At this time, the dishes ordered by the withered bamboo Zen master were brought up by the soldiers, and Sanzang sat on the ground with him, and talked happily with the wine. Sanzang sandwiched a piece of beef into his mouth, and couldn't help but secretly exclaim, Ya, this veal is slippery, soft, chewy, deep in flavor, and has a strong aftertaste, no wonder the withered bamboo Zen master who claims not to be moved by material desires is also full of praise, and even called it addictive, it does have its uniqueness.

Tang Sanzang stood up and poured a bowl of vegetarian wine for the withered bamboo Zen master, and asked with a smile: "The master doesn't need to blame himself, since Shaoguang chose to do this, I'm afraid that it is fate, and it is definitely not something that the master can stop." But does the master really think that His Majesty the King is still the same one he was back then, and not a monster?"

The withered bamboo Zen master drank the full cup of rice wine, and sighed: "Lao Qu is mortal with the naked eye, whether His Majesty is a demon or not, Lao Qu really can't see it, but Prince Yuanxian and Shaoguang father and son both think that His Majesty is a demon illusion, plotting to steal the country, and for it to rise up, bloody battle, Prince Yuanxian is even more for his wife to be separated, suicide and death, I am afraid that it is true, not groundless." But no matter what the truth is, it is only for the royal grievances to drag the people of Wuji Country into this endless dispute, resulting in the people's livelihood and starvation, which is really a sway. ”

Listening to this thorough analysis, Tang Sanzang's eyes couldn't help but glow, and he nodded frequently: "What the master said is very true, but if it is not so, how should it be handled?"

The withered bamboo Zen master is not modest, he drank the bowl full of vegetarian wine, his white beard trembled, and said word by word: "If it is proved that His Majesty is really a demon, according to the suggestion of the old man, he may be able to turn into a chivalrous man, and go to the palace alone to assassinate, as long as he can kill the demon, show the head to the public, prove that what he said is true, I believe that with his identity as the emperor of the royal family, it is enough to become a great treasure, recover the world, and return a peace to the black chicken country, this is the best policy." However, His Majesty has the apricot yellow flag to protect himself, and no one can enter the body, so this kind of plan has become a painting cake, and there is no way to do it, and according to the current situation, Shaoguang can also cross the river with His Majesty, recuperate, and wait for the time. After all, the country of black chicken is a state of etiquette, worship the Buddha, I believe that it will not be abandoned by the Buddha, there are demons seeking to seize the throne, with my Buddha's mercy, how can I turn a blind eye, he will inevitably treasure the light of the day, kill the demons, and return the world to a peace, this is the best policy. But Shaoguang never thought about it, thinking that the old man was pedantic, and what he said was just a fool's dream, so he used the power of a city in the east to contend with His Majesty, causing war and chaos, the people were displaced, and evil spirits were everywhere, which was really the next policy. ”

Sanzang sneered when he heard this, and said: "The master's words, the poor monk does not dare to agree, there is a way to ask others is better than to seek himself, and he needs to face things positively, move forward bravely, like the master is so filthy and forbearant, begging for his life in the sky, only to end up with a plausive adulterer, poison for ten thousand years, so that the strong are stronger, and the horizontal are more horizontal, how can it be safe?"

"In fact, His Highness's fault is that he is not taking the law properly, killing and arbitrarily, waving troops to attack, stirring up the people's livelihood and disintegrating the country, which is really his sin, but his spirit of actively moving forward and facing difficulties in the face of problems is really a hundred times better than the master. In the humble opinion of the poor monk, the reason why His Royal Highness has not been able to recover the Wuji Kingdom for two hundred years is that the target is unknown, which makes the blow too large and cannot be hit in one shot. In fact, the thief of the black chicken country is only in the blue-haired lion essence, incarnated as His Majesty, Mu monkey and crown, commanding the world, and the rest of the ministers and people are all mortal with the naked eye, thinking that it is the orthodoxy of the royal family, and it is not enough to worry. Is it not happy that we only need to capture the demons, distinguish the truth from the false, and believe that the people know that they are confused by the demons and hinder the royal family's approaching dynasty. And the poor monk has already made a covenant with His Royal Highness, and my eldest apprentice Sun Wukong cooperates with him, Wukong has seventy-two changes, King Kong is not bad, his combat power is outstanding, and he is invincible, plus His Royal Highness holds the golden Xuanyuan Sword, I believe it is enough to capture the demon and restore Sheji. ”

