On this day, when it was almost dusk, the Lotus Temple ushered in the only worshipper of the day.

It was an old woman, dressed in a coarse cloth garment, and she climbed the stone steps almost step by step in the afterglow of the setting sun.

The old man bent down a little, and came to the main hall step by step, without looking at the monks around him, but knelt directly on the futon in front of the Buddha.

Then he did not worship the Buddha, but slowly took out a two-foot-long plank from the basket he carried in the crook of his arm, about two fingers thick, one at a time, until the sixth one was finally empty.

She carefully and carefully set up the planks in front of her, lined them up, and only then did the monks behind her see clearly that there were still words engraved on them, crooked, and untidy.

But they had even tried their best to hold their breath at the moment, and their faces had become a little solemn.

Because they saw that those crooked words were clearly written by a person's name.

Ning Dazhu...... Erchang ...... Five Beams ...... Lukfook ......

Ordinary names, so ordinary that even the brotherly relationship between everyone is so obvious.

And at this moment, whether it is from the old woman's withered and trembling hands, or her face full of sorrow, it can be seen that the names left on the board are all her children, but now, there are only a few names left in her children, and they are forever left on the black plank.

These planks are actually spiritual seats one by one, just like the spiritual seats enshrined in the ancestral hall of large families, but they are rough and simple.

The old woman glanced at the few "children" in front of her, then raised her head, looked at the huge Buddha statue, her withered hands were trembling and it was difficult to put them together, she did not bow down.

"I gave birth to six sons in my life, and raising them one by one exhausted my life......"

"Now years of war, every time a son becomes an adult, he will be arrested and used as a soldier, sometimes it is a Jin man, sometimes it is a Song army, I can't remember who they went where, maybe their brothers were enemies in the barracks, but for me all the same, because they are just my children, every time they leave my side, I will choose fasting things to come to the temple to burn incense, and I have never stopped ...... for several years."

Her old voice became more and more poignant, but everyone only listened, and no one dared to step forward, and no one dared to say a word.

"I always ask the Buddha to bless my child, even if he is injured and breaks his leg, he can come back, and he is willing to serve him for a lifetime."

"But the six sons left me year after year, and in the end none of the sons returned, only the news of the death came back, and now I am old, I can no longer walk, it's time to raise children to prevent old age, but all I can get is this row of names engraved on the wood."

"Buddha, where is your compassion? Can't you see my piousness? Or ......?"

"Or are you ...... You're indifferent!"

The old woman has been looking at the statue of the Buddha and crying bitterly, and in the end, she has no respect for the Buddha.

When Luo Bei and Kill walked in, the old woman's crying had gradually stopped, and Kill grabbed the senior brothers and asked what was wrong, but still no one spoke.

They may not bear it, or they may be thinking about something else, and their expressions are so strange that they can't even understand the killing.

The old woman cried in front of the Buddha for a long time, and in the end, there was some complaining about the dishonesty, after saying these words, she took her son's spirit cards back into the small bamboo basket one by one, and stood up with difficulty, and even the monk's support was directly thrown away by her.

During the whole process, although the old woman still knelt in front of the Buddha, her head was never lowered again.

The old woman left slowly, and the bamboo basket she carried in the crook of her arm contained the only remaining thoughts of her six sons, and what she left in the eyes of all the monks was a desolate back.

Perhaps, there is much more to it than just desolation.

The setting sun set on the horizon, leaving a remnant of red.

In the past few days, the war in the world has been rekindled, and most of the people in the villages around the Lotus Temple have fled to escape the world, and the only thing left is probably a son like the old woman who died early, and only an old and disabled body remains.

This protracted war has been fought for many years, and every time the Great Song Dynasty is defeated and retreated, not only losing many great mountains and rivers, but also losing the confidence of the people.

The declining number of devout worshippers may have left the familiar place, and the Buddha could not bless anyone to escape the suffering of war, and they had to plan for themselves.

This is like a huge shadow that has already left an invisible imprint in the hearts of the monks of the Lotus Temple, but they themselves have not noticed it, but until the old woman enters the temple and leaves, everyone hears her poignant words, and sees the desolate back when she leaves, they can no longer be calm.

Will the war spread to the temple like a fire?

Can they still live in peace and worship the Buddha in this place that is only a corner of the world?

No one has an answer, let alone a definite answer.

It is still the senior brother to be calmer, seeing that the junior brothers are a little distracted, he said in a deep voice: " For example, although there is a lot of war today, I don't know when it will spread here, but Master has just gone out to visit, and everyone has become this lost soul, how sad it should be for him to see the old man, but we have been chanting sutras and worshipping Buddha since we were children, how can we be so easily disturbed by mundane things, hurry up and finish the rest of the things, ...... tonight."

"Senior brother, you said that we have been practicing from morning to night for so many years, and when the war comes, will the Buddha really bless us?" asked a younger monk.

