The monk is slightly fat and has a round face. He looks about 20 or 30 years old, but his face is a little darkened and he seems to be very haggard. He is wearing a very simple monk's robe.

There were some monks and some pilgrims in the courtyard behind me.

"Huh? These Taoist priests are..."

The monk looked them up and down, then looked behind them.

"Oh, Master, you're polite." The third senior brother said, "We are Taoist priests practicing in Yishan. We are passing by here and would like to stay overnight. I don't know if it is convenient."

"Why did these Taoist priests come to stay in our temple?" The monk looked away, obviously puzzled.

The third senior brother was just about to speak when he heard the junior brother next to him say:

"It was getting late, and we were not familiar with the road, so we couldn't find any other place to stay. It was cold in the mountains in late autumn. I heard from an old farmer on the roadside that there is a temple here, which is very efficacious, and the monk who lives there is also kind.

I’m kind, I have no choice but to come here, I hope it can be convenient.”

The three senior brothers were happy and turned to look at Lin Jue.

"this……"

The monk looked troubled.

The pilgrims behind him heard Lin Jue's words and couldn't help but laugh and said: "It seems that the good name of Songyin Temple has spread from Buddhism to Taoism."

When the monk heard this, it became even more difficult. He looked at them carefully, especially the unusual-looking fox behind him. Then he looked back at the yard behind him and said, "But the Taoist and Buddhist families will always have inconveniences."

"We are all practitioners, why should we distinguish them so clearly?"

"Yes!" The kind-hearted pilgrim behind him, who was pacing around boredly, said after hearing the words, "It's so late, it's getting dark, it's too late to go to the mountain village below to stay overnight, knowing that the masters in the temple are all

They are well-intentioned, so why create these quarrels because of differences between Buddhism and Taoism? So what if we let them stay for one night and have a bowl of hot rice?"

When Lin Jue and the other three heard the sound, they all looked towards him.

The pilgrim was a middle-aged man with a big belly. He was wearing fine silk and looked very wealthy. There was a woman and a girl beside him, who seemed to be his family members.

Obviously this pilgrim is also a big customer.

The monk looked back at him, feeling even more embarrassed. After thinking for a while, he said: "But recently there have been many pilgrims coming to stay in our temple. Now there is only one room left. There are three Taoist priests, male and female..."

"Ouch!"

The third senior brother also encountered difficulties this time.

It is true that whether a temple can accommodate pilgrims or female relatives depends on the temple's regulations, but almost all temples do not allow men and women to live together, even couples.

"It doesn't matter..."

Another voice came from behind, it was the female family member beside the middle-aged pilgrim: "Just let this female Taoist priest sleep with us."

The monk could not refuse.

"You three, please come in."

"Thank you."

The three of them thanked the monk first, and then thanked the middle-aged pilgrim and his family: "Thank you very much."

"No need to thank you, it's just a small effort." The middle-aged pilgrim smiled and said, "Wang went to both the Buddhist temple and the Taoist temple. To put it bluntly, he just believed in kindness."

"Great good."

The third senior brother said with a smile.

Then he followed the monk and walked inside.

The middle-aged pilgrims followed them boredly.

The temple is not small, but a bit old, and the Buddha statues are also very simple. There is a large courtyard inside, with almost guest rooms on both sides of the courtyard. It is obviously far away from the official road and hidden among the pines and cypresses, but there are many pilgrims here.

Staying here seems to be really famous.

Most of these pilgrims were well-dressed and looked either rich or noble. They must have just had dinner at this time, and it was still dark before they were walking around the courtyard, chatting in twos and threes. Most of them talked about Buddhism, and some of them lowered their voices.

Talk about general trends in the world, government affairs, etc.

The monk led them all the way to the innermost room, pushed open the penultimate room, and said to them:

"The two Taoist priests will stay here. Remember, it is the second to last room in the innermost room. All the rooms outside are occupied. Don't go wrong."

"It just so happens that my wife and daughter live next door." The middle-aged pilgrim pointed to a room further outside and said, "Wang lives in a room further outside."

When he said this, he felt strange.

