94: Chapter 94 Jinshan Temple in the Painting

The Jinshan Temple before his eyes was exactly as Qing'er had described.

Wrapped in white mist, Li Xiuyuan crossed the river.

The closer he got to Jinshan Temple, the more he felt an indescribable strangeness.

He couldn't put his finger on what it was; it felt as if the air had thickened, or as if something was watching him from the shadows, its gaze clinging to him like a shadow, impossible to shake off.

The river breeze had stopped at some unknown moment, and the ripples on the water seemed to have frozen. Even the reeds on the bank were no longer swaying, their tassels drooping motionless.

Unknowingly, Li Xiuyuan suddenly realized that everything around him seemed to have stagnated.

He stopped moving and looked around.

The spray on the river surface was suspended in mid-air, like a frozen painting, with every single droplet clearly visible.

Water birds hung in the low sky, wings spread, yet completely motionless.

The lights on the opposite bank no longer flickered, the light solidified in the air like golden threads, hanging without falling.

The surroundings were silent; even the sound of the wind had ceased.

Li Xiuyuan finally realized that he seemed to have entered some kind of domain, and the Jinshan Temple where he stood was completely empty.

He could see no pilgrims and no monks walking about. The lights were illusory and indistinct, and no sound of chanting came from the temple.

The temple gates were open. Wisps of smoke still rose from the incense burner in the courtyard, but the pale white smoke twisted and spiraled, frozen in mid-air like a struggling white snake captured in the very moment of its struggle.

The Buddha statues in the temple lowered their eyes, their faces compassionate yet exuding an indescribable coldness.

...

Li Xiuyuan swam into the temple, his golden vertical pupils sweeping across every corner. He couldn't sense the breath of any living thing at all—let alone people, there wasn't even a single hair to be found.

Although there was no dust in the temple, as if someone swept the courtyard every day, not a single insect or ant could be seen in any corner.

Jinshan Temple seemed to have been forgotten by time, leaving only an empty shell.

Li Xiuyuan had once felt a similar domain from that Red-clothed Bird on Shouyue Mountain.

However, the domain of Jinshan Temple was completely different from that of the Red-clothed Bird; the Red-clothed Bird's domain only interfered with and deceived the senses, far from reaching the level of stagnating time and space.

"Could it really be stagnating time and space? That doesn't seem right. It's also possible I've stumbled into some kind of formation."

Li Xiuyuan didn't believe he had been lured into a trap, nor did he believe that anyone or any Rising Beings today possessed the great power to stagnate time and space.

He tried to leave Jinshan Temple and fly toward the riverbank he had come from, but soon, Li Xiuyuan discovered that the distant riverbank seemed to have been pushed away by an invisible hand; no matter how he flew, he could never reach it.

Afterward, he explored further. He discovered that he could only move freely within a two-kilometer radius centered on Jinshan Temple.

Once he went beyond this range, he could not get out no matter what.

"Confirmed, this is some kind of isolation formation or domain, but how did it come to be?"

Li Xiuyuan returned to the temple.

He began trying to contact Qing'er. The good news was that Qing'er, far away on Phoenix Mountain, could easily communicate with him mentally.

After learning of his situation, Qing'er also felt this was likely some kind of formation. But what exactly it was and how to break it remained to be considered.

"However, there is one key point: this formation was placed at Jinshan Temple. That is, after all, a pure Buddhist land. It's unlikely that a Rising Beings placed the formation; it should be related to Jinshan Temple itself."

Li Xiuyuan heard this and agreed with the logic.

So he tried to contact Gu Xiao to see if Gu Xiao could find any clues from the outside.

This transmission of sound still had no obstacles, and Gu Xiao on the other side of the river successfully established contact with him.

"Big Brother, where did you go?" Gu Xiao received the transmission and stood up abruptly from the river beach.

"I've been looking for you for ages; I thought you'd gone back to Yunfeng Mountain."

Li Xiuyuan said, "I didn't go back to Yunfeng Mountain; I am currently at Jinshan Temple."

"Huh? You're at Jinshan Temple?"

Gu Xiao looked across the river.

In his field of vision, Jinshan Temple was brightly lit, with lingering Zen sounds and an auspicious scene; he could almost smell the scent of incense across the river.

