After coaxing the food bought by the monks, the villagers dispersed on their own, without looking at the monks again.

The monk said to the fire monkey and the others: "You have come here for a sip of water, but there is no more water here, right? ”

As he spoke, he took out the water in his backpack and gave it to the fire monkey and the others to drink, and said, "Are you going to Nanzong Temple?" It just so happens that Lao Qu is alone, and the matter has been almost done, so let's go back to the temple with you." ”

After the monk was sent back to the town, the fire monkey and the others walked with the monk and rushed to Nanzong Temple.

Before leaving, Yifeng looked at the dilapidated village behind him, his heart was sad, and it was difficult to calm down for a long time, turning back three times in one step.

The fire monkey looked at the preoccupied wind behind him, and asked Shuli as he walked: "Senior brother, is the life of the people at the bottom so miserable?"

Monk Benchang sighed and said, "The life of the common people at the bottom is that they are poor and occasionally unhappy. ”

Shuli shook his head: "The life of the people at the bottom is that they are poor and have always been unhappy. ”

······

The group rushed all the way to Nanzong Temple.

On the way, Shuli asked: "Master Ben Chang, in a year of famine and disaster, according to common sense, Buddhism is compassionate and purifies all sentient beings, and should give blessings and help the common people, why have I always had a lot of money and food in the temple along the way, and the people suffered?"

As he spoke, he also told the monk Benchang what the village gentleman taught the children.

When the monk heard this, he was also silent for a long time, frowning.

He said: "Lao Qu has lived in a Buddhist temple since he was a child, and has lived in front of the Buddha of the Daxiong Treasure Hall of Nanzong Temple for more than 40 years, and he does not have a deep understanding of Confucianism and Taoism, but he also knows some things about Buddhism. Buddhism has been introduced into the Dawu Kingdom from foreign countries for thousands of years, and it has always been the Buddha idea of reincarnation of blessings and misfortunes, and the merits are reincarnated, leading people to goodness, so it has quickly been widely responded to among the people of Dawu Kingdom, and has gone through many dynasties and generations. ”

He sighed and said: "But while listening to the teachings of the ancestors of this temple, I often lament that Buddhism has developed to the last hundred years, because of the kindness of the imperial court, the concession does not pay grain and taxes, resulting in the rapid accumulation of wealth, and more and more people have escaped into the empty door."

"This is a good deed, but if there are many Buddhas, it is inevitable that the good and the bad will be uneven, and the mud and sand will fall. In addition to the people who sincerely seek Buddha, each with different intentions, there is also a lot of people who are fake and private.

"First there was one temple like this, then ten temples followed suit, and finally almost all temples did so.

"If someone doubts the depravity of his Buddha nature, he quibbles that Buddhist temples are the foundation for the promotion of Buddhism, and only when Buddhist temples are vast, Buddha statues are solemn, and there are many Buddhas, can Buddhism be boundless and meritorious. ”

Shuli frowned and said: "In this way, the Buddhist temple occupies an area, the people have no land, and the people's livelihood is suffering!"

Monk Benchang also frowned, and said, "Why not? But even in Nanzong Temple, there are not a few people who live luxuriously, act extravagantly, and advocate buying land and expanding Buddhist temples. After all, there are 100,000 monks in Nanzong Temple, and such a large number of Buddhist disciples is very large.

"Think about it a little deeper, what about the Southern Sect, but what about the Northern Sect? It is a giant sect that has been around for thousands of years, and the monks don't know how many there are, so where can their daily offerings come from?

Shuli said: "In such a situation, can't the imperial court see it?"

Monk Ben Chang said: "It won't be invisible, do you know that next year Junzhou will open a conference on the Tao of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism? I heard the master mention that this is not a simple conference on the Tao, and the court must take action." ”

The fire monkey said, "Will Nanzong Temple also participate in the Daoist Conference?

