Chapter 78 Chapter 20

After taking a nap, Musashi felt that his mind was as clear as the night sky.The clear moon and itself seem to be one.He felt that he was melting into the night sky step by step. "Go slowly!" After Musashi realized his habit of striding, he felt that it was a pity. "Tonight may be the last time to appreciate this world!" No exclamation, no lamentation, no deep emotion.It just came out naturally and from the bottom of my heart. There is still a way to go to Xiasong at the ruins of Yicheng Temple.And it was only past midnight, so he hadn't deeply felt that "death" was coming.

Yesterday he went to the backyard of the Kurama Temple and sat quietly under the pine tree. He originally wanted to experience the Zen mechanism of his body and form, but he still couldn't get rid of the shadow of death in his mind.In the end, I even asked myself why did I go to the mountains to sit in meditation? Contrary to yesterday, he feels refreshed and comfortable tonight. What's going on?he asked himself.In the evening, after drinking with the owner of the log cabin hotel, I fell asleep for a while.After waking up, he washed his body with well water, put on new underwear, and fastened his belt. It was impossible to associate this living body with death.

"By the way! Once I climbed the back mountain of Ise Palace with my swollen feet, and the stars were very bright that night. It was cold winter, and the ice trees at that time should be cherry blossoms in bud now!" Things that I don't think about, just pop up in my mind; but the issue of life and death, I can't figure it out. In the face of death, he is already very conscious, and he doesn't need to think rationally again—the meaning of death, the pain of death, and the place to go after death.Even if you live to be a hundred years old, you can't find the answers to these questions, so why bother to explore them now?

In such a late night, the sound of the ensemble of the sheng and the zither came from nowhere, echoing coldly in the silence. This path seems to be the residence of Gongqing.The solemn music is mixed with sad tunes, which are not like the tunes played by the princes when they are drunk.Musashi heard the people around the coffin and the white candles on the altar appear before his eyes. "Someone is one step ahead of me!" Perhaps tomorrow, in the abyss of death, I will become an acquaintance with the dead man!He smiled. As Musashi was walking on the road, the music of the vigil kept ringing in his ears.The sound of the sheng and the 筚篥 reminded him of the nursery school in Ise Palace, and also of the ice tree flowers he saw when he climbed Mount Jiu with his swollen feet.

Huh?Musashi had to doubt his own head.This feeling of comfort is actually caused by the body approaching death step by step—isn't this an illusion produced by extreme fear? He asked himself so.When he stopped, he found himself standing on the road outside Xiangguo Temple.Fifty meters away, there is a wide river, with silver scales reflecting on the houses by the river. A figure has been standing in the corner of the house staring at Musashi. Musashi stopped. The figure from just now started walking towards this side.Along with the figure, there is a small shadow walking on the road under the moonlight.When the other party approached, it turned out that it was a man with a dog.

"..." Musashi's tense limbs immediately relaxed.Pass each other quietly. After the pedestrian with the dog passed by, he suddenly turned around and shouted: "Samurai! Samurai!" "Are you calling me?" At this time, the two were separated by seven or eight meters. "yes!" He was a small man in work pants and a black workman's cap. "What's up?" "Excuse me, is there a brightly lit house on this road?" "Ah! I didn't notice, I don't think so." "Huh? That's not the way!" "What are you looking for?"

"Find a mourning family." "There is such a family." "You saw it!" "Just now there was the sound of sheng and 筚篥 from a family. It is probably the mourning house you are looking for! It is about 50 meters ahead." "It shouldn't be wrong! The priest must have gone there to guard the spirit first." "Are you going to guard the spirit?" "I am a businessman who makes coffins in Mt. Yoshida. I went to Mt. Yoshida to find Mr. Matsuo, but I heard that he had moved here two months ago... In the middle of the night, there is no one who can ask for directions. This place It's so hard to tell the way!"

"Matsuo from Yoshida-san? You used to live in Motoyoshida-san, did you move here recently?" "Maybe, I don't know. I can't stay any longer, thank you!" "Wait a moment!" Musashi took two or three steps forward: "Is it the important Matsuo who used to work at Konoe's house?" "Yes, Mr. Matsuo passed away about ten days ago!" "Passed away?" "yes!" "..." Yeah?Musashi continued walking forward while muttering to himself, while the people in the coffin shop walked in the opposite direction.And the puppy followed closely behind its owner.

