Chapter 141: Human Skin, Devils and Demons
There was a broken temple about 35 kilometers away from Chang’an. This was a temple for worshipping the God of Local Soil, not the Buddha or the Great Wheel Wisdom King.
Without question, non-daoist temples wouldn’t be prosperous in Great Sui, and perhaps the God of Local Soil got angry and moved.
Afterward, the people in the village nearby who needed material for construction would come here to take some. Gradually, this temple only had four broken walls left.
The empires that dominated this land before Great Sui was named Great Zheng, and that royal family had the last name of Wang. It was different from the Wang Family in Yangtze-South.
That empire collapsed after 400 years.
Great Sui and Great Zheng had one similarity; they were both not interested in the Buddhist Sect.
The difference was that Great Zheng still tolerated the Buddhist Sect, and there were monks from the west who came into the region to spread Buddhism. Although Buddhism didn’t prosper here, it was able to stay.
After Great Zheng was conquered, the First Emperor of Great Sui expelled all monks, extinguishing Buddhism from the region.
It was heard that the First Emperor of Great Sui disliked monks since the Buddhist Sect helped Great Zheng when he first rebelled. How could an aggressive man like the First Emperor of Great Sui tolerate that?
This was why the people of Buddhist Sect said that Great Sui was a place where devils and demons ran loose. The monks who finally built a few buddhist temples were kicked out, and they were beat if they hesitated.
This temple wasn’t related to the Buddhist Sect, but it was affected by it.
Before Heaven-Bless Emperor Yang Yi came into power, Great Sui was an atheist society.
Yang Yi promoted the Daoist Sect after he became the ruler. Before that, the people of Great Sui only worshiped and believed in the emperors of Great Sui. They all believed that the emperors of Great Sui could bring prosperity to them.
The people of Sui were prospering; rich people weren’t overly aggressive, and poor people weren’t overly humble. People didn’t need religion when their lives were great, so the Buddhist Sect couldn’t find a reason to rally up the people to go against the non-existent tyranny. Even though there were still some unfair incidents, the people didn’t get overly upset with the government.
This was a unique period and a unique nation.
After 100 years, even the Great Wheel Wisdom King gave up the idea of spreading Buddhism to Great Sui. Of course, the current Great Wheel Wisdom King was the same Great Wheel Wisdom King from 100 years ago.
This transition was mysterious. Before each Great Wheel Wisdom King died, he would appoint a successor and bring this person to the Holy Land of the Buddhist Sect, which was the Secret Chamber in the Wisdom King Golden Palace on the peak of Great Snow Mountain. Seven days later, the new Wisdom King would come out and inherit all the power, leaving the corpse of the previous Wisdom King inside the chamber.
No one was allowed to see the corpse of the previous Wisdom King.
Regardless of the new Wisdom King’s strength before entering the chamber, he would become the most powerful figure in the world after the ritual. Other than the Wisdom King, no one knew how an ordinary person could become the most powerful figure in the world in these seven days.
Many people guessed that the Buddhist Sect had a secret technique in which the previous Wisdom King could inject all his cultivation strength into the new Wisdom King.
This temple was so broken that the four walls were about to collapse. It couldn’t block out wind nor rain. Other than kids who would come here to play with crickets, no one would come here.
In a corner of the temple, an old monk in grey placed down the young man in his arms. After checking the injuries in the latter’s body, this old monk frowned and chanted, “May Wisdom King be kind.”
Then, he took out a small jade bottle and rolled out a dark-green pill before opening this young man’s mouth and putting it in.
Afterward, he found a puddle of rainwater in the temple and fed some to this young man.
It rained a few days ago, and the water was a bit stinky, but this old monk didn’t seem to mind. After feeding the young man, he drank a bit of this water as well.
Then, he sat at a relatively clean place cross-legged and meditated.
After a while, the fainted young man suddenly coughed up a mouth of black blood, and his chest moved up and down aggressively.
The old monk slowly opened his eyes and looked toward the young man, and all the smooth hair on the latter’s head fell like snow. Soon, the young man became bald.
After all the hair fell off, the old monk walked over when the young monk stopped puking blood. He helped the young monk to sit up before lifting the torn clothes. The many bloody injuries on the young monk’s body became scarred.
The pill that the old monk fed to this young monk was definitely an elixir.
Soon, the young monk woke up and saw this genial-looking old monk looking at him. He quickly got up and kowtowed. “I’m useless. Master, please punish me.”
