The blooming flowers in spring, the wind in summer and the setting sun in autumn are no different to Li Xiuyuan on the Forgotten River.
Except for the winter wind and snow, which allowed him to swing his sword several times on the bridge.
The group of people left quietly without leaving many traces in his heart. After all, these guys couldn't go with him.
But after Xing'er was ripe, he went to Lingshan Mountain to pick some honey and came back to pickle a few jars. He could bring it to the fat monk and Xiaohu in the grotto, and to the Master and Xiaohei in the imperial city.
Entering the River of Forgetfulness is just repeating what he has done for more than a hundred years before.
Li Xiuyuan was pouring soup on the bridge, practicing meditation, and reminiscing about the past. This stone bridge carried too many of his memories.
Ever since he and Princess Qingyue entered the Reincarnation Tower outside Black Salt City, they had been floating on the Forgotten River Bridge for countless years. He had walked across the Forgotten River Bridge again and again.
Entering the reincarnation of three lives, looking for the lost memory, looking for the mother in Fengyun City...
He spent countless years on this stone bridge and experienced too many joys and sorrows.
The years are ruthless, the past has changed, the people and things in the past have changed too much, but he is still the young man on the Forgotten Bridge.
After Mrs. Meng left with Xiao Ling'er, Li Xiuyuan could no longer remember how long he stayed on the bridge. He saw that the breeze of summer night had disappeared, and in the blink of an eye, the autumn wind began to rise.
On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Li Xiuyuan stood quietly on the bridge, looking at the long river, and remained silent for a long time.
I don't know when he started to become like Mrs. Meng. He no longer communicated with people crossing the bridge. He just repeated a simple sentence: You have to drink soup and cross the bridge, or you will be knocked off the bridge.
I have no expectations for the guys who crossed the bridge, and I no longer sympathize with the poor guys who were knocked off the bridge.
"My heart is as solid as a rock. I never thought that I would become a big sister in the end."
In the end, Li Xiuyuan looked at the bright moon in the sky and sighed softly. He wanted to hear the stories that made him feel ups and downs back then, but it was rare to meet a bridge-crossing person who could tell stories.
It seems that these stars are not last night, for whom the wind and dew set the midnight sun.
Somehow, Li Xiuyuan actually thought of the fat boy Chu Feng from the academy, the guy who would eventually marry Princess Qingyue.
I don’t know if that guy finally cultivated the body of the divine dragon to the ninth level?
I don’t even know if those guys have broken through their cultivation to the extraordinary level. Counting the days, the road to heaven will start in a few years.
Where are Huangfu Qingmei and Ximen Lone Star in the wild world? And Li Qiushui and the three masters and apprentices from the Four Seasons Tower? Will junior sister Chen Shanshan and her husband go on the road to heaven together?
Standing on the bridge, Li Xiuyuan felt heavy in his heart.
Although he had gone to those guys and given everything he had to give, this was his principle as a human being, but when he thought of these guys working hard, they were still struggling in a small world.
"Why? Why bother?" Li Xiuyuan murmured: "When you step on the road to heaven, one day you will find that you are still in a small world. Why bother!"
Tomorrow, on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, he could have a day off and not come to the bridge to blow the wind.
Only tonight, there were far fewer people crossing the bridge than usual, which gave him some free time to think about his own affairs.
"If I could understand why this is so difficult, I wouldn't have to reincarnate again and again."
While Li Xiuyuan was staring at the bright moon in the sky in a daze, a warm voice sounded behind him.
Looking back, Li Xiuyuan couldn't help but blurt out: "I mean, monk, why are you here again? I remember you saw the Rainbow Bridge last time?"
The visitor was stunned, but it was the monk Li Xiuyuan had seen at least three times on the Wangchuan Bridge.
The monk looked at Li Xiu Zhenyuan who was transformed into Po Meng in front of him and sighed, clasping his hands together and smiling bitterly: "Do you think you can avoid falling into reincarnation after crossing the Rainbow Bridge?"
"Are you in a hurry?"
Po Meng poured a cup of spiritual tea for the monk in front of her and asked, "If we are not in a hurry to cross the bridge, can we have a chat?"
The monk picked up the spiritual tea on the table, pulled a chair and sat down in front of the table. He laughed and said, "It's rare that Po Meng has time to listen to my chatter, so let's chat for a while."
