The heavy snow dyed everything in the world white. The Taoist and the swordsman, two horses and a cat, stretched their footprints to the north.
Still walking and stopping, spreading and distributing spiritual power to eliminate evil and sorcery.
Sometimes I meet other people.
Doctor Cai is not the only doctor who came to Guijun, and there is also more than Song You as a practitioner. In the wind and snow, there are always those who go against the trend.
It's just that the snow and wind were too heavy, so we walked slowly.
Song You originally planned to reach Hansu in three days, which is the northernmost county in Gui County and closest to the snowy plains, but he could not reach it on the night of the third day.
However, the terrain here is flat, and the village cannot stay overnight. There is not even a place to take shelter from the wind.
Seeing that the sky was getting dark, Song You sighed helplessly and had no choice but to cast a spell and gather soil into piles to form a shelter from the wind.
Empress Sanhua transformed into a human form, skillfully picked up a lot of firewood and lit a fire.
The swordsman laid down the garrison stakes, tied the horses, and took off his quilt.
There is a little more firelight in the cold night of the wilderness.
Song You spread out the woolen felt and sat cross-legged on it to keep out the cold ground. He then took out the blanket and quilt and put it aside. Empress Sanhua also sat next to the Taoist, wrapping her body in a blanket, leaving only her hair exposed. He would stare at the fire in front of him with his head. If there was not enough firewood, he would stretch out a hand from the blanket, pick up the firewood and throw it in.
The mounds of earth blocked the cold wind, the blankets blocked the chill, and the fire burned brightly. The flames reflected in the eyes of the three people, making a crackling sound, which actually added a touch of warmth to the cold night.
An iron pot, half a pot of ice and snow, with scones broken into small pieces, the snow slowly melted.
However, in the snowy night, someone came unexpectedly.
I saw Empress Sanhua picking up a piece of firewood and poking it into the fire. Her body didn't turn much, but her head almost turned to the back, looking at the night sky.
"What's wrong?"
Song You also turned around to look.
It was already dark at this time, there were no stars or moon above our heads, the world was pitch black and nothing could be seen.
But the little girl still stared there, neither speaking nor turning her head back.
After a while, a figure was faintly seen.
The figure gradually appeared in the firelight.
He was a monk wearing a yellow robe. He was a little fat and had a cloth on his head. He clasped his hands and walked slowly and firmly along the official road.
The monk undoubtedly saw them. He stopped and looked at them a few times. It seemed that they were indeed humans and not monsters. Then he kept his hands clasped together and bowed.
"Amitabha."
Song You also stood up and returned the salute, and then asked: "Master, why are you traveling late at night?"
The monk forced a smile from his tired face and replied respectfully: "We have no choice but to hurry before we reach our destination."
"It's so late, can you still see the road clearly?"
“The naked eye cannot, but the mind’s eye can.”
"You have a good mind," Song You said, and then asked, "I wonder where the master came from and where he is going?"
"Come from the village behind you and go to Hansu."
"It's late at night, the wind and snow are heavy, and the cold is still thirty miles away. Even if the master walks to the city gate, I'm afraid he won't be able to enter the city. If you're not in a hurry, please come here to take shelter from the snow and wind."
"How many of you are not afraid that the poor monk will bring the disease?"
"Master, are you afraid that we might bring the disease?"
"It is better to obey orders than to be respectful!"
The monk looked at Song You across the night, smiled, put his hands together and bowed, and then stepped closer.
There was a Taoist and a monk on both sides, and their accents were different from those of the Hezhou people. In front of them was Hansu, where the epidemic was most severe. If they were afraid of the epidemic, why would they walk here at night?
"Thank you guys."
The monk found an empty seat next to the fire and sat down, and said to them: "The poor monk, whose name is once, is originally from Ngong Chau and became a monk at Shengde Temple in Ngong Chau."
"My surname is Song, and my name is You. I am from Lingquan County, Yizhou. I have no Taoist name for the time being."
"Shu Yifan, a martial artist in the martial arts world."
"The Sanhua Empress of the Mao'er Temple next to Fulong Temple in Yinyang Mountain, Lingquan County, Xiayi Prefecture." The little girl stared at the monk with bright eyes, imitating the tone of the Taoist priest next to her, but her words were much longer, saying in one breath It seemed a bit difficult for her to finish.
"The poor monk is polite."
The monk took another look at Sanhua Empress.
"Sanhua Empress was originally the deity of the Mao'er Temple beside Jinyang Road in Yizhou. She met me by fate and traveled around the world together for almost five years." Song You explained to the monk, adding, "We are also on this trip. He came from Angzhou to Beijing and entered Hezhou at the beginning of the year."
"I see."
The monk had a fat, round face and looked quite charitable, but there was a hint of sadness and exhaustion in his brows: "It's fate. Before the poor monk came to Hezhou, he stayed at Tianhai Temple in Changjing for several years."
"Tianhai Temple?"
"Have you heard of it, Taoist Master?" the monk asked.
"I've been there once." Song You couldn't help but smile and said to him, "Tianhai Temple, Xi Zi Pagoda."
"That tree is magical."
The monk also smiled, with a look of nostalgia in his eyes. When he looked at Song You again, he felt as if he had met an old friend. He smiled and said, "The Taoist priest came from Yizhou and must have traveled around. I don't know when he arrived." When did you leave Changjing?"
Song You was not restrained, and said while warming himself by the fire: "I arrived in Changjing in February of the fourth year of Mingde, and left in the first month of this year."
"That's really unlucky." The monk put his hands together and nodded. "Pindao just happened to leave Changjing in the early fourth year of Mingde. Before that, he had been practicing as a monk in Tianhai Temple for five years."
