(14)
The three of them were halfway through the road when they met the kind-browed young monk who was the guide that day. After exchanging a few pleasantries in front of the towering pagoda, the kind-browed young monk welcomed Xuan Qing's long-awaited guest into the pagoda.
Looking at the simple Buddhist sculptures on both sides and the dim lights, there is a sense of oppression that makes people have to be solemn and cautious. Especially when stepping on the wooden stairs leading to the upper level, there will occasionally be a "squeaking" sound on the steps. I am afraid that this sound will disturb the tranquility of the practitioners, forcing visitors to almost all walk on tiptoes. When the kind-browed young monk saw that the three people were so restrained, he also smiled and persuaded them: "There is no need to be so restrained, just follow nature." This made the three people relax.
On the second floor, along the narrow corridor, the kind-browed young monk opened one of the doors. Inside the door stood an old monk, holding an ordinary wooden stick and looking through the window at the scenery outside the tower. , this person is Xuan Qing. Monk Cimei stepped forward, clasped his hands and bowed, saying, "Abbott, Young Master Bai is back."
After Xuan Qing heard this, he immediately turned sideways, looked in the direction of the door with his still bloated eyes, and silently nodded in agreement. The Cimei monk then bowed again and said, "I'm going to prepare lunch right away. Please calm down and talk in detail here." After speaking, he walked outside the door and closed the wooden door.
The wooden crutch in Xuanqing's hand made a "dong-dong" sound, and he walked slowly to the square low table in the center of the Zen room. After throwing the wooden crutch aside, Jiju sat down on the Zen felt and greeted the visitor: " Please take a seat." The guests all found three felts on the ground and sat on the remaining three empty seats at the square table. Among them, Bai Feng and Xuan Qing were facing each other, with the wooden door behind them, Murong Yan sitting in a kneeling position on the left, and naturally the "wild boy" Yang Deqing on the right.
Bai Feng and Murong Yan, who had been tortured by the jungle wolf last night, were about to ask Xuan Qing for an explanation. Bai Feng had just taken off the Longming Sword and was about to reveal his confusion to Xuan Qing, but Xuan Qing made a "preemptive strike" move. Taking advantage of Yang Deqing's arrival, the old monk deliberately changed the topic, as if he didn't want to talk about Longming Sword.
"Deqing, you're finally here. If you're a few days later, the monks in this temple will have to rely on that altar of 'pickled cabbage' for the rest of the month!" Xuanqing joked, and at the same time glanced at the person in front of him. A few glances from the boy.
"Abbott, isn't it?" Yang Deqing asked, "Is the food in the temple so bad?"
"Well, the temple on the mountain is like this. It's impossible to grow too much food!" Xuan Qing replied.
Bai Feng took advantage of the gap between the two people's conversation to bring the topic back to the Longming Sword, so he took out the sword with both hands and asked Xuan Qing: "Master Xuan Qing, this sword..." In the middle of his words, he was interrupted by this person. The old monk interrupted maliciously.
"Boy, didn't you see that I was chatting with someone else?" Xuan Qing sneered and asked Yang Deqing, who looked suspicious, "How are you and your father's harvest recently?"
"Abbott, we are living a good life. When it comes to hunting, we also follow the abbot's teachings: 'Don't kill those who give birth to children, don't kill the children'!" Yang Deqing didn't notice anything strange and was still minding his own business. Talk about everything.
"Yes!" Xuan Qing nodded with satisfaction and continued chatting for a while, completely ignoring Bai Feng in front of him.
The speechless young man could only focus on his injured left hand and the damaged sword, thinking that maybe this was Xuan Qing's test for him. Convince yourself with this thought and sit quietly aside. When Murong Yan saw Bai Feng like this, her resentment towards Xuan Qing became even stronger than before. She just hated that the other man was an old man who was old and shriveled, so that she could not vent her emotions as she pleased and could only follow Bai Feng and continue to sit seemingly dignified. In the distance, I listened to the old monk preaching.
