10, Secret books salvaged from the Great Temple

"Oh… It's getting late.

"I have to go.

"Old Tew, you can chat with little Mr. today.

"Little Mr. seems to be a reliable scholar, and you can let him organize your book collection."

Concubine Yedda looked up at the sky, got up suddenly, and with one leap, she was thirty steps away, and after a few more leaps, she vanished into the forest.

Concubine Yedda left as soon as she said it, without any hesitation, smooth and fast.

"She is truly a heroic woman. "Jack watched Concubine Yedda's figure and movements, marveled, and became more curious about the mysterious identity of this woman.

"Young sir, let's go see my collection." Old Tew seemed eager to show off his book collection to someone, and after talking for a few sentences, he quickly invited Jack to visit his collection in the cave.

A stone cave in the south of the valley was clearly the home of these foxes.

The cave was spacious and wide, covering an area of several thousand square meters, and it was also five to six people high. Inside, it looked like a palace, without any feeling of restriction.

There were many small holes carved into the stone wall of the cave, and oil lamps were lit in these holes.

The oil was unknown, and it had a fragrance, but no smoke. The light was also very bright, and the flame did not flicker.

The stone cave was lined with wooden bookshelves, on which there were stacks of books—all kinds of books, big books, small books, handwritten books, lithographed books, woodcut books.

The paper of these books was also different, including bamboo paper, sandalwood paper, silk, sheepskin, and even some Red-Iron Medallions, which were given as special rewards by kings or emperors. With them, even if a grave crime was committed, the holder could still be pardoned.

Besides dozens of large bookshelves, there were countless moldy and worm-eaten books stacked under the corners of the walls, mostly incomplete ancient books and scriptures.

It was roughly estimated that there were as many as 100,000 books in this stone chamber.

With so many books, even the "Woods' Library" in Marquis Wood's Mansion, which was famous for its collection, couldn't match.

Jack only went to the "Woods' Library" in Marquis Wood's Mansion when his mother was still alive. At that time, he was amazed that so many books were in it.

But after his mother died, he lost the right to go.

And Jack usually read books by saving money to buy them, or by borrowing from others and copying when he borrowed.

However, for good books, they were hard to find in ordinary bookstores, and hard to borrow.

At first sight, seeing so many books, his face immediately showed a look as if he had entered a treasure house, and he forgot to wonder why a group of foxes had so many books in their collection.

"Tripitaka? Avatamsaka? Sutra of Rebirth? Why are most of them Buddhist scriptures?" Jack walked to a large bookshelf, took out a book, and opened it.

It was a scripture in Buddhism, woodcut, and there was a seal on the back.

The seal was "The Great Temple".

It was an old book, and it could be worth a lot of money when sold to bookstores.

He browsed through a few more books, and the seal of "The Great Temple" was also stamped on the back of these books.

"These are the books of the Great Temple." Jack said: "And these books—classics, histories, scriptures, etc.— are all mixed together. There is no order at all. I'm afraid it will be hard to find when reading."

"Well, I don't know much about book classification." Old Tew's fox face was slightly red, as if he felt a bit ashamed.

In fact, Jack's words were quite polite.

Usually, the book collections of the rich and famous families were carefully sorted and well-arranged.

But the books in this stone room were in chaos, like a big nouveau riche who had made a fortune and wanted to turn his home into a scholarly family.

So he spent lots of money to buy a lot of books but placed them randomly.

"Actually, these books were taken out of the Great Temple in Central State when it was attacked and destroyed." Old Tew sighed: "The Great Temple was so huge, with tens of thousands of monks. Every autumn, more than a thousand monks went to the countryside to collect rent from tenants.

"The main hall, which had one floor after another, rode horses to light countless incense, and the ever-burning lamps were burning day and night.

"Sadly, it was conquered by the army, and the splendid temple was set on fire, with all its treasures taken away.

"Alas, the rise and fall of fortune and fate are truly like a dream!"

"Rode horses to light countless incenses…so you, Old Tew, moved from the Great Temple of Central State to the Western Mountains of Emperor's Landing."

Jack finally understood the origin of these foxes.

The Great Temple of Central State, located in the middle of the Histon Dynasty, was a thousand-year-old temple with its peak at its glory.

Many books have described the grandeur of the temple.

It is said that this temple had a large hall with many layers, and every morning, the little monks who offered incense to the Buddha and Bodhisattva had to ride horses to get there.

That's why there was a saying about "Ride a horse to light incense".

At the same time, this temple was also a sacred place for martial arts, a sacred place for cultivation, and even a sacred place for wealth.

Owning many fields, but Buddhist temples did not have to pay any taxes, which made their income and incense even more prosperous.

The accumulation of thousands of years made their wealth almost rival the country.

Unfortunately, twenty years ago, because the Great Temple colluded with the elders of the previous dynasty against the new emperor, or the "Intruder" in those monks' eyes, it was crushed by the army, and the thousand-year-old temple was burned.

It was said that the accumulation of this temple for thousands of years, after the wealth was looted, made Histon Dynasty's finances unprecedentedly stable.

These things were written in the notes of many scholars. Jack knew them all too well.

"This group of foxes must be the fox family living near the Great Temple. After all, monks are vegetarians and don't kill animals, so it's safe to live there, and they can learn a lot.

"But foxes are foxes after all.

"Although they are spiritual and rational, even know cultivation, they are not as good as human beings."

At this point, Jack had a clear idea of the fox fairies, or "fox demons" in other people's eyes.

"I wonder if young sir can organize and categorize these books for me?

"This library is the treasure of our pure fox family.

"After those little foxes can read the text, they can come in and read.

"Then we can be considered a scholarly family.

"With these books in this room, our fox family will not be lost for a lifetime and be seen as uncultured beasts that only eat raw animal flesh and drink its blood."

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