Chapter 133: What a Master Ding Xuan is
Pavilion!
The atmosphere was a little awkward.
Taoist Priest Ding Xuan patted his disciple on the head and said, "Don't talk nonsense. We who practice Taoism believe in following our hearts, cultivating our nature, and pursuing ourselves."
Daogu listened to his master's words and muttered quietly: "Self...your self is just caution."
The old monk retracted his gaze, as if he had not heard Daowu's muttering, and continued: "I am a disciple of Sanbao and I am subject to the Buddhist precepts. You have already violated several precepts."
Daohai remained silent. He had converted to Buddhism since childhood and naturally knew the Buddhist precepts, but during the days he spent with his junior brother, he truly felt that what his junior brother said was right.
"Amitabha, this is a sign of being possessed by a demon."
The old monk sighed. He realized that the junior brother Daohai mentioned was a lay disciple of Buddhism. If he was a Three Treasures disciple who had received the precepts, he would have to go there and clean up Buddhism.
In the old monk's opinion, Daohai had realized his mistakes and there was nothing more to , but Daohai was thinking about what his junior fellow apprentice had once said to him.
When facing those old guys who are stronger than you and like to preach, don't contradict them. Just cooperate with them, cater to them, and wait until they let their guard down, then strike them down.
This old monk is very powerful.
Daohai had witnessed . On the Shuangmu Mountain, the old monk's chanting of the Buddha's name made the monsters so frightened that their bodies trembled. The abbot and others could only do this when they summoned the Golden Buddha.
Just keep silent and pretend to come to your senses, only in this way will you have a chance to escape.
But the junior fellow monk also said that change requires a process. One cannot change all at once, but must change little by little so as not to arouse the old monk’s suspicion.
A quarter of an hour later, the old monk took Dao Hai out of the pavilion.
Ding Xuan watched the old monk disappear completely before he spoke: "Disciple, don't listen to the nonsense this old bald donkey just said. We Taoists believe in following our hearts when doing things, and we don't have so many rules and regulations to restrict us."
In the old Taoist's opinion, what the young monk did was correct. The phrase "know yourself and know your enemy" is well used.
Learned it.
He was very interested in the junior fellow apprentice mentioned by the young monk, as this junior fellow apprentice shared the same philosophy as himself.
It's a pity that the old monk was there, otherwise he would have asked the young monk where his fellow monk was from and what his name was, so that he could go and visit him. He would definitely be his soulmate.
"Got it, Master."
Daogu replied perfunctorily, then looked in another direction and said, "Master, why do we have to rest in this pavilion? Won't we be unable to return home at night?"
"What do you know? We are going back to the Taoist temple. We can't go back at night. We have to go back during the day. Let's stay at the post station not far ahead tonight. We will wash up tomorrow morning and then go into the city."
"Then Master, why don't we go to the post station now, but stay in this pavilion? We have been here for almost an hour."
Daogu hugged himself with his arms. In this cold winter, he had been standing in the pavilion blowing the cold wind for an hour.
"I feel homesick when I'm close to home. The closer I am to home, the more I need to calm down. After staying in this pavilion for an hour, do you no longer feel as excited as before?" the old Taoist asked with a smile.
Daogu nodded. That's right. The cold wind has been blowing for an hour now, and my heart has become cold. I'm no longer excited.
The old Taoist heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that he had fooled his apprentice. He didn't want to stay here in the cold wind, but after the You hour at the post station, the room rate would be halved.
…
…
The next day, morning!
A rare sunny day!
An old Taoist priest dressed in a white Taoist robe and with an immortal look slowly entered the city with a young Taoist priest.
"It's Taoist Priest Ding Xuan!"
"Master Ding Xuan of Qingfeng Temple!"
"Master, you are back."
Many people in Shangyang City know Taoist Priest Ding Xuan. After all, Qingfeng Temple was once very popular.
Taoist Priest Ding Xuan also smiled and nodded, and from time to time he said, "May you be blessed with infinite happiness."
"Mr. Yang is still in good health."
"I haven't seen Mr. Cao for a long time, but he is still as charming as ever."
Daogu followed his master and began to understand why his master had washed his robe three days ago and kept it in a package without wearing it. It turned out that he had been waiting for this moment.
The journey that was supposed to take only a quarter of an hour took Taoist Master Ding Xuan half an hour.
"Disciple, I deliberately slowed down my pace to let the people in the city know that I have returned. Tomorrow, people will come to our Qingfeng Temple to burn incense."
Taoist Priest Ding Xuan was very pleased with himself. He deliberately chose to enter the city during the day and washed his clothes clean, just to create the appearance of an immortal. In this way, when the people in the city heard the news, they would come to the Taoist temple to burn incense.
A few years have passed, and I don’t know if the Taoist temple is now covered with dust.
But when the old Taoist arrived at the gate of Qingfeng Temple, he was completely dumbfounded.
"Master...Master, is this our Qingfeng Temple?"
After a while, listening to his disciple Dawu's question, Taoist Ding Xuan also became a little uncertain.
"Should... probably."
Looking at the magnificent gate in front of him, which was entirely plated with a layer of brass, and the marble courtyard wall which was half as high as the original one, the old Taoist would have suspected that he had taken the wrong road if he had not looked at the plaque with the three large gold-plated characters "Qingfeng Temple".
The old Taoist stepped in, but was stopped by two people inside the door.
"Oh, you must be the traveling Taoist priest. Our Taoist temple is under construction and we are not accepting visitors for the time being."
Old Taoist: "I'm a poor Taoist..."
