This is what an immortal should be like

Chapter 162 Livestock in the Shed

Although there seemed to be hope again, it seemed like it was just a dream, as if nothing had happened, and as if it was not just a dream.

But so what?
Shen Qingyou was excited in the dream because at that moment he not only saw hope, but also felt that hope was within reach. But it was just a dream after all.

If you can't keep your promise, it's just a dream
Shen Qingyou was very clear about this. Now, he had already learned not to fantasize too much. What's more, he was still in this dungeon and there was a high possibility that he would never get out.

Shen Qingyou returned to her numb state, or perhaps it had always been like this. After all, dreams are dreams and reality is reality.

Shen Qingyou carefully held up the remaining half bowl of water. The three generous gulps at first were a luxurious enjoyment, but after that, he drank each sip much more cautiously.

That night, Shen Qingyou leaned against a corner away from the ventilation window, wrapped in the relatively dry hay over there and fell asleep. Before falling asleep, he stared blankly at the ventilation window, and kept reciting the mantra in his heart.

She felt a little cold, perhaps because of the drop in temperature brought by the rain, or because there wasn't enough hay, or perhaps because of this mnemonics. Shen Qingyou had no choice but to curl up and try to cover herself with the hay as much as possible.

But his heart seemed to be much calmer, at least compared to the past, Shen Qingyou didn't have so many distracting thoughts at the moment, and perhaps it would be easier to fall asleep than every day before.

After getting used to the darkness, Shen Qingyou could see a lot of things clearly in the dim cell even though there was no starry sky or moonlight tonight. At this moment, he looked down at himself, at the fence, and suddenly laughed out loud.

"a ha ha ha."

The sound was very low, but it sounded a little creepy in the relatively quiet dungeon, at least that's how it sounded to some prisoners who were not yet asleep.

Of course Shen Qingyou himself didn't feel anything, but he suddenly found it interesting.

I am really like an animal living in a stall.
When the sun rose, Shen Qingyou woke up naturally.

Many days have passed since I last dreamed of that person.

Shen Qingyou didn’t know how he fell asleep last night. Anyway, he was still reciting the mantra in his heart. He slept very soundly last night.

My sleep quality has improved over the past few days, but last night was clearly the best night, without a single nightmare.

This was also the most peaceful night Shen Qingyou had slept since he was imprisoned in the dungeon. He didn't know if it was because of the mantra, but he was willing to think so. Although it had been some time since he learned the mantra in his dream and he only started to sleep peacefully now, it was still a hope after all.

Climbing up from the corner, Shen Qingyou dragged his injured leg to the other side of the wall, found the relatively sharp little stone, and began to carve lines on the wall.

With the sound of "creaking", another complete character was written.

Sixty-five days!
Shen Qingyou himself didn't know how he had managed to survive these sixty days. At first, he wished he could die many times, but he couldn't die due to such serious injuries, and he didn't have the courage to end his life.

But now, Shen Qingyou no longer has the intention to commit suicide. I am not dead yet, so why would I still want to commit suicide? Isn't that a joke?
In the cells next to Shen Qingyou, there were several monks who looked very powerful. They had been escorted out one after another during this period. Some of them came back after being released, but most of them never came back. It was unlikely that they had been released.

Everything was the same as usual when meals were served that day. Shen Qingyou still begged for food according to the "rules" and still received some limited preferential treatment.

Only at this time did Shen Qingyou have any expression, but compared to the 70% real look before, now at least 70% of it was acted out, which seemed even more pitiful. After all, even the pitiful expression had to be acted.

However, recently, when Shen Qingyou asked for Hu Bing from the cell next door, he did not take the whole thing. He just tore half of it and sent the other half back.

Nutrition is needed to recover from injuries, but the brother in the cell next door has already helped him more than enough. Shen Qingyou knows that the other party cannot eat enough every day!
After finishing the meal, Shen Qingyou sat against the wall, used her horns to stabilize her body, and then carefully pulled up her right leg.

There has been no sign of improvement in the calf. Perhaps the bones inside may have recovered, but the situation outside is not optimistic. It is now festering and ulcerated. Shen Qingyou did not die from the infection. He just felt that he was very lucky.

