Chapter 88: Encountering a Monster on a Boat "The world is so big that nothing is impossible. The ancients were right." The third brother said as he walked, "If I hadn't walked out, who would have thought that there is a mountain in the world where birds and mice can live in the same cave?" There is a big river in front of us, and the dock is already visible. There were some distant calls coming from above the river. Lin Jue couldn't help but look back as he walked—— It is said that this is also the only way to the capital. What is the capital city of this world like? If my master were to go down the mountain a hundred years later, I would probably go there for a visit. Looking back, we had reached the river. There are many passenger ships docked here, both large and small. The big ones go long distances, the small ones go nearby, and there is even a building ship, which shows the development of water transportation. "Do you want to take a boat?" "Where is the Taoist priest going?"
"Master! My boat is fast and stable!" Before the three of them got close, they heard the greeting. "Let's go to Yuanzhou, Mingzhao Mountain in Weng County, and find a boat that can carry donkeys." said the third brother, carrying a bundle of hay on his back. Among the three, Lin Jue was still carrying his book, but the third senior brother and the younger sister each carried a bundle of hay. Even the fox's back was tied with hay, which the third senior brother could hold with both hands. However, it was just a playful act of the Taoist, with more symbolic significance than practical meaning. The fox, however, obediently carried it on its back and stood at Lin Jue's feet. "Yuanzhou..." Many boatmen remained silent. Small boats are not suitable for traveling such a long distance, nor can they carry donkeys, and some do not go to Yuanzhou. There was only a larger covered boat with an old man standing on it, adjusting the sail. "Master, are you going to Mingzhao Mountain in Weng County?" "You need to carry a donkey." "Of course the donkey can carry it, but it has to be placed at the back so as not to affect other guests." The old man said, "It's also because the Taoist's donkey is not afraid of water. If it gets scared and falls into the water, we won't compensate you." "My donkey brother is smart." "It's OK if you're smart." "how much is it?" "The Taoist priests have another one... Is this a fox? It won't bite anyone, right?" "Never will." "It's more than a thousand miles to Mingzhuo Mountain by water, and it takes about ten days to walk. Originally, it cost more than three hundred coins per person. If you are willing, I will only charge three hundred coins for your kindness. The donkey is also only counted as one person." The old man looked at them and said, "We cook breakfast and dinner on the boat. The donkey brings its own fodder, and the fox doesn't cost money. As long as you don't mind the fishy smell, you can get as much fish and shrimp as you want." "can."
The third brother did not bargain and agreed. So the three of them took the lead and stepped onto the boat. The fox followed behind with the grass on its back. It jumped up lightly and landed steadily, but the grass on its back shook three times. Unexpectedly, the donkey also moved up steadily. It will stand wherever you tell it to stand. The donkey is not big, and the canoe is not small. Brother Donkey can stand horizontally behind the canoe, and it is naturally more spacious for him to stand vertically. In addition to the three people, there are actually three more people in the canoe. A young man dressed as a scholar. Two gangsters with swords and scars on their faces. Seeing Lin Jue and the other two getting on the boat, the three people on the boat looked at them, gazing them up and down. The scholar looked at Lin Jue's book collection and the young face of his junior sister, and felt that these three Taoists also had some literary air; the martial artist looked at the swords they carried and the whistle stick Lin Jue was holding, and saw some martial arts spirit in them. Indeed, besides the Talisman School, the Spiritual School and the Alchemy School, there were also some Taoists who used Taoist temples to avoid taxes and officials, and actually practiced martial arts to make their way in the martial arts world. "It's polite." The third brother bowed first and said, "We are Taoists from Fuqiu Temple in Yishan Mountain. We have been practicing in seclusion. We brought a donkey to carry our luggage for a long journey. However, my donkey brother is always obedient. He neither barks nor poops. I am lucky to be able to travel with you three. Please forgive me." "Where is Yishan?" "People in the martial arts world don't care about so many things! But why do you travel the world with a delicate young man and a little girl?" The two Jianghu people asked one after another. "Yishan? Tiandu Lotus?" The scholar raised his hand in return and asked. "Yishan in Yi County is very remote. These two are my junior brothers and sisters. This time I took them out to participate in the grand ceremony at Mingzhao Mountain to broaden their horizons." The third senior brother answered one by one, and then looked at the scholar, "This layman is really knowledgeable. This is the Yishan Mountain with Tiandu Peak and Lianhua Peak." The two gangsters were immediately disappointed and snorted. At first, seeing that they were wearing long swords on their belts and the third senior brother was wearing a wine gourd, I thought they were all from the same martial arts world. But it turned out that they were not. Instead, they looked very literary, so I found them boring. The scholar's eyes lit up. "I have never been there either, but I have heard that although Yishan is remote and steep, its scenery is the best among all the famous mountains in the world. Hence there is a poem like 'Even the visitors returning from the Five Mountains will be amazed when they see Tiandu'." "That's true." "Let's go!" a gangster shouted at the top of his voice, "There are six of us, and two big and small animals. We have to go a long way. How much money do you want to make per trip? We won't have a place to sleep tonight!" The little fox immediately tilted its head and stared at him. The boatman's response came immediately from outside. Then the boat slowly left the shore. There was wind, so we hoisted the sail and sailed with the wind.
