Collection of Gods

Chapter 965 Pilgrimage
At 9:00 a.m. on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, Tianmu Taoist Temple officially opened to welcome visitors.

As the gate leading to Tianmu Taoist Temple lit up, countless eagerly awaited tourists instantly poured into the temple.

At this moment, after several hours of burning incense, the entire Tianmu Taoist Temple was filled with clouds and smoke, and the sound of chanting could be heard faintly. Looking around, it was like a fairyland.

"Wow!"

"so beautiful!"

“How spectacular!”

Zhou Lei is a freshman at Jiangsu and Zhejiang University this year. Normally, she should have reported to the school on September 9st. However, she herself did not expect that she could grab tickets for the opening day of Tianmu Taoist Temple, and she even grabbed two tickets. So without thinking twice, she changed her original flight ticket and flew over from Yunnan Province with her grandmother.

Zhou Lei was actually not that interested in Taoism. The reason she initially chose to grab the ticket was, on the one hand, she simply wanted to join in the fun, and on the other hand, her grandmother had been practicing Taoism devoutly for more than a decade. She thought that if she could bring her grandmother to the Tianmu Taoist Temple for a visit, the old lady would definitely be very happy.

In fact, Zhou Lei was not wrong. The old man was indeed very happy. He had not stopped exclaiming since entering the Tianmu Taoist Palace.

"Grandma, look quickly."

"Why are all those Taoists kneeling down?"

Zhou Lei supported her grandmother as they walked towards the mountain gate. However, when they were still some distance away from the gate, they saw many Taoists in Taoist robes kneeling in front of the gate with extremely pious expressions, climbing up with their heads bowing step by step.

"Leilei, the Tianmu Taoist Temple is holding a grand ceremony, and just now the gods and spirits appeared, so this group of people are on a pilgrimage, and only in this way can they show their sincerity."

Xu Fangping is 72 years old this year. She has completely white hair, kind eyes and looks very gentle. She first bowed slightly to the group of pilgrims to show respect, and then explained to her granddaughter.

"what……"

“One step and one bow?”

"It's such a high mountain. How long will it take them to climb it?"

When Zhou Lei heard this, her beautiful eyes widened slightly and her expression was a little shocked.

"It's hard to say."

Xu Fangping shook her head, and without wasting any more time, she started to climb up the stone steps with Zhou Lei. Their ticket was a two-day pass, and the Tianmu Taoist Palace had 37 main halls and 235 small halls. If they wanted to take a closer look, two days would barely be enough.

Just like that, the grandparents and grandchildren passed the group of pilgrims and continued to climb up with the crowd. Soon they arrived at the mountain gate of Tianmu Taoist Palace. Like other Taoist temples, the mountain gate of Tianmu Taoist Palace was also three stone arches, but the mountain gate built by Tianmu Taoist Palace was much larger and more exquisite than other Taoist temples. It looked majestic, and made people feel quite small when they were inside it.

After Zhou Lei and Xu Fangping took photos in front of the mountain gate, Xu Fangping reminded Zhou Lei: "Leilei, we will go through the side doors on the left and right later, and you must be careful to step over the threshold with your left foot first, and never step on the threshold."

"Ok."

Zhou Lei nodded obediently, and asked curiously: "Grandma, this mountain gate looks so gorgeous, and there are many patterns engraved on it. Is there any saying about it?"

"Of course there is a saying." Xu Fangping smiled kindly and continued to climb up while explaining to her granddaughter: "Look at these three arches. In Taoist teachings, these three arches symbolize the Three Realms. The outside is the secular world, and the inside is the fairyland. So when we step into the mountain gate, it means that we have jumped out of the Three Realms and Five Elements and entered the fairyland."

"As for the pattern engraved on the mountain gate you just mentioned, it is actually the Taoist guardian gods, the Azure Dragon on the left and the White Tiger on the right, who are specifically responsible for guarding the Taoist temple gate."

After listening to her grandmother's explanation, Zhou Lei couldn't help but show some enlightenment on her face. She then took Xu Fangping's arm and said, "Grandma, you know so much! You are even more professional than those professional tour guides!"

As a tourist attraction, Tianmu Taoist Temple is naturally equipped with enough professional tour guides to meet the needs of tourists from all over the country. However, today is the opening day of Tianmu Taoist Temple. Although the scenic area has prepared enough tour guides, facing the huge passenger flow, it is still a drop in the bucket, so many people can only take advantage of the tour guides, getting a explanation here and there.

In contrast, Zhou Lei can enjoy a "tour guide" all to herself, which inexplicably satisfies her little vanity greatly.

The grandfather and grandson chatted as they climbed, and after passing the mountain gate, they soon arrived at the first hall of Tianmu Taoist Palace, which is also the first hall of all Taoist temples after passing the mountain gate - Lingguan Hall.

The Taoist guardian god of the mountain, Wang Lingguan, is enshrined here. He is the highest guardian god in Taoism, and his position is similar to that of Wei Tuo in Buddhism. He has a red face and beard, wears a red robe with golden armor, has three glaring eyes, holds a wind-fire wheel in his left hand, and a steel whip in his right hand. He looks extremely mighty and brave. He can not only distinguish the true from the false, distinguish good from evil, reward the good and punish the evil, but also cure diseases, drive away evil spirits, collect plagues and poisons, and save all lives.

Normally, for Taoist temples with limited conditions, the Lingguan Hall usually only enshrines one Wang Lingguan. However, the Tianmu Taoist Temple obviously has nothing to do with the four words "limited conditions". Therefore, the Lingguan Hall of the Tianmu Taoist Temple not only enshrines Wang Lingguan, but also has four great marshals on both sides of Wang Lingguan, namely Marshal Ma with three heads and nine eyes, Marshal Zhao with a black face and thick beard, Marshal Wen who is the guardian god of the religion, and Marshal Guan with phoenix eyes and jujube face.

There are five statues standing in the magnificent palace.

When Zhou Lei and Xu Fangping walked in, many tourists were worshipping. Although there were many tourists on the scene, everything was in order.

"Grandma, should we pay our respects?"

Zhou Lei stood beside Xu Fangping and asked in a low voice.

"Please worship. Wang Lingguan can cure diseases, expel evil spirits, and collect plagues and poisons. The four marshals can exorcise evil spirits and ward off disasters. This year is a year of great disasters, and plagues are rampant. Hangzhou is a big city with a large population flow. After you go to school, you must take care to protect yourself."

Taking this opportunity, Xu Fangping couldn't help but give Zhou Lei a few words of advice.

"Grandma, don't worry!"

"I'm an adult now, I'm a big kid!"

Zhou Lei gently shook Xu Fangping's arm, and said in a coquettish tone: "I will definitely protect myself and keep myself healthy, and I won't let Mom and Dad and you worry!"

"Okay, okay, grandma believes in you~"

Xu Fangping couldn't help laughing when she saw Zhou Lei pretending to be an adult even though she was clearly a child. However, she didn't expose her. She patted Zhou Lei's hand and said, "How do you worship the gods? You must be pious when you worship the gods and never be disrespectful."

"Remember, remember, don't worry~"

Zhou Lei nodded repeatedly in response, then quickly bought two incense sticks, lit them, kept one for herself, and gave the other to her grandmother, then they each found a statue of the deity and began to worship and pray...

(End of this chapter)