They followed Monk Zhikong down the mountain for a while, passed the mountain stream where he fetched water, and then climbed up again. Yin Xiu and the other two followed him towards the main courtyard of the Thousand Buddha had an extra load of water on his shoulders and he walked unsteadily but he looked relaxed. Yin Xiu could tell that it was some kind of training footwork. Even though Zhikong's movements were very basic and stiff, they contained some kind of concept and philosophy. "Master, when do you usually go down the mountain?" Yin Xiu asked. "Going down the mountain?" Zhikong turned around and smiled foolishly, as if he didn't understand what Yin Xiu was talking about. "I mean, for example, going down the mountain to buy things, begging for alms, holding religious ceremonies and so on," Yin Xiu explained. "Oh, I usually don't go down the mountain. This kind of errand is not my job." Zhikong scratched his head. "The market is held about once a month. However, we have our own vegetable fields on the mountain, and believers often send us some rice and supplies, so we don't often go down the mountain to buy things." Zhikong couldn't answer what Yin Xiu wanted, but Yin Xiu was very patient and gave Ma Xiaoyu a look. Ma Xiaoyu immediately understood what he meant, and clasped her hands together and said, "The local believers are really sincere and pious."
"That's good, that's good." Zhikong clasped his hands together and the carrying pole swayed on his shoulders, but it remained steady. “Thanks to these kind people, the Thousand Buddhas Temple can continue to spread the Dharma.” Yin Xiu kept smiling, "It would be a pleasure if we could meet the local believers and have some exchanges." "actually……" Zhikong's expression changed. "Three donors, are you here to seek refuge as well?" Well? Yin Xiu was speechless. Instead, the white peacock shouted, "So, you already know what happened down the mountain? Right?" "Jiaozhi is hot and humid all year round. It must be abnormal that it hasn't rained for such a long time." Zhikong's face was serious, "We just walked by the mountain stream, very close to the stream, the three donors may not notice anything unusual. However, half a month ago, the road we were walking on was actually submerged by water and was bottomless." Seeing the three people were silent, Zhikong thought they were frightened and comforted them: "But please rest assured, maybe it's because this is a Buddhist holy land, with Buddha's light shining everywhere, so the zombies can't come up." "Can't come up?" "Yes, not even one. If there were any..." Zhikong smiled bitterly, "The monks in this temple only know how to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures, and they can't deal with them." "Those at the foot of the mountain...ah!" The white peacock cried out and felt a pain in his butt. She turned around and saw Ma Xiaoyu winking at her, so the white peacock shut its mouth obediently. When Zhikong was feeling strange, Yin Xiu had already let out a long sigh.
He said frankly: "My wife and I did come from Zhongyuan to worship at the Thousand Buddhas Temple, but when we were at the foot of the mountain, we saw such a tragic scene that we had no choice but to flee. We can't remember anything else. This time I went up the mountain mainly to seek shelter in the Buddhist temple. I hope the master will not despise me." "What did the donor say?" Zhikong said seriously: "The Thousand Buddhas Temple has always been open to everyone. Although its capacity is limited, it is nothing to provide a meditation room, a few sets of bowls and chopsticks, and a few more dishes of vegetables." He spoke so seriously that Yoon Soo was touched by his attitude. Could it be that the two monks they met after going up the mountain were both rare good people? Good monks? Or is it that it is not yet time to fall out? With a natural distrust of monks, Yin Xiu stopped talking and just followed him to the Thousand Buddha Temple on the top of the mountain. After walking for a while, when the sun passed noon, they could already vaguely see the towering gate of Thousand Buddha Temple. Next to the road are stone statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva, with varying degrees of craftsmanship and maintenance. Some are lifelike, while others appear blurry and clumsy. "Why are some so ugly, and some look like fairies?" The white peacock expressed the doubts in his heart. "Don't people have hundreds of looks and thousands of manners?" Zhikong smiled and said, "The Buddha probably also has different forms. Some of the Buddha statues here were donated by believers, while others were carved by our senior brothers and sisters on a whim. Therefore, the techniques and skills are different, and they seem to be very arbitrary." “It’s really random.” The white peacock looked at one of the statues and felt that the nose was actually a point on the stone that had not been cut away, and it was not intentionally carved out. Suddenly, Yin Xiu asked, "I heard that the great abbot of our temple, Fa Yin, has lived for more than 200 years? This is really a great supernatural power." "Maybe." Zhikong didn't seem to care. "The old man has not been in good health recently and has rarely appeared in public." "Are you sick?" Yin Xiu looked very concerned. "Maybe." Zhikong still shook his head, "I don't know the specific situation. The abbot's food is taken care of by others. In fact, I am just an outer disciple. There are many things that are not my turn to participate in." "Oh... an outer disciple." "Yes," Zhikong said, a little embarrassed, "I am a dull monk. I am good at doing odd jobs like fetching water and chopping wood, but I can't do the homework." "What's the big deal?" Yin Xiu patted his shoulder and said, "I have read many martial arts novels, and the strongest ones are never the closed disciples or the inner disciples who are not passed on, but the outer disciples." Zhikong smiled, "The donor is really knowledgeable and talented." As they chatted and laughed, they approached the temple gate. Outside the gate, there were a few children playing. This could not help but surprise Yin Xiu and the others.
