Seeing Master Kong Xin's livid face and staring at Kong Ling without saying a word, everyone stopped laughing instantly and turned around to continue observing the bees and butterflies gathering flowers.
"After the morning class tomorrow, each person will carry a hundred loads of water to the life-release pond, and Kong Ling will carry thirty more loads." After Master Kong Xin finished speaking, he walked out of the backyard with his hands behind his back.
Master Kong Xin was well-known for his sternness in Shaolin. His words were irrefutable. When the six people heard what he said, they all lowered their heads and walked out of the backyard dejectedly without saying a word.
After morning class on the second day, the six of them went to the kitchen, each found a bucket, and began to carry water from the stream flowing into the temple to the life-release pond in front of the temple.
Except Lan Ling'er, Zhu Yu, Kong Yuan, Kong Ying, Kong Ling and Kong Xi all helped cook at Jixiang Kitchen and carried water frequently before practicing martial arts. Now they have been practicing martial arts for several years and are getting older. They can carry a hundred dollars a day. Buckets of water are no problem, but Lan Ling'er's physical strength is not as good as that of men, and Kong Ling has to carry thirty more loads, so it is naturally difficult for the two of them to complete the task.
In order to prevent a few people from cheating, Master Kong Xin specially arranged for a forty-year-old disciple named Qingxu to supervise. Qingxu found a pile of stones and sat by the release pond. Whoever carried a load would add a stone.
Before dinner in the afternoon, Zhu Yu, Kong Yuan, Kong Ying, and Kong Xi had already carried one hundred barrels of water, but Lan Ling'er could only carry eighty barrels, and Kong Ling was still short of twenty-five barrels. Kong Xi asked Qingxu to allow a few people to help Lan Ling'er and Kong Ling carry water, but Qingxu refused to help Lan Ling'er and Kong Ling said anything.
Monks have a rule of not eating after lunch, but Shaolin monks not only eat three meals a day, but also eat three pure meats at least twenty days a month. The reason is that most monks in Shaolin Temple practice martial arts, which consumes a lot of physical strength and requires They had enough nutrition to maintain their strength, so they didn’t care about such rules. Therefore, in the afternoon, everyone’s stomachs were already growling with hunger, but Lan Ling’er and Kong Ling hadn’t finished loading their bottles of water, so the four of them had to endure it. people.
"Kong Xi, you and Kong Yuan, Kong Ying, and Zhu Yu go to the kitchen to eat, and then bring four meals over." Qingxu must have been hungry, so he arranged for Kong Xi to say.
"Thank you, uncle!" Kong Xi thanked Qingxu, then turned to Zhu Yu, Kong Yuan, and Kong responded: "Let's go eat quickly, or Kong Ling and Ling'er will faint from hunger."
After a while, the three of them finished their meal and returned with four portions of rice, giving one portion each to Kong Ling and Lan Ling'er, and two portions to Qingxu.
"Uncle Qingxu, I forgot to ask you before, why did you ask for two meals?" Kong Xi asked carefully while handing the meal to Qingxu.
"I was on duty today and had to deliver food to a junior brother who was in seclusion, so I asked for an extra portion." Qingxu said, taking the two bowls of rice handed over by Kong Xi, and handed one bowl to Zhu Yu, saying: "Junior brother Zhu Yu, go and deliver the food. The uncle who is in retreat is upstairs in the second attic on the left side of the West Chanyuan."
Hearing this, Zhu Yu took the meal handed over by Qingxu, turned around and was about to leave, Qingxu said again: "You hand him the meal and turn back, don't talk to him, otherwise master will know that he will punish you again. "
"Why can't you talk to him? Did this uncle do something wrong?" After hearing what Qingxu said, Zhu Yu couldn't help but become curious.
"This uncle who is in seclusion has committed a taboo in Buddhism, so he will be punished by seclusion and meditating on his mistakes. Everyone will gradually know about this in the future. You go back as soon as possible." Qingxu regretted asking Zhu Yu to deliver the meal, because Zhu Yu is too curious and may cause unnecessary trouble, but the words have been spoken and cannot be taken back.
Knowing that Qingxu didn't want to tell the truth, Zhu Yu didn't want to ask any more questions. Feeling that the food was getting cold, he ran to the west meditation room with the bowl in hand.
