Mù Kōng Xiǎo Hé Shàng yelled helplessly in the night sky for a long time, then tightly grasped the gray robe and returned to the temple, closing the door behind him. He came to the Buddhist hall, knelt down on the meditation cushion, picked up the wooden fish mallet in front of him, slowly closed his eyes, and struck the wooden fish with a slow beat. The dim yellow light from the Buddha's lamp shone on his face, where tears still lingered.

  In the empty Buddhist hall, the sound of knocking on the wooden fish drum echoed, accompanied by the yellow lantern in front of the Buddha shining through the gaps in the tiles and spreading into the night sky.

  The entire temple was empty except for him, a young monk of about ten years old accompanied by an oil lamp and ancient Buddha, the sound of knocking on the wooden fish echoed in the deserted temple.

  The sound of the wooden fish drum changed from uneven to smooth as time passed. When dawn broke, Muzhong stood up and walked into the back hall, standing in front of a set of Buddhist robes that had been prepared earlier. He looked at them for a long time before finally taking off his clothes, stripping down to nothing. Then he put on the Buddhist robes, which were originally large and red but suddenly shrunk to fit him perfectly.

  He was not surprised, for the kasaya was originally a treasure that could avoid dust, water, fire, poison, evil and all unexpected things in the world.

  He put on his clothes one by one, neither hastily nor slowly. After finally putting on a string of large Buddhist beads, he tidied up the monk's robe he had taken off. He turned around and came out, passing through the corridor and arriving in front of a huge bronze bell suspended from a beam. He pushed a wooden log to strike the massive bronze bell.

  At this moment, the eastern sun had just risen, and a ray of sunlight shone on Mokong's head.

  "Clang......"

  The bell's sound is lingering and prolonged, as if it will never stop, flying with the wind, as if to tell the whole world that there is a Dust Crossing Temple here.

  "Dong...... Dong...... Dong......"

  The bell tolled twenty-nine times, but the sound reverberated between heaven and earth for a whole day. The sun moved from east to west, and at the moment when the last peal of the bell fell, the sunlight vanished from the top of Mu Kong's head and sank into the mountains after clouds.

  The bell is the succession bell of Duocheng Temple, from today on, Mù Kōng is the 29th abbot of Duocheng Temple, also the youngest abbot in the history of Duocheng Temple, and the only one who wears the abbot's robe and still rings the bell. These are just the beginning, he will represent Duocheng Temple to face the turmoil of the world from now on, perhaps Duocheng Temple will disappear and become history, or perhaps, Duocheng Temple will cross over the mundane world like its name suggests, and reach the other shore.

  At the moment when Dusty Temple's wooden true cut off his own sleeve and disappeared into the night sky, in front of the embroidered Spring Bend River God Temple, Chen Jing was still sitting on the threshold of the temple that had been rebuilt, and in front of him were the spirits and monsters from all over who came to seek the Tao. They were densely packed, some sitting or lying down, some poking their heads out of the river, or standing on the branches of trees not far away. For their questions, Chen Jing was always ready to answer, for him, there was no simple question among cultivators, even if it seemed extremely simple, but when he wanted to answer, he found that the problem was not simple at all, and a simple-looking question required a lot of explanation to clarify. After answering, he also had a fresh feeling in his heart. It used to be like a mirror covered with dust, always unknowingly, occasionally wiping it clean, only to find that the self seen in the mirror was covered with a layer of gray.

  "Heavenly Master, these days, why have strange phenomena been appearing in the world, with thunderstorms every day? Is it that heaven and earth are about to undergo a great change? If so, how can we small demons with weak magical powers survive in this great change?" A monkey who was learning to imitate humans sat on the ground and asked Chen Jing.

  "The heavens and the earth are eternal, yin and yang change, never stopping. Just like this river, seemingly unchanged, yet constantly changing. The river before I spoke is different from the one now. If we say the world is a river, then we are small fish in it. What will happen to the fish if the river dries up?"

  "If the river dries up, it's no use for the fish in the river to struggle, unless the fish can get rid of its own limitations and survive on land." said the monkey.

  Chen Jing said: "Cultivate yourself, get rid of the constraints of heaven and earth, and you will naturally be able to achieve a state where heaven and earth are submerged and destroyed, but I am still at peace and unmoving. However, very few people can achieve this, so while cultivating oneself, one can also seek a place of refuge to temporarily rest one's body."

  "Where can I rest?" the monkey asked quickly.

  "The sacred place in your heart will protect you." Chen Jing replied quickly.

