It's said to be a statue of a god, but that's not true. It should be a black outline of a human figure, standing quietly next to the dilapidated statue of a god, with arms stretched out and head lowered.
But as if aware of Ye Qin's gaze, the figure slowly raised his head.
Ye Qin finally saw clearly what kind of creature it was. He originally thought it was a monster, but he didn't expect it to be a kind-faced monk!
But in this wild temple in the middle of the night, a monk suddenly appeared, which was really weird enough.
Moreover, Ye Qin had already detected it when he came in. There was no one there at all. When did this monk appear?
He had just been in meditation for a while, and his mental energy was still wandering around. If someone broke in, he would definitely feel it.
However, Ye Qin didn't notice anything about this, which showed that this monk was not simple, and his expression instantly became alert.
"Where does this ghost monk come from!"
The monk in front of him looked no different from an ordinary monk. He was wearing a yellow cassock that was not new and looked at Ye Qin with a smile.
It's just that the smile is like a mask hanging on the face, and even the curvature of the corners of the mouth seems to be fixed, extremely stiff, and a little uncomfortable no matter how you look at it.
There was no energy fluctuation in the monk's body, allowing Ye Qin to be sure that this was not a practitioner.
But for some reason, Qin felt a threat inexplicably, maybe because it was too strange and unknown.
"It's that smell again..."
At this moment, a vague smell floated in the air and entered Ye Qin's nose. The smell was indescribable.
He noticed it when he first entered the temple, but he didn't pay attention to it at the time, but now it is getting stronger and stronger.
After sniffing carefully, it seemed that someone was lighting a cigarette and a candle. The key was that this place was in the wilderness. Where did the people come from?
"Could it be related to this ghost monk? After he appeared, the smell became stronger."
As if he heard Ye Qin's thoughts, the ghost monk suddenly turned around slowly and revealed the back of his head. But what shocked Ye Qin was that there was a face on the back of the ghost monk's head!
He had a strange, serious and pious face, with his mouth open and teeth exposed, and his lips opening and closing all the time, as if he was chanting a prayer, but cigarette cigarettes were curling out of his mouth.
Ye Qin took a closer look and saw that there was a stick of incense stuck in the throat of this face, as if it was stuck in an incense burner!
Ye Qin was in a daze and thought he was hallucinating, but something even weirder was yet to come.
The ghost monk turned around, but his facial features became blurred. The original smiling face of the Buddha disappeared and turned into various faces. Men, women, old and young, happy, angry, angry and foolish, everything was constantly changing.
More and more human faces appeared on the monk's face, top of his head, side face, back of his head... everything looked so abrupt and weird, as if he could see all living things.
"Where's this damn... all-changing facial makeup?"
Ye Qin was feeling cold all over and couldn't help complaining. Finally, he blinked and saw the monk's exaggerated smile as before. Nothing had changed.
"It's definitely not an illusion!"
The strange feeling in Ye Qin's heart became more and more intense, and his intuition told him that although he didn't know what kind of creature the ghost monk in front of him was, he was obviously not someone to be trifled with.
Whoosh!
But at this moment, the ghost monk moved like a gust of wind. Seeing that smiling face getting closer and closer to him, Ye Qin immediately rushed outside like an arrow from a string, leaving only a trace in the air. A green afterimage.
Standing outside the temple, looking at the dilapidated buildings in the night and the dancing shadows of the trees, Ye Qin could notice that the monk in the temple was standing at the door, looking out.
"Who is this ghost monk? He is neither a god nor a human being."
Ye Qin's eyes were full of caution, not because he was timid, but because this incident was so strange and he had never encountered such a situation before.
He was sure that this monk was definitely not a human being, but there was no way of knowing what kind of creature he was. Fortunately, he was not a cultivator, because he did not have the power of heaven and earth.
Moreover, when he entered the temple previously, the monk showed no breath at all. From this, it can be inferred that the monk should have appeared after Ye Qin triggered the mottled years fragment.
Ye Qin is very sure of this!
So, is it related to the temple, or is it because of the mottled passage of time?
Or maybe both?
"Fortunately, I was vigilant and did not go directly into the mottled years. Otherwise, I might have capsized today."
If at that time, Ye Qin really ignored it and entered the long river of time, it's hard to say what would happen next.
So now, the best way is not to enter, because Ye Qin can't figure out the origin of this ghost monk and really doesn't dare to take risks.