"Should I say it's a coincidence or an unfortunate coincidence?"
"Haha, the Taoist priest is right."
This is almost the same as Dr. Cai.
We didn't meet him in Changjing, but we met him in Guijun, Hezhou, two or three thousand miles away. It's hard to say whether it was fate or not. It can only be said that fate had not arrived at that time, but it has arrived now.
"Why did the master come here?"
"We in the Buddhist sect will eventually have the heart to help the world. Now the north is in chaos. Although the poor monks have low abilities, they are still willing to use their meager efforts to help the troubled times." The master clasped his hands and said, "So after practicing in Tianhai Temple, I It happened that not long after I came to Hezhou, I heard about the severe epidemic in Guijun, so I came to Guijun. I heard that Hansu was the most serious disease, so I went all the way to Hansu."
"I see."
Song You nodded.
Most of the practitioners I met during this period were like this, including Buddhism and Taoism. However, the demonic methods and sorcery in this demon epidemic came from the great demon king of the snow plains. Ordinary practitioners are not that easy to get rid of, and they just treat the disease. Even more powerless, even Taoists who know medical skills are very powerless. During this period of time, Song You had only seen one person who knew how to use ingenious magic to remove the disease, but he could only cure one person after two or three days of busy work.
Song You thought for a while and then said: "However, most of the county towns are closed now, and entry and exit are strictly controlled. Even if Master reaches Hansu City, it will not be easy to get in."
"After getting it, if you can get in, the poor monk will go straight to Bingqianfang. If you can't get in, he will go to the village outside the city."
"Master, do you have a cure?"
"The poor monk has very little knowledge and little magical power. He cannot cure the disease. He can only relieve the pain of the patient and delay the disease." The monk said with shame, "Let the Taoist priest laugh."
"I don't have any cure, so how can I laugh at you?"
"No wonder the fluorescent light is small, but it still illuminates the heart of the night."
"That's it."
Song You agreed, thought for a while and then said, "But have you ever heard of Divine Doctor Cai?"
"Like thunder, I heard that Divine Doctor Cai is also returning to the county."
"Exactly." Song You said to him, "Mr. Cai has developed a symptomatic method in Lingze two days ago that can cure the nine-day epidemic."
"Is this true?"
"nature."
"How does the Taoist priest know?"
"We are coming from Lingze."
"That would be great!"
The monk was extremely happy immediately.
Then he realized that he was overjoyed, and then he stopped smiling, clasped his hands together, closed his eyes and recited silently, and when he opened his eyes, he was already calm:
"If this is the case, the poor monk will have to go to Hansu."
"That's it."
Song You nodded, guessing what he meant, and looked at each other with the swordsman and the girl, and then said: "We also planned to go to Hansu, but the wind and snow made it difficult to travel, so we had to spend the night here. In this case, maybe we can go on the same journey tomorrow.”
"Then there will be a lot of disturbance."
They are both practitioners of Taoism, and they all came here to treat illnesses and save people. Even if they don't feel like old friends after meeting for the first time, there is really no need to be polite.
Every encounter and interaction should be like water, simple and clean.
So a group of people sat around the fire to keep warm, and when the snow water boiled the scones into a paste, the swordsman took out a bowl for each person, plus the persimmons presented by the officials and people of Lingze County, one for each person. With something in my stomach, I felt much warmer, so I could continue to talk freely.
When it got late at night, Song You gathered another pile of dirt and blocked the last gap. He asked the monk if he wanted a thin quilt, but the monk only said that it was not cold, so he gave up.
In fact, as long as you are alive, how can you not feel the cold?
No matter how high you are, you will still be cold.
If you can't feel the cold, you won't know what warmth is and how valuable it is.
It just doesn't freeze.
It's just that the monk said so. With Song You's temperament, he didn't bother to pester him anymore. However, Sanhua Empress knew the discomfort of the cold best, so she just took the thin quilt and threw it on him, climbed over the gap in the mound, and picked it up in the cold night. A lot of dry firewood came and was piled nearby. I caught a mouse and saved it for tomorrow morning. Then I got into the wool felt and covered myself with the Taoist. Half in a daze and half asleep.
In the evening, the monks moved beads and chanted sutras silently until midnight. In the meantime, they added more firewood a few times to avoid the fire going out.
Early the next morning, it was already covered with snow.
The Taoist and the swordsman cooked some more paste, added persimmons, and shared the food with the monk. After the calico cat politely asked the monk if he wanted to eat rats, he also went out for a walk and ate the rats by the way.
Then continue on the road.
There is one more person traveling with me.
The cold snow had been falling for I don't know how many days. It was probably more than a foot thick, and my feet would leave deep footprints. I walked thirty miles all morning.
This morning, I didn't just sleep until the sun was rising and then wait until noon. Because of the cold in the north, even though the wool felts and blankets presented by Yu Zhizhou had excellent thermal insulation capabilities, they would still wake up from the cold when they slept until the coldest part of the morning, so they would simply go on the road, almost walking with the sunrise.
We arrived at Hansu City Gate at noon.
As expected, Hansu has already closed the city.
However, the soldiers guarding the city only glanced at the people below the city and shouted from a distance: "Is this Mr. Song Yousong who came from Lingze County?"
"Huh?"
The monk was quite surprised.
Facing his gaze, Song You first asked questions and answers to the soldiers on the city wall, and then turned to the monk and replied: "I went with the miracle doctor Cai before, and then I said goodbye to the miracle doctor and continued north. I think he is an official postman from Lingze County. I sent you the news that the miraculous doctor has cured the epidemic, and by the way, it will be a convenience for you down there."
"I see."
The monk clasped his hands and said with a smile.
The city gate also slowly opened in front of the two people.
(End of chapter)
