Taoist students

Chapter 8 The old monk

The running water is still, the floating ice is still, the swaying lotus is also still, and even the fragrance of flowers floating in the air is still.

Dongfang Mo subconsciously followed the place pointed by the old monk, and saw a huge iron gate in the darkness, which blocked the entire way of the dark river.

The iron gate is more than ten feet long and wide, and the whole body is black. It may be because of the corrosion of the river water all the year round, which reveals a rotten smell. There is also a thick layer of rust on the surface, but it can still be seen clearly. There are various patterns of flowers, birds and strange animals on it.

A protruding lion's head protruded from the central crack of the iron gate, and two several-foot rings passed through the nose of the lion's head and were buckled in the middle.

Dongfang Mo couldn't imagine why there was such a huge iron gate in the ground.

Just when he didn't know which god the old monk was and which song he was singing, the old monk suddenly spit out six strange syllables.

"Om Mani Padme Hum!"

In an instant, the huge iron door made a loud creaking sound, and the sound of metal rubbing made Dongfang Mo feel uncomfortable, but he looked at the scene inside the door intently.

When the iron gate opened a few feet, a black mist as thick as ink billowed out, blocking the line of sight.

After a full count of breaths, the thick black mist slowly drifted away. Dongfang Mo fixed his eyes, and what he never expected was that there was a vague beautiful figure sitting cross-legged inside the iron gate. It seemed that it should be It's a woman.

At this time, the woman turned her back to him, and all she could see was a long curly hair and the simple black linen clothes of that figure.

Beside the woman, an ancient bronze lamp was emitting a faint blue light, illuminating the dim surrounding scene a little brighter.

In front of him, there is an ancient Buddha, one foot tall, with a solemn treasure appearance. The ancient Buddha is dressed in gorgeous clothes, with an eight-faced Pilu hat on his head, red lips and white teeth, and his bright eyes are looking straight ahead. Although it is only a stone Buddha, But it is very vivid.

At first glance, one would think that this stone Buddha is a man, but after a closer look, it looks like a female Bodhisattva.

Dongfang Mo couldn't understand the sight of the ancient Buddha in Qingdeng.

Turning around to look at the old monk behind him, he found that the old monk had lowered his head at some point, as if he had fallen into a deep sleep.

Dongfang Mo looked at the woman in front of him again, and unexpectedly shouted:
"Girl, excuse me."

The sound was extraordinarily clear in the silent lotus pond, and even spread to both ends of the dark river, like ripples rippling on the calm water surface.

But the woman's figure remained unmoved.

"The girl doesn't know why she is here and what she is doing here."

Dongfang Mo used the words of the old monk, looking at the beautiful figure with his back facing him, and said so.

It is hard for him to imagine why there is a woman here in the iron gate of the dark river.

But the beautiful figure remained motionless.

Seeing this, Dongfang Mo lifted the long-disappeared Taoist robe under his feet, and stepped forward, just waiting to walk in front of the beautiful figure, so that he could have a glimpse of her beauty.

It's only a few feet away, and it's only a few breaths away on weekdays, but what's shocking is that no matter how he walks, the distance from the back is always the same, and it still remains a few feet away.

"This... which one is it?"

What Dongfang Mo has heard and seen today, even his self-proclaimed ingenuity is a little bit hard to turn around.

This figure seems to be close in front of the eyes, but it is as inaccessible as if it is far away in the sky.

"Illusion?"

The next moment, he picked up a stone at his feet, weighed it in his hand, and then threw it towards the woman.

"Bah!"

The stone fell on the stone brick on the side of the woman, and there was a crisp sound.

"what!"

Dongfang Mo was surprised, and was very curious in his heart, why the stone could be thrown over.

But what surprised him was that at this moment, the woman seemed to be startled by the sound of the stone falling to the ground, and her body trembled slightly.

Then, under Dongfang Mo's astonished gaze, he turned around slowly.

Dongfang Mo stared straight at the woman, curious about what she looked like.

On the side where the woman was about to turn her cheek, Dongfang Mo even saw the woman's neck that was as white as mutton fat jade.

He has a strong intuition that this woman must be a peerless beauty who can overwhelm the city and the country.

But the next moment, just as the woman was about to turn her head, the picture in front of her suddenly distorted.

The figure of the ancient Buddha with the blue lantern disappeared suddenly, and the thick black mist rolled out from the iron gate again, blocking Dongfang Mo's sight.

"Amitabha!"

At the same time, a Buddha's call came from behind.

Following the Buddha's name, the iron door made a loud creaking sound, and it was closing slowly. After just a few breaths, it was closed heavily with a "boom", and it was once again hidden in the darkness.

"This……"

Dongfang Mo couldn't understand it.

"I don't know what the benefactor sees!"

The old monk raised his head, and the rosary in his hand was sliding slowly.

Dongfang Mo's eyes flickered, but he still said truthfully after a while: "Xiaodao saw a blue lantern, an ancient Buddha, and a woman in the iron gate."

"It's good, it's good, a word from the benefactor is better than a poor monk sitting for a thousand years."

Hearing this, the old monk actually smiled slightly, as if he was very satisfied with Dongfang Mo's answer, and then said:
"The fate is over, the road is here, and the future will be endless."

