"I hid in the pool. It's the pool behind the main hall. As you know, brother, there are many lotus pods in it in the summer." He looked at Qin Tiexin, trying to show his appearance at that time, "I buried my whole body in the water, only my eyes were exposed. There were water plants on the water. I looked out through the seams of the water plants, and I saw many people wearing monk robes. They flew up from the mountain, holding weapons in their hands."
Qin Tiexin's fingers tightened slightly on the table. He couldn't see anything on his face, but his heart was already churning. This was artificial. Zhaoming Temple The best Law Artifact might be in his own hands. What could a ruined temple with a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage abbot and several Qi Refining disciples have in it that would be coveted?
Ming'an still remembers the clothes those people wore. Dark gold monk robes, with patterns of vajra embroidered on the cuffs. The vajra flickered in the firelight, like a red-hot iron. He hid in the pool water, not even daring to breathe hard, his teeth were chattering, and he almost made a sound with every blow.
"They were rummaging through things. They turned the Sutra Pavilion upside down and knocked down the Buddha statues. Finally, they took away the bell from the main hall."
Qin Tiexin said nothing. He knew the bell in the main hall. When he changed his identity at the identity office, the person who inquired mentioned that it was obtained by alms from the abbot thirty years ago.
"They took the clock off the shelf. Some people were still saying, 'This is it,' and then they had people move it away." Ming'an's fingers were still trembling while holding the tea bowl. "When they left, they set another fire and burned all the places that had not been burned."
The tea bowl shook in his hand, water overflowed and splashed on the table.
"I soaked in the pool all night, not daring to come out. When daylight came, the fire went out by itself. There was nothing left on the mountain, just black ashes and burned pillars. Master and the others... I found them in the ashes of the main hall." Ming'an's voice suddenly became very soft, "Master's legs and feet are not good, he must be the slowest runner."
He reached into his arms and took out a small cloth bag from close to his body.
The cloth was a fragment of a gray monk's robe, with the edges burnt black. It was folded several times and wrapped tightly. His fingers were shaking so much that he couldn't untie it after two attempts. Qin Tiexin reached out to help him hold down a corner of the cloth bag, and then Ming'an opened the cloth bag.
Inside were several charred fragments, and it was unclear what they were. Next to the fragments, lying alone, was a white particle, only the size of a grain of rice, glowing with a warm gleam in the afternoon sunlight.
"This is..." Ming'an sniffed, "After Master was cremated... I picked it up from the ashes. Everything else was burned to ashes, so this is the only one left."
His tears fell again, one by one on the burnt cloth at the edge of the bag, turning the dried gray marks into a dark color.
"I don't know what this is, but it was left to me by Master. I have to take it to find Senior Brother."
Qin Tiexin looked at the white particle and was silent for a long time. The sunlight leaked from the gap on the roof of the tea shed and shone on the particle, reflecting a very faint halo. He could feel that there was a very faint Spiritual Qi residue on the particle. It was not a mortal thing, but at the moment he had no intention to identify what it was.
He thought of his grandfather Qin Feng, the old blacksmith who had brought him up with a hammer and pliers, and his calloused hands when he thrust the title deed of the blacksmith shop into his hands before his death. He didn't say anything more, just one sentence, "Live well."
Between him and Ming'an was a Mingjue that he had never seen before, and a Zhaoming Temple that had turned to ashes. But at this moment, he felt that there was an indescribable similarity between this little novice monk and himself.
They are all people who have been left behind, and they have all picked up things left behind by others.
"Senior brother?" Ming'an rewrapped the cloth bag and stuffed it into Qin Tiexin, raised his head, "I didn't know where I was going. Everyone in the temple was gone, so I wanted to find my senior brother, but he was traveling far away, and I didn't know where to look. So I left, and walked for many days., my legs were sore, so I slept on the side of the road, and when I woke up, I kept walking. Once, an uncle asked me to ride in his ox cart and drove me for a day and a night. Later, I walked with a caravan for a while. They saw that I was very pitiful and gave me dry food. I don't know why I ended up here. It must be the blessing of the Buddha and Master in heaven."
Qin Tiexin Listen. The distance from the southwest border to Ten Thousand Stars City, he followed Chen Xi Yujian Fei for several days when he came here. A child of five or six years old, walking and riding on an ox cart He and the caravan crossed less than half of the Myriad Stars Dynasty in a month. Apart from being a little dirty, there was not even a scratch on his body. This was the same as when he said that Zhaoming Temple escaped by hiding in the pool when his family was exterminated.
This kid's luck is so good that it's a bit weird.
He picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, suppressing his thoughts.
"Senior brother," Ming'an said, his mood seemed to have calmed down a little. Suddenly, his eyes suddenly fell on the empty sleeve of Qin Tiexin's right shoulder.
He hadn't noticed it before. He had just been busy crying and eating, and he didn't notice it until now. His eyes widened, "Brother, your right hand..."
Qin Tiexin looked down at his right shoulder. The sleeves of the monk's robe hung empty, and the outline of his right shoulder suddenly stopped under the material. He considered his words, but the expression on his face did not change.
"I accidentally lost it." His voice was calm, "I'll just wait and catch it."
Ming'an nodded. There were still tears in his eyes, but he was no longer out of breath from crying like before. He looked at Qin Tiexin seriously.
"Senior brother, I will definitely have a better arm in the future."
Qin Tiexin The corner of his mouth moved slightly, and he reached out and patted his head.
"I'd like to lend you some good words."
Ming'an grinned, which was the first smile the young novice had shown since they met. Then he reached for the spiritual cake on the plate again, his cheeks bulging again. Qin Tiexin watched him eat, but another thing was racing in his mind.
Buddhism, dark gold monk robes, vajra patterns, if nothing else, that wave of people are from the Great Brahma Dynasty.
Golden Summit Temple.
Great Brahma Dynasty is one of the three major Buddhist sects, and is as famous as Brahma Sound Valley and Bodhi Monastery. The Buddhist cultivators of Golden Summit Temple are famous for their physical strength. It is said that Vajra Indestructibility, a high-level Buddhist cultivator, can resist physical cultivators of the same level.
Zhaoming Temple is just an unknown small temple on the southwest border. The abbot Foundation Establishment Middle Stage has less than ten people in the temple, and it cannot even be considered a serious Buddhist tradition. Why should Golden Summit Temple silence such a ruined temple? For a bell?
Something is wrong.
The ancient bell that Golden Summit Temple snatched was obtained by the abbot as a beggar thirty years ago. What is so special about a bell that has been hung in a ruined temple for decades that it deserves such a large sect to travel thousands of miles to snatch it away? Is there some secret in it that Qin Tiexin and Ming'an don't know either?
But that's not the most pressing issue right now.
The most pressing issue is that since Golden Summit Temple has silenced Zhaoming Temple, the only "Mingjue" in the temple who is traveling abroad is the gap they must fill.
Maybe now Golden Summit Temple still thinks that Mingjue is wandering away without knowing whereabouts. Maybe they are already looking for him, maybe they haven't realized it yet. But no matter what, he, a fake monk wearing Mingjue's identity jade plaque, using Mingjue's relics, and living in Ten Thousand Stars City's most conspicuous Hou Mansion, is like walking in the dark night with a torch.
Golden Summit Temple people will come to your door sooner or later.