As he spoke, someone suddenly exclaimed, "There's a fog!"
Fangzheng looked over and saw that there was fog at the foot of the mountain. The fog rose up, but it did not reach the mountaintop. Instead, it gathered at the foot of the mountain like a sea of clouds!
"Holy sh * t, how lucky. The sunrise matches the sea of clouds! I've struck gold! "someone exclaimed in ecstasy.
"Hubby, take a picture for me!"
"Dear, stand properly. Change your pose!"
…
Everyone rolled their eyes at him. F * * k, he was being showered with dog food while watching the sunrise …
Fangzheng ignored them. As more white clouds gathered, the sea of clouds became more beautiful. When the wind blew, the white clouds churned like a real ocean! The sky turned brighter and brighter as the horizon seemed to be on fire. It turned redder and brighter! Finally, the sun peeked out. The blush made it look like a drunken beauty or a doll who had just woken up from a dream. Upon seeing this scene, many people exclaimed as they pointed their cell phones at the sky and began snapping pictures.
Fangzheng also took out his cell phone to snap pictures. However, most people couldn't capture much of the sunrise because of the lens. The sun was only a dot when it set in the lens. It didn't show the magnificence and beauty of a sunrise at all. It was the same for Fangzheng. Helpless, he could only zoom in to give it a try.
When he zoomed in, Fangzheng was immediately amused! Logically speaking, zooming in on the image would make it blurry, but Fangzheng's cell phone was still clear when zoomed in! Fangzheng was instantly amused as he continued zooming in! It was still clear at eight times, sixteen times, and thirty-two times!
Fangzheng smacked his lips and mumbled. "Nice, this cell phone can be used as a DSLR. Haha … Others will be penniless the moment they use a DSLR, but This Penniless Monk can save money."
Fangzheng continued zooming in happily. Finally, he zoomed in on the sun and watched it slowly peek out from the screen. Only then did he stop. Glancing at everyone's cell phones, all of them had tiny red dots as though they didn't exist. Fangzheng felt even more pleased with himself.
The sun rose higher and higher, and at the same time, the light it emitted became brighter and brighter. The fiery sunlight fell on the rolling sea of clouds, instantly burning the sea of clouds and turning it into rolling golden-red clouds, covering the entire Mount Heng with a layer of golden-red armor. It was so beautiful that everyone closed their mouths subconsciously, stunned by the beautiful scenery in front of them.
Right at this moment, the sun suddenly exerted force and completely leaped out from the horizon. The dazzling sunlight shone so brightly that everyone couldn't open their eyes. Only then did the leaders recover from their shock. All of them clicked their tongues in wonder and praised endlessly.
Fangzheng knew that the sunrise was over. He jumped off Lone Wolf's back and patted him on the head. Facing Lone Wolf's bitter look, Fangzheng said, "Alright, alright. Don't be angry. I'll carry you the next time and let you watch, alright?"
"It's a deal!" Lone Wolf immediately expressed his intentions with his eyes.
Fangzheng nodded as Lone Wolf happily wagged his tail and followed Fangzheng. He had completely forgotten to watch the sunrise next time. That would probably take a long time … Furthermore, this monk's ability to deny his debt was directly proportional to the thickness of his skin …
After watching the sunrise, Fangzheng followed Venerable One Ingenious up Zhurong Peak. There was a grand hall on Zhurong Peak named Zhurong Hall! In front of Zhurong Hall was a long staircase, and on both sides of the staircase were two gigantic metal furnaces. Flames burned in the furnaces as incense offerings rose!
Fangzheng saw many visitors come up with incense sticks. After lighting them up, they faced Zhurong Hall and bowed before throwing the incense sticks into the furnaces.
Venerable One Ingenious said, "Zhurong Hall isn't considered spacious, but every year, there are as many tourists as there are carps in a river. If everyone were to enter the hall to offer incense, the hall probably wouldn't be able to hold that many incense sticks. Secondly, with too many people, there's a risk of the incense burning. If there's a fire on this mountain, it'll be very difficult to extinguish it. Therefore, the incense offerings in Zhurong Hall are burned in these two furnaces. "
Fangzheng nodded slightly. This was the first time he was seeing such a scene, and he was only curious. At the same time, he was also thinking about how his hall wasn't that big. What would happen if there came a day when the incense offerings were that abundant? With this in mind, Fangzheng felt a little vexed. Could it be that he would have the visitors pray to Buddha outside the monastery?
If he really did that, he would probably be drowned by the saliva of the worshippers.
Walking up the stairs, the main entrance of Zhurong Palace was like an ancient stone castle, solemn and dignified, making one feel deep veneration! After passing through the main entrance, there was a space that looked like a small courtyard house. There were many words carved on the wall on the left, which described the origin of Zhu Rong Palace, the development of Mount Heng's Buddhism and Taoism, and the process of integration.
As Fangzheng watched, Venerable One Ingenious said, "This Zhurong Hall has a long history. It's a building that existed before the Sui Dynasty. According to the Tang dynasty's Li Chongzhao's' Nanyue Minor Records', it was originally the Heavenly Minister Huo Wang Temple. After the temple was moved to the foot of the mountain, it became the predecessor of the present Nanyue Temple. Back then, this place was called the Old Saint Emperor's Palace, also known as Heaven Ruler's Nunnery. It was a palace built on a huge rock at the peak of Zhurong Mountain. Because it was located in a high and cold area, it was attacked by wind, rain, frost, and snow. The temple was built over many years and was eventually destroyed. It was not until the second year of the Ming Dynasty's reign that Li Shi, the inspector of Huguang, built the Kai Yuan Shrine here. It was said that he climbed the mountain the day before and was caught in the rain during the night. The next morning, just as one was about to watch the sunrise, the clouds suddenly parted. He believed that it was the will of the heavens, so he used Han Yu's opening of the clouds as an example. As a result, he invested money and got Hengshan County to build a shrine on the peak as a memorial. The shrine was named Kai Yuan, but it was later destroyed.
In the sixteenth year of the Qing Dynasty's Qianlong Emperor, the Qing government was ordered to rebuild it on the ruins. Due to the previous experience of destruction, the Qing government directly built Zhurong Hall with stone walls and iron tiles. This time, it was used to worship Lord Zhurong, so it was officially named Zhurong Hall. Look at the hall's roof. It's covered with special iron tiles that are two feet long and one foot wide. They weigh more than fifteen kilograms. Most of them were cast in the Qing dynasty, and dozens of them were left behind from the Song dynasty. They were covered with iron tiles so that the palace wouldn't be shaken by strong winds or cracked by ice.
Unfortunately, even though it's made of stone and iron tiles, it still collapsed after years of neglect. The Zhurong Hall you see now was built with money donated by a descendant, Patron He Jian. Many of the original materials were used to maintain the ancient style.
Back then, this Zhurong Hall was managed by our Shangfeng Temple. The incense offerings here were also one of Shangfeng Temple's sources of income. "
With that said, One Ingenious sighed.
Fangzheng said, "Oh? From what you're saying, it's no longer under your control? Then who's in charge? "
"Later, there was a huge fire, and Shangfeng Temple suffered a disaster. Just as This Penniless Monk told you, the front of Shangfeng Temple was burned down, leaving only the ancient temples at the back. After the fire, Shangfeng Temple was unable to take care of Zhurong Hall … Therefore, it was handled by the Nanyue Buddhist Association. All the way until now, "One Ingenious said with a sigh.
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