Although the power of time is hard to find, without it, Ye Qin can still find the next one, and there is no need to put himself in danger.
call--
A gust of night wind blew away a few fallen leaves, and the branches rustled and swayed, like a group of demons dancing.
The inconspicuous wild temple in the dark looked dilapidated and crumbling, but I didn't expect that it contained such mysterious power.
Ye Qin's eyes were full of fear, thinking about the origin of the monk. There must be an inseparable relationship between the monk and the temple.
Thinking of the smell he had smelled inexplicably before, Ye Qin was finally sure that it was the smell of incense!
And it comes from that monk.
"This ghost monk has so many faces, as if he has seen all living things, and even has faces praying and breathing incense..."
Ye Qin connected all these together, and the clues in his mind became clearer and clearer.
"I smelled the scent of incense earlier and saw the 'power of sentient beings'. Could it be that -"
Burning incense, making offerings, and incense are not spiritual practice!
For Taoist priests with Zhengfa inheritance, this is a way to communicate with the higher world.
Similarly, the ancients believed that there were gods in the world. They worshiped incense and offered tributes to pray for the gods' blessings, which was also a way to communicate with the upper world.
This method of worship can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty.
Zhou people raised smoke to offer sacrifices to heaven, which was called "禋" or "禋Sacrifice".
"The Book of Songs·Zhou Song·Weiqing": "Weiqing Jixi, the canon of King Wen, Zhaohui." Note: "King Wen was ordered to begin offering sacrifices to heaven." That is to say, this sacrificial system began with King Wen of Zhou.
The specific sacrificial method is as follows: place the animal body and jade silk on firewood, and burn the firewood to raise smoke to express condolences to heaven.
"The Rites of Zhou·Chun Guan·Da Zong Bo": "We use ferment to worship Haotian God, we use solid firewood to worship the sun, moon and stars, and we use fermented fire to worship Si Zhongsi Ming. The wind master and the rain master."
It can be seen that the so-called worship ceremony consists of lighting a fire to raise smoke, and using the smoke as aroma to worship the gods. This is what later generations called "burning incense".
Most of the words behind incense refer to the incense and candles used to worship gods and Buddhas in temples.
And this is incense.
However, there is another saying called "Sincerity leads to spirituality"!
If a mortal makes a wish to the gods and considers himself pious, then God will hear it, accept his offering, and help him form his wish.
However, there are no gods in the world, but people in the past firmly believed in this. The spiritual power they put in will not disappear because there are no gods in the world. Instead, it has become a kind of mental power that floats between heaven and earth.
Therefore, incense generates mindfulness, and the unity is what Buddhism calls 'business'!
The common saying is explained as: the thoughts of all living beings, the thoughts of all living beings, and the thoughts of all living beings.
The thoughts of ordinary people are very few, and the scope of their effects is not large, so they can be ignored.
But now that there is such a venue, it has become a medium and a bridge. When many people are added together, a small number becomes a large number, and the power of thought formed is considerable!
Day after day, it keeps growing, and over decades or even centuries, it can even change the magnetic field here.
Even if this wild temple is abandoned in the end, the remaining incense and sentient beings' telepathy will not dissipate in a short time.
Therefore, the strange energy fluctuation that Ye Qin sensed before should have originated from this, and was formed under the combined action of incense and the power of sentient beings.
Of course, not every temple and Taoist temple can generate such strange energy, such as those famous ancient temples that Ye Qin saw before.
The creation of these existences also requires opportunities, just like the power of mottled years. There is no way to know how it was formed. At least Ye Qin can't solve the mystery now.
"This ghost monk has the face of a living being, has all kinds of appearances, and can even breathe incense. It is very likely that he is the product of 'all business'!"
"Is he equivalent to the guardian of the incense in this ruined temple?"
The ability to produce mottled fragments of time shows that this wild temple once had something extraordinary. Although it is now abandoned, it must have been very prosperous at one time, attracting people from all over the world to come and worship.
Therefore, it is normal that there is a lot of incense and telepathy left in this ruined temple.
"If you deduce it this way, it makes sense."
However, this ghost monk cannot be compared to any kind of creature in the world, because he is not a human being, nor a so-called god, nor a ghost. He is just a special existence formed by the combination of incense and thought power.
And he is not a practitioner. He is completely different from Ye Qin and cannot control the power of heaven and earth.
