Seeing that everyone didn't understand, Xu Xiake explained word by word: "Chongxu Taoist Temple is the first Taoist temple in the northwest, and has the same status as the Tianshi Mansion of the Han Dynasty in Longhu Mountain. All Taoist priests need to abide by Laojun's 180 precepts. From then on, From eating meat and fish to abstaining from evil spirits that pollute the mind, adhering to the precepts internally, upholding dignity externally, avoiding taboos according to laws, and abiding by religious orders, only by strictly observing the rules and precepts can one officially become a Taoist priest of Chongxu Guan."
"How can people of our age achieve the 180 precepts? Being able to abstain from eating meat all year round is considered pious. Do you think it is possible for people like us to enter a Taoist temple to practice hard?"
Everyone looked at Xu Xiake and tried to shake their heads. The fact that they could not eat meat completely stumped them.
Xu Xiake continued: "Master Chongxu Guan has always felt that since you can't keep your guard up, you don't need to enter the Taoist temple. It's better to travel around while you are young to gain experience. When you are thirty or forty years old, you will have seen the prosperous world and seen through the wealth. Having experienced relationships, ups and downs and sufferings, it is not too late to enter meditation and practice penance at this time.”
"Once we convert to Taoism, we lay people will go down the mountain to do chivalry and righteousness, accumulate merits and blessings, and use it to become the true righteous path. It will take another ten or twenty years. I am not in a hurry to become the righteous path now. .”
"Then what did you do before? Traveling around is equivalent to having the qualifications to enter the Taoist sect?"
Song Siyuan wondered why Xu Xiake was so obsessed with being a poor Taoist priest considering that he was young and his family was not poor.
"Traveling is just a task given to me by Master Yunyang. He wants to see what my qualifications are. I value the Guanwen so much because it records all the merits I have done. Once it is lost, everything will be in vain. After giving this thing to Master Yunyang, he said that my spiritual roots were not bad and he accepted me as a lay practitioner. If I really have the intention to convert to the righteous path after a few decades, he will give me the nun."
After Xu Xiake finished speaking, he paused and his tone became humorous: "The immortal caressed my head, tied my hair and received immortality. The purpose of becoming a Taoist priest is only one, and that is to obtain the title of Zhengguo and be ranked among the immortals. This thing sounds really mysterious. I I don’t value the Immortal Class at all, I just want to live longer, even if it’s a few decades longer than ordinary people, I’m still a hundred years old, isn’t it great!”
"I don't understand, I don't understand, so you plan to keep doing this for decades?"
Yue Guanchao thought that he was not a bad person, but he was not a good person either. He was just a greedy and lustful person. It was annoying to ask him to wash Yue Erpao's feet for three days in a row. What's more, he had to do good deeds for strangers for decades. You can't do anything that damages your merits. This is more or less abnormal.
Xu Xiake pinched his chin and said in a mysterious tone: "It depends on what you think. Cultivation is originally against desire. This is self-cultivation, and it can also be regarded as sincerity towards the Taoist temple. A layman is equivalent to a Taoist temple. The donors will ask their family members to send a sum of money every month and ask for help every day for decades. Being able to do this is not an ordinary person. There are many people who give up halfway. Without passing the test of time, who can You can know that your Taoism is firm."
"Only time can wash away the silt and verify human nature. Success or failure all depends on these decades."
After saying that, Xu Xiake looked at Yue Guanchao with suspicious eyes: "You are here just to see me convert, right?"
They had been grinding away until now, but their attention was attracted by the rituals. After being asked by the little Taoist priest, they remembered the urgent matter of coming to Fanchuan Town. Tang Dayang scratched his head and said:
"That's not the case. In the past two days, we have convinced my uncle that he is willing to tell us the location of Cave Mountain. However, there are some things that are not easy to prepare, and there is nothing we can do about the phoenix blood needed. So we just thought about it. Check out the Fanchuan Temple Fair, maybe there’s a cockfight or something and you can actually find Phoenix blood.”
Xu Xiake has been practicing Taoism for several years. It is impossible that he does not know what phoenix blood is. After listening to their words, a light flashed in his eyes: "You have come to the right place. Yuji Mountain is rich in wild golden pheasants, and Fanchuan Temple has a tradition of cockfighting. I I’ll take you to the cockfighting ring, if there is a phoenix, it must be there.”
"That's good, please, Brother Xu."
Xu Xiake looked at them and signaled, and everyone followed him, walking in the streets of Fanchuan.
Taoist temple festivals have temple fairs, which has been a tradition since ancient times. For blessing gatherings like this, there will even be lively temple fairs. They were walking and walking through the streets, and in the distance they saw a huge tent covered with black cloth, and The same size as a residential house, crowds of people came in and out from the exits, and the sound of roosters crowing and flapping reached the ears, making the surrounding area noisy.
They entered the tent and looked around. There were circles of old and young men stretching their necks and shouting. The wooden barrier as wide as a carriage in the middle was surrounded by water. Outside the barrier, in addition to the two sides of the cockfight, there were the guys who maintained order. The lively roar shook the people. People's ears were stunned, and the heat filled the air like water boiling in a pot, which actually dispelled the chill on their bodies!
There is no doubt that this place is full of players who come to gamble on cockfights.
