Shen Du and the two arrived at the Mogao Grottoes first.

Mogao Grottoes, commonly known as the Thousand Buddha Caves, were built in the pre-Qin period of the Sixteen Kingdoms.

According to the records of the Tang Dynasty, in the second year of the former Qin Jianyuan (, the monk Lezun passed through this mountain, and suddenly saw the golden light shining, such as ten thousand Buddhas, so he dug the first cave on the rock wall.

After that, Zen Master Faliang and others continued to build caves here to practice meditation, called "Mogao Grotto", which means "high place in the desert".

In later generations, because "desert" and "Mo" were common, it was renamed "Mogao Grottoes".

Another saying is that because Buddhism has a saying that the merit of building a Buddha cave is immeasurable, and it is impossible and none, so the meaning of Mogao Grottoes is that there is no higher merit than building a Buddha cave.

In the Sui and Tang dynasties, with the prosperity of the Silk Road, the Mogao Grottoes were even more prosperous, and there were more than 1,000 caves in the Wu Zetian era.

Later, because Dunhuang stopped opening caves after the Yuan Dynasty, it was gradually deserted.

In the 26th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, the Mogao Caves were found to shock the world, due to the corruption and incompetence of the late Qing Dynasty, a large number of cultural relics in the Mogao Caves were looted, and most of them were unfortunately scattered, an unprecedented catastrophe in the history of Chinese culture.

In the eyes of some, the loss of cultural relics in the Mogao Grottoes is even more serious than the burning of the Old Summer Palace.

In the Tibetan scripture cave of Mogao Grottoes, there is supreme merit.

Mogao Grottoes are excavated on the cliff wall of the eastern foot of Mingsha Mountain, which is 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City, facing the Danquan in front and the Sanwei Mountain in the east, a branch of the Qilian Mountain.

The total length of the north and south is more than 1,600, and there are more than 700 caves built in the past dynasties, which are distributed on the cliff with a height of more than 15~30 meters, and the upper and lower distributions range from 1~4 layers.

Mogao Grottoes is divided into two districts, south and north, of which the south area is the place of worship Buddha activities, there are more than 490 caves of murals and colored sculptures of various dynasties, more than 2,400 colored sculptures, and the murals are almost 50,000 square meters.

In the Tang and Song dynasties, there were five wooden eaves of caves, and there were nine floors rebuilt at the beginning of the Republic of China as the symbol of Mogao Grottoes.

Each cave in Mogao Grottoes is a comprehensive art of cave architecture, color sculpture and painting.

The cave form mainly includes Zen cave, central tower pillar cave, Buddha shrine cave, Buddhist altar cave, Nirvana cave, seven Buddha cave, big statue cave and so on.

The content of the color sculpture combined with the plastic painting mainly includes the statue of Buddha, Bodhisattva, disciple, Heavenly King, and Lux, and the form of color sculpture has round sculpture, floating sculpture, shadow sculpture, and good karma clay.

However, Shen Du came here this time mainly to see the murals, although the Buddha statues can be seen, but in fact, most of the Buddha statues are just real Buddha statues, and there is no other use.

Shen Du only needs to glance at it to see what these Buddha statues are.

Some may be dedicated to relics, but most of them are mud and stone.

There are many tourists in Mogao Grottoes now, this is a tourist attraction, like Qingcheng Mountain and Chongyang Palace, you need a ticket to enter.

There are far more sects here than those in Qingcheng Mountain, and there are more than two hundred.

Due to the leadership of the Living Buddha of Thule, Shen Du naturally did not need tickets, in fact, even if Shen Du gave tickets, they might not dare to accept them.

Ignoring those tourists, while walking, Master Thule said to Shen Du with a smile: "These murals, due to their age, the Zen of heaven and earth contained in them have disappeared, I am afraid that they can no longer be brought back to life, and can only be regarded as simple murals." ”

Shen Du looked at him and asked with a smile on his face, "Do you want me to add a few strokes to you?"