The old monk sat down cross-legged and said to Chenya with a smile, “Before coming to Great Sui, I already foresaw a tribulation in your fate. If you can pass through this tribulation, it would be beneficial to your cultivation strength.”
“I would have died if it weren’t for you, Master,” Chenya said with his body lowered.
“Idiot. I’m your master, and you are my disciple. Who else will come and ferry you through this tribulation? Before you left Great Snow Mountain, I gave you a meru pill since I knew that you would experience danger. However, you were obsessed and narrow-minded, turning that meru pill into a weapon. Rather than defeating your enemies, you almost lost your life. I’m only displeased since I had to use a bodhi pill to save your life.”
“I realize my mistake.” Chenya kowtowed and said, “I underestimated the people of Great Sui and suffered this defeat.”
“Realizing your mistake and learning from it is growth. Your trip to Great Sui isn’t meaningless.”
“Master, how come you came to Chang’an?” Chenya asked curiously.
“Before you came here, I told you that the Great Western World is the pure land, and the east is a place where devils and demons run loose. Don’t underestimate these devils and demons because of your high cultivation strength. You haven’t cultivated for long, so you don’t know that many big demons who even concerned Wisdom King came from this place. About 11 years ago, there was a big demon who came from Chang’an and traveled west, entering the Great Western World. The Wisdom King detected it and sent disciples to subdue the demon.”
“However, that demon was powerful enough to kill several arhats, and those who came with him were all powerful as well. Hearing that some disciples had died, the Wisdom King ordered my senior brother, Great Freedom Heavenly Lord, and my junior brother, Spiritual Treasure Heavenly Lord, to handle the enemies. Spiritual Treasure battled with that demon and got defeated, and Senior Brother Great Freedom couldn’t handle that demon and stop him from moving toward the west. Due to the arrival of those demons and devils, the Great Western World almost got ruined. The Wisdom King came down Great Snow Mountain and used Vajra’s Anger, finally suppressing that demon. Do you know why that incident 11 years ago was sealed, not allowing the people in the world and the disciples of the sect to know?”
“I don’t get it.”
“The status of the Buddhist Sect will shake if others know about it. Except for the people of Great Sui, everyone else believes that the Wisdom King is unparalleled and invincible. However, the Wisdom King was injured in that battle.”
“Huh?” Chenya looked up with disbelief written all over his face.
“Who was that demon?” he asked in surprise.
“I only know that he was a member of the Royal Clan of Great Sui,” the old monk sighed, “The disciples of our sect wouldn’t be able to accept this. If this piece of information got out, everyone who worships the Wisdom King would attack Great Sui in anger. The people of Great Sui are all devils and demons; why would they be afraid of war? Countless lives would be lost, and fertile land would be scorched. Since that demon was already suppressed, the Wisdom King decided to make this incident confidential.”
“Master, is this incident related to your trip here?” Chenya asked.
After a moment of silence, the old monk shook his head and said, “Soon after you entered Great Sui, another demon traveled to the west.”
“Huh?” Chenya was stunned repeatedly by the things that this old monk said, and he felt like his heart was about to jump out of his throat. “Is… Is this demon as vicious as that demon from 11 years ago?”
“Inferior but close,” the old monk said, “The Wisdom King has been cultivating in seclusion in the last 11 years, and Junior Brother Ancestral Origin went down Great Snow Mountain to stop this demon with golden-body monk soldiers. Senior Brother Great Freedom is worried that there are reinforcements, so he sent me here to investigate. After all, the demon from 11 years ago traveled west with hundreds of other devils and demons, but this demon only has one other demon with him. It is strange, and Senior Brother Great Freedom is worried that there are hidden cards, so I’m here. I wanted to investigate in secret and bring you back, but I’m surprised that there are so many masters among the people of Great Sui; their demonic nature is strong.”
“Master, are we going back to Great Snow Mountain now?”
“Eh, we need to return.”
“But…” Chenya hesitated and paused.
The old monk said calmly, “You are still unwilling, right? You want to kill that guy named Fang Jie, but you almost died here. If you don’t kill him, you couldn’t calm down, right?”
