Lingxian Zhenjun

Chapter 473 The Story of the Old Centipede
Seeing what Chen Yuan said, the old Taoist priest with a thin face and eyeballs sighed and bowed to the two of them.

"This gentleman, why bother to say what the poor have done, why not go with the flow."

"Yaodao, is it really like this?" The coldness in Han Youniang's eyes over there finally changed. She looked at Chen Yuan with a sense of searching.

Chen Yuan nodded, and helped the old man up, not paying any attention to the hideous and terrifying face of the other party.

"Whether it's a monster or a human, if you have good intentions, you deserve to be respected. Han Youniang, today you trespassed on this Taoist temple without asking innocence. You should accuse the Taoist priest of your crime."

"I want you to teach me."

Han Youniang counterattacked, hesitated for a moment, looked at the old Taoist priest with a terrifying face, and arched her hands with her sword. Even though she was still unconvinced in her heart, Chen Yuan must have said something like this.

"Girls don't need to be so polite."

The old Taoist tone softened, probably forgiving the woman's previous recklessness, and then ordered the servants outside to make tea, and brought in two stools.

"Forgive me for not being able to leave the hall, the two of you can sit here. There are still some things, and I will finish them first."

The old Taoist in a crumpled Taoist robe walked back to the futon, sat back under the oil lamp and fell into meditation again. Han Youniang sat a little further away, watching the shadow with teeth and claws on the wall illuminated by the light, her heart was always in shock.

She wanted to talk, but Chen Yuan on the opposite side just picked up the tea, blew on the hot air, and slowly sipped the fragrance of the tea.

For a while.

The old Taoist priest on the side of the futon finally heard a voice: "I have kept you two distinguished guests waiting for a long time."

His voice became weak, and when she got up and turned around, Han Youniang found that she was much thinner than before, her skin became dull, and the wrinkles deepened.

"Master Dao, this is..." Chen Yuan knew that she was borrowing longevity yuan to heal the people here, but she didn't expect such a big change. "You didn't take back the longevity yuan you lent?"

The old Taoist shook his head, a smile appeared on his bone-like face, he sat aside, and said weakly: "How can I take it back when I borrow it to treat people's diseases?"

"What do you ask for?" Han Youniang didn't believe there was such a selfless person, let alone a monster.

There was nothing wrong with her doubts, even Chen Yuan was a little doubtful, if she just used her life yuan to treat illnesses, and then took them back after the treatment, it would be reasonable to earn some meager money.

The old Taoist saw the doubt in the eyes of the two, and the wrinkles on his smile deepened.

"It's reasonable for the two of you to be suspicious."

The words fell silent at this point, and after a while, the old Taoist spoke again, "The poor Taoist will tell a story to you two."

Chen Yuan didn't speak, just nodded and listened quietly to what he had to say.

"...Where do we start?" The old Taoist looked at the flickering dim lights with a puzzled look in his eyes, "Let's start with this mountain... This temple has been around for many years. There was an ordinary worm, and it was very lively outside. At that time, it was in the cracks of the bricks, watching the pilgrims coming in and offering incense.

The Miaozhu in Guanli is a middle-aged man, surnamed Xu, with several children, accompanied by an old wife, just like an ordinary person, welcoming and sending off, and receiving believers who come to offer incense.But at night, only the little centipede knows that he is a master of the world and knows many spells. Every day, he will relieve the pilgrims from bad luck and illness by unraveling lottery and reading astrology. No one knows, but the little centipede know.

At night, the little centipede would crawl into the temple curiously, listen to him chanting scriptures, watch him practice spells, and watch their family happily together.

Many years have passed like this, but Xu Miaozhu is also getting old, his old wife passed away, and the married couples with several children went out to wander and wander. The originally lively Taoist temple became dead silent at night, the only thing that could hear The sound is the chanting in the temple.

And the little centipede may have listened to the scriptures, or perhaps inhaled the incense, and his body became as thick as a pole, and he gradually realized that he had his own self. One day, it entered the hall again, climbed on the beam and looked at him, After listening for a long time, I finally couldn't help but speak.

Just ask him: Xu Miaozhu, why are you guarding this Taoist temple?The family members have left, why do you still stay here to live a poor life?Who do you read the scriptures to at night?