I couldn't help but look towards the innermost room.

This room is locked.

"Why is there still a room here that is unoccupied?" asked the pilgrim surnamed Wang, "Why is it locked? I remember it was not locked when I came here last month!"

"Oh, this room is haunted." The monk said very calmly, as if he didn't care that it was actually scary. This was also different from the idea of ​​the monk at the Zhushan temple next to the road.

"Ah? Is there a ghost?"

As expected, the family of Pilgrim Wang was shocked.

Especially his wife and daughter.

"How could there be a ghost?" the pilgrim surnamed Wang asked in surprise, "If that's the case, why doesn't the master in the courtyard get rid of it?"

The two female relatives beside him were also frightened.

"It's probably because people nearby had deep obsessions after death and didn't want to leave. They stayed in the world and were attracted by Buddhism, so they came to us." The monk explained calmly, "Don't worry, the donor just doesn't want to leave.

They have neither harmed anyone nor can they harm anyone. Since they have deep obsessions and have come to our place again, they are naturally destined. How can we get rid of them easily?"

"this……"

Pilgrim named Wang is a surprise.

Lin Jue and the other three couldn't help but look at each other, and then looked at the locked room in the innermost room.

It does have a bit of a cold air.

"Of course they live here, chant sutras all day long, and let the Dharma slowly transform them." The monk said with a smile, "And all we paid was a room."

"That's it!"

"Speaking of which, aren't these residual soul obsessions just like all the donors? They are guests of our temple?"

"I see……"

The pilgrim surnamed Wang had a serious look on his face and was immediately moved by this. He clasped his hands and said, "Masters are indeed experts!"

"It's nothing, we are just ordinary monks." The fat monk clasped his hands in return.

"Don't worry, Master, I will never tell anyone else."

"It's okay. Just say it. If you're afraid, you're afraid. If you are afraid, just don't come." The fat monk shook his head, "Our temple is so remote, and the pilgrims are all nobles in the city. Every time they come all the way, they take the trouble

It is really unnecessary to come to our ruined temple and donate so much every time. It not only leaves us with no time to spare, but also makes us feel guilty."

Lin Jue and the others heard this and understood.

No wonder this temple is so remote, yet so famous, and attracts so many people. It seems that it really has Buddhist practice.

Only Fuyao kept staring at the innermost room and turned his head to look around.

The three of them placed Senior Brother Donkey in the stable at the back, and their luggage was placed in the rooms of Lin Jue and Third Senior Brother. The younger Junior Sister lived in a room with the family of a pilgrim named Wang, so she only brought her beloved long sword.

When I came out of the room again, the lamps in the temple had been lit, but only the lamps in the main hall were lit, and the monk had already brought a bowl of gruel to the three of them.

"Thank you."

The third senior brother and the younger junior sister were holding porridge, but they learned their lesson and looked at Lin Jue first.

Lin Jue also understood and immediately took a sip.

Smash it, smash it, and take a second sip.

The two of them lowered their heads and started drinking.

A pilgrim surnamed Wang stood beside them with his female family members and asked them: "I heard that you are Taoists from Yishan. Where is Yishan? Wang has only heard of Yi County."

"Just in Yi County."

"That's not close! Why did you come here?"

"Going to Yuanzhou to attend the big festival and coming back."

"But Mingqingshan Dajiao?"

"You are indeed a good Buddha and a good Taoist." The three of them replied to him while drinking porridge.

"That's all I believe." The middle-aged pilgrim said, "I originally wanted to go to Mingqing Mountain. I went to the Qiyun Mountain Jiao Festival last year and gained a lot of experience. Unfortunately, Mingqing Mountain is too far away.

The world is not very peaceful now, so we have no choice but to give up."

"You only need to watch this kind of big ceremony once," the third senior brother said.

"oops……"

"Oh, that's right! When we were at the foot of the mountain, we heard from farmers working in the fields that a Bodhisattva appeared in this temple. Is it true?" The third senior brother raised his head and asked him while holding a bowl.