"A clear mind is like water; clear water is the mind; a gentle breeze does not stir up waves."

Shen Qing muttered humorously, picked up the sharp little stone he usually used to carve words, and cut the side of his leg fiercely. He didn't know any professional medical knowledge, but he knew that if he let it go, he would die sooner or later.

"Uh ah. Sitting alone in the bamboo grove, I whistle and play the zither. Into a state of Zen tranquility, the poisonous dragon disappears. Uh ah"

Because of the intense pain, Shen Qingyou's mantra involuntarily changed from silent recitation to a low roar, hoping to use this mantra to encourage himself to fight the pain, and his hands never stopped moving.

Pus and rotten flesh continuously squeezed out from the cut
"The sky is high and the earth is vast, the flowing water and the moving clouds are refreshing and cure the root, the straight path is for the sake of life. The nature is the best, the great way is natural. Ho, ho, ho"

Shen Qingyou squeezed and scraped out a lot of the smelly pus. His right calf seemed to have become much thinner. He sat against the wall and panted violently. It took a long time for him to gradually calm down.
The commotion Shen Qingyou caused was quite large, as the area that needed to be "cleaned" was not small, so it would naturally take a long time.

The serious criminals in the three cells opposite were all lying on the fence looking at Shen Qingyou. None of them made a sound, and some even seemed to feel the same pain as before and grabbed the fence together.

At this moment, Shen Qingyou had finished, and the people over there breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's cruel enough" "He's a real man!"

"Master across from me, are you okay?"

Shen Qingyou sat at the foot of the wall to calm his breath. He had not paid attention to anyone's thoughts, but at this moment he suddenly looked up.

"I'm not a monk"

The voice was a little hoarse and low, and a little scary. Shen Qingyou might not have spoken for almost a month, except in his dreams.

Even Shen Qingyou was frightened by his voice, not to mention the people in the three cells opposite. Naturally, no one dared to respond to that tone.
In the cell next door, although no one knew what the person on the other side was doing, it seemed that he was also committing self-harm. This was not uncommon in the prison, but the degree might be more intense. However, when some people heard that person was still talking, they felt relieved.

The old monk in the corner seemed to have been sitting there forever, but he had stopped reciting scriptures long ago and was listening to Shen Qingyou's low roar.

Is that the Qingxin Jue?

When did he learn it? Was it from the beginning?
-
After resting for about half an hour, footsteps were heard again in the prison, and this time the footsteps were more frequent, obviously there was more than one person, and there was also a more obvious fire.

In the front cells, some people kept shouting that they were innocent, but in the back cells, there were very few people shouting that they were innocent.

There were indeed quite a number of people coming back this time. There were two jailers holding lanterns in front, followed by at least seven or eight yamen runners. In the middle was a young man wearing a turban, and there were people following behind him.

The crowd walked all the way to the depths of the prison, to where the most severely punished criminals were held. Shen Qingyou sat against the wall. He certainly heard the footsteps, but he didn't react. In the past, he would always panic and get excited, thinking that the other party was coming to find him, but he was also afraid that the other party was coming to find him.

But more than two months had passed, and Shen Qingyou had long since become numb. He only felt that he had been forgotten and had never been interrogated again.

But in the end, the footsteps stopped very close, and the firelight illuminated half of the cell where Shen Qingyou was. He was a little excited, but found that the firelight was not shining in this direction.

Then there was the sound of locks opening and chains sliding.

With a "creak", the door of the next cell opened.

Although Shen Qingyou did not move, he was listening to the noise just like everyone else in the surrounding cells.

"Is Master Mo Ke here?"

The voice of the person speaking gave Shen Qingyou a feeling of familiarity yet strangeness, as if she had heard it somewhere before. In the cell on the other side, Yin Kuangzhi had already walked in.

Of course, it wasn't just Yin Kuangzhi who entered the cell. The yamen runners also cleared the way on both sides to prevent the monks inside from doing anything wrong.