Xu Miaozhu seemed to be aware of my existence, and was not surprised. He sat on the futon without lifting his head, but said softly: A monk, how can he be rich.If I don't recite scriptures, how can I make you wise? "

Speaking of this, the old Taoist seemed to be lost in memory, and still sighed at the tenacity of the temple.

"The little centipede has never seen a person like him. He doesn't ask for anything in return. He silently heals the villagers. At night, he also recites sutras to the mountain spirits and wild monsters around him. He hopes that the creatures in the mountains will grow wisdom and distinguish right from wrong.

Since then, the little centipede would come out to listen in the temple every night, and would try to lie beside him after a long time. Later, he had some spiritual skills, but he was always a monster. He had some thoughts and became his dead wife. The little centipede wanted to serve him day and night, but that day, the little centipede had never seen him get so angry, and drove him out of the hall for the first time. The number of pilgrims gradually decreased after a while.

The roof was covered with fallen leaves and dust, many tiles were blown off by the wind and smashed to pieces, and a lot of weeds grew in the yard.

When he thought he would not come back in the future, Xu Miaozhu came back again, but this time he came back with a haggard face, a much thinner figure, and a lot older.

The little centipede happily asked him where he had been, and Miao Zhu only said that he had gone several states to find someone, but unfortunately he couldn't find him, not even any news.

However, in the following days, Miao Zhu still chanted sutras and practiced spells in the hall as usual, and even called the little centipede to watch. Later, he realized that he knew that his time was running out, and wanted to pass on his spells and pass on his spells. This Taoism was passed down.

He said, if a person comes in in the future, who looks exactly like the god statue, thank you for me, and say that Xu Huaiyu has never been wonderful in his life. "

The old Taoist's words were still going on. Chen Yuan's eyes over there were a little hot, and she slowly raised her face to look at the statue on the altar in front of her.

"Later...Miao Zhu died, and the little centipede buried him in the open space behind the Taoist temple. Since then, the Taoist temple has panicked, but the centipede has not left, and is still practicing here.

On the way, several groups of Taoist priests came here and wanted to settle down here and rebuild the Taoist temple, but they wanted to tear down the statues inside and dig out the tombs behind.

How could the little centipede be willing, so he cast a spell to drive them away one by one, but so what, he panicked, and the Taoist temple no longer has an owner.But one day, many villagers came in, and the little centipede thought that they were going to occupy the place or take some things like the previous people, but what they saw was that those villagers pulled out the weeds in the yard and cleaned them up. hall.

From their conversations, I know that it is the wish of some dying old people in their village, because they all know Xu Miaozhu's ability in their hearts. Without him, these younger generations would not exist. It is only hope that this Taoist temple is still there.

The little centipede felt touched, as if he saw the temple wishers from back then standing in the temple to welcome and send them off, joking with every pilgrim, solving doubts, and seeing a doctor.

At that moment, it suddenly understood why Miao Zhu liked this place, and he didn't ask for anything in return.

At this moment, it understood the meaning of the word 'inheritance'.

Not long after, the little centipede was able to take shape, and stayed in this Taoist temple, found the Taoist robe that Xu Miaozhu had worn, and did the same thing here, but it was different. It only wanted to do something for Miaozhu, to pass on his mantle. "

Han Youniang lowered her eyes. The little centipede in this story is the old Taoist priest in front of her.

A monster's persistence actually gave her a shock for the first time. After a while, the woman said softly: "If this continues...you will die."

"Haha."

The old Taoist laughed happily, stroked his long beard and stood up. Seeing that the blurred statue was silent for a moment, his voice was low: "If you have thoughts in your heart, it doesn't matter if you die!"

The shock in her heart was huge, Han Youniang stood up silently, arched her hands towards the back over there, turned around and walked out of the palace door with her head down.

Chen Yuan followed and left, and when she walked to the gate of the temple, she turned her face slightly, and the old Taoist in front of the statue said, "I have received Xu Miaozhu's words, and I also thank him for his persistence over the years. Sansheng is lucky!"

The lights were dim.

The old Taoist with a skinny face bowed slightly towards the statue.

……

"Xu Miaozhu, the person you are waiting for has already been here, and he also knows what you said back then, but you... have you heard it?"

The stars and the moon paved the night sky, the old man walked in the wilderness, stood in front of a tomb, looked at the unwritten tombstone and asked softly.

(End of this chapter)