Chapter 3327

Xiao Hua naturally didn't know that the Old Monster Zhi Feng already bore a grudge against him. At this moment, he was only sitting on the Heavenly Horse, following the Light Beast as it flew towards the place where the sun rose. His face was pure and holy. Moreover, he didn't know that in a certain place in Yu Province, an even greater plot was slowly unfolding.

The Hidden Immortal Continent was vast and the vast majority of mortals wouldn't have the opportunity to completely travel through all nine provinces in their lifetime.

As one of the nine provinces, Yu Province was a huge monster in the eyes of most mortals. Similarly, many people from Yu Province had never left Yu Province in their entire lives.

The Chongli Country was also part of Yu Province, but it was completely different from the State of Xi.

The Chongli Country was far to the south of Yu Province. Its climate was like spring all year round and the Tuotuo River, which was several times wider than the Liao River, flowed through its borders.

With such a pleasant climate, the Chongli Country was not only rich in natural resources, but also had beautiful mountains and rivers and lush vegetation. It was a famous country of fish and rice within a radius of ten thousand miles.

However, what truly made the Chongli Country famous in Yu Province wasn't the scenery and wealth, but the towering Han Ling Mountain in the middle of the Tuotuo River.

Han Ling Mountain was thousands of feet tall and several acres wide. It was like a jade pillar that supported the sky in the torrential river. It was truly a strange scene.

However, this strange scene had only been a part of the Chongli Country for thousands of years. Although people came to enjoy it, its reputation wasn't very prominent.

Commoners who were slightly further away from the Chongli Country might not have heard of this mountain. However, ever since Han Ling Mountain was purchased by an unknown wealthy merchant from the Chongli Country's King and then offered to the Buddhist Sect, the Buddhist Sect built a Han Ling Temple on Han Ling Mountain. Han Ling Temple became famous in Yu Province.

Not only was Han Ling Temple the largest temple in Yu Province, but it was also the first temple in Yu Province that was recognized and built by the Buddhist Sect.

After Han Ling Temple, the Buddhist Sect built many more temples in Yu Province. Not to mention temples like the Small Gold Temple, which could be found in many villages and towns, even temples like the Cloud Forest Temple could be found in many countries.

However, due to Han Ling Temple's special status, it attracted tens of thousands of devout pilgrims from Yu Province every day. Some even traveled thousands of miles to worship it.

Han Ling Temple was built at the peak of Han Ling Mountain, and one could see the majestic temple by the Tuotuo River.

However, it was not easy to go from Tuotuo River to Han Ling Temple to offer incense and worship.

Beside the Tuotuo River, there was an official ship of the Chongli Kingdom that would sail from the riverside to the Han Ling Temple every hour. It would only stop at the ferry of Han Ling Mountain before immediately returning to the ferry of the Chongli Kingdom. Although the official ship was large, it could only accommodate a limited number of people. Furthermore, the Chongli Kingdom only provided two official ships. Only a few hundred pilgrims could cross the Tuotuo River and come to Han Ling Mountain each time. Ten ferries a day from morning to night only amounted to a few thousand pilgrims. What gave pilgrims a headache the most was that the official ship could not be booked in advance. They could only line up at the ferry every morning.

As for the remaining pilgrims, they could only think of their own ways.

They either hired their own boats or hired people to ferry them across on rafts. There were even people who crossed the Tuotuo River by themselves.

The pilgrims finally arrived at the ferry of Han Ling Mountain after much difficulty. Their test had only just begun.

At this time, there was a path that led directly to the top of the mountain. This path had been specially built by the Buddhist Sect to allow them to walk to the entrance of Han Ling Temple.

However, this path was not a smooth one. First of all, this path spiraled up the mountain. The mountain that was already thousands of feet high had now become thousands of feet high. Then, the path was uneven and winding, making it even more difficult to walk than if there was no path at all. Moreover, there were no places to rest on the side of the path. All the pilgrims could only climb to the top of the mountain in one go. Otherwise, they would block the pilgrims behind them. There were nine extremely dangerous places on this path. There was a cliff that was only wide enough for one person to walk sideways. There was also a suspension bridge in a bottomless mountain stream that swayed violently. There was also a narrow path at the top of the mountain that was as smooth as a fish's spine. There was also a stone staircase that was nearly straight and could only be climbed using both hands and feet. In short, the abbot of Han Ling Mountain did not wish for anyone to enter the temple to offer incense. He had set up numerous obstacles to hide Han Ling Temple from everyone's view.

These extremely dangerous places were not a gimmick of the Buddhist Sect. They were real. Every year, or even every month, there would be pilgrims who would carelessly fall from these dangerous places and their corpses would never be found.

However, from a good point of view, humans had a kind of tenacity. From a bad point of view, humans had a kind of despicable nature. The more obstacles there were, the more people would go forward.

Even the difficulties of Han Ling Temple, these life-threatening dangers, could not stop the pilgrims from going forward. Most of them still passed through the mountain path and reached the top of Han Ling Mountain.

Thousands of bells at the top of the mountain, this saying was not wrong.

