Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Shangguan Ru had a long dream. When she woke up, she thought that the houseful of monks was still part of the strange dream. Then she saw a thin old monk smiling kindly at her.
“I know you.”
“We’ve met before.”
“Oh, at the Stone Kingdom of Xiaoyao Lake. You are Fayan of the Four Noble Truths Temple, also the Martial Uncle of Master Lianhua.” Shangguan Ru blurted out a series of titles and immediately came to her senses and sat up from the blanket. She was surprised to find that all of these monks were real.
She was in a large tent and surrounded by monks and nuns either sitting or lying down, all listless. Occasionally they whispered to each other but they remained silent most of the time.
“What is this place?” Shangguan Ru was in a daze and could not recall any memories after she had fainted.
“The forbidden zone of the Northern Royal Court,” replied Fayan.
“The forbidden zone? The Flower Camp?”
Fayan smiled and shook his head, “No, this is the prison of the forbidden zone.”
“Ah.” Shangguan Ru bounced up then fell to the ground, aghast. “My internal energy…” Then she remembered everything.
She and Old Man Mu had sneaked into King Rizhu’s office and taken out three Bone Shrivelling Pills, but they had been surprise attacked on their way to the camp. “It’s her,” whispered Shangguan Ru. She hadn’t seen the attacker but was familiar with the knockout drug. It was basically a modified Indra Fragrance of the Land of Fragrance that could make people lose their internal energy without turning them into the walking dead.
There was only one person who knew how to make and modify such a drug: Lotus.
“Why?” Shangguan Ru was confused. Then she turned to Fayan. “How did you also come to the Royal Court and get locked up?”
Before Fayan opened his mouth, a middle-aged monk standing behind him angrily said, “Who else could it be except for the Khan? He invited us here but after Master said a few words about not indulging in sensual pleasures, he actually listened to the slanders of the wicked and said that my Master was the one who was slandering and imprisoned us all, saying that no one would be released unless we provided him with a way to live forever or some sex techniques. We are Buddhist disciples, so how could we know these things? It’s the Taoist priests who…”
“Lianqing, you’re being too testy.”
“Amitabha. Yes, Master.” Lianqing sat down onto the futon in a lotus position and started chanting a sutra in a low voice.
Shangguan Ru also remembered this monk who used to be a robber. In order to kill the Dragon King to avenge his brother, he had entered the temple and become a monk but was eventually inspired by the Dharma and became a real monk even though his temper was as hot as before.
“Your kung fu is very good. Why don’t you run away?”
“Forty-three monks are being held here. I won’t be able to take them all away with me. If I run away, they will get into trouble because of me,” Fayan said in a soft tone and didn’t seem anxious at all.
Lianqing opened his eyes and couldn’t help but interrupt again. “Master is merciful, but unfortunately the others don’t appreciate it at all.”
Shangguan Ru was also aware of this. Although the monks were confined to the same tent, they were not united. They had their own little cliques and didn’t always talk to each other. This was quite different from the image she had in her mind that all monks were in harmony with the rest of the world.
“What’s going on? The Khan couldn’t have been so foolish as to keep the monks and the nuns together.”
“Exactly.” Lianqing slapped his thigh, still unable change the old habits from when he had been a robber. “And he also put you, a pretty little girl here. He’s trying to tempt us into breaking the precept.”
Shangguan Ru blushed. “I’m not a little girl.”
Lianqing put his palms together devoutly and said, “I won’t break the precept for you but I’m not sure about the others. Be careful.” Lianqing glanced at several monks in the opposite corner with a contemptuous look.
“Lianqing, do not talk nonsense.” Fayan appeared to be quite kind even when scolding his disciple as if he was politely discussing something with the other side. Lianqing, who was very obedient, closed his eyes and restarted chanting the sutra, no longer speaking for a long time.
The monks who were accused by Lianqing came over, but their target wasn’t Shangguan Ru but rather Fayan.
“Fayan, it’s been a month now. You’d better hand over the secret manual. Saving us from the abyss of misery is also a charitable deed for you.” The man who spoke was a tall, thin monk of forty or fifty years old who looked dignified and seemed to have held a high position both before and after he became a monk.
“Master Kumie, I don’t have the secret manual, and thus I really don’t know how to hand it over. As for how to get everyone out, I’ll figure it out.” Fayan had said this many times but the other side just didn’t believe him.
The monk whose Buddhist name was Kumie sneered scornfully. Lianqing opened his eyes and glared at him but didn’t join in the dispute.
Shangguan Ru, who had learned the Essay of Severing Obsession from Master Lianhua of the Four Noble Truths Temple, had gotten rid of all of her killing desire. Even now, she still recited a chapter of it almost every day. So, she had a rather good opinion of Fayan. Seeing that he was embarrassed, she couldn’t help but defend him, “You are really a boring monk. Fayan is an eminent monk of the Four Noble Truths Temple, do you think he will lie to you?”
Kumie shot a cold glance at Shangguan Ru, “Who are you? What makes you think you can grant him the title of ’eminent monk’?”
“My name is Shangguan Ru. Where did you come from? What makes you think you can force others to hand over a secret manual?” Although Shangguan Ru’s murderous heart had been abolished, her pride didn’t diminish by much. She had been depressed for a while after being abandoned by her parents but she had recovered back to normal long ago.
“This is Master Kumie of the National Temple of the Norland. Show your respect, little girl,” a young monk near Kumie said in a hurry.
“He is Master Kumie, and you must be Master ‘Flattery’? I’ve never seen a monk as obsequious as you.”
The young monk flushed with shame and only at Kumie’s signal did he control his temper.
“Are you also from the Western Regions?” asked Kumie.
