Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Because they crossed the Yin Bridge halfway, they arrived a little later than expected. Shi Changxuan’s senior brother met them at the entrance of the scenic spot so that they wouldn’t have to buy a ticket.
Shi Changxuan’s senior brother was his father’s disciple, and his Taoist name was Chi Qingyun. The provincial Taoist co-organized the ceremony and invited people from the Taoist community in the province to participate, including Shi Changxuan’s family.
Changle Temple had cooperated with the government a long time ago and was developed into a scenic spot.
“Why are you so late? Did you encounter anything on the way?” Chi Qingyun asked and then saluted Xie Lingya with his fists. Although they had never met, Xie Lingya’s name was very famous in the Taoist community of Queshan Province, and it also raised the reputation of Baoyang Temple. Moreover, Shi Changxuan also worshipped Xie Lingya’s uncle as a master.
Shi Changxuan just shook his head, indicating that it was okay. Since it had been resolved, it was not a big deal, and there was nothing to say.
Seeing his sullen look, Xie Lingya explained on his behalf, “The bus driver drove up the Yin Bridge and we came back after a while.”
“What a joke, this driver is amazing.” Chi Qingyun asked again, “You must be tired, Master has already fallen asleep, I’ll take you to rest, do you want to sleep in the hotel or in the Taoist temple?”
Shi Changxuan’s father was used to going to bed and getting up early, and he went to rest before they arrived. And because there were so many Taoist people coming to the Dharma Assembly, there was definitely not enough space to accommodate them in one place. Compared to the hotel, the conditions in the Taoist temple were probably not that good.
Xie Lingya said again, “Let’s go to the Taoist temple, it’s more convenient.”
Chi Qingyun asked a few more questions, and Xie Lingya was the one who made the decisions. He found it quite interesting. Although Junior Brother Shi was a little cold, he was not someone without ideas. On the contrary, Xie Lingya seemed to be more easy-going. But when it came to asking, everything was decided by Xie Lingya, and some of them didn’t even require Shi Changxuan’s opinion.
“Which of you two is the senior brother? I think it’s Junior Brother Xie who’s arranging everything. Changxuan, aren’t you more familiar with Changle Temple?” Chi Qingyun asked curiously. Changle Temple was also the location of the provincial Taoist Association office, and Shi Changxuan had been here many times.
In the past, he only heard that Junior Brother Shi finally had a friend, but he didn’t expect that they would get along like this. No wonder he was willing to stay and help people even on holidays.
Xie Lingya was stunned and then said unnaturally: “I’m used to arranging things in Baoyang Temple. Senior Brother has a good temper and gives in to me, so that I look like a leader.”
Good temper? Chi Qingyun couldn’t help but laugh dryly twice but still said: “Then Junior Brother Shi is really thinking about you. It’s right for me to arrange for you to sleep in the same room.”
“…” Xie Lingya also laughed dryly, looked at Chi Qingyun suspiciously, and thought to himself, damn, Shi Changxuan didn’t tell his family about the two of them, right.
Chi Qingyun took them to the place. Xie Lingya took a look. Although it was a single room and they didn’t have to squeeze with other Taoist friends but there was only a double bed inside, and it wasn’t particularly spacious.
Xie Lingya’s mouth twitched, and seeing Chi Qingyun’s upright face, he couldn’t say anything, “…Thank you.”
“Then you have a good rest, get up early tomorrow and don’t oversleep.” Chi Qingyun said and left.
Xie Lingya calmly put his backpack away, tried the hot water, and after being polite, he let Shi Changxuan finish washing first, and then Shi Changxuan went.
While Shi Changxuan was taking a shower, Xie Lingya lay on the bed, put the two Reporting gods side by side on the pillow, stared at them in a daze, and then sighed, although he didn’t know why he sighed.
Phytolacca God said boldly: “Don’t sigh.”
“Shi Changxuan is okay.”
“What do you know.” Xie Lingya laughed immediately, packed up the fruits and offered them to them, “Eat yours, don’t talk nonsense.”
Xie Lingya lay back to play with his mobile phone. After a while, he heard the sound of Shi Changxuan coming out of the bathroom and wiping his hair with a towel. He slept on the inside with his back facing the outside and only heard the movement. After a while, Shi Changxuan came closer, and there was a dip beside him. It seemed that he had come up, and he could still feel the heat from his body.
