The capital of Da Qi, the imperial palace.
Under the eaves in the northwest corner of every room in this majestic and magnificent palace, there is a bronze black bird wind chime with complex patterns hanging.
These black bird wind chimes are very strange, no matter what kind of strong wind it is, they cannot be blown. The current princess was very naughty when she was little. She once hit these wind chimes with stones, but even so, she could not make the black bird sing even slightly.
Legend has it that these bronze black bird wind chimes were made by the Taoist leader Wuya Patriarch at the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, who took copper from Shou Mountain and spent 7,749 days refining it.
It was specially given to Emperor Gaozu to ward off evil spirits. It is said that once something evil comes close to the palace, these wind chimes will automatically move without wind, and the black bird decoration on the top will make a sound like a bird's chirping from its beak.
At this time, none of the soldiers standing guard in the corridor noticed. The black bird wind chime not far from his head actually trembled slightly, and the yin and yang pattern carved on the bronze body radiated faint light.
The bronze black bird statue lying on the top of the wind chime also raised its head and cast its eyes in the direction of the strange sound thousands of miles away.
It was in the direction where Xia Zhichan was.
…
Ten Thousand Buddhas Mountain, Bodhi Courtyard.
This is the place where Master Bodhi practiced meditation and meditation in his later years.
In front of the gate of Bodhi Courtyard squatted two stone-carved lions with low eyebrows and bowed heads, about one foot tall. They seemed to be inspired by something, and they twisted their bodies and came to life.
The stone lion on the left raised his head, and scratched his neck and shoulders with his huge claws. As he moved, a lot of stone chips and dust fell down, and his voice was booming:
"Something is about to be born, why don't we go take a look?"
The stone lion on the right opened his mouth wide and yawned widely. It seemed as if he had not heard what he just said. Instead, he stretched his body and lay down. He rolled his eyes at his stupid brother angrily, and then said slowly:
"The Lord Buddha enlightened you and me to guard this Bodhi Courtyard. Don't make trouble for us."
"Oh, brother. We have been here for three hundred years, and we don't want to miss it for just a little while. Let's just go and take a look secretly, and we'll come back right away."
The stone lion on the left shook his head and said.
"Hmph. I'm afraid that if you die, you will not come back alive, and you will become a pile of rubble by then. Let me see if you can still say it's okay."
"Is it that serious? I think..."
"Shut up! Someone is coming."
After saying that, the two stone lions immediately returned to the same state as before, as if the conversation just now had not happened at all.
With a creak, an old figure opened the wooden door of Bodhi Courtyard. He was an old monk wearing shabby gray robes and holding a big broom in his hand.
Every day is the same, cleaning the mountain gate relentlessly. This matter has been done for a full sixty years since he entered Samana.
"Amitabha."
Put your hands together and chant the Buddha's name.
The old monk does not understand the Dharma, and he does not understand it if he is obsessed with it.
Zen Master Buwu is already seventy-two years old this year. Originally, he didn't have to clean in front of the mountain gate, but he is really used to this kind of life. The other people in the Bodhi Courtyard can't persuade him, so they simply let him go. went.
As usual, sweep the floor.
But what was different from usual was that the old monk whispered a Buddha's name to an unknown place in the distance.
No fluctuations could be seen on the old face, as if decades of peaceful years had settled into every wrinkle of his skin.
The direction in which he recited the name of the Buddha was also the direction where Xia Zhichan was.
After the old monk finished cleaning himself and left, the two stone lions came to life again.
The two stone lions looked at each other.
"Almost, just a little bit..."
This time it was the stone lion on the right who spoke first. He sighed, and the stone chips he blew out made a small pit in the ground in front of him:
"If you don't understand, you are really stubborn."
…
Boom——
Boom——
Boom——
Three distant bells rang, shrouding the entire Longhu Mountain. Many Taoist priests in green who were sitting cross-legged in meditation or dancing swords could not help but look up, their eyes full of confusion and disbelief.
That ancient bell hangs on a century-old pine on a cliff hundreds of feet tall.
Legend has it that this ancient bell was hung up by Patriarch Wuya himself and was forged from Shoushan copper, which is the same as the bronze black bird. It is a huge bronze bell that can be hugged by four people. It has an entire Taishang Senjue spelled out in yin and yang characters. There is a bronze dragon hanging around the ancient bell, and a bronze tiger lying on the top.
Under the ancient bronze bell, a slender figure wearing a white Taoist robe sat cross-legged.
Swish, swish, several figures riding sword lights passed through the clouds and landed on the top of Longhu Mountain. Everyone respectfully put away their sword light and knelt down behind the slender figure.
Among the people sitting on their knees, the one in the middle was a middle-aged man wearing a yellow robe. He has an upright face, his eyes are like a torch, and three strands of his long black beard are flying in the wind on his chest. He is Zhang Taixuan, the head coach of Longhu Mountain. To put it bluntly, even His Majesty the Emperor of Da Qi is not qualified to make him kneel.
But now, he actually kneels respectfully behind that figure.
"Uncle Master, I would like to ask if this ancient demon-suppressing bell rang three times for no reason today. Does it mean that some great demon is about to be born..."
The figure whom the headmaster Zhang Taixuan called his great uncle did not speak or even move. The figure seemed to be transformed into a statue carved from wood and stone, unable to speak or move at all.
"Uncle Master, the ancient demon-suppressing bell is warning you that this matter is not trivial. I dare you to ask Uncle Master to tell us clearly..."
