The Second Volume Provincial City Chapter 46 Old Ancestor

  Dusk is approaching.

  The game of stacked Arhats in the backyard of Guiyuan Temple had been going on for a long time, and Yi Tianxing, who was buried under a pile of monks' legs, finally couldn't bear the heat and humidity, and reluctantly admitted defeat: "I won't go into that room anymore, let me go."

  Panting and out of breath, Monk Benhuo was full of suspicion and asked: "Is the donor really true?"

  "Actions speak louder than words."

  Although he heard him say it clearly, Brin was not daring to believe, directing the monk standing on the pile of monks to go to the lake and pick up a dozen iron lotus flowers, really tying Ye Tianhang into a rice dumpling, and then personally taking Ye Xiangseng and several disciples with deep skills all the way to press Ye Tianhang to the Zen room. Along the way, everyone's palms were still closely attached to Ye Tianhang's body, and their mouths were murmuring the Diamond Sutra without stopping.

  Inside the Zen room.

  "The donor can't break the boundary, and... hmm... although that old ancestor in our temple is still stubborn, it seems he doesn't have any ill intentions towards Little Red Bird either. Let's wait here for a while."

  Yi Tian Xing fell onto the meditation room's floor, puffed out a breath, blowing away a wet lotus leaf fragment from his lips. He looked around at the monks standing guard beside him, then gazed at the several monk palms on his body that were emitting a faint glow, and sighed: "What kind of seal is this?"

  Bin Ku Master thought for a moment and finally replied: "That is the Vajra Demon Subduing Circle."

  "Oh." Yi Tianxing reacted very calmly.

  This bland "en" made the monks of Guiyuan Temple a little surprised. The monks thought: Could it be that this Tianhuo youth doesn't know that the Vajra Demon Subduing Circle is the most pure and powerful Buddhist formation? —— This was indeed what they guessed, as Yitianxing had no knowledge of Xuanxue Chan before entering Guiyuan Temple, a blank slate, a young chick, naturally wouldn't know the great name of the Vajra Demon Subduing Circle.

  Yi Tianxing coughed twice and asked: "Who is the old ancestor you people in the back mountain are talking about?"

  "The Buddha said, it is not possible..."

  Bin's bitter words were still missing a final tone, and Yitian Xing had already irrationally spat out the last word: "Speak!"

  "Cough, cough." Bin Ku saw his overbearing manner and couldn't help but smile awkwardly. He looked at the monks in the Zen room, and finally let out a soft sigh, ordering them to leave. Although they were worried about Yi Tianxing, they had no choice but to obey and leave.

  Bin Ku gazed at Yi Tian Xing's eyes, and suddenly his eyebrows slightly raised. After a moment of silence, he said: "The old ancestor in the back mountain is a great anomaly of our temple, and it can also be said to be one of the greatest secrets of our temple."

  Yi Tianxing saw a group of monks retreating cleanly, their hands and feet still tightly bound by the iron lotus. He sprang up from the couch with a fish-like movement, his actions elegant and beautiful.

  Bin Ku looked at him, closed his eyes and exerted himself, causing the iron lotus branches on his body to break inch by inch. His face showed a look of "it's only natural", and he casually handed over a bowl of tea with his hand stretched out backwards.

  Yi Tianxing took over the tea and smiled: "Aren't you afraid that I will change my mind and go against your ancestors?"

  "I trust you, otherwise I wouldn't lend the precious Blood Scripture of the Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra from the Temple of Original Purity to Master Shi for his perusal." Master Bin said calmly.

  "What kind of person is this ancestor? You're all scared to such an extent?" Although Yi Tianxing was worried about Zhu Que's life and death, the high fever had subsided, and his mind had cleared up. He naturally thought that since the voice in the back mountain was a Buddhist master, he would not harm a lovely little bird, so he felt slightly at ease. Moreover, when he heard the old man tell that old story in the county town, he had already been very curious about this person who could compare to the power of heaven and earth, so he asked carefully.

  "The old monk did not know the identity of this ancestor."

  Yi Tianxing did not believe it and shook his head without saying a word.