Tulle smiled bitterly and said, "The master is learning the Tao, and these murals are all Buddhist paintings. In front of Buddhism, it is not appropriate to speak. ”

Shen Du pursed his lips and said with a smile: "I'm too lazy to add it, these are cultural relics, and they may not be worth my pen!"

Thule smiled awkwardly, didn't say anything more, and led him inside.

When he came to a cave, Shen Du's figure suddenly flashed, and Yun Yun actually went and returned, reappearing beside him.

"There used to be a Taoist temple in Mogao Grottoes, and there is a not-so-glorious past of Taoism here!"

Yun Yun Zhengse said: "Back then, the Taoist priest Wang Yuanqi, who lived in the Mogao Grottoes, accidentally discovered the Tibetan scripture cave in the Mogao Grottoes, but unfortunately Wang Yuanqi was just a clumsy person, with eyes and no beads, resulting in the loss of a large number of cultural relics. These lost scriptures may still be rare books. ”

"Back then, Dunhuang Bodhisattva was no longer there?" asked Shen Du in surprise.

Yun Yun shook his head and said: "Dunhuang Bodhisattva has become a Buddha, how can he be here every day? Later, after hearing that the rare book in the Tibetan scripture cave was lost, Dunhuang Bodhisattva rushed back again, but unfortunately it was too late. In the Tibetan scripture cave, there used to be a lot of Taoist classic scrolls, but unfortunately all of them have been lost. ”

Shen Du once knew this story.

It is said that at the beginning of the 19th century, the French archaeologist Bo Xihe, who was proficient in Sinology, immediately rushed from Dihua to Dunhuang after learning that an ancient manuscript had been found in the Mogao Grottoes.

He selected in the cave for three weeks, and finally obtained more than 10,000 pieces of Dunhuang documents that can be called the essence at the cost of 600 taels of silver.

Six hundred taels, more than 10,000 pieces, almost no different from buying waste paper.

In fact, not only these, as long as you open the history, you know that the brief history of Dunhuang being plundered is still vivid.

For example, someone once used a special chemical glue to glue and steal the murals of the Mogao Grottoes.

Regardless of these histories for the time being, Shen Du and the three of them looked at the murals in the cave, and there were a lot of things in them, rich and colorful.

In the eyes of Shen Du and others, these murals all present a different charm from ordinary people.

The murals of Dunhuang are mainly Buddhas.

There are seven types of themes, such as Buddha statues, Buddhist stories, Buddhist historical sites, scriptures, gods and monsters, donors, and decorative patterns.

In addition, there are many paintings depicting various aspects of social life at that time, such as hunting, farming, weaving, transportation, warfare, construction, dance, weddings and funerals.

Some of these paintings are majestic and broad, while others are bright and magnificent, reflecting the artistic styles and characteristics of different periods.

At first, there was nothing, but as he watched more and more, Shen Du even felt that these paintings were a little weird, and the more he looked at them, the more weird they became.

"Noticed?" Yun Yun asked, looking at him.

"There's a demon suppressed here, it's an ancient demon! Although the Zen spirit of these murals has almost disappeared, the mana is still there. It's suppressing the ancient Buddha demon!" Shen Du said with a solemn face, looked at it a few times, and felt a little interested: "It's a pity, this demon seems to be dead. ”

Yun Yun smiled: "There are no demons in the world. ”

"There are demons in the world!" Thule immediately said: "It is rumored that the demon only comes out for a thousand years, and as soon as it comes out, it is the discoloration of the heavens and the earth, or drought, or thunder, or flood, three hundred years ago, there was a demon in China, and the world has changed greatly, and the disaster has been in turmoil for hundreds of years. ”

"Oh, there was a demon three hundred years ago?" Shen Du's face was surprised.

