A colorful light slowly rose from the wooden box, and Li Xiuyuan couldn't help but ask: "Is the treasure in this box for me? What exactly is it?"
A mysterious smile appeared on the face of the old Taoist Wu-Se: "This is the Buddhist vajra relic. How about exchanging it for the four elixirs you want and your Zen staff?"
Li Xiuyuan took the wooden box from the old man's hand and sighed softly when he saw a crystal clear bead with a faint light inside.
With a murmur in his mouth, he gently closed the lid and returned it to the selfless old man in front of him.
Shaking his head: "I want the elixir."
Looking at the relics in front of him reminded him of the fire of nirvana that was lit in front of the Buddha in the Xilin Temple of the Great Zhou Dynasty...
At that time, Yan'er and Qingqing were in urgent need of Buddhist relics, but had no way to find them.
In the end, he burned himself in front of Jizo, triggering the first fire of Nirvana in his own Nirvana body...
Even if it is a Buddhist treasure that has been transformed into Vajrasana, he has no use for it. He might as well give the Zen staff to Sanzang and boil a pot of soup with the elixir for the young monk and Sanzang to drink.
There is nothing in this world that can tempt his rock-like Taoist heart.
The old Taoist Wuwo was immediately dumbfounded. He took the wooden box and cursed: "You are an idiot. You can't get this treasure back even with ten elixirs?"
Shaking his head, Li Xiuyuan replied seriously: "The sea of suffering has been crossed, and the Brahma Heart should be established. What use should I use it for?"
The old Taoist Wuwo sighed quietly after hearing this, so he had no choice but to put away the wooden box and lead him towards the purple bamboo forest.
As he walked away, he cursed: "You idiot, you pick the elixirs at will, but this diamond relic is priceless? I can't get it back even if I sell it to you."
Li Xiuyuan ignored him and smiled: "I want the elixir."
"You're so stupid."
The old selfless Taoist was so angry that he threw out a few elixirs and continued to curse: "You can go to heaven after taking the elixirs. You can show me after you take them. I don't believe you can really go to heaven."
Until the two of them came all the way to the bamboo house, they looked at the Bodhisattva who was sitting at the table and still couldn't see his face clearly.
The old Taoist selfless person is still scolding: "Bodhisattva, look at this kid, is he an idiot? He would rather have this elixir than accept this vajra relic. Isn't this sacrificing the foundation for the sake of the end?"
The Bodhisattva took the wooden box from the hands of the old Taoist Wu-Se and sighed softly.
He smiled lightly and said: "The treasure in your eyes may not be what others are thinking about..."
Li Xiuyuan raised his hand in greeting: "Junior Li Xiuyuan, I have met the Bodhisattva."
The Bodhisattva pointed to the chair in front of the table and replied: "Sit down and talk."
The old Taoist thought for a while and couldn't help but ask: "Say boy, who is your master? Who taught you this skill? Tell me."
Li Xiuyuan glanced at him, thought for a while and replied: "I don't know my master's name, and he is unreliable. He didn't teach me any skills. He just threw a Buddhist scripture at me."
The old Taoist priest above the Nine Heavens sneezed, causing Yelu Mingzhu who was sitting aside to giggle.
"Senior, did my brother say bad things about you behind your back again?"
After following the old monk for a long time, even the young girl learned to tease the old Taoist priest.
The old Taoist priest was so angry that he glared at her: "What kind of master teaches what kind of disciple? It's true."
The old monk on the side laughed lightly: "Then you have to ask yourself, what skills did you teach your precious disciple?"
The old Taoist priest smiled lightly: "I didn't teach him anything, I just taught him not to ask for help or bow to others when encountering problems."
Upon hearing this, Yelu Mingzhu did not dare to speak, so she had to ask: "Senior, does my brother really want to accompany that monk to obtain scriptures?"
The old Taoist priest shook his head: "I didn't know, he wouldn't ask me for advice on everything."
At this point, the old monk couldn't help but laugh: "You herd him as a sheep, be careful he is eaten by wolves on the road."
Yelu Mingzhu shook his head: "Master will not be eaten by wolves, because he is a hunter."
