............

The first time I was woken up from my sleep.

Fortunately, I didn't dream this time, otherwise it would take a long time to clean up the mess that I woke up from, and it would not be good to drag down the team's itinerary.

Everyone silently dismantled the tent back to its original state, put it in their own backpacks, and after tidying up, determined the direction and continued to move forward.

Only a small patch of blackened land burned by a bonfire was left in the wasteland, and this is the only trace.

I fell at the end of the line, and I was a little behind physically because I wasn't used to long walks.

The route mage also walked at the end of the line, silent and silent along the way. The rest of the team occasionally exchanged words with others, but the route mage didn't say a word, only cared about walking.

From what I've observed, the route mage's posture seems to be a little stiff. It's not like the posture that a normal person should have when walking, and it looks a little rigid.

Is this the case for all those who practice Buddhism?

I thought about what I didn't have as I touched the black cat lying on top of me.

The black cat barked softly, scratched my hand, and then pointed to the ground with its paws.

I was stunned for a moment, looked down, and realized that there was no shadow of the route mage.

But how is this possible? A person without a shadow will never be able to survive more than a day in the wasteland. It is said that those who have lost their shadows see terrible things that those who have shadows cannot see—and when you see them, they can touch you; When you touch them, they can kill you.

However, according to this logic, the blind probably don't care whether there is a shadow or not, after all, they can't see those existences anyway. But how can a person who has lost his sight escape other disasters in the wasteland?

Or maybe there's another possibility, it's strong enough to be fearless of those horrible things.

For example, black cats. Black cats don't have shadows, and she can even feed on the shadows of the ownerless. I don't know if her shadow was eaten by herself during one of her gluttonies.

Do routing mages also have this ability? Could it be the blessing of Buddhism?

I don't know, and I don't dare ask.

But watching the tightly wrapped route mage walk step by step, for some reason, the desire to bury him in the ground in my heart became even stronger. It's weird.

After a while, the front of the line stopped, and the people behind followed suit.

"What's going on?" I couldn't see what was ahead, asked.

"I met a butterfly." Someone replied. "It may be a while to wait."

"That's a good thing. I heard that there are many butterflies in the suburbs of the Holy City. It means that we are close to the holy city. Someone next to him accosted. Cover your mask tightly so you don't attract butterflies. ”

"So are you." Someone handed a headscarf in front of him - oh, mistakenly, it's a veil. "Blindfold your eyes, don't look blind."

I answered and took the veil.

The veil is woven from unknown silk and is thick, so it is not transparent to light.

I put the veil over my face, covered my eyes, and sat cross-legged like everyone else, waiting for the butterfly to leave.

Butterflies, I've encountered them too.

That was a few years ago, when I woke up to find the furniture and appliances as calm as wolves, and the window opened on its own at some point, and there was a blood-red butterfly on the windowsill.

The butterfly just stopped on the windowsill, its wings slightly open, as if ready to fly, but it always stopped there. It seemed to glow, glowing with blood-red light, dazzling and magnificent light, like the golden sun shining through the thick clouds, like a flames flying obliquely, occupying all my vision.

Butterflies dominate the view, and time seems to slow down, very slowly. By the time I came to my senses, the butterfly was gone, and I was dying. I realized that several days had passed, and I seemed to be staring at the butterflies all the time, not making any other movements, not drinking water, not closing the window. So the cold invaded my body unscrupulously during the nights of the past few days, and I had not replenished the water, resulting in a severe water shortage...... That's what the clock told me, and it was pretty good at the time.

I reminisced about the butterfly I had encountered, and listened to the chatter of the other people around me.

Darkness seems to be the best background for chatting.

From their conversations, I learned more about butterflies.

Butterflies are sensitive to the vision of others and, once seen, can sense who is watching them. It may then fly away, or it may be provoked and fly close to the observer. Then the person will receive the visual impact of the butterfly up close, which is the ultimate beauty - it is said that the butterfly is the result of the falling scales - and then the person will be obsessed with it. Often, it can be as short as a few hours or as long as dozens of days to stay in place and put most people in extreme danger and die.

And butterflies are impossible to attack – no one can touch them.

So when you encounter a butterfly, you can only hide blindfolded.

Not only people, but also some other creatures can't do anything with butterflies. Although the ownerless shadows have no vision, they can feel butterflies, so they are attracted by the extreme beauty of butterflies, and they freeze in place for a long time. Needless to say, sheep will be stunned to be attracted by butterflies, although there is no loss, but in case of rain, it will be very dangerous. Not to mention big-eyed, sometimes a butterfly can surround itself with a group of big-eyed balls.

"Looks like the butterfly is gone." Someone suddenly said something and shouted. "Oh my God."

"What's wrong?" My eyes were black and I didn't know what was going on. "Are you sure the butterfly is gone so soon? But if you don't take off the blindfold, how can you be sure that the butterfly is gone? ”

"There is a shadow of no master attacking my shadow!" The man shouted, looking a little angry. "The fact that the ownerless shadow can come close to us means that the butterfly must have left."

It makes a lot of sense. I took off my veil, and I saw the man waving the air wildly, while his shadow tangled with another dark shadow on the ground, fighting to the death.

Look, this is the life of a person without a black cat, and the shadow can be said to be day and night.

I'm a little selfish. Looking at the black cat, she fell asleep in my backpack, and I didn't want to disturb her to wake her up.

"Routing! Can you help get rid of them? ”

The remnant sun is like blood, and the twilight is sinking. More and more shadows approached, disembodied and black, clinging to the desolate surface of the wasteland, standing enormous in the fading daylight.

"The old man is not good enough to practice, and he has not achieved anything," Master Lu shook his head, "I'm afraid there is nothing I can do." ”

"I'll do it." I thought about it, gently bypassed the black cat, and took out a light bulb from my backpack.

Aim at the center of the crowd and throw it hard.

The light bulb shattered in response, screeching in pain, bursting into a blinding glow that scattered and caused the shadows to throb. After a while, the shadows of the ownerless could not bear the torment of this light, and fled one after another. And although the shadows of the companions are also trembling, it is better than being beaten by the shadows without owners.

"Thank you, thank you!" The people in the team got out of danger and thanked one after another: "I didn't expect you to carry such a good thing." Light bulbs are expensive in the city, so you break the bank. ”

"Don't worry." I waved my hand to show that I didn't care—after all, I had quite a few in my backpack and a lot at home.

But to be honest, smashing the light bulb to catch the shadow is really useful, but it's a bit inhumane.

It's cruel to the light bulb and to the shadow.

It was getting dark, and the leader planned to walk a little further and then find a place to camp.

At this time, Master Lu spoke—he usually doesn't take the initiative to speak—"I feel it, it's the breath of my Buddhist temple." Just a short distance ahead, we might be able to rest our feet there. ”

"Really?" I was a little confused, and I looked at the scene in front of me, and I couldn't see anything clearly.

The person in front of him reached the ears of the team leader, and the team leader agreed very much after hearing it.

"It's better to have a temple to live in than to find an open space."

That's what the people in front of me said.

So the team quickened their pace, hoping that the cold would gather and rush to the temple that Master Lu had spoken.

............