The human woman stood in the field and let out a long breath. The fear and unease in her heart finally dissipated a little. She waited for a moment and saw that Li Molin and Liuli had gone far away before she carefully stepped through the muddy field and onto the main road.
She had originally come to Hancheng to visit relatives with her young mistress, but she accidentally stepped into a muddy puddle and got her shoes and socks dirty. While she was fixing them, she fell behind the group and was left at the very back. When she tried to catch up with the carriage, everything went blurry before her eyes, and she was kidnapped by that strange man.
She stood on the main road, gazing into the distance, but could no longer see her mistress's entourage. A sense of unease crept into her heart. If her mistress discovered she was missing and unaware that she had been kidnapped, she would surely blame her.
As she anxiously turned her head to look around, she suddenly saw a monk walking towards her in the distance. The monk was dressed in a gray robe, and was extremely tall but too thin, looking like a bamboo pole from afar. He looked quite young, but his demeanor was calm and serene, like an ancient well without any ripples.
Her eyes darted around, recalling the word "demon" that the girl had mentioned earlier. She paused and pondered for a long time before deciding to tell the monk about it.
After thinking it over, she walked towards the monk and called out, "Young monk, please wait a moment."
Upon hearing this, the monk stopped in his tracks, a smile playing on his lips. He clasped his hands together in a Buddhist gesture of respect and asked with a smile, "May I ask what brings you here, young lady?"
The woman asked, "May I ask which temple you are a disciple of, young monk?"
The monk, his eyes fixed on a spot three feet in front of him, smiled and said, "This humble monk is a disciple of Bodhi Temple, my Dharma name is Shi Chan."
"Master Shichan." The woman bowed gracefully, her face filled with worry, and said, "Just now I saw the demons. They went to Hancheng, and I don't know if they will harm the people in the city. Please, Master, have compassion and help the people in the city."
"Demons?" Shi Chan's expression changed. He glanced at the woman, then quickly looked down at the ground, his smile vanishing. He asked, "How did you know you were a demon?"
As they were talking, three monks and a nun walked over together. The three monks were all young, dressed in yellow robes, and appeared to be in their early twenties. The nun was petite, dressed in a light blue nun's robe, and wore a simple light blue hat that covered her bald head.
The four quickly arrived at Shi Chan's place, and the eldest monk among them greeted him with a smile, "Brother Shi Chan."
When Shi Chan turned his head, he saw Yuanjue, a disciple of the Yuan generation from Jinyuan Temple.
Jinyuan Temple, situated on Cangyuan Mountain outside Yingyang City in Jinzhou, was patronized by the Xuanyuan royal family. Elders from Jinyuan Temple regularly accompanied Emperor Shengyan, preaching and expounding Buddhist scriptures. The temple boasted numerous disciples, likely close to 20,000, including several thousand inner disciples, many of whom possessed exceptional talent. Legend has it that the abbot had reached the pinnacle of enlightenment, awaiting only the opportune moment to comprehend the profound wisdom of Prajna, at which point his soul would leave his body, reshape his golden form, and instantly attain Buddhahood. Therefore, Jinyuan Temple undoubtedly deserves its reputation as the foremost Buddhist temple in the Central Plains.
Several years ago, when the abbot of Jinyuan Temple was giving a sermon, Master Daming, the abbot of Bodhi Temple and Shichan's teacher, took Shichan to listen to the lecture and stayed for a month. It was then that Shichan met Yuanjue. Yuanjue was exceptionally talented. At that time, he was only in his early twenties when he reached the top level of the Foundation Establishment stage. In recent years, he has even entered the realm of relics. Buddhist disciples who reach the realm of relics experience a slower change in appearance, so Yuanjue should be in his thirties now, but he still looks the same as when Shichan first met him.
Generally speaking, the path of Buddhist disciples is arduous and slow. Disciples of average talent may see through the source of Buddhist power by the age of fifty, condensing their own Buddhist power into relics. Upon reaching the realm of relics, they possess the art of preserving youth and extending their lifespan to two hundred years. Only disciples with such talent are accepted as inner disciples by major temples. If an inner disciple still cannot condense Buddhist power into relics by the age of fifty, then they will be forever barred from the path of Buddhism.
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