…
"You look like a hunter, but your behavior is no different from that of a Buddhist disciple. Could it be that you have also practiced Buddhism?"
Bodhisattva looked at Li Xiuyuan and asked softly: "Where are your shoes?"
It was only at this moment that the old Taoist priest realized that the young man in front of him had just changed into clean clothes to see the Bodhisattva. His bare feet were spotless, just like the Vajra Arhat on the Buddha platform.
At that moment, I couldn't help but ask: "Was it lost in the big lake, or was it lost there in the roaring river?"
Only then did Li Xiuyuan think about his bare feet and never put on shoes.
Looking at the two people, he replied: "I don't know where it was lost... I came all the way. I just wanted to rush to the purple bamboo forest on the mountain to see the Bodhisattva when the moon rises..."
This sentence is the truth. Thinking of fighting that strange fish, spider demon and countless evil spirits, how can you have time to pay attention to whether you are wearing shoes on your feet and where you lost them in the end?
Not to mention, there was still trouble waiting for him when he set foot on the other side of the lake.
Along the way, he didn't slack off at all.
I really tried my best to set foot on the grass outside the purple bamboo forest on the top of the mountain...
The Bodhisattva nodded, poured a cup of spiritual tea to Li Xiuyuan, and continued to ask: "Since you have reached the top of the mountain and entered my bamboo house, tell me, what else do you wish for?"
Li Xiuyuan picked up the spiritual tea and drank half a cup carefully. After thinking for a while, he replied: "Junior has already arrived at the Zen staff... and the spiritual medicine, that's enough."
After two days of hard work, the old Taoist finally gave him two more elixirs.
But he knew that what he actually cared about was not these four elixirs, but the hardships along the way.
He believed that no one in this world could complete such a terrifying double test.
The old Taoist patted his thigh, with a look of regret on his face: "You child, what do you want from Bodhisattva? Do you have any dreams? Maybe I can help you realize them."
Li Xiuyuan thought for a while and said with a smile: "Senior, how about you catch the wind and take Monk Tripitaka from Dayun Temple down the mountain to Tianzhu in the Western Region to obtain scriptures?"
The old Taoist shook his head when he heard this and replied seriously: "You are thinking too much. The most Bodhisattva can do is help your body condense a spiritual root, so that you can one day embark on the path of cultivating immortals..."
Until the old Taoist said these words, the Bodhisattva still did not show any expression of like or disgust.
She was waiting for Li Xiuyuan's answer.
Above the nine heavens, Lao Shang is also waiting for Li Xiuyuan's answer. In his opinion, this is probably the biggest temptation Li Xiuyuan has encountered since he started practicing.
The old Taoist priest didn't say anything, but just asked Yelu Mingzhu: "How is your mother's cultivation? And where is Xiaolian? Why haven't you seen her come to see me these days?"
Yelu Mingzhu shook her head, frowned and replied: "Senior, are you talking about my master now?"
The moonlight fell quietly in the purple bamboo forest, and a cold light shone on Li Xiuyuan's body, making his originally confused mind suddenly clear.
Looking at the old Taoist and Bodhisattva in front of him, he replied seriously: "Thank you, senior and Bodhisattva, for your kindness. I have my own path, so I have to walk slowly. I haven't seen enough of the scenery of the Tang Dynasty."
The old Taoist shook his head angrily and sighed: "You are such an idiot. The Tang Dynasty is just a romantic affair. Is it more important than cultivating immortals?"
This time even the Bodhisattva frowned.
Although Li Xiuyuan couldn't see her face clearly, he could feel the loss in her heart.
He couldn't help but look into the void and smiled faintly: "Master, did I do something wrong?"
"You're right, good job."
The old monk above Jiutian took a deep breath, looked at Yelu Mingzhu beside him and said, "Yes, you have a good master, he is not much worse than your master."
The old Taoist priest also sighed and said quietly: "If you accepted her favor, you might as well have left with the Immortal Emperor..."
Yelu Mingzhu chuckled: "Senior, my master is pretty good, right?"
