Tian Sheng Monster Hunting

Chapter 8
"Your Highness, Honglu Temple has arrived."

In Honglu Temple, there was a King Hong who built a mansion here in the first generation, so it is called Honglu. This King Hong is good at Buddhism. He cast dozens of Buddha statues, set up incense halls, scripture halls, and invited more than a dozen masters every day. After he died, he complied with his last wish and changed Honglu into a temple, called Honglu Temple.

About ten years ago, there were many demons in Tiansheng, but the demons did not do evil. They lived together with people, and they were no different from people except that they did not intermarry and have children.

The founding emperor of Tiansheng had a demon friend who supported and helped him a lot during the difficult years when he seized power and replaced him. After he ascended the throne and established Tiansheng, he made a blood alliance. Do not harm demons without reason.

Once the covenant was established, the harmony between the monsters has lasted for more than 200 years.But there is a estrangement among the politicians, and monsters often commit crimes. Although people often commit crimes, they will be magnified abnormally.

Then to Emperor Zhao, Emperor Zhao's Taifu was a demon catcher before he became an official, and vowed to kill all the demons in the world. Perhaps under the influence of his mentor, Emperor Zhao built a Taoist temple, crowding out demons openly and secretly. Some demons have no way to survive and have nowhere to go Hiding, I gradually developed a heart demon, and began to hurt the people as expected.

The fuse of the conflict was the Honglu incident 12 years ago. The Yao clan acted recklessly and killed the royal family.

As soon as this incident happened, the city was full of grief and indignation, and the human and the demon finally came to opposite sides.

Before that, Emperor Zhao built a Taoist temple and raised many Taoist priests. They were pampered and worshiped by people on weekdays, but they were not very useful when they used soldiers. The chaos was over.

Although Emperor Tiansheng didn't say anything on the surface, after the Buddhist temple was built, the princes and ministers began to follow the Buddha, and Emperor Tiansheng went to Honglu Temple many times in person.

This place is located in the Shaocheng Mountains in the southern suburbs of Pingyang. There are many shades of trees, green mountains, cool weather and murmuring mountains and rivers. It is also a good place to escape the heat in summer and watch snow in winter.

"Ten years ago, there were not so many people here." Sheng Yang sighed.

"Your Highness, the Taoist temples in various places have been gradually abandoned in the past ten years, and the demon hunters have also been withdrawn. Honglu Temple is already Tiansheng's largest place to worship Buddha, and its influence is extraordinary... Amitabha."

Said in the place of the Buddha, it is a sin, Wen Ming hurriedly bowed.

"His Royal Highness!" The abbot dressed in red and gold thread greeted him.

"Abbot Wangchen."

Although Sheng Yang seldom came here by himself, he followed his father to pay respects to the Buddha a few times. The abbot here, named Wangchen, said he was a man of Buddhism, but in fact he was also a minister. He was able to stand out from so many Buddhist disciples. The largest temple in the world sits at the top, and the hardships paid are no less than those of the officials in the court.

With a shrewd light in his eyes, he sent people to disperse the ordinary pilgrims, and led Sheng Yang to the Buddha statue.

Abbot Wangchen passed the incense, Sheng Yang lit the incense, inserted it, and knelt down on the mat and kowtowed under his guidance.

Wen Ming, who was behind him, asked the little master, "Is there a place to consecrate personal items here? I want to consecrate my golden Buddha pendant."

"Yes, my lord, I will take you there."

Hearing Wen Ming's voice go away, Xin'er helped Sheng Yang to stand up.

"Abbot, take me to see Empress Xiaoci."

The abbot lowered his head slightly, Sheng Yang inadvertently saw a scar under his neck, and asked curiously.

"The abbot pays homage to the Buddha and recites scriptures in this temple every day, yet he was injured?"

"Your Highness was joking. The poor monk has practiced kung fu since he was three years old. Even today, when he is in the ear, he still persists in getting up in the morning to do kung fu. His body is full of scars from his practice."

"It's because I'm shallow."

Sheng Yang smiled, and with Xin'er's support, he walked into a simple courtyard in the backyard. There was a single plum blossom at the gate of the courtyard, which was dazzlingly red in winter.

Sheng Yang was taken aback for a moment, Hongmei was his mother's favorite.

"The plum blossoms are growing well, thanks to the abbot taking good care of them. Xin'er, the sesame oil is worth ten thousand taels."

The abbot was a little surprised, when the saint came up, he didn't get so many rewards. Today is really blessed by the Buddha, and he made a windfall.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"Okay, you all retreat, I will go in by myself."