The Living Buddha of Tulle nodded solemnly and said: "Yes, three hundred years ago, the Zhu Dharma Protector Bodhisattva once appeared to the spirit, it is said that it was to suppress this Dharma demon, but unfortunately he was defeated and returned, the demon, each of them has been cultivated for thousands of years to become a spirit, and each of them has attained the Tao, and the mana is unprecedentedly powerful." ”

Shen Du was stunned for a moment, glanced at Yun Yun, and said, "In this way, the destruction of the three immortal realms of Kunlun and Penglai may have something to do with this demon!"

"The poor monk doesn't know. ”

Tule shook his head and said: "What appeared three hundred years ago is not only a law demon, but also a Dao demon, the Dao law is extremely profound, and the Dao Gate is invincible. At that time, the Zhu Dharma Protector Bodhisattva appeared to the past, not alone, but several Bodhisattvas went together, but they were still defeated, and finally returned with serious injuries. ”

Demon or something, Shen Du has never really seen it, but some of the paintings in these murals are extremely weird, and there is a trace of mana in them, which gathers into a river and constantly seeps into the ground, forming a large suppression array.

In the underground of the Mogao Grottoes, there is a huge dark cage, and there is indeed a Buddha demon locked in this cage, but this Buddha demon has turned into dry bones.

It seems that back then, some ancient Buddhist painters painted Buddhist paintings in the Thousand Buddha Caves, and they were really more than just simple paintings.

In fact, how can it be simple?

There are so many of these paintings, it takes countless manpower and material resources to do it, if there is no other purpose, how can it be possible to paint so many paintings?

Not only paintings, but also Buddhas, a large number of Buddha statues, there is the third largest seated Buddha after the Huaxia Leshan Giant Buddha and the Rongxian Giant Buddha.

"Will the Master be able to see this Dharma Demon, is it really dead?" asked the Living Buddha Tule, turning his head to stare at Shen Du.

Shen Du smiled: "I can see that the body has indeed turned into dry bones, but the soul is ......."

"How's the soul?" asked Thule.

Shen Du said with a smile: "The mana of this demon is a little strong, and it has been integrated with Dunhuang, and its demon blood has not been exhausted yet." ”

"Haven't run out yet?" Hearing this, Tulle and Yun Yun's faces suddenly changed.

Shen Du nodded, paused, and said with a smile: "Interesting and interesting, it really hasn't flowed out, this demon is very strong, very, very strong, I just don't know what its body is?"

"The Dharma Gate has long been lost, and we can't go underground!" said the Living Buddha of Tulle hurriedly: "A thousand years ago, when Dunhuang was abandoned, it was already lost. This demon was not suppressed by the Zhu Dharma Protector Bodhisattva, but someone else. ”

"In this way, then it will be very interesting!" Shen Du squinted his eyes and thought for a while, and said with a smile: "Your Dunhuang Buddhism is very interesting. I need you to gather all the monks here, I need to meet them!"

"Master, who are you?" said the great god Thule, and his face couldn't help but change greatly.

"At the end of the nineteenth century, the cave of the Tibetan scriptures was opened, and there may have been some earth-shaking fights in the whole Dunhuang, so far, it has only been more than a hundred years!" Shen Du smiled lightly: "More than a hundred years is just a flick of a finger for a demon." It is not easy for demons to attain the Tao, and it is even more difficult to cultivate the Tao. ”

Thule suddenly thought of something, and there was a trace of consternation in his eyes, he was a smart person, and he understood what Shen Du meant almost instantly.

If there is still demon blood flowing out after this demon is transformed into a skeleton, then it means that this demon is not completely dead.

After the Zhu Dharma Protector Bodhisattva becomes a Buddha, he can especially appear after a thousand years, so the strength of the demon is stronger and more terrifying, what will it do?

Its demon blood has been flowing in the Dunhuang sand for generations, and I am afraid that it has already been integrated with Dunhuang.

When Yun Yun heard this, her pretty face also changed drastically.

Demons are not simple things.