461: Chapter 46 Sincerity_2 461: Chapter 46 Sincerity_2 Miao Zhen now even tells me this news, could it be that he wants to…?
“Benefactor Xie, please forgive this monk’s audacity.”
Miao Zhen bowed slightly and slowly began to speak: “This mission entails receiving the Buddha Bone.
I request your company to travel alongside me to escort the Buddha Bone back to Da Li.”
Indeed.
Xie Xuanyi couldn’t help but laugh irritably: “You bald donkey…
have you been waiting here for me the whole time?”
Miao Zhen gave a slight smile.
“Do you want to pull me onto the Buddhist side?”
Xie Xuanyi wasn’t easily fooled: “Nalan Xuance and Chen Chong want to destroy Buddha, so you seized a good opportunity.
Embarking on a mission to Chu Country, you can both spread the fame of Li Kingdom and make friends.”
“Fan Yin Temple and Da Sui Sword Palace have never been enemies.”
Miao Zhen earnestly said: “The Three Great Sects should, by nature, be friends.”
“Such fine words about ‘being friends by nature’…”
Xie Xuanyi chuckled: “Now that you know my identity, you must also be aware of those things I did ten years ago.
Even so, you still wish to court me?”
“Brother Xuanyi.”
Miao Zhen paused, then continued earnestly: “It is precisely because I know your true identity that I especially wish to court you.
If a situation like the North Sea Killing Array should arise again, consider seeking shelter at Fan Yin Temple.
I and the Zen Master will provide you with protection.”
“…”
Xie Xuanyi fell completely silent.
Indeed.
In Miao Zhen’s eyes, he was someone crazy enough to kill the Emperor of Da Chu, a person already vilified and cursed by Chu Country…
Such a man was the most worthy of being courted, the most worth forming a good relationship with.
“You want to court me?
Fine.”
Xie Xuanyi said indifferently: “There’s always a price to pay, no?
I’d like to see the sincerity of the Buddhist.”
“Monks have no possession other than their robes.”
Miao Zhen said uprightly, “What does Benefactor Xie desire?
Apart from mundane objects, all Buddhism has to offer is sincerity.”
Xie Xuanyi couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
Listening to this, they plan to offer nothing?
“According to the customs of Da Chu and Da Li over the years, after the mission crosses westwards and returns home, there must be an escort to demonstrate sincerity and exchange courtesies.”
Pausing slightly, Miao Zhen smiled again and said: “This matter has always been managed by the Book Tower, and if I am not mistaken…
the task of escorting the mission back to Li should naturally fall to you.”
With this statement, Xie Xuanyi’s plans to profit from this opportunity were completely dashed.
He had already agreed to escort the Fan Yin Temple mission back to Da Li with Chen Jingxuan.
Who would complain about earning a bit more?
Xie Xuanyi felt as if he had been thoroughly outmaneuvered…
He glared at Miao Zhen resentfully: “Jun Mountain personally said to me that you, bald donkey, only knew how to fight…
It seems you’ve learned quite a few new tricks in this lifetime, haven’t you?”
“Benefactor Xie, there’s no need to look at this monk with such eyes.”
Miao Zhen said with a bitter smile and a helpless explanation: “I have only attained Divine Steps now.
This westward mission carries great significance, and there are some matters for which the Zen Master provided early instructions.”
The Buddhist Zen Master had a status equal to his own Master.
Leaders of the three religions, transcending the mundane.
If one were to discuss age, this Buddhist Zen Master was even older than the Pure Yang Sect Leader.
Thus, Xie Xuanyi was not surprised…
In his past life, when he wanted to practice a second Sword Dao but faced limits due to his physical body, he visited Fan Yin Temple, attempting to seek advice from the rumored Zen Master.
As a Body Refining Sacred Land renowned throughout the world, if the Zen Master were willing to impart wisdom, perhaps his “second Sword Dao” might glimpse a ray of hope.
Just that…
Filled with hope, Xie Xuanyi received a cold reception.
After defeating a group of young and powerful Buddhist disciples.
Xie Xuanyi still did not meet the Zen Master.
However…
Back then, the Zen Master sent Xie Xuanyi a bamboo slip inscribed with a single sentence: The moon waxes only to wane, the Dao is fulfilled only in deficiency.
At the time, Xie Xuanyi glanced at it and threw it away.
He took it as the Zen Master’s critique of his actions.
That year, when Xie Xuanyi slew enemies across Great Chu and Da Li, the worldly society fell silent.