When the pilgrims who passed the test arrived at the top of Han Ling Mountain, although they were still far from Han Ling Temple's entrance, the scene before them was enough to make them dizzy. It was enough for them to sincerely kneel down and worship!

The top of the mountain was only a few acres, but it was completely covered in Buddhist light. No one could clearly see where this Buddhist light came from.

Within the Buddhist light, there were also auspicious clouds lingering. Within the auspicious clouds, hundreds of ferocious beasts were like docile kittens. Sometimes, they would walk around leisurely, and sometimes, they would lie down peacefully. Occasionally, there would be little novice monks dressed in pure white robes who would mischievously ride on the ferocious beasts, hurrying on with their journey.

Among the fierce beasts, there were naturally green cranes, antelopes, elks, and other wild animals. These wild animals were originally food for the fierce beasts, but they were also leisurely looking for grass. They were not afraid of the fierce beasts that were close by.

Not only that, but there were also many lotuses blooming on both sides of the mountain path. They had no roots or stems and were very mysterious.

These lotuses were all different in shape and were not the ones commonly seen in Yu Province.

Moreover, these lotuses were not fixed in one place and would often float in all directions. Whenever a few lotuses flew across the mountain path, a few lucky pilgrims would touch them with their hand. Immediately, a myriad of Buddhist lights would pour down from the lotuses and land on the pilgrims' bodies. Feeling refreshed was only a small matter. Many pilgrims with serious illnesses would immediately feel their illnesses disappear the moment they touched the lotuses. Their bodies would become much stronger.

Even though many of the pilgrims couldn't touch the lotuses, their gazes would land on the leaves of the lotuses. Inside the lotuses, there would be countless good men and women, countless temples, and countless young buddhas. There were also strange flowers and plants, mountains, and rivers that they had never seen before.

Seeing this phenomenon was the same as the villagers of Longevity Town who saw the Buddhist Sect's methods in front of the Xiao Jin Temple's stage. The first reaction of these devout pilgrims who had yet to see Han Ling Temple's entrance was to chant Buddhist names and kowtow in gratitude.

The moment they kowtowed, a bell chime, a Buddhist name, and a wooden fish appeared in their hearts. At the same time, they saw heavenly maidens, scattered flowers, and even the ten thousand buddhas greeting the sect …

All the Buddhist scriptures and all the legends of Buddha would appear the moment their eyes sank into the lotus. Not to mention these extremely devout pilgrims, even secular people with slightly weaker wills would fall into this Buddhist land and forget their previous suspicions.

When the pilgrims escaped from the Buddhist Kingdom, not only did their previous fatigue disappear, but their bodies and minds were also refreshed. They would even find themselves standing at the mountain gate of the Han Ling Temple without them knowing.

After experiencing the baptism of the Buddhist Sect's methods, the pilgrims all knelt down and kowtowed.

There wasn't only one mountain path before Han Ling Temple's entrance. There was also a fork in the path before them.

This fork led to a higher place in Han Ling Mountain that was several dozen feet higher than Han Ling Temple.

How could the pilgrims, who had already investigated the situation of Han Ling Temple, not know that this other mountain path led to the Buddhist pagoda and platform of Han Ling Temple?

Since it was another mountain path, it would definitely be another test. Beneath the pagoda were the relics of the deceased monks of Han Ling Temple, and above the platform was a golden statue of Vairocana Buddha. Such a holy place was naturally not something that an ordinary person could reach!

It was even said that ever since Han Ling Temple was built, there had been extremely devout believers who had gone to the Buddhist pagoda to reminisce about the past eminent monks. However, no one had ever been able to go to the Buddhist altar to see the golden body of Mahavairocana.

As for the reason, Han Ling Temple explained it very well. In Yu Province … and even in the other eight provinces of the Hidden Immortal Continent, although there were many pilgrims who were fated with Buddha, this fate wasn't enough. These pilgrims still needed to cultivate for a long time before they could truly reach the level of a cultivator and see Buddha's golden statue.

The answer given by the Confucian cultivators of the Hidden Immortal Continent was different. They directly pointed out that the platform was empty and didn't have any golden statue of Buddha.

Of course, the source of this answer was vague and no one directly came forward to verify it.

The devout pilgrims of Yu Province would never believe this groundless news. Every one of them would choose the mountain path that led to the platform. Unfortunately, just like the thousands of pilgrims, they would all fail in the end. They would either appear in front of Han Ling Temple's entrance or return to the foot of Han Ling Mountain.

The pilgrims who failed wouldn't be dispirited and would carefully step into Han Ling Temple's entrance again.

Han Ling Temple's mountain gate was extremely large, and the threshold was as high as an ordinary person's knee. Once one stepped over the mountain gate, they would be greeted by two extremely ferocious-looking Vajras. One was fiery red, and the other was jade-green. At this moment, a monk would immediately walk out from behind the mountain gate to receive them. When the pilgrims respectfully followed the monk past the two Vajras and truly entered the mountain gate, they would be shocked by the tens of thousands of Buddhist halls in Han Ling Temple and the countless incense sticks lingering in the air. They would be invigorated and prepare their own piety, offering their piety and incense sticks in front of every Buddha statue …