The world of Taoism

Chapter 408 Relics

Two golden dragons descended from the sky, waiting for the indomitable momentum, and directly beat the old man to death.

After the illusion dissipated, there were two more figures beside the fainted people.

They are Zhou Xuan and Meng Jingyu respectively.

"Master Zhou, why are you here?" Meng Jingyu was a little puzzled.

"I just passed by." Zhou Xuan said.

It was a coincidence that Zhou Xuan was really nearby, so he sensed that everyone was in danger, so he rushed over immediately.

He came here on a special trip.

The moment he received Zhu Xinglie's signal, he rushed over immediately.

Just came here and saw people lying on the ground.

"'They are fine for the time being, they just fainted." Zhou Xuan said, and walked deep into the ruined temple.

Pick up the spider web, and you will see a quaint idol.

This idol looks like a lifelike old man.

There are also white hairs growing on the surface of the statue.

"'What is this? A demon?" Meng Jingyu asked in confusion.

"Almost." Zhou Xuan pointed out.

Crash!The idol was instantly shattered.

Inside the broken shell, a reddish-brown mummy appeared.

The mummy sat cross-legged, with his hands on his stomach.

There are many scars on the shell of the corpse. Judging from the traces of the scars, it should be the original body.

The moment he saw the corpse,''Meng Jingyu immediately became alert.

Zhou Xuan shook his head and said, "It's okay, the energy on the corpse has disappeared, and it won't pose any threat to us."

Click!

As if just because of the words, the hands of the corpse suddenly lost strength and directly hung down heavily.

pat!

A thing fell heavily to the ground and rolled to Zhou Xuan's feet.

"Huh?" Zhou Xuan squatted down and picked up the things under his feet.

This is a round-like object that was originally pure white, then appears to have oxidized, and is now pale yellow.

Zhou Xuan picked it up, it was not big, about the size of a little finger.

The material is neither gold nor jade, it feels very warm to the touch, and there is a faint heat from it.

Not as heavy as expected, but very light.

The material is a bit like plastic, or bone.

"Bone?" Zhou Xuan whispered.

"Bone? Could it be the relic of an ascetic monk?"

Under Meng Jingyu's care, everyone woke up.

A refined middle-aged man said.

"You are?" Zhou Xuan asked.

The middle-aged man cupped his hands and said, "I'm looking down at Tangwang, people from Lingzhou in the Western Regions."

It was only then that Zhou Xuan noticed that the appearance of the middle-aged man was indeed a little different from that of ordinary Han people, with slightly curly hair and a straight nose.

Lingzhou is the northwest area, and it is also one of the places where King Lingwu cut the torch.

"You just said it was a relic? What is a relic?" Zhou Xuan was a little surprised to hear this familiar term. Could it be that there are monks in this world?
"The relic is said to be something in the body of an ascetic monk with profound Taoism, and the followers of the ascetic monk treat it as a holy object."

Tang Wang is from the Western Regions, and the legend of ascetic monks is still circulating there, so he has a better understanding of this aspect.

The relic is the essence of the legendary ascetic monk's practice, and only the persevering eminent monk has the opportunity to condense the relic.

Ascetic monks are not popular for burial, and advocate the cremation of returning to nature. When the body is cremated, there will be relics that are invulnerable to water and fire.

So the relic in the old man's hand is not his.

According to legend, the relic has incredible power, and the ascetic monk can carry it on his body to improve his cultivation and perseverance.

Now it seems that the middle-aged man's guess is correct, the other party is indeed an ascetic.

Zhou Xuan's heart moved, and he dissected the body of the ascetic monk, revealing a bronze mask.

"What is this?" Zhou Xuan looked at Tang Wang. Although he knew that everyone had fallen into an illusion, he didn't know the specific content of the illusion.

"I don't know. It was this mask that the ascetic monk wore in the illusion just now, so he appeared to be extremely powerful. By the way, he also has a golden crutch in his hand, with a mountain bird pattern embroidered on it."

Zhou Xuan picked up the mask, it was already covered with green rust, and delicate patterns could be vaguely seen on it.

The most striking thing is the pair of pupils on the top, which are protruding high, like a small pillar.

Golden scepter?

Zhou Xuan's heart moved, and he dissected the body of the ascetic monk in front of him again.

Finally, a scepter was found at the bone of his right leg.

