The sun rises slowly, and the sunlight shines through the gaps in the clouds and spills down on the earth, leaving golden flowers on the rolling mountains, like holy light falling from the sky and moistening all things.

From afar, it feels like a dream.

On the winding mountain road, the monkey walked at the forefront with a golden hoop stick, always keeping a distance of two to three zhang from Xuanzang. The little white dragon pulled the horse and walked at the end.

All the way to the west, all the way to the wind and frost, but there is also a beautiful scenery all the way, people can't help but stop.

This way, the monkey has already walked once 800 years ago.

I vaguely remember the monkey half-crouching on the tree, holding the unripe wild orange that he had finally found with his palms, staring around with his red eyes in horror, every fluff stood up, and finally swallowed the orange peel together.

What was the look in his eyes at that moment, even the monkey himself couldn't tell. Maybe it's no different from the hungry wolves in the wilderness.

At that time, he only had obsession in his heart, only the desire to live, only the fear of the world, and he could no longer hold anything superfluous. So much so that years later, when I look back, I only remember endless hunger, endless panic, and boundless coldness.

A skinny monkey, but obsessed with walking barefoot for 108,000 miles, alone through hell, to pursue an unattainable dream...... To live is fear, to be cold, to be hungry, to be tormented.

At that moment, life had long withered to him, leaving only the desire to move forward, and only the obsession that burned into his soul. I can't let go of that feeling even after a hundred years.

So. He could rather die than give in. He had unparalleled courage. Because in his heart, there is nothing behind him except a barrenness.

If there is nothing, why should he be afraid of losing?

The road to immortality that was opened too early brought endless tribulations, and these tribulations gave him an incomparably tenacious heart. Let him defeat one opponent after another on that road, and survive one difficulty after another.

When I saw the vermilion gate on the Lingtai Fangcun Mountain, the bitterness was beyond words.

Even having traveled such a road, what else in this world can stump him?

Once, he thought like this until the moment he faced Nyorai.

It turns out that the most terrible thing in this world is not to have nothing, but to gain and then lose. It's the helplessness of losing that moment.

It was the first time he had bowed his head, to his most hated foe. For the first time, he was genuinely willing to be a dog in order to keep what he had.

However, the opponent did not even give him such a chance, but threw him into the abyss of remorse.

In that battle six hundred and fifty years ago, he was really defeated, completely defeated, defeated by himself, and defeated by the fragile heart that he had been ignoring all along.

In the end, all that was paid for the prolongation of the captivity was one hundred and fifty years. What a kind of despair it was, and even the anger was extinguished by the loss of the only fuel left.

Six hundred and fifty years, until the moment he stepped out of the Five Elements Mountain, he didn't even know how to face this world again. He could only run to the East China Sea to find Ao Tingxin, because he knew that this wise woman would not dare to anger him.

Standing on the mountainside, the monkey looked down at the mountains below with a golden hoop stick, looking at the changing clouds in the sky.

Xuanzang passed by him, stopped and stood still, and asked softly, "What are you thinking?"

The monkey looked down and smiled, "It's just remembering some old things, it's nothing." ”

"But there is bitterness in my heart, unspeakable?"

The monkey opened his mouth slightly, and for a long time, it only turned into a sigh, and said softly: "If you can't defeat Rulai, I'm afraid that this suffering will never be able to be freed." Let's go, no matter what, I will send you to Lingshan Da Lei Yin Temple. The Buddha blocks and kills the Buddha. ”

As he spoke, he walked forward step by step with the golden hoop stick, leaving Xuanzang standing alone and watching silently.

The little white dragon who fell at the end led the white horse and slowly followed.

Glancing at the little white dragon lightly, Xuanzang sighed softly: "I heard that Pan Tao only has a one-year period, didn't Master Ao Shi take the time to send Pan Tao back first?"

"This ......" Xiao Bailong glanced back at the position of the peach in the bag on horseback, and said with a dry smile: "I have to be willing to go away by the Great Sage." Don't be afraid, you'll pass by my house on the way west here, and it won't be long before you arrive. ”

Xuanzang nodded silently: "That's fine." Along the way, I have wronged Lord Ao. ”

"Don't. The little white dragon hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Master Xuanzang, don't say that, if the Great Sage hears it, he may have to give me a lecture." ”

Xuanzang smiled faintly, and the two walked side by side, gradually opening up some distance from the monkey.

Behind the rocks below the mountain, a monk quietly shrank his head and carefully observed the three of them.

