【Wine Ci】Ksitigarbha Statue

It was still dark when Ibaraki Doji turned back to his room.The monster drove a short distance in the dark and then turned back, the hem of his shirt was covered with night dew.The tail of his curled hair was wet with dew, and it was smoothed down submissively.It is dark inside the house, only some hazy dove-grey light from the distant horizon, heralding some thin morning light.As soon as the big ghost landed, he vaguely saw a sitting figure in the cloudy light.

It's a little monk.

At this time, he should still be asleep, but now he is sitting in his clothes.He turned his head when he heard the slight sound of Ibaraki coming in, like a vigilant little animal.He looked at Ibaraki and asked, "Did you kill someone?"

Ibaraki didn't react, and paused for a while; instead, the child on the opposite side seemed to have read something from Ibaraki's short pause, and raised his eyebrows - this small gesture was exactly the same as Ibaraki's contemporary ghost king Shuten, and continued : "No, monster, you are going out to eat people."

His tone was calm and determined, with a strange indifference and coldness.Ibaraki looked at him, and confirmed again that this was not his best friend who had turned into a ghost, but a young human monk.

He went on to say: "Don't go nearby. What happened yesterday has alarmed Master, and they went down the mountain to call the Onmyoji. They will be able to go up the mountain if there is no accident in the past two days. If there is a monster, someone will track it down. I don't want to mess with it." trouble."

Ibaraki understood, he frowned, but his tone couldn't help showing a little arrogance: "You think too low of me. I don't even bother to do things that only weak monsters do."

The little monk looked up at him.The sky became brighter again, and the dove-gray light that was far away in the sky just now invaded the room, illuminating the texture of the little monk's dark pupils more clearly.He knelt down on the couch steadily.The back is straight, and there are Buddhist scriptures spread out on the desk not far behind.The little monk's hands were slightly pushed back, and his whole body showed an imperceptible guard posture.

He blinked slowly, and replied with a nonchalant and perfunctory indifference: "Really."

Ibaraki Doji was awakened by the coolness in the eyes of the young monk.

He was dazzled by the childhood joy of finding Shuten Douji, and for a moment forgot the clear and distinct difference between him and Xiao Shuten.Ibaraki is never stupid, and his instincts, which are sharper than beasts, usually make him the first to discover the truth under the surface.

Of course the little monk would be wary of him.

In Ibaraki's eyes, the little monk and Shuten-douji are equated; but in the eyes of the other party, Ibaraki is just an unreasonable and extremely dangerous evil spirit.

The normal way is to try to kill, seal or expel; even if you are not capable enough, you can seize the opportunity to ask others for help.Just like countless mages and onmyojis have done.

But he is Shuten-douji... If it is Shuten-douji, who is calm and rational to the extreme, and who is not too much praised by thousands of words-they are almost strangers now, and the little monk certainly has no feelings for him; What's more, Ibaraki understands Shuten's nature, he is arrogant and domineering, but he is extremely difficult to get close to.

The little monk realized in a flash that this big ghost was not malicious, but it was impossible to trust him so quickly.He would rather step on the Thousand Blades Cliff to go on, and even let the evil spirits that are enough to endanger his life and are difficult to control stay behind. Of course, it can't be for fun.

——Something was caught by the little monk in an instant, leaving behind the evil spirit Ibaraki to achieve a certain purpose.

This realization made Ibaraki tremble all over.The demon's golden pupils stared closely at the little monk. From this young Shuten, who had not yet turned into a ghost and was too weak to withstand a real blow from Ibaraki, he found some pleasure in a hearty battle.

Ibaraki said, "You don't care if I am a cannibal or not."

Under the dim light, the young monk's expression showed an indiscernible meaning, he raised his eyebrows, but did not deny it.

Ibaraki said: "These monks in Echigo Temple are not capable enough to be feared, but they are disgusting. My friend... no, my little friend is several times more capable than them, but they still have to be slandered by them because of their limitations. In the daytime, they seriously injured you because of their yin and yang violations. These lowly people really dared to come here. Standing here now, I can still feel the disgusting malice in those monks' dreams... I stand on behalf of the little one. Friendship is unfair."