"Dead?" Musashi kept muttering to himself. But, beyond that, he wasn't particularly sentimental.dead?That's really the only thought and nothing else.He didn't feel sentimental about his own death, let alone others!Especially for this stingy uncle who has been mean all his life but only saves a small amount of money. He recalled the scene of eating rice cakes by the frozen Kamogawa River on the morning of the first day of the first lunar month when he was hungry and cold.Thinking of the scent, he couldn't help but secretly screamed: "It's delicious!"

Musashi remembered that his aunt had to live alone after her husband passed away. He hastened his steps to the upper Kamo River bank.Across the river, the black thirty-six peaks towered high in front of you. Every mountain seemed hostile to Musashi. Musashi stood there all the time, and after a while, he nodded alone and said: "Ok!" He walked down the embankment towards the bank.There is a pontoon bridge formed by small boats. If you want to go from Shangjing to Mount Rui, that is, if you want to cross Mount Shiga, you have to take this road. "Hey!" When Musashi reached the middle of the Kamo River bridge, he heard shouts from behind.

The gurgling water under the bridge, reflecting the cold moonlight, flows leisurely.Odanba's mountain wind runs straight from the upper reaches of the Kamo River to the lower reaches, making the night wind chill.In such a vast world, it is impossible to tell who is shouting where? "Hey!" Another shout was heard. Musashi stopped again, but this time he ignored it and jumped across the beach to the other side. Someone waved at him and came running along the bank.After he saw the man's face clearly, he felt that he might have misread it, and the other party turned out to be Kojiro Sasaki. "Hey!" Kojiro came over, greeted Musashi cordially, stared at Musashi, then looked in the direction of the boat bridge, and asked: "Are you coming alone?" "Just me." Musashi nodded, taking it for granted. Kojiro saluted respectfully and said: "It was very rude that night. I would appreciate it if you would accept my apology." "Ah! At that time, thank you very much!" "Are you going to an appointment now?" "That's right!" "only you?" Kojiro knew it clearly, but he wanted to repeat it again. "Just me." Musashi's answer was the same as before.This time, Kojiro heard clearly. "Hmm... that's it! But, Mr. Musashi, did you read the bulletin board that I, Kojiro, posted on Rokujo a few days ago?" "There should be no mistake!" "It didn't indicate that it was a one-on-one match like Seijuro's match!" "I know." "The head of the Yoshioka Gate is a young man in name only. In fact, everything is in the hands of the disciples of the whole sect. The disciples can be ten, or hundreds, or thousands... Have you thought about this order?" "why?" "Among Yoshioka's disciples, those who are greedy for life and fear of death have fled long ago, and will not go to the arena. But most of them are men with backbone, and they have gathered in Yabu Village to prepare for the battle. And Shimotatsu as the center, Ready to go, waiting to take revenge on you!" "Kojiro, have you gone to see it first?" "Just in case—and just now I thought it was very important to you, so I hurried over from Yicheng Temple. I guessed that you would pass the boat bridge to the competition site, so I waited for you here—this is also an announcement It is the duty of the witnesses of the card!" "Thanks a lot!" "Are you still insisting on going to the appointment alone? Or have you found a helper and gone by other paths?" "Besides me, there is another person accompanying me!" "Hey! Where is it?" Pointing to his own shadow on the ground, Musashi replied: "here!" He smiled mockingly, his teeth looking even whiter in the moonlight. Musashi usually doesn't joke much, but he made a joke inadvertently, which made Kojiro a little embarrassed. "Musashi, now is not the time to joke!" He said it more seriously. "I'm not joking either!" "However, you said that you and Shadow went to the appointment together, which is clearly mocking me!" "In that case—" Musashi is more serious than Kojiro. "Sage Shinluan once said that practitioners who recite the Buddha's name are often accompanied by two people, that is, himself and Amitabha Buddha. I still remember this sentence. Could it be that this is also a joke?" "..." "On the surface, Yoshioka's disciples are numerous, but Musashi and I are alone. I think you, Kojiro, think I will be outnumbered, but please don't worry about me." From Musashi's tone, it can be seen that his will is very strong. "If the opponent has ten people, I will fight with ten people, and the opponent will definitely find twenty more people to attack me; if the opponent has twenty people, and I also fight with twenty people, the