But Ye Qin doesn't know what this is. After all, there is no record of it in human cognition, because it exists on the spiritual level and cannot be seen by the naked eye.
Perhaps, it can be understood as some kind of monster on the spiritual level?
"Looking at it this way, it looks a bit like an AI created by humans."
Ye Qin thinks it can be understood this way, if used as a scientific metaphor: 'Business' is equivalent to big data, which collects information from countless people and finally forms an AI. Like this monk, AI is just an evolution of big data. , there is no wisdom.
This ghost monk is equivalent to an AI existence, and the business formed by the fusion of incense and mind power is similar to big data.
So, is it a kind of metaphysical AI?
"If you understand it this way, there is nothing wrong. After all, this ghost monk does not seem to have any sanity, nor is he a practitioner. He is just a spiritual monster, not much different from an AI."
The reason he didn't show up before was because Ye Qin didn't touch the ban here. He was just like an ordinary passerby, and the temple's defense mechanism would not be activated.
And once you want to enter the fragment of mottled years, energy fluctuations are triggered, and the guardians of all businesses are also awakened.
"Is it possible that in the future, all temples or Taoist temples with mottled years will have a guardian of all businesses like this because there is a lot of incense and telepathy left?"
The existence of the guardian and the mottled fragments of time should complement each other.
In other words, if a place where incense is enshrined, such as a Taoist temple, can form mottled years, it will definitely make all business take shape!
"If that's the case, that's a bit of a problem."
However, these are just Ye Qin's guesses. For the specific details, we will have to look at other Taoist temples with fragments of time in the future.
"I hope my guesses are all wrong."
Otherwise, you will have to find a way to deal with these guardians when entering these places in the future.
Although Ye Qin did not have a head-on confrontation with the monk, he had a vague feeling that this was not a good thing. After all, it was formed under the influence of mind power and incense, and represented the will of all living beings. It must not be much different.
"Retreat first, don't enter this place."
Ye Qin had no nostalgia and ran away decisively.
These business guardians are so weird that Ye Qin doesn't want to get involved with them.
The mountain road was extremely quiet. I could only hear the constant rustling of Ye Qin crawling on the ground. The wind blew from nowhere, and the leaves were whirling like weeping.
He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice that the shadows not far away were like thick ink gathering together, and the temperature in the air became extremely low.
Ye Qin stopped, as if he was aware of it, he suddenly turned around.
There was nothing behind him, only the swaying leaves were left, like monsters with long limbs, dormant in the darkness, watching him eagerly.
"strangeness."
Just now, Ye Qin felt a strong sense of gaze. When he turned around, he found nothing, only the swaying shadows of trees.
"Maybe I'm too suspicious."
An inexplicable coldness came to my heart.
Snakes are cold-blooded animals, and their body temperature can change with the outside temperature. Ye Qin has not felt what it feels like to be too cold for a long time.
This coldness is an instinctive alert to danger, and it is also a signal sent by his mental power.
Shadows cover my head unconsciously.
Ye Qin looked around, and there was nothing unusual around him. He seemed to realize something, and suddenly his body froze, and then he slowly raised his head.
"hiss!"
An enlarged and completely inverted smiling face of the Buddha suddenly appeared in front of Ye Qin!
The distance between the two sides was so close that they were almost touching Ye Qin's face, less than half a finger apart!
However, the monk was hanging upside down on the tree like a bat. Ye Qin was so horrified that he ejected directly and distanced himself instantly.
It was obvious that this ghost monk had followed him all the way, his smile stretched almost to the corners of his mouth, and his face that should have been kind seemed a little distorted, as if he was mocking Ye Qingang for discovering it.
"This metaphysics AI monk would actually leave the ruined temple alone?"
This was something Ye Qin never expected. Why would he chase him out if he wasn't guarding the temple?
Is the AI confused?
In the darkness, the monk's eyes were bright, emitting two rays of light, and he stared at Ye Qin, motionless.
If Ye Qin were a human being, he would probably have goosebumps all over his body.
Click!
The purple scales in the center of the forehead suddenly bloomed with a flash of brilliance, and thick lightning suddenly struck where the monk was like a spiritual snake.
Purple sparks illuminated the surrounding darkness, but the monk's figure quickly melted away like night, and soon disappeared.
"Is it resolved so quickly?"
Ye Qin was a little surprised and couldn't believe it. The whole process was too easy.
Rather than being solved by him, it would be better to say that he disappeared on his own initiative.
