Since going up the mountain in early autumn, Li Xiuyuan has never gone down the mountain again.
It wasn't that he didn't want to come down, but that he was trapped by himself. He felt that Chang'an Imperial City was like an invisible cage, imprisoning him here.
Unable to move or even take a deep breath.
The world is huge, but there is no place for him to use it.
Xia Changjie resolved Wang Yuer's immediate crisis with a wave of his hand. To others, it was a joyful thing, but in his eyes, it was extremely frustrating.
It is an uncomfortable thing for him to not be happy with his grudges.
He couldn't even redress Wang Yu'er's grievances, so he went to find the unfaithful man and cause trouble for Miss Xiao Mansion.
During this period, Qin Xiangyu came up once and brought the good news that Mingkong was pregnant with the baby.
For Li Xiuyuan, who was in a difficult situation, this was indeed a great event worthy of joy.
Then Qingyu returned to the imperial city, taking Gao Yue'er and Xiaobao to live in the mountains for a few days, until the old man at the foot of the mountain reminded Xiaobao to go to the academy to study.
The three of them reluctantly picked a bunch of vegetables and radishes and went down the mountain.
Before the winter plum blossoms bloomed, Qingyu and Gao Yue'er couldn't stay in the mountain any longer, so they simply went down the mountain to hang out with Qin Xiangyu.
The two of them were having so much fun that they completely forgot about their original intention of coming to Chang'an. Fortunately, Li Xiuyuan didn't want to remind them.
After all, in the end of cultivation, we still have to separate. It is better to live a good life in the Tang Dynasty for a hundred years.
A hundred years, for Qingyu and Gao Yuer, is just a blink of an eye.
The mountain wind was blowing snow, and Li Xiuyuan, holding half a volume of "Nirvana Sutra" in his hand, fell into endless troubles again.
Until, until a faint cold fragrance floated from the garden.
Looking up, there was finally a ray of life in the snowy garden. Li Xiuyuan boiled a pot of snow water and brewed a cold plum tea.
He looked into space and murmured to himself: "Bodhisattva, there are thousands of knots in my heart. Can you please come and untie them for me?"
A cool mountain breeze blew into the living room, and a figure appeared on the chair in front of his desk.
But it was Jizo whom he hadn't seen for a long time, and there was no trace of sadness or joy on his face.
Smelling the faint cold fragrance, Ji Zang looked at him and frowned and said, "First of all, if you want to pass your pain on to me, I will leave immediately."
Li Xiuyuan was stunned for a moment, and then he laughed.
He shook his head and replied: "I promise not to pour water on the Bodhisattva this time. I just fell into the vicious circle I made and can't get out."
"Oh? You have read countless scriptures, what else in the world can be difficult for you?"
Ksitigarbha knocked on the table in front of him and said with a smile: "Hurry up, I'm thirsty."
"I'm so impatient that I can't drink the spiritual tea..."
Li Xiuyuan poured the cold plum tea into the purple sand, picked up the whistling snow water on the small stove and slowly poured it into it.
While saying: "I have been practicing this half volume of Nirvana Sutra in the desert for more than ten years, but I still can't make any progress... I can't go deeper into the abyss and go through the wind and rain for you for decades."
"I promised Jue'er that I would never leave her side in the next few decades and that I would practice in the Imperial City of Chang'an."
Ksitigarbha shook his head and said with a smile: "Do you think you are trapping yourself in a cocoon? Or are you willing to be trapped in Chou City?"
"Trapped in Chou City?"
Li Xiuyuan read it twice silently, then looked at Sanzang and smiled bitterly.
He replied: "The person I am waiting for has not come yet, and I have encountered obstacles in practicing Buddhist scriptures. How about you, Bodhisattva, help me and enlighten me on how to practice this half volume of Buddhist scriptures?"
Ji Zang picked up the spiritual tea in front of him and took a sip. A satisfied smile appeared on his face, but he did not answer him.
Instead he sighed softly.
Asked: "Was it difficult for you to practice Buddhism under the abyss?"
