Yun Kong was very confused. What happened at that moment? He even began to wonder if he had ever climbed to Yinshan Temple? What about before the update? Has he ever been to Bozhou? What about before the update? Where is he?
He was shocked to find that his memory was very confusing, with many timelines intertwined together, and he couldn't distinguish them for a moment.
Regardless of the past, solving the current situation is most important.
He put the props back into the bag, stepped on the yin and yang steps, and slowly walked towards the collapsed door while exploring this strange place.
The light outside was strangely dim and gray, not like day or night, and it was impossible to tell whether there was any sun.
When Yun Kong walked to the door, he kicked something under his feet and rolled on the ground.
He bent down to pick it up and saw that it was a scroll. He turned the scroll over and saw that there was a label on it. There was no writing on it, but a cloud was drawn on it.
Gently unfolding the scroll, what comes into view is a small line drawing, which looks like a pool of water. Next to it is an old man sitting on a flat stone. He holds a straw fan in his hand and is fanning a small stove and boiling a pot of water.
Unfolding the scroll again, it was blank at the bottom.
"What do you mean?" Yun Kong was puzzled.
When he was still at a loss, he looked up, and the gray mist in front of him suddenly spread out, revealing a bamboo forest at the foot of the mountain, with a valley and a small pond next to it. Sure enough, there was an old man wearing a straw hat, hanging his head and fanning a fire. water.
Seeing a living person, Yun Kong felt excited, but also couldn't help but wonder: Why was the scene exactly the same as the scroll?
He took a deep breath, then decided to walk towards the old man, bowed respectfully and asked, "Excuse me, father-in-law, where is this place?"
The old man didn't even raise his head and glanced sideways at him: "Wrong question."
Yun Kong was stunned: "Wrong question...?"
"Go and take a look at your face in the pool."
Yun Kong approached the pond in confusion, looked down, and vaguely saw a thin middle-aged man with sideburns looking back at him from the water. Yunkong was quite surprised, and the middle-aged man on the water surface was also surprised. Yunkong was so frightened that he quickly retracted his head: "Who is this?"
"It's still the wrong question, look again!"
Although he didn't understand, he still stretched his head above the pool. This time he saw a middle-aged scholar. When the water rippled, he turned into a servant wearing soap clothes. With the gentle ripples, the faces on the water surface changed. The faces changed, and the expressions also changed with Yun Kong, but none of them looked like Yun Kong's face.
Yun Kong seemed to understand what the old man meant: "I...who am I?"
"This is it," the old man said, "who are you?"
"I am Yunkong."
"Yunkong is just a pseudonym given to you by your master, just like Chen Han is also a pseudonym given by your biological parents." The old man said, "The pseudonym is not you, and you are not a pseudonym, so who are you?"
Yun Kong doesn't know what situation he is in? He was being taught Zen by an unknown person in an unknown place. Should he answer or not answer? Should we leave and continue exploring or should we stay and continue Q&A? At this moment, he was completely unable to judge.
He tried to feel the "qi" around him, but all he felt was emptiness.
The old man in front of him was neither a ghost, nor a human, nor a god, nor a demon. Yun Kong could not guess his identity at all.
There was nothing he could do anyway, so the best option was to just answer.
No, there is another option.
"Yunkong is stupid, please tell me, father-in-law, who are you?"
The old man still didn't raise his head and chuckled a few times: "Obviously, I am the old man who makes tea."
"The old man who makes tea..."
White smoke slowly spewed out from the small hole in the clay pot, and the clay pot trembled on the stove. The old man who made tea opened the lid of the pot, and a strong aroma of tea suddenly hit his nostrils. After watching the boiling water in the pot, he put it in The clay pot removed the flame and placed it lightly on the ground.
"I used the tea leaves picked on rainy days, burned the fire, boiled the water from the valley, and boiled it for three times. What do you think the tea should taste like?"
Yun Kong frowned.
In the Tang Dynasty, drinking tea was regarded as drinking medicine. It was not until Lu Yu compiled the "Tea Classic" that the status and quality of drinking tea were improved.
According to Lu Yu, "broken utensils" are old wooden utensils with peculiar smell that are used to make tea. The peculiar smell will be mixed into the tea and destroy the flavor of the tea.
The water in the valley is stagnant "stagnant water" with rotten matter suspended in it, which is harmful to health.
The water that has been boiled for three times is already old. Boiling it for too long will affect the flavor of the tea and reduce its aroma.
If you pick tea on a rainy day, the taste of the tea will change.
All in all, this cup of tea, no matter what, must be a cup of tea failure.
