Zhuang Rui was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and said with a mixture of laughter and tears: "Temple? It's normal for monks to go there, but why do Taoist priests go there?"
The purpose of Zhuang Rui's trip was to excavate valuable ancient tombs. He didn't have much interest in these temples, unless it was a special place like Famen Temple where the finger bone relic of Sakyamuni Buddha was placed. But it is conceivable that such a
A temple in the desert would probably not have such a Buddhist treasure.
"Isn't this strange? Isn't Taoist Wang a believer in Taoism? Isn't he still practicing at the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang? The monks and Taoists are all members of the same family..."
After Dr. Ren heard Zhuang Rui's words, he couldn't help but laugh. In China, Buddhism is a foreign monk, while Taoism originated in China. Both sects have their own dynasties that flourished and declined. Although Buddhism and Taoism
There have been many overt and covert struggles in history, but compared with the bloody massacres between sects abroad, they can be considered relatively harmonious.
In ancient China, there were many people who practiced both Buddhism and Taoism, and they all had profound attainments. For example, the great Confucian Wang Yangming of the Ming Dynasty was not only proficient in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, but also integrated the three thoughts and was known as
People call it the "True Three Immortals", and its academic thoughts have had an important and far-reaching influence in China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asian countries and even the world.
"Taoist Wang?"
When Zhuang Rui heard this name, he couldn't help but feel moved. Taoist Wang built a Taiqing Palace Taoist temple in Mogao Grottoes at that time. Why did he go to this remote temple in the desert? Even if the desertification was not so serious at that time
, but it is estimated that not many people are willing to come here.
"Could it be that... Taoist Wang went there for other reasons?"
Zhuang Rui always felt that there was something about that temple that attracted him. After thinking for a while, he looked at Mengzi and said, "Brother Mengzi, have you been to that place? I want to go there and see..."
"Brother Zhuang, that... I have never been there. I just heard the old man talk about it, saying that it is a place where the devil lives and it is very dangerous..."
After hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Mengzi, who had a bold personality, actually showed a look of embarrassment on his face, because even his father had told him not to go to that place, as it was already occupied by the devil.
"Devil? You are talking about the Devil City, right? It is just a geological phenomenon. It is a type of wind erosion landform formed in a drought and strong wind environment. There is nothing dangerous about it..."
Zhuang Rui laughed when he heard this. He estimated that the place Mengzi was talking about was the Yadan landform area. This kind of landform is often full of strange things, as if it was fabricated by the devil, but in fact it is not harmful to people.
"Brother Zhuang, it's not like that. You don't know that when I was very young, someone in the town went there. At that time, more than ten people went there, and only two people came back. One of them was so scared that he went crazy and said
There were devils under the ground there, and they ate up both their men and their camels..."
When Mengzi said these words, his face turned a little pale. These stories had been told repeatedly to him since he was a child. Although Mengzi was brave, he still felt fear in his heart when faced with these somewhat mysterious things.
"There is a devil underground? Will he eat people?"
Zhuang Rui was stunned for a moment, and then his expression became serious. He turned to Dr. Ren and said, "Brother, what Brother Mengzi said, could it be quicksand in the desert?"
Most people who live on the edge of the desert believe that there are devils in the desert. In fact, the devils they call are quicksands in the desert. They can swallow all objects. In ancient times, they could not be explained scientifically.
This phenomenon has become what people call a place where the devil lives.
Quicksand is actually rising groundwater, which reduces the friction between sand grains, causing the sand to begin to "flow", thus forming quicksand. Quicksand is quite harmful. In 1692 AD, Port Royal in Jamaica had a
Earthquakes caused liquefaction of the soil and the formation of quicksand, resulting in the disappearance of one-third of the city and the loss of 2,000 lives.
As for those who live on the edge of the desert, the harm of quicksand is directly reflected in the fact that camels and living people are swallowed by quicksand. This also makes all the residents of the small town avoid places with quicksand in the desert and regard them as devils.
restricted area.
"It's quicksand. When my teacher and I came here last time, we heard people in the town talking about it, but... they didn't say there was a temple there..."
Dr. Ren nodded. He knew that there was a quicksand area in the desert near the North Gobi. However, when he came here last time, he did not hear that there was a place for inspection there, so he was not sure about it.
We don't know much about it either. You know, they are archaeologists, not geologists.