Starting from why monks cannot kill, to warning the world not to kill indiscriminately, it is actually explaining a philosophy about survival: the human body is like a furnace, and food is fuel. If too much fuel is put in, the stove will burn hotter and hotter. Until one day, even the stove is lit, which is not worth the gain. The old monk Xuanqing seemed to be testing Bai Feng's patience, but also seemed to be making other plans. All in all, he took the opportunity of talking with Yang Deqing to move forward in time for a while, until someone arrived, which brought an end to this somewhat boring sermon.
"Dong dong..." Two knocks on the door came from behind Bai Feng, and Xuan Qing suddenly stopped talking, with joy on his face, and said to someone outside the door: "Please come in!"
The wooden door was pushed open from the outside, and a man wearing a straw hat and a raincoat, ready to go, stood in front of the door. He put one hand clasped in front of his chest, and the other hand held the intuitively familiar Zen staff. When he bowed and saluted, the golden Buddha bell on the staff kept ringing.
"Juexin, are you here?" Xuan Qing said seriously.
Juexin, who was in front of the door, nodded in agreement and said: "Yes, Abbot, the young monk has already thought about it, and now he has come to say goodbye to the abbot as requested. However, there is one thing that I would like to ask the abbot for help..." After that, this big monk The monk then moved aside his body, which could occupy the entire doorway, and a Miao girl with a veil on her face and an exquisite posture appeared in front of everyone. Juexin continued: "This girl, please abbot take care of her for me!"
"Why!" Mengdie asked: "Ask me to travel with you, wherever you go, isn't that what we used to do?"
"Is it Miss Mengdie?" Xuan Qing asked. Seeing the Miao girl nodding her head, he continued: "This trip is full of dangers. Moreover, it is only about the cultivation of awareness itself and has nothing to do with others. If it involves you suffering and suffering, that would not be a good thing!"
"I'm not afraid!" Mengdie said sadly: "What hardships have I not suffered along the way?"
"Mengdie, just wait here for me to come back! As the abbot said to the young monk, from the day I rescued you from the hands of Taiping Dao, my path of cultivation has just begun. If I don't complete this path, 'The Way of Shura', in this life, I will never be able to escape from it and truly attain the Way!" Juexin stared at his round eyes and said helplessly. After Mengdie heard this, she remained silent and just stood there looking at the intertwined fingers with confusion in her phoenix eyes.
Seeing this, Xuanqing joked at the right time: "Jue Xin! Old monk, I'm afraid that this small temple can't accommodate Miss Mengdie! I saw that a doctor in Yanzi Town at the foot of the mountain passed away not long ago, so why don't I, old monk, take over the place?" Do you want to recommend Miss Mengdie to be a 'Miao Doctor' at the foot of the mountain?"
"Mengdie, what do you think?" Juexin asked cautiously.
"I will depend on you..."
"Okay!" Juexin immediately searched his whole body, took out the only silver he had on him, gave it to Mengdie, and said: "You take this money, I don't need it anymore. I will live a good life at the foot of the mountain. If things go wrong, go up the mountain to find Abbot Xuanqing, he will definitely help you..."
A dull monk was speaking sadly to a Miao girl about parting. It was an eye-opener for the three people present, Bai Feng, Murong Yan, and Yang Deqing. Although I don’t know the origin of it, I always feel that it has something to do with those endless feelings that people often praise.
After the two people in front of the door said goodbye to each other, they each knelt down to Xuanqing three times before formally saying goodbye to several people in the room and leaving the pagoda.
"Hahaha..." Not long after the two people left, Xuan Qing couldn't help laughing, and taunted those present: "You must not know what's going on, right? Especially you, Young Master Bai."
Bai Feng replied: "I would like to hear the abbot's detailed explanation!"
"Juexin's trip is closely related to your master and the Longming Sword in your hand." Xuan Qing said slowly: "Young Master Bai must also know that the 'White Snake Immortal' did not throw the sword off the cliff. Bar?"
