Chapter 39 first quarter

Although Luyang Mountain is only more than 1,000 meters above sea level, it is particularly mysterious and remote because of its overlapping peaks and ravines.Climbing high and looking far away, the eyes are boundless, extremely vast and profound.The peaks of Jiulong Mountain, which stretches for hundreds of miles, are used as the background surrounding it, which extends its imaginable space.Therefore, no one dared to say that he had traveled all over the Jiulong Mountains, that was impossible. The Luyang Mountain that Cheng Shaobo climbed when he was a child can only be regarded as the foot of Luyang Mountain.It is covered with dense elm and Populus euphratica, and there are shrubs such as Vitex and wild apricot and willow.There are a lot of Artemisia annua, Artemisia annua and Zanthoxylum bungeanum in the grass. During the Dragon Boat Festival, the mountain is full of their fragrance.In summer, you can find Sour Buliu, Old Raven, Heitian and Wild Grape.In autumn, you can pick mountain jujubes, hazelnuts, prunes and wild walnuts.There is often snow in winter, and only hares and pheasants can be seen scurrying in the bushes, and occasionally foxes and wolves can be seen.Most of the time, I heard those black crows and magpies chattering in the forest, and sometimes I saw them flying very high, floating around in the gaps between the distant peaks, as small as mosquitoes.

When he started to go up the mountain, Cheng Shaobo was still riding on the big black donkey. Later, when the snow on the mountain road started to accumulate, he got down and led the donkey.Soon, I saw the Yaowang Temple with double eaves and flying arches. The Yaowang Temple located in Luyang Mountain is small in scale, with only one mountain gate, one Daxiong hall, one Buddhist scripture building and two rows of side halls. These buildings are surrounded by red walls. Under the cover of green and cypresses, there is still a Buddhist aura.Since it was not the first or fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, coupled with the heavy snowfall, there were few pilgrims. Looking from a distance, there was no noise as rumored.I saw a few people watching on the clean bluestone platform outside the mountain gate. In addition, there was a little monk cleaning the snow under the steps.

Cheng Shaobo was hesitating whether to go to the temple and ask Elder Zhiyuan if the master was on the mountain, and by the way, ask about the way to Chunyang Temple, but he saw a little novice coming from nowhere, suddenly approaching him, and asked Cheng Shaobo Putting his hands together, he gave a deep salute and said, "Excuse me, is this Doctor Cheng?" Cheng Shaobo hurriedly asked: "How does little master know?" The little novice said, "My master told me to wait for you here." Cheng Shaobo asked again: "Who is your master?" The little novice replied, "Elder Zhiyuan."

Cheng Shaobo asked, "Where is the elder now?" The little novice replied: "Master knew that Imperial Physician Cheng was going to Chunyang Temple in the back mountain, so he decided to accompany him, so he went ahead." Cheng Shaobo was puzzled, so he asked: "If you are accompanying me, why do you go first?" The little novice replied: "Master said that he is old and walks slowly, and he is afraid that he will cause you to walk slowly if he walks with you." Cheng Shaobo knew that Elder Zhiyuan liked to joke, so he said: "Then I will chase him quickly, but I don't know where to go?"

The little novice replied: "The master left a message saying, go step by step." Cheng Shaobo couldn't help laughing and said, "What I'm asking is where is the road?" The little novice replied: "The master left a message saying that the road is under your feet." Cheng Shaobo suddenly understood that Elder Zhiyuan wanted to play a joke with him on meditation practice, so he said: "Thank you, little master, I understand." After speaking, he raised his legs and wanted to leave. The little novice took another step forward and said in front of Cheng Shaobo: "Thank you very much, please leave the thank you to Doctor Cheng before leaving."

Cheng Shaobo felt a little unhappy this time, but he didn't want to burst out, so he said: "All I brought today is in this bag, and besides this, there is this donkey." The little novice said, "Then ask Doctor Cheng to leave the bag and the donkey behind." Cheng Shaobo was a little anxious: "Some of the things here will be brought to Chunyang Temple to send to Abbot Kuxing." The little novice said: "Master left a message, Abbot Kuxing has made arrangements for you." Cheng Shaobo had nothing to say, so he threw the reins of the donkey to the little novice in anger: "Okay, give it all to your master." After speaking, he turned and left.

He felt that Elder Zhiyuan's joke was too much. Seeing that Cheng Shaobo was a little angry, the little novice couldn't help laughing secretly, and led the donkey into the Yaowang Temple. Cheng Shaobo walked all the way, and found a row of newly stepped footprints, and a row of fox paw prints beside it. He guessed that it must have been left by Elder Zhiyuan and the fire fox when they passed by, so he walked along the road without raising his head. Follow your footprints and climb all the way to the back mountain. The twelfth lunar month of winter is the coldest day of the year. On weekdays in the town, the terrain is low, there are many barriers, and there is a slight north wind. , Every gust of wind is like a sharp knife, stinging the skin.Cheng Shaobo wrapped the cloak around his body again and again, still feeling the bone-chilling wind, so he quickened his pace, intending to break out some sweat to keep out the extreme cold of the snow and ice.

