The first day of the Bon Dharma Ceremony has concluded.
In a simple and elegant Zen room.
An old monk with kind eyebrows and good intentions meditated and entered concentration.
A young monk who was responsible for cleaning the Zen room today was squatting by the wall, about to replace the red candle that was about to burn out.
Perhaps because of the day's hard work and lack of concentration, the young monk accidentally used too much force when inserting the new candle into the candle holder, spilling the candle liquid in the candle holder that had not completely cooled and solidified all over the floor.
The young monk suddenly broke into a cold sweat.
Although he didn't scream in surprise or make much noise, he still subconsciously glanced in the direction of the old monk.
Full of guilt, afraid that the old monk would blame me.
The old monk, who had closed his eyes, obviously noticed something strange here, and comforted him softly: "It's okay, just don't burn your hands."
The young monk said gratefully: "It's not hot or hot. The young monk will clean it up immediately."
After saying that, the young monk got up and quickly left the Zen room to get tools to deal with the candle liquid stuck to the ground.
The old monk slowly opened his eyes and couldn't help but look at the pool of blood-red liquid on the ground.
I recall a nearly identical scene two or three months ago, as well as a conversation I had with my fellow disciples.
"Senior brother, if the red candles are spilled on the ground, just clean them up. It's not a big deal. But if blood is spilled on the ground, Shaolin..."
"Then what did Junior Brother tell Donor Luo and Donor Ji at that time?"
"...I still can't hide it from my senior brother."
"Although Junior Brother has been silent, as time goes by, we can still slowly see some clues from the changes in the situation in the world."
"Junior brother is ashamed of my Buddha..."
"Junior brother is willing to be a red candle, burning himself and illuminating others. How should he be worthy of the Buddha?"
"Senior brother...hehe, in terms of physical skills, my senior brother is not as good as me, but in terms of the profoundness of Buddhism, my senior brother is far inferior to me, so I won't argue with my senior brother."
"That's why the abbot always asked you to meditate more, read more scriptures, and practice Zen."
"It's a pity that after wasting more than ten years in the Sutra Pavilion, my junior brother still hasn't made much progress. I really feel like I have failed my teacher."
"Senior brother, why not? When I was most confused, I would feel resentment in my heart from time to time. I blamed my master and uncles for leaving too early and too cleanly. Even if one or two people were left behind, just like Wudang Xu
Like Chen Zhenren, when the younger generation does make a mistake, it can give them a heads-up, even if it is to make up for it. However, there is no if, if I make a mistake, no one will ever come out to question it. Only when things are a foregone conclusion and the result is unsatisfactory, can I act accordingly
Reflect on the consequences. However, many things are still too superficial, and after many mistakes have been made, there is no room for recovery. After batch after batch of people left indifferently, Shaolin became worse day by day.
.”
"Senior brother took over hastily, and has been able to maintain the dignity of my famous and upright family. Qingku thinks it is very difficult, so don't belittle yourself. If you are wrong, Qingku and others are not wrong. We will all bear the heavy responsibility on him.
Senior brother, I didn’t help share my worries and solve my problems, otherwise why would this happen?”
"Oh, why have we admitted each other's mistakes? The fait accompli cannot be changed. This time I also agree with my junior brother's approach. Although I, Shaolin, are Buddhists, I have little to do with the righteousness of the family and the country. But if the skin is not preserved, the hair will be attached.
?Twenty years ago, as a leader in martial arts, Shaolin could be at the forefront of the fight against foreigners. Now, why not just be a pawn?"
"What senior brother said is true, but some of Donor Luo's ideas are indeed contrary to our Buddha's path. Can senior brother really convince himself?"
"This is also the reason why I hesitated for a long time before I came to my junior brother to talk to him. There are naturally many truths to be said about Buddhism, but I found that the mistakes I made in the past were that I talked too much about the principles. Maybe my understanding of Buddhism was not good either.
It is so transparent, so the result is often completely opposite to the original intention. This time, senior brother, I will not talk about so many truths and only look at one obvious fact."
"What fact?"
"If Zhongzhou Lu is destroyed, who will inherit Zhongzhou Buddhism?"
…
…
Zhejiang.
On a small village.
It was dinner time.
But I couldn't hear the slightest sound of children talking back and crying because of naughty children and not eating honestly, the sound of couples quarreling over discipline, or the sounds of old people doting and scolding.
I can no longer smell the fragrance of the dishes.
The thick smell of blood covered all the smoke and smoke in the village.
Blood slowly dripped out from every house and accumulated, no less viscous than candle liquid.
The faint wails of those who had not stopped living could be faintly heard from the three or two doors, but surprisingly they could be heard clearly.