Monk Benchang glanced at the fire monkey and said, "Ten out of a thousand, one out of a hundred." ”

The fire monkey was anxious, and before he could ask, the monk shook his head and said: "I only know that the number of people is like this, and the elders in the temple are still discussing how to select them." ”

The monk was a little disappointed when he saw the fire monkey, and said with a smile: "You don't have to be discouraged, there will be a martial arts competition in the Dao Conference, and if you have the opportunity to go, you will be able to see the big scene of thousands of worlds." ”

Fire Monkey, Shuli, Yifeng and Xiugu are all looking forward to Junzhou's Daoist Conference, but they are worried in their hearts about whether they will have a chance to be selected.

At this time, Monk Benchang asked, "When you go to Nanzong Temple, have you ever thought about who you are looking for?"

Shuli was silent for a while, and said astringently: "Our master is the Diyi Master of Qingshan Temple, and the master is the master of Guangchen. ”

As he spoke, he took out the letter that Master Guangchen handed him before going down the mountain from his arms, and when he took the letter, a silver bracelet with a golden copper bell fell to the ground, making a crisp sound of jingling bells, and the silver light flashed.

Shuli hurriedly picked it up, the fire monkey and Yifeng looked at him strangely, and Xiugu's eyes were full of curiosity and joy.

Shuli looked a little embarrassed by their staring, and hurriedly stuffed the letter to Monk Benchang.

Monk Benchang just glanced at the bracelet seemingly unintentionally, took Shuli's envelope and glanced at it, and smiled at Shuli and the others: "Buddhism is boundless, bring you to me, Lao Gao's master is Master Zhiran." ”

As soon as they heard the wind, they were all excited when they stepped on the iron shoes and found nowhere to go, so they set off with the monk Benchang.

Although Xiu Gu was very curious about Shuli's beautiful bracelet with silver light, she had always been in awe of the fourth senior brother, and she didn't dare to ask him for it.

The crowd traveled for nearly a day, and the monks on the road gradually increased, and the Nanzong Temple was about to arrive.

Under the leadership of the monk Benchang, the fire monkey and others came to a huge stone bridge, under the stone bridge, a clear and wide river flows quietly, the low black and bright tile houses on both sides of the river are lined up along the river, each extending a spacious street, the houses are all kinds of selling incense, selling pastries and tributes, selling vegetables and fruits, selling candy people rock sugar gourds, there are also monkeys, fortune tellers, begging, men, women and children are bustling, so lively.

On the opposite side of the boulder bridge, there are a majestic mountains, one after another are connected with five towering giant peaks, the peaks are entrenched in rows of monasteries, the golden glazed tiles and the red walls, let the sky on the mountain peaks be filled with brilliance and color, the endless cigarette smoke lingers in the middle of the temple, the glorious hall and the monks in various colors of monks' robes are looming in the layers of green clouds formed by the smoke of incense, just like the glowing Buddha hall above the heavens descends from the sky, and the gods and Buddhas come down to earth.

Yifeng and the senior brothers' eyes are straight, such a magnificent and atmospheric Buddhist temple, no, it should be said that it is a group of Buddhist temples, it is never seen in this life, the Leixing Temple they saw before, they thought it was spectacular enough, but they didn't expect to come here, even the Buddhist temple mountain gate here is not comparable! Xiu Gu was even more excited and happy, clapping her hands and high-fives.

Monk Benchang smiled and led them across the boulder bridge, while introducing them to the bridge called the bridge of Doom, and pilgrims can cross this bridge to dispel disasters and pray for blessings.

There is a group of people below the bridge who are crowded on a stone pier, and the fish in the pot, bowl and jar are released in their hands, and there are pilgrims who carry a net of fish, turtles, shrimps and crabs to the river.

The fire monkey praised Shuli and the others: "It is worthy of being a big temple, and the small temple of the people digs a pit at most to make a release pond, and this directly takes such a wide river to make a release river, which is really magnificent! But then again, too, look at the crowds over there, how can there be a pool in the world that can hold so many fish!"

Xiu Gu glanced at her senior brother and walked after Shuli.