"Of course it's true. And most Bodhisattvas appear on the third day of the Lunar New Year, which is today." The middle-aged pilgrim said, "A few Taoist priests are really blessed. I just don't know whether you will worship the Bodhisattva when he comes. If you do,

Will the god you worship blame you?"

"Haha, we don't worship gods."

"Taoist priests don't offer sacrifices to gods?"

"We have lived in the mountains for a long time, studying the Taoist scriptures and Dharma."

"I see……"

The middle-aged pilgrim seemed to understand but did not understand it, and did not delve into it deeply.

It is not necessary to have a shallow conversation and have a deep conversation. The secret to having a pleasant conversation with unfamiliar people is to grasp the scale. The middle-aged pilgrim obviously knows this well.

"You are really lucky. Normally, Songyin Temple does not allow overnight stay, let alone the third grade of junior high school."

"No overnight guests?"

Lin Jue looked at the middle-aged pilgrims in surprise, and then at the people gradually returning to their rooms in the courtyard outside: "Then these..."

"They are all Buddhists with sincere hearts." The middle-aged pilgrim laughed, "Just to entertain people like us, the masters in the temple are exhausted and all of them are very haggard."

"oh!"

Lin Jue looked at these people who were either rich or noble, and he probably knew what the so-called "sincerity" meant.

But then there was doubt again.

"Since there are so many distinguished and sincere pilgrims coming, why is the temple still so old and the Buddha statue not plated with gold?"

"This is the place in the temple where the masters have achieved advanced cultivation." The middle-aged pilgrim laughed, "These masters have always been frugal and do not want us to come, nor do they want us to pay for sesame oil. They are just monks practicing so that they can have food and clothing.

It is enough, the Buddha statue does not need to be plated with gold, it only needs to be sincere."

"No wonder the masters are so simply dressed."

"Yes, I come here once a month for several years, and I have never seen them spend money on food and clothing." The middle-aged pilgrim shook his head, "It's really admirable."

"That's true."

So where was the money used?

Why save so much money?

If you don’t want money, just refuse it, right?

Lin Jue didn't understand, and shook his head, thinking that his own financial philosophy of Fuqiuguan was better——

If you have money, use it for food and clothing.

When you have enough money, don't worry about it anymore.

Carefree, leisurely and at ease.

However, it may be that the temple is so famous that these pilgrims come here and cannot be stopped. After all, although this place is remote, it is not as remote as Yishan Mountain and the roads are difficult to travel.

"Donor Wang, what are you talking about to the Taoist priests?" The fat monk came over, collected their leftover dishes, and said to them, "Don't listen to Donor Wang's lies. We are not eminent monks.

They don’t understand any spiritual practice or profound Buddhist teachings, they are just a group of ordinary monks chanting sutras and meditating here.”

"Maybe this is eminent monks and profound Dharma?"

Lin Jue handed the bowl out and complimented him.

The third senior brother cast his gaze over with a smile on his face, which seemed to be teasing him for being able to speak.

"That's ridiculous."

The fat monk suddenly smiled.

But when he bent down, with the light coming from the hall next to him, the monk's facial features were already shrouded in the dim shadow of the lamp, but his forehead and eyebrows were a little darker, but there was some luster in the darkness.

It doesn't look like he is haggard after working hard, but he looks like he has overdosed on elixirs and been poisoned by gold and stone.

Lin Jue couldn't help but take a deep breath and smell it——

It does seem to smell a little medicinal.

It is not the smell of ordinary medicinal materials in a drug store, but more like the smell of gold, stone and cinnabar used by alchemists to make elixirs. These metal stones have no smell at first, and only those who have learned the method of alchemy can smell it. In fact, what you smell is the odor of these elixirs.

The aura that comes out.

"It's already dark, Taoist priests, please rest early." The fat monk held the bowl and said with a smile, "As for the Bodhisattva's appearance they said, don't take it seriously. Maybe it's just some strange things. Even if it's true that the Bodhisattva has appeared for some reason.

Our small temple really doesn’t have much to see, so the priests just have a good rest, and the poor monks will come to call the priests tomorrow morning.”

"Thank you."

The three of them saluted him and thanked him.

They each went back to their rooms.
Chapter completed!