Spells to reduce the size of the ground

Leaving tonight?"

　　Mr. Three Nothing's words struck me as I didn't feel ready yet, at least all my wounds were still sore and I felt that if I went on another long journey it probably wouldn't be long before I collapsed.

　　"Yes, we'll leave tonight, after dinner," Mr. Sanwu said, twirling his long beard while saying with some displeasure, "That guy shoved this into the hands of the old Tao for no reason, I can't do this favor for nothing, the old Tao will send you back to him tonight, let him think of his own Go."

　　"Uh, sir, I feel like I'm not fully healed yet, so if I walk too much I might not be able to take it," I said to Mr. Sanwu.

　　"Hey," hearing this, Mr. Three Nothing smiled slightly and said, "Who said anything about you walking?"

　　"Then how are we going to get there? Mister Mo has a car?" This was something that made me a bit curious, I wondered how he, a monk, a poor old Taoist, could have a car, it was a bit out of his status.

　　"What kind of car do I need? In my life, I've never been in anything but a bullock cart." Mr. Sanwu laughed.

　　"So-" I was a bit confused.

　　"You'll know later, eat up, we'll start when you're done," Mr. Three Nothing got up and went out as he spoke.

　　My heart was full of curiosity and I hurriedly finished my meal, then wiped my mouth as I walked outside to see what Mr. Sanwu was doing.

　　When I got outside, I realised that Mr. San Wu had not prepared much, he had just changed into a newer Taoist robe, which had Tai Chi patterns painted on the front heart and back, making him look more like a Taoist priest.

　　In addition he wore a Taoist crown and held a duster in his hand, while over his shoulder he carried a small, worn wooden box.

　　"Have you finished eating?" Mr. San Wu saw me and asked me in an uncomfortable voice.

　　I nodded and asked him what I was going to do.

　　"Just do as I say later." As Mr. Three Nothing spoke, he entered the house and first carefully moved Dai Hongcai onto that stretcher bed, covered her with a blanket, hung the saline bottle and settled her down, before lighting a lamp at the head of the bed and saying to me, "You come and push her and just push out the door."

　　Hearing this, I then stepped forward and pushed Red Riding Hood all the way to the outside of the gate, followed by Mr. Three Nothing.

　　It was freezing outside, but fortunately the snow had stopped, so Red Riding Hood did not get wet.

　　When he reached the door, Mr. Sanwu looked around and without realising it was nodding, he said, "The snow is just right."

　　Then he walked to the middle of the open space in front of the door and nodded on the snow with his foot and said, "Stop here, and when my practice begins, go all the way west."

　　I nodded and pushed the red-cap over, stopping at the place he had chosen.

　　By this time, when Mr. Sanwu saw that we were already standing in position, he then moved in a circle around the snow with his duster upside down.

　　The circle he drew was exactly around me and Redcap, so when he stopped a few moments later, I looked around and realised that there was a Taiji Bagua pattern on the snow, and Redcap and I were in the centre of it.

　　After the eight trigrams were drawn, Mr. Sanwu opened the box and took out a few paper talismans and a bell from inside. Then he shook the bell and recited the words under his breath while lighting the paper talismans and scattering them in the north-east and south-east directions.

　　After scattering the paper talismans, Mr. San Wu returned to the venue, waved his dust and raised the bell, and said to me in a loud voice, "Kid, stay alert, it's starting, you guys set off!"

　　Hearing these words, I then pushed Dai Redcap and marched westwards.

　　"The Supreme Jade King, unifying the 36 heavens, in the nine heavens of universal transformation, taking the form of the ten realms, cloaked in hair and riding a golden forest, barefooted and tiptoeing on layers of ice, travelling 80,000 miles in the day, shrinking the earth like the sun and moon ..."

　　Once we set off, Mr. San Wu was behind us, chanting incantations aloud while shaking a bell.

　　Strangely enough, after his incantation, the snow particles on the ground were windless and soon formed a white fog of snow around us.

　　The snow fog blocked my vision, so I couldn't tell where I was going for a while, so I could only follow my instincts and push Red Riding Hood forward.

　　However, after walking for some time, I found that the car was getting heavier and heavier, and the road seemed to go on forever.

　　The sweat soaked into my wounds and made me feel painful and itchy.

　　I gritted my teeth and walked on for some distance, but I couldn't hold on any longer, so I stopped and sat down on the ground with my back against the stretcher to catch my breath.

　　At this point I felt as if I had been tricked by Mr. Sanwu. He had clearly said that I would not need to walk too much, but now the situation was completely different from what he had said, which made me feel depressed.

　　However, it was strange that, surrounded by the snow and fog, although I could not see the surroundings, I felt that the environment was quiet and, most importantly, the temperature was as warm as spring, which made me drowsy and my eyelids fought.

　　I wanted to hold on a bit longer, but I couldn't bear the drowsiness, so in the end I just said, "Fuck it, do what you like, I have to sleep first anyway, I'll talk about the rest when I wake up.

　　With that in mind, I fell asleep on my back in the snow, hugging the legs of the stretcher bed.

　　I don't know how long I slept for, but I only woke up slowly when I heard the sound of a wood fire.

　　When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that my surroundings had changed.

　　The fog was still misty, but instead of snow and ice, it was a riverside green with a carpet of grass and trees.

　　The leg of the stretcher wagon with the red hat was still in my arms, and not far away, on the grass, a campfire glowed and a dark, tall-crowned figure was sitting by it with his back to us, and he seemed to be holding a pot of medicine over the fire.

　　"Where is this?" I fumbled to get up from the ground and looked around in some confusion.

　　"Didn't that old Taoist tell you what this place was when he sent you here?" Hearing my words, the figure couldn't help but ask me out loud.

　　"He didn't say," I frowned and looked at the man suspiciously, "Who are you?"

　　"I'm just a mountain idle," the figure asked me as he reached down and grabbed some herbs from the ground next to me and threw them into the jar, "Want to hear a story?"

　　"I've heard a lot of stories lately, I don't mind hearing one more," I said, knowing that this man was from an extraordinary background, so I sat down on the grass on my knees and waited for him to speak.

　　"That's good," the man nodded at my words, and then he said to me, "But before I tell the story officially, I want to give you a knowledge first."

　　"What knowledge?" I asked curiously.

　　"Do you know what a mountain spirit or water monster is?" The man asked me.