Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 44
>Chapter Title: Zhengde Temple
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Chapter 44: Zhengde Temple
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> Inside the Five Buddhas Hall, Li Huowang saw Abbot Xinhui once more. This time, he wasn’t alone—four elderly monks sat in a row behind him.
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> “Since you’re here, Donor Xuanyang, let’s cut to the chase. We need to hold a grand universal salvation ritual to ferry his soul across.”
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> “Alright, Abbot. Let’s get started.”
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> “Hold your horses, Donor Xuanyang. Danyangzi’s karma is tied to you. Before we proceed with the ritual, you must first calm your mind.”
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> “Calm my mind?”
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> “Amitabha. Donor, your mind is far from still. Your mind is ill.”
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> Before the abbot could finish, Li Huowang shot back sharply,
>“I’m not sick!”
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> The words had barely left his mouth when Li Huowang startled himself with his own volume.
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> As the five old monks before him gazed at him with profound meaning, Li Huowang took a deep breath and clenched his trembling fists.
>“May I ask, Abbot, what must I do to calm my mind?”
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> A sutra book with a yellow cover was handed to Li Huowang.
>“Take this Five Skandhas are Empty Sutra home with you. Recite it three times a day—morning, noon, and night.”
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> Li Huowang took it and flipped it open. Inside were arcane Buddhist scriptures, foggy and incomprehensible.
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> “Just recite it? No techniques? No special herbs to take?”
>The simplicity fell far short of what Li Huowang had imagined.
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> Seeing Abbot Xinhui shake his head, Li Huowang pocketed the sutra and headed for the door. Just as he reached it, he turned back to the old monks seated on their cushions.
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> “Abbot Xinhui, does Zhengde Temple have any cultivation techniques?”
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> “Of course. If the donor is willing to shave your head and join our temple, the sutra repository is yours to peruse freely.”
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> At those words, Li Huowang turned and left. He had no intention of becoming a monk.
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> “Donor Xuanyang, why not stay in the temple for this time? Running back and forth like this is a hassle for you and for us.”
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> This time, Li Huowang didn’t refuse. Now that he trusted them, holding back on this would just make him seem petty.
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> A standalone side room in Zhengde Temple was cleared out for him. Li Huowang stayed quietly inside, poring over the sutra they’d given him.
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> The first few days, he was on edge. But when he realized no one in the temple paid him any mind—not even when he wandered into the bustling main hall to watch the monks interpret lots—he gradually relaxed.
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> Late at night, under the glow of an oil lamp, Li Huowang held the sutra in both hands and chanted.
>“My life has ended. The holy life has been established. My task is done. I shall not be reborn. When this teaching was given, these five bhikkhus were freed from defilements through their hearts’ release. They believed, received, and practiced it.”
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> At first, reciting the so-called Five Skandhas are Empty Sutra did nothing for Li Huowang. But as days passed, he noticed his sleep improving and realized it truly worked.
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> After calmly finishing one full recitation, Li Huowang slowly closed the book, blew out the oil lamp, and prepared for bed. His mind turned to what lay ahead.
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> “Once Danyangzi’s cleared out, I’ll go find Black Tai Sui. If it can stabilize my condition, I can live steadily in this world.”
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> “But Black Tai Sui looks pretty vicious. If I catch it, how do I keep it bound so I can carve off meat to eat every month?”
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> “Right, and strength. I need enough power to protect myself. But that’s tricky too.”
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> As these thoughts crossed Li Huowang’s mind, he suddenly caught a human shadow flashing past the doorway. His body tensed instantly.
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> “Someone in the temple spying on me?”
>Li Huowang moved slowly to the door and slid back the bolt.
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> He yanked it open a crack. The moonlit courtyard beyond stood empty. Cautiously peering out, he spotted a corner of yellow monk’s robe vanishing swiftly into the dark corridor ahead.
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> “What’s this temple playing at?”
>After a moment’s thought, Li Huowang followed at a measured pace.
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> Quickening his steps, he glimpsed the monk’s shaved head in the moonlight. He couldn’t see the face from behind, but the lack of ordination scars suggested low status in Zhengde Temple.
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> And so, in the silent temple, one walked ahead while the other trailed far behind.
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> As they went, the monk suddenly darted into a half-open door beside them.
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> Li Huowang started to follow but paused, circled to the temple’s other side instead, and wet a finger with spit to poke through the paper window.
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> Compared to the Five Buddhas Hall where the abbot resided, this hall was small—cramped, even. The bodhisattva statue inside, one hand in a mudra and the other holding a vase, was barely smaller than life-sized.
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> The candles on the altar numbered only two, leaving the entire hall dim.
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> Someone knelt before the Buddha at that moment—but it wasn’t the monk who’d just entered. It was a woman.
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> “A woman? In the temple at this hour?”
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> Before Li Huowang could puzzle it out, the woman began murmuring prayers.
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> “Great compassionate bodhisattva, please, grant me a son. If I can’t bear a son, my husband will sell me off.”
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> As she spoke, a monk bare from the waist up crept up quietly from behind the bodhisattva statue.
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> He held a strip of red cloth, gently binding it over the woman’s eyes.
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> Her body shuddered violently but offered no resistance. Her breathing grew heavy.
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> With each breath, seven or eight more shaved heads emerged from the surrounding darkness, hands clasped in prayer as they slowly closed in on her.
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> “So this is the truth behind the ‘miraculous child-granting bodhisattva’?!”
>Li Huowang stared, dumbfounded, at everything inside—his entire view of Zhengde Temple shattered.
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> Suddenly sensing something, he whipped around. There, under the bright moonlight in the courtyard, stood Jian Dun like a statue.
>“Found!”
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> Jian Dun said nothing to Li Huowang, merely giving a light wave before turning and walking away.
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> Casting one last glance at the chaos beginning in the hall, Li Huowang quietly followed.
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> Jian Dun didn’t lead Li Huowang elsewhere but back to his own quarters, where he lit the oil lamp and sat on a stool.
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> “I know what the donor must be thinking. That Zhengde Temple’s monks are impure, perhaps? But do you truly believe the pilgrims are fools? Why else would they come to worship in the dead of night?”
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> Li Huowang stood silently in the doorway, waiting for him to continue.
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> “They want sons, so we give them sons. We men of the cloth embrace compassion—this is an act of charity.”
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> Hearing this, Li Huowang couldn’t help furrowing his brow.
>“So you’ve got quite the operation going.”
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> “Zhengde Temple’s disciples never claim our bodhisattva grants children. It’s the pilgrims who spread the word on their own. We never say it—they never ask.”
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>(End of chapter)