After walking for three or five miles like this, I was really sweating profusely. I was no longer cold, but I was so tired that I was out of breath. I looked at the Chunyang Temple again, but there was still no sign of it.The road in front of me, a pair of newly stepped footprints, and the accompanying fox paw prints seem to intentionally cross the forest, cross the stream, cross valleys and mountains, and go round and round in the snow.Thinking about it carefully, Chunyang Temple, as a Taoist holy place that pilgrims often visit, shouldn't be so remote and deserted, and the road should not be so ups and downs. Is it because Elder Zhiyuan deliberately made some circles with him?Fortunately, both the donkey and the bag stayed in the temple, otherwise the road would have been impossible!Bewildered like this, I walked for a few miles, and suddenly heard the sound of running water coming from ahead, and the footprints and paw prints on the snow also extended towards the direction of the sound, so I walked a few steps and climbed a mountain ridge , panting for a while, looking around, the clouds are rising and the fog is locked, and the eyes are full of mist for a while.After a while, if you look carefully, there is a deep ravine lying under your feet, and thick clouds and mist are churning out of the deep ravine.At the same time, I also heard the sound of running water coming from the bottom of the stream, and I was very surprised-how could there be water flowing at the bottom of the stream in such a freezing season?Could it be that there is an underground hot spring in this stream that is not frozen all the year round?Just as I was wondering, I suddenly heard a singing voice coming from the opposite mountain forest:

The heaven and the earth are wonderful, There is a mystery in the transmission of yin and yang. Mo Dao Hongchen is a good world, look at me The winter snow in the deep stream turns into the spring stream! ... Cheng Shaobo listened to the singing, and knew that it was Elder Zhiyuan who was instructing him again, so he wanted to find a way to cross the ravine, looking here and there, there is no way!At this time, suddenly saw the familiar fire fox jumping up from the stream, squatting on a pine tree by the cliff and looking at him.Looking closely at a thick rope hanging from the pine pine, he suddenly realized that this thick rope must be the way.As soon as I thought about it, I saw the fire fox turned around and climbed down along the thick rope.Sure enough, Cheng Shaobo laughed secretly in his heart, Elder Zhiyuan was testing his sincerity and insincerity in seeking a teacher, so he grabbed the thick rope and jumped to the bottom of the ravine.Unexpectedly, the more one climbs down, the thicker the thick rope becomes more and more icy due to the thickening of the water vapor in the stream. Not only is it icy to the fingers, but it is also very smooth and difficult to hold.In the end, he had no choice but to use his arms and legs instead of his hands, with his armpits and hips raised at the same time, holding the thick rope and closing his eyes, he fell to the bottom of the ravine.He accidentally fell into the mud.Open your eyes and look around, the surrounding fog is transpiring, and beside your feet is a pool of clear water that is constantly emitting heat.Although it is clear, it has not bottomed out.Surrounding the water, green grass is verdant and mountain flowers are looming, it is actually a spring scene!Looking around carefully, you can see the Polygonatum with clusters of red flowers, Platycodon grandiflorum with five-star blue flowers, Adenophora with four leaves and one section, Cistanche deserticola uprooted like corn ears, dog ridges with beautiful feathery leaves, In the middle of the foliage, there is a stick of orange-yellow fruit protruding from Guanzhong, and Epimedium with five-petaled crab-claw-shaped purple flowers, etc. There are almost all kinds of wild medicinal materials.

Looking back at the top of the cliff, there is only a narrow line of misty sky.Discovering such a wonderful place, Cheng Shaobo forgot his mission for a while, so he squatted down curiously, put his fingers into the pool water and tried it for a while, it turned out to be hot, so he soaked his frozen hands in the water and washed them well After washing, it is much more comfortable.Looking at the source of Jianshui, there are more than a dozen streams of different sizes leaping out of a huge cliff cave with hot clear water.As the cliff body descends, those streams also form a series of multi-level drops, and there is the sound of rushing water.