Yifeng stared blankly at the crowd released by the river, I don't know if it was an illusion, he looked at the black and glowing heads by the river, just like the fish and turtles shining with the same light.

Are all beings equal? They are released, but what about them······

Several people squeezed through the bustling crowd on the bridge, and finally came to the foot of Nanzong Temple Mountain, the mountains suddenly appeared more majestic and majestic, especially the heavy and towering Buddha halls of the main peak, shining golden light in the sun, and the sky was bursting with light.

At the foot of the mountain, the first thing that catches your eye is the jade archway of Nanzong Temple, tall and majestic, engraved with four huge and vigorous words on the left and right, the right side reads: "Law Heaven and Law Earth", the left side reads: "Ginseng Buddha Ginseng Heart", the vast and vast "Nanzong Temple" three words in the middle, shine brightly.

Through the archway, it is the stone steps to the Nanzong Temple, which is wide and ten-zhang, towering into the clouds, and there is no end in sight, looking up, it seems to be like the ladder that connects to the Buddha country.

Even if it is so difficult to climb, there are still many pilgrims who can't squeeze away and struggle to climb up step by step, but there is no Thundering Temple-like welcoming monk flattering to please the pilgrims.

However, there were also many young men with pestles at the foot of the mountain, with sliding rods made of tough linen on their shoulders, and as soon as a pilgrim promised a reward, two men puffed up their muscular bodies and carried the pilgrims up, and the black sweat dripped all the way.

Because of the rules of Nanzong Temple, all living beings are equal, all Buddhist monks and pilgrims need to climb the mountain by themselves, so the monk leads everyone to squeeze up the ladder, because there are too many pilgrims and believers, they can't exert spiritual power, and they can only slowly climb up and consume out of thin air.

I don't know how long she climbed, Xiu Gu was so tired that her face was pale, her black sideburns were stuck to her sweaty face, her nose was wrinkled, and her big eyes were full of helplessness.

In addition to the usual monks, the others are also sweating. After all, there is no need to infuse the body with spiritual power, and such a towering staircase is also extremely draining on the body.

But the strange thing is that Yifeng is like a monk in Benchang, and nothing happens.

Monk Benchang didn't notice Yifeng originally, and he couldn't help but glance at him from time to time at this time.

Although the cultivator's body is better than ordinary people, if he doesn't exert his spiritual power and climb so many stone steps, it is normal for his senior brothers to sweat, but Yifeng is like a nobody, and his cultivation feels not very high, at least not as good as his senior brothers and sisters, which has to make people doubt Yifeng's origin.

Just in front of them, there was a mountain gate hall, and the monk Ben Chang told them that after this mountain gate hall, they would not be far from the Heavenly King Palace.

After climbing for a while, I saw a big hall, according to the scale is already the size of the main hall of some temples, but here it can only be aggrieved to do the mountain gate hall, the two angry eyes in the hall are all open, very mighty.

Climb up again, everyone feels a lot better, the monk of Benchang introduced, this mountain is called Lingyun Mountain, one of the places where the spiritual power of Yunzhou heaven and earth gathers, the higher the place, the more sufficient the aura of heaven and earth.

Ordinary monks and pilgrim believers are not cultivators, so they can't discern the changes, but they only know that the higher they climb, the more comfortable they are, and because of this, the more they can pass the wish of Nanzong Temple among the pilgrims, and the more they climb, the more effortless it is, and the more people come.

However, cultivators who practice here receive much more benefits than ordinary people.

Especially the monks who grew up here, such as the monk Benchang, even if he was born with Huigen, although the Huigen is inferior, his qualifications among the cultivators are still not good, and there is no great benefit, but he has been practicing here all the year round, and the operation of the exercises absorbs the aura of heaven and earth is more sufficient, making up for the poor qualifications.

Although I am afraid that it will be difficult to make progress in the path of cultivation in the future, the monk Benchang is already very satisfied, he has surpassed almost half of the cultivators in the world, and he knows how many cultivators have spent their entire lives, but can only be trapped in the first realm and die depressed.