These new batch of consorts were originally prepared for Dharma King Baojing.
But the timing of returning was not particularly auspicious, as the Dharma King Baojing was in retreat and would not come out until tomorrow. As a result, the empowerment was not so urgent, not to mention that there were quite a few girls coming.
When I came here yesterday, it was already late and I wasted a lot of time in the side hall, so I didn't have the chance to look around.
Now that it was daybreak, how could they hold back any longer
They are all young and have little experience, not to mention that this temple is now the most desired place for every believer in the Snow Region.
They came here with full of piety and curiosity.
So early in the morning, they couldn't suppress their excitement and woke up early. Some of them even devoted themselves to worshiping Buddha last night and didn't sleep the whole night, and they were still in high spirits until this morning.
Even though Jianchou hadn't seen Sang Yang, he could guess the general situation by listening to her tone.
She had no interest in pilgrimage, but it would be a great opportunity for her to see the snowy land.
So after hearing Sang Yang's voice, Jianchou didn't think much and replied softly: "I'll go too, wait a moment."
After saying this, she restrained the aura around her and stood up from the couch.
From the outside, she looks like an ordinary woman. At most, she has an outstanding face, which is more beautiful and brighter than ordinary people.
After opening the door, I saw Sang Yang.
A little girl of about thirteen or fourteen, with her hands behind her back in a playful manner, looked at her eagerly, with innocence still in her eyes.
Seeing her come out, he smiled happily: "It's just in front, everyone is ready to go."
Sang Yang stretched out her hand and pointed, and Jianchou looked in the direction of her finger.
Sure enough, a group of young girls were already waiting there.
The place where they lived was on the west side of the entire temple, which was on the left side of the main hall. There was a row of monks' rooms clustered together. Standing in the courtyard and looking outside, you could still see the small building made of ivory, called "White Building", which Moga had mentioned before.
The famous Snowland Holy Lake is just behind the temple.
The only way leading to the holy lake is in the main hall of the temple. Every believer who comes here for pilgrimage from afar must go to the holy lake after a pious worship.
According to legend, this is the cleanest lake in the entire 19 continents and can cleanse one's soul.
It is obvious that this kind of nonsense was made up by the Tantric Buddhism to deceive people.
Many times, people are trapped in their own suffering, or tormented by the mistakes and sins they have committed, and they really hope that there is such a place in the world, so they are willing to believe it.
But in fact, if the holy lake could really cleanse people's souls, why would there be so many dirty and filthy things in Xinmi
Listening to the words of these naive little girls beside him, and feeling their yearning and longing for the holy lake, Jianchou's heart remained the same as it had been all the way here, with almost no fluctuations.
Her identity is different from that of others, so Sang Yang is more familiar with her.
So even though she acted unsociable and aloof, no one had any problem with it.
As they were heading towards the main hall of the temple and preparing to go to the holy lake, they were chatting and looking at each other. Sang Yang seemed to feel that Jianchou was not very easy to get close to, so she said a few words to her and then went to talk with the more lively girls in front.
Although the entire temple is built on the top of the snow-capped mountain, its scale is extremely magnificent.
They came out of their residence and climbed up according to the direction they were heading. It took them more than a minute to clearly see the magnificent main hall of the temple.
The snow-like wall tiles are carved with rare ice jade, while the interior is paved with golden bricks, which is a luxurious scene.
The pilgrims had not yet gone up the mountain at such an early hour, so the whole temple seemed quite quiet.
When Jianchou and his companions arrived, they could only see a few monks sitting cross-legged in the main hall, shaking drums, ringing vajra bells, chanting Buddhist scriptures, and looking very focused.
There stands a tall Buddha statue in the hall, reaching the top of the main hall and looking down.
Statue of Sakyamuni.
His face looked solemn and dignified, and he was covered with a layer of gold, with a brilliant golden glow, giving off a sacred feeling.
But perhaps because the Buddha statue was too tall, or perhaps because the overall color of the temple was very different from the Buddhist temples that Jianchou knew, she not only did not feel any compassion and holiness from it, but only felt a vague sinister aura coming from it, which made people feel cold when they saw it.
The dozen or so concubines who came with them held their breath and dared not speak as soon as they approached the main hall of the temple.
