When Li Xiuyuan brought Shuzi and Huiming to Dunhuang City, which was at the foot of the Grotto Mountain outside Yuezhi City, most of the summer had passed.
I can see that it will not be long before the rustling autumn wind blows.
When the three of them walked up the mountain road, Li Xiuyuan could still feel the aura of the great formation left thousands of years ago.
From a distance, the old monk meditating on the cliff looked at Li Xiuyuan coming slowly from the mountains and couldn't help but burst into tears.
He murmured: "All Buddhas bless you, and my senior brother will come again as he wishes."
Li Xiuyuan felt something in his heart on the mountain path. He raised his head and looked at the old monk on the cliff. He couldn't help but asked in confusion: "I said, why are you still here?"
Shuzi and Huiming looked up at Yaping and didn't know what to do for a moment. They just silently followed Li Xiuyuan up.
After a while, Li Xiuyuan stepped onto the cliff, and the old monk rushed over and hugged Li Xiuyuan tightly.
Xingruo was crazy, crying and laughing at the same time: "Senior brother is here, I feel relieved."
Li Xiuyuan took the old monk's hand and sighed: "It's been a long time since I last saw you, and you have become thinner... This is my sister Shuzi, and this is the disciple I found for you, Huiming."
The old monk looked at Huiming, who had a heroic face, and couldn't help but ask: "Senior brother, this guy is so young and handsome, wouldn't he be unable to endure the loneliness in the desert and run away halfway?"
Li Xiuyuan thought for a while and replied calmly: "He won't."
The old monk nodded after hearing this, and took his hand to touch the runes on the stone wall. His fingers trembled as if he were touching Xiaohu's head.
He murmured: "After this farewell, six hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye, and the runes carved by my senior brother are still on this stone wall."
When the old monk said what he said, both Shuzi and Huiming were shocked.
They could imagine that Li Xiuyuan carved runes in Prince Village to deal with bandits and killers back then.
Unexpectedly, Li Xiuyuan also carved a huge magic circle on the stone wall outside the Buddhist cave, and it had experienced hundreds of years of wind and rain.
Li Xiuyuan smiled faintly and reached out to touch the runes on the stone wall.
Just hearing a buzzing sound, the rune that had been sleeping for six hundred years woke up in an instant, and the golden light shone and turned into a golden dragon, entwining around Li Xiuyuan.
The Buddhas in the grotto seemed to wake up instantly. For a time, the entire stone wall shone with golden light, and Buddhist scriptures poured out, as if there were nine gods and Buddhas reciting Buddhist scriptures.
The entire grotto resounded with solemn chanting.
The three of them were speechless for a moment.
"Everything is like a dream."
Li Xiuyuan said quietly: "Let's go in and see the Buddhas. First let Huiming worship you as his teacher and fulfill his promise to the Buddhas..."
On this day, Emperor Ming of the Zhou Dynasty finally entered Buddhism under the witness of Li Xiuyuan and Shuzi.
He became the disciple of the fat monk in the grotto and the old monk now.
Seeing Huiming drop a head of green hair in front of the Buddhas, Li Xiuyuan said quietly: "For example, all the deaths yesterday, I hope you can one day realize the Great Dao under the witness of these Buddhas."
After changing into monk's robes, Huiming finally gained some dignity and treasure.
Following the example of the old monk, he clasped his hands and said, "Thank you sir for accompanying me all the way. Thank you sir for saving my life that day."
Li Xiuyuan looked at the old monk and smiled: "I never dreamed that I would meet you. So, today I will treat you to a drink of the wine I brewed in Prince Village."
When the old monk heard this, he couldn't help but smile: "Then I will ask for a few more cups and offer them in front of the Buddha."
Li Xiuyuan looked at Shuzi and said with a smile: "We will linger in the grotto for a few days and then go to Tianshan Mountain."
When the old monk heard this, he frowned and asked, "Senior brother, do you still want to go all the way to Tianshan Mountain? Autumn is coming before us, and after autumn, it will snow in Tianshan Mountain."