Wasn’t the saying ‘the full moon wanes’ exactly about his own Sword Dao?
Was this a hope for him to bow his head and not to act so high-profile?
He hadn’t yet reached the pinnacle of Sword Dao, how could he easily bow his head?
Yet now, it seemed this phrase held deeper meanings.
After a decade-long slumber in the North Sea.
Xie Xuanyi, with endless regrets, began his second life of spiritual cultivation.
This broken path unexpectedly led to a ‘Perfect’…
Perhaps the Zen Master foresaw this corner of the future, which is why he chose to avoid meeting?
“Buddhist temples are safeguarded by Zen Masters, how could they fall into such a state?”
Xie Xuanyi reined in his drifting thoughts and raised a significant question.
The Da Sui Sword Palace had the Sect Leader in charge.
Who would dare entertain the notion of extinguishing the sect?
“Under the force of the greater trends, even Zen Masters must lower their heads.”
Miao Zhen spoke obliquely, shaking his head with a fleeting sadness on his face, “Moreover…
the Zen Master has lived for too long…”
No one knew how long the Zen Master had lived.
Over these past several hundred years, the leadership of the Buddhist community had changed many times, but the Zen Master always remained.
As the tides of time surged forward, he was the foam beneath the waves when great eras dawned and he became the silent rivers when karmic fortune waned.
He was the true ‘leader’ of Buddhism, watching over the rise and fall of Da Li Country, overseeing the sorrows and joys of the human realm.
But no one can escape death.
Upon hearing Miao Zhen’s words, Xie Xuanyi understood.
The Zen Master’s remaining time was likely very short.
But this phrase…
why did it sound somewhat familiar?
When Xie Xuanyi first visited years ago, the Buddhist disciples had also conveyed with sorrow, regret, and sadness that the Zen Master was of great age and needed to rest quietly.
“Benefactor Xie.”
Miao Zhen suddenly spoke earnestly, “Now that you are inside the territory of Da Chu, you must have quite a few enemies, right?”
Xie Xuanyi paused.
This question was…
rather interesting.
Although “Xie Zhen” had only appeared for less than a year, he had already made numerous enemies.
Simply the identity of being a disciple of Xie Xuanyi.
Made it a “perfect” way for Xie Xuanyi to inherit all the unfinished enmity of the past, so much that not even he could count them all.
In Great Chu Imperial City, and across the Four Realms, there were countless eyes watching him.
“What’s your point?”
Xie Xuanyi spoke with profound meaning.
“I think…
Benefactor Xie needs a sanctuary.”
Miao Zhen spoke with a smile, “The feeling of being watched by foes must be quite unpleasant, right?
There are many villains in Great Chu who are actually always watching you.
Perhaps they did not act during the previous Beihai Killing Array, but as soon as you leave Chu Country’s borders, you will be able to see their true faces.”
Xie Xuanyi couldn’t help but laugh.
Of course, he knew that many people were longing for his death…
They were patient, often waiting until the last moment to strike.
Compared to those enemies out in the open, Xie Xuanyi despised these hidden vermin even more.
That was one of the reasons he agreed to Chen Jingxuan’s request.
He intended to go on an envoy mission to slay these hidden enemies.
“People say that monks are compassionate.”
Xie Xuanyi watched Miao Zhen, finding him more and more agreeable, and couldn’t help but praise, “You, as the current Buddha’s son of Fan Yin Temple, yet why can’t I see a trace of compassion in you?”
“Perhaps it’s because the Buddhist Law I’ve practiced since childhood doesn’t contain much of the way of compassion.”
Miao Zhen brought his palms together and bowed, “The conversation we have now in the Golden Body Tower is enveloped by the Buddha Country Barrier, with no third person able to overhear, not even the Sky Watcher…
Monks don’t speak lies.
As long as Benefactor Xie is willing to ‘join forces’ with Buddhism, then Miao Zhen is willing to help with all his might.
Once you leave Chu Country, and your enemies reveal themselves, this monk will join Benefactor Xie in striking them down, to grant them transcendence.”
The word ‘transcendence’.
Miao Zhen said it lightly.
But the Sanskrit enveloping the Golden Body Tower emitted a sharp Killing Intent!
Xie Xuanyi had seen Miao Zhen take action to subdue demons at Moss Ridge.
Miao Zhen’s transcendence was truly an act of transcendence, perhaps even more ruthless than his own.
Miao Zhen bowed once more.
“If Benefactor Xie is sincere…
then this is my sincerity.”