"I understand. We are all one family in the Taoist sect. We need to entertain the Taoist priests who come from other places. However, it is not convenient now. The Taoist temple is still closed and there is no master here. There is an inn on the left side of the door. You can stay there. All expenses can be charged to Qingfeng Temple. The innkeeper knows it."
"It's such a good thing, living here for free... That's not right."
The old Taoist almost didn’t react. This was free accommodation, and this was his own Taoist temple.
"Our boss is kind, you two can go on your own, we still have work to do."
After they finished talking, they walked towards the Taoist temple, leaving the old Taoist dumbfounded.
"Wulian Tianzun...wait!"
Seeing that the two were about to walk away, the old Taoist quickly reacted and called out to them to stop.
"Is this Taoist temple your boss's?"
"Yes, the Taoist temple was demolished that year, and our boss bought the land deed from the government and rebuilt it. If it wasn't our boss's, who else could it belong to?"
The old Taoist was stunned, puffing his beard and staring, no longer having his previous calmness. In order to prevent trouble from coming to him, he took his apprentice out to travel for several years, and now when he came back, this family was gone?
Your house was robbed?
He took the book of incense and merit with him in order to prevent any accidents, but he did not take the land deed with him because he could never have imagined that someone would occupy the Taoist temple.
Isn’t he afraid that the Taoist ancestor will appear and send down thunder to strike him to death?
"Master, our Taoist temple is gone."
Daogu looked so pitiful that the old Taoist was so angry that he didn't care that he had spent a lot of money to have someone sew this robe. He rolled up his sleeves and said, "This is my Taoist temple."
"Your Taoist temple?"
The two looked at the old Taoist for a while, and the old Taoist said solemnly: "Of course, I am the master of Qingfeng Temple, and my Taoist name is Ding Xuan."
"Hahaha!"
“I am dying of laughter!”
A few seconds later, the two of them suddenly burst into laughter. The old Taoist was a little puzzled. Did he say something wrong?
"I thought you were a wandering Taoist priest before, but now it seems you are a liar. You have found out everything about Qingfeng Temple and want to impersonate Master Ding Xuan to seize the temple."
"You are not the first liar like me."
The old Taoist was confused and asked, "Why can't I be Taoist Priest Ding Xuan?"
"Can you be Taoist Priest Ding Xuan?" One of the men glanced at Taoist Priest Ding Xuan with a mocking look: "I don't know where you found the Taoist robe from. I guess you stole it from somewhere, or it was discarded by a Taoist priest. How can Taoist Priest Ding Xuan wear this tattered Taoist robe of yours?"
Torn Taoist robe?
Taoist priest Ding Xuan widened his eyes. This Taoist robe cost him one or two taels of silver, and he felt heartbroken for a long time.
"Don't mention it. You, a liar, do look a bit like the Immortal Master, and your temperament is also okay. It seems that you have found out about it in advance. Unfortunately, it is this robe that betrays you."
Don't be angry, don't be angry...
The old Taoist took a few deep breaths, suppressed his anger, and asked, "Have you met Taoist Ding Xuan?"
"Of course we have never seen the Master, but our boss is the Immortal Master's disciple and has a portrait of the Immortal Master. Moreover, our boss said that the clothes he wears are not even a tenth as precious as the Taoist robes that the Immortal Master wears. Our boss wears the finest brocade from the south of the Yangtze River and a feathery cloak from the North Sea, but he is still not as good as the Immortal Master."
"Yes, the immortal master in the portrait is wearing a purple robe with auspicious clouds and cranes embroidered with gold and silver threads. The patterns on the cuffs are sewn stitch by stitch by a top-notch embroiderer. What is that called..."
"My sleeves are as wide as the universe, and I have never been stained by the worldly affairs."
As they spoke, the two men looked at the Taoist's cuffs with mocking eyes. The Taoist felt a little embarrassed by being looked at, and his hands unconsciously retracted. His cuffs were added later, and his tailoring skills were not very good, so the stitches were a little crooked.
"Where did you see it?"
"It's in our Taoist temple. Why don't you give up? I'll take you to see it."
"good."
Ding Xuan followed the two people into the Taoist temple. He found that there was a new attic in the temple. After entering the door, he saw the portrait hanging on the wall.
After looking at it for a while, Taoist Ding Xuan was sure that it was indeed himself in the portrait, but the himself in the painting was in Huagu Zhiting, wearing a noble Taoist robe. There was indeed a big difference between this attire and his current self.
But the old Taoist had to admit that he looked more like the master of a temple in the portrait.
"Okay, now that you've seen the Immortal Master's portrait, you can leave."
"Master, this is clearly..."
Daogu also recognized the old Taoist in the portrait, but the old Taoist interrupted him as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Master Ding Xuan is indeed an extraordinary person. I shouldn't pretend to be him. I'll take my leave now."
After saying this, the old Taoist signaled to his disciple with his eyes not to say any more, then turned around and walked out of the Taoist temple.
"Master, it's clearly you in the painting. Why do you say you are a fake?" After leaving the Taoist temple, Daogu finally couldn't help it and asked a question.
"Even if I explain this to them, they won't believe me. Why bother to explain to them? Let's go."
The old Taoist explained that he would naturally not tell his apprentice that it was all due to vanity. Looking at himself in the portrait, he was too embarrassed to say in front of others that the person in the painting was him.
"Where are you going, Master?"
"Go find that bastard Lin Ye."
The old Taoist now completely realized what was going on, and said that the person was his disciple, and that there was no one else except Lin Ye who had the money to renovate Qingfeng Temple on such a large scale.
