Ch80 - Bamboo Rats

Lin Shu didn’t know.

He said: “I don’t know.”

“It seems that Fellow Daoist knows very little about Immortal Dao.” Mr. Meng said, “But Fellow Daoist, you live in the same place with Little Phoenix, and you must have some understanding of Phoenix Sword Art.”

Lin Shu: “Yeah.”

“Phoenix Villa has only one set of internal skills, but there are many sword techniques. Among them, ‘Consistent Jade Pool’ and ‘Unparalleled Purple Warrior’ are complicated and beautiful. They are marvelous to look at, so they are quite popular with female disciples. ‘Lingyun Nine Formations’ and ‘Eleven Swords of the Missing Moon’, are not the same.

Lin Shu nodded.

There was no difference between men and women in sword techniques like “Lingyun Nine Formations” and “Eleven Swords of the Missing Moon”. If they were practiced by male disciples, there seemed to be no problem– However, Phoenix Mountain Villa does not accept any male disciples, even the children of a direct lineage, if they are males, they must be sent outside for cultivation, not belonging to Phoenix Mountain Villa.

“The ‘Lingyun Nine Formations’ are fierce, and the ‘Eleven Swords of the Missing Moon’ are all well-known Sword techniques. However -” Mr. Meng said word by word, “Phoenix Mountain Villa’s sword and internal skill can’t be practiced by men, even the descendants of the direct line, if they are male, they will learn at most some formative methods. The “Nirvana Life” you saw on the Huandang Mountain are among them.”

Lin Shu was puzzled, and asked: “Why?”

Mr. Meng smiled and asked, “Is the Little Phoenix good-tempered?”

Lin Shu: “Not good.”

——Although she has been very good to him these days, in fact, the overall temper of Big Miss was still very bad, such as when facing Xiao Lingyang.

Mr. Meng said: “It’s too rigorous and destructible.”

It’s too rigorous and destructible.

Lin Shu was stunned for a while.

Indeed, the core and sword techniques of Phoenix Mountain Villa were all based on the Qi of Lihuo. Among the five elements and eight trigrams, fire was the strongest. However, the sword techniques of the Phoenix Mountain Villa, such as ‘Lingyun Nine Formations’ and ‘Eleven Swords of the Missing Moon’, were even more straightforward, fierce and incomparably cruel, without the sense of justice and peace, the combination of hardness and softness, and even completely incompatible with the word “soft”.

Mr. Meng seemed to see that he had understood a little and went on: “Many years ago, when Phoenix Mountain Villa was founded, it was not without male disciples. The villa did not strictly prohibit the outflow of skills. There have been precedents of some men practicing Phoenix Sword Techniques outside. However, without exception, if you have cultivated to a certain level, you will have a Qi deviation, fall into a realm, or burst into death. The reason for this is that it is “too rigorous and destructible.”

Lin Shu was a little surprised and continued to listen to Mr. Meng.

“Heaven and earth gave birth to human beings, since they were under the way of heaven, they must follow the principle of the way of heaven. Men and women were treated equally as fairies. However, in the five elements of Yin and Yang, men and women are different after all. There are some differences in physique, bone, and heart. ”

Lin Shu nodded.

Mr. Meng continued: “Men belong to Yang. If he practices the skill of Phoenix Mountain Villa again, the fierce Qi will be in harmony with each other. On the one hand, his cultivation will advance quickly, but his foundation will be unstable, and he will easily get into Qi deviation. Second, the temperament is affected, he will be impulsive, impetuous, violent, and bloodthirsty. After a while, he loses his mind and goes astray. The Phoenix Sword Technique is just like a sword forged by fire. It is brittle and easy to break. It must be tempered with cold water to be invincible. Therefore, only a woman can control this masculine and strong skill between heaven and earth.”

After digesting it for a while, Lin Shu felt that the mystery of the theory was no less than that of the Young Master’s argument about “The Great Road”.

Mr. Meng smiled and said, “If things are too prosperous, they should be killed. That’s the truth about the intergeneration of everything in the world. Fellow Taoists, do you understand?”

Lin Shu nodded: “Understood.”

“Of course, there may not be a man who can practice the Phoenix Sword Techniques. However, it can be imagined that the mind and nature required for it, and the hardships to be endured are not difficult to imagine, which I have not seen so far. The wealth and splendor of Phoenix Mountain Villa are like cooking oil with fire. It shares half of the country with the royal family. It needs to know how to protect oneself. This is a mortal matter, so we won’t talk about it. ”

Lin Shu understood the truth of what Mr. Meng said, but he still couldn’t figure out why Mr. Meng would say this to him.

