Chapter 0——②Secret secrets in the mountains
Bai Feng and Chun started a difficult life in the mountains. Fortunately, they found a dilapidated temple as a place to stay on the second day after going up the mountain.
There is a Buddha statue with half of its head cut off in the temple, with only the mouth and nose remaining on the half wide face. Even so, Chun still insisted on chanting sutras to the Bodhisattva every day, praying for the Bodhisattva's blessing. From the beginning, the two could only survive on a small amount of wild vegetables and fruits. Later, Bai Feng would often hunt some game to satisfy his hunger, and Chun would give half of his food as an offering to the Bodhisattva.
After living in the mountains for about half a month, Chun became ill and coughed all day long. But she still insisted on chanting and praying in front of the incomplete Buddha statue every day, and dedicated half of her food to it.
Since Chun's body did not allow her to overwork herself, the food reserves were getting smaller and smaller, but Chun still left the food to rot as usual, which puzzled Bai Feng. Finally one evening, the young man who had just returned to the ruined temple after hunting rabbits saw Chun kneeling as usual in front of the Buddha statue, with her hands clasped together and reciting scriptures silently with great piety. He finally couldn't help but stepped forward and asked her what she was praying for. Something. Just when Bai Feng was about to speak, Chun fell to the ground.
"Sister, what's wrong with you?" Bai Feng helped the weak Chun and asked nervously.
Chun replied with trembling lips: "Leave me alone...help me finish reading the rest of the scriptures..."
"Why?" Bai Feng asked with a hint of complaint, "Why! Is prayer really useful now?"
"You wouldn't understand." Chun replied.
"I've always wanted to ask my sister, who are you praying for?"
"I'm praying for you, for me, for the living..."
The young man replied angrily: "Is that really useful? Are we alive because of the blessing of Bodhisattva?"
"You...won't understand..." Chun repeated this sentence again, then stroked his head with his right hand, and suddenly cried in pain.
The young man touched her right hand and found that it was unusually warm. Then he probed Chun's forehead with the back of his hand and found that she must have contracted a cold.
"Sister, you are sick, let's eat something first!" Bai Feng begged eagerly.
"I'm...so scared..." Chun said intermittently while shedding tears: "I'm scared...I dreamed about my parents and friends. I saw them being slaughtered like domestic animals." She held onto Bai Feng tightly. As if he wanted to tear it off, he continued: "I watched your parents being killed, but I only dare to let you live an ignoble existence with me!"
Douda's tears flowed continuously from Chun's eyes. When the boy heard her words, he felt that the memory he had been imprisoned in chains slowly resurfaced in front of his eyes. He tried hard to suppress the memory of that day, but as his heart was beating, the memory would not dissipate. The more suppressed it is, the more profound the feeling becomes. Bai Feng held back the tears that were about to burst out of her eyes and replied: "That... is not your fault! On the contrary, sister, you saved me, it was you who took me out of that purgatory. It was you, not the Bodhisattva!"
"No! I'm afraid of death. I'm afraid! I'm afraid that I will never see my husband again. If...if he dies too, then what's the point of my life? Why am I the only one who survives!"
Bai Feng was completely shocked by these words. He was obviously the one who gave him the will to survive, but he was not as strong as he looked. He was even on the verge of collapse in consciousness. He held Chun, whose body was twitching due to excessive grief, into his arms, and while kissing and stroking her hair like a comforting baby, he kept repeating: "You are brave, you are brave. You are just sick, Take a rest soon..."
After Chun fell asleep, in order to prevent her condition from worsening, Bai Feng needed enough firewood to survive the night, so he went out to collect dry firewood. What is unexpected is that when the boy returned to the ruined temple, he saw not only Chun who had fallen into a deep sleep, but also a white snake about ten feet long!
White Snake wrapped its body around Chun's frail body and raised its head above hers. When White Snake noticed that someone had come in, she pointed the snake letter towards Bai Feng and made a "sss" sound.
The young man waved the torch, approached cautiously, and shouted loudly: "Get out of there quickly!" The white snake felt threatened, curled up and exposed its fangs from time to time.
Just as the human-snake war was about to begin, a wisp of flute sound attracted the attention of both parties. Bai Feng watched Bai Snake spit out the bright red letter in the direction of the sound, then loosened the restraint on Chun, slowly passed Bai Feng, and crawled straight to the door. At the same time, an old man's voice came from outside the door: "Xiao Bai, so you are here! Did you find any prey again?"
"Prey?" Bai Feng thought to himself: "Is the legend of the 'Yangshan White Snake Fairy' true?" The young man's tense nerves kept facing the door, waiting for the truth to be revealed.
A man holding a lantern in his hand, a long flute hanging from his waist, and wearing a green robe with white sleeves appeared in front of him. His hair is all white, his beard reaches to his chest, and his figure is tall and slender. Looking from a distance, he really looks like an immortal. Before Bai Feng could think about it, he roared and rushed forward to knock this man down. As a result, the man easily turned to the left, stretched out his right foot and tripped the reckless young man. Then, he sighed and said, "Do young people always say hello like this when they meet for the first time?"