The little monk couldn't hide his expression after hearing such a babbling talk, showing a few traces of unexpected astonishment.It was the first time he heard this ghost being so noisy, and even said these positions in a tone that was clearly full of partiality.Not only was it fresh to hear, but he never thought that the other party would say that—maybe he had some speculation in his heart about all the consequences of leaving this ghost behind, but he never expected that the hideous and terrifying poisonous snake would show up. The fangs are just for picking up a flower.Countless calculations and conjectures have been painstakingly gone through in his brain, but in the end he can only fish out an irrelevant piece of information from the vast amount of thoughts: "What are you calling me?"

"Little friend." The other party repeated unknowingly, and added a pure smile, "Isn't my best friend when I was young?"

"Nonsense, who do you take me for?" The little monk sneered, "Put yourself in such a pose that you think of me, monster, what do you want to do?"

"Since they are blind and rude to you, how about I slaughter them clean and send you off?"

The little monk suddenly looked up at Ibaraki.

Ibaraki had already sat down on his knees, with his legs crossed, his ghost claw resting on his knees, in a chic and casual posture.But the eyes looked straight at him seriously, and in the brighter sky, those inhuman golden ghost pupils showed a few traces of seductive color.The pure smile on the ghost's face was still there, and the tone sounded relaxed and sincere, but it still couldn't hide the ghostly air in the words.

The little monk said: "It seems that you really don't pay attention to Echigo Temple and the Onmyouji at the foot of the mountain."

Ibaraki said: "I am naturally different from those little monsters who are afraid of human mages."

"No." The little monk said, "I will strike sooner or later. If you are the one who strikes, the meaning will be completely different. I don't want to cause trouble just yet."

Perhaps because he was facing a big ghost, the little monk more or less no longer conscientiously played the role of the extremely fragile son of Echigo Temple who was seriously injured and not healed.He cautiously revealed a hole, no longer like a compassionate son of God, but something else, an essence that is incompatible with this world.

Ibaraki has been acting as a ghost for too long, and he has long since distinguished himself from the term human world.He couldn't detect the strangeness of the little monk, but under this human skin, Ibaraki smelled the same ambition as the ghost king Shuten Doji.

Ibaraki leaned his upper body forward, closing the distance between him and the young monk.He couldn't help but want to see clearly the connection between the little monk's black pupils and the Shuten-douji he was familiar with.The little monk didn't hesitate to give way, and looked directly at the big ghost.

"I don't know what you want to do." Ibaraki said, "Maybe there is a place to use me, maybe you are already planning where to put me now."

The little monk raised his eyebrows: "I haven't been able to play such a big game of chess. Do you think I want to use you, and I am going to kill me?"

"No." After being so provoked, Ibaraki was not angry, and said patiently, "No matter what you want to do...don't lie to me. Now I know more things than you, even if I accidentally get injured, I can recover better than humans Hurry up, I can always help you. Even if you need me to do something, I will do it for you. Of course, I will do it for you. You don’t want me to kill the person. I just don’t move. I know that Xiaoyou is extremely smart, Even now, he is much better than me, so don't try to tempt me, I will definitely be fooled."

After this confession, the little monk was taken aback again.Ibaraki stretched out his hand carefully to cover the child's still immature hand, but the thumb with the knife and the pen was already callused.Before the little monk could dodge in time, he realized that even a ghost claw was warm.

After all, he was still a young child, and when he raised his head in panic, he bumped straight into the eyes of the ghost.

Ibaraki said: "My friend... I can be your sword."

The little monk stared at the pair of golden eyes staring at him, and suddenly remembered the taste of honey that he had tasted once a day.

The ghost's eyes are actually unified with that kind of sweetness.The little monk walked step by step on a road that was planned and expected when he was born. For the first time, he stopped in confusion because of the strange warmth.

However, it was only for a moment.

The little monk took his hand out of the opponent's ghost claws, turned his head and looked out the window at the half-lighted sky.

"It's getting late," he said, "it's time to get up. I should go to my morning class. As for you, monster..." He sighed, as if swallowing the words he had prepared a long time ago, and changed the words temporarily. As the saying goes, "Do whatever you want."

The onmyoji at the bottom of the mountain went up the mountain at noon.

Echigo Temple had already made preparations before this, and Zhang Cheng was rewritten in the enchantment broken by the miasma.Only Ibaraki came and went at night and was damaged again. The monk who yawned in the morning to check the formation suddenly woke up from drowsiness.The main hall was more than half empty in an instant, and the young monk who was chanting sutras turned around and gave the ghost who peeked out from the beam a vigilant look.

