The ground was overgrown with weeds, the doors and windows were broken, and the Buddha statue was gray. It seemed to have been pushed down from the lotus throne and broken into pieces. Its head rolled to the wall and happened to "look" at Mengqi and the others with a benevolent smile on its face.
This made Mengqi shudder a little. The Great Sage was a demon, Penbo Erba was a demon, and so was Grandma. But their styles were completely different. Could it be the latter?
Jiang Zhiwei and the others looked around the meditation hall but did not find anything noteworthy, nor did they find the enemy.
Ge Huai 'en's face was solemn. He took a few deep breaths, closed his eyes, and adjusted his Qi-circulation for a moment. Then he threw out a few copper coins in his palm.
Everyone knew that he was divining and did not dare to disturb him. They were all on guard in different directions.
Ding … The sound of the copper coins rolling on the ground gradually dissipated. Ge Huai 'en stared at it and his face changed slightly. "This place is very dangerous!"
"Which direction is auspicious?" Mengqi asked. Anyway, everyone was in the dark and did not know where they were or where the danger was coming from. So they could only follow the results of the divining.
Ge Huai 'en picked up the copper coins and threw them several times. His face became more and more solemn. Even with his calm character, he looked slightly gloomy. "There are signs of great danger in every direction. We seem to be in a dangerous place."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but they were not too disappointed. Otherwise, it would not be a Death Task.
"In that case, it's getting dark. We should stay here instead of leaving." Luo Shengyi confidently expressed his opinion, which was very infectious.
Outside the window, the sun was setting in the west and the sky was dyed red. It was getting dark nearby.
Mengqi directly nodded and said, "It should be so."
He had seen the Journey to the West. Coupled with the description of "demons wreaking havoc in the human world" by the Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms, he could roughly imagine the prosperity of a mountain with a nest of demons. Many demons were good at hiding and often hunted at night. In this case, it was very dangerous to walk at night. If they were not careful, they would be caught and steamed or fried. It was better to stick to this broken temple and wait for dawn.
"Okay." Jiang Zhiwei had no objection.
Zhang Yuanshan was calm and meticulous. He immediately said, "Then let's patrol the temple together and eliminate the hidden dangers."
At this time, everyone had to advance and retreat together. They could not be separated or be alone. Otherwise, they would be dead when they met again.
No one objected to his suggestion. Meng Qi took the lead, and the others took their places. As soon as he pushed open the door, cawing sounds rang out. A flock of crows flew up from the roofs. It felt like black clouds were rising, and the ruined temple at dusk looked desolate, lonely, and eerie.
As far as Meng Qi could see, the square outside the meditation hall was also overgrown with weeds, bird excrement, and animal feces everywhere. Broken walls and broken tiles were everywhere. It was as if no one had visited this place for many years.
"I have to finish the inspection before it gets dark." Luo Shengyi was still used to giving orders. But he obviously respected the opinions of Mengqi and others more than before.
Mengqi nodded. Holding the saber in his right hand and the sword in his left, he led the others to search the meditation hall and courtyard one by one. They found that there was no one here. Some wooden tables and chairs were so rotten that they would collapse at the slightest touch. Occasionally, they could see a skinny mouse swaggering by as if no one was there.
About an hour later, the sky became darker and darker. It felt like night. Jiang Zhiwei and Fu Zhenzhen lit a match to illuminate the surrounding environment.
They had roughly searched the main body of the temple, but they did not find anything strange or valuable. Some of the rotting corpses of wild beasts had been gnawed to pieces. It was obvious that wild dogs had come.
"It doesn't seem to be a monster that can control evil ghosts." Zhang Yuanshan made a judgment.
In the main world, there used to be an era of demons. All kinds of demons emerged one after another. Although they were suppressed by the Human Emperor and hid in the Heavenly Sea Source and other places, they still came out from time to time and caused disasters. Therefore, the records of demons were very detailed. As the heir of Zhen Wu, Zhang Yuanshan naturally had all kinds of methods and tricks to check.
Mengqi looked back at the gate of the temple. It was dark outside, which seemed to contain endless dangers. "Then we should mainly guard against the demons outside."
The horizontal board of the main gate seemed to have disappeared, so they couldn't know which temple they were in.
"Let's go back to the original meditation hall. It's the most suitable place." Jiang Zhiwei weighed the conditions of the temples and the distance between the gates and so on and made a suggestion.
Mengqi didn't mind. He walked in front again. It was obvious that the meditation hall was the main hall of this temple.
When they were about to reach the meditation room, Mengqi suddenly saw a golden flash in the light of the fire.
"Hey, the golden paint of the Buddha statue is dim. Where does the golden color come from?" Mengqi slightly frowned and walked over. He found that it was a horizontal board covered by moss and weeds. The golden color was a stroke of the words on it.
"A horizontal board?" Jiang Zhiwei asked with sharp eyes. "We can see what temple this is."
Although it was useless to know the name of the temple in the strange World of Samsara, it was a Buddhist temple. Maybe it was the same as Buddhism in the main world. They could judge something from it. For example, the Shaolin Temple in the world of Duo Ercha had the same layout as the Shaolin Temple in the main world and also worshiped the Buddha.
Mengqi knew the names of several temples in the world of the Journey to the West, such as the Golden Mountain Temple. He might be able to judge the location. Therefore, he used the "Whisper" to remove the weeds and moss on it.
With his skills, the last word below quickly appeared. It was the word "temple" in Sanskrit. If Mengqi hadn't learned it in the Shaolin Temple, no one here would have been able to recognize it.
