Because before, at least I knew almost nothing about Abbot Mibao. So the next day when we arrived near Guiyuan Temple, under the guidance of Song Zi, we went to the residential house in the alley to visit Abbot Mibao.
When Songzi knocked on the door and saw Abbot Mibao for the first time, I was actually surprised. He looked very frail and was wearing a long yellow-white gown. In this day and age, few people would wear this if they were not Taoists or opera singers. The hair that is more than half an inch long on his head is mixed with a lot of white hair. Through the roots of the hair, you can still vaguely see the fragrant scar on the top of his head.
Abbot Mibao looks to be over sixty years old. Except for Songzi, Qin Bukong and I are seeing him for the first time now. But maybe it’s because Songzi expressed his intention to come to him yesterday, so he met our At that time, he did not show any very surprised feeling. I saw him greeting us with a smile but a haggard look, and I felt that he was particularly kind. But when he greeted Qin Bukong, he especially said, Mr. Qin, I have long admired your name.
Qin Bukong was also stunned. It was obvious that he did not expect that the ordinary person in front of him would recognize him. Presumably since Abbot Mibao is in Xuanmen, he is well-informed about some rumors in the world. Although Qin Bukong has a low-key style, he has been a well-known weirdo in this circle for many years, and he has been in Wuhan for so many years. He rarely interacts with people in the circle, and old people like Abbot Mibao must have heard about it.
Qin Bukong asked, have we seen this master before? Abbot Mibao shook his head and said that he had seen the past and the future, and he had seen the future before. Although he was looking haggard as he spoke, he was always smiling.
As soon as this sentence with deep Zen meaning comes out, it seems to say that the person who should be seen will be met sooner or later. The past, present and future are just artificially added time by us. Immediately I was in awe of this man who knew he was a monk but didn't look like one. Qin Bukong also thought that this was the first formal conversation, and unexpectedly raised his hands, bowed deeply to Abbot Mibao, and then said respectfully, Master, it was a joke, thank you for meeting me.
In my eyes, Qin Bukong has always been domineering. He always showed his superiority to other colleagues. He spoke directly and did not know how to be tactful. This was evident in his attitude towards Master Wu when I visited Changchun a few days ago. Now he is respectful to this monk with long hair, which is really unexpected.
Abbot Mibao smiled very kindly, stretched out his hands, palms facing up, gently lifted Qin Bukong's elbows while he was doing the salute, and then said to us, stop standing at the door, come inside and sit down. . So a group of us entered the house. The house was in very poor condition, with almost nothing except some necessary household items. The only thing that made me feel decent was the bed, which looked thick and warm. Even so, although the house is old and small, it is very simple and neatly decorated, especially the small bluegrass beside the bed, which gives this small place a sense of refinement.
Abbot Mibao asked us to sit wherever we wanted. Since there was really no place to sit, we spread out like taking a bus, sitting side by side on the bed next to each other. Although Abbot Mibao said very few words after meeting, he gave me a sense of sacredness and even some restraint. Even Qin Bukong was sitting properly at the moment, his serious expression reflected from the big beard on his face. When exposed, it looks a little ridiculous. I believe that his respect at this moment was not that he thought this sick monk was a powerful character, but a kind of respect from the bottom of his heart. As for what he was respecting, in fact, none of us could tell.
After a long time, everyone was silent, so Abbot Mibao said, I guess you all came here today to see the bronze Arhat statue in the Five Hundred Arhat Hall of Guiyuan Temple, right? The elders were here, so I didn't say anything. I just turned around and looked at Qin Bukong. I saw him sitting upright and answered one word very seriously: "Yes." Abbot Mibao pointed at Songzi and said, yesterday this young gentleman came to visit At that time, I once mentioned that you were looking for a Xuanmen seal, but did not explain it in detail. He just said that the seal might be in Guiyuan Temple, so the old monk took it upon himself to tell this young gentleman the past and present life of the temple. , but now I am a little curious. I wonder what is the seal that you gentlemen are looking for? If I give you a convenience, will this move affect my already endangered Guiyuanbao Temple?