  As soon as Chen Jing finished speaking, some spirits left immediately, and their vacant positions were quickly filled by the spirits behind them. The departed evil spirits apparently went to their own sacred places in their hearts, where there are several sacred places in the hearts of all intelligent living beings.

  Not far away, a small snake with black and white stripes opened its mouth and asked: "River God, why do you allow that woman to dig up your temple? As I know it, the temple of a god is closely related to his own body. If someone digs up the temple, it's like peeling off the skin of the god himself, which should be very painful. What's the mystery behind your actions?"

  Chen Jing replied, "All living beings have likes and dislikes. If one loves oneself too much, no matter what wrongs one has done, one will always find excuses for oneself. I left her behind for two reasons: first, so that I wouldn't forget my own mistakes, and second, so that she could slowly eliminate the hatred in her heart by digging at my temple. I think that only when a person dares to face up to their own mistakes can they be truly brave, and only those who persist in changing themselves where they are wrong have true willpower."

  "A nightingale asked, 'River God, if one wants to cultivate great divine power and abilities, must they necessarily enter the immortal sect to learn profound spells and incantations?'"

  Chen Jing recognized that this nightingale had been coming to his place for a long time, but it was the first time he asked. Chen thought for a moment and said: "I think that at the beginning of heaven and earth, there were no so-called formulas or methods of cultivation. The so-called methods of cultivation were all realized by people at that time, and then passed down through generations until now. You may have also found that the cultivators in today's world are far inferior to those in the legends, this is because the methods we cultivate are all passed down from generation to generation, and the explanations of each generation have already obscured the true meaning of the classics. If you want to learn the true skills, it's best to learn directly from heaven and earth, if there is human explanation in between, it will be far from the truth."

  Suddenly a voice came from the darkness: "River God, I want to know what is divine, what is evil, what is immortal and what is spirit?"

  As soon as the voice appeared, the creatures that were listening to the Tao in front of the River God Temple immediately turned their heads to look. At some point, a black smoke-shrouded figure was standing on the slope, its body unclear, emitting a cold aura all over. Those who were closer suddenly scattered and opened up, and the birds that were perched on the trees immediately took flight and circled in the night sky.

  Chen Jing looked at him, just like he looked at other creatures of the Way, without much surprise. After a moment of contemplation, he said: "All living things have differences in their origins and abilities, but if we want to define gods, immortals, demons, and spirits, we can't do it based on their abilities or origins. Instead, we should define them by their behavior in the world. Gods represent protection, immortals represent freedom, demons represent self-interest, and spirits represent true nature. These are just my views, I don't know how others categorize them."

  "What do you think I am?" said the man who was like a cloud of black smoke, his voice icy.

  Chen Jing was calm and quiet before he spoke, but as soon as his words fell, a sharp light suddenly burst out of his eyes, staring at the black smoke that had condensed into a person. He said in a cold voice: "You are a vengeful spirit from past lives, an evil thought from another realm." As he spoke, a beam of white light flashed out of the River God Temple and shot straight towards the black smoke. The black smoke seemed to be unable to dodge, and the white light swept across its body, letting out a mournful cry. The black smoke dispersed, leaving behind a pool of dark blood on the tree trunk and the ground.

  At this moment, all living beings in front of the river and the temple were frightened, and even that tree did not dare to get close.

  At this moment, He Shengling asked: "River God, how did you know he was a demon and that he came from a foreign land?"

  Chen Jing said: "I have been to hell before, and I can feel the gloomy and cold aura on it."

  At this time, the fifth cockcrow sounded in Heqian Village. All those who still wanted to ask questions immediately held back and turned to pay their respects to Chen Jing before turning around and leaving. In the blink of an eye, they had vanished without a trace.

  In a mountain valley hundreds of miles away from the town, there was a place surrounded by eerie atmosphere. In the center of the valley stood a giant black tree with both its trunk and leaves as black as ink. However, at this moment, the branches were budding with dark-colored flower buds, as if they would bloom in the night sky after just one more night.

  On this tree stood a black crow with flames burning on its body.

  Under the tree stood a person shrouded in black smoke. If you looked closely, you could see that it was a woman, but her face was completely indistinguishable. The crow on the tree said: "How is it?"

  "The Taoist's heart is very firm, I used many methods and transformed into numerous scenes, but couldn't move his heart at all." The black smoke woman said.

  "Did he enchant you with his eyes, or did you sneak into his heart when he wasn't looking?" the crow asked.

  "I don't know." The woman in black smoke said after a moment of silence.

  One hundred and twenty: existence must have something it overcomes