Chapter 17: The Forest of the Dead

Although He Qianshan had heard of this catastrophe, he couldn't imagine such a tragedy, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and suddenly remembered what Qianjue said to Zhixin, and asked urgently: "Senior brother said that my father and mother were also in the temple that night?"

"At that time, I heard from the senior brother in the temple that a rich and noble family wanted to do Dharma in the temple for several days, and they lived in the temple. As for whether it was your parents or not, I was only guessing at first, but judging by my uncle's reaction, it should be fine! I still remember that there was a child who should be your brother!"

Although time has passed, hearing that his parents and eldest brother were in danger at that time, He Qianshan was still inexplicably worried in his heart, and couldn't help asking, "What happened to them? How did they escape this killing?"

"Senior brother hasn't entered the Arhat Hall in the temple yet, has he?"

“...... I wanted to go in and see, but the door of the temple was locked all day long, but I couldn't enter!" He Qianshan didn't understand why Qianjue suddenly asked this question.

"Well, except for the days when the festival was opened and cleaned, the Luohan Hall was locked for many years. ”

"Why?"

"Because that Luohan Hall leads to a place where you can't go—the Forest of Death!"

"Is it a forest?"

"That's right! It's the forest on the top of this wood-dwelling mountain! That forest is so strange that ordinary people go in and out, and life and death are unknown! Therefore, it is called 'death'! If my estimation is correct, your family was able to save their lives by hiding in the forest of death, and your mother gave birth to you in that forest!"

He Qianshan was a little puzzled.

"Didn't Senior Brother say that there is no entry and exit in the Death Forest, and how did my father get in and out?"

"There is only one possibility, and that is the path led by Master Hongye!"

"Master Hongye?"

"The younger brother did not know, I heard that the original Duhai Patriarch passed through Muqi Mountain, climbed the mountain and went ascetic, strayed into this forest of death, was trapped in it for more than ten years, and only after nine deaths did he find out the path in the forest, and got out of trouble, so he built a temple here to guard the forest of death, to prevent people from trespassing and giving his life in vain!

The next generation of foresters is chosen by the previous generation, and the route in and out of the forest is only passed down by word of mouth between the two generations of foresters.

Master Hongye is the forest keeper of the previous generation, so without him leading the way, it would be impossible for your family to enter and exit this forest of rebirth!"

"Why don't you map the route in the forest and publicize it widely, so that you don't have to spend this effort to guard it?"

"That's a good question! I also asked Hongye Shibozu in the same way, and Shibozu said that Duhai Patriarch found a big secret in the forest that was enough to shake the heavens and the earth, and he was worried that this secret would be known to the bad people and cause a big disaster, so he was not allowed to make the path in the forest public. ”

"Oh!" He Qianshan nodded, and suddenly remembered something: "Is the reason why Senior Brother thinks that I was born in the forest because of this secret?"

"Exactly, your internal strength is strange, your endowment is extremely high, your healing is extremely fast, and you have ...... In short, they are all extraordinary, and I can't think of any other reason than the experience I received in the forest of the past when I was born!"

He Qianshan stared and pondered, thinking about the differences between himself and others since he was a child, and the various strange things he did in the eyes of others, it was indeed not normal.

Qian Jue continued: "That's all I know, and Uncle Zhixin may not know more than me. ”

"Maybe I should ask my father and my eldest brother. ”

"Do you think they've been hiding from you for twenty years, and now they're going to tell you?...... If you want to know more, unless......"

"Unless you go into this Death Forest!"

Qianjue seemed slightly startled, looked at He Qianshan, and nodded.

"Senior brother, you just said that the previous generation of forest guards was Master Hongye, so who is it now?"

"Alas!" Qian Jue sighed and said: "I'm ashamed to say that I was originally selected as a forest keeper of this generation, but I just practiced with Hongye Shibozu for a year, and Shibozu actually said that I was violent and murderous, and sent me back to the temple...... Hmph, the Venerable Hongye is a generation of monks, but he doesn't take off his appearance!"

Speaking of this, the corners of Qianjue's mouth trembled, and he didn't know whether he was laughing or angry.

He Qianshan's expression was also regretful, and then he asked, "Where is Master Hongye now?"

"The Venerable Master was also seriously wounded and died in that battle!"

“...... Really?"

He Qianshan is benevolent and righteous, although he has never met Hongye, but after a thousand words, Hongye is undoubtedly the great benefactor of the He family, and when he heard that he had already died, he couldn't help but feel sad in his heart, and only continued to ask after a while: "So...... Isn't the route in and out of this forest lost, and no one can enter or leave it?"

"It's true that the route is lost, but it may not be that no one can get in and out!"

"Who?"

"You!"

"Me?"

"If there is one person in this world who can enter and exit the forest of rebirth, it is you who was born in the forest!

Although He Qianshan was skeptical of Qianjue's statement, he was eager to seek the truth!

"A thousand mountains, but please give it a try!"

"You must think about it, but you will lose your life!"

He Qianshan smiled bitterly and said: "If I don't find out, I will have trouble sleeping and eating all day long, then life is better than death!"

Qianjue nodded: "Well, this is for you, for the temple, if you can find the path in the forest again, it will also be a great credit!"

