Chapter 216: The journey of ages ends, the ancients descend to cultivate!
21st century.
Cloud Ridge City, Xiguangsi.
The temple reflected among the green thickets, with apricot‑yellow courtyard walls, blue‑gray roof ridges, and verdant towering ancient trees, all bathed in rose‑red morning glow, complementing each other to form a painting of distant artistic conception.
At dawn, the sound of sutra chanting already came from inside the temple, accompanied by wispy incense smoke drifting to the horizon, purifying people's spirits.
Inside the hall, the scriptures and talismans that Patriarch Zhi Dun once manifested are specially enshrined; the tables are spotless enough to reflect a person's silhouette, showing how much the temple values them, with staff regularly sent to clean.
The doors and windows are shut, there is no wind around, yet the scriptures flutter on their own, as if an invisible pair of great hands were turning the pages.
A few disciples on their way to morning class happened to pass by the gate when one of them suddenly stopped and asked, "Did you hear any sound?"
The others also stopped to look, uncertainly saying, "It sounds like chanting?"
Everyone followed the sound and saw it coming from inside the room; the voice was ethereal and elusive, seeming near yet actually far away.
Upon careful listening, the chanting was exactly the content of the Heart Sutra, carrying supreme dignity.
The disciples exchanged glances; the abbot had earlier ordered that, to avoid offense, only the cleaning disciples may enter, and since morning class was about to start, who would be chanting sutras here?
Just then the abbot came out from the inner hall, saw them looking around, and asked, "Why aren't you going to morning class, what are you doing here?"
Seeing it was the abbot, the disciples hurriedly explained, "Abbot, we heard chanting here and stopped out of curiosity."
The abbot's brows furrowed slightly as he also heard the chanting, "Strange, who is inside?"
The moment he pushed the door open, the ethereal chanting ceased abruptly, and there was no one inside the room.
Everyone's faces changed slightly: "Impossible, we clearly heard chanting just now—there must be someone inside."
The abbot noticed the Heart Sutra on the offering table; it had been closed, but now it was open, as if someone had indeed turned its pages and chanted the sutra earlier.
"Amitabha, could it be that the Buddha is manifesting again?"
Recalling the ethereal, unreal‑sounding chanting they had heard before, Xiguangsi had experienced several similar incidents, so for a moment nobody felt particularly surprised.
……
Suzhou River.
Ciji Temple is also a famed ancient temple, its incense thriving, visitors endless, glazed tiles covering the eaves, shining brightly.
In the Mahavira Hall, Shakyamuni sits cross‑legged on a lotus, his expression compassionate, silently gazing at the crowds coming and going in the hall.
"I heard the Buddha statue here is efficacious; a few days ago I prayed here for my mother's swift recovery, and today she already looks better, so I hurried over to give thanks."
"Is it really that miraculous?"
"Of course; behind the temple there's an Avalokiteshvara Cave where the fortune slips are very accurate—I plan to draw one later."
Although it is a weekday, the number of people coming to offer incense is only growing, showing how flourishing the incense is.
Although the hall is crowded, everyone is orderly; even their speech is kept low, for fear of offending the Buddha, a faint sandalwood fragrance surrounds them, giving everyone a sense of spiritual purification.
It is already noon; the lighting inside the hall is excellent, a few shafts of sunlight refracting in from outside form specks of light on the dark floor, shimmering and splendid, truly holy to the utmost.
"Ah!"
But suddenly a cry rang out; someone pointed at the majestic Buddha statue in the hall, face full of disbelief, and shouted, "Quick, look!"
The golden statue of Shakyamuni actually emitted five‑colored light; those compassionate eyes closed then opened again, and together with the halo above his head, it seemed as if the true body of the Buddha had descended from myth.
Everyone stared, dumbfounded, a feeling of reverence rising in their hearts, even an urge to take refuge in Buddhism.
"I—I didn't see wrong, did I? The Buddha statue actually blinked!"
"Good heavens, what on earth is happening?"
The whole event lasted only a flash; soon the statue returned to normal. Although no one had time to record it with a phone, everyone in the hall saw that the huge Shakyamuni statue really blinked—one person seeing double could be excused, but it's impossible that everyone was mistaken.