Fortunately, Mr. Meng doesn’t have the habit of saying “you go back and comprehend by yourself”. After speaking, he said: “Fellow Taoist friend, since you understand this truth, you should think about your own way. If it is too rigorous, it will break easily; if it is too cold, it will injure you. Your road is empty and silent. When you get to the end of the road and the height is too cold, whether there will be heart demons and obstacles, and how to resolve and make choices, you should prepare early. That’s what I’m worried about.”

Lin Shu looked at Mr. Meng’s eyes and realized the meaning of loving care. He felt warm in his heart and said, “I will.”

Mr. Meng said: “Then I can rest assured.”

Having said this, Mr. Meng asked about some trivial matters in his life, but he was not used to it. After that, Lin Shu said goodbye to him and left the Dreamscape.

After going out, he sat cross-legged on the bamboo bed, thinking that he had passed his examination and benefited a lot from the conversation.

As for Mr. Meng’s last warning——

He thought of the twenty years he had been like a ghost in his last life, and then he thought of his own demons that he had seen in the Boundless Maze, he felt that his state of mind was indeed not solid and needed further training. It was indeed a problem worthy of consideration.

He decided to go to the library to find some books about mood and mind demons to see how his mood should be tempered.

Thinking of the library, he thought of the dining hall.

This morning, Ling Fengxiao said that after Mr. Meng’s exam in the afternoon, she would be done, and asked him to have dinner with her.

Thinking of this, Lin Shu got off the bed, put on the white fox fur cloak hanging on the head of the bed, and walked out the door.

——This cloak was originally the one used by Cousin to pack him, and Big Miss used another sable. However, in an instant, Cousin and Big Miss became one person, Ling Fengxiao naturally no longer covered up and gave both to him.

When Lin Shu thought of Ling Fengxiao going out, he even prepared two cloaks to deceive people’s eyes, and he felt that this person was really hateful.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw Big Miss sitting in the bamboo corridor outside the atrium.

In winter, light snow fell in the mountains, and many small grains of ice crystals fell in the air, and the bamboo leaves were covered with a layer of frosty snow, which was very beautiful.

But Ling Fengxiao was wearing a big red feather cloak, slung a red umbrella diagonally, the ink-black hair was not tied, and she draped it down at will. The whole person was really conspicuous in the snow.

Big Miss was holding the cat and looked up at the snow in front of the corridor. She seemed to be in a daze. When he opened the door, he smiled, “You are here.”

Lin Shu stepped forward. Ling Fengxiao got up and gave him half of the umbrella.

“I originally asked you to go to the dining hall, but I couldn’t. Just now Cang Min sent a message saying that he did not have many examinations. After practicing martial arts these days, he dug out many bamboo rat holes in Jasper Heaven, he caught more than a dozen fat bamboo rats sleeping in winter and asked us, Yue Ruohe, Yue Ruoyun, and the cat to roast the bamboo rats to eat.”

Before Lin Shu could speak, the cat pricked up his ears, raised his head from Ling Fengxiao’s arms, and quickly “Meowed”.

——It seems it really wants to eat.

Lin Shu said: “A dozen of them may not be enough for Cang Min to eat alone.”

Ling Fengxiao said, “I think so too, but he said that each one weighs four or five catties, and a dozen of them add up to more than 100 catties. After bloodletting and roasting, they can leave several dozen catties. Maybe Cang Min can leave one or two for us when he is full.”

Lin Shu smiled.

After smiling, he thought of the brothers and sisters of the Yue family and asked, “Does he know Yue Ruohe?”

Ling Fengxiao let out an “Um” The Nine Sects often come and go. Cang Min was born in Henglian Sect and he is a close friend of Ru Meng Tang, so he must be good friends with the Yue Family.”

They went to the site Cang Min had said, which was in a deserted pavilion in the bamboo garden.

The brothers and sisters of the Yue family are already there. They are making a fire together, setting up a rack, and working attentively with a bunch of bottles and jars to make roasting ingredients.

And those fat bamboo rats have been cleaned up, strung up one after another, and marinated together neatly.

Seeing them coming, Cang Min greeted, “Junior Brother Lin, Master Qingyuan, you are here! Big Miss, you are here too!”

Big Miss said: “Since you invited me, why shouldn’t I come?”

Cang Min scratched his head: “I just wanna say it out…”

Yue Ruoyun patted him and said with a smile: “Lin Shu and the cat are here, I said that the Eldest Miss will come.”

