Chapter 71: The Fairy's Tomb

  It was easy to squeeze into the temple, which was unlike the Central Plains, where temples big or small always had more than one hall. However, this Xu Fu Temple only had a single main hall, yet there were hundreds of devotees celebrating here, and even with Wind Chasing Steps and Phantom Strides, it was still quite exhausting.

  Upon entering the temple, apart from the temple staff being somewhat different from those in Middle-earth, everything else felt just like returning to Middle-earth.

  In the center is a life-sized statue of a middle-aged man, wearing a long shirt in the style of the Qin Dynasty. He doesn't have a majestic demeanor but has a lot of charm. It's a bit like having an ethereal and elegant quality, perhaps because the definition of immortals in Fusang and Zhongtu is slightly different, so it's slightly off in flavor.

  Under the statue are three cushions, on which two devout incense guests are still kneeling. Next to the cushions is a divination table, behind which stands a middle-aged man dressed as a Taoist priest, using several copper coins to divine the fortunes of visiting incense guests.

  He glanced at him slightly with the algorithm of the acquired, which was different from his innate Bagua calculation by an unknown amount. Even so, he didn't make a sound and patiently waited for the couch to be empty. Since they all came here, if they didn't pay their respects to their seniors, it would be unreasonable.

  After a moment, a female incense guest finished her prayer and left. Following the wind, she arrived in front of the cushion, with her hands clasped together and was about to kneel down.

  At this time, the fortune teller on the side suddenly looked at Su Feng and saw that his clothes were still in the style of the Tang Dynasty, which was quite different from the people around him. So the fortune teller immediately realized that Su Feng was not a native of Fusang, and it was likely that he came from the Tang Dynasty. The fortune teller's eyebrows suddenly rose with joy, and even the incense guests who had come to ask questions were thrown aside, and he went straight in the direction of Su Feng. Before Su Feng could kneel down on the mat, the fortune teller suddenly grabbed his arm.

  Fang Shi's move startled him so much that he was frightened by the wind.

  Seeing the confusion in his eyes, Fang Shi explained in Japanese: "I am the abbot of Xu Fu Gong Guan, may I ask if you are from Zhongtu Datang?"

  With the wind in Ah Po's inn for three months, apart from internal skills, the biggest progress is in Fusang language. At this time, he basically communicated with local people relatively freely.

  Just now, Su Feng had seen him in the corner, and didn't think much of it. But he was somewhat puzzled by his intentions, and asked doubtfully: "I am indeed a subject of the Great Tang, I wonder what business does the Venerable Master have with me?"

  The abbot looked a bit dazed, and his face, which had been full of joy just now, also showed a hint of embarrassment. He opened his palm, and inside were several copper coins that had already turned somewhat green with age. After a pause, he said: "I have been substituting for others to divine and calculate here for many years, and recently I calculated that a person from the Central Plains would come, this person can solve the biggest secret in this temple."

  His words were somewhat dizzying, and he didn't know what secret had been revealed or what it had to do with him. He asked in confusion: "Is the person from Central Plains that the abbot spoke of me? What secret is this?"

  The abbot wanted to speak but hesitated, looking around. He had just abruptly thrown out the person who came to ask for divination, and his strange behavior had already attracted the attention of many people. The surrounding pilgrims were listening to their conversation with great interest. The abbot's face was again filled with embarrassment, and he whispered to Su Feng: "Sir, let's go somewhere quiet to talk."

  After finishing speaking, Suifeng walked towards the back hall with a confused mind. The sudden turn of events left him bewildered, he had only intended to come and burn incense in a simple manner, how did it get entangled in some sort of secret? However, although he was perplexed, his heart had a faint premonition that it might be related to Xu Fugui's ancestors, perhaps it could even resolve his own doubts.

  Upon arriving at the back hall, the abbot let out a sigh and said: "Actually, it's not that much of a secret. To be honest, before Xu Fu passed away, he left behind a sheepskin scroll with a sentence written on it. None of us can recognize what it says. Every generation of abbots thought there was a great secret hidden within, so they passed it down one by one. Until recent years, when the Eastern Learning trend became popular, I also asked those envoys from Tang, but they didn't recognize it either, saying that those were ancient characters, probably only people from the Central Plains could understand them."

  It suddenly dawned on him that it was no wonder the abbot had asked if he was a person from Zhongtu earlier, and now he knew the reason. At the same time, he was secretly shocked to find that there were actually scrolls written by Xu Fu himself, which meant that this place was indeed his tomb. Xu Fu was a man of the Qin dynasty, and the characters he left behind could only be lishu or small seal script, at most slightly older dazhuan.

  He has been studying various books since childhood, and it is natural that he can recognize and read large seal scripts.

  He thought for a moment and said, "I don't know where that scroll is now. Maybe I can help you figure it out."

  The abbot was overjoyed. "Sir, can you really recognize the characters on the scroll? I'll go get it, please wait for a moment." He turned around and hurriedly left.

  Originally, Xiang Feng's heart was filled with joy, but suddenly he thought of the abbot's words that the scroll only had one sentence. What could one sentence possibly write? It definitely wouldn't be able to write any secrets. Thinking this, Xiang Feng's heart cooled down a bit.