Qianjue said and took out something from his arms to show He Qianshan, and said, "This is a little power of me, the so-called head of the Luohan Hall!"

He Qianshan saw that it was a copper spoon.

"This is the key to the door of the Luohan Hall?"

"Well, it's just that it alone can't go to the Forest of Death, and there's a difficulty—the back door key of the Luohan Hall is in Uncle Shi's! ”

"Do you want to ask Master for it?"

Qianjue waved his hand: "Absolutely not! Uncle Shi will definitely not allow you to go, if you tell him clearly, it will be difficult to get the key again!"

"It's just a lock, just smash it open!"

"No, it's a six-fold lock made by a craftsman, with a mechanism inside, if it is destroyed by an external force, the door will not be opened!"

"So...... Does my brother know where Master left the key, and if I carry it with me like this, how can I get it?"

"In my opinion, it is unlikely that Uncle Shi will keep the key with him, because Uncle Shi has reminded me not to put the key on my body, saying that there are people outside the person, and it is inevitable that the master will take it away if I put it on my body, so I should hide it in a secret place.

Therefore, I suspect that Uncle Shi hid the key in his meditation room. Wait for you to have dinner, and stay in this garden, and when Uncle Shi leads us to do evening classes, we will go to his meditation room to search, and if you find it, you will wait in front of the Luohan Hall, and I will find a chance to come and let you in!"

Although He Qianshan felt that it was inappropriate to do this, he was distracted when it mattered to himself, and he couldn't care about it, so he nodded and agreed.

After dinner, He Qianshan entered Zhixin's meditation room according to his words.

The layout of the meditation room was extremely simple, and there were not many cabinets, and soon He Qianshan turned over the corners in the room.

But he didn't even see the shadow of the key, but after a portrait of the Sea Patriarch hanging on the wall, he found something strange!

There is a hole in the wall behind the portrait, and two small copper bells are hung, and the silk thread of the bell leads to the wall.

He Qianshan's search was fruitless, so he withdrew from the meditation room and waited in the courtyard.

After a while, Qian Jueguo came as promised, and asked softly, "Did you find it?"

He Qianshan shook his head.

"Are you sure you're looking carefully?"

"I'm almost three feet away from digging into the ground!"

Qian Jue frowned and said to herself, "Where the hell are you hiding? Could it be that you are buried underground?"

He Qianshan suddenly said: "Senior brother, you will come over at this time tomorrow, I have my own way to deal with the key!"

Qian Jue is quite unconvinced.

"What's the solution?"

"I don't have to talk about it later, anyway, it's on me!"

......

The next day, He Qianshan still found Zhixin to play chess.

Unlike the day before yesterday, in this game, He Qianshan's momentum was like a rainbow, and he only killed Zhixin with only half a stick of incense.

Zhixin laughed when he lost, and quipped: "Could it be that I lost yesterday and was not convinced, and today I am so domineering and does not show any mercy?"

He Qianshan smiled but did not speak.

Zhixin's expression suddenly froze: "How is the kung fu practice, but there is slackness?"

He Qianshan didn't answer, picked up a sunspot, put it in the palm of his hand, and lifted his luck, the chess piece actually bounced up, and then began to spin like a spinning top, turning faster and faster, and finally only a pale black ball shadow remained.

The black ball shadow gradually rose into the air again, leaving He Qianshan's palm, rising higher and higher, and when it rose to a height of six feet, it gradually slowed down and fell back......

"Now we can only go so far, what does Master think?"

Zhixin was already stunned at this time, he couldn't do it with his apprentice's hand, but he was not sure to do it better, the problem was that he had been immersed in this skill all his life, and He Qianshan had been full for more than a month, and he was more and more convinced of his previous guess.

Zhixin came back to his senses, but he didn't know how to answer, so he had to smile bitterly: "I'm afraid that the teacher won't be able to teach you anything! In the future, you will go to the scripture building next door, but the martial arts classics you see can be used as a reference to practice, if you have any questions, come and ask me!"

After he finished speaking, he took out the copper spoon and handed it to He Qianshan, presumably the key to the scripture building.

He Qianshan smiled happily, and said while cleaning up the chessboard: "That's fine! Anyway, I haven't been to this scripture building yet! There is also the Arhat Hall......

Hearing the three words of Luohan Hall from He Qianshan's mouth, Zhi Xin was shocked, and the corner of his eye involuntarily glanced up to the left, and when he turned back to look at He Qianshan in an instant, He Qianshan was still packing up the chessboard, and he didn't seem to look up.

He quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"The Luohan Hall only opens around the day of the ceremony, and there is nothing to look at, so you should concentrate on practicing!"

"Yes, Master!"

......

During the evening class, He Qianshan entered Zhixin's meditation room again, and remembered that the position that the master's eyes were aiming at was above the door, so he stood on tiptoe and stretched out his hand to grope for a while at the door beam, but found nothing, and couldn't help but feel strange.

Suddenly, he slapped his head and laughed dumbly.

When he got out, he leaned in, grabbed the eaves with his left hand, and poked into the door plaque of the "Zen room" with his right hand, and found a roll of dusty yellow silk.

The exhibition will be opened, and the inside is indeed a black iron key, three inches long, the body of the key is hexagonal prism, and there are irregular notches arranged on the prism, which must be the key to the back door of the Luohan Hall!