The next day, as soon as the morning glow reflected the winding Songshan Mountain, the Shaolin Temple sounded a crisp bell, startling a burst of birds from the pine and bamboo forest to rise into the air. Xu Zhi, Xue Atan, and An Jingsi finished practicing in the back mountain and were about to go down the mountain. An Jingsi said to Xu Zhi: "Brother Xu, is the abbot in a hurry to summon us?"

Xue Atan replied, "Brother An, do you still need to ask? You listen to how rapid this bell is! There must be something going on in the temple?"

Xu Zhi beckoned An and Xue to hurry down the mountain, and replied: "You don't have to guess, when we go down the mountain, ask Senior Brother Yin, don't you know?"

As soon as the three of them entered the gate of Shaolin Temple, they saw that Yin led a group of senior brothers to rush to Baiyun Temple, Xu Zhi hurriedly asked: "Senior brother, the abbot rings the bell to gather everyone, what is the big thing?"

He didn't answer, but asked, "Where did the three of you go early in the morning?"

Without waiting for Xu Zhi to answer, the person behind him said quickly: "Brother Xu, where did the three of you go early in the morning? The abbot and the two first bells summoned our monks to go to the Baiyun Palace, and there is something important to discuss! The abbot has specially ordered, the three of you should also go together, the senior brother can't find the three of you in the temple, he is very anxious!"

Xu Zhi explained what happened to Yin and the others, and Yin nodded slightly in understanding, and interrupted: "You don't need to explain it first, you should follow us to the White Cloud Palace! I'm afraid that the abbot and the two heads have already arrived there!"

Xu Zhi, Xue Atan and An Jingsi followed the monks of the Dharma Academy to the Baiyun Temple. Xu Zhi saw that the furnishings in the White Cloud Hall were very similar to the Thousand Buddha Palace, the main hall was dedicated to the Buddha, and the weapons racks around it were full of big swords, spears, and halberds.

The Shaolin Three Absolute has not yet arrived, the Baiyun Hall is in a commotion, the disciples of the Dharma Academy and the Luohan Hall are in a group of three, a pile of five, all over the world, sticks and fists, and they are talking nonsense. I don't know who first talked about the competition between the same sects, and suddenly the disciples of the two factions were not convinced by each other, from the beginning of the verbal and sword-fighting, to the later fist and foot competition.

Seeing this, Xu Zhi, Xue Atan and An Jingsi were very embarrassed, although they were relatively close to the Damo Academy in the dust, but at this time, it was inconvenient to participate in the dispute between the disciples of the Damo Academy and the Luohan Hall, so they had to persuade loudly. But no one on either side paid attention, and the three of them were helpless, so they had to stop it, but they couldn't free so many hands for a while. In the end, the three of them were exhausted, and seeing that they had little success, they had to let the fight between the two groups of monks go unpunished, and deliberately turned around to admire the portrait carved on the wall.

"Brother Xu, Brother Xue Xian, look, what kind of story does this portrait tell?" An Jingsi was deeply attracted by a portrait on the White Cloud Palace. When Xu Zhi and Xue Atan heard this, they also leaned over, approached the wall, and carefully pondered the pictures, seeing that these murals were all old and their colors were dim. On the east wall is a painting of a vast ocean, a practitioner holding a Zen staff, holding a Buddhist bead, with blue eyes and a long beard, ** body, stepping on a bundle of reeds, facing the wind and waves, facing the place where the sun rises.

On the south side, there are two people, one is dressed as Tianzhu, sitting facing the wall with his hands folded in the cave, and the other is like a Chinese figure, standing in the vast snow outside the cave.

Xu Zhi knew that this was the story of the first ancestor Bodhidharma crossing the river with a reed, and the second ancestor Hui Ke Lixue with a broken arm.

After Xu Zhi and the three of them finished reading, they turned their eyes to the north wall, only to see a mural painted in the middle is very eye-catching, a king in a red robe, chased and killed by a group of soldiers, in times of danger, was rescued by a group of monks with sticks, the picture has been over the years, has been bleak, and the record is not known which dynasty and which generation of the story.

Just when the three of them were puzzled, with a few chanting of "Amitabha, good, good!", the Shaolin Three Uniques had already drifted into the Baiyun Palace, and suddenly the Baiyun Hall was silent, and even the sound of a needle falling on the ground could be heard clearly.