The sense of crisis in Ye Qin's heart has not completely dissipated.
The surrounding ordinary trees are hidden in the darkness, like ghosts, and the originally peaceful country road is immersed in a strange mystery.
There seems to be an inexplicable power that changes everything around you.
Ye Qin crawled on the path, the feeling of being watched still existed, and became more intense, and a chill came from behind him.
Uh-huh!
As soon as he said it, he suddenly turned around.
The next second, the monk's exaggerated smile came into view again. They were almost face to face. His old yellow cassock was floating in the air, and his body was almost touching.
From such a close distance, Ye Qin could smell the smell of inferior cigarettes and candles, as if they had been stored for a long time and had deteriorated and become pungent.
Ye Qin's pupils instantly turned into a straight vertical line, his body tensed, and he quickly rushed forward.
"Whenever this AI ghost monk appeared behind me, I didn't even notice it!"
For a moment, Ye Qin only felt creepy. Fortunately, this monk didn't know how to practice, otherwise it would be really scary to come and go without a trace.
This time Ye Qin reacted very quickly. The moment he saw the monk, the power of thunder was released. At the same time, the monk's figure disappeared into the air.
"This AI monk is too disgusting."
Ye Qin's eyes became solemn. At first, he thought that the power of thunder drove the monk away, but now it seems that this is not the case.
This monk is just like the AI data in the computer. He was born between heaven and earth. He has no entity in himself. He is just a bunch of thoughts of sentient beings similar to big data. He can naturally disappear and appear at will.
We continued crawling for a while, and sure enough, the monk suddenly appeared again.
The monk was elusive along the way, following Ye Qin without making a move, just like a ghost following him, not knowing what his purpose and significance was.
No matter what methods Ye Qin used, he could not fight him away. It was like hitting cotton. Before long, the monk would still appear with that exaggerated smile on his face.
Although it did not cause any substantial harm to Ye Qin, such an elusive method had a lot of impact on both his vision and his mind.
Because you never know where he will appear next second.
Fortunately, Ye Qin has a strong mind. If it were an ordinary person, he would have been tortured to the point of going crazy.
Unknowingly, I have been working hard for most of the night, looking at the faint glow of the sky, the bright light and shadow, the colorful clouds, the clouds and the mist, heralding the arrival of a new day.
At this moment, Ye Qin no longer wanted to continue traveling. The monk was still following him like a ghost, which was really a hidden danger.
"If I had known there was such a difficult monster, I would never have gone to that wild temple."
Ye Qin felt inexplicably regretful. Instead of entering the Mottled Years segment, he had provoked an unknown metaphysical AI creature.
Even if he found a place with the power of time again, he would not dare to enter it. Who knows whether this monk would cause trouble.
Now the monk has not taken action, but Ye Qin cannot take his own life as a joke.
"If you can't offend me, you can't afford to hide."
Ye Qin made up his mind to get rid of this monk, mobilized the energy of heaven and earth in his body, and poured it into the scales of his body, almost with lightning speed, and his shadow was no longer there.
You can see that the dark yellow shadow has been left far behind him.
The whistling wind blew past his ears, and Ye Qin used an unprecedented speed, which was almost the same as running for his life.
He didn't dare to stay for a moment, for fear that the thing would catch up, and the surrounding scenery quickly retreated, and even turned into afterimages.
I don't know how long it took, but looking at the endless green mountains in front of me, there was a fragrance in the air, and a familiar feeling enveloped Ye Qin, and he stopped and felt a little relieved.
"Longyuan Mountain is quite far away from that wild temple. I don't believe that ghost can still catch up."
The feeling of gaze finally dissipated, and Ye Qin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
The feeling of being watched every moment can almost drive people crazy. After all, no one likes to have no privacy and be exposed to the eyes of others.
And that person is not a human being, and it is even impossible to tell what kind of creature it is.
"I originally thought that I would gain something by going down the mountain this time, but now it seems that I might as well continue to practice on the mountain and regret it!"
Ye Qin sighed quietly and cursed secretly for bad luck. He went out hoping to break through, but he came back in a mess.
Every time he appeared, there was no energy fluctuation, and he couldn't be beaten to death. It was really difficult to deal with him. This feeling made Ye Qin very uncomfortable.
It was also the first time he encountered such difficulties after he was reborn as a snake and started practicing.