“Yes!” Chenya bowed and said, “The Wisdom King had said that I have a speck of dust in my mind. If I can’t remove it, I can’t become a buddha. After cultivating for so many years, I still don’t know what that speck of dust is. After coming to Great Sui, I thought this speck of dust is the fear I have toward powerful enemies. But after all this, I finally realized that the speck of dust in my mind isn’t that Phoenix-Chirp Daoist of the Daoist Sect but that Fang Jie. I could never reach internal peace if I don’t kill him.”
“Fool.” The old monk shook his head and sighed, “I thought you could understand the Wisdom King’s teaching after this tribulation, but you actually fell deeper into the rabbit hole.”
“Master, please explain it to me.” Chenya kowtowed and said sincerely, “I’m dumb and couldn’t understand the Wisdom King’s words of truth.”
The old monk looked at Chenya with care and said, “You are the smartest disciple that I have, and I thought you could understand this without my intervention. Now, it seems like the smarter someone is, the harder it is to find direction. The speck of dust in your mind isn’t anyone but yourself.”
“Myself?” Chenya was stunned and asked, “I don’t understand.”
“You always think that you can reach perfection soon, so you are always in a hurry. This is the speck of dust in your mind. You have been conceited since you started to cultivate when you were young, and it was my fault for not correcting you. Now, you should know that your obsession is the speck of dust. When you stop being obsessed with reaching perfection, you will reach it.”
“Obsession?” Chenya was silent for a while before he kowtowed again. “I understand now.”
“No… You still don’t understand,” the old monk said with a smile, “If you understand, you wouldn’t say that you understand. How can you understand the wonderous dogma of Buddhism that easily?”
At this moment, the old monk pointed toward the outside and said, “What is that?”
Chenya looked that way and saw someone walking close. This person carried a bag and used a wooden stick as a walking cane. It was clear that this person traveled a long distance.
“A person of Great Sui,” Chenya replied.
“No,” the old monk corrected, “He is a demon. The people of Great Sui have human skin, but demons are inside.”
Then, he asked again, “What is that?”
“It is a demon.”
“You are wrong.”
“Huh? Why am I wrong again?”
“He is a person of Great Sui, and he hasn’t developed the demonic nature yet. Before that, he is still a human.”
“I don’t understand.”
“That is good. You truly don’t understand when you think you understand.”
The old monk stood up and pointed his finger at that person from afar. That person shivered and collapsed.
“Bring him along, and let’s move.”
“Why should we bring him?”
“Are you hungry?” the old monk suddenly asked.
Without question, non-daoist temples wouldn’t be prosperous in Great Sui, and perhaps the God of Local Soil got angry and moved.
Afterward, the people in the village nearby who needed material for construction would come here to take some. Gradually, this temple only had four broken walls left.
The empires that dominated this land before Great Sui was named Great Zheng, and that royal family had the last name of Wang. It was different from the Wang Family in Yangtze-South.
That empire collapsed after 400 years.
Great Sui and Great Zheng had one similarity; they were both not interested in the Buddhist Sect.
The difference was that Great Zheng still tolerated the Buddhist Sect, and there were monks from the west who came into the region to spread Buddhism. Although Buddhism didn’t prosper here, it was able to stay.
After Great Zheng was conquered, the First Emperor of Great Sui expelled all monks, extinguishing Buddhism from the region.
It was heard that the First Emperor of Great Sui disliked monks since the Buddhist Sect helped Great Zheng when he first rebelled. How could an aggressive man like the First Emperor of Great Sui tolerate that?
This was why the people of Buddhist Sect said that Great Sui was a place where devils and demons ran loose. The monks who finally built a few buddhist temples were kicked out, and they were beat if they hesitated.
This temple wasn’t related to the Buddhist Sect, but it was affected by it.
Before Heaven-Bless Emperor Yang Yi came into power, Great Sui was an atheist society.
Yang Yi promoted the Daoist Sect after he became the ruler. Before that, the people of Great Sui only worshiped and believed in the emperors of Great Sui. They all believed that the emperors of Great Sui could bring prosperity to them.
The people of Sui were prospering; rich people weren’t overly aggressive, and poor people weren’t overly humble. People didn’t need religion when their lives were great, so the Buddhist Sect couldn’t find a reason to rally up the people to go against the non-existent tyranny. Even though there were still some unfair incidents, the people didn’t get overly upset with the government.
This was a unique period and a unique nation.
After 100 years, even the Great Wheel Wisdom King gave up the idea of spreading Buddhism to Great Sui. Of course, the current Great Wheel Wisdom King was the same Great Wheel Wisdom King from 100 years ago.
