Chapter 573

Everyone nodded and followed Yan Junda along the stone steps toward the mountain.

The density of the forest on Shi Quan Mountain was not as high as that of Qingfeng Mountain, and the degree of development was obviously higher. From the foot of the mountain to the mountainside, some houses were distributed sparsely and appropriately in the forest. Along the stone slab road, spring water flowed gurglingly down the mountain, and strange peaks and rocks emerged one after another. Shi Quan Mountain should be named after this.

On the stone slab road, one could also see people going up and down. Yan Junda said, "The incense at Shi Quan Zen Temple is quite good, and today is Sunday, so many people come here to offer incense."

Yu Ruizhi looked at the scenery along the road and praised it endlessly, "The scenery here is really good, a bit like the Peach Blossom Spring in Tao Yuanming's *Peach Blossom Spring Story*. If you promote it well, tourists should also like it. There are quite a lot of people in China who believe in Buddhism."

Of course, there are many people in China who believe in Buddhism. Many temples in China are famous scenic spots. If Shi Quan Zen Temple was really built during the Southern Song Dynasty, with such a long history, if promoted, it could also be promoted as a famous mountain and ancient temple, which might not be worse than those famous temples.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The stone slab road was winding. Everyone walked for more than ten minutes, turned a corner, and the front suddenly opened up. It turned out that everyone had walked out of the forest.

Everyone looked up and saw a tall building standing on the top of the mountain not far away, with white walls and red tiles. Su Xinghui had good eyesight, and even from such a distance, he could vaguely see the four big characters written on the plaque at the door—Shi Quan Zen Temple.

The top of the mountain looked quite close, but it took another ten minutes to actually walk to the top of the mountain. This is the so-called "looking at the mountain and running the horse to death."

Arriving in front of the temple, everyone saw incense smoke curling up in a huge incense burner in front of the Mahavira Hall. Many pilgrims were throwing incense into the incense burner. After throwing the incense in, they would also kneel and kowtow devoutly.

Looking at the main hall through the smoke made this main hall full of a sense of mystery, making people feel that this main hall had an extra sense of solemnity.

Yan Junda let Su Xinghui and the others wait in the courtyard for a while. He walked to a little novice monk and said a few words to him. The little novice monk put his hands together, bowed to him, and then walked to the backyard.

Taking advantage of this time, Su Xinghui and the others wandered around the courtyard. There were a few stone tablets in the courtyard. Su Xinghui walked close to the stone tablets to look at the inscriptions. These stone tablets were erected in the Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and Qing Dynasty, all of which were erected by the local government when this Shi Quan Zen Temple was renovated.

The stone tablets were engraved with when and why this Shi Quan Zen Temple was destroyed, who funded it, and when it was renovated. The names and native places of the donors were engraved on the back of the inscriptions, which were written in great detail.

These stone tablets were also incomplete. Several stone tablets had traces of being smashed by hammers. From the inscriptions, this Shi Quan Zen Temple was indeed first built during the Southern Song Dynasty, and it was destroyed by war several times during the period, and then renovated later. The last time was at the end of the Qing Dynasty, which was almost a hundred years ago.

Yan Junda said, "These stone tablets were smashed by the little generals decades ago, but these stone tablets were built of granite, tall and sturdy, and protected by villagers, so they were preserved. Otherwise, there would be a few less cultural relics."

Everyone nodded, feeling fortunate for these stone tablets.

At this time, the little novice monk called out an old monk. This old monk was of medium build, with a solemn appearance, and a long beard under his chin, each root like silver silk. He looked at least over sixty years old, but his complexion was still very ruddy, looking like a newborn baby. He could be called a child's face.

When the old monk saw Yan Junda, he hurriedly stepped forward and put his hands together, "Director Yan is here!"

An old monk addressing Yan Junda by his official title made people feel a bit incongruous, but this was also very normal. Shi Quan Zen Temple was in the territory of Green Ridge Township and also had to be under the jurisdiction of the Green Ridge Township government. Yan Junda was an official of the township government, so naturally, he couldn't treat him as an ordinary donor.

Yan Junda smiled, "Master Guangming, how are you? Today, a few guests came to Green Ridge Township as guests, so I brought them to Shi Quan Zen Temple."

Master Guangming made a gesture of inviting guests, "Good, good, then please invite a few donors to the backyard to rest and talk in the old monk's hermitage."

Everyone nodded, followed Master Guangming into the backyard, and entered Master Guangming's hermitage.

Master Guangming's hermitage was not large, only about ten square meters. He made a gesture to invite everyone to sit down, and then let the little novice monk bring a small red clay charcoal stove and boil water with a copper kettle.

Master Guangming smiled, "A few donors are guests from afar, and the small temple has nothing good to treat you with, so just drink some tea." ===== CHAPTER 575 =====