The Silent Watcher of Tianji Temple Chapter 7

At this time, the snow on the road had melted, and the road surface was a little wet, even muddy.

The monk has disappeared.

But Zane Shen still seemed very relaxed. After his internal strength recovered one third, he was like a prisoner who had thrown off heavy shackles, as light as a leaf or a cloud.

It seemed as if its feet were not touching the ground and it floated past in a flash.

He had walked in this direction before over the past few days, but at the time, his injuries had not fully healed and his strength had not recovered, so he didn't have the courage.

It would be fine if there was no one above us, but once we were discovered, wouldn't we be digging our own grave?

But today is different.

Whether you are calculating by time or by your cultivation level, you should go in and take a look.

As the saying goes, a thief never leaves empty-handed.

Zane Shen is not a thief, but he is also a well-known demon. He and Mason Gu once coveted the three volumes of Buddhist scriptures stored in Tianji Zen Temple.

Now that such a great opportunity has fallen upon us, anyone who doesn’t seize it is a fool.

The three volumes of Buddhist scriptures record the exquisiteness of martial arts in the world. Maybe one of them can restrain the backlash of his **divine formula?

Ten days have passed, and it is only sixteen days before the next attack.

Even if there was nothing inside, he still had to go up and take a look at the Tianji Temple.

First, to see if we can get any information from outside so that we can make preparations in advance;

Secondly, if he couldn't leave this place smoothly by then, and couldn't find a way to restrain the **Divine Art, he would have to find someone to use it on.

Therefore, it was reasonable for him to go and see it.

Zane Shen had a good plan in mind and was unusually cautious in his actions.

Although the bald donkey had lost his shadow, he was not afraid.

After his strength was restored, his ability to locate the target by sound naturally returned, and he was no longer afraid of losing it. After he got on the mountain path, he followed it all the way up.

In the mountains in the dead of winter, there are no birds singing or insects chirping, only the sound of melting snow flowing in the forest.

The monk's footsteps were a little further away.

Zane Shen listened, only trying to identify the direction, and leaped through the forest. According to his calculations, he would be able to catch up in at most twenty breaths.

But he didn't expect that after counting for twenty breaths, he listened carefully and felt that the footsteps were still far away!

"What the hell?"

The figure who was running fast suddenly stopped. He held onto a strong old pine tree and landed between its branches in surprise.

A squirrel above was frightened and jumped away. Its fat body swayed nimbly and disappeared.

Looking around, everything was quiet.

The winding mountain path he came from was hidden in the dense pine forest. At the foot of the mountain was a sea of   bamboo. The bamboo house where he had lived for the past ten days was hidden even deeper in the mountain, and nothing could be seen from here.

The mountains in the distance were vast and dim, and because of the good weather, they looked a little different from what he saw when he was fleeing.

But nearby...

Zane Shen looked towards the woods.

The mountain paths below were paved with stone slabs, and it was obvious that they were very old. A lot of moss had grown around each stone slab, and only the middle part appeared somewhat smooth because people often walked on it.

It is winding and rugged, with ups and downs.

At first glance, it seems to be no different from an ordinary mountain road.

"But I feel like I've been to this place before..."

His eyebrows knitted deeply, the tips of his eyebrows were tinged with coldness, and his eyes were filled with murderous intent. Zane Shen's eyes fell on the two wild spring orchids next to each other beside the mountain path, and he seemed to be thinking about something.

He did not believe it for the time being. He took a deep breath, moved quickly, and followed the footsteps of the monk he heard.

This time, he was much more careful than before.

Just now he just followed the sound without looking at the road; this time he looked carefully at the road in front of him, fearing that he would miss something.

But after counting twenty breaths, his heart suddenly turned cold.

It felt like someone poured a bucket of cold water over me from head to toe!

The ancient pine tree I settled on is still the same one, except that the fat squirrel is gone; looking back, I still see the sea of   bamboo; looking forward, I still see the same mountain path.

Even more terrifying...

They were the two small spring orchids beside the mountain path. Their light green calyxes were like jasper and had just unfolded. Even the curling posture was exactly the same!

He went around in a circle, and after twenty breaths, he returned to the original place!

