Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 114: The Three-Life Beast on the Three-Life Stone

Monk Xingchi was carrying things in both hands, with a calm expression and heavy steps walking on the secluded stone path.

Suddenly he heard a meow, and saw a slightly larger tabby cat squatting in the middle of the road, looking at him cutely.

"Would you like some sesame oil?" The old monk finally smiled. He put down his things, squatted down, took out a wooden spoon from the bamboo basket, opened the lid of the bucket, and wanted to scoop some sesame oil to feed the cat.

Suddenly, he couldn't move...

Ren Yuan and Chen Baxian appeared behind him, the latter still holding the Panlong Stick in his hand, ready to use physical hypnosis in time in case the immobilization talisman did not work.

But in fact, both of them knew that if the immobilization talisman didn't work, the Panlong Staff would probably be useless...

Fortunately, after Bao Ren was "cut off from his body" by the True Divine Monk, his six orifices were all blocked, and his body functions had degenerated to that of an ordinary old man. This can be seen from his heavy and frivolous steps.

Of course, it is possible that Old Baoren was pretending, but that would be great news for the two of them.

So this wave is not considered gambling.

But to be on the safe side, Ren Yuan also put a sleeping talisman on him.

~~
A moment later, the two came to the kitchen again under the guidance of the civet cat.

Here, the atmosphere was bustling with activity. Today, tens of thousands of people in and outside the temple wanted to eat porridge. The fire monks had started soaking rice and digging out date pits since last night. Today, they got up early to cook porridge again. After cooking a pot, they quickly put it into buckets and asked the believers who were doing odd jobs to distribute it to various places.

Ren Yuan and Chen Baxian were also among the servants and received a large bucket of porridge. When they left, they also took a cart loaded with empty buckets.

"Hey, where is my car?" After a while, the original owner came back from the toilet, but couldn't find the car.

"Has anyone seen my car?"

At this time, his car had been pushed out of Lingyin Temple by Chen Baxian and arrived at the entrance of the Sutra Translation Institute a hundred feet away.

"You are finally here. I have been waiting for this meal since morning." When the monk in charge of reception saw the porridge cart coming, he took out a big bowl from his arms. It was rare for him to smile at the poor and said, "Fill it up, fill it up."

The monks guarding the temple gate also took out their large bowls and rushed forward, surrounding the cart.

Ren Yuan dressed himself up as a little yellow dragon, sat on one bucket, opened the lid of another bucket, picked up the ladle and said, "Don't worry, don't worry, we have everything, a big bucket full."

By the time he had sent away the group of hungry ghosts who were reincarnated from the monks at the door, there was only half a bucket of porridge left.

"Oh, I'm afraid I'll be scolded by the brothers inside." Ren Yuan pretended to sigh.

"Don't you have a bucket under your butt?" The monk in charge of reception sipped the porridge happily and raised his chin.

"Haha, I forgot about this bucket." Ren Yuan said happily, "Brother Niu, go in and distribute the porridge."

"Okay, Brother Ma." Chen Baxian pushed the cart into the Sutra Translation Hall. The monks were busy drinking porridge and ignored them.

Soon after they entered, they saw the young monk Faxiu, sweeping the floor at the entrance of the east courtyard with a broom.

Although Faxiu didn't look over here, the two knew that he was pointing the way.

He pushed the porridge cart and headed straight to the east wing. When he looked under the moon gate again, Faxiu was no longer there.

But when the two men pushed the porridge cart into the Moon Gate, they saw Faxiu had already run to another door to sweep the floor.

They were led by the little monk all the way into the backyard of the temple. All the doors were opened in advance and all the people were sent away by the little monk in advance. It was as simple as going home.

Finally, we walked through a path shaded by bamboo trees and arrived at the entrance of San Sheng Tang.

~~
Through the gate, the two saw three huge rocks rising from the ground in the yard. One was dark yellow in color, rugged and mottled, with the seal characters "previous life" inscribed on it; one was grayish white and ordinary, with the seal characters "present life" inscribed on it; and one was colorful and inspiring, with the seal characters "next life" inscribed on it.

The young monk Faxiu whispered behind them: "That is the Three-Life Stone, and it is guarded by the Three-Life Beast."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Chen Baxian complained softly.

"It's no use talking about it. The Three-Life Beast is immortal and cannot be sealed." Faxiu replied. "What's the point?" Chen Baxian said depressedly.

"But they won't attack anyone." Faxiu gasped, "They will just shout a warning if someone approaches the Sansheng Stone without permission."

"Wow..." Ren Yuan thought, isn't this an alarm? No wonder the three monks can go out without worrying about it.

"How can we silence the alarm?" he asked. "I mean, how can we silence them?"

"If you answer their riddles correctly, they won't care." Faxiu said, "Their riddles are never the same, so there's no point in asking you to prepare in advance."

"Well, then you have to count on me, your little expert in answering questions." Chen Baxian rolled up his sleeves, acted eager to try, and suddenly hit Faxiu on the head with a stick.

"Your mother..." Faxiu fainted immediately.

Ren Yuan caught Beosu and placed him next to the door.

Chen Baxian pushed the cart into the courtyard and stopped in front of the Three-Life Stone. He saw a burst of white smoke rising in front of him, and a huge bat-like monster appeared, hanging upside down on the Three-Life Stone.

The monster had three heads, one was that of a child, one was that of a young man, and one was that of an octogenarian.

The three heads said at the same time: "Stop, or we'll call for help."

"Please give the questions." Chen Baxian put down the cart and held his head high.

"Hey, here comes someone who knows what he's doing." said a childish voice.

"That's good, so we don't have to talk nonsense." The young man said.

"If you can't answer, don't blame us for calling for help." The old man nodded.

"Just ask." Chen Baxian was full of confidence.

"I'll go first." The little boy asked, "What is it that 'appears when you are happy, but not when you are sad; exists when you are serious, but not when you are confused'?"

"Ah..." Chen Baxian opened his mouth and couldn't close it, and he was speechless for a long time.

"That thing exists at dusk and disappears at dawn; it exists when it is hot and disappears when it is cold." Then he let Yuan answer.

"You're awesome." The kid was satisfied.

"It's my turn." The young man asked, "There is a thing that can sit, lie down, and walk. There is a thing that can sit, lie down, and walk. What are they?"

"Well..." Chen Baxian scratched his head.

"Frog and snake." Ren Yuan answered without hesitation.

"Okay, okay." The young man nodded with satisfaction and shrank back.

Only the old man's head was left, and he slowly asked:

“It is neither black nor white, nor red or yellow. It is like a fox, a cat or a dog, neither a domestic animal nor a wild beast. It is also in poetry, lyrics and the Analects. It is vague about east, west, south and north. Although it is a short piece of writing, it is a wonderful piece of writing.”

“……”Chen Baxian simply gave up and thought to himself, what the hell is this.

"The answer is simple. It's what the three of you are doing." Ren Yuan answered without hesitation.

"Hahaha, not bad, not bad. Go ahead, but only one person can go up one stone, so don't be greedy." The three beasts said in unison.

"Thank you." Ren Yuan thanked him and gave Chen Baxian a wink. Chen Baxian quickly opened another porridge bucket, carried the old monk out of it, and then tiptoed and climbed onto the plain stone in the middle with the word "this life" written on it.

After going up, Chen Baxian saw that the top of the rock was flat, just right for a person to sit on. He arranged the old monk in a sitting position, and then took off the immobilization talisman and the sleeping talisman on his body.

(End of this chapter)