His right leg bone was gone, replaced by a foot and a half long scepter.

The scepter is different from ordinary crutches. To be precise, it is shaped like a stick.

It's just that the pattern on the top is more beautiful.

In addition, Zhou Xuan also felt a special energy inside.

This energy is pure, but very weak.

It seems to be everywhere.

Gives a very firm and indomitable feeling.

All in all, Zhou Xuan didn't feel much energy on it.

But this kind of power surprised Zhou Xuan even more than that huge power.

This kind of power is similar to the mind.

It looks weak, but it is actually the most powerful.

The power of the mind can be large or small, and when it is strong, it is enough to shake the foundation of the entire universe.

Regarding these ascetic monks, Zhou Xuan didn't think that these people were just suffering like they did.

It is likely that they are using the suffering of the body to exercise the strength of the mind.

These ascetic monks should be similar to the monks in the previous life.

It should be the more primitive form of the monk.

Various Buddhist scriptures and gods and Buddhas have not yet been born, it is simply a kind of practice.

These people are the real ascetic monks, who have completely abandoned pleasure and the enjoyment of the body.

Zhou Xuan admired this kind of person very much.

It is said that there are two kinds of people who are generally enlightened.

One is to endure the suffering that ordinary people cannot bear, so as to realize the true meaning of life.

The other is to have the splendor and wealth that ordinary people do not have. All the enjoyment in the world is at your fingertips. Under this kind of splendor and wealth, it is easy for people to be enlightened.

Perhaps the most typical one is Sakyamuni.

Sakyamuni was a small prince. In the relatively closed area of ​​Tianzhu, a small country was the whole world to them.

As long as he is willing, he can inherit the throne at any time. Since he was a child, he has rich clothes, good food, money and beautiful women at his fingertips.

Everything in the world can be enjoyed, but Sakyamuni saw through these illusory things, resolutely gave up these glory and wealth, and turned to find his own way of practice.

Could it be that the ascetic monk in the Han Dynasty was Sakyamuni who came from Tianzhu?
For the founder of the Buddhist school, Zhou Xuan would not dislike him just because the monks of later generations are full of fat.

It is estimated that Sakyamuni hated these people who got rich in his name even more than Zhou Xuan.

If there is a chance, Zhou Xuan really wants to meet this person and discuss the principles of heaven together.

The road of practice is actually different routes leading to the same goal.

Different roads just have different interpretations of the Dao. The Dao of Heaven contains all things, there is justice and evil.

It is the best choice to comprehend the most fundamental avenue through different paths.

Instead of excluding dissidents and suppressing other roads, this is doing things behind closed doors and cannot escape the road.

Zhou Xuan searched and found nothing else, this time the only harvest was the bronze mask and scepter.

"Let's go back first." Zhou Xuan turned his head and said to everyone.

Zhou Xuan and Tang Wang walked behind and listened to him talk about the Lingzhou in the Western Regions. Of course, the most important thing was the legend of the ascetic monk.

The ascetic monk came from Western India and had been to the Western Regions, where he followed some followers, most of whom were locals.

After these people realized the scriptures and teachings of the ascetic monks, some of them stayed, while others chose to follow.

Going to Middle-earth, the population was not so large back then, most of them were wilderness and wilderness, where demons and ghosts gathered.

Almost none of them practiced spells, and most of them were ordinary civilians, or wealthy people who gave up their superior lives.

This group of people traveled all the way through mountains and rivers, during which many people died, and finally came to Chang'an City with only a few slaps.

Some of them returned to the Western Regions and left relics before they died.

With the changes of the times, due to various wars, some relics have been lost. As the ascetic monks have not appeared for many years, these beliefs have also been buried in the smoke and dust of history, and only sporadic legends appear from time to time.

As a person from that place, Tang Wang certainly knew these legends clearly.

Zhou Xuan remained silent after hearing this, thinking in his mind.

The monk's body just now should not be a monster, at least there is no trace of a monster from above.

It's just an ordinary corpse, and it may be this strange bronze mask and scepter that caused the mutation of these corpses.

Perhaps Zhou Xuan would be able to find the answer if he went back and asked. The people from Tianji Mountain and Qiuhao are both old monsters who have lived for hundreds of years. The people from Tianji Mountain are said to have lived for more than 800 years.