This transition was mysterious. Before each Great Wheel Wisdom King died, he would appoint a successor and bring this person to the Holy Land of the Buddhist Sect, which was the Secret Chamber in the Wisdom King Golden Palace on the peak of Great Snow Mountain. Seven days later, the new Wisdom King would come out and inherit all the power, leaving the corpse of the previous Wisdom King inside the chamber.
No one was allowed to see the corpse of the previous Wisdom King.
Regardless of the new Wisdom King’s strength before entering the chamber, he would become the most powerful figure in the world after the ritual. Other than the Wisdom King, no one knew how an ordinary person could become the most powerful figure in the world in these seven days.
Many people guessed that the Buddhist Sect had a secret technique in which the previous Wisdom King could inject all his cultivation strength into the new Wisdom King.
This temple was so broken that the four walls were about to collapse. It couldn’t block out wind nor rain. Other than kids who would come here to play with crickets, no one would come here.
In a corner of the temple, an old monk in grey placed down the young man in his arms. After checking the injuries in the latter’s body, this old monk frowned and chanted, “May Wisdom King be kind.”
Then, he took out a small jade bottle and rolled out a dark-green pill before opening this young man’s mouth and putting it in.
Afterward, he found a puddle of rainwater in the temple and fed some to this young man.
It rained a few days ago, and the water was a bit stinky, but this old monk didn’t seem to mind. After feeding the young man, he drank a bit of this water as well.
Then, he sat at a relatively clean place cross-legged and meditated.
After a while, the fainted young man suddenly coughed up a mouth of black blood, and his chest moved up and down aggressively.
The old monk slowly opened his eyes and looked toward the young man, and all the smooth hair on the latter’s head fell like snow. Soon, the young man became bald.
After all the hair fell off, the old monk walked over when the young monk stopped puking blood. He helped the young monk to sit up before lifting the torn clothes. The many bloody injuries on the young monk’s body became scarred.
The pill that the old monk fed to this young monk was definitely an elixir.
Soon, the young monk woke up and saw this genial-looking old monk looking at him. He quickly got up and kowtowed. “I’m useless. Master, please punish me.”
The old monk sat down cross-legged and said to Chenya with a smile, “Before coming to Great Sui, I already foresaw a tribulation in your fate. If you can pass through this tribulation, it would be beneficial to your cultivation strength.”
“I would have died if it weren’t for you, Master,” Chenya said with his body lowered.
“Idiot. I’m your master, and you are my disciple. Who else will come and ferry you through this tribulation? Before you left Great Snow Mountain, I gave you a meru pill since I knew that you would experience danger. However, you were obsessed and narrow-minded, turning that meru pill into a weapon. Rather than defeating your enemies, you almost lost your life. I’m only displeased since I had to use a bodhi pill to save your life.”
“I realize my mistake.” Chenya kowtowed and said, “I underestimated the people of Great Sui and suffered this defeat.”
“Realizing your mistake and learning from it is growth. Your trip to Great Sui isn’t meaningless.”
“Master, how come you came to Chang’an?” Chenya asked curiously.
“Before you came here, I told you that the Great Western World is the pure land, and the east is a place where devils and demons run loose. Don’t underestimate these devils and demons because of your high cultivation strength. You haven’t cultivated for long, so you don’t know that many big demons who even concerned Wisdom King came from this place. About 11 years ago, there was a big demon who came from Chang’an and traveled west, entering the Great Western World. The Wisdom King detected it and sent disciples to subdue the demon.”
“However, that demon was powerful enough to kill several arhats, and those who came with him were all powerful as well. Hearing that some disciples had died, the Wisdom King ordered my senior brother, Great Freedom Heavenly Lord, and my junior brother, Spiritual Treasure Heavenly Lord, to handle the enemies. Spiritual Treasure battled with that demon and got defeated, and Senior Brother Great Freedom couldn’t handle that demon and stop him from moving toward the west. Due to the arrival of those demons and devils, the Great Western World almost got ruined. The Wisdom King came down Great Snow Mountain and used Vajra’s Anger, finally suppressing that demon. Do you know why that incident 11 years ago was sealed, not allowing the people in the world and the disciples of the sect to know?”
“I don’t get it.”
“The status of the Buddhist Sect will shake if others know about it. Except for the people of Great Sui, everyone else believes that the Wisdom King is unparalleled and invincible. However, the Wisdom King was injured in that battle.”