"Where are you in Jinshan Temple? I don't see you."

Gu Xiao frowned, seeing neither the familiar white mist nor Li Xiuyuan's massive figure.

Li Xiuyuan said, "When I came over, I seemed to have entered some kind of formation domain. The Jinshan Temple I am in now has lights, but I don't see any people."

"No people? That's impossible."

Gu Xiao's pupils constricted slightly, his gaze instantly crossing the river and falling upon the thousand-year-old temple.

He saw it clearly: monks were coming and going, pilgrims were entering and exiting in an orderly fashion, and the bustle was no less than that of some night markets.

"The Jinshan Temple I see is even livelier than some night markets. There are quite a few people; it's nothing like what you described. You must have entered some kind of formation, and it's very likely related to Jinshan Temple. I'll go take a look."

Gu Xiao had nothing else to do, so he set off immediately, though he didn't feel particularly anxious.

In his view, Li Xiuyuan had likely triggered some defensive mechanism of the Jinshan Temple formation inadvertently. After all, he was an extraordinary Rising Beings, and it was understandable that he would trigger a reaction from a Buddhist formation.

After arriving at Jinshan Temple, Gu Xiao did not encounter the situation Li Xiuyuan described. He found the temple's supervisor, stated his identity and background, and told him the reason.

The supervisor was taken aback: "Amitabha, Benefactor Gu, Jinshan Temple does not have the mysterious formation you speak of."

"None? How is that possible?" Gu Xiao didn't quite believe it, but seeing the supervisor's expression, he didn't think he was lying. He continued, "Think about it again, or go ask other abbots in the temple, because I truly have a friend who stumbled into that formation, and he can still contact me now."

The supervisor also realized something was wrong and took Gu Xiao to find the abbot.

The abbot's answer was the same as the supervisor's: no formations were set up in the temple, nor were there any nearby.

But Gu Xiao insisted that Li Xiuyuan was currently in another empty Jinshan Temple and had not yet left.

...

...

Night had already shrouded Phoenix Mountain, bringing a sense of tranquility.

In the temple on the mountain, the lights were flickering, like beans and stars.

Jingxin was doing his evening prayers in the meditation room; the sound of the wooden fish was neither hurried nor slow, like the continuous murmuring of a mountain stream.

On the wall of his meditation room hung the painting Li Xiuyuan had once seen—a distant view of Jinshan Temple, encompassing the entire ancient temple, covering an area of about two kilometers.

In the painting, a White Flood Dragon had appeared at some unknown time.

Jingxin was unaware of all this. The painting had hung there for a long time, and he had never had time to appreciate it.

Ever since he took over Phoenix Temple, he had endless things to do every day, plus morning and evening prayers; he couldn't spare a moment.

Recently, some people in Jiangcheng had contracted a strange illness never seen before. Jingxin had to help them chant scriptures every morning, noon, and evening. Although he couldn't cure the illness, by using his Buddhist cultivation and the Power of Incense Vows of Phoenix Temple, he could help them alleviate the pain slightly.

Jingxin didn't charge a penny, doing it entirely voluntarily.

After finishing the scriptures, a trace of exhaustion flashed in Jingxin's eyes. He finally understood why his master, when he was still alive, had said, "If you take over Phoenix Temple, you will be very tired every day."

Looking at it now, it was indeed so.

Putting away the wooden fish and scripture book, Jingxin checked the time. Seeing it was late and preparing to rest, his peripheral vision inadvertently swept over the painting on the wall.

Suddenly, he froze.

"This painting..."

Jingxin walked over and stared at the White Flood Dragon in the painting. In the previous painting, it seemed there wasn't this White Flood Dragon, right?

Moreover, the more he looked at this White Flood Dragon, the more it looked like that one from Yunfeng Mountain...

"What's going on?"

Just as Jingxin was full of confusion, the White Flood Dragon in the painting actually moved!

"Little monk."

Li Xiuyuan's voice suddenly came from the painting.

Jingxin immediately took a few steps back, staring blankly at the painting: "Li, Benefactor Li?"

"It's me."

"How did you end up in the painting?"

"I'd like to know that too."