When they entered the hall at this moment, they did not dare to disturb the Xinmi monks who were worshiping Buddha day and night in front. They just knelt down quietly behind them, at the entrance of the main hall, and worshiped devoutly.
Jianchou was standing behind everyone, but no one noticed her, so she didn't bow.
While others were concentrating on kowtowing, she stood closest to the door, looking up and gazing at the Buddha statue.
That sinister feeling was not an illusion.
Who could have thought that this Buddha statue in the holy temple of the Buddhist Snowland Tantric Buddhism would remind her of the image of the "god" she had seen in the main hall of the Tomorrow Star Sea Night Cruise
The eyeless centipede standing deep in the hall, always shrouded in shadow—the god Shao Ji!
Under the seemingly golden body of the Buddha statue, there was actually a little bit of black air, which was exactly the same as what she and Xie Buchen had discovered on the elders and disciples who died in Kunwu.
As for the strange black aura on the disciples of Yashan, Fu Chaosheng had stored it in a jade bottle and placed it inside the bead.
I think he was afraid that her current level of cultivation would be difficult to handle, so he did this on purpose.
Last night before Fu Chaosheng went to Jiyuyu, he said that he found no trace of Shao Ji in the temple, so Shao Ji should be in Jiyuyu at this moment.
As for the marks on the Buddha statue in this temple, they should be left by Shao Ji in the past.
Jianchou slowly speculated in his heart, and at the same time secretly warned himself to be more careful.
After a while, all the people who had been kneeling and worshipping Buddha sincerely stood up.
No one noticed that Jianchou did not kneel down to worship. When Sangyang got up and saw that she was still standing, he just thought she got up faster than others and did not think much about it.
So the group headed towards the real holy lake.
There is a long and narrow corridor on each side of the main hall.
Huge golden prayer wheels are neatly arranged one after another. At first glance, they look like bamboo slips hanging on one side of the corridor. Various Buddhist patterns and common Buddhist allusions are engraved on them. Inside the prayer wheels are scriptures with the Buddhist Six-Syllable Mantra.
When people passed by the corridor, they reached out and touched the prayer wheels, making them turn along with them.
The Snow Region is bitterly cold, unlike other places in the Nineteen Continents, which are rich in resources.
Here, most of the ordinary people are illiterate. Although they have a pious heart in worshipping Buddha under the influence of Tantric Buddhism, how can they recite scriptures without knowing how to read
That’s why we have prayer wheels.
Illiterate believers only need to ask someone to write down the "Six-Character Great Bright Mantra" and put it into the prayer wheel. From then on, every time the prayer wheel is turned, it is equivalent to reciting the scripture once, thereby accumulating blessings.
In the snowy areas, prayer wheels are very common.
In the temple, this thing is naturally more indispensable, and it is even made bigger and more exquisite, giving people a more grand atmosphere.
Just imagine how yearning and pious a believer who knows nothing would feel when he walks here and sees this row of prayer wheels that seems to stretch as far as the eye can see.
The golden prayer wheel reflected a dim light under the narrow ray of sunlight overhead.
Just as Jianchou had expected at the beginning, the young girls in front of him all showed sincere respect in their eyes after seeing him. They stepped onto the narrow corridor one by one, turning the prayer wheels in their hands and walked to the other end of the corridor.
There was a faint breeze coming from the end of the corridor, bringing with it a bit of coldness and moisture.
Jianchou continued to walk behind everyone, his hands casually brushing over the numerous prayer wheels.
But her eyes were still on the person in front of her.
Although she hadn't spoken much to these girls during this trip to the Snow Region, she knew from their words and actions along the way that they were all simple-minded people.
But at the latest, by tomorrow evening, these girls' blank lives will be painted with color.
Although her cultivation level was not low now, and she even sneaked into the Snow Region silently, she thought that she did not have the ability to compete with the entire Snow Region at this moment.
Saving them is not an easy task.
The most important thing is that these past few days, there has always been a question lingering in her mind: If she really "saves" them, will they be free from suffering
Maybe they don’t think so themselves.
While thinking this, the corridor that runs through the front and back of the entire temple has reached the end.