“Huh?” Chenya looked up with disbelief written all over his face.
“Who was that demon?” he asked in surprise.
“I only know that he was a member of the Royal Clan of Great Sui,” the old monk sighed, “The disciples of our sect wouldn’t be able to accept this. If this piece of information got out, everyone who worships the Wisdom King would attack Great Sui in anger. The people of Great Sui are all devils and demons; why would they be afraid of war? Countless lives would be lost, and fertile land would be scorched. Since that demon was already suppressed, the Wisdom King decided to make this incident confidential.”
“Master, is this incident related to your trip here?” Chenya asked.
After a moment of silence, the old monk shook his head and said, “Soon after you entered Great Sui, another demon traveled to the west.”
“Huh?” Chenya was stunned repeatedly by the things that this old monk said, and he felt like his heart was about to jump out of his throat. “Is… Is this demon as vicious as that demon from 11 years ago?”
“Inferior but close,” the old monk said, “The Wisdom King has been cultivating in seclusion in the last 11 years, and Junior Brother Ancestral Origin went down Great Snow Mountain to stop this demon with golden-body monk soldiers. Senior Brother Great Freedom is worried that there are reinforcements, so he sent me here to investigate. After all, the demon from 11 years ago traveled west with hundreds of other devils and demons, but this demon only has one other demon with him. It is strange, and Senior Brother Great Freedom is worried that there are hidden cards, so I’m here. I wanted to investigate in secret and bring you back, but I’m surprised that there are so many masters among the people of Great Sui; their demonic nature is strong.”
“Master, are we going back to Great Snow Mountain now?”
“Eh, we need to return.”
“But…” Chenya hesitated and paused.
The old monk said calmly, “You are still unwilling, right? You want to kill that guy named Fang Jie, but you almost died here. If you don’t kill him, you couldn’t calm down, right?”
“Yes!” Chenya bowed and said, “The Wisdom King had said that I have a speck of dust in my mind. If I can’t remove it, I can’t become a buddha. After cultivating for so many years, I still don’t know what that speck of dust is. After coming to Great Sui, I thought this speck of dust is the fear I have toward powerful enemies. But after all this, I finally realized that the speck of dust in my mind isn’t that Phoenix-Chirp Daoist of the Daoist Sect but that Fang Jie. I could never reach internal peace if I don’t kill him.”
“Fool.” The old monk shook his head and sighed, “I thought you could understand the Wisdom King’s teaching after this tribulation, but you actually fell deeper into the rabbit hole.”
“Master, please explain it to me.” Chenya kowtowed and said sincerely, “I’m dumb and couldn’t understand the Wisdom King’s words of truth.”
The old monk looked at Chenya with care and said, “You are the smartest disciple that I have, and I thought you could understand this without my intervention. Now, it seems like the smarter someone is, the harder it is to find direction. The speck of dust in your mind isn’t anyone but yourself.”
“Myself?” Chenya was stunned and asked, “I don’t understand.”
“You always think that you can reach perfection soon, so you are always in a hurry. This is the speck of dust in your mind. You have been conceited since you started to cultivate when you were young, and it was my fault for not correcting you. Now, you should know that your obsession is the speck of dust. When you stop being obsessed with reaching perfection, you will reach it.”
“Obsession?” Chenya was silent for a while before he kowtowed again. “I understand now.”
“No… You still don’t understand,” the old monk said with a smile, “If you understand, you wouldn’t say that you understand. How can you understand the wonderous dogma of Buddhism that easily?”
At this moment, the old monk pointed toward the outside and said, “What is that?”
Chenya looked that way and saw someone walking close. This person carried a bag and used a wooden stick as a walking cane. It was clear that this person traveled a long distance.
“A person of Great Sui,” Chenya replied.
“No,” the old monk corrected, “He is a demon. The people of Great Sui have human skin, but demons are inside.”
Then, he asked again, “What is that?”
“It is a demon.”
“You are wrong.”
“Huh? Why am I wrong again?”
“He is a person of Great Sui, and he hasn’t developed the demonic nature yet. Before that, he is still a human.”
“I don’t understand.”
“That is good. You truly don’t understand when you think you understand.”
The old monk stood up and pointed his finger at that person from afar. That person shivered and collapsed.
“Bring him along, and let’s move.”
“Why should we bring him?”
“Are you hungry?” the old monk suddenly asked.
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