The people were all there, Cang Min’s seasoning was prepared, and the fire was booming, heating up the entire pavilion. Regardless of the simplicity of the pavilion, they sat down on the floor mats and began to roast bamboo rats to eat.

Ling Fengxiao didn’t let Lin Shu roast it himself, instead, he skewered his one, and the two grilled them together.

The fat and lean meat of the bamboo rat gradually roasted on the fire, browned and fragrant, coupled with the seasonings brushed up from time to time, the fragrance became more and more attractive.

Cat: “Meow.”

“Meow.”

“Meow.”

Ling Fengxiao: “Wait.”

Cat: “Meow.”

Lin Shu looked at the cat and saw the hostility in the cat’s eyes.

The cat must have thought that Big Miss had roasted the bamboo rat, and he would not give it the first bite.

Fortunately, Cang Min’s rat has roasted first and offered it to the senior land immortal.

The cat let out a satisfactory cry and started to eat the rat.

After a while, Ling Fengxiao’s was done, and the browned and tender rat meat was brushed with a layer of ingredients, sesame and minced pepper, and the aroma was overflowing in an instant.

Big Miss took out a sharp silver knife and divided the rat meat and ate it with Lin Shu.

Cang Min talked about the delicious properties of bamboo rat meat, such as “a bamboo rat is born from eating bamboo, it has a fragrance of its own”, “bamboo rats weigh four or five catties, is suitable in size, moderately fat and thin, and is suitable for roasting”, “eating bamboo rats in the bamboo garden has a unique flavor”.

The rest of them were familiar with each other. These days, they are busy with exams and seldom relax. They also have a lot to say. So they chatted while roasting, which was much more lively than those dinners in the dining hall.

It was lively, then there was a sound of footsteps in the distance, and when it entered, he saw a person walking in the snow, holding a lantern in one hand and something in the other.

When it was closer, it seemed to be Xie Zishe, the elder martial sister of Confucian Institute.

She was wearing an old grey crane cloak, carrying a lantern in one hand, holding a wine jar in the other, and carrying a bookcase on her back.

“I said who is playing here, it turns out to be you,” Xie Zishe put down the wine jar and said with a smile, “Roasting rats on a snowy night, so elegant.”

Yue Ruoyun said: “Are you Elder Martial Sister Xie Zishe?”

Xie Zishe said, “It’s me.”

Yue Ruoyun said happily: “I’ve heard of Elder Martial Sister’s name for a long time!”

Xie Zishe said: “I like the bamboo garden in Jasper Heaven. I often come to this abandoned pavilion to drink and read books, and today, you came first.”

While talking, she was looking at Ling Fengxiao.

Ling Fengxiao said: “A coincidence.”

“It’s just a coincidence, I’m here too.” Xie Zishe smiled: “It just so happens that you have meat, and I brought wine.”

Cang Min wondered: “How did you get the wine?”

Xie Zishe said: “The Confucian Institute does not strictly guard against drinking.”

Yue Ruohe said: “Then can we go to Confucian Institute to buy wine?”

“If there is a way, of course.”

Cang Min was very happy: “Elder Martial Sister Xie, you can be our way after eating meat with us today.”

Xie Zishe laughed and said, “Then I will not be polite.”

Lin Shu took a piece of meat which was fed to him by Big Miss, ate it slowly, and looked at the Elder Martial Sister of Confucianism and Taoism.

She had clear and handsome features, a little aloof in appearance, but her personality is approachable, and she soon started talking and laughing with the three.

And the next moment, he saw that Xie Zishe also looked over, looked at himself, smiled, and raised her glass: “Why doesn’t this young martial brother drink?”

Lin Shu felt that she was looking for something, but did not intend to respond.

Then Big Miss said lightly: “I don’t allow him to drink.”

Xie Zishe took a sip, and said: “You actually love someone dearly.”

Big Miss picked out a piece of thin bone with a silver knife, put the two pieces of roasted tender meat together, handed it to Lin Shu, and then said, “When I want to love someone, it will naturally happen.”

—————-

The author has something to say:

Elder Martial Sister: Let me see where this little thing looks unique.

Lin Shu: Serene.

TL’s corner:

Zaki: Lin Shu ah..Mr Meng is already giving you hints about LFX being a man..

: also made me think, maybe.. just might be.. one of the reason LFX has practiced the Xuanjue Bone Formation Arts was to change his body to a female so she could practice the Phoenix Villa’s sword techniques..

Cat: *rolls eyes and continues to eat… rats*