"So what? No matter how strong the wind and snow are, it can't stop me."
Li Xiuyuan said seriously: "I should have followed the seniors to visit the Tianshan Mountains back then. I can't miss it this time no matter what."
Shuzi nodded and said with a smile: "I also want to see the Tianshan Mountains where my predecessors lived."
The old man was Zhang Liang's master, and he never returned to the imperial city in the end. If it hadn't been for Li Xiuyuan, Shuzi and Zhang Liang might not have known where their master had gone until the last minute?
Li Xiuyuan was happy on this day.
Just like Huiming, he finally found the Buddhist temple where he practiced, and Shuzi saw the place where Xiaohu and his brother once lived.
The old monk waited until he saw Li Xiuyuan in his dream, and everyone was happy.
At nightfall, Hui Ming went to rest early. Shuzi also went to rest after a long day's journey.
An oil lamp flickered in the Buddhist hall, illuminating the two people at the table.
Guarding a pot of spiritual tea, Li Xiuyuan frowned and asked: "According to my prediction at the time, you would be able to break through and ascend in less than ten years. Why did it take six hundred years?"
This was something he couldn't figure out no matter how hard he thought about it. Could it be that he had made a miscalculation?
Even if his calculations were wrong, those spiritual wines had not expired?
The old monk sighed and said with a wry smile: "In the ninth year since senior brother left, I realized the opportunity to break through the realm and ascend, but I have never found a suitable successor..."
"Foolish, future generations will have their own blessings. How can you cherish this mountain for the rest of your life?"
Li Xiuyuan never thought that this guy would forcibly interrupt the chance of ascension because he couldn't find a successor, and it would be six hundred years from now on.
He was so angry that he murmured: "If I hadn't gone to Tianshan Mountain on a whim, wouldn't you have ended up in this mountain forever? If so, would the Buddhas have saved you from suffering?"
"Cultivation is inherently against the heavens, and you dare to forcefully interrupt it. You are so powerful!"
Li Xiuyuan was so angry that he cursed for a long time. After thinking for a while, he poured him another glass of the spiritual wine that Shuzi had drunk back then.
He said quietly: "You don't have to think about Huiming's devotion to Buddha, and he won't run away. Just pass on the mantle to him."
The old monk smelled the faint fragrance, held the cup with trembling hands and drank the spirit wine in one gulp.
Then he asked: "His title was also given by his senior brother?"
Li Xiuyuan smiled: "Looking to the future, don't ask about the past. Huiming is his dharma name. Don't give him any random names, even though he is your disciple."
The old monk was stunned for a moment, then he chuckled and said, "That's good."
After lowering his head and thinking for a moment, Li Xiuyuan finally couldn't help but ask: "Where is my disciple Xiaohu? After I left, did he follow his mother back to the desert?"
"That guy? He later became the biggest king in the desert, just as my senior brother said."
The old monk sighed and said: "I am the king of the desert. Not only did I survive the death of the emperor of the Han Dynasty, but I will also never forget his queen throughout my life..."
Li Xiuyuan was stunned for a long time before muttering to himself: "So, those legendary stories are all true? Isn't this guy just messing around?"
The old monk sighed: "He has a deep affection for the grotto. His mother would come here from time to time to meet the Buddha and burn incense. He lived up to the expectations of his senior brother."
"and after?"
Li Xiuyuan asked casually: "He won't be killed by his enemies, right? Based on his temperament, he will probably offend many people."
"That's not true."
The old monk sighed and continued to reply: "This guy actually retreated bravely. After he came to see me one autumn day, he abandoned his position as king and disappeared deep into the vast desert with his mother."
"Some people also say that he died in Yuezhi City, but I never believe it, because before he left, he told me that he would take his mother to live in seclusion on Tianshan Mountain..."
"Nine times out of ten, this guy used a trick to hide everything and deceived everyone around him."
The old monk smiled proudly when he said this: "Xiaohu is senior brother's proud disciple, how could he die of old age in the palace of Yuezhi City?"