Cheng Shaobo picked up a dry place to stay, and approached the entrance of the cave step by step. A wave of heat was blowing in his face. It seemed that the water in the cave was very hot.He bent down, squinted his eyes and looked inside carefully. The dark cave was filled with gray mist, and he couldn't see anything clearly. When he turned around and was about to leave, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a bunch of brightly colored flowers standing out from the grass beside the cave entrance. red fruit.The fruit is about the size of a bean, crystal clear and shiny, with more than 20 grains squeezed into a cluster and picked on a thin green and purple stem - wild ginseng!Cheng Shaobo suddenly realized that the bunch of familiar red fruits were the seeds of ginseng, and then went up to inspect carefully to confirm—the green and oily palm-shaped ovate leaves, the head is big and the tail is small, and the golden veins are distributed in parallel, which is very clear.Count again, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!Old wild ginseng with eight groups of leaves!Met treasure today!The seventh grade is ginseng, and the eighth grade is treasure!What luck!When I was about to go forward to pick it up with my hands, I saw a hand hoe specially used for herbal pickers lying beside the ginseng plant.Cheng Shaobo thought that this was God helping me, so he grabbed his hand hoe to dig out the treasure.Suddenly, it occurred to him that since there was a hand hoe at the side, this treasure must have been discovered by the hoeer. In this case, this precious ginseng already has an owner, and if the owner didn't dig it up, someone must have dug it up. reason. If he used the master's tools to dig out the treasures that he didn't dig up, that would be stealing, and he, Cheng Shaobo, would never steal anyway.Thinking of this, he put the hoe back to its original place, looked at the ginseng plant carefully, and then reluctantly got up and left. How can I climb the opposite cliff?Only then did Cheng Shaobo think of this question.But he was not in a hurry, but first squatted by the pool and washed his hands—after washing his hands just now, he felt that his hands were very comfortable and smooth, and he realized that this was underground hot water rich in minerals.And this discovery, for a doctor, can't help but think of its medical value, and thus further think of its development and utilization value... While Cheng Shaobo was concentrating on the pool, he suddenly heard someone behind him asking loudly: "Is my nephew Shaobo peeking at the fairy bathing?" Cheng Shaobo turned his head sharply, and just above the water outlet hole he saw just now, Elder Zhiyuan and the fire fox suddenly emerged. When Cheng Shaobo saw it, he was both surprised and happy, and hurried forward to say hello. Elder Zhiyuan smiled and asked, "How is it? Is this road easy?" Cheng Shaobo also answered with a smile: "Duo is guided by Master Uncle, the road is easy to walk, but I don't know how far it is from Master's Immortal Temple?" Elder Zhiyuan smiled and said: "It's already here. I'm leading you on a small road, which leads directly to Changchun Stream." After speaking, he raised his finger and pointed behind him and said, "Come on, walk out of Changchun Cave from here, and it will be your master's immortal cave." View." Cheng Shaobo quickly took a few steps to climb up to the entrance of the cave, only to find that there was another opening above the entrance of the cave. When he was below, he was blocked by rocks and did not see it. At this time, Elder Zhiyuan had already got into the entrance of the cave, turned his head and said: "Hold the stone wall with your left hand, slowly climb up the steps, one step at a time, don't rush." After Cheng Shaobo entered the cave, he suddenly felt that his vision was completely dark, so he followed Elder Zhiyuan's instructions, supported the stone wall with his left hand, and walked up the stairs slowly.After walking for a short time, I saw a piece of blue sky obliquely above, and light penetrated from a distance.With this penetrating light as the background, Cheng Shaobo saw Elder Zhiyuan and the fire fox walking briskly in front of them, climbing up the stairs all the way, and they had already walked out of the cave in a blink of an eye, so he also wanted to take a few steps quickly to rush out of the darkness earlier.Unexpectedly, he stumbled and fell on the stone ladder.Look carefully, on the right hand side, there is white mist billowing, and heat waves are blowing on the face. If you look closely, there are fine waves flickering at a very low place under your feet, and you know that this is a very high and very large lava hot spring water cave.If you accidentally fall down the stone ladder, you will fall into the hot water pool and have a good bath.Knowing the danger, he dared not be reckless.Thinking of Elder Zhiyuan's words of "walking step by step", I couldn't help laughing secretly.It turns out that these words are not only Zen words, but also have their specific meanings. It seems that they cannot be taken lightly. Just like this, they are cautious and cautious, and they walked out of the cave soon after a while. Outside the entrance of the cave, a piece of black pine covers the sky and blocks out the sun, and the hot air gushing out of the cave spreads like clouds and fog, which can only be regarded as snow steam from a distance.Look again, the back door of Chunyang Temple is open, and the Firefox is waiting for him by the door.Stepping up to the door, I saw my big black donkey grazing in a stone trough, and the donkey's saddlebags were still intact on the donkey's back.Only then did he suddenly realize that Elder Zhiyuan was afraid that it would be inconvenient for him to walk the path just now with the donkey, so he sent another young novice to send the donkey up from the right path.At that time, I was baffled, but I was a little angry, so I suddenly blushed. Just at this moment, seeing the little novice from the Yaowang Temple and another little Taoist coming forward with smiles, the little novice pointed at Dahei and called the donkey: "Here are all the donkeys and things of Yucheng doctor, please have a look." The little novice The Taoist said, "Master asked me to lead you to meet Lu Zu first."