Although it was not the first time they slept together, since Shi Changxuan moved to the rented house, even if he lived with him later, it was when there were other Taoists in the house. For sleeping alone, it was the first time after the confession.
As Xie Lingya listened, he found that his fingers had not touched the phone for a long time, and the screen light was dim.
Shi Changxuan also thought that Xie Lingya had fallen asleep. So he propped himself up on the bed and gently took the phone out of Xie Lingya’s hand, put it on the bedside, and then turned off the light.
Xie Lingya’s hands became empty, and he felt a little empty in his heart because of Shi Changxuan’s action. Then his eyes went dark, and he felt Shi Changxuan reaching out his hand again, touching his cold ear, and pulling up the air-conditioning blanket to cover it.
Xie Lingya suddenly felt relieved again, closed his eyes and fell asleep peacefully.
….
Early the next morning, the entire Changle Temple had woken up.
This world peace ceremony would last for three days and was divided into two parts. The first was to pray for world peace and harmony among countries, and the second was to commemorate the dead soldiers and people who sacrificed their lives to maintain peace.
A Dharma altar was set up, and incense, flowers, lanterns and fruits were offered. There were thousands of believers and hundreds of Taoist priests from various temples.
Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan were among them. Every Taoist priest he met smiled at him in a friendly way…
Xie Lingya wanted to stand on the side of the lay priests, but Father and Mother Shi grabbed him and asked him to go on stage. Shi Changxuan’s parents were both Taoist priests. They took out a robe and said it belonged to Shi Changxuan. They brought it here specially for Xie Lingya to wear.
Xie Lingya said embarrassedly: “It’s not suitable…”
He was not told before coming. Now he was asked to go up at the last minute. Were they afraid that he would refuse? He couldn’t say that he was not prepared, otherwise, with his reputation, people might ask him to learn it on the spot.
“It’s not appropriate if you don’t wear it. Everyone will look at you alone.” Father Shi said. He insisted that Xie Lingya also go on stage. “If you don’t lead the ceremony together, wouldn’t it be…”
“I’ll go, I’ll go.” Xie Lingya said hurriedly. Otherwise, it would seem that he was not enthusiastic about praying for blessings and saving the dead. In fact, he respected it very much, but he felt that he was being forced to be a Taoist priest again.
“The chief priest…” Shi Changxuan whispered beside him.
“The chief priest doesn’t need to go up. No one cares about my identity.” Xie Lingya said speechlessly.
He unfolded Shi Changxuan’s old robe. Unlike the red one on Shi Changxuan, this one was a light yellow with low saturation. The color tone was much more low-key. But if you looked closely, especially when facing the light, you would find that it was embroidered with stars, sun and moon, dragons, phoenixes and unicorns with gold and silver threads, and there were auspicious patterns all over it. It seemed to be hand-embroidered and very delicate.
The robe was worn by Taoist priests on formal occasions such as fasting and offering sacrifices. It was also called Tianxian Cave Clothes.
After Xie Lingya put it on, he instantly seemed more like an immortal. Standing with Shi Changxuan, this scene was indeed pleasing to the eye.
There were more than a dozen Taoist priests in the ceremony. The main priest was the master of Changle Temple, Taoist priest Dai Dingrong, who was also the president of the Provincial Taoist Association. Xie Lingya had met him before when he came to receive the award.
Since he was here, he might as well make the best of it. Xie Lingya greeted Taoist priest Dai and stood in the queue with Shi Changxuan.
Seeing that there seemed to be many tablets on the altar, Xie Lingya asked Shi Changxuan in a low voice: “Who are they? Local heroes?”
Shi Changxuan took a look and said: “…You can say that. Changle Temple has been built for thousands of years. Whenever there is a war, it opens its doors to take in the people and distributes food relief. The Taoist priests in the temple have also gone down the mountain to fight the enemy and save people. At one time, there were only three old, weak, sick and young Taoist priests left in the temple. These are the tablets of those Taoist priests.”
Most of those Taoist priests had no bones left, and few had returned to the mountain, but the Taoist temple had recorded them one by one. Regardless of prosperity or decline, as long as there were still people in the temple, they would offer sacrifices every year to pray for their souls and their afterlife.