Yuchan Mountain.

There is a bronze mask on the table and chair. This bronze mask is very weird. It has big eyes, and the pupils stand up like pillars, protruding deeply, as if someone pierced the eyes with two sticks.

Next to the bronze mask is a golden scepter.

The golden scepter is full of exotic style, completely different from the scepter in the Central Plains.

There are very simple decorations on it, Zhou Xuan can only recognize fish and birds.

A white-haired old man picked up the bronze mask with a dignified expression, carefully groping for some lines on it.

"There must be fish and bird patterns on it, it should be a totem worshiped by some kind of tribe."

The things that tribes worship are often closely related to their own lives. It may be a fishing and hunting people who live by the water and make a living by fishing.

Worshiping birds is also easy to understand. There is a radial pattern around the bird above, which should represent the sun.

Let's call it the Sun God Bird. Next to the Sun God Bird, there are two fish facing each other. There are crooked lines next to it, which seems to be some kind of bug.

What these lines have in common is that the depiction of the eyes is particularly clear. Some lines have only a few strokes on the body, but the eyes are very clear.

A bit like silkworms, judging from the above information, this should be a tribe or ancient country that worships the sun, lives by the water, and has learned how to raise silkworms.

Zhou Xuan couldn't use the memories of his previous life to apply things in this world.

In fact, there is no tenable evidence for everyone's speculation.

For example, they worship the sun god bird, but there is an arrow-like line running through the neck of these birds.

And why is this thing associated with ascetic monks?

While everyone was researching, in Huizhou next to Yangzhou, a group of ragged people were making a blood alliance, and a black air shot straight into the sky.

These ragged people add up to at least tens of 10 people. They stand under the dark sky, swearing and swearing, with deep-seated hatred and longing in their eyes.

A puff of black air formed dark clouds above the sky, and there were ghosts crying and howling wolves in the dark clouds. Countless hideous ghosts formed a huge ghost king above the sky.

Below the ghost king is the leader of the crowd, a middle-aged man with a simple appearance and dressed in common clothes.

Although this person has a simple and honest appearance, his eyes are extremely violent, like a devouring demon, just looking at it can make people fall into an illusion.

Immediately after this group of people formed an alliance with their blood, they led their troops and entered the yamen of the county seat, beating, smashing, burning and looting frantically. Whether they were civilians or rich people, they were all snatched away by this group of people.

Some people who were robbed had no choice but to join this group of people, like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger, until in the end, most of them either died or joined.

The whole world was bloody, and the sky was dyed blood red.

Rebellions like this are common across the country, just not on this scale.

A few months ago, the meteor shower fell to the ground, which was a manifestation of the opening of the gate of the Netherworld.

Now the consequences of these disasters are slowly emerging.

Some are popular with ancient demons sleeping in deep sleep, and some are the power of demons, which form a crowd of demons after being absorbed by mortals, but demons disturb the earth.

Now the entire land of the Central Plains can be said to be full of wolves.

The imperial court is no longer able to take care of these things, and they are now focusing on the northwest and north.

Several major princes and kings in the northwest attacked the city like a broken bamboo, and the battle line slowly moved towards Chang'an.

Now some people in the court have suggested moving the capital to the south, but these voices have been suppressed.

After all, once the capital is moved to the south, it means that the imperial court has completely lost control of the north.

Moreover, the interest groups on both sides of the North and the South will also have discordant and harmonious struggles, and it may be internal and external troubles at that time.

The best outcome of moving the capital to the south may be the division of the north and the south, and the worst may be the destruction of the country and the death of the family, and the emperor of the dynasty will also become the king of subjugation.

The current emperor is not considered a fatuous person, on the contrary, he worked hard to govern during his reign, and was more diligent than several previous emperors.

For such a persevering person, the most painful thing is that even if he dies, he must die in Chang'an City.

So now all the goals have been placed on the north, and the south is completely ignored.

Generally speaking, as long as Zhou Xuan and his group don't go too far, such as publicly playing the banner, etc., they basically turn a blind eye.

Yangzhou seems to be calm, but in fact it is also changing with undercurrents.

Among the mountains, a cloaked man with a height of more than two meters, gray-white skin, perfect muscle lines, and no hair or pores was walking in the jungle.

This person is the Lord of the Underworld Taishan Region.

(End of this chapter)