So at that moment when the light above suddenly dispersed and the vision suddenly became bright, the pure and huge lake in front of them appeared in everyone's eyes so stunningly and without any reservation.
A true "lake in the sky".
The snow that fell last night had not yet melted away, and a layer of silvery white had formed on the lakeside, covering the entire world without any other colors. But in the center of this white world, there lay a piece of pure blue like a lake.
The calm surface of the lake was like a mirror, reflecting the very low sky.
At this moment, it looks like cotton-like clouds are walking on the bottom of the lake, and the bottom of the lake is the entire empty snowy sky. Standing here is like standing in the gap between the sky and the lake.
It was as if the sky at the bottom of the lake was about to jump up, and the sky above the sky was about to fall down.
I have never felt so close to the sky. It makes me tremble. But when the breeze ripples the surface of the lake, I really feel a sense of clarity as if my soul has been cleansed.
That's why people think this lake can cleanse the soul, right
The admiration in Jianchou's eyes finally became unreserved.
She stood there for a long time, and a smile appeared on her lips. When she came to her senses, more than a dozen girls had already walked to the holy lake and knelt down to pray to the holy lake again.
There was only one exception.
She looked thin and small. At this time, she was standing not far from Jianchou, her eyes staring straight ahead, at the lake in front of her that was as clear as a gem.
Although she didn't say a word, Chou could vaguely sense a sense of sadness and uneasiness from her.
This little girl was one of the previous concubines.
Jianchou had a vague impression of her. Apart from the fact that she thought she was much older than everyone else and didn't like to talk, this little girl was another one who spoke little. Most of the time she looked at others quietly and seemed to be very introverted.
"Aren't you going over?"
Jianchou felt a little strange. He glanced at the people who were kneeling devoutly by the lake, and couldn't help but turn his gaze back to look at her.
The little girl seemed to be in a trance and did not expect anyone to talk to her, so she seemed to be frightened. When she turned around and saw that the person talking to her was Chagosuba, who had hardly talked to anyone along the way and had a special status, her surprise became more obvious.
She became a little embarrassed and hurriedly concealed the expression on her face, saying, "No, no, nothing, it's just that I have never been to the Snow Region before, and I was stunned."
Yeah
This is obviously nonsense.
But Jianchou did not expose her. He just stared at her, smiled slowly, and still stood by the lake, not going over.
Now it was the skinny girl's turn to be confused: "Aren't you going over there too?"
"It's just a lake. What's the point of going there and worshipping?"
It's not like she would die if she didn't believe in Buddhism. Besides, Jianchou showed everyone that she was "uncooperative" from the beginning. Who asked Xie Buchen to fabricate her identity as a member of the Yin Sect? She really had no scruples when she spoke.
"Someone else sent you to prison and put you in hell. Do you still need to be grateful?"
"… "
The little girl's expression suddenly changed.
At one moment he seemed to shrink back, as if he was afraid that what he heard would bring him trouble; at another moment he seemed moved, and it was obvious that he agreed with Jianchou's words in his heart.
She hesitated for a long time before speaking with a bit of bitterness and helplessness: "I heard from them that you were originally a disciple of the Yin Sect and were abducted here by them. My mother used to be a Buddhist mother, but she wanted to take my father away and hide far away. She said to go west or south, or to the Yin Sect, or to the Central Region, called the Tomorrow Star Sea. Unfortunately, they didn't make it."
"Didn't make it?" Jianchou asked puzzledly.
The little girl lowered her head, revealing her beautiful white neck, and said, "We were caught up by the masters from the temple halfway. Dad died to protect Mom, and Mom didn't escape either. Sister, you came from Yin Sect, what is Yin Sect like? Is it the same as Snow Region?"
"… no the same."
Jianchou has not been to the Yin Sect, but according to records in historical books, the difference between the Yin and Yang Sects and Zuo Sanqian's sect in the Central Region is not much. It's just that there are more fights between them. When there are no fights, it is relatively peaceful.
"There are no temples or monks there, so there is no need to make pilgrimages, and girls will not become consorts."
"If you are there, you can practice in other ways like the monks here. There are more female disciples in Yin Sect and more male disciples in Yang Sect. Among them, there are good people, bad people, and people who are neither good nor bad."