There are hundreds of households in a village, old and young, men and women, not even a chicken or a dog can escape the killing tonight!
It seems that an evil spirit crawling out of the eighteenth level of hell caused this bloody massacre.
Those who died happily may have been penetrated by the evil ghost with one hand, and one or two internal organs were randomly removed.
Or they may be slapped by evil spirits until their flesh and blood are bruised, or their legs may be kicked until their bones are broken.
Those who died in great pain were mostly affected by the residual force, which shocked all the internal organs in the body, and it took a long time before they died.
Or if a whole family was covered by a huge boulder at the same time, one or two ends would bear less force, and luckily they would not be killed on the spot.
That's where the four or five sparse gasping sounds came from.
If they cannot be rescued within half an hour, these four or five people will undoubtedly die the most painful and helpless deaths in the entire small village.
But even if they are rescued, will they have the courage to face the fact that their loved ones have been killed, their hometown is destroyed, and they will probably be disabled in the future?
It's probably because God, the thief, loves to watch this kind of drama.
There was a rapid sound of horse hooves coming from far away.
The two teams arrived in front of the village one after another, and those few people also had hope of survival.
There was a team of about fifteen or sixteen people, dressed like officials, and they were the inspection department of the local town.
The other team was vaguely divided into two groups, with a total of ten people. Their clothes were much simpler and rougher. It was not difficult to tell that they were people from the Jianghu.
Furthermore, from the fact that nine of the ten people had bare arms, showing off their strong muscles, it was easy to guess that these two groups of people were both escort masters.
The small village is not located in a remote area, so when the terrifying laughter resounded in the night sky that night, at least three passers-by heard loud or small screams of horror coming one after another from the direction of the village.
Wails.
There was even a brave, careful and nimble guy who sneaked into half a mile of the village, stretched his neck and looked around with all his strength.
Until I saw a grotesque and huge figure effortlessly knocking down the house, pounced on the fleeing people again and again, and then living people flew high into the air, and then fell heavily and died.
He was finally frightened out of his wits, but fortunately his hands and feet were more afraid of death than him, so he dug around on the ground randomly and crawled away in a hurry.
Whether it was out of fear of ghosts and gods, or concern for their own lives, the three of them spread the word about this incident in unison.
Such fatal things always spread quickly.
In less than a moment of burning incense, two groups of people came upon hearing the news.
Before and after arriving at the village, dozens of eyes easily saw the tragic situation in the village.
Many people looked away in fear, and some were so nauseated that they almost vomited out everything they had eaten in the next moment.
For a while no one thought whether there were any survivors.
A group of official men and horses, a group of rough and treacherous people, couldn't help feeling chilly, so they looked at each other in silence.
Although the smell of blood was strong, there was still a faint smell of alcohol between the two groups. Fortunately, everyone remained calm.
Both groups have their own reasons for drinking tonight.
The two groups of escorts come from the North and South Escort Agency, which is the most famous in the world.
The North and South Escort Agency is just as its name suggests. It was originally composed of two escort agencies, one in the south and one in the north.
The headquarters of the Southern Escort Bureau is in Zhejiang.
The two groups of escorts did not pick up any big business on this trip, but only small escorts from Zhejiang.
Just as they all finished their work, they made an appointment to treat each other with a treat.
As for the imperial decree restricting military force, it is clear that the emperor is far away and the mountain is high, and they have not committed any transgression, so there is no need to pay attention to it.
Unexpectedly, after just two glasses of wine, I heard that something bad might happen here. Out of the chivalrous heart of Jianghu people, I came here to find out.
Compared to the righteous deeds of the North and South Escort Bureau, the Inspection Department's move was more of a business-related act.
The Zhongzhou Inspection Department is a permanent organization.
Just because after the war with foreign barbarians, the imperial court's jurisdiction over Fujian was not as strong as before, and bandits became the norm.
In order to prevent nearby areas from being affected by this bad trend, an inspection department was added to this town.
Responsible for inspecting pedestrians, combating smuggling, arresting thieves and other matters to maintain peace.
However, the Inspection Department is under-staffed, with only twenty people covering an area of nearly hundreds of households, and the task force is unable to meet its expectations.
Secondly, in order to activate the economy among various states and regions, the imperial court adopted loose policies on the movement of people.
If the serious murder case that occurs in the town has nothing to do with Jianghu people, the inspection department can get involved.
Once he got involved with Jianghu people, the inspection department would cover up and pretend that nothing happened.
Gradually, the people also formed a tacit understanding with the inspection department.
If you know something, you can go to the inspection department to help you seek justice. If you know something, it's better to go to the Jianghu people to settle it.
In fact, the existence of the Inspection Department has long become dispensable, and it has gradually become an agency that eats free money.