When unarmed civilians encounter this situation, they basically call it "ghost wall", but when people like Zane Shen encounter it, there is only one thought in his mind - formation.

Qimen Bagua has always been mysterious and outrageous. It is said that one can use a few stones to create a ** array and trap people to death inside.

The person who is most skilled in formation in the world is Xuan Hesheng, the youngest owner of the "Eight Formations". It is rumored that he has set up a large chain formation downstairs of the Eight Formations and sent out invitations to heroes, inviting capable people from all over the world to join in.

Anyone who can break it will be rewarded with ten thousand gold coins and a magical weapon from Zaohualu.

Ten thousand gold coins would be fine, but the magic weapons of the Creation House were always made by Li Yan, the best swordsmith in the martial arts world. If you are unlucky, you may not be able to produce one in three to five years. But once it is produced, it will definitely attract heroes all over the world to fight for it.

Kai Pei's invulnerable sword was forged by Li Yan in his early years.

But since then, the old man felt that the knife was not good, so he forged a sword instead.

So, it is easy to get a lot of money, but it is difficult to get a magic weapon.

Once the heroic invitation was issued, who among the aspiring people in the world would not be moved?

It’s just a formation, what’s there to be unable to get out of?

Many people thought so at that time.

With a yearning for wealth and magical weapons, countless unknown or famous people in the martial arts world rushed to the Eight Diagrams Formation in the hope of becoming famous in one battle.

Who would have thought that they would become famous after one battle, but it was they who fought, but the one who became famous was the new owner Xuan Hesheng who set up this formation.

There are thousands of heroes in the martial arts world, and countless experienced and cunning ones, but no one can escape from this formation!

From then on, people all over the world only recognized him, Xuan Hesheng, as the owner of the Eight Diagrams Formation.

The art of Qi Men Dun Jia has therefore been passed down as something very mysterious, and although it has not yet been accepted by the mainstream, it is not far from being accepted.

That incident caused a huge uproar back then.

However, at that time, Zane Shen had just made some progress in his divine art and had just made an appointment with Mason Gu to fight, so he went south. After he came back, Kai Pei captured the white bone medicine doctor Aria Ni, which caused a commotion, so he did not join in the fun.

But he had heard some interesting things afterwards.

It is said that after the Eight Diagrams Formation was set up downstairs for thirty days, no hero in the world could break it, and no one even dared to enter the formation to test it.

Xuan Hesheng stood alone on the top of the building, just smiling and shaking his head.

He said to his left and right: "What a pity. The Demon Dao Master Shen is not here, otherwise I could have tried out the true power of this formation."

Then I waited seven days.

Zane Shen didn't go.

Xuan Hesheng then ordered his men to remove the formation. However, a legend was left in the martial arts world that "Xuan Hesheng arrogantly provoked the great demon Zane Shen of the Demon Dao with the formation."

Of course, this is what other people say.

Zane Shen himself didn't feel it.

He had never met Xuan Hesheng, but from Kai Pei's brief evaluation, he knew that although this person was born with a disability and had difficulty traveling, he did have some real talent.

Or fear, it is not arrogance, nor is it a provocation, but rather a kind of loneliness that comes from having no rivals in the world.

Of course, it is also possible that this person has a mental problem.

Anyway, it was from that time that Zane Shen began to understand the ins and outs of the point array method.

But after all, he did not follow this path and had not studied it in depth. He rarely came into contact with people who knew the Eight Diagrams Formation, let alone the famous Xuan He Sheng.

Now that I realized I was going around in circles, I naturally thought of this immediately.

"This Tianji Temple is looking for trouble. They even built a formation to protect the back mountain?"

I'm really furious.

Zane Shen simply couldn't believe that the world-famous Tianji Temple was so stingy. He couldn't believe that he would run into such a hard wall the first time he prepared to investigate.

The word "Fcuk" popped out of his mouth.

"Now, it's no use to identify the location by sound."

He muttered to himself and forced himself to calm down and listen. How could he hear any footsteps belonging to the monk?

I'm afraid that during the time he was fooled by the formation, he had already gone far away.

