Xuanyuan Jue

Chapter 153: Ksitigarbha Pagoda (3)
"I thought they were lying in ambush on purpose to find trouble," Lu Ban murmured to himself, and then waved his hand at the dumb Arhat, "Well... I've heard about your life experience, that's fine, I don't want to do it again. If you are in trouble with you, get out of the way!"

Instead of dispersing, the dumb arhats gathered in a row to block the tower gate even more tightly.

"Hey?" Lu Ban yelled angrily, "You kick your nose and face, right? I want to fight with you to the end!"

"Team leader, squad leader," Hongzhi hurried forward and said, "They don't know the situation yet, let the poor monk come and let us know."

"Hurry up and compare pictures to understand! Dealing with them is really f*cking hard..." Lu Ban muttered, and Feng Shen stepped aside angrily.

"You two are taking care of me," Hongzhi smiled, and then he pulled the dumb arhats and gestured quickly.

Because Hongzhi was lying on his back, others couldn't see the specific gestures, so he pointed to the pagoda gate and Feng Lu from time to time.

Although Hongzhi tried his best to make gestures, the faces of the group of dumb arhats became more and more serious. They stared at Feng Lu with hostility while firmly waved their hands and shook their heads.

Seeing that the dumb arhat refused, Hongzhi was a little anxious. He patted his chest vigorously, as if he had made a big promise.

Seeing this, all the dumb arhats wrung their foreheads to consider, looked at each other for a while, and then reluctantly nodded and left.

After seeing off the dumb arhat, Hongzhi wiped his forehead and let out a sigh of relief.

Ever since he met the dumb arhat, Feng Shen didn't speak, but kept stealing observations.When the dumb arhats walked away, Feng Shencai said: "Master Hongzhi, if Ma's memory serves me right, this supervisor is in charge of all affairs of the courtyard and general affairs of the temple, he ranks first among the eight deacons, right? "

"That's true," Hongzhi said, "however, our temple is small with few monks, and there are no such posts as Dianzuo and Liaoyuan. I heard from my fellow disciples, and since the abbot, they all look forward to poor monks... oh, Ma Why does the benefactor ask this question?"

"Because I was a little curious," Feng Shen said, "Now that I heard what Master said, I am even more puzzled."

"how do I say this?"

"Forgive me for speaking bluntly," Feng Shen said, "the prison courtyard has orders, and the warrior monks who protect the temple should follow them immediately. But just now, Master Hongzhi approached to beg, and those guardians reluctantly agreed... Haha, this is both emotional and reasonable. It’s hard to figure out.”

"Isn't that right?" Lu Bantou also said, "I just got a taste of it after my brother mentioned it. Monk, apart from your abbot, isn't it just what you say in this temple? Just like you said to them It looks like it's really a bit humble!"

"Humble?" Hongzhi was stunned, and then said, "The poor monk can't agree with Lu Bantou's words. A monk is no better than a public official. How can there be any distinction between high and low? For the position of the prison, The poor monk considers himself incompetent, so naturally he has to discuss everything with everyone. The behavior of the guardian of the temple just now is nothing but out of loyalty to the abbot, they are so sincere, how can the poor monk bear to speak harshly to each other?"

"Tsk tsk," Lu Bantou joked, "I just said one sentence, but it elicited a lot of words from you... Great monk, whenever you want to return to the vulgar, you can come to me. With this eloquent mouth, I will protect you in the government office." Be a lawyer."

Hongzhi hurriedly said: "The poor monk's nonsense made Lu Ban laugh."

"All right, all right," Lu Ban said, waving his hands, "quickly open the pagoda door, I still want to meet the abbot old monk!"

Hongzhi responded, took out a bunch of copper keys from his sleeve, and opened the padlock on the tower door.Seeing this, Feng Lu followed Hongzhi into the pagoda.

As soon as he entered the tower, Lu Ban couldn't help but "Huh".It turned out that there was still an inner door blocking in front of the three of them.

Lu Bantou complained: "This layer upon layer is really tightly wrapped..."

"Leader, please don't speak loudly," Hongzhi made a silent gesture, "wait for the poor monk to ask Fang Zhang's meaning through the door."

After Hongzhi finished speaking, he turned to the inner door to salute. "Disciple Hongzhi, I have something important to report to the abbot."

The voice fell to the ground, but no one answered inside.

Hongzhi thought that his voice was too low, so he raised his voice again, but he shouted three times in a row, but there was still no sound inside the door.

Hongzhi looked back at Feng Lu and the two of them, and was about to call out again, but a weak sigh came from the crack of the door. "Since you're here, you can do it yourself, so why ask me?"