"Oh, the children of the nearby believers." Zhikong explained: "There are many more people on the mountain recently, it's very lively." "I can tell." Yin Xiu nodded, "This is the best place for the children to stay. It is much better than being at the foot of the mountain at this time." "Amitabha." When Zhikong recited once, three fat monks in cassocks came up. Their faces were calm, yet there was no coldness that kept people at a distance. "Who are these three donors?" one of them asked. Zhikong bowed and said, "Uncle Master, please listen to my detailed explanation..." "So that's it." The three monks understood and made way for them. "Three donors, please come this way. Someone from the temple will take you to rest." Zhikong seemed to have stopped moving forward at this point. He bowed and turned to walk back. "Maybe we can pay our respects to the Buddha first?" Yin Xiu said earnestly: "After all, the three of us have come all the way here just to pay homage to the Buddha!" The three monks were moved. One of them said, "Then I will arrange for my disciples to show you three donors around?" "No need to bother." Yin Xiu smiled, "We don't want to delay the practice of the masters, so we can just walk around the temple by ourselves." "Walking by yourself? Did you have a particular place you wanted to go before you came?" "No, I have never heard anyone talk about the layout of this place, but..." Yin Xiu put his hands together and said, "Just bow to the Buddha when you see him." "When you see a Buddha, worship him..." One of the three monks repeated it and asked him again: "If we worship the Buddha when we see it, can we worship the real Buddha?" "May I ask, Master, what is the true Buddha?" Yin Xiu asked him, "Can I see the real Buddha if I bow down with sincerity? If my heart is not sincere, will the Buddha not save me? If my heart is neither sincere nor insincere, if I have no knowledge or fear, no love or worry, no anger or kindness, then the Buddha does not exist?" The monk was stunned for a long time, and finally smiled after a while, and stretched out his hand towards the door, "Donor, you are very wise. You are enlightening me. Please do as you please." Ma Xiaoyu originally thought that the monk was embarrassed and wanted to order them to leave, or call a group of monks to fight. However, the other party seemed to be really convinced by Yin Xiu's words and admitted it generously. At this time, she couldn't help but have the same questions as Yin Xiusheng. Are these monks really different from those elsewhere, and are they just a group of people who sincerely worship Buddha, chant sutras and eat vegetarian food? The white peacock remained steadfast. After walking a long way away from the monks, he couldn't help but sigh, "Oh, what an amazing display of appearance." "The facade, are you talking about the decoration here?" Yin Xiu asked her.