After a while, Zhu Yu came to the door of the West Chan Room. Because most of the monks had gone to Jixiang Kitchen for dinner and had not yet returned to their rooms, Zhu Yu did not meet any monks along the way, and the West Chan Room was also empty.
When he stepped onto the stairs of the second attic on the left side of the Zen monastery, Zhu Yu's heart couldn't help but jump "bang, bang, bang". What would a monk who made a mistake and was imprisoned look like? While Zhu Yu was thinking about this problem, he walked quietly to the attic window.
When Zhu Yu cautiously looked in from the attic window, he saw a handsome middle-aged man with piercing eyes, long hair and a medium build looking at him in the dim room.
"You, are you the uncle who is retreating here? This is your dinner." Seeing the middle-aged man, Zhu Yu handed the rice bowl in from the window.
"Have you practiced the Powerful Vajra Palm with Master Kongkong?" the middle-aged man suddenly asked after taking over his job.
Zhu Yu practiced the Powerful Vajra Palm with Master Kongkong. No one knew about it except Master Fangzhang and Master Kongxin. How could this reclusive monk know? Zhu Yu was shocked and asked strangely: "How did you know? "
The people in the room laughed and said, "I heard the sound of your footsteps. Every step is filled with special strength. This is something only those who practice the Powerful Vajra Palm can have. And based on the weight of your steps, you should have just practiced it." More than three months.”
"Well, Master, Uncle Master is right, have you also practiced the Powerful Vajra Palm?" Zhu Yu couldn't help but ask.
"Of course I've practiced before, otherwise I wouldn't be able to tell the strength of your skills from your footsteps." The monk in the room replied.
"What's your name? Why are you in seclusion here? How long have you been here?" Out of curiosity, Zhu Yu forgot Qingxu's warning and unconsciously asked a series of questions.
"My name is Qingli. You can call me Master Qingli. I have been in seclusion here for sixteen years. I will be able to go out in another fourteen years. What is your name? How many years have you been in Shaolin?" After the monk answered Zhu Yu's question, he asked Zhu Yu again.
"My name is Zhu Yu. I have been in Shaolin for almost five years. I heard that you made a mistake. What mistake did you have to spend thirty years in seclusion to repay?" Zhu Yu asked carefully.
"It's been so many years, so let's not talk about it. I can practice Zen and martial arts here in seclusion, so why not!" After Qingli finished speaking, he pointed behind Zhu Yu and said, "There are people coming from outside the courtyard. Yes, you go back!"
Hearing what Qingli said, Zhu Yu suddenly remembered Qingxu's warning not to talk to Qingli. He hurriedly turned to look inside the hospital and was relieved when he saw no one.
"Uncle Qingli, I'll come see you another day." After Zhu Yu said that, he turned and walked down the attic. When he arrived at the entrance of the courtyard, he saw monks in twos and threes coming back from Jixiang Kitchen.
Zhu Yu walked out of the West Zen Room and quickly came to the release pool. At this time, Lan Ling'er and Kong Ling had finished their meal and began to carry water. Kong Xi and the others were unable to help, but they did not want to leave. They were standing by the pool. He sat cross-legged and began to practice internal strength.
Zhu Yu nodded to Qingxu as a greeting, then came to the platform beside the release pool and sat up cross-legged to meditate.
It wasn't until it got dark that Lan Ling'er and Kong Ling carried enough water and the six of them returned to the Zen room together. Because they were too tired, everyone did not gather in Zhu Yu's Zen room as usual, but went back to their rooms to rest.
Ever since he met Uncle Qingli in the West Zen Room that day, Zhu Yu had been thinking about how to meet him again. First, he suddenly felt that he had made no progress in his practice for a long time. He wanted to find someone to ask what the reason was. , the second is that he wanted to know where Master Qingli came from, and why he had to be in seclusion for thirty years because of his fault. Of course, this opportunity was never found, and he could only look towards the West Chanyuan intentionally or unintentionally in his spare time. .
In addition to the agility of the body, the Nianhua Fingering Technique also requires "steadiness, precision and ruthlessness" in the fingering. After seeing that everyone's body shape was almost perfect, Master Kong Xin made another surprise move and asked six people to practice flying fingertips in the backyard. Bees, butterflies and even some small insects, of course, cannot kill these little lives.
