Early summer evening, Laohuai Village at the foot of Mangshan Mountain.

Gu Wuyou stopped in front of a courtyard door, carefully placed the master on his back against the wall, stretched out his hand to check his breathing, and made sure that the old man was still breathing. Then he straightened out his worn Taoist robes and knocked on the courtyard door.

.

After a while, the door opened and a middle-aged man walked out.

Gu Wuyou held the Ziwu Seal with both hands and raised it to his eyebrows, bowed and performed a standard Taoist bowing ceremony: "Hello, believer, I am a poor Taoist."

Man: "Why are you poor? Oh, a beggar."

Gu Wuyou: "No, you misunderstood, I am a Taoist priest, not a beggar."

The man looked confused: "What is a Taoist priest...a newly invented self-proclaimed name in the food world?"

Gu Wuyou: "..."

"It's not shameful to beg for food. Who hasn't been in trouble? Why are you blushing?" The man turned and walked back, "Wait, I will get you something to eat. Well, my family is having dinner - the little guy is quite knowledgeable.

Ah, a senior beggar, right?"

Gu Wuyou: "Stop!"

"What happened again?" The man turned to look at him, "You are quite energetic."

Gu Wuyou: "First of all, I'm blushing not because I'm embarrassed, but because I choked on you. Secondly, I'm a Taoist priest, not a beggar. You've never heard of a Taoist priest, but a monk always knows that, right?"

The man was dubious: "Are you a monk?"

Naturally, it was impossible for a monk to beg for food, but looking at Gu Wuyou's dress, the man felt that he was insulting his IQ. Would a high-ranking monk wear patched clothes? Moreover, this clothes was so ugly, and it seriously did not match the monk's elegant temperament.

Gu Wuyou looked back at his master Kong De. Seeing that the old man was still asleep, he nodded firmly and said, "I can be."

Only then did the man notice the old man in the corner.

"What's wrong with him?"

Gu Wuyou's face darkened: "That's my master, he's sick."

"Is it okay? Have you seen a doctor?"

Gu Wuyou waved his hand: "The disease is terminal, the oil is exhausted and the lamp is dry. There is no cure."

The man hesitated for a moment and asked, "You don't say that because you don't have money to treat your elders, right?"

"Of course not!"

"That means you have money?"

"Well……"

"My face is red again, it seems I have no money."

"I said I choked you again, do you believe it?" Gu Wuyou rolled his eyes, "Brother, your role is that of an Orion, do you always choke people when you speak? I admit that I have no money, but we Taoist priests are all like this

, do you understand that you regard money as dirt?”

"Whatever." The man spread his hands, "He is not my master anyway."

To be a beggar, do you still need to learn skills from a teacher?

The man thought for a while and felt that it was not impossible. He had never begged for food. What if beggars also inherited their skills. But looking at the old man's skinny and pitiful appearance, I'm afraid his skills were not very good.

"So you are not a beggar, but a Taoist priest, a very poor Taoist priest, or Pindao for short, right?"

Gu Wuyou pouted: "You are much poorer than me..."

"Then why are you knocking on my door?"

Gu Wuyou straightened his clothes and said: "The poor Taoist master and disciple were passing through the precious land. They were hungry and thirsty. Please pray to the believers to donate a basket of food and a ladle of drink. As the saying goes, 'Being kind and generous will bring blessings, and the fasting monks will preach and God will bless you'...

…”

"Wait a minute." The man yelled, "I don't understand you at all. Can you speak in human language?"

Gu Wuyou said helplessly: "I am begging for food."

"Begging for food..." the man said happily, "then it's still begging for food."

"It's completely different!" Gu Wuyou blushed, "Begging for food can't be considered begging. Can begging, something done by a Taoist priest, be considered begging?"

The man tried his best to suppress his laughter.

You just beg for food, but if you change your name, you will become taller? The key is that he has never heard of the word "Taoist". It is obviously made up by imitating monks. According to this, he can also call himself "Hunter", and still

Don’t you have to go hunting in the mountains?

But he didn't continue to expose Gu Wuyou. The little guy was still young. Even if he was already a senior beggar, it was understandable that he would be thin-skinned.

The man came home and brought a bowl of vegetable soup and some noodles.

Gu Wuyou thanked the man, walked to the master with the food, crushed the pancakes and soaked them in the vegetable soup. He stretched out his hand and pushed the old man: "Master, it's time to eat."

The veteran Kongde opened his eyes and looked at his apprentice.

"Master, I don't have any appetite. You can eat."