Senior Brother looked at the monk who was asking, and said after a slight sigh: "Sixteenth Senior Brother, to be honest, I can't say if the Buddha can bless us from the flames of war, but as long as Master doesn't leave, I will stay with Master, and accompany Master, even if one day the spear and iron rider really set foot on the mountain gate, I will definitely not take half a step back......

Killing Sheng blinked, not quite understanding what the senior brothers were thinking, but from their faces and eyes, he could also see that there seemed to be a layer of gloom spreading in everyone's hearts, which was more terrible than the possible disaster of war.

A monk who was not much bigger than killing showed his crying voice and cried: "But, senior brother, I am really afraid, they say that those people will kill people when they see them, I am not afraid of death, but ...... But I'm afraid it hurts......"

The senior brother slowly walked to his side, squatted down, hugged the little monk, and said gently: "Old Seventeen, you are young, you are afraid of pain and death, and the master and the senior brothers will not blame you, but you also have to look at the junior brother who killed the life, he is the youngest among us, didn't you say that you will protect him in the future? Why is it that the little junior brother has not cried yet, but you have cried your nose first?"

Old Seventeen looked at the side who was stunned to watch his killing, he immediately wanted to hold back his crying, but after holding it for a long time, the tears still stopped.

"Senior brother, I don't cry, I want to protect the little junior brother......"

Senior Brother stood up, his eyes soft but firm as a rock looking at every junior brother beside him.

"Everything will have to wait for the master to return to the temple before discussing, before that, I also hope that all the junior disciples will not exaggerate such emotions, after all, the old seventeen and the little junior brother are still too young."

"Senior brother, we listen to you," Guanshan, the eleventh senior brother who had been standing outside the crowd without speaking, suddenly said.

"In that case, let's disperse, and we'll chant together in the main hall later......"

The monks left in a sparse manner, if it wasn't for Guanyun to appease them at a critical time, maybe the haze in everyone's hearts would be heavier.

Luo Bei and Kill Sheng were still left by Guanyun's side, and Kill Sheng grabbed Senior Brother's sleeve, raised his face and asked, "Senior Brother, all the senior brothers, this is the case, why did Senior Brother Seventeen suddenly cry?"

Senior Brother leaned down, picked up the killing face, wiped some mud off his face for him, and said gently: "It's okay, everyone just misses Master a little."

Killing Sheng blinked his eyes and said strangely, "But isn't the master going to be back after only two days?"

The senior brother rubbed his bald head, and he really didn't know how to explain it to him, so he turned his eyes to Luobei.

Luo Bei pulled the killing, and whispered in his ear: "Don't ask so much, you were drunk late last night, don't let everyone know about it......"

When he heard this, he quickly shrunk his neck, his little eyes turned, and then he scratched his bald head in front of the senior brother, and said: "Senior brother, I made an appointment with Senior Brother Eleventh to go to the Library Pavilion to ask for scriptures, I'm afraid it's a little late at this time, I have to go, and if it's late, I won't have to count it down!"

After that, he didn't stay any longer, he quickly slipped away, and before leaving, he made a hard look at Luobei.

Seeing Luo Bei smiling and waving his hand, he left with confidence.

After killing and leaving, the senior brother breathed a sigh of relief, if it wasn't for Luo Bei telling him something, he really didn't know how to explain it to him.

"Amitabha, Lord Luobei, thank you!" said the senior brother to Luobei.

Luo Bei said with a smile: "The master doesn't know when he will return from the temple, why does there seem to be a strange atmosphere in the temple now?"

The senior brother's face turned slightly pale, and he shook his head and said: "Now it is a troubled time, whether it is a town or a quiet place like us, there is no end to it, so everyone is very worried, after all, they don't know what the outside world is like except for fasting and chanting Buddha all these years, and I am afraid that it is natural."

"It seems that the war between the Great Song Dynasty and the Jin Kingdom is inevitable after all?" Luo Bei said.

"When it is!"

"It's just that the war between the two countries will always cause the people to suffer, and the lives under the iron horse are really not worth mentioning"

Guanyun's face was solemn, in fact, he didn't suffer from the disaster of war back then, and his family died tragically, he also crawled out of the pile of dead people, and was later rescued by the passing master of Wu'an and brought back to the temple.

"Is it useful to say that you burn incense and worship the Buddha and pray to the Bodhisattva?" Luo Bei couldn't help but ask when he thought of the old woman's appearance.

Guanyun lowered his head, and seemed to be a little caught off guard by this question, and didn't know how to answer for a while.

After a long time, he said slowly: "Master once said that becoming a monk is not an escape from the world, but a practice, and worshipping the Buddha is not to be blessed by this, but to be relieved in the heart."

"There are many disasters in this world, often only human ability can not restore the loss of life, worship Buddha naturally can't do it, in fact, it is probably what the master said, as long as there is a Buddha in the heart, what does it matter if you can't leave home!"

Luo Bei raised his head, looked at this calm and somewhat wooden senior brother Guanyun, and found that in addition to Master Wu'an, he was probably the only one in the whole temple who was much more thorough, of course, this was probably related to his experience back then.

What a tragic sight it would be to watch the whole family die tragically.

......

......