Li Xiuyuan looked at the statue of Avalokitesvara, and felt something was wrong in his heart.
The people in Huaxian County live in such poverty, but this statue was actually built in such a luxurious way, which seems to imply that the entire county's financial resources are used to support this statue.
It wouldn't matter if it was built by a wealthy businessman in the county. How other people spend their money is their business and no one else has the right to interfere. However, Li Xiuyuan saw that under the statue of the Guanyin Goddess of Mercy, there were
There are huge merit boxes, each of which is more than half the height of a person.
Moreover, the pilgrims who worship Guanyin will put money into the merit box every time after worshiping the statue. Some of them offer more than ten or twenty coins, and some even throw several taels of silver into it.
There are even slightly richer pilgrims who don't even think about throwing their entire money bags into it, leaving nothing behind.
The pilgrims who had invested money muttered words and prayed for something.
"This worship of God seems a bit too pious." Li Xiuyuan frowned slightly.
Put all the money into the merit box, which is better than the temple, but it is painful for yourself. No wonder the Guanyin Temple is built in such a luxurious style.
If it were not for these pilgrims who spared no effort in worshiping, it would be impossible to build such a luxurious statue in this age and world.
Li Xiuyuan pondered for a while and followed the crowd to the altar table, preparing to eavesdrop on what these pilgrims were asking for.
He saw a woman in her thirties kneeling in front of a futon, burning incense and worshiping, kowtowing to the statue of Guanyin, and murmuring: "Great Merciful and Compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva, please bless me to give birth to a big fat boy this year.
In order to continue my family's lineage and prevent it from being extinct, I pray to the Great Merciful and Compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva..."
The woman muttered it several times. After burning incense and praying, she took out dozens of coins from her arms and put them into the merit box. Then she knelt down again and muttered it several times. Finally, she left feeling a little distressed.
.
And when the next pilgrim came forward, she was also a woman.
This woman had a big belly and seemed to have been pregnant for several months. Like the previous woman, she burned incense and prayed, put money into the merit box, and repeatedly chanted, asking the Bodhisattva to give her a child.
After the second woman left, a third pilgrim came, and a fourth pilgrim came.
Without exception, they all knelt in front of the statue of Guanyin, kowtowed, burned incense, and prayed. The things they asked for were similar, and most of them were asking for a child.
But you can understand it if you want to have a child.
After all, this is a statue of Guanyin, the goddess of child-giving, and it is not dedicated to other gods. It is only natural to come here to ask for a child.
However, after Li Xiuyuan watched it for a while, he felt something was wrong.
"Why are there so many women coming to burn incense and beg for a child this early in the morning? The population of Hua County is so large. This begging for a child is a bit too enthusiastic. And even begging for a child does not require such luxury.
For such an offering of real gold and silver, it would be enough to burn a few sticks of incense."
He was confused and at the same time had some thoughts.
Before he could stop for long, a nun in plain clothes walked over to the nearby statue with a smile; "This young man is very cool. He must not be from this county, but he came here to worship the gods."
The son-in-law Guanyin in this Guanyin Temple is extremely effective. As long as the son is sincere, Guanyin will answer all your requests."
Li Xiuyuan suddenly came back to his senses, and then said: "I'm not here to worship God. I just passed by occasionally and saw that it was very lively, so I came to take a look out of curiosity. I have no other meaning. If this master doesn't mind,
, can you allow me to walk around and take a look?"
The nun saluted and said: "No idlers are allowed to wander around the Guanyin Temple, but this young master is of extraordinary aura and should not be an idler. If this young master does not dislike it, I am willing to take him with him."
Let’s take a walk inside the temple.”
"Oh, if that's the case, then I'm sorry to have troubled you so much." Li Xiuyuan returned the greeting.
The middle-aged nun smiled and said: "This is a small effort. The young master is serious. Please come here."
After saying that, he gestured, showing great enthusiasm.
Li Xiuyuan nodded and prepared to follow the nun to the Guanyin Temple.
How can you find the god hidden in the Guanyin Temple without taking a stroll? How can you ask Qiao's daughter clearly if you don't find the god.
"Young Master, this nun doesn't look like a monk. If she were a nun, she would definitely call the young master her benefactor, but she keeps calling him the young master. If she has been a monk for a long time, it is impossible that she will not change her title. And, please see, first young master.
Her shoes."
The guard suddenly moved quickly and whispered beside Li Xiuyuan.
Li Xiuyuan's eyes moved and he looked at the nun's feet.
But I saw that the feet under the wide plain clothes were wearing a pair of embroidered shoes, not the cloth shoes of monks and nuns.
Looking at it this way, this nun is indeed very suspicious. She does not look like a serious nun, but more like a woman who temporarily put on plain clothes to pretend to be a nun.
"Sir, why are you staring at the poor nun's feet?"
The nun seemed to be quite sensitive and seemed to have noticed Li Xiuyuan's gaze. She stopped for a moment, turned around and pursed her lips with a smile, not angry at all.