News of the blinking Buddha statue at Ciji Temple spread quickly locally; in a moment the temple became explosively popular, with pilgrims nearly breaking the threshold.
……
West Mountain.
In the mountains, lush greenery covered everything, tall trees blocked the sky, no light could be seen, and the surroundings were nothing but a sea of vegetation.
Several hikers walked weakly, panting; they had come to climb the mountain, but halfway they realized they had lost their way.
"It's your fault—you wouldn't take the main road and insisted on a side path; now we're lost."
"I only thought the side path had better scenery; who would have expected this?"
"Alright, stop complaining; now it's getting late, if the sun sets before we find the way, we'll be in danger."
Moreover, the mountain has poor signal, they can't contact the outside world; now they must either find an exit or reach a place with signal to call the rescue team at Mountain Base.
Just when everyone was at a loss, they vaguely saw a figure passing ahead.
"Hey, look—someone's over there!"
Everyone shouted, but the figure didn't pause, as if it hadn't heard; they hurried after it, and upon catching a closer look, they saw it was a monk wearing robes that looked aged.
"Master, which way should we go down the mountain?"
No matter how they questioned him, the monk never turned his head; they had no choice but to keep following.
Strangely, the monk's pace was neither fast nor slow, keeping a steady distance—close enough to follow, yet not so close as to lose sight.
Soon everyone sensed something off: out of nowhere in the deep old forest a monk appeared, looking quite eerie, just as they were about to give up.
Only saw incense smoke curling up; not far off an ancient‑looking building came into view, giving off a sense of habitation.
Amidst a stretch of verdant green scenery, they finally saw a different color.
"That looks like a temple; let's hurry over and take a look."
For a moment everyone was so excited they could not speak; after regaining composure they noticed the strange monk had vanished, though they didn't think much of it.
The temple was antiquated, its name written in traditional characters as "Yuánchán", looking aged, as if it had stood here for many years.
The crowd came to the temple seeking aid, told of their mountain‑lost ordeal, and the monks of Primordial Chan Temple pressed their palms together and uttered a Buddha's name.
"Don't worry, benefactors; we will send someone to guide you down the mountain."
After that, everyone relaxed; having endured the journey, their bodies were a little tired, and they decided to rest a bit before descending.
Recalling everything that had happened before, that strange monk seemed to be leading them in a direction, then vanished without a trace; no matter how you looked at it, it seemed somewhat supernatural, but they searched all around and still did not see that monk in the temple.
They originally thought this was the end, but they never expected to see a portrait hanging in the hall that actually resembled that strange monk from before, even the monk's robe was exactly the same.
One of them blurted out instinctively: "Isn't this the mysterious monk we saw in the deep mountains earlier?"
The host heard this, but smiled and recited a Buddhist invocation: "Donor, you must be joking—this is the enlightened monk Zhi Dun who founded our temple; Zhi Dun passed away a thousand years ago, how could you possibly have met him in the mountains?"
Looking at the host's expression, it didn't seem like a joke; the hikers' faces were filled with doubtful uncertainty, and for a moment they couldn't tell whether what they had seen earlier was real or false.
But they indeed had seen that strange monk in the mountains, and that was why they had come to Yuan Chan Temple.
This matter also spread widely among the local hikers' circles; the parties involved even posted the detailed experience on the Tianya forum, which further sparked countless discussions.
……
Besides these, Linggu Temple, Jingyuan Temple, Gui'an Temple and others also experienced many anomalies—some saw Buddha's light shining everywhere, others saw purple mist swirling; soon these things were noticed by netizens everywhere, and they once again sparked a wave of heated discussion.
