Seeing Chen Yuan's explanation, the old Taoist priest with a thin face and eye-catching eyes sighed and bowed to the two of them.
"Sir, why do you need to tell me what I did? Why don't you just let nature take its course?"
"Monster, is it really like this?" The coldness in Han Youniang's eyes finally changed. She looked at Chen Yuan with a searching look.
Chen Yuan nodded and helped the old man up, not paying any attention to the other's ferocious face.
"Whether it's a demon or a human being, if you have good intentions, you deserve to be respected. Han Youniang, today you broke into this Taoist temple without asking any questions. You should be punished by the Taoist priest."
"I want you to teach me."
Han Youniang counterattacked, hesitated for a moment, looked at the old Taoist priest with a terrifying face, and raised her hand with the sword in hand. Even though she was still unconvinced in her heart, what Chen Yuan said must be true.
"Girls don't need to be so polite."
The old Taoist priest's tone softened, and he probably forgave the woman for her previous recklessness. Then he ordered the servants outside to make tea and bring in two more stools.
"I'm sorry that I can't leave the palace. You two can sit down here. There are still some things that I need to finish first."
The old Taoist wearing a wrinkled monk's robe walked back to the futon, sat down under the oil lamp and fell into meditation again. Han Youniang sat down a little further away, looking at the shadow with teeth and claws on the wall illuminated by the light, and her heart was always filled with fear.
He wanted to speak, but Chen Yuan across from him just picked up the tea, blew in the hot steam, and slowly savored the aroma of the tea.
For a while.
The old Taoist priest on the other side of the futon finally heard a voice: "I have kept the two distinguished guests waiting for a long time."
His voice became weak, and when he stood up and turned around, Han Youniang found that he was much thinner than before, his skin became dull, his wrinkles became deeper, and his originally gray beard and hair were almost completely white, making it unbearable to look at.
"Taoist Priest, what are you doing..." Chen Yuan knew that he was borrowing lifespan to heal the people here, but he didn't expect such a big change. "You didn't take back the lifespan you lent?"
The old Taoist shook his head, a smile appeared on his bone-like face, sat aside, and said weakly: "I borrowed it to treat people's illnesses, how can I take it back again?"
"What do you want from doing this?" Han Youniang didn't believe there could be such a selfless person, let alone a monster.
Her suspicion was not wrong, and even Chen Yuan was a little confused. It would make sense if she just used the life force to treat diseases and then took it back after the treatment to earn a small amount of money.
The old Taoist priest saw the doubts in their eyes, and the wrinkles in his smile deepened.
"It's natural for you two to be suspicious."
The words fell silent at this point. After a while, the old Taoist priest spoke again, "Then let me tell you a story."
Chen Yuan didn't speak, just nodded and listened quietly to what he was going to say.
"...Where do we start?" The old Taoist priest looked at the swaying dim lights with a somewhat confused look in his eyes, "Let's start with this mountain... This temple has been around for many years. There are cracks in the bricks.
There was an ordinary little insect on its coils. It was very busy outside. At that time, it was sitting in the cracks of the bricks, watching the pilgrims coming and going to offer incense.
The temple minister in the temple is a middle-aged man named Xu, who has several children and is accompanied by an old wife. He is just like an ordinary person, welcoming and receiving believers who come to offer incense. But at night,
Only the little centipede knew that he was an outsider who knew many magic spells. Every day, he would cure pilgrims' misfortunes and cure their diseases by interpreting fortunes and reading fortunes. No one knew, but the little centipede knew.
At night, the little centipede would curiously crawl into the temple, listen to him chanting sutras, watch him practice magic, and watch their family happily together.
After many years like this, Xu Miaozhu also got old. His old wife passed away, and several children were married off. They went out to make a living. The originally bustling Taoist temple became dead at night, and the only thing that could be heard was
The sound is the chanting in the temple.
And the little centipede may have listened to the scriptures or inhaled the incense, and its body became as thick as a pole. It gradually realized that it had an identity. One day, it entered the hall again, climbed on the beam and looked at him,
After listening for a long time, I finally couldn't help but speak.
So I asked him: Xu Miaozhu, why do you guard this Taoist temple? Your family has left, why do you still stay here and live in poverty? Who do you recite sutras to in the evening?
Xu Miaozhu seemed to know my existence and was not surprised. He sat on the futon without raising his head and just said softly: How can a monk become rich? If I don't recite sutras, how can I make you smart?"
