I experienced too many accidents in one day, completely subverting Zhang Muzitong's impression of the old man in the countryside who had accumulated from his grandfather for more than ten years, and said in a daze: "Charles, do you know, I feel as if I have two grandfathers now, I feel so strange, does my grandfather often come to Shenluo Island?"

"Yes, he always comes to Shenla five or six times a year to pray for the blessings of the faithful, but it is not very long, the longest is not more than a week. Charles said with a smile.

"Five or six times a year, just a few days at a time, so it's no wonder I don't know. Zhang Muzi nodded with relief, then looked at the towering peaks under the moon, and pouted: "Grandpa, he likes places with good air and seclusion, and it's not strange to live on the mountains, but I'm not interested in wasting most of my time every day climbing and descending mountains, and it's better to live on flat land." ”

"A ropeway was built on Tiangong Mountain more than 20 years ago, and now unless it is a particularly devout believer who makes a wish or makes a wish, or a tourist climbs the mountain, everyone else takes the cable car up and down," Charles said with a smile: "Of course, it is more convenient to live on flat ground, but in the early morning you can watch the sunrise from the temple attic on the top of Tiangong Mountain;

Eating a game breakfast and looking at the sea view of Sejura Beach is an extraordinary pleasure that only the owner of Shonna Island can have. ”

"Wow, this enjoyment sounds really good, then I'll eat roast pork first, and then take the cable car up the mountain to the palace temple to rest, and enjoy the sunrise on the top of Tiangong Mountain and the beautiful scenery of Xipu Beach tomorrow morning, how extraordinary it is." Zhang Muzi thought for a while and said with a smile: "Now let's go to the first step, eat."

Hurry up and go to the rotisserie, Charles, I'm starving. ”

"Please come with me, boss, I promise that you will enjoy the most authentic Shenluo food in ten minutes. Charles said and led the way, and took Zhang Muzi to the dark place against the wall of the airport tower, and after twenty or thirty seconds, the two got into an RV that had been waiting in the dark and drove directly out of the airport.

After that, Charles's arrangement can be said to be very tight, the car first came to the foot of Tiangong Mountain, a family built in front of the roof of the barbecue restaurant with tiled roof and wooden beams in the style of the ancient northern Han people in ancient China, let Zhang Muzi feast on the barbecue of the black pig loin that had just been slaughtered, and then drove him directly to the cable car station at the foot of the mountain.

I don't know when a huge dark cloud has covered the bright moon, the island is blowing a moist breeze, Zhang Muzi has been a little afraid of heights since he was a child, he was afraid to get on the cable car after he did not have the slightest mood to enjoy the night view, as soon as he arrived at the top of the mountain, he followed Charles, and went straight to the only building on the top of the mountain, a large-scale, surrounded by Junmu and strange stones.

This temple has a carved wood red lacquer gate more than two zhang high, four or five zhang wide, two pumpkin-sized lanterns hanging on the door beam, and the old red thick paper lanterns gently swaying with the cold wind, faintly shining on the left and right sides stretched out in the night, and the black courtyard wall with no end in sight and the gilded plaque with the words 'Xingtian Palace' written on it.

Under the plaque, five old men wearing gray cloth gowns and pleated long skirts, male and female, were originally standing like stone statues, and when they saw Zhang Muzi's figure, they immediately hurried up to meet them, led by a tall and thin man who looked like a bamboo pole, with a wrinkled face, and looked at least seventy or eighty years old, asked Charles on the side in an ancient whisper: "Mr. Charles."

Is this 'Shaogong-kun'?"

"Yes. Charles nodded solemnly, and the tall and thin old man immediately knelt down on Zhang Muzi's knees, leaned down, and said in a slightly trembling voice: "Respectfully serve the 'Qingfu Zhengshen' A priest Li Nanhe to meet the young palace king." ”

Behind him, four companions of similar age also knelt down at the same time, and said respectfully by name: "Respectfully serve the 'Qingfu Zhengshen' Divine Officer B... Meet Shaogong-kun. ”

Nineteen years since he was born, he has been living in a civilized society that advertises that everyone is equal, even in his dream, Zhang Muzi never thought that suddenly there would be a few old people who were much older than their parents kneeling at their feet, greeting themselves in a tone that only characters in ancient costumes and historical dramas have, and couldn't help jumping to the side as if they were burned by fire, avoiding the direction of the old people kneeling.

After that, he looked at Charles on the top of the mountain in a panic, and said incoherently: "Cha, Charles, what's going on, he, what are they doing?"

"These gentlemen and ladies are all priests who serve the 'Qingfu Zhengshen,'" Charles explained in a whisper in Zhang Muzi's ear, "They think that your ancestors can 'psychic' with those gods for generations, and naturally they are their 'spokesmen' in the mortal world and the religious leaders of all believers, so they want to bow down to you."