Ibaraki felt that he was already very careful.He was used to being arrogant and reckless in Dajiang Mountain, and he often fought bluntly and rarely disappeared.Even when she turns into a beautiful woman and goes out to swindle money, she doesn't shy away from being discovered as a ghost.This time is basically a high demand for him, he can't be killed, and he can't be discovered.However, the miasma around the big monster is hard to hide, and it is always aggressive like a knife out of its sheath.The demon-proof barrier in the temple couldn't stop him, on the contrary, he was corroded to the point of being scarred every time because of his carefulness.

When the Onmyoji went up the mountain, more than half of the monks in the temple arranged to repair the formations and barriers, and some others went with the Onmyoji to investigate the "ghosts who hurt people and invaded the temple."The little monk stayed in the side hall as a wounded person——the hall suddenly became empty.Human mages always have a strange and vague self-confidence. The magic circle protecting the temple has been eroded twice, but they never thought that this demon is really staying in the temple.

The little monk finished reciting a sutra in the empty hall, and the wooden fish also became disorganized.Even in the daytime, the hall is still brightly lit.The light from the candle seemed to be swallowed up by the sun, only a few slender shadows cast on the ground, shaking.

He looked up at the Dharma statue enshrined in front of the temple.The statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is tall and majestic, wearing cassock, sitting on a lotus platform, with slightly drawn eyebrows, kind and solemn.The little monk watched it for a while, suddenly felt dull, stopped kneeling, and leaned back, pressed the futon, pillowed his elbows, and lay down straight in the center of the hall.

Staring at the exquisite dome that few people have noticed, but still built, a slender shadow is projected at the door.The little monk's eyelids moved, and he heard the shadow say: "Brother, why are you so lazy?"

The little monk lazily replied: "You are also lazy."

Hearing the footsteps of the other party approaching, the little monk turned over and sat up neatly, facing the thin silhouette of the young monk who came in.He stared intently for a while, with a smile that couldn't be concealed from the corner of his mouth, and said: "Brother, you came just in time, I have a question to ask you." Before waiting for the other party's reply, he said again, "We will confess The four great Bodhisattvas, Ksitigarbha, Manjusri, Avalokitesvara, and Samantabhadra—what is the significance of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's representation of the Dharma?"

The young monk who came over froze in his footsteps and hesitated for a long time, apparently unable to answer.

The little monk said with a smile: "So the senior brother blamed me for being lazy, what is the reason why the senior brother is usually lazy, and I can't answer the question."

The monk paused, his eyes fixed on the smile of the little monk when he was talking for a while, and then he replied in a muffled voice: "I should learn more...."

"What else do you want to learn, read some scriptures more seriously?" the little monk said, originally speaking in a serious manner, and even there was a bit of smile in his voice and then he pretended to be cold, but the coldness was not there. How long did it last, and I couldn't help laughing, "Okay, the monster went to study scriptures, no matter how you look at it, it's too shameful. Right, brother?"

The last sentence of "senior brother" shouted in a completely joking tone.

The monk was taken aback for a moment, then subconsciously looked down at his hands.Seeing that the joints of the palm are distinct, the size is normal, and it looks like a human being; then he hesitated to touch his face.After the inspection found nothing abnormal, he asked, "How did you find out it was mine?"

The little monk said: "Your eyes. There is gold in the black."

Ibaraki, who was disguised as a monk, did not doubt that he was there, touched his eyelids, and wanted to find something to shine on his eyes.The little monk stopped him: "Don't walk around, I'm lying to you."

Izuku turned around in bewilderment.The young monk he turned into was thin and dressed in plain clothes; when he was a ghost, he had a cold and arrogant face, and when he turned into a human, he subconsciously changed to look good.Even if the little monk knew that he was a monster, he couldn't help but be intimidated by this gentle and gentle face, and he couldn't bear to bully him.

The little monk hooked his fingers: "Come here. It's not because of the eyes, it's because of the clothes. You don't wear monk clothes in such a random way."

Ibaraki squatted down obediently, and the young monk Ren adjusted his wrongly tied belt and wrongly placed neckline.

Whether as a human or as a ghost, the appearance is too disguised.