opponent will gather another thirty people. , forty people. This way, it will only cause social turmoil, cause more casualties and disrupt the peaceful and prosperous world, and it will not benefit the sword, it can be said to be harmful but not beneficial!" "I see! But Musashi, in the art of war, there is no way to go to the battlefield knowing that you will lose!" "In some cases there are." "No! That's not the art of war, it's a mess." "Although there is no such thing in the art of war, it does exist for me." "It doesn't make sense!" "Ha ha ha ha!" Musashi didn't reply. However, Kojiro couldn't stop there. "Why do you use such an unreasonable tactic? Why don't you save yourself a way out?" "I'm on the road of life right now. This road is life for me." "If this road does not lead to the underworld, it will be a blessing in misfortune." "I have crossed three rivers, and now my feet are on the road of Yilizhong. Maybe the hillside I am going to is a mountain of needles. But this road is the only way to survive." "You speak like this, as if you have been haunted by death." "You can say what you want. Some people live like dead people, and some people are dead and alive." "Pitiful!" After Kojiro murmured and laughed, Musashi also stopped and asked: "Kojiro, where does this road lead to?" "From Hananoki Village to Ichijo Terabu no Sato—in other words, through Shimomatsu, the place where you died—go straight from here, and you can go straight to the mica slope of Mt. Eizan, so it is also called the mica slope road. Short cut." "How many miles to Xiasong?" "It's about half a mile from here to Xiasong. Even if you walk slowly, there is still time." "Then, there will be a period later!" After Musashi finished speaking, he immediately turned to the side road. Seeing Musashi turn around, Kojiro called out hastily: "Hey! You're going the wrong way! Musashi, you're going in the wrong direction!" Musashi nodded to show that he heard Kojiro's shout. Seeing that he was still walking the same way, Kojiro called out again: "You're going the wrong way!" Musashi's answer was heard from afar: "I know." Behind a row of street trees, along a sloping depression, is a field and a few thatched huts.Musashi went to the bottom.Kojiro could only see his back from the gap between the trees.Musashi was looking up at the moon sky and standing there. Kojiro smiled bitterly alone: "What? So it's to relieve myself." After finishing speaking, he also looked up at the moon sky. Driven by curiosity, he made various conjectures: "The moon is slanting to the west! After the moon is completely hidden, I don't know how many people will die!" Musashi must surely die.And how many enemies will he kill before this man falls? He thought to himself: "That's what it's worth watching." Just thinking about the scene of fighting is horrifying and blood-boiling, and it's hard to wait any longer. "I have encountered a rare match. I couldn't witness the Rentai Temple and the second duel. This time I can get my wish. Eh? Musashi Xiaojie is not healed yet?" He looked at the road in the hollow, but there was no one turning back.Kojiro felt that standing was boring, so he sat down under a tree. At this time, he was intoxicated with fantasies again. "Looking at his unusually calm appearance, it seems that he has put life and death aside, and is ready to fight to the end, right? The more intense the slashing, the more interesting it is. However, Yoshioka said that they prepared bows and arrows and foreign guns. If Musashi is killed If you shoot the gun, you will definitely die, so it will be boring. By the way, it is best to tell Musashi secretly." He waited for a while. The night mist made Kojiro's waist feel cold, so he got up quickly and shouted: "Musashi!" strangeness?Kojiro began to feel anxious at this time.Tartar!Tartar!Tartar!Kojiro hurried to the low ground. "Musashi!" Under the cliff, there are only a few farmhouses surrounded by black lacquered bamboo fences.Although I heard the sound of waterwheels, I couldn't see where the running water was. "Oops!" Kojiro immediately crossed the river and climbed to the opposite cliff to check, but there was no one in sight.All I could see were the roofs and forests of the temples near the Shirakawa River, Daimonji Mountain, Nyoyidake Mountain, Ichijoji Mountain, Eizan Mountain, and the vast white radish garden. There is another bright moon. "Oops! This coward!" Kojiro intuited that Musashi had escaped.It dawned on him now, no wonder Musashi pretended not to care.He regretted talking too much with Musashi. "That's right! Hurry up!" Kojiro turned around and went back the way he came.There was no Musashi to be seen there either.So, he let go of his pace and chased after him all the way.Of course, he went straight in the direction of Kazujoji Shimatsu.