Po Meng thought for a while, looked at the bright moon in the sky and asked, "Monk, where have you gone back now, and why have you entered reincarnation again?"
The monk sighed and shook his head helplessly: "Maybe God made a mistake and threw me into a war-torn dynasty..."
"As for re-entering reincarnation, I'm afraid I'll beat you to death, but you can't figure it out... I lost my bet and couldn't think about it, so I jumped off the building to my death..."
There was a loud bang, like a thunderbolt striking the Wangchuan Bridge. Po Meng looked at him and couldn't help but ask: "How could you, a monk, gamble with others and jump to your death by jumping off a building?"
The monk sighed and said: "Actually, I didn't jump off the building. I was just standing upstairs watching the excitement. I didn't expect that my fellow disciple would bet his fortune on Emperor Wu."
"Normally, no one dares to defeat the Emperor Wu, but he just wants to die. Finally, a newbie comes up, a stupid-looking guy, and he breaks through the king's door with one kick, and wins by accident."
Po Meng shook her head: "What kind of football are you playing? Why haven't I heard of it?"
"Cuju? Where I went, not only the emperor, but also the soldiers and the people liked it. I also tried it a few times, because I was too stupid to react, so I stopped playing it."
The monk sighed: "At that time, we wanted to watch it from the nine-story stone tower in order to have a closer look. Unexpectedly, my senior brother lost his wealth and jumped down in desperation. With me, he pulled several of them down from the tower at once. ."
Po Meng suddenly realized it and said in a daze: "The nine-story tower is indeed very high." Somehow, he thought that the Samsara Tower was also nine stories high.
Unexpectedly, the monk continued: "The problem is that he chose the wrong place. At that time, we were about to go downstairs after watching the excitement, and the direction he rushed towards was the side of the stone tower facing the hundred-foot cliff..."
Now Po Meng finally understood. It turned out that when the monk was about to go down to the tower after watching the game, the junior brother who lost the game was so angry that he jumped up and flew towards the cliff under the stone tower.
At that time, a bunch of people were squeezing downstairs, but five people were pushed away by him. The monk was among the five people who survived.
The most incredible thing is that if you die, you will die. At most, you will be reincarnated again.
But when the monk's soul left his body and ascended to heaven, the clay pot fell from the tower again.
Therefore, the poor monk did not know how many years he had been sealed in the dark clay pot until one day a meteorite fell from the sky and hit the bottom of the cliff, breaking the seal of the clay pot...
This guy was freed and came to the Wangchuan Bridge.
During the period of Emperor Wu, in order to strengthen control over the army, expand the army, and strengthen training of soldiers, Cuju became an important military training method.
For a time, Cuju became popular among the military, which was closely related to the interest of the emperor and his relatives in this activity.
During Emperor Wu's expedition to the west, he even took the Cuju masters among the captives and brought them back to the palace with the army to learn the foreign skills in person.
During their military career, elite military players did not forget to regard Cuju as part of their daily training.
At that time, it was common for scholars to take bow and horse duties as their main occupation, and for their families to learn Cuju.
When the monks were around, Cuju became a family tradition among common people. This family tradition was directly related to the popularity of the Cuju movement in the army.
The emperor believed that the sky was round and the earth was yin.
Therefore, it is said that Cuju is round like the sky and surrounded by walls, which is called Ju City. There are two crescent-shaped goals at both ends of Ju City, which are called Ju Room.
During the game, there are two teams, each team has six people, and each team has one person to defend. The outcome is determined by the number of goals scored into the opponent's territory.
Having said this, the monk looked at Po Meng and said seriously: "If you are lucky enough to go to that world and era, remember to look under the cliff of the nine-story stone tower. That clay pot is a treasure..."
"Why, isn't it just a clay pot that was smashed by a meteorite?"
Po Meng asked in disbelief: "Is it so magical? That you, a guy who is about to enter reincarnation, still miss you?"
The monk sighed: "You don't know, that thing didn't even smash the meteorite from the sky, it just broke the seal on the mouth of the jar. If you find it, it will definitely be a great treasure."
Po Meng smiled faintly and replied noncommittally: "Is it possible that when I fight with others in the future, I can still use this thing and say: Don't run away, look at me as a clay pot?"