A bottle of 82-year-old Very Tasty: 【I heard the statue at Cijing Temple blinked—is this true or false?】
Caribbean Seaweed: 【How could a Buddha statue possibly blink? No picture, no truth, it's probably a lie.】
Undead Always Shows Up: 【I was there at the scene then; lots of people saw it, but it happened suddenly, so I didn't capture it.】
Riding Pig Onto Highway: 【Outside Linggu Temple there is Buddha's light shining everywhere; there are videos and pictures as proof!】
As a Child I Was White: 【There's no trace of Photoshop; could it really be the Buddha showing his power? I beg the Buddha to bless me with overnight wealth!】
Old Monk Dharma Name Handsome Guy: 【I don't know if you've heard the story of the mysterious monk at Yuan Chan Temple; here I'll point you to a certain post on Tianya, I suggest you check it out.】
Rascal de Pig: 【Just finished watching and came back; could it really be Zhi Dun? It feels so mystical.】
The Girl's Beauty Is a Sin: 【Why have so many temples recently shown supernatural phenomena?】
Struck by Diamond Flash at the Waist: 【Share this blinking Shakyamuni; the Buddha will bless you for the coming year!】
Although there are countless temples big and small across the country, not all of them exhibit such a situation; soon attentive netizens noticed the connections among these temples.
The temples that have shown these supernatural phenomena all share a common point: they were all founded by Zhi Dun, with no exceptions.
How could such a coincidence possibly exist under heaven?
Because of these phenomena, the temples' popularity surged for a time; they had to post notices saying they were at full capacity, so visitors could only reserve another time slot, but the reservation sheets were already booked up to the month after next.
People all like to join the excitement; even if they don't believe in these things, they still want to visit, and contemporary young people have even started a trend of knocking the wooden fish online.
Young people are like that, let alone the elderly who originally believed in these; on WeChat, the older generation's friends' circles are completely filled with Shakyamuni images, and they frequently repost topics related to temples.
Some questions on Zhihu also make people ponder deeply.
#With so many temples nationwide, why only those founded by Zhi Dun show all kinds of anomalies. #
#Zhi Dun is an enlightened monk; are these anomalies related to him personally? #
#Is it true or false that the legend says Master Zhi Dun was escorted away by an immortal crane before his death? #
#Regarding the constant stream of anomalies lately, what's your opinion? #
#First came the saying of a divine dragon descending to the world, then the Lishan Mausoleum showed abnormal movement; now ancient temples are displaying miraculous signs—could all this possibly indicate that some unknown force exists in the world? #
Netizens' imaginations ran wild, and their answers were all over the place; although these lack factual basis and no one can be certain, it doesn't hinder their discussion.
Some people, however, sensed a different significance; one incident could be called a coincidence, but when so many incidents pile up together, can it still be called a coincidence?
For some reason, I always feel as if a mysterious shroud envelops heaven and earth……
……
The culture of Great Xia has endured thousands of years without decline, yet throughout this long river of history there has always been a green‑clad figure moving like a ghost through the ages, witnessing dynastic changes and personally experiencing generations of reincarnation.
For humanity, time is vast, but for Ye Qin it is merely the blink of an eye; time and space have no limits for him.
Ye Qin listens to the camel bells drifting across the vast desert under endless yellow sand; he can also, in the next second, be in the Jiangnan water villages hearing the soft Wu dialect tunes; at the frontier he hears the soldiers' rugged songs; and he also hears the silk‑and‑bamboo orchestral music at banquets.
He wanders through all dynasties, having once breathed air from three thousand years ago; he also once felt a breeze from five thousand years ago, and with the power of his primordial spirit he returns again to past ages.
Ye Qin, in reality, has tread every famous mountain and river and historical site, seeking the aura left by time; the river of history rushes on incessantly, time never turns back, nor does it wait for anyone.
He is caught in the vortex of history, yet he is not a person within the bureau; he is a variable outside the heavenly Dao, and with the aid of the Shangqing Temple he has brought back many formerly familiar acquaintances.
Li Bai, the Eight Immortals, Laozi, Guigu, Zhang Boduan……
Until, the offering table of the Shangqing Temple was filled with statues, and Ye Qin also finally completed the review of all the time fragments he had experienced.
Gazing at the curling green smoke in the Shangqing Temple, those ancient‑person statues were lifelike; Ye Qin's heart surged, and he faintly saw a broad smooth road leading to the far shore of cultivation!
"Human offerings, the pact of longevity—ancient beings ought to descend into the world to cultivate!"
……
(p: It's mid‑month now, please vote for the monthly ticket, thanks everyone!)(End of chapter)
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