Among the people sitting on their knees, an old man in red robe with white hair and beard couldn't help but ask. The old man has been a bad-tempered person since he was young. Even if the master is lecturing, he dares to interrupt directly.
Now, the ancient demon-suppressing bell that had not sounded for nearly a hundred years actually sounded a warning again. He was extremely anxious and wished he could hear the answer right away.
"It doesn't matter."
There are only two words, said in everyone's ears using the method of sound transmission into the secret. The voice was calm, as if talking about a trivial matter.
"yes."
Everyone did not dare to say another word, they could only bow and bow, and then retreated from the top of the mountain.
…
Quelongshan, a small farmhouse.
This courtyard is not big, and four children once studied and practiced here. But now those children have grown up and are traveling around the world. Only the old man, whose beard turned from black to white, was still sitting in the yard.
There is a strange chessboard with nine vertical and nine horizontal lines placed in the center of the yard. The chess pieces in the chess jar come in four colors.
The old man concentrated for a long time before he raised his hand and dropped a chess piece.
This chess piece is black.
"Aren't you going to save your apprentice? He may not be able to survive this disaster..."
A tall, middle-aged man who looked similar to an old man but was much younger appeared across from him. The man took a piece out of the box and dropped it.
He holds the red piece.
"If he can't even survive the disaster in front of him, then there's no hope that he can survive the disaster in his life..."
The old man picked up another piece, but it hadn't fallen yet. There was no worry at all on his face as he said:
"You can't just rely on me, the master, to help him for the rest of his life."
"Haha, what a good master."
Another person appeared on the right, a young man with bright eyes and white teeth. He also looked very similar to the old man and the man, but his eyes were more arrogant and the words he said were not pleasant.
The young man flicked his finger, and a white stone jumped out of the chess box and landed safely on the chess board.
"If you can't help him survive his death, then you might as well have let him die in the capital in the first place..."
"Well, that's not right."
A plump, white child appeared on the chair on the left. He shook his head with a red braid tied around it, and picked up a blue chess piece with both hands. He didn't know how to play chess, so he just moved to the chess piece based on his feeling. A toss on the chessboard.
"Master can have any bad intentions towards his disciples. My master is very good to me."
The white-haired old man holding the black mantle is the owner of this farmhouse.
The tall and tall middle-aged man holding the Hongzi is the owner of Quelong Mountain.
The unruly young man holding the white child is a five-color spiritual official in the realm of knowing heaven.
The little boy holding Qingzi is a genius born with a glass heart.
They are the same person named Hong Huanglan.
…
Those eyes in the sky are as huge as mountains.
Xia Zhichan, who was exhausted, fell to the ground and looked at the vision in the sky. For a moment, she didn't know whether she should cry or laugh.
A huge vibration came, and regular sounds came from the black hard "river bottom" beneath me. If you listened carefully, it sounded a bit like the beating of a heart.
It turned out that Xia Zhichan thought that the black river bottom revealed by splitting the river water with his sword energy was actually the back of this huge monster.
Mountain-like eyes, a back that was pitch black and boundless, plus that huge hard but very flexible black tentacle.
What a huge and terrifying monster this is.
Snapped. The black tentacle that had been slashed with two huge wounds by Xia Zhichan's majestic sword energy emerged from under the river surface again. It swayed and hit the "land" just a few feet away from Xia Zhichan.
Then with one roll, Xia Zhichan, who was almost unable to move, was wrapped in the tentacles.
After the pain reaches its extreme, it's as if it doesn't exist anymore. Xia Zhichan could no longer feel pain at this time, although she had also lost most of the feeling in her body.
He could only let the tentacles roll him up above the clouds.
Above the clouds, there is a deep black hole so huge that the edges cannot be seen at a glance.
Xia Zhichan knew that it was the monster's mouth.
It wants to eat him.
The darkness was completely shrouded, and Xia Zhichan was thrown into a deep hole. When he watched the last ray of light disappear before his eyes.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. Many faces appeared like a mirror, and then quickly disappeared.
The master with a stooped body, the senior brother with a warm smile, the second senior brother who will never grow up, the third senior brother who looks elegant but is actually evil-hearted...
Father, mother...
And that red dress...
Finally, what appeared in front of Xia Zhichan was the wooden door painted on the back wall. It's a pity that he is going to die soon, and he is still just an uninitiated spiritual officer. It is estimated that in the more than three hundred years since the advent of spiritual officials, he is the only spiritual official who died without being admitted.
Just a little bit close.
Stretching out his hand, his fingers had obviously touched the wooden door. It seemed that the wooden door could be easily opened with just a slight push. But with this gentle push, Xia Zhichan seemed to have exhausted all the energy in her body.
The door was finally opened to a crack.
It was the same as when the master opened the wooden door. The familiar white light came out from the gap in the wooden door and sprinkled on Xia Zhichan's body.
The light was warmer than the sun, dispelling the pain all over Xia Zhichan's body, making people feel extremely comfortable.
Xia Zhichan squinted his eyes. Instead of coveting the comfort brought by the light, he took his hand back.
The light disappeared.
It's like it never happened. But only Xia Zhichan knew that he was different now. At least he opened the door and saw a glimpse of the scenery behind the door. Unfortunately, he no longer has the strength to push the door completely open.
A satisfied smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"If you hear the Tao in the morning, you will die in the evening."
Xia Zhichan murmured one last word, and his consciousness completely fell into darkness.