Lan Ling'er didn't listen to Kong Xin. She quietly took the captured butterflies back and nailed them to the wall. He asked Zhu Yu to catch them with her. Zhu Yu said he was afraid that the master would find out, so he quietly asked Kong Ling to help him. Catch, empty-handed and noncommittal.
After a few days, the teaching of Nian Hua Fingering ended. Master Kong Xin asked the six people to take time to practice during self-study every afternoon and began to teach some other skills. However, Zhu Yu found that Kong Ling would always leave quietly and ran away without knowing it. where.
Before dinner that day, Zhu Yu asked Kong Ling: "Senior brother Kong Ling, what have you been doing in secret these days because you have been absent-minded?"
"What didn't I do?" Kong Ling's answer made Zhu Yu feel that there must be something behind Kong Ling's back, but he didn't say anything and it was inconvenient for him to ask again.
When returning to the meditation room after dinner, something fell from Kong Ling's body. Zhu Yu, who was walking behind Kong Ling, happened to see it. He picked it up secretly and saw that it was a butterfly sandwiched between two leaves. The butterfly had been dead for a long time. , was pierced through the leaves by a very thin wooden stick.
Zhu Yu secretly put the butterfly caught in the leaves back into Kong Ling's wide sleeves with fingering techniques, pretending not to see anything, and just when he was about to enter the monastery, Kong Ling and Lan Ling'er quietly walked away Arriving behind the four of them, Zhu Yu deliberately turned around and called Kong Ling, just in time to see Kong Ling hand the butterfly in her sleeve to Lan Ling'er's hand.
Seeing Zhu Yu looking at her, Kong Ling suddenly blushed and said hesitantly: "I, I just caught it for Lan Ling'er..."
"Monks don't tell lies. Did Senior Brother Kongling kill a living creature?" Zhu Yu clasped his hands together and said with a smile.
"Butterfly, if you don't catch it, it will die sooner or later. If you put it in my meditation room, you can also decorate my room. I originally wanted to catch it almost before letting you see it. Now that you know, go and see it. Look!" Lan Ling'er said while pulling Zhu Yu's sleeves.
"Then I'll go back to the room first. Junior Brother Zhu, we can't enter the female benefactor's room. You can go and see it with Ling'er." Kong Ling murmured to herself.
Arriving at Lan Ling'er's Zen room in the yard next door, Zhu Yu couldn't help but his eyes lit up. He saw that the wall opposite the door was covered with all kinds of butterflies. There were dozens of them, some black and some white. There are red, yellow, and more butterflies with complicated colors, decorating the whole room with sparkle.
"Ling'er, it's so beautiful. Kong Ling must have caught this for you." Zhu Yu sighed.
"Yes, I originally wanted to catch it myself, but my coming and going is too conspicuous and might be discovered by the master, so I let him catch it so that others won't pay too much attention." Lan Ling'er said with a smile.
"But Kongling is a monk and cannot kill." Zhu Yu said.
"He said he was willing, not to mention catching butterflies, he could go up mountains of swords and seas of fire, but I asked him to catch live animals for me and let me kill them, so he stopped killing them." Lan Ling'er said, while The butterfly that Kong Ling had handed to him before was inserted into a piece of yellowed kraft paper taped to the wall with a few finely shaved small wooden sticks.
Zhu Yu was a little confused as to why Kong Ling listened to Lan Ling'er like this. Indeed, Zhu Yu had spent time in the temple as long as he could remember. He knew nothing about things between men and women. He didn't know anything about Lan Ling'er and Zhu Yu. I just feel that being with him feels shy and unpredictable. Compared with Kong Xi and others, he prefers to be with Lan Ling'er.
Time flies, and before you know it, the flowers have withered. No butterflies fly to the back garden anymore, and Kong Ling no longer catches butterflies. Lan Ling'er will let Kong Ling be her opponent in martial arts, intentionally or unintentionally. Kong Ling is here. Lan Ling'er didn't feel restrained in front of her either.
When everyone saw Lan Ling'er and Kong Ling walking so close, they didn't pay much attention. However, whenever Master Kong Xin saw Lan Ling'er staring at Kong Ling with bright eyes, he would put his hands together and recite the Buddha's name: "Amitabha! "
Just two months after Zhu Yu discovered that Kong Ling was catching butterflies for Lan Ling'er, two people came to the Shaolin Temple. One was tall, with a wide face and thick eyebrows, carrying a golden sword, and was in his early forties; the other was not tall. He was tall, with a dark face and sharp eyes, and a silver whip stuck diagonally on his body.