The monkey immediately slowed down until he was parallel to Xuanzang, and he whispered, "Someone has been following us." ”

"Oh?" Xuanzang was slightly stunned and asked in a low voice, "Do you know who it is?"

"I don't know, the cultivation is very weak, so it is slightly stronger than mortals. That feeling should not be a person in the Daomen, nor a monster. ”

"So, is it the Buddha Gate?" Xuanzang stretched out his hand and pulled out a silk map from the shelf on horseback on the side, and spread it out while walking.

Halfway through, Xuanzang pointed to the high mountain in front of him and whispered to the monkey: "There is a famous temple in front. ”

"Famous temple, it can't be Guanyin Temple, right?"

Hearing this, Xuanzang frowned slightly and said, "The Great Sage knows?"

The monkey shook his head and said, "Needless to say, there is also a Black Wind Mountain next to it. ”

Rolling up the map in his hand and putting it back in his bag, Xuanzang asked softly, "Great Sage, have you been here?"

"I haven't been, but ah, it's better to take a detour. The monkey took a deep breath and sighed, "There may be an old monk in the Guanyin Monastery who has lived for hundreds of years, and he is very greedy. There may be a black bear spirit in the Black Wind Mountain whose cultivation is not bad. I mean, maybe. ”

Walking slowly, Xuanzang asked casually, "Great Sage." Don't you want to meet with the old department?"

"It's not an old ministry. The monkey shook his head and said, "I don't know the black bear spirit at all." It's just that I'm afraid of trouble. Now it is rumored that eating your flesh will lead to immortality. Take your robe and you can soar in the daytime, and it's hard to guarantee that they won't have ideas. ”

"What if the poor monk wants to know that there are tigers in the mountains and prefer to go to the tiger mountains?"

The monkey raised his eyebrows slightly and glanced at Xuanzang: "It's okay if you want to go, but don't leave me five steps away." ”

The poor monk understood. ”

......

In the distance, a magnificent Buddhist temple on a high mountain is filled with incense, and the sound of chanting is endless.

A young monk carried a front swing and galloped through the empty courtyard and went straight to the meditation room.

Pushing open the door, I saw a middle-aged monk in the meditation room, who looked to be no more than forty or fifty years old, sitting upright, beating the wooden fish and chanting. This person was the monk beside Manjushri that day.

"Master, master. The monk of that year said eagerly: "There is a demon monkey, a wandering monk and a layman who went up the mountain together. The appearance of the wandering monk is quite similar to the Xuanzang mentioned by the master that day. ”

The monk knocked on the wooden fish's hand, and suddenly paused slightly. Slowly opened his eyes and said with a smile: "Open the door to greet." ”

"The disciple obeyed. ”

......

The ringing of bells spread throughout the mountains.

From afar, the three of them saw the magnificent Guanyin Monastery perched on the mountain peak.

The towering courtyard wall, the floating tower with a height of more than ten zhang, and the clouds and smoke rise from the gap in the building and float into the sky.

"Don't be five steps away from me. The monkey whispered again.

Xuanzang nodded silently, but Ao Lie on the side was stunned.

"Don't leave the five steps? We're just putting up an order, could it be that something else can happen?"

Before Ao Lie could react, the vermilion gate suddenly opened, and more than a dozen monks wearing blue monk's robes rushed out. Lined up on both sides. In the middle came three people wearing red robes and looking like monks.

The one in the center was the monk who went with Manjushri to observe Xuanzang that day. I saw him put his hands together. He saluted Xuanzang from afar and said, "Poor monk Jinchi, I've been waiting for Master Xuanzang for a long time." ”

With that, smiling, he walked towards the three of them step by step with the other two monk-like people.

Xuanzang folded his hands and saluted in return, and said respectfully: "Poor monk Xuanzang, I have seen the Venerable Jinchi. The poor monk is just a wandering monk, and it is really an honor to bother the people of Jinchi to greet him in person. ”

"Eh, Master Xuanzang should not be polite. The master of the golden pond shook his sleeves, slowly walked to Xuanzang, and stretched out his hand to lead Xuanzang with a smile, but was blocked back by a monkey stick.

Jin Chi was startled, looked at the monkey with a frightened face, and said with a round eye: "This is ......"

Xuanzang said softly: "This is a friend of a poor monk, named Sun Wukong, not a Buddhist. Along the way, the poor monk was able to keep it smooth thanks to his care. Don't blame you for the offense. ”

The monks on the other side watched the monkey warily.