"certainly not." White Peacock shook his head. "I was talking about the monks' facial expressions. How can they pretend to be humble and accept your advice even though you said that to them?" “I don’t think I’m pretending.” Yin Xiu said seriously: "I feel that the monk seemed to be really enlightened by what I said, even though I just made it up." "But what you just said does seem to have some philosophy in it." Ma Xiaoyu touched his ear and said, "Maybe it's just like Kung Fu, where a random punch can kill the master?" "Maybe I did hit it by mistake?" Yin Xiu smiled. He really couldn't think of how he could be related to debate. After all, he couldn't memorize any of the Taoist classics that were useless in fighting. Although he and Liu Banxian can often fool others with their eloquence, they seem to be very good at talking and can say a lot. But to be honest, it was more like the method used by the Thousand Gates and Eight Generals, rather than what the people in the Xuanmen call debate. What exactly was the debate about, whether it was about truth or whose voice was louder, Uncle Ming couldn't explain it clearly, let alone Yin Xiu. It is said that Lu Zu could often defeat a group of monks in debates without any chance of fighting back, and finally ascended to heaven during a debate. But he is a legendary figure, even more mysterious than the ancestors of the Mao and Ma families. No one knows whether he really existed or was created by later generations. Therefore, his deeds cannot be confirmed with certainty. While thinking this, Yin Xiu and his companions had already crossed three thresholds and entered the temple. This is the main square of Thousand Buddha Temple. It seems to be connected in all directions. All roads converge here, and it also leads to all places. "Three of us walking together would be too conspicuous." Yin Xiu looked around and felt that there was no other group as eye-catching as theirs. Ma Xiaoyu and Bai Kongque both nodded in agreement. "Then what do you think we should do?" "Of course we act separately." Yin Xiu whispered, "It's still early in the evening, and we said we wanted to go around and worship Buddha, so the monks probably don't bother to care about us. We will walk around and explore this place carefully. It would be best if we can find traces of Liu Banxian or Ren Qi, or that Miao man. If we can't find them, we should not arouse the suspicion of those monks. We may be here for a while after all.” Ma Xiaoyu glanced at him and said, "You mean, you have confirmed that Liu Banxian and the others are in the mountains?" “I can’t confirm this.” Yin Xiu's face was solemn. "However, I have a hunch that something must have happened to them at the Bodhi Mountain Thousand Buddha Temple for some reason." Thinking of the paper figure that was burned to ashes, Ma Xiaoyu hoped more and more that Yin Xiu's intuition was correct. Because if something happened to them somewhere else, then coming to the Thousand Buddha Temple would be in vain and completely meaningless.
So if something is going to happen, it's better to happen here. "I don't know Liu Banxian and Ren Qi." The white peacock suddenly said, "If I saw them, I wouldn't be able to recognize them, right?" "Hmm, it seems so." Yin Xiu remembered that he had thrown the wanted poster with Ren Qi's portrait on it in the Zhennan General's Mansion, and now he couldn't seem to find any portraits of them. So he thought for a while, and then said to White Peacock again: "So, Ren Qi is a very fierce and ferocious weirdo with six weapons." "Very fierce?" "Yes, he is a natural born killer. He is the kind of guy who will feel uncomfortable if he doesn't kill a few people a day. You will be scared by him as soon as you see him." "Then I understand." White Peacock nodded. "He's the kind of guy who seems to be owed a lot of money by everyone on the road, right?" "more or less." Yin Xiu touched his chin, "As for Liu Banxian? He is a Feng Shui master who likes to wear sunglasses and carry a white canvas bag on his back." “This kind of look is very common.” The white peacock pressed on, "Are there any other characteristics? Like what does he look like?" "It's disgusting. Very disgusting." Ma Xiaoyu added. "Yes, it's obscene." Yin Xiu nodded, then narrowed his eyes and looked at the white peacock. The white peacock's face turned red and his ears felt hot. He couldn't help but said coquettishly, "Brother, how can you look at me like this in public? I won't be able to walk later." "Remember this look." Yin Xiu returned to normal, "Liu Banxian is such a person, if you see someone staring at you with such lustful eyes, as if he wants to search your whole body with his eyes, that person is Liu Banxian for sure. No matter what he looks like, whether he is a monk or a Taoist priest, it is difficult to change one's nature!" This time, Ma Xiaoyu was rarely angry. Instead, she nodded seriously and agreed, "Yes, Liu Banxian looked like this just now." White Peacock understood, "Then I know. One is a natural born killer and the other is a nymphomaniac, right? I'll remember that." Ma Xiaoyu took out two more talismans from her pocket and handed them to Yin Xiu and Bai Kongque. "We each carry one. If we encounter an emergency, light it and the others will be able to sense your location immediately, but not too far away." "Okay." (End of chapter)