"Believe it or not, I'm just telling you that there is a treasure in that place that can't even be broken by meteorites. You can go there or not, but I definitely won't be able to go back."
The monk sighed, looked at the moon in the sky and said, "I've had enough this time. Don't make any mistakes again."
Po Meng smiled faintly: "Is it possible that reincarnation is also the time when things go wrong?"
The monk shook his head and said: "You didn't follow me into reincarnation. How do you know if he made any mistakes? You saw it last time. The place I want to go is not a war-torn country."
Po Meng shook her head and smiled bitterly: "Is it possible that the God of Destiny originally wanted you to go to that place of suffering to save others and yourself, and then become a Buddha immediately?"
"In the end, you were fascinated by the fun Cuju and forgot your original intention and the principles of practice?"
While mumbling to herself, Po Meng said softly: "Are you afraid that you will forget your original intention after being reincarnated?"
Unexpectedly, the monk shook his head and replied: "I didn't know it when I was there, but during the years when I was suppressed in the clay pot, many things happened there that you can't imagine."
"Even if I hadn't been dragged off the cliff by my senior brother, I would have died in that turmoil."
The monk held his hands and said quietly: "I don't know whether the Buddhas at that time entered the devil's path. Please listen to me and explain in detail."
It turned out that not long after the Cuju competition that the monk watched, Emperor Wu found a reason to destroy Buddhism and Taoism throughout the territory.
The reason was that there were too many monks in various monasteries, which caused harm to the people of the world. Emperor Wu abandoned Buddhism and began to respect Confucianism.
Because Samanas are rampant, Buddhists occupy farmland, get something for nothing, and avoid taxes and labor.
In order to avoid taxation, some wealthy families even donated their farmland to Buddhist temples and refused to pay taxes to the DPRK.
A few years after the monk's death, there were two million Buddhists in the dynasty and more than 30,000 monasteries, accounting for one-fifteenth of the dynasty's population.
In the second year after Emperor Wu came to power, there was a drought in Guanzhong. The emperor issued an order to the large households in the country to sell grain, but the temples in various places borrowed money at usury to take advantage of the famine.
There are even those who commit crimes and violate the law, hiding under the monastic law and plotting to rebel.
Even if the monk was in the clay pot, he heard that the ascetic Huisi was plotting a rebellion, and the ascetic Faxiu rebelled in the fifth year of Taihe, and he had to use troops to bring peace.
After Emperor Wu experienced all kinds of things, he became determined to destroy the Buddha.
Emperor Wu originally believed in Taoism and Buddhism. In the end, because Buddhism was immoral, he changed to Confucianism and believed that Confucianism must be used to govern the country.
Before the destruction of Buddhism, Wei Yuansong, a monk who returned to secular life, persuaded Emperor Wu to establish an earthly kingdom to replace the Buddhist kingdom in heaven.
Emperor Wu once summoned ministers, Buddhism and Taoism, to discuss the pros and cons of the three religions.
Emperor Wu even went to the Tai Chi Hall to preside over the discussion, while Zhang Bin and a Taoist priest debated with the monk Zhixuan. Emperor Wu reprimanded the Buddhist temple for being unclean, while Zhixuan pointed out that Taoism was even more unclean.
Emperor Wu was furious and issued an edict: "Buddhism and Taoism are cut off, all scriptures and images are destroyed, and the Taoist monks are dismissed."
Since then, the scriptures and statues in Taoist temples and temples throughout the dynasty have been destroyed, and monks and nuns have returned to secular life and returned to military and civilian households.
Since Emperor Wu, vassal towns have been fighting for years, the land equalization system has been destroyed, the central government's finances have become increasingly scarce, and the taxes and servitude of the people have become relatively heavier. More and more people are using monasteries to evade taxes.
Temples in various places owned a large amount of land, and nobles expanded their estates, often marrying monks in the temples. This was not conducive to the economic income of the dynasty.
The root cause of Emperor Wu's extermination of Buddhism was that Emperor Wu regarded Buddhism as false and did not pay taxes but wasted national power.
In desperation, he had no choice but to destroy Taoism and Buddhism, return his land to the dynasty, revive the Confucian tradition, and facilitate the dynasty's efforts to govern.
Having said this, the monk spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "Even if I don't fall off the cliff that day, in these troubled times, how do you expect me to become a Buddha immediately?"