"Compared to here, it's like a sky where birds can spread their wings..."
Her voice gradually faded away, like a feather falling from the sky.
After hearing this, the little girl's eyes became bright, but when her gaze met the clear holy lake in front of her, she became depressed and melancholy again.
"That's great. It should be the best place in the Nineteenth Continent, right?"
"The best place in the Nineteenth Continent?"
When Jianchou heard this, he was slightly startled, but the next moment, he looked into the distance and started laughing.
"Although the Yin Sect is good, it's not up to par."
“Not really?”
The little girl was a little surprised and looked at her with wide eyes.
Obviously, she had never been out of the snowy area and didn't know what the world outside was like.
Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked this question just now.
Jianchou knew it very well in his heart. When he looked back at her, he could only feel the tolerance and gentleness that could accommodate everything. His heart was slightly burning. He replied softly in an inexplicable tone, "The best place in the Nineteenth Continent is called 'Yashan'."
"Yashan?"
This was an unfamiliar name to the little girl.
Jianchou nodded, looked at her with a smile, and said, "In the future, when you have the opportunity to leave the snowy area and take a look, you will know."
"Go out and take a look..."
The little girl looked back at her in amazement. She felt that these words were so incomprehensible, but there seemed to be a strange and convincing power in them.
And this look...
There seemed to be a faint glow, warm and cozy, which made people curious about what a good place the legendary "Yashan" was.
At this time, she didn't understand this look.
It was not until much later, when she became the first consort to take the initiative to step out of the Snow Region and saw a towering isolated peak beside a tributary of the Jiutou River in the Central Region, that she finally understood—
What exactly does this look contain
"Meiduo, Meiduo, aren't you coming to pay your respects?"
A clear voice came from the lake shore below.
The girls who had finished their worship below saw the little girl still standing there, and called out to her, but for some reason, no one dared to call out to Jianchou.
The little girl was startled, and the panic and embarrassment from before reappeared on her face. She seemed to be afraid of being noticed, and quickly responded, "I, I'll be right there!"
Then he hurriedly bowed to Jianchou and ran over quickly.
At her age, even if she disagrees in her heart, she does not have the courage to go against the crowd.
Jianchou was standing far away and could see it clearly.
But she didn't go over either. She just thought about the girl named Meiduo and Sangyang, the fear and bitterness of the former and the joy and excitement of the latter...
"Do you like them?"
A young boy's voice, still somewhat immature and green, suddenly sounded beside him.
At this moment, Jianchou didn't even notice anything!
It was not until she heard this voice that she was suddenly startled, and the protective Dragon Scale Seal and the "Human Instrument" body-refining technique almost burst out of her body!
Fortunately, she managed to control herself at the critical moment, thus avoiding the danger of exposure.
But even so, the momentary tension just now caused a subtle change in the aura around her.
Jianchou forced himself to suppress the fear in his heart, turned his head, and unexpectedly saw a young man in a snow-white monk's robe standing quietly beside him at some point.
The monk's robe was so clean, just like the white snow of this temple, without a speck of dust.
It was obvious that he was very young, with slightly angular features on his face, and a kind of immaturity that only teenagers have. His snow-white hood fluttered slightly in the breeze blowing from the lake, making his pair of clear, faintly blue pupils look particularly calm.
He had a pair of bare feet, and although his body was clean, he didn't seem to mind the dirt and dust on the ground at all.
Like an ordinary person.
But how could an ordinary person appear beside me quietly
Jianchou's mind raced, but she couldn't come to any definite conclusion for a while. After a pause, she followed his words and replied, "They are all very clean girls. I like them very much."
"Yeah?"
There was a hint of brightness in the boy's eyes, which looked as clear and pure as the holy lake in front of him.
"I like yours, too."
"… "
This is a bit hard to understand.
Jianchou knew that the other person was not simple, so he just looked at him and said nothing.
The young man tilted his head, still looking at her, and stretched out his hand behind his back and extended it towards her. It turned out to be a snow lotus that still had a bit of chilliness, trembling under the snowy sky and sunlight with some snow that had not yet rolled down.
The corners of his mouth were raised, his eyes were narrowed like two crescent moons, and his voice was very pleasant.
"Chagosuba."