The cabin was very simple, with a fixed long wooden bench on each side for sitting. There was also a small stove, some raincoats, fishing nets, fishing gear, pots and pans. The luggage was casually placed in the middle, Lin Jue and the other two sat on the left side of the direction of travel, and the other three sat on the right side. Two gangsters are talking. The third senior brother was also talking to the scholar. Lin Jue was looking around the cabin, and the junior sister imitated him with a serious face, turning her head to look around. The fox lay obediently at his feet. Although this ship is not small, it does not have accommodation space like a building ship. At night, unless there is a hotel near the shore, I am afraid I can only spend the night in the cabin or on the deck. The fox shrugged his nose. Lin Jue also took a breath silently. The two Jianghu people opposite hadn't bathed for a long time, so their bodies were not only sour, but also had a strong stench. Not only that, their behavior and speech were also very unrefined. Originally, the third senior brother had a gangster temperament and an open-minded personality. However, when making friends with people from the gangster world, one must also see if there is a mutual affinity. After chatting for a few words on the boat, he found that they spoke in a vulgar manner, while the young scholar was very polite. So he stopped talking to them and only chatted with the scholar. But then again, where in the world is not a martial arts world? Who among the people you meet in the mountains is not a martial arts world? If you get along well, then chat and make friends to your heart's content. When Lin Jue looked around, the two Jianghu people were also looking at them, or to be more precise, at the little apprentice sister. Perhaps because they thought the little apprentice sister was pretty, the Jianghu people were bold and straightforward, and they didn't shy away from looking at her. The junior sister looked serious and glanced at them. After a while, Lin Jue stood up and walked outside onto the deck. As expected, the little fox and the little apprentice sister stood up almost at the same time and followed him outside. There is space in front and behind the tent. The donkey stands in the back, but the front is also empty. Once you stand on it, the moist breeze from the water surface blows on your face, which is so refreshing. If the weather is good, you can take a nap on it at night, floating on the still water and watching the stars spinning in the sky. It must be very happy. At this time, the boatman was adjusting the sail. Lin Jue had nothing to do, so he stroked the fox, rubbed off some of its fur, and scattered it in the wind. He also chatted with the boatman: "Boatman, are the waves usually strong on this river?" "As long as there is no flood and no alligator monster, the waves will not be big. Even if there is some wind, it can only push the boat forward." The boatman said with a smile, "Master Taoist, don't worry, my boat is very stable." "Just be steady!" "Haha, as long as the Taoist priest's donkey is not frightened, it will definitely not fall down." "Don't worry about my Brother Donkey." "Why does the Taoist priest call the donkey "brother"? "I followed the other brothers in calling him that." Lin Jue said, "Maybe it entered the Taoist temple before us, so naturally we called it brother." "The Taoist priest is a great man..." "No, no." Lin Jue said quickly, and then said to him, "It's also a good livelihood for boatmen to sail on this river." "What's good about it? It's exposed to the wind, rain, sun and snow. Even if you don't get tired, you'll still have pain all over your body when you get old." The boatman shook his head and said, "Besides, the world is unstable nowadays, so fewer people are taking the boat." “Isn’t that a lot?”