Instead, there were faint voices coming from a farther place.

They sound like two young monks of low generation.

"Alas, I didn't understand what Brother Shanming said yesterday. How should I do my homework today?"

"me too..."

"Brother Shanzai is still the best, but it's a pity that he doesn't give lectures now."

"I heard Master and his friends mention this when I was doing evening prayers the other day, saying that I was close to success. After all, not giving lectures is not a big deal, but there are many things going on outside that need to be taken care of."

"Eh? Outside?"

"Well, you really only know how to chant. The rumor has spread in the courtyard that a while ago, the good and evil sides fought each other, and a big devil named Shen disappeared. People outside are talking nonsense, saying that he escaped to our place."

...

It was intermittent and soon faded away with the sound of footsteps of varying weights.

Zane Shenren stood on the branch of the old pine tree, a little stunned for a moment: the big devil named Shen disappeared...

laugh.

The people outside were not lying. He had indeed fled to Tianji Zen Temple, but no one knew that he was saved by a mute monk.

However, judging from what the two young monks said, Tianji Temple had no idea that the monk named Buyan had saved him, otherwise they would not have thought that the outsiders were "talking nonsense".

That is to say...

It is true that this bald donkey is not very likable, but he has never mentioned his existence to anyone else and has kept it a secret.

But this is interesting.

Rumors began to spread in Tianji Temple that a big demon named Shen had disappeared. Did this monk really not know his identity?

"What a bald a**."

He actually found it a little bit difficult to understand.

The more he thought about it, the more wonderful it became. Zane Shen even forgot for a moment the annoyance of being stopped by the formation and smiled with the corners of his lips pulled.

Of course, he is not completely ignorant of formations.

However, the formation of Tianji Temple was very advanced, and it was not something that a half-baked person like him could handle. If he wanted to get through, he would have to "bring it through".

How could Zane Shen dare?

From the voices of the two young monks just now, we knew that there were people nearby, and if we forced our way in, it would surely alert the Tianji Temple.

So after thinking about it, I had no choice but to go back.

Fortunately, this formation is also strange. If you want to go up or further, it’s all blocked by a wall. But once you want to go back, it’s smooth and you can get down the mountain in no time.

When he stood safely at the end of the mountain path, and looked back at the seemingly peaceful forest and the Tianji Temple that seemed within reach, Zane Shen suddenly felt a little frightened.

"The sea of   suffering is boundless, turn back and you will find the shore."

This verse, which I had read from the scriptures on the bookshelf in the bamboo house two days ago, suddenly popped up in my mind and inexplicably merged with the current situation.

He felt a chill on his back.

After watching for a while, I felt that the Tianji Zen Temple on the top of the mountain in the clouds had added a bit of profound color.

After thinking about it for a moment, he temporarily suppressed the idea of   exploring further.

You can't force your way in by yourself.

But if we wait until the monk comes back to the mountain at night, then follow him closely and see how he walks, it will be much easier.

Even if you haven’t eaten pork, have you seen a pig run?

Zane Shen walked back angrily. His strength had just been restored, and after sitting in meditation and regulating his breathing for half an hour, he could no longer sit still.

He took out the scriptures from the monks' bookshelf and read them.

When the sun was setting outside, the golden and red afterglow outside the window fell on the sentence "All dharmas are Buddha dharma" in the Diamond Sutra. He stared at it for a moment, looked up at the sky, put down the sutra, and walked out of the bamboo house.

The monk should be here by this time.

He wanted to sit under the eaves or on the steps and wait as he did at noon, but as soon as he came out, he caught a glimpse of the chopsticks he had thrown down at the bottom of the steps.

The bamboo chopsticks were stuck diagonally into the ground, covered with a little mud.

But what attracted his attention was not the chopsticks themselves, but the small things surrounding the bottom.

Ant.

Perhaps the snow had stopped and the snow water had flowed away, so they all crawled out from under the fallen leaves and caves. When they smelled a little bit of the sweet and greasy meaty odor, they immediately huddled together.

This chopstick was the one Zane Shen used to pick up the braised pork elbow at noon. When he threw it away, it had not been wiped clean and was still covered with a layer of oily sauce.

