Shi Wuyuan followed this old man whose origin was unknown. He himself had never had any real contact with the Mahayana Pope. All his private dealings were managed by Xia Duanfang and others. He guessed that this person was not one of the three elders of the Mahayana Pope. , is the patriarch of the great religion, Master Zhiye.
All kinds of things flashed through his mind quickly, but what he was holding in his hand was only the dead body of a rabbit, and he felt that it seemed... getting heavier and heavier.
The old man didn't talk to him much, after he got on the road, he didn't seem to care about him, kowtowed and bowed all the way, just as he himself said, respecting mountains and waters and gods, worshiping mountains when meeting mountains, worshiping water when meeting water, just encounter A few big rocks that suddenly rise up and stand jaggedly should also kneel down in an orderly manner, arrange the small rocks under the feet into a triangle, and then throw their bodies on the ground.
Kneeling three times and knocking nine times all the way, but worshiping mountains, rivers, plants, and trees, not the emperor of the world.
As a result, the road went very slowly, and the old man was not afraid that Shi Wudu would leave him behind, but Shi Wuduan seemed to have no idea what he was doing. Is waiting on the side.
While waiting, he sometimes stared at the kneeling back of the old man, and sometimes looked at his own toes, but he didn't know what he was thinking.
After walking for countless miles, seeing the old man kowtow countless times—now, Shi Wuduan finally understood why the robe on the old man was so lively—finally, he came under a big tree.
This tree seems to be thousands of years old, and I can't tell what kind it is. The branches are gnarled, and there are still amazingly lush leaves in the cold winter, which is particularly eye-catching in the vast white snow. It stands here alone, With an independent attitude, as if there is only one tree between heaven and earth.
After the old man kowtowed piously, he said to Shi Wuduan: "This is the great Bodhi tree, which was said to be planted nine days away. The gods sprinkled the ganoderma lucidum and watered it. It took 3300 years to break the ground. It takes 100 years to germinate, 3300 years to pull out branches, and 33000 years to flourish, and one leaf can reach the sky."
He picked up a leaf that fell from a tree with both hands, rolled it into a bucket, put it close to Shi Wuduan's ear, and said, "If you roll it to make a tung tree, you can listen to fairy music."
Shi Wuduan looked at him blankly for a while, and actually listened for a while, before saying, "I didn't hear anything."
The old man sighed, and said: "That's right, who was born in the three worlds, who can disrespect ghosts and gods, who can stand under a big fairy tree and not listen to fairy voices, except for the owner of the ghost pan?"
Shi Wudu raised his chin slightly to look at him, and saw the old man bowed down, put the leaves back into the ground, and said: "The astrolabe is the first-class spiritual thing in the world, it can peek into the secrets of heaven, and interpret human life. A long time ago, there was a fierce plate that could devour the souls of ghosts as soon as it was born. It was recorded five thousand years ago in the sacred scripture "Mahayana Revelation" of my religion, and it was called the ghost plate. The end has come."
"Ah." Shi Wuduan nodded when he heard the words, and then dragged his usual, slow tone, and said, "No wonder, it turns out that your religion has prophesied a long time ago. Staying safe and avoiding the encirclement and suppression of Dazhou Mountain will be admired by future generations."
The old man glanced at him and sighed: "You have suffering in your heart, so you don't necessarily have to repay others with bad karma. If you can't calm down, how can you distinguish right from wrong?"
Shi Wudu sneered and said: "Those who follow me are right, those who go against me are wrong, why is it difficult to distinguish?"
The old man said: "What's the difference between what you said and the Nine Nether Monsters?"
Shi Wuduan said frankly: "There is no difference at all."
The old man shook his head, but he stopped entangled with him. Standing on tiptoe, he pulled down a twig of a big linden tree with great effort—the branch seemed to be soaring into the sky, but it was unusually soft. Pulling it down, it seemed to be conscious, and it gently lowered its head, smoother than a wicker.
The old man turned his head and waved to Shi Wuduan, saying, "Come."
Shi Wuyuan was puzzled, raised his eyebrows, and walked forward, only to see the old man picked up the rabbit's corpse from his arms, rolled it up with a branch, and rolled it down one by one. The clothes are the same, and the rabbit is wrapped up, only one head is exposed.
As soon as the old man let go, the branch wrapped around the rabbit slowly returned to its original shape, as if the weight of a rabbit was nothing to it. The branch was still facing the sky, and even the rabbit followed it into an upright shape. The exposed head is facing the bright blue sky, as if a soul will rise from the top of its head and fly away.
The old man clasped his hands together, tapped down from the top of his head, around his mouth, and chest in turn, muttering to himself, not knowing what he was doing.
There was a cold wind blowing from a distance with the smell of ice and snow, and the huge canopy made rustling noises. Accompanied by the vague words in the old man's mouth, it seemed extremely harmonious.
For a moment, Shi Wuduan was so strange that he felt an indescribable peace. After the peace, the sourness rose from his heart, and rushed straight to the brow, making his eyes turn red, and he almost couldn't help crying.
He hurriedly turned his head away, and panicked inexplicably, like a child hiding behind armor, thinking that he was fearless with copper skin and iron bones, but someone suddenly uncovered the shell, revealing his true colors.
The old man said in a low voice: "This is called 'tree burial'. The ancients said that if a child under the age of three dies, he will be tied to a big tree, so that his life will go with the spirit of the grass and trees. It is not considered a new arrival for a child. People in this world, come and go, have no time to do good, nor have time to do evil, no good and no evil, no cause and no effect, they are extremely pure creatures, so they can't enter the ground, so as not to be invaded by evil spirits."