In the flash of lightning, Li Xiuyuan remembered the move he used on Huiming.
Unexpectedly, Xiaohu got tired of the flowers in the world and used the life-saving talisman she gave him.
In this way, he can have more hope and go to the Tianshan Mountains to find his old friend.
"You should have three years left."
Li Xiuyuan thought for a while and said: "Three years are enough for you to teach Huiming. I will leave some elixirs tomorrow, and you will lead him on the path of cultivation."
A teacher is like a father, Li Xiuyuan delayed all the way to gather Qi for Huiming, just for this moment.
He wanted to leave a shadow on the cliff above the grotto of the relationship between master and disciple.
…
Early the next morning, Li Xiuyuan took Shuzi down the mountain to Dunhuang City.
He did not tell the old monk nor Huiming. From today on, he will completely forget about Huiming.
The two stayed in Dunhuang City for three days before returning.
The person standing on the cliff waiting for them was no longer the old monk who could be knocked down by a gust of wind, but a middle-aged monk who was a little more weathered than before. Huiming probably still chanted sutras in the Buddhist hall.
Shuzi's face was very interested. After all, she knew that she was going to Tianshan, and she was afraid that she would not have much food and clothing to buy, so she bought a lot in Dunhuang City.
Li Xiuyuan, on the other hand, completely settled the unresolved causes and effects of the year and eliminated the source of bandits for the people of Prince You Village in Dunhuang.
Looking at the fat monk who was a little thinner than before, Li Xiuyuan laughed and said, "If this happens, I'm afraid even your master back then won't be able to recognize him."
The fat monk murmured with a wry smile: "It's just like I had a dream. Thank you so much for your compassion, senior brother."
Li Xiuyuan shook his head: "Just teach Huiming well. Let him understand the meaning of Bodhi and develop compassion. He can become an eminent monk deep in the desert and be able to overcome the sufferings of a place."
The fat monk stretched out his hand and pulled Li Xiuyuan around the stone wall in front of him and walked towards the place where Xiaohu practiced his sword.
When the three of them came to a stone wall carved with a Bodhisattva, they saw a strange large character carved on the stone wall. The large character was outlined in red with cinnabar. Even after hundreds of years, it has not completely faded.
Shuzi stared blankly, and after muttering something in her mouth, she still felt something was wrong.
So he turned to look at Li Xiuyuan and asked, "Brother, this word is so weird!"
Li Xiuyuan smiled and said nothing, looked at the fat monk and asked, "Is this carved by the little tiger on it?"
The fat monk smiled and said: "A few years before he left, when he was in a bad mood, he would come here to stay for a few days. He spent a lot of time carving this word on the stone wall."
"You didn't tell me the meaning of this until you were leaving." The fat monk couldn't help but sigh heavily after seeing things and thinking about people.
Li Xiuyuan stretched out his hand and touched the word "Zi" on the stone wall, just like when he touched Xiaohu's head, he was filled with emotions.
After a long while, he said quietly: "These are four characters. If I guess correctly, Shuzi and you only saw two of them."
The fat monk smiled and replied: "I looked at it for a long time, and I could only see the word mountain and sea."
Shuzi chuckled: "I can see the word "山shore" carved by Brother Xiaohu."
Let me reveal the secret to you, Li Xiuyuan murmured: "This is a combination of four characters, it should be read as Shanqing Coast."
"Mountains and green seacoasts? What a strange artistic conception. What kind of tricks is Xiaohu doing?" Shuzi frowned.
"The mountains are green and the coast is green? Is it like a person rowing a boat on the bitter sea?" The fat monk thought for a while and asked.
Li Xiuyuan shook his head and said: "I don't know what his mood was when he carved these four characters, but if you look more carefully, you will find that there are four lines of small characters beside these big characters."
Touching the stone wall in front of him, Li Xiuyuan whispered:
Be kind to yourself and be kind to others.
If everyone does good, we will reach the other side together.
