Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
What the four women needed most now was a secret place to discuss their plans but there was no such magical corner in the tent. Their only alternative was the rudimentary latrine outside.
So, Xu Yanwei went inside while the other three lined up outside. The four of them pinched their noses and discussed for some time until they all turned pale from a lack of air. When they returned to the tent like that, the monks and nuns felt uneasy as they thought that there was something wrong with the food again.
Lianqing knew that they were planning an escape so he looked at Shangguan Ru anticipatorily, hoping to be a part of the plan. But before he could say anything, Xu Yanwei asked him a question. “Why are the nuns’… things so stinky? Aren’t you all vegetarian?”
Lianqing was shocked and speechless for a long time. If he was still a robber, he could answer this question easily by either scolding her rudely or telling a dirty joke, but he was a monk now and had to take the question seriously. Scratching his head, he thought for a while but failed to think of any rejoinder like the ones in the classics he had read, so he said, “You don’t know anything. The monks’ are way stinkier.”
Xu Yanwei waved her hand in front of her nose, trying to drive away the imaginary stink. “I can’t wait any longer. Let’s do it now.”
Lianqing was surprised yet again. “Do it now? You…”
Three of the four women didn’t know kung fu, and one of them had lost almost all of her internal energy. Lianqing couldn’t figure out how they would escape.
But he could only be a bystander.
Queen Ju called Shangguan Hong over and asked, “Are the monks all obedient?”
“Yes, they all revere Her Majesty very much, saying that it was a great feat of merit and virtue that Her Majesty is willing to propagate the Dharma.”
Queen Ju already saw a note of respect in the eyes of the monks and she just wanted to confirm this with Shangguan Hong while also using this chance to indirectly announce it to the other three women. “Good. Now that I’m in distress, I need the comfort of the Dharma the most. I hope that they will recite sutra to me, and the louder the better.”
This requirement was very easy to achieve. These monks would quietly chant sutra when they had nothing else to do, not to mention when the Queen had appointed them to do so. It only took some time to select which sutra to chant. In the end, Kumie made the decision and all the monks started chanting the Vimalakirti Sutra.
Lianqing was disdainful at first but when he saw his Master Fayan following along with the crowd, he also sat down and chanted with a voice louder than anyone else’s.
Queen Ju, with her hands clasped, also followed in chanting in a low voice.
This trick worked well, and Buddha soon helped her achieve her true purpose.
The officer rushed in and shouted, “Quiet down you baldies. It’s really a waste of money to keep you all alive. I could have bought as many good horses as you all with the money I’ve spent on rice. Why are you chanting sutra in the middle of the night? Are you courting death?”
The chanting abated a little but rose soon again. Seeing that the voice of the chanting would annoy the warden, the monks, long trapped and humiliated, had even more motivation to chant now.
The officer lifted his leg and was just about to kick a person when Shangguan Ru went forward and said, “I want to see the person in charge here.”
The officer put his foot down and looked at her suspiciously. “That’s me. So, you want to talk to me alone? My tent is more comfortable than this one.”
“I want to see the man of the Essence Pavilion.”
The officer paused for a moment before asking, “You mean the immortal master? Why would he have time to see you? Be a good girl and come with me.”
The officer reached out to grab Shangguan Ru’s arm, but Shangguan Hong, who had been sitting down on his knees with the monks, suddenly leaped out, tackled the officer, drew his saber, and laid it across the other side’s neck.
Shangguan Hong didn’t really want to save his half-sister, but he didn’t dare disobey the Queen’s order.
“Don’t do anything stupid!” shouted the officer.
Seeing the matter was now significant, the monks all shut up and gave way.
“Now we can see that immortal master?” Shangguan Ru, who didn’t like to kill, was glad to take a small revenge on this vulgar officer.
“If you lay a finger on me, you’ll…”
“We’ll still be fine. Will the Khan and the immortal master kill for taking a lowly warden’s life?”
The officer stammered, at a loss for words, and when he opened his mouth again, his voice had softened. “The immortal master doesn’t live here. Where can I find him?”
“That’s your business. If you really don’t know, you can send someone to pass on a message.”
“Fine, you win. Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you just want to send a message? Could you move the saber away first?”
Shangguan Hong looked at the Queen while still pressing down with his saber.
“We have a few requests. First, a distinction has to be made between men and women, and monks and nuns. We need separate tents.”
Before Shangguan Ru made the second request, Xu Yanwei rushed to say, “There must be a bed in the tent. I can’t sleep on the ground.”
“I need to bathe and change my clothes. It’s stinky now.” Xiao Fengchai raised her sleeves and sniffed at it, showing a look of disgust.
“I need at least one maid.” Queen Ju actually had two people around her but Shangguan Hong was a eunuch and it was inconvenient to order him around sometimes. Nominally Xu Yanwei was a servant, but her status was almost at the level of her lord’s, and she might help support her lord at most and wouldn’t do anything else.
“Clear the latrine outside and have a chamber pot in the tent,” Xu Yanwei added.
The four of them continued listing requirements until no one could remember how many requests they had made. One of the nuns was encouraged and also requested in a low voice, “We need a fan that everybody can take turns using; it’s too hot here.”
The officer, who was in a daze and could hardly remember any of the requests, frequently nodded and said, “All right, I’ll take the message. Let me go now.”
