Chapter Nineteenth: The Guardians

  The monk, who had taken off his cassock, was leading the way with a stout body, while I followed closely behind him with my backpack. After making several turns and climbing two slopes, we passed through a bamboo forest and finally arrived at the "Lingquan Temple" mentioned in Master's telegram! The temple consisted of three green-tiled houses surrounded by a wall, with white walls and green tiles, and the front and back of the house were filled with swaying bamboos. It did have a sense of serenity that was pleasing to the mind!

  What surprised me was that in the main hall of this small temple, there were actually several devout old women who were kowtowing and burning incense. Moreover, they were murmuring words as they stuffed 5 or 10 yuan into the merit box in front of the Buddha statue.

  "The Master of the Lamp Grass has returned!" Several old women heard the commotion outside the hall and turned their heads to look over. Upon seeing the Lamp Grass, they nodded and smiled in greeting. As for the poor Daoist, they didn't even bother to give her a glance.

  "Some donors have come to worship Buddha again, how compassionate! The donors are so devout, their merits are boundless!" Lamp Grass Monk saw that there were only a few customers in the temple greeting him, and he couldn't even care about wearing only a white polyester undershirt. He hastily stopped in his tracks, put his palms together, and exchanged pleasantries with the guests. Even Lamp Wick stood up from Lamp Grass Monk's head and nodded at the old ladies. It seems that even the cat knows that they have come to donate incense money.

  After chatting with several pilgrims, Lamp Grass Monk nodded to me and asked me to follow him to the wing room on the left side of the main hall.

  "Sin, sin, infinite life. Master, you... continue!" With a push of the wooden door to the left wing room, I saw a bald old monk stretching out his hand to push and grasp my master's shiny upper body. Perhaps it was a caress? The situation was too shocking, so I didn't dare look closely and retreated outside.

  "Get in here, you little scamp!" Before I could even cover my face and walk away, a somewhat wheezing rebuke came from inside the room.

  "Master, what's going on here?" I had no choice but to steel myself and walk in. Then, with a sidelong glance, I asked. The situation before my eyes was truly unbelievable. A shirtless Taoist priest and a Buddhist monk with a meaty face were alone in the room together. And to make matters worse, the monk was using those chubby hands of his to massage Master's body, leaving me, his disciple, feeling utterly humiliated.

  "Master, master, even if you want to be the dominant one. Don't you dare make me lose face as your disciple? Why did you choose to be the submissive one?" I stood before my master with my head bowed and body half-kneeling, secretly resenting his lack of competitiveness.

  "Master was ambushed by someone while on his way to Qinghai the other day due to a matter, luckily Eldest Brother Qinglian lent a hand. Cough cough cough, you little scoundrel still haven't come to pay respects to Master Qinglian?" My master sat cross-legged on the couch, saying with a stern expression.

  "Junior Brother Lou Mengmeng, greetings to Senior Sister Qinglian!" Although I had been grumbling about my master in my heart, I still had to follow the rules. Upon hearing this, I pushed aside the golden mountain and jade pillar, and with a loud thud, I kowtowed three times to Senior Sister Qinglian, whose face was covered in oil and sweat!

  "Hurry up and get up, Master Nephew doesn't need to be so polite." The lantern said, "Quickly, help your Sheng brother up!" Qinglian Shibo said with a warm smile. But in my eyes, he didn't look like a wise and powerful monk at all. No matter how I looked at him, he just looked like a cook.

  "Master, what are you doing in Qinghai? Didn't someone say a friend was looking for your help?" I asked Master after Lamp Grass Monk brought over a stool for me to sit on.

  "Hmm, Deng Cao! Go and see if those donors have left? If the temple is empty, close the door! Later, I have something to say to you and Mingming Shizhi!" Qinglian Shibo and Shifu exchanged a glance, then coughed slightly and instructed Deng Cao.

  "Trouble you, young master, go and get us two old fogies a pot of tea!" said Qinglian Shibo after the lamp grass had left.

  "Are you sure to tell them now? I think it's better to wait a few more years, until they are more mature." At this point, I had just stepped out of the room, and was looking for a thermos and tea leaves in the temple to prepare some tea. The master inside the room said this to Master Qinglian.

  "You and I, weren't we also this big when we took over the mantle and responsibilities of the previous generation? I know you regard Mingming as your own son, just like I consider Dengcao my own child. The responsibilities that should be theirs will eventually weigh on their shoulders anyway. You, me, Northeast's Mei Pozi, Hubei's Shi Ying, how many more years can we live? Rather than letting the children be caught off guard when the time comes, it's better to tell them the truth now and let them prepare themselves!" Qinglian Shibo stepped down from her seat and slowly walked back and forth in the room, saying this to Shifu.

  "Alas! I wonder if it was a mistake for me to have taken Muong as my apprentice back then!" Master sat cross-legged on the couch, letting out a long sigh. Years of being together had made him regard me like his own son or nephew.