So I turned to look at Songzi again. After all, when we discussed last night, according to what he conveyed, it seemed that the other party already knew our true purpose. But now it seems that Abbot Mibao only knows a little bit about it. Songzi said that yesterday was too hasty and the visit was in a hurry. There was indeed not enough time to explain some of the inside information to the abbot. To be honest, this seal was cast by a Taoist master a thousand years ago. The essence soul of the Miao Witch King who is his enemy and harms one side. Such powerful people often do not die. Since their souls are sealed after being defeated, they must be very violent. Nowadays, construction and development are going on all over the country, and the country has also issued an order to "dig holes deeply and accumulate grain widely." , if it is dug up by someone who does not know what is going on, I am afraid that the current mechanical equipment will damage it and inadvertently release the soul of the Witch King, which will cause a big disaster.
Songzi said, this is the age of the end of the Dharma, and many people have chosen to turn their backs on us. That doesn't matter. What matters is that even if these people are not unarmed, they will still have difficulty fighting against the monster that has been sealed for thousands of years. Even if we have guns and cannons now, When that step is reached, just imagine how many innocent people will be affected by this, and how many people will be affected by this incident in a daze. So when I saw the legend of this seal in my miscellaneous notes, and combined with my personal knowledge of the local area, I found that there were seals everywhere, so I became suspicious and thought that this might not be a legend, at least not a simple one. According to legend, I reported it to my mentor and was allowed to go down the mountain to explore. We originally planned that if the legend really existed and found the true location of its seal, we might be able to gather the strength of our disciples to move the seal to another location. Even if something goes wrong in the future, it would be in the deep mountains and old forests, and under our noses. , we cannot say that we are unprepared to contend with it.
Although I generally knew the reason why Songzi did this before, and it was confirmed by his master, this is the first time I learned such detailed content today. It is not difficult to tell that at first Songzi thought that the seal was just a solid existence, maybe it was just some bottle buried somewhere, and that's why he directly crossed the Eight Gates Formation and dug into the center of the formation. . Thinking of this, I can't help but sweat for him. Fortunately, Qin Bukong and I had already broken through the Eight Gate Formation when he dug the tunnel. If it hadn't been broken, he would probably have died when the hole was opened.
Songzi pointed at me and Qin Bukong and continued, and the two people I mentioned to the abbot master yesterday were the ones who found the seal before me. Maybe everyone has different purposes, but the final result is the same. In order to prevent the soul of the Witch King from reappearing in the world, otherwise it will inevitably cause chaos. Since someone is carrying out this work, then our master naturally does not need to participate more, but these two kindly invited me, so I followed. Songzi said, and when I first discovered that to get this seal, I needed to break through the Seven Evils Pass, I was not very talented and had no ability to break through the passes. Now it seems that it is mainly due to these two people.
What Song Zi said was very clever, but his girly accent made people want to shit.
What he said cleverly avoided talking about how Qin Bukong and I threatened him and how he stole my Luban Ruler. By the way, he complimented Qin Bukong and I on our abilities. This answer satisfied everyone present.
Abbot Mibao asked, "I have heard about the Seven Evil Pass, but it has never been related to any seal." With or without this seal, Qisha Pass has existed since ancient times. It is often used by Xuanmen people, especially Taoists, to place formations. I didn't expect that there is such a huge secret hidden under this soil.
Songzi said, after Master Abbot’s lecture yesterday, I made some new discoveries. The several levels we passed before were all inferred according to an inherent logic, and we found the Shadowless Tower, Iron Menguan, Changchun Temple and other places, we also found what we were looking for in these places. Now the clues we got this time point directly to Guiyuan Temple. But we cannot disturb this Buddhist pure land at will. That's why I visited the master.
Abbot Mibao smiled wryly and shook his head, then said that the pure land of Buddhism in the past can now only be explored in his heart. Today's Guiyuan Temple is no longer the representative of the Buddhist jungle it once was. It has declined... declined.
We looked at each other in shock, although we could generally feel that places like Buddhist temples have been severely impacted in recent years, not to mention large temples like Guiyuan Temple. As the saying goes, a big tree attracts wind. In the past, the more famous it was, the easier it was. However, small Taoist temples like Yunsheng Palace in Songzi were able to escape the disaster. Abbot Mibao said, do you know what I did when faced with disaster when I was the abbot?
After saying that, he looked up at us, and for the first time, I noticed a miserable look in his eyes. The three of us shook our heads, much like rattles. Abbot Mibao said, the first time there was trouble, we tolerated it without saying a word, the second time there was trouble, we cried bitterly, the third time there was trouble, we stood up and resisted. But the fourth time...
Alas, this fourth time, we were forced to have no choice. In order to seek safety, we had to pull out a banner in the temple, which read: Guards are welcome to come to Guiyuan Temple to cause trouble.