Hearing the movement of the abbot, Hongzhi suddenly felt at ease. "Because there are two pilgrims coming together, the disciple dare not be good at it."

"Oh?" The voice inside the door trembled slightly, "You actually led the pilgrims...to this place?"

"The abbot forgives the sin, and the disciple is helpless." Hong Zhi said, "It is supposed to not disturb the abbot to practice meditation, but these two benefactors..."

"No problem, let them in."

Hong Zhi cleared his cough and said loudly: "If the abbot is inconvenient, I will discuss it with the two benefactors... When the retreat is critical, a little carelessness will destroy half a lifetime of cultivation. So think carefully, don't make any mistakes, otherwise the disciple will make a big mistake!"

There was silence in the door for a while, and then said: "Don't worry, I have a sense of proportion."

"Okay, disciple, invite them in now." After Hongzhi finished speaking, he slowly opened the inner door.

I saw that the four walls inside were desolate, empty and without much decoration, only a wooden ladder hovering and stacking.A big futon was spread under the stairs, and a skinny old monk sat cross-legged on it.

The old monk's face was pale and pale, and the monk's robe was a little loose, probably due to the long period of retreat, a layer of gray hair and short beard grew on the top of his head and under his chin.His brows were tightly furrowed, his eyes were sad, and his weather-beaten face was full of vicissitudes of time.

Feng Shen gave a salute, then picked the most important ones to report his intentions, the old monk listened silently, as if some things were none of his concern.

Seeing that the old monk was silent, Feng Shen said again: "I haven't asked Master about the taboo yet..."

"The Abbot's Dharma name is up and down!" Hongzhi answered on his behalf, and then said to the old monk, "Master, he went all the way up the mountain, so you should say something!"

"Oh", the old monk asked slowly, "I Jue Ren, I have seen the two Tanyues... I have been closed in the pagoda for a long time, so it is inevitable that I will become dizzy. Please don't blame me for being negligent."

"Don't dare," Feng Shen said, "I feel deeply guilty for disturbing Master's cultivation."

"Yes," Lu Ban also cupped his fists, "Old monk, I'm sorry. My brother and I will apologize to you first!"

Lu Ban's head was so loud that the old monk's ears twitched. He raised his head and struggled to recognize the person in front of him. "Who is this Tanyue?"

"What is Tanyue not Tanyue?" Lu Ban's head stabbed, "I am the head of the prison squad in Shuntian Mansion, just call me Lao Lu!"

"So it's Lu Bantou," the old monk's absent-minded eyes flashed a star, "It's been a long time!"

"Hehe," Hongzhi smiled awkwardly, and reminded the old monk, "The abbot has been in seclusion for too long, and he can't even say a word of politeness. You and Lu Bantou have never met before, so how can you say that you haven't seen each other for a long time?"

The old monk paused, and immediately came to his senses: "It's true that I'm confused, I should say 'Jiu Yang'."

Lu Bantou didn't pay attention to the second monk's rhetoric, but he curled his lips and laughed secretly: "This old monk is really interesting, but he just learns some poor and fancy scene words. Hehe, we have self-knowledge, and think that I, Old Lu, are not honorable." His Juelu doesn’t have a famous name, so it’s not appropriate to say ‘long absence’, but is it appropriate to say ‘long admiration’?”

Feng Shen looked up and said, "Master Jue Ren, do you see this matter of going up to the pagoda?"

"Tanyue can do whatever he wants," the old monk straightened his waist, and said, "I have a problem with my legs and cannot move, so I won't go up with the two of you. Hongzhi, you can accompany me as a teacher."

"Follow the abbot's decree," Hong Zhi bowed, and turned to Feng Lu and said, "This tower ladder is steep and old, and it is not very strong now. You two should be more careful, and be careful not to slip on the soles of your feet."

Feng Lu nodded, and went upstairs with Hong Zhi.

The steps of this ladder are all made of wood, and they creak when stepped on.Lu Ban's head and body are thick and heavy, and it is very difficult to walk. He only supports the wall with one hand, and puts his feet lightly, lest one mistake will break the thin board, and the interest in climbing the tower will be lost.

The tower ladder spirals up and stretches precariously along the central pillar to the top of the tower.Every time you go up a floor, the tower room will be closed in a circle.Correspondingly, the winding ladder is naturally reduced by a few points.

Seeing that the steps were getting narrower and narrower, Lu Ban's head became more and more flustered, and he managed to climb a few more steps, but finally he couldn't hold on.He turned his body to one side, holding his back against the wall. "No, no, no, this staircase is too weak, it makes my calf cramp!"

(End of this chapter)