Sheng Yang pushed open the door, because monks cleaned the room all year round, the room was spotless, but it was empty, without a single object in an ordinary room.

The room is covered with white cloths, and the front door is facing a wall. There is a portrait of a woman hanging on the wall. In the painting, the woman is calm and graceful. She is dressed in a gorgeous red dress. The woman outside the painting is exactly the same, but her eyes are much softer, and the faint smile at the corner of her mouth can heal all the wrinkles in Sheng Yang's heart.

"Mother."

The former empress died unexpectedly and could not enter the clan ancestral hall or be buried in the imperial mausoleum. The tablet was accompanied by the ancient Qingdeng Buddha, and the tomb was not erected on the mountain.

Even the posthumous title Xiaoci was secretly ordered by the emperor, except for her father and daughter, almost no one knew about it.

Poor mother, her voice and smile turned into an inch-by-inch tablet, and what is more heart-wrenching than the mother is the heroic soul contained in the tablet next to it, the former prince Li Shengyuan...

"Brother..."

Her elder brother, who was born intelligent, kind and gentle, died in the prime of his life. He was the son of the emperor and empress.

She stepped forward and gently stroked the portrait of her mother and brother, tears swirled in the frame, although no one saw it, she gritted her teeth to prevent it from falling.

The palm rubbed against the wooden sign, the cold words were engraved on the wood without emotion, and even engraved on the tip of her heart. In countless dreams, the scene of the day when her mother and brother were killed will never go away...

The scenery was just right that day, and the mother's eyes were filled with supreme tenderness, because the Holy One loved red, she wore bright clothes almost all the year round, but Sheng Yang once heard from his grandmother that his mother's queen's boudoir loved light colors, especially light green.

It was the spring day of the tenth year of Emperor Zhao. On March [-]th, the Holy Majesty went on a tour to the south, and the Empress took a pair of children to Honglu for an outing. She rarely wore bean green clothes.

"Mother, the baby is late."

In the distance, a young boy came riding a horse, wearing a silver-gray riding outfit, and the spring breeze was blowing on his face, flying wildly. One of them jumped off and bowed slightly to the queen.

The teenager and her mother and daughter have very similar eyes.

"elder brother!"

"Yue'er, come, brother hug."

Rongyue is already 12 years old, but she seems to grow slowly, and she is loved and ignorant of the world, so innocent and cute, in the eyes of her mother and brother, she is still a child of seven or eight years old, she threw herself on her brother excitedly, sucking In order to inhale the smell of ambergris, this kind of incense can only be used by the Holy Majesty and the Prince.

"Okay, Yue'er is so old, you still treat her as a three-year-old child, and you can't spoil her!" The queen scolded.

"Look what my brother brought you!"

He took a paper kite half the size of a man from the servant.

"Wow, brother, such a big paper kite!"

"This is the treasure that your brother always thought of bringing to you when he led troops to fight in the south."

Although Xiao Rongyue rubbed the paper kite like a baby with one hand, she tightly pinched her brother's hand with the other hand, rubbing the calluses on his hand, the softness in her heart increased instead of diminishing.

"Brother has worked hard leading the troops!"

Li Shengyuan looked at Rong Yue in surprise, and then at his mother who was full of relief, "Is it the mother who taught my younger sister to say that?"

"That's not it, Rong Yue thought of it herself."

Li Shengyuan hugged his younger sister proudly, "My dear sister, as long as Tiansheng is prosperous and you and your mother are healthy and happy, my brother will not have to do anything hard."

Rong Yue nodded with a half understanding.

The mother and son had dinner at Honglu Temple and flew kites not far from the temple for an hour.

Honglu Temple was cold at that time, and because of its beautiful scenery, it became a good place for the royal family to visit near Beijing. Although the queen is traveling in private today, it still makes people clear away the idlers.

There were not many people in the mountains, and it became more and more empty in the evening. Although it was early spring, it was still a bit cold. The clouds in the sky darkened quickly, and the fog in the mountains gradually rose. There were invisible birds singing, and I was tired of listening.

"The storm is coming."

The queen said something in a low voice, and for some reason, a strange feeling arose in her heart, and she called the two playful children to get on the carriage and return to the palace.

"Mother! Mother!"

Rong Yue's anxious voice came.

"What's the matter, Yue'er?" Li Shengyuan looked down at his sister wriggling willfully in his arms.

"Brother, I lost the jade, and the emperor rewarded me with the jade!"

(End of this chapter)