Zhike Monk took the two of them directly into the abbot's room. After a while, Abbot Kongwu and the two came out of the abbot's room and went directly to Damo Monastery. They called out Lan Ling'er who was meditating and practicing Qi in the courtyard.
Seeing the middle-aged man, Lan Ling'er said happily: "Father, why are you here?"
It turns out that the middle-aged man is Lan Ling'er's father, Lan Yiming, the leader of the Central Plains martial arts alliance and the leader of the Tianlong Sect, known as the Golden Sword Hero. The old man following him is Sima Zhen, the leader of the four guardians of the Tianlong Sect.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang massacred the heroes in order to clear the obstacles for Prince Zhu Biao to govern the world in the future. Both Lan Yu, the Duke of Liang, and Li Shanchang, the founding Duke of Liang, were killed. Only Lan Xiong, the eldest son of Lan Yu, and Li Qi, the third daughter of Li Shanchang, were killed. With the help of Shaolin monks, they were saved. The two learned martial arts in Shaolin. After leaving Shaolin, they got married and went to Tianlong Mountain to establish a sect, gathering martial arts masters to fight against the government.
Because the Tianlong Sect is deeply rooted and its forces are intertwined, the imperial court has been unable to do anything to the Tianlong Sect for many years. Of course, the Tianlong Sect will not rebel against the imperial court, and the two sides are in a delicate state.
Lan Xiong and Li Qi had a son, Lan Yiming, the current head of the Tianlong Sect, Lan Ling'er's father. Ten years ago, after Lan Xiong handed over the position of leader of the martial arts alliance to Lan Yiming, the two went south to live in seclusion in Cangshan Mountain, Dali. Never returned to the Central Plains again.
"Ling'er, how are you learning Shaolin martial arts? Today, your uncle Sima and I are here to take you back to the mountain." Lan Yiming asked Lan Ling'er with concern.
"I'm used to it in Shaolin. I don't want to go back yet, not to mention that I haven't mastered my kung fu yet." Lan Ling'er pouted and said.
"Ling'er, you are fifteen years old, and you have been in Shaolin for seven years. How can a big girl be in Shaolin? Besides, we agreed to go to Shaolin to practice martial arts for seven years." Lan Yiming said.
Lan Yiming's words were irrefutable, and Lan Ling'er couldn't say anything else. He turned around and saw Kong Ling standing at the door of Bodhidharma Courtyard, with half of her head exposed, staring at Lan Ling'er, tears swirling in her eyes.
Lan Ling'er raised her head and asked Lan Yiming: "Father, can you take senior brother Kong Ling back to the mountain with you?" As he said this, he pointed to Kong Ling who stretched his head and looked this way.
Lan Yiming turned to look at Kong Ling and said with a smile: "Of course this won't work, but if this young monk likes my Ling'er, it's not impossible for him to return to secular life and come to the mountain in the future."
Lan Yiming's words made Lan Ling'er so embarrassed that she didn't know what to say. She just covered her face and kept stamping her feet. Looking at the door of Bodhidharma Court again, Kong Ling was gone, and only Kong Xin came out of the door.
"Brother Yiming, we haven't seen each other for five years. How is everything?" Kong Xin asked, clasping his hands together.
"Alas!" Lan Yiming said: "In recent years, the imperial government has been in chaos, and the power of the factory guards has grown. Not only have the upright officials in the court had no place to stand, but the people have also suffered greatly. The East Factory has also frequently attacked the branches of our Tianlong Sect. , life is hard."
Sima Zhen said angrily: "Not only that, the Northern Sun God Sect is getting bigger and bigger day by day, attracting sects such as Northern Shaolin and opposing the Central Plains Wulin, trying to unify the Wulin in one fell swoop."
"Amitabha, I am merciful. I wish the world is peaceful and the people are healthy. Leader Lan, you should worry more about the people." Master Kongwu said with his hands clasped together.
"Of course, Kong Wu, Master Kong Xin, I'll go back to the mountain right away. Take care of yourself, both of you." After Lan Yiming finished speaking, he turned to Lan Ling'er and said: "Ling'er, go pack up quickly, we're leaving now .”