The man walked up to Chun, took a look, and asked, "Have you caught the wind chill?" Then he crouched there, feeling Chun's pulse, and said, "This is not an ordinary wind chill!"
Bai Feng stood up and faced him, shouting: "I don't allow you to touch her!" After a moment, the young man discovered that the white snake was crawling up from his feet. The cold scales on the white snake's body rubbed against the young man's thin clothes. The terrifying touch made Bai Feng stand still and unable to move, and let it crawl directly onto his head, facing his eyes.
"Boy, if you still want her to live, just follow me!" The man said while looking at the stunned young man.
Bai Feng said in disbelief: "Wha...what?" As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Snake swung his head and hit the young man's forehead. Bai Feng couldn't help but screamed "Ah", and then sat on the ground stupidly.
The man smiled and said, "Xiao Bai, stop making trouble." After saying that, he picked up Chun who was lying on the ground and walked out. White Snake also magically followed suit. Bai Feng was naturally surprised when he saw this scene, but it was a fact that happened.
"I can only go along." Bai Feng said in his heart.
Bai Feng followed him on the road. After a long time, he finally said his first words. He asked the man: "Sir, are you the 'White Snake Fairy'?"
"Yes and no."
"Eh?" Bai Feng asked confused.
"Then who is this girl to you?"
Bai Feng replied: "She is my sister."
"Yeah?"
"Yes...and no..." Bai Feng lowered his head and said.
"Oh?" The man glanced sideways at the young man behind him and said, "Is there any reason for this?"
"She saved my life, and my family is no longer alive..."
"It sounds like it has something to do with what happened down the mountain!"
Bai Feng remained silent, not wanting to talk more about those things. Half a moment later, the boy followed the mysterious man into a bamboo hut. Even though it was night, he could still feel the tranquility and isolation there. The two stone lanterns in front of the hut were lit, pointing the way for the two of them.
In the following days, the boy watched over Chun every day. Although "White Snake Fairy" collected new herbs in the mountains every day to make medicinal soup for Chun to take, Chun's condition still did not improve, but worsened day by day. Until one day, several conspicuous abscesses appeared on his hands, and the "White Snake Immortal" immediately sentenced Chun to death.
"There is no other way. When the abscess ruptures, that is when her life is on the verge of death. During this period, try to fulfill her wishes as much as possible so that she can go with peace of mind..."
The still ignorant boy didn't seem to understand what "dying life" meant, until the abscess on Chun's hand began to ooze yellow pus. She was in so much pain that she spent almost every night in hysterical wailing. In the end, I don't know who gave him a string of Buddhist beads, so that Chun could chant sutras to relieve the pain. Bai Feng asked the White Snake Immortal: "Sir, did you give this string of beads to your sister, sir?"
"Since she likes it, why not?"
"It's okay, I just feel like chanting and meditating finally worked." Bai Fengguai said with a smile.
"Ha" Bai Shexian sneered and replied: "Boy, I don't know your name yet!"
"My name is Bai Feng, where is sir?"
"My name is not important, you can just call me 'White Snake Fairy'." The man who called himself White Snake Fairy said: "The most important thing now is, Bai Feng, ask your sister if she has any unfulfilled wishes. So as not to regret it for the rest of your life.”
Bai Feng obeyed the order and went to ask Chun about her unfulfilled wish.
"First of all, I hope you won't take revenge, and I hope you can live a good life. Secondly, I... I want to see my husband again." Chun turned the prayer beads with his right hand and said to Bai Feng: "Although I know this is unlikely. ..." A few days after that, Chun died, and his hands were almost infected to the point of rot.
On the day she was buried, the tears that Bai Feng had endured for a long time finally burst out. He asked in a low voice: "God! Why do you treat such a kind person like this!" After speaking, a wisp of flute music attracted his attention. Note that it turns out that the "White Snake Fairy" is playing sad music on the side and is mourning for the dead.
After the song was played, Bai Shexian walked up to the young man and asked: "Bai Feng, what are your plans for the future? Are you going to take revenge?"
"No, I don't want revenge. I just don't understand, why do we have to suffer like this?"
"It is this era." White Snake Fairy said indifferently: "This era determines your destiny."
"Era?" Bai Feng asked doubtfully.
"Yes, want to change that?"
"Can I?"
"Because you are very much like me, I once wanted to change this world. However, I was deceived by a traitor and had to hide in the mountains." White Snake Fairy replied: "Bai Feng, are you willing to be my apprentice..."
For the next six years, Bai Feng continued to practice with the White Snake Immortal. Until one day six years later, the White Snake Fairy passed away in the bamboo hut. After the burial, Bai Feng kept mourning for him for seven days. On the seventh day, he discovered that the White Snake, who had always been a friend to his master, had wrapped his body around the tomb of the White Snake Fairy and died of hunger strike.