Listening to these promising words, the eyes of the withered bamboo Zen master sparkled, but he shook his head and sighed regretfully: "If things are as the holy monk said, it can solve the century-old difficulties of my Wuji country, even if the old man is allowed to carry the horse and saddle for the holy monk, it will not be rewarded." It's just that His Majesty the King has the apricot yellow flag to protect him, invincible in all directions, invulnerable, even if thousands of troops and horses attack him, he has not been able to move his penny, although the mana of the noble and virtuous disciples is strong, I am afraid that I can't enter the top ten zhang, and capture it, Lao Wei believes that Buddhism is boundless, and he will never abandon the thousands of people of my black chicken country, and then the treasure light will come, and kill the demons for our country. ”

Tang Sanzang was depressed, because of the bad face of the withered bamboo Zen master, he only secretly despised it in his heart, damn, this old monk looked very transparent, but it turned out to be so pedantic, no wonder Prince Shaoguang wanted to lock him up, it was probably annoyed by it, encountering this kind of chatter and empty talkism is really nerve-wracking. In fact, the Buddha is very busy, how can he take care of you, otherwise Lao Tzu, as a person appointed by the Buddha, was caught by a monster, why didn't he come to save me?

Knowing that he couldn't talk about this with the withered bamboo Zen master anymore, Tang Sanzang blinked his eyes and changed the topic: "Master, you have to find something to do in your two hundred years of detention life, otherwise you will always eat and sleep, sleep and eat, and you will have to suffocate to death?"

Hearing this, the withered bamboo Zen master smiled, stroked his white beard, and said proudly: "The holy monk is really wise and knowledgeable, and he can break the key point with one word." In fact, Zazen has been practiced since childhood, and he has already been accustomed to it, but the time of 200 years is too long, and it really makes people feel so empty that they want to go crazy. It's only been a few months, and the old man can't sit still, thinking that since the confinement has become a fact, the old man can't sit in a daze like this, and he has to do something practical to kill time. ”

"It's just that Lao Qu is a physical Buddha, and he has nothing else to do, and after thinking about it, he finally thought of a good way to spend time. As the abbot of Baolin Temple, Lao Gu had already carved the murals of the Buddha's lectures and lectures, but he had no time to spare, and he had been more than capable of doing so. Now that the old man is poor here, he has a lot of time to use, and he believes that he can carve murals to achieve his long-cherished wish. ”

The idea was made, and the old man was full of ambition, and he didn't care that he had never had experience in carving stone walls, so he began to carve murals one by one. For a full 200 years, the old man has free time, all of them are in the carving of the murals, there is no stagnation, no worries, the right to kill time, and today, most of it has been completed. Otherwise, with 200 years of secluded time and such good food, how can the old man maintain his figure and not get fat? Although it is very hard, he can get his long-cherished wish, and the old man is very relieved that the time of 200 years has not been wasted. ”

Between the words, the withered bamboo Zen master's sleeve robe trembled, stood up, and pointed out the murals for Sanzang. Following the direction pointed by the old monk, Tang Sanzang looked up and was stunned, like Mu Chenzhong, almost kneeling down.

Behind the thin and old withered bamboo Zen master, a thing slowly unfolded under the dim flickering candlelight, which is a lifelike and majestic pilgrimage of ten thousand Buddhas, and the characters in the painting are like fairies who have descended to the earth, vividly presented in front of everyone. Tang Sanzang originally did not believe in Buddhism, even if he was in the world of Journey to the West at the moment, his attitude towards Buddhism was extremely contemptuous and worthless. But now standing in front of this mural, Tang Sanzang is also like a believer of the Wanli Dynasty Sect who has seen a holy place that he is fascinated by, so sincere and fearful, and extremely pious.

This mural is about the scene when the Buddha preached and preached in the West: under the cover of the Buddha's light, the colorful mist lingers, the golden phoenix sings, and the big day Rulai holds the flower fingers, sits on the table, the golden light is shining, and Miaohua teaches. On the first step of the steps, the group stands under the four major Vajras, all in armor, standing with a sword; on the second step of the steps stand the four bodhisattvas under the Buddha's door, arranged from left to right, the first is the Bodhisattva of the Great Pessimistic Guanyin; the left center has deep eyes, great wisdom and foolishness, and the yellow-haired and childish face is the Great Wisdom Manjushri Bodhisattva; the right Chinese is polite and polite, and the great phase is accompanied, and the Huaguang is restrained is the Daxing Puxian Bodhisattva; on the right is the Bodhisattva of the Great Wish Jizo King.

In the hall and courtyard, there are thousands of Buddhas and eight hundred arhats, each with a single expression, or open his mouth to laugh, or turn his eyes and listen quietly, the clouds are mixed, and the weather is thousands. This mural is not so much a Buddha preaching and preaching, but rather a landscape of pilgrimage to ten thousand Buddhas, so lifelike, thought-provoking, and breathtaking.