"Then you have to eat something." Gu Wuyou put the bowl to Kong De's mouth, "We have already arrived at Mangshan. In three days at most, I can carry you back to the mountain gate. You have to hold on, I don't mean to say

Did you choose a cemetery yourself?"

Kongde smiled bitterly: "I have figured it out. As long as there is a little bit of good feng shui on Shenxu Peak, the land will not be ruined to this point."

"The general trend of the world has nothing to do with Feng Shui." Gu Wuyou shook his head and said, "As long as there is any generation of leaders who can think openly and know how to adapt, change the Shenxu Sect to the Shenxu Sect, and convert Taoists into monks, we will not be so miserable.

"

Comte sighed: "As a teacher, don't you just stick to the old rules..."

"The person who is about to die is not your fault. Don't blame him." Gu Wuyou interrupted Kong De, "They have lost something as important as the cultivation method. Even if you are willing to adapt, we can't practice cultivation."

It’s all in vain.”

Comte drank the vegetable soup in silence.

The disciple was right, he must persist until he returns to the mountain gate.

The Shenxu sect has been in decline for thousands of years. By the time of Master Kongde and his apprentice, not only had the magic formula been lost, but the master and apprentice, who had no cultivation skills, could only wander around the world and cheat in order to earn a living. They have not returned to the mountain for a long time.

But no matter what, Shenxu Peak is their home.

The so-called choice of a cemetery was purely an excuse. Comte just wanted to take one last look at the mountain gate before he died.

Kongde had run out of gas and was about to die at any time. He really had no appetite. He only took a few sips of vegetable soup and then refused to drink it again.

With the remaining vegetable soup, Gu Wuyou devoured the noodles and said, "Master, please squint a little. I'll return the bowl first, and then I'll take you to a place with leeward wind to rest. We'll start climbing the mountain tomorrow morning."

Kongde sighed: "Thank you for your hard work, apprentice."

Shenxu Peak is deep in Mangshan Mountain, and it is definitely not an easy task for Gu Wuyou to carry him up the mountain. However, in fact, this is not the most difficult, and the more difficult moments have already been overcome.

Mangshan is located in Yunzhou in the far west of the Central Plains. When Kongde died of a serious illness, the master and his apprentice were still in Lingzhou. As the center of the Taihao Dynasty, Lingzhou was the most prosperous and it was relatively easy to make a living.

Starting from Lingzhou, we go all the way west, a journey of tens of thousands of miles.

Along the way, Gu Wuyou tried his best, hitchhiking on caravans, stealing other people's donkeys and horses, carrying Kong De on his back and weighing him with his legs... He was hungry and full on the way, and occasionally he was cheated.

If you fail or are caught stealing, you will be beaten severely.

Everything the apprentice did was to satisfy Kongde's wish to die at the mountain gate.

This made Comte both moved and ashamed.

So when Gu Wuyou found a place with leeward to settle down, Kongde hesitated again and again and finally made a decision.

"Apprentice, my master has a secret..."

Gu Wuyou was startled, then laughed and said, "You're not hiding gold and silver treasures, are you? If that's the case, then I'll have to despise you."

Comte shook his head: "It's not gold or silver, but after hearing this, you will still despise me as a teacher, be angry with the Taoist, and even deny me as a master. It is possible that you will beat me up and then walk away."

Gu Wuyou: "So serious? What's the secret?"

Kong De glanced at his apprentice guiltily: "My master has always told you that you are the abandoned baby I picked up... but you are not."

"What!" Gu Wuyou suddenly sat up.

"Our Shenxu sect is so miserable. The key is that there is no hope. I'm afraid that you won't be able to bear the hardship and give up." Kong De said bitterly, "Actually, this is what I learned from your master. It's not what he always said in the past.

He ascended to immortality and became a teacher at a young age, so why did he waste his life?"

"He lied to you, so you cheated on me?"

"The incense of Shenxu Sect cannot be cut off in the hands of my master, apprentice!"

Gu Wuyou held it in for a long time, and finally sighed: "It can't be broken in my hands. You have succeeded in brainwashing me."

It is certainly annoying that the master deceived the apprentice, but the master and the apprentice have been dependent on each other for many years. Gu Wuyou's three views have long been influenced by Confucius, and he has already regarded the Shenxu Sect as his home. If you are angry, then what? You leave and never pay attention to it again.

Shenxu sect?

Unfortunately, Gu Wuyou can't do it.

Gu Wuyou looked at Kong De: "Since I am not an abandoned baby, that means you know where my hometown is and who my parents are."
To be continued...