Zhide had already seen the Shaolin warrior monks arguing over some trivial matters, and he was very angry, so he called the two big disciples of Yin and Chen, and asked: "According to the Shaolin precepts, my Shaolin disciples are making noise for no reason, fighting fiercely, how should I deal with it?"

Because He Lichen knew that Zhide was the first seat of the Discipline Academy, the law enforcement was like a mountain, and he was upright, so he hurriedly lowered his head and replied: "Back to the first seat of the Discipline Academy, the staff should be punished for eighty and punished for one year!"

Zhide shouted: "It's good that you know, now is the time when my Shaolin is in danger, I need you to help subdue the demons, and the face of the wall will be spared, so let's scold eighty first!"

Seeing Zhide's serious face, all the disciples suddenly came back to their senses, bowed their heads and confessed their guilt, and replied in unison: "The disciple is guilty, he forgot to be in the inner hall for a while, and committed the crime of lying and fighting, and the disciple is willing to follow the two senior brothers to the precept academy to confess!"

The abbot said to Zhide: "Senior brother, according to the old man, now that Shaolin is employing people, their sins should be recorded first!"

Liyin, Lichen and the others never expected that the abbot would be extrajudicial to show mercy, and they were very surprised to make an exception for them for the first time, but they looked at Master Zhide again and saw that there was still no forgiveness on his face.

At this time, Master Zhixin also interceded for his disciple: "Senior brother, I know that you are very strict in enforcing the law, but my Shaolin disciple is a teenager, and he is also flesh and blood, and his blood is strong, if they are all so indisputable and weak and deceitful, how can they subdue demons and eliminate demons and defend the Dharma? Senior brother, today is the abbot and junior brother, please let these children bear the guilt and make meritorious contributions!"

When Master Zhide heard this, he finally relented and recited: "Amitabha, then their sins are recorded in front of the Buddha, and when they come back from their meritorious service, they will be punished!"

Only then did all the disciples breathe a sigh of relief, and said in unison: "Disciples, remember!

Zen Master Zhide found Xu Zhi, Xue Atan, and An Jingsi standing respectfully in the corner of the wall, thinking that they must also be involved in the battle between the two sects of disciples, and reprimanded: "Xu Zhi, Xue Atan, and An Jingsi, although the three of you are my lay disciples of Shaolin, you must also abide by my Shaolin laws!"

Seeing that Zhide's anger had not subsided, Xu Zhi hurriedly pulled Xue Atan and An Jingsi beside him, and replied, "Disciples, remember the master's teachings!"

Seeing Xu Zhi and the others admit their mistakes in person, Master Zhide confirmed his original thoughts even more, and said in a fierce voice: "The three of you, like other senior brothers, will also be punished by the Buddha!"

An Jingsi originally thought that the three of us did not participate in the fight, and as long as we admit our mistakes to the masters, we will not be punished, but he was indignant in his heart, and couldn't help but justify: "Abbot, Master Zhide's handling is unfair!"

In addition to the abbot and abbot, Master Zhide has absolute authority in the temple, he always speaks the same thing, he saw An Jingsi, a teenager, actually criticized his injustice in public, and his heart was angry, but after all, he was a high-ranking monk, and he still asked very calmly in his tone: "An Jingsi, the old man wants to listen, what is wrong with the old man?"

Xu Zhi was afraid that An Jingsi would anger Master Zhide, so he secretly pulled An Jingsi again, hoping that he would deal with it carefully.

An Jingsi was not afraid, and replied loudly: "When Master Zhide disposed of the senior brothers such as Chen and Liyin just now, he thought that they were noisy for no reason, fighting fiercely, and losing the cultivation of the monks, but I, Brother Xu, and Xue Atan were just watching the murals in the hall just now, and did not participate in the battle between the senior brothers, how could they be guilty of the same crime as the senior brothers?

Xue Atan also muttered: "What Brother An said is reasonable, the three of us have our duty, how can we be punished, and the disciples can't figure it out?"

From An Jingsi's words, Master Zhide knew that Xu Zhi and the three of them did not participate in the quarrel between the disciples of the two factions, and the anger in his heart disappeared immediately, but he still calmly said to An Jingsi: "Even if the three of you did not participate in the quarrel between the senior brothers, you are still guilty, or do you have to be punished?"

Xu Zhi couldn't figure it out, so he bowed down and asked, "Master Zhide, what crime are the disciples guilty of, please ask the master to make it clear!"