"Oh, Sun Wukong?" Jin Chi collected his thoughts, glanced at the monkey lightly, and stretched out his hand and said, "Let's invite Master Xuanzang to sit in the temple." ”

As he spoke, he raised his head and glanced at the monkey and Ao Lie and said, "The other two, since they are here, it is cool here, so please invite them together." ”

The tone of these words changed immediately, and if they were judged to be two, the contempt in their eyes was even more faint.

For a while, the monkey's brows couldn't help frowning slightly, and the little white dragon on the side also looked at the monkey in horror, and even Xuanzang couldn't help but glance at the monkey.

How many years has no one dared to talk to him like that?

was slightly stunned, but the monkey just collected his mind and did not have a seizure.

It was only at this time that Xuanzang and Ao Lie relaxed a little.

The group slowly walked into the temple, Xuanzang and Jinchi walked side by side, Xuanzang said casually: "Xuanzang's westward journey has not been fanfare, I don't know where the people of Jinchi learned that the poor monk was coming?"

"Master Xuanzang traveled west to seek the Dharma in order to purify all sentient beings. Even if such a great undertaking is not carried out with much fanfare, how can it be concealed? The poor monk naturally knew about it. ”

Ao Lie leaned next to the monkey and said, "It's the same as not answering, the old guy must have a problem." ”

"Shhhhhh The monkey replied in a low voice.

Looking around, the monks who followed the two seemed to be all focused on the monkey and didn't care about Xuanzang in front of them, and even a few of them were so frightened that their faces turned pale, and even their walking posture looked like they were wearing a pair of high-legged clogs.

"Hehe, they know who I am, and they pretend to be pretty similar. ”

The little white dragon pursed his mouth and said in a low voice: "I have to admire them, if it were me, even if I was given great benefits, I wouldn't have the courage to pretend in front of you." It's a job that will be lost if you're not careful. ”

All the way around, Jinchi enthusiastically introduces the surrounding scenery, from the podocarpus in front of the door, to the Bodhi tree in the courtyard, and then to the towering floating tower, the magnificent temple, the Buddha statue with a golden body, one by one, carefully introduced, and the words are full of pride. From beginning to end, Xuanzang just nodded silently, looked at it casually, and didn't comment much.

This Guanyin Monastery is not big, it can accommodate hundreds of monks, if you really want to visit it, you have to go up and down for half a day. But just a third of the way away, perhaps because of Xuanzang's indifferent reaction, Jin Chi seemed to be a little out of words, so he had to wave his hand, lead the three to the main hall, and let his monks show the three of them a seat, and he shook his sleeves and sat on the main seat.

When the tea was served, Jin Chi asked softly: "The poor monk's Guanyin Monastery, Master Xuanzang also took a general look, I don't know, compared to your Jinshan Temple, how is it?"

Xuanzang clasped his hands together and said lightly: "The temple is magnificent, the scenery is pleasant, and it is not comparable to Jinshan Temple." ”

"Oh?" Hearing this, a smile resurfaced on Jin Chi's face, he patted his thigh, and said with a smile: "Then, if there are any shortcomings, please ask Master Xuanzang for advice, and we can correct it." ”

"What is this shortcoming...... Xuanzang hesitated slightly, lowered his eyes, and said softly: "It's all in unison, except for the word 'Buddha' missing." ”

All the monks present were slightly stunned and looked at Xuanzang.

The monkey also raised his eyebrows and looked at Xuanzang.

Hearing this, Jin Chi frowned, pursed his lips and thought for a while, and said with half-squinted eyes: "The poor monk doesn't understand much, and I ask Master Xuanzang to make it clear." ”

"Amitabha. Xuanzang clasped his hands together, glanced at the monks on both sides, and said, "Speaking here, I'm afraid it's inconvenient." ”

"What's the inconvenience?" Jin Chi lowered his head and took a sip of tea, and said with a faint smile: "The poor monk is two hundred and seventy years old, and although his mana is weak, he has never been able to step into the Buddha realm. If there is something to say, it is better to take it out and refer to it together, so that the poor monk can know why the golden cicada lost the golden body of the Buddha that day. ”

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the entire hall was a little colder, as if it was a rhetoric that had been prepared for a long time, and everyone's eyes gathered towards Xuanzang.

I saw that Xuanzang's face was still the same, and he said softly: "Since the Master of Jinchi said so, Xuanzang will also be bold." (To be continued......)

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