I knocked dozens of times in a row, until the brick in my hand broke and I stopped, and as the deafening bell stopped, I looked around with hope, hoping that the bell would attract the attention of the surrounding pedestrians or residents, and that I would be saved as long as someone came.

Disappointment is always greater than hope, and I waited hopefully for an hour, then stood up and looked around. I looked through the sky, and I didn't see a single figure of you.

At this time, the sky was almost dusk, and the sunset reflected the clouds on the horizon, and the original white, black, and gray clouds were clothed in purple-red clothes, and as the scope of the glow gradually narrowed, the color gradually became lighter, and the purple red became dark red, and the dark red became pink, and then from pink to light red, and slowly the sun finally set, and the sunset was covered by the black clouds that piled up, and the light dimmed. Looking at it, my psyche seemed to be dyed black. Before the moon had risen, the distant village was filled with smoke, the crops in the field, and the trees around the temple were painted with a faint layer of black, and the fog in the cemetery behind was gradually getting bigger, and the trees were no longer visible, and strangely, I did not see a single bird flying up and down in the woods of the cemetery.

The sight of dusk is fascinating. A thought flashed through my mind, isn't the youth and twilight of a person's life the same as the morning glow and sunset in nature? The appearance of sunrise and sunset is short-lived, but they are all gorgeous and beautiful. How can we not be like this, what if I die here today, and what if I live for a few more decades, the master said that after we complete the soul alchemy, we can live forever and turn our souls. But now I'm stuck here just a few days after I came out of the mountain. Am I not good at learning? Or is it destined for this fate. However, no matter how I think about it, I still have to find a way to get out of here, I can't wait like this. Thinking of this, I got up, and came to the staircase, and the staircase was still like that, and it was empty below, and it was dark inside, and I couldn't see anything, and I picked up half a brick and threw it down, and the brick fell to the ground, and only a few birds that stayed overnight were startled. There was no other sound.

I looked around again, and at this time, I noticed a little fire looming in the main hall of the temple, and finally I saw hope, and I shouted loudly, "Is there anyone inside, is it Mr. Wang?" No one answered.

After a while, I saw the light of the fire moving, and out of the back door of the main hall came a man with a lantern in his hand, the light of the lantern was not very good, and I could only faintly see a man in a robe. But I couldn't see the face, and the lantern man walked slowly towards the bell tower, until I entered the bell tower, and by the dim light, I looked down from above, and saw that the man was in a corner, groping for what he was looking for, and I didn't find anything different during the day, and now people were looking for something. I shouted down from the top of the stairs, "Master below, can you find something for me to go down." I heard an old voice from below, "Don't shout, I'm looking for it, you wait up there for a while." "Ignore me after that.

After a while, I heard only a creaking sound, and I saw the floor of the bell tower crack, and the staircase slowly came out from below, and watched the staircase slowly rise, and in a moment it rose to the top of the staircase. I only heard the old voice below say, "Come down, slow down." I made a quick staircase to the ground. I saw a monk in a tattered robe, in his seventies, holding a lantern in his hand, with a kind face. Seeing me coming down, the old monk didn't care that I was looking at him, and slowly went to the corner to tinker for a while, only to see that the stairs slowly fell down again. Seeing that the stairs were falling, the old monk turned around and walked towards the door, and said as he walked: "Lei Yunzi, don't say anything now, come with me." ”

I followed the old monk and walked outside, thinking as I went, who was this monk and how did he know my name.

Came to the main hall, the old monk walked to the back of the Buddha, flashed into a secret door, the secret door is not very big, the location is also very secret, if you don't follow the old monk, it is difficult to find that there is a secret door here,. I didn't hesitate and walked in.

I saw a long dark road, both sides of the dark road are made of green bricks, a musty smell, it seems that there are a lot of years and the dark road is not high, I still have to bow my head to walk, there is no light inside, the old monk's lantern emits a dismal light to illuminate the road ahead, and there is a distance of more than ten zhang.

A hall appeared in front of it, and two candles were lit in the hall, and the hall was very bright. There is a low coffee table in the middle, there are two bowls on the coffee table, the bowl is full of two bowls of rice, there are two futons in front of the coffee table, the old monk walked to the futon and sat down, pointed to another futon and said: "Sit down, eat some food first, there is water in the tank over there to go and fetch it yourself." "I didn't eat or drink for a day, I was really hungry, I went to the corner of the tank to dig a scoop of water, and drank it all in one go. "I went back to the coffee table and sat down, I wanted to ask the old monk who he was, but the old monk had closed his eyes, and his mouth was still muttering, probably chanting, I didn't care, I picked up the rice bowl and ate it, the rice was cold, but for me, a person who had been hungry for a day, it was more fragrant than eating the delicacies of the mountains and seas, and I would eat two bowls of rice after a while. I put the bowl down, and the old monk also stopped chanting, opened his eyes hidden under the thick long eyebrows, and said slowly: "When you are full, do you really want to know who I am?" I just know it, your master should have told you about me. After the old monk finished speaking, I was also stunned, didn't the elder die? How are you still alive.

I asked, "Master, I heard that you didn't pass away, what's going on?" ”

The old monk said: "This matter is a long story, since you want to hear it, I will start from the beginning!" ”

"I have been a monk in the Iron Buddha Temple for more than 50 years, and I am very familiar with the Iron Buddha Temple. That year, when your master first came here as a monk, because he couldn't see, so his hearing was very good, and one night he went the wrong way and walked to the bell tower, and he heard a very strange sound, as if someone under the ground was shouting for help, and he heard the sound of the bell tower opening the door, and then he smelled the smell of corpses. Your master just stood there and didn't go any further, but went back the way he came, maybe because your master couldn't see, he wouldn't see anything, he didn't threaten them, and the other party didn't touch your master. At that time, I lived with your master, and when I saw that your master had gone out for a long time and had not come back, I came out to look for him and found him in the backyard, and your master didn't say anything to me that night, but silently followed me back to the room, just saying that I went to the toilet and went the wrong way, and I was also very strange at that time, your master would go to the toilet every day, and he never got lost, until three days later, your master told me that he heard the sound and smelled the smell of corpses that night. I was also very strange and told your master not to tell anyone, and since then I have secretly investigated.

I was just a little monk back then, doing chores or something, the bell tower was where the third senior brother was on duty, and the abbot didn't let us go to the bell tower casually, so I didn't find anything for several years, and the senior brother also told me not to let your master go the wrong way to the bell tower. I haven't found it yet, and there is no weird phenomenon in the temple, and after a long time, I think your master heard it wrong, after all, your master can't see with his eyes, and his hearing is not as good as seeing the truth with his own eyes, just when we no longer care about this matter, something happened, so that we once again suspect that there is something wrong with the bell tower. ”