Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1959 Lingshan Temple

Because the scenery was so unique and magnificent, everyone admired the primeval forest and snow-capped mountains and flowing springs along the way, chatting and admiring the scenery. Before we knew it, we had walked for most of the day and had covered almost 15 kilometers.

Finally, everyone walked through most of the mountain and arrived at the foot of a peak.

This place is similar to the Buddha's sacred mountain described in "Journey to the West", or it is like a pyramid-like mountain surrounded by a circle of higher mountains, like a lotus surrounding a lotus platform.

From here on, the stone steps became neat and straight. Not only did they remain the same width, but they also had guardrails added, and the width was increased to about three to five meters. They went straight all the way to a temple surrounded by ancient cypresses at the top of the mountain.

"Have we arrived yet?" Mai Xiaomiao was a little overwhelmed and could not climb anymore. She had just walked the whole distance with her hands under Zhou Zhi's clothes, holding Zhou Zhi's belt. Now that she finally saw a building, she asked while panting.

"We're here. Just go up the last stone staircase." Zhou Zhi said, "How about you, Sister Xueli, go up first? Xiao Miao and I will come up slowly."

"Xiao Miao, you should exercise. In fact, I was worse than you two years ago. How about you now?" Chi Xueli said with a smile: "Then we will go up first. Good luck to you guys!"

There were about three or four hundred steps along the way. After Chi Xueli and the others went up first, Zhou Zhi helped Mai Xiaomiao lean against the stone steps, took out a dry towel from his bag and put it between her vest and clothes: "Don't stop until your vest is wet. Catching a cold is no joke. Grandpa Chi Ri told me to use this trick to avoid getting sick."

"Thank you." Mai Xiaomiao smiled. Although Mai Xiaomiao would unconsciously make some intimate gestures towards Zhou Zhi when they were alone, that was purely natural. Now that Zhou Zhi took the initiative to do so, she felt a little shy.

"This trip is a bit tiring, but it's still worth it, right?" Zhou Zhi took out a thermos cup from his bag and poured out a cup of boiling hot milk tea for Mai Xiaomiao: "Have something hot with some shredded ginger. I didn't bring much, so I didn't feel comfortable taking it out just now."

"Elbow, you are so kind to me." Mai Xiaomiao held the cup and naturally leaned towards Zhou Zhi again: "The scenery here is so beautiful."

After saying that, he looked up at his friends who were hurrying along on the steps, then turned his head back and said, "In fact, sometimes when you look back, you will find that the scenery is actually behind you."

"You sound a bit philosophical." Zhou Zhi let Mai Xiaomiao lean on him, lowered his head and smiled, "It feels good. Talk more about it later."

Mai Xiaomiao leaned her head on Zhou Zhi's arm and said, "You have led me astray."

The two of them just looked at the distant golden light which had already faded and now turned into a pure white snow-capped mountain. They suddenly felt something in their hearts, so they tacitly stopped talking and just looked quietly into the distance.

"Hey - hurry up -" Ah Zi's naughty voice came from above: "Brother Elbow! Sister Xiaomiao! We're here -"

Zhou Zhi and Mai Xiaomiao suddenly came to their senses. They looked up and saw that everyone was lined up at the top of the stairs, waving at the two people down the slope.

"Azi is really born with a good voice, it's so penetrating." Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "Xiao Miao, have you rested well? If you have rested well, let's continue!"

Hundreds of steps were another difficult hurdle. Zhou Zhi hung Mai Xiaomiao's bag on his chest and held Mai Xiaomiao's hands with both hands. The two of them climbed up slowly step by step. When they reached the mountain gate, the friends had disappeared.

Outside the mountain gate, there are six towering ancient pines that are vigorous and upright. The big ones require at least three or four people to hug them. Judging from their appearance, the trees are at least hundreds of years old.

Ancient trees are the best and most intuitive way to tell whether a place has a sense of age. If it were somewhere else, I don’t know how these six pine trees would be carefully protected, but here, its surroundings are the same as the day it was planted, without any change.

However, this has given the gate of Lingshan Temple a more natural and ancient atmosphere.

When I came here in the previous life, a new glazed tile mountain gate was built in the middle of the front of the temple, which was more magnificent and luxurious than the one now. The ancient pine trees were also protected by stone embankments. In Zhou Zhi's eyes, the current state of the ancient pine trees, combined with the ancient mountain gate, are completely original and feel much better than many of the renovated ones.

When they arrived here, they found that there were actually quite a few pilgrims, but they had arrived much earlier than them and were now preparing to go down the mountain.

Lingshan Temple is actually not very big. The whole temple is filled with smoke. The main hall is at the center, with numerous houses and corridors on both sides. They are connected vertically and horizontally from front to back, left to right, forming an ancient building complex that has not been renovated.

"Eh? This statue of Weituo is quite peculiar." Like many other temples, the first statue at the entrance here is also Weituo, but the shape of this Weituo made Zhou Zhi stop.

"Who is this? Why is he so strange?" Mai Xiaomiao looked at the statue curiously. It looked quite old. It was once extremely exquisite, but now it had a sense of vicissitudes.

"This is Wei Tuo, the guardian deity in Buddhism. Legend has it that he can drive away evil spirits and protect Buddhism, so many temples have built his golden statue as a gatekeeper."

"Then what do you mean by strange?"

"All the statues of Weituo I have seen are standing with a vajra in hand, ready to fight, but the Weituo in Lingshan Temple is sitting. I don't understand."

"Amitabha, this young donor is very attentive." A Buddhist chant made Zhou Zhi and the other man turn around, and they saw an old monk holding a broom in his hand, smiling at them.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

"Hello, Master." Mai Xiaomiao was quite polite and saluted the old monk with his hands clasped together.

Zhou Zhi never bowed when entering a temple, so he bowed slightly to the old monk.

"I can answer your question, young donor, because Patriarch Yang said that Lingshan Temple was originally pure, so there was no need for Wei Tuo to stand guard over the Dharma. He said that Wei Tuo was too tired to patrol the three continents and guard the Dharma, so he should take a rest when he came to our Lingshan Temple."

"Master Yang is indeed a great man." Zhou Zhi suddenly had a different feeling about the legendary living Buddha. "To help others is to help yourself. This is a saying from the Buddha. Master Yang's compassion has benefited the statues. He deserves respect."

"Are you two here to burn incense, make a wish, or fulfill a wish?" asked the old monk.

"Burning incense." "Visiting." Mai Xiaomiao and Zhou Zhi gave different answers, which made them feel a little embarrassed.

"Buddha opens the door of convenience, but only accepts those who are predestined." The old monk didn't care: "It seems that the young donor and my Buddhist sect are not yet predestined. I will help the female donor complete the ritual first."

"Will it take long? I can help you sweep the floor." Zhou Zhi took the broom from the old monk.

The old monk couldn't help but smile: "It's already been swept, just take it in and put it away."