Chapter 87: Tian Yuan Dharma Assembly (IV)
After Peng Ju finished speaking, the scene suddenly fell into silence.
People looked at each other with serious expressions, because no one knew the woman in red who suddenly appeared, and everyone was afraid that she had bad intentions.
Xuanmen is actually a very prestigious place. After all, the mysterious arts have long been in decline. Apart from the four major families who are unwilling to follow the trend of the times and give up these outdated businesses, how many young people in the new century are willing to study magic diligently?
There are three reasons why fewer and fewer people are learning magic:
First, practicing magic requires studying ancient books. Today's young people are unwilling to learn even a few hundred words of classical Chinese for exams, let alone an ancient book with tens of thousands of words. Most people fall asleep after reading the first line and can't even touch the surface. Only children from Xuanmen are forced to learn classical Chinese from a young age. If they don't read it, they will be slapped on the palm. Others practice piano from a young age, but they practice classical Chinese from a young age. They practice to the point that they can read classical Chinese as well as vernacular Chinese. Only then can they make some achievements. It's just a bit laborious.
The second reason is that today's children rarely have such good patience. A magic spell cannot be learned instantly by reading classical Chinese. In fact, it takes at least half a year of hard practice, repeating the same formula every year, but with no results. Over time, more and more people give up.
The last reason is that there is a circle of masters in the field, where old masters bring new people and introduce jobs to each other. All masters who come from the wild are often regarded as charlatans, and it is difficult for them to make a living with their skills. In the end, they end up penniless. After a long time, no one is willing to bother with this line of work.
Unexpectedly, interpersonal relationships in the Xuanshi profession are not uncommon. Although it seems to be the most extraordinary profession, it is actually bound to fall into clichés in the end.
Because of the above reasons, in fact, all the masters of the mystic arts knew each other every day. Even if they had never met, they had all heard of each other's names. But the name Peng Ju sounded very unfamiliar to him.
A mysterious woman with a mysterious background and special skills.
Perhaps he saw the hostility on everyone's faces, Peng Ju smiled and said, "Don't be nervous, I am a gatekeeper who was invited from far away. I will only conduct a small test on everyone. There is no other meaning."
After hearing what Peng Ju said, Zong Yi couldn't help but think in his heart: "An invited gatekeeper? Speaking of which, it's not like there haven't been such things in the past. Although it was a long time ago, I seem to have heard that there was a gatekeeper named Yang at the Tianyuan Dharma Assembly fifty years ago. It is said that he has been entrenched in Xiangxi for many years. He is a powerful but low-key master. He happened to be here to do business that time, and because of a favor, he helped the Zong family to be a gatekeeper for the "three passes". Could this woman in red be the same?"
And after all, this is the main family of the clan. No matter how powerful the villain is, it is impossible for him to cause trouble in the lair of the righteous, right?
Thinking of this, Zongyi asked, "What is the content of the trial?"
"It's like this. I have no clothes to wear recently. I hope you can find some clothes for me. If I am satisfied, you will succeed in passing the level. Otherwise--"
She dragged out the last word but didn't say anything further, obviously keeping the audience in suspense.
Zhong Yong obviously didn't buy it. He hated it the most when someone was playing tricks in front of him, so he asked unhappily, "How else can you eat me?"
But after hearing this, Peng Ju looked Zhong Yong up and down, then said with disgust, "I don't eat junk food."
Before Zhong Yong had time to get angry, he heard Zong Yi being the first to react. He gloated and laughed at the side: "Hahaha, you're so right. Isn't Zhong Yong a complete junk food? Hahaha."
Zhong Yong jumped up and down when he heard this: "How dare you, a headless knight, laugh at me? I'll beat you to death!" As he said this, he was about to swing his right hand wrapped in a coat to hit Zong Yi's face. Zhong Yong's two friends, A Da and A Er, saw this and quickly grabbed Zhong Yong.
"Calm down! Brother Yong, if you hit Souichi, Souichi will publicly talk about the stupid things you did as a child in his video, and you will still be the one who gets hurt!"
"Yes, Brother Yong, because of what he said about you being bitten by a toad when you were 5 years old and didn't listen to his advice, you got drunk for three days and three nights. Have you forgotten the pain you felt at that time?"
What a pair of pig teammates who boost others' morale but destroy your own prestige!
After hearing the story, Lu Ren and Shan Gui couldn't help but burst out laughing, but fortunately, they didn't have the bad taste to rub salt into other people's wounds. They just laughed and stopped with all their strength, leaving only their shoulders still trembling slightly, which they couldn't stop easily.
The unicorn cub couldn't understand the adults' expressions and asked Lu Ren naively: "Aren, can little Ding Ding really fish?"
Zong Yi, who was entangled by the thin wire, laughed even more wildly after hearing this. He answered before Lu Ren and even deliberately said loudly: "Only a fool would do this. Children should never learn this."
After hearing this, the little Qilin nodded seriously: "Okay."
With every word they said, Zhong Yong's expression became uglier. Finally, he looked at Ah Da and Ah Er, gritting his teeth and saying, "I told you not to mention it again, you seem to be afraid that I will forget about it!"
So the scolded Ah Da and Ah Er instantly became like two quails and stopped making a sound.