Master Zhide explained: "Although the three of you did not participate in the fight, but when you encounter a quarrel between the senior brothers, you should stop it, instead of staying out of the matter, your behavior and attitude of escapism and inaction also violate the purpose of Shaolin martial arts to save people, how can you be innocent? If you are not guilty, it is our sin!", after speaking, he put his hands together and recited: "Amitabha! Sin! Sin! Lao Wei also has the sin of not teaching strictly!"

Xu Zhi saw Zhide admitting his mistake to himself in front of all the disciples, and quickly took An Jingsi and Xue Atan's hands, and said: "Abbot! Two masters! The disciples know their mistakes! The disciples must change their mistakes and carry forward the spirit of Shaolin!"

Lichen and Liyin and all the disciples also echoed in unison: "Senior Brother Xu is right, we will definitely remember the teachings of the three masters and carry forward the Shaolin martial arts and spirit!"

Master Zhixin didn't speak, he saw that the disciples all recognized their mistakes, his heart was overjoyed, and he turned to ask An Jingsi: "Jingsi, you just said that you were looking at the murals in the White Cloud Palace, which one is it?"

An Jingsi hurriedly replied: "Master Yu, we just looked at this painting, but we can't understand the story in the painting?", after speaking, he pointed to the most eye-catching mural in the middle of the Baiyun Palace.

Master Zhixin has always only taught his disciples martial arts, and he is not good at words, so he hurriedly excused himself and said: "Lao Qu has always been clumsy and not good at telling stories, so let's talk to the disciples by Senior Brother Abbot!"

Abbot Zhicheng pondered for a while along the mural pointed by An Jingsi before telling the disciples the story on the mural:

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, Wang Shichong of the Eastern Capital supported the army and respected himself, calling himself King Zheng, he was greedy and cruel, fought every year, under his rule, the people were hungry all over the land, selling children and women, ten rooms and nine empty, plus his cool officials Duan Da and Zhu Cang were murderous demons, openly robbing women and children, eating human flesh, drinking human blood, and even birds and beasts were inferior. Pity me Shaolin is also under his tyranny, the temple is destroyed, and the incense is declining. At that time, the benevolent and righteous division of the King of Qin of the Tang Dynasty had already gone east to Hanguguan, and he was invincible along the way, and the people of Henan were even more looking forward to it, hoping that the King of Qin would capture Luoyang as soon as possible and execute these demons in troubled times.

That Wang Shichong did not think about how to treat the people leniently, motivate the soldiers, and tide over the difficulties, but intensified the increase in taxes, forced conscription, and cleared the wilderness, poor Luoyang West of the land, without the war, has long become a scorched earth, tens of thousands of people were displaced, and Wang Shichong was forcibly moved to Luoyang for burial.

An Jing Siqi said: "Master Zhicheng, King Qin's army is about to come over, why does Wang Shichong want to move back to the people?

Master Zhide touched An Jingsi's neck with his hand and praised: "Jingsi, you have not only grown taller, but also learned to think!

The sincere abbot explained: "Wang Shichong moved back to the people, not because he was afraid that the people would abandon the darkness and turn to the light, and they all took refuge in the King of Qin, so he really became a loner? But in this way, it also cut off the supply of grain and grass for the army of King Qin, at least delayed the time for King Qin to drive straight into Luoyang!"

He asked, "Abbot, forgive your disciple for being ignorant, how could Wang Shichong cut off the military rations of the King of Qin when he burned the grain of his own people?"

Hearing this, he also looked at the abbot dumbfounded, and said: "Yes, abbot! What the senior brother asked just now, the disciple doesn't quite understand, King Qin's army must have its own grain and grass supply, can it be borrowed from Wang Shichong!"

Zhixin suddenly realized: "Senior Brother Abbot, forgive the disciples for being stupid, Lao Wei also thought for a long time, whether it was because the King of Qin drove straight in, and the supply of grain and grass could not be supplied, so he had to rely on the supplies of the local people!"

The sincere abbot smiled: "It's still the senior brother who is smart, just think about it!"

Lichen smiled: "That Wang Shichong is still quite shrewd, I don't know what happened later?"