Yin Kuangzhi walked straight to the corner, and an old monk with his back to the outside turned sideways.

"Amitabha."

"It seems to be you. My name is Yin Kuangzhi. I have taken over this case and have a wide range of issues to investigate. I recently looked through the files and found your name in this cell. After a closer look, I realized that someone mistook you for a remnant of the Foguang Temple. I have come here today to personally escort you out."

It doesn’t matter whether Yin Kuangzhi is really that busy or whether he just found out about it now. What matters is his attitude at the moment.

The old monk smiled.

"If you really think about it, I am indeed a remnant of Foguang Temple."

"Master, you're joking. You're different from them. You've always been the abbot of the temple. If it weren't for the rebellion of the barbarians, none of the things that happened later would have happened! Now that Foguang Temple is still there, I think Master, you should go back."

The old monk had been sitting for a long time and wanted to get up but couldn't. Yin Kuangzhi immediately stepped forward to support him. He didn't mind the dirt and helped the old monk to stand up himself.

"Amitabha! I never thought that I could get out of here one day!"

Yin Kuangzhi smiled without saying anything, and personally helped the old monk walk out of the prison door.

This Wanzhang Foguang Temple has been vacant for too long, and it would be a bit of a waste to leave it like this. In the future, the Jingzhou area needs to be properly governed. The Foguang Temple also has a stabilizing effect to a certain extent, and of course there cannot be any more rebellion caused by evil monks.

The other monks in the cell just huddled aside and watched, with both expectation and fear in their eyes, while the old monk said nothing and followed Yin Kuangzhi out of the cell.

At this time, the old monk seemed to have thought of something.

"By the way, benefactor, benefactor Yin, can I help exonerate one person? This person is definitely not one of the people involved in the previous monk riot!"

"Oh? Master, since you said so, I'm very curious. Who is it?"

Yin Kuangzhi looked at the monks in the cell, and all the monks looked at the old monk with anticipation.

Especially the person who had sent a lot of food to Shen Qingyou was extremely excited. He thought that the old monk must have seen his kindness. He was the only one who had done a good deed here. It must be him, right?
But all hopes were soon dashed, as the old monk actually pointed to the next door.

"This donor inside is definitely not a member of the Sangha Rebellion, and he is not even a monk."

Shen Qingyou, who was sitting against the wall next door, was startled. As the firelight shone over him, he looked up with a bit of confusion.

Yin Kuangzhi also frowned and looked at the people around him.

"Who is imprisoned here?"

The jailer who followed him hurried forward to answer.

"My Lord, the criminal here is called Shen Qingyou, which is not a Buddhist name, but it might be a disguise. It's not necessarily true that he is not a monk. He was silent before, but he seemed to be chanting scriptures today."

Shen Qingyou?
Yin Kuangzhi had an impression, then he closed his eyes slightly and thought for a while in his mind, and the incident that happened more than two days ago became clear in the vagueness.

"Oh yes, it's him! I remember when I wanted to interrogate him, you said he was on the verge of death?"

"He was severely injured and had a high fever. His life was practically hanging by a thread. The next day, they planned to drag him away and bury him, but he managed to survive more than ten days later."

Yin Kuangzhi was also a little surprised. It was almost impossible to survive in that prison environment and state. Moreover, he had some impression of Shen Qingyou. It was unlikely that he was a monk. He was more like the descendant of a small Hu noble who was uneducated and admired Chinese learning.

"What sutra is he reciting?"

Yin Kuangzhi suddenly asked this question, and the jailer thought for a while and answered hesitantly.

"Something like water, something like pure heart, etc."

“A pure mind is like water, and pure water is the mind?”

"Yes, yes, sir, you are amazing, I didn't even tell you."

Yin Kuangzhi nodded, and looked inside carefully a few times in the light of the fire. Shen Qingyou just looked outside in silence.

"Okay, since it's the Master who's speaking, then I'll do the same. Go and let him out too!"

The sound of the jailer unlocking the door rang out, but Shen Qingyou sat there without reacting. Should he be excited? Yet, he felt a strong sense of unreality.

Just like that, I was free?
(End of this chapter)