The change originated from the Hundred Flowers Conference a few months ago, when the Inspection Department began to add more people, expanding to nearly forty people.
The deputy inspector named Song who led the team this time did not know where these people appeared out of thin air.
If it weren't for his really good skills, the position of deputy inspector would have been replaced.
Although there are more people under his command, life today is not as comfortable as before.
Now every ten days he leads three groups of people to run up and down the town diligently to perform their duties.
My life is more than four times more than before, but my salary is only less than twice as much as before.
It's just that the whole Zhongzhou is in such a situation, and Deputy Inspector Song, who has a whole family pointing to him for their livelihood, can only comfort himself, thinking that he has enjoyed happiness for so long in his early years, and now it's time to pay off his debts.
Tonight happened to be the time when he and his men had finished their official duties and were about to go back to deliver their duties.
It was getting late, so I wanted to have food and clothing on the way back.
It's easy to take some time off, but trouble comes unexpectedly.
A gust of wind blew by.
Blow away the smell of alcohol from everyone.
The overwhelming smell of blood assaulted your nostrils.
The group of people who were not very drunk to begin with suddenly became a little more sober.
It's just that no one is frowning and their face is dull.
Deputy Inspector Song, who had eyebrows like knives and thin cheeks, calmed down and looked for the leader of the two groups in the escort agency.
At this moment, he naturally doesn't care whether the other party violates the imperial ban, and he wishes more people would come to embolden him.
Deputy Inspector Song's lips parted slightly, wanting to ask the other party's opinion, but since he had not dealt with people in the world for a long time, he didn't know how to speak.
The starry night is dim, but the eyesight of those who practice darts will not be too bad.
Seeing that the people in the government did not show much hostility, among the ten members of the North and South Escort Bureau, a middle-aged man with a square face and a broad sword on his back, who looked dull, rode out on horseback, bowed respectfully, and said, "But Deputy Inspector Song?"
Deputy Inspector Song did not put on any airs, and returned the courtesy politely, saying: "Exactly."
The middle-aged Da Dao generously announced his family name and said: "I am from the North and South Escort Agency. I want to pay the money."
After all, he had been working as a local police officer for more than ten years. Deputy Inspector Song was no stranger to this name. He knew that the other party was one of the top ten escorts of the North and South Escort Bureau.
Dear fellow officers of the Escort Agency, Mr. Song will not gossip here and now, but I would also like to ask Escort Master Qian what he thinks of the matter at hand?"
Qian Fang knew that the government had done too little business in recent years, so it was no wonder that a deputy inspector had no clue about a village massacre case and didn't know what to do, so he expressed his opinion: "I heard from the person who just sent the message that there is a weird person."
Ruining villages and killing people, seeing this scene, either that person has gone crazy practicing martial arts, or they have practiced some evil martial arts and need to drink blood."
Deputy Inspector Song nodded and said: "Song also believes that it has nothing to do with ghosts. Chief Qian may roughly judge who or which sect it was based on the situation at the scene."
Qian Fang frowned and said, "It's a bit difficult, but we should be able to see some clues."
Deputy Inspector Song cupped his fists and said, "Then Mr. Song has a heartless request. Please help find out the general identity of the suspect. Mr. Song can petition for justice for hundreds of innocent people who died unjustly."
Everyone in the Escort Agency who was used to scorning the lazy and cowardly behavior of officials were all surprised when they heard this. Then they looked at this little ninth-grade local official with surprise. Everyone in the Escort Agency came here for the word chivalry.
Naturally, he was full of words such as willingness to cooperate.
As the government and Jianghu people walked into the village, they soon realized that there were still people alive, and urgently organized rescue operations.
A little boy whose legs were crushed by a collapsed house was rescued. He still tightened his body, kept slapping his knees with his hands, and cried hoarsely: "It's a ghost, it's a ghost! It's the ghost that my parents said it was."
Here to claim your life! A tall, long-haired, faceless ghost!"
Deputy Inspector Song looked at Qian Fang after hearing this, thinking that he could get the answer based on this alone.
Qian Fang smiled bitterly and shook his head, indicating that he was confused.
But an escort surnamed Tie remembered the recent rumors and said: "Could it be the long-haired bamboo pole monster you are talking about, together with the ghost in red? It is said that this pair of ghosts came from north to south. A few days ago,
Didn't it just appear in Huzhou County and Jiaxing County?"
Deputy Inspector Song immediately made arrangements with his subordinates: "Send the survivors to treatment as soon as possible, and when they wake up, ask if they have seen the ghost in red."
Qian Fang's expression suddenly became particularly solemn. If it was really the rumored pair of "ghosts", they would have to pay more attention!