Longzang

Chapter 263 The End of Dharma

"Go back to the village first, and don't wander off," Wei Yuan instructed the girl.

"how about you?"

"I'll go up the mountain to take a look and I'll be right back."

The girl huffed and puffed, "You just think I'm a burden!"

Wei Yuan remained silent, tacitly agreeing. However, the girl's stubborn nature flared up, and she refused to leave. Helpless, Wei Yuan untied the rope hanging from his waist and walked towards the girl.

"What are you going to do?!" the girl exclaimed, then covered her mouth again.

Without hesitation, Wei Yuan tightened the bindings around her chest, saying, "That's fine. We need to hurry and get back before breakfast."

The two ran along the mountain path towards the back of the mountain, and this time it went much more smoothly. There were many traps set by hunters along the way, but fortunately they were all clearly marked, so the two of them didn't step on them.

"What are you doing in the back mountain?" the girl asked breathlessly.

"It's high up there. Let me check the surrounding terrain."

"We've been watching this for over a decade, what's so interesting about it?"

Wei Yuan knew he had been observing the area for over a decade and should be quite familiar with the village and its surroundings. But for some reason, he was still uneasy and insisted on seeing it for himself. In the past, he would personally survey the terrain before every major battle.

A great war? Wei Yuan felt that it was something he was born with, even though there had never been a war in the village.

Wei Yuan ignored the girl's struggles and protests along the way. Since he had come all this way, he had to see it through. If the girl refused to move, Wei Yuan simply carried her. After carrying her for a while, he found it inconvenient and simply hoisted her onto his shoulder. Now he could finally run at a brisk pace.

The girl was furious and kept twisting and struggling. Wei Yuan became impatient and slapped her hard on the buttocks, immediately silencing her.

Wei Yuan was now single-minded, focused solely on surveying the terrain. He felt strangely naive, like a simple farm boy, just as he had been before he was three years old.

Without the girl holding him back, Wei Yuan moved much faster, running all the way to the top of the back mountain.

The mountaintop is a relatively flat rocky area, from which you can see the other side of the mountain. The two peaks are only a few dozen feet apart, so close that it seems like you could jump across them with a leap.

However, there was a cliff right in front of Wei Yuan. He peered down and saw that it was bottomless. The bottom of the cliff was shrouded in mist, and he couldn't see what was below.

The sun had fully risen into the sky; it was large and dark red, painting the entire world with the colors of a setting sun. The mountain peaks were all dyed red, but the corners in the mountains where the sunlight couldn't reach were pitch black and nothing could be seen.

Standing on the mountaintop, you can clearly see the village. It's a small village built on a hillside, with a plain on the other side, where some fields have been cultivated. Further away, forests grow, shrouded in mist that obscures the view beyond.

Wei Yuan estimated the distance. Standing on high ground, the weather was good, but he could only see about a hundred miles ahead. Beyond that, everything was shrouded in mist, and he had no idea what lay beyond.

At this moment, smoke rose from the chimneys of the small village.

"We should go back now, or we'll get scolded for missing breakfast," the girl said.

"Okay." Wei Yuan was about to descend the mountain when he suddenly saw a huge gate appear in the sky above him!
The door was entirely black, with mysterious symbols above it, so large it seemed to connect the earth and the sky. At this moment, the door was tightly closed, and nothing could be seen behind it.

Wei Yuan was taken aback and pointed to the gate, asking, "There's a gate in the sky over there, do you see it?"

The girl looked in the direction he was pointing and said, "The monk said that it's the gate to the Pure Land of Vulture Peak. Anyone can see it as long as they sincerely worship Buddha. But why is the gate different colors today, and why is it closed?"

"What's it like normally?" Wei Yuan asked.

The girl said with some surprise, "Didn't you see it before? No wonder the monk always said that some people in the village weren't devout enough and couldn't listen to the Dharma. He was talking about you!" However, the girl didn't expose Wei Yuan's thoughts and said, "That door used to be golden and always open. Inside, there was seven-colored glazed light. Remember that, so you don't let it slip when the monk asks."

"The Master is most compassionate and will not punish me." Wei Yuan didn't know why he said that.

"But the village chief does. He hits really hard."

The two men descended the mountain and returned to the village, each going home separately. When Wei Yuan entered his house, his adoptive father had already finished eating, leaving breakfast on the table. Breakfast consisted of porridge, half a steamed bun, and a pickled vegetable. This was considered a lavish meal; his adoptive father had probably only drunk a bowl of porridge.

My godfather said, "Eat quickly, you still have to go work in the fields after you finish eating."

Wei Yuan quickly cleaned up the food, but to be honest, he felt he hadn't even filled a tenth of his stomach. A rare feeling of hunger overwhelmed him, causing him to subconsciously glance at a piece of cured meat hanging from the kitchen beam.

The godfather gave Wei Yuan a hard knock on the head and said, "What are you thinking? That's flesh meant to be offered to Buddha, and you dare to even think about it?"

Wei Yuan then remembered that in the past, most of the delicious food in the village, such as cured meat and eggs, would be offered to the temple to pray for Buddha's blessing. The more offerings, the more devout the person was. All the offerings were never given back, as if Buddha really did eat them.

It wasn't until she grew up that one day the girl secretly told Wei Yuan that she had seen the monk eating offerings.

But there was no evidence to support this claim. The monk had always treated everyone very well, so Wei Yuan, who was in a daze at the time, quickly forgot about it.

I had just finished breakfast when a commotion suddenly erupted outside. An older woman cried out in a voice trembling with sobs, "Why is the door to the Pure Land closed? Who on earth committed this heinous crime?!"

Upon hearing this, the godfather ran to the window and looked out; his expression immediately changed.

More and more villagers gathered, all looking up at the sky. That large gate, that gleaming light, was the driving force behind everyone's worship of Buddha, and also their hope. The blessings of the next life were right before their eyes, but suddenly they were shut off.

"Let's go to the temple and ask a monk," someone suggested, and many others agreed.

So the whole village gathered outside the small temple.

The young monk emerged from the temple, gazing at the gathered crowd. For some reason, Wei Yuan saw a strange compassion on his face, along with a resolute air. At that moment, the monk seemed to radiate a faint light, like a high-ranking monk who had attained enlightenment.

At this moment, the light in the temple became somewhat dazzling. Wei Yuan looked up and saw the golden lights in the sky rapidly approaching. He felt a vague unease in his heart.

The monk sighed and said, "There is clearly enough food to fill your stomach, so why have greedy thoughts and recklessly break the precept against killing?"

Wei Yuan followed the mage's gaze and saw the hunter uncle. The uncle was still carrying a hunting fork, and the white wolf was still hanging on the fork, dripping blood.

Wei Yuan wasn't surprised. In the past, when Uncle San Kui hunted rare prey, he would also get lost and wander around the village until noon before finally finding his way home.

Seeing the monk looking at him, San Kui didn't care at all. He threw the white wolf on the open ground in front of the temple and said righteously, "This beast has injured several people and many livestock in the village. If I don't kill it, am I supposed to let it continue to harm the village?"

With two loud thuds, he threw down a badger and a fat rabbit, saying, "These two are the ones that should be eaten. Since the monk thinks I'm wrong, then offer them to me. But I'm not wrong!"

San Kui spoke his last sentence with resounding force.

The monk chanted a Buddhist prayer and sighed, "You are not wrong, I am not wrong, none of us are wrong..."

The mage's words were suddenly interrupted by a clap of thunder, and a deafening roar echoed from the clouds: "Who killed our king's only son?"

Under the blood-red sunlight, the three corpses in the temple's open space suddenly turned into people.

(End of this chapter)