The Daguangming Temple in Bauhinia Mountain has been a royal Buddhist temple since the founding of the Chu Kingdom. In addition to accepting incense from the people, the imperial court also allocates a sum of money to the temple every year.
Since Daguangming Temple was awarded the title of Royal Buddhist Temple, it has experienced four abbots. The current one supports Master Kongzang and has been in office for a very long time. It has been nearly thirty years. Everyone in the temple is in awe of Master Kongzang, and the people in the world are in awe. Everyone knows that if there were no great masters in the world, Master Kongzang's martial arts cultivation would be among the best in the world.
Master Kongzang has profound Buddhist teachings and practices in the temple all year round. He has not gone down the mountain for many years. The last time he went down the mountain was after the death of the former emperor. Master Kongzang led the senior monks in the temple to perform rituals.
In the whole world, the only one who can allow Master Kongzang to do things personally is the emperor.
When Qining arrived at Daguangming Temple, it was already dusk.
He himself didn't know what force brought him to this royal temple again, but he knew that if he wanted to truly solve the mystery that had been haunting him for a long time, he might have to come to the Great Guangming Temple.
Compared with before, Daguangming Temple has not changed in any way.
As a prince of the empire, Qining was of course qualified to enter the Daguangming Temple to worship Buddha, and he did come to the Daguangming Temple alone again in the name of worshiping the Buddha.
If Qining was just a marquis, going up the mountain might not cause Daguangming Temple to start a war. However, as a prince, the reception received by Daguangming Temple was naturally unusual. When Qining came to the treasure hall, Master Jingkong was already waiting for him in person.
Under Master Kongzang of Daguangming Temple, there are thirteen monks of Daguangming Temple. Master Jingkong ranks very high among the thirteen monks. After Master Jingchen was killed by King Muye, Master Jingkong’s status in Daguangming Temple has been second only to Kong. Master Zang, Master Jingkong personally came to receive him, which was considered a great honor for Qining.
Officials of the imperial court would have many people come to the temple to worship Buddha every year, and they would often take many people up the mountain and send them generous incense money. It was extremely rare for Qining to go up the mountain alone to worship Buddha.
Qining followed the rules in the temple. After worshiping the Buddha, Master Jingkong invited Qining to the Zen room in the side hall to rest temporarily.
The last time Qining was at the Daguangming Temple, it was King Mu Ye who made a big fuss at the Baobao Temple. Since then, he has never gone up the mountain again. That was the only time Qining saw Master Kongzang.
Jingkong asked the monk to bring tea. Qining looked around and saw that the Zen room was elegant and clean. He said with a smile: "I haven't gone up the mountain for a long time. Everything is the same as before. I was seriously injured and was in critical condition. Fortunately, the Daguangming Temple came to rescue me. This time Such kindness, I will never forget it.”
Master Jingkong put his hands together and smiled and said: "Amitabha, that is the fate between the prince and this temple."
"Master Jingkong, you must be feeling strange that I went up the mountain alone today." Qining said with a smile: "Actually, in addition to coming to worship Buddha today, I also want to ask your temple for advice on some things!"
Master Jingkong said gently: "Your Majesty, please speak!"
"Nearly twenty years ago, something happened in Jinyihou Mansion." Qining knew that in front of such an eminent monk, there was really no need to beat around the bush and said straight to the point: "My mother was pregnant with Liujia and was about to give birth in those few days. , your temple sent some people to the Jinyihou Mansion and stayed there for several days. I wonder if Master still remembers this?"
Master Jingkong remained calm and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, there are nearly a thousand people in Daguangming Temple, and countless things happen every day. If there are officials in the capital who want to perform rituals at home, they usually ask the temple to send people There are not a few people who go down the mountain every year for this purpose. What the prince said lasted nearly twenty years, which is too long, and the poor monk really can't remember it. "
"Master, don't you remember?" Qining had already guessed that Panic would answer like this. He was not impatient and said with a smile: "The eminent monks of your temple went to the capital to perform rituals many times, so it is natural that they cannot remember. But back then, There is no religious work to be done in the Jinyi Hou Mansion, but Lin'er is about to be born. Under such circumstances, I really don't understand why the eminent monk from Daguangming Temple appears in the Hou Mansion."
Jingkong shook his head and said, "I really don't know." He raised his hand and said, "Your Majesty, please have some tea. You will sit here. I have a small matter to deal with. I need to go out and take care of it." He folded his hands and saluted, turned around and left, arriving in front of the door of the meditation room. , Qi Ning suddenly said: "So the master doesn't know that there are eminent monks in your temple who have been lurking in Jinyihou Mansion?"
Master Jingkong, who had already opened the door, was shaken. He stopped pulling the door, was silent for a moment, closed the door, turned around, clasped his hands and said, "What did the prince say?"
"What is the purpose of Daguangming Temple sending people to lurk in the residences of important officials of the imperial court?" Qi Ning said lightly: "Daguangming Temple is a royal temple. It is favored by the people of Chu and enjoys the protection of the court, but it does such illegal things secretly. Master Jingkong, among the laws of Dachu, there is no one that allows monks from Daguangming Temple to lurk in the palaces of ministers. Who sent this from your temple? If the master cannot give me an explanation, I can only petition the emperor. Send someone to investigate the matter."