"That must be bitter!"
Li Xiuyuan exclaimed: "There is no sky under the abyss, and I have to endure the raging wind every day. Isn't that kind of life miserable?"
Shaking his head, Ksitigarbha replied softly: "It's not bitter. At least you are still in the mood to plant some spiritual rice under the abyss and drink a pot of spiritual tea. Why is it bitter?"
Li Xiuyuan listened to Ksitigarbha's words that seemed like a verse, and thought to himself, what kind of Zen intention are you trying to use with me?
Pointing to the wind and snow all over the sky outside, he asked: "I live alone in the mountains and watch the wind and snow on the mountain. Isn't it suffering? Bodhisattva, what exactly do you want to say?"
Ji Zang continued to shake his head and replied: "It's not bitter. You still have this airtight house to protect you from the wind and snow on the mountain."
Changing the topic, Ksitigarbha asked: "Not to mention people, in your eyes, what is the most humble thing in the world?"
Li Xiuyuan was shocked when he heard the words, and looked at Ksitigarbha and replied in disbelief: "Is it possible that the Bodhisattva asked me to be a beggar for once? I have been a shepherd in the desert for several years..."
"The sky is blue, the fields are vast, the wind blows the grass and you can see the cattle and sheep, I am afraid you have never experienced this life, Bodhisattva..."
Li Xiuyuan sighed. In his opinion, he had lived his life in dust.
"It's not bitter. At least you are comfortable as a shepherd. No one gives you a blank look. No wolf dares to bite your sheep. No one scolds you..."
Ksitigarbha said: "Even beggars are not the most miserable. At least they can sleep when they don't want to beg..."
At this time, Li Xiuyuan had nothing to say and could only ask: "I would like to hear the Tao."
Ksitigarbha drank another half cup of spiritual tea and then laughed.
He explained quietly: "I once saw a kind of grass growing on the side of the road. The wheels bent it when it was run over, but after one night, they still stubbornly raised their heads..."
"No matter how many times I have been crushed, I still have to stand up, still have to bloom the purest flower in the world, and only die after completing the reproduction of life..."
"In my opinion, that is the most humble life in the world, living in the dust. Even so, so what? One day, a gust of wind will pass by, and they will still bloom in the sky..."
"Buzz!"
Like a ray of winter sunshine, but also like a wake-up call.
Li Xiuyuan sat on the spot, speechless for a moment, and murmured to himself: "A life so low as dust turns out to be even more humble than a mayfly's life..."
Chao Wen Dao!
I want to hear the Word!
Hear the word again!
It's not enough to describe Li Xiuyuan's mood at this time.
Such flowers have been with him all the way since he left Fengyun City and followed his husband to Fangcun Mountain.
Later, when he fought in southern Xinjiang, flowers bloomed all over the world. A small white flower, a small flower that was so humble as dust, turned out to be right in front of him all the time.
But his eyes were always looking forward, and his mind was in the sky. Where could he see his feet, the place where the wheels passed, the place where the horses stepped...
But there are still the humblest and most tenacious lives in the world, accompanying us all the way.
Taking a deep, deep breath, Li Xiuyuan smiled.
Looking at Ksitigarbha, he smiled faintly and said: "After a long detour, it turns out that the Bodhisattva is scolding me for not being able to see the life under my feet. Thank you."
Ksitigarbha shook his head and said softly: "So, do you want to try to live in the dust, treat this world of mortals as the hell under the abyss, and engage in a long-lasting practice?"
"Does the Bodhisattva want me to be a beggar walking around the world? Or..."
Li Xiuyuan was a little confused. In his opinion, the beggar in Ksitigarbha's eyes was not the most humble existence.
He couldn't think of anything else in the world that was more humble than being a beggar.
Ksitigarbha laughed, pointed at the empty teacup and said, "Hurry up and boil the water. Do you want to die of thirst? I have shown you the way, why are you acting like an idiot?"
Li Xiuyuan smiled lightly and added some snow water to the kettle on the stove.