Xie Lingya was a little moved. The Taoist temple was built in the mountains to be closer to the sky, but cultivation had never been only in the mountains. The world was the great Dao field. These predecessors did not practice in the mountains, and perhaps they did not even have time to recite scriptures, but who could say that they did not understand the Tao.
At this time, Master Dai also began to speak, and there were reporters taking pictures below. “Today is the early autumn of xx. Great Taoists from all sides gather in Changle Mountains to pray for world peace and commemorate the heroes…”
After he finished saying it, Xie Lingya thought he was going to start chanting and prepared with a solemn face.
But Master Dai licked his lower lip and said, “Today we meet in the autumn of xx at ChangLe Mountains with distinguished guests…“
Xie Lingya: “…………”
He was a little confused and turned his head for a long time and said, “… President Dai’s spoken English is not bad.”
This World Peace Dharma Assembly having a bilingual host, seemed to be no problem.
Shi Changxuan also whispered, “Self-taught, President Dai also taught himself French and has been trying to translate the classics himself.”
Xie Lingya seemed to understand the mood of those who were broken by him for a while and waited until Master Dai read it again in a fluent foreign language before he adjusted his mood again.
Masters from famous temples and monasteries across the province chanted scriptures and prayed together.
It was said that the prayers today were written by Father Shi. Although there were many people at the scene, it was very quiet, with only the sound of prayers. Finally, the Taoist priests who presided over the ritual and the more than 100 Taoist priests who attended the meeting chanted in unison: “May the world be peaceful and all nations be harmonious… May this merit be spread to all sentient beings!”
They burned incense and offered the prayers to the gods in the sky.
When it came to the memorial service for the dead, they were more relaxed. The main god of Changle Temple was Taiyi Tianzun, who was in charge of salvation. Taiyi Tianzun was asked to bless all the rituals for the dead. For Taoist Dai, who presided over the ritual, this was his most professional job.
Before that, he had to tell the city god and invite the Yin Temple’s gods and strong men to help do some work before the transportation.
Xie Lingya was chanting scriptures beside him. He saw several strong men in uniforms coming to the altar to listen to his orders. He opened his eyes a little wider. It seemed that today was a good day. The induction was very strong. He could see the Yin messengers even without opening his eyes.
When the strong men saw him, they also nodded slightly to express their greetings. Although they had never met before, Xie Lingya had the seal of the City God on him, so they knew that he was a relative of their master.
One of the strong men suddenly walked up to the altar and walked around to the tablet. He looked very young, only sixteen or seventeen years old, but his age could not be determined by his appearance alone.
Xie Lingya stared at him, and Shi Changxuan, who was standing next to him, touched him and thought he was distracted.
Xie Lingya shook his head slightly and continued to look at the strong man, not knowing what he was going to do.
The strong man made a yin-yang with his hands and actually offered a bunch of heart incense. Then, as if he noticed Xie Lingya’s eyes, he turned around and smiled at him, pointed to one of the tablets, and said mischievously: “This is me.”
Xie Lingya was moved and wanted to laugh at the same time, but he just quietly bowed to the other side.
Shi Changxuan glanced at his movements and seemed to be thinking about something,but he didn’t say anything.
….
The Dharma Assembly lasted so long that everyone stopped to take turns to eat. Xie Lingya even took the time to feed both the Reporting Gods.
Taoist Master Dai called Xie Lingya over for a while and introduced him to a devout foreign believer. Only then did Xie Lingya realize that there were foreigners attending the Dharma Assembly.
Fortunately, Xie Lingya had not neglected his English for the postgraduate entrance examination, so he was able to chat with him. But when the other party talked about Taoist scriptures, he had to think about how to translate in his mind, unlike Taoist Master Dai, who was very relaxed as he talked and laughed.
After a few words, Xie Lingya found an excuse to get out of it, “English is not cute. It was the most difficult subject for me to learn since I was a child. What should I do? If there are foreign tourists coming to our Taoist temple in the future…”
Phytolacca God said flatteringly: “Me, adorable.”
Xie Lingya was startled. Seeing that it was Phytolacca God who said that, he was so menged that he picked it up and kissed it, “Look how capable you are!”
The author has something to say:
Taoist Master Dai’s two sentences were adapted from the Wudang Mountain Declaration[1].
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[1] The Wudang Mountains are one of the “Four Sacred Mountains of Taoism” in China, an important destination for Taoist pilgrimages.