The old man poured the tea into a small cup and handed it to Yun Kong.
Yun Kong hesitated for a moment, raised his glass and drank slowly.
After drinking it, the tea taste became sweeter and more fragrant with each mouthful, and it penetrated into the heart with each mouthful. Yunkong felt refreshed from his feet to his head.
Yun Kong was shocked and delighted at first, and couldn't help but smile. He said with emotion: "Rain tea, broken vessels, three boiling stagnant water, I can't think of why this tea..."
"This tea has a name," the old man said, pouring away the boiling water. "It's called 'Human Tea'."
"Where does this name come from?"
The old man who made tea raised the clay pot and said, "The pot is hollow, so it can hold water. A human being is also a skin, and the energy of heaven and earth is temporarily filled in it. It has traveled around the world for decades, gone through many hardships, and will eventually become a dragon or a worm." , but when life is about to end and the coffin is sealed, looking back on the good and evil in life, what determines the quality of tea?"
"Is it the tea maker?"
"It's the heart." The old man tapped his chest with his finger.
"Heart……"
Yun Kong took a sip of tea, feeling the aroma in his mouth, but with mixed feelings in his heart.
The old man squatted down with his back to the sky and cleaned the tea set by the pool: "The energy of heaven and earth gathers to form a human being, and a human being is transformed into a human form in the mother's womb. But before he can reach the human world, he must first pass through the Red Dragon Path..."
"Red Dragon Path?"
"When a person comes out of the mother's body, he cannot immediately adapt to the evil atmosphere of the world. If he cannot bear it, he will die young and return to the state of weakness." In ancient times, infant death was common, and women had to risk their lives to give birth to children. "So Chilong Dao first washes the fetus with blood and undergoes a blood bath to prepare for entering the evil world of five turbidities."
"Excuse me, what is the Red Dragon Path...?"
"Isn't it over there?" Yun Kong followed what the old man expected, and a red light suddenly appeared in front of him.
When Yun Kong was stunned, he heard the old man's voice: "Go, retrograde the red dragon, and find where the dragon's head is."
"The old man who made tea," he turned around to ask. The old man, the stove, and the clay pot were all gone. The water in the pool didn't even leave the ripples caused by just washing the teapot.
With a thought in mind, Yun Kong unfolded the scroll in his hand. Sure enough, under the pond and the old man in the painting, a new twisted red path was filled. There was a row of people standing on the roadside. Looking further, it was blank again.
Yun Kong vaguely understood.
Whoever or whatever had presented this illusion, he believed, had no malicious intent.
The red light in front of me gradually faded, and a red road appeared on the ground. It felt soft when stepped on, as if there was a thick layer of moss. Not far ahead, a figure standing on the roadside was vaguely visible.
"Let's get on the road." Yun Kong no longer hesitated, he believed that the answer would appear when it should appear.
Because he felt that the person who asked the question was actually eager to tell him the answer.
【2】The Way of the Stone Man
The sky was still as gray as a thick layer of dust.
Yun Kong walked on the blood-red road and looked at the stone figures on the roadside.
There are woods on both sides of the road, and the stone figures are carrying the woods on their backs. Each one stands upright, with relaxed expressions and slightly open eyes. However, this is not the expression of deep meditation, but the expression of the deceased who has lost tension.
Some of the faces he recognized were the ones he had just seen reflected in the pond.
Although each one has a different appearance, some are rougher, some are more delicate, some are tall and some are short, but they are almost all middle-aged men!
What message is hidden here?
He carefully looked at the clothes of the stone figures, trying to find clues. At this time, he noticed that the stone figures were not endless, and the end of the road could be seen from the clouds. So, he turned around and started counting from the first figure, thinking Do you know how many stone figures there are?
There was a sound of branches breaking in the woods. Yunkong was suddenly startled. He hid in front of the stone man and looked at the woods. He saw an old man named Dai Li in the shade. He was bending down to pick up the dead branches on the ground and put them in the basket on his back. middle.
Yun Kong immediately called to the old man: "My father-in-law, please ask me!"
The old man looked up at him, and he hurriedly walked out from behind the stone man.
"what?"
"Are these stone statues very old?"
"You will grow old when you are old, and you will never grow old if you are not old." The old man replied loudly.
"Eh?" Yun Kong looked carefully and saw that the first statue was indeed the newest. Although it also had a layer of slippery moss, it was not as good as the next ones. Each one was older than the last. The later ones came, the more seriously they were eroded by the moss. Moss will take root into the stone and secrete juice that dissolves the stone. Therefore, the ancient stone man is covered with mottled small pits, and even his appearance is blurred.