“You are a hostage. We can’t let you go. Just order your men to pass on the message.”
This was the most humiliating moment for the officer. Over a dozen soldiers rushed in and were surprised and amused at the scene because these monks had always been very obedient and there was almost no need to supervise them. The prison guards, therefore, had become careless. No one had expected that the four women would cause such trouble as soon as they arrived.
The officer sat on the ground and coldly ordered the soldiers to make the listed requests to the immortal master. It wasn’t until he snapped at them that one clever soldier finally understood what he really meant and left the tent in a hurry.
The two sides were caught in a standoff now.
Queen Ju asked the monks and nuns to continue chanting the sutra. The Sanskrit chanting started again but in a much quieter voice.
“This is your plan?” asked Lianqing in a low voice.
“Just wait and see,” Shangguan Ru whispered. “If anything happens later, will you help me?”
Lianqing glanced at his Master before nodding.
The time for him to offer help came soon after. That soldier didn’t go to look for the immortal master at all. Instead, he summoned four companions who gathered outside the tent and then secretly went to the back. They cut out an opening with a sharp knife and swarmed in, planning to take back the hostage.
Lianqing had endured for many days and finally had his chance to let off some steam. Fortunately, he still remembered that he was a monk and didn’t act too ruthlessly though he still beat the hell out of the intruders. Before the soldiers in front of the door could react, the women were holding several more hostages.
The revolt in the prison couldn’t be resolved. And in the end, the soldiers had no choice but to report to their superiors. In the second half of the night, a noble officer who was very polite came to the tent. He first expressed his shock and surprise regarding the practice of keeping the men and women together and also the living conditions of the prison, claiming that this wasn’t the Khan’s intention at all. Then he carefully noted the tedious demands of the women, and said that he would try to satisfy them all.
The revolt which was aimed at improving the living conditions had seemed very dangerous in hindsight, but it was fairly unimpressive in that moment. The soldiers had tried to save their people only once and then did nothing else. Most of the time it was verbal confrontation and waiting. In the end, Shangguan Hong even removed his saber away from the officer’s neck.
Except for the officer who was worried about his own future and refused to talk while maintaining a livid expression, even the captured soldiers joined in on the chitchat. “This Monk is really strong.” was the phrase they said the most frequently.
The noble officer returned in the early morning and fulfilled most of the requirements of the four women. They could have a separate tent, the nuns could have another, but the monks would still be kept together. The latrines would be cleaned every day and bath water would be supplied once every three days. In addition, the lecherous officer was also transferred out and replaced with an officer who worshipped the Buddha.
This was a great victory, and the mutual trust between the four women had considerably increased. Queen Ju even spoke directly to Xiao Fengchai now, though her request for a maid had not been fulfilled. The officer did send an old biddy, but Queen Ju would never allow someone like that to touch herself.
The victory also made them believe that the so-called immortal master, the zombie-faced man of the Essence Pavilion, must have other ulterior motives. Everyone had their own ideas in mind but none of them were willing to speak out about it, so they just kept guessing wildly.
The immortal master came at night when the four had bathed, changed into new clothes, felt at ease, and were willing to accept any conditions as long as they were not too excessive.
The zombie-faced man was still wearing thick clothes and his voice was faint and weak, but this time there was no disciple of the Waning Moon Hall standing nearby so he could get straight to the point.
“You are those who were called by the Master Commander to be taken, and I can’t let go of any of you.” He drew a bottom line for the negotiations first.
“You don’t have to release anyone but don’t hurt people again. It must have been your idea to put aphrodisiac in the rice to try to force the monks to break their precepts?” Xu Yanwei snorted.
“It’s a common trick in City View Alley.” The immortal master neither denied it nor did he think it was going too far. “It won’t happen again. You can rest assured and eat and drink freely now.”
The four looked at each other until finally, it was still Xu Yanwei who spoke out. “There’s no need to hide it from us. Just list your conditions. We may or may not agree.”
The immortal master’s eyes swept back and forth and finally stopped on Shangguan Ru, “You have the first seven chapters of the Daoless Divine Power.” Then he turned to Queen Ju and said, “You have the eighth and ninth chapters.”
“You seem to know everything,” Queen Ju coldly said. Those two chapters of verses were one of her most important assets and would not be easily given to anyone.
“As for you two.” The immortal master looked at Xiao Fengchai and Xu Yanwei before saying, “You are useless at the moment.”
Xu Yanwei raised her eyebrows in anger. She wanted to say that she was very useful but on second thought, shut her mouth in time.
“I need the Daoless Divine Power of the both of you.”
“And you’re trading for it with this?” Queen Ju pointed to the humble tent, full of disdain.
“I can’t let any of you go but I can spill the beans.”
The hint of the immortal master couldn’t be more obvious. Queen Ju’s heart moved a bit but couldn’t help but take a look at Shangguan Ru, wanting to see how she would answer it.
“We need to consider this.”
The immortal master hadn’t expected to receive the manual of the divine power at once. He walked towards the outside while saying, “I’m not in a hurry. Just make more requests if you have any, and I can meet all of them as long as I don’t have to let anyone of you go.”
They actually couldn’t think of more requests at the moment, but Shangguan Ru suddenly became excited and said, “Get me a jar of good wine.”
She needed to get drunk and then figure out a way to recover her internal energy.