Li Xiuyuan didn't mean to be a thief, but looked at her squarely and said: "Although this master is a monk, she seems to be impure. Since she is a monk, why is she wearing such a pair of fancy embroidered shoes instead of plain clothes and cloth shoes?"
Now that he found out, he simply asked directly.
The nun smiled and said: "Monks wear Baijia clothes, and naturally they also wear Baijia shoes. The women in the county donated this pair of embroidered shoes to the temple, and the poor nuns could not throw them away. In order to avoid waste, they had to wear them on their feet.
Sir, do you think it's inappropriate? You should know that there is a Buddhist scripture that says: There is no person, no self, no sentient beings, no lifespan. Now that you have become a monk, there is no need to pay too much attention to the physical appearance. This dress is naturally casual."
When Li Xiuyuan heard this, he felt that it made some sense: "What Master Tai said is that it seems that I am too obsessed with my appearance."
Others used Buddhist teachings to argue, but he was unable to refute.
I am not even a Taoist, so I don’t know anything about Buddhism.
"It's good if you understand, Master."
The nun smiled and said: "Come here, sir, please. Along this corridor, over there is the temple in the temple. Over there are the Zen rooms where monks rest in the temple. As for the front, there is the Temple of Life Release. Every year, here
There will be a life release ceremony, but it is a pity that the young master is here, and this year's life release ceremony has already passed."
"The Guanyin Temple is not big. You can walk around and return to the main hall."
As she walked, the nun pointed at several buildings in the temple.
This Guanyin Temple is indeed not big. Only the main hall is magnificent and magnificent, but the back is quite simple.
But... Li Xiuyuan felt something was wrong.
Because when he rode a dragon horse and passed by the Guanyin Temple last night, he clearly saw that the Guanyin Temple occupies more than this. How could it be possible that there are only a few simple temples and temples? It is completely unreasonable.
Besides, it was impossible for him to see it wrong with his eyes. If the extra space was a place where ghosts and gods lived, that would be a different matter. But yesterday, he did not see the incense gathering and the residence built by ghosts and gods.
But just when he was doubtful, when he passed by the release pond, he suddenly saw a series of small bubbles rising in the water.
I thought it was just an ordinary bubbling, after all, bubbling in a pool is normal.
However, just under the water, Li Xiuyuan saw a pale little face.
That's a baby's face.
It was hard to tell whether it was a boy or a girl. The baby raised its little face under the water, pouted its little mouth, and spit out bubbles.
After seeing Li Xiuyuan approaching, the baby seemed to be frightened. The baby immediately dived into the depths of the pool and disappeared.
Li Xiuyuan stopped and his eyes became serious.
The baby just now was not a living baby, but the ghost of a dead baby.
"Master, are there any children drowning in this release pool?" Li Xiuyuan asked.
The nun's smile froze slightly: "Why does this young master ask such a question?"
Li Xiuyuan said, "It's just a casual question."
The nun said: "This is the temple's life-release pond. Only some fish and turtles and other creatures will be released. How can there be children drowning in the pond? You are too worried."
"Well, I was rude." Li Xiuyuan said.
But his eyes kept searching around the life-release pond.
Suddenly, he saw another wronged soul next to a handrail where the sun could not reach. This time it was not that of a baby, but that of a four or five-year-old child, and there were four of them. The ghosts of these four children had stickers on them.
He was standing next to the release pond, swaying slightly, his face was pale without a trace of blood, and his eyes were extremely empty, filled with resentment.
"What's next to the pool over there?" Li Xiuyuan asked the guard.
One of the guards took a look and said, "Young Master, there are four small fish adhering to the grass by the pond."
Li Xiuyuan's heart sank.
It's Taoism.
Someone used Taoist magic to cover up the true appearance of the wronged soul.
The little fish in the guard's eyes became the wronged soul of the child in his eyes. This is obviously abnormal.
If it is really an ordinary wronged soul, then the guards will not be able to see anything. After all, the guards do not have the ability to see through yin and yang.
The wronged soul turned into a small fish. Such a cover-up made Li Xiuyuan immediately believe that there was something strange in the Guanyin Temple.
If not, why bother turning the innocent souls in the release pond into small fish to deceive others.
"Sir, what's so interesting about this life-releasing pond? The nun should take you to look elsewhere," said the nun next to him.
Li Xiuyuan ignored it, but walked along the corridor and circled the life-release pool with a solemn gaze.
When he turned to the shadow of a rockery in the center of the lake, he looked at the pool under the shadow. His eyes suddenly shrank, his scalp was numb, and he took several steps back in fear.
But I saw small heads exposed densely under the water in the shadow. There were the innocent souls of babies three to four months old, the innocent souls of children between one and five or six years old, and the innocent souls of women between the ages of eighteen, nineteen, and more than 20 years old.
, these innocent souls leaned together one by one, hugged each other tightly, and hid in the darkness behind the rockery to avoid being exposed to the sun.
The total number of these innocent souls, large and small, is at least hundreds, because there are several layers of little heads underwater.
"Damn it, is this a releasing pond or a killing pond?" Li Xiuyuan clenched his fist tightly.
With so many innocent souls of babies and children gathered here, how many people died in this pool?