Master Jingkong frowned slightly.
Qi Ning picked up the tea cup and said calmly: "Since I have got straight to the point today, Master naturally understands that without an answer, this matter will not be easy to solve. Master has forgotten what happened back then, and may not know that there is a monk lurking in the mansion of an important minister. In this case, I would like to ask the master to tell Master Kongzang on his behalf. Just say that I want to see the master in charge. I have already checked that when your temple sent people to the Jinyihou Mansion, Master Kongzang was You are the abbot of your temple, and maybe Master Kongzang knows about things you don’t know.”
Master Jingkong's lips moved slightly, but he hesitated to speak. Finally, he bowed slightly, turned around and opened the door to leave.
Qining used his trump card, but he was not sure whether Master Kongzang would really meet him. However, Qining knew very well that if only one person in the Daguangming Temple knew the truth of the original incident, it could only be Master Kongzang.
After waiting for most of the day, the sky had already darkened. A young novice came in and lit the oil lamp, and helped Qining change the tea several times.
Qining was not impatient, he had always kept his temper.
After a long time, I finally saw Master Jingkong enter the house. He looked calm and said with his hands together: "Your Majesty, please follow this poor monk!" Without any nonsense, he turned around and left.
Qi Ning immediately stood up and followed.
Master Jingkong was walking forward, and Qining was following behind. All the monks he passed along the way stopped and walked to bow.
Daguangming Temple has three pavilions, five floors, seven halls, and eighteen halls. It is large in scale and beautifully constructed. However, Qining does not know where Master Kongzang lives. Walking through the temple, Master Jingkong's body is light and his steps are light. Extremely fast, Qi Ning's current martial arts cultivation will never be below Master Jingkong, so he can naturally keep up with him easily, and even surpassing Jingkong is extremely easy, but he always follows behind Jingkong and keeps a distance.
Passed Tiandemen, Jingdu Yaotai, Wuyuanjing, Yuruoyuan, and then passed Prajna Terrace and entered a dense forest.
Qi Ning was surprised. The more he walked on this road, the more he became familiar with it. When he was at Daguangming Temple, Master Jingkong seemed to have led him along this road before, and the places he passed were exactly the same.
In the night, the sky is full of stars, the light shines down, and the forest is quiet and peaceful.
"This is the ancient forest!" Qi Ning frowned and said, "Why did master bring me here?"
At this time, Qi Ning had already recognized that the place he was in was an ancient forest on Bauhinia Mountain. If he guessed correctly, there was a solitary house in the forest. The body of Master Jingchen was in the solitary house in the ancient forest. be found.
Master Jingkong still didn't speak and continued to move forward. Soon, Qining saw a light appearing in front of him. The forest was dark, so the light was very conspicuous. In a moment, he got close to a wooden house in the forest. The light shines from the wooden house, and this is indeed the place where Master Jingchen was killed.
Master Jingkong stopped, put his hands together and bowed to Qining, then turned around and went back the way he came. Qining was surprised. Before he thought about it, he heard a voice coming from the wooden house: "Your Majesty, please come in!"
Qining hesitated for a moment, and finally walked to the door of the wooden house. He saw a solitary lamp lit on a wooden table inside. An old monk sat cross-legged beside the table. He held a Buddhist scripture on the table in front of him. The old monk turned his hand The rosary has turned around, with kind eyes and kind eyebrows. It is Master Kongzang who is the host of Daguangming Temple.
When Qi Ning saw this eminent monk, he felt a sense of respect in his heart. He entered the room and saluted Master Kongzang. Master Kongzang said calmly: "The person who led people to Jinyihou Mansion was Junior Brother Jingchen. The prince should Remember, this is where he passed away."
Qi Ning's heart trembled. He didn't expect that Master Kongzang would also get straight to the point.
Master Kongzang raised his hand and motioned Qining to sit down. Qining walked over lightly and sat down opposite Master Kongzang. He looked up and saw Master Kongzang's expression was gentle. He was silent for a moment and then said: "Master should know why I went up the mountain today. for what."
"Where do you come from, where are you going!"
Qi Ning looked solemn and nodded: "What the master said is absolutely true. If you don't know where you came from, how do you know where you are going?"
"There is no point in coming, only where to go." Master Kongzang stared at Qining and said softly: "Your Majesty, how about listening to the old monk tell a story first?"
Qining put his hands together and said, "Listen and teach me!"
"A hen hatched an egg and raised several chicks. One of them was unusual because it was produced by an eagle egg mixed in." Master Kongzang looked calm and said in a gentle voice: "The little eagle takes the hen's egg. As a mother, she regards other chicks as brothers and sisters. Their habits are the same and have not changed. As time goes by, the chicks she gives birth to are much stronger than the chicks. She only thinks that the appearance is different and has no other intentions. She has never spread her wings. "
Qining frowned. This story sounded quite childish, more like a story told to children, but he didn't know why Master Kongzang would tell him such a story.
"Until one day, an eagle fell from the sky and fed on the chickens. The little eagle found that it looked like an eagle and finally spread its wings." Master Kongzang said slowly: "At that time, it knew that it could spread its wings and fly high. …!”