"But then again, if this monk is really the product of many businessmen, he would be too powerful."
Ye Qin was thinking about this and couldn't help but turn his head to look down the mountain, in the direction of the mountain temple where he was enshrined.
These businesses are so magical. If you can study and understand them, wouldn't you be able to take advantage of them?
Ye Qin thought of the bones, thought of his snake statue, and thought of many weird ideas...
No matter what, this incident was a wake-up call for Ye Qin. The top priority was to improve his level as soon as possible.
Only by improving your cultivation can you remain unchanged in response to all changes.
Ye Qin gathered his thoughts and prepared to devote himself to practicing seclusion again. However, just as he closed his eyes, that familiar feeling of gaze appeared again!
"Fuck! Ni! Big! Master!"
His heart sank inexplicably, and he suddenly had a bad feeling. Could that thing be chasing after him again?
The environment in front of him was so familiar, but Ye Qin actually felt like he had returned to the wild temple. In addition to the smell of green plants and soil, there was also the smell of cigarettes and candles in the air.
Ye Qin's eyes wandered back and forth between the wide leaves, hoping that his guess was wrong.
"Didn't I get rid of it? How did He position me?"
The familiar dark yellow clothes appeared in mid-air, particularly obvious among the green plants all over the mountains and plains, like a ghost.
Ye Qin's eyes also became solemn.
The strangely familiar smiling face disappeared in the jungle so quickly that Ye Qin almost thought it was his hallucination.
Taking another closer look, the green plants not far away were swaying in the wind, and the sunlight was falling from above, forming large and small spots of light. Light and shadow existed at the same time. Everything looked so quiet and beautiful.
It seems that the smiling face has never appeared.
But Ye Qin knew that this was not his hallucination.
he came!
Unexpectedly, the monk actually chased him. This realization made Ye Qin's heart sink to the bottom.
There was no energy fluctuation in the air, but it was just so hard to guard against. I don't know how the monk found his presence. Could it be that he put a tracker?
Ye Qin was puzzled and had no mood to continue practicing. The presence of such a creature on his mountain was undoubtedly a huge hidden danger for him.
The fact that the monk didn't take action now doesn't mean he won't take action in the future. Although he is not a practitioner, it is still weird enough.
This existence is a threat, an unknown threat!
Like the knife hanging above Ye Qin's head, no one knows when it will fall.
This is just the beginning.
At first the monk only came to harass me from time to time.
But as each day passed, the ghost monk appeared more and more frequently. He was almost everywhere, as if he was everywhere, breaking Ye Qin's originally peaceful life and even affecting his practice.
Ye Qin could not completely meditate. As soon as he closed his eyes, the feeling of being watched was everywhere. How could he concentrate on practicing under such circumstances?
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the monk's strangely enlarged smile. He didn't do anything, just stood there and smiled face to face with him, which was scary enough.
This feeling of suffocation was also thanks to Ye Qin's strong psychological endurance, otherwise the pressure over the past few days would have been enough to drive him crazy.
The monk didn't make any real move, but he kept squeezing Ye Qin's nerves.
"We can't continue like this. We are too passive."
However, Ye Qin tried all kinds of methods but could not make the monk disappear completely, because only he could see this ghost monk, and other animals did not notice it at all.
Just like the imaginary bones, it only exists on the spiritual level, but it is between reality.
Mysterious and mysterious.
But Bones is obedient, but this ghost monk is annoying. Before long, he will appear again, like a piece of cowhide plaster.
Ye Qin's thunder and lightning scorched the surrounding land and trees a lot, and the monk seemed to be okay, which was extremely strange.
Because the ghost monk has never taken action, it is difficult to accurately assess his strength, but he is definitely not an easy master to deal with. After all, he was transformed by the thoughts of all sentient beings.
"I can't deal with it now. Is it because I don't have enough cultivation? If I condense it into a golden elixir, will things turn around?"
Ye Qin knows very well that once he condenses into a demon pill, his life level will immediately change qualitatively. From now on, the transcendence of otherworldliness may be different!
However, the monk's gaze was too tight now, like a tarsal maggot, and he could not completely calm down Ye Qin to practice.
Fortunately, Ye Qin quickly regained his composure and tried to find a solution.
"No matter what, I will give it a try even if there is only half a chance. It is better than sitting back and waiting for death."
"We must break through this Demonic Pill Realm today!"
"Then kill this stupid monk!"
(End of chapter)