He turned his head to look at Shi Wudu, his eyes were peaceful and warm, as if he was not looking at a deviant rebel leader, but a pure, honest and kind junior, and continued: "I heard that if people have great attachments, suddenly If there is a drastic change, there will be a part of spirit left behind, attached to the person or thing that is attached to, and will never leave unless life and death pass. "
Shi Wudu clenched his teeth tightly, as if trying to hold back something, which made the soft lines of his cheeks sharp.
The old man sighed and said: "However, good fortune tricks people and loses their spirit. If they are reincarnated, they will not be able to enter the three realms. In the next life, they can only be ignorant animals. Inevitably, there will be a change of mind, and everything will be over the edge, paranoid and unreasonable, but you will not get what you ask for."
Shi was stunned for no reason.
The old man shook his head: "Man's calculation is always worse than heaven's calculation. You don't respect heaven and earth, you don't believe in ghosts and gods. Don't you know the power of good fortune? You are proficient in deduction and rules. Don't you know that fate is hard to break?"
Shi Wudu hid his hands in his slightly long sleeves, and was silent for a while, his fists clenched tightly unconsciously, his nails almost piercing his flesh, and after an unknown amount of time, he said hoarsely: "I... don't believe it. .”
The old man sighed, closed his eyes, and remained silent.
Shi Wudu raised his head to look at the rabbit rolled up by the branches and leaves, and said in a very soft voice, "I don't believe it, what is fate? What is good luck? I have never seen it before, but... I saw it, and how?"
Afterwards, he gave a low laugh, and said, "Split him open, just step on him."
The old man raised his eyes and looked at him, seeing that Shi Wuduan's face was pale, but his expression had already calmed down. He put his hands in his sleeves and said, "I came here today to ask Master Zhiye a few words."
The old man's expression changed, and he raised his head to look at him—he turned out to be Master Zhiye, the patriarch of the Grand Pope.
Shi Wudu smiled and said: "I know that the masters of your teaching want to practice purely. If you want the masters to meddle in the affairs of ordinary people like us for no reason, it is forcing them. I only hope that the masters will give me a guarantee-the two will not help each other."
Zhi Ye was silent for a moment, then said: "Why, now that we have retreated like this, are you still not satisfied, Young Master?"
Shi Wuduan sighed: "I'm afraid...you are going to fall on which side the wind is hard."
What he said was extremely off-beat. Fortunately, Master Zhiye was well-mannered and did not have the same knowledge as Shi Wuduan, a black-hearted bastard. He just fell silent for a moment and said, "Young master, what kind of protection do you want?"
"A secret agreement." Shi Wuduan said, "It's about 20 miles around the Great Bodhi Mountain. I'm going to set up a big fire formation to form a circle. I hope that if my elder brother fights with the imperial court, the Pope of Mahayana will stand in the middle." Be on the safe side, if you take one step beyond the threshold, the secret agreement will be invalidated, and the mountain will be set on fire. Naturally, it is not necessary to ask for a high price for the postgraduates. I will make a guarantee to the master on behalf of the brothers. , and still revering the Great Bodhi Mountain as the place of the emperor's imperial temple, what do you think?"
Master Zhiye was silent for a moment, and asked in a deep voice: "In the past, Taifu Yan used his heart and soul to light seven mountain lanterns and borrowed luck from the sky for seventy years. What if you can't do it?"
Shi Wuduan smiled and said: "Then you write a letter to the emperor, saying that I have set up a formation for no reason to harm you, then you will have it. If the evidence is gathered, whoever has the ability to untie this formation, let him untie it. No, since that day, the Great Pope will not have to participate in the disputes in all dynasties, wouldn’t it help the masters to hide from the world? Or... your religion are all people who are trying to gain fame?"
Master Zhiye hesitated for a moment, then saluted and said: "It's a very important matter, and I can't make up my own mind. I hope you will give me a few days, and I will go back to the mountain to gather the elders to discuss it, and then I will give an answer."
Shi Wuduan nodded happily, and said: "Then the students will wait for the good news from the master."
Master Zhiye turned around and went up to the Great Bodhi Mountain, this time it became him with a lot of worries.
Shi Wudu hesitated for a moment, but suddenly he called out to him again, and said, "Sovereign Master, the next student... I have one more thing to ask."
Master Zhiye stopped in his tracks and said, "My lord, please tell me."
Shi Wuduan lowered his head, pursed his lips, and after a while, he said in a low voice: "If a person... the soul is separated from the body, the blood is separated voluntarily, and the flesh and blood are shaved, how can they change back?"
Master Zhiye frowned, thought for a while, and replied: "When he recognizes the flesh and blood that was shaved by himself, let go of his attachments, truly repents, and suffers from the pain of tearing flesh and bones, he will be able to achieve consummation."
Shi Wuduan remained silent, Master Zhiye shook his head, sighed, and left.
Another ten days later, the Mahayana Pope and the mysterious guest who used to dawdle in the tea shed signed a secret treaty on the fire. At this point, the second lamp was lit.
Shi Wuyuan drove away from the Great Bodhi Mountain area and headed for his next destination.
At this time, on the small island in the East China Sea, a white smoke floated in front of Bai Li, barely congealed into a human shape, facing each other, they had exactly the same appearance, just like looking in a mirror.
Bai Li whispered, "It's you, you're back."
Bai Li, made of white smoke, hangs in the air, watching him quietly.
Bai Li lowered his head, and after an unknown amount of time, he finally whispered: "Yes... I was wrong."
The person in the white smoke had a relieved look on his face, and it floated over his head a few times, before he bent down, the white smoke slowly dispersed, completely enveloping Bai Li in it.
Throughout the ages, no matter what the situation is, the person who is more deeply involved and more sincere in his feelings is always the first to bow his head.