557: Chapter 97 Destroying Buddha_2 557: Chapter 97 Destroying Buddha_2 Deng Baiyi raised her eyebrows, instinctively speculating.
The two stopped on a small hillside.
Across the hill, they could see strings of lanterns hanging in Taoyuan Village.
The dim lights flickered in the wind, and with a sweep of Divine Thought, one could clearly see a figure with wisdom beyond his years still knocking on doors from house to house to check on injuries and illnesses as night had fallen.
“Hmm.”
Xie Xuanyi calmly said, “This lad is not bad, don’t you think?”
Deng Baiyi didn’t ask why Xie Zhen wanted to take Chu Guo with him.
She said solemnly, “Chen Chong’s Iron Cavalry has blockaded the whole Yuan Province.
Four counties are heavily guarded, and escaping from here would be harder than when we first set foot in Qing State.
Under such circumstances, taking him with us is not necessarily a good thing for him.”
After a pause.
Deng Baiyi hesitantly added, “Besides…
he might not want to leave.”
She saw in Chu Guo a vague reflection of herself.
Only, back then, she was determined to leave Yuzhu Town.
But it seemed that Chu Guo did not intend to leave.
“Actually, we don’t necessarily have to take him with us.”
Xie Xuanyi lowered his gaze and said in a deep voice, “Yuan Province is too chaotic; he needs to stay alive.”
“Since the battle on Qixia Mountain, the conflict between Nalan Xuance and Fan Yin Temple has become definitively irreconcilable.”
“Destroying Buddha…
is only a matter of time.”
“Right now, news is being suppressed.
Yuan Ning County seems peaceful on the surface, but that’s not the case.”
Xie Xuanyi took a deep breath and continued, “I suspect that the Iron Cavalry’s campaign of Destroying Buddha has already begun, but because of the protection provided by the Karma Principle, we have yet to notice it.”
With that.
His gaze fell toward the other side of the hill.
Deep within Taoyuan Village, the Yuan Guang Temple was being venerated.
Deng Baiyi was slightly shocked: “You mean to say?”
“Destroying Buddha is inevitable, inescapable,” Xie Xuanyi said calmly, enunciating every word.
“Rather than letting Meng Kejian and his Iron Cavalry flatten this place, we might as well…
take down this wall ourselves.”
…
…
“Take down this wall?”
As the words fell, a pin-drop silence surrounded them.
Monks at Yuan Guang Temple looked around in astonishment, each meeting the other’s gaze.
Tonight, the moonlight was clear, the mountain springs cool, and the flickering lamplight weak, casting an odd and delicate scene.
Ultimately.
Everyone’s eyes rested on the black-clothed young man in a wheelchair.
A formidable healer had come to Taoyuan Village.
During this time, Xie Xuanyi had saved many people, including old monks from Yuan Guang Temple who had been bedridden for a long time.
Therefore, when he spoke these words, he wasn’t directly expelled.
Those present, to varying extents, had received his grace.
Saving a life is more meritorious than construction of a seven-layered stupa.
In these times of chaos, receiving such medical treatment was akin to being given a second life.
“You…
say that again…”
An old monk, looking haggard, massaged his temples, unable to believe his own ears.
“Today, I heard a small piece of news,” Xie Xuanyi said slowly.
“The Yuanzhou Iron Cavalry is purging ancient Buddhist monasteries, and wherever the Iron Cavalry goes, monasteries and temples fall.
It won’t take long before they arrive at Yuan Ning County…”
A round of hissing.
The monks exchanged bewildered glances, none willing to believe the news.
“It’s true.”
At that moment, a calm young voice rose beside Xie Xuanyi.
Accompanying Xie Xuanyi to Yuan Guang Temple were also Chu Guo and Zheng Fengsheng.
Chu Guo, with a composed demeanor, earnestly said, “Do you remember the old teacher who came to Taoyuan today at the hour of the Monkey to seek medicine?
He is a traveling merchant from the south of Qian State, who told me that the whole Yuan Province is now blockaded.
The disagreement between Nalan Xuance and Fan Yin Temple is completely irreconcilable, and Anyang County has already been trampled by the Iron Cavalry.”
“…”
Xie Xuanyi glanced at the young man.
Chu Guo spoke convincingly, but in reality, where was this traveling merchant from Qian State?
The elderly gentleman who came to seek medicine at the hour of the Monkey was merely a farmer from the neighboring mountain.
However, after being mentioned by Chu Guo in such a manner, with a clear identity, the expressions of the monks became much more solemn.