He murmured to himself: "Let's make the mortal world a hell... Is it possible that the Bodhisattva asked me to go to Qin Xiangyu's mortal inn, but she is my friend..."
"Bang!" With a sound, Ji Zang reached out and hit Li Xiuyuan hard on the head.
Then he scolded: "You like to call others idiots, but it turns out that you are no different from idiots. Think about what you looked like when you first arrived on Penglai Island..."
Li Xiuyuan suddenly realized what he said, and then he laughed.
While adding boiling water to the pot, he replied: "Then I will change my appearance and accept Qin Xiangyu's anger."
"No, there is not only one Qin Xiangyu in the inn who will make you angry. You are not the innkeeper. There is also her husband and the merchants coming and going..."
Ji Zang watched Li Xiuyuan carefully add spiritual tea to the two of them, with a strange smile on his face.
After thinking for a while, he said: "There may be the two girls you rescued from Penglai, and the little disciple you took in. How will you feel when the time comes?"
Li Xiuyuan smiled bitterly when he heard this and said: "What can I do? I brought them all back from the East China Sea. Even if they made a mistake, it is also my fault."
Upon hearing this, Ksitigarbha couldn't help but admired: "Yes, I like your thoughts."
"But I want to warn you, you will suffer the glare of the world, even coming and going, as well as the glare and insult of the relatives around you, but you cannot be angry with them."
At this point, Ksitigarbha paused and said with compassion on his face: "Because you are a weed on the road, you are a speck of dust, and you do not deserve to be angry with them..."
Ksitigarbha's words were like a knife, stabbing Li Xiuyuan's chest hard.
Even though there was no blood, it still made him feel so painful that he couldn't breathe.
If Xiaohu and Qingyu really looked down upon me, and if Qin Xiangyu treated me like a servant, pointing fingers every day, could I still persevere?
Suddenly, he felt that perhaps the mortal hell mentioned by Ksitigarbha was the biggest test he was facing.
After all, he has always believed that human nature cannot stand the test.
But this time, Ksitigarbha will not only test him, but also test every friend around him.
There is even a possibility of testing Juier, the future empress of the Tang Dynasty, who is in the palace.
Thinking of this, Li Xiuyuan couldn't help but reveal a wry smile.
He smiled and said: "In that case, please ask Bodhisattva to change my appearance and voice for me. With just a piece of talisman paper, I am afraid that one day I will accidentally reveal the truth in advance."
"It's so good. There is hell under the abyss, so why not the world of mortals? This time, you should taste the feeling of hiding in the world."
As Ksitigarbha waved his hand, Li Xiuyuan suddenly transformed into a boy of about sixteen years old, with a face from the Western Regions.
Li Xiuyuan tried to say a word, but was stunned for a moment.
He had an illusion that he was possessed by the ebony that died in the desert, and he became the dead ebony?
Ji Zang smiled faintly: "From now on, you are Amu from Broken Leaf City, a piece of useless wood, a sixteen-year-old boy who lived all the way to Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty."
"Useless wood?"
When Li Xiuyuan heard this, he couldn't help laughing.
He replied faintly: "That's fine. Only if you don't know anything, can't do anything, and don't know anyone, can you see the hell in this mortal world, right?"
"When do you plan to return to your true form? Do you want me to help you?"
Ji Zang looked at Li Xiuyuan's appearance in front of him and couldn't help laughing: "The clothes you are wearing are wrong..."
"Don't worry, since I want to go to hell, I have to wait for the person I want to wait for... Don't worry about clothes, I already had them in Broken Leaf City back then, and I also have shepherd's clothes."
Ksitigarbha sighed and said seriously: "I will teach you a trick, you can change your appearance. At the end of the year, you must come back to see your precious disciple..."
"That's very good. Thank you Bodhisattva for your mercy."
Li Xiuyuan stretched out his hand and summoned a piece of snow from outside the living room to fall into the hand holding the flower.
Looking at the elf wrapped around his fingers, he murmured: "I never imagined that one day I would transform into you."
…