When adjusting the collar, the little monk inevitably touched Ibaraki's throat accidentally.But the other party actually exposed his fate frankly.Ibaraki squatted, turned his head slightly to facilitate the little monk's movements, and a ray of sunlight happened to come from the window-light is always a wonderful substance, and many things will show a completely different temperament under the sun; for example, now , the light broke through a certain barrier, and the little monk could look down and see the profile of Ibaraki's profile with his head half down. The originally softened face was blurred and eroded by the light into a docile illusion.

The little monk made a strange mistake and put his palm on the opponent's head.

Instantly sober.

He withdrew his hand as if electrocuted, and took two steps back in a panic.

Ibaraki was clueless: "What's wrong?"

"No." The little monk hid the right hand that had been in contact with the other party behind his back, shook hands, and replied in a low voice, "It's nothing. If it's done, if the evil spirit is completely hidden, no one will find you when you go out like this."

Ibaraki grinned at him, "It's good that you don't cause trouble to my friend—by the way, the answer to that question. What exactly is the sign of Jizo?"

Unexpectedly, the other party would also remember this casual question that was used to break the lie. The little monk was stunned for a moment, and then he quickly replied as if he wanted to get rid of the atmosphere he felt suddenly: "Great wish. The four Bodhisattvas , are great vows, great wisdom, great compassion, and great deeds."

Can this ghost really understand?

But I don't know why—maybe it was the confession of the ghost before, I don't know if it's true or not, or it was a joke just now that the sun and myself were suddenly obsessed with ghosts.The little monk clearly still remembered how ferocious and violent the ghost was when it broke in, but now these impressions are only one-sided concepts.While forcing himself to be wary of him, remembering that the other party is a blood-drinking and murderous monster, he couldn't help feeling that this monster really looked like a large, harmless dog.

Ibaraki sat cross-legged on the futon next to him imitating the appearance of a young monk, and suddenly said, "I'm actually very happy."

"Ok?"

"Although I was able to meet you because of my carelessness. If I had the ability of a good friend, I would never have fallen into this situation. But I am still very happy. I can know what you have learned and what you know... The Buddhist scriptures are very important to us It's really boring and disgusting for these ghosts, but I still want to hear what you have to say."

The little monk sneered, turned his head away, and ignored Li Izuki.After a long while, he replied coldly: "Buddhist scriptures, I think they are pretentious and disgusting. What's the point?"

After a moment of silence, the little monk suddenly said, "Hey, monster. In fact, the moment you spoke just now, I knew it was you."

"When I came over, I met several monks in your temple, but they didn't notice."

The little monk gave a low cut, and said with disdain: "Their eyesight, they deserve to be eaten by monsters."

Ibaraki is as good as others: "Of course not as good as my friend."

"If it's really my brother who spoke, then it's definitely not my laziness." The little monk said lazily, "As soon as I see it, I probably turn around and gather some guys who are dissatisfied with me to come over and incite me to say that I'm The hall is blasphemy to the Buddha, I am dull, I have no wisdom, I have learned all the tricks of demons and monsters, and I have no model for the son of God. Such things will become true if I say too much, not to mention that it is true that I misbehaved in the hall. The scope of the transmission is wide, even if the master wants to favor me, he can't favor me, and he must be punished."

He also spoke casually of this frequent encounter.After finishing speaking, the little monk smiled: "I guess, you must find this kind of criticism extremely boring."

Ibaraki said: "Those guys are boring. It's better to have a fight to understand."

"Do you often fight?"

"There are less fights now." Ibaraki told him honestly, "most of the little monsters know me, and they run away before they fight. Only my friend is willing to fight with me, but recently, whenever I talk about fighting, my friend pulls me go drinking."

The little monk laughed again, for a long while, but his expression looked a little sad. He propped his head and muttered: "It's still interesting to be a monster."

Ibaraki felt that he should say something to him—for example, how nice and comfortable it is to be a monster, no one dares to imprison you with the meaningless rules of the world; for example, if you become a monster, you must be a first-class monster. Ibaraki Doji is the most qualified to assure him of this fact.But the words came to his lips, but he couldn't say them for some reason.

Probably because I realized that this day would come sooner or later, no matter how much I said, it was unnecessary; or maybe I realized that the little monk said this sentence was just an emotion with unclear meaning, and saying it might change the future that does not need to be changed.He kept silent sharply, or maybe it was purely because of Mizuishi Qinghua, Ibaraki couldn't fill the gap between the ghost king Shuten-douji and the little monk for a while, and he couldn't imagine Shuten's first ghost-the little monk in a trance The appearance of just turning into a ghost.