However, after the two of them got involved, the others stopped pursuing what Peng Ju was going to say after "otherwise..."
After Peng Ju announced the content of the trial, she walked deeper into the cave. The darkness that had almost solidified into substance slowly swallowed her up. She only left a sentence: "Come in and find me when you're done."
The remaining few people discussed countermeasures: "She said she wanted clothes, how can we give her clothes in this desolate mountain and wilderness?"
In order to save Soichi, the clothes on several people were stuck to the web woven with fine threads.
After thinking for a while, Zong Yi patted his head and said, "I know! This is both thread and clothes. We must be asked to make a piece of clothes with these materials! On the one hand, using this fine thread with strange material will test our ability; on the other hand, it is also to teach us the truth that 'the silkworm will not stop spinning silk until death'. Through the process of weaving clothes, we can experience the difficulties of the working people, learn lessons in the future life, and cherish the fruits of others' labor."
If the first test was Chinese reading comprehension, Zongyi would definitely get full marks.
Although Zongyi's words made some sense, Lu Ren couldn't help but wonder: "But these lines are obviously imitating spider webs, right?"
However, after Zong Yi's well-reasoned speculation, Ah Da and Ah Er both applauded and echoed, "Indeed. This is consistent with the Zong family's usual intention of setting questions. As expected of a Zong family member, the ancestor's thoughts were guessed right away."
Zhong Yong seemed very unhappy about Zong Yi's answering first: "Humph, I knew it a long time ago, but I just didn't say it."
Since this explanation has been confirmed by the natives, everything seems reasonable. Therefore, Lu Ren naturally put aside the immature doubts just now. However, he saw that Zong Yi and Zhong Yong were about to start arguing like elementary school students. In line with the principle of creating a harmonious society, he interrupted their quarrel at the first opportunity: "So, how should we cut these wires now?"
Zhong Yong, who was originally focused on Zong Yi, finally turned his gaze to Lu Ren after hearing this. This was the first time he looked directly at Lu Ren, so he spoke uncertainly: "You are..."
Zong Yi was afraid that Zhong Yong's insulting words would cause some mental trauma to the three-good youth Lu Ren, so he quickly spoke up to defend Lu Ren and said, "These were taken by my high school classmate Lu Ren and his distant relatives."
What this means is, don't drag him into our war.
But Zong Yi was obviously overthinking it. Towards people other than Zong Yi, Zhong Yong could be considered very polite. He even nodded to a few of them in a friendly manner as a greeting: "Hello."
Then, Zhong Yong turned around and said to Zong Yi with disdain, just like the Sichuan Opera's face-changing, "You just don't have the ability to break these silk threads. Watch out—" He said to Ah Da, "Ah Da, show them your skills."
Ah Da is an old otaku who has lived for 30 years. His biggest dream is to live off his parents. His favorite thing is to combine the magic he learned in elementary school with his favorite anime. He even wore magic girl clothes and used glowing magic to pretend to be magic at an anime convention, attracting countless otakus like him to fall in love with his long legs.
In short, there is no hope.
Ah Da sneered, "Humph, as expected, in times of crisis, the protagonist is needed to save the situation!" Then he shouted, "Come out! My holy sword!"
Along with his childish shouts, Ah Da quickly pulled out a fruit knife from his backpack.
Of course, Ah Da couldn't have intended to use a fruit knife to slowly cut the thin wire. He just chanted a spell, and the fruit knife instantly attached a breath of metal and stone. Ah Da explained: "Don't worry, this metal and stone technique can move mountains and rocks, so cutting a wire is no problem."
This time, Ah Da managed to cut the tangled thread very smoothly. However, the process of weaving clothes was not very ideal after that.
Thirty minutes later, they went from a web of thin threads to a tangled mass of thin threads.
None of these people had a talent for weaving.
Seeing this, Zong Yi laughed dryly: "Haha, this level is definitely to test whether we can understand the spirit and whether we can cut the thin thread. As for whether we can weave it into clothes, it shouldn't be that important. I think since we weave so hard, the gatekeeper will definitely let us pass."
Zhong Yong rolled his eyes at him and said, "If you are so confident, then go give her this pile of rags and say that this is her favorite piece of clothing."
"Who's afraid of who? Just go! Even if you fail, the worst that can happen is that I'll be criticized at dinner tonight. It's just a social death, who's afraid of who!" After saying this, Zong Yi wrapped the ball of thin thread in his coat and prepared to step into the deeper darkness.
However, the mountain ghost, sensing something was wrong, snatched the string away first and said, "I'll go."
Of course Zong Yi refused: "How can I let you, a girl, go there? What if there is any danger..."
The mountain ghost just said, "It's okay," and then walked into the darkness.
Behind him, Lu Ren, who understood the mountain ghost's intention, stopped Zong Yi who was about to chase after him and explained, "It's okay. She has been strong since she was a child and can protect herself."
The mountain ghost walked deeper into the cave and was gradually enveloped by the thick darkness. In the depths of the darkness, Peng Ju was quietly waiting for the arrival of the challenger. Her upper body was still the beauty in red, but her lower body had turned into a giant spider. She opened her eyes, looked at the thin thread in the mountain ghost's hand, and smiled happily.
"Wrong answer."
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Zhong Yong