“Hmm.” Shangguan Ru replied with her head held high. She didn’t like these monks from the very beginning.
“What’s your relationship with the Unique King Shangguan Fa?”
Shangguan Ru didn’t know what to say. Her father used to be the person who loved her the most but had nonetheless still sacrificed her for nothing in the end. Every time she thought of this she felt heartbroken, so she was very reluctant to mention him.
Kumie was from the Norland and knew little about the rumors of the Western Regions, but he realized that the woman in front of him must be a niece or daughter of the Unique King. “Young benefactor, you may be not aware of this. Fayan hid the secret manual of immortality somewhere and refuses to hand it over, and therefore, angered the Khan. All of us were implicated, and even the whole of Buddhism might be affected.”
“How could a secret manual of immortality exist? You are a Master and yet you still believe such nonsense?”
The young monk around Kumie interrupted again, “Heh heh, you are from the Western Regions, but have you never heard of Fayan’s ultra long-life? He’s over 140 years old this year. If he doesn’t have a secret manual of immortality, he must be a monster.”
Lianqing glared at the young monk but remained silent.
Fayan revealed a bitter smile. “Honesty does not lie. I’m actually sixty-seven years old this year. I entered the temple since I was little, so maybe outsiders have some misunderstanding about me.”
Instead of saying whether he had misunderstood or not, Kumie lowered his voice and said, “Could the heterodox doctrines of immortality be true? Your honored temple has many manuals; aren’t there any that can help people achieve longevity? Hand them over to the Khan and we will all be free.”
Kumie actually said this sarcastically but Fayan didn’t get it. He took it seriously and thought for a while before saying, “We do have several manuals that can keep people fit and healthy but it can’t extend people’s life. Besides, the Khan is too old to practice them now.”
“When all is said and done, it’s not that you don’t have it. It’s that you’re just unwilling to hand it over.” Kumie raised his voice, and the monks and nuns in the tent all cast a disapproving look at Fayan.
Shangguan Ru was just about to defend Fayan when a middle-aged officer entered from outside the tent. Following him were a dozen or so servants who carried food. “Hey, baldies, it’s breakfast time. Do not rush. Nuns in the front, and monks in the back. Ehh? How come one of them even has hair? And it’s pretty beautiful. Come over and let me have a look.”
Shangguan Ru blushed crimson. Since she was powerless now, she could only swallow the humiliation. The young monk around Kumie gloated over her misfortune.
Seeing that his order didn’t work, the officer became angry and strode forward, pushing and kicking all the way, during which several monks and nuns fell down.
“Playing dumb? Let me check.”
The officer reached out to touch her cheek. Shangguan Ru, though she had lost her internal energy, could still exert ten or twenty percent of her bodily movement technique, and easily dodged it.
The officer didn’t expect that he would miss. After a pause, he waved his arm and continued trying to catch the agile woman. Finally, he did it, though it was just that he had grabbed the wrong person.
The young monk near Kumie covered his face and embarrassedly looked at the officer.
“Damn it, damn bad luck.” The officer pushed the monk away, spread his arms and said to Shangguan Ru who was several steps away, “No one will eat today unless I have you.”
Although the tent was not small, it still appeared quite crowded with over forty people. Shangguan Ru had dodged several times in a row. She was thinking about how to extricate herself when she suddenly tripped and almost fell.
The officer leaped forward. “Let me see if you are a cross-dresser…”
The officer flew out and fell into one of the big buckets before he could finish the words. Two servants anxiously carried him out but he was already stained with rice grains, and it wasn’t easy to clean the mess up.
“Who? Who was it?” The officer drew his saber and barked viciously. He had clearly seen that it was not the little girl who had kicked him.
Shangguan Ru also saw it clearly. The person who had saved her was Lianqing.
Lianqing had experienced a lot of setbacks before he became a monk and because of this, he took the Buddhist commandments very seriously. The officer’s salacious behavior made him so angry that he didn’t even care about breaking the precept of abstaining from anger. He clenched his fists and glared at the officer, stating, “It’s me.” ”
The officer raised his saber but changed his mind on second thought. Lianqing had shown his kung fu before when the monks and nuns were being held, and the officer knew that he was no match for him. So he pointed his saber at Lianqing while retreating to the door, “Good, you lecherous monk, daring to compete with me for a woman. I’ll give you the chance, you wait and see.”
The servants left with the buckets. Breakfast was over.
Shangguan Ru thanked Lianqing, but Lianqing confessed his sin to Fayan. “Master, I failed to hold back again.”
“It’s right for a man to give his hand to save others. You are not violating the precepts.” Fayan comforted his disciple and then turned to Shangguan Ru, “Your lightness skills are very good.”
Before Shangguan Ru could speak, Kumie grunted, “It’s right for a man to give his hand to others. There are over forty people here, but I haven’t seen you save anyone.”
The atmosphere in the tent wasn’t very friendly. Shangguan Ru sat behind Fayan and Lianqing and focused on guiding her internal Qi, hoping to recover soon. One had to take the antidote to remove the effect of the Indra Fragrance before they could use internal Qi again, but Lotus had made some changes to the Indra Fragrance, so the drug effect seemed to have been greatly weakened.
The officer was back again before noon, and this time a woman had come with him. With a cold face, the woman had an obvious temperament of a killer. Shangguan Ru didn’t know her personally but knew that she was a disciple of the Waning Moon Hall.
“By the order of the Khan, whoever breaks the Lust Ring in this tent will be released and promoted to be an official of the Norland, and won’t have to be a monk from now on.” The woman said, looking meaningfully at Shangguan Ru while the officer lightly shook his head in disappointment.