  Bin Ku Master explained: "I was a monk at the Temple of Return to the Origin since I was young, and at that time, I knew there was an old ancestor living behind the temple. This old ancestor lived in a small hut for many years and never came out to meet people. Occasionally, the disciples of the temple would hear his instructions and send some food and fruit into the hut. The golden Vajra demon-subduing circle outside has also been here all along, which should be used to protect the old ancestor's practice. Although this old ancestor refused to come out, he was sometimes as mischievous as a child, often using his supreme divine powers to speak in the ears of the younger monks, startling them greatly. I remember that one year when I was fetching water by the lake, I was startled by his voice and fell into the lake. However, this has been going on for many years, and the disciples in the temple have all gotten used to it. Anyway, we just treated the sound of the old ancestor's voice in our ears as... cough."

  "Fart?" Yi Tianxing chuckled and said with a smile.

  "Amitabha, how dare I have such a disrespectful thought." Master Bin Ku sighed and shook his head: "At first, of course, I was curious and asked the master who the voice in the back mountain was. Unexpectedly, the master wasn't clear either, saying that he had also seen this old ancestor lingering in the back mountain since childhood."

  "What about your master's master? Won't it be the same excuse?" Yi Tianxing felt that the old ancestor was getting stranger and stranger.

  "It's not just my master, but also my master's master who said the same thing. It seems as if this old ancestor has been living in that small hut since the beginning of time." Master Bin Ku said: "The old ancestor is sometimes stubborn and sometimes amusing, and of course, there are times when he gets angry like thunder. However, most of the time, he just stays in his hut, silent and uncommunicative. But the old ancestor is very kind to the young monks, often playing harmless jokes on them, and even occasionally guiding them in their Buddhist scriptures. As they come and go, the young monks gradually grow up and become masters and abbots, passing down from generation to generation, naturally treating the old ancestor with great respect and reverence, as if he were a god."

  Yi Tianxing thought for a moment, furrowed his brow and said: "What about when the temple was first built? Before White Light and Zhushan, these two brothers raised funds to build the temple, there shouldn't have been this old man. Later on, there should be some records, right?"

  "Amitabha, it's astonishing that there's no record of this, and...it's said that the two seniors, Bai Guang and Zhu Feng, who built the temple back then, seemed to have some connection with the old ancestor in the back mountain, but the specific reason has long been lost and cannot be investigated."

  "My goodness, from the 15th year of Shunzhi's reign to now, isn't that living for several hundred years?" Yi Tianxing exclaimed in amazement.

  Bin Ku Da Shi replied: "Perhaps the old ancestor has already approached the body of a god or Buddha and is cultivating hundred-year bitter Zen? However, none of his disciples dare to disturb him."

  "Are you going to let this ancient monster stay in its own temple like this for a thousand years?"

  Bin Ku Da Shi smiled slightly and said, "The old ancestor has become a part of the daily life of this temple, and no one thinks it's anything special. The monks have long been accustomed to the sudden appearance of voices and the extra jokes that come out."

  "But why is there a Golden Demon-Subduing Circle surrounding this ancestor? Could it be that this is what's holding him back? Just like how I was blocked outside just now." Yi Tianxing's eyes were rolling around, seemingly thinking of some wicked plan.

  Bin Ku Da Shi said sternly, "Young donor, do not speak nonsense! The Vajra Demon-Subduing Circle is a pure and upright Dharma formation that suppresses evil and dispels malevolent spirits. Your previous killing intent was too heavy, so you were naturally blocked outside. But the old ancestor's Buddha heart is kind and honest, with a pure and innocent mind, how could he have any connection with evil things?"

  Yi Tian Xing chuckled to himself, thinking that they didn't know what this ancestor looked like either. Maybe the Guiyuan Temple was indeed holding a terrifying monster under lock and key.

  He suddenly sat cross-legged, propping his chin with his elbow and said: "Is he really a greedy old man? Then my Zhuque son should be fine. Ah, Master, this old ancestor's magical powers are certainly strong, so why did you say something about the three days before and worry? And let me, an initial brother, come to block disaster for you." He saw Bin Ku wanting to explain something and hastily interrupted: "Monks are forbidden from speaking ambiguously, let's just speak directly. I also understand those small calculations of yours."

  Master Bin Ku was taken aback, and after a long while, he replied: "What kind of noble status does the old ancestor have? By generation, all of us disciples in the temple can be considered his great-grandsons, but we don't dare to bother him with this matter. Moreover, this old ancestor has a strong personality, if he finds out that we can't even deal with a mere contemporary cultivator, I'm afraid we'll all have trouble sleeping at night - when he gets angry, he might even sing a little ditty in our ears for an entire night without rest."