As he scraped upward, the word "sound" in Sanskrit appeared. Mengqi's expression changed slightly. He even stopped breathing. It couldn't be the Small Thunder Temple! Not to mention the yellow-browed Ancestor who had been taken away, any one of the leaders inside would be able to skin them alive.
"Something's wrong?" Ruan Yushu seemed to sense Mengqi's nervousness. Everyone suddenly relaxed their breathing.
Mengqi shook his head and continued scraping the weeds and moss. Eight hundred years had passed. The monsters here should have moved away. After all, the Yellow-Browed Ancestor had been taken away by the Buddha Maitreya.
The golden Sanskrit was revealed bit by bit. Mengqi's heart suddenly skipped a beat. It really was the word "thunder"!
Small Thunder Temple … Does this mean we are in the Aparagodaniya? Then Little Goblin monsters are everywhere!
Feeling that he had confirmed the result, Mengqi relaxed a little. Judging from the dilapidated appearance, it didn't seem like there was a powerful monster living here.
He casually scraped the remaining weeds, intending to reveal the word "small". Suddenly, he laughed in his heart. "So it's not the word" small ". It's the word" big ". Then it's not the Small Thunder Temple. Not bad …"
As soon as he thought of this, his pupils contracted violently. His expression froze and his heart was in turmoil.
There is no word "small" but "big". Does that mean it is the Big Thunder Temple? The Big Thunder Temple where the Buddha lived in the Journey to the West?
The Buddha's voice was like thunder!
"This is not scientific …" Mengqi was confused. "How does this look like the Big Thunder Temple?" "If the Big Thunder Temple has become like this, doesn't it mean that something unimaginable has happened?" "It's like hitting me with a stick!"
"Don't worry, don't worry. Maybe some wild fox named it …" The change of Mengqi's expression made Jiang Zhiwei and the others even more vigilant. However, his expression made them afraid to ask questions.
Mengqi stared at the horizontal board and saw a trace of green in the wood. It actually retained vitality. The four Sanskrit characters on it looked ordinary at first, but after a closer look, they could feel the tranquility from the heart. The meaning of Zen was plain but meaningful. It lay there quietly as if it was telling the vicissitudes of time. It was not moving, but it was real.
"Could it really be the 'Big Leiyin Temple' …" Meng Qi subconsciously put the "Meridian" back and picked up the horizontal board. When he looked back at the meditation hall, he realized something was wrong. If it was really the "Big Leiyin Temple", apart from the horizontal board, the rest of the objects should be holy objects that had been contaminated by the breath of Buddha all year round. Even if hundreds of years had passed, they should still have an unusual smell like the horizontal board. How could they have decayed and broken at the first touch?
"Could it be that this is not the Big Thunder Temple, but the horizontal board is real?"
But this guess was also unacceptable! "Who took the horizontal board of the Big Thunder Temple of the pure land of Spirited Mountain and left it here?"
When he calmed down, he realized that his abnormality had attracted the attention and worry of all his companions. It was so unbelievable that he could not control it with his current state of mind.
"What's wrong with the Big Thunder Temple?" Jiang Zhiwei asked in confusion. "The little monk came from Buddhism. Does he know something?"
According to some Buddhist scriptures in the main world, the Buddha lived in the Nalanda Temple of the pure land of Saha. It had nothing to do with the Big Thunder Temple, so they were not surprised.
Mengqi thought for a while and said, "I've read a few Buddhist scriptures written by an unknown author. They say that the Buddha also has a pure land of Spirited Mountain, and in the center of the pure land is the Big Thunder Temple."
The expressions of Zhang Yuanshan, Luo Shengyi, and the others changed slightly. Mengqi came from Buddhism, so it was normal that he had read Buddhist scriptures that outsiders did not know about. Could it be that the demons caused chaos in the human world and destroyed the pure land of the Buddha, turning the Big Thunder Temple into ruins?
"This is impossible!"
"How could the demons have this ability?" "Even the Demonic Lord who can open a world by himself can't do it!"
"Even if the Monster Sage comes back to life, he is at most equal to the Demonic Lord."
"Or the Buddha here is not the Buddha of the main world?"
Countless questions emerged, but they did not say anything, waiting for Mengqi to continue.
Mengqi told them his speculation. He suspected that this place was not the Big Thunder Temple, but only the horizontal board. This was agreed by everyone. Even if it was not the real Buddha, a normal Buddha's residence should be filled with holy objects, which was many times better than the Buddha's Relic in the world of Duo Ercha. How could it be like this, destroyed by a touch from them.
"Maybe it's not the real horizontal board. Maybe it was written by an eminent monk." Mengqi himself did not believe this explanation. If the Spirited Mountain was normal, and the Big Thunder Temple was normal, which eminent monk would name his temple the Big Thunder Temple?
Thinking of the "800 years after the Journey to the West, the demons caused chaos in the human world", Mengqi smelled an unforeseen event.
He was silent for a while and said, "The stories told in those Buddhist scriptures are a little similar to this world. Demons run amok, and Demon Saints are everywhere. We can't be careless."
"If we really meet a Demon Saint, it's useless even if we don't be careless. Relax." Jiang Zhiwei chuckled, not afraid at all.
As soon as she finished speaking, everyone trembled. A strong Demon Odor rose to the sky!
Countless weak demonic auras joined together like a dark cloud, bringing with them the sound of the wind as they rushed towards the Zen temple.
"Riding the wind?" Zhang Yuanshan's expression froze. This was a demon at least at the level of Half-step Exterior Scenery!
Because demons were born with Heavenly Knowing, they could ride the wind half a realm earlier than the human Exterior experts.