Mengzi interjected: "Brother Qiangzi, people in this town are generally not willing to mention that matter. If Brother Zhuang hadn't asked today, I wouldn't have said it..."
There are dozens of families in a small town like Qiujiawo. The shortest family has lived here for nearly a hundred years. Many families have relatives who died there in the 1970s.
More than ten young adults, this is the biggest tragedy in the history of the town, so no one who knows about it is willing to mention it.
Qiangzi has been warned by the old man since he was a child to stay away from that place, so when Zhuang Rui asked to go there just now, his face became so ugly.
"There is quicksand there, which only means that there must be underground water under that piece of sand. It is even the former oasis that somehow sank under the sand. So, there should be people living there before...
…”
Zhuang Rui deduced along the quicksand, and the more he thought about it, the more excited he became. The area of quicksand is generally not too large. As long as he and others are careful, they may not be able to bypass the quicksand area and enter the temple Mengzi mentioned to find out.
Zhuang Rui had a very strange feeling in his heart. He felt that the Taoist priest Mengzi mentioned just now was the Taoist Wang who opened the Sutra Cave of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.
If that's the case, what was Taoist Wang's motive for going there? These are all things worth exploring, so Zhuang Rui was not interested at first, but developed a strong desire to go there.
"Of course there are people living there. I heard from the elders that in the early Republic of China, there were people living from our town all the way to the North Gobi. I don't know what happened later, but the area of the desert suddenly increased, and the people living there were just
It’s time to move out…”
When Mengzi said this, he suddenly looked at Zhuang Rui alertly and said: "Brother Zhuang, I can take you to this desert except that place, but I really won't go there. If my father knows
It will break my legs..."
For someone as bold as Mengzi to say such a thing shows how much influence that "devil's restricted area" has on the people in the town.
Seeing Mengzi's appearance, Zhuang Rui knew that if he forced him to go, he would probably be able to go back home directly. After thinking about it, Zhuang Rui said: "Okay, Brother Mengzi, let's not go there first.
Let’s walk around this ruins…”
You must go, but Zhuang Rui must first eliminate Mengzi's fear of quicksand. Although quicksand in the desert is difficult to judge with the naked eye, you just need to keep the distance when moving forward and don't walk too much.
Hurry, even if the person in front is trapped in the quicksand, there is still a way to rescue him.
Moreover, there is water in the ground in the quicksand, and Zhuang Rui can also identify it through the aura in his eyes, so he is quite confident in discovering the quicksand area in advance, so as to avoid it.
Seeing that Zhuang Rui no longer insisted on going to the "Devil's Forbidden Zone", Mengzi couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and returned to his previous appearance. He patted his chest and said: "Okay, as long as you don't go there, you can go to the Great Gobi. Good luck."
If it’s good, you might even see a wild camel…”
Zhuang Rui was dumbfounded when he heard this. If people like him went to the desert to look for wild camels, they would be really not doing their jobs properly. Just when he was about to speak, a "ding-dong" sound suddenly came from the distance, but there were tourists again.
Came to this ruins.
Mengzi also heard the sound of the camel bells. He stood up and put up a pergola to watch for a while, then shouted loudly to the person coming on the camel in the distance: "Hey, Erdan, you got up early enough, but you're still earlier than me."
Late, haha..."
"Brother Mengzi, I'm not bad either. Apart from you, I'm the best guide in the town..."
After hearing Mengzi's words, the visitor shouted, and the camel team that was walking slowly and leisurely suddenly started trotting. In a blink of an eye, it came to the periphery of the ruins and mixed with the camel team of Zhuang Rui and others.
Mengzi stepped forward, glanced at the other's camel team, frowned, and asked: "Erdan, why did you bring so many camels? Aren't you planning to go back today?"
After hearing what Mengzi said, Zhuang Rui and others discovered that the other team's camel team had a total of six camels, but only four people were sitting there. The other two camels were like them, carrying a lot of supplies. You know, here
The ruins are not far from Zhuangzi. If you are not camping in the desert, there is no need to carry supplies.
"Brother Mengzi, the guests are going to the legendary temple in our town, so I brought two extra camels. I have never been to this part of the desert. Hehe, maybe I will be the best guide in the town in the future.
…”
Erdan, the leader of the camel team, jumped off the camel and took off the gauze on his face, revealing a young and confident face. He looked about twenty-two or thirty years old.
Erdan's words shocked Mengzi. He grabbed Erdan and said loudly: "What? You...where are you going? Are you going to die?"