  "Could it be that the old man's temper is so fierce? If so, how could he bear to see all the monks in the temple humiliated without lifting a hand?"

  "It was passed down from our ancestors, the old masters of this temple have only intervened three times, all in the face of disaster. Once during the Qing Daoguang period, the provincial governor forcibly took iron lotus flowers from the lake, and had a dispute with the temple, wanting to lock up all the monks. Just as the green camp surrounded the temple, the old master let out a sneeze... Master Bin Ku thought back calmly, "...this one sneeze shook over dozens of horses outside the temple, scaring the governor so much that he developed urinary incontinence from then on, and turned into two whirlwinds that swept straight to the center of the provincial capital, overturning many shops and frightening countless pedestrians before slowly subsiding. For a time, it was rumored among the people of the province that there were immortals within the Return to Origin Temple. The officials reported this to the emperor, saying that the temple practiced heresy and rebelled against the government. Fortunately, the emperor was wise and knew not to speak lightly of things outside the six harmonies, so in the end he bestowed an imperial jade seal, putting an end to the matter. From then on, the temple's plaque was changed to a straight script."

  Yitian stroked his hands, listening with flying colors and dancing eyebrows. He thought to himself that this old guy was indeed strong to the point of being abnormal. He often thought that his body was already sufficient, but who would have thought that a single sneeze was like a meteorological weapon that hadn't been developed yet? He couldn't help but feel deeply impressed.

  "What a strong personality! It's somewhat similar to mine." Yi Tianxing listened to this earth-shattering story, gleefully thinking that he and this incredibly formidable person seemed to have a thread of similarity, barely comforting. He then hastily asked: "What about the other two times?"

  Bin Ku Master suddenly showed a reluctant expression, hesitated and said: "There are two more times that I have seen with my own eyes. The old ancestor killed too many people those two times, the scene was too bloody, it's not convenient to say much. Just let Little Shi Zhu know, one time was at the end of October in '38, another time occurred at the end of July in '67."

  Yitian Xing had read many idle books and had a good memory, so he naturally knew what major events had occurred in the provincial capital over the past two months. In '38, it was the Japanese army that broke into the city after a bloody battle; in '67, it was the time when the two rebel factions were fiercely fighting each other within the city walls. He couldn't help but take a cold breath and say, "The Japanese and the million brave warriors can be said to have encountered a jinx."

  Master Bin sighed and shook his head: "In this chaotic world, these two bloody events are just a small splash of blood on the magnificent and tragic makeup of the great era."

  Yi Tianxing suddenly furrowed his brow and thought, "This old ancestor stays in his own temple every day, watching the suffering of people all over the world, and can't be considered a good man." But he really didn't want to think that this immortal was just a "mixed-up" person, so he comforted himself by thinking, "Maybe there's some unspeakable secret, and he can't leave that blue boundary." While thinking about it, his mouth continued to ask, "Then why did you drag me into this muddy water?"

  Bin Ku's master's face turned even more awkward, and he muttered: "This... On that day, the young donor used the Nine Heavens Profound Fire to resist our temple's treasure, the Heavenly Cloak. In the end, it was taken away by the old ancestor. If the young master from three days ago comes to ask for it back, our temple really can't afford to pay. But the old ancestor seems to have a special liking for you, young donor... This is embarrassing, embarrassing."

  Yi Tianxing understood as soon as he heard it and shook his head, sighing: "Master is also joking, I have never met that old ancestor, how can I get his favor?"

  "Does the young master know why he fainted during the martial arts competition that day?"

  "Oh, this is clear, I'm so angry. Yi Tian said with a resentful tone: 'You could have used some trick to deal with me, an innocent student, but no, your ancestor had to personally intervene... Oh, no, not intervene, personally shout and knock me down, tsk, tsk, tsk...'

  "The benefactor has misunderstood." Brin's bitter master combined his hands and said in a serious tone: "On that day, the mysterious fire left your body, you had no power to protect yourself, and you almost lost your life under the heavenly cloak. However, it was our ancestor who saved you at the critical moment when the weight of the heavens was pressing down."

  Yi Tianxing chuckled and said: "At that time, your beard and eyebrows were all frozen into snowflakes, just like a Santa Claus. How could you see the process?"

  Bin Kus saw that he didn't believe him and anxiously said: "A monk doesn't speak deceitful words, the donor must trust me."