Li Xiuyuan picked up a purple bamboo leaf from the ground and said to himself: "That's impossible... I traveled thousands of miles and went through a lot of hardships to get to the Tang Dynasty..."
Looking at the old Taoist and the Bodhisattva, he replied seriously: "What this junior is thinking about is just the romantic affairs of the Tang Dynasty."
The world of mortals refines the heart, and his journey has just begun.
How could you give up halfway because of the temptation of being experienced?
Just as the master said, if he wanted to cultivate immortality, he could have left with the Immortal Emperor when he was on the Forgotten River.
Seeing Li Xiuyuan's resolute expression, the old man was speechless and stopped trying to persuade him.
He just knocked on the table and shouted: "Seeing that I have cared so much about you in the past two days, quickly bring out the spiritual wine and give it to the Bodhisattva to taste."
The Bodhisattva also sighed, looked at him and said seriously: "If you want to understand in the future, come to me again."
Li Xiuyuan took a jar of apricot flower wine and placed it in front of the old Taoist.
But I was thinking in my heart that my trip has been thousands of miles, and when I come back, I'm afraid I won't be able to go back to the deserted mountains again...
The old Taoist opened the wine and smelled the faint fragrance of flowers. He couldn't help but asked: "Why is there a floral fragrance in this wine?"
Li Xiuyuan smiled faintly: "This junior once couldn't find the petals on the Yi Bamboo Peak, so he finally used the spring bamboo leaves to brew some spiritual wine."
Upon hearing this, the Bodhisattva couldn't help but ask: "Where is it? Isn't this spiritual wine brewed from bamboo leaves uniquely fragrant?"
Li Xiuyuan spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "I can't go to that place now... That wine, everyone who has drank it has said that..."
That night, Li Xiuyuan did not talk to the old Taoist and Bodhisattva about the principles of practice.
Because no one can understand the secrets in his body except the old Taoist master, and he doesn't want to explain it to anyone.
That night, the three of them drank a jar of apricot flower wine.
Li Xiuyuan also had a rare drink of four drinks. Before he fell drunk, he said: "Two seniors, my junior's wine shop is in the Imperial City of the Tang Dynasty. Come and see me when you have time..."
The stars were brilliant all night, shining quietly in the purple bamboo forest.
A gust of breeze blew over his face, waking up the hungover Li Xiuyuan. He touched his head, which still seemed a little dizzy, and couldn't help but sigh with self-reproach.
Accidentally, I failed to follow my own rules and got drunk.
"Senior...I have to leave."
After shouting softly, Li Xiuyuan opened his eyes, but did not wait for the veteran's answer.
Looking around, I saw myself lying on a bluestone slab beside a stream.
Where are the purple bamboo forests, where are the Taoists and Bodhisattvas?
Even the rivers in the mountains and the big lakes under the mountains have disappeared...
No, at this moment Li Xiuyuan is already in the mountain stream where he first met the old Taoist priest...
The stream is long, and the early birds are chirping, but the three thousand stone steps that are like climbing to the sky are no longer in front of you. Could it be that I just had a dream?
When the spiritual consciousness was released, only a few hunters were still in their dreams in the mountains, and there was no trace of the veteran.
The three thousand stone steps disappeared in front of him as if they had never appeared before.
He reached into his arms and found four elixirs that were obviously not from the Tang Dynasty, proving to him that an incredible scene had happened here.
The stone steps are like the Three Thousand Avenues, the big lake is like the Sea of Bitterness...it's really just a dream.
Thinking of this, Li Xiuyuan couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Back then, in order to help Bai Ling and Yan'er find the elixir, Xiao Hei did not hesitate to enter the sacred painting in the secret realm.
And the adventure he had on the Great Wilderness Mountain was simply more magical than that divine painting.
Although it seems that he did not get any benefits.
But he knew that even if he had to sit in the Buddhist hall for ten years, this practice would still be difficult to achieve.
Fortunately, I found a Zen staff that looked good for Sanzang, and I also got four elixirs from heaven, which is not bad after thinking about it.
After bowing to the mountain, Li Xiuyuan murmured: "Thank you two seniors, I'm going down the mountain to see the monk's practice."
