Chapter 504 Banquet

Two days later, the Annan delegation arrived at Luzhou City as promised.

The potbellied King of Shu, along with senior officials in the city and monks from Yongling Temple, waited outside the city to welcome the envoy into the city.

The people of Luzhou crowded the streets to welcome the mission. The faithful men and women who worshiped Buddha devoutly had already snapped up all the flowers in the city and sprinkled petals of various colors all over the streets where the mission was proceeding.

The fragrance of flowers is fragrant, gongs and drums are noisy, firecrackers are blasting, colorful flags are fluttering, and there are huge crowds of people.

It is a pity that the people in the city did not see the much-anticipated auspicious sign - the mission team covered the auspicious iron cage with a heavy curtain, added various decorations, and dressed it up like a float.

Fortunately, the Annan monks chanting sutras loudly on both sides of the float were worth the price of admission.

These Annan monks are skinny and skinny, and their skin is coated with a layer of gold paint. They look just like the Arhats in the temple, which is quite magical.

Amid the welcome of the people in the city, the Annan delegation entered Yongling Temple.

That night, the sound of chanting Buddhist sutras continued all night long in the temple.

Outside the temple wall, swords and swords were shining, gold and iron intertwined, and the sounds of fighting suddenly started and then subsided.

In the early morning of the next day, except for a few traces of blood remaining on the bluestone slab, all traces of the unknown dead men who attacked Yongling Temple at night had been completely wiped out from the world.

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Prince Shu's Mansion, dinner party.

The King of Shu loves to have fun, and he has many dancing ladies in his palace. They are wearing silk skirts and blouses, playing the harp and pipa, and dancing in the hall.

Two rows of guests sat on both sides of the banquet, drinking and chatting happily.

Apart from the well-known dignitaries in Luzhou, the most eye-catching ones are the two taciturn Annan monks, one old and one young, silently holding chopsticks and tasting vegetarian dishes, and occasionally chatting with the senior monks of Yongling Temple on both sides.

The food and drinks have changed one after another, but the host of this banquet, the most noble King of Shu in Luzhou City, has not yet appeared.

Only the chief steward of Prince Shu's Mansion laughed with him, explaining to the guests that the prince drank too much at noon and was still sobering up.

The king of Shu was of high status, and the guests present did not dare to complain and continued the banquet.

"Buzz-"

Although the courtyard was surrounded by roller blinds as thin as cicada wings and mosquito repellent incense was burned,

But there were still mosquitoes and flies looking for the candlelight, sneaking into the hall through the gaps in the roller blinds, hovering in the air, and making annoying noises.

"Noisy."

A guest frowned slightly, picked up the mung beans in the bowl, clasped them on his fingertips and popped them out, accurately hitting a fly flying in the air.

Snap, snap, snap,

The mung beans flew everywhere, and when the bowl was empty, all the mosquitoes and flies hovering in the air were gone.

"Integrity is a good idea!"

The four guests all laughed and praised,

The military counselor of the Prince of Shu, who was known as "Integrity Duke", smiled and picked up the white cloth, wiped the water droplets on his fingers, and said modestly: "This is just a small trick.

I have a friend who can pinch the hind legs of flies with just two fingers and hold them in his palm. In just a few breaths of time, the flies will be cleared away.

When he spread his palms again, the mosquitoes and flies were still alive, but their wings were shattered. With a shake of his hand, they all fell to the ground. "

While he was talking, a gust of night wind blew up, lifting one side of the silk curtain, allowing a few moths to fly in.

There were no more mung beans in the bowl in front of Counselor Lu Jun. Just when he was about to ask the servant to bring a new bowl, he heard a scholar sitting across from him laughed loudly and said: "If you don't bother me, I also have a skill to eliminate them." Insect moth.”

If Wang Bu, a wealthy businessman from Luzhou, were here, he would definitely recognize this young man as the scholar who originally pursued Long Xu, but was defeated by the Sanskrit monk Qi Yu.

The scholar's surname is Song and his given name is Shuqing. His current identity is a guest of a nobleman in Luzhou.

I saw him borrow a handkerchief and silk scarf from the dancer beside him, put it in his hand and pointed it with his sword.

The silk scarf folded automatically without any wind, and instantly folded into the shape of a white crane. It stood in his palm, lowered its head and pecked the feathers on its body. It was lively and lifelike.

"go."

Song Shu chuckled lightly, weighed his palms lightly, and the silk white crane immediately fluttered its wings and flew straight towards the moth.

Open the beak and swallow the moth in one gulp with precision and speed.

The white crane is light and almost transparent when illuminated by candlelight.

All the guests in the hall could clearly see the moth trapped in the belly of the white crane, moving around.

"good!"

The four guests cheered loudly,

The scholar smiled slightly, flicked his finger, and the white crane immediately jumped towards the candlelight and turned into ashes together with the moths in its belly.

The dancer who was sitting next to the scholar and pouring wine refused to comply. She hugged Song Shuqing's arm and scolded him, asking him to give him a silk scarf.

The scholar had no choice but to beg for mercy, which made everyone laugh.

The King of Shu himself liked strange alchemy, and he kept many guests in his house who knew strange books.

As the saying goes, what is good for those above will be bad for those below. The dignitaries in Luzhou City are not as resistant to alchemists and sorcerers as they are in other cities.

"Ah."

An elderly guest at the King of Shu's palace shook his head. How could an outsider get the limelight at the royal palace's banquet? He immediately smiled and said, "I also have a skill, please take a look."

He glanced sideways at the disciple beside him, who immediately understood and took off a huge yellowed bamboo tube from his waist.

After apologizing, he unscrewed the lid of the bamboo tube and placed one end of the bamboo tube against the ground.

The elderly guest Qing Shi Shiran took out a bamboo flute from his arms, took a deep breath, and started blowing slowly.

The sound of the flute is ethereal and distant, full and quiet, but what is more eye-catching is the yellowed bamboo tube.

I saw one spider after another crawling out of the bamboo tube,

These spiders are about the size of a fist. Their faces are dark and covered with needle-like brown hairs. Their fangs are sharp and long, and when one bites them, they are like knives.

The timid guests at the banquet screamed in surprise, and the dancers and maids were so frightened that their faces turned pale and their beauty turned pale.

But the old guest smiled slightly and continued to play the bamboo flute.

Suddenly, as if they had heard some instructions, more than a dozen wolf spiders moved their thick spiny legs, like soldiers, arranged neatly in three rows,

And facing the guest, he raised his front legs and swayed his body from side to side.

Just like soldiers on a martial arts field, they perform various actions according to instructions.

The guests present had only heard of snake dancers in Tianzhu, but had never heard of people who could make spiders dance to the sound.

"It's a good life, and it's going well."

Bai Yongyan, who was sitting not far from the old spider dancer, clapped his hands vigorously while chewing the crab claws, "It's a pity that he didn't play the suona, otherwise he could have sent the spider family away happily."

The old man Dancing Spider looked a little ugly when he heard this.

He and Bai Yongyan were both guests at the Prince of Shu's palace. As the saying goes, people who travel together are enemies, and we are all alchemists. It is inevitable that they would compete with each other on weekdays. Under the overt and covert fights, they would take on small and large grievances.

"oh?"

The old spider dancer put down his bamboo flute and let all the wolf spiders return to the bamboo tube. He looked at Bai Yongyan and said calmly: "I wonder if Brother Bai has any new magic tricks that he would like to share with you?"