the Zhenguan period, there was already a lot of work to be done, and with the addition of demons and monsters, things like this were not uncommon.
This is also the reason why Li Daoxuan was willing to help Li Shimin. In addition to helping his own practice, the most important reason was that he also wanted to change the current situation.
Let the people of the Tang Dynasty no longer suffer from hunger and cold, and let the children no longer be displaced.
"Master, my father said that he wanted to create a prosperous era. Does that mean that as long as there is a prosperous era, this kind of thing will not happen?"
"Yes, as long as the prosperous times come, such things will no longer happen, or at least they will be greatly reduced!"
"Master, can you and Father succeed?"
Li Daoxuan was silent for a moment, then said, "Yes, I will."
The little girl nodded vigorously, wiped her tears and said: "Changle will definitely work hard to cultivate, and in the future, together with Master and Father, we will create a prosperous era!"
"good."
In the darkness of the night, Li Daoxuan held Changle's little hand, and two shadows, one big and one small, gradually went away under the bright moonlight.
…
A moment later.
Xiaotian continued to follow the scent and brought the two to the riverside. He said, "Master, this is the last place she came to. After this, she disappeared."
After a pause, Xiaotian said, "There is a smell of water ghosts on the shore!"
Li Daoxuan raised his eyebrows, revealing a hint of surprise.
It's the water corpse ghost again!
From the Sishui River in Xuzhou to the Bashui River in Chang'an, and then to the small river in Ziwu Town, water corpse ghosts appeared one after another. This was a very strange and unusual incident.
Li Daoxuan stared at the river. His third eye between his eyebrows had already opened and checked the entire riverbed, even the deepest part of the mud. But even though his third eye had penetrated hundreds of feet underground, he still did not find any trace of water corpse ghosts.
This means that the water corpse ghost that once appeared here has already left along the river.
This is totally unreasonable.
His master once told him that monsters like water corpse ghosts usually don't leave their birthplaces easily. One must know that there are many monsters hidden in rivers, lakes and seas. If one accidentally steps into the territory of other monsters, he will inevitably engage in a life-and-death battle.
In addition, water corpse ghosts are only interested in blood food. They like to eat humans the most, followed by cattle and sheep, and then fish. They generally do not conflict with ghosts.
However, the water corpse ghost, which had never interfered with other ghosts, left its territory and took away or killed Yan'er by the water. All these abnormalities pointed to one possibility.
That is, behind these water zombies, there is a leader who controls them!
From Xuzhou to Chang'an, a big chess game has been quietly laid out, and the person playing chess behind the scenes should be Moro!
"The chess game has been set. Li Daoxuan, where will your chess piece land ?"
Suddenly, Li Daoxuan remembered the last words left by Moro when he met him in Lingtai, and he couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling in his heart.
An old monster like Mara, who has lived for who knows how many years, has such meticulous planning and deep thoughts that people can't help but be wary of him. He now only hopes that Master Sanle can tell him where Mara is as soon as possible, and then work with the Empress and the old Taoist priest to destroy him.
This feeling of the enemy being in the dark and I being in the light is really unpleasant.
"Master, will something happen to Sister Yan'er?"
Changle held Li Daoxuan's hand tightly and said nervously.
Li Daoxuan did not answer. He frowned slightly, and a bad premonition inexplicably arose in his heart.
He quickly reviewed the recent events in his mind. There were indeed some flaws and oddities, such as the repeated appearances of the water corpse ghost, why Mo Luo did not alarm the dragon spirit when he destroyed the Fengshan ceremony, and why Yan'er appeared in the palace...
But he couldn't connect the clues together, as if the most important piece of the puzzle was missing.
If only I could tell fortunes...
As Li Daoxuan was thinking this, a flash of lightning suddenly occurred to his mind and an idea emerged.
He can't tell fortunes, but... there are people who can!
Li Daoxuan slapped the Three Realms Gourd on his waist, released the ghost cabinet, and then knocked gently on the cabinet door.
"This is where Yan'er disappeared last. I already know who is behind this. If you want to save Yan'er, help me figure out a favor."
The blood flowed out, which scared Changle. Fortunately, her master was by her side, so she was not so scared.
"good."
The ghost in the closet immediately agreed.
Li Daoxuan did not directly ask Moro what the overall plan was. Even if this ghost cabinet was turned into dust, he probably wouldn't be able to figure out a single word.
After thinking for a moment, he asked a question that seemed unrelated but was actually very relevant.
"Why didn't the dragon energy attack Yan'er in the palace?"