Although they are the elder brothers who started earlier, they have been in the temple for some years, but they are obsessed with practicing martial arts, they are absurd in learning words and chanting, and they rarely care about the historical origin of Shaolin Temple, and Shaolin Sanjue is also busy with temple affairs, and rarely has the opportunity to introduce the difficulties and glory of Shaolin Temple to the disciples in the past. Therefore, all the disciples listened with relish, and if they didn't understand something, they would also ask Shaolin Sanjue for advice in time.

Xu Zhi also asked curiously: "Master Abbot, Wang Shi is full of scheming, of course he will not sit idly by, so how did King Qin defeat him later?"

Zhicheng continued: Amitabha! Xu Zhi is right! When people live and die, of course, they will not sit idly by. Wang Shichong deployed his 30,000 elite soldiers near Luoyang, and asked his nephew Wang Ren to guard Yuzhou, forming a rivalry with Luoyang's army, plus Luoyang City is high and deep. Although the Tang soldiers were brave and their morale was high, they took several cities outside Luoyang City in one fell swoop, but they still couldn't attack Luoyang City for a long time, so they had to be stationed outside Luoyang City, but after a long time, the Tang Army soldiers were exhausted and had the idea of returning to the division, and the King of Qin was very troubled by this. At this time, Wang Shichong shrank in Luoyang City, seeing that Li Shimin, the king of Qin, had no intention of retreating, he had to take a risk, and used heavy money and territory to ask for help from Dou Jiande, the king of Xia in Hebei, and asked him to send troops to rescue, Dou Jiande saw that it was profitable, and immediately led an army of 300,000 to relieve Wang Shichong's siege of Luoyang.

Besides, Wang Ren, who was guarding Yuzhou, even used Wang Shichong's power to illegally occupy 100 hectares of fertile land that my Shaolin relied on for survival on the grounds of the urgency of the war. At that time, most of the monks in the temple were mainly practicing Buddhism, and there were few monks and soldiers who really practiced martial arts, and there were only 13 people, including the abbot Zhicao, the Theravada Shanhu, Tanzong, Nahui, Puhui, Mingsong, Lingxian, Pusheng, Zhishou, Daoguang, Zhixing, Seng Man, and Seng Feng. After some weighing, the abbot of Shaolin Temple, Zhi Cao, dissuaded the eager monks and soldiers, and told them to be impatient and patient for the time being.

The thirteen warrior monks had no choice but to devote their endless resentment and dissatisfaction to the practice of martial arts one move at a time. They believed what the abbot said: the right opportunity will come eventually, and we will be able to drive out the unrighteous masters, recover the temple property, and restore peace and tranquility inside and outside the Shaolin Temple.

Xue Atanhan said with a smile: "I didn't expect that the world-famous Shaolin Temple has also experienced so many catastrophes! Wang Ren let the Shaolin Temple run off cooking and food, wouldn't that be as dangerous as the current situation?"

The abbot of Zhicheng smiled bitterly: "The situation at that time was even more dangerous than now, at that time, I Shaolin had no other source of livelihood except for the fertile land under the mountain, plus at that time, my monk had just established the temple, and there was no experience in protecting the temple and protecting the temple, and the traitor Wang Renze?"

He bowed his head silently and said, "Compared with the ancestors, what are the difficulties we are currently encountering? We at least have a few acres of melons and fruits on the back mountain to survive our hunger!"

Suddenly clasped his hands together and said, "Amitabha, Senior Brother Likong is right! I hope that the Buddha will bless the Shaolin Patriarchs and grandfathers to survive this catastrophe!"

Seeing that he was kind-hearted, he smiled and comforted: "Senior brother, are you still worried about the ancients? The ancestors and grandfathers have already passed the difficulties, otherwise how can I have the prestige of Shaolin Temple today!"

Xu Zhi interjected: "Yes, I am angry, I know that Senior Brother is right! Our Shaolin Temple is blessed by the Buddha, and our ancestor will definitely have a good way to assist King Qin to conquer Luoyang City, which is also the best way for them to save Shaolin Temple, Abbot, are you right?"

Seeing that Xu Zhi guessed the truth, the abbot of Zhicheng was immediately impressed by this young man, and said with a smile: "Xu Zhi said very well, our ancestor also thinks so, but Shaolin monks can only chant and meditate, chant and worship Buddha, how can they get in touch with Tang Jun is very important! Monk Feng eleven stick monks fought their way out of the siege, went to the Tang army camp in Luoyang, met with the King of Qin, and discussed with him how to take Luoyang City and relieve the trap of Shaolin!"