The old monk pointed casually, and Dongfang Mo looked in the direction he pointed, and it turned out to be a forked dark river.

"Moo!"

Suddenly, there was a loud sound, and the sleeping elephant raised its trunk and let out a cheerful elephant cry.

Then the little elephant moved its four hooves and ran towards the dark river pointed by the old monk. With a leap, it actually stepped on the water surface, and several water marks scattered on the soles of its feet scattered in all directions.When the water pattern spread out, it solidified into a piece of white solid ice.

"Let it go."

The old monk said, after finishing speaking, the voice of chanting scriptures sounded again, echoing in the dark river.

Dongfang Mo was taken aback for a moment, but immediately reacted. He lifted his Taoist robe, stepped on the solid ice stepped by the little white elephant, and headed for the depths of the dark river.

"Ring bell bell!"

The brass bell on the elephant's neck made a crisp sound as it walked further and further away.

Dongfang Mo followed behind him, and after a cup of tea, he could no longer hear the voices of the old monk chanting sutras and the wooden fish behind him.

In this way, after walking for about an hour, Dongfang Mo felt that there seemed to be a faint white spot in front of him. The white spot was getting bigger and bigger, emitting a slightly dazzling light. It should be the exit of this dark river.

Thinking of this, his heart became more and more excited, and he only lamented that the experience of the past few days was more vivid than what was described in his book.

"Grumble!"

At this time, the stomach made an unsatisfactory sound again, and a feeling of hunger hit my heart.

Dongfang Mo had the illusion that even if an elephant was in front of him now, he could swallow it in one go.

"Elephant?"

Thinking of this, his eyes involuntarily looked at the naive little white elephant not far in front of him, and he swallowed.

"Moo!"

Just at this moment, the little elephant uttered a clear cry, roaring like a boy, turned around, and bumped into him head-on.

Dongfang Mo was caught off guard, and was hit head-on by it. He stepped into the air and fell into the river with a plop.

Seeing the exit, Dongfang Mo's true nature was exposed, and just as his head surfaced, he opened his mouth and cursed: "You little beast..."

"Moo!"

There was another loud elephant cry, and the little elephant pointed its long nose at his face, and a jet of water sprayed out, hitting his face firmly, blocking the rest of the words go back.

At the same time, the little elephant opened its mouth, with an anthropomorphic smile in its eyes, as if mocking Dongfang Mo's embarrassment.

"I x your ancestor!"

Dongfang Moqi didn't hit a single place, but was played by a beast.

But the little elephant had already wagged its tail and returned to the depths of the dark river. The clear and crisp bells on its neck became smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared into the darkness.

After Dongfang Mo choked on a few mouthfuls of river water, he could only swim towards the white light thinking he was unlucky.

But when he was about to reach the exit, he suddenly saw a lot of handwriting on the stone wall of the dark river, so he took a closer look.

"Li Canghai is also a fisherman. One day he encountered a cloudy wind while fishing. Unexpectedly, he was lost in the sea of ​​mist. He ran into an eminent monk. The eminent monk asked the next one to show him the way. He readily agreed."

"In an instant, the scene changed drastically. In the blink of an eye, I saw the evil gods and ghosts in the mountains of knives, fire and sea, and they were full of fierce looks. I was afraid of it and woke up. It was just a dream. The eminent monk asked me what I saw, and I answered everything, and then pointed out the way out."

……

"Chen Nantian, son Zhang Zhang of Nancheng, rode a horse to hunt in the wilderness and fell into a deep valley. He thought he would die. Unexpectedly, there was a lake in the valley, so his life should not die. When he was in despair, a monk appeared. When he asked me, the wind turned bright in an instant. Change, the lake becomes a sea of ​​blood, and the bones are scarred."

"Then I woke up with a start, my soul flew away, and the monk appeared. Ask me what I have seen and heard, and if I answer, I will go out of the mountain in a few days."

……

There are hundreds of such written descriptions.Dongfang Mo looked sideways and meditated. After a while, he took a stone from the first floor and carved it stroke by stroke on the stone wall.

"Dongfang Mo, 750 generations of descendants of the ancient Dongfang aristocratic family fell into the bottomless ravine without hunting in a day..."

Not long after, Dongfang Mo stood with his hands back, looked at the words he had carved, nodded, showing a satisfied expression, and then turned around and swam towards the white light behind him.

It was only half a stick of incense, and his eyes suddenly brightened.When I looked up, I saw that it was under the scorching sun.

Turning around, he found that behind him was a cliff with a height of hundreds of feet, and under the cliff, there was an endless water surface. Behind Dongfang Mo was the dark river that he just swam out of. There are thousands of such dark holes on this cliff.

Dongfang Mo's eyes flickered, and after a while, he made a mark at the entrance of the cave, and then swam away along the cliff.

Fortunately, this time it was only half an hour, and he saw a slope where he could go ashore.

When he climbed up the slope and stood on a boulder again, Dongfang Mo closed his eyes against the sunlight and took a deep breath. The long-lost ease made him feel extremely comfortable.

"This time it was a blessing in disguise."

Feeling the circulation of the meridians in the body and the condensed sea of ​​Qi in the dantian, I feel refreshed for a while.

(End of this chapter)