The old man's hunched figure walked on the post road, and the cold wind in early spring made him even more hunched.

Every time he walked a short distance, the old man had to rest on the roadside, and during this time he picked up a piece of wood to carve.

There were occasionally carriages passing by on the post road, and some kind people would greet the old man and ask if he would take him for a ride, but the old man smiled and refused.

The sunset gradually sets, and the old man settles in a dilapidated ancient temple. The ancient temple seems to be left behind by the previous dynasty. The three pure elephants on the platform are dilapidated, and the fragrant platform is full of dust.

For a moment, the old man stood in the ancient temple and was stunned. Looking at this familiar scene, he couldn't help but remember when he was a child, he had also sat upright on a cushion and recited the Taoist scriptures with his senior brothers.

Time has changed, and now he is as old as a candle in the wind, and those senior brothers who have been kind to him or laughed at him are still alive.

He walked to the front of the stage tremblingly, wiped the platform silently, then picked up the wet futon emitting moldy smell and patted it, and sat down quietly.

He still held the piece of wood in his hand, but only part of it was cut off, and he couldn't tell anything.

He just found something to do, but without the children's request, he didn't know what to engrave for a moment.

He was thirsty, but there was no stream and spring nearby. He was hungry, but he had no dry food.

Finally, the old man looked back slowly and looked at the dim sky outside the dilapidated temple. He exhaled, "It's so cold."

He slowly closed his eyes. In this dilapidated temple, he seemed to be back when he was a child. There were the sound of senior brothers chanting scriptures and the eyes of teachers patrolling. He seemed to have looked at him, which made him open his eyes quickly, meaning that he did not doze off in class.

But after he opened his eyes, there was an ancient temple that was lonely in the darkness.

He wanted to recite scriptures, but he opened his mouth without saying a word. He shook his head and smiled with self-deprecatingly.

He is really stupid. After so many years, he has even forgotten the Taoist scriptures.

At this time, a little coldness fell on his neck. He turned around in surprise. In the dim sky, white petals were flying under the moonlight.

This is a belated spring snow, so beautiful and so cold.

The old man wrapped his clothes tightly, got up and walked outside, watching the snow falling all over the sky.

Frightened by hunger and coldness, he knew that he could not stand it late. Is the idea of ​​going home to check in after all a wishful thinking?

When he returned to the dilapidated temple, he found some dry firewood, but he had no strength to chop it. He tried to use the flints he had placed in the temple in the past to try to ignite. The flints were also a little damp, and it took a quarter of an hour to burn the young flames.

The old man leaned against the wall and looked at the small fire. There was not much dry firewood and it would burn it in an hour. He could only sleep while it was still warm, otherwise he would not be able to fall asleep in a while.

The cold wind passed through the crack of the door, swept through the fire, and fell on the old man. The old man in his sleep couldn't help but curl up a little more.

I don’t know what I dreamed about, but the old man actually started talking in his sleep and murmured softly.

"In front of the Emperor Zixia Xu of Shangqing, Yuchenjun, the Grand Dao of Taishang Dao. Lizhu made seven words in his leisurely life, and the five forms were transformed into thousands of spirits..."

He may have forgotten, or he may not have forgotten, but in his dream, he finally returned to the hall of his childhood.

The fire was extinguished, and the cold came to this dilapidated temple. After a while, the old man finally woke up tremblingly.

He felt like he had a long dream. When he was a child, he also remembered those scriptures.

He groped and picked up the wood and carving knife, and he knew what he wanted to carve.

……………………

A night of wind and snow passed, the rising sun rose, and the world was covered with whiteness, as quiet as an uninhabited country.

In the ruined temple, the sun shines through the holes in the dome and falls on the old man who is focusing on carving.

The wood carving in the old man's hand has taken shape. It should be a person who is sitting cross-legged and holding the earth in both hands. It turns out that the old man is actually carving the Taoist statue in the middle of the temple.

While carving, I muttered a word, "There is soul above and the Guanyuan below, the left is Shaoyang on the right Taiyin. The back is the secret door of the front life. The sun comes out and the moon breathes..."

It seemed that he had adapted to the dark eyes to welcome the arrival of the sunlight. The old man raised his head and rubbed his eyes. What was amazing was that he had survived this cold night.

The old heart was still beating slowly and hard, and inputting blood and warmth into his limbs.

But he still felt very hungry and thirsty. He thought about it and continued to carve the wood carvings.

"The mouth is the Taihe official of Yuchi. The rinse and swallow the spiritual liquid will not cause any disaster..."

He felt that he was not so thirsty, but there were not many surprises, as if everything was natural.

He slowly got up, walked into the snowy world with a wooden carving and a carving knife, and became much more powerful while walking. It turned out that the master did not lie to me, but only went here to understand the true meaning of the Taoist scriptures.

"But... do I really understand?"

The old man smiled and shook his head again. He has always been a fool.

"The body produces bright and fragrant orchids, but it destroys all evil jade..."

The old figure walked into the white world, but the back seemed to be no longer so hunched.

…………

After traveling three thousand miles east, the old man was addicted to carving. The carving in his hand was his lifelong work, and he had never had such fine carvings.

On the way, he was immersed in carving and chanting scriptures, forgot time, forgot the way forward, forgot to eat and drink, as if everything in the world was isolated from him.

There is no doubt about many things when I was forty, no slight confusion about destiny when I was fifty, no hesitation about good or bad when I was sixty...

He still couldn't understand many things, but he was not confused.

He never blames others. Now that he has clear goals, why should he be confused?

He does not need to worry about the world's eyes to judge the quality of things, which is in the heart.

He doesn't need to be very steady and mature, he just needs to be content and be free and easy.

He has never felt so transparent and so clear. He is a stupid person. Stupid people often don’t want too much, and that will be very distressing.

His life was dull, but he never felt confused and never felt distressed.

"... Go back to Zi and hug Huang into Dantian, and the dark room shines on the Yangmen..."

The old man walked on the post road, crossed the river, climbed the top of the mountain, and walked through the market. The road became shorter and longer under his feet.

After three years of eternity, the old man came to Huafengzhou, to the foot of Huangting Mountain, and to the pool where he had sneaked down the mountain to play when he was a child.

He slowly leaned over and washed his face with his hands. The waves rippled, and the mirror-like water reflected in the pond. Where was the old man?

It was a teenager of fifteen or sixteen years old.

The boy wiped his face clean and put the last stroke on the wood carving, and the wood carving was exactly the same as the person in the pool water.

"What is going to go up the mountain, please?"

On Huangting Mountain, the trail boy who was cleaning the steps looked at the young man climbing the mountain and asked.

"Dare you ask Huang Tingshan...but you still accept disciples?"
Chapter completed!