“Is this news indeed true?”
The voice of the old monk trembled as he inquired, but he was not asking Chu Guo; rather, he was asking Zheng Fengsheng.
Old Zheng, whose shoulder had just been lightly squeezed by Chu Guo, sighed helplessly and said, “Hmm… it is indeed true…”
“Amitabha.”
Several monks chanted the name of Buddha in response.
The two words “Destroying Buddha.”
Many years ago, people were already speaking of it…
Fan Yin Temple formed connections with the Ninth Prince, while Nalan Xuance supported the Crown Prince.
As the enmity between the two factions intensified, the notion of Destroying Buddha became ever more severe.
But who could have imagined that such cruelty would truly unfold right at their doorstep?
“How dare Nalan Xuance take such actions with the Zen Master present?”
One of the old monks still refused to believe.
He had lived for more than eighty years and witnessed the most glorious era of Fan Yin Temple.
When he first joined the Buddhist faith, Fan Yin Temple was renowned as the greatest sect under the heavens.
Everyone in the world desired to see the Zen Master; everyone owed a show of respect to Buddhism.
“Times have changed.”
Chu Guo shook his head and calmly stated, “The Zen Master has not made an appearance for quite some time; perhaps he is already dead.”
“…Who said that?”
Upon hearing this, Mi Yun could not help but speak up, but quickly realized his own status and corrected himself in a soft voice, “Perhaps the Zen Master simply does not wish to appear…”
“Forget the Zen Master.”
Chu Guo glanced at the youngster and, without suspicion, continued, “Even if a Bodhisattva reincarnation came, it wouldn’t save the numerous suffering souls of Yuan Province.
If the Yuanzhou Iron Cavalry were to arrive here, how many at Yuan Guang Temple would survive?
How many in Taoyuan Village?
Do you seriously think the Zen Master would reveal himself for all of us here?”
At these words, Yuan Guang Temple fell into complete silence.
The monks sighed.
They knew that what Doctor Chu had said was not wrong.
Buddhism had faced oppression, not just this year but for several years, and throughout all adversities faced, the Zen Master had never appeared.
“I heard that Buddha’s son led a mission to Chu Country,”
a middle-aged monk lamented woefully, “Not long ago, we still heard news of the mission’s departure and return.
Now all news has ceased.
It couldn’t be that they encountered some mishap, could it?”
“What the traveling merchant said… might be true…”
Another monk also murmured to himself, “Calculating the journey, the mission from Fan Yin Temple should currently be in Yuan Province…”
The more they discussed, the deeper the silence became.
Eventually, everyone’s gaze turned toward the abbot of Yuan Guang Temple, the “Great Monk” Fa Cheng who established the Taoyuan Formation.
The hierarchical system in Buddhism is not strict, but there is a clear and distinct order of merit.
Those fortunate enough to join Fan Yin Temple and listen to the Buddhist Law, no matter how high or low their level of cultivation is, whenever they go out and walk amongst the outside world, they are addressed as “Great Monk.”
Unlike ordinary monks, adding the word “Great” denotes recognition of Fan Yin Temple as the legitimate inheritor of Buddhism under the heavens.
“…”
In reality, Fa Cheng was a rather thin and even somewhat shriveled monk.
Before Xie Xuanyi and Chu Guo arrived, Taoyuan did not have a doctor, nor was it this bustling…
All these meals were obtained through his own efforts of going out and asking for alms on foot.
Every brick and tile had been assembled under his leadership, taking hundreds of days.
Now, Taoyuan was in good order.
Because everyone feared the “rules” that Fa Cheng had established.
However, in fact, only a handful of people had ever actually seen Fa Cheng.
Fa Cheng had visited Fan Yin Temple and practiced Buddhist Law.
But… he had no cultivation level.
Not all monks from Fan Yin Temple engage in cultivation.
The formation pattern at the entrance of the village was the only thing he brought from Fan Yin Temple.
That simple pattern had a considerable grade, capable of conjuring a fog for self-protection, indeed intimidating enough to deter the secular world.
The monks from Yuan Guang Temple continuously embellished the image of the “Great Monk” Fa Cheng with their words, and over time, a reverent and admired figure formed in people’s hearts.
In truth.
This was only a commoner.
Even a disabled commoner.
Fa Cheng silently made hand gestures, pointing first to the temple above his head, then to the moon far away, and finally, he pointed to his own heart.
He was born with a disability that rendered him unable to speak.
He was a mute.