Having said this, the old Taoist priest seemed to be lost in memories and still sighed at the tenacity of the temple blessing.
"Little Centipede has never seen a person like him. He treats the villagers silently without asking for anything in return. At night, he also chants sutras to the surrounding mountain spirits and wild monsters, hoping that the creatures in the mountains will gain wisdom and know right from wrong.
From then on, the little centipede would come out every night to listen to him in the temple. After a while, he would try to lie down next to him. Later, he gained some spiritual skills, but he was still a monster. He had some thoughts and became his dead wife.
He looked like a man and wanted to serve him day and night, but that day, the little centipede had never seen him get so angry. He drove him out of the hall for the first time. After that, for many days, the little centipede never saw the temple blessing or came and went.
Soon the number of pilgrims gradually decreased.
The roof was covered with fallen leaves and dust, many tiles were blown off by the wind and smashed to pieces, and a lot of weeds grew in the yard.
When I thought he would never come back again, Xu Miaozhu came back again, but this time he looked haggard, his body was much thinner, and he was much older.
Little Centipede happily asked him where he had been, and Miao Zhu only said that he had gone out to several states to look for someone, but unfortunately he could not find him, not even any news.
But in the days that followed, Miao Zhu continued to chant sutras and practice magic in the temple as usual, and even called the little centipede to watch. Later, I found out that he knew that his time was running out and wanted to pass on his magic.
This Taoist temple was passed down.
He said that if a person comes in in the future who looks exactly like the statue, thank him for me and say that Xu Huaiyu has never been more wonderful in his life."
The old Taoist priest continued to speak. Chen Yuan's eyes over there were a little warm. He slowly raised his face and looked at the statue of the god on the altar in front of him. The statue's shape was no longer clear and his appearance could not be seen.
"Later... Miao Zhu died, and the little centipede buried him in the open space behind the Taoist temple. From then on, the Taoist temple became panicked, but the centipede never left and still practiced here.
Several groups of Taoist priests came here along the way, wanting to settle here and rebuild the Taoist temple. However, they wanted to demolish the statues inside and dig out the tombs behind them.
The little centipede was unwilling, so he cast a spell to drive them away one by one, but so what, he panicked, and the Taoist temple no longer had an owner. But one day, many villagers came in, and the little centipede thought they were the same as before.
Like other people, they want to occupy this place or take away some things. What can be seen is that the villagers pulled out the weeds in the courtyard and cleaned the main hall.
From their conversation, we knew that it was the wish of some dying old men in their village, because they all knew Xu Miaozhu's ability. Without him, there would be no such descendants, and only hope that this Taoist temple would still be there.
The little centipede felt something in her heart, as if she had seen the temple blessings from back then standing in the temple to greet and send them off, joking with each pilgrim, answering their questions, and seeing doctors.
At that moment, it suddenly understood why Miao Zhu liked it here without asking for anything in return.
At this moment, it understood the meaning of the word ‘inheritance’.
Soon after, the little centipede was able to transform and stayed in the Taoist temple. He found the Taoist robe that Xu Miaozhu once wore and did the same thing here, but it was different. It just wanted to do something for Miaozhu and inherit the inheritance.
His mantle."
Han Youniang lowered her eyes. The little centipede in this story was the old Taoist priest in front of her.
The persistence of a monster actually gave her the first shock. After a while, the woman softly said: "If this continues... you will die."
"Ha ha."
The old Taoist priest laughed happily, stood up stroking his long beard, looked at the statue in Mohu Lake and was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice: "If you have thoughts in your heart, it doesn't matter if you die!"
The shock in her heart was huge. Han Youniang stood up silently, cupped her hands towards the back, lowered her head, turned around and walked out of the palace door.
Chen Yuan followed and left. When he walked to the door of the temple, he turned his face slightly and said to the old Taoist in front of the statue: "I have received Xu Miaozhu's words. I also thank him for his perseverance over the years. I have such a temple blessing from him.
Lucky for you!"
The lights are dim.
The old Taoist with a skinny face bowed slightly towards the statue.
…
"Xu Miaozhu, the person you are waiting for has already arrived. He also knows what you said back then, but have you...ever heard it?"
Stars and moons paved the night sky, Lao Dao walked in the wilderness, stood in front of a tomb, looked at the wordless tombstone on it and asked softly.