And what makes Sanzang secretly sigh and surprise is that this wall is not big, not small, there are always twenty or thirty squares, to carve out a forest of thousands of characters on this wall by hand, hundreds of characters, all with different expressions, fine as life, how to say it will be a hundred and eighty years. And Sanzang really can't think of what method can the withered bamboo Zen master use to climb the high wall, in this era when the equipment conditions are relatively backward, but also can only rely on the ladder and bench to help, it is conceivable, standing alone on the high ladder for many years and uninterrupted chiseling the wall carving, how difficult and difficult it should be, it is a pity that the withered bamboo Zen master is 100 years old, with such amazing patience and perseverance, it really makes people look up to the mountain, sigh to themselves.

Following the direction pointed by the withered bamboo Zen master, the walls on the left and right sides of the secret room were also carved with murals, which made Tang Sanzang embarrassed, and secretly exclaimed, Damn, this side alone is enough to shock the world, and there are two more, but what kind of scene is it?

The one on the right hand side is different from the previous good atmosphere of happiness and harmony, and the ghost here is full of ghosts and hideous faces, as if it is a scene of a netherworld and a dungeon. At the front end of the mural, the gate of the ghost city of Xudu is open, the stones are piled up, the skeletons are forested, the bull head and horse face are hooked, the oil pot and the blood pool are tumbling and boiling, and the gods are crying and howling everywhere, and the complaints are full of complaints; however, by the bridge, the white-haired Meng Po boils blood and boils soup, and hands it to the ghosts of the dead; in front of the Senluo Palace, the black-faced judge holds the pen to hook the soul, and the judgment falls, and the ten halls of Yama above the treasure hall have a hideous appearance, expressionless face, and sit in shifts; there are also eighteen layers of purgatory, ice and fire are surging, corpses are everywhere, six reincarnations, the wind is tight, and life and death are endless. Such a scene, there is really an indescribably terrifying, endlessly terrifying and hideous, so frightened that Tang Sanzang's face turned pale, his strands trembled, and he couldn't bear to look at it anymore, but he was impatiently curious, and he couldn't stop, who could really see through life and death, and not see the wheel of life and death clearly?

The mural on the left hand side made Tang Sanzang, who was itchy and unbearable, but had palpitations in his eyes, and couldn't help but breathe a long sigh of relief, such a scene made people so suddenly enlightened and relaxed: this is a picture describing the life of the world, to be precise, it is the prosperous scenery of the peaceful era of the Wuji country. The first thing that catches your eye is the picture on the court hall of the Wuji Kingdom, the emperor has clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, and his body is handsome, and he is clearly the appearance of the prince of shaking light (but it turns out that the dry bamboo Zen master still hopes to shake the prince to be the king in his heart), at this moment he is sitting on the dragon chair, and the military officials under Dan Fan bow their hands to worship, the mountain calls long live, the monarch and the minister are harmonious, and they are happy.

Walk out of the majestic and majestic imperial city, come to the bustling street market of the imperial city of Wuji country, here is the hawkers cheering and shouting, peddling and selling, the customers gather around to watch, bargaining; there is the merchant riding a donkey to carry goods, the passers-by enthusiastically give way, the two sides are harmonious, and give thanks; far away is the beggar begging for others, the kind boss Shi rice noodles, the near is the flower picking girl walking the street to sell daisies, the infatuated scholar is offering flowers to the girl, such a lively scene, it is really comparable to the Qingming Dynasty on the river in the Song Dynasty, bustling, beautiful, can be called a must.

Farther away, halfway up the mountainside, the monk greets the good man and the woman, stops to look at the distance; at the foot of the mountain, the smoke curls up, the woodcutter shoulders the firewood and the road meets the peasant woman to glean and return home, the two compartments echo, the blessing of the road, warm and peaceful, reflecting the withered bamboo Zen master although he lives in a secluded room, still has ardent expectations for the prospect of the black chicken country, such a sad and compassionate feeling, especially let Sanzang moved.

Such three murals in heaven, hell and earth, which are in line with the essence of the unity of nature and man in Buddhism, can be seen that the withered bamboo Zen master was born in Buddhism, compassion for the heavens and people, and all-encompassing broad feelings. And in this moment, what made Tang Sanzang feel a lot of admiration was the withered bamboo Zen master's unyielding, strong and resolute Buddhist spirit. This is not so much a mural as a picture of the growth of a beginner carving craftsman, looking at the traces of carving on the stone wall, from rusty to skilled, until the furnace is perfect, and the characters are ugly and vulgar at first, unbearable human form, to the later wind and bones, into the wood and expressive. All of this made Tang Sanzang sigh and envy, regardless of whether the belief was correct or not, to be able to build the career he identified to such a superb, breathtaking point, the perseverance and fortitude possessed by the withered bamboo Zen master are also worth learning from.