"Yes..." Bai Feng murmured, as if he didn't want to admit that he had been deceived. Murong Yan on the side was unusually excited and rude. She looked at Xuan Qing with a solemn expression and reproached: "Old monk, you have caused us great harm! Look at Brother Feng's hand, which was bitten by a wild wolf. What’s it like!”
"Miss Murong, please be patient. The old monk also acted according to the words of his old friend!" Xuan Qing said: "Back then, your master went up the mountain alone. One of the reasons was to give the sword to the old monk and me. Give this sword to someone who is worthy of it. The old monk murmured in his heart at that time that if some people in the world knew that the sword 'Longming' had fallen here, there would be a bloody battle to seize the sword, so he put it in his heart. The sword was given as a gift to Shi Hongtu, the head of the Shi family in Wandeng Town, who was cultivating in the mountains at that time. Unexpectedly, the sword actually returned to the hands of the apprentice of the "White Snake Immortal". But the apprentice is no exception, you Whether you are worthy of owning this sword or not, you still need to pass the test of the old monk!"
Murong Yan blushed at this explanation. She knew she had wrongly blamed a good person, but she didn't want to admit it, so she argued: "But... the sword was so damaged that it can't be used at all!"
"Yes, abbot, it's a blessing that the sword was damaged like this and it hasn't broken or shattered yet!" Yang Deqing observed the sword and said in agreement.
Xuan Qing looked at Bai Feng's cold and determined eyes, as if he were seeing his old friend who had resolutely abandoned the sword at that time. A warm smile appeared on his face, and he continued: "The reason why a sword is a sword is that it cuts iron like clay. , in addition to its extremely sharp edge, it also has the resilience to withstand all disadvantages. Therefore, its owner must also have a similar character. I have already seen this in Bai Shaoxia!"
"Old monk, since there is 'the first', there must be the 'the second'. Why do you say that the journey of enlightenment is related to the master?" Bai Feng asked.
"Haha." Xuan Qing replied: "Secondly, the arrival of the 'White Snake Immortal' is to warn the old monk me. A traitorous monk who escaped from this temple many years ago will become a great trouble to the world in the future! Then! The name of the rebel monk is Sima Tu, the current Heavenly Master of Taiping Dao and the national master of Daqi."
"So, this Heavenly Master of Taiping Dao was once the disciple of Master Xuanqing?" Yang Deqing asked in surprise.
"Yes, that is indeed the old monk's former disciple. He was able to recite scriptures at the age of four, and had read all the scriptures in the temple at the age of six. He is an out-and-out genius. It's just that he made a mistake, and fate caused it to happen. He deviated from the right path. It wasn't until the arrival of the 'White Snake Immortal' that I realized that I had given birth to such a 'poisonous snake'!" Xuan Qing was filled with compassion and continued: "According to Bai Shaoxia's master, he was attacked by Sima Tu at that time. He broke away from the Da Qi court due to the poisonous schemes and persecution, and he was afraid that the 'poisonous snake' would harm the world in the future, so he came to ask the old monk to come forward and subdue him. Alas, it is a pity that I didn't take it seriously at the time, and to this day, I have tasted the consequences..."
Bai Feng said: "So, Master, he was once a member of the imperial court? And this trip to Juexin was because you, Abbot Xuanqing, handed over the Zen staff to him in order to make up for past mistakes?"
"Yes, Juexin will take my place and use the 'Magic Subduing Wand' passed down from generation to generation in Qingliang Temple to eradicate those evil evil ways one by one... This is not only for the old monk himself, but also for Juexin's own cultivation, and even more for All good men and women in the world!" After Xuan Qing said this, he stretched out his hand to take the Longming Sword. He looked at the wear and tear on the sword and said: "This sword is not irreparable, go find the sword maker! Learn from him With it, you may be able to learn more about your master."
"You mean, Yuan Fengzi?" After Murong Yan finished speaking, she looked at Bai Feng again for a moment.
Xuanqing nodded in response, and immediately wrote a letter of recommendation in handwriting and handed it to Bai Feng. At this time, the kind-browed young monk who prepared lunch brought another meal, and the few of them ate simple meals while talking about Yuan Fengzi.