  Just as he was pondering these doubts, the abbot returned with a golden nanmu box in his hands. Nanmu wood is extremely expensive in China, let alone in the relatively backward Fusang, it can be considered a rare treasure. However, judging from its appearance, this wooden box has a long history. Fortunately, the texture of the nanmu wood is fine and well-preserved, not easily damaged, but the original golden luster has faded somewhat. Nevertheless, the engravings on the outside are still clear, and at first glance, they seem to be in the same style as those he saw in front of the Dragon Ascension Platform during the Qin dynasty.

  Even after going through a long period of turmoil, the entire wooden box was still intact and undamaged. The whole thing was tightly sealed, without revealing even a hint of gap, probably ordinary people would not know how to open it even if they held it in their hands.

  The abbot also seemed to have not opened it for a long time, and after groping for a while, he finally turned the mechanism. With a "click", a small gap slowly appeared around the wooden box, and the lid slowly rose. The abbot gently pushed the lid open, revealing a roll of sheepskin inside.

  The sheepskin had turned a bit yellow after a long time, and this whole sheepskin was dyed with a light layer of yellow. The abbot carefully took it out and handed it to Sui Feng, "This is the scroll left by Xu Fu's ancestors, you open it yourself."

  With the wind, there was some excitement, perhaps a thousand-year-old secret would be unlocked in one's own hands. Even the fingers that unrolled the scroll were trembling slightly, fortunately, the sheepskin had always been kept in a wooden box, although it had undergone a thousand years of baptism, it had not completely dried out and become brittle, but still retained some flexibility.

  The scroll was slowly unrolled, and in the middle there were only two big characters - Shen Wu. As expected by Su Feng, these two characters were all in large seal script, written with unknown pigment, and even now they still didn't have a hint of fading color.

  "Shén wǔ......" What does this mean? Although I can understand the text above, the information left by Xu Fu's deliberately left scroll must be very useful, but with just these two words, it is impossible to explain.

  Under intense pressure, the doubts in his heart were turned over like a sheepskin by the wind. The reverse side was indeed as the abbot had said, a single sentence: "A lifetime of learning is in the divine instrument."

  "How about it, sir? Can you understand the words on this? And what do they mean?" Looking at Sanfeng's appearance as if he had an epiphany, the abbot couldn't help but ask a question.

  "I'm afraid I'm not clever enough, I can only recognize the characters on top. One side says 'Shen Wu', and the other side says 'A lifetime of learning is in the divine instrument'. I'm very sorry, I couldn't guess the deeper meaning, it seems I've disappointed the abbot's expectations." Su Feng also felt a bit embarrassed, he thought for a long time, but really didn't think there was any secret in these words.

  The master hesitated for a moment, and said uncertainly: "Could the divine artifact that our ancestors spoke of be the three divine artifacts from the Fusang legend?"

  It's laughable just to hear it, Xu Fu is a famous Taoist in the Central Plains and also a favorite minister of the First Emperor. What kind of divine instrument has he not seen? Not to mention others, that piece of jade seal with "Mandate from Heaven, Long Life and Prosperity" is absolutely not an ordinary object. Even if he finally attained enlightenment on Mount Fuji, how could the scrolls he left behind before his death be about a few so-called divine instruments of Mount Fuji?

  However, he said: "What you said is not impossible, I've heard that Mr. Xu Fu's tomb is inside your temple? May I pay my respects?"

  Can't think it through, then don't be happy about it. Just go with the wind and pay respects to the ancestors' graves one last time, showing respect as a junior is enough. As for so-called secrets and legends, he's not very interested in getting involved, just like that auspicious event back then, he was curious and unknowingly got entangled in it, ending up with some people dead, some injured, and Liang Tou'er still missing to this day.

  The abbot also saw that Su Feng wasn't very interested in the scroll, so he continued his words: "The ancestors' tombstones are just in the backyard. Generally, ordinary incense guests can't enter. However, Mr. helped us with such a big favor, and naturally we can't block you. Follow me."

  After finishing speaking, the abbot took the sheepskin from Su Feng's hand and put it back into the wooden box, then turned around and left.

  Following him, they left the back hall and entered a courtyard that was neatly trimmed. In the courtyard stood a tall and straight pine tree, under which was a bluestone tombstone. Perhaps due to the passage of time, many cracks had appeared on the stone, and moss had grown at the top.

  As soon as they walked into the courtyard, a patch of sunlight fell from above, and it seemed that everything around them was scattered with colorful light. Looking at the shocking sight, the abbot smiled slightly with satisfaction: "Very surprised, right? It's said that this place has been laid out with some kind of immortal art by our ancestors. As soon as the sun shines down, there will be a magnificent scene of all things coming to life. And staying here, one's mind becomes broad and open, as if all troubles have disappeared."

  With eyes narrowed, he didn't think so. The abbot had no martial arts skills and might not have felt it, but he clearly sensed that this small courtyard, though small, contained all things, just like a small world. His spiritual awareness was fully open, and vaguely, he could feel the ground constantly rising with purple qi and the clear air falling from the sky, yin and yang converging, evolving into infinite nature.

  And all of this is centered around that one tombstone.