"The Taoist priest is going to Mingzhu Mountain to hold a Taoist meeting, right?" "Hmm? How did the boatman know?" "Such a big thing, how could you not know about it? Many devout believers are rushing there, and there are also many dignitaries. It is only recently that there are so many people going to Mingzhao Mountain." The boatman said, "In the past, there would not be so many people taking the boat. There are more people running boats on the water than taking boats. What's more, someone was killed on the water a few days ago. The government investigated for a long time, and it ruined the reputation. Even fewer people come to take the boat." "At least I can earn some money." Lin Jue thought of his uncle and aunt, and couldn't help but sigh, "It's better than digging for food in the fields, facing the loess and back to the sky, and not seeing a few copper coins in a year." “It’s all hard work…” While the two men were talking, the voices of two gangsters behind them were heard loudly. They were discussing the mountain behind where birds and mice lived together. "The people in this place can do it. They can find bird eggs in a cave in the mountains. They eat birds every day, make bird soup, and roast bird meat. There is no other place to eat so much meat!" "Don't say that! I've fallen in love with this bird meat!" "It will be hard to eat it later..." The boatman was quite old and a talkative man. Hearing them talking, he couldn't help but respond: "Sir, you are joking. Although birds and mice live in the same hole in our place, birds are not that easy to catch. Besides, we don't usually eat birds. We are a little taboo about this." "You can have whatever you want to be taboo about, but we are not from here, so what is there to be taboo about?" said a gangster. "It's not a taboo, it's just that eating it can make you sick easily." "What's wrong with you? Don't curse me!" The man from Jianghu immediately raised his eyebrows. "Ha ha……" The boatman laughed twice. "Brother Wang, what are you talking about? Why can't we eat them in the future? Where are there no birds?" The two Jianghu people continued to talk, "Just fight!" "Why is it so easy to fight?" "If you can't catch wild birds, can you catch swallows?" When the boatman heard this, he couldn't help but say, "Swallows are house sparrows. How can you kill swallows and eat them?" "You boatman! Just drive your boat well, why do you like to interrupt so much? The world is so big, if you don't have it here, don't you have it somewhere else?" said a gangster. "Let's eat swallows!" said another Jianghu person. "We poked two swallows to eat in the inn this morning." "Yes Yes Yes……" When the boatman heard the person in front of him talking, he was still smiling and nodding. But when he heard what the person behind him said, his hands trembled and he was frightened. "What did the guest say?" "What's the matter? Why are you so startled, boatman? Drive your boat carefully!" "Sir, did you say we had swallows this morning?"
"What's wrong with eating swallows? Does it bother you?" "really?" "You boatman!" "Oh! No! Sir, don't you know that you can't eat swallows when traveling by water?" The boatman's face had turned pale, and he quickly adjusted the direction, as if he wanted to turn around and go back in the middle of these mountains and waters. "Why can't we eat swallows when we travel by water? What will happen if we eat them?" As soon as I finished speaking, I felt something was wrong. It was a clear sky with white clouds and calm sea, but the boat was heaving violently. Deng Deng Deng—— The two gangsters immediately stood up, ran to the deck with their swords and looked out. The waves below the boat were deep and blue, but suddenly waves began to rise. There were thousands of waves ahead, small at first, but each one got higher than the last, as if a water monster was moving around or a big demon was draining water, causing the boat to rise and fall unsteadily. But the rear is good. "Oh!" A column of water suddenly rose from the river, like a tornado, aiming at the gangsters on the boat. The martial artists in the martial arts world practice the art of the wheel. Regardless of the character of these two people, they still have some skills. Immediately, one of them jumped up on the spot, and the other dodged to the side, and they barely escaped. However, when it landed, the covered boat was shaking. The two gangsters almost lost their balance. "Bang bang!" Two more water column tornadoes. The two gangsters barely managed to stand firm. They were caught off guard and had no time to dodge. The water column was as thick as a basin and its force was beyond human power to resist. The two were washed off the boat in an instant. "Hmm... help..." There was a splash and indistinct shouts. Lin Jue only had time to push his junior sister into the cabin. He watched the two people fall into the water and struggle desperately in the water, as if they could swim but not very well. Just as he was about to get his whistle stick, he suddenly saw them being pulled by something, and with a splash, the whole person disappeared into the river. (End of this chapter)