  "No matter what, that old ancestor of yours will not be able to escape the crime of bullying the weak. " Yi Tianxing also wondered why that great man had saved himself, and his face showed a look of disdain, "Still talking about the noble identity of the old ancestor, I think it's just an old thing that can't be fixed."

  ……

  ……

  "You've got a lot of nerve, kid." A voice rang out in the Zen room.

  Yi Tianxing was just about to scold the old monk when he suddenly heard a voice that sounded familiar, and it seemed to be that of his ancestor! He subconsciously responded with a phrase: "You're my father, I'm born with great courage." Only after saying this did he realize something was off...

  But he discovered that it was too late to react, and all he could hear was the sound of two bursts of laughter. He was then violently blown off his feet by a sudden explosion of air inside the Zen room, only to be grabbed again and slammed against the wall with great force, causing various objects on the beam above to fall down, along with countless dust particles.

  Yi Tianxing was shocked by this overwhelming force, his five internal organs tangled into a knot inside his body, feeling extremely uncomfortable. He half-knelt on the ground, finding his mouth full of ash, and involuntarily spat twice, then dry-retched twice. After coughing for a while, he still shouted loudly: "You're bullying ordinary people again, what kind of hero are you?"

  Bin Ku Master was anxious beside him, making excuses to the air: "Old ancestor, this kid is rude, but he's not a bad person, just spare him?"

  Yi Tian Xing hung his head and secretly smiled to himself, thinking that he was too embarrassed to beg for mercy, but it wasn't bad that Old Master Ben had begged on his behalf instead. As a result, he felt that the deeply wrinkled face of Old Master Ben looked even more familiar and lovable.

  That old ancestor was in the thatched cottage on the back mountain, but his voice echoed in the meditation room where Yitian Xing was staying.

  That voice chuckled twice and said: "I'm an old...old...old guy playing tricks on you."

  Yitian Xing had already lost face once, where did he dare to argue with this old man who was like a god? He smiled and learned from the monk's appearance, waving his hands randomly in the air, and said with a flattering tone: "Old sir, why do you need to be on an equal footing with me? Earlier, you took away that sparrow I raised to play with, it's been so long, shouldn't you be tired of playing with it? Why not return it to me?"

  That sound started again, rippling in the Zen room as if it had come from nowhere.

  "Give it back to you? The heavenly fire is flowing outside, and the heart fire is burning inside. With your little skills, I'm afraid you can't even keep it for a few days. Either you'll be burned alive by the heart fire, or this little bird won't be able to control the heavenly fire and burn everything in this world to ashes. Kid, do you still want it? Don't try to talk back, or you'll ruin everything."

  Yi Tian Xing was startled, never thinking that his precious son would bring him such great trouble. He couldn't bear to part with the lovely guy, and they had been inseparable for days, their feelings deepening by the day. But after all, life was at stake, and many thoughts flooded his mind, his brow furrowed in distress. "Could it be that he really had to leave Xiao Zhu Que behind in Hui Yuan Temple?" The thought of parting with Xiao Zhu Que made Yi Tian Xing's eyes redden involuntarily.

  Bin Ku and the monk stood by, watching him pitifully, with no other way, could only softly chant Buddhist scriptures.

  "Hehe, you little scamp are really intolerable."

  This old ancestor who was only heard but never seen really has a childlike heart.

  As the sound of the sentence fell, Yi Tianxing was surprised to find that a small red bird slowly flew in from the door of the Zen room. The flying posture was still a bit clumsy, as if it had just learned not long ago, shaking and swaying, high and low. As it flew, its small head kept looking back, like a person who was afraid of something, looking extremely cute.

  Yitian strode forward with joy, embracing the little Zhuque in his arms. After his initial excitement, he carefully examined its plumage and found everything to be intact - except for a small patch of fine white hair on the top of its tiny head, which left him perplexed.

  ……………………………………

  I read the book review, but found myself completely at a loss for what to say. Just mentioning one thing briefly, please don't compare my book with other books, Mo Xiang is the book I've been chasing after every day, and Mushroom Gymnastics Coach is my learning goal. Of course, Fan Comrade and Zhou Classmate are also my idols in writing YY, although it's not possible to reach their level, being influenced by them from the side still has great benefits.

  Reiterate disclaimer: I am completely ignorant of religious mysticism.