It's like a religious ritual when the pastor or bishop of the church sees the Pope and wants to kneel down on one knee and kiss the hand, and by the way, I'm an atheist, so I don't bow to you, and I don't believe in gods, but I have a respectful attitude towards any religion of mankind. ”

"Zong, religion," Zhang Muzi shouted in a low voice: "What my family opened on the island of 'Yuantai' is just a palace and temple to help people support Luan divination and prevent trouble, how come 'Shenluo' suddenly became 'religion'!"

"There is an old Chinese proverb that 'orange is born in Huainan is orange, and born in Huaibei is orange', and in 'Yuantai' your grandfather is one of hundreds of mages who claim to have magical powers;

On Silla Island, he is the 'savior' who gave equality and hope to all the islanders of mixed Korean descent decades ago, so the same palace and temple have been developed in different places for decades, and one is still a temple;

The other has become a religion, which should not be difficult to understand. Charles seemed very knowledgeable to explain Zhang Muzi's confusion: "In fact, in 'Shenluo', the believers of Qingfu Zhengshen have used a 'pope' similar to Christianity for a long time;

The name of the Buddhist 'monk king' is called your maternal grandfather, and they call him 'Gong Jun', which probably means that he lives in the 'Tianxing Palace', the monarch of all the believers in the pure blessing of the righteous gods. ”

"It's already the interstellar era now, what other monarchs are there besides the royal family that has been handed down from the past, isn't this, isn't this the 'cult' in the social news?" Hearing that his grandfather's status on Shenluo Island was far more exaggerated than he imagined, Zhang Muzi did not feel the slightest sense of joy, but exclaimed in a lost voice.

"Whisper," Charles raised his fingers in a silent motion, and softly comforted his young boss, "Don't be nervous, your grandfather's religion is actually extremely 'pure'."

I have taken theology as an elective in college, and I have learned a lot about the disgraceful history of 'religion', taking Yaduism, which has the largest number of believers in the world, as an example, in the Middle Ages, the priests who served the 'Lord of God' once hanged millions of people in the name of disrespect for God, and burned hundreds of thousands of so-called witches;

Later, when the bishop split from Yaduism, because he did not want to convert, hundreds of thousands of people had their heads cut off in my native England alone, so religion is religion, and it should not be judged from a secular point of view. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Muzi's expression softened a lot, and he said with a wry smile: "You know a lot of Charles, but it's too awkward to be bowed down like this." ”

"They're just loyal to their beliefs, so you don't have to feel guilty, and if you really feel awkward, let them get up first, these priests of yours have been on their knees for a long time. Charles reminded with a smile.

"Oh, by the way, they should have been put up first. Zhang Muzi showed an annoyed expression, and then hurriedly stepped forward, saying incoherently in his mouth, "Get up, get up, you don't need this, you won't have to do this in the future...", and was about to help a few old people who were kneeling and worshipping, but seeing that they hurriedly avoided it, he stood up respectfully.

After that, Li Nanhe, who was the leader, bowed his head and said: "Young Gongjun, you have been tired all the way, and the cold spring water has been boiled, please go into the palace to bathe and change clothes, and then rest, okay?"

"Okay, okay. Zhang Muzi listened to the thin old man's ancient words with great difficulty, and pondered for a while before nodding and saying like garlic.

Seeing this scene, Charles on the side said goodbye and said, "Boss, I'm leaving after sending you to the 'Tianxing Palace', this place is not suitable for a true atheist to stay long." When he was not chatting privately, his attitude towards Zhang Muzi was much more formal.

Hearing that Charles was unwilling to stay in the palace temple because of his faith, Zhang Muzi naturally didn't want to persuade him much, and said with a smile: "Okay, then I'll go down the mountain tomorrow to find you, goodbye." ”

"Tomorrow if you don't have anything important, I'm afraid we won't see each other, boss," Charles shook his head regretfully and said, "When I received a call from your grandfather yesterday, I was in Seoul negotiating with Kim Jeong-moon from 'Haewon Trading' about the price of 'Hanbou' to be slaughtered this spring, because I rushed to 'Wondai' to interrupt the negotiation..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Muzi nodded and said, "I understand Charles, you can go to Seoul tomorrow, it's important to get down to business, then, well, I wish you success in the negotiations, bye (goodbye)." He waved his hand at Charles, followed the old men with a little hairiness in his heart, and walked into the dim temple.

The area of the 'Tianxing Palace' on Shenluo Island is ten times larger than the palace temple of the same name in Tiangong Town, and when you step into it, you can see that the ancient palace of China is not less than ten fingers, and there is a plaque hanging high on a towering hall in the center, and there are four big characters of "Lingxiao Treasure Palace" written on it, and there are no less than hundreds of statues of gods faintly visible in it.

In the back of this treasure hall, on the door beams of the other temples scattered and lined up, there are respectively hung 'Guanling Sanshan Wuyue Palace', 'Nine Heavens Yingyuan Thunder God Puhua Tianzun Palace', 'Southern Sanqi Fire Dexing Junzheng Temple'... and so on, and so on.

Each palace is connected by white marble carved stone slabs that can accommodate at least ten people side by side, and the jade slabs are densely planted with exotic flowers and plants, and huge bamboo trees.