  "Hahahaha! People like us, what's the talk of 'heart and blood'? Everything is predetermined. You were destined to become Mingming's master, while Dengcao was destined to become my disciple. Among billions of people, they are the few who can become our successors, it's their honor, but also their misfortune!" Qinglian Shibo heard her master's words and stood inside the house, laughing helplessly.

  "Master, several donors have already left. The disciple has closed the temple gate!" The sound of lanterns came from outside the door!

  "Alright, come on in! Wait for your senior brother to brew the tea, I have something to say to you both." Qinglian Shibo looked at this disciple who had followed her for 16 years with great kindness and said.

  After I found the thermos and used the large blue-and-white porcelain teapot to brew a pot of tea, which was then carried into the room. Qinglian Shibo picked up the teacups on the table, poured a cup of tea for each person in the house, and only then began to talk about his stories with Master Father, as well as those between him, Mei Shigu, Shiying Shishu, and others!

  "The Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Black Tortoise! These are our titles, and also how we address each other. For generations, these four titles have been passed down for thousands of years. Each generation's successor is always two males and two females, with a single inheritance within the school. The techniques and methods are passed down orally from master to disciple, strictly forbidden to be taught outside."

  "And every generation's successor, the final outcome, is not very good! Perhaps it's because they've created too much killing karma, or perhaps it's just their own fate. The Azure Dragon and White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise. They should be two pairs of loving companions, relying on each other for support. But I don't know when it started, these four title-holders' successors have been solitary figures generation after generation. Not to mention forming loving relationships with each other, many predecessors couldn't even die a peaceful death." The master looked at Qinglian Shibo and continued his words.

  "The four seals were passed down, shouldering the heavy responsibility of guarding the Huaxia Dragon Vein and the Daoist tradition, yet unable to interfere with the changing flags of the Jiangshan. The earliest records of our ancestors' writings appeared in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Unfortunately, over the past two thousand years, due to various reasons, these records were lost one after another. What's left is only the legacy passed down through generations, or rather, the ancestral teachings! Guarding the Huaxia Dragon Vein, preventing it from being disturbed or destroyed. Inheriting the Huaxia Daoist tradition, not allowing foreign tribes and heretic teachings to take its place. This is the heavy responsibility that each of our generations has shouldered." Qinglian Shibo sighed, pushing open the window of the sedan chair and gazing out at the scenery outside.

  "Now, the guardians of our generation have all grown old. You, on the other hand, must work hard and strive to take on the heavy responsibilities that you cannot avoid shouldering. Until the day comes when you find a successor." The master got down from his bed and walked over to stand beside Qinglian Shibo.

  "Isn't that right, Master? You and the mistress are telling stories, aren't you? I don't have any money to reward you!" I picked up the teacup in front of me and took a sip, forcing a smile as I chimed in. On the other hand, looking at Deng Cao, he wasn't much better off than me, with a bead of sweat already trickling down his bald head into the collar of his monk's robe.

  What the masters said sounds like a fairy tale to us, but it's all nonsense. What era are we in? They're still talking about these supernatural things. But looking at their serious faces, we have no choice but to believe them. Believe that what they say is true!

  But according to what they said, every generation of successors will not end well....... This problem is very serious. Lao Lou's family, my dad and mom are still expecting me to inherit the legacy in the future. Now that I hear Shifu and Shibo say this, whether or not I can die a peaceful death is uncertain. Inheriting the legacy? Don't even think about it!

  "What? Scared? Or do you think it's unbelievable? But the fact is, whether you believe it or not, whether you're willing or not! You must take on this responsibility, a legacy of thousands of years cannot be broken in your hands. The consequences, you can't bear them. We can't bear them either. The ancient China of thousands of years, even more so, cannot bear them." My master walked up to me, lowered his body and stared at me with a serious face.

  "Master, don't joke around. This joke, hehe, isn't funny!" I said to him with a stiff smile on my face, shrinking back slightly.

  "Do you think Master is joking with you? This time, Master went out to stop a group of thieves who wanted to climb the mountain and find the legendary paradise. Who would have thought that these people actually bought guns from the black market? It's not that Master dragged Qinglian Master along for nothing. Now you should be helping Master to transcend." Master patted his chest, took two deep breaths, and said to me.

  "Climbing a mountain? What mountain is worth you paying such a great price?" I looked at the bandages wrapped around Master's chest, where blood was slowly seeping through, and hastily got up to support him as I asked!

  "Cough, cough! Listen up, this mountain is called... Kunlun! It's the origin of my Huaxia Dragon Vein, even if all the major and minor dragon veins in Huaxia are destroyed. As long as we protect Kunlun well, with time, new dragon veins will spread across the land of Huaxia again. The dragon vein won't be broken, our fate won't be broken either. Our descendants can also thrive generation after generation. This is a great merit, it's enough to change one's fate! My master waved his hand at me, indicating he was fine. After clearing his throat a few times, he spoke to me in a low voice."