Even if it fell face down into the mud, a part of it would still be exposed.

At this moment, the nearby ants lined up one by one, forming a thin black line and coiled around the bottom of the bamboo chopstick.

They tried to move this "huge monster".

But it was obviously not possible, so they gathered small Sc*m and mud from the surrounding area and tried to bury the bottom of the bamboo chopsticks as a reserve.

Shen sat alone at the foot of the stairs and watched for a while. He found it funny that it took them a long time to bury the bottom of the chopsticks with sauce on them by one third.

A bunch of stupid little things...

He lowered his eyes, pulled the corner of his lips, and directly pulled out the bamboo chopsticks. The small pieces of dregs and dirt piled around him suddenly "collapsed".

To a man, it is but a handful of soil;

For these ants, it was a whole afternoon of hard work.

In an instant, it collapsed with a loud bang.

All the little ants fled in panic, not caring about anything.

As for those that were originally on the bamboo chopsticks, some of them ran around like headless flies and fell down; others stopped and wandered in the small area on the top, neither up nor down.

One of them just stopped trembling at the top.

Zane Shen lifted up the bamboo chopsticks and looked at it. He felt that the little thing was uneasy, hesitant and hesitant. It was really funny and pitiful.

"If I were you, I'd take a leap..."

You may not die if you jump down, but staying on this "cliff"...

His slender fingers gently turned the bamboo chopstick, and his thoughts suddenly went back to the time when he was forced into that desperate situation.

How similar is it to this ant?

It’s a pity that this little ant is not insightful enough.

Natural selection, survival of the fittest.

"You are still not fit to live in this world."

After staring at the little ant for a long time, Zane Shen murmured softly, as if sighing with a hint of melancholy, and then lowered his finger and gently tapped the bamboo chopstick on the muddy ground.

The little ant was on the tip of the bamboo chopstick, so how could it escape?

The moment the bamboo chopstick touched the ground, its body, which was like a grain of dust, was pressed in, and in a trance, one could even hear a crisp sound of breaking.

Zane Shen thought it was an illusion.

How can such a small ant make such a clear sound?

However, as soon as this thought flashed through his mind, he realized something was wrong.

Maybe the sun is setting.

It's a bit cold around.

In the dim twilight, Zane Shen slowly raised his head, and then saw the monk standing five steps away from him.

I don't know when he came, he didn't even notice.

Still the monk's robe and beads.

The Buddhist beads were clenched in his left palm, shaking slightly, casting a trembling shadow on the steps; the food box was held in his right hand, but the bamboo handle had been broken by his grip.

Some of the sharp bamboo thorns pierced into the monk's palms, and a trace of blood flowed out.

The jade face was like a sculpture of ice and snow, and the clear and moist feeling gradually faded.

The corners of his lips, which usually showed a slight smile, had straightened, and his lips were tightly pursed, with an indescribable solemnity.

The monk's eyes also revealed a kind of strangeness that Zane Shen had never seen before.

This posture, and this feeling all over my body...

Zane Shen knew it all without him saying anything.

His finger was still pointing at the bamboo chopstick, and the tip of the chopstick was still pressing down on the tiny ant, whose body was sinking in the small patch of mud.

For humans, this small piece of mud cannot stop them at all; but for ants, this small piece of "quagmire" is enough to take their lives.

Zane Shen lowered his eyes again and took a look.

There were two short and thin tentacles moving on the top of the bamboo chopsticks. The little thing was struggling and had not yet died.

For a moment, he wanted to let go.

But for some reason, the monk's gaze just now flashed back in front of his eyes and was imprinted on the bottom of his heart, inexplicably arousing the deep hostility in his bones.

The fingers that were about to loosen suddenly tightened.

Zane Shen had a blank expression on his face. He used the bamboo chopsticks that the monk had given him to eat with a little force to crush the struggling ant.

"Snapped."

Then he gently let go of the chopsticks and let them fall.

He raised his head and looked at the monk as if nothing had happened, as if he didn't see his ugly face and bleeding palm, and said with a smile: "I've been waiting for you for a while. What are we having for dinner tonight?"