The structure was massive, maybe larger than ten villas combined. Yet it was silent, quieter than a graveyard. Not a whisper of wind could be heard from inside.
In Buddhist culture, the gates held an equal significance to the temples themselves. The gates are the symbol of boundary; they separate the sacred from the secular.
Once you enter the temple, you enter the sacred lands, leaving the secular beyond the gates.
"There are three gates; which one should we take?" Lei Yiran frowned as he sensed the others approaching from behind. He even acted like Xian i was never there and she never even half crushed the bones in his foot.
"It's the Sanmon Gate." Xu Tianhua, the rciless monk, instantly recognized the three-story gate.
Sanmon Gates, a gate with three entrances. It's a passage into enlightennt and a journey towards the Buddha's teachings. It is said that crossing the gate can purify your soul before you enter the temple grounds.
"The three gates have their own anings." Being well versed in the knowledge of Buddhism, Tianhua quickly explained everything he knew: "Kumon, the gate of emptiness. Musumon, the gate of singleness. Mugomon, The Gate of Wishlessness."
"Why so complicated?" The unknown rogue cultivator mumbled under his breath, but even he saw the heads turning towards him; he hurriedly shrank back in fear. Especially when Noah, whom he feared the most, was looking at him.
"Fellow Daoist, you said we need 5 people to open the gates?" The monk imdiately turned his attention to Noah. "But there are only three gates; it does not make sense for five people to open three gates."
"I don't know everything, my friend, but you need five people to open any one of the gates." Noah showed a friendly smile and spoke softly, "Maybe it's the requirent of whatever lies ahead, or maybe it's the destiny or the result the creator of this place hoped to achieve."
Xu Tianhua squinted his eyes, looking for any signs of deceit, but he had to agree with Noah's words in the end. The man may have had more ti to analyze the place than them, but he could not have known sothing like this.
"How does that even matter?" Running low on patience, Lei Yiran grumbled while rolling his eyes, "Just open the damn thing and enter this place. I don't think it matters which gate we use to enter the temple."
He placed a hand on the gate; the others looked at each other before reaching out to open the middle gate. Noah placed his hand on the cold tallic door and felt the power pulsing underneath the plain-looking surface.
Everyone beside Elysia placed their hands on the gates and pushed on them. Elysia had lowered her presence and sneaked behind the group, observing everything they did from behind.
It did not matter if she pushed the gate along with them or not; it would not have mattered, so she chose not to do it.
Creak!
Once the number of people needed to open the door was fulfilled, the gate opened by itself without anyone even needing to push it harder.
And it was not only the middle gate that opened; the three gates opened at once, as if giving them a choice to enter through the one they wanted.
Straight ahead, just beyond the gates, was a huge courtyard with a few main attractions on each side.
One main attraction was the bell tower on the side, and the other was the drum tower. There were a few drum towers, and one of them was in the front, right beside the monastic quarters.
And straight ahead was the biggest building of the temple, the main hall. A colorful palatial building decorated with several Buddhist decorations.
"Now that is interesting." Xu Tianhua muttered to himself.
"What do you an?" Xian i asked curiously, her eyes twinkling as she looked at the gate and then at the monk.
"I am just wondering if these gates are the trial in themselves," he wondered out loud. "We opened one, and all three were opened. I feel that there is sothing more to these gates than it appears."
Noah glanced at him with a smile but said nothing.
"I only feel creepy." Lei Yiran scoffed before stepping through the middlemost gate. Before anyone could even stop him, the boy had crossed the threshold and stepped on the other side.
But once he was there, Lei Yiran stopped all of a sudden.
"What happened?" Xian i's voice quivered in panic, but she did not rush ahead recklessly.
"Maybe he's trapped in an illusion—" before he could even complete his words, Lei Yiran suddenly turned around with a mocking grin on his face.
"Look at you, acting so scared; it is only a gate." With his chin up, he snorted coldly, looking down on them.
And no one seed to be amused by his action.
Xian i's eyes turned cold, and she crossed the gate of no form and stopped before the young man. She looked the startled and confused Lei Yiran in the eyes before raising her foot and stepping on his foot.
"Argh!"
She ignored his cries and turned around. "It's okay to enter."
Xu Tianhua looked at the gate, still suspicious, but chose to enter along with his fellow disciple. Noah exchanged looks with Elysia and followed behind.
But they did not enter through the middle gate but instead used the third gate, the gate of wishlessness, also known as the gate of no desire.
The last one to enter the temple was the unknown cultivator who walked through the gate of the emptiness.
Xu Tianhua led them around the temple; the courtyard was quite big. The stone tiles showed no signs of withstanding the bear of ti and even remained spotless from dirt. The air beyond the gates felt still and calming.
Climbing the wooden steps of the main hall, Noah's eyes swept through the massive pillars carved with scenes of enlightennt, suffering, reincarnation, and nirvana.
So images were blurred and distorted for so reason, but he paid no attention to these pillars supporting the ceiling of the main hall.
Instead, his eyes fell on the huge idol of